Progress is slow and the task is huge and I admit to feeling overwhelmed by it all. I hope I can see this through to completion.
You guys that live in the U.S. don't realize how good you have it when to comes owning these cars. Talk about the tyranny of distance. Waiting for parts, having no-one around to help out or go visit with, swap meets, early morning runs with friends etc etc. I just want go for a drive in it.
I've got most of the panels back on without any real drama. Doors need further alignment, hoods are good to go, got the dash back in but glass isn't.
Still so much more to do though...electrical, sideshift conversion, new exhuast, fuel system overhaul, pull the fan housing and check for dead rodents, get engine going after not having run for 11 years etc etc.
I'm going to be asking lots of questions here in the next few months, some of them dumb/obvious but keep in mind my situation.
So thanks to those that have helped me with parts and advise so far.
Some more pix attached of the work to date.
Phil
phil
Full Version: A few more update pix, indulge me
looks great! I know what you mean, I am anxious to drive mine too.
Looks beautiful!
Now you are over the hard part and the fun can start.
Putting pieces back onto a painted car is really satisfying.
John
Now you are over the hard part and the fun can start.
Putting pieces back onto a painted car is really satisfying.
John
Looks awesome. keep your head up... Your almost there
Looking great and you should have great pride in the project when completed. It shows what can be done with patience, gathering information, and thinking through various aspects of the project.
A job well done!!! You are to be congratulated!!!
One thing: "you have the steering column on the wrong side!!!!! lol, lol
A job well done!!! You are to be congratulated!!!
One thing: "you have the steering column on the wrong side!!!!! lol, lol
Looks fabulous!
Keep going, I'm emigrating to Aus in 3 years and I'll bring my 914 with me, but finish yours in the meantime and I'll meet up and we'll go for a blast.
So how many 914's in Australia then?? - Do I need to find another and import it when I move over for my 916 Project or are they plentiful!! (I doubt it!!)
Keep going, I'm emigrating to Aus in 3 years and I'll bring my 914 with me, but finish yours in the meantime and I'll meet up and we'll go for a blast.
So how many 914's in Australia then?? - Do I need to find another and import it when I move over for my 916 Project or are they plentiful!! (I doubt it!!)
That right hand drive is cool!
It may be taking some time but it looks like you are doing a terrific job. The car looks very nice. Keep up the good work.
You installed the steering wheel on the wrong side. 
But seriously, it's looking great! I love watching a 914 come together. Keep up the good work and keep us posted. MORE PICS!
But seriously, it's looking great! I love watching a 914 come together. Keep up the good work and keep us posted. MORE PICS!
I think you need to ship the car up to me and let me assemble it for you. I mostly guarantee that you would be able to drive it almost every time you visited the US! 
That is going to be one beautiful 914!
That is going to be one beautiful 914!
Fantastic work, finally a car with the steering wheel on the correct side, and yes the rest of the world does drive on the wrong side.
What is really spooky is that my car, if it ever gets finished, is going to be yellow with flares and black bumpers basically like yours but I did not bother changing the steering over as I am going to be doing lots of euro travel like I did before it came off the road.
Is it l13K yellow or is it a custom colour, if you have any pictures of it outside then I would love to see one.
Whereabouts in Aus are you...
Roman
What is really spooky is that my car, if it ever gets finished, is going to be yellow with flares and black bumpers basically like yours but I did not bother changing the steering over as I am going to be doing lots of euro travel like I did before it came off the road.
Is it l13K yellow or is it a custom colour, if you have any pictures of it outside then I would love to see one.
Whereabouts in Aus are you...
Roman
This car looks great!
Do you have an overall build thread? I'd love to see the work then went into conversion to wrong side drive.
Zach
Do you have an overall build thread? I'd love to see the work then went into conversion to wrong side drive.
Zach
QUOTE(Vacca Rabite @ Feb 10 2011, 02:50 PM) 
This car looks great!
