Very nice!!!

Are you going to keep the aluminum finish or go with something else? With all the metal work you have there are so few places to show off the metalwork in s fashionable way.

I assume it'll be too shiny unless I find a way to tone it down. Maybe anodize it? Just one more TBD item.

^ Looking at your floor shots, have you considered lowering the driver's seat by acing the forward cross bar and modding the seat rails to bolt to the floor directly? Not sure how tall you are, but it was one of the best mods I've made to my 914—and you're certainly "in there."

Pics here: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...37884&st=40 (though not up to your standards of metalwork, which continue to impress!)

@horizontally-opposed - Pete, I was wondering about something like that.
Did you retain any tilt capability or was it a "set and forget"? Any pics of your set up that you could share? If so, feel free to post them here. Or PM me, whichever is easiest.
Greatly appreciated!
Chris

I lost the tilt capability, but realized I had just about never used it—and Genoa Racing convinced me they could get 0.6 to 0.8 inch out of the seat height, which was more valuable to me as I'm always adjusting seats to get as low in a car as I can. I have had zero regrets about the resulting seat-bottom angle, and have had no desire to go back and shim it front or back. Looking at your pics, I think it's about the same angle as your seat is sitting, just lower. You are welcome to stop by sometime to test-sit it if you'd like. Some people go further, lowering the floors, but I'm happy with this setup.

Pics of my setup are in that thread I linked, and I'd be embarrassed to see them junk up your beautiful thread, which has inspired me to restore the floors in my 914 at some point. Been on my mind, and there are more important things just now, but I simply love the attention to detail seen in your 914.

@horizontally-opposed Great details. I'm headed back out to the shop to assess how to make this mod to my car. I owe you one, Pete - heck, let's make that two!

Right on! Glad you dig it, and I think it's a really nice upgrade.

Just remembered there is one "detail" issue with this mod I've noticed in the years and miles since if you're going to use the stock 3-point seat belts: It'd be nice if the upper mounting "triangle" for the belt was a bit lower. While I wouldn't want to mess with the attachment point on the targa bar, which I suspect is well engineered, I keep meaning to look at how to make a "hanger" that subtly lowers the belt by 0.5 to 08 inch while respecting its engineering. Would improve comfort (and maybe safety) a bit. It isn't a big deal, but I do think about it from time to time.

As the saying goes:

"It's going to get worse before it gets better..."

A bit of slicing and dicing to narrow things down to the parts I need:
- the top-most portion of the dash
- the gauge mounting frame

You may know this already but, for anyone interested in salvaging parts that have been spot welded together:

I use a cut off wheel to grind through the spot welds from the side I won't be using.
Versus using a spot weld drill, this ensures I retain all the parent material on the keeper part and don't risk drilling into it. Go slow and it yields an almost perfect result.

Here's the gauge mount ready for reuse.

One dash kit!
OK, so it's missing a few parts. Give a guy a break.

Mocking things into place.
It still needs trimming in the gauge area as well as a panel below that area to join the two parts. I'll shape and weld on some sort of end caps, too.

Then it's time to work up the layout of everything.
I'll need an access panel for the InfinityBox brain, a switch panel, stereo, maybe some vents. Maybe even a glove box? It's literally a blank canvas so I have a bit of design work ahead of me.

And I wonder what's up with the missing shift lever...

Great point! I'll noodle on that and see what I can come up with... If it does turn out to be something bolt in, I'll make a set for you.

Hey, thanks man. I'd just love to see your car at some point.

Maybe it also makes sense to stop by with my 914 when I'm off the next deadline—you can check out what I am talking about. Have had some ideas, but don't have the skillz with metal...

@horizontally-opposed Pete - It'd be great to meet you and see your car. PM me when you have a date in mind and we'll get something on calendar. I can make most any day/time work. Looking forward to it!

The Version 1 dash is looking a bit too plain to me so today I played around seeing if I could bend up an all aluminum profile that approximates the top and bottom dash pad. This was only eye-balled so the dimensions aren't correct.
I mostly just wanted to see if I could do it. I think there's something between these two that I'll end up doing. More head scratching required.

Then it was back to the console and getting the bulkheads located. I mis-measured the holes for the fuel lines and had to close up the incorrect holes. Other than that, it's looking like I have the room I need.

The three smaller fittings:
the upper-most is for the hydraulic clutch and the lower two are for the left/right brake lines. I wasn't sure if I wanted to run a Y-block inside or outside the tunnel so this gives me the flexibility.

And I still have to add pass-throughs for the electronics.

