My 'new longer-term project' ...

[Mitch]

....so I was happy to pay his asking price ............... $20 + $15 shipping !!!

That Andy, is good karma... and rightly so! Love the thread, love the detail, love the car.

having said that I am slightly intrigued by that jumper or blanket that often appears in your photos and adverts!

Me too! Is is NOS? I think we need to hear the back story on this

[Lightweight_911]

Hi Andy,

I am still tryong to locate some rear reflectors we discussed ages ago!

For the exhaust system, you may likwe to consider using zircotec to coat it, rather than high temp powder coat. It is a sprayed plasma coating that will help reduce temperatures. Check their web site, Zircotec.com.

Regards

Don't worry too much about the reflectors Simon - I finally located a NOS pair & have a couple of spares (but still interested if you do find some).

Last time I contacted Zircotec for a quote they were incredibly expensive so I ended up using Camcoat in Warrington - I may try them again for the 904's 'street' exhaust.

Also, you must have kept your Alfa longer than nearly any other car

I think I've only ever owned one car longer - my TVR Grantura - which was my daily driver for 6 years ...

Looking fantastic Andy, you sure you don't want my lad's to paint a rough looking 86 on it!
Imagine turning up to meet the Pucci family with the two of them, here's Antonio winning in 64.

- now there's a thought ...

Does the car use a 911 screen or a 356?

The screen's unique to a 904 ... heated in this case.

having said that I am slightly intrigued by that jumper or blanket that often appears in your photos and adverts!

Nothing special (it's an old hand-knitted jumper) - just a trick I learned from looking at some of Mike's stunning pictures where he uses a textured surface behind the subject

[Mick Cliff]

....it's an old hand-knitted jumper....

Another hidden talent! How did you 'age' it Andy?

[jury]

You can't beat abit of knit one purl two !

Car looks stunning Andy, can't wait to see it in the flesh one day

I like the heated screen option. Think I will do the same on my project, it will solve alot of potential problems


Chris

[DeRRis]

....it's an old hand-knitted jumper....

Another hidden talent! How did you 'age' it Andy?

didn't you see the curry stain

[Darren65]

Funnily enough I was experimenting with various colours of dymo labels a couple of weeks ago - haven't decided whether I'm going to use any of them yet though ...

Must be due an update then?....

[jtparr]

Andy

Just caught up with this thread today, very very cool, and a damn clean and tidy garage too !

Hope we'll see it in the near future....would you drive it over to the Fairmile perhaps one of these months..?

Regards
Jonathan

[Lightweight_911]

OK since the weather's fairly grim here this morning I thought it was about time I brought this thread up to date.

As mentioned previously, I had a list of jobs that I was working my way through - split between altering/modifying existing components to make them more authentic, adding additional 904-specific features & creating a more race-inspired look to the exterior.

Most of these don't make particularly interesting reading so I'll just briefly list the tasks I've completed:

Re-routed/tidied up engine/ignition wiring & secured to chassis using rubber-lined 'P' clips

Removed MSD boxes/battery housing & fabricated new aluminium housing/modified wiring to facilitate easier removal of MSD boxes for troubleshooting/changing rev limiter modules.

Re-routed fuel supply hoses to carbs

Sourced/fitted suitable 'off the shelf' door seals (in Hong Kong)

Sourced/fitted suitable rubber seal for rear deck-to-main body

Fabricated/fitted housing for 'dummy' Bosch CDI boxes to cover lightweight Odyssey race battery

Fitted/wired up cigarette lighter socket (hidden) to enable using sat nav/phone charger/tyre inflatoe, etc

Most of the above tasks took more than one attempt (or sample) to get right so were quite time-consuming.

Next I turned my attention to adding a few decals, etc to make the car look more race-inspired. The car is not meant to emulate any specific original 904 but takes inspiration from a number of them.

However, before starting on these body mods I removed the 'street' exhaust that I'd got Barrie to fabricate in order to get it coated in high temp paint.

Since this is made from stainless steel, any treatment was only for cosmetic purposes &, being a 'cheapskate', I wasn't prepared to pay the price of a ceramic coating - opting instead for my local powder-coater to media blast/paint it in high temp heat-resistant paint.

Here's a before & after shot:






First task on the bodywork front was to add some white racing roundels, so these were duly purchased & attached but I wasn't happy with the results. Unfortunately I'd ordered gloss finish & these just looked completely wrong once on the car so were removed/discarded.

