Used the old welding rod post trick to get the little hole filler pieces sized and in position for tack welding.

The post allows you to hold the part, keeping it from dropping back in the hole while getting tack welds in place.

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Here's the holes fixed - Driver side
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Passenger Side
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I think I'm going to add a small doubler over these patches. It will move the hinges 1mm further back in space but I think there is enough adjustability in the hinge to accommodate the 1mm of rearward movement. A little extra stiffness in this area wouldn't hurt.

Need to mock up to be sure before I go for it.

Side Project Of The Day

Had to make a new set of bushings for a buddy's F2000 Anti Roll Bar (ARB). Thought some folks might be interested in this style of anti-roll bar and how it works.

The actual deflection occurs mostly in the tapered segments. As shown in the photo below the ARB would be at its softest. The closer the links are to vertical the more deflection will occur in the very shot tube between them.

The assembly rides in pillow block bearings supported by the two hex bolts on the ends.

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The links can be rotated so that the orientation of the links are either vertical (stiffer) or horizontal (more flexible). or somewhere between as shown below.

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The orientation of the links can be controlled from the cockpit to allow for changes to the ARB rate during the race.

It's very small and compact to fit up in the front area of the chassis where there really isn't much package space.

Pretty cool but not quite applicable to a 914.

This past Saturday was Autorama in Detroit. Finally! it was cancelled last two years and is the only thing to look forward to in March.

I always get a chuckle out of the awards for the rat rods. Here's this years survivor award.

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On Sunday I was able to get back to welding and finalized the truck and engine lid hinges.

On the engine lid, I did add a doubler over the original hinge location to reinforce it a bit since this area is prone to stress cracking.

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the extra 1mm of thickness caused absolutely no issues.

I'm pretty happy with the gaps given I'm dealing with 1970's quality fit & finish. I moved things around a lot and this is the best I could get. To take gaps & fits to the next level, would involve taking sheetmetal to bare metal and doing weld & grind work along the panel edges.

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WOW+++ impressive work going on here

Good idea. I use a magnet and seam to hit it every time with the welder

School of Hard Knocks - Lesson #7461

There hasn't been a lot of exciting stuff to post. Mostly just paint work.

Here's a hard learned lesson during the install of the passenger side door sill.

The rear door gap was being controlled by the loose leading edge of the door jamb panel. Sorry no photo. Depending on where the door jamb was placed, it would deflect the gap either tighter or looser. All though my build I had counted on this flexibility to set the rear door gap.

Well, I had it all set, and had it successfully tack welded in place. All looked great. Again sorry no photos since I wasn't expecting things to go awry at that point.

So as I'm looking at the trough between the sill stamping and the door jamb transition, I thought to myself . . . . . self . . . . you should just use Braze instead of more tack welds. That would minimize the amount of body filler needed to fill and smooth that trough.

Smart huh?

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Uh . . . No.

Reinstall door only to find the gap had closed up All sorts of profanity that I hope the neighbors didn't hear.


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Rear gap closed up.

So what happened?

In order to set the gap, the rear quarter panel was essentially pushed rearward and was under compressive force being held by the tack welds. During the process of brazing, I tried to do too much, too quickly and it softened the steel, allowing the compressive force to buckle the soft steel back to where the panel wanted to be without the internal stress. This closed the gap.

I would have been far better to place a couple more tack welds and to have used the plastic filler that I was trying to minimize. UGH!

So Now What to Do?

I could have fixed this by simply cutting the door jamb, pushing it back to reset the door gap and then re-welding it slowly and carefully. Problem is that I'm now under pressure to get this chassis ready for a cross country trip on the back of a trailer. I am going to be moving soon and this needs to be able to go on a trailer for transport.

Yes, it's a lame excuse for not doing it right. My rationale is that I was eventually going to put steel flares on this car and to return the paint to Alaska Blue since I really do hate red cars. I know how to fix, it. I just need to keep forging ahead due to my move timeline.

So after multiple days of fighting with myself along the lines of "Just fix it right". "No, just get it done". "Yeah, but it would only take a day or two to fix it right". "No! I don't have the time." I finally yielded to the just get it done voice.

Paint Progress.

So I've been struggling with paint match. Here are some photos. Original paint code is BMW #138.

When I did the interior, I determined that that code is close but it seems to be a bit darker, deeper red than the exterior and even of the trunk interior which really shouldn't be faded due to UV and the elements.

