Had an oh sh*t! moment today. I had my car all warmed up and decided to take
a run over the causeway here that includes a half mile climb to the top of a tall
bridge. I was approaching triple digits in fourth gear with my 2270 pulling
really hard when suddenly there was a very loud metallic banging and cracking
sound!

I slowed down and was wondering what the hell had broken when I see my
top windshield molding flashing behind me before disappearing into the Indian
River. The damn thing parted company with the loudest freaking noise! I
thought my crankshaft must have broken.

When I got home, there were no scratches or damage to the car anywhere. I
had my windshield replaced by Safelite a few days before due to a large crack
in the old one that was getting bigger all the time. The guy did a great and fast
job (for a reasonable $388 installed in my driveway) but a little adhesive got
around the clips keeping the trim on. Something to watch for if you replace your
windshield.

I guess I'll be going to the black, rubber molding after this...

John

Started playing with my Go Pro camera. This is a long and pretty boring video of
a drive around my neighborhood with my dog. I am really impressed with the
quality of the video and the small size of the camera. My engine is a lot louder
than it seems from watching the video. I used the open back for shooting this
so I thought the engine sound would be louder. Thanks a lot to Shoe for doing
these group buys.


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


I will make videos of more exciting roads when I get a chance.

John

That's the closest that I have been to a ride in a 914!

Looks like fun.

I'm telling you, just driving around at sane speeds is fun in one of these cars.

You are so much more involved in steering, shifting, and the engine sound than in
super quiet modern cars.

More like riding a Harley than driving a Lexus.

John

You are a inspiration, us old guys don't have a thing to worry about who will be there to move this sport forward in the next years. It's in very good hands .

Dave

I could not agree more. Last weekend "Elmonte" came over in his white 914-6 with GT flairs and the top off. We went for a nice ride and he let me drive his baby. I was totally in love all over again and can't wait to get mine rolling down the road so I can enjoy the driving experience. Thank you again Elmonte (Chris).

This short video has better sound. It starts with the camera inside stuck on the
back window, then goes to outside on the engine cover, then on to the roll bar
with the top off.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c9eK5Mf9dA


John

The walking dead thread rides again.

I really should try to keep this thread updated a little better.

Let's see, I went to an autocross for the first time and my carbs clogged up after 2 runs , took the car to a local PCA car show, Joe from Series9 installed Electromotive fuel injection from Clewett Engineering with ITBs , Joe powdercoated my Florida corroded Fuchs and added an external oil cooler , I got a Rennshift , I figured out why my GTS seats don't slide, am taking the car to its first DE at Sebring in 3 weeks, and I finally bedded in my porterfield pads.

I was never happy with my braking even though I have newly restored A calipers on the front, V calipers on the rear, new master cylinder and brace, and porterfield s4 pads. I could never lock up my wheels no matter how hard I applied the brakes.

I pm-ed back and forth with Eric Shea a bunch of times going over possible problems and he figured I had never bedded the pads in sufficiently. I tried bedding them a long time ago but did not bother finding a road where I could really do it right.

So I took Eric's advice and went out to a deserted industrial area with a couple of mile long access roads. I did 5 hard stops from 60 to 10 mph with no lock up no matter how hard I pushed. On the 6th try I totally locked the fronts with hard pedal pressure. I did a few more stops trying to go just short of locking up, then drove around for 15 minutes to cool them off. Now I can lock the front wheels up even when cold no problem. I kept the standard pressure regulator and it seems to be working because my rear wheels never lock.

Hope this helps someone.

Thanks Eric!

John

Wow, for some reason I had never read this thread, but wanted to say a few things;
1. Wow, what an incredible project and a fantastic job you have done! Congrats!!!
2. Loved the humor, like the leather bag with 28# shot, etc. VERY funny
3. Thank you for saving a 914

Fantastic!!!

I've shimmed my regulator spring 1/4" and still can't lock up the rears.

I'm going to bump this to the top for John, as we had an interesting weekend. He took his car on track for the first time at Sebring and I think he had a blast (while it was running). We battled some issues the whole weekend, most concerning was a breather tube that wouldn't stay put on the head vents. The final Saturday session John got "meatballed" for dropping oil. We realized the head vent was spewing oil all over the engine bay. I was able to get it fixed this morning with a smaller diameter hose, and John did most of the afternoon session. Unfortunately he was seeing some wicked oil temperatures, which I think means he needs to look into a good front-mounted cooler for this car. The Raby engine is so big and bad, it just completely overcomes the small cooler that Joe O'Brien installed. Even worse, when John pulled his car off of the track and came back into the pits, the car quit running in pit lane. We suspect the Electromotive ECU that Joe installed died. Perhaps got too hot. I dunno. I'll let John elaborate - he should have some cool video and pictures in the next couple days.

His car is FAST. I got a chance to drive it - it's killer! I had a hard time not slipping the clutch upon acceleration. All in all, a success John. Your car has come a very long way!

Thanks George and Marc for helping me get the car out and working this weekend.

From this five years ago:

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To this weekend:

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Click to view attachment

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Totally beat now...

John

I know that Instructor - Hopefully I will down there in a few weeks

Great pics John! Like I said, the car has come a very long way and you should be proud. But from what I heard this weekend, the driver has too. I think you'll get promoted next time out man. I had a great weekend - thanks for letting us hang out with you bud.

Car is running again!

A few minutes talking to electromotive tec support revealed that my firmware was erased. I was able to reload it from my computer and the car fired back up and was running normally again. They felt being in a sealed trunk on a 90 degree day and running 30 minutes of laps might have lead to it overheating.

Need to look into some way to keep the ECU cooler.

Click to view attachment

John

I noticed my alternator light is on and my gauges that are electrical powered are all dead.

