Wow, painting is hard work. Almost all of it is preparation and sanding. Um, make that almost all sanding. I had to use a power grinder to get the spot welds reduced and smoothed. Next was to prime the bare metal with POR15 (GREAT stuff!). Then fill in the gaps with bondo. Sand, smooth, repeat. I did not do a perfect job on this area, since it is not going to go through concourse. So here is the finished trunk:
Well, nothing like 3 funerals and a standards meeting to throw one off their stride. (Sounds like a bad british sitcom, doesn’t it?)
However, I have been busy on the car for the last few days. For example, I have attached the flywheel to the motor – this involves attaching a hub to the motor and then the flywheel to the hub – all within a tight tolerance.
And at the same time, I’ve been working with Sean to get the front trunk repaired. Sean found a donor car for some metal, and cut that donor piece out and then welded that piece into the trunk. Now I get to grind the metal, seal the seams, smooth everything out and then paint.
Well, dear reader, NEVER say anything is done until the project is over. Really.
I was getting ready to put in the front battery rack. This is done by simply placing the rack into the front trunk, marking where you want to drill holes, drilling said holes, and then mounting the rack. Right.
One of the previous owners had put in Air Conditioning (A/C to us Americans), and another previous owner had removed the A/C.
Something you might not know is that A/C requires cooling. Cooling requires air flow. The A/C installation had required this air flow, so someone had cut some rectangular holes into the front trunk (where the A/C radiator had gone). Then the other owner had simply removed the radiator and hoses (mostly) and fiberglassed over the holes.
The resulting holes look like this:
So. What this means is that I need some metal put in, and welded solid. Or at least welded into place and then sealed VERY well. This has put a damper on my previous enthusiasm, you can bet on that.
Oh, and Electro Auto sent the wrong parts for the terminals, but that is another blog.
Wow, busy few days recently. After *MUCH* delay (house guest, selling airplane, travel, jetlag) I have finally gotten around to doing more work on the poor, neglected 914.
First of all, most of the rustoration is done (many thanks to the Houseguest for helping paint and cut metal). The engine compartment was the worst offender. I was able to find a local paint store that was close to the original color, and will do for the interior engine areas (but not for the exterior).
Note that I did not get rid of that stupid glue on the firewall that used to hold the insulation. The insulation was terrible – it held moisture up against the firewall, a great way to invite rust. The glue proved too difficult to remove at this time.
And there is the controller mounted in its final position. Note that the grounding strap is not yet attached – this was done later (I had troubles getting the mounting hardware to work).
The potbox was an interesting part. Mainly because the spring was supposed to be attached to the upper-right 1/8 inch hole. Well, as you can see, there is a lower-left hand and a lower-right hand hole, but no upper. Thank goodness for the internets and other 914 conversion nuts. 🙂
More work to come, now that I’m motivated and mostly through with rustoration. 🙂
Ok, so the engine is pulled, and gosh, there’s rust! Oh, and the car used to have air conditioning, so it was “fun” pulling the engine around the compressor and hoses. I’ve got a bit of work to remove the rust and glue from the sound insulation (worthless stuff) now.
Of course, these parts are due to arrive when I am out of town. Again. And of course, the installation manual is not part of this package. WHEN is that going to arrive???? ARgh.
On the positive side, at least the brakes are going to be in very good shape. The rear calipers are being rebuilt, and being painted a very spiffy black. 🙂
Wow, the transmission has finally been rebuilt and reinstalled.
So nice and clean – that won’t last long, though. 🙂
Many thanks to Brad Roberts and Sean Molloy for their expertise in this process. Both of them are available for hire and do very nice work, feel free to contact me for their number.
That’s Sean posing by the now-working car.
While I’m waiting for the electric parts to show up, I’m tacking some rust on the body. Rust is one of the major killers of 914s. There are several areas that are of major concern, one of which is named the “hell hole”, I kid you not. This hole is just under the battery, and is caused by water and battery acid (yikes!). I’m not brave enough to get to that yet, but instead I’m removing the rust around the front trunk.
Oh, and I’m also hoping to get my transmission put back together this week so I can start driving the car. Hope springs eternal and all that.
Brad stopped by on sunday and “helped” me take the transmission out. By helping, I mean I held the light and watched as he did a bunch of wrenching under the car. Good thing, too, because there were some hidden bolts, and I would have forgotten to disconnect the ground strap.
For those of you that have never seen the inside of a transmission, it is a bit daunting, lots of gears and arms, all covered with oil.
It’s just weird stuff. Thank goodness I’ve got Brad to help on this.
Here’s a closeup of the gears.
The underside of the car where the transmission mounts to the engine is just a mess.
