Okay so a report on my 914. Drove it first to golf this morning. No problems there. Tee'd off a little before 8 so still nice & cool. Driving from there to work it was warmer as it was around 12:30. It was fine on the highway only getting up to 180 or so. Once I hit town with stop & go traffic. I creeped up to 210 which my car has never gotten over 200 even in the hottest weather. I knew my fans weren't kicking on. I got to work fine without it going past 210. Opened up the front trunk with my car running at 210 & no fans going. Both are plugged in separately so didn't think they were tied together. Used a cordless drill battery to see if the fans were actually working. One was dead & one worked. I have 10" fans. After plugging the working one back in it came on fine with the other out of the picture. Went down to the auto parts store for a new fan. Pulled a 12" out & there was just enough room for it. So I installed a 12" fan. Giving me one 10" & one 12" fan. Bam not going over 195 now even in stop & go. Let it idle for a bit too & once the fans kick on around 190 it doesn't go any higher. So problem solved there

So next on my list. I really like having the space for my feet without the center console in. Considering making a new custom center console. Debating what I want to do in front of the shifter. I kinda like ending it down low & having a round front just past the shifter. Plus adding a little height to the arm rest. It is to low for me so really does't count as an arm rest. I want to make it taller but not go as close to the shifter. Thinking of getting it closer to 8" at max height. Then going no more than 12" from the back pad. Going to do some testing with height & how close it is to the shifter. Don't want something that will affect my shifting in any way. So 8" may be to tall but the depth will matter to. With my suby & cable shift setup. I also need it to have a good 1"-1 1/2" clearance on the bottom. I do have an AFR gauge & a working clock I would need to find homes for. Also considering adding a small 6" sub up front if I keep it closer to the stock center console setup. Weighing all my options & open to other's setups. If you;ve made a custom center console setup. Please feel free to share here

Great to hear you solved your fan problem- thought about giving you some tips last night but knew you'd have it figured out before too long, and now you've got a big 12 inch in there to bat for you! It's about time you got some quality seat time after your woes at WCR- the body work session at the hotel was some great education for me and others as well. Looking forward to seeing you at RRC!

I too like driving the car without the console. I took the one out of my 911. My restoration project wont have one either.

No design ideas though .............. Sorry

I'm going to add an onboard AFR to my DD. So it might change my mind. The only thing that comes to mind is the two gauge gadget that folks have replaced the ashtray with.

Yeah looking forward to Red Rocks. Hoping to get my A/C all working by then but we'll see. Probably stick my stock center console back in for now. Going to get some wood to play around with idea's though.

I made this back in the 70's. Had the gauges in a bracket that was attached to the bottom of the dash. It was good for holding road sodas and your feet had some breathing room....especially needed when wearing winter boots. Now that I mainly drive in the good weather the center console is back in.Click to view attachment

.............this made me think of the thread that discussed adding a light in the cabin that shows when fan is on/off

Don't remember that thread but not a bad idea. A small little LED that hides in a guage. Oh maybe let my high beam dbl as a fan light

Yep, that was me. Just got around to buying a LED green light. Remember to locate the light so when in darkness so you won't be blinded when driving.
Hey Jamie, I forgot you are adding AC. LMK if you want to swap notes. Kent

Yep that red switch lit when the fan was on. It also allowed me to have the fan on and throttle back the amount of air coming in by closing the damper. Had to have it for winter driving in the city....had two fans so I would be warm on NE 0 degree days and I could get the windows to defrost sort of. Fond memories.

High Beam indicator is required in Texas for inspection - not sure about Oregon and there is no inspection where I live in Colorado (other than VIN when you register the car).

I wouldn't ditch the high beam indicator. WAs just thinking might be able to use it to dbl up. Hardly use my high beams. Fans would probably only be in use during the day. Plus it is a really small light in my Speedhut gauges. Not really necessary to have but kinda like the idea

The 75-76 plastic gauge frame has idiot lights that 70-74 steel frames don't. I have a Nissan cluster so I used two of the many spare warning lights to show when the 2 fans are on. Connected to the fan relays. They make panel mount leds that would work as indicators.

The 70-72 cubby hole / half center console isn't too bad when pulled back.

The 916 has a nice gauge holder that drops down from the lower dash pad.

I'll make a full center console someday after the car is driving, and I decide which of the following items will be installed with it; 8" tablet, subwoofer, amp, stereo, open storage, hidden storage, cup holders, switches.

