Lighting disassembly

Quick update...
I have removed both headlights, headlight motors and side/indicator lights and all the wiring from them.  This includes cleaning the components and the bodywork wherever possible with simple green, brushes and rags.   There is so much surface dirt from the car being in storage for so long that everything looks so much brighter with just a little cleaning.  It was interesting cleaning decades-old dead bugs from the headlights and front end!
Here are a few pics:
Driver side front quarter panel now without headlights, front indicator and side indicator lights.  You can see a bit just how filthy the inner wheel well is in this pic.

 Driver side headlight bucket from the side

 The headlight bucket has a drain tube welded in that simply drains to the ground.  This can get clogged up with debris and rust out but these were in good shape.

 Some lighting components - headlight motor, rubber guards from the wheel well, and indicator lights.

 Bonus: When I bought the car I returned the wheels so I could afford to buy the car in the first place.  I was able to purchase the wheels back a few months later so now I've got the original wheels for the car!   Thanks Cory!   They look a bit scruffy as they've been sitting outside but I will clean them fully and get new tires (sidewall rot on these) before I'm back on the road.

Also, I officially titled the car last week in my name and got a "black tag" instead of insuring the car, which means it's not legal to drive on the road.  But no worries, as I'm not going to be driving this car anytime soon!

Episode (91)4: A New Hope

A long time ago in a greasyshop far, far away...

Episode (91)4

A New Hope

It is a period of indecision.  

Should I try and repair the original '72 914 

with its accident damage, rust issues and other oddities?

Or start new with a better bodied car that needs less

 work, spend more money up front to get

something with more potential...

After quite a lot of time searching 914 forums, Craigslist, Ebay and keeping my eyes peeled for a cheap but good condition 914, I lucked out by stopping by a local 911 specialty independent shop, Planet9eleven.  The owner just so happened to have acquired a local 914 from a shop south of the city that he had had his eye on for quite some time.   I caught him at a moment of weakness and picked up a beauty.

She's a 1971 1.7 liter with paint in the original color (one respray that I can tell), lots of good condition body panels, and has been non running but parked indoors since about 1984!  The previous owners worked at a shop and kept it tucked away for years.  The drivetrain was already out of it but it rolled and that's all I needed after taking a look at the areas that were so bad on my '72.  This car had very few issues.

Though spending a lot more money to buy a whole other non-running 914 was not the top of my to-do list, it became impossible to pass this car up.

I can use some parts off of the '72 that might be in better condition than the '71 but otherwise immediately started deconstructing the new car, using the experience of the first one and staying even better organized when dismantling and labeling pieces that come off the car.

So without further ado, here are a bunch of pictures of the new car we call "Willow" because she is Willow Green, Porsche factory color L63K!

Just arrived, she was covered with dust and grime from being in a shop for years and the last couple of weeks outside at Planet9eleven

 A very quick wipe down with a wet rag and there's still a bit of shine on the paint.  There are a lot of cracks and bad spots too so she's going to get repainted the factory color anyway

 Part of the deal to keep the price down was I had to return the factory 4 lug alloy wheels; since I plan on converting to 5-lug Fuchs 911 wheels this is not a problem and saved some good $.

 Got her up on jackstands pretty quickly and got to work disassembling

 Lots of dirt in every crevice from sitting so long

 Interior is complete with a factory center gauge pod but aftermarket seats.  Those are coming out I'm afraid, but I have better seat plans...

 Seats and carpet came out easily

 Rear trunk is dusty but in great shape.  Chrome bumpers look OK from a few feet away but may need refinishing.

 After a few hours work the rear trunk was completely stripped down, and I got a bucket and sponge and cleaned it really good.  It really shines now.  Turns out Willow Green is fairly close to Hulk Green!

 Only a few surface rusty spots in the rear trunk, no issues at all in the corners of the sheetmetal.

 You can see how before I cleaned it the trunk looked a bit worse.

 The wheel has a nice patina but is in good shape.

 Floors have minimal rust

 Lots of dust and dirt in the floors!

 Took off and completely disassembled the doors

A previous owner had moved the battery to the front trunk to try and eliminate the corrosion from the battery in the engine bay.  They ran the positive cable the length of the car since it needs to attach to the electronics and starter back in the mid-engine bay.

 Passenger longitudinals look great with the sole exception of the jack post base, a common issue.  Lots of dirt had trapped itself up there and rusted it out.  Should be easy to grind it off and replace it with a new piece.

 Front trunk after cleaning and removal of battery tray.  Had to move the wiring loom out of the way to clean the corners but no rust issues up here either.

 Front bumper area was filthy but looks better now!

 VIN sticker is pristine

 Color plate is original, L 63 K is Willow Green.

 Engine compartment is one of the few places that need addressing.  The battery tray was removed and there is some rust and holes in the "hell hole" area.  This will need a repair panel and I'll probably return the battery to this spot with a new battery tray and an Optima sealed battery that won't corrode the area ever again.

 The only other issue with the car that I can tell is the typical clutch tube issue.  The clutch cable lives in a tube in the center tunnel that was known for breaking off of its welds at the rear and inside the tunnel.    On this car a previous owner had bolted the clutch tube to the floor to keep it from moving.  It is common to do this repair rather than try to re-weld it in the tunnel because the fuel lines also run through the tunnel.  However since I will be taking this all apart and replacing the fuel lines anyway the clutch tube is going to get re-welded.

