Mr Hydes rust-tastic transformation, IT RUNS !!!! Options

[MrHyde]

Veltror... Thats kinda funny, because I've been looking at your resotration thread and saying ... " wow.. atleast mine doesn't look THAT bad.. "... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[veltror]

love at first sight...

[914 shifter]

when you are done you will have popeye forearms, and kung fu grip. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

[MrHyde]

Soo.... I havent posted in a bit but I wanted to wait untill I had something sitting in my garage .. ( and I slowed down jumping for joy)....

Got a message from Pete at Restortion Design a little while ago saying he had something for me to take a look at that would help me with my restoration..

I spent a good amount of time saying that I wanted to stick with the body I had, even though I could change the passanger door gap by just tugging on the rear fender a bit.. and I was going to have to cut off the rear suspension mounts on both sides to fix the frame , and the latest... the bolts for the front suspension carrier tore off the body becuase there was no solid steel there either, etc.. After seeing what Pete had to show me however I changed my mind..

I went from only having a 914 in my day dreams a couple months ago, to having TWO in my garage.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Pete and Mike at Restoration Design totally blew me away with this offer and the hospitality they showed at their shop and personal garage. I now have a 72' body that had A/C and is obviously from somewhere warmer and less salt saturated than Ontario. I still need to replace the rear trunk, part of the rear floor pan and the jack posts, and some minor hellhole work (engine shelf and battery tray), and smaller repairs here and there, HOWEVER... The door gaps are mint !! doors close with a little *CLICK*, instad of a thud and sticking/jamming into the door post. I can tap the fenders and hear metal, not bondo.. The rockers are in excellent shape and... well.. basically I'm bouncing off the walls how much simpler this project will be now. My red 73' will be the parts car for the 72' now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I'm still a bit dissapointed by how crappy the chassis ended up being on the 73' I originally bought, but I dont have time to look back at that now. I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me and LOTS of learning.. Everyone here has been great so far with their advice and I hope I can return the favour to someone someday.. Now, before the mob starts asking... Here's some pictures..

[MrHyde]

Heres a picture of the hell hole on the red 73', the tar and spray foam covered a whole lot of empty air... and below, the hell hole on the new 72' body I got from Mike and Pete at Restoration Deisgn.. The picture isnt the greatest, but the rust that is there is mostly surface rust. I've tried jamming a screwdriver into it, and its all solid. I';m going to run my die grinder over it and clean it up to see whats what. I'll clean up and replace as required where the battery tray goes and replace the engine shelf ofcourse, but structurally its solid and straight. Thanks again Pete !!

[MrHyde]

the red 73' in behind.. slowly getting stripped of all its bits..
Floor on the 72' is great except for 2 small holes in teh back part of the pan, easy fix...

[mrdkrantz]

Wow i just came inside from re-welding section of my longs, hell-hole, and rear pan area.
I am quite jealous for two reasons:
-You live near restoration design
-AND you have a new to you beautiful looking tub to work with!

Awesome!!! Goodluck with the transfer

[Mark Henry]

That makes me appreciate my teener.

[MrHyde]

Mark Henry: Yes I remember seing your car a coupe months ago... You could eat off the hell hole... hows the engine parts gathering going ?

[MrHyde]

Well, I havent posted much lately as my wife and I were away snowboarding ( no kids YAY). On our way back though I picked up a great condition rear bumper from Clow on here which will work great when I start re-assembly.

I cleaned the body some more today, removed the old pedals, cables, E-Brake handle and started grinding away at the surface rust in the engine bay.

I've jammed a screwdriver into the hellhole and found a few small holes in the wheel well, but the Longitudinal is solid.. really solid, except for the surface rust and pitting. I'm not sure weather I want to just clean and prep the top of the rear long. and just weld a scab piece over it to double up the steel, or if I should cut out the pitted part and put some new steel in there. The chassis is solid and straight, so I dont know if I want to mess with that, however it would give me a chance to spray some rust preventative down the frame and rocker.
I cut off the remains of the battery tray and put a few small holes into the wheel well, so I'll patch those as well as the A/C line holes that are there.
I'll post a pic of the area, but its a bit dark.

Cheers !

