-not merely a thing of one Space-Time continuum, but allied to the ultimate animating essence of existence-- which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike. -HP Lovecraft

Wow dude. When does the hover function go in.

Right after the "Mr. Fusion" of course.

One thing I forgot to mention is that as I was driving home from S-Car-Go, I noticed they had added a sticker to my mirror.

They did test drive it and, apparently, agree it goes pretty good!

Pete @horizontally-opposed - Thanks for recommending this shop. Top quality work and a sense of humor - what more could you want?

I love it!

LOL, I love it. Obviously added after a run down their "test track." Not that I have ever partaken.

Glad you had a great experience there. They've built some seriously good hot rods over the years, and understand street car suspension as few shops I've come across do.

If you want those 250# springs back they yours

Oh man this made me laugh! Thanks for that. I'm willing to bet they hold that sticker in reserve for only the most special cars. Your first

With the focus on dialing in the suspension, I'm checking/verifying everything. With no seals in the doors, windows held in by Gorilla tape, etc, the car is a bit of a rattle trap. But I thought I heard a clunk...
I jacked up the rear and gave the wheels a tug then a push. "Clunk, clunk". Hmmm.

Off came the trailing arms and here's what I found.

Anyone else running PolyBronze bearings have an issue like this? @Andyrew @conedodger

I have to believe there's enough variation in trailing arms that I can't be the only one.

Anyway, I'm planning to chuck the pivot shafts in the lathe and remove the appropriate amount needed to get the clearance into spec. Anyone see any issues with that?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y3ijb5z9nY

That is a riot! Respect

Chris,
I had no problems at all and considering I actually did the install, I had every opportunity to F it up!

I have a significant clunk in my RR trailing arm that I suspect is this. It sounds just like a bad CV. Suspension feels completely normal. I cant see it when I pry on things, but its a "CLUNK" audibly heard occasionally when driving.

At this point i've tuned it out as I suspect 100% its the same thing you have Chris. Someday i'll pull the suspension and refresh the bearings and address it..



Are you going to machine down the inner rod?

I had the rear wheels off my track car yesterday. The right side has a tiny amount of play. The drivers side has more. I need to put a dial gauge on it and see how much it moves. I wonder what Chuck says is acceptable.

I'm happy with about .010" of end float and accept up to .020" before I feel a need to make alterations.

@ChrisFoley Chris - thanks for verifying what I remember hearing from you when I was first working on your rear pick up point install.

The "too much end float" issue has been resolved on both sides! (Did I really need to call out that I did both sides? )

So yes, @Andyrew Andrew, turning it is the way I opted to go - if only for the weight savings!

"You have the coolest toys Sebastian" Roy

Oh to have a lathe...


Oh to have room for a lathe...



Oh to have room!

I love the fact that your whittling away at this car making it better and better every week

With the trailing arm end float issue addressed, I called S-Car-Go to get their thoughts on rear spring rates. They said move to 250lb. Thanks to @Krieger Andy, I could! Thanks for the springs, my friend... I owe you.

So out with the 225s (blue) and in with 250s (red, which I understand are faster!)

And here's one for the tool whores and any users of @ChrisFoley Tangerine Racing's upper rear shock mounts.

If you don't have this setup in your car, you likely won't understand, nor would you need to! If you do have it, and haven't come up with your own solution, you can buy me a coffee when/if we see each other:

The upper mounting bolt on the shaft can only be installed AFTER the shaft passes through the multi-piece spherical bearing. This means there's nothing holding the spring in place during install until you get everything fully seated in the upper mount. I found it a real treat trying to get the shocks installed by myself until I noodled out this solution:

Take the stock top fastener, and cut off that flared part. Install the spring and use the now modified piece as the top bolt. It just happens to slide right through the Tangerine spherical bearing! Attach the shock to the trailing arm, jack it into place, remove your home-made top nut tool, install the upper spherical bearing spacer and shock top nut. Ta-da! The shock is in place with no muss, no fuss! Shock removal/installation is now an easy one person job.

You're welcome.

Glad I could help out my friend!

Another "why would I care about this, Tygaboy?" post.
Progress on tidying up the wireless steering wheel button improvements.
At the very least, it gives you an idea of how small this contraption is going to be.

