Not planning to, but you know, shit happens.

Here's a quick one. To recap, this has been cluttering up my table saw/work bench since early December:



and as of this morning sporting a new set of bronze bushings from PMB:

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Hard to see it, but I plated the brake piston assembly black zinc to give it a little extra protection while staying close to the original finish. The rubber pedal stop is borrowed from the pedal board and is too long. Seem to have lost the short piece so will need to order. They are $2 from Porsche. Should be $0.25 but that's Porsche. Happy to have this done because now I can install the master cylinder and all that is attached.

I'll try to catch up on critter pics for Rob. This little guy was captured on a camera trap set right next to the house. Probably the same f@#$er that stole my Tevas that year. Or maybe the one that left a turd on top of the bee smoker like a cherry on a sundae.

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A bit of a learning curve with the plating. While I was able to get beautiful, shiny zinc plating from the get-go, I was having problems with the yellow chromate not hardening and would easily rub off even after several days of drying. After some reading on the Caswell forums, I adjusted my process and seem to be getting good, consistent results.

Here's a nice before and after.

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Nice looking work.

Now I know where to send my parts for plating




Looking great, Brent

Spring Time

I rigged up a Poor Man's spring tester today using some scrap plywood and a bathroom scale. I was hoping I would be able to put a 1 inch pre-load on the spring, tare the scale to zero, then crank the spring down another inch to read only the weight added in the second increment. I wasn't surprised it wouldn't tare with that much weight but my backup plan was to tare the scale with the spring on and no compression, then take incremental readings as I compressed the spring an inch at a time. Like most "smart devices," this thing is dumb as shit. Simple analog would have been much better. Anyway, I managed to compress the spring manually an inch to get a reading, then repeat at 2 inches. I tried for 3 inches but was afraid I would break the rig. Anyway, I was able to get consistent readings of 42 lbs. for the first inch which I expected would be light, then 92 lbs. at 2 inches. If I'm thinking right, that means my springs are only rating at 50 lbs/inch. Not unexpected but crap I guess I'll jump on the GB for stock springs that 914Rubber has promised.

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To end this on a more satisfying note, I put the instrument cluster in the dash today. Waiting for the wife to notice it missing from the family room counter. They look better in the dash. I'm a little bummed though because I have a set of new gauge gaskets from 914Rubber but they fit way loose in frame and the gauges would fall out if I used them. My original gaskets are looking a little ratty but at least they hold the gauges in place.

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And here is a shot of the pedal cluster back home after 35 years.

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In that next-to-the-last pic; Is that the "Steering Wheel Delete" Option I see , Brett?

Yes, I figure I'll be so Zen with this car, it will just know where to go. I'm actually itching to put that sucker in, but I'd just have to pull it out again when I get back to prepping for paint on the exterior. Right now, the whole dash can be lifted out in a couple of seconds. It seems to be getting heavier though for some reason.

All that plating you're doing

Love the spring test rig by the way - simple and effective and easy to beef it up if you were testing stiffer springs.

Keep it up with the critters. This was trying to hibernate with my 914 last week.



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Nice hedge hog! We don't get those cool little guys on this side of the pond, but my niece has one for a pet.

Kind of dead in the water on my project today. Trying to get new brake reservoir lines on the barb fittings that go into the master cylinder. Less fun than a case of crabs. Then the power went out... again. Have Internet on battery backup so not much to do but post another critter pic.

Things didn't end well for this little guy. Many years ago, I found it sleeping under our porch WHILE I was building it. It barely stirred through all the sawing, hammering and drilling but toward evening, it ventured out to do what skunks do. Unfortunately it had bad timing because our previous malamute happened to be walking by just then and nailed it. And yes, only then did it do the other thing that skunks do.


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Sorry can’t help myself....
Spiny Norman! all the Monty Python fans know!
.....Dinsdale?!!!
Looking great Brent. Love all the shiny hardware. Sorry you are having power issues .

I have heard that stock 914 springs ranged from 60-90lbs. I've never purchased a car with old shocks and springs that were any good but I still keep an old set or 2 because they are good for making a chassis a roller.

Stock springs were on the order of 50 lb/in, so yours are pretty close. It takes some number crunching to get the figure, because the factory manual describes the spring rate in a very odd way, and you have to pull numbers from a couple different pages in the manual.

Hopefully the Piranha brothers will stay away from Andrew's place...

--DD

Our dog Steve got skunked a year ago on 2/13. I can only think of about 5 people I would wish that upon, and 3 of them were presidents.

