"Why go with a vinyl that won't match your seats when the original pattern is readily available and cheap?"

My seats are smooth leatherette, so I'm not concerned about the dash not matching them. I just wanted to try something a little different, and was even thinking of dying it charcoal to bring in the carpet color for a little contrast. If I don't like the look, it's easy enough to change it back to the stock material.

Thanks for the input and kind words on the project. I can't wait to see the final result too. I'm shooting to have it done by August for a show at the local Porsche dealer.

Picked up a set of Uniroyal tires today. They are 185/65R15 Tiger Paws.

The rims definitely look better on the car with the tires mounted!

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Installed the rear trunk lid and hung the doors. The doors still need some minor adjusting to get the gaps correct, but over all the look pretty good.

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I also continued on the dash install.

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This restoration is off the scale. Beautiful detailed work.

I can't get over how much I love this color on a 914! I passed a new gold Caddy coupe on the way to work this morning and realized you don't see many late model cars in gold. It was truly hideous. The color itself was much more muted and bland than the Porsche color, but I think it was also a matter of context. I think that outrageous colors bring out the vibe of cars from the '60s and '70s.

And your attention to detail is incredible.

I see COTM in your future!

Spectacular restoration.

Thanks everyone for all the praises. This project certainly has been an adventure. Today while I was trying to get the passenger door to fit better, I noticed a bit of an issue with the rear quarter panel.

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Driver's side:

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I had the painter come over and take a look. I'm not sure what to do at this stage of the restoration. The panel looks like it is going to have to be taken down to bare metal and shrunk to pull in the fender in the area of the wheel opening. It appears to be about an 1/4" further out than the driver's side. The door will also need to be re-worked.

That is a huge bummer that the painter/repair shop did not catch that before color went on. But the paint is fresh and they should have no trouble matching that. Just a pain in the butt to have to go through that at this stage of the game. Please keep us posted.

I've decided to leave the body alone for now. I hate the fact that the problem was missed, but it'll have to do. I've got too much invested in paint and body already between the two shops, and can't justify the cost of any more at this time.

I have been plugging away at putting the car back together. I worked on the doors a bit, and installed the sail panel vinyl. While doing so, I found that the holes for the lower trim on the passenger side were slightly high so the trim does not sit right on the body line.

Over all it's looking pretty good.

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Last week I installed the blower unit and hooked up the control cables and hoses.

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I assume that you realize that even with the "flaws" you have pointed out, you will still own one of the finest 914s on the planet.

If the pictures are truly representative, you will be the only one to ever notice either of them (well, actually you screwed that up when you told all of us).

I hope that you are having as much fun building it as I am watching it. Great work!

[/quote]
I assume that you realize that even with the "flaws" you have pointed out, you will still own one of the finest 914s on the planet.

If the pictures are truly representative, you will be the only one to ever notice either of them (well, actually you screwed that up when you told all of us).

I hope that you are having as much fun building it as I am watching it. Great work!
[/quote]

Thanks for the kind words. I am having fun, for the most part. Definitely can be frustrating though. It will more fun once I get the engine in and running.

I do realize pointing out the flaws can have drawbacks, but if it helps out someone catch errors on their restoration, that's a good thing.

Terrific work and quality. I agree that sharing the very minor issues that arise while building these cars will give others a heads up as they work on their cars. Your car is looking beautiful.

Amazing job So much fun putting them back together!!!

Yesterday, after receiving a third defective shift linkage boot. I decided to find a suitable alternative. I went to a local motorcylce shop an purchaced an aftermarket ATV axle boot and cut it down to fit. It's not concors, but I think it should work just fine.

Sorry for the couple blurry pictures.

Boots that came defective:
1st boot
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2nd boot
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2nd boot
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3rd boot
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Modified ATV Axle Boot:

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Wow your solution looks way better than any of those others ones ever could. Nice work.

Today, I installed the gas tank and put the front trunk lid on. The front lid is going to need some more adjusting. I also rolled it outside with out it being on a stand for the first time since Sept 2012.

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do you recall brand/size of the axle boot you bought?

Love the color, and am really impressed with the work your doing. It looks great outside in the sun. Congrats!

Gambit Power ATV axle kit # 13-E6336

Not sure if the part number is correct. I'll have to double check in a few days.

I sent the car back to the body shop today to take care of the passenger side quarter panel issue and work on the drivers' side headlight bucket. It needed some tweaking. The headlight surround would hit the front of the bucket when lowered.

Since the car was gone, I decided to work on installing the roof seals and mouse fur.


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Car is looking fantastic!
I believe that your color is the original color of mine (that I just finsihed painting with Primer yesterday....).

If you need some of the hose that drains water from your front air vent box, I bought a roll from Home Depot that works perfectly and even looks sort-of original.
I am in North Longmont. You are welcome to it and you can have a look at my project if you stop by.

Keep up the great work!

outstanding, I simply cannot wait to see this in person.

I'm just curious.... what made you decide to send it back to the body shop? I'm aware of the body line that you showed of the door and rear quarter out what appeared to be a small amount. Was it quiet noticeable if you were looking at the car? Did the gaps not match up? Or just one of those things you couldn't live with knowing? Fantastic thread. Thank you for taking the time to post such nice photo's. It's a beautiful car.

I decided to send it back for, as mentioned above, knowing it was there. I've spent a stupid amount of money on this car and am not comfortable knowing it's not as good as it should be for the amount spent. Once the value on 914s appreciate, I'd rather have one with the least amount of flaws possible. (That is, if I decide to sell it!)

