Intro from Montana: '73 2.0L rustoration thread Options

[bbrock]

Yeah, I find myself staring at that rotisserie more and more and pondering the sheer terror of getting that car down. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Let me know when and I'll run over to lend a hand.

Thanks Tim! Luckily with tires on, it will have less distance to come down than it did going up.

[bbrock]

I've been a little distracted from the car project this week. We got a "skiff" of snow.



How to hide a 100 pound dog:





Wish I'd gotten a pic of the rabbit that was looking at me through a window yesterday that is normally five feet above the ground!

Looks like we are in for another round over the weekend. Goin' skiing today!

[altitude411]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) I've been wondering. It's getting more and more beautiful by the hour. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)
* you still have rabbits that are alive??



Going out for a "scenic drive" now that the roads have cleared...

[bbrock]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) I've been wondering. It's getting more and more beautiful by the hour. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)
* you still have rabbits that are alive??



Going out for a "scenic drive" now that the roads have cleared...

Where was that pic taken? Reminds me of the first time I drove through Island Park in the winter. I was feeling pretty nauseous by the time I got out of that snow tunnel from not being able to orient myself. Nothing but white in ever direction for 20 miles.

[euro911]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) I've been wondering. It's getting more and more beautiful by the hour. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)
* you still have rabbits that are alive??

Going out for a "scenic drive" now that the roads have cleared...

I don't know ... I'd feel really leery about driving on a road like that - afraid of an avalanche letting loose on my ass (IMG:style_emoticons/default/yikes.gif)

My place in mid-N/E AZ last week. I won't be going there until it warms up a bit (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[flyer86d]

It’s been a long long winter here in Vermont also.....I go out to the shop long enough to look for things that I can bring in and do in front of the wood stove in the house.

Charlie

[raynekat]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) I've been wondering. It's getting more and more beautiful by the hour. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)
* you still have rabbits that are alive??



Going out for a "scenic drive" now that the roads have cleared...

Many years ago I hit Yellowstone in late April....roads looked just like that. It was crazy.

[bbrock]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) I've been wondering. It's getting more and more beautiful by the hour. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)
* you still have rabbits that are alive??



Going out for a "scenic drive" now that the roads have cleared...

Many years ago I hit Yellowstone in late April....roads looked just like that. It was crazy.

Island Park, that I mentioned earlier is on the west edge of Yellowstone. The snow-walled highway is infamous. The other thing about that area is that when you do get a view beyond "the wall," it is usually onto a cluster of summer cabins than can only be determined by the chimneys sticking out of the snow. It's only a couple hours to drive down there, but a whole other level of winter!

[altitude411]

Yep. I'm about an hour from there. This pic is actually in Japan but Island park is very similar. I had a friend who use to plow in Island Park and one night in zero vis he called the dispatch and told them he was't sure if he was even on the road any longer. They told him to stop plowing and just keep the engine/truck running till daylight and when they found him he was 400 ft from the highway. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

[bbrock]

Despite temps at -17F on the sunny side of the mountain here, the snow held off enough for me to get some work done on the car. Several tasks in progress but only a couple far enough along to show.

First up, front brake rotors. They look nasty, but still plenty of meat on them.



I glass blasted them, then painted the hats with high temp paint, then took them in to have them turned this afternoon. I was surprised they were able to do it right away. Didn't even have to take much off. BTW, I suspected I had mounted the dust shields on backwards but figure one of you guys would point out my mistake if I did. I did, and you didn't (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)



I just have the rotors on the spindles now as a way to store them off the ground and out of the way. As I was cleaning the bearing for repacking, they all looked good until I got to the last one - an outer. It had some wear. If I'm going to replace one, might as well do them all.

Moving to the rear, I cleaned up the springs.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-20845-1545618892_thumb.jpg)



I cleaned up a few other parts too. A little painting, a little plating, and they got together looking like this.




About using my old springs. @Dave_Darling pointed out the factory manual had the spring rates and mine were in the ball park. I looked it up and sure enough, they lay it out pretty explicitly.



If you do the math, you find the lowest rate in Group 1 is about 51 lbs per inch and the high limit on Group 3 is about 56 lbs. It also shows how each group is designated. You might be able to guess where this is going... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)




(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I don't know what Group my springs started in, but this is where they test now. There's more craziness like this to come.

[bbrock]

Fuched - Mountain Style!

Thought I might fill in the gaps about what's been happening up here in paradise. Be warned that this trail meanders away from the car for a bit, but all paths lead back to the Porsche these days.

Several days before the snow really started to fly, we ordered propane because our tank was down to about 21% and I like to order with plenty of reserve, just in case. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) In the past, the longest wait between ordering and delivery has been 3 days, with next day delivery the norm, but our propane company got bought out and merged with another local company and customer service has not been what it used to be. So three days pass and no propane. Not a big deal but that's when the temps dropped into sub zero range and the snow started to fly. I started plowing the drive twice a day trying to keep it clear in case the propane truck showed, but the drive was snowing and drifting shut about as fast as I could plow it. Of course, that's when they tried to deliver. Forensics showed they made it almost up the drive and then had to retreat. I was home but didn't hear them. Instead of calling me at home, they called my wife at work and bitched about the driveway not being clear. Of course it wasn't! It was moronic to even try to deliver on a mountain pass famous for its snow on in the middle of the biggest storm in a decade.

