PorSTi Project Thread…, Well that was fun, time to make some upgrades! Options

[Amenson]

im up for a get together in the columbus area.

That's a possibility for a garage opening/finishing celebration? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
I know there are a few teeners around columbus....

I would be open to having a 914 gathering in the new garage, might motivate me to get the thing running. My work travel schedule for the rest of Jan and Feb is all jacked up so I wont be able to commit to a date for a week or so. Feel free to make recommendations.

What are you doing for a floor coating?
2pac I assume?
Dad insisted on it in our shed and we are both a little upset with how it turned out.
I was hesitant after seeing a few workshops with lots of marks and ours is no different.
Welding means putting a mat down now.
Much prefer the idea of pvc tiles or something similar if a coating is needed
Just a thought
Edwin

Ahh the floor coating dilemma. After months and months of research, quotes, soul searching I have decided to install it myself using contractor grade products. I will be using a non acid stain and two coats of either polyaspartic or polyurthane. Surface will be diamond ground to to the proper roughness for the products.
Is it the best way? No, but given my budget and intended use of the area, it should be more than adequate. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Cheers
Scott

[charliew]

Scott good to see you are getting a nice place to work. I am 68 and have been working on cars since I was 15. My tools and workplace has changed a lot over the years. I'm sorry but I have never placed an importance on a concrete floor finish that I will be welding, beating on metal, dropping heavy objects on, painting on, spilling or dripping many different solutions on and so forth. I do try to not damage the floor but stuff happens. I always wipe up spills but the floor does have stains on it. I have a friend who's shop looks like a display room but he mostly tinkers with stuff. I would be more concerned with insulation and trying to keep the utilities down as electricity will only go up in cost.
Good luck any way you go though. I see the little person has his hotrod in the shop.

[tscrihfield]

im up for a get together in the columbus area.

That's a possibility for a garage opening/finishing celebration? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
I know there are a few teeners around columbus....

I would be open to having a 914 gathering in the new garage, might motivate me to get the thing running. My work travel schedule for the rest of Jan and Feb is all jacked up so I wont be able to commit to a date for a week or so. Feel free to make recommendations.

Cheers
Scott

I know how you feel! I'll have enough frequent flyer miles by June to fly to Munich and back 2 or 3 times.. (not sure if itll really be that much)... But Ill be free the later part of January and February. Where you headed? I'll be in Minneapolis next week....

Thomas

[Amenson]

I see the little person has his hotrod in the shop.

Ahhh....I don't have any little people in my family (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)
All of the hotrods in that garage are mine!

Where you headed? I'll be in Minneapolis next week....

Thomas

I have to spend a couple of weeks in Baudette, MN (I can't exactly say why I am going there but if you look at the Google satellite view of the airport you might be able to figure it out). Then I have a week in Japan for some meetings.

Cheers,
Scott

[Runman07]

Any updates on this?? This thing is a beast! Hope to maybe see this in person one day as I live in the Dayton area...

[AfricanHijinx]

Is this thing on the road yet?

[Amenson]

Here we go again….recovering from a long period of project dormancy.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/www.digitaldash.org-4154-1392251199.1.jpg)
You might notice that Porsti is proudly perched on top of a fully restored lift, in a nice new shop. The shop while not finished inside, is completely functional. I still need to put up more lights, more outlets, run the compressed air system and insulate and cover the walls/ceiling. That can wait…it is time to get the Porsti running.

But first I must digress…
While building the garage I also found myself working on the ’70 C10 that we purchased so that we could haul lumber. Even in the middle of building an extensive shop and adding several new rooms to the house, which was essentially a second 50hour/week job, I was able make time to install power brakes, power steering, and a few other updates to a crappy old truck and have a great time doing it.

What does this have to do with anything?
The Porsti project has been stalled for quite some time, even before construction started on the new shop. Sure there were other priorities and distractions along the way but why could I enjoy making mundane upgrades to a $2000 truck during a huge construction project while the Porsti, with almost 10x the money and 100’s of hours of effort already invested, sat ignored so close to completion?

The remaining work in the Porsti project is adapting the complete wiring harness from the Subaru to the 914. This includes not only getting the Suby engine running (which I did Aug. ’09 with the entire wiring harness in the trunk) but also get the lights (including popup functionality), instrument cluster, windshield wipers (intermittent with the Subaru motor on the 914 linkage), radiator fans, new fuel level sender, new vehicle speed sender ….etc, etc, etc all complete and installed to my somewhat neurotic level of refinement. The approach I was taking was that the wiring was a single task like building the exhaust or cooling system or installing power steering on the C10. The goal for the wiring is that once complete, a turn of the key would result in a running engine with no faults and all other systems working and installed to a near OEM level. I spent hours, day after day, working on the wiring and at the end of each day all I had a mess of slightly less jumbled wires with no way to experience the satisfaction of completion. The task of installing the wiring is simply too large to be viewed as a single goal. The reward of completion was gone and with it the incentive to dedicate precious spare hours to the project. What is needed is a change of mindset.

