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]

Month 6

Day 152

She’s home!!!!

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This morning I picked up the car from the paintshop. The weather was kind and the sun shone as we carried it home. Quickly unloaded and tucked away in the garage I left for work.

During lunch I drop off the two large discs that go on the end of the pop up headlight motors to be blasted and coated black. I called Porsche Centre and ordered up a few odds and ends. The collar/covers for the wiper spindles and retaining nuts for the wiper arms.
I spent the day at work eager to get home and start on the car.
First job tonight was to start cleaning. Yes more cleaning. This time it was dust from the paintshop, it’s bloomin everywhere in the interior, engine bay and a light dusting over the new paintwork. Bringing it home on the transporter the wind whipped it up and covered everything.
I very carefully washed the car and wiped over as much surface in the interior as I could with a damp cloth. This will need repeating over the next few days/months to get rid of it all.
Anyway after an hour cleaning I was itching to start re-assembly. The first job was to align the rear boot lid. It was loosely bolted on for transport so I carefully got all the gaps right and nipped up the bolts. Next I adjusted the rubber stops to get it sitting flush with the rear quarters by the lights. Only then did I refit and adjust the latch and striker pin.
Once aligned and free to open and close easily I fitted the push button rear lock.
I’d bought a new 914 rubber seal to go around the lock.
The new seal was so soft that the slightest tightening of the nut on the push button barrel compressed and deformed the new lock seal. It simply curled up and away from the body. The silicone rubber based seal was no good at all :-(
Not impressed I cleaned up, polished and refitted my old lock seal which is far sturdier than the 914rubber seal.
Not a good start for 914rubber, fell at the first hurdle.
Anyway with my old seal cleaned and fitted I un-bagged the rolled up wiring loom that was in a carrier bag in the engine bay. Working to the deadline of getting the car ready for paint, I’d simply bagged it up out of the way without inspecting it.
Suffice to say the section of wiring loom running along the rear of the car between the lights had been painted blue! No surprise really as the back of the lights had blue overspray on them when the Muppets painted the boot floor long ago.
The only way to sort out the loom was to take off all the spiral binding tape and clean each strand by hand with a cellulose thinners soaked rag.
So there goes 3 hours this evening….Anyhow I got it all off before re-binding the whole rear loom with new black insulation tape being careful to replicate the helix binding pattern so the wires show through as if it was brand new.
With no electricity in the garage (contemplating a 100m extension lead) I had to call it a night when I couldn’t see anymore. Besides if I did get a light in there, I’d probably not bother going to bed at all!

Day 153

Today I got to the second paintshop about quarter to 7 and waited for them to open up so that I could collect my rear bumper before work. Rushed it home and unloaded; currently have the front bumper and roof in my sons bedroom, the rear bumper, engine lid grille, new windscreen surround trim and mats in my living room, the big box of rubber trims in my conservatory and the engine lid in the half finished loft conversion. Living alone has its advantages…..
Anyway at lunch today I called in and picked up my 3M butyl for the windscreen and rear window. Expiry date 2018 so good to go. I bought two boxes just in case. Like the caulking, the old boy in there had a trip down memory lane when he sold it to me, the younger guys just looked blank as he reminisced.
Tonight when I got home from work I continued on the rear wiring loom. The spade connections for the lamps were missing most of the black rubber sheaths and looked very dirty. I cut off what sheathing was left and in an upturned spray can lid gave the bundle of spade connections a good 15 minute soak in “Wonder Wheels”. While soaking I carried on cleaning dust from the engine bay with a damp cloth, sponge, brush and minimal water. It’s going to need a few goings over, but an hour a night for a few days (so I don’t get completely bored with it) and it should be as good as when I handed it over to the paintshop.
Taking the spade connectors out of soak they were miraculously returned to bright shiny copper, so a quick rinse and they were good as new. Magic stuff that Wonder Wheels is!
Next I cut ¾” sections of black heat shrink and re made the sheaths on all the terminals.
The numberplate light spades looked sorry too, so I did the same with them.
While they were soaking I fitted a few bits from my bag marked “rear boot”. The roof clamps went in with my security head bolts…perfect, look just like rivets but easily undo able if a clip breaks in future. The jack straps, boot floor plugs, two large caps in front of the shock mounts and the rubber shock mount top covers all got fitted.
I do have one question that someone might be kind enough to answer….

The rear roof rubber holders that fix by the lights, do the bolts get nipped up to pinch the rubber holder when its vertical or tightened just enough for them to fold down forwards when not in use

Finally this evening before I ran out of daylight, I fitted all the cleaned up rubber sheaths to the wiring loom clamp tabs and neatly laid the rear loom in place and rolled the tabs over gently to secure it. All I need to do to complete it is grab a couple of new rubber grommets tomorrow for where the numberplate light wires pass out through the rear panel.

Day 154

Today I picked up a box of 140 assorted grommets and some other odds & sods that I thought might come in useful from the Motor Factors.
It was a manic day at work so it was a nice unwind to start refitting bits on the car this evening.
First of all tonight I fitted the new refurbished rear light assemblies (been itching to get them on the car). I slowly pulled the 4 nuts up on each a little at a time with a good 10 minutes between each turn to evenly compress the light to body seal and not break the bonded repair on the RH lamp edge. In between I fitted other bits to the car until after a couple of hours the rear lights sat perfectly. Boy do they look nice!
Rear wiring loom all in place and new grommets fitted for the number plate wires finished off the rear boot.
The in between bits included un masking the fuel tank area and carrying out a first clean (of many to come) to get the paintshop dust out.
I also cleaned out the front bonnet area, the pop up light & wheel well free of dust.
I then fitted all the black sheaths in the front boot for the loom clamp tabs. Next I pop riveted the aluminium VIN plate back in place and the repainted black id plate in the wheel well. The fuel sticker was carefully cleaned of old adhesive on the back and with ultra thin high impact double-sided tape was fitted back on the RH wheel arch.
Small bits like the original grommets were fitted in the wheel well floor, the two rubber buffer stops under the front that the valance rests on and the spring nuts for the headlight motor covers. I then cleaned up the two earth threads for the pop up lights earth points before it got too dark to see in the rear of the garage.
I’d tried earlier this evening to fit the “2.0” badge on the rear panel (the “914” badge was purchased weeks ago from AA with the 2.0 badge but they emailed to tell me it was on back order so still waiting) Unfortunately there’s something fishy with the 2.0 badge. The black paint was already falling off it in the bag it came in and the badge was shiny brass beneath. Not sure if this was because it was NOS or a repro, but in came in a genuine Porsche box? On closer inspection the brass casting still had flashing on one pin which stopped it fitting in the hole on the car so I had to file it off. In the end pretty much all the black paint fell off, so I had to clean it all up with 800 grit to remove the rest and key the shiny polished surface. The black paint it came with didn’t stand a chance of hanging on to polished brass!
I gave it a coat of acid etch primer in my shed about 15 minutes ago, so shall leave it 24hrs until tomorrow night when I can satin black it.

