I'll post one more of these then stop. It's essentially the same on each one: the flare ends aren't even close to what they need to be, they aren't symmetrical, side to side, etc.

This next one is a good example of that. Note how the one I did earlier looks and how it has a straight shot inboard from where the lip terminates, This other one has a totally different shape there, almost like a chunk was taken out.

Anyway, first I hammered the lower area flat and into shape to match that first angled portion of the chassis, then clamped the dolly in place and added the crease needed to match the lower portion of the chassis.

Get things to this point...

The original factory piece I cut off wasn't going to work so I bent up a channel and tacked in into place.

Here you can also see the "patch" I made to address that missing chunk.

Next, I made a template of the other side that I used to determine final size and shape for this side.

Tack, hammer, trim, grind. Getting there.

A bit more fine tuning and I'll call this area done.

Wow Chris! Your on a whole other level with this perfection! This car is going to be simply stunning!

Since I was never going to use them, today I fabbed the needed pieces and plated over the jack post areas.
Then it was welding on the Patrick Motorsports toe adjuster attachment blocks.
I even remembered to drill the clearance hole for the bolt before I welded it on!

I still need to weld the joint between the top of the plate and the chassis.

Great metal fabrication porn @tygaboy !

Both sides complete! And note that these toe adjusters usually run parallel to the chassis/ground. But with the Tangerine pickups raising things up 2", I get this nice sloping install.
I'm slowly ticking off these to-do's and should have all the chassis fab complete in a couple weeks, fingers crossed.

Two weeks and your done with your chassis? Whats after the chassis? Engine/trans mounting?

@Andyrew - the engine/trans mounting are all done, as is the exhaust. That said, the drive train has to be installed again so I can finish all the little stuff like where the ECU and coils will mount, things like that. Once the chassis is finished, it's off to media blasting and primer/sealer.

Cant wait to see it!

Back to working on things that aren't part of any other 914! Uninteresting to most, I know, but I have to get it done and I may as well document it.

Today was fabbing a piece to close off between the engine compartment and interior. This opening was created when I removed the stock firewall and added the removable access panel. I need to seal off between that curved top area of the firewall and the upper portion of the access panel's frame, just above the upper attachment points.

I had part of the firewall from a donor/parts car so I sliced off the area that matches the lip of the firewall curved section. I cleaned everything up, flipped the piece upside down and used the spot welder to attach it on the inside of the firewall's curve.

Note I now have a nice little return to which I can weld a panel!

Next, I made a quick template to get the panel shape and used that to cut a piece of 18 ga to fit. Because this panel is mounted at an angle, and against a curve, I bent it accordingly.

I then bend up a couple flanges, determined where they needed to be and spot welded them to the panel. Then I used the bead roller to tip a slight flange into the curved edge of the panel so it would lay at the same angle as the curved piece I'd spot welded on earlier.

I'll add a flange on the front edge, too. The curved edge will be spot welded on but I'll use structural panel bond on the faces of the flanges where they attach to the access panel frame piece.

MAJOR MILESTONES!
- the console frame is welded in
- the floor has been plug welded to the console frame
- the lower parts of the fire wall have been bonded in

This is my first time trying something like this. I figure there's no kill like overkill so I'm using 3M structural adhesive to attach the fire wall panels. I'm not doing the rivets until after things are painted as I want the rivets to contrast with the paint.
Riveting on fresh paint... I'm so looking forward to that!

I understand this stuff is pretty incredible. A buddy of mine said, "You realize that you'll NEVER get those panels apart. It's stronger than spot welding." Fine by me!

So here we go...

Apply the adhesive to both surfaces and tool it out with an acid brush. Add another small bead to one surface to be sure there is plenty of adhesive and any potential voids are filled while the parts are clamped and curing.

The lower section here is made up of three separate pieces and a number of mating surfaces had to be prepared ahead of fitting. This adhesive has a working time of 60 minutes so I felt like I had plenty of time.

I still felt a bit nervous but it went pretty well. After everything was in place and clamped, I double checked and cleaned out all the rivet holes and decided to use Clecos only in those that had no sign of adhesive in them. That's why some holes aren't being used. Bonding in a Cleco wouldn't be good.

Once things were aligned, clamp, clamp, clamp and wait 24 hours for a full cure.

Again, not too exciting for most of you but a HUGE deal to me. After all this time, the fire wall is being permanently installed!

Man, I can not wait until I can see your car again.

@Cairo94507 Michael - Give me a bit more time and I'll have ALL the chassis fab done. Come see it then! Plus, then you'll see the super secret newest silliness I'm considering!

Any chance you'll have your /6 back soon?

Looking great! Do you have any goal for when it may be on the road? I am thinking by the end of the year.

I used the 3M body panel adhesive on my Sheridan body panel parts (with some strategic rivets - just in case!) and it has been holding up great.

Yes that 3m Adhesive is strong, matter of fact it is used instead of welding for some operations. It is great when doing dissimilar metals or strengths that become harder to weld, or loose tensile when welded.

Though friction welding has solved some the other dissimilar metal issues.

If you predrilled all the rivets you will have an easier time with the fresh paint.

Wonder if you could get a laser cut mask that lays over work area, and leave the rivet area open. At least it will give you a bit of protection. Think 3M 8 mil paint protection shield.

Next up structural closed cell foam.

I may be deluding myself but I'm trying to have it "running and driving" for this year's WCR.

Well Chris.... that is the 64 million dollar question. I am hoping to have it at the WCR this year.

Excellent! That is definitely a good motivator.