The next day, the snow let up enough I was able to get the path clear, and keep it clear. But no propane truck arrived. Meanwhile, the temps dove deep. -15 to -17F have been typical lows with sub-zero highs. Friday night, my wife couldn't get home because the air brakes froze on a coal train which blocked the only road to our house. After waiting for 3 hours, she decided to drive to a friends house the next valley to the south and spend the night. The cold temps continued while the wood pile dwindled and the boiler sucked our remaining propane at an unprecedented rate.

That brings us to this morning when the temp at the house was -23F. Around 7:30am, the boiler quit. Our propane tank reads about 7% but either the gauge is frozen stuck, or with the low temps, there just isn't enough pressure to keep the boiler lit. Either way, we're out of gas... and heat... and hot water. One thing going for us is that the sun is out today and we rose to a balmy 5F ABOVE zero. We designed our house for passive solar so despite the cold temps and no heat, I'm actually a little too warm for my tastes with temps in the 70s indoors.

After several attempts to reach someone at the propane company, I finally got to talk to someone at 1pm today. She was rather bitchy, blamed us for not having our driveway clear last week, and didn't promise we'd get a delivery today. Might be time to find another propane service. The immediate task though, was to put the backup plan in operation. Heating our upper level is easy. We have a wood stove although our wood pile is uncomfortably small thanks to running the stove a lot more than usual this winter. The lower level requires setting up a portable backup propane heater, which meant retrieving the propane bottle from the back of the house.

Did I mention that all paths lead to Porsche these days? So here it is. I don't like storing the propane bottle inside our shed. It just isn't safe. So I store it outside. Unfortunately, unknown until today, it had blown off of the "shelf" I put it on to keep it above snow level when I needed it. That "shelf" happened to be a stack of five Fuchs wheels with rotten tires. That meant, in order to get to the bottle, I had to dig the Fuchs out of over five feet of snow and ice. It took an hour to chop the last of the wheels out of a block of ice, but out they are!





The last thing I need is these things cluttering up the garage, so I decided to add yet another hillbilly touch to the front porch. Think the wife will notice?



Now while all the digging and chopping was going on, the "supervisor" kept coming over to check on progress. Clearly he assumed all the labor was for his benefit. Less than one minute after I pried the last Fuchs out of the ice, he claimed his spot. Just to orient, that wall of snow is well over five feet high.



As for the propane bottle, it is still frozen in mud. I chopped and dug but any further effort to free it comes at the risk of an explosion. Call me picky, but I'd rather avoid that. My wife is going to buy another bottle after work tonight.

That's a week in paradise! It's all worth it though. These types of winters always sprout a bumper crop of 'For Sale' signs in the spring. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[KELTY360]

I've heard that chopping wood warms you twice, but never heard that chopping Fuchs warms you once! Stay warm bro!

[Dion]

Brent, as always a wonderful read of your adventures in the paradise of Montana.
The “supervisor “ pup is so cool. We can’t compare out here in eastern PA.
I only had 5” of snow to plow from our drive this morning.

I love the attention to detail on those springs. Keep at it. This car is going to wind up in a museum in Stuttgart. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[bbrock]

I've heard that chopping wood warms you twice, but never heard that chopping Fuchs warms you once! Stay warm bro!

It actually warms you thrice. Once when you cut it, once when you split it, and once when you burn it, but yeah, the Fuchs combined the cutting and splitting.

We are on emergency backup heat now. Sun is down and temps have dropped south of zero again. Can't even cook because the stove and oven are on propane too. The propane company didn't give two shits about the pickle they've put us in. We've had problems with their customer service ever since they bought out our old company. Time to find a different service. Not to worry though, got the wood stove going and my portable backup heater downstairs. Nice and comfy. No hot water for showers in the morning though, you'd better hope the winds stays out of the west or you may get a whiff of something foul tomorrow. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[bbrock]

Brent, as always a wonderful read of your adventures in the paradise of Montana.
The “supervisor “ pup is so cool. We can’t compare out here in eastern PA.
I only had 5” of snow to plow from our drive this morning.

I love the attention to detail on those springs. Keep at it. This car is going to wind up in a museum in Stuttgart. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Five inches !!!??? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/yikes.gif) How did you survive? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)

The supervisor is a good pup. He's our third malamute and I dare say the best one among some great dogs we've had. Probably because he was a rescue so I didn't get a chance to screw this one up as a puppy.

[mepstein]

Brent, as always a wonderful read of your adventures in the paradise of Montana.
The “supervisor “ pup is so cool. We can’t compare out here in eastern PA.
I only had 5” of snow to plow from our drive this morning.