Day 155

Today I have mostly been cleaning up the front wiring loom.
I started this morning by undoing all the cable ties and laying out the front loom in the wheel well on top of bubble wrap. A lot of the insulation tape spiral binding was damaged and hanging off so I removed all the loose sections and untapped all the spade connectors I’d covered while the car was away just in case the paintshop tried a battery on the car. Then I left for work.
During lunch I found a new aerial and purchased it to replace the original broken one.
Tonight I continued to clean every strand in the front loom with a cellulose thinners soaked rag, which took an age.
Afterwards I re bound it with insulation helix winding as I did last night on the rear loom before carefully feeding it around the boot back into place. Carefully replacing the grommets and rolling around all the tabs to hold it in place. With the earth eyelets connected back up everything is back in place, just the spade connections to clean tomorrow and it’ll be ready for the lights, motors and horns to be installed. I called the powdercoaters at lunchtime but the small headlight motor mounting discs weren’t ready today, but hopefully tomorrow so that I can rebuild the pop up lights over the weekend.
I unpacked the new 3 spade holder plastic blocks for the rear of the headlight bulbs (mine have UV crumbled) and noticed they are end entry for the wires on the spades, the car has side entry cables on the spades so I need to modify them to fit, so running out of daylight it’ll have to wait until the morning.
Finally this evening I sprayed the 2.0 badge black over the etch primer in my loft.
On another note 914rubber emailed me back about the soft boot lock seal and offered a refund if I send it back. To be fair the cost of postage is greater than the seal, so I will wait until my whole box of seals are fitted so that if there are any other issues it can all be dealt with in one postage. Fingers crossed everything else will be ok.

Day 156

Today I finished off the front wiring loom.
Starting early this morning I sorted out cleaning the remaining spade terminals before work.
A phone around at lunchtime was quite disappointing. The powder coaters hadn’t found time all week to do the two small headlight motor discs and the second paintshop’s painter had gone on holiday so no one was able to paint the valances and sills (rocker panels) until next week. (How does a paintshop business run like that?) Not on really as they’ve had them now for over a month and I handed them over all sand blasted and in etch primer so there was little labour required. Same old, same old. The older I get the less reliable the world is.
All annoying really as I wanted to fit the headlight motors and bumpers this weekend but can do neither now until I get the parts back.
Anyway, after another manic Friday at work and evening food shop I was determined to finish the front wiring loom. Working until I ran out of light this evening I managed to put new heat shrink on all the spade terminals, modify the loom to deal with the removed side markers and identify all cable colours and draw a quick chart for lamp connection tomorrow.
I then gave the 2.0 badge a coat of satin lacquer and cleaned out the paint from the rear panel mounting holes with a swiss rats tail being careful not to go through to the metal so the badge fitted fine.
Hopefully tomorrow will go better than today.

Day 157

Today on “914 The Big Build”

I have mostly been putting stuff back on the car….

The rear boot is finished apart from the seal that I need to identify in my big box of bits and it looks lovely. I fitted the 2.0 badge with a tiny O ring of caulking around the pins on both the outside and inside (you can just see the grey caulking in the picture) of the car before fitting the new rubber encased star washers on the rear. No water or rust will get in here!

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With the lights in, it’s starting to look more like a car.

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Working in the bonnet (trunk) area I fitted the pop up lights (less motors) and the new bonnet seal. Glued in with high temp impact adhesive. It needs to settle a few days from where it was folded up in the bag it came in which creased and deformed it a bit. Should be back to shape tomorrow as this evening it was far, far better than when it came out the bag in the morning. What a fiddle it was to fit, but went well in the end.

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Finally tonight I took off the bonnet release lever from under the dash and dismantled it and sanded it down for a re-paint. It was all chipped and manky so with a new cable to fit it couldn’t go back on as it was. Hopefully then with the cable in place I can fit and adjust the bonnet which will give me the datum for the pop up headlight covers.

Day 158


Last night after updating my daily diary it was still reasonably early so I decided to waxoil the rear of the pop up light & infill panels and gave the bonnet release lever a second coat so that they’d all be dry in the morning.
This morning I started by fitting the release lever and found a small issue. The plastic speaker surround was pushing the wiring loom up and when the bonnet lever was pulled the slot headed guide screw on the underside was rubbing over the loom. I’d not noticed it before when the lock was attached and it had over the years cut through some of the loom insulation. I ended up taking the speaker cover out and having to repair the loom. With the speaker cover back in it was the same issue? The solution is going to be a “P” clip or similar to hold the loom towards the centre of the car. I need to dwell on it for a while so I have left the speaker grill out for now so that I can get the car built up and deal with the loom when I move onto the interior.
So, the boot lock was fitted and adjusted so the bonnet sat down level with the wings. I adjusted the bump stops and fitted some protective discs of 3M stone guard. (A clear sticky back plastic that normally wraps the front paintwork of a car to protect it from stone chips) I cut some small discs out with my Swedish punch set, peeled off the backing, stuck them centrally on my bump stops with a tiny blob of caulking (adhesive side up) and closed the bonnet so they stuck on the bonnet underside. Opening up the bonnet again to remove the blob of caulking and fixing the disc firmly. This will stop the bump stops rubbing through the new paint. I repeated this on the rear boot too to protect the paint there.
Next I fitted the pop up light front infill panels with 6 new rubber plug/grommets and checked the bonnet height and alignment again.
I then moved onto the rear of the car and the two sections eitherside the engine bay where the small grilles fit. Not wanting to mark the new paintwork I masked the area around them before sanding the bodywork down with 400 grit. Then cleaned and etch primed ready for satin black under the grilles.
With the rear of the car masked up still, I decided to remove all the old glue from the roll bar top and sails with a cloth soaked in white spirit. Turning the rag repeatedly I removed all the glue residue. Next I sanded out the paint line where the paintshop had painted the rear quarter and up on to the base of the sails each side. There was only the tiniest of paint steps but I didn’t want it to show through the vinyl. All surfaces were then keyed very lightly with 240 grit, and wiped off multiple times with a tack rag.
I then fitted the new sail & roll bar vinyl kit I’d bought from 914rubber using spray high temp impact adhesive from Woolies. The kit is mostly cut to size so it is critical to get it lined up before any glue is applied. I did this dry by taping the vinyl in the exact position, top, bottom and sides with 2” masking tape, drawing a pen line through the centre of the tape and cutting it free along the vinyl edge with a Stanley blade. This left 4 bits of tape on the car and 4 on the vinyl. When lined up with the pen marks they would be in the perfect position. I masked off all around the car with several broadsheet newspapers and applied the spray glue in 3 section. Roll bar top first.
After the glue was touch dry I fitted the top vinyl. No mean feat when your lone working. I had to very carefully stick one side on the very edge, hold it up high and walk it through the car (easy with seats out) and then standing on the opposite side of the car still holding it up high, align it front to rear, keeping it tight I then lowered it progressively in place for a perfect fit. The edges were then worked into the contours before trimming the sides off. Finally I then cut the ends with a knife and steel rule exactly halfway down the centreline of where the two aluminium trims fit.
After a well deserved cuppa I stuck both sail vinyls on. Again this was precarious starting at the top and working down, careful to make sure the vinyl finished half way over all the trim hold along the bottom.
Again after working it around all the corners and into place It all looked good.
Fortunately I’d carefully marked and trimmed the vinyl before fitting as I didn’t want too many cuts with a blade when it was on the car which break the paint surface.
The short aluminium strips were then fixed to the roof and the 3 new clips fitted along the rear edge (I took me a while to figure they went on the car first then the longest aluminium trim clips on afterwards)
Finally I fitted the two thin aluminium trims at the base of each fin with the 8 new spring clips I bought a while back.
The two curved ali trims will need to wait until tomorrow as I want to fit the two black grilles eitherside the engine bay before they go on, but need 24hrs for the satin black to dry.
Last of all I satin blacked over the etch and after half an hour unmasked the rear of the car with all glue/paint overspray contained on the newspaper, had a final cuppa and just sat a while looking at the car
Day 159

