BUILD-OFF CHALLENGE: New 914 owner...what have I gone and done! Options

[Darren C]

Hi everyone,

I have been looking for a 914 on and off for a couple of years now and late one evening I bid on ebay for a car in Desert Hot Springs CA. A real leap of faith for me as I live in Chichester UK!
My first car was a VW Beetle and I’ve owned quite a few air cooled VWs and always wanted a 914, so now almost 25 years later I finally took the plunge and with sweat on my brow placed a last minute bid on ebay on a car I’d only seen in 4 small photo’s on line.
To my surprise I won the 914.
Problem was it lay 8000 miles away from me here in UK. I got hold of the sellers phone number and gave them a call. The car is a 1974 2.0L one owner from new sold in Palm Springs 914. The seller was the owners daughter. The gentleman passed away several years ago and she’d had it parked up on her driveway for 5 or 6 years. From the description in the listing it had a Salvage title due to sand storm damage on the paintwork. It looked reasonably solid in the few pictures I saw, but very sorry for itself with flat tires and bad paint. It was a gamble, but sometimes these things pay off.
I got the car picked up by a shipping agent and taken to Long Beach for shipping.

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2 months later it arrived in Southampton UK

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Last week I went down to Southampton and collected my new project just in time for Christmas.
I was recommended this site from another 914 owner and it's a great relief to find such a large active community. 914's were never sold in the UK, so all are personal imports and a rare thing to see on our roads.
I’m pleased to now join you guy’s and post my restoration progress in getting this little car back on the road.

Regards
Darren

[Darren C]

Build off month 2

I managed to put a second coat of paint on the fuel expansion tank securing ring, and a final coat of fuel resistant lacquer (for those few occasions at the petrol station when the fuel pump doesn’t cut out soon enough or the angle causes flood back in the filler neck). I used an engine enamel black paint which should be fuel resistant, the lacquer is belt & braces.
Then in my bloomin cold shed I did a bit of tin bashing on the cover plate that I took off to access the master cylinder. There were a few scrapes and dents in it from contact with road debris over the years. I got it reasonably presentable and hope to drop it off at the powder coaters for a bead blast and re paint. Just need to source some new lip seal to go on it afterwards.
I called the local Porsche Centre and ordered a new cap to replace the hairline cracked one on the brake reservoir. Still available and only a shade over £6! I also ordered a new seal as I’m not sure if it comes with the cap or not. The guy was ok about it and said if the cap has a seal then he’ll hang onto the extra one.
As always I’m building up a series of parts for a weekend assembly (in daylight) and traced some small fuel breather pipe for the fuel expansion tank too.
The first tube I got over the counter and some stuff I had from old in my shed turned out to be the correct id but too large od. The problem is that where the pipe connects to the filler neck (just under the cap) it has to pass through the moulded plastic tank and the hole is only about 8mm. Most standard vacuum or fuel hose this size is just over 9mm so it wont fit through. I tracked a supplier on line tonight and ordered a metre with correct id and an od at 7.5mm so it should fit and pretty much be the same as the Porsche original. £2.59p another result and a bargain too.
Next I tracked down some new seal for the cover plate under the car that conceals the steering rack and master cylinder. I actually had 2 metres in one of my other sheds, left over from a previous restoration. It came from Woolies and is called "mudflap seal" It's within 5mm or so the same width overall as the original (a bit wider on the flappy bit) but is a nice match. I cut it to length using my original sun baked seal as a guide.
I also ordered new brake discs with new front wheel bearing kits from Berlyn Services.
I already have the new brake hoses to fit, to go with the new Master Cylinder.
The fuel expansion tank was refitted and took my two gas cans down the local station and put £15 of fuel in the car. No leaks so far!
I then decided to change all 4 rubber brake hoses. The rear ones are great fun trying to get at the top union, and just pulling off the retaining clip was a struggle. Theres not enough room to swing a spanner under there. Anyway with a little time and patience I got both hoses off. I gave it a good clean and waxoiled all around the area before fitting nice new hoses with new retaining clips.
The fronts got the same treatment. On opening the box and taking out the new front hoses I saw they had two short sleeves around them about an inch in from each end to stop them rubbing. I’m not a fan of this design as the fronts have to sit in an “S” shape and the sleeves make the bends tighter. We’ll have to see how they go.
Next I took off all 4 brake callipers. Since the cars been sitting many years and there was no fluid left in the system I don’t want to mess around or compromise on the brakes. There going off for a complete refurb. However during removal, there was a right mixed bag of pad retaining pins and clips. One pin and one spring clip completely missing on different callipers. The PO must have just fitted what he could find rather than going for a complete set. I’ll have to track these items down with some nice new pads too before they go back on.
The discs to are looking a little sorry for themselves, but I knew that before I bought the car so no surprises there. I hope to get them changed soon.

