File Under Two Steps Backward, One Step Forward.

First step backwards was removal of the driver side floor pan that was already puddle welded in more than a dozen spots. Removing spot welds is bad. Removing puddle welds is way worse. Not only in terms of the time it takes but also in the carnage it does to the panel. More on this later.

Fabricated the heater cable guide tubes that couldn't be fitted with the floor pan in place. Thought I had them close enough and brazed them into position.

All the aforementioned activity largely occured between 9pm and 1:30 am Tuesday night. Waking up the next morning my neck and back were so sore I took a day off to recover. Doing all this without a rotisserie is just masochism on my part. I still think I'm further ahead vs. stopping to build a rotisserie but I'm sure paying for it.

So after recovering I hit it again today.

Second step backward was having to un-braze the heater guide tubes and the throttle cable tube after finding they were sitting about 4-5mm too low preventing the floor pan from being reseated properly to the tunnel.

When I installed the tube bundle the other night, it was sitting about 4mm low in the tunnel bracket but being tired I figured there would be clearance. I thought filling the gap with braze wouldn't be an issue. I couldn't have been more wrong.

After un-brazing and then moving the bundle right into hard contact with the tunnel bracket, here is the clearance. The fuzzy grey on the bottom is the edge view of the driver floorpan. The tube in the foreground is the clutch cable tube, the one closest to the floorpan at the rear is the throttle cable tube. Just barely clears!

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Tunnel lines fabricated, and brazed in proper postions.

After moving everything back to to be in hard contact with the bracket, it just barely clears with about 2mm of clearnace and the floor pan once again fits to the tunnel properly. One Step Forward.

Looking from rear:

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Looking from front:

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Next up repair the carnage to the floorpan perimeter where the puddle welds were removed.

Ordered new stainless brake line kit from PMB and a stainless fuel line set from Tangerine. These are getting installed prior to the floopan going back in!

Floor pan flanges have been repaired.

Rear floor pan flange was the worst. Had to make and splice in a new flange to replace the part that had to have the puddle welds ground out to remove the pan.

Before:

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After:

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The side flange along the longitudinal was much easier. The holes were intermittently spaced and easily filled just by welding them back up and re-drilling the holes.

Hope to get the driver side pan reinstalled today. Will then wait for the brake tubes and the fuel lines before putting in the passenger side pan.

BB: the best part of this restoration, what goes first impacts what goes twelfth impacts ..... so goes the madness. As long as we keep moving forward the finish line is out there somewhere. I am sure the factory had the procedure but restoration is a complete new game.

Still buttoning up loose ends before the floor pans can go in.

Throttle cable is well supported since it snakes behind a sheet metal doubler inside the tunnel. This was OEM routing.

Here is a quick picture of the fabrication of the throttle cable retention bracket that secures the end of the throttle cable tube.

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This is the belt and suspenders approch to securing the clutch cable tube. I used two retention bracketes vs. OEM single bracket. I also put a couple dabs of braze between those.

I won't be dealing with a broken clutch tube anytime in my lifetime.

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This is aome amazing work hawk. Nice to see it coming together.

I like that tube reinforcement. Wish I had done that. I did add some reinforcement, but nothing as nice as this.

OK I'm fully recovered the steps backwards and I'm moving forward again.

Tangerine fuel lines and PMB stainless brake tube were installed into the tunnel while everthing was wide open.


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Next up was to put some Eastwood frame coating inside the pedal support bracket. I forgot to do this last time. I had written it off since I had the driver side floorpan tacked in. Well, since it had to come out to get the tunnel tubes installed, now was the time to fix that mistake.

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I've finally sprung for a supplied air painting hood. Man what a difference. Nice fresh air, cool breeze blowing in your face. No goggles getting paint misted and fogged. I should have done this years ago.

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Moved on to primering the passenger side floorpan with 2K and then spent the entire day yesterday fitting the passenger side floorpan.

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Got my work cut out for me now. Literally more than a hundred and maybe about 200 rosette welds to make to get all this secured. Plus there is a long, long seam down the length of the floor pan that butts the two side together that will take forever!

Are the ss fuel lines in for just a trial fit? I would wait on their permanent install until after paint. It only takes 5 minutes with the engine out.

Great progress, where did you find the supplied air hood?

Looking great! And yes, I am jealous of that hood.