The instructions call out cure times when the temp is in the low 70s. It hasn't been out of the 50s for the past few days but today the sun was out and it warmed up a bit so how about a bit of the ol' "solar cure"?
I figured a few hours in the sun and I should be good to meet the "full cure in 24 hours". Not that I'm stressing the parts.

And yes, I rotate the car every so often to keep the sun fully on the lower firewall.

Did you IR temp the steel? Just curious what it got up to.

@Andyrew - I didn't. Low temp (within reason) just means a longer cure time. The adhesive changes color, from silver to purple, indicating it's cured. I wanted to move things along as much as I could and at the end of the day, everything was purple!

Time to bond in the access panel frame!

I fabbed a flange for the front edge of the access panel's upper area "close off" plate. It needed a little stretching to match the contour of the plate. Then I spot welded it to the closing plate. The tipped edges will bond to the back side of the dog house.

I liberally (!) primed the inside of this area. Wow, after all this time, this is the last time I'll be seeing this part of the car!

It was much warmer today and that made a noticeable difference in how easily the adhesive tooled out. It flowed a LOT more quickly. And after my experience with bonding the lower area of the fire wall, I used more adhesive to ensure I got it to flow out of the seams during clamping.
It was a bit messier but I got the result I was after.

The main panels behind the seats and the trim pieces above them are not bonded in. They are Cleco'd in place to help ensure the dog house is properly located. It's nice in that all I have to do is Cleco things together at the unbonded surfaces and everything is in the correct place. Then simply clamp the bonded areas and I know the parts are all aligned!

Note the lower area is fully cured. The Clecos are there simply because I haven't yet removed them.

Here's a shot of the closing plate flange and how it bonds to the dog house.

Once the chassis is media blasted and primered, and after the carbon panels are bonded in to the recesses, I'll seam seal every panel joint then spray the entire back of the fire wall with a noise and heat coating.

I have lots of little things that I need to complete. One example is tying the seat mount cross member to the console frame.

I cut the center of the seat mount cross member to clear the custom console and am using the curved bits to connect things. This requires trimming the curved bit and making 4 small pieces to close everything up. Here, you can see the curved piece and the first of the 4 small pieces.

Completing this will probably end up taking 1/2 a day, at least for me!

Ah, the tedious joys of custom fabrication...

All three pieces fit, welded to the cross bar and those welds finished.

And the passenger side of the cross bar is now tied to the console frame.
Next, just repeat on the driver side.

Yep, it took 1/2 a day to complete tying both sides of the seat mount support to the console frame. The good news is that I did finish both sides and crossed another item off the to-do list. No pics of the driver side as it's essentially the same deal as what you've already seen.

Less than a page of items left on the to-do list and the chassis will be off to mesia blast and primer/sealer. Getting there!

I'm going to start calling you Prophet, cause you have a vision of the future most of us will never have.

Awesome, just Awesome...

@dan10101 - Thanks for the kind words, but as I think you can tell, this build is less about vision and more "he's making it up as he goes along!" Many of the things I'm doing are because I'll complete something then go to re-install another part and realize, "Hmmm, that's no longer going to fit!"

Case in point: Today, I realized that with the seat support tied to the console frame, the console cover would require a couple notches. So I did that.

Also interesting to note that welding in the console frame, along with the clamping required to bond the fire wall in, caused a couple things to move into a slightly different position.

In this case, it was the rear edge of the console cover that was suddenly too long. I got lucky in that I ended up needed to trim things vs having created a gap.

As they say, I'd rather be lucky than good!

The rear edge is essentially a contact fit at this point so I'll be removing a bit more of it to make room for a bit of rubber trim. This to prevent anything being scratched as the cover goes in and out.

Upper fire wall trim panels bonded, clamped and curing.

Oh you just do it that way because you like making things.

After things cured, I removed all the excess adhesive and hit the top area with 80 grit on a d/a sander

It's amazing what a quick squirt of rattle can primer can do for how things look.

I am so happy with how this is turning out!

STUNNING!

The chassis work is jaw dropping as usual.
I hope that engine can live up to this chassis!

I’m not all that familiar with LS3 Chevy ( that is the power plant still?)

That engine is around what , 400 lbs of torque?

This 914 is gonna scoot!

Always enjoy reading the progress here. Always learning.

Kudos Chris

@Dion @Sideways - Thanks for the compliments! Dion, yep, still going with the LS3. I did add the ITBs so that bumps the power a bit. I had my engine dyno'd and it came back with 518 hp and 464 torque. That's at the crank so a bit less at the wheels, but I suspect it'll still be OK...

After thinking about the fire wall for EVER, I caved in to what will be safer and went all steel vs steel w/the carbon fiber inserts. I cut new main panels, updated the stamping dies as needed and ended up with what you see on the driver side. Passenger side still in progress.

This design still allows me to add the carbon inserts although now they're just for some visual appeal, mostly hidden though they will be.

And yes, this makes a far stiffer panel and a bit heavier panel but again, I think this is a better, more structurally sound way to go.

Awesome progress, if you want the "look" of CF you could always do a vinyl wrap on those inserts. I personally think even just a complimentary paint color would make them pop a bit.

The passenger side main panel is fit and ready to go. Here, the driver side is bonded, Cleco'd and curing.

Detail shots of the door bar trim. These were fiddly little pieces to make but they turned out nicely.

Tomorrow I'll bond in the passenger side and the door bar trim pieces and with that, the fire wall will be all but complete. After all this time and I multiple iterations, I can't hardly believe it!

Amazing work as always. How did you avoid bonding in the Cleco's?

Never mind...went back and read the previous posts. Not bonding where the cleco's are. Is this going to be possible for the new back panels?