After a productive time I released whole load of Gremlins

For the first time in many years I put the battery on the car……
I’d tested a few odd items off the car with jump leads and meters but never put the terminals onto the battery until now
So this is what I now have to contend with:

1. Constant VERY loud buzzing/tick from the time clock in the centre console (so loud I thought the fan was on high)
2. As soon as the battery is on the Hazard relay ticks and centre top red light in gauge flashes (not the direction arrows). NO lights flash front or rear of the car and the Hazard switch is pushed in OFF. Pull the switch out and the ticking relay stops, no lights then either???
3. Ignition on, turn indicator to right (arm up) Oil and generator light flash. Relay ticks and no lights on outside of car?
4. Turn indicator left (arm down) and nothing at all.
5. NO power to relay board in engine bay with ignition on or off?
6. Brake lights stuck on permanently

Checked all fuses ok.

One consolation is that the horn works and the headlights pop up and down, and I have only one side light on RH front.

To be fair since I started work on this little car, it’s fought me all along. With the battery connected for the first time all I could do was laugh and laugh some more at the blessed thing.

I took the old brake pads down to the local motor factors and tracked a new front and rear set. ( I think the guy said the rears cross ref to a Talbot Samba)
When I picked up the brake pads. They look a perfect match (albeit I need to file open one hole on the rear pads).

Made by TRW (a quality pad with anti squeak backing at reasonable cost) they cross-ref as 356 & 912, Saab 900 and NSU RO80!
Fronts Part No GDB101 £7.17 ex vat
Rears Part No GDB102 £12.24 ex vat

Full set for the car only £23.29 all in. Result!
Will try and match the pins and spring clips next.

Mid Month & one step forward, two steps back.

I started by taking out the pedal board to investigate the brake light switch.
Lo and behold a broken switch was found, brittle as anything, one side of it was completely missing!
So I now need to source a new one.
While rummaging around in there I notice a lot of free play in the pedal spindles. Yep you guessed it, the bushes were completely shot.
I wrestled with the assembly but just couldn’t get the clutch cable out enough to free the clevis.
Under the car I went and found the clutch cable pivot wheel seized solid and packed tightly with grease impregnated sand. I had to unscrew the adjusting nuts and take the cable off the release arm. Then the nut off the pivot pulley wheel and struggle to get the pulley and cable off. It was so jam packed with rock hard sand mix, it would have been easier if it had been mortared in place. After a good few curses I managed to get it off.
This then revealed that the very fine sand mix had gone down the cable and sheath and seized the cable solid in the car.
I had never pressed the clutch pedal since buying the car, but it must have been solid. There was no way I could budge the cable so slightly defeated I got back under the dash and after a good two hours faffing around with the help of a good friend I managed to get the clutch clevis pin and clip off working blind inside the tunnel. Not an easy task.
I could then lift out the whole pedal assembly.
There was practically NO BUSHINGS left in it at all. Totally crumbled and fell out or turned to granules inside the tubes.
Again, more parts to add to the list.
I looked on line and see a few vendors have Bronze bush kits instead of the plastic.
While working in the footwell I took off the accelerator pedal. That was seized too! The bloomin hinge part at the floor was solid. I had to carryout surgery with a Stanley knife from the back of it to reveal the hinge as its encased in rubber. Working it back and forth in the vice with penetrating oil I managed to free it off. Left it to soak for a few hours and “blew” it out with the tube nozzle of WD40 and spray grease.
It’s nice and free now so at least I feel I achieved something.