@mepstein

No they will stay in. I'm sure it would be straight forward though if the car were up high, and there were only two jackstands involved.

When the chassis is on the build cart it's not quite so simple to manipulate them to get them installed.

I'll just release the lines from the front grommet and pull them back about 5" to paint the fire wall. Obviously, I will quickly tape them though so as not to wreck that shiny stainless steel goodness.

I considered brazing them in to get rid of the grommets and make the chassis a little more water tight. In reality, that is a lost cause due to the shift rod bushing, the park brake cable tubes, etc. They will get grommets once I have some paint on it.

@930cabman

Amazon. Hobby Air hood from Axis.

Be careful with cartridge respirators and urethane/epoxy (isocyanate paints). You cannot tell when the cartridge is isocynanate saturated. I've always just done small jobs and made sure the cartridges were fresh that day.

Needless to say, there is no cartridge manufacturer that will say their cartridge is acceptable for isocyanate use.

I just got tired of having to worry about it. Should have done this sooner.

That's what I've done. I'll use cartridges for basic solvent based stuff as long as I can't smell anything, but before doing anything that uses a catalyst, I open fresh cartridges.

It's a miracle we live through half (or more) of this stuff. Thanks, I will be looking for the hood

For sure.

I always joke with my woodworking friends that any sissy can make sawdust . . . real men make things from metal.

No disrespect to any woodworkers here. There is certainly an art to wood work too. I just refuse to admit that to my closest friends.

Disrespect taken! I used to think the same think as a lifelong woodworker. Then I dove into my 914 project. Guess what. Woodworking is harder.

@bbrock
Let me know next time you hold your woodworking dimensions to 0.001" or less.

Just remember it's a piece of precision machined steel that is cutting that wood! Just sayin'

Just couldn't resist stiring the pot.

In all seriousness I hold wood working in high regard. When it's done well, it really is an art form. I have an acquaintance that deals in high end cabinetry that costs more than my house is worth. The workmanship is amazing.

Likewise, I've seen some of your woodwork and would hire you in a second when I decide the other house needs cabinets!

We fabricate new custom windows and doors to less than 1/64", generally about .005. have a look at Jagulick.com
I have been lucky to have a solid background in both woods and metals.
All this stuff is very similar, it's all art .... just different materials

Let's make this a topic of discussion the next time you pass through my way. Could be fun

I'm new to the 914 community; so new that I don't yet have a car. Hoping to find a decent one here in Michigan. If you ever want an extra pair of untrained hands, some moral support, and maybe a couple beers, let me know! I'd love to see your project in person and I'd probably learn a bunch to boot. (Yeah, with a mask for covid). I'm about a 1/2 hr north of Troy. Regardless, looks like you're doing some magic there!

I hate February

February is the month that never ends . . . even though it's only 28 days long.

The temperatures really drop, the snow piles up, the ice dams form on my garage roof from heating it. In order to keep the ice dams under control, I have to rake the snow off the roof. Yup, for you CA guys, roof rakes are a real thing.

The good news of February is that I now have the floor pan and tunnel completely welded in. That let me move on to getting the seat cross members positioned for welding and I was also able to mock up the seat tracks and tack in the seat hinges.

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Oh, and then there are those time consuming details that you tend to forget about like locating the parking brake switch that needs to occur after you've already positioned the driver side seat cross member.

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If anyone is interested, I have some donor sheetmetal for the tunnel section that needs to either go to a new home or the trash. I'll post one more time later on in classifieds.

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I also have the front tip of a tunnel that connects to the front firewall where the clutch cable and throttle cable exit. Both are unused leftovers from donor sheetmetal.

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Looking good! Somebody is going to want that front tunnel section. I had to do a lot of fabrication up there. That little piece would have saved a lot of time.

Funny how that works, if I knew then what I know now ....

Gratuitous Parts Porn

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Parts being collected for /4 engine that will hopefully power this chassis down the road this fall. /6 conversion will occur the following winter with a little luck.

Inspected & compared to OEM.

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Can't wait to put these to use. Necessary - nope. But come on, these are an example of beautiful hand fabricated parts that will make you want to set valve clearances just so you can spend some time looking at the bottom of the engine.

Happy to have the opportunity to support our vendor community!

I know something else that will be boxed up and heading your way. The very last of my original design. Boxing tomorrow afternoon.