On a more practical front, I'm waiting on Toyo for my set of RA1s. Shipping delays, apparently...

The throttle response is still a bit touchy. This hasn't been too big an issue and I thought I was pretty much used to it. But now that I've started working to develop the suspension and have been doing a bit of spirited driving in the twisties, I find it's a real distraction. What to do?

Put another way: How can I spend the most money and redo as much work as possible?

Well, it turns out EFI Hardware, the company that makes the throttle cam I used to help soften off idle throttle response, makes a generic DBW actuator. I spoke with my tuner about it and we're now in the process of seeing if we can convert my ITBs from cable to DBW. This will allow me to program the throttle pedal to work however I want!

Here's proof the electronic side of things can, in fact, be made to work.

It will require I move to a new ECU as the Holley HP I'm running now doesn't support DBW. Plus, I'll need to work out the physical mounting location and linkage set up in an area where there's not a lot of room.

Won't this be fun?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rAYWLpCWlk

What sort of sign is it when your 914 buddies @buddyv Robert and @markhoward Mark both show up at your place BOTH driving these blasphemous cars?

I couldn't help but burst into a fitting song: Ebony and Ivory.

OK, truth be told, we were headed to look at a 928 that a friend is selling, so this was actually quite fitting.

As I keep up the development work, I find more things that need improvement.

One item is the H2O pump set up. I started with the Meziere electric, but without modulation capabilities, the car doesn't come up to operating temp in cold/cool weather.
No, I'm not running a thermostat.
I tried running the pump via a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal from the ECU but it never worked correctly. (I won't bother with those details - PM me if you really want to know...)
On top of that, I ended up frying the solid state relay. Now, it's possible I got a bad relay but because I soooo like doing things multiple times...

I've opted to replace the Meziere pump with a Davies Craig 150 and matching controller. Others, like @andyrew Andrew, have had great success with these so I'm going with that recommendation.

And as long as I'm replacing things, I decided I'd give the Holley digital dash a go, too.
I used the following to convince myself it's a great idea:
- It's plug & play with the Holley ECU - no extra sensors needed
- The dash reports what the ECU sees/does - lots of interesting data logging capabilities
- It eliminates all the SpeedHut gauge wiring: sensor wiring, for the dash lighting, etc. It tidies things up quite a bit.
- The dash is all sorts of configurable and touch screen controllable. The pics below are only a few of the standard backgrounds. Plus you can design and upload your own. Both gauges and digital switches can be added to the dash. If I need switches in addition to what I have on the wireless steering wheel panel, I can add them!

The Holley dash means I need to make a new gauge panel. I can surface mount it (the upper design) or flush mount it (the lower design).
I need to try both and see which I like best.
A little CAD and I'm ready for the plasma table. Hope to get them fitted tomorrow.

And as long as we're on non-914 stuff, here's more!

A friend was selling his Radical ProSport and asked me to help get it ready to show. Man o' man! This is such a cool car! I came dangerously close to buying it... I mean, don't I look awesome in it? But no. I don't need the distraction and, somehow, found the will to resist. Anyway, the buyer came and bought it. However, he's a bit too tall to fit the car, as is.

Longish story short - and those of you who have followed my build will get a kick out of this - I've been asked to fab a new firewall for this bad boy!

What do you think - plain or with stampings?

I have a couple of 928 wheels for anybody who wants them - also know of where MC Hammer's 924Turbo is & it's for sale but in sad shape. If anyone cares tho....

Tell me about this 924 Turbo

I'll preface this post the same way I do when telling my wife things about my build:
"Not that you'd care, but..."

Here's a quick vid showing progress with the Holley digital dash. It's really pretty neat.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq0_ZTOy47Y

Fun stuff Chris!! That Holley dash will be great!!

Show us some of the firewall stuff if you can!

I dare you to make it plain.

Keep blazing trails, I'm taking notes.

I too dare you to go plain said the metal porn sadist to the tool whore masochist.

Not that I didn't like the look of the SpeedHut gauges but given I have an ashtray delete dash top (not installed yet) and there will nothing on the dash, no switches and probably not even a glove box, this "nothing there" gauge panel looks like it's the perfect compliment to the build: super clean and simple. And it'll really disappear once I paint the panel black.