Next I plan on taking off the clutch cable clevis and lock nut (while still up inside the tunnel) and then trying to pull it backwards out the car. I reckon its only jammed for a short length by the pulley wheel under the car. Enough to stop it pulling forwards, but if I tug it rearwards I think it may come out. Well that’s the plan anyway.

The following day
I wrestled the clutch cable out the car. The inner wire was seized solid in the sheath, but once unclipped under the car it pulled cleanly out complete. On closer inspection it looks like the PO sprayed it with some sort of underseal/waxoil that got all the desert sand stuck into it then set like rock.
It took me a good two hours to clean up the pulley and shroud, but all done now, nice and clean ready for a new cable. As the clutch and speedo cable run side by side under the car I had a good look at that. Guess what….I need a new one of them too.
The sheath is split and damaged (possible grounding on some road obstacle) and the spiral spring is bare and full of dirt.
Two more parts to order!
Next I took a meter to the electrics and ended up under the passenger seat. Seat removed I tested the safety belt relay and plugs. I opted to make a 6mm yellow cable link wire between pins 50 and C.
The relay was actually working but the solenoid was not happy. I suspect that the contacts inside the relay are burnt/dirty with age or the pull from the coil inside is weak causing a bad current flow & voltage to the starter solenoid.
Ignition on (I took the brake light switch off and taped the wires to stop the brake lights being on constantly until I get a new switch, and isolated the brake pressure warning to stop the constant light and sound effects) Eureka the engine spun over freely, no more “rurr…..rurr…..click…..rurr”. Result!
I then checked power on the relay board in the engine. Very strange? I kept getting some dodgy readings a few volts then 13V then nothing? Trying again I found that if I put pressure on the meter probes while testing the fuse pins the voltage varied.
I popped the fuse out and the end cap fell off!
When it was in the holder the wire looked fine, but in reality there was a break. (So Battery off yet again)
New fuse fitted, battery back on and I tried the ignition again.

Just by chance I heard the blower fan in the engine bay run. (I must have knocked the heating lever when I was working on the pedals or under the seat).
But no fuel pump?
Ok I figured that if the heater fan ran then the power relay was good, and the blower relay was good. I’d tested the relays earlier, but maybe I had a dodgy relay? I swapped the blower relay with the fuel pump and turned the ignition on.

Fuel EVERYWHERE in the engine bay, half an injection system missing!!!!

I wasn’t bothered, as I’d finally solved the problem that had given me the run around for a couple of weeks.
Fuel mopped up (I’d put £8 from a can in the tank to check for hose leakage last week) and a celebratory cup of Tea was had.

Next I put the brake pad pins in my lathe and spun them with a strip of emery paper to clean them up followed by a silver zinc spray. I managed to match up new spring clips but the aftermarket pins were no where close. To be fair now the pins are cleaned up they look good as new. Afterwards I carefully opened up the size of one pin hole in the replacement rear pads with a file. Cleaned it up and painted the filed area with some heat resistant black paint to give a nice OEM look.

The following day I picked up the undertray/cover for the mastercylinder & steering rack from the Powder Coaters. Looks lovely after a blast and coat in satin black. I fitted the new lip seals to each side of it and put it safe in my shed ready to go back on when the braking system is re-filled with fluid and leak checked.
I also called in at my local motor factors and tracked down the spring clips for the front brake pads.
The original design has a rivet in the centre of the cross that can fail, the clip falls apart and if you’re unlucky is lost forever. The modern design is stamped/pressed out of a single piece of metal so has no rivet.

Here’s what I found:

The rear clips x-ref to:

Quick Brake Part No 109-0905
VW Part 311-698-151 & 01D-07L08L (available from VW Heritage) for Beetle 1302
Saab 99 & 900 all models
BMW 500 series 1973-81

Front clips x-ref to:

Mintex MBA949 & MBA980 (MBA949 are made a bit better from thicker steel, but both the correct size)

Non of the above have matching pins, but they are a good source of the clips at £3.50 a pair, you can throw away the pins they come with.