I dropped off the snow plow valance to the shop today, and they had already taken care of improving the door gaps on the passenger side, and were working on trying to move in the quarter panel. They are going to try to shorten the inner brace first, before doing anything drastic.

For those of you who live close and can't wait to see the car in person, I may be calling on you to help install the motor.

You cant get much closer than me (well maybe Brant by a couple of blocks).
Let us know. And let me know if there are any tools that you need.
I have basically everything, like the flywheel lock tool or the engine stand yoke.

Yup, and I'm just a little further south in Erie.

Could use the socket to tighten the ball joint castle nuts.

I didnt know there was such a thing as I havent changed ball joints yet.
Why would it need to be a special socket?

This is the tool that is supposed to be used to install/remove the castle nut holding the ball joint into the control arm. They apparently need to be torqued to 200+ ft/lbs.

I read someplace here that people have used similar tool designed for 4x4 suspensions.

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Since the car was still out, I worked on the motor a bit and decided to clean up the SS heat exchanges and install them. I have to find the correct heater tubes, or find some sort of 55mm to 60mm adapter to make the silicon ones work.

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I was also wondering if I have the correct air cleaner for my car. It has what looks like a pre-heat tube on it. I don't know where the tube would hook to though.

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The car is coming back tomorrow, and I should be able to get back to work on it next week.

your car is Beautiful

on the roof seals, where the windows roll up, are those Mikey's or OEM? can I see a pic at the trimmed end?

The seals are NOS. I got them from Carquip in Boulder CO about two years ago. I have not trimmed them yet, so I do not have any pictures to show you at the moment. I'll try to remember to send you some once I get the door glass in and fit the roof.

Thanks for the complement on the car. I think it is coming out pretty good.

Mark (914rubber.com) sells the heater hoses.

I've peeked into this a few times but just read through the entire thread- this is going to be a brand new (better that factory!) car when it's done! The level of attention is incredible and I have to constantly remind myself that mine isn't going for this level of perfection- it's hard to swallow after seeing your work. Great job, hope to see you at RRC this fall!

Well it appears I have a 72 air cleaner, and will have to find an earlier one.

My '71 does not have the pre heater tube and parts

That's what I thought too. Although, while searching for 71 air cleaners, I'm finding that some have a pre-heat tube. I noticed that the 71 that dlee6204 just posted pictures of does not have one either. Looking at my engine number (W0023958), it looks to be a 1970. So, now I'm not sure if I have the wrong air cleaner or the wrong tins.

Bob, check out the Originality thread:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=57169

posts 9, 10, 11 of Pat Garvey's engine bay may help..

Thanks. I had seen Pats' pictures. That's were I found out the one if have must be for a 72, and I have it on backwards.

Karl (Ranger Bob is a Nick Name)

I got the car back a couple days ago, and the passenger side rear panel fit and door gaps are much better.

A couple weeks ago Mark from 914 Rubber sent me a passenger side carpet piece to replace the one missing the grommets, only to find out that I was originally sent the wrong carpet kit. I was sent the domestic loop kit and not the German one that was ordered. He quickly sent out the correct kit, and I worked on switching them out today. He's a great guy and provides superior customer service! However, I did have to do some tweaking to make it fit better in an early car.

Being a bit of a detail junky, I ordered an extra yard of the same carpet from an upholstery supplier to fully cover the rear half of the pan and tunnel. It's not a stock look I know, I just didn't like the look of the vinyl. I still have to cut the rears, and sew some binding to it to match the front. I may also, get some more to do the trunks.

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Your building a Lonely Man's Car there, Bob. Your going to shame the rest of us so badly we'll have no choice but to avoid you!

Keep up the good work!

The ACC Concours is June 7th. Do you think it will be ready?

http://www.abilityconnectioncolorado.org/colorado-concours/

Ferg

It'd be tough. Not sure I'll even be ready for Ed Carrolls' Concours/show in August. But I'm working as quick as I can despite the never ending steps backwards.

Today I continued on the carpet, and messed with installing a replacement turn signal assembly.

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The steering wheel will not sit all the way down. It's off a 73, and I'm not sure if there is a difference with the rear of the wheel that would cause the gap. Any ideas?

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I think I recall that there is a difference; the wheel and such need to be from a 70-71.

--DD

Definitely a difference from the 1971 steering wheel and later ones (like yours). Mine is from a 71 and it definitely has a longer "collar" than what your pic shows. That's the difference I believe. There is no gap like yours, when my steering wheel is installed.

I added a little more detail to the carpet today, and tracked down the correct steering wheel.

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It needs to be painted then sent off to get wrapped in new leather.


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Looking beautiful. Have that wheel double wrapped.

Bob, your car is beautiful.

OK so keep in mind that I have a totally imperfect car that could never be returned to stock and I am in NO WAY criticizing yours. But if it's going to be in a concours, is the dash face vinyl material correct? It looks like the thick brick kind on my '75.

Just trying to help....maybe it's OK to have it like that...maybe I'm wrong...and it may have already been discussed. It's just soooo perfect I thought I'd ask.

Chris,

Originally, I just wanted to have a very nice #2 car, but then thought about making it concours. I dropped that idea since it's not a numbers matching car, and I have made enough tweaks to the car, such as the vinyl you pointed out throughout the project that it probably wouldn't qualify anyway. Although, there is nothing that can't be swapped out for the correct part/materials down the road. For now, I'm just trying to make it the best 914 I can, while learning what I can do better for the next one.

Thanks

Karl