Busy weekend for me knocking out some loose ends. I'm doing everything I can to avoid sanding primer right now . So, I decided to tackle a few different pieces laying around the garage to get the finished and put them up out of the way.

Before I get into that, I got some goodies in the mail. New rotors & pads. The rotors I found on ebay at a really sweet price. One set was NOS and the others were just priced well. The pads are from PMB. I also have a new brake hardline kit (not pictured).



Went ahead and seam sealed my door jambs too:





Then I went about finishing up with the dashboard. I welded the two halves back together in an earlier post but I still needed to fix where the radio hole was enlarged. I also threw some body filler over the welds to try to smooth it. I didn't go crazy with the dash as it will all be covered up anyways.

Here's the dash & fuel tank getting ready for some master series primer:


I can't read German, but found a secret message on the dash:


I had a quart of single stage black paint mixed up for these pieces. I went with shopline (JAU) and it ran about $40 a quart. I asked the shop to flatten the paint down to satin for me, but somehow ended up with a pretty glossy finish. Oh well... Not worth doing over.







Next up was finishing up the rocker covers, bumper valences and exhaust heat shield. These pieces were all pretty mangled and I spent a good bit of time beating them straight and making sure they fit the car well. They are not perfect, but I think for their purpose they'll do just fine. Unfortunately, the front valence was really mangled and while I have it straightened out, it's still pretty ugly. Not sure if I'm going to be able to salvage it with my skills.

I wanted to coat these pieces in something more durable than the factory black so I opted for UPOL raptor liner in black as I have experience shooting this product. It mixes 3:1 and I thinned it out 3:1:1. This is a little thinner than they recommend, but I shot it out of my HVLP with no issues and I'm very, very pleased with the texture. Just what I was looking for.







Lastly, I riveted the exhaust shield back in place using 3/16" aluminum rivets. I'm glad to have this piece back on the car and off the garage floor.







Unfortunately, I'm going to have to get back to sanding soon and finish up the front end so I can get 2K on it. Still need to spray the engine bay and trunk in color, too. One of these days...

It's been a few days and time to update this thread. First up, small item but took a bit of effort. New rear bearings are in the trailing arms and the bearing caps are installed. Still have to press in the hubs.



Next up, the big update. The whole car is officially in 2K primer. Except the rear trunk lid, I still haven't gotten around to fixing the tin-canning. I finished sanding the poly primer up to 220 grit and sprayed everything that was still in white epoxy. Here are some shots during primer and afterwords. I put on two wet coats and will sand this up to 600 before sealer & color.







Stowed back away:


I'm going to try and get the engine bay and trunk sprayed in blue this weekend if the weather co-operates. That would be a big push forward for me and inch me closer to my goal of spraying the car at the end of July.

Loving the progress. This looks fantastic!

Today, I am a happy camper. I finished spraying Mexico Blue "inside" the car. Just the engine bay and trunk were left, but those felt like huge obstacles for a while now. When I was prepping, I wasn't sure how everything was going to turn out. In fact, I bought some more tint-able raptor liner to spray the engine bay and trunk floor with after seeing how rough the primer was in some places.



After spraying color, I decided that despite the flaws, it still looks pretty good. I think I'm going to hold off on the raptor liner and live with the paint for now. I sprayed two medium wet coats. I still can't get over how nicely this PPG DCC lays down. Really, really great paint.











I did only shoot myself in the foot once today. Before spraying color in the engine bay, I wanted to lay down some epoxy primer to promote adhesion. Obviously, I thinned the epoxy too much and ended up with a few runs that now show through under the blue paint. I was pretty pissed at myself about it, but I have to keep reminding myself that it's just the engine bay and a lot of things will be covered up.

You can see one of the runs in the upper left corner:


After I finished spraying the paint, I decided it was time to take all of the old masking off and admire my work for a few minutes. I think I needed to see how much I've done so far to really believe it. It's easy to forget what all has been accomplished when it gets covered right back up with masking plastic.





Here are a couple of reflection shots to show just how great this DCC is laying down. I am not a painter and have no real experience other than reading forums and watching YouTube videos. I've had really great luck with this stuff and my Devilbiss StartingLine gun. Would highly recommend.





Minimal orange peel:


Also, while I was out I had to play with my dash and make sure everything still fit right after joining the two halves back together.



I'm going to focus on some reassembly for the next couple of days before I start sanding on the 2K. I may also play with polishing up my 2L fuchs. Stay tuned, more to come.

The trunk and engine bay turned out great! Great job.