When I arrived home I had a nice new set of Original Porsche pedal rubbers waiting (ebay purchase) ready for the pedal assembly rebuild. Having thought about the pedal assembly I opted to go for a bronze bush set to replace the missing/failed ones in my car.
While waiting for them to turn up, I spent a couple of hours rubbing down the pedal mounting bracket and gave it a coat of primer. Hanging on a wire hook over my hall radiator it was good to topcoat the following evening. I also cleaned up the front brake pad pins in the lathe again like I did the rears and gave them a zinc spray. I was hoping to x-ref new ones but they seem to be too long to match all those at my local motor factors. The rear pins are particularly unique to the 914 caliper with the two diameters and the shouldered sections.
To be fair my originals have cleaned up really well, so it was just the spring clips that were urgent since some were completely missing.
I also spoke to Lee at the Caliper refurbishers. All going well, he hopes to get them ready to send back to me next month.

Still waiting for my new discs to arrive, its been a week and a half. I contacted Berlyn Services and have found out that they don’t hold stock….they order them in from Germany when you buy them. I’m a bit disappointed as the website does not tell you this and makes you think they’re in stock. I’d rather they had been honest from the start. Had I known I’d have bought them direct from Mittelmotor myself and got them quicker as they’d be sent direct to me, not them, then me.
Hey ho, these things are sent to try us.
After the pedal mounting bracket primer was dry I gave it a wet & dry key and a coat of black satin engine enamel. (engine enamel resists oil so any greasing of the pedal assembly wont attack my nice new paint job).
After hanging the bracket back in front of the radiator again (too cold in my shed for paint) I started sanding down the pedals and shafts themselves. As my original bushes were non-existent the pedals had “fallen” over to the sides and rubbed on the wooden floor cover plate. So much so that there was a whole load of sawdust under it on the floor and the slots in the wood had a nice worn bow in them.
Anyhow I sanded them all down and gave them a coat of primer in my shed and brought them into the warm to dry once they’d gone tacky to stop them stinking the house out.
I also tracked down a nice new Dansk rear exhaust box on ebay. While under the car at the 1st weekend of the month working on getting the clutch cable out I found a hole in the backbox opposite the RH heat exchanger connection point at the bottom of the box. Most probably where the hot gasses enter and any water from combustion would collect.
I also found that the rear exchanger gaskets to back box are no longer available from Porsche, but the exchanger to cylinder head are!
Managed to track some down from Roger Bray who still has stock of both gaskets, but no exhausts.
Hopefully it’ll all arrive for next month and I'll take some photos of progress
Next I put a clear coat on the pedal assembly bracket, rubbing down the primer on the pedals themselves and giving them a coat of black. Wire hooks over the hall radiator and it was a bit whiffy again in the house!
I also sorted out some nice new split pins for the accelerator & brake pedal shafts and put another zinc coat on the brake calliper pins.
A parcel arrived with my new clutch and accelerator cable and exhaust gaskets from Roger Bray. I’d also called into Porsche Centre Portsmouth and picked up the two handbrake cables (for info, they were cheaper than anywhere else I tried and the longer cable was the same price as the short cable, everyone else wanted more for it?) I also got some new round relays as I had to play musical relays on the relay board at the beginning of the month. A new flasher relay (I think that’s what’s wrong with the hazards and indicators and at £12 it’s worth a punt, plus changing it after so long sitting is a good idea)
Looking through Porsche PET parts catalogue before I ordered anything I worked out that the handbrake cables come with the concertina gator where the cable goes into the car (in front of engine) but not the gator/bellows at the calliper? Why this is I don’t know? But anyway I got a pair of these from Porsche centre £3 each. Well worth it as my old ones are completely shot and they stop all the dirt getting into the cable, so a no brainer to change them.
Next I have given the pedals a coat of clear lacquer and hung them back over the radiator. I also cleaned up the pedal springs and fittings. The coils were full of 40 years of grit from the soles of shoes so needed a good sorting out before they went back on.
The floor where the pedal bracket was removed was very dirty full of sawdust, sand, grit and general gunk. I gave it all a good clean with the intention of painting it before the pedals went back, but once I vacuumed it and wiped it with a damp cloth, blue paint was revealed. No rust at all, just the original factory primer with a dusting of blue exactly as it left the factory. I’m a sucker for keeping stuff original so instead of painting over the floor I gave it a coat of clear waxoil just under the area where the wood panel covers. I was careful not to apply too much and keep it off where the carpet goes as it never really dries. It was just basically applied where the bulkhead meets the floor and under the pedal bracket itself.
As promised I took a few photos, so you can see how rust free this little car is. I was in two minds whether to post them or not as I haven't had chance to clean up underneath yet. This is pretty much how it came off the boat.
Floor with pedal box removed

