1) Not due to Rona. It's been that way since we've been here. I always counted it to being cheap-ass, but a lot of those rest areas were built back in the day when few dared travel in winter. Makes me wonder if the buildings and plumbing are not properly weatherized. Let's figure this as a possible contributing factor.

2) We can rule this one out. First, we have WAY more trees than were here historically, but I'll try not to spiral into an angry ecologist rant. But here's the deal. Guy gets out of big-ass RV. RV blocks view in one direction but why whip out the hose while facing the road? Turn your back to the road dude!

3) Quite possible. Judging by the looks of these guys, I'm doubting they have much success.


From what I've been able to learn, these kinds of problems seem to only apply to Pertronix III. I think they may have tried to get too clever and didn't fully work out the bugs. I had a thought this morning. What is the difference between the dizzy that works fantastically well with the Pertronix and those that don't? Vacuum advance. The 050 has a fixed mounting plate for the points so when the Pertronix is screwed in, it is fixed in place. The other mounting plates need to be able to move. I'm thinking that either the screw that holds the Pertronix mounting plate down could be a tad too long and causing the plates to rotate erratically, or maybe when they do rotate, it Fs up the alignment of the Pertronix pickup relative to the shaft lobes. Will have to do some more digging.

Shields Up!

I took a half day off yesterday to drive 100 miles to Helena to pick up my new windshield. It was not a pleasant trip. They have a 3 mile stretch of highway stripped to gravel they are still having people drive over but the road is nearly impassable. I've rarely driven jeep trails deep into Forest Service land so bad. That meant I had to take the long way home because no way was I going to risk hauling my precious piece of glass over that. I did make it home with the windshield intact so today I finally got to close the greenhouse.

I started with applying butyl primer to the pinch weld and windshield.

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Then I installed the trim clips. I bought Genuine Porsche clips and found a 4mm socket on extension and tack hammer were just the ticket for tapping the clips into the holes. Then a small drift to tap the expansion pins down. Unfortunately, one of the clip holes had a rough edge and sheered the part that fits into the hole off when I tapped the pin down. I didn't buy extra clips unfortunately, so I cheated and glued the clip to the frame. I'm pretty sure it will work just fine and beats waiting for a new clip to arrive and giving our wrecking ball of a dog plenty of time to sneak into the garage and shatter the windshield.

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Next, a dry fit to mark the alignment. The Porsche FSM has very detailed instructions for windshield install, but I had to improvise some for the aftermarket windshield. For starters, the stock setting blocks are too thin so I cut new ones from a chunk of setting block material a glazier gave my years ago. 6mm thick seemed to center the glass nicely.

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The last decision was which size butyl to use. I had both 3/8" and 5/16" ready. Porsche says 5/16" but I've read that aftermarket glass is thinner than OEM so 3/8" is better. I took all kinds of measurements and tested with small snubs of seal. It all came down to how much the caulk would squish when the glass was pressed on. In the end I decided to go with 3/8" but I still don't know if that was a good choice. The glass is sticking up just a little proud of the frame. However, Porsche used a caulk that had a wire running through it that was heated by running a current through to soften it and allow it to be compressed down to 4mm thick. My plan is to wait for a warm sunny day to heat it up and press it to the final set. I think it will work, but today was not that day. It looks more like January outside than the end of May. So for now, here is how she sits.

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The day did not end on a high note though. First, I discovered the windshield wipers are not parking in their full down position. That's the problem with having the windshield delayed and not being able to fully test before the fresh air box and fuel tank went in. It would have been simple to fix then. Luckily, I have a bit of a work around because when I run the intermittent mode, the wipers stop fully down and if I flip the switch to off, they stay in that position. Might be good to start a pool on how long before I can't live with it anymore and dig in.

My other problem is a running battle with the windshield washer. I love the fantastically stupid spare tire rig but confess that my loyalty is being tested. I've tried three different switch valves. Two of them weep through the nozzles when the switch is off, and the other has a blockage in it. I will order a new valve from CIP1. If that doesn't do it, time to go electric.

Nice job getting the glass in Brent.

" I love the fantastically stupid spare tire rig but confess that my loyalty is being tested"

You are not the only one.


If the windscreen is in the opening still in one piece, I would call it a victory.

Please be super careful with this plan. Edge of windshield glass doesn't like to be pressed upon & super easy to crack it. Don't press it with your hands. Better to put the suction cups back on it and just give it a wiggle side to side & up and down than to press inward to set the butyl. If it doesn't wiggle at all, good! You'll get press force later on (uniformily distributed) by aero loads.

