You are kicking some ass on that car!

You will be super stoked once you have the new paint on.

I found it very motivating to finish the car once it was painted.

John

That is some really good progress. Can't wait to see this one get painted.

I finished up with sanding the doors, trunk lids, engine lid and the headlight covers. The body of the car still has a few small spots that need some sanding though. I went ahead and set up a paint booth so I could start getting some of this stuff primed. And priming I did!

We bought this carpot/ canopy a long time ago to use for painting so I set it up yesterday and then draped plastic down the sides. It worked really well for my needs. I apologize for the pictures, it was getting dark by the time I stopped.

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This was my first time painting anything with a gun but I got use to it real fast and was surprised how well it started out. I primed the underside of the lids, the backside of the doors and some smaller pieces. Tomorrow morning I will turn everything over and prime the other sides. I will also get better pictures of everything.

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There is some serious talent in this "World" and am amazed. There are dreamers, planners and doers. You are definitely a doer and will translate to other aspects or your life. This one looks to be on the short list now. I hope to have my project done before you finish the LE, not to rush you. BTW are you using 20 gauge on your repairs? and welding with flux coated wire besides. Didn't anyone tell you that was hard? Al.

Ah, you have a quite a while before I even touch the LE. Most of the repairs were 18-20 gauge depending on the application. My welder is also the biggest piece of crap alive and I hope to never use it again! It probably isn't the best to use, but its what we've always had around.

Here are some pictures in the daylight. This was only after the first coat of primer.
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After the first two coats of primer I sanded everything down and applied two more coats. I then moved on to adding some COLOR.

The original color of this car was marathon blue metallic which was partly stripped and painted over several times. I had the option to return it to the original color or another color of my choice. I decided against painting a metallic since I am a complete newb and decided on my favorite 914 color... mmm Ravenna Green.




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Two more...

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Next weekend I will flip everything over and finish painting the detached pieces. I will hopefully get to paint the car too!

Although I am disappointed that you aren't sticking with the original Marathon Blue Metallic (like mine!), that Ravenna Green is a striking color. You are doing an awesome job!

Well, at least you're doing the color change right. Ravena green is a sweet color and looks like you're off to a great start. Can't wait to see more pics as more gets painted!

Way to go Doug!
I came by to check on your status (and to get mine back out on the road to recheck the oil leaks).
No one was home, some parts were in the temp booth, but nothing had been sprayed yet. Glad to see you got to spray some paint.
I can't wait to see your progress when Kris and I get back from vacation.
Chris

Ravenna, Major Stokage.......

Yesterday it was too cold and rainy here to paint so I spent the day getting the body ready for primer. This morning I masked off the car and finished little things up, then this afternoon I shot the first few coats of primer on the body. Now I can see there are a lot of little things that need sanding and such.




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A few more...

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Okay there's some good new and bad news. The good news is that the car is painted. I laid down the color then clear.

some color...

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The bad news is that I really sucked it up when applying the clear and I laid it on in too thin of coats and also my gun adjustments were off. So now I have to sand it down again then apply more clear.

Here are some pictures after the clear was applied. It looks alright in the pictures but far from it in person.

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Yikes
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Some more

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Doug,
Very cool build, I've got about half way thru, can't wait to read the rest. When replacing the longs, did you use a backing plate or butt welded?

Good idea of getting it running and all the bugs worked out before putting on paint. One of these days maybe mine will be on the road.

Dave

Thanks Dave. I butt welded the longs which probably is not the strongest joint but I plan to add an Engman stiffening kit the next time I have the interior out.

Very cool, looks like it's moving along nicely!

Very inspiring!!!! You are doing a fantastic job!!!

Absolutely amazing. I am in awe. I just got a Ravenna Green 73 2.0. I will definitely use the info in your thread. Thank you so much for documenting this transformation. You should be very proud of yourself.

Chris

Big Update! After messing up applying the clear the first time, I had to sand everything back down and apply more clear. So I spent Friday wet sanding the car down then Saturday morning I applied more. Late saturday night I began wet sanding again to get everything smooth and then I buffed everything. I finished that up today. I then started to reassemble everything. Ventilation under the cowel, rubber seals, windshield, taillights, some of the headlight stuff all got added to the car. The gas tank will be going in next and that's all thats needed to fire this puppy up. Next weekend will be the big weekend where I take the car out for a drive (after I finish reassembling it of course)

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Did you install the windshield yourself?

Andrew

Diggin' the green. Very nice.

Yes but my father gave me a hand putting in place. I cleaned the channel real well and then laid down a 1/4" bead of butyl tape. I then gently laid the windshield in place and i used a piece of windshield moulding to make sure all the windshield moulding clips had enough room to move and then I pressed the glass firmly in place. And of course installed the trim.

I've been meaning to post an update but I have been too busy driving the car! I finished putting the car back together on Friday (muffler, rocker panels, door innards, fuel tank, headlight hardware, and cleaning painting and installing a new front bumper.) I also made sure to switch all the trim back to anodized since the trim was black before. I had a few sets lying around so all went together nicely. I still have some small things to do like do a final fitment of lids, install sail vinyl, door pockets etc. Once the car was put back together, it started right up and ran beautifully. I'm so glad I can drive this car again. It is a huge weight off my shoulders now that it is drivable. Anyways I will post some pictures now.

