After making a small cut so the trim piece can seat properly. The bulge along the top curve will get fixed later.

And then after about an hour of pushing and prying and squeezing, I had the left side done.

And another half-hour for the right side.

And then 5 minutes to get the top seated.

And then time for the lower strip.

That was a pretty easy install, with some care to trim the ends at the correct angle.

I decided to get back to some engine work, hoping to have my heads by the end of next week.

Today was ring gap day, so I opened the set of P&C from Aircooled.net, with 96 mm JE pistons and biral cylinders. I had them balance the pistons and pins.

I removed the compression rings from each piston in turn.

I measured the ring gaps in the cylinders. All were within spec.

Wow great work, giving me inspiration! Hope to start my engine build in a couple of weeks so keep us posted

Bob is quite the 914 guy....I must say.

I would bet Bob understands "fit" very well. I am a bit envious of his work, but still working full time.
Keep up the good work Bob and thanks for posting

Thanks, guys. Sure is more fun without worrying about real work. Though I am supposed to be supervising some student research. And getting my own done. And writing a research paper or two. And writing a new edition of a college text.

But working on the 914 is always more fun.

Another diversion today: I got out the trunk lock. This is a used replacement, since the car came with a non-functional electric lock release.

But that means re-keying the lock to match the rest of the car. Here is the lock partly disassembled.

And the cylinder with all the original pins. I did not get a shot of the misalignment with the key installed, but most pins were too high or low.

After some pin swapping, and just a bit of filing, I got the alignment looking good.

I substituted an O-ring for the original bushing.

And then got the lock itself back together. (Yes, that is a vintage key ring from the shop of my old friend Ed Mayo, in Texas. It came with the car.)

The new rubber gasket from 914Rubber needed one notch enlarged.

And then installed in the car.

And on the inside, with the lock release pin pointing up.

And then the latch pin receiver.

To test the function, I got out the trunk lid pin.

A quick disassemble for cleaning.

And then back together, with a new bushing.

A quick test: it locks and releases!

And the key locks and unlocks.

While in the mood to play with locks, I got out the door handles. Besides broken mounting tabs, the PO sanded these before painting them black.

Fortunately, I have new repro handles.

Again, step 1 was to remove the lock cylinder. This one might need some cleaning.

Although these are the original locks and keys, one pin is not aligned. Time for some filing.

And then more filing. To start, the small end of the cylinder was too big to enter the hole at the back of the handle (shown here trying to fit it from the back side).

So I filed a bit inside the small hole section.

But the cylinder will still not fit into the handle. Anyone see this problem before?

While I try to figure out what to do with the door handles, I went back to engine work.

I got new shims for setting the crankshaft axial play.

With the thinner new shim (plus two of the originals) in place dry, I mounted the flywheel and snugged up the old bolts.

After spinning the crank a few times, I mounted the dial indicator, pulled the flywheel out, and zeroed the indicator.

After shoving the flywheel in (and feeling a slight shift), the indicator reads .0035 inch--just right. I repeated this a few times, and got the same result.

I pulled the flywheel off, and coated all the shims with assembly lube.

I put the shims back in, cleaned the recess for the seal, and gave it a thin smear of gasket compound.

Next, I installed the seal. I was able to start it with hard finger pressure, but it took some soft hammer taps.

Then I got out all the parts for installing the flywheel.

Here's the big O-ring.

Installed. And some assembly lube on the face and outside.

Pilot bearing, with some moly grease.

The bearing is a tight fit in the flywheel.

So time for the press.

I left the bearing sticking out a bit more than the recess in the end of the crank. I figured that it would press in as required when I bolted the flywheel on.

Then the felt washer, dampened with engine oil, as per the factory repair manual.

The felt washer in place. Note the marks on the flywheel from the old bolts when I made them snug enough for setting the axial play.