Looking great!

110% this.

Brent, we’re you able to do the windshield by yourself? Where did you get the suction cups?
I’m not looking forward to this task, I was thinking about having Safelight install it but I don’t think they will install with the buttyl. I’ll have to research further.

Car is looking great, love the air intake!

Noted. That's the reason for waiting until I can get the butyl good and hot to soften it up. I thought about trying to heat it up with a heat gun but nixed the idea for the same reasons you caution. Uneven heating along those edges could easily lead to a runner right across the glass and I for sure am not going to try to press the cold butyl down. If it won't bed down farther with gentle pressure, I'll just live with the way it is and make sure I use 5/16" butly next time... and this is Montana, so there will probably be a next time. Getting ready to have windshield #4 installed in the DD.



You COULD do the install yourself, but your butt hole will be so tight when you are done, you won't be able to fart for a week. I was able to place the glass for dry fit by myself, but when it was time to lift the glass back off, and again for final placement, I got the wife to help. It took less than 15 minutes of her time and was super easy.

I couldn't even get Safelight to call me back when I was trying to locate a windshield. I've heard people say they will only use urethane for installation due to liability, but I have no idea if it is true. It's really a pretty simple process. The work is all in the planning wanting to make sure it goes in perfect and knowing you only get one shot. To tell the truth, I've actually installed a windshield on a 914 by myself, but there the objective was just to get glass in the hole so I could get to work the next day. It is a whole different ballgame doing it for a resto.

Weird day today. A shit ton of wet spring snow the last two day so, of course, the power went out about 3am this morning and wasn't restored until about 3pm this afternoon. The Internet didn't come back up until about 10 minutes ago. It put a real damper on progress today. Now almost all the snow is melted off and it looks like bright green spring again.

So many places I could go with the anal retentive , but I will pass. If I do this myself, I will get some help.
Sorry your weather can’t make its mind up.

Being a first or second timer, I would recommend two sets of hands for sure. It's only glass, probably won't bite, but a pita if it breaks. 5/16 butyl is the product. Urethane is generally for structural applications

I've been working on wheel alignment this week. For the most part, I followed @dan10101 's excellent video with a couple tips from some other string alignment vids I watched; and especially the great spreadsheet Dan developed which takes all the work out of calculating angles, plus a great toe angle calculator he links. I'll put them all here too:


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


https://budgetoutlaws.com/file-downloads

https://robrobinette.com/DIYAlignmentCalculator.htm

There are additional links to tools and resources in the description of the video, so check it out. Thanks Dan

I started with rear camber. Remember that I had to replace both the front trailing arm console and the pickup point ear, so this was a bit of a butt clencher to see if I got them in the right spot and able to align to spec. I was pleased that it required the same number of shims left and right (although I think slightly different combos of thicknesses) to bring the camber close to spec so that seemed a good omen for console location.

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Next was setting toe. Here was my rig. The slotted pvc pipes were a tip from another video I watched. A slick way to make sure the strings are exactly the same distance apart on both bars.

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If I were to do this often, I'd make an adjustable cross bar that attaches to the front of the car and fit it with adjustable laser pointers on both ends. That way you wouldn't have to reset everything each time you jack the car up for adjustment and then roll it around to resettle the suspension before taking measurements again. It would take most of the fiddle out of a very fiddly process, especially on those rear wheels.

After much trial and error, I first discovered that the adjustment range on the right wheel I was worried about ranges from way too much positive toe, to way too much negative toe. What a relief! I also learned that by loosening the adjustment bolts and jacking up the car to take most, but not all of the weight off the trailing arms, I could find a sweet spot where I could nudge the toe without constantly swinging between too little and too much.

The front end was much, MUCH easier. The new tires on my smooth, slick garage floor allow them to be adjusted easily in place.

Here are the toe numbers I wound up with. The targets are -0.16 degrees each front wheel and -0.25 degrees on each wheel at the rear.

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And here are the numbers for all four wheels including camber and castor as calculated by Dan's spreadsheet. Targets are 0 camber front, -0.5 degrees rear, and 6 degrees positive castor (front of course).

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I had one little thing to check off the list before declaring this car ready for break-in procedure and test drive. That was to secure the rear shift console cover.

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And with that, I declare it ready for the road. Stay tuned for results....

Well done!

Absolutely stunning. Enjoy many many miles of smiles.

After cinching down the shift console cover yesterday, it was time for her real maiden voyage. Perhaps this should be captioned, "a fool heads to the unknown." No, despite his best attempt, Kalluq did not get to ride along.

