A few additional thoughts. The car's ride seems better than when I drove it prior to the paint job, but I think that's just because now that the rear window and other bits are all properly secured, the car doesn't rattle like a death trap over every little road irregularity. The ride is firm, but controlled and not harsh. Very appropriate.

One of the things I may leave for the next owner is tires. Tire choice can be rather personal, and what I might pick for the car may not be pleasing to a potential buyer, either for brand or performance level. I will just need to be upfront about the need for tires and price the car accordingly. I could even facilitate new tires of the buyer's choice if they want them on before delivery.

Speaking of tires, I took a good look at them recently, and that has given me reason to think the car was sitting unused for much longer than I had been led to believe. I was told the car drove into the storage unit under its own power 6-8 years ago.

Maybe. But the tires on the car are nearly new, wear wise. I doubt they have more than a few hundred miles on them. They are H rated Toyos, nice tires, no signs of rot. I figured they were installed shortly before the car went to storage, so 6-8 years ago.

Not so. I finally got around to hunting down one of the date codes on the back side of the tires. Turns out they were built in 1996!

So while the car may have been started and driven a bit now and then before the 6-8 year slumber in the storage unit, I figure it hasn't really been on the road in more like 20 years. So the rescue of the car is more significant than I had thought.

The new windshield was installed yesterday, along with the new trim. Today I got the glass, associated bits, and the door card and hardware installed on the driver's side. Should be able to do the same on the passenger side tomorrow.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Looking great!

Looks fantastic Arne. Great work.

More progress today. The passenger door assembly is complete. Considering that the door cards and armrests/pockets/pulls are original, they came out looking pretty good. Not perfect, but totally in line with my vision for the car. Replace what is needed, but keep as much original as makes sense.

Also, I was talking about the car today with someone who noted that the wipers looked rather high when parked. I re-evaluated how I had them installed, and brought them down some. (If you are reading this, thanks, Andrew.)

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

That is a terrific looking car and someone is going to be quite happy when you list it and they buy it.

Did you take the wiper rack out Arne? If not ignore the following advice.

If so, I'd recommend taking the wiper arms off and making some little pointers on the wiper shafts with masking tape. Turn on the wipers to make sure it's moving the correct direction.

It's possible to put it in wrong and have the wipers move the wrong way and gouge out two big chunks of paint out of your shiney new paint right there on the cowl for all to see. You can guess how I know this

That's a good tip. Perry. I have experienced similar issues on other cars, so I intentionally did not pull the wiper rack this time. And even so, I tested the rotation and proper park position prior to installing the wiper arms. Just to be certain, you know...

Just now finishing up installing the billet taco plate. Really nice part.

This makes the 3rd oil change since I got the car. Fresh oil prior to first start, 2 changes since. I think it should be clean and good to go inside now.

OK.. I thing I can speak for everyone here.. slow down you are making the rest of us look bad .

Seriously what a fantastic job, very impressive on the speed on this project..

well done

Ran some errands in the car after the oil/taco plate change, mostly to see how the oil temp gauge works with the new sender. (With the original sender the gauge was flakey, if it registered at all.) The gauge seems to work fine now, the readings look sane, and - as expected - not running hot.

Going to start on cleaning up and refinishing the rocker panel covers over the next few days.

Arne, maybe I missed something; where did you get the new sender unit for the oil temp gauge? Is the new sender unit the same size as the VDO oil temperature sender (M14 x 1.5mm thread)?

VDO #323-055 has the M14x1.5 thread, and is short with a 90 degree terminal for the new taco plate. Works great for the billet plate, but not correct for stock, I don't believe.

Thanks Arne. Any issues getting the new plate from Jonesy? Any leaks so far?

No to both questions. I paypal'd Jonesy, didn't pay for expedited post, was still here within 2 weeks, as I recall. No issues.

No leak at the taco plate now, although it's only been in for a day. But I don't expect leaks in the future, either. It's a very nice piece. Comes with the longer bolts needed (nice Allen head), and new copper washers for the bolts. You'll want a fairly fresh o-ring, but that's it. The new VDO sender comes with a copper washer as well. Torque it all down and leaks should be a thing of the past.

The only other thing I did was to put some heat shrink on the wire's terminal to ensure it does not ground out against the taco plate if bumped.

I've started making a punch list of items that I need (or in some cases, want) to address before I feel it'll be ready to sell. I will add to and edit this list as time goes on.

• Refit all heater parts, one new hose
• New bearing in steering column
• Address pressure leak in windshield washer
• Regulate clock (runs fast)
• Install new interior light
• Steering wheel grip slips - repair
• Cover steering wheel grip, leather
• Replace horn pad mushroom
• Replace rear seal on targa top
• Repair rear defroster connector tab
• Repair rear defroster grid
• AGM battery and hold down
• Replace door switches
• Re-check valve adjustment & timing
• Recover console
• Replace strut inserts to cure clunk, rear shocks to match
• Replace heater fan blower motor
• Reattach rearview mirror
• Repaint and install rocker panel covers
• Wax car
• Miscellaneous detailing

And notable things that I am (probably) going to leave for the next owner:

• New bumpers
• New tires

As I continue to wrap up various parts, I've been driving the car a bit more the past few days to help identify areas of concern. Mostly seems ok so far. The only real thing I've found so far is that there may be a slight clunk in the front suspension on rough road surfaces. Sounds to me like either one of the struts, or more likely a bad sway bar link bushing. Will explore that soon.

Other than that, it seems pretty good. It drives nicely, the engine runs fine, transmission shifts well. The transmission does make some raspy sounds at times, but overall it is probably quieter than the 915 in my Carrera.

Check your shock nuts in the trunk. Hard to get a socket on them and I've seen them loosen up.

Would that it were that simple, Rob. Clunk appears to be in the RF strut itself. Digging in deeper now.

Yikes.

Unfortunately, it is the RF strut insert. I was hoping not to have to replace the struts and shocks, I really like the ride/handling combo of those old red Konis. But while all 4 had consistent resistance through the entire stroke before, now that I have begun driving the car, the bad one feels good through the lower 40% of the travel, but suddenly no resistance toward the top. If I lowered the front ride height a little, it might clunk less often than now, but that ain't right.

Reviewing the choices now. I see only 5 options:

1. New KYB are out, they are affordable but
2. I don't feel Koni yellow are the best choice for stock bars and the 100# springs on the back.
3. Bilstein HD/B6 are good, but not cheap.
4. Would consider OEM Sachs if I could find them, but they'd probably cost almost as much as the Bilsteins.
5. Not feeling too good about finding decent used Koni reds (82R-1730), but it might be a possibility. First I'd need to hunt them down, then hope they were better than what I have.

Arne - I’ll sell you a pair of brand new, oem Sachs front inserts for $150 shipped. Mark

And for another $50, I’ll include good used Sachs rears shipped.

Seems like a good option for an essentially stock car, Mark. PM coming your way.

Koni still rebuilding them?

Some disagreement on that. Some say they still can, others note that they no longer do the old red single-adjust units.

In any case, the cost to rebuild (if they still do them) would exceed the cost of the units Mark has offered. Can probably buy new Bilsteins for what it would cost to rebuild them. For a stock car, the Sachs are probably the better option.

Yes, they do ... http://www.koniracing.com/services.cfm

Got in touch with Mark, he has the new front Sachs inserts, and a pair of good used shocks to match, but no rear spring perches for them. So looking for either a pair of perches, or other rear options. Really don't want to mismatch the dampers front and rear.

I agree. I seem to recall that Koni's rebuild facility is located pretty close to my shop in Sonoma...

I had a pair of Bilstein inserts rebuilt 12 or so years back. Cost more than most new ones. But it was worth it in that case, they were custom-valved Alpina inserts based on normal Bilsteins that were also NLA.

That is the only case I'd think about rebuilding for a street car - if there were no correct new options available at all.

I’ve been checking a few things off of the punch list above (post #265), but keep adding more as I go. But most are not major items, the end is - maybe not in sight yet, but not far around the corner. Waiting on a few parts now.

I’ve got the shock/strut situation figured out thanks to Mark and Craig. Will be a bit before they all arrive, but only a few hours work to install. Thanks, gentlemen.

Well, the word that the car will be for sale in a few weeks must be spreading, I've been contacted by a few parties expressing some interest. Since this build thread is a decent record of my progress, and also provides some insight into my philosophy, approach and goals, I will be adding some additional pictures, details and descriptions of different aspects of the car to the thread as time allows. Probably starting later tonight.

Realized I hadn't posted the most recent pictures here yet. Still plenty of small items left on the punch list (link in my signature), but getting close now.