My foot rubbed a hole in the carpet already, so I'm seriously looking into moving the gas pedal over 1" and bending the brake pedal 1".

1/2" particle board, fits CDs because it's that old...

Okay took a nice drive out to the coast for work today. Well sort of. Needed to drop something off small so decided to stretch the legs on the 914. Was a nice drive out & back. My idle has been running a bit high at around 1500 rpm. Though my cable was getting hung up. Played around with it some. Nothing changed so started checking other things. Found a vacumn line with no hose on it. Covered it with my finger & wall. Idle drops back to 900. Must has snagged the little rubber cap when I was messing with it the other day. Put another on & all is well.

On another note I was getting parts for my little nissan crew cab truck I picked up. Going to be my sons once I finish fixing the front end. Just need to install the new grill & corner lights. Anyway while I was there I saw a nice looking pair of seats. Really sat low to the ground. I though hey maybe they could work in my 914. Definitely more comfortable & hug my rear better . Set them in my car & they really sat a good 6" higher than stock. This was with the mounts on it which sit up higher. I take it back inside & ask how much. Guy says $300 so I say sorry not worth that to me. Kinda doubt I can make them work. Guy says it's saturday & the boss is gone. What do you want to pay? I say $20 & the guy laughs. So I say okay I really don't know if I can make them work. For $150 I am willing to try. Anymore than that & I won't waste my time trying. He agree's so I take them home. Took the sliders off it & it really drops it quite a bit. I am going to add a little metal as the tracks are 14 1/4" on the 914 bolt to bolt (side to side). The new seat is 16 1/4" side to side. So I'll add a metal strip up front that spans side to side. The rear the seat drops through so I will just weld a tab extending each side an inch. Here are some pics of the seat from different angles & in the car. Won't fit in the back pad so think I may carpet the firewall. Time will tell once I get it to work I will see what I like.

Seats are out of an MX-5 & are really light

couple more. Damn I need to resize these. To dang big

"Okay took a nice drive out to the coast for work today."

Which way, Newport or Walport?

I'm going to have to pay you a visit, and then maybe we take the Walport road up to Mary's Peak.

remove the rear pad, cover bulkhead/firewall with grey/black Perlon.
more lightness and more room

Wills (movequick) teener looks pretty damn sharp with the perlon back pad. Check it out, Jamie.

Makes for a lot more room in there

honda del sol perhaps?

I love that run to Waldport. The drive up the Alsea is just sweet. I am up for that run whenever you are. I drove to Newport for work yesterday. Still a decent drive but a lot more traffic than the run up the Alsea to Waldport

Yeah I have seen Wills car up close. I don't mind the look at all of no backpad & using the Perlon. May just move my backpad up a couple inches to start & see how it goes. I still need to get the 914 rails in place & see how I like it. I liked the feel of it just sitting in place. I think I'll even leave the little seat belt guide as my belt doesn't retract worth a crap anyway. So it would help keep it in place a little better. I'll update with more pics when I get the rails on.

Spent an hour tonight messing with the base on the new seat. Looks like I will be able to just run a piece of 3/16 x1" metal from side to side. Then bolt the 914 seat rails to those. Didn't have the drill bits needed to get through the metal. So going to pick some up tomorrow. The one I did have got dull a little over half way through. As low as this one sits it is still higher than the stock seat will be. The seat while having a pretty low profile is bigger in every facet. The bottom is a longer under the legs. The back is also taller. Time will tell if I really like it. I plan to have the drivers side finished tomorrow night. I'll get some pics up then

Friday I am going on a drive with the local PCA chapter. I'll get a good 3 hours of seat time with some twists. So should give me a good idea if I will like it or not.

You could always do this...

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=1420224

I fit the stock seat adjuster to the stock rails and just started measuring. Couple hours of measuring and welding and it was done...

Okay here are some pics of how I attached the 914 seat rails. Pretty simple really. Although I did have the left rail on backwords. So had to swap that so my seat would actually go on the track

I'll see how it goes this week with it. It is definitely more comfortable but does sit higher. My shifter is pretty low & was right next to my knee. Now it is a little below my knee. So If I keep the seat I will be moving my shifter up a couple inches. Something I was considering doing anyway.

Looks good.

