Reassembly has begun. Will have some time to work on it tomorrow, but perhaps not a lot the rest of the week. Then leaving in the 911 for Werks in Monterrey middle of next week. So progress will slow down some shortly.

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All the lights except the license plate lights in back are on and tested. Horns are back as well. Rear deck lid seals are on, and I spent a fair amount of time today repainting the black on the deck lid and then refitting the refreshed engine grill.

Hoping to have time to start on the door latch hardware tomorrow, but I may have to shuttle a friend down to pick up his just completed 911T targa. If so, may not get very far on mine tomorrow.

Pics...

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Very nice and just exciting to see another one going back together.

Starting to look like a functional 914 again. Still a long ways to go, though. I've been stalling on a couple of jobs, tackling the easy stuff first. But soon I will need to reinstall the rear glass and glue down the sail vinyl. Luckily, there are good how-to threads on both jobs.

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Read up on how to lower the front suspension

Looks worse in the wide angle photos than it is, but yes, it does need to come down about a 1/2" in front. It's on my to-do list.

As seen here, I've been working through the list as I assemble things. Today I repaired the odometer, although I haven't completely reassembled the speedo yet as I'm waiting for fresh paint on the bezel to dry.

Easing back into things now that I'm back home from Werks, and got the home stuff caught up.

Both front and rear valances have been refinished and installed, the front main trunk seal glued in, got the gauge cluster reassembled and ready to go back in. Have been gathering more parts, I may be getting close to done there.

Prepping to repair the rear defroster grid while the glass is still out of the car, then reinstall it. Sail panel vinyl sometime next week, I hope.

Dash will get some love too. New top pad is ready, but will need to glue on new basketweave vinyl while the pad is off. Then a new windshield, at which point I can begin putting the bulk of the interior back together.

I'm guessing completion around the end of October. Then

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Looks like you're making great progress

Yeah, I'm pleased with how it is going so far. Working on de-rusting the lug bolts today, and the defroster grid repair.

Have determined the windshield washer leaks pressure (no fluid currently) at the column switch. Probably hose fatigue just like I found at every fitting so far.

Rear window is back in the car. The defroster grid repair epoxy that I'd had for some years was old, apparently beyond its shelf life, so a few of the repair spots didn't stick. Will have to deal with that later.

Lug bolts are now presentable, not rusty.

Dash top has been removed now, but I need to drop the steering column to replace the face basket weave vinyl before putting the new dash top in.

Got a friend coming over tomorrow to help with the first of the sail vinyl install.

New windshield should go in next week, or the following week for sure.

Arne, you kicked this one in the ass. Great job.

Finding a good, working defrost glass is like finding hen's teeth. Whatever type of conductor they used just didn't hold up over time. I've had two of them and the 'opens' in them were too numerous to attempt repair - if it was even possible

I just carry a rag behind the seat

Took a bit more of the dash apart today, to prepare for new basket weave. Still need to drop the column and pull the heater controls. Then I can glue, and finally start putting that all back together.

Then this afternoon, with help of one of my 911 owning friends, I got all the sail vinyl on. That black vinyl against the yellow paint looks the business!

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*But not before you put all of the trim and fixins' back on.

My car self-lowered quite a bit after reassembly. I think we weighed it before paint and it was ~1590 pounds as something you could still drive down the street.

Car is really looking great. Wow. And love love love the plate!

[quote name='horizontally-opposed' date='Aug 29 2017, 08:09 PM' post='2522237']
[quote name='euro911' post='2516052' date='Aug 11 2017, 06:06 PM']
Read up on how to lower the front suspension*
[/quote]

*But not before you put all of the trim and fixins' back on.

My car self-lowered quite a bit after reassembly. I think we weighed it before paint and it was ~1590 pounds as something you could still drive down the street.

Car is really looking great. Wow. And love love love the plate! With the right tires and ride height, this car will be a stunner. Already is…

Looking kick ass Arne! Nice job. I can't wait to see it in person all finished

Paint, bling and gizmos added 500 pounds?

More like 300-400. I'd need to go back and see if I can find those scale readings, but 1591 on good race scales sticks with me. Car was STRIPPED out but for suspension, engine, transmission, dash, and one seat. No glass, no top, no interior, no door guts, no bumpers, no lights, etc. Even so, I remember being shocked by the number.

Ok, finding that wasn't as hard as I thought:



What surprises me now is it still had its windshield and back window in. I can't remember if we pulled the windshield before we weighed it, but I left the back window in place for paint.

Thread is here. Hard to believe that was nearly ten years ago...
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...0724&st=120

And you can watch it self lower as parts go back on...

Zero suspension changes in this time. I'd say it dropped 1.0 inch to 1.5 inches as it was reassembled.

...

Never occurred to me to find a scale and weigh mine while I had it stripped for paint. Mine was also drivable, barely, but I pulled the windshield and rear glass too. Still have no interior in it now, but I can see that it has come down some as I put more parts back on.


Target is late October, at this point. Maybe sooner if all continue to go well. Will make sure to contact you, Morgan and Maren once it is done.

A little more work finishing the targa sail trim today. Very pleased with how this is turning out. It will have its flaws if you look for them, but they won't be terribly obvious for the most part. It is turning out to be a really great looking driver quality car.