I ordered some matt roundels from another supplier & managed to blag some 'seconds' which were slightly imperfect (ideal for me). These were installed & look much better.

VaseK Polak was a major player in the Porsche scene in California & had a direct link with the Factory's Race Dept - many ex-Werks race cars (including several 904's) passsed through his hands, so I'd decided that my car would feature his name.

I mocked up an 'actual size' prototype on my PC, printed it out & took it to my local Signwriters to get some vinyl decals made - quite pleased with the results:





- the installed picture is the opposite side to my prototype version (the 'Vasek Polak' name is at the front end on both sides).

The original cars ran in period with very few sponsor's logos so choice was limited - Vasek Polak's cars seemed to feature Castrol & Bosch stickers so that's what I decided to use.

The only original Castrol stickers I could find from this period (the style & font changed several times) were too small so I had them copied in a suitably-larger size. Not wanting them to appear too new, I tried several different approaches in an attempt to age them suitably but failed miserably ...

To my eyes they (along with the Bosch ones at the rear) look glaringly bright but they'll have to do for the time being :

[bjmullan]

Andy the car is looking great. What about some more pics showing the whole car

[Lightweight_911]

Another feature I wanted to improve on was the rear 'Carrera GTS' metal emblem.

Barrie has his emblems laser-cut from brass sheet & most people wouldn't know or notice that they weren't original :



- but I wanted ti fit some originals ...

Needless to say, although the 'Carrera' emblem was available from several sources - it was also used on the 356 Carrera models - most were repros & the quality left a lot to be desired in most cases.

My search for a good used original emblem not surprisingly drew a blank but luckily I managed to track down a NOS 'Carrera GTS' version - unfortunately with a suitablly high price tag !

What I hadn't realised was that the 'Carrera' portion came flat whereas the bodywork where it needed to be fitted was a double curvature - necessitating bending/tweeking it in 2 planes to follow the bodywork contours.

The original emblems were presumably cast from some suitable alloy (maybe die-cast zinc) before being gold-plated which means they're not very flexible.

My heart was in my mouth as I gently tweeked the expensive emblem ...

Another problem was that the mounting studs on the new emblem were in a slightly different position to the old ones meaning that the holes needed modifying.

This is the new emblem fitted (the 'T' still needs to be adjusted slightly but many originals seem to be like this) - the 'S' may look to be upside down but again I've seen original 904's with it in both orientations :




I know what you're all thinking - "looks exactly the same as the old one !" ... not to me though.

[Darren65]

Car looks great Andy….I'd say that steering wheel is just perfect as it is too!

[Lightweight_911]

There were a couple of jobs that required attention in the interior - firstly the harnesses needed modifying since both the shoulder straps & lap belts were too long (I'd incorrectly estimated the measurements), so these were removed & returned to Sue at FDTS who once again provided superb service ... returning them suitably shortened the next day FOC.

The other items I was keen to replicate were the catches for the sliding windows in the doors - without them there's nothing to stop someone sliding them open from the outside.

Even finding pictures of the originals proved to be very difficult (& it wasn't something I'd photographed when I looked at original cars) but Dave Conklin had photographed lots of small details on '028' (owned since 1970 by Alex Pollock) for an article in Excellence a few years ago & he sent me a couple of pictures.

Taking measurements from these photos & comparing those to other features of known size, I was able to come up with a suitable set of dimensions which I translated into drawings & sent to Andy Haas (haasad).

Once again Andy came up trumps - I couldn't have been happier - thanks again Andy !




& installed:






That more or less completes the interior.

[Lightweight_911]

I've been 'out & about' for a few short journeys lately to check for any potential problems but nothing significant was highlighted - a few minor oil leaks (sorted) & the rear access panel popping one of the quarter-turn fasteners open (rectified).

Initial impressions are that it's more tractable/less temperamental than I expected (& it's yet to be rolling road tuned) - just need to get used to the lightweightflywheel/clutch which makes it very easy to stall.

Current efforts are directed towards a suitable method of air filtration for the Webers since there's a limited amount of space above the carbs.

I'm using tall manifolds plus phenolic spacers between the heads & manifolds which exacerbates the problem & the Webers are equipped with tall auxillary venturi which means that I couldn't use my original idea of the shallower K&N filters.

I'm currently experimenting with individual foam 'sock' filters which I'm hoping will provide a suitable solution.

So, especially for Brendan, here are a few pictures of the car as it is now:

[Bootsy]

Just stunning Andy, can't wait to see it

[Uk911]

Simply stunning...........................mark