Restoring my first 914

[rhd racer]

That is one solid clean car you have there Darren underneath all that sand!

It's a shame about Berlyn Services as I know Bert from there has been quite helpful and competitive with pricing over the years with the 944 guys over on the PCGB forum but I guess parts for those are more readily available and standard or they know the cars better perhaps. Hope you get a resolution from them without the need to go to court.

Keep up the good work.

Regards

I think Bert retired and sold up a couple of years ago Nathan, so unfortunately things appear to have changed (he supplied lots to me very reliably and cheaply over the years)

As an aside, if you ever have some grey haired types pointing at you in the 914, don't take it personally, I grew up in Alton and my folks still live there!!!

Keep up the good work Darren - the car looks an absolute find and very deserving of the level of attention and skill you are able to apply.

Cheers
wayne

[Green Ernie]

Darren, i have drilled the dog bone/mounting holes using measurements taken from a thread on 914 world. Just the driving light holes to do.

Thanks

Matt

[Darren C]

Today as it was a Bank Holiday I had a nice lie in (after watching that marvellous Ayrton Senna film last night on telly). After breakfast I waited until 8am to continue hammering out the dents and damage on the bumpers, so to not upset the neighbours too early.

The front valance on passenger side was very badly dented and deformed as per the photo I posted before with it still on the car.



When it was off the car on closer inspection it was pretty mangled on the passenger side



After a couple of hours and some serious metal persuasion I got it reasonably sorted out.



The drivers side of the valance when on the car was also pushed in and bent.



Same as the other side when taken off and flipped over



A few more hours tin bashing and it’s back in shape



I wrapped up this evening at 6pm. I do get bored after 10 hours gently tapping out dents, so need to stop for a change of job so that I don’t get complacent with the dents. It’s far easier to have a “that’ll do” attitude after a day with a hammer. I’ve found if I walk away and return another day I end up doing a better job in the long run. So the valance has been saved for another day and wont need any nasty filler in it

[rhd racer]

Very impressive Darren. I' ve got a few gnarly old pieces of cack kicking around that you can knock into shape if you want a change of scene!!

Am always in awe of the skills that can save what most would think is unsavable....

[Darren C]

Darren, i have drilled the dog bone/mounting holes using measurements taken from a thread on 914 world. Just the driving light holes to do.

Thanks

Matt

Hi Matt,

I took the spot/fog lights off today and the curved front panel is embossed to hold the two light brackets pointing squarely forwards. There is a captive nut in both sides.



Without moving the nut when I took off the light the measurements are as below from the centreline of the holes. (the other side is the same but in reverse). If you use a spirit level for vertical & horizontal lines then you cant go far wrong.



Good luck.

Regards
Darren

[Darren C]

Today I started at 6:30 am taking parts off the car in preparation for the repaint.

Starting at the front of the car I took off…..

Horns
Fog/Driving lights
Row of large rubber caps
Two small rubber stops that the valance rests on (same as the ones on the engine lid hinges)
1 x small grommet in boot floor
2 x small panels in front of pop up lights (then removed the securing grommets
2 x light motors, relays & bases
2 x pop up light covers (the painted tops)
2 x pop up light assemblies complete
2 x bonnet rubber rests
Bonnet seals
Bulkhead seal
Front carpet
Spare wheel, and cover
Little sticker for fuel (saved to put back on after paint)
Drilled out rivets and removed ali VIN plate
Drilled out rivets and removed small id plate in spare wheel well
Removed side markers and what was left of the perished rubber cable sheath under the wings.
2 x front light assemblies (indicator/sidelights)
Undid all the bent metal tab wiring loom retainers, straightened flat and took of plastic tube covers.
Removed numerous through bulkhead wire grommets
Pulled back whole front wiring loom and coiled up out of the way to allow painting inside whole bonnet.
2 x wiper arms, and spindle nuts washers and seal rings to scuttle.
2 x windscreen washer jets
Complete windscreen aluminium surround trim (uber carefully)
Radio aerial
Door mirror
2 x rear tail light assemblies
All wiring tabs and sleeves in boot
Pulled back whole rear wiring loom and coiled into engine bay
2 x white large cup plugs buy rear strut tops
2 x strut top large rubber covers
2 x targa roof white clips (had to drill out very large pop rivets)
2 x targa black clips over rear lights
1 x boot light.
Boot & bulkhead rubber edge seal
2 x polished ali trims (curved facing backwards) either side of rear window
2 x thin polished ali trims running at the base of the vinyl covered quarters
2 x ali trims and door seals up the rear of the door opening
1 x rubber trim up windscreen pillars and across targa top front. (Boy was that rock hard and shattered into 1000 bits)
2 x ali trims up back of windscreen pillars that the rubber sits in.
And finally with a very flat wallpaper scraper I took what was left of the vinyl off the sides of the rear quarter panels.

All in all not a bad days progress, everything labelled (especially wiring) and all parts and fixings bagged and labelled too.

Again my Nemesis SAND was found every where, under, behind, over and in any nook and cranny.

I took the bonnet seal out and threw sand everywhere!



The recess in the aperture was full of sand



I took the pop up lights out and found the deep funnel shaped body on both sides about 1 ½” deep and flush with sand and Californian pine needles. What a quality spray job they did in the past, even the top of the sand got oversprayed Alaska blue



Sand everywhere in the boot and bonnet, even the spare wheel was buried in the stuff.
When I took the seal off around the windscreen it was full up with sand.
Pulling the roof seal off across the top of the windscreen threw sand all over my multiple times hovered interior!