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To document the occasion, I videoed the three miles to pavement and am dedicating it to Michael @Cairo94507


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyoP8PsoxTg


After the trains finally cleared the road, there were too many cars to continue video while playing chicken with the idiots, so the vid stops about 100 yards from the paved frontage road.

Out on the frontage road, I took the car through break-in maneuvers. I followed Tom Wilson's procedure of accelerating from 20-50mph followed by engine braking back to 20 several times to help load the front and rear of the rings to help them seat. After repeating that about 6 times, I moved to the PMB procedure for bedding in the brakes. This requires first warming up the brakes by accelerating to 60mph and gently braking down to 45 mph several times, then followed by eight cycles accelerating to 60 mph and HARD braking to 10 mph before accelerating again. After the 5th cycle, I could smell the brakes. After the 8th cycle, the REALLY smelled hot but did not fade. Then I drove another 10 minutes without using the brakes to let them cool down.

During the cool down, I was able to enjoy the ride while continuing to accelerate and decelerate, but not exceeding about 75% throttle. The car is shocking quite even with the top off. Not Lexus quiet but certainly comfortable. It is very smooth and pulls hard through the gears. The road I was on has some long sweepers but not tight turns and such, but from what I could experience on that road, the handling is superb. The car tracks straight for long distances with hands off the wheels and responds to steering input instantly but without feeling darty. I really couldn't be happier. I did not expect either the engine or handling to be dialed in so well at this point.

After the brakes had time to cool down, I was at the edge of Livingston so drove in for the first full tank of gas in 35 years.

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Up to this point, the only issue I'd detected was the speedo issue noted in the video. It is still reluctant to come off zero from a full stop, but once it jumps to life, seems to be functioning properly. Today I took it apart again and dug a little deeper to try cleaning out the needle spindle and nylon bearing it fits in, then relubricating with a drop of clock oil. That seems to have helped, but it still does want to pop to life until reaching 25 mph or so.

After filling with ethanol free petrol, I hit the road again and noticed the engine seemed to have missed a step. It was really subtle and possibly my paranoia kicking in. Next stop was for the first pizza run in my new/old toy.

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By the time I got back on the frontage road toward home, the engine was clearly falling off its game. The push back in your seat acceleration was gone and acceleration seemed rough. I immediately suspected the Pertronix but decided to soldier on and just hope for being able to make it home. By the time I reached the final climb over Bozeman Pass, the engine felt like it was firing on only two cylinders and 40 mph was about all she had in her. I was afraid if I pulled over, it would die and I wouldn't get it started again. Plus, I knew if I could make it another mile to the top of the pass, I could coast the next couple miles to our gravel road if needed.

I did make it and just past our mailboxes, I finally pulled over. When the car continued to idle as smoothly as ever, I immediately knew what the problem was. No surprise, it was the IDIOT mechanic. I popped open the engine lid and snap off the 10 clips to remove my awesome air cleaner. Sure enough, one of the carb linkage rods was laying loose on top of the engine and the other was close to letting go. Some dipshit named Me had forgotten to tighten the lock nuts after dialing the linkage in. At least it was an easy fix and within 5 minutes I was back on the road to deliver the pizza.

Other than yet another confirmation of my dumbassery, I'm really thrilled with how the car is perform already. The punch list is down to ten items. It includes:

1. aim headlights
2. final tune of carbs with the wideband and @dr.tim 's wizzardry.
3. replate hardware for heater flappers and install.
4. replace windshield washer valve when it arrives and reinstall knee pad.
5. straighten, repaint, and install windshield trim.
6. straighten wheel caps or buy new.
7. finish update of my console update (more on that later)
8. wash and clay bar body and install PPF on front half.
9. apply ceramic coating.
10. drive the shit out of it.

Brent, that is truly awesome.

So happy to see this on the road and performing well. All the rest is just shakedown and wringing out the bugs!

Must have been a great feeling out on the road really driving a 914 again!

Just one question: was the pizza still warm?

+1, great story and I'm sure piloting her was great. Keep up the good work. Will you be following this with another 914 project?

Just got back from a trip to Bozeman. Biggest bug seems to still be the speedo but now it is the odo. After 49 miles it quit. I was told the crimp only method for fixing the pot metal gear would be temporary and I forgot to put a drop of super glue on it the last two times I was in there. I'm guessing that is the problem. Oddly, the speedo didn't stick at zero the last two times I brought it to a full stop so maybe this is a case of only getting one function or the other

Also, it feels like the clutch cable has stretched slightly. I'm guessing this is not unusual during initial break in. It isn't bad, but the release isn't quite as high on the pedal as when I first adjusted it.