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I'll get more pictures of the car up later.

Love the color. Way to go!!

Definitely inspiring....

Andrew

That is frickin beautiful!!!

I really like the color.

Took me forever to go from paint to drivable, that was quick work.

John

I just realized that its been exactly a year since I really started working on the car. Not bad considering I had a full time job during the summer, and am a full time student the rest of the time plus I was even able to drive it for a few months. I thought I would re-show a few old shots for a better comparison.

Before the work...

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After all the work...


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I even toyed with the idea of adding a luggage rack but have pretty much decided i like it better without it

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I *might* be taking my car on a long trip coming up in the next two weeks. I will know for sure after this weekend. Regardless, I will be switching out the transmission this weekend. Ever since I started driving the car, Reverse, first, and second gear all have issues and I have tried adjustment with no luck. Ironically, I've been too lazy to switch it out yet so this weekend will be it! I will also be checking my timing and dwell, and do a valve adjustment while i have the heat exchangers out. Plus a lot of final touches will be done to get the car in tip top shape.

Looks great!

I like the color, that's very cool.

Oh, and adjust your headlights man!

Well I got the transmission changed out yesterday and everything went smoothly. The car shifts much better now and there is finally no more grinding!



I also ordered a rebuilt alternator because the old one was a bit noisy and on its way out. I got a 75 amp unit which is a pretty good upgrade from the 50 amp I pulled out of the car. I changed it out this afternoon.

It sure is pretty
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Tomorrow I plan to adjust the valves, timing and dwell and just work on smaller things.

I got a lot of smaller stuff done today. I adjusted the headlights, added a second horn, straightened the steering wheel, added the chrome strip at the bottom of the sail panels, some other things I can't remember right now and made sure to take it for a test drive I also added my tow bar bracket to the front end. Luckily it tucked up right behind the LE valence. I will probably keep it installed long term just in case the need ever arises.


Front tow bracket
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Note: All the specs on the front bumper are bugs not chips


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If you can tell I like posting pictures of my car.
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What a great thread. It does make me feel pretty inept though when I think about how much you got done in about the same time it took me to make a list of things I need to do to my car.

What paint did you use? Was it waterborne?

--Steve

None of the stuff I used was water-based. Everything I used was PPG Omni Brand.

I have been meaning to update this. I ended up taking the car on a trip. It was a 1500 mile round trip to Michigan/ Indiana and back. It was a pretty tight trip time-wise so there wasn't too much time to goof around. Otherwise i would have tried to meet up with some members along the way. The car made the trip just fine with no major problems. The window guide in the door came loose from all the bumpy roads in the north Also when we left on Thursday afternoon, the temperatures were in the upper 80's and 90s and the car was running a little bit on the hot side so I have to go through and make sure everything is sealed tight. I didn't even have to add any oil on the trip either. I'm quite pleased now because I know the car is somewhat reliable. I've put just over 5000 miles on it since last October. Unfortunately I hardly took any pictures.

TUNNEL! It was a fun drive through WV. 80 mph on twisted interstate.
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Look's SWEEEEET! Now, you gotta cut those tits the heck off, bingo bango....done, no more to do. Just grin and drive.

So I've started to get the slightest hesitation on acceleration so I have been trying to trace that down. I have been leaning towards the trigger points in the distributor but also my distributor has a lot of play and i have an oil leak where the it goes into the block so I took it out. Before I took it out, I had a spare that was in much better shape so I took it apart and cleaned it. I also installed a new seal around the shaft. After I got the old distributor out, I checked parts numbers found out that it was the WRONG one for a 2.0L. That could have been part of my problem. Everything went back in smoothly and I am in the process of getting it timed correctly. Hope this works.

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Ahh it appears that way before me, the timing was set to 27 degrees at idle based on the position of the distributor body before i took it out. I adjusted it correctly at 3500 rpm so hopefully this will make it perform a little bit better. Time for a test drive.

The car drives like sooooo much better now. It idles smoother and lower, accelerates nicely, and is just so fun to drive! Hopefully the car will run a little bit cooler now as well. Now onto more smaller things to fix!

Well the other night I had the most interesting encounter yet. I was driving around at 11:30 at night and I pulled up to a stop sign and out from nowhere, a jeep comes flying up behind me honking its horn. It pulled up next to me and it turns out, it was just another crazed 914 fanatic who use to own a few! The conversation was short but my passenger was definitely confused about the whole incident.


Meanwhile I took the girlfriend out last night and we went to a local state park. When leaving I noticed that something about the car wasn't right. I got a lot of hesitation at part load throttle and the car would die if i tried to let it idle. I thought all hell broke loose and something like my MPS gave out. Turns out the connection to my CHT was just loose and all lives were spared! It drove perfectly fine today.


Here is a shot of the GF with the car.
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Chicks and 914's are always a great combo.

BTW - Your wiper arms are on the wrong sides (L to R), switch them.

excellent, excellent, excellent!!! I really enjoy seeing metal work and painting projects come together in a completed project. I think every 914 owner should read this thread. Very nice job.

Steve Hurt