914 2.0 > 3.0 GT Conversion, On the road! Options

[RoadGlue]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

Following.

Great work!

[Cairo94507]

Very well executed. I like the way you handled the cooler, spare and board too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[Boomingbeetle]

Does anyone else feel like a massive underachiever here after reading this thread??? I spend about a year just doing a motor swap from a 1.7 to big 4. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[mb911]

Looks great.

[porschetub]

Does anyone else feel like a massive underachiever here after reading this thread??? I spend about a year just doing a motor swap from a 1.7 to big 4. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

I know but as long as it still happens...that's the main thing,to me part of the ownership is working on these little cars,besides I bought a car ready to convert,my days of fixing rusty cars is basically over.
The OP has amazing skill and I really take my hat off to people with the bodywork skill he has (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) ....well done.
Following this one with interest (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) .

[914_7T3]

Your attention to detail is exemplary!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

[defianty]

Does anyone else feel like a massive underachiever here after reading this thread??? I spend about a year just doing a motor swap from a 1.7 to big 4. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

I do hope my thread serves as an inspiration to others to have a go. Prior to starting work on the car my welding experience was limited to a one day course and almost every other skill I've picked up along the way.

I've always learnt from diving head on into projects. Yeah I've made mistakes and have certainly wasted money along the way, but I've learnt from them and progressed.

There's many free learning resources out there on the internet, I personally have found YouTube to be invaluable to my learning.

[mepstein]

From the look of your work, I figured you had a welding and fabrication background.

[Larmo63]

Stephen's build is inspiring to me. I have some skills, but not those kinds of skills. I can't wait to see the finished product. It's like reading a good book, and you want to go read the last few pages to see how the story turns out.


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[bigkensteele]

The last piece of the bonnet gutter to repair was again another time consuming job. I've spent days now just making small repair pieces (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Trying to cut out the rot - Lots of seam sealer on the underside.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1510861090.1.jpg)

All the offending metal cut out and a coat of weld-thru primer applied.
One of the two repair pieces in place before welding.
Piece one finished and more primer applied
Last piece in and almost complete.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1510861092.5.jpg)

My car needs the exact same repair on both sides. Hope that I can find someone locally with half your talent to tackle it for me! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

[Lucky9146]

With the oil cooler shroud taking place of the spare wheel well I sourced a collapsible spare tyre and set about mounting it upright.

Floor board in place. Eventually this will be recovered in Perlon as per the original.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1510861532.8.jpg)

I have long wanted too do something similar in my trunk where I already have a vertically mounted tire. Thanks for the ideas and inspiration. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) Started working on it today. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/white914.jpg)

[defianty]

Go for it Jim. I'm pleased it's inspired you. Looking forward to what you come up with.

[gereed75]

I just started into welding/fabing. I find that working with 22 gauge steel and MIG is an interesting and versatile medium. It is time consuming!! Patience and meticulous prep!! It is definitely a go slow to go fast sort of an endeavor.

If you have that kind of mind set it is not hard, quite satisfying and actually somewhat forgiving. Thank god for grinders!!

Using a Hobart 140, gas, and the usual assortment of small body hammers, dollies, pliers, vices etc.

It helps to be learning on a POS Datsun 510 race car. Mistakes are just part of the patina!

[defianty]

Update time...

The floor wasn't in the best condition and as usual the further I dug the worse it got. The passenger rear corner was the worse and due to the accident was slightly crumpled. Initially I planned to cut this part out and repair but heaving pitting due to water ingress pushed me to replace half of the floor. So a new panel was ordered from Restoration Design.

Here's part of the floor showing some of the pitting.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233917.1.jpg)

This is the support piece that goes over the cross member that supports the gearbox I needed to remove this so set about drilling the sixty plus spot welds. I think you can guess what I found underneath it.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233918.2.jpg)

Yep, more rust!
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233918.3.jpg)

Cutting out the floor piece by piece.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233918.4.jpg)

Restoration Design have produced some of their replacement panels from a thicker gauge steel. I think I get the reasoning behind this but it's obvious some definition in the part is missing and butt welding the pieces together isn't easy when you only want part of the panel.

Here's the replacement trunk floor panel. I've seen many 914's restored with trunk floors that look like this but I wanted to put the manufacturing access holes back in.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233919.5.jpg)


Here they are hiding under rather a lot of seam sealer.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233919.6.jpg)

Well preserved though! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233919.7.jpg)

After cutting out the cutout too I could then use that as a template
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233920.8.jpg)

New hole
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233920.9.jpg)

Both finished ready to be hidden under another load of seam sealer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233920.10.jpg)

[defianty]

Here's the new floor in place. As you can see I didn't use all of the new panel - I don't see the point in cutting out original metal that is solid. However due to the thickness of the new panel I had to cut off the middle section as the bends didn't match up to the ones on the car.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233937.1.jpg)

Problem! During the process of cutting out the center rusty section I found more rust in the top half! I don't know how I missed it but yet again there it was disguised by thick paint.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233937.2.jpg)

After calming down I came up with a plan after seeing the old bottom half of the trunk floor I'd already cut out. What if that fitted??
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233937.3.jpg)

The rescued panel trimmed and cleaned up
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233938.4.jpg)

Offering it up!
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233938.5.jpg)

A perfect fit!
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233939.6.jpg)

Welded in place. You can also see I put the hole and captive nut back for the additional spare tyre hold down on the cross member.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233939.7.jpg)

[defianty]

New support plate fabricated, slightly longer than standard.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233966.1.jpg)

Rosette welds for the rear towing eye and bumper support.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233966.2.jpg)

Completed including support plates for the rear sway bar mounting brackets underneath.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/s6.postimg.org-6621-1512233967.3.jpg)

Whilst putting all of this together I got the back of the car reassembled too. I'll cover that at a later date as like many things I can't finish that until I complete another task.

So next time it's on to THE HELL HOLE!! As you can guess it's worse that I imagined (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[raynekat]

Wow....you made that look easy as pie.
What did it take you? An afternoon's work? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
Nice reimagineering on the rescued panel.
Most people don't have any idea how much time a repair like this costs....
But it's mostly labor, so if you can DIY, you save bundles.

[defianty]

Wow....you made that look easy as pie.
What did it take you? An afternoon's work? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
Nice reimagineering on the rescued panel.
Most people don't have any idea how much time a repair like this costs....
But it's mostly labor, so if you can DIY, you save bundles.

An afternoon! I could have done it twice in that time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Lots of labour, in reality it was probably about four solid days including my mistakes that I don't show on here (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) A lot of time was spent lining up the rear panel and rear quarter that I haven't included in this thread yet.

[Lucky9146]

New support plate fabricated, slightly longer than standard.

Rosette welds for the rear towing eye and bumper support.

Completed including support plates for the rear sway bar mounting brackets underneath.


Whilst putting all of this together I got the back of the car reassembled too. I'll cover that at a later date as like many things I can't finish that until I complete another task.

So next time it's on to THE HELL HOLE!! As you can guess it's worse that I imagined (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Wow! just wow!
I Liked "An afternoon! I could have done it twice that time" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
Slow tedious stuff.
Keep the updates coming, progress is a good thing and nice to see!
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/white914.jpg)

[defianty]

Thanks Jim - I was please with how all that turned out. She's starting to look like a car again. And more excitingly the flared car I've always dreamed of! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)