A lunch today I visited the iron mongers and picked up some stainless ½” screws to fit the aliuminium trims on the rear of the “A” pillars and front of the sails (that hold the upper door seals).
This evening after work I fitted the two grilles either side of the engine bay opening. The new seal was cut to the odd shape of the old seals. All was clear when I fitted them that it has to follow the contours of the steel pressing below the grille, hence the odd shape.
The little rubber encased star washers that I’d carefully removed a few months ago were cleaned in cellulose thinners and a small blob of new caulking applied before pressing home. I found that an 8mm socket was ideal to push them firmly home while holding the grilles down from above.
Next I fitted the two curved aluminium trims on the rear edge of the sails. Again I used the caulking to seal around the stud holes to prevent water ingress and hopefully stop corrosion. I opted on using stainless nylocks on the underside to secure the trim again to stop corrosion and working loose.
It was a bit of a fiddle and faff to get the nuts and washers on in a narrow garage but patience paid off and the trims were fitted nicely.
Next this evening I fitted new speed nuts to the front panel that hold the valance on and checked all was good by winding in some new Acme screws before removing them to leave the speed nuts lined up. A quick brush with waxoil and I’d run out of light yet again.

Day 160

This morning early doors I started cleaning up the pop up light motor linkage plastic covers with Brasso and making sure the screws and bolts were all cleaned up before work.
At lunch I visited the powdercoaters and picked up the small black discs, all shiny and new. On the way back to the office I called in at Porsche Centre and picked up the two wiper spindle covers and new wiper arm retaining nuts.
Tonight when I got home I thought I’d take a couple of shots of the roll bar vinyl and trims that I’d fitted the last couple of days.

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With the motor mounting discs in hand I was ready to fit the pop up light motors.
I fitted them with the 3 allen socket head bolts just nipped up and connected all the wires, relay and earth cable. With the actuating arms DISCONNECTED I put the battery lead on and switched the lights on with the ignition on. The motors spun to the light up position. Next without turning anything off I disconnected the battery.
Doing this allows you to connect the actuating arms in the maximum extended position (short pivot end and long arm absolutely straight and in line). With the arms on and the nuts nipped up (while holding the arm so as the motor wouldn’t turn when the nut was nipped) the lights were in the up position.
Now; with many 924’s, 944’s and 928’s under my belt in previous restorations the alignment is straight forward as follows….

1. Loosen off the end stop bolt and wind forward.
2. Fit the top painted covers and the black plastic cowls.
3. Loosen the 3 allen head bolt slightly that hold the motor in place.
4. Wind the motor manual knob ANTI clockwise (its got a lefthand thread, if you go clockwise it’ll unscrew and fall off) until both lamps are fully down with the actuator arms folded one under the other over the top of the furthest allen bolt.

Its ONLY now that you can align the pop up unit.

5. The first thing to do is line up the front edge of the lamp pod (effectively how far the light closes) This is done by moving the motor forwards or backwards on its 3 bolts NOT by turning it. Once to front edge is level with the infill panel and wing the motor can be nipped up on the 2 bolts you can get to as one is behind the arm and can be tightened at the very end.
6. Next loosen the light pivot bolts, two under the wing and 3 in the bonnet.
7. With bonnet closed you can align and tighten the two bolts under the wing and make a note of were to move the bracket on the inner pivots in the bonnet. I use a bit of masking tape in line with the bracket so you can see how much you’ve moved it and in which direction.
8. The pivot bolts in 6 & 7 above set the height on the rear of the lamp pod and move forward and back to set the pod squarely in the car.
9. Once level, square and at the right height tighten all bolts.
10. Before any power is applied turn the manual lamp knobs anticlockwise to open and close the light to check all is good.
11. Finally turn the knob one last time to the fully open position (tighten up that last motor bolt you could’nt get to) and set the travel stop limit bolt. This is done by carefully slipping a 13mm open ended spanner down the rear of the light pod, hold the nut and with a screwdriver turn the bolt anticlockwise until it just touches the bracket on the pivot then lock off the 13mm nut carefully in that position.

Afterwards I put the battery back on and powered them up and down a few times to make sure all was good.
Light beam alignment will be set crudely shining at the rear of the garage with the bowl adjusting screws and done properly at the MOT (Ministry of Transport) test station with the light box.

Assembled left Pop up light

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Right Pop up light

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The finished alignment, pretty much as good as it gets

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Day 161

Today started good with a little more cleaning before work, a run around at lunchtime to get some more thinners and white spirit and home after work to start on the car.
I fitted the two ali trims on the front edge of the sails that hold the door glass rubber seals with my nice new stainless steel screws. A small amount of caulking was placed behind them, rolled into a long sausage string in my palms before sticking down the centre of the trims prior to screwing on. This should not only stop water ingress but also aid sealing the sail vinyl edge that’s behind the ali trim and just crying out for water to be held in there by capillary attraction if left unattended.
Next I repeated the process and fitted the forward ali trims that hold the seals on the windscreen pillars for the quarterlight glass.
All was going well until I decided to fit the rear boot seals from 914rubber. They sat too high and the lid wouldn’t close?? I emailed Mark who’s agreed to take them back.
So on to an internet search yet again to buy parts twice over….
I found what claims to be OEM pattern seals on sale at Rosepassion Porsche, in France, about 3 times the price of the 914rubber ones so begrudgingly I ordered a set and will keep you informed how they work out.
After the hiccup with the boot seals I thought I’d fit the lower front roof seal to the windscreen frame. (It’s the one that sits directly by the trim panel and sunvisors). This time it looked like the one that came off, so good start. There is a notch cut out in the centre to clear a block that lines up the targa roof when fitting it. The seal had a token gesture notch cut out that required completely re cutting with a new Stanley blade so that the seal fitted properly. After a few minutes I’d whittled a perfect notch and the seal slipped straight on. While I was in there I noticed the centring block was wobbly, and found two philips screws on the underside loose so gave them a tightening up. It was then apparent that the seal was over length. No problem, I’d rather it that way than too short. To cut it correctly requires the full up and over seal to be fitted so that I can see where exactly to cut. Running out of daylight, this is going to be a job for tomorrow. At least that large seal I purchased directly from Porsche, so hopefully no messing about required.

Day 162

Today’s 914 escapades…..
I called in this morning before work and picked up the front and rear valances from the paintshop. Looking gooooooood!
Unfortunately they hadn’t painted the edge of the sills properly where the rivets hold it on so I’ve asked them to do it again. Classic case of “what thought did”. The painter said “I thought you didn’t see that edge”
Hey ho. That’s the way it goes. Suffice to say I’ve asked them to sort it but at least I can now fit the valances over the weekend and finally fit the bumpers.
At lunch time I tracked down another OEM seal and spoke to Porsche Centre about a new master key.
So tonight when I got home I spent a good while wrestling the large windscreen frame to roof seal into place and managed to fit both small screws in the corners. The sides I coated with some PH neutral soap (used for cleaning leather) to aid them sliding into the two ali channels. In this way if any residue remained it wouldn’t harm anything. The hardest bit was working out where to cut the lower rubber so it sits neatly against the inner corners of the up and over seal. Cutting a little off at a time and repeatedly fitting it to check, I managed to get a good joint on either end.
Since the rubber was slid in, the given practice is to squash/pinch it in place with the ali trim on the hidden inner edge. I plan on leaving it a few days before doing this. It can then “settle” in the car and hopefully when I pinch it in place it will not be stretched or compressed anywhere which could lead to the corners parting in future.
Finally this evening I fitted the front Euro modified side/indicator lights. Again this was a real fiddle under the wing trying to connect the spades on the back when you have new rubber sleeves over the loom that are quite rigid. Again trying to stretch the cover sleeve over the end of the lamp holder was also a real task, but with patience I managed to get them both on.
Starting to get dark I removed both sun visors and pivots. I plan on taking them down to the trimmers tomorrow. They look all lumpy so just won’t do. I’ll have a chat and see if the padding can be replaced without showing, but fear as they are heat welded vinyl wrapped they may need remaking with stitching. Whatever I opt for its going to be an improvement on how they currently look.
As the sun dropped over the horizon I quickly connected the battery and tested the lights.
All good.