Do you have an overall build thread? I'd love to see the work then went into conversion to wrong side drive.
Zach
Right side drive...
It doesn't look right because it is not on jackstands.
You guys are too kind and too funny.
I know of two 914's here in Sydney, Downundermans beautiful original -6 and mine. Over the 20+years of owning mine I've seen maybe 10 in total, some of them goers and some not.
We did the rhd conversion in 1988 (pre digital cameras) and didn't do any pictures. The beauty of the 914/early 911's is the central steering pinion which makes the conversion a cinch. Here's how we did it.
1. Pull the dash out.
2. Cut the bracket that holds the steering hub and lift it over to the right and weld it back up again.
3. Move the pedal assembly and brake master cylinder over after modifiying the right side of the firewall to accomadate them.
4. Cut a section from the fuel tank to allow it to drop into the smaller space for it because of the firewall changes (You lose about a gallon of tank capacity as a result).
5. Disassemble the dash, cut the dash up carefully into six sections, align the instrument binnacle and switch panels correctly in relation to the steering hub, weld it back up and have it recovered.
6. Re-fit the dash and you're now driving on the correct side of the road.
I would love to see more Aussie 914's so ship as many as you like when you come over, Rod.
Colour is one I matched as close as I could to what was in the hell hole, it's not a custom colour but I don't know the name of it. I suppose I should find out.
Thanks again to all for the positive comments, they're very helpful and keep me inspired to move forward with the project.
Phil
I know of two 914's here in Sydney, Downundermans beautiful original -6 and mine. Over the 20+years of owning mine I've seen maybe 10 in total, some of them goers and some not.
We did the rhd conversion in 1988 (pre digital cameras) and didn't do any pictures. The beauty of the 914/early 911's is the central steering pinion which makes the conversion a cinch. Here's how we did it.
1. Pull the dash out.
2. Cut the bracket that holds the steering hub and lift it over to the right and weld it back up again.
3. Move the pedal assembly and brake master cylinder over after modifiying the right side of the firewall to accomadate them.
4. Cut a section from the fuel tank to allow it to drop into the smaller space for it because of the firewall changes (You lose about a gallon of tank capacity as a result).
5. Disassemble the dash, cut the dash up carefully into six sections, align the instrument binnacle and switch panels correctly in relation to the steering hub, weld it back up and have it recovered.
6. Re-fit the dash and you're now driving on the correct side of the road.
I would love to see more Aussie 914's so ship as many as you like when you come over, Rod.
Colour is one I matched as close as I could to what was in the hell hole, it's not a custom colour but I don't know the name of it. I suppose I should find out.
Thanks again to all for the positive comments, they're very helpful and keep me inspired to move forward with the project.
Phil
QUOTE
There, that's better.
No... now his ignition switch is in the wrong place!
Fear not, we're going to put a work party together and fly out there. It's the middle of summer there now isn't it? I can get a whole group of guys from Minnesota to Maine to fly out there and help you put that puppy together.
Alright... who's in?
(that yellow appears to be Canary if you matched what you had)
QUOTE(Eric_Shea @ Feb 10 2011, 10:29 PM)
QUOTE
There, that's better.
No... now his ignition switch is in the wrong place!
Fear not, we're going to put a work party together and fly out there. It's the middle of summer there now isn't it? I can get a whole group of guys from Minnesota to Maine to fly out there and help you put that puppy together.
Alright... who's in?
(that yellow appears to be Canary if you matched what you had)
MN checkin in! Now there's a road trip!
QUOTE(phillstek @ Feb 10 2011, 06:51 PM)
You guys are too kind and too funny.
I know of two 914's here in Sydney, Downundermans beautiful original -6 and mine. Over the 20+years of owning mine I've seen maybe 10 in total, some of them goers and some not.
We did the rhd conversion in 1988 (pre digital cameras) and didn't do any pictures. The beauty of the 914/early 911's is the central steering pinion which makes the conversion a cinch. Here's how we did it.