[MrHyde]

So Its been a while since I posted last.. I have been cleaning and getting parts together for the hellhole and floors.
I cut out a small part of the frame at the hellhole since it was pitted pretty badly. Found the remains of a mouse house in there, but the frame itself looks pretty good for a 40 year old car. I was just sandblasting the hellhole a bit so it still has the sand all over the place...

[MrHyde]

inside the frame rail.

[MrHyde]

I have the last week of April off, so I'm gathering everything so that I make hopefully make some real progress on the cutting /welding.. I was practicing my welding today and I still remember some of it... I can still weld my name and to somewhat decent spot and butt welds.. still will have to practice a bit more before I weld on the car.
I picked up these parts from RD a week ago.. Can't wait to get them fitted and welded in..

[MrHyde]

Got the remains of the jack tubes and plates out yesterday, and started drilling out spotwelds on the floorpan today...
We aren't building cars at work much right now due to parts shortages from Japan, so NO overtime !! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) a bit more time for working on the 914.

I wont be putting new jack tubes in the car. Seems a bit silly since they rust out so quickly. I'll use a scissor jack if i get a flat. I'll fab up something to keep the strength there.

[MrHyde]

left side

[Strudelwagon]

left side

WWII planes? Are you working at the National museum of Flight,Ottawa?

I looked a pile of 914's before I waded in to this sickness. I didn't want to relive a 67 MGB GT experience I had as a late teen. So far, not so bad.
SW in BC

[MrHyde]

I volunteer at the Canadian Warplae Heritage museum in Hamilton.. Restoring an old Bolingbroke bomber.. and occasionally drooling over the Lancaster.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[MrHyde]

Well... much has happened since I last posted on this thread.... Soooo... The earthquake in Japan kinda shook things up at work and we had some time off.. Although the lack of work also caused the lack of funds for the Porsche..
As that all got sorted out, we bought a new house.. Instead of the double garage I have now, I'll have a 2 car with second storey loft barn... weeeeee ! Cant wait..
Only issue is.. I have 2 914's on dollys and only want to move one... SO... Time to finish dissassembling the 73' and get it ready for the wreckers..
I took off the front end from the 73' and put it on the 72' and bolted on the trailing arms and got the 72' on wheels... still has half the floor missing but its still very solid.. door gaps didnt flinch.
Now I'm digging into the dissassembly of the rest of the 73' . Yesterday I got the brake lines, M/C and cables. Put an extra jack stand under the right rear suspension console because I think the car might fold in half when I take the doors and roof off.. Today, with the help of my very understanding wife.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) took out the whole wiring harness. Fed it through the tunnel, un-wired the IP/gauges/heater and took out the IP, vent system, interior trim, and wiper assy. All this while packing the garage for the move. I now have about a dozen boxes full of 914 parts and about 40 ish ziplock bags labelled with every bolt, nut, screw and small parts that came off and where it went. Tomorrow I plan on trying to get the front and rear glass out and the weatherstripping and trim. Then I should be ready to cut off the fenders and send the remains of the chassis to the wreckers... The chassis is completely FUBAR from the DAPO the bugger'd up the last "restoration" and body work.. Atleast I'll be able to mount the side of a 914 on the wall perhaps.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Krank]

I volunteer at the Canadian Warplae Heritage museum in Hamilton.. Restoring an old Bolingbroke bomber.. and occasionally drooling over the Lancaster.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I had a stint helping out the Brandon Commonwealth Air Training Plan museum a number of years back. We recovered a couple of Boly's from a farm yard in Sanford, MB loaded them up on a flat deck (semi) and ran them out to Brandon. I can clearly remember some joker on the CB..." Have 'er flying in a couple of days, eh?" Sort of reminds me of my thoughts on the now donor car I first picked up... "I should be able to have the sheetmetal done this winter ".... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

I think some of those parts are on the Boly that's on display in front of the Comfort Inn motel in Brandon.

[MrHyde]

Well.. All settled into the new house and got the garage cleaned up enough that I could move around so I final got to do something with the 914 I haven't done yet... Put something ON the car.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) welded in a small patch on the underside of the frame that will be covered up by the rear floor pan.. I'll post a pic here.. The welding looks pretty brutal in the pic.. This is the first time I've welded ON a car and I was on my back too.. ugh. I went over the welding again after this pic and ground it down some more so this is a " in process" pic...