@Mueller Mike - Too funny. When I first started working up the design, I talked with a fabrication buddy about this very thing, how to approach it, etc. I think I'd forego the pitch based on temp/speed in favor of a simple "open/close" lever inside the car.
Version 2 of the vent. Let me try and get back focused on making it run!

Here's the "Frumunda" vent test. It mounts 'from under'... get it? I crack myself up... (I'm blaming it on inhaling too much plasma fume...)

I had a scrap of al-u-mini-um so cut a 1/2 vent, just to see how it'd turn out.
Anyway, it really changes the look. "Cleaner", IMHO but I do like rivets so we'll have to look at it a while and see.

And yes, that hood opening is horrid. Please don't give me a hard time. It was always going to be throw away and when I cut it, I hadn't even thought about an underneath mounting approach.

I promise I'll do it nicely on the hood I use.

Very nice !!!!!!!

I like the Aussie version!!!

Have you tried matching the rear hood corners or even a little more swept? To me that adds an element of looking fast while it is just sitting there

My vote is for the louvers below the sheetmetal.

As always, I continue to me awed by your fabrication work.

I like it better with the louvers under the hood and I also would be interested to see what it might look like if you tried to match the curve of the rear of the hood. Regardless of how you end up doing this, we all know it is going to be stunning and first-rate work.

Thanks for the feedback, guys! I do like that underneath look but I'm going to think on it a while.
In the meantime, since I had the plasma fired up, I figured I work on the airbox a little bit.
I cut the pieces that sit under the stacks a number of months ago and today, I decided I'd make the center panel and get it riveted on.

As usual, I'm making this up as I go along and worst case, it's good practice for future work. I may remake this in aluminum or maybe in carbon. Or I may run this steel version. Talk about 1st world issues...

And installed...

Now to work out the sides and top.

I'm thinking I'll try and make it so the top actually lives on the engine lid so when the lid is opened, the induction system will be visible.

Anyway to force some air into that area?
I seem to remember various versions of the GT40 having some air ducts entering from the sides.
My car has some naca ducts on the side which I plan to run hose to an air box.
How about a clear box or roof over you intakes?

@djway - Hey now! You're stealing my thunder!

Did you sneak into my shop and see the rough sketch of the vents I've got drawn on, just behind the door????

Time to work on something needed to get this thing on the road: brakes!

With the Tilton pedals and dual brake master cylinders, I have to fab the lines. I started with the fronts.

I purchased a roll of brake line tubing and splurged on this cool tubing straightener.
Just run the line back and forth a few times and BOOM! The line, she is straight!

Always cool new toys to see here. I love it!

You could have made your own tube straightener for less than 20 dollars with all your cool tools. I built one with just a drill and a vice.
I put the naca ducts in the rockers which flare out so it will be a high pressure area.

Ring bros. Camaro

Mmmmmmmm... Ring Bros...
I dream about some day being able to do that level of work.

In comparison, I think I'll name my business RookieFab!

But seriously, I love seeing stuff like that as it motivates me to keep developing the skill set.

@djway - Perhaps. But given how much time I spend making these parts and pieces (yes, the multiple iterations don't help!) I've found that in nearly every case, it's waaaaaay less expensive, time wise/tool wise, to buy vs build.

Another fiddly set of things to make. This morning, it was the hydraulic clutch hard line from the firewall bulkhead to a yet-to-be-determined spot up near the suspension tower.

I REALLY like those tubing clips. They are from a company called Notchead. Available from Summit in all the common sizes. Very tidy, IMO.

I did my best to match all the curves. A bit more fine tuning but it's coming along.

Chris - stunning work as always - keep posting!!

A minor observation with the clutch tubing run: by following the structural curves, you just put a high spot in the middle of the run (for air bubbles to collect...)? Might want to rethink that if you get bleeding woes / sponginess....

- Tony

@Retroracer Tony - Agreed. I was wondering about that, too. But don't the stock rear lines have high points, too? What with the "proportioning" unit?

And note the high points of this line's run are the reservoir at the front and the clutch slave cylinder at the rear. But, yes, point taken!