As I said before if you’d buried this car on the beach and dug it back up there’d be less sand in it.

Even the exterior has mini sand dunes forming in every corner!



I cannot even begin to tell you how much sand this car has in and on it. One things for certain….it’ll be half the weight when I’ve got the last bit off of it.

[Darren C]

One quick question guys....hows the polished ali trim held on across the back of the rollbar/targa roof? (the trim facing backwards across the car at the top of the 2 curved vertical bits. I cant see any fixings?

Thanks in advance

[Green Ernie]

Darren, i have drilled the dog bone/mounting holes using measurements taken from a thread on 914 world. Just the driving light holes to do.

Thanks

Matt

Hi Matt,

I took the spot/fog lights off today and the curved front panel is embossed to hold the two light brackets pointing squarely forwards. There is a captive nut in both sides.



Without moving the nut when I took off the light the measurements are as below from the centreline of the holes. (the other side is the same but in reverse). If you use a spirit level for vertical & horizontal lines then you cant go far wrong.



Good luck.

Regards
Darren

Hi Darren, thanks for that, just the ticket. I will be drilling the holes tomorrow. I have found a local aircooled resto company that i didn't know about (hidden out in the local country lanes) who are shot blasting/painting a few parts for me, they are loaning me a thread insertion tool to install the rivinuts next week I shall have a look at how that trim comes off tomorrow but i did take it off twenty odd years ago Regards, Matt

[914 KEV]

One quick question guys....hows the polished ali trim held on across the back of the rollbar/targa roof? (the trim facing backwards across the car at the top of the 2 curved vertical bits. I cant see any fixings?

This part is held in place by three clips.
The clips slide into the groove on the rear of the trim.
Then the trim is pushed fitted to the body and the clips fasten on a lip on the body.
To remove, firstly remove the two side trims which are held in place by a screw at the top and a nut in the wheel arch.
Gently pull the rear trim away from the body.

[Darren C]

Thanks Kev, top advice as always. Your continued support is most appreciated.

Today I started early this morning making good use of a nice dry warm day. I took the targa top off to remove the rear ali trim and knocked sand all into the car.
Over the last few weeks I kept cleaning the car and each time I returned to it it was covered inside with a light dusting of sand??
This morning I found the source when I lifted the targa top and accidentally knocked it.



Half brushed down, half full of sand!

Once the roof was cleaned off I pulled the ali trim off cleanly. (Thanks again Kev, always best to ask and prevent damage)
After a good clean I set about taking the doors apart. Door cards, handles, quarterlights, main glass, runners, locks, window mechanism, door seals and weatherstrips. As with the rest of the car, all the fixings even the tiny Philips screws holding the outer weatherstrip came out easily. Just the slot head screw adjusters on the bottom of the window frame gave me a struggle, but after a quick squirt of WD40 they freed off. Looking inside the doors they are absolutely rust free. Full of sand, but not a spot of rust!

I did find a broken plastic roller for the drivers check strap mechanism, so I'll have to add that to my parts list. Hope they're still available.

The cars looking very sorry for itself now, but hopefully it’ll ensure a decent paint job without any nasty masking up edges on stuff left on the car.



After the doors I put the tools away and got out the bucket for some serious sand removal cleaning from the bonnet.
Phew..3 hours later and it looked like this.



I was very surprised to clean out the headlamp wells and the wheel well, and find zero rust. (The brown on the bulkhead is glue where I pulled off the carpet) Considering all the cr*p in there I expected the worst. Just a little flaky seam sealer in the passenger headlight bucket but underneath it was spotless grey primer.
I spent another hour and a half cleaning around the fuel tank area having thrown sand all in there yesterday when the bonnet seal came out before I finally called it a day.

[chief]

Darren,
I have spent and enjoyable hour reading your thread. A great read and very informative. Keep up the good work!!

[Green Ernie]

Hi Darren, i see you got the trim off ok. Sorry i didn't get to check on my car until this afternoon due to family commitments, but now i have discovered that i can't remember where i put my clips twenty odd years ago when i took the car apart. Back on it tomorrow and drill those holes for the lights, i hope to drop the front suspension and fit the turbo tie rod kit. Your car is looking nice and rust free like mine but i can't believe that sand.

[Mr Pharmacist]

Are you planning to drop the suspension anyway Mr Ernie? You don't need to drop it to fit the turbo tie rod kit?

[Darren C]

Thanks Guy’s,

Today I got up at first light and cut some spare sheet steel up to make a hook tool. One of the jobs I wanted to do yesterday was take out the circular vents in the rear door shuts, but couldn’t see how they were held in. A quick text to Kev and the answer came back as clip in but the centres usually break out if your not careful! Thanks Kev, so I ended up making the hook tool. Inserted at 12 o’clock (tiny tug) and 6 o’clock, tiny tug and they both popped out followed by another egg cup full of sand into my lap.



After cleaning up yet again I started on the bonnet seal channel. It looked like the PO must have had a new seal at some point or re-glued the old one as there was a mix of old impact adhesive, silicone and polyurethane bond in the channel. What a mess it was. Certainly couldn’t just paint over it or glue another seal on top, so I started the thankless task of scraping it out with an old blunt (slightly rounded to take the edge off it) wood chisel come scraper. Followed by miniature wire brushes (tooth brush size that fit nicely in the channel) then 180 