I painted the upper engine compartment in the same color since I had more of that color on hand.

I then painted the lower engine compartment in Honda R90 which is what PPG recommended as the best color match to a scan we did of the front headlamp cover. I was hoping to get a slightly lighter red.

Nope.

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I'm not sure I can even tell the difference.

Then shot the bottom of the floor pan & under the sill.
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Not having had satisfaction on the engine compartment, I decided to try beige primer on the door jamb and went back to BMW#138

I don't know . . . . I think it's slightly closer but not much - might just be the difference in lighting.

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All this leads me to believe I'm going to have a very hard time blending the repairs that need to be made on the passenger side rear quarter later on.

Yup . . . Alaska Blue looking better all the time.

Great progress, but having a cross country move in the program can easily throw a large wrench into things. Good thing she looks like she can be a roller in short time. Also, nice fix with the engine hinge mountings.

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Per previous posts - still in the midst of putting house on market and getting ready for a big move that will put this project on hold for a while.

Right now the focus is on buttoning up the large holes in the car that would let rain into the car during a cross country open air haul.

First order of business has been packing up lots of to get the house in presentable shape for showings.

Apparently potential home buyers have no appreciation for a man cave filled with 914 parts sitting around on the floor.

Part of the packing entails putting the 2.4L 911 engine away for the move.

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The other task lingering was to seal up the hole in the driver side long where the corroded jacking triangle had been.

Although the driver side long is very sound the jacking point had the usual corrosion that took out the 1st layer of metal that the jack tube welds to.

Here is the finished result - proving that you definitely can replace the jack point tube and pyramid without resorting to cutting the rear quarter panel.

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Starts with the usual fabrication of a shallow inverted pyramid arrangement that sort of sinks into the long to mimic the OEM form.

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Then location of the tube and welding it to the long.

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Then the super secret step. How to get the triangle over the post since the rear quarter panel is in the way?

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And of course, after that, it's simply a matter of welding it up! Ta da!

Now in all honesty, I was only able to get one lonely spot weld on the top of the triangle up between the inner and outer wheelhouse.

But, the jack point basically operates in double shear with a inward bending load at the top of the jack pyramid. So the attachment at the top of the long really isn't doing anything structural. I would have loved a couple more spot welds up there but it wasn't going to happen.

Final step was seam sealer around the entire triangle perimeter to seal it up and help keep water out.

Note: I still need to drill a couple drain holes on the bottom of the pyramid that isn't in the photos! After those holes are drilled, I'll flood the inside of the pyramid with Eastwood frame coating for future corrosion protection.

Now -- time to do my own DAPO workmanship.

What to do about those massive holes created by the AC butchery?

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The first thing I have to say about this is for all you guys cutting holes like this for AC and/or water pumper radiator venting is that you don't have enough appreciation for how a unibody structure gets its stiffness.

Cutting holes this large in the Frunk floor pan seriously compromises the structural integrity - especially between the front LCA attachment points that are bearing lateral load.

In the following photos you can see sheet metal that is cracking at the corners that was not part of the the original butchery. This is occurring because the structure is flexing!

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Now let it be said that I have a complete RD front trunk pan that I intend to install at some future point in time.

I just don't have time to do it now with the pending move. This means time for DAPO workmanship just to seal it up.

The short term solution was basically to cut some flat stock, roughly it to shape and then lap weld it in and seal it with seam sealer for the trip - only purpose being to keep water out.

This is my final result (rubber plugs and drain tubes on order for the 4 remaining OEM holes):

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It's hard to convey how much stiffer the structure got after just welding in the first panel.

Along the way, I've had to squat in the Frunk while working on the fuel tank area. I could feel the structure flex unless I stood on the very sides, on top of the reinforcing gussets above the front LCA's. I was very careful to always do this because I could feel the flex.

After welding in these two crude patch panels, I can now stand in the frunk and I don't feel even a hint of flex.

Bottom line, if you're opening up holes like this for conversion cooling, you better be thinking about how you're going to reinforce the structure to gain back the structural rigidity that has been lost.

Well you know what? That patch is not half bad. Maybe too good. That's the kind of patch that is so good you can put the "proper" patch off indefinitely.

I would imagine you are quite relieved to have proper stiffness returned.