1. Pull the dash out.
2. Cut the bracket that holds the steering hub and lift it over to the right and weld it back up again.
3. Move the pedal assembly and brake master cylinder over after modifiying the right side of the firewall to accomadate them.
4. Cut a section from the fuel tank to allow it to drop into the smaller space for it because of the firewall changes (You lose about a gallon of tank capacity as a result).
5. Disassemble the dash, cut the dash up carefully into six sections, align the instrument binnacle and switch panels correctly in relation to the steering hub, weld it back up and have it recovered.
6. Re-fit the dash and you're now driving on the correct side of the road.
I would love to see more Aussie 914's so ship as many as you like when you come over, Rod.
Colour is one I matched as close as I could to what was in the hell hole, it's not a custom colour but I don't know the name of it. I suppose I should find out.
Thanks again to all for the positive comments, they're very helpful and keep me inspired to move forward with the project.
Phil
Do you have your passenger engage the emergency brake, or do you get out of the car, walk around, open the door and do it yourself?
It certainly is summer here, last week we had a couple of +40 Celsius days so not much work was happening then.
If any of you want to come over and help you're more than welcome. I ain't joking.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention the handbrake...Notched the rightside inner long and mirrrored it.
Phil
If any of you want to come over and help you're more than welcome. I ain't joking.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention the handbrake...Notched the rightside inner long and mirrrored it.
Phil
QUOTE(phillstek @ Feb 10 2011, 06:51 PM)
You guys are too kind and too funny.
I know of two 914's here in Sydney, Downundermans beautiful original -6 and mine. Over the 20+years of owning mine I've seen maybe 10 in total, some of them goers and some not.
We did the rhd conversion in 1988 (pre digital cameras) and didn't do any pictures. The beauty of the 914/early 911's is the central steering pinion which makes the conversion a cinch. Here's how we did it.
1. Pull the dash out.
2. Cut the bracket that holds the steering hub and lift it over to the right and weld it back up again.
3. Move the pedal assembly and brake master cylinder over after modifiying the right side of the firewall to accomadate them.
4. Cut a section from the fuel tank to allow it to drop into the smaller space for it because of the firewall changes (You lose about a gallon of tank capacity as a result).
5. Disassemble the dash, cut the dash up carefully into six sections, align the instrument binnacle and switch panels correctly in relation to the steering hub, weld it back up and have it recovered.
6. Re-fit the dash and you're now driving on the correct side of the road.
I would love to see more Aussie 914's so ship as many as you like when you come over, Rod.
Colour is one I matched as close as I could to what was in the hell hole, it's not a custom colour but I don't know the name of it. I suppose I should find out.
Thanks again to all for the positive comments, they're very helpful and keep me inspired to move forward with the project.
Phil
Did you relocate the hell hole to the left side as well?
Is RSD a requirement to get the car titled in Aussieland? Or just something that you wanted to do to get the car you wanted?
Here stateside you almost never see right hand driver cars. The first time I drove the old CMP C15 I helped restore on the road here, it was intimidating as hell to be driving on the wrong side of the truck.
Zach
Here stateside you almost never see right hand driver cars. The first time I drove the old CMP C15 I helped restore on the road here, it was intimidating as hell to be driving on the wrong side of the truck.
Zach
Back in the '80's if you wanted to register the car it had to be rhd, The law is different now however, you can get "club/historic " rego on pre '75 lhd cars. Club or historic rego is meant to limit vehicle use to club runs, test drives and trips for maintainence and not as a DD.
Phil
p.s. Hellhole was not converted
Phil
p.s. Hellhole was not converted
QUOTE(phillstek @ Feb 11 2011, 01:49 PM)
Back in the '80's if you wanted to register the car it had to be rhd, The law is different now however, you can get "club/historic " rego on pre '75 lhd cars. Club or historic rego is meant to limit vehicle use to club runs, test drives and trips for maintainence and not as a DD.
