Repaint, 2nd time round, 73T

[jjeffries]

I have looked forward to all installments of this story, and agree with Andrew and others about admiring/relating to your having done it on a budget (how I have to conduct my hobby too). I've also enjoyed your candor and willingness to write about what it all means to you.
One question: what's that little device on the front scuttle panel, to the right of the driver's side wiper?
Another question: do you have access to a tire (tyre) shop with a Hunter Roadforce balancer? Those can be very useful for finessing a recalcitrant tire into acceptable balance. Assuming you're not running staggered width wheels/tires front/rear, have you rotated wheels to see how things change with the front wheels on the back and vice versa? Apologies if you covered this elsewhere. Best, John

[911hillclimber]

Hello John, the 'device' is a simple battery isolation switch, a rotary circuit breaker which is a hang-over from it's hill climb days.
If you had a crunch the marshals could isolate/kill the electrics of the car to minimise fire risks.

It is part of the cars heritage so I left it there. It should have a turn arrow to instruct which direction to turn.

Finding one of those wheel balancers is a bit tricky, so changing the wheels to known concentric ones might remove the wobble, time will tell.
I have rotated the Dage cast wheels last year, diagonally and front to back and the problem is still there, so it may not be the wheels!

I wanted a change of appearance to the car in it's 30th year with me and had the Cookies from the hill climb days, so a cheap solution that I like the look of.

TBH I don't much like Fuchs wheels, the Dage and the Cookies are a little more unusual.

[jjeffries]

Ahhhh...makes sense (battery switch....hill climber etc).

Am sure you've already done the troubleshooting task in your head but...if a different set of wheels doesn't cure it, tighten wheel bearings a hair? If not that, service steering rack. Etc. Have you ever pulled your rack apart to clean and lubricate it, replace the bearings? You've got the benefit of EB being relatively local (i.e.,same country) they supply nice delrin or similar custom replacements for the "puck" which can become so buggered-up.

Pretty much all the OEMs here now require their dealers to have RoadForce machines on hand. When I started in the late 80's, sometimes we'd have a car with persistent vibrations (early Michelin MXV's or Pirelli P6's on top-trim level saloons etc) and go looking for a shop with 1970's-era Hoffman finish-balancers, which did the job on-car and thus balanced the whole rotating mass. Maybe a few Mercedes dealers had these but as soon as the customer rotated the wheels, you were back at square one. I also remeber having to meet with a customer peed-off because his car kept requiring new steering raxk mounts. The dealership's foreman and me put the car on a lift (hoist) and took the front wheels off, and even though I was a callow 26-27 yr old I still had the presence of mind to sense that these customer's tires were HEAVY. They were some off-brand and we weighed them next something a bit more normal and found they were almost twice the weight. "Not the car's fault, Sir", I said with that kind of naughty satisfaction you feel defending something you're involved with.

Sorry for the war stories. The Terrot looms as your garage nemesis. Best, John

[911hillclimber]

Thank you for the suggestions John.
I expect the local Porsche centre to have such a balancer, but as I want to change the wheels for the looks anyway, I'll wait until that is done and the weather (salt on the roads here today) is clear to take the car for a 70mph run.
I have tugged at the rack in all directions and it feels solid and is far more direct and sensitive than my Boxster.
All the wheel swap around tests were with the wheel bearings too tight.

This issue arrived with 2 things changed:
1
4 x new Dunlop tyres properly fitted and balanced, specs correct for the car.
2
Suspension alignment checked and changed, esp the caster (max positive, equal both sides)

I will be checking all the suspension again when I have the 'new' wheels on the car on Monday next.
The steering wheel wobble is only 67 to 72 mph, perfect at any other speeds below and above a bit.

[chud]

Great story Graham, enjoyed your thread very much.

[911hillclimber]

Thank you Chud.

A little while back I asked for a scrap window winder for my 911. Billy Bean found one and donated it to me.

For 25 years the car has had a full 6 point roll cage fitted after a hard hit at a hillclimb that cracked my helmet, so a full cage went in which presents a few prob as a road car, one is the loss of sun visors as the top front bow covers the mounting points, but also the tubes that run down the A pillars come just in front of the window winders.

This means you cannot wind the windows up or down with the door closed, an inconvenience I've tolerated for 1/4 century, and I decided to sort it out.

My idea was to extend the 'shaft' of the window winder mechanism to bring the crank handle along side the tube of the cage:

The handle (stock) will not pass behind the tube and the door card:



The solution:



I took the naff handle, cut the crank off and machined it round so giving me a disc of die cast alloy. This will screw to the existing mechanism.
I then made a 75mm extension tube from fresh exhaust tube and 2 penny washers brazed together and added a crank handle.
The crank handle was 'vee'd' to add a bit of stiffness and it was then brazed on and drilled for the knob.

The knob was turned from acetal mounted on an M6 screw and then covered with 2 old 911 2.4 oil cooler seals and trial fitted.



uploading pictures

Not the prettiest thing but it sure works! I could now wind the window up/down with the door closed.

After some sanding and prime/paint it all came together, finally toped-off with a turned disc of black plastic cut from a scrap body filler spatula glued on. The tube was drilled open to allow easy insertion of the winder screw and closed off with a simple blanking grommet.

Pleased with this little mod, cost me nothing.
Need to make one for the passenger side now. Hope to find another naff handle at the forth coming DDK Autojumble.







Wheels back to morrow, THE final job on the list.

[911hillclimber]

Last job on the car completed today.

Had the 7" 944 wheels stripped and powder coated, 5 for £225 at a very local new shop to me.

Had a surprise when a strip of balancing weights fell off one in the car coming back so had that re-fitted this morning.

I have always stuck aluminium tape over all my wheels for many years and covered all the weights on these Cookies too.

Bolted on nicely and complete the 'classic car' look I was after, but keeping the open steel wheel nuts as a nod to the cars hill climb past.

The silver is 'Old Fashioned Silver' as opposed to bling 2019 AUDI Silver metallic. These look sharper in the sun! The AUDI silver was just too bright.

Found a small dent in one of the DAGE wheels which might explain the wheel wobble. Will see when I venture out in the car (when the salt is gone)

Thinking of fitting centre caps to these wheels to complete the look if I can find some.



fallout ian

[Bootsy]

[johnM]

Looks great Graham, you've done a fantastic job.

[911hillclimber]

Thank you both and all for help and encouragement during this project.

I'm pleased it is finally done and hope it will last another 28 years.
As Gary predicted, weather is against using it this week to see if the wobble in the steering has gone.

The wheels are still growing on me as I loved the Dage ones. They are in the shed for another day.

[Darren65]

Not gone through your thread as yet Graham but the end result looks superb

Congrats

[danny]

Great thread and a wonderful car Graham. Looks fab.
Love the new wheels, they really suit it.

Look forward to seeing it one day.

[911hillclimber]

Thank you both.
If you come across the car don't look too close!
It is no Barry Shell, Darren Paint mega star, just a keen amature's motor.

Wheels have centre caps on one side ATM, hope to find 2 more soon.