I vote Alaska Blue

Great job on getting the chassis strength back up, it always amazes me how some people just think they can start cutting up a car and it will remain as strong as it originally was. Oh and I've had to move with two project cars not finished, it was a total pain in the rear but we got it done. It was actually good because I found parts I had forgot that I had

Great progress, when will she be moving under her own power, after the move I'm sure.

Let me know I have a Carver and Sony maybe we can make a deal

Unfortunately it won't be for a couple years. First order of business after the move is to put up a shop to work out of -- expect that will take me the better part of a year. After that I'll need to get all my tools set back up (Mill, lathe, welder, parts storage, etc.).

Don't worry, I'll still continue to be a troll on the World though.

I'm growing a little uncomfortable at how easily I've adapted to a low standard of workmanship.

Quick paint prep yesterday to get something on work that can't be left exposed to the elements during the move.

I've got to say this looks much more convincing in color.

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The bottom side got paint to protect the metal but will get undercoated too so that it sort of matches the area under the trunk and the rest of the front that I didn't fully strip.

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Someday, all this will need to be stripped to bare metal anyway in order to get back to Alaska Blue and to install steel flares.

Here is a quick shot of the driver side front wheelhouse to document that the front was poorly clipped (before me). Someday, this will get redone properly with proper fitting butt welds rather than lap welds as some collision shop did back in the day.

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Passenger side

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I ordered the whole body seal kit from 914Rubber so I've also been replacing seals to get the interior water tight for the trip.

Front targa seals done and a little bit of a view of the dash panel that was recovered in the proper basket weave vinyl instead of the wanna be MG / Jaguar wood dash that it had when I started.

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And finally, a really job of putting a little paint on the rear quarter panel damage that I did years ago. It already had dabs of primer but I really wanted to compare the new PPG color match (Honda R90) vs. the other area that I did with BMW #138. I think the R90 is a better match. Obviously this will all need to be sanded, re-filled, etc., and blended for a proper repair. Right now it just needs to keep moisture and rust out.

Unofficial poll:

Which do you think is the better color match? The diagonal swath, or the one on the lower right?

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Hoping to have this back on it's suspension and sitting on the ground by the end of the weekend but a Friday graduation party for my buddy's triplets will lay waste to Friday as a full work day.

Oh,

And one more photo hoping to convince people to stop cutting holes in these cars that compromises the structure!

Found another stress crack down by the front LCA attachment. When I was laying primer. The contrast between the primer made it stand right out. I had failed to notice this when it was dark paint and/or undercoating under here.

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Is this possibly caused due to the missing floor?

@930cabman

Yes, this is a result of the GIANT holes that were cut in the floor of the Frunk for the air conditioning condenser.

Unibody structures like the 914, are able to use thin sheet metal (~0.040") to handle high loads that would otherwise be transmitted into a thick steel frame in body on frame (BOF) construction. BOF construction was pretty much the norm right up though the early 80's for most domestic OEM's. In BOF construction, the body doesn't really bear any structural loads of the chassis. BOF construction is HEAVY! Since the frame bears the bulk of the chassis loads, you can cut lots of holes in a BOF body and have little effect. Not so with unibody construction.

Case in point, my buddy cut the roof of one of our typical 1970's domestic iron BOF winter beater cars when spring came. "Let's make it a convertible". Sure it flexed a little bit more than it did when it had a roof but due to the thick steel frame underneath, it had very little effect. Don't try that with a unibody!

The way a unibody like the 914 gets away with using such thin metal is due to the stiffness that can be created when the sheet metal is formed into geometric shapes like c-channels, box sections (like out longs), or just deep draw formations that stiffen sheet metal panels.

The Frunk has a lot of form pressed into the floor panel to create that stiffness. When the AC holes are cut an enormous amount of that stiffness is lost. The result is that loads are now concentrated, localized and ultimately those loads exceed the limits of the thin sheet metal. That is what leads to this type of cracking.

Finishing up paint and undercoating

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Suspension going on tomorrow.

wow great work and update with your project! Almost done!
Just wondering also if you are keeping the front wheel well and front trunk under side black?

Suspension going on tomorrow!! a major victory is imminent !!

Also, with regards to the trunk floor being removed and the affect it has on the structure.
My youngest daughter is car shopping and has had Toyota, GM, .... she finally settled on a VW SUV and is all happy. She claims "it's just better", I said it's German engineering.

The krauts still have it, and always have

You are moving so fast, kicking butt.