Phil
p.s. Hellhole was not converted
It should be converted...move the battery to the passenger side to distribute the weight better....just saying.
Rich
QUOTE(r_towle @ Feb 12 2011, 05:55 AM)
QUOTE(phillstek @ Feb 11 2011, 01:49 PM)
Back in the '80's if you wanted to register the car it had to be rhd, The law is different now however, you can get "club/historic " rego on pre '75 lhd cars. Club or historic rego is meant to limit vehicle use to club runs, test drives and trips for maintainence and not as a DD.
Phil
p.s. Hellhole was not converted
It should be converted...move the battery to the passenger side to distribute the weight better....just saying.
Rich
No worries Rich, I didn't move it over because of all the relays and the harness on the left side of the hellhole. I am going to install the battery in the rear trunk as part of the electrical upgrades (the next stage of the rebuild).
Phil
QUOTE(phillstek @ Feb 12 2011, 06:58 AM)
QUOTE(r_towle @ Feb 12 2011, 05:55 AM)
QUOTE(phillstek @ Feb 11 2011, 01:49 PM)
Back in the '80's if you wanted to register the car it had to be rhd, The law is different now however, you can get "club/historic " rego on pre '75 lhd cars. Club or historic rego is meant to limit vehicle use to club runs, test drives and trips for maintainence and not as a DD.
Phil
p.s. Hellhole was not converted
It should be converted...move the battery to the passenger side to distribute the weight better....just saying.
Rich
No worries Rich, I didn't move it over because of all the relays and the harness on the left side of the hellhole. I am going to install the battery in the rear trunk as part of the electrical upgrades (the next stage of the rebuild).
Phil
Nice work, makes my yellow, Grey, Gold 75 look like a junker..lol
Keep it up, looking good. Are you still going to try and make the Hershey swap meet in 2 weeks? 
I thought everyone down under drove a blown AMX...
Car looks great. keep sending updates.
Progress has slowed considerably over the last six weeks or so as I've been very busy with work, which is irking me. Finally got the doors hung and aligned properly and installed the new wind shield. Picking up a whole bunch of parts when I'm in the U.S. next week and when I get back, it'll be on for young and old to finish it.
Thanks for the words of encouragement to everyone and more pictures will be posted soon.
Phil
QUOTE
Keep it up, looking good. Are you still going to try and make the Hershey swap meet in 2 weeks?
Thanks shoe, no I won't be there this year, I enquired about the flights from LA to Hershey and they want over $1000 return which is crazy money. I'm coming from Australia to LA and return for not much more than that. Originally it was my intention to go as I was also negotiating to buy Van914's black 3.0, but I got gazumped on that when someone else bought it. Besides, I don't think I could handle another 5 hours each way for a one day event. I'll leave it till next time I'm there and incorporate Hershey into an east coast road trip. I am going to the Slits event in Riverside though.
Thanks shoe, no I won't be there this year, I enquired about the flights from LA to Hershey and they want over $1000 return which is crazy money. I'm coming from Australia to LA and return for not much more than that. Originally it was my intention to go as I was also negotiating to buy Van914's black 3.0, but I got gazumped on that when someone else bought it. Besides, I don't think I could handle another 5 hours each way for a one day event. I'll leave it till next time I'm there and incorporate Hershey into an east coast road trip. I am going to the Slits event in Riverside though.
Thanks for the words of encouragement to everyone and more pictures will be posted soon.
Phil
Coming to Hershey?
QUOTE
I enquired about the flights from LA to Hershey and they want over $1000 return which is crazy money. I'm coming from Australia to LA and return for not much more than that. Originally it was my intention to go as I was also negotiating to buy Van914's black 3.0, but I got gazumped on that when someone else bought it. Besides, I don't think I could handle another 5 hours each way for a one day event. I'll leave it till next time I'm there and incorporate Hershey into an east coast road trip. I am going to the Slits event in Riverside though.
Unfortunately, I'm not going to make it to Hershey this year.
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