Day 163

Today was an early start at work (typical Friday madness) so I didn’t get to do any 914 stuff until lunch. I picked up some more satin black paint for the engine lid (under grill) which I plan on spraying this weekend and called in at the paintshop to check on the sill progress. They are going to be ready hopefully on Tuesday. I also checked the tracking website for the seals from Rose Passion and fingers crossed I may get them tomorrow.
This evening after food shop I got home and unpacked the remaining parts I had on order from Porsche, before walking over to the garage.
I started cleaning up the trim under the windscreen frame above the sunvisors and down the pillars. There are a few tiny heat cracks in the trim which need sorting out. Again I think I’ll look at them over the weekend when I can push the car outside a bit. It was spitting with rain this evening so not a good idea.
With the sky looking dark I decided to come back into the house and start on the bumpers.
I first used an M8 tap to clean out the mounting hole threads and a small modellers paintbrush to paint through the fog lamp hole onto the rear of the mounting brackets where the spray gun hadn’t quite got in. Apart from that the finish is good. Don’t want any unprotected metal behind there! Should all be dry for assembly in the morning.

Day 164

This morning I got up early and fitted the speed nuts to the front valance and sorted out some BZP Acme screws for both valances.
I used my Swedish punch set to make a set of rubber washers for the front screws, just a shade bigger than the captive washers. With all new fixings I fitted the rear valance first.

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I’d opted for a stone guard finish on them both (to kinda match the Targa top and Porsche 944 sill (rocker) style) and had them painted on both sides after they were sand blasted and etch primed. Hopefully they’ll last well.
Next I fitted the front fog lamps and horns. New grommets in the lamp bases, but still waiting for the new Fog lamp glass lenses to arrive so left the bezels & reflectors out for now. With the cables neatly connected and clamped in place I put the battery on and tested the horns. All good.
The car was now ready for the front valance. After all the tin bashing and patience with a coat of primer and stone guard (inside and out) it came up pretty damn good.

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All screwed in with rubber washered Acme BZP screws and new speed nuts; all that was left to do was give them a lick of Waxoil with a modellers brush to keep them looking good.
The ends of the valances at the wheel arches were bolted together with stainless M5 bolts, nylocks, 12mm OD penny washers and some new rubber spacer sleeves.

With the waxoil tin still open I poured a bit into a jam jar and with a ¾” brush I set about painting the inside of both doors. This took a couple of hours as I made sure I’d worked it into every corner and crevice. The doors are so good a condition with zero rust that I want to keep them that way. Looking through the top of the door I waxoiled the rear of the inner panel (the one the door card attaches too) and then up and under the top of the door skin behind where the weather strip and mirror fits across the top of the door. I think I pretty much got every internal surface.
After a well earned cuppa I started to assemble the bumpers. I’d left the nuts and washers on the bottom of the old long rubber trims for safe keeping, but in doing so I’d forgotten to clean/replace them. Some of the BZP washers were looking a bit furry so I had a rummage in my shed and found some stainless bar. An hour on my lathe and I’d made 10 new ones to the exact outside diameter and thickness. (These are not a standard size to just match exactly, so making them was a good solution)
All was going well today until I opened the 914rubber “box of doom”. I got out the two uber expensive new bumper top mouldings and decided to fit them first.
To my amazement they were both TOO SHORT.
With the captive stud fitted in the middle of the bumper both ends were about ½” too short????
I tried putting the studs in at one end first and the second bolt was 1/4” out then the middle ½” and the third ¾” and the final one was a whole inch out!

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The only thing I could try and do was bolt it in the centre then have a bloomin tug o war stretch it to get the next stud in and a blue in your face white knuckle tug in fear of breaking it to get the last stud in place.
I was not amused at this high value item.
Quickly trying to fit the washers and nuts before it all popped out.
Problem now is that because its so stretched, the two ends after the end studs are curling out and away from the wheel arches and look awful!
I’m going to leave in overnight and see if the tension in the rubber eases and settles ( I can live in hope). It’s almost as if after it was moulded it shrunk in all directions?
The rear one was the same as the front but as there is no centre fixing in the bumper I was very worried that I’d tear/snap it when trying to get the 2 studs to locate at either end.
I also noticed the holes for the numberplate lights hadn’t been made so went to pilot drill them, but just thought I’d check the light fitment first. Good job I did as the indents/dimples guides in the new rubber were nowhere near right. The indent fixing guide was far too wide for my lights.

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The cut out for the light holder was so wide I only just managed to get holes into the rubber.
Yet again I am very disappointed in these remanufactured parts from 914rubber. Lets hope they stretch over night as my old ones are far too gone to put back on the car.
All in all its been another rollercoaster of a day.

Day 165

After updating my dairy last night I took another look and decided that the only way I could get them into shape at the ends would be with a mechanical fixing.
I took the plunge and drilled a small 4mm hole in each bumper end and painted the cut metal to stop it rusting before leaving it overnight to dry.
The problem is that with stretching the trims so much to fit the studs into the metal bumpers, the ends curl out of alignment with the wheel arch ends.

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When viewed looking upwards they are miles out and look awful.

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With the holes drilled in the bumper I wrestled and forced the end into shape and marked the rear of the rubber. Due to the shape of the metal bumper there was no way that I could get a drill in, so reluctantly I took them off the metal and very carefully pilot drilled the rubber.
After 16 hours bolted stretched on the bumper they still hadn’t got any longer and I had to force them back on.
Wrestling the ends into shape I drove a ¾” stainless steel screw in from the underside.

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I did this on all 4 corners using 1” screws in the front as the force was much greater to hold the ends in.
With it now looking better I built up the rest of the bumper parts using all stainless fixings.

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Finally I could fit the bumpers to the car.

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The numberplate lights were fitted and tested all good, so I moved on to the front.

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Not the easiest thing to fit but after another day of agro the result is better than my old perished trims.

Day 166

I emailed Mark at 914rubber some photo’s of the problems over the weekend and he replied today with acknowledgement and suggestions of cutting out the backs of the rubber bumper parts with a sharp knife to make them fit better. I’ve asked him to send some pictures of what bits to cut off them, but he is obviously aware that there is a common fitting issue with the product.