That will make me the the proud owner of your 1st 2.0L muffler that will go with this /4 and the last of your original design pipes for the /6. Can't wait to see those! I think they need an autograph!

You guys make the rustoration slog bearable. Gotta keep the dream alive - so easy to get lost in the endless puddle welds.

I'm going to remember this the next time you poke fun at my OCD

They are purty though.

Yeah, I knew I had that coming.

Details are a PITA

It takes way longer to button up the little detals than you think it should. Getting floor pan and the seat cross members installed was a major milestone. But, all the details are killing me.

Spent the whole afternoon on the following stuff:

1) Weld in @Bdstone914 's seat comb brackets. These in themselves were a huge timesaver. If I had to make them from scratch that would have taken a couple extra hours. That was about $35 bucks or so that was well spent!

2) After more trial fitting of the seat tracks, I was able to final weld the RD seat hinges to the floor pan

3) Weld in the RD bracket that goes over the parking brake equalizer

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4) Used the shrinking wheel to remove some oil canning from the front of the driver side floor pan

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5) Trial fitting and mock up of the wheel house reinforcement that supports the plywood pedal board. This is the LAST job I need to do down in the dreaded pedal box area that aggravates me so much!

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And I didn't even get around to fabrication of the little trim tab that holds the return spring that goes to the park brake equalizer.



The good news: Tomorrow is March. Fuch February! Good riddance! Days generally only get warmer from here on out. Was 46F today

Yeah, the devil (or something nasty) is in the details. But the way you solve the details will prove the ultimate quality of the results. Keep up the good work!

I have one more pair of the seat adjuster combs. I sold the remainder to Restoration Designs as there cross members dont have them.

And I didn't even get around to fabrication of the little trim tab that holds the return spring that goes to the park brake equalizer.

Actually that tab has to hole for the cover plate plate. The spring hooks into a loop on the fire wall.

@Superhawk996

@bdstone914

Oh

I forgot about that extra cover plate. My car came to me without one.

Do you have any for sale? Obviously I could fab one up from scratch but this fall in the category that I'd much rather have OEM metal vs. a hokey homebrew fabrication.

I'm a step behind you Hawk, just starting to get the floors in. It's either right or it's wrong.

Rut Roh, I think I'm developing a parts porn addiction.

I hope the wife doesn't find out.

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@mb911 - parts recieved in perfect condition. Thanks for making these available to the community!

Oh my! Those are parts porn for sure.

Output from this weekend wasn't very impressive. Somebody stole Saturday. Not sure where it went.

I retrieved the pedal board from storage only to discover that it is missing the clutch pedal stop hardware. Sort of amazes me that I took some of this stuff apart so qucikly I didn't notice little details like this that were missing as received. I'll have to post a WTB over in classified and see if someone has a spare.

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I spent most of Sunday with my body contorted into uncomfortable positions. Having installed the seat cross members and seat comb brackets there are new protrusions in the cabin to deal with and brusing to prove it.

Got this bugger welded in with a bunch of puddle welds to tie it back into the original sub that was still rock solid.

Flooded the inside with Eastwood Frame coating once it was welded in which is why it's so black around the edges.

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I truly hope this is my last extended excursion down into the pedal box area for welding purposes.

Still have some easy work to do like doing the seam sealer, etc. Also need to clean up the entire floorpan and get a fresh coat of 2K primer on it to cover all the new welds for crossmembers, tunnel, etc. That shouldn't be nearly as painful.

Color By Numbers

I've been using Spray Max rattle can 2K primer all along with great results. Good adhesion, and super easy to use. Small quantity in the can is perfect for small panel sections. Most importantly, no gun clean up.

This weekend was a little science experiment. Previous owner told me car was repainted in BMW Color Code 138 - Cinnabar.

So I ordered up some Spray Max 2K single stage color from a paint supplier out in Spokane WA. About $33/can inclusive of shipping. Ordered 3 cans.

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Since I know this car will eventually completely stripped and taken back to OEM color (Alaska Blue Metallic) way off in the future, I'm not terribly concerened about the passenger compartment or engine compartment finish quality.

So I figured, let's see how a rattle can catalyzed color works!

So last night, I cleaned off any of the primer from weld areas that was heat affected, and did a quick wipe down with PPG degreaser and went to town with a fresh coat of primer to cover all the puddle welds and dusted the rest of the panels.