Terrific build thread and very nice work. I love the Mexico Blue. You definitely deserve a beer for that.

Thanks, gents. It feels good to have all of the interior paint finally knocked out. Big step forward in the right direction.

Wow - it's been a minute since my last update. Life has definitely gotten in the way of my project but I can't complain. A month ago I proposed to my now-fiance. We've also been preparing for our move to L.A. in September. So, all of the distractions that come with engagements and cross-country moves have taken over my life for the last six weeks or so. Needless to say, the 914 has been a little neglected.

Any free time I've found has been spent sanding, sanding and doing more sanding to get this thing ready for color before we move. I don't want to have to deal with the hassles of VOC paint compliance in CA.

I decided to focus on getting as many panels as I could prepped and painted before working on the body itself. One thing I definitely under-estimated was just how many coats of primer & sanding it takes to get a perfectly flat & smooth surface. I think I ended up shooting between 6-8 coats on the doors and hoods, sanding every 2-3 coats. I've used Eastwood's 2K primer this whole time and I have to say it's pretty good stuff. It mixes and sprays well as long as you thin it 5-10%. It sands super easy and acts as its own guide coat.

After 2K, I worked my way from 240 grit (dry) up to 320 (wet) and then 400 (wet). I used soft sander blocks and a meguiars foam sanding pad for the final sand. I also gave everything a once-over with a light gray "finish" scotch-brite pad before spraying color. I would recommend spending the extra $$ and getting good quality 3M sandpaper. I used wax & grease removed to occasionally wet the panel and check for any issues.

Here are some shots of various panels in process:





Before spraying the hood, I wanted to go ahead and spray the underside and have it done so that I could lay the hood flat and spray how it will sit on the car. I seam sealed some of the ribbing to the skin to help with support / flutter. I put two coats on all of the ribbing and just lightly blew color on the inside panels. I am planning on cutting matching carpet and adhering it to the cut out sections on the bottom side of the hood.



When everything was ready for color, I took the pieces out to my uncle's shop about 30 minutes away from me. He has built a make shift paint booth in his shop for his Willys truck project. He's offered to let me use the space to spray my project as well.





I followed the advice of my local paint shop and sprayed a coat of PPG Urethane Sealer in white immediately before spraying color. Frankly, I wish I would have not done this. The PPG product was tough to lay down flat and I ended up having to come back and sand before color. In the future, I think I will just spray some thinned epoxy primer immediately before color. I've had pretty good luck getting my Eastwood epoxy primer to lay down flat.

As a reminder, I am using PPG DCC concept single stage acrylic urethane paint. I am mixing 4:2:1 with DT reducer and DCX hardener. I am spraying out of a Devilbiss starting line gun with a 1.3 tip. I have no prior paint experience, so this is a big learning curve for me and fun to watch for you.

Worth mentioning, after this weekend, I have gone through almost an entire gallon of color. It's covered two coats in the front trunk, cabin, engine bay, rear trunk and three coats on these panels below. I think I will need another two or three quarts to finish the car, and a gallon is about as expensive as three quarts anyways.

OK, let the color pics begin...












And here is a close up of the orange peel. It's a little worse in person than this pic shows, but nothing that shouldn't sand and buff out.



Of course, what would a weekend of work be without a screw up... I sprayed the hood a few hours after the doors and wanted to keep down the overspray. So, I laid some .7 mil thin plastic sheeting over my painted pieces to avoid overspray. I *thought* the panels were dry enough (they were to the touch...). Turns out they were still pretty soft. Most of the marks I made will buff out but I think the decklid is going to be a re-spray:



Don't touch drying paint

More to come, stay tuned!

Looks Fantastic !

really great work.

Click to view attachment

This is the german word for the color " Hellelfenbein " I think in english "light ivory"

grettings Ralf

Well, did she say yes? She knows about the teener in your life, right?

Congratulations!

Wow great job and thanks for sharing. Best, Mark

Not only did she say yes, she also knows about my teener (and general auto obsession).

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

Ok, couldn't resist. Did a little wet sand with 2000 grit and compound to see how everything will turn out...

Before:


After:




I'm pretty thrilled with the results. Now just need to muster the energy to finish the rest of the car...

That car is going to be gorgeous! Nice work and thanks again for the details.

You're doing a great job. The car is looking fantastic!

Congratulations to you and your fiancé!

Great work on the paint!

Nice work. Enjoy the drive out. My wife drove with me when I moved to CA from TX. We made it as far as Ft Stockton before a motel stop that evening. It's a long drive. Don't fill up in Ft. Stockton. I'm pretty sure they import their gasoline from Hawaii.