Hot diggity! I thought I was looking for a number north of 70 lbs/inch. This is the only good thing that's happened on this project today.

Sadly, having a dog get skunked has been about a biennial event for us for at least 30 years. It's a tradition that spans 4 dogs, 3 houses, and 2 states. The most epic episode was when our first malamute got skunked in the backyard at 2am Thanksgiving morning just hours before the family was due to arrive for the feast. Now we keep a quart of hydrogen peroxide on hand at all times for the inevitable de-skunking. The funny thing is that we've had a couple other skunks take up temporary residence under the porch and as long as I can keep a dog from attacking them, we get along just fine.

@bbrock Did you sew or glue the pressboard strips to the back pad. Because of the thickness of the foam and fabric, I was concerned it would become a mess if I tried to use glue so I sewed the strip in using the previous holes. It took a while but It looks like it will fold the way it's supposed to.

@mepstein , I just glued it and it worked pretty well, but if I had a way to sew it, that's what I would have done. Seems like that would also help compress the foam. How did you do it? Do you have a heavy duty sewing machine?

I did it by hand with a needle and thread. I used the old pressboard strips since they already had holes from the previous stitches. I clamped each end to the counter to build in some stretch. My thought was if I didn’t pre stretch it, the middle would stretch more than the ends when I pulled it down onto the hooks. At worst, the end clamps held everything straight while I sewed.

That's some good thinking I wish I'd have done it that way. I did use Weldwood contact adhesive on that instead of 3M because I knew it needed to be a strong bond to compensate for not being sewn.

I'm using weldwood for everything. A pint is $8 and it seems like a lot of upholstery guys use it. I bought a bag of little foam brushes and they work well.

I purchased some seat heaters on ebay for $40 and a door wedge for lumber adjustment - credit Garland

Here's a little update of progress during the week.

With the pedal cluster in, I was able to install the 914Rubber master cylinder. First I had to replace the brake reservoir lines. To say that is a PITA is a huge understatement. @#$% I hate those things. Finally figure out the magic was to clamp the barbed fittings that go in the MC in a vice, then heat them pretty hot with a heat gone, and only then force those stubborn plastic tubes on. Of course, I figured this out only after doing the first hose the hard way. My hands are still sore. It is quite the juggling match to get the MC and steering rack in by one person, but I managed. Starting to look like a car again.

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The fuel compartment cleaned up pretty nice.

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I also spruced up the cig lighter and tested it with a battery charger.

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Of course, while I was putting the lighter in the dash, I dropped the spring retainer. Heard the distinctive sounds of metal clinking against metal and new right where to look. Oh crap.

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The price paid for not having proper storage space for parts. Fished it out with a magnet.

Finally, I spiffed up the brake regulator with a PMB rebuild kit. Here it is looking good as new.

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Oh wait, that's Satan's rectum again. Here we go. First, zinc plating on the valve body and spring housing.

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Then this.

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I couldn't resist seeing it in place. It will have to come out to adjust the spring pressure.

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VERY NICE!!!

what the hell is going on with your crooked e-brake bellows Mister??... ...other than that your doing one hellava great job Mr Brent


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Good Lord! I hope that can be fixed. Would hate to have to throw out the car at this point.

I have complete confidence that you will have it sorted just like everything else.

It's ruined!! Call Garold I'm sure he can cut it up and salvage some parts.

Clean

Looks like your steering rack is a little crooked ... should line up OK when you install the cross bar though?

Good idea. I'll call him right away. Anyone need parts? I guess we're done here folks.



Good eye. Yes, the rack is just semi-hanging there by the steering shaft. I have the left tie rod end zip tied to the chassis to make sure it doesn't go anywhere which makes it hang at a bit higher on that side. Until I get the cross member in there, there is nothing to bolt the rack to so it shall just dangle for a bit.

Forgot to mention that I later yellow-tagged the MC to remind me to install fresh copper seals on the banjo fittings before I tighten down the brake lines there.

I'm just now realizing I should make a final decision on fuel pump and fuel line routing PDQ. I'd much rather get that buttoned up before the car comes off the spinnie thing.

Good News!

I called in a team of engineers who figured out a plan to correct the horrible bellows alignment problem. Specialized equipment was called in. Sorry for the out of focus shot. They made me turn the lights real low to reduce the number of photons hitting the part and possibly knocking it out of alignment.

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And the bellows aligned within design tolerances.

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Crikey! That was Close!