Installed new dash face vinyl, dash top from 914rubber.com, reinstalled all gauges after testing each warning and instrument bulb. It's all back in, it all works, and with the new basket weave vinyl and dash top pad, it looks REALLY good.

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I have a few non-914 things to do over the long weekend, but next items will be to recover and reinstall the glovebox, the recover the radio plate and install the radio. Will try to get the new windshield installed soon.

Looks GREAT!!!

Kind of a strange request, but if you get a chance, can you take some close-ups of the dash pad and its material as seen in differing light cast across its skin? Been wondering how "correct" the pattern is, as my dash pad is gonna need to be replaced at some point.

No hurry at all.

Will get the Nikon out tomorrow instead of the phone and take some shots of both new and original. Will be easier to shoot while the windshield is still out.

Pete, give these a look. The camera is immaterial, to try to image this is all about light and reflections. Here's my best efforts. I tried to take shots from similar spots and angles on the two pads, as close as the lighting would allow..

FWIW, the grain is VERY close, perhaps indistinguishable to my eye.

Original Dash

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New dash from 914rubber

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Pete, the 914rubber dash was molded from my NOS straight-out-of-the-box dash. The grain is exact.

Today's work - glovebox and radio.

Actually started the car today, because it had been a while. I didn't want to energize everything while the gauges were all missing, but now that the main dash is all back together...

And if you look closely at these pictures, sharp eyes may notice a deviation from stock...

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Continuous run of vinyl from the steering column to the glove box?

No, the radio vinyl is separate, as normal, although I did try to cut to match the pattern closely. It does look continuous unless you look closely.

But that's not what I was thinking of.

I got it! No windshield wipers

Hey, thanks for these, Arne!

Looks very close, indeed. Looks like they did a good job on this dash pad...

Here's a hint. Something is missing, and it was probably only there on certain years, not all cars.

Seatbelt light delete. I dig. Always felt it was a bit VW 412.

did that on my 73. looks great!

Yes, A big thanks to Ken. I could not have made this part without him. At least not as exact. It literally is an EXACT copy of the NOS dash.

I will send you a new roll bar pad when done.

Mark

Yup. I looked at that when I took it out and thought, "Now why would I want to put that back in?"

Picking away at tasks this weekend, as I try to stay cool and out of the smoke. Door seals (inner and outer), floor vinyl, starting with carpet, new speakers in the new speaker pods, and taking a stab at fixing the slipping grip on the steering wheel. All good so far, although the verdict on the steering wheel won't be in until tomorrow.

Not much to show in pictures yet, just the speakers.

Send it to me. I want to make an "ejection seat" light! This one no longer functions with the DME.

Let me think on that, Rob. My thought was to leave it in the glovebox in case the next owner might be so silly as to want it.

I have an appointment tomorrow for the new windshield. So I've been making sure that it's ready to drive, and that everything works. Put some gas in it yesterday. Here in Oregon, we still have gas pump jockeys (no self serve to speak of), and the car has not failed to baffle the young kids manning the pumps. Yesterday one asked me if it was a kit car I was building.

I've got most of the interior together now. Waiting to put on the inside windshield trim until the glass is in place, of course. And I'm not going to put the backpad in until I figure out what to do about the interior light. (See Using a 911 dome light? )

Still need to get the glass into the doors, and then the door cards, then refinish and install the rocker covers. That should be it, appearance-wise.

Other bits will be getting all the heater ducting reinstalled, installing the billet taco plate, replacing the upper steering shaft bearing in the column, and anything I find wrong in the test driving phase. On track to wrap this up by the middle of October, I figure.

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Turned out very nice. Does the lense on the 911 switch toggle on and off? I bought one, it didn't fit at all and i wasn't willing to cut on the backpad. A generic beetle switch sorta fits if you play with spring tabs.

Congratulation Arne! One of the fastest restoration! Started March 2017 and before the end of this September, your car is already on twisty road of Oregon!

I probably wouldn't consider cutting on my backpad if the light opening didn't already have issues. The vinyl has shrunk, exposing the fiber board. So if I open the opening and re-stretch the vinyl to fit the bigger light I also fix the appearance issue. The 911 light does toggle, the entire lens pivots from side to side.

It has gone quickly, but I hesitate to call it a "restoration". More of a major refresh. And being retired, I have the luxury of being able to work on a project like this quite a bit during the week. Working on it 4 to 5 days per week goes a lot faster than people who only have weekends.

About your back pad, you might consider just doing like this. Borrowed pic from online. several members did this already. Looks clean and space for small items at your rear seat.

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Looking good Arne! The car is so clean, you should already have a few World Members lined up to buy it.

No, no one is lined up to buy it so far. But I suspect that it may not be clear to most of the World that I will be putting it up for sale as soon as I'm convinced it is ready. A few of you understand that, as we've chatted about it in person or on the phone.

But as you've gathered, for someone looking for a decent weekend driver, it should end up being a nice car. It will not be perfect, and I may leave a few simple things as minor projects for a new owner. But it will drive nice, and no one is likely to be embarrassed to be seen driving it. And judging from what I've experienced with it even not completed, it WILL attract a lot of attention. The yellow with black accents guarantee that.