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The other side showing new Master Cylinder

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The rear of the hell hole from underneath

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The Floor pan

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Behind bumper

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With a few parts turned up I fitted the new clutch cable. I need to get some new nuts for the end of it. The thread is an odd size M7, so I clean the old ones up for now.
I also fitted the two new hand brake cables, and the new gators on the end. Boy were they a fiddle to feed the clevis through. The hole in the end is about 4mm, the clevis is about 8mm square (square peg round hole syndrome) After a grease up they stretched over neatly.
I also took out the drivers seat and after cleaning up all the usual stuff, coins, straws, packets of sugar, business cards and general debris I took a look at the handbrake lever. As suspected once the seat was out you could see it was bent and slightly twisted. So much so the part that presses the handbrake switch missed it completely! The handle was rubbing on the carpet of the sill, so much so you couldn’t get your hand around it. It had to come out. After another fiddly 10 minutes it was in the vice and I straightened it out, cleaned under it and after greasing the hinge pins it was put back. Next the new cables were attached to the balance arm and the cover plate refitted. No rust was found underneath it so I was well pleased too.
After a cuppa (cup of tea) I then fitted the new relays to the engine bay relay board so I have all new relays now.
I then dropped the fuse box to fit my new hazard/indicator relay. But guess what…I’d been sold the wrong one! Hey ho, I’ll have to sort it. The old one has 4 pins, the new had 3. I’ve taken the part number directly off the old one so should be able to sort it without too much fuss.
Finally before I ran out of daylight that day I changed the square cork gasket under the oil filler breather.
This next day I started by very, very carefully removing the sleeves on the front brake hoses. The new ones came with large “rub” sleeves (basically two bits of rubber tube over each hose). As I’d noticed before this stops the hose bending smoothly in an S shape and really looks uncomfortable left on. With a very steady hand and a Stanley knife I cut them along their length. I locked the blade so only the tip protruded out the knife and was less than the wall thickness of the rub tube. In this way I removed the risk of accidentally nicking the brake hose beneath. A small screwdriver levered the rest off and the tube tore the last amount to come off neatly.