 Front trunk where battery used to be

 Rear of the car is ready for media blasting.

Well now that I have revived the project I am hopeful that I can move forward steadily with this car.  Don't hold your breath for completion anytime soon however, this is still going to take at least another year!  Remember I still have an engine and transmission to rebuild, bodywork to do, and somehow find the funds to do it all.  But I will document the process and hopefully it will entertain or prove useful for someone else someday.

New Discoveries

Well I didn't get a chance to drop the motor and transmission last weekend but am getting very close.  I find myself jumping from place to place around the car.  If I get frustrated or cramped under the dash removing parts, I move to the front or underneath the car and work on something else.  The parts are flying off at a rapid pace now as every bit that comes off makes another piece accessible.  I made some interesting discoveries in the process as well.  with the goal of being ready to drop the drivetrain this weekend I started in on removing parts to get closer to that goal.

If you recall from last week I needed some special tools to be able to remove the parts that were in the way of dropping the drivetrain.  One of them was a 12-point star bit to remove the CV (constant velocity) joint bolts, to separate CV joints from the transmission.  The CV joints allow the transmission/differential to turn the driveshafts even when the wheels are moving up and down causing the driveshaft to be at all different angles.  Porsche in their wisdom decided these needed special 12-pointed star bolt heads (torx bits for example are six-pointed star patterns).  My awesome brother-in-law happened to have something in his shop that fit, an M8 12-point bit!  This was a cinch to remove the bolts, with the exception of needing a large wrench to hold the wheel hub in place - trying to loosen the bolts caused the wheel to spin on that side since the transmission is in neutral ad I have no clutch cable anymore...
Bolts are out:

 Carefully pried away the CV joint with a screwdriver.  You can see in the left of this pic the next challenge - the transmission drain plug.  This needs a 17mm allen head.  It's hard to describe the size of a 17mm allen head until you see one - not commonly on the shelf at most HW stores.

 Using a bungee to hold the driveshaft out of the way for a while.  I used zip ties linked together on the other side.  Driveshaft removal is a whole other day's project.

 I got to thinking about what I might have that is even close to 17mm.  Then I remembered - I used to have a '95 BMW M3 that had 17mm lug bolts, and I had a couple of the old bolts lying around from wheels I had bought back in the day...I wonder if one of those would fit?
Sizing it up:

 Yep it fits perfectly!  Now how do I turn this lug bolt to loosen the drain plug?  Why the shadetree mechanic's best friend - Vice Grips!

 Success!

 Worked like a champ - luckily no one before me used excessive force on the transmission plug.  BTW if you've never smelled differential fluid or transmission fluid before - eww.

 Wow look at that drain plug.  There is a mound of old fluid and debris on it.  They have built-in magnets on them to attract metal shavings inside the transmission (!) and boy did it.

 It looks like a toy from the Discovery Chanel store with all of the metal filings.

 Job done on that part, I also removed the rear shift rod.  Funny thing about having the transmission shift point so far from the shift lever even on such a small car - the shifting rod pieces are comically long.  Alltogether there are three main rods that make up the shift rod system and two of them are several feet long!  Pics later...
Here are some misc bits removed from the front of the car.  Windshield wiper arms and motor:

 Top dashboard:

 After blower box and wiper removal the front is almost done:

 Dash is very sparse now.  The metal dash frame was removed in short order with only a few bolts thru the firewall holding it in place.  Easy to get to now that all of the stuff is out of the way.

 Dash removed!

 Now for something completely different.  I removed the gearshift lever and lifted it up and out comes a cubic foot of shredded paper bits and leaves!  The center of the car is a little tunnel that has the gearshift lever, wiring harness, speedo cable, fuel lines, rear brake lines, clutch and throttle cables all running thru it.  And apparently also had a rodent running through it at some point!

 The only place it could have gotten into the tunnel is the front by the pedal cluster. If all of the wires are unchewed it'll be a miracle.  Then again there did not seem to be any droppings either so it must have been a short stay.  These pics are only part of the rubbish, much more is stuffed in that tunnel!

 Finally removed the foot pedal cluster too.  It's a pain disconnecting all of those pieces down under the dash and in that tunnel.  I can tell you what greasy flashlight tastes like too, since I need both hands for this and something's got to hold the light.
Also pictured is the shift lever and the rear shift rod.  I can't remove the front shift rod yet because the motor is in the way, it's going to have to come straight out the back of the firewall.  Note for later - reinstall the front shifter rod before reinstalling a motor!

 Another angle of the pedals.  The clutch pedal is leaning way back because his cable tension buddy is gone.  The throttle pedal is still in the car, stuck to the floor with a rusty bolt whose head is partially rounded off and not fitting any wrenches very well.  It may be time to inflict some damage to get it out.

 Finally the ugly corroded brake master cylinder.  Brake fluid has a particularly sweetly nasty odor I do not care for.  Makes gasoline smell like roses and even makes you forget about how much differential fluid reeks...

More progress promised for next week.  I'm a furniture dolly and a beer-swilling helper away from dropping the motor and transmission in one oily lump!