Anyway, today was going to be a long day. I left home at 7am for work and have only just got in the door at 11:15pm following a long day at work and straight on to a car club committee meeting.
I knew it was going to be a long one, so made sure I was up at 4:30 am this morning to get at least 2 hours in on the 914 today.
Before sunrise I decided today I’d fit the door handles that I’d cleaned up previously. The drivers side had a partially stripped thread down the blind hole in the Mazak. Probably due to finding a cross threaded hex head bolt in it when I took the car apart instead of a socket allen screw. I ground a spare M6 plug tap square off at the end and re-tapped the hole including about 3mm at the base of the hole that the factory didn’t tap out. It was easy to get to the very bottom of the hole with a ground off plug tap.
Next I got a new socket allen head bolt and cut it down so that it was 3mm longer than standard so that I could make use of the extended thread in the handle. All in all there was about 4mm of damaged thread at the start of the hole 5mm of old thread remaining and my new 3mm which allowed the longer bolt 8mm of good thread. More than enough to hold it firmly.
Next I opened pandora’s box of 914rubber parts and took out the new door handle seals I’d bought.
Hmmm, they were all silicone squidgy like the no good boot lock seal, not at all like the nylon of the original seal. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and cleaned the back of the chrome handle and applied a small amount impact glue to handle and seal (just like factory) and waited for the glue to go touch dry before attaching the seals in the right place.
They promptly fell off????? Eh???? The impact glue on the seal stuck to the glue on the handle but the silicone of the new seal was like some glue rejecting Teflon device and it simply didn’t stick at all. Back to the drawing board……Suffice to say I then wasted half an hour cleaning the glue off the back of the handles.
The only thing that I could find that would hold onto the seal was superglue. Not my first choice; but with 3 tiny blobs, both ends and middle, it held the seals firmly in line.
By this time the sun had risen and the birds were singing. I walked over to the garage and carefully fitted both door handles. A small coating of waterproof grease on the mechanism and they opened with the lightest touch……perfect.
The seals also stayed in place for now (not sure if it's the compression of handle to door or superglue, but time will tell).
Finally I put a blob of waxoil over and around the head of the socket allen head of the bolts to protect them from corrosion before sitting down to breakfast and then leaving for work.

Day 167

I got an email back today from Mark at 914rubber with a series of pictures of what “chunks” to cut out of the back of the rubber bumper tops to aid a better fit.
Basically he suggests cutting out two large triangular webs from each end of the rubber strip so it sits flat at each end. The webs are on the originals (from which I suspect they took a mould) and are there to reinforce the corners and kinda hook onto the metal bumper ends. They were designed that way for a reason.
The fact of the matter is that the 914rubber bumper tops DO NOT have a long metal strip inside to locate the mounting studs. They have local “penny washers” on the ends of the studs moulded inside the rubber. I suspect that they are the fibre glass stud type where the washer is drilled with a series of holes (a bit like an old movie film reel) this is moulded in place and the rubber or fibre glass fill the holes in the washer end which locks it from spinning when you put a nut on it. Here lies the problem, because the studs are not on one long plate the rubber can “shrink” and then the stud spacing shortens. The triangular webs that Mark suggest we cut off, do not hook over the end of the metal bumper as they are supposed to. Instead they fall short which stops the part sitting flush and makes the ends curl out.
The solution is NOT to cut out the web as Mark at 914rubber suggests; the answer is to scrap all the defective bumper tops and make new with a long curved metal insert with the studs fixed in.
Since they are a high value item I’m sure 914rubber had quite a few made at great expense and my ideal solution will not be an easy pill to swallow. As there is currently no alternative source for these high value items so we’re a little stuck and will have to make do and mend. Mark is aware of the issues with these parts and I suggested to him that he at least provide the purchaser with a detailed instruction on how to make them fit or better still he trial fits and adjusts each and everyone before they are shipped out. Anyone without some degree of engineering skill is simply not going to be able to fit these parts which in all honesty at the price should simply bolt on like the originals.
As for the 914rubber door handle seals on close inspection they have been injection moulded in a C&C milled die from all I can describe to you is bathroom silicone sealer. No where near as resilient as the originals. Trust me, if I had any originals then I’d be cleaning mine up and replacing. As for the impact glue holding them in place, I only replicated what I found on the back of my old handles.
Hopefully my observations and recommendations to Mark at 914rubber will move things up a gear which if implemented will only benefit the 914 community in future. After all his intentions are well meant and I’m sure these are just early development snags.

Today I got up at dawn and cleaned the rear boot carpet with 1001 carpet cleaner and gave it a good scrub before washing off in the bath. I hung it up to dry and then spent another half hour cleaning the bath tub which looked pretty dirty afterwards!
I left for work with the spare wheel in the back to take to my tame specialist metal polishers for a discussion.
Today at lunchtime I took the wheel to get the tyre off and then called in at the polishers. The Fuchs wheels are anodised and ONLY the sails/petals and outer edge of the rim is polished. I am investigating the processes required to replicate the original finish. I’ve found an anodiser that will electro-chemically strip the wheel, then the polishers can do their bit and then back to the anodisers for a fresh anodise clear plating. At the polishers today we discussed the finer details on where the polishing stops and how to achieve that. Watch this space as they say.
Anyway when I got home this evening the genuine seals had arrived from Rose Passion Porsche, so I started off by fitting the rear boot seals. Perfect!
Next I fitted the door check straps and the interior light switches. Following with the US licence plate brackets. I retained these as they stand off the front bumper to mount a plate squarely and flat on the curved & angled bumper. I’ve seen them in the PET so presume they are a genuine Porsche part so didn’t want to discard them.
I then fitted the outer door top weatherstrip ali trims (that hold the fuzzy and rubber seal strip). These need to go in first as with the glass in situ you cant get at the small screws that hold them on.
Finally (as the sill covers should be ready at the painters tomorrow) I waxoiled all of the sill panels on the car and the ends up a little way into the wheel arches, so that everything that sits behind the sill covers is well protected.

Day 168

Today I made reasonable progress on the grand assembly.
Firstly I fitted the two rear window channels that go inside the doors, next to the lock mechanism. I had two new rubber end stops that go on the top of the door clamped by the channel and fitted with a tiny screw from the rear which seemed to go on okay. I’d got some uber small stainless screws left over from a previous car restoration that did the trick. Nice and shiny when you open the door and see them!
Seems to be the best fitting bit of 914rubber yet.
The next thing to go on was the interior door handles and operating rods. Nice new spring clips on each end and cleaned up handles and rubber hoop guides completed the installation. After a little fiddling around with adjustment the doors opened, closed locked and unlocked nice and smoothly. Nothing like the sand filled mechanisms that I was frightened of snapping off the door handle when trying to open the doors when I bought the car.
After some fun and games taking the door apart the Rubic’s challenge of how to get the door glass out was easily solved and assembly was reverse of removal.
Basically the window mechanism needs winding so its about 4” short of fully lowered window position and fed into the door through the large bottom opening. The mechanism then needs to be sat neatly in the door bottom leaning inwards so that there is free space inside the door by the door skin. (you could cable tie it there if needed). The exterior ali weather strip needs to be fitted (as I did last night) and nothing else (apart from the rear channel/runner, door lock and handle)
The glass slips into the door in literally 2 seconds.
To do this you need to open the door fully so the windscreen pillar is out of your way, hold the door glass above the door (in the correct orientation as it would be if you could simply of lifted it vertically out) Move it slightly forward over where the quarterlight fits then TIP the REAR end down (about 30 degrees) and slide the bottom rear edge of the glass into the slot in the door. When you get to the metal runner that’s clamped on the glass you’ll see its wider than the slot in the door (particularly as the ali trim is fitted) so you feed this in through the bit where the quarterlight and front window runner goes, tipping the glass a little steeper about 45 degrees. Once the whole of the runner is in through the wider quarterlight gap you can then reduce the angle progressively as you feed the glass rearwards into the door until horizontal again (window wound up position) and then it can be lowered down into the door between the door skin and the mechanism that was strategically placed previously.
Simply let the glass sit on the bottom of the door while you raise the winder mechanism into place and bolt it in. All that’s needed then is to lift the glass inside the door onto the runners of the mechanism. If you did as I said firstly and set the mechanism to about 3 to 4 inches wound up before putting it into the door; then the runners and securing bolt for the front arm will be smack bang in the middle of the large opening and you’ll be able to see what your doing while fitting the front securing bolt through the nylon block into the glass metal bracket. Removal is obviously reverse of this. It did take me a little while when I stripped the car down to figure this out but knew there had to be a knack to it on a mass produced car, so hopefully this post will save time and potential damage for others wrestling with their door glass.
So that was today’s progress, right hand door glass in, run out of daylight yet again. Hopefully left door glass for tomorrow.