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Now on to the fun this morning. Spray Max data sheet says for the 2k primer says "Can be topcoated with all conventional 1K and 2K paints. If the 2K epoxy primer-filler is topcoated after more than 1 day, it must be sanded first. "

I took this and ran with it in a way I wouldn't for an exterior panel. I decided I just give it a quick wipe down with a tack cloth and shoot the color -- no sanding. Don't start with me - I'd never do this for a top quality job.

Well, all said. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Maybe only slightly worse than Maaco.

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This 1/2 quality is not something I'd normally celebrate, but, not bad for a rattle can job. There is some dust in it (surely didn't clean the garage) and a couple random fisheyes. Not completly surprised by the fisheyes since I didn't do any sanding nor did I hit it again with PPG degreaser before I spayed the rattle can color. When it's all said and done, most of this gets covered by Dynamat and then carpet so I'm OK with it as a science project. It will all get stripped out again someday.

Next up was to see how the color matches. I took the opportunity to just shoot a little primer and color over my previous Fuch up to the rear quarter. Again, this is just a science project. I didn't fill the bondo hole. I didn't feather the paint. And, most obviously, I made no effort to blend the paint area. I wanted the sharp contrast line from masking.

I just wanted to get an idea of how close the rattle can paint is to the exterior panel color that could be sun faded to some extent.

I'm torn between trying to just do a quick spot repair on this to put it on the road this fall or to send it out for a professional touch up.

I'm not great at color matching. I'm an engineer after all. I can barely tell blue from green and my wife is convinced there is some color called Teal between the two.

To my eye, this was pretty darn close. It's off a little bit, but, it might be OK until I get back to OEM color.

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I'm thinking with actual time to do the spot repairs properly, and, with the use of a little Spray Max Spot Blend it will be good enough to drive it this fall. I don't like the idea of paying for a professional blend becuase those are never perfect either and ultimately the whole car needs to be stripped and returned to Alaska Blue. Sort of seems like a waste of time (at paint shop) and money. For a Pro shop to do it right, it will have to be blended out into the door and up into the trunk. That's just seems silly for a color I dislike anyway.

Stupid 50 year old parts

Didn't have a lot of time this weekend to do big projects so I tried to get parts cleaned up and ready for some distant time in the future when this car might get put together again.

Wanted to get a variety of parts ready to go to powder coat but 50 year old abused parts had another plan.

First up was cleaning weld spatter from the rear trailing arms. Easy enough.

In the process I discovered that one of the trailing arms has a hole in the thru-tube that allows access to the rear caliper adjustment. I can't figure out how this happened. Measuring parts doesn't seem like I'm dealing with a tweaked trailing arm. I'm thinking some one tried to put a hook in there and tie it down and the hook pierced the thinwall tube?

I have a fix planned to insert a 1" OD .065" wall tube into this one and then weld it in place. Awaiting tube. A little more measuring too before I do the repair.

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So I retrieved my engine cross bar to get that cleaned up a little. Well turns out that someone must have run it quite a while with a loose bolt. Somehow the through hole is oblong.

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I've got a fix planned. But 1st I thought I had an easier solution. When I bought engine GA000099 it came with a engine bar. But of course it had some damage too.

Weird thing was it had a bolt sheared off and rusted into it.

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And the top looked like someone might have plasma cut the upper U shaped bracket to free it from the car since the bottom had clearly sheared off.

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Sort of weird but I figured it would be easy enough to mill out the rusted bolt. Set it up in the mill. Only then did I notice the whole damn bar is bent!

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Ugh!

Well, I guess I'll revert back to fixing the engine bar that came with my car! Will machine up a plug to fill the oblong hole, will weld it in, and then rebore the through hole.

Good weeknight project. Maybe by then my 1" OD tube will show up and I can fix the trailing arm.

Some days . . .

My engine bar had a bolt rust welded into the bar and sheared off just like that. MAPP gas and a BFH took care of it. I'm pretty sure you could bend that straight too. I had to straighten one once and recall it being pretty easy to clamp in a vice and straighten it out.

I can't imaging that wallowed out hole will be an issue once the bolts are torqued down, but I like the sleeve idea.

Somehow I missed your March update with the rattle can 2K. That's pretty cool!

Problem Fixes:

Trailing arm was fixed by inserting a piece of 1" OD, 0.065" wall tube into the orignal though tube and then welding it up slowly. This will keep water and excess garbage from being funneled into the trailing arm.