A man who knows the important questions to ask. It was warmish but then again, pizzas are never very warm by the time we get them home from carry out.

Yes it did feel good. In some ways it was like driving a 914 for the first time. This car and its two predecessors all came to us with worn out tires, squishy shocks, and dried out bushings and they were still amazing to drive. This is the first time I've driven a well sorted specimen and is on a whole other level.



Not unless it is in the distant future. I have plenty of projects left on the list, but will be very happy to take a break from cars for awhile other than a backlog of maintenance on our other cars.

Well there had to be a problem

For the last week I've noticed that Elizabeth, my wife, has taken an increased interest in the Porsche. She helped put in the windshield and spent a lot more time looking at it and asking questions than usual. Throughout the week she'd come out to the garage while I was working and just walking around it looking, then more questions like, "so what's left to do?"

Today we planned to go for a drive and she had a couple errands to run in Bozeman, so that was the destination. I got the car ready to go and was standing on the driver's side when she said, "hey, what are you doing?" "Oh, do you want to drive?" I figured she'd want me to drive into town and she would drive home. "Well yeah. I'm not going in the Porsche if I can't drive it." So I handed her the keys and well... this looks like someone who thinks they own the car to me.

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The whole way in she kept saying things like: "It's pretty fun." "I can't believe how smooth it is." "This is really nice."

I think I might be screwed.

Lucky you, how did she do?

My wife is much too rough for any sporting car. Full on the gas then full on the brake. I am afraid if she has the keys, I will be spending more time in the car shop. For now she is reasonably happy in the passenger seat.

She did great. She rarely drives any of our stick shifts anymore so there was a bit of adjustment getting the pattern and feel down but she did great on the clutch. I gave her just a few rules. Don't lug the engine at one speed for a long time, try to keep it above 3K rpm, and avoid WOT until we have 300 miles on it. She did great at putting load on the engine to keep things mixed up and when we hit the bit of a chicane through the canyon into town, I could feel her leaning into the gas pedal as we progressed through the curve to feel the grip.

It's funny. When we used to have his and hers 914s, she always complained that when I drove it made her sick but when she was behind the wheel, better get the barf bag out. We've both mellowed since then but I could see the 20 year old coming out in both of us again.

watch out for those cipi valves mate - they are heaps of sh$t.
made of junk from probably you know where.
the little plunger that pushes in to the valve when you pull on the wiper lever is made of a very flexible plastic that looks like rigid nylon but is not, it bends and goes out of alignment and then your new valve is kaput.

i'm like you, a kook who wanted to (and have) retained the nut case spare tyre powered washer.

i thought my original valve was kaput so i ordered one of those cipi valves in.
i broke it before i even had it installed just setting it all up connected to hoses and testing it. my heart sank. so i pulled my original out and put it through the ultra sonic cleaner about 10 times. blew air through it. soaked it in very warm water etc and i got it back from the dead. but mine wasn't leaking, just frozen by calcium deposits.

good luck with yours but tip toe with the cipi valve. it looks like the original part but its not german spec plastics. in particular watch out for the little white needle that pushes the valve.


well done getting your car back on the road, it looks fantastic and sounds like it drives like it looks.

but I could see the 20 year old coming out in both of us again.

Once again, lucky man

You didn't think she tolerated all those years of negative cash flow for new parts without expecting a Return On Investment did you?

Ah crap. That isn't what I wanted to hear. Do you think swapping over the little plastic plunger from one of the originals would solve the problem on the CIP1 valve? I might try some soaks with the valves I have. I suspect the two that leak have some debris lodged in them. Unfortunately my ultrasonic cleaner wen kaput. Maybe I should try the valve from my NOS switch after all. Kind of hate to break up the unit, but it has an ugly scratch through the printing on the lever.

yes that could work, what happened is that the askew nylon plunger stuffed up the innards when it went askew. so given this tip a bloke like you can make a good one out of the two. take a close look at the little white plunger when you get the cipi valve.
the rest of the part is identical to the originals.

Had to get out all the good "emoji's" for you Brent.
Well done there.
Sounds like you've got the big stuff licked and just some sorting or fine tuning to go.
Enjoy it Man.....
Maybe your snow is gone until Sept? Ha

Very happy for you! It’s great to see the car back on the road, and the both of you enjoying it!