Would you mind posting a few dimensions of your louvered vent? Small end width, large end width, and height.

Have you seen the vent offerings from: http://vraptorspeedworks.com/large-universal-hood-louvers/

You stuff looks great!

Thanks,
Andys

Today I was able to work out the mounting locations for the InfinityBox MasterCell and front PowerCell. Some measuring, a few rivnuts and some isolation mounts will serve as the upper mounts.
For the lowers, I'm planning to make tabs that weld to the front hoop.

For someone like me who isn't experienced with wiring and electronics, this is looking a bit intimidating! And this doesn't include any of the switches or gauges!

@andys - Hi Andy! Thanks for the kind words. Having drooled over your work, that means a lot, coming from you. Here are the dimensions (in inches) of what I did so far. I'd likely narrow up the upper dimension as I think it's a bit too much for the look of the car. But that's just my opinion.

And I have seen those SpeedWorks vents. I didn't think any of them would quite work for me and with the plasma table, it's easy enough to make exactly what I want.
I'd be happy to share whatever I come up with. Just ask!
Thanks again,
Chris

Here's the InfinityBox set up in all its glory. It looking like I'll run the MasterCell (the main brain) in the center position and the front PowerCell on the left. The wiring seems to like it best this way.

For those who may not be aware, this set up is a CAN bus set up. Essentially a network for the car. The MasterCell gets wired to all the switches/controls and talks to the PowerCells (one at each end of the car).
The PowerCells wire to the loads - lights, signals, etc.
It's all programmable, too.

What I really like is that what you see in the tunnel is the entire wiring "harness" that connects the front to the back! It's two power leads and two comm wires.

OK, I lied. I also have to add the wires for the heated seats...

Here, I'm working on a location for the rear PowerCell. I think I can fabricate a cubby so this one can live behind the seat. It's out of the way but accessible by removing the seat.

Great idea for locating those boxes under the dash. What do you think about making those boxes somehow pull down so you can access them easily? With seats installed it can be painfull working under the dash.

@Krieger Andy - At this point, the plan is to add flip-up panels in the dash and/or make the dash front quick release (ish). Fingers crossed but I don't expect to have to be getting at these components very often.

I'm ordering all the switches and once I get them and work out where everything fits, I'll have a better idea of what I'll need to do.

you have great plans , Im sure, I saw this on FB ..spyder in Portugal..

[quote name='tygaboy' date='May 30 2019, 11:49 AM' post='2718284']

[/quote]
Hi Andy! Thanks for the kind words. Having drooled over your work, that means a lot, coming from you. Here are the dimensions (in inches) of what I did so far. I'd likely narrow up the upper dimension as I think it's a bit too much for the look of the car. But that's just my opinion.

And I have seen those SpeedWorks vents. I didn't think any of them would quite work for me and with the plasma table, it's easy enough to make exactly what I want.
I'd be happy to share whatever I come up with. Just ask!
Thanks again,
Chris
[/quote]

Thanks, Chris!

I don't really like my hood vent all that much (from a styling aspect), so I'm searching around for some ideas. What I like about the SpeedWorks stuff, is they are aluminum (water jet cut, I suspect). To avoid painting, I'd like to work around the existing opening in my hood, however that pretty much relegates me to construct it with fabricated pieces welded together........Guess I better brush-up on my tig welding skills.

Keep up the good work!

Andys

Decision made on rear PowerCell location. This is far simpler than making a behind-the-seat compartment and it provides better access. Plus, there are way fewer wires to have to get through the firewall. In this case, I'll agree with the KISS approach.

Once things are all connected, I'll get all the wiring into nice, tidy looms and tied down to the chassis.

And to be sure I keep with my "changed my mind" model, I changed the chassis wiring location. Turns out I can have NO wiring in the tunnel! (Like that's some sort of incredible build result...)

Anyway, this works out great and will keep the overall layout nice and clean.

Those four power leads connect to this fuse block and then one cable from the block to the battery. That's not the battery I'll run, just something to give me a basic feel for what sort of room I'll need for everything that has to happen in the frunk.

And yes, I still have to run power to the starter. OK, so it looks like I will have one wire in the tunnel. Or does anyone make a wireless starter?

Thanks for the heads up on this one. I hadn't seen it. I don't think I'll pad or upholster my dash unless I do some sort of thin perlon-ish thing on the upper section, just to soften it a bit, eliminate glare, etc.

Found you a wireless starter! Just need to add (another) artistic access hole to the firewall...

Click to view attachment

Looks incredible! That brainbox is something else. Thanks for posting in such detail. Been wondering about routing shift cables and stuff like that.