@ndfrigi
I prefer body color under there. Problem is the car came to me with undercoating. Since I didn't fully strip the chassis for the rust repair work, I'm forced to try to match what was already there.

Someday chassis will get completely stripped. Then It can be done properly in body color when it goes back to OEM Alaska Blue Metallic.

Well, it's officially a rolling chassis. No brakes though -- just good enough to roll onto a trailer.

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Seems odd to have it sitting so low. I've grown accustomed to safari height with it sitting on the build cart for so many years.

Bittersweet knowing that this is sort of the end of the line for it for a couple years while we get moved. First order of business is to build a shop built so I have a place to finish it.

A few of the pretty bits. Thanks to @mepstein for the plated torsion bar caps!

Front ARB is just there plugging the holes so water doesn't get in there during the transport.

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The rear ARB drop links were a bit of a PITA but got those installed so I don't have the rear ARB just swinging around under there while in transport.

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Unlike when the car was 1st transported to me - it now has the axle stubs to prevent the rear bearings from being damaged and/or separating.

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As has been the theme of late, here's another public service announcement.

Make sure you have the right lugs for the wheels you're running.

Here's another case where I didn't pay much attention when I stripped the car down. Wheels are supposed to use Ball Seat lug nuts. Someone was using conical lug nuts. This is a dangerous combination.

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You can see that there is only minor point contact between the wheel lug seats and the conical -- this is a really good way to have wheels come loose on you! Don't do this!

Will work OK for my transport purposes but I'd never drive it like this!

Not under power, but a major milestone just seeing her on wheels must feel great

Airbox installed to give rain water a place to go when it inevitably gets rained on during transport.

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Airbox was updated with new seals from the 914Rubber airbox kit Group Buy last summer.

Here's the super secret rework to get the Bowden cable seal installed. @Mikey914 Although the seal is a faithful reproduction of the OEM seal dimensionaly, the durometer is harder than my 50 year old seal and wouldn't install properly.

After much futility trying to install it without modification, I had to rework it.

Reshaped the backside to provide some lead in. The removal of some rubber also made it soft enough that it could be deformed and pushed though the hole with some trim sticks . . . and maybe some profanity. I don't know why but the profanity helps.

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Finally - installed.

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Profanity IA like cowbell. You can always use more.

We fit into a 75 to check this. Looks like there may be some variation.
Sounds like if we go to a softer durometer of rubber it would solve the problem. The current is 75 duro. We could drop to a Shore 60A and that would be more flexible.

@Mikey914

Remember those types of grommets were installed on a production line, shouldn't take more than a few minutes to get one installed. Having lived a good portion of my life in assembly plants, I can tell you that grommet would stop the line, land an engineer in front of the plant manager, and the ergo committee in about 5 minutes flat.

Huge interrelationship between dimensions, durometer, and shape (form) as I'm sure you already know. All I can say is my 50 year old grommet is softer, and I'd expect that to be significantly age hardened.

That OEM seal design has a ton of meat behind it that has to be compressed a lot to go though the sheet metal You could probably drop down into the low 50's and still be fine. That grommet does nothing but guide 3 Bowden cables (that are already largely self supporting) and help seal the firewall from air / noise infiltration. A move down from 75 durometer would be a huge help.

Good excuse to fund a development fleet. You probably need a 70', a 73', and that 75'! Thanks for looking into it.

My biggest concern was that it wouldn't make a good seal. 75 Duro is a typical hardness. The sample I had was in great shape and tested out harder, so we tried to emulate that we had. If there is variation and they very well may be, the softer option should work well. I'll just have to double check it on an earlier car too. Which I now have.
-Mark

Phil,

Looks great.. I am happy for you and your move. Someday I may move from Wisconsin to a place more weather friendly for activities year round. Don't be a stranger

Wow Phil, talk about under pressure. Great job! Car looks great. Ok, a few shortcuts
So what! Good enough for government work. Seriously, nice accomplishment.
Wish you plenty of luck with the move. I hope Mother Nature cooperates.
Can’t imagine the logistics of packing for cross country move.
I’m staying tuned.

Phil I have a nice enclosed Featherlite that you can use for a few months while you move, but you would need to come get it. Let me know if I can help.

Since I just can't seem to get into another day of packing boxes today I'll post a quick update on the 914 project and the move.

The 914 arrived on the other end successfully.

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I hope I never have to move again unless it's to a hole 6' in the ground. Moving 2 cars, 5 motorcycles and a garage full of shop equipment has been a logistics challenge.