Day 169

Today was another long day at work, 6am start and 6pm finish so unfortunately I didn’t get a look in on the 914 this morning. This evening I carried on with the door assembly after fitting the rear boot carpet (all of 10 seconds) after its scrub and bubble bath earlier in the week.
The drivers door glass was fitted first this evening, same procedure as last night. I then fitted the two outer 914rubber weather strips followed by the long ali front window runner and quarterlight frame. I loosely fitted the top cap (without quarterlight glass) to set the adjustment bolt at the bottom of the door to ensure it fitted snug into the windscreen pillar seal. With a quick double check of all the bolts and a repeat of the same on the passenger door I was ready to test rolling the windows up and down.
Guess what…. the damn things just rolled in against the glass jammed up and came dislocated.
The 914rubber parts are really starting to get my goat. They are an “enjoyment vacuum” during this otherwise pleasurable restoration.
Not one to be defeated I thought maybe it was because the top inner door fuzzy weather strip was not fitted yet? Maybe if that pushes against the glass from the inside then it might stop the outer rubber rolling in? Back into the house to grab my new inner fuzzy seal, opened the bag went to fit and Oh Dear its supplied cut 2” too short!
The outer seals were 3-4” too long which is great because you can trim it to your exact size, the inner ones on the otherhand are only fit for the bin.
I’m getting quite fed up with sounding like a broken record in multiple emails to Mark at 914rubber, but his stuff (in my short experience) isn’t good. Trouble is I still have half a box of it yet to fit, so my returns parcel is still growing.
Not wanting to even trial fit the too short inner fuzzies for fear of it affecting my chances of a refund, I put them back in the bag.
At least the quarterlight rubber seals I bought were from Porsche Centre so I left the wind up windows (immobilised by 914rubber) and decided to fit the two quarterlight glasses and seals. Again with a little playing around I found that the easiest way to fit them was slide in the vertical part of the rubber down the post but don’t locate the bottom horizontal bit (if you do, the slot closes up and you cant get the glass in).
Next side in the glass down the vertical seal to locate and manipulate the horizontal seal onto the glass while holding it into the vertical slot with a little pressure. Next compress the forward end of the horizontal rubber slightly to “shorten” it and push the whole lot downwards. It should go straight into the door slot with the front end locating nicely. Tuck the front flappy tab under the outer door seal metal channel and then gently push in the thin bit at the rear of the horizontal between door skin and ali post. Perfect!
Put the two top caps on with the two cross head screws and job done.
VERY slowly close the door and check the quarterlight glass against the pillar seal. Having previously set this up with the ali post and glass out, all should be well.
I had a small adjustment to make on the windscreen pillar up and over seal at the very bottom as it was sticking down past the ali trim a few mm which caught on the quarterlight seal, but I’d not clamped it by bending the ali rail closed yet as I was waiting for it to all settle and for the test with the door built up. All reference parts in place now so I’ll let the two doors settle while closed until tomorrow and clamp the pillar seals in then.

Day 170

This morning before work I spent an hour playing around with the winder mechanism, window runner channels and glass track alignment. Hindered by the window scraper rubbers I ended up having to wipe the glass with soapy water just to allow me to roll them up and down.
I emailed Mark at 914rubber the other evening about the issue and he is aware of the binding and has a solution. He sells a better seal for the job that I understand is sold as a direct “genuine” part under licence or similar. Mark’s agreed to send me out the better seal in return for me sending the binding weatherstrips back, plus he’s sending out longer inner door seals to replace the ones that I found were too short yesterday.
He can’t be any fairer than that. I’d advise anyone who’s got an issue with the window seal to get in contact with him.
So at lunch today I picked up the two painted sill trims and dropped them off at home for safekeeping before returning back to work.
As I stepped in the door there was a card from Parcel Force with another customs charge. After work this evening before food shop I called in at the Depo and collected the rear “914” script badge (after having to pay a £17 ($26) customs charge on a $40 part!)
Once home I fitted the badge to finish off the rear of the car.
To continue with the door & glass alignment from this morning I needed the rear upright window seal fitting to the roll bar. With a little PH neutral soap and water they slid in nicely from the top and once certain they were in correctly I trimmed a tiny bit off the bottom to the correct length. Another 914rubber part but this time all went well.
I was just about to adjust the rear window runner inside the doors when Nathan from here called by. Suffice to say I spent the next 2 hours walking him through my car collection and talking all things Porsche! Before I knew it, it was 10:30pm and time to call it a day.

Day 171

Today I continued with the door, window glass, runners and frame alignment. No mean feat chasing your self in circles but I got there in the end.
Starting with holding a plastic 12” rule down the front edge of the door to front wing I adjusted the hinges and lock striker plates to get the fit right. Next the front ali window posts and quarterlights were pulled in at the top using the adjuster at their base so that the quarterlight glass met the up and over windscreen pillar seal evenly.
Next with soapy water on the glass to lubricate the scraper seal I wound the window up and down to get the best position for the M8 bolt in the nylon block on the bottom of the glass that holds it into the winder arm.
Then I adjusted the rear vertical channels again to get the glass (when wound up) to close evenly against the rear roll bar seal. I then looked at the glass side on where it meets the roll bar seal and noticed it was a tiny bit out of parallel, so undid the M6 bolt on the top of the front ali window post and gave it a tiny nudge rearwards before nipping up. After which I went back around all pivot points to double check everything. Last of all I then adjusted the travel stops on the winder mechanism to set the maximum glass height without over shooting the ali post rubber tops, then completed by tapping over the ali channels to clamp the up & over and roll bar window seals in place.
A few hours went by but the jobs done now.
After a cuppa I fitted the recently painted sill covers using all new plastic rivets, stainless bolts and Acme screws. They took a little adjusting and persuasion but went on well and look lovely!
The little VW plastic rivets were a bit of a pain to knock the pins down, but after working out that if you pull the pin from the rivet and put the tiniest bit of oil on the pin; they knock in far easier.
I then fitted the two polished up threshold plates but found that although the rivets fit through the plastic plate the holes in the car are ever so slightly (by about 0.3mm too small) I’d not had the problem on the sill covers as presumably the PO had drilled them out when the fitted metal pop rivets in the past. After running a 3.4mm drill down all the holes, followed by paint on a modellers brush I had a quick cuppa while it dried. Just in case any rust was going to get in there I waxoiled all the holes for good measure and fitted the threshold plates and remaining plastic rivets.
Next to go on was a new stainless steel radio aerial. A new grommet was fitted under the wheel arch and the cable fed along its original route before plugging into the back of the radio.
With the car pushed out of the garage for most of today it was the first time I had been able to stand back and view it. I’d noticed the front valance where it met the bottom of the bumper was a little out of alignment. One side I could see ¼” blue through the gap, the other virtually none. As that wouldn’t do… I set about un-screwing and manipulating to a perfect fit. Not bad really considering the mess it was in when I bought the car. After an hour it was all back on and perfectly aligned.
Last of all this evening I fitted the rear tow eye plug in the bumper to complete the lower section of the car.
With lawns to mow and a need for food I called it a day.