Congratulations Cole, sorry to see you go, I would like to have met you before you left Texas. I grew up in California and had a good life. The big difference is no payroll tax in Texas and I make the same money here as California and housing is about 1/2 the price. all said I still get homesick when visiting.
I truly wish you the best in your marriage , what a great time to be alive. Keep posting. Mike Kelly

Congrats on you progress with the car, and the proposal!

How did you clean your parts before you sent them to the plater?
Just curious as I need to do the same thing -

TE

Thanks, Thom.

To prep my parts I used a variety of methods. First, degrease everything. I like Purple Power and use it either full strength or 1:1. Then, small parts are tumbled (HF vibratory tumbler 5lb) and large parts are wire wheeled or blasted. Last step for me was a pickle in Muriatic acid which is diluted HCL. I typically diluted further around 1:2 with distilled water. Then I coated everything with some WD40 to prevent flash rust while parts waited to go to the platers.

Couple of caveats...

• If a part still has its original plating and is reasonably clean, then the acid wash will take the part back to "brand new" and ready to plate. Don't waste your time trying to grind off the original coating (also not a good idea for health reasons).
• Most shops will take care of the acid step for you so you may not have to do this at home. I just wanted to save a few $ and have everything ready to roll.
• The more time you spend prepping and smoothing the metal of the parts before plating, the shinier it will come out.
• Lastly, I did a lot of research on hydrogen embrittlement before dipping my parts in acid. There is a risk of part failure in really hard metals if the parts aren't baked properly after pickling. From what I've read, grade 8 / metric 10.9 are right on that border of what's considered a hard metal, which is somewhere around Rockwelll 34. I do not know enough about this, so I played it safe and will be replacing all of my mission critical hardware with new.

I shipped my parts but it would be way easier to find a local shop to work with. Some shops will even clean your parts (for extra $). Take everything with a grain of salt, I am no expert. Good luck!

I believe that you meant "Income Tax". Funny thing; I moved from TX to CA and found that I could make more $$$ here on accident than I could in TX on purpose!

Whaaattt more $$ by accident No state tax in TX but you pay for it back in higher utilities, tolls, double property tax and flights going back home.

Sorry aggie for the Off topic.

Hey, all good - I'm enjoying the read. I sure hope I end up making more $$ by accident...

Your correct. Every state needs "X" amount in taxation. How they do it is another subject. In Texas they have a School Tax that hits every property owner. It's their version of an income tax!

Where in LA are you moving?

We're going to be on the Westside, close to Westwood. We found what is essentially a garage apartment situation. I get both garage bays though, so I am a happy camper.

Hello world! Back with a pretty big update this time as I continue to prep the car for paint and for my cross-country move here in a few weeks.

First, an update on the paintwork from my last post. Overall, everything looks great. Unfortunately, there are some mistakes I made as a new painter that I'm going to have to deal with. The front hood ended up having solvent pop in several places. I think I didn't allow enough time between coats of color. So, I will be sanding it back down flat with 600 grit and spraying the hood again. The decklid has one single fish eye on it, and I may try to fill it with some touch up paint and see if I can sand it smooth and polish it out. If that doesn't work, I will have to re-spray the decklid also.

The doors turned out great. I color sanded them with some 1500 grit then 2000 grit to knock down the orange peel. Here are some reflection shots after sand, compound, polish and jeweling the paint.





In this shot, the door on the bottom has not been color sanded (look for orange peel) and the one on the top has:



----

Next up was getting my fuching wheels to a point where they could accept tires and be used to transport the car. In a perfect world, I would have finished restoring these before tires ever got mounted. However, I'm on a serious time table here and I just don't have enough time to do them right before I move. So, I decided to get the backs cleaned up and the lips polished knowing that I could mask tires and access the rest later on. I'm planning on painting the centers black and leaving the petals polished.

I needed to strip the anodizing off so I coated in oven cleaner and let them sit. In retrospect, I left the cleaner on way too long. I ended up having to wire wheel and scotch brite these things clean. It was a huge PITA.

Before:


Cleaned:


Etch Primed:


Satin Black backs:


I chose Pirelli P4 all season 195/65/15 tires. They seem to be a pretty decent tire and after a rebate I will get these for under $75 a corner, installed from discount tire.

Tires mounted:





----

Now that I actually had something to mount on the car, I could start thinking about re-installing the all new suspension underneath the car. The big reason behind getting the car back down on all four wheels is so that it would be easier to trailer to the "paint booth" I've been using.

