914 2.0 > 3.0 GT Conversion

[defianty]

I may have got a bit carried away with this one, but what's the point in going to all this effort if you don't do everything :Lol:

Yuck!


Much better




This was whilst I was waiting for the compressor to arrive. I needed anything to pass the time.

[Mr Pharmacist]

wow!!! that looks amazing!

[LMR]

Love the work on the jack. How did you do it?

What paint did you use on the rear lights?

[jamie]

Gorgeous work - it's like the parts just rolled off the line.

[defianty]

Love the work on the jack. How did you do it?

What paint did you use on the rear lights?

Thanks guys, It's all time consuming but very rewarding

LMR, Like most of the things I've done, key is to the preparation. Most metal parts have been taken back to bare metal with paint stripper and a combination of sand paper, wire wool and various power tools. All rust treated with a good rust remover/converter. Then I've used good quality automotive acrylic aerosol paint and either an etch or zinc primer for metal and a different primer for the plastic parts. Then it's just down to a good and patient painting technique.

The jack is of a very simple design and was built with cost in mind. It was never meant to be disassembled. The handle is riveted on and the base welded after the the arm had been inserted, so there's no way you can remove that. However the top will prize off fairly easily revealing a cog which it attached to the long threaded part the arm goes up and down on. This will unscrew and can be removed along with a washer and bearing. The only other part that will remove is the green dot.

Once apart, everything was degreased, cleaned and prepped for paint where necessary. You have to be very patient when painting. As you can't remove the arm it moves easily and will scratch off the freshly applied paint. I had the space to put it aside and I painted it over a few days. There's also the top part that's revealed once you remove the cog and thread that needs to be carefully masked.

The top part I just machine polished as whatever finish was there had perished.

A fun job but I'd only recommend it if you had a lot of time on your hands

[defianty]

Ooh shiny bits!

I needed a local powder coater and a friend said he knew of one but had not experience with them. He turned out to be a bit tricky to track down and to be honest a little aloof over the phone. Anyway as is quite often the case he turned out to be a great guy, a one man operation and does work for most well known Porsche/VW restorers in Essex. He'd done it all before and knew exactly what parts needed to be masked. Less than a week later I collected everything.

http://www.shotbeadaquablasting.co.uk

Here's just a sample. Really lovely work.

[defianty]

I didn't have quite as good an experience with the plating. Certainly a lesson learnt with this one.



Most of it is great but some parts could have been cleaned a lot better. Next time I'll clean it all up myself before I hand it over.

Now there's quite a few bits there and as it's my first time doing this I was sure to catalogue, photo and measure everything. Although daunting when I got everything back six, yes six weeks later! I knew I could rely on my system.

What I hadn't prepared for was the amount of missing parts washers, nuts, spacers, bolts you name it. No pattern to what was missing, almost like someone had grabbed a couple of handfuls and thrown it away! Needless to say I wasn't happy and their response was to blame me.

Typically quite a few of the parts were NLA but after a week of searching here and there almost everything is now accounted for. I just now have about a dozen bits that need plating and no plater nearby.

One of the two parts I couldn't replace were three missing seat runner washers so I knocked these up yesterday morning. I used metal that I cut out from the front of the car so you could say they're almost original.



So just one last piece to find. A large washer that's part of the gearbox mount. I might ask Sladey if he can use his new found enthusiasm to make me one. I'll drop him a PM when he gets back from Spa.

[johnM]

Hi Stephen, this looks like its going to be a wonderful car, the attention to detail is mega......Maybe need to do mine again

[chief]

That sir is some progress!
That lot looks bloomin fantastic!!!

We'll do these little cars proud

[defianty]

Hi Stephen, this looks like its going to be a wonderful car, the attention to detail is mega......Maybe need to do mine again

Thanks John, I'm doing the best job I can. It's watching cars like yours being built on DDK that give me the drive to complete this and make it worthy.

[defianty]

That sir is some progress!
That lot looks bloomin fantastic!!!

We'll do these little cars proud

Cheers Chief! Looking forward to a blue project update.

[defianty]

After spending a few days last week with fellow DDK'er and friend James (23heure) with his car, it was back to the garage this week to crack on with mine.

Whilst away a large delivery arrived from Rose passion containing all sorts of parts but mainly new Bilstein shocks, 21mm torsion bars and a 19mm Weltmeister front sway bar. That now concludes the suspenion parts needed and with everything already powder coated and plated it can all be put away ready for assembly.

A few weeks ago I asked Jonathon (jtparr) to recover my steering wheel. I'd removed it from my car years ago - despite liking the looks I couldn't get on with its skinny feel in my big hands. I came across a few pictures of an original GT wheel and asked Jonathon to replicate the girth on the grip.

I was delighted when this turned up a couple of weeks later.

[defianty]

A job I've been wanting to make a start on for a while was the front oil cooler. Because I don't intend on building an exact GT replica there was no need for the expensive of a original Behr oil cooler - fortunately.

A while back I got a GRP copy of the GT cooler shroud, with this came a piece that went under the cooler itself. I didn't like the fit of this so wanted to do something else. Fortunately from following 23heure's build the guys who built his car came up with a better solution and I adapted mine from that.

Cooler Shroud in Place.


Measure twice - cut once!


Phew!


Fabricated lower panel and oil cooler mount. These need welding together.


Oil cooler in place.

[defianty]

I wanted to fabricate a GT style grill - this is what I came up with.

Starting with the side parts - Metal used here was for a 914 engine lid I used to make my GT lid.


Top part...


Trying the grill for size. I used the cut out piece to help form the shape.


Bottom piece fabricated, cleaned and ready to weld up.


Frame welded and finished.


The finished piece...


Held in place along with GT valance.


I'm happy with that. Now to test fit with the bumper once the relevant fittings arrive.

[abzadams]

boyz got skilz init!

Looking good.