Finally got the insurance and registration sorted out and took my car for the first drive in 3 years. Wahoo!

Gotta get some turbo tie rods installed pronto. I had a set on the shelf, but install them in a 72 911 today instead of my car. I did put in new ball joints and hooked up the rear sway bar. Tomorrow I gotta check the timing, I think it's off a little bit.

Hooooooray! U think I saw you last tuesday blasting down E 8th in a yellow teener. The floppy pony tail going everywhere.

Yup, that was a 2270 that left today.

Sweeeeet,

Jeff

So cool!

You ought to drive it up to Hoopa later this month. More fun than the old red truck, although the AC was nice.

Congrats Mark!

A small box of goodies headed your way!

Worked on a couple nagging problems today.

I tried to reseal the exhaust. I had some pretty bad exhaust leaks, but I'm not sure I got them. My SSI headers seem a little tweaked. Gotta run it again, then put it up on the lift and check.

I also installed turbo tie rods and did a quick alignment. It's late and I'm going home, so no test drive today. But I'm sure it'll be loads better than the worn out stock tie rods.

Nice.......

Keep going, got to get it in shape for the drive to Beaver.

Jeff

Nice, your driving it!

Not to rain on your carb parade, but I can't even BEGIN to tell you how glad I was to see the last of those things........ They wear out in places where there's nothing to wear out. BTW, I think I have a rebush kit for the throttle plates somewhere around here. That's one of the things you need to do at absurdly short intervals. Like about every time you adjust the valves or something. Be sure all the various solenoids are kept tight on the carbs, too, because they have an annoying tendency to get loose and oval out the holes beyond repair.

The Cap'n

Installed 944 belts today instead of the worn out stock belts. Really easy swap, with a couple of gotchas. The 944 belts are pretty old as well, so the driver's side isn't quite as smooth as I would have hoped. But late model (Boxster, 996, etc) seat belts look like they would work as well. Maybe not quite as simple, but still perfectly do-able. They're on my shopping list when I see a cheap set on eBay to test out. Having belts that don't stutter or hang is an important wife-factor.

Old belts:
Click to view attachment

New belts:
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I didn't plan on swapping the receivers, but the set I bought came with them. I'm glad they did. They hide down a little farther than stock 914 belts, and I think that cleans up the interior. Plus the stock ones I had were TRASHED. So this is good. Plus it makes installing the 944 belts that much easier.
Click to view attachment

I also installed a new throttle pedal. I had a stock replacement, but I sold it to someone. So I bought another, and sold that one to another customer. And now they're out of stock. So I got this later model one because I could feel the old one sway left/right meaning it's breaking at the hinge and would have left me stranded.
Click to view attachment

Looking good Mark!

Did you say that car has a 2270 in it?

Love the aubergine.

John

No 2270 but it will have a TURBO!

Don't you know you can't turbo a 914!

I had to say it...

John

put a luggage rack on the back.

Rich

The car's been running GREAT! Every time I turn the key and this ol' 1.7 fires up on the first crank I think about how this car was built from spare parts. It's been loads of fun and smooth sailing..... until yesterday.

I pulled the car into the shop and decided to take care of a few nagging problems.
Checked the valves (#3 & #4 intakes were 0.009", so I tightened those down).
Checked the exhaust for leaks. Found that a lot of the nuts were loose and the outer nut on #1 had fallen completely off. Took care of those.
Installed some powdercoated valve covers and some special valve cover gaskets I'd been sitting on for awhile.
Installed the wiring for the CHT, EGT, and Oil Press gauges I've been meaning to install.
And finally -- installed a new turn signal switch since the old one wouldn't indicate left turns.

Well, when I went to head home I fired up the car and pulled out. It was just about dark, so I pulled the headlight switch and a few seconds later the car is filling with smoke, and I can see a tell-tale orange glow of fire up under the dash. So I jam on the brakes, turn off the key and jump out and blow out the flames. Since it was already 7pm I just pushed the car back to the shop and got a ride home.

