Starting a 1971 IMSA 914 Restoration, A privateer run 914 with Sebring and Daytona history Options

[FourBlades]

Thanks everyone, I am glad to be here.

Getting my blue 914 running again really motivated me to finish this one.

There are a lot of amazing build threads going on since I was active.

I especially love the Sonauto #40 project being done by Marty. The perfect person to take care of that car.

John

[trojanhorsepower]

John,
Glad you are better. You are still making more progress than me.

Peter

[Root_Werks]

Been a long time since I read through this thread! Very glad to know you're okay and the project is still around. Looks good!

[9146GUY]

This thread, which I had not seen before today, brings back many memories. I raced a 914-6 back in the day when this car was raced. I do not remember the car but lots of the things done to it are what we did in the day. The fuel discriminator valve is one of those things. The rules back then said that the valve had to be in sight of the fueler. They were mostly mounted inside on the rollbar just like the original photos show. We could run a 26 gallon fuel cell back then. Car would run for over 2 hours on a fill.

Glad to hear that you are over your health issues and have resumed the restoration.

Old guys and old cars rock and rule.....LOL

[FourBlades]

Thanks for the comments, folks!

914World community has provided a lot of the motivation and information I needed to keep me continuing on.

Hey 9146GUY, do you have any pictures of 914s racing in the 70s and 80s to share?

John

[no1uno]

Glad to hear you're doing better, John. Awesome new shop, too! Let me know if you ever need a hand with anything. I think you're probably a bit closer now that you're inland instead of beachside.

[Rleog]

Welcome back, John. Glad to see that the IMSA project car will be going forward. You’ve come so far with it and it’s in the right hands.

[rgalla9146]

Good to hear a health story with a positive outcome.
Welcome back.
Your big project continues...you've got an enthusiastic audience.
Roll on.

[9146GUY]

OK John, you asked ..... I don't have pictures of other cars but I do have some of mine



Daytona 1972 Finale. Dave White at the wheel.

I bought the car from Dave in December 1975 and prepped the car and went to the 24HR of Daytona in 1976.
I had won the SE Division B Production in a 911 and worked a deal with Goodyear. We ran their new radial GT street tire and ran the entire race on one set of very bald tires.



Notice that the headlights still pop up, nothing in the spoiler. At Daytona that cost almost 8 MPH on the banking. That was before they put the chicane in the back straight and added lights around the track. The driving lights on the front bumper were more for corner lighting than straight ahead.

Part 2 coming....

[9146GUY]

Part 2....

Fast forward to 1979, 24 Hr at Daytona. Rules changes over the years. Wide bodywork, lights in bumpers, rear spoiler.



Part 3 coming......

[9146GUY]

Other changes for short tracks. Lumbermans 500 at Mid Ohio




Note rear wing. Looks like a 911 wing was grafted on the rear decklid. Rules stated that air couldn't pass under a rear wing/spoiler. Added plexiglass along the leading edges got us around that rule.

The difference at Mid Ohio was with the small spoiler turn 1 was brake, downshift, drive thru turn

With the big wing turn 1 was lift, turn in and accelerate thru corner.

AH the memories.....

[FourBlades]

Great pictures and stories.

Are all the pictures of the same car, just with different paint schemes?

So popping up your headlights would slow the car 8 mph at Daytona? That is interesting and I guess it makes sense given how large they are and located at the front of the car.

Thanks for sharing!

John

[9146GUY]

All the same car...Just updated over the years based on rules changes

[FourBlades]

Saving the front bumper.

The fiberglass front bumper was heavily damaged and repaired over the years. Several
places had an inch of bondo and kitty hair to repair major cracks. The bumper also was
too narrow to fit the car after I corrected the damage to the front end as shown earlier in the thread.



I ground down the old repairs and tapered their edges. I used to build surfboards way
back so I am familiar with fiberglass repairs. It used to make me super itchy doing this
work 30 years ago but now it does not bother me anymore for some reason, probably the
fact that I actually use safety gear now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Reshaped the bumper to fit the correct
width front end. This took many iterations to get it close.

Repaired the damage using layers of polyester resin and fiberglass cloth.



I should have weighed it before and after the repairs, but it is probably less than half the weight it used to be.

John

[FourBlades]

BYW, the fiberglass repairs were done years ago, I just never posted them before.

Still trying to catch up with everything that has happened.

John

[FourBlades]

There is a large hole in the firewall which connects the passenger area to the front of
the car. This was cut to accommodate the bottom of the oil tank, which you can see
sitting on the angle iron platform. This hole needs to be closed up for safety and rules compliance.



The hole has a very complex shape, so I decided to tackle it using several pieces. Just
getting a piece cut off from a stock firewall will not work because of the size and shape
of the oil tank they used.

Make a template:



Make it in metal:



Weld it on:



Keep in mind that this is the deepest part of the footwell under the dashboard. I pretty much have to jam myself in there with my welder and other tools. I can work for 30
minutes or so before I need to crawl out and do some serious stretching. It is hard to get nice looking welds working like this. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

John

[FourBlades]

Made another large patch to close up more of the hole:



Another step closer to being a runner...

I am thinking of making a removal panel for the lower part of the hole to make installing
and servicing the oil and fuel lines easier. Maybe rivetted or bolted on?

John

[URY914]

Hey John, good to hear from you.

[FourBlades]

How are you Paul? How is your car running?

Sharing some parts porn, mostly to document for myself what parts I have for this project
and what I still need to find. Some of these parts I bought more than 5 years ago so it
is getting hard to remember them all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Some engine mount goodness. The plates are from Mittelmotor and took a while to get
here. The rubber piece is the new URO reproduction for $140ish, while the originals
were up to $2000+ before these came out. I got the engine mount from ebay, I believe.
Altogether this is $1000+ just to mount the front of the engine to the car. These parts
work with the engine mount that was welded into the car when I got it.



A whole collection of Aeroquip fittings to finish the fuel and oiling systems. The yellow
thing is an actual size cardboard template of a fitting I wanted to try out before buying
one and then not have it fit. These parts are $$ especially for the -12 and -16 sizes.



New sway a way axles, pedal cluster rebuilt by the one and only Bruce Stone, and toe link adjusters that can be welded on the stop toe alignment changes.



Gotta love new and refinished parts.

John

[FourBlades]

Finishing up the firewall. Created more patches and a service plate to close it up.
I thought it would be helpful to be able to remove this plate in order to access this area.



Using the paper template I made to locate the fitting at the bottom of the oil tank.



Hole drilled using a hole saw. -16 oil return line attached to the oil tank. I will add a
firewall grommet (still in the mail) to close up the gap.



Looking forward to not working down under the dash anymore. Everything takes twice
as long and it is hard to make nice welds.

Next I need to finish the fuel system in the front of the car.

John