So I got to thinking....there are soooo many wires and stuff in a 914 that are not needed for a race car....not to mention the sound deadening 'tar' on the floors. Also, every time I took a picture of the inside of Papa Smurf, I realized how ugly it looked. I decided that one of my 2009/2010 winter projects is to scrape the floors, pull out all the wiring, cut all wire harness tabs, brackets, etc, and take out whatever is not necessary. Sounds easy when you're sitting around with a beer, or at the track.

So, a few weeks ago I started. first picture is as it ended the 2009 track season: see the 'glue' on the firewall, and rust in the doors? You can also barely see how bad the floors look.

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Now we strip out everything: (what a mess!!)

I love it... Nothing like a good wiring job!

Here's where I am today, after painting the interior. Yes, it is the same color as the outside (Olympic Blue) - just looks darker in the pictures probably because of the flash in a dark garage (sorry, got side tracked for a little while with my posts)

Next up: new wires this coming weekend.

Looks nice! What'd you shoot it with? Also, that's a lot of dashboard for a race car...

believe it or not...I had paint made up and put into spray cans. You can get it at any Keystone Automotive or I'm told Carquest will do it to. Figured it was the interior of a race car. Once seats are in, you won't see much of it anyway....

I am taking out some of the dash too, forgot to mention that. Can't figure out how to get the lower dash out without destroying it because of the roll cage in the way, and the vent ducts are still there. No reason to take the top of the dash off - doesn't weigh much and keeps it clean looking for now.

Putting in an ignition switch and button, guages are up on the dash in one of the pics, need a few switches for cool suit (currently and probably staying as the fog light switch you see left of steering wheel)

Looking good Bob!

Gotta new avatar too! He's goin' agricultural!

And you wonder why its mad at you.
Its just that kind of attitude that will make it run like shit and some wiring issue will leave you watching the race. I think you should pinstripe the interior.

Its a special race car...not just a race car...

Glad to see you finally showing it some respect and cleaning up the insided.
I vote a totally custom dash....loose the stock one and make a shiny blingy aluminum one.

Rich

That looks really good. I also had some Olympic blue put in spray cans and the areas on my car I did turned out surprisingly well.

Actually, Papa Smurf has been wonderful over the past year or two - it's Huey that hates me.

The interior came out very nice. Heck, if I had 'that kind of attitude' I would have just left is as-is for the interior. The point about spray cans is that I was not going to send it to a body shop and pay thousands of $$ for the interior to be painted.

I bought all new wires, not using any old stuff, weatherpack connectors, the ignition panel is carbon fiber, etc.

Papa gets very well taken care of.

the dash will be nice. Not shiny, but very clean and black.

Yeah, that was at VIR. Didn't lose my place in the race either

The guy in front of me going into turn 1 broke WAAAAY too early and caught me off guard. I dodge out from behind him...and missed the brake pedal for a split second, making me go too hot into 1. I made the turn, just more out in the dirt than on the pavement. Oh well, that's racing.

update:
Interior and wiring are basically done:

I still need to get the collar for the steering wheel on. the guys at Black Forest Racing are cutting it apart and welding/fabricating it so it doesn't have the key, turn or wiper stalk holes.

I ran the conduit up and into the engine bay from the passenger compartment, instead of going down, under the engine, then back up. Much easier to work with if I have to add wire for something.

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Looks nice and clean inside now.

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and I started him up this afternoon. Everything works, started right up.

Looks like he lost about 30 or so lbs. Not bad...

Now comes the rest of the winter project:
-re-install seats and new harnesses
-re-install rear lexan window
-new windshield
-replace fuel lines (found a small leak!!)
-rear brake pads
-change oil & general winter maintenance

New roll bar padding....

Rich

good idea!

Mind you..this started out as a simple wiring replacement project. Now it's getting to a major rebuild of much of the car! Oh well.... it happens...

I was soooo excited when I pushed the starter button and it actually started! and ran...and everything worked!!

finished!

OK, still got to do new roll bar padding, but he's ready to run!

going to the track in a couple weeks. Still have some minor stuff to do - brake pads, change oil, etc. but nothing to take pictures of..

That looks so goood. And you seemed to be having so much fun. Sooo how would you like to do mine?

hmmmm... let me think about that one....