I did learn a good trick to using U-Haul's. Put down 3/4 plywood as a floor inside the box. That way, you can tie off stuff to the floor. Normally, this isn't possible since U-haul makes no provisions for actually tying stuff down other than their flimsy 3/4" thick wall boards.

Using the plywood floor, a variety of 2x4 blocking, and about 50 ratchet straps, I was able to get everything tied down. Nothing moved or shifted during the 2200 mile trip(s).

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Once the 914 was on the other end, it was put into storage until I can get a garage erected.

The 914 didn't look so bad on the 1st load.

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But after the 2nd trip, it's now thoroughly buried.

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Final pickup of household stuff / furniture is in a couple weeks. Thankfully that will be done by professional movers.

I did leave my engine parts fairly accessible so maybe with a little luck, I might pull off an engine build (in the house) this winter -- don't mention this to my wife just yet ... She won't be totally surprised though. The black motorcycle in the last picture is a 1964 Honda Dream. The engine to that one was built on the kitchen counter of my studio apartment when I was in college.

A little heads up so I could buy stock in tie-down straps would have been nice.

Status Update. I guess since I can’t post on the 914, I’ll post an occasional update on what is keeping me from working on it.

The short version: I don’t have a garage yet. The 914 still languishing in storage.

The garage foundation is almost complete. Slab pours next week.

The 3’x3’ pads without heating are for hoist placement.

Very cool!! That’s one thing I wish I had done when we did my garage.

Any drawings of what the structure is going to look like? I don’t see any sill anchor bolts, are you drilling those in later or going some other route?

So you aren't in Idaho anymore? Where did you land?

Sill anchor bolts there - look down by the spray paint cans. Just don’t show up very well in the photo.

Structure will look something like this - haven’t entirely decided on exterior finishes.

2nd floor will be some storage and replacement for my finished basement / mancave I lost in the move
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Exactly the opposite.

Left Detroit, left the auto industry last August. Moved to Idaho not too far from where I lived as a kid in the early 80s. I was in Detroit area for 27 years but if you love cars and wanted to work in the industry, that was where it was at.

Framing as a one man crew is painfully slow.

Hoping to finish sheathing in a day or two. Floor trusses sitting on site - putting those up ought to be entertaining.

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An entire career of finding the most efficient and effective means to produce something and now look at what has become of you lol!

Are you pushing the nails in by hand too?

I'm sure it's an adventure, and certainly a day and night from the motor city.

Pushing nails by hand, that's a new one

Looks great Phil.

Looks great!

He’s not responding because he’s probably out harvesting fresh lumber lol!

You guys are the best. @“Van B” comments did get me to stop and think about what I’m doing and why.

Turns out I’m not after build time efficiency but rather cost savings and the joy (and frustration) of the journey itself. Though I have to admit I would rather be playing in the garage, rather than building the garage. Some days that is sort of a tough pill to swallow.

Labor shortages are a very real thing out here. Builders are going like gang-busters and not terribly interested in a small build like mine without a significant price premium to make it worth their time. The other thing is that my location is off the beaten path and of course that means contractors want even more money. They basically end up paying their crew to commute to my house. So let’s call it 8 hours of pay for the contractor to net 5-6 hours of work from a crew member. At least this was the case with the foundation. I wasn’t about to attempt concrete work myself!

So it turns out that build efficiency isn’t the priority. Capital efficiency is. Was interesting to stop and reconsider if it would be smarter to just pay the labor premium though. I will have to revisit that as fall gets closer to see if I can make a final push and get dry’d in before snow flies.

Of course you know I’m giving you a hard time for the fun of it.

But on a serious note, when I’ve done construction projects in the past, I would hire someone for a day when I needed some extra muscle. But looks like you’re past those critical phases of the build now!

I seriously thought it was a funny and valid comment It did get me thinking which I really appreciate!

Most “muscle” is handled mechanically but won’t be an option for the second floor. Luckily the 2nd floor walls will just tip up (wall jacks) instead of having to be lifted 2 feet up onto the foundation.

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However when I put up the first couple sections of wall, the neighbors tractor was broken (leaking radiator and leaking power steering). So I had to get a little more creative with ramps, block and tackle, and the Jeep winch.

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Those early stages when the tractor was broken, before I fixed that issue, really slowed me down in late June - early July.

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That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.