Decision made, complete with holes drilled!
And don't miss the front brake line bulkhead fitting. It's a T on the other side. Pretty tidy.

I figured it was time to get the radiator mounted. Still a few minor tweaks and some holes to drill to secure all the panels.

Suddenly, the frunk is feeling a bit crowded.

While I've been doing so much at the front of the car, I remembered I had a GT headlight kit. Got it from our friends at 914 Rubber:

So I started the install. A new opening has to be created for the "catch and release" lever. I have some add'l shaping to do but you get the idea.

Here's the "catch and release" lever in place.

Overall, I'd say it's a really nice kit. You will have to supply some of your own hardware but it's only a few fairly standard fasteners so not a big deal.

Where are you going to fit your luggage for that road trip we talked about when I was at your place? Looks tidy though, but knowing you, you still have a couple solid rocket boosters to stuff in there.

Looks like I'll need a trailer after all!

Are you planning to fully shroud the radiator so you have a small parcel shelf?

As always, loving the progress!

Hey Andrew! Note that all I've done is Sharpie a possible fender vent... I've also Sharpied a "through the hood" vent design. I haven't committed to my, ahem, "exit strategy" at this point.
Though your idea of a little parcel shelf is interesting...
We shall see.

Well, it's been an interesting morning. The net/net is that I now have lots more time to get this build done!

Who wants to join in and welcome me to RETIREMENT!!!

Congratulations Chris! This has been a long time coming...enjoy the freedom!

Tony

That's AWESOME!!! I take if from your post that you didn't wake up with "Retire Today" written on your calendar. Congrats!

Yep, TOTALLY awesome. I feel compelled to say I wasn't fired or anything like that. The stars simply aligned and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Certainly, I was smiled upon.

So if you need me, I'll be in the shop!

Very cool and I feel compelled to say I didn't think you were fired My sister-in-law did something similar last year. She went to work prepared to renew her contract as a school teacher. Changes in the retirement offerings made it tempting and on the same day they announced changes in work requirements for the coming year that made retirement a no brainer. After 30 years, she went to work one morning expecting to re-up, and came home a free woman. Word has it she has been spending a lot of time hanging out at her daughter's pool. And now I'll be expecting to see you driving the rocket ship before Christmas.

That's awesome and judging from your thread, you have got plenty to keep you busy!!!

Congrats Chris. That’s awesome. Enjoy it, hopefully no one will say
“Chris, you need a hobby!” “What are ya gonna do with all that free time”

We know what you’ll be doing. This car is gonna take off now.

Cheers mate, we’ll done!

Yep, it's all better than good. As I said to my wife:

"It's now official, I have a nice package!"

Congratulations! Good luck with your new package too!

Congratulations!

Time to open up that 914 resto shop...

I think we are the winners here.

Woot woot!!!!! Big Congrats!!!

Well deserved!

Welcome Welcome!
Come on in, the waters fine!
I'm 13 months in and loving it.

Congrats! You deserve it.

I really like that last bracket you made, the removal of the material on the side that meets up once bent is great!

Excellent! Congratulations.......now you'll have so much time to do anything you want or nothing at all. I expect to see this one running by spring. What do you think?

I can't believe I'm actually starting on connecting things vs. making them!

Here's a first-cut mock up to determine throttle cable bracket geometry.

That is great news, and well a bit sad. Great for you enjoy the retirement, enjoy doing the builds, and working on the stuff you want to work on. Spending the time with the people you want to spend it with. Now back to my reality I have 8 left before I can hit the eject button, unless plans change. And plans always change.

And I agree you need a trailer, I am sure you can fab some ugly looking trailer to tow behind the masterpiece.

Congrats.. Thought you were still waffling over that?? Good for you.. I only have likely another 20 years with all the mouths to feed at my home.. I hope to see you on a road trip my way in the future.

The 1/4" all thread performed its job for mock-up so it was time to figure out what to do for a final part. I used to be into motorcycles and in poking around in the parts boxes, I found the shifter for an Aprillia Mille.

Hmmm. Cast aluminum, just like the pedal assembly. I-beam design, just like the pedal assembly. Maybe this will work.

A little band sawing, welding, drilling and taping later and it's ready!
It'll all be hidden inside the tunnel cover but I think it's pretty neat.

Italian part in a German car.

That'll be the part that breaks.

Well, actually, that motor was manufactured by Rotax in Austria. Rotax was founded in 1920 in Dresden, Germany, as ROTAX-WERK AG. In 1930, it was taken over by Fichtel & Sachs and transferred its operations to Schweinfurt, Germany. Operations were moved to Wels, Austria, in 1943 and finally to Gunskirchen, Austria, in 1947. (thanks Wikipedia!)

So in the end, about as close to German(y) as it could possibly be!

More work connecting things. Today I worked on starting to close up the lower fire wall. This means I have to determine how to route the shifter cables. It always looks simple until you REALLY start fitting things with other things in place.

Note that the Boxster shifter cables have big, unremovable end assemblies so I can't just run then through a "little" hole. I need something that can split but still seal the cables.