OK Brent, I bow to your superior strategy and results:
Running/driving by page 100 and SORTED (all but, anyway) TWO pages later!
Respect!

In all seriousness: Has it hit you yet what an epic journey you've shared with us? And what a great job you've done? Take a minute (if you haven't already) to step back, appreciate your work and pat your self on the back. (I vote sticky this thread!)

And when you're out in your shop, music off, just looking at your car and you notice all that silence?

That's all of us, there with you in sprint, mouths open, speechless (and a little jealous!) just staring at your beautiful, beautiful outcome.


Thanks again for sharing! Well done! And be proud. Be very proud.

Well, on #2 I think you are most of the way there with a close (enough) tune and the wideband. If your idle screws are not very responsive and there is a flat spot (or pop) coming off idle you are idling in the progression circuit. At idle, the snail should read less than 4..

The 'idle' jets actually tune the progression mix, and the idle screws tune the idle mix.



On #10, I can help with that too. PCA has a fun-run coming up on June 19,



And there is always our fall Beartooth dawn-patrol run.
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Enough with all the fancy extra plumbing stuff for the windscreen, a small bottle of Rain-X in the door pocket with a paper towel works just great!

Brent,

I am so happy for you after watching the video! I know the feeling of that first real drive and its awesome! TBH, the first 500+ miles was still paranoid inducing not knowing what was and wasn't normal during the break in process.

If you are happy now, you are going to be ecstatic later!

Enjoy every mile......

Fun to see you completing this and starting to enjoy. You certainly did a great job!
Love to see the support of this community.

Man, that is a long gravel road.

Congrats!

Ahem. By my count it was mostly sorted in ONE page. Page 102 has been mostly people saying how obviously wonderful I am.

Let's get real here though. Sorting a car to stock spec has its challenges, but nothing compared to what you and your radical modifier cohorts are doing. Really, it is just a paint by numbers operation to go stock. The numbers being the specs in the factory manual. That's a whole different game from using the 914 as a platform to engineer a whole new car.

But in all seriousness, deeply touched by the support and inspiration I've received from the community. It is my honor to have shared this adventure with you all. But we aren't done yet!



BLASPHEMY! How could you NOT want such a ridiculously stupid contraption? Full disclosure, Crazy Clock and Mouse Trap were two of my most favorite games when I was a kid. That said, I drove a 914 with non-functioning wipers for a couple years and yes, got along fine with just Rain-X in most situations.


Thanks! Yes, paranoia for sure. In reality, I just got back from my first "real" drive about a half hour ago. At the end of that long gravel road is a beautiful, lightly trafficked road that twists its way up into the Bridger Mountains. I finally got a chance to let it unwind and toss it hard into the curves. Yeah, it was fun. Still needs some engine tuning I think and a few other issues to sort out, but I wouldn't change a goddamn thing on the suspension. Just phenomenal. That's a bit of a spoiler alert though. It was a nice cap on an otherwise mostly frustrating day. Will update about that later.

Wide band has not been set up yet but are you talking about the 4 idle mix screws at the bottom of the carbs rather than the ones that set the butterfly stops at idle? I'm not getting a flat spot or popping coming off idle. In fact, I'm surprised at how responsive it is without vacuum advance. It doesn't respond much to those mixture screws though and the snail is definitely above 4 at idle.

During my run yesterday, I was getting some slight popping coming off throttle after accelerating through a curve and especially coming off throttle downhill with engine braking. Still much to learn.

No to catch up. Saturday night I tore down the speedo/odo yet again to fix the slipping pot metal gear for a second time. What a PITA that job is. This time I used a tip I read to center punch the edges of the gear hub when deforms the metal inward to "stake" the gear to the shaft. For extra measure, I put a thin smear of JB weld inside the gear hub to convince it to stay put. While I was there, I got a drop of clock oil on a part of the needle spindle I couldn't reach before.

Put it back together and took it for a test drive. The lazy speedo needle seemed to be fixed and the odo was working properly. That felt like victory.

Moving on to yesterday's comedy of errors. The day started well. There was something about the brakes that seemed off to me. I couldn't really describe it, just something intangible. Then I realized this little sticker was on the brake reservoir when I took it out of the car. Don't know what it is and can barely read it, but I'm sure it is important, so back on it went.

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Yeah, that's the ticket! More to reality, I'm surprised I haven't needed to bleed the brakes a second time after driving the car. The peddle is high and firm. If anything, it has gotten more firm as the pads bedded in. Really a little too firm for my taste. I would prefer a 17mm MC but this 19mm from 914Rubber is doing the job. It is only a preference thing.