Yes on the standard rear lines - but physics still applies! Air be lighter than brake fluid, and this project is your opportunity to correct any factory shortcomings on the design - right?

cylinders, reservoirs as high points are OK - usually that's where the bleed valves are?

- Tony

If there ain't no camera footage then NOPE

Upper is a new design vs what I already made.
More 914-ish? Certainly less roundy.
Let's see how this one turns out.
Regardless, I'm pretty sure it'll be one of these.

Can you sweep the trailing corners a little bit more to match the trailing corners of the hood?

@djway I'd tried that on an earlier design that I never posted. I didn't like it. Plus, I think I'm going to mount it from underneath so at this point, it's all about the vents, not the frame shape.
Again, still have some looking/thinking to do.

I like your second design better. I think it will look better with the curve on the aft end of the hood. On the first design the outside ends of the rear most vents looks to be sweeping forward slightly.

Sorry if it has already been asked...
What software are you using to design and plug-in cuts for your plasma table ?

@dakotaewing - For the 2D design, I use QCAD. Available for free download. I really like it as I found it easy to learn and use. But anything that can create a suitable .dxf file would work.

Once the .dxf is ready to cut, I use SheetCam (also available free) to create the needed cut paths and generate the G-code that the plasma table uses.

Both of these came installed on the Linix computer that I purchased with my ArcLight table.

@Krieger Andy - Agreed. The tricky part that I can't model or visualize until I see it on the car is the fact that when I bend up the vanes, they take on the angle, across their length, of where they connect to the main frame. Hard to explain, at least for me.

It may be that I'll end up adding a slight curve to the upper edge of the vanes, then move their outer attachment points downward so that when they are bent, their upper edge matches the curve across the hood, more like the version I already made.

Thank God I'm retired and have an understanding wife!

Another for the tool whores: Eastwood flaring tool.

This thing is pretty awesome. It comes with the 45 degree set up but I have a combo of AN (37 degree) and DIN bubble flares throughout the car so I had to get the AN die set, too.

Anyone local to me that needs to make lines is welcome to borrow.

Rear brake lines mostly done. Lots of fun getting all the bends right and have the ends end up where they need to be! You don't have to look too closely to see where I could have done better.
I suspect all these will become practice pieces as I really got much better as I went. And now that I know where the tricky spots are, and where bend order matters, I think I can do a much tidier job. Not that you'll really be able to see much of this.

Have you tried this flare tool on stainless tubing yet? I have the master cool hydraulic flare and it will not hold stainless except for the very finished wall. The tubing just pushes out of the clamp and will not take the flare.

@djway - The Eastwood site says it'll work with stainless but I've never tried. I will say that the die blocks REALLY clamp the tubing. Well enough that I've used them as press blocks to straighten the very ends of tubes. Again, not stainless, but...

I spent a LOT of time finishing up the final TIGing on the last flare.
Certainly more time consuming than MIG but SOOOO much nicer, cleaner, quieter.

Very nice. I can't wait to see that car in color.

@Cairo94507 Michael - You and me both!

I'm chipping away at all the little things I need to do ahead of sending it to media blasting and epoxy primer sealer. I have no idea what the current situation means to when that might happen.

I'm back to thinking I should put it all together, get it running then blow it apart for all the body and paint work. We'll see how fast I get to that point.

Speaking of the little things, I final mounted the door bar trim plates.

These couldn't be riveted on due to impossible access to the lower rivet locations.
(And yes, it was absolutely required those rivets be placed RIGHT THERE! )

So I ended up adding the rivets to the plates, then bonding them in place using the same structural adhesive as was used on the firewall panels.

I used hand shears to cut them at the bottom, twisted then open to fit around the bar, then TIG brazed and metal finished the cut. It's pretty neat how it now appears I planned ahead and added them before welding in the door bar.

Someday, I hope to be able to plan that well!

Anyway, I think I'll paint these plates and the door bars in the same color (black? Anthracite like the wheels?) and the rest of the interior metal in body color. I think a bit of contrast like that will look nice.

So far I've found that the slowness of TIG works to my advantage by keeping me from overheating and warping.

With this past week off my local gas supplier things I've developed an Argon addiction.