Day 172

Today I fitted the outer door seals that sit in the channel on the doors.
Using a modellers brush I put a tiny bit of impact glue in the base of the channel and on the corresponding part of the seals. Being very careful not to get it on the sides of the channel or seal.
With a small jam jar of soapy water and another modellers brush I coated the sides of the seal and the sides of the door channel; again being careful not to get the glue wet.
The seals then very simply slipped neatly in to place and sat fully home held in with their ridged sides and secured with the impact glue on the base.

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I then started to clean up the floor inside the car as the seats should be back soon from the trimmers.
This was one of those tasks that you intended to do within an hour that’s turned into a mini mammoth job. I took out the armrest centre console as the top needs a retrim due to going sun baked and splitting. Suffice to say there was another dustpan full of sand under it!
Cleaning it up by hand was a real pain. (no electric in the garage so no vacuum cleaner and I don’t have a battery one either). The more I scrubbed and cleaned the more stuff I needed to sort out. I removed all the vinyl coverings in front of the seat runners and around the centre tunnel only to find the glue that was under them was all goooo like an old boiled sweet. So with a white spirit soaked cloth I had a very sticky sandy mess to clean up. To get at it properly I took the seat runners, seatbelt clips, seatbelt relay and loom out of the way. Now with seat runners out I turned them over and found the black paint flaking, so they’re off for a blast and powdercoat tomorrow now along with the little cover plate in the centre tunnel! I stripped the runners down in my shed this evening, driving out the roll pins and removing all moving parts and bushes for a proper job. I think I’ll call in at the trimmers tomorrow too and drop off the centre armrest cubby lid and maybe while the other part of the seat runners are off the seat bases take a good look at them to see if they need a refurbish aswell.
Anyway with all the bits out of the way I managed to clean up all the floor under where the seats go as far as the cross member. With tooth picks, pens, coins, safetypins, business cards and sand there was plenty of cr*p under there! However I was rewarded by finding 3, yes 3 of the black plugs that cover the screws in the interior trim.
What was going to take me an hour this morning ended up taking all day, but before I pushed the car back into the garage this evening I took a couple of pictures of the assembly so far.

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The garage is so narrow I can barely squeeze down each side of the car, so opening the doors means pushing it outside!

Day 173

Today before work I started to brass wire brush the parts from the seat runners to get the white furry stuff of the BZP. I got an hour in before my son got up (he stayed over last night) and after breakfast we left about 6am to drop him off at his mums before going to work.
At lunchtime I called in at the trimmers and dropped off the padded centre tunnel arm rest lid and took a look at my seats. One was just about finished and the other not far behind. They hope to have them done next week (rear bulkhead included) so I need to get a move on with the interior ready for them to go back in.
Tonight when I got home I continued with “project floor clean” and spent a further 3 hours scrubbing the old glue and dirt off the floor under the seats and pretty much got it all clean now from the cross member rearwards. The plan is maybe tomorrow to start cleaning forward of the cross member (if my aching fingers are up to it).
I want to get it spotless under the carpets and free from the very last grain of Californian Desert Sand.

Day 174

This morning I got up early and masked off and painted the rear section of the floor that I’d spent several days cleaning up. I had a litre of basecoat paint left over so I thought I’d put it to good use while the floor was exposed. As per the rest of the car there was zero rust in the floorpan, just a lot of dirt & sand.
Having cleaned it up meticulously it was apparent that the factory barely put enough paint on the floor in the car to cover the white primer. It was very light and opaque in places. Giving it a good second coat would certainly help protect it for the future.
With the paint drying I left for work.
During lunch I called in at the powder coaters and dropped off the seat runners and the centre tunnel cover plate. I also spoke with Porsche Centre to see where the progress in a replacement key was. After no joy on the chassis number I emailed a close up photo as they suggested. “still with Germany” was the update.
Tonight when I got home the floor was nice and dry, so I cleaned up and rebound the visible wiring loom, replaced the cleaned up black sleeves on the loom clamps and reassembled the seatbelt relay block.

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All this will be covered up when the car goes back together but I know what’s under there. Just got to do the front half next.

Day 175

Yesterday I had a Fedex card through my door so today at Lunchtime I went and collect my parcel.
It was the Fog light glasses, and the replacement “non-grab” weatherstrips for the doors from 914rubber.
I opened the box and the seals are a slightly different design. Mark had also sent a replacement set of inner fuzzy seals (that were originally too short) FREE OF CHARGE. Thanks Mark!!!
Having waited so long for the Fog light glass the first thing I did tonight when I got home was assemble them with my home made seals in my shed. The weatherstrips will wait for the morning.
With the lamps bases on the car it’s not easy to get the power cable, bezel clip and screw in through the opening in the bumper. Again with a little patience, lying upside down and a torch held in my teeth I got them both on.
The next thing was to offer up (without screws) the nice shiny new chrome grilles and adjust the lamp allen bolt so that the lamp sits central in the grill hole, then nip up the bolt.
I put the battery on and turned the fogs on to check all was well before aligning the height of the beam and clamping off the hex head through bolt. Again this is tricky through the bumper opening with the horns in the way. A ¼” drive 13mm socket straight onto a UJ was the only way I could get at it.
Just as it was getting dark I fitted the nice chrome grilles with new stainless screws to finally finish off the front bumper.

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Day 176

This morning I got up early and removed the handbrake lever and took it into my shed. Since painting the floor the other morning, it’s made things surrounding it look bad.
I rubbed down and primed the handbrake before breakfast being extra careful to mask up the nice 914 part number printed on the side in white lettering.
At lunchtime I picked up some stainless raised countersunk Phillips M6 for the door mirror and when I got home this evening I spent half an hour polishing up the heads so they shone like chrome.
The replacement seals that turned up yesterday got fitted next.
The reason the seals grab and jam is they seem too wide/tall. It’s obvious when you hold Marks replacements and the first one I bought side by side.
The seal on the left is the 914 replacement seal, the right is a 911 type seal.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1458845903.28.jpg)

As you can see the left hand one is shallower & shorter and has an extra part that reaches down by the “bulb” locating strip to stop it “rolling” into the glass.

I fitted the correct left hand seal tonight and the windows wind up and down with ease, just as Porsche intended.
The answer isn’t talcum powder, its fitting the correct seal.
The confusion is that 914rubber and other vendors sell/promote the 911 type seal first
With the original genuine Porsche quarterlight seal fitted last week I was a little disappointed that the thin insert piece that goes in between the Ali window post and outer door skin was too short. My old one was like this so it must be a common fault. Not to be defeated, and since the new window scraper seals were over length, I very carefully cut the ends to make up a tab and close the tiny gaps. (post fitting the new mirror screws)

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1458845904.29.jpg)

Finally I fitted the replacement correct length inner fuzzy door seals that Mark at 914rubber kindly sent to complete the door seal installation.

Day 177

I got up at 4am today and got a couple of hours in on the 914 before work.
While working on the doors and windows I’d noticed that the passenger door had up inside it, the plate with two threaded holes to take a passenger door mirror, but the door skin had no holes.
Porsche must have done this to allow passenger mirrors to be retro fitted or fitted by special order at build.
Now; with a LHD car in UK a passenger door mirror is quite helpful. So after a search on line I found some NOS for sale in Germany for £80 including the gasket.