Next I spent an hour setting up to replate the hardware to mount the heater flapper boxes. Got a really nice yellow chromate finish on them and hung them in the sun to harden. Then I turned to one of the flapper boxes that was missing the gaskets on the valves. Yes, I realize they will work fine without those gaskets but... Do you really think I could do that? I bought a sheet of exhaust gasket material and cut new gaskets with a couple hole saws. First one is 3" of OD. The 3" saw I have on hand is not a bimetal saw so it did not want to go through the metal mesh in the gasket material.

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Other than dulling the saw, that was probably a good thing because it made it easier and safer to hold the material to cut the ID with a 1-5/8" bimetal saw.

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Then I cut the metal mesh with snips and finished the edges on a grinder.

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The original gaskets are crimped in to the valve plates. For the replacements, I had some high temp adhesive left over from installing new gaskets in our clothes dryer a few weeks ago.

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And there we are. New gaskets.

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So far the day was going well and we ran into town to run some errands. When we got home, I retrieved the replated hardware that had been hanging to dry and the flapper that was sitting in the sun to help the adhesive cure and brought them into the garage to prepare to install in the car. I assembled a bolt in one barrel nut and the clamping bolt onto the flapper. Then turned to the other barrel nut and found it was missing. I spent two full hours looking for that little f'er in the shitshow of my shop but no luck. Finally gave up and placed another Belmetric order.

I decided to go ahead and install the flappers and at least get one side of the heaters hooked up. Mounting went okay. I did cut the high temp flexible hoses from flapper to heater tubes in the longs to length. Showing off some plating, this clamp bolt is NOS.

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and this is the bolt donated by @brant after replating.

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Here's where things really started to go to The heater cable did not reach to the passenger side and was long on the driver's side. I probably just installed the damn thing backwards but it didn't come with any instructions. You probably don't recall that I was concerned that the cables 914Rubber sells for hood, engine, and heater are made with soft wire instead of the hardened music wire of OEM. In fact, they are so soft the feel more like aluminum than steel. The heater wire was the only one I used and I thought I could adjust the lengths by repositioning the bend where it goes through the lever on the tunnel. That worked until it didn't. One bend and the cable broke in half I now have an OEM cable on order from Sunset Porsche. The only good news is that the heater duct circuit is not closed so dust can migrate into the heater tubes and cockpit.

After that frustration, it was time for the first real test drive already mentioned. Hopped in the car and started down the road and noticed the speedo was a little jumpy and the odo wasn't working. Drove to the nearest spot I could pull over and disconnected the cable from the gauge before heading back to the house for yet another tear down. As suspected, a tiny amount of JB weld had migrated onto the shaft and set up over night just enough to jam the mechanism. It took only a second to pop it loose and have the odometer gears spinning properly again, but the damage was done. The drive gear coming off the cable chewed up the nylon skew gear and the mechanism now has a hitch that is catching the cable enough that it winds up a little tension before releasing. That's what's causing the needle to jump and probably will shorten cable life if not corrected. Searching for a replacement gear now.

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Then off for the test drive. Ran great but added a couple things to the punch list. The driver's tilt mechanism is popping out so every time I sit in the seat, it pops loose and sends me flinging backward to land right on my anger nerve. Also, I had forgotten that the plastic contact socket on my right front turn signal was trash and I had cobbled it together for testing. I meant to replace it and forgot. It is not reliable on the road.

Overall, pretty minor things to work through although I'm getting tired of the amount of time and aggravation wasted replacing NSPs (New Shit Parts).

watched your vid.
montana has aussie roads.
nice part of the world by the looks of it.

bit of an aussie moment coming across the train tracks---and sure as sh&t here comes a train. and its 15 miles long.

listening to vid sounds like your car passed the rattle test dished out by the back road, ........tight.

Well that's weird, here I thought that Australia had Montana roads



I forgot to post my Sunday update. Two somewhat small tasks. First was that seat tilt catch. I'm afraid it isn't great news. The proper fix would be to cut the seat hinges and more them forward so the adjustment dog fits completely in the adjustment teeth.

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You might understand my reluctance to do that at this stage of the game. Lesson learned for those playing at home. Make sure you have your seat rails assembled and handy for proper placement when welding in those hinges. I'm about a 1/4" off. I opted to file out the adjustment where the rails bolt to the hinges a little more to let the seat move forward more, and maxed out the top tilt of the adjustment teeth to get more engagement with the dog. I can no longer pop the front of the seat out by pushing on the back, but need to do a little more filing for extra measure. Trying to decide how much of a safety issue this would be if the adjustment popped loose if I got rear ended and the seat suddenly rocked back the few inches before hitting the firewall.