Seats look great, I would have thought seats with a base that tall would sit up too high I was wrong, those look great!

BTW when my cars back on the road the first drive is HWY 34 between Philomath and Waldport, love those twisty bits!

Nice! You can move the shifter assembly up with a couple of brackets from Lowe's (DB Cooper's son did it), or you can get a shift rod extender and just extend the rod by that much. The extender will increase your shift throw a bit. There are bent and straight versions on e-bay for the MR2 but make sure you DON'T get the aluminum ones as they will eventually break. Let me know if you need info on the brackets.

Not sure of any specific brackets. I was going to use some wood to test different heights. Then do something more solid. I also realized I had my seat in the middle position using the side lever. Which the side lever is about useless. This seat is wider so the pull to recline the seat back. Sits directly above the lever. I pulled the seat almost out to get it & moved it down to it's lowest point in front. That alone helped with my shifter. It isn't as comfortable though so I think it will go back to the center level once I change my shifter. Which of course will force me to do something different for my center console. Something I have plans for anyway

Okay so made a few changes. One was with my new seat I needed to change my shifter. Seats sits up just a bit higher. Didn't love where my shifter was before. With the new seat just made it worse. Picked up some angle iron with lots of holes to test things out. Moved it up by a little over 2" & moved it right a good inch. The combination was just right I think. Going to test it out for a while & maybe try another location or 2. Another nice thing with the seat was it has the seat belt receptor on the seat itself. With it in the stock spot my seat hung up on it a bit. So moving it to the seat took care of that problem. Plus made it nicer as the seat belt moves with the seat now. The pics are nothing special but should show what I did okay. Obviously my center console will need changed.

I already knew that so no surprise there. Once I am sure I like the shifter where it is. I will build a center armrest console. Still don't plan to have a true center console with the gauges.

Added the passenger seat tonight. Taking it with the wife up to Seqium WA tomorrow. I'll log a good 10-11 hours overall. So we'll see if my wife likes the new seat. I also bought some black perlon carpet to possibly do the firewall. If the seats stay that will be the next step. I also started messing with the center console. Built a box that moved the center arm rest up about 6" . Now it is a real arm rest. I think height wise it is good. A little closer tot he shifter than I would like. Really only because the back pad is still in there. Once that is removed the center cushion will move back a few more inches. I can shift right now with no problem. Still a little further back will be just right. I'll take some pics tomorrow. Now I'm heading to bed. Been a long day

Great job Jaime! I always enjoy your posts and get some great ideas from your hard work. Wish I could see the car with the improvements at RRC but I'm still laid up but should be set for the next WCR in the spring. Have fun with your new improvements and I'll check em out next time!

Jaime,
I can assume you meant black PERLON carpet. I hate auto correct when typing on forums.

You would be correct sir . I went & fixed it. So went for it. Removed my back pad & installed the Perlon carpet. Didn't turn out to badly & definitely gives a little more space around the seats. My center cushion setup is more a temporary one. Still deciding what I want to do with the center console. Thats going to look like crap for the car show tomorrow but I am done today. Going to load up & hit the road in a n hour or so. Anyway here are some pics with my seat which actually recline . Of course you need to move the seat forward to recline . Anyway the seats are comfortable & really grab you. Not even much heavier than stock. I'll weigh them sometime just for info. I think the seats were out of a 2004 Miata MX-5. The seat adjustor sit under the seat & back about 2". So you have to reach under a bit. Works great though

Looks great!

Man after looking at A&P Mech thread on his center console. Realized I never updated mine when I finished it. I still plan to add a forward portion to it & connect to the underside of the day. I'll be adding a spot for my phone to sit in front of the lower dash where GPS can be seen pretty easily. Plus keep it in place. As well as cup holder & to hold my fuel pressure guage.

With the cable's moving steadily up from the firewall to the shifter. I made 2 compartments in my console. Keeps things in place better. Plus I have a deeper one where I have the space. The forward one couldn't be as deep. Just did the Perlon carleton it which is what I did to replace my back pad. I also kept it easy as I used my stock center cushion. Just added on piece of wood on the front to hold it in place. Simple & very functional. While keeping a little bit of a stock piece with it . Also the center cushion is in much better spot to actually use. My elbow can rest on it comfortably

Hell ya , perfect foe my Jeep

I built this raised center console that opens for storage. It's more comfortable driving and shifting with my right arm supported.
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment