Started fitting the fiberglass bumpers and rockers (trimming excess and aligning the mounting brackets)

Tested the through-the-body swaybar mounts.  Had to "tweak" them a bit but it all fits fine.

What a freakin mess!  The car body was returned to me in July of '04.

Body is back, but the paint has issues...  The painter said it needs to be wet sanded still, but there are some areas where wet sanding won't help (i.e., too thin maint, missing paint, or paint with fish-eyes).

I have sat and stewed on it for months now (in between hurricanes, holidays, and dealing with personal family issues.  I am getting it redone, AGAIN.  The issues are too vast to 'fix'.  In the long run I will be happier with this project's outcome

I have waited 8 months to begin work again...

Test fitted the suspension together.

Checked on body.  Body has been blasted and coated with DP.  

Body work is commencing (filling in dings, smoothing out flares, and the remaining clean up work on the body.

Car will be primered and blocke before painting

Installed needle bearings on front A-arms

Refurbished steering rack.

Repacked steering rack with new Moly grease

Installed Turbo tie rods

Installed Bump Steer Kit

Assembled front suspension (passenger side)1

to this...

Old suspension was refinished and finally reassembled.

New shocks, rotors, calipers, early 911 hub and stub axle, new bearings, powder coated trailing arm.

to this...

Reminds me of a Far Side cartoon... "Nature's way of saying... DO NOT TOUCH!"

Custom Gauges Arrive

Engine is almost done!

Picked up powder coated pedal cluster pieces and rebuilt it with new bushings.

I also installed AJ USA billet pedals

Pickedup the powder coated fan and fan shroud.  Too bad it will face the wrong way in my 914 for no one to see!

Repainted the valve covers with VHT wrinkle finish paint.  Sanded of the raised areas to highlight the lower valve cover ribs and PORSCHE on the upper valve covers

Picked up the headlight buckets from the powder coater.

Visited the long block.  Elgin S cams made it and have been timed.  This engine will use mechanical tensioners instead of hydraulic tensioners.

Coast Fab mufflers arrived - 4.5" diameter, 14" long, ceramic muffler cartridge and all stainless construction.

Did test-fit of foglight assemnlies.  I need seals.  I may have them reproduced.

I disassembled and blasted the pedal cluster.

I assembled the cleaned and refinished headlight motor assemblies.

Bought an air-powered sprayer for the compressor.  I sprayed POR-15 on the fog light housings after bead blasting and metal prepping them.  After 2 hours of drying, I sprayed them with bumper black urethane paint.

Beat blasted the twin horns and sprayed them with Wurth Silver lacquer

Riveted the accelerator stop to the new aluminum pedal board and installed the clutch stop too!

I redyed the interior trim pieces and lower dash pad with Surflex vinyl dye.  The difference is amazing!

I started using my Caswell Plating CopyCad electroplating kit to replate some of the hardware.  It works great!

Here are my wheels mounted on the new SO3s.  They look beautiful!

Body Shop visit

Flares and rockers are getting fitted

Started Bead Blasting Parts

What fun!  And the new cabinet Works great!

Visited engine in the shop.

Engine is being built by Harro Zitza from Zotz Racing in Winter Park, FL

Removed Dashboard and the entire wiring harness.  What a pain in the tukas!

Reinstalled emergency brake handle to assist in moving car.

All that remains is steering, hydraulics, and the suspension.

Woohoo!

She's ready for the body man!

I installed my new 80-gallon compressor

Worked in the evenings since the weather was so nice!

Finished grinding away all the surface rust and seam sealer on the floor and rear firewall.  Then I vacuumed, and cleaned everything with POR Marine Clean.  Washed that off and next came a coat of POR Metal Ready.  Washed the residue off and let everything dry with the help of a big fan.

Finally, a new coat of POR-15 semi-gloss paint on the floor and firewall.

My parts bench with the headlights and front compartment stuff on my work table ready to bagged and labeled.

She's getting more and more naked by the day!

Front fuel compartment with just the defroster/heat valve to remove and some wiring!

Took lots of pictures to remember the how the cables go!

Fresh air intake and drain tubing.  Man is this dirty!

Since I will be running headers, I have no need for the hot air ducts running from the left of the windshield defroster valve.  I removed the aluminized cardboard tubing that runs into the air duct in the passenger compartment and capped it off with a spray paint can cover.  A perfect fit!

Front shot of the car with the turn signal lenses and side markers removed.  

The side marker light will be welded up and the front turn signal converted into the European type turn signal

I finished test fitting the oil cooler, oil cooler shroud, and deflector plate.  I had to grind away some of the seam sealer to get everything to fit!

Back carpeting is removed.  I pulled the tire pressure hose, as I will covert this to a motorized windshield washer system.  See my article on Pelican Parts

Underneath the gas tank is very dirty!