I failed to mention another issue that cropped up which was that the shifter was really stiff. It was especially bad going into 4th and 5th and moving the shifter to the right felt more spring loaded than the spring gate on the left. It also felt like it was grinding moving the lever from 4th to 5th. I haven't owned a 914 with new shift bushings before so at first thought that was just part of the deal. It became obvious something was wrong so I went fishing for interference in the tunnel. I finally found it. The seat belt shoulder bolt to attach the receiver latch was too long. This is a bad pic but you can just see it poking out at the front of the tunnel opening there.

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There are a couple lengths of the Repa shoulder bolts and I couldn't find good guidance on which went where so I guessed... wrongly as it turned out. After swapping bolt lengths, it shifts like butter.

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The seatbelt bolt issue is a common one but at least you figured it out quickly.

You might want to slightly slot the welded bracket and/or the comb to get a little more engagment. The combination of all three will probably get you there.

Let's get caught up from last weekend. The jury is in on proper butyl tape size for installing a windshield. Stick with 5/16" as specified by Porsche even for an after market glass! At least it's true for XYG glass. After a few rounds of baking my car in the sun and gently smooshing the windshield down, I got it bedded low enough to make the trim work but it would still be better if the shield sat a little lower. Regardless, avoid the extra PITA and just use the smaller tape.

Now to the trim. To recap, I painted my trim satin black back in the 80s before I got all psycho about originality. Would I do it today? No. Do I think it looks better? Yes, especially on a silver car and with black bumpers and targa trim. The brightwork on this car always looked wrong to me. The chrome look fights with the metallic silver and looked mismatched with the black targa trim and bumpers. So yeah, not original, but I'm happier with the look. Another bonus is that it is a lot cheaper to repaint weathered trim than to re-anodize or buy replacements.

To strip the old paint and condition the metal for new, I used a conditioning pad on my 2" grinder. Only took about an hour.

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Then I brought the trim inside for 3 coats of SEM Trim Black

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While that was drying, I backed the car out into the rain and tipped the valet to keep an eye on it while the soft clean rain washed the dust off from the gravel road y'all are so jealous of We have hard well water but do have a water softener. I need to figure out a system to get good water for washing the car when needed.

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Later in the day, I drove the car into town in the rain Not just light rain either. Driving, toad-strangling, sheets of rain. It did great except those shitty 70s style wiper blades like to lift off the windshield at speed. Wish there was a way to mount modern blades. Speaking of speed, I can neither confirm nor deny that the car hit triple digits

Here she is back safe in the garage.

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The next morning, I popped on the trim. Took a bit of work to get it right. I wound up putting a microfiber cloth over the trim and VERY GENTLY went around several times tapping with a small rubber mallet to help the trim conform. That helped a lot.

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It isn't factory perfect but I don't mind a few subtle reminders that this is a 50 year old car.

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I mentioned that I needed to update my console update. I few weeks ago I had to remove the center tray and seat cushion and realized my error in not including disconnects for the usb charge and antenna switch wires. And while I was pondering things, I thought it would be nice to add another accessory outlet so I could charge a computer or power other gadgets without having cords dangling from the dash. And of course, we also know those old cig lighter sockets are too big for most modern 12v accessory plugs.

Starting from scratch, I made a new harness for the USB and 12v plug that now runs to the cig lighter and added proper disconnects for that and the antenna wiring.

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Then I made a new outlet console. Clearances are really tight for the 12v plug and it took two tries to find a plug that would fit right. I was hopeful I could squeeze a shallow tray into the top somewhere, but couldn't find enough real estate to make it work. I think it turned out okay though.

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Overall happy with the car so far but something has been off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it and don't even know how to describe it. Just "off" like it was missing it's mojo somehow. It seemed to be emanating from this area.

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Ah yes. There it is. Mr. Mo Jo Ris-ing. Ris-ing ris-ing!

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you need a rainwater tank mate.
hook it up to one of your roof downpipes.
every aussie home has got one. you wash your car with it here so your jackass neighbour won't dob you into the authorities for washing your car with drought restricted mains water.

my childhood is my grandmother only making her tea out of water from the rainwater tank. she was fussy about her cup of tea.

your windscreen trim very tasteful and is impeccable german logic.
the chrome was indeed out of place on black trim cars.
porsche were a bit all over the place, bent over a chair, having to deal with VW management and karmann bottom line contracts?

whadya going to do about your "vent" window pillars on the door glass?
have you blacked them

mirror, door handles.

thats a very nice fit around headlight buckets, front bonnet etc.
looking at my car i think you have over-restored it.