I think my battery may be dying. It is a cheap battery that is four years old that has sat unused for weeks and months at a time.

This may be the real cause of my ECU problems.

I need to pick up an optima or oddessey battery after reading about which is better.

John

John, I will be at Sebring next weekend. George & I will bring 2 GoPro Cameras to Video everything

T.C.

I mounted my Haltech in the trunk on a big piece of 1/8" sheet aluminum. I put stand offs to elevate the aluminum from the firewall. Seemed to work good. Never overheated the ECU. Basically it was a giant heat sink.

Click to view attachment

I think we will do something to make sure it stays cooler.

Maybe put some heat recording stickers on it to see how hot it gets.

I am going diving in the keys at the next Sebring DE so I will miss you guys.

John

I will save you some time... Odyssey. I used to get Optimas but the quality doesent seem to be what it used to be. As a bonus, even with the larger Odyssey 925 you are still about 1/2 the weight of the Optima.

Thanks James!

I knew one was generally reckoned to be better.

John

Way cool John! So glad you got it fixed. I think you were right - it was probably related more to that fuse blowing, but only Joe knows how it was all wired. It might not be a bad idea to figure out a way to provide some direct cooling to the ECU though. Initially I had imagined some CPU fans, but some kind of vent to the trunk would probably do the trick as well.

I had no idea you were painting over the OG paint.

that is a nice blue, I am now considering it for my car.

jim

Just spent my night reading through this. Absolutely incredible job.

John is a helluva guy to boot. He's out of town now, but I'm sure he'll respond when he has the chance.

great job putting that thing back together. the car looks fantastic

Thanks guys.

Now that Joe has the engine running really well I need to do some serious cosmetic improvements. My first time paint job needs some redos, some color sanding, and some polishing.

I never get tired of just going for a 15 minute drive around town if that's all I have time for.

John

Do you think Porsches are getting bigger all the time?

The wheels on the Panamera are almost taller than the top of my 914 fenders.

Click to view attachment

This thing has more controls than the space shuttle.

I like the dynamic ride height feature. It just needs to hop.

This is a loaner car while my 911 is being worked on.

John

Wholly crap ................ I haven't read this thread all the way thru before.

John your car makes my project look like a new car that might have got rained on a bit. LOL.

I have a tendency to over grind .....................
I keep seeing Jeff Hails re welded rear fender where the weld disappeared.

I'm on page #8. Great work ..............
Then you make me feel bad about not shooting primer as I'm going.
As soon as we get up to 55 degrees I'll start shooting some primer to make it look like I'm making progress.

Cary,

You and your super in law are doing a killer job.

I really enjoy reading your thread.

Its amazing what a little primer will do for making you feel like you are getting somewhere. I recommend it for that reason alone.

I think you really only need to metal finish welds on the outside panels. A lot of the other welds will get covered in seam sealer and not be visible. I did a lot of grinding before figuring that out.

John

Got my car weighed by Joe Sharp at the Tropical Ramble last fall. Joe is just an
all around exemplary human being.

Click to view attachment

Car weighs in at 2028 pounds with 1010 and 1018 cross weights. Very happy
with the weight and the alignment done for me by Porsche of Melbourne.

Click to view attachment

Just wanted to add this to the ongoing story of the car.



Today I did one of the best upgrades ever for my car for the money. I spent 15
minutes and replaced my old rear targa seal with Mark's new and improved one with
the fuzzy seal. Gone are 95% of the mysterious squeaks and creaks while driving
the car. I was starting to think my rear shocks were sticking or something was
rubbing in my rear suspension when all along it was the freaking top. I have had
the rubber tubing on the rear latch posts for years and still got creaks like crazy.

Do yourself a favor and install one of these.

http://shop.914rubber.com/914-Rear-targa-s...le-914RTS-N.htm



John

Still had a few last creaks and squeaks coming from the rear of the car that were
very annoying. Getting the new fuzzy top eliminated most of them but not all.

Just to be sure, I tried taking the top off and driving, no change. My rocker panels
were a little loose so I tightened them up with a few more screws, no change. It
sounded like my engine cover was creaking so I drove around with it taped open
with a big piece of foam to cushion it, no change.

Finally, I took the rear wheels off and remembered I have grease zerks in the rear
trailing arms. Once I found my grease gun and got it working again I greased all
4 zerks like crazy. With the top back on, the engine cover closed, there are no more
annoying creaks and groans at all! I think this is a custom setup I got from PMB, not
sure the zerks or need for greasing is stock. It has probably been 4 years since I
last greased them.

It is so nice to drive around over bumps and around corners without any annoying
sounds to distract from the rumble of the engine. It may be my imagination but
I swear the handling is better, maybe some serious sticktion was happening in the
rear arms?

John

It was a nice cool day so I decided to tackle some new rust spots on my door that have been getting steadily worse.

Click to view attachment

Took off the door and took it apart. Got out the spot blaster.

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Rusted through in several places.

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Started cutting out the bad stuff.

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Ready for some patches.

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Welded and cleaned up with the blaster. A little spot blaster is so much faster and easier than wire wheeling. I think it gets into the tiny crevices better too.

The spot blaster is only good for small areas. You would go insane trying to strip even one whole door with it.

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Sprayed some primer for now.

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Back together and on the car. I will body work it and respray the whole door later. The door edge shape needs some work.

Click to view attachment

This took about 4 hours altogether. The rust came through from the inside of the door because I neglected to prime the inside of the door skin everywhere.

These spots are behind the door impact bars that are in later doors and I just never got enough paint back there. Sprayed a crap load in there this time so hopefully no repeats.

The patches I did to other parts of the door skin way back are still good on both sides.

John

Wow, five years later and you can multiply those little rust holes by 10...

I am working on fixing it all and have it primed and starting to block sand.

I got a new garage as well...this one has A/C.

John