About time somebody called out the fraud for what it is. Did you know he goes to the zoo for all those ‘wildlife’ pics?

Nice work Brent. I knew you would get it sorted... now turn the mold seam towards the firewall and it will be just like OE factory NOS. Can't believe your whole team missed that... Maybe turn the lights on?

You're pushin' my buttons!

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Obvious photoshop, moose weren’t even invented in 2004.

A lot of work and little to show. About 10 days ago, I plated my brake caliper fasteners with a black chromate finish. Since these are hardened steel, they got a 4 hour bake right after plating.

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I'd like to plate the calipers but I don't think my power supply has enough oomph.

After many monotonous hours at the blasting cabinet, I was finally able to get this done today.

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Can't say I'm looking forward to installing the bushings, but it will be exciting when I do.

This was kind of boring so let's see.... have we had any photoshopped pronghorn yet?

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Hey, count yourself lucky. I was really tempted to post a pic from my colonscopy last Monday.

Brent - Your car is looking fan-f-ing-TASTIC! You must be (and should be) proud of your progress.
That's it, no funny or clever comments for you today, sorry.

Even accounting for the obviously fake moose ( ), outstanding work.

What did you do with those parts? ... paint, powder-coat? ... ?

All looking good

They got media blasted, then Ospho treatment inside and out, then wiped down with dewaxer. Finally, I took a tip from Perry and used VHT Roll Bar & Chassis Paint. They call it a one-step epoxy. I don't know what that means but I've been impressed by the quality of the paint. ~$8/can at the FLAPS.

The parts are no where near perfect but not because of the paint. Visible rust pitting and battle scars in spots but they look 99% better than when they came off the car. The rear bushing carrier on the A-arm was so fused to the cross member that I didn't even realize they were separate pieces until watching Ian's bushing installation video. It took some convincing to get them apart.

Pressure should be set to 525 PSi as per @Eric_Shea

http://www.pmbperformance.com/914-brakes/L..._Regulator.html

Spirit Line.................................................

Looking Great!!!

Do you know how that gets done? I had a separate thread asking about this but no answers other than to send it to Eric. The factory manual has a procedure for setting it with the whole system hooked up, but requires two high pressure gauges. It would be cheaper to send it to Eric than to buy those.



Ha! Yeah, that's what it is....... One of many!

I have no idea how the pressure is set and just sent mine in as a core.

Seeing as you now have a lot of time into yours, maybe you can ship it in and he can set it for you for less than the full cost of reman.

A quick deflection from the main event. Finally got around to installing this dudes with the fancy 914Rubber "vortex generators." The hardware that shipped with this were not self-tapping screws as I believe were original to screw into those plastic nubs. I think Porsche was being too cheap there anyway and suspect that is why so many cars are missing one or both deflectors. Instead, I drilled out the mounting nubs and inserted stainless steel cap screws with SS nylock nuts on the back side. I think this will work much better. If I were OCD... and luckily I am not , I would cut off the nubs and plate these cap screws with black chromate to hide my fastener indiscretion.

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The Bush is Back Baby!

Okay, now for the main event. Saturday I installed a new set of rubber bushings from 914Rubber in the front control arms. I like the look of clean control arms with just a little bushing showing.

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You don't get any pics of the install. That job is a bitch and I was plenty busy trying not to screw it up. Thanks to @cuddy_k for his great video! I shared a couple tips I learned on his video thread.

I'll share one more tip here. Don't be an idiot like me and make sure to test install your torsion bar BEFORE tapping these end covers back in place.

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I thought I had cleaned out the splines pretty well but NO. I wound up having to knock both end caps out, cleaning the splines with a dental pick and wire brush until the torsion rod could slide all the way through, then reinstalling and repainting the caps. It is surprising what a small amount of rust or debris will keep those rods from sliding in.

The control arms got new ball joints and the strut housings installed. This is all just finger tight so I can install the inserts later. I noticed that an oil stain formed on the floor anyplace I laid one of my original Boge inserts so I have a new set of Bilsteins on order and am waiting for them to arrive. The yellow tag has all the torque values for final install. This shot was taken just before I discovered I had switched the front and rear brake soft lines. If this one looks short, that's because it is.

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And here's just a bunch of eye candy of where I am with the front suspension.

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Super tidy work Brent - love it!

Absolutely Fuching beautiful.

Looking gr8 ...

Sanitary! With all the parts going on the car you must be gaining a lot of extra room in the garage. When do we get to the part where you figure out how to get it off the rotisserie?