Hi Brent,

Where did you get the replacement vin sticker from?

I need one for my 6 and my brother for his 74 as well.

Hmm We already collect rain from the roof but the water is used for other purposes. I've been considering adding more storage capacity and when I do, will think of this so I can have enough to spare for washing the car.

The vent window pillars are already black. you can see it in earlier pics. Definitely nicer than the chrome. I'll leave the mirror and handles as they are. I don't think the stock mirrors would look right in black. Back in the 80s I bought a pair of Baby Tornados for this car but never used them. They were the first thing I sold when I restarted this resto a few years ago as plans had changed toward originality rather than modernization. Although I like the look of black door handles, I don't want to molest a good pair of handles and for some reason, they don't bother me as much as the bright trim did.

Now on that hood fit. The camera is kind. If you look carefully, you can see the left corner at the headlight to have the proper misalignment. Still need to work on that.


Got it from Car-bone. They do fantastic work. If yours needs to be on the perforated background, make sure to add that in the instructions.

Had to drop off a set of rims from our little pickup this morning to get new tires mounted. Somehow this seemed like a more sensible deliver method than either of the two SUVs sitting in our driveway.

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Got my first Porsche wave from a 911 Carrera cabrio while I was in town. I'm pretty sure I saw a turbo spoiler on it but can't be certain. I'm not very up on the latest models though, so it could have been a Boxster but I don't think so. They all look alike to me anymore - except the Targa - those are cool. Whatever it was, THAT never used to happen in the old days. I'm not sure how I feel about being accepted.

Last night I got a honk and a wave from a Tin Lizzy putting down the road. Bozeman is weird.

After running my errands, I decided to take the long way home through the twisties of the Bridger Mountains. Wound up accidentally taking the REALLY long way home because some punks in a Honda Element started riding my ass and I was too worried about them doing something stupid to notice I had passed my turnoff. It was a nice day and the car was running great so I decided to keep going to a route through some stunning country but instead of 15 minutes extra to get home, took an extra 50 minutes. Oh well. The punks kept riding my ass and I got the feeling they wanted to show the Porsche they could keep up. I stuck to the speed limit (which is a fun enough 70 mph through some pretty gnarly pavement). They would fade back on the curves of course, but were back on my ass on the straights.

I turned off to make the long loop home where the road REALLY gets twisty and the punks followed. I got tired of their shenanigans and quickly made them get really small in my rear view mirror and then disappear. Turns out that I haven't outgrown being a jackass, but Mom, THEY started it!

Brent, your sticker looks higher than others I have seen. I suppose the variability of factory sticker placement includes a range. Mine was almost as high as yours, maybe 1/8 inch lower. I have a replacement sticker to install, and checked a friend's car--his was 1-1/2 lower.

I've noticed that too. I was happy to have my original door pillar with the sticker on for reference so I could match whatever mood Helmut was in that day for sticker placement. Judging by the placement of my original, he was in an "I don't give a " mood Personally, I think they look better a bit lower but what can you do?

My HO recall sticker in the frunk was in a different spot than most although I can see that being an alternate interpretation of the sticker placement instructions in the recall bulletin. I put my repro sticker back where it was on the car rather than where it was supposed to go.

Looks like I am a month behind on updates so let's get caught up. I wracked up my 500 break-in miles in no time so drained the oil and changed the filter. I checked the valve adjustment. Everything was still spot on except two exhaust valves that were barely, barely loose. No really enough to even bother with, but since I was there. This was the time to fix the small oil leaks too. I had a couple push rod tubes seeping a little, but by the time the oil change came around, they had stopped and were sealed perfectly well. I'm assuming they must swell a little with the heat and oil.

That just left the valve covers which were both dripping. You may recall my complaining about the narrow gaskets I got from 914Rubber. Well, they are off the hook because I ordered a bunch of Victor-Reinz gaskets from Pelican and they are the same. A good 1.5mm narrower than the valve cover flange or the old stock gaskets I had. Cheap ass bastards

Old stock gasket:

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Cheap ass new narrow gasket:

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Not wanting to fight constant drips, I decided to try a super thin film of aviation gasket maker on the outer side of the gasket that mates with the head. I chose that because it doesn't set up and can't clog an oil galley like a piece of silicone could.

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It worked! No more drips since then, but we know they will be back. It's a 914 after all.