I've used the Eastwood tool for stainless (annealed 304, 37 degree AN flare-never tried a double flare). Works better than the hydraulic Mastercool in my experience due to better clamping like Chris noted. I thought the Mastercool stuff was nice [coming from the standard cheapo tools], but after using the Eastwood tool much prefer it.

Chris-It's looking great!!

@djway Used the Master Cool to modify the PMB SS line kits on my 914-6, I mounted Alpha Front Calipers on it, and needed to shorten the line or something that required a new double flare. I had no issue, love that tool, does everything I asked of it. I use it for more than my Porsche work. Went with it over the Eastwood tool, as it has al the flaring dies I needed for my work, beyond break, and AN flaring.

I did lots of work on large equipment and trucks for our farm. Never let me down, in the shop or in the field.

@Tygaboy , Chris to bring this back to your thread great work as always, I will say seeing Gates hoses hanging down under the car, even with custom mounts just lowered it a bit for me. SS tubes ran down that huge center tunnel, with roll flared ends or better yet, all AN fittings.

I know I preach that its your build, but man, just seeing it........

Okay distract me with more fabrication quick, maybe I'll forget about it.


You know lots of 60s racers used frame tubing to transport, oil and water to various parts of the chassis.

Even in the 2000 Buell did it to make the cycle that much lighter.......

Okay sorry..... It is your build I will get off my high horse

@914forme Stephen - Believe me, I looked at it for a long time. There's not nearly enough room in the tunnel, I didn't want to risk the whole "adding heat inside the car", and the Gates lines, boring as they may be, are proven to work.

I happily confess that for some items, particularly things that are essentially never going to be seen, like the rad lines, I'm going with what's proven vs trying to invent something new. Yea, yea, hard to believe... So sue me!

Oh believe me they will be seen If I ever get to see this car, I will be crawling all over it. I'll bring my own micro fiber to clean it up.

I was making some stainless fuel lines for my Notchback to feed the orphaned 914 motor. I don't remember the wall thickness but I could not get it to hold. It was also a bit larger than the standard stainless lines if I recall correctly.
I found some thinner wall stainless in a coil from a Still parts supplier that was thinner but same tube size and I was barely able to get a flare.
What size of stainless did you use

Hey Tygaboy I was thinking about your car today and the radiator hoses under the car and an image of some modern car undercarriages crossed my mind. Many of the high speed cruisers have a completely smooth undercarriage for aero and noise reduction. It occured to me if you run the hoses in the middle recess you could then fabricate a cover that runs the length. I am sure it would reduce drag and give you another 1/10th mph on the top end

Sinking to new lows, in terms of what others may find interesting:
I sliced up the factory Boxster clutch tube so I could use the part that attaches to the slave cylinder. I flared the other end and added a reducer so I can get from the factory tube size to the -3 (3/16) hard line.
I'm running a 7/8" clutch M/C. This is the same set up @Cracker runs and it works fine for him.

Anyone else running a Boxster S trans and if so, what did you use M/C, line size and connection to the slave cyl?

Sharp eyes will notice I "adjusted" the holes in that factory bracket so I could mount it in a slightly different spot and still use that cool little line clip.

I decided I needed to see the new vent design on the car.
"old" design in the upper pic, new one in the lower.

I think I like the new one better! The upper one has a "soft" look to it. The new one's slight backward slope on the rear edge, along with the straight-across vents, seems to better integrate with the 914's lines. At least to my eye.

I may need to add a bit more radius to the center rear edge. Again, I need to look at this a while.

Other views. Note that I haven't spent any time tuning the shape to get it to sit down better. Also, the opening in the hood is now too small and that's causing part of the vent to ride up.

No idea on what PMB used for their SS line kit. Just know it worked perfectly to do the task at hand.

I like the idea of the under body cover. Carbon Fiber I know Titanium, then if you drag it at speed it makes a wonderfully nice show for the people behind you.

@djway and @914forme - I'm going commando: No underwear for this car. I don't want anything that could cause damage to the hoses.
One last time: the Gates hose approach is proven and about as low risk as it gets. I think I've got plenty of unproven/risky stuff on this build already!