This will get cleaned up and repainted!

Passenger side light bucket is almost removed.  Just have to pull the wiring harness out and I'll be done

Driver's side lights and bucket are now stripped.  No rust underneath!

Here's the latest pic of my fat bottom girl!

February/2003

I had a little hiatus in my enthusiasm for the project over the holidays, while I took up shotgun sports (clay target shooting). 

Didn't get much work on the car.  

I did manage to take the doors apart and remove all the window mechanisms and door trim.

Cut Oil tank holes (what a bitch),
still have one to go.

Test mounted seats

Located substrap mounting holes,
and safety harness mounting holes

Drilled out heater blower fan mount

Partially cut back relay board mounting frame

Drilled out old firewall pad retention clips

Cleaned up battery tray rust.

Removed more tar off the floorpan!

Removed windshield and trim

Removed dashboard and lower dash

Removed windshield trim vinyl

Removed gauges (made wiring diagram)

Removed radio

Removed upper dash upholstery and underlying foam and adhesive.

Cut from oil cooler inlet in front

Drilled front bumper mounts

Located fog light mounting holes

Removed old seat brackets from floor

Drilled out old back panel clips

Started fitment of the front fuel filler access door!

No more opening the front trunk lid to get to the gas tank!  Plus it looks neat!

She's getting more and more naked by the day.  Today I stripped the rear trunk of all accessories.  Pulled the wiring harness through to the engine compartment, located the rear bumper mounting holes, drilled the rear emblem holes and rear crest holes, cleaned up the engine compartment (removed fuel injection accessories, and removed the engine compartment seals.

I'm surprised.  She's amazing clean and really doesn't have much if any rust.  The battery tray had a little on the top surface, but nothing through.  The suspension console is perfect.

Today we gutted the beast.  Here you see me and Phil Sparta (aka philinjax) with the innards of the machine sitting in my garage.  

Notice Phil's grungy Ferrari shirt. 

It deserves to be soiled by a 914!

Did a temporary mounting of front oil cooler in car.  Made some quick brackets using 1 1/2" angle aluminum

I am working on converting to Euro-style front turn signals.

I have a plan in place and should be able to convert them tomorrow for about $10 total!

Click here for a conversion article I am writing (not quite done yet!)

More disassembly completed.

Removed spot welds on front lip so new bumper will fit properly.

Removed passenger side rocker panel.  Phew!  No rust underneath.  Solid as a rock.

Removed rear window, targa trim,  interior rollbar pads, seat belts, rear firewall insulating pad, and rear luggage rack.

Started determining location of front oil cooler cutout.

Discovered rust underneath the tar panels on the passenger side.  Spent some time scraping that away and wire brushing the surface rust.  POR-15 Metal Prep and Rust paint will be applied to seal the floor from future damage.

Seat brackets will be removed.

Test drove new seats and safety belts in kitchen.

Bugs in teeth taste great!

Close up of the removed bumper tab on the driver's side front.  I have also roughly located the bolt through-holes for the bumper mounting bolts.

It looks better already without the big ugly black bumpers.

Today I removed the rear bumper and mounting shocks.

I also removed tabs that were spot-welded on to retain rubber bumper covers.  I wire brushed the area, coated with anti-rust paint, and then topped of with a light coat of primer

Removed front bumper and mounting shocks

September 2002 - 

Repair windshield wipers

swish, swish, swish

Repaired driver's door handle with new door handle frame.  Works fine now

This is what I started with

A 1975 1.8L car from Arizona.  The car was well taken care of with virtually no rust.  All the important areas are rust free.  Just little minor things here and there (under the front hood seal there is a tiny bit for example)

This is the picture I was sent when before I purchased the car.  I had the assistance of Gerard Rodriguez in Phoenix to do a pre-purchase inspection for me.  He was very honest and the car arrived as described!

The car is Summer Yellow, with black velour inserts and charcoal loop carpeting.

The previous owner installed a 911 Carrera front end, and added 4 to 5 bold adapters in the rear.  The rear Boge shocks were modified to for an adjustable coilover setup.

The 1.8L was rebuilt about 10K miles ago.  The PO owned a small Porsche repairs shop in Phoenix and detailed the engine during the rebuilt.  The sheetmetal was powder coated, the exhaust jet-hot coated.  After it warms up, it runs well.  I suspect it needs a new cold-start valve.

The current tranny shifts like crap.  But the PO provided a spare.  Plans are in the works to make a strong tranny for the flat six that will soon be in here!

Interior is dusty, but complete, and in overall great condition.

Phone dial wheel all around with new Falken tires from the PO.

I've already replaced the Schoolbus stock wheel with this nice leather Momo wheel with Porsche crest.  Very nice feeling in your hands.  The dash will be replaced with a new one.