Intro from Montana: '73 2.0L rustoration thread Options

[tygaboy]

Holy jebus... How in the world did you do that without a plasma table? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Seriously, I know how much effort this sort of fab takes. You achieved a REALLY, REALLY great result! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

Be proud, be very proud.

[horizontally-opposed]

Whoever said a Type IV—or airboxes in general—aren't sexy? Wow, does this look great. And I suspect it will sound great, too.

If I had a carbureted 914-4, or one with EFI, this would be a must-have. I've grown to love the factory air box for the six...

[bigkensteele]

Fantastic! That must have taken 2 - 3 hours at least! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[FlacaProductions]

Wow. Take another $5 outta petty cash.....

[Morph914]

The fact that you were able to perform this challenge with basic tools is amazing!!! Great work!

[bbrock]

Yep. Did some snorkeling Montana style this weekend. One potentially neat thing about this bus air box is that they originally came with an electrically heated bi-metal choke assembly on the inlet. It wasn't included with the one I bought but might be something to add if I decide I need some help with cold starting. That left me to fabricate my own snorkel. The easy way would have been a short, straight pipe into the inlet, but that's not how I roll. I thought I'd try a 914 style cold air intake. I figure the coldest air in the engine bay would be where the cooling fan is sucking in fresh air so I fabricated a 90 degree duct to attach the snorkel. Some pics:

You can see the buck for the other half in the upper right.



Almost there.





Both halves of the snorkel. After bending the flanges on the brake, the tube got rolled pretty much by hand using the elbow bucks and a 2" diameter disk as forms. The inlet diameter matches the stock 2.0L air cleaner opening.





I had the most beautiful welds on this but decided the angle was a little off so I cut the plug welds out and repositioned. I think it ended up pretty much in the same spot but with ugly welds to clean up.

[Superhawk996]

Snorkeling in Montana must lead to some major shrinkage! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bootyshake.gif)

Love the hammer form work to make what you need. Virtually a lost art form. Pretty sure you already have a plan, but, be sure to support that snorkel. It will shake itself to death without a support since it's cantilevered like that.

Always amazed by the creativity and the make it with what I have attitude.

[bbrock]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement. I'm no Ron Covell - just a dipshit trying to figure things out. It doesn't take much up close inspection to see that these things are hand made but I'm happy with the result.

@Superhawk996 Yes, a support is coming. I just didn't quite get that far yesterday. I have a part arriving today that will go into the support. I'm shocked at how rigid this is unsupported though. Much more solid than I expected. I actually think it might get by without a support but better safe than sorry. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[BPic]

Mad skills! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[Dion]

Creativity at its best! Way to go Brent.

[930cabman]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement. I'm no Ron Covell - just a dipshit trying to figure things out. It doesn't take much up close inspection to see that these things are hand made but I'm happy with the result.

@Superhawk996 Yes, a support is coming. I just didn't quite get that far yesterday. I ave a part arriving today that will go into the support. I'm shocked at how rigid this is unsupported though. Much more solid than I expected. I actually think it might get by without a support but better safe than sorry. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Give yourself a pat on the back for those "dipshit skills". Great looking work and as others have said this work is a dying art form.

[jaredmcginness]

Your fabrication abilities have no bounds...

[bbrock]

This weekend felt like a lot of moving forward but not really getting anywhere. I started with a small project tidying up the bottom of the engine case. Back when I rebuilt the short block, we were living well below the poverty line and my parts cleaning/rust removal kit consisted of a wire brush and bottle of Extend which at the time was the new space aged rust conversion break through. It didn't produce results up to the current project standards.

Just a reminder, the reason the case looks grungy is because I coated it with Tectyl which is the same protectant it left the factory with. Why? Who the hell knows? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) But I like it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)



These were all media blasted to bare metal and painted with VHT engine enamel. I had extra crush washers and gaskets for everything except the temp sensor cover plate so it got a yellow tag reminding me to order crush washers before torquing the plate down. I also need a sealing boot for the wire.



My big accomplishment this weekend was going to be installing the half shafts onto the outer axle stubs. Following the collective wisdom of the brain trust here, I started by tearing down the NOS axle that @914_7T3 so graciously found and arranged a killer deal for me. This was a PITA job but I'm glad I did it as the old grease was clearly stiff and waxy compared to the fresh stuff.



Here they are ready to install complete with new bolts, schnorr washers, and gaskets tacked on with gasket maker to keep them in place during the install.



Then I crawled under the car to scope out a plan for installation and figure out how best to support the loose ends until the engine and trans go it. It was at that point that I realized I still need to swap out the poly graphite bushings in the trailing arms for rubber and there was no point installing the axles until I did that. So instead of bolting my nice axles into the car, they wound up here.



It's still a nice accomplishment and good to have this job done. It just didn't have the satisfactory finale I had in mind.

I ended the day with one last shot of the engine. I think that air cleaner looks pretty badass even upside down. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[mbseto]

Dude, I am real jealous of your fab work here. That is outstanding and it's really cool to see the process. Weird fact, I've carved more foam than I have done metal work, but not for car parts - for making rock climbing holds!