I like it!

Hi @tygaboy Chris. I like the multiple options for that gauge pod. I need to come up and check it out in person.

Agree. An overlay panel of clear polycarbonate - with a cut out to suit the control panel, so that it sits flush - over the black backing panel might blend it in even more....?

- Tony

Today's lesson is "How to Make a 914 Look Big".

The Red Barn is going to be a bit crowded for the next few days and my focus will be on fabbing a new firewall for the Radical. But with such a cool shop mate, I think my car will be OK!

Plus, I just treated it to a set of Toyo RA1s so I'll tolerate no complaints.

@Retroracer Tony - Interesting. Let me first see how it looks on a black panel.
What I could really use your help with is coming up with a suitable door card design.
Let's touch base soon?

Surely!

Damned fat pig.
perspective

Fuel tank V3: Live and learn.
That giant fuel cap that seemed like a great idea? Turns out that in order to fill the tank, I have to use my hand to release the pump handle's fill neck seal/trigger contraption to get the pump to flow. Better is that in order to comfortably do that, my head ends up under the hood, right above the unsealed filler. I decided I didn't want to breath fumes like that...

So. I bought a new tank ($212 shipped - from Parts Geek, of all places) and started over.

My goal with this version is no welding on the tank. The big filler cap required that I mod the tank to create a large enough flat mounting surface. Not required with this smaller filler - and it worked out great. I think it looks good, too.

On to fitting the in-tank pump, which looks like it, too, can be installed with no welding.

Wow, thats a great price for a tank! Filler cap looks nice

Chris,

That Holley fill cap, is it located in the same place as the original Porsche fill cap? Are you going to add a vent and expansion tank? What are you doing for the fuel pump and its location?

I'm currently adding a small Holley fill cap, but in the same position as you did with your original large flat fill cap. The tank surface is not very flat in this area, so I'm not sure how to get a good seal with the Holley o-ring. I'll probably machine a steel split ring to back it up. In the stock fill cap location, I'm installing a FiTech drop in fuel pump module with an adapter ring for a bolt in configuration (no welding). I'll shoot some photos to share.

Andys

@tygaboy - That looks amazing. I must admit putting fuel in my tank requires me to contort my body as I hold the collar on the fuel nozzle up so it will flow fuel into the tank. I really do not like doing that.

Chris - is that Holley cap vented? How does air get back into the tank as fuel is used (or is that dealt with somewhere else in the system)? Curious,

- Tony

Here are the photos of the Holley fill cap, the FiTech pump module, and adapter. Sorry for the crappy back yard rusty fuel tank, but you get the picture.

Andys

@Retroracer @andys
The cap is mounted on the driver side, on the flat forward of the tank seam. I made a split ring with some sealed nuts welded on to it, slipped it into position then tacked the edge of the ring to the tank. Then got some fuel proof gasket material and made a suitable sealing ring. Seems to work fine.

My cap is not vented as I run an AeroMotive Phantom 340 in-tank pump and the assembly has a vent outlet. See pic. Not my car, just a suitable pic.
Andy, isn't that a vent tube connector on the back side of your pump?

My pump assembly mounts (essentially) where the original filler was. I still run the standard fuel level sensor.

@andys
I tried that same, small Holley cap set up but REALLY didn't like how small the base was. I ended up buying a cap assembly from BAM. Here's the link on Amazon. Looks out of stock now but...

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Bolt-Tank-F...d/dp/B019H6M8YI

The good news is the base uses the same thread pitch so the Holley cap swaps right in and you get the super cool, SEMA winning, silver/black contrast!

Chris,

So you are modifying/welding your new fuel tank to fit both the AeroMotive module and the fill cap. BTW, did you fab the filler neck? I couldn't find one like it.

My good tank (in the car) has some fuel in it, so I'll avoid any welding. I'll only be drilling for the Holley filler neck. I'll probably add some small flat head screws topside to hold the split ring in place. Yes, the FiTech has a vent fitting; I'd still like to run an expansion tank if it's doable.

Nice work, as usual, Chris.

Andys

I had the same concern with my cap so I added this to it, which slips in first and uses 4 of the bolts to hold it in place.

Click to view attachment