Perfect! But then I'd have to have a full time helper who could spin the thing!

I started working on closing the lower fire wall, focusing on the recess (you know I love recess!) for the seat belt retractors that have been relocated here.

With this piece fabbed and mocked in place, it really became clear that the stamped end pieces I cut off the earlier version weren't going to work. From a design perspective, the scale of the stamping wasn't working with the upper fire wall panels. Plus, I would have had another piece between these and the outer retractor recess.

So. Time to start on Lower Firewall, version 2.5.

Design and plasma cut the new, wider blanks. Mock them into position, just for fun.
You can see they're about 2x as wide as those pieces they replace. Plus, with this new approach, I only need one panel on each side to close from the firewall to the retractor recess.

And after noodling a bit, I decided to try a new design approach on the stamping die.
I'm going to weld the male components on to each side to come up with the needed reversibility.
The pieces I'm stamping don't have openings so I can't bolt the die components together. In the past, I've relied on careful placement of the male components and then praying things didn't move when I was setting everything in the press.

This new approach is more work up front but makes the stamping process a near no-brainer. Worth it to get the better result, IMO.

Yes, things are still bolted together here but I'm only doing that to locate everything. I unbolt one and plug weld that hole, then remove the other and weld it.

Note that I've got the male components bolted to each side so one plug weld attaches both sides' male die.

And here's the female component of the stamping die set in place, just so I could verify I like the way things will look.
Visually, I think it "fits" with the upper fire wall far better than the smaller pieces.

And after all this, as with much of the upper fire wall, this will only be visible with the seats removed from the car.

But hey, I'll know it's there.

I finalized the stamping die and went to town on the new outer lowers.

Each of these pieces has to sit flush against an upright that supports the arched cross member so to allow that, the embossing steps outward.

It may not look like it in this pic, but trust me, they poke into the cabin area.

I think all I have left is to fab the passenger side retractor recess and I'll be ready to do the final install of this fire wall!

That looks fantastic. I like the industrial nuances with
the many different angles/protrusions. It adds a ton of
visual interest as well as I’m sure torsional rigidity.
Awesome Chris! Rock on
Cheers man.

Beautiful, it's going to be such a shame to cover it up!

Thanks guys. The compliments and critiques always help keep me motivated.
Today I was able to fab the passenger side retractor recess panel.

So here, for the first time, for your viewing pleasure (or head shaking/finger pointing or snickering), are all the pieces of the firewall.

Don't miss the mock up of the two power leads in the driver side retractor recess. Keen eyed folk will note that the rubber grommet I'm using is the one that normally seals the windshield washer rubber tubes as they pass through the dash! Recycling at its finest!

Anyone know if these are still available new? I didn't see them on the 914 Rubber site.

Anyway, getting the fire wall to this point took WAY longer than I'd ever have thought. My need to see things in place before I'm sure I like them certainly didn't help. But I have to say that I'm glad I didn't settle for any of the earlier versions. I'm pretty happy with things as they stand.

Next, I need to finish fabrication of the tunnel/tunnel cover and tie it all in with the fire wall.

I expect to make major progress on that this week.

looks amazing!

Love the receptacle for the seat belts. I can't wait to see it the next time I come over.

That firewall is art.

And you're going to cover it?

Mad, mad skills.

Time to get serious! There's something I find somehow calming about a panel held in place with Clecos.

Maybe it's just me...?

A 90 degree day is a perfect time to tackle out of position marking, drilling and hand riveting.

I'm using CherryMax structural rivets, which is why you're not seeing a hollow head. The center shaft remains in place and makes these WAY stronger than the usual pop rivets.

Note that I have not riveted the areas that attach any of these panels to the chassis. It's kinda cool in that I can now/still pull the entire passenger side lower fire wall out as a unit.

Next, I'll do the same on the driver's side.

You /6 guys can keep your left-side ignition switches!

The InfinityBox system doesn't require a traditional key. It's sorta like a modern car where a system-matched fob is used to energize the system. Without it, the entire electrical system is dead - it's not possible to power anything.

So, here's what I decided to do! Honda S2000 starter button.

Wired to the MasterCell, a single push turns on the ignition, a push and hold turns on ignition and fuel pump, then fires the starter. Hold until it starts then release, and you're off! Press again and everything shuts down.

Yes, I give up the security provided by the steering lock, but I just think this is too cool.

If anyone's interested, I can post details on making this fit.

That's an awesome starter switch! It looks like a great fit! Was it a lot of work?