I couldn't sleep past 5am without knowing what happened, so I came in and started pulling things apart. Thankfully only two wires burned, the red power supply wire from the fuse panel to the headlight switch and the white/black wire for left turn signal from the headlight switch to the turn signal switch. My first thought was that one of the connectors under the steering column got installed one pin off, but I found out that can't happen. So I checked the pins on the new turn signal switch compared to the old one, but that was identical. Next I tested the wire to see if it was shorted to ground, but nothing showed up. Finally I physically traced and inspected the wire and found that it had indeed shorted to ground by getting pinched against a piece of metal and exposing the copper wire. What a PITA, but at least it wasn't oversight or incompetence that caused the problem. Just that odd problem that crops up in the weirdest place possible. I really can't see any way that I would have detected this, nor any 914-Life lesson that would apply to everyone else -- other than sometimes happens.

Wow Mark, that was lucky...you only let a small amount of magic smoke out. Glad she didn't burn down! There's nothing worse than the smell of burning wires is there?

A burning body...

Bummer man.

Good thing it was not any worse.

I wonder how many factory aubergines there were/are left?

Gotta be one of the rarest (cool) colors.

John

How about posting some pictures of the pressent day car, Mark?

Thx

Btw, fun thread to read through

Funny thing is, I was up way early and sent Mark an email expecting an answer maybe sometime in the afternoon. Thirty seconds after I set my phone down he responds. He couldn't sleep because he was worried...

Finally added some sound proofing and installed the back pad. The foil-backed, self-adhesive stuff is Damplifier Pro and the gray foamy stuff (which I glued on with 3M 90 High Strength Adhesive) is Luxury Liner. Both of those are made by Second Skin.

I'm pretty happy with how quiet it is inside now. The door seals are the worst part now and I'm working on those...

Oh and I need to better freakin' seats.

Are you looking for bone stock seats? I have a couple sets of oddball recovered ones. One set is black leather with blue cloth inserts. Then a I have some stranger ones

My seats will be available once I go to the Nurburgrings...

Oh by the way, I chased Mark through some Sonoma County backroads yesterday in my 240Z... That car is QUICK!

You put the Luxury Liner on backwards . The foam goes towards the sound source. The vinyl reflects any sound that gets through the foam.

I had that in my 914 until the heat of the engine softened Second Skin Audio's adhesive and the LL came off. You're probably ok since it's behind the seat pad.

Damn, you're right.

Gotta pull the backpad out to install a dual-pane back window (once I have it cut). So I'll fix it then. Pays to read the instructions...

Dual-pane For sound deadening, I assume. I have not heard of anyone trying this. Is it said to be effective?

Afaik, I'll be the first.

I'm waiting for someone to do a pickup truck slider...

Made an 'reservation' at Altissimo Custom Paint to bring my car back to Marathon Blue Metallic. Now to strip the car, pull the engine, and drop it off.

While the engine is out..... TURBO!

Go Mark!

When are you starting the tear down?


KT

After the AX.

Can I help?


KT

Thinking about having a deconstruction day. Might be a nice 914 get together, depending on how the weather is in Nov.

If you plan it... They will come...

AND, I'll bring you a turbo...

I'd call that motivation!

I'm in as long as its not next weekend.

I wish I lived out there on the left coast with all you guys! I feel like my teener would be in so much better care!

OMG! That is going to be so nice! Brandon at Altissimo does great work.

Let's BBQ!


KT

+1 My 69 is there now and looking great (even in primer)... I always enjoy checking on the progress and seeing all of the great paint jobs there ... I think I am going to have him paint my truck too.



+1 bring out the grill Mark

Had a great time stripping the car to head for paint.

Thanks to:
Trekkor
Mike B.
Jim N.
Jeff S.
Bob F.
Malcom
Chris P.
Andy S.
and the other people who slipped my mind right now....

Plenty of beer on hand, fantastic burgers from Jeff, and lots of work got done really quickly. We were basically done with the teardown in about 5 hours.

A few before and after shots:

I love that engine trolley move where the car goes up and the engine and trans scoots away...

Slick.


KT

What color?

Marathon blue metallic. See the trunk?

Love that Color! That will be sweet Mark! Good turn out for the tear down. Wish I could have hung around the extra day to help.