The underside of the engine required a damn good clean, so dressed up with goggles on and 5 litres of brake cleaner/degreaser, an array of wire brushes and elastic bands on my sleeves I started the messy task.
I got a bit carried away and in the end spent 5 hours on it. Boy was it messy, I had a right old job getting the baked on oil off, even the detailing wire brushes wouldn’t touch it! With the heat exchangers removed I could get in just about everywhere, almost as easy as it would have been taking the engine out. I then progressed to the sides of the engine bay and around the trailing arm suspension mounts and the engine cross member mount.
After a well deserved cuppa, I set about waxoiling the areas of body work and suspension mounts I’d cleaned up.
My plan is to carryout a thorough restoration/recommission and preserve the car along the way and protect it as best I can from the British weather without going mad with a million hour, concours, see your face in the paintwork under the car resto. Having been down that road before, as nice as it is to look at, you just can’t use, enjoy the car and relax with it. Space is also an issue, its amazing how much room it all takes up when you start taking things apart. At the moment I have the car in the corner of a friends Industrial Unit and he runs a business from there so I have to push it outside into the gated compound every evening after working on it and back in each morning. Not ideal but with 9 cars at home currently, the plan is to get the 914 running and stopping, then bring it home. In that way its much easier for me to move cars around to get others in & out.
Next while there was “plenty” of access I took off the rocker covers and set the tappets. They weren’t too bad, the exhausts had closed up a little and the inlets were only a tad out. It was obvious the covers hadn’t been off in ages as the gaskets were like baked rock. I had a bit of a struggle prying them off. I have new supple cork gaskets to go back on, but since I’m taking the heat exchangers down to be bead blasted tomorrow I thought I’d stick the rocker covers in with them and get them painted up nicely. I also took off the large wire retaining clips, to clean and paint them too. With new gaskets I hope they’ll be leak free.
Next I took off the two heater flap boxes (the bits that open and close when you pull the console lever). In my shed as it got dark I gave them a good degrease.. Too delicate to bead blast I’ll refurbish them by hand.
Late the other night I was online searching and managed to find a supplier of the red silicone canvas wire bound heater hose in the right size. Ordered some up so when everything goes back I can replace the hose, particularly as one side has collapsed and the wire reinforcement looks like a birds nest inside it.
I also tracked down some new manifold nuts (shouldered copper) and some special header paint.
Week 3 of Month 2 was a very early start. Before sunrise I was up and at my friends Unit to do a bit on the car and then push it out into the compound so he could start work at 7am. It was reining heavily the day before so I decided to leave it until this morning to avoid getting too wet.
The NOS rear exhaust box arrived from SVP Porsche that I saw on ebay. Very well packed and in perfect condition. Weighs an absolute ton, they don’t make them like that anymore!
I dropped off the heat exchangers and some other odd bits at the bead blasters and also ordered some heat resistant paint. The manifolds will get too hot for powdercoat so paint is my best option.

Next after work I started to clean up the heater flap boxes. One was coated in oil so barely rusted at all, the other was bone dry, so a lot of surface rust. I spent a good 3 hours cleaning them with a combination of emery, sand paper and various wire brushes before soaking them in phosphoric acid to get the bits other methods can’t reach. After a good wash off, they are currently in my oven at 100C to dry out completely. I hope to paint them black, to match the remaining original colour.

The RH Heater flap box has the dome "mushroom" cap missing and had some open ended hose connected to it? We seems to think it was a California Modification to take heat away from the fuel pump possibly. But here in UK it shouldn't be needed.

I posted on a UK forum for an old knackered heater flap box that I can rob the mushroom cap off to replace mine.

While they were soaking I set about stripping all grime, rust and paint off the spring wires that hold the rocker covers on. Rubbed down to bare metal I degreased and gave them a coat of primer.
I’m going to have to get things put back on the car soon as parts are now in 3 rooms at home, my summer house, the car mats are on the garage floor and slowly but surely the 914 is taking over.

I got home the following evening to find 6 tins of VHT grey paint, some new M7 nuts, and another packet of slotted stainless cheese head M6’s (I’d ran out when putting the engine tinware back on and thought I’d order more for the plates and ducting around the heat exchangers).
After checking all my deliveries I started to clean up more parts. I started with the “Hoop” shaped clamps that hold the ducts onto the fan housing under the car. I gave them all a good degrease, sand and wire brush up before coating with a silver zinc paint. (to match the original finish on these parts) I was also very careful to retain the cork gaskets that sit in these brackets as they were in good condition.
Next I cleaned up the clamps that hold the heater lever operating wire onto the Flap Boxes. I spun them in my lathe to clean, re tapped and then a coat of zinc silver. I got some new M5 bolts, cut them to length and faced the ends off neatly with a chamfer in the lathe.
The heater flap boxes were bone dry after last nights baking exercise after washing off the acid. I gave them a prime with some VHT primer. Apart from the missing “mushroom” cap that I fellow owner is mailing over, they came up great. I’ll let them dry overnight and paint them black tomorrow.
While still in the mood for painting I gave the spring wires (for the rocker covers) a nice coat of engine enamel black over the primer. Hanging over the radiator (yet again with other stuff) they’ve come out like new.
I’ve left the 4 x legs that hold the mushroom cap bare metal for now and cleaned them all up. Hopefully as soon as the cap arrives I can weld it on and finish the paint job on it.
The following day I was up early and put a coat of black paint on the heater boxes, then cleaned up and went to wait outside the Post Office Depo before they opened at 7am. Time was tight as I have to be at work for 7:30, but I just made it in the nick of time.
The sign for delivery was my 8 x M8 copper Heat Exchanger nuts!