Anyway, this is on my list of cars I want to see in person someday.

[bbrock]

@mbseto

Dude, I am real jealous of your fab work here. That is outstanding and it's really cool to see the process. Weird fact, I've carved more foam than I have done metal work, but not for car parts - for making rock climbing holds!

Anyway, this is on my list of cars I want to see in person someday.

Thanks Matthew! This is high praise coming from you. You are a major inspiration for trying to tackle something like this, and we both know you could have done this faster and better than I did. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

Speaking of weird things done with foam. This is probably the weirdest I've done, but I'm planning to take this to the nth order of weird once I'm done with the 914 project.

[mbseto]

Alright, you can't post that without a back story!!

[rudedude]

I just spent the last 4 days reading from the beginning. What a saga! I wish I had followed from the start. It should be required reading for anyone wishing to have a 914. So many helpful hints all in one place. And some wild fabrication skills to add some color. So sorry to read of Niaquq, how is the new family member adjusting? If you're ever in Minneapolis feel free to stop in and adjust my roof and windows for me and maybe repair all the junk pieces I have accumulated. I'd love to stop by sometime, I spend 4-6 weeks in your area fishing and hiking every year.

[bbrock]

@mbseto
LOL It really isn't that different from what you were doing with foam. Just think of it as a climbing wall for tiny little climbers.



The backstory is I got tired of having to rebuild these frog vivaria every few years after any wood put in them rapidly decayed so I made a fake tree out of concrete. Nothing weird about that... right? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

@rudedude
Thanks so much for the compliments and your thoughts about Niaquq and the new guy. We are rapidly approaching the one year anniversary since we lost Niaquq which also happens to be my wife's birthday which is going to be rough. I don't expect ever have another dog like Niaquq but the new guy, Kalluq has settled in nicely. He is dumb as a stump and has a disgusting habit of eating his own shit, but is quite entertaining. Here's a video of something he usually does at least once a day. In fact, I just made a weekly run to town for grocery supplies and he sang half way there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxWyyP_LzQ4


The next time you are out this way, feel free to stop by! We are only 3 miles off I-90 so a very convenient stop. A couple members have visited and all are welcome. Our guest room will be open for stopovers again after the zombie apocalypse pandemic is past. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[bbrock]

Just a few odds and ends to report. I received packages from AA and Belmetric today that let me clean up a few loose ends. Ordering from AA is always rolling the dice but they do carry a few things you just can't get elsewhere. For this order, that thing was their tail light lens gaskets since the 914Rubber version was unusable. Of course, those got put on back order (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) . But in the box was a right side horn grill. I ordered the less expensive plain paintable version. I don't know, that looks pretty shiny to me.



Whatever. Seems a shame but I'm going to bead blast that pretty chrome off tomorrow.

Another item I couldn't find anywhere else was one of those single spark plug wire clips. You can find doubles and triples about everywhere but the singles seem to have vanished. George has repros with a nice pic of a white clip that looks identical to the OEM clips. What you get is this POS.



Wrong color, smaller than OEM, and the nub fits rather loose in the tin hole. I like to shove it up somebody's tin hole.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif) It will do for now but if anybody knows where to get one of the original white jobbies, I'd love to hear.

The next gamble was buying an oil temp sensor boot. The pic on the AA site is of some random rubber part that is poorly cast and has nothing to do with the temp boot, but George claimed it was just like the 914Rubber version so rather than pay shipping for a dinky one piece order from 914Rubber, I tossed it in my cart. Well, George was right. It isn't just LIKE the 914Rubber part, it IS the 914Rubber part.

That's great but this is another of those parts they "improved." This time by making the wire hole smaller so it seals better. Yes, that is an improvement but jeeezus does it make ti hard to fit over the harness terminal. I finally figured out if you turn this little jobbie inside out so it looks like a burnt nipple and lube it up with glycerine, you can just barely jam that terminal through without ripping the boot.



Then you pull the boot back right side out and use a pair of tweezers to poke the nipple tip back out so it is all perky and proper.



My Belmetric order had new copper crush washers for the sensor plate so I was able to button that up and tear of the yellow tag.



That's it for now. Tomorrow is tranny day! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

[Superhawk996]

Totally agree on the issues with pictures and cross population of who's carrying who's parts. Makes every purchase a bit of a craps shoot.

The other one I get confused by all the time on the AA site is 3 or 4 versions of the same part. Sometimes with no pictures. Vastly different prices. Have to wonder what you'd really be getting so it's funny you got a chome horn grill for the price of a non-painted grill. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

I'm pretty sure you could get George on the phone eventually and get the answer but usually I'm ordering parts at 10pm and just want to get it done. This is where we all take on-line vendors for granted.

Remeber the days of having to have the physical catalog in your hand and doing a mail order? Sometimes from a poorly drawn art - line drawings! Remember JC Whitney catalogs? Then this marvelous thing called Toll Free calling came on the scene? Now on-line. Yup some hiccups for sure but I'll take that anyday over mail order!

Glad your nipple turned out to be proper and perky! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif) I might skip tranny day though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)