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Engine bar was fixed by turning up an insert to fit the hole that was elongated and then welding it in place.

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Excess weld was flycut back to original surface. Re-drilled the though hole.

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Fixed right and good for another 50 years. On to bigger and better things

@Superhawk, when does it end??

@930cabman

End? It never ends

Finish chassis structural rustoration to get to a driveable state.

Many more bits still need powder coat and/or plating

Assemble the stock 2.0L four cylinder engine with hope of driving it a smidge this fall

Rebuild transmission for long term reliability.

Finish rebuild of 2.4L six and associated conversion bits and do conversion.

Eventually do full rotisserie re-paint and steel flares

1000 other little tasks (fix wiring, add the front fog lamps that are missing, replace all rubber seals)

And notice I haven't even included the other curve balls life always throws at us.

True, it ends when we are carried by six, then our kids can figure it out. Lucky them

Spent some time this weekend filling in the hole left when the passenger side bulkhead had to be cut to rebuild the long all the way back to the trunk.

Upper portion of the hole was easy. I just reused the section cut out and that was done months ago.

The lower portion that constitutes the hell hole was a bit more fabrication work. Not a big deal but time to create templates and need to fix a small section of pinholes down at the engine shelf slowed it down.

Wanted to recreate the same type of weld flange as was there originally.

Couple views of the templates.

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Metal in place

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Unfortunately, I ran low on Argon and could only tack weld in parts this weekend. Poor planning on my part.

No big progress of late. Lots of little jobs.

Finished up close out of the rear passenger side bulkhead and started some rough fit up of the inner suspension console.

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Filled another one of the holes in the passenger wheel house that was hacked for the AC install. Still needs some finish work. And of course there were also a couple of other P-clip holes where the metal surgeons just shot self tapping screws though the wheel house.

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While I was screwing around up in that area I decided to do a little VIN excavation. The heavy primer and paint over it rendered it barely readable.

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And in anticipation of having to do final fitting of the suspension console, I figured I better do another round of measurement since I hadn't done one since installing the floor pans, tunnel, and seat crossmembers.

I couldn't be happer than a pig in . I was able to get the last little bit of "match boxing" of the chassis out with a diagonal heim joint brace that went from rear of passenger door to the front driver cowl area.

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Small bites are the only way we can complete these projects. Keep up the good work and thanks for documenting, I will be following soon with our rustout project, but on to the "rust free" project for now.

Measure twice, weld once should be our mantra

Wanted to just drop a quick post to thank Pete at Restoration Design.

I couldn't find a local Detroit supplier that was willing to sell me some shear cuts of 18 gauge Galvaneal. My usual suspects don't stock Galvaneal, and/or weren't willing to sell just a partial sheet.

I only needed enough to "wrap" the corrugated longitudinal section up in the engine compartment. I want a smooth OEM look. And to top it off the location where my inner suspension console needs to sit is partially, overlapping one of the corrugations. It need to be built out a bit for stiffness and then I'll wrap this into two layers like OEM section was. I'll also have enough to fix the rust pin hole section of the rear bulkhead behind the driver that was damaged by the OEM noise insulation that holds water.

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Why do I want Galvaneal so much? Short answer is that it has a thin layer of zinc annealed into the surface layer of the steel itself. It does a great job of holding off corrosion. Note that the bare metal shown above is over two years old, welded, and not showing any signs of surface rust that untreated sheet metal would. That is especially important to me where I'll end up with two layers of steel. The gap between two layers is a great place for corrosion to get started. I trust Galvaneal more than weldable primer.

So not finding what I wanted locally, a quick PM to @Peteyd landed me with exactly what I wanted at a very nominal cost.

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Awesome company & great people supporting our vintage Porsche's. Support them whenever you can!

Good idea using Galvaneal on sandwiched parts. Now I wish I had done that. I like the way it welds too even though I know that zinc is a bit nasty. I'm also not sold on weld-thru primer. After noticing that even the UPOL good stuff has about the same burn back as 2K epoxy and not being able to find a single hard datum that it actually protected the metal or prevented rust better than other primers , I decided to stop draining my wallet to resupply on weld-thru.

I don't mean to brag but two year old welded metal in my shop looks just your galvaneal even without the zinc. On second thought no. I DID mean to brag. As a Midwestern escapee, that's exactly what I intended to do.