DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

When it came to reassembling the handbrake I was able to do it off the car - not something I thought of but I saw it on the excellent greasy fingers YouTube channel

It made it much easier to put it all together




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Now one of the issues I had with the broken cable was that the metal cable guide had disappeared when the cable broke. I therefore ordered some new ones.

However, Design 911 (and everywhere else for that matter) couldn’t say when they were going to get these in stock. I thought about it and reckoned I could make a couple of them out of stainless tube.

It’s not just a straight tube- it’s 14mm OD and 10mmID and at the other end it’s 12 and 8mm.

However some careful measuring and drilling work on the lathe and I ended up with this



Happy days (the original one is on the right, obvs). The original was pretty corroded so I wanted to reaplace both sides, so one more to make.

The drilling actually takes quite a while as you have to go through with a smaller diameter and then drill it all out to 8 mm. Then you drill from one end with a 10mm drill to a depth of 40mm. Then you mark it up carefully and start reducing the outside diameter of the part with an 8mmID until you get it down to 12mm OD.

Of course you have to mark it correctly when doing this - making sure you don’t do something stupid like marking the 40mm from the wrong end - that would be irritating, wouldn’t it



Yes. Very irritating. Time to make another piece. Before I did this I thought it sensible to mark the wrong piece so I don’t start referencing that by mistake



Some time later and I had two (similar) pieces


The double-line on the right hand one is because something slipped as I was taking it down to size. It doesn’t matter at all so I didn’t bother changing it


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This is the left hand one in place - all looking good here



On the right hand side though it appears that at some stage in the past part of the trailing arm moulding had broken off meaning that the tube wouldn’t stay within the intended ring



I don’t know if it’s a big issue but I didn’t fancy the thought of this flapping about as the suspension moves - I don’t know if that was connected to the problems I’ve had - and the cable breaking. I therefore drilled a hole


That let me pop a cable tie on it and hold the tube in nice and snug


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All good fun Mark. I’m sure you’re enjoying yourself as frustrating as some of it might be.


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Thanks Jon. And yeah I’m loving it

Good to see Mark…..I had a similar problem with loose fitting cable guide tubes…..cable ties are wonderful things aren’t they just…

Ok I’ve hinted elsewhere that I have a new project on the 911 so here it is



Can you guess what it is yet?

Yep it’s Jonnys classic retrofit aircon. Kit look to be great quality and I’m looking forward to fitting it.

Along with the kit I’ve gone for the updated alternator.

I thought I’d start off with the alternator but it’s already thrown up some questions and problems.

Ok so first I’ve removed the old alternator which allows a good view of the top of the cylinders

Ok so this is one side - you can see the soot/crap/oil on the underside of the cylinder heads

And then the other side

On this side we’ve got the same thing but also similar crap near the fan and next to the case

So on the cylinder head stuff I’m thinking that maybe they need re-torquing. Do I need to drop the engine to do that or can I do it with the engine still in the car

Then this morning I thought I’d make a start by replacing the earth lead with on supplied as part of the kit

I unscrewed the old one no problem and then looked up the torque (25nm). I attached the new earth lead and started to tighten it up. After a while it went a bit loose and then this…

Snapped stud. Sh1t.



Any suggestions on what to do? Drill out the old stuff and put a new one in? Can I do this with the engine in or should I drop it out?

I think the head studs can be re-torqued with the engine in place, might need a few different length extensions.

As to that stud: Have you a drill that can get into that space. IIRC there is not much room in there with the fan cover in place?
The cover might have to come off with the engine in place or out of the car, so inlet assembly off. That will be far easier.faster with the engine out.

With all the equipment at your fingertips, easy to remove the engine. I think I would do the head tube nuts first incase there are pulled studs in which case it is engine out anyway...

Good luck!

Thanks! Think I’ll start moving forward with the AC install and then make a decision on the studs later

Unless it’s running bad my guess is those deposits are just from oil mist/crap being blown about by the fan.

The broken earth stud looks an arse. As Graham said access to drill it out will be difficult with a high chance of screwing it up. With your facilities I’d drop the engine just so you can do it in controlled manner.

One thing to try first is maybe welding a nut to it. Hold an M10 over it and then mig straight down the middle and fill the nut. Might be worth preheating the broken stud first.

Good to see that the kit arrived in time for your Christmas break!

Gary71 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 2:15 pm One thing to try first is maybe welding a nut to it. Hold an M10 over it and then mig straight down the middle and fill the nut. Might be worth preheating the broken stud first.

This but weld on a washer first, this allows a decent penetration in the fillet between the washer and the remainder of the stud. Then, put the nut on and weld the rim of the washer to the edge of the nut. The washer also protects the underlying surface as well. Works every time whereas the nut only approach is a bit hit and miss (limited contact area).

Jonny Hart wrote:Good to see that the kit arrived in time for your Christmas break!

Gary71 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 2:15 pm One thing to try first is maybe welding a nut to it. Hold an M10 over it and then mig straight down the middle and fill the nut. Might be worth preheating the broken stud first.

This but weld on a washer first, this allows a decent penetration in the fillet between the washer and the remainder of the stud. Then, put the nut on and weld the rim of the washer to the edge of the nut. The washer also protects the underlying surface as well. Works every time whereas the nut only approach is a bit hit and miss (limited contact area).

100%. I forgot the washer bit!

Ok so the engine drop and stud repair are on the back burner for the moment.

Thought I’d start with the AC components. Namely the condenser



This is a neat looking thing which is cable-tied to the fan that it attaches to.
It’s meant to go in the front passenger wing, attached to the bottom of the headlight bowl.

Of course I’m a bit special so I’ve got arch liners

Which are excellent, so I’m not prepared to leave them off. That means the condenser will have to be pushed deeper into the front of the wing.

Taking off the arch liners this is what I got


Lots of crap in there that never mattered before.

Some cutting and changing of brackets and I got back to this