I love the attention to detail on those springs. Keep at it. This car is going to wind up in a museum in Stuttgart. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

We had 2 inches at our house in PA but nothing in Middletown, DE. Sure is easy living in a place that has a full crew in facilities, a big ass generator and a dining hall with 3 meals a day. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

In PA, we live on a pretty steep hill and have always had issues with propane delivery. They don't show, the tank runs out and then they want to charge $100 to test the tank before they will refill. We just got a heat pump/propane hybrid system to reduce our dependance on gas. But it's no good for the kind of temps you are dealing with.

You need a fan or to to direct some of that 70 degree air down to your lower level.

[914_7T3]

Despite temps at -17F on the sunny side of the mountain here, the snow held off enough for me to get some work done on the car. Several tasks in progress but only a couple far enough along to show.

First up, front brake rotors. They look nasty, but still plenty of meat on them.



I glass blasted them, then painted the hats with high temp paint, then took them in to have them turned this afternoon. I was surprised they were able to do it right away. Didn't even have to take much off. BTW, I suspected I had mounted the dust shields on backwards but figure one of you guys would point out my mistake if I did. I did, and you didn't (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)



I just have the rotors on the spindles now as a way to store them off the ground and out of the way. As I was cleaning the bearing for repacking, they all looked good until I got to the last one - an outer. It had some wear. If I'm going to replace one, might as well do them all.

Moving to the rear, I cleaned up the springs.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-20845-1545618892_thumb.jpg)



I cleaned up a few other parts too. A little painting, a little plating, and they got together looking like this.




About using my old springs. @Dave_Darling pointed out the factory manual had the spring rates and mine were in the ball park. I looked it up and sure enough, they lay it out pretty explicitly.



If you do the math, you find the lowest rate in Group 1 is about 51 lbs per inch and the high limit on Group 3 is about 56 lbs. It also shows how each group is designated. You might be able to guess where this is going... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)




(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I don't know what Group my springs started in, but this is where they test now. There's more craziness like this to come.

Those Bilsteins came out pretty bitchn'!

[bbrock]

You need a fan or to to direct some of that 70 degree air down to your lower level.

Thanks for the reminder. We have a whole house heat recovery ventilation system that can be set to recirculate. You reminded me to turn it on to even out the temps. During the day, both levels get about the same amount of solar gain, so on a sunny day, temps run at least 72 even when it is below zero outside and with no heat on. But at night, the wood stove over heats the upper level so recirculating is a good idea. It's 11 below outside now but nice and toasty inside.

Those Bilsteins came out pretty bitchn'!

They look even better when they are in focus. Stupid phone camera. I wish my front inserts would ship so I can get the front buttoned up.

[mepstein]

"You need a fan or to to direct some of that 70 degree air down to your lower level.
[/quote]

Thanks for the reminder. We have a whole house heat recovery ventilation system that can be set to recirculate. You reminded me to turn it on to even out the temps."

LOL, yea, that would work as well. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[bbrock]

Well.... still no propane. I've never cussed out anyone on the phone before... I did it twice today.

Anyway, I did work on a task yesterday and today. Got the seat brackets refurbished... almost. Fresh repaint. mechanism replated, and bushing replaced with 914Rubber pieces. A note for anyone about to do this: the roll pins that come with the 914Rubber kit are too large for the original hole. You have choice of either drilling out the holes, using a Dremel to open the gap in the roll pin a little to let it squeeze a bit smaller, or do what I did which was to reuse the original pins. I highly recommend that option.



There was a hitch though. I had a heck of a time locating and welding in the seat hinges. Well, even though I bolted up the brackets at the time, somehow I got something off on this side. The hinges were about 1/8" too close together.



As much as I hated to, I decided to wallow out the adjustment holes a little to allow it to bolt up. This seemed way better than the alternative. This is a bad pick, but the holes are clear now.

The nice thing is I have these freshly replated mounting plates to conceal the crime.



And yes, the seat fits. First time in forever this has been in the car.



I'm just going to store them in there to get them out of the way, so I bagged it for protection.



What's that? Where's the driver's side? Well, my shitty day yesterday spilled over to the car. It turns out those little bastard springs on the bell crank are about as nasty as rear trunk torsion bars. My first attempt to hook it around the roll resulted in a slip that I almost lost a thumb over. I actually do think it might have chipped the bone - nice and black today. And I scratched my nice new paint finish. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif) This morning I thought I'd just touch it up but the temp in the garage dropped into the low 50s last night... you now... because of no propane, so my paint was cold. I gave it a go anyway which was a big mistake. Totally FUBARed the bracket so I'm going to have to wait for the paint to fully cure for a week before sanding and respraying. I did bolt it in and slide the seat on, but I'm not showing any pictures of that shit show.

No to keep this turd sandwich rolling, remember these?

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-20845-1548610409.jpg)

Yesterday I got a PM from Kent ( @76-914 ) asking if I'd checked the CVs I bought because his had the wrong spline count. I pulled them out immediately and sure enough, mine have 25 splines so these are 911/914-6 joints even though they are being sold by Porsche under the 914-4 P/N. Waiting to hear back from Porsche what they plan to do about it.

I had one other annoying thing happen, but that's too much negativity already. That's the news from Lake Wobegon. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)