Here's a list of everything "new" on my car:

• All OE parts blasted and powder coated satin black
• All OE hardware re-plated in yellow zinc
• All "mission critical" bolts , washers & nuts replaced with new 10.9
• New Front 914rubber A-Arm bushings
• New Front Lemfoerder ball joints
• Rebuilt OEM steering rack w/ new bearings
• New Lemfoerder turbo tie rod end kit
• New 914rubber steering "hockey" puck & shaft bearing
• New Front FAG wheel bearings
• New Front Sebro Rotors
• New Rear 914rubber trailing arm bushings & SS pivot arms
• New Rear wheel bearings
• New Rear Koni yellow adjustable shocks
• Re-used Koni springs, powdercoated red
• New Rea 914rubber shock mount bushings
• New Rear Sebro rotors

Here are some of the parts laid out:




We planned to assemble the car in stages and this required creating a sequence to get everything installed properly and also to get the rotisserie disassembled and out of the way. Once the car was up on jack stands (and taking up both garage bays) there would be no coming down until everything was assembled and wheels were mounted.

With that in mind, the rear was the easiest place to start as the rear suspension components do not interfere with the rotisserie stand. We started with the rear trailing arms and then the shocks followed. The only tough part about the rear end was getting a 22mm wrench to fit up in between the fender and the outer mount for the pivot nut. I couldn't remember which adjustment shims were in the car, so I started thick but will have to change anyways when it comes time for alignment.

Here's Dad helping out:




Had to make sure the Koni labels faced out:


Next was getting the car up in the air so that the rotisserie stand could come off and allow access to the front suspension mounting holes. We used (2) 2x6 boards under the donut jack points for the car and raised with floor jacks. We went ahead and mounted the rear rotors and wheels while we were at it.



Then we disassembled the rotisserie and took everything off (rear hoop still on in this picture):


Now, it was time to start on the front end. Reassembly of the front suspension is considerably more work than the rear. I was hoping to do the front in one night but ended up taking two nights after work to complete. We got stuck in a couple of places, needing to tap and clean out holes and "re-learn" how everything goes together. Lots of referencing the parts catalog and diagrams. Finally, it seemed like everything was coming back together.





Wheels are on!


Time to go back down…. for the first time in almost two years!




Obligatory goofy pic with Dad:


Man, that was a lot of work in about a week's worth of time. This "hobby" has turned into a second full time job for me as I race the clock. I'm shooting for paint this weekend, but still have some final sanding prep to do. Hopefully, I'll have another update for you all soon with lots more Mexico Blue!

Great update

I've enjoyed this thread. Beautiful color choice.
Perhaps I missed it, but when are you moving to SoCal?
Fun to meet up with you.

Oscar

Hey Oscar - thanks for the kind words. We’re moving to the Westwood area this September. Would love to meet up! I’ll shoot you a PM when we get settled.

Cole

Excellent Cole-

Good to hear. After talking with a few local members I'm considering having another tech day at my home late Sept or early October so perfect timing.

Exact date TBD for now.

Oscar

What a milestone!!! Great post and well done!

I spent all of today doing final prep for paint and then renting a trailer and towing the car out to the "booth". Tomorrow is D-Day. Fingers crossed for smooth sailing and no issues with the paint or setup.

Wrapped with plastic to prevent road grime:




Still have some masking left to do:


Wish me luck!

Good luck!

Looks great Cole. Let's see some pics!

good luck !!
Can't wait to see the results !!

Alright everyone, some pics as promised. I can't remember the last time I was this exhausted.

We started bright and early. I had a few small areas that still needed scuffing before we could mask. Next up was masking. This was no small task and probably took a good two hours if not three. I wanted to make sure my shiny new suspension was covered.

Here is the final masking shot:


Next up was spraying the sealer. I don't have any pics at this stage because we had just as many fits as last time. I should have learned from my lesson. Stay away from Shop Line urethane primer surfacer and do a thinned epoxy primer instead. After coating the whole car with the sealer, we had to wait for it to dry and sand everything (again) with 600 grit because the surface was just too rough to lay smooth paint. I think the problem is this stuff flashes quick, I mean almost instantly. So overspray is a real issue.

After that fiasco, it was time for color. Again, I can't say enough nice things about this DCC color. It sprays so smoothly and covers well. I turned my pressure down some to about 25 psi and really got it to lay glass smooth. Because the booth isn't 100% air tight, I will still have to color sand and buff the dust out of the paint. But otherwise, orange peel is very minimal. I shot three wet coats and I am very pleased with the outcome.