Even though the car is a mess of jumbled wires, I am going to get it running. There are a few connections that that I need to make in order to achieve this and if I have to splice in a random colored wire because I don’t have the correct pins or colored wire, so be it. Just make a note of what needs to be cleaned up in the future and move on. Once it is running I should be able to drive it out of the garage and smoke the rear tires off of the rims. Then I can pull it back into the garage with a smile on my face get back to the task of getting all of the other systems working, one by one with a feeling of achievement at the end of each project. Once everything is working and the car is fully functional I can worry about cleaning up any esthetic compromises that I made getting it running.

Time to make some progress...incrementally!

Sorry for the non technical, somewhat philosophical and rambling post but I thought that it could help others with stalled projects figure out how break through the progress block.
It also helped me organize my thoughts and clarify my way forward.

Cheers,
Scott

[CptTripps]

Happens to the best projects sometimes. I can appreciate the level of effort you have put in already, and needing to take time off from it!

[76-914]

Alright, another Suby player.

[wobbletop]

What did you use to design the garage?

[Amenson]

What did you use to design the garage?

Google Sketchup...great (free) program, very easy to use.

[CptTripps]

Sketchup is one of my favorite programs!

Tip: Try to find an older version. Google sold Sketchup about a year ago, and the newer versions push you (often) to purchase the $600 version of the software.

[ruby914]

Scott,
Good to see you back.

I can fully understand your stall. I remember thinking you were operating over my pay grade on the wiring. It may have been your planed ECU location? I would have go back and read up.
Anyway, I followed your lead but tried to stay out of the big bumps that you were tackling.
I used all the colored wires I could find from AT harness, etc... to extend the instrument cluster 3' but came up very short. So, like Porsche do it on the 914 ECU I used all the same color where I couldn't find the correct size and color. That's all in a single loom and you can still keep the correct pins.
My ECU wire loom is still a foot or more too long for my ECU location but I was afraid to cut it down. It just loops under the seat. That's not so bad. Fuse box's behind my seat and between the seats is livable as well.
I still have all my extra wires if you want them. It's still about a kitchen trash can worth and I did pick out many but some may useful.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Amenson]

Scott,
Good to see you back.
...
I still have all my extra wires if you want them. It's still about a kitchen trash can worth and I did pick out many but some may useful.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Thanks Mike,
Great to be back on it. Appreciate the offer for the wires if we were closer I would take you up on it.


Throughout the week I studied the wiring schematic and got reacquainted with the component locations in the car. Spend a good part of Saturday under the front hood sorting out the power distribution from the main fuse box/battery. I also rework twin two speed fan control do work with the twin singe speed fans in the car now.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/www.digitaldash.org-4154-1392608169.1.jpg)

Could only spend a few hours on Sunday but I was able to get a good start reconnecting all of the cut wires. Luckily I took the time to label both sides of the cut as I made them. Now it is just a matter of finding both ends and reconnecting them. I got sick of playing "Concentration" against myself (and losing) so I made a map to record the wire number and color.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/www.digitaldash.org-4154-1392608169.2.jpg)
Underline means that both ends are on the map and crossed out ones have been connected.

I was kind of disappointed that I did not get far enough to try to turn the key but decided to be happy that I had a very productive weekend and had a great time doing it.

Cheers,
Scott

[Amenson]

PorSTI started again today. For the first time ever I was able to rev the Suby engine from the driver's seat. I had 15 minutes of terror when it would turn over but not start. I was confident that I had reconnected all of the cut wires properly and the faults I was getting did not make sense with that assumption. I eventually found the main connector going to the driver side of the engine disconnected. Plugged it in and it started right up.

Tomorrow I have a buddy coming over to help me do a thorough check to make sure that everything is tight (to avoid loose connector type issues with something safety critical (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) ) and hopefully it will pull out of the garage under it's own power for the first time in, well, forever.

Will post video if successful.

Cheers,
Scott

[CptTripps]

That sounds awesome.

I'm nervous about that happening to me too. Spending all this time/money/energy and having something real simple stump me.

Can't wait to hear the success story!

[ruby914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Wow, that was a fast rebirth. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Amenson]

So, not quite the video I was planning to post but it will have to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gooqcFg4dmA



We went through all of the fasteners on the back half of the car, adjusted the shift linkage and tidied up a few things in hope of making the maiden voyage out of the garage but the clutch will not disengage. I am not sure if my custom hydraulic clutch setup is not stroking far enough or if there is some other issue. I remember reading that the Kennedy flywheel/clutch setup sometimes having this issue if everything is not perfect but I can't recall the details.

If anybody has any suggestions, I am looking for answers. If someone can measure how much the clutch fork moves on a functioning setup that would be extremely helpful.

Cheers.
Scott

[Amenson]

The Kennedy parts are the Subaru 2.5 adapter to 228mm Clutch disk with stage III pressure plate. Invoice says Porsche trow out bearing.

Any ideas?

[ruby914]

The kit I got from KEP had a problem with the pressure plate. For 2 weeks, I thought it was my linkage or that ball pivot. But no, a spring was broken on the pressure plate. They sent me a new one.