William, how did you strip your car to metal? By hand, sandblast, or acid?

Check out my prior restoration threads. Search for my postings. Here is where she stands at the end of today.

The front suspension is basically finished. Richard at Autobahn Performance is doing a fantastic job.

Hard brake lines are in front and rear. Tomorrow should see most of the rear suspension in place. Maybe back on the ground by Friday.

People come into the shop and look at my car upside down and ask: what kind of car is that?

Things are really moving along now.

Here is the stuff being made ready for tomorrow!

More goodies staged for installation.

wow, that is going to be a nice 914....I see you went with Chucks bushings , j/k

Last one for today. More to come.

Great project, what is the plan for the car as far as usage?
Also why have you waited to paint the rest of the body?
Again, Great looking 914.
I am working on mine, just not as far along. You are covering some of the points I have been thinking about with your posts, thanks for the help.

Paint shop in next door. Jim at A Tech Professional Auto Body wanted the car to be a roller to paint the rest of the car. Made the painting easier for him. This way, nothing was painted that should not have been painted. My goal was to make it look like it came from the factory. Only we know better. Useage? Drive the hell out of it!!!

QUOTE (william harris @ Apr 6 2005, 05:51 PM)

Useage? Drive the hell out of it!!!

Thats what they are for!!!!

Great job William. What a fantastic car you can be proud of. It is great to see such a first rate restoration.

Thanks Greg, your steel outer rocker covers will hopefully be one of the last items buttoned up next week. I need to e-mail you, or call, about various installation kits to replace the bolts, rubber donuts, etc. for front and rear valance panels, etc. Thanks for shipping so promptly, the painted pieces were shown a few pages back.

QUOTE (william harris @ Apr 6 2005, 06:51 PM)

My goal was to make it look like it came from the factory.

Mine to.

Glad I could assist in some small way, but you're the one who deserves the thanks for doing a real restoration. I can't wait to see the finished product.

maybe someday ill get to do that to mine, right now im making it nice enough to drive it for five or so years until i have a bigger garage and ill get a rotis and do it that way. MAN, now i cant wait to take it BACK apart..and its not even together yet. NICE work.

Well done...When do you think you'll have her on the road again?

My goal is to be driving this summer. That depends on the engine build, tranny refurb and then the interior work. I plan on completely restoring the interior, but I may put that off until the winter and just drive it as is.

You need to just get it back on the road asap. It will give you the high to keep going with it. Too many projects never make it back on the road and owners get 914 burnout.

IMO, Paul

So the front end of the car is entirely done. I was there around 5:30 as Richard was bolting on the gravel shield under the steering rack. Here's what it looks like.

Obviously, that picture is the rear suspension, staged and ready to go. Next.

The plan is to install the rear suspension tomorrow and bolt on the wheels and the car is a roller again.

There's the front end. Thats Richard with his back to the camera, hard at work while I annoy him taking pictures.

I pointed out to him that he was using the wrong hardware for the gravel shield, he was using 17mm allen bolts (like on a 911) so he checked the factory manual, saw I was right (the old bolts were in the zip lock bag tagged "gravel shield bolts") and put new bolts in later. Hey, don't want some concours wennie taking points off for wrong hardware.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, who comes into the shop says "that 914 is better than new." That was the goal.

Hey, I got Richard in that last shot, on the phone with his wife who wanted to know why he wasn't on his way home to New Hampshire yet!!!

Richard said he really enjoyed being able to assemble the suspension with the car on the rotissiere. THANKS CHRIS FOLEY!!!

I got Richard to pose for this last one. Tommorrow should see the Fuchs on the ground.

That looks real good William!
I like seeing the suspension going on with the car upside down.
Soon, while you are installing the interior I'll be working on the engine.

William, you suck and your car is uglee too.

OK, jealousy over for the most part - that is gonna be one damn sweet ride!

Chris: I love it when a plan comes together. Thanks for tuning in. You have played an incredibly large role in this project.

Almost done, Richard continues to clean, detail and fine tune.

A local 914 club member volunteered to drop off some steel wheels for the remainder of the paint job. Guess it will roll next door today.

I can't believe these suspension pieces were in my garage for 18 months, hanging on the wall.

Richard needs to finish up rear hubs to hold the new wheel bearings in place. Notice how he has touched up and detailed everything.

Next.

Right after these pictures were taken, the car was flipped over.

Last picture for now.

William...its too purdy to put on the ground. You will never see that underbelly again...

Ah the memories...

Yeah, Jeff, but as soon as I get it home the main harness that you repaired for me will go back in. Any thoughts on how to protect the harness as I feed in back thru the tunnel and out the rear firewall? I'm thinking about wrapping it in plastic and then using masking tape.

Better than a new car? Hell yah!

Sounds good....can't offer any advice though, I have never put one back in. SirAndy has, maybe he has input, I will bet its a tight fit so you wouldnt be able to wrap too much thickness and still get it installed. If it gets scuffed, clean it up with SimpleGreen or any liquid soap.

Big, big progress this week. The suspension, fuel lines, brake lines, brakes, etc. etc. are back in. The car is now a roller for the first time in a long, long time. This is what I saw when I first walked into the shop around 5:00 p.m.

Peter Falabella, a club member from Ipswich, MA (who I have talked to but never met) came by Autobahn Performance today and left his steel wheels so the car could continue its paint job (and leave my Fuchs safely in my garage). Thanks Peter By the way, Peter is doing an electric motor conversion on his 914 project.

As you can see from the last picture, you must leave one wheel off on the rear for clearance on the rotissiere. After some suspension tweeking, it was time to drop the car back on the ground.

So we unbolted the rotissere and down she came. Man, what a day.

Next week the remainder of the paint job will be done. We need a painter smilie.

I am already planning the process for reinstalling the interior. I'm gonna spend a small fortune for all the rubber pieces. Partsman, Partsman, calling Partsman