Here are some shots, still in the booth:









Here is the front hood. I had to re-spray after sanding out solvent pop. Should be much better this time around.



I'm going to let it cure for a few days before towing home. Will probably bring it back on Wednesday or so. It gives me a good chance to clean up the garage bay that the teener has been living in.

On my list to do before moving in 2.5 weeks...

• Fill / Shape / Sand / Paint Rear Trunk Lid
• Tune Engine, Install P.P. & Clutch, Install in Car
• Mount doors, hoods, etc.
• Install windshield
• Pack....

We'll see if I am able to get to everything. More pics in the sun to come in the following days!

I think this is my favorite angle on the car... just a neat reflection.

Anybody who has the balls to take on this project and succeed as you have so far is really alright in my book.

Mexico Blue?

This thread has been a joy to watch so far, and I can't wait to see the finished product.

Fantastic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW68goC4_es

Your paint job looks fantastic!

Bob also painted his own 914 so he should know. Saw his car in person recently.


Great job guys...keep them on the road!!!

Thanks for the kind words, gents. I am very excited to get this thing out into the sun and see how it shines. Will update with more pics as soon as I pick her up.

Looks great!! The color is awesome!


I used the exact same paint/gun (DCC/Devilbliss FinishLine) combination and way very happy with both-I can't recommend highly enough for anyone reading here too.

Hello from sunny SoCal! It's hard to believe it's been just over three months since my last update. Needless to say, a LOT has happened since then. Here are some updates…

When I last posted, the car had been sprayed and was sitting / drying in my uncles shop. I rented a uhaul trailer to get it there and back. Here are some pictures bringing the car home:









After getting the car back home from the "booth" - I started to put the doors and hood on and noticed I had a color discrepancy between the doors and the body. It was very minor and most of the people I asked said they couldn't see it. But, why spend all this time and $ if you're not going to do it right. So, I decided to spray one more coat of color on the doors to help get as close of a match as possible. I know this is always a risk with "panel painting" but I thought I would be OK as Mexico blue is a solid color. Now that I look at the paint, I'm wondering if there isn't a very small hint of metallic pigment in the mix?

Anyways, here is the color mismatch:


Picture out in the sunlight:


I also had to finish body-working the rear trunk lid. I seam sealed around all of the support webbing first to solidify the top skin from pushing down as I blocked the top. Used a little more filler here than I would have hoped but I was running thin on time and needed to push through. Overall, I think the rear trunk lid turned out fine.



Wet check of the lid:


Here are the panels ready for paint:




And after three coats:




While I was finishing up paint and body work, I dropped the engine off for tuning at a local shop that has worked on other aircooleds. After breaking in the cam, I couldn't get it to idle and transition smoothly. After a few days with the shop, they had it figured out and we picked up the engine and mounted it up into the car the night before leaving town. Man, this was a lot more work than taking it out. It was quite an effort to get it balanced and safely down from the makeshift test run stand we had made. Couldn't have done it without Dad's help.

Here are some process pictures:




(I realized after this picture that the trans bolts needed to go in first… d'oh!)




Of course, it will have to come back out again to install pressure plate, clutch and throw out bearing. After installing the engine / trans, we attached the rear trunk lid and engine decklid so they would be secure for towing.

My fiancé, her dad and a college buddy of mine made the 1700 mile trek from Houston to L.A. last week and the car is now safe & sound in our new garage. Moving the car was not an easy task as so much of it was still in pieces. There were lots of last minute finds that I had stashed away and needed to pack. I also wrapped the entire car in mover's cling wrap and then a tarp on top to keep road damage and rain out. If it wasn't for the plastic cling wrap as a sacrificial layer, the tarp would have destroyed the paint with all of its flapping around in the wind.

Here are some pics of getting the car loaded and ready for the trip:



(pointing to the Indiana plate I think?)


(I am beyond delirious in this pic)


After we made it to L.A. and moved the car into its new home it sat for a couple of weeks while I pieced my life back together in our new place. After un-wrapping the cling wrap, it looks like the car made it through OK with a few small nicks on places that can be touched up and won't show. Here are some pics of the car situated in my new man cave, excuse the mess!





I've been tinkering away with small projects since then and will post an update soon about those.

EPIC!!!! Looking forward to seeing the story continue. I still can't believe you pulled this off. Wow!

What mess are you talking about? You should see my shop! Looks great man, happy you made it there in one piece. Good on you.

Fantastic!

Great updates Cole and welcome to SoCal. Hope to meet up with you when time permits.



Oscar

Welcome back Cole, looking forward to you’re progress. Sorry you left Texas. Mike Kelly