Finally tested the repaired rear window defroster (after the relay that the car was missing arrived today). It works!! Well, after a fashion, I suppose. Can’t expect it to work like a modern car. But a bit of fog applied by breathing on it while switched on does start to clear at the grid lines and goes from there. Calling it good.

This is actually a bigger thing than it seems, at least to me. I dislike selling cars with disclaimers about things that don’t work. I want EVERYTHING to work when I’m done.

Well, almost everything. I normally don’t fix the door and seat belt buzzers, if they still exist. I hate those things...

Checked a few more things off the punch list recently, but had to add another item. (You’d think I’d be past the point of finding new problems now, but that’s not true.)

Notable things are the new bearing in the steering column, and fixing the pressure leak in the windshield washer at the column switch. Love the newly solid steering wheel.

Ready to start on the struts and shocks soon, they were supposed to be delivered USPS today, but the mailman hasn’t made it up here yet.

And that new issue? The heater blower motor in the engine compartment is mostly rust inside, and is totally seized. I’m going to have to hunt down a replacement.

And the shocks and struts (which the mailman brought at about 7:00 pm last night) are in as well. I’m very pleased, the Boge/Sachs OEM dampers seem to be even better matched to the stock t-bars and light 100# springs than the Konis were, even when they seemed ok. The car rides better and is less fussy to drive fast.

This weekend’s work was big. The two most important of the punch list items are done - the steering column bearing and the shocks. With those two done, the car is pretty much a functional car again. If I had to, I could sell it now and not feel too bad about it.

But I don’t need to sell it tomorrow, so I will continue to pick away at the remaining items. Definitely on track to have it ready to go by mid-October.

Today’s work was the new AGM battery and hold down, and the rubber horn pad mushroom spring thingie.

Tomorrow, I’ve got no new parts, so will be working on some fiddly detailing bits. Waiting on the heater blower motor and console recovering kit from 914rubber.

Still pondering the leather steering wheel cover. I like the look of the AGLA cover better as it covers the rubber part of the grip that goes a ways up the spokes. But I’m not sold on the quality of AGLA leather on shift boots I’ve bought in the past, so their wheel kit is a bit suspect to me. I’ve used Wheelskins in the past, nice quality leather, but those only cover the grip, not the spoke bases. Decisions, decisions...

Jesus Arne, drive it for a while and enjoy it! Just sayin.

I’m not opposed to that idea. But I have people who want to buy it now. So when it is done, it’ll be sold. Of course, I have to drive it to be sure it’s done...

Already snooping about for my next project...

I'm surprised you haven't fallen a bit in love with it and have decided to keep it?

No, not really. I wasn’t looking for a 914 specifically when I bought it. My hobby is to find, rescue and resurrect old sports cars. They need to be something I’m interested in at least a little, and something that has enough of a following that I should be able to sell it when I’m done with it. The 914 - in particular, this example - meets that criteria. There has never been any question but that I would sell it when it’s completed. If I kept it, I wouldn’t be able to do another project later, I don’t have anyplace to store more than 3 cars at a time.

I will say that I have grown to respect the 914 more during this project. They are a really fun little sports runabout even when stock. I can see why people love them. (I’ll admit that I like the 914 a lot more than I do last year’s project 944.) While I like learning new stuff, and so I typically don’t do the same car twice, the 914 has been fun, and I could see doing another if a suitable example showed up.

Well Arne, let me say that I have enjoyed watching your build and I have a lot of respect for your approach and skills. And I have learned some things while following. Thanks.

Goes in for PPI on Thursday. I will still wrap up the loose ends prior to final sale, but things are proceeding.

Woow sold before even advertised ? I missed already a few good ones in the classifieds due to being overseas and timedifference but now cars are getting sold even before they're finished... How will I ever find one ?

Amazing job/skills.

krgds
Dax

Well, still just pending sale at this point, but mostly yes. A World member mentioned the car and this build thread to someone at a car gathering a while back, and that person contacted me and has been following progress for several weeks. I will continue to finish the car after the PPI, but at this point I expect the sale to be final in a couple weeks.

Nice... just build another one... for me

Have to find the correct starting point. Not all cars are suitable for my skill set. If I find such a one, I’ll be in touch.

PPI found no new issues, all is as expected. Will resume finishing the loose ends tomorrow.