Driver side front suspension bar.

Another door bar vertical.

Artsy-fartsy shot of the day.

Second that!

You are all too kind and I appreciate all the encouraging words.

Back to the seat belt retractor mounts. I decided to reshape the lower section of the braces to close off any opening into the brace and to make it easier to get it fully welded to the lower cross bar.

The mods are all done and both braces are tacked in.

I got the passenger side sway bar reinforcement plate all welded in. Still need to dress the welds. It'll get seam sealed after primer is sprayed.

That was a long weekend of fabrication and welding. I feel like a lot got done.
And yet so much remains to be designed and built.

A friend of mine says "You should get a white board and write down everything that you need to do..."

I think if I did that, and faced the reality of what's ahead, it would scare the crap out of me and I'd stop the build.

So I'll end this weekend with this pic and a comment:

Sometimes you just have to step back and look at the big picture.

Man, I'm loving how this car is shaping up...

Me Too....

Get it done so you can

Inguiring minds need to know, how much fill rod / Mig Wire, and how many bottles of Argon Argon/CO2 have you burned thru?

Only reason I ask is people seem to think I spend to much time with my

Thats a great question.. I just did a count on my project.. I have went through 2 11lb spools and 4 tanks so far.. Onto the 3rd spool now.. Problem is allot just gets ground off.

Chris you may have more then I at this point?

I on my third 11 pound spool also, just upgraded my tank, I had an 80, burned thru 4 of them. I am now on my first 150 Argon / Co2 for the Mig. TIG I have gone through a 3 sleeves of filler rod, and several tungstens, most damaged due to improper / learning to sharpen tungstens. And on my first 180 tank of Argon.

Worst part is I have a leak on my argon co2 line that had gone undetected for a bit.. Now all is good.. I am almost all done welding though on my project.

Chris probably has more welding to do then I

I'll be picking up my third 80 bottle of C25 today and that will easily get me to the finish line. And I think I'll make it through with only one 11 lb. spool of .023 plus a little easy grind for the body sheets. Would have been even less if I were a better welder. But I'm not building my car from scratch like you guys.

I am running .030 so less wire per spool for me..

I have no idea how much wire/gas I've used on the car since I also use the same welding rig for all the work I do as part of my little side business: Red Barn Yard Art.
So it got used for all the WCR items, the Porsche crests, etc.

I have gotten better at paying attention to supplies so I always have a spare bottle and 10lb spool for the MIG. I use .023 for when I'm doing sheet metal and .030 for the structural work.

The TIG rig has one of those giant bottles so I just have to keep an eye on that.

Cringe. Good welds don't need to be ground. I love a beautiful fish scale.

I think he's talking mostly about butt welding sheet metal for seamless patches.

But what do I know only taught high level welding for the last 20 years Click to view attachment

These are headers I just finished up.. No grinding on this

Gotcha. Totally get it on the butt welds. Beautiful headers! Huge respect to the great welders.

The grinding comment just brought up the image of the "eagle crap" welds I've seen.

I hear that.. Grinding outside of restorations is typically just for fixing mistakes.. I often tell my students (average age is 32) its not grinding class..

914 Rubber's GT Headlight Kit arrived today!

As usual, I'm all over the place. This evening, it was narrowing the flip rear trunk hinge. The Buick it came from is a bit wider than a 914...

I cut the cross bar in the middle then clamped each hinge half to the underside of the trunk seal channel, where that part will eventually be bolted. Then I tied the now overlapping crossbars to each other and determined center, then cut equal amounts off each side.

I then used the lathe to turn down a suitable bolt to make a slug that I plug welded into the cross bars. I'm determined to doing everything I can with TIG vs MIG and this was a good little project for that. So...A little TIG-ity, TIG and... one narrowed flip trunk hinge!

Love it.. Its on my short list but gotta spend 400 on a set of refurbished rockers..

I like it!

The chassis stiffening is nearly completed. Got the seat belt retractor mounts welded in.

Final rear suspension tower reinforcement.

Locking down the rear suspension-to-fire wall support pad.

Final front suspension support tube.

Finished installing the MadDog Motorsports front sway bar reinforcement plates.
I decided to to tidy up the rosette welds. Once it's back from blasting and epoxy prime, I'll seam seal around the perimeter. That'll all but disappear the wonky weld lines.

And the Elephant sway bar has their magical misalignment bushings. The bar literally swings, there's so little stiction. Really impressive.

Brake line brackets installed and a little primer to protect things for now...

Back to the flip trunk hinge.
I worked out the hinge attachment location. (Andy/Krieger was kind enough to let me measure and photograph his installation. Thanks Andy!)

I bolted the trunk lid to the stock hinges and adjusted the fit.
Then, with the flip hinge in place and the trunk shut, I can climb under and mark where to install the threaded bosses in the outer stiffener panel of the trunk lid.

I still have final trimming and finishing on that one part of the hinge so pardon the sharp edges!

The similar color and your attention to detail will helps it look OEM!

That is going to be one impressive rear trunk lid. Cannot wait for videos of it in action.

Really slick Chris...the King of fabrication!!!

Tony

Chris I would love to see the measurements, as I have the same setup in my shop, waiting.

Stephen -
Sure thing! In fact, I was thinking about you as I was doing this work, knowing you'd be doing the same install at some point. Once everything is in place and I know there's adequate adjustability and it all works as planned, I'll post some pics with measurements.
I can already tell you that to get things where I wanted them, the location of the hinge on my car is measuring out about 1/4" - 3/8" forward of where Andy has his.

The good news is that, near as I can tell so far, the specific location of the hinge (within maybe around 1" - 1 1/2"), isn't that critical. It'll be easier to document once I get it hooked up to the trunk lid and verify my assumptions about the geometry of this contraption!

This morning was fabrication of the flip trunk threaded bosses and reinforcement plates that I'll plug weld onto the underside of the trunk, along the outer stiffeners.

Plenty of room for adjustment!

Now to measure for and cut the bosses, weld them to the plates, drill the reinforcement plates for rosette welding and get these installed on the trunk.

More great work I see you have been up to.


Don't worry, I'll make it look pretty enough to install on that work of art of yours!
Click to view attachment

double post... delete me .....

SWEET! I have a 914 /6! (but man, that little ".2" really adds some hp!)

Mike,
Let's plan a time to meet up. I'd love for you to see my project and pick through the machining goodies, but I can get out your way, too. Let me know...

I'm trying to sneak in an hour here and there to keep things moving along during the week. So this evening, I was able to get the flip trunk bosses cut down and welded to the reinforcement plates. Boring, yes. But it's all gotta be done.

Thank you Chris

Great news! After 17 years of cutting, welding, sawzall deconstruction, And finally engine installation, Chris has finally finished the car!

Rob,
Jealousy is such an unbecoming look on you...

What Chris? The welds are amazing!

Final steps in the flip trunk.
First, figure out the location of the threaded bosses and drill for clearance.