Next I picked up the indicator relay (looks good) and I plan to fit it this weekend to see if it works. I also took a call from the calliper refurbishers and they are ready to dispatch. It’ll be good to see how they turned out.
Finally on the way home that day I called in and picked up my blasted heat exchangers and a few bits and bobs. They were absolutely soaked in oil, tar and sand when I took them off, so to see them blasted clean was nice. They look absolutely great.
When I got home that evening I spotted a small box in the dark left by my shed. It was the secondhand Heater box. Arrived already!

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After a combination of emery and sand paper it was obvious the rust pits had really gotten hold of it, so I ended up turning it down in my lathe to get as clean a surface as I could without going too thin.

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My original cap (judging by the one that’s left and the mess that is my other one) has the 4 tabs that pass through it with two spot welded. Since the PO removed it and clamped on some hose, he must have ground the spot welds and the other 2 tabs completely off! My only option was to very carefully file the tabs back onto the remaining legs. This meant that the cap sits closer to the flap housing by about 3mm, but it shouldn’t make any difference. Once fitted I bent over the 4 new tabs and spot welded two to match my un-molested one. I then used a small blob of seam sealer over the spot weld so that when its painted it’ll be a perfect match to the other. (That’s OCD for you)

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Afterwards I gave it a coat of heat resistant primer and hope to paint it black in the morning.
With a whole box of heat resistant primer in my shed (in grey) I decided to get some on my blasted parts before rust could set in. I gave them two light coats and again plan to flip them over in the morning and paint the other side before I go off to work. I also gave my NOS rear box a coat to cover a range of storage handling marks and also to make sure everything looks fresh and colour matched ready to fit at the weekend.

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The following morning I got another coat of heat resistant grey paint on the exhaust parts and a coat of black over the primer on the heater flap box cap.
Here’s how they look. Came out well.

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When I got home that evening there was a small parcel waiting. It was the bronze bush kit for the pedal assembly.
First though, I turned over all the exhaust parts and gave them another coat of grey paint. Whilst they dried the new bushes were fitted to complete the pedal box.

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I gave the exhaust parts a final coat of VHT satin lacquer to seal in the grey and left them to dry during the day.

I cut and shortened some M6 bolts for the short rear heater tubes and matched the washers. (Fortunately I have a few draws of stainless bits and bobs collected over the years which include M6 washers in all sizes from 10mm od to 30mm od, plus the same for M4, 5, 8, 10 & 12.) Where ever possible I try to match the washer overall size, both for OEM look and also because it was designed that way usually for a reason.
The majority of the old slot cheese headed M6 sets that hold all the tin ware together were particularly chewed up and simply looked awful, so for a couple of quid off ebay its always worth changing them.

The following day I thought I was going to get the exhaust back on……

I started first thing cleaning the gearbox. I figured while the exhaust was off it would give me better access.
10 hours later I was shattered and my hands are rough as sandpaper from being in white spirit all day.
The PO decided to spray what can only be described as black tar all over the gearbox. What a nightmare it was to get off, scrapers, old wood chisels, miniature wire brushes, hard nylon brushes and cloths soaked in white spirit hardly touched it. Pretty soul destroying I can tell you.
Plenty of tea got me through it. Only a small amount is left to do over the top of the gearbox and is very hard to get at.
Its jet black and seems to run into every nook and cranny, not good when there are so many webs in the gearbox casting. I know each and every one very well now!
While cleaning up I noticed the speedo angle drive seems a bit wobbly into the gearbox. Need to look at that now!