All that was required was to locate the exact position of the threaded holes and drill the door from the outside….not as easy as you’d think.
After a few days pondering I decided to reach from inside the door, put my centre punch in the threaded hole from underneath and tap gently to make a raised pimple on the door skin that I could see from the outside.
Very carefully I centre punched the pimple and then drilled a 2mm hole. Looking from the inside of the door with a mirror on a stick I could see that I was almost central but not quite.
A 3mm drill was used next followed by a 3.5mm. In this way I removed the risk of cutting into the thread in the door and damaging it. The hole was then enlarged with my swiss rat tail file until it matched perfectly the threaded M6 core diameter. I then carefully ran a 5mm drill down it to ensure it was circular before using my sheet metalworkers step drill to take the door skin nicely out to 6mm without damaging the threads.
I repeated this on the other hole and had two perfect 6mm holes in line exactly with the factory threads.
Finally I cleaned up the burrs with a tiny countersink and painted around the holes with two pack paint.
Roughly an hour a hole but it was worth spending the time to get it right. Doing it wrong is only going to hurt the pocket!

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Day 178

Today was another very busy at work, but I did manage to squeeze in a little time on the 914 at the start and end of a long day.
As the paint around the holes had dried I fitted the new Passenger Mirror with a good coating of waxoil down and around the mounting holes before it went on.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1458845904.31.jpg)

It looks so nice that I may need to get another new one to replace the drivers side which has some tiny/miniature stone marks in it. Passenger door mirrors I know are controversial, but in UK with driving on the left, all you see in the drivers door mirror is the sidewalk, so definitely a good modification.

After a busy day at work, I got back into the garage at 6pm tonight and began “Operation Dash Stripdown”
The top roll has a few sundried cracks in it, the bottom roll has a single crack under the glovebox, the top padded vinyl has shrunk and come unstuck, as has the basket weave insert. All in all the closer I looked the more issues I found with it.
So the only way to sort it out is to redo it all. Taking the dash top roll off I was greeted with another load of fine Desert sand beneath it.
I also plan on cleaning up and repainting the front half of the floor so I stripped out the centre console and all the remaining bits of carpet ready for a good scrub up and bubble bath.
Who on earth thought it was a good idea at Porsche to have the steering column pass through the carpet?????
To get the passenger foot rest carpet out I had to remove the steering column!
Not a bad thing really as I found all the windscreen washer hoses perished and split behind there plus a few wires that had come unclipped from things.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1458845904.32.jpg)

Again I worked until it started to get dark and hard to see, but I made good progress.
Trouble is, just as my shed and summer house were gaining some space again Ive gone and filled them up and given myself another load of work to do.

Day 179

Today has been very busy.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been viewing cars for my 17 year old son and today we found a little gem. He wanted a Morris Minor Traveller (not my choice, but I’m happy he wanted a classic car over a modern soul-less tin box) We got up at dawn and drove up to High Wycombe (north of London) to view a one family ownership car with ONLY 54000 miles from new.
It was absolutely fantastic condition, and the history was amazing (little hand written notebook, browning edged pages in lovely handwriting listing every oil and parts change on the car). We just had to buy it. Both my son & I had great beaming smiles as we drove it home 100 miles without missing a beat this morning.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1458845905.33.jpg)

(Wood sheet only placed under the car as a test for a couple of days to see if it drops any fluids)
Anyway moving on, I have many classics and one I took out last week had a failed otterstat (something that most aircooled owners need not worry about) I’d shorted the switch to get home and a new one arrived in the post yesterday so after getting the Traveller home I drained and fitted the switch to the other car.

Determined to work on the 914 everyday I then continued with operation dash stripdown. The top vinyl directly by the windscreen had shrunk and the glue failed. Its folded around the dash frame and glued on so unfortunately the only way to really recover it properly is to take the dash frame out.
After a couple of hours which involved figuring out where all the fixings were and how on earth I was going to reach them I managed to get it out.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1458845905.34.jpg)

When I first got my car I’d mentioned to the UK club registrar the dash was green when looking up and underneath it. He’d said that the dashes were painted with each car, but when they came back from trimming the factory simply put them in the first car they came too.
On the reverse of my green dash is MY Karmann body number!

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Once the frame was out I relocated everything back to my sheds for storage and working on this week.

Day 180

Today’s escapades.
I got up before sunrise and pushed the car out of the garage much to the surprise of a Fox that shot across the rear of the car as it rolled out. Scared the living daylights out of me!
I managed to get a good two hours cleaning the floor before breakfast this morning. Again with no power I had to do it all by hand with wire brushes, scrapers and a brush and dustpan. But I got it pretty clean. I started by the windscreen and worked down, brushing all the dust, fluff and grime out the wiring and on to the floor before cleaning that.
At lunchtime I called in at the powdercoaters and picked up the seat runners and rear tunnel cover plate. They look like new!
Spurred on by them when I got home this evening I had another final clean up and decided to put the first coat of paint on the front half of the floor.
Just managed to finish before it got dark again.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1458845905.36.jpg)

If only I had power & lights in this garage…..I wouldn’t need to sleep when it got dark.

Day 181

Today I have been mostly cleaning stuff.

This morning I started cleaning up the wiring loom across the front half of the floor. Individually cleaning the cables with a rag soaked in cellulose thinners. I cleaned all the plugs and connectors that feed the gauges and heater indication in the centre console. Finally I cleaned the black plastic sleeves that go over the loom clamps on the centre tunnel before refitting them and putting the loom back in place before going to work.
During lunch I called in at the trimmers and collected the first completed seat and the centre console arm rest. They look superb!

Hopefully the second seat (half done) will be ready by the end of the week. Everything except the face of the basket weave has been renewed due to sun bake damage. Even the sides of the squabs (side of basket weave panels that’s smooth) has been replaced along with bolsters, headrests and backs.
Even though you can buy basket weave by the metre its not heat pressed with the parallel lines like the original and very hard to replicate. Fortunately as it’s a different type of plastic/vinyl to the smooth grained sides it seemed to retain its suppleness and not be as brittle as the rest of the trim. Must have better UV properties?
I also called Southbound trimmers (a UK Porsche interior specialist) and after taking measurements of the various basket weave panels that make up the dash this morning, I ordered enough new material to re-trim it. (The existing had some cuts and marks in it so had to go).

Anyway, after work this evening I continued the cleaning and sorted out the windscreen vents.
They were full of sand and had sun bleached to a nasty faded patchy white/grey. Against the planned new black vinyl on the dash top they would look awful. I decided to clean them up, degrease them and spray them matt black. They seem to be made of some sort of bakerlite/fibre/plastic, and the original colour is unique. Matt black seemed to be the least conspicuous and offensive colour choice and certainly looks a million times better than the patchy white.
Following the vents I noticed that the extended lip around the windscreen was originally painted black where the dash to screen rubber seal fitted, plus a narrow line of black around the rest of the frame. I carefully followed the existing line with fine line masking tape and repainted it black. This is probably to ensure you don’t see body colour when looking in through the screen between interior trim and the side of the ali windscreen surround.
Finally this evening as it started to get dark I washed a few bits of interior trim for around the rear window and gave them a good Cif cream scrub.




So that ends Month 6…..

I’m so pleased to have the car home, even if the garage is small, it’s only a short walk around the block to go work on it. With Spring in the air, the weather is improving daily and progress is steady. The cars starting to look real nice with all the cleaned up and new parts going back on!!

Thanks for taking time out to read my update, I hope you enjoyed the story so far.