Version 1 seemed simple enough: Make a little split panel with split grommets that was large enough to cover a hole that the cable ends would fit through. I iterated through about 5 attempts on the design (and plasma cutting of each one) before I ended up with something I liked. It looks like this:

The shifter cables do flex, but not so much that they could be made to come through the fire wall at 90 degrees. I didn't really understand just how far off they were until I tried to install the panel. Nope...couldn't even get it close.

So, Version 1 (a simple panel against the firewall) pretty much didn't even get to a mock up install before it was clear it was a non-starter.

I took some measurements and figured it'd be best to make an angled box that retained the split panel I'd already made. Three iterations on this one before I got it to where I wanted it.

But in the end, it works! Cables sit in a relaxed position and the grommets are perpendicular to the cables. Yaaa!

Including the various designs, plasma cuts, etc. I have about 6 hours in this little deal-io.

I would say "I'd better keep my day job...", but that's off the table!

And with the split panel.
Nice, relaxed cable position in the 2nd pic.

Oh yea, and that other hole on the upper right side of the main panel? That aligns with an allen head bolt that allows for the alternator belt to be adjusted.

(I can't believe I remembered to account for that that as I was laying out design!)

It'll get a removable plug.

Then I finished it off with a reinforcement plate.

Earlier fails... or would I feel better calling them prototypes?

I can't believe after all of this you still have stock seat rails and adjusters

Chris looking real good. Love that shifter!!

So much trial and error when building a custom car!

Looking good, those shifter cables are pretty thick and inflexible.

John

Oh, I had no idea just how many "one forward, two backs" I'd be doing.
The latest is that with the shifter cables in place, I ran into just how incorrect my earlier assumptions were about how the other systems would route.

So, back to the drawing board. The fuel lines won't be able to route symmetrically so it's off to the driver's side with both of them. Then, I realized I'd need some angle on the throttle cable as it passed through the panel. I fabbed a new die set with the goal that the cable would route through the angled part of the step in the raised section of the panel. It worked great. Add a grommet to seal things up and it's on to the next item on the to-do list.

Rear brake and clutch line bulkhead fittings located. Also found a little flush plug for the alternator adjustment access hole.

It's going to get more crowded down there with the supply and return fuel lines but it's coming together pretty well.

At least until I realize I've once again forgotten something!

Fabulous work as always. It's fun watching you work through these complexities and seeing how plan B, C, or D turns out just as perfect and professional looking as the first idea.

Chris, a belated congrats! I have been off the grid for a few days in Ireland. I'll have a pint ( or many) of Guinness in celebration of your retirement, and again next time I see you with a proper bottle of vino!
And could you hurry up with the car, I would like a ride this spring when back in Napa.
New mods looking ok I guess...

Cheers,
John

I made another stamping die set and added a raised section to each side of the panel. Then it was trimmed so it can go in and out as I figure out final placement of everything.
I also welded in the cable pass-through.

The nice thing about all this is now that I've worked up all the dies and related plasma files, I can pretty quickly recreate the panels, should I screw up on anything - or change my mind on any aspect of the design. Not that I have a habit of that...

Mocked in place.

I started work on locating all the components of the electrical system. Not insignificant in that I'm running the Infinity Box system. While it does eliminate nearly all the wires that would run from the front to the rear of the car, I have to determine where to mount the three (3) magic boxes that make up the system. Plus, I have the Holley ECU.
Then there's the A/C components and the heating system - more on that later...

It drives home just how small these cars are. Or maybe I've been a bit too agressive in what I'm trying to include in this build? We're about to find out.

Anyway, my good buddy Gareth volunteered to come by and help out today. So we designed and fabbed a mounting plate for the Infinity Box "Master Cell". It's the main brain that drives two "Power Cells", one at each end of the car. I'll post details as things start getting mounted.

I'm locating the Master Cell in the approximate location of the stock fuse block. Since this system is programmable, I need to be able to access this and mess with it. So this plate will utilize a hinge system that allows it to fold up to be out of the way and fold down to make it easier to get to, if needed.

A little plasma table, bender, knock out punches and dimple dies and we're all set!

I decided to remake the Infinity Box brain tray. It's thinner material (20 ga) and since I'm starting to consider the weight of everything I'm doing, I added some additional lightness to the design.

Speaking of weight, the upper fire wall design wasn't doing it for me. Too many pieces, lots of fiddly fitting and I wasn't liking any of the designs I came up with for closing in the top area, between the window and the removable cover.

So, now that I'm no longer working a day job (!), I have plenty of time to redesign and fab parts I've already made (at least once already!)

So far, this design is way simpler and gives me a roomier cockpit. Hard to explain but you'll get an idea once the pieces start coming together.

Looking forward to the seeing the install and programming of the Infinity system.

Ha! You and me both! It seems pretty straight forward.

Mostly it's working out where to mount all the electrical system components. And the battery...

Maybe I should make it a single seater! That'd solve lots of the space challenges!

One seat in the center would be incredible!

Sweet mount!

Do they now have software so you can program yourself, or do you still have to ask them to do it and then flash it at home?

I haven't even gotten that far! But I think you can "borrow" their programmer. Or you can buy one. That's all TBD, at this point.