914 Body In White, chassis fixtures being made Options

[McMark]

Well, I started on this path a long time ago. Back in 2011, I pick up a Celette bench on Craigslist. I rented fixtures a few times, but along the way Celette moved everything to a newer setup/system and trashed the old fixtures.

Last year I was able to get the new style adapters but would still need to rent fixtures. So it was nice to have the capability, but rental fees meant that expediency was critical. For a project like SirAndy's 914-6 there will be a lot of measuring, checking, cutting, welding, etc. That translates to a lot of time on the bench, and the less I feel the need to rush, the better. When straightening a chassis, it's critical that you have a plan and make pulls and adjustments in the correct order.

Restoration Design just started carrying their own set of fixtures that are compatible with what I have now. They had the early 911 fixtures, but thankfully they jumped on the 914 next. So I just placed my order for these. Now I'll have everything in house to put cars up on fixtures for straightening, major rust repair, and/or cage work. This is a huge development for Original Customs.

I've always done rust repair, but this is the first time that I'll start offering a 'chassis restoration service' for both individuals and other shops. So anyone, anywhere can ship their chassis here and get back a solid and straight body, ready to build on. I'll also be on the lookout for suitable cars to straighten/repair and sell ready to run, 'off the shelf'.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/boldblue.gif) I can't wait to get started, then add early 911 and 356 fixtures...

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/www.restoration-design.com-419-1532972340.1.jpg)

[McMark]

Sorry guys, it's been a crazy few months. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) But here's what I've learned since my last post.

Celette has nearly no real support for the 914. The only fully developed fixtures died when they released the MZ Tower setup. There are now only two 914 fixture sets in the Celette inventory: 1 in the US and 1 in Europe. I've seen the US set firsthand and I've seen a copy of the Euro set, and neither set is 100% correct.

This is what I was told when I inquired about ordering an official set for purchase.

"I put out a request for the Porsche 914 fixtures 2131.300, but the team in France notified me that [the US rental fixture set] was only a prototype and was never finished. I asked them what I had to offer you and at this time there is nothing I can offer for sale.

So I rented the US set and have it here now. I've attached my Aubergine car and everything seemed to line up really well -- until I got to the shock towers. And it took me awhile to confidently decide that this set is incorrect in the shock tower fixtures. The definitive evidence was that the official US fixture set was indicating that my Aubergine car was essentially perfectly straight at the front A-arm mounts, rear A-arm mounts, rear trailing arm mounts (inner and outer), transmission mounts, BUT the front shock tower needed to go up by 6.5mm and the rear needed to go down by a whopping 16mm. These numbers are HUGE considering that ALL the other fixtures line up and this chassis shows no signs of accident damage. And finally, simply consider what sort of accident it would take to move ONLY the two front shock towers down 1/4" and the rears up over 1/2" without affecting the rest of the suspension alignment. It's impossible.

SO ANYONE WHO HAS ANY SHOP THAT RENTS THE 914 CELETTE FIXTURES MUST BE AWARE THAT THESE FOUR FIXTURES ARE INCORRECT AND SHOULD NOT BE USED.

After all of this roundabout effort and research, I've decided that the only way I can be confident in my Celette bench and fixtures is to build a set myself. I'm using the official US fixture set and my Aubergine car to make my set. I will be using modern technology to document each piece. Each fixture will be made up of multiple smaller pieces which I will have laser cut. Once I have all the building block parts, I'll remove fixtures one by one and assemble the component parts on the bench, in place. I'll then confirm accuracy of my piece before moving on to the next piece. When everything else is done I will document the shock tower fixtures as they are, before making the modifications necessary to make them correct. I know other people are taking a similar approach.

This is certainly not how I, or anyone else, thought this process was going to go. There were a lot of hopeful progress, but in the end these fixtures are too critical for me to accept anything that isn't quite right. In order for me to be fully confident in my work, I need to be fully confident in my fixtures. So I have to make my own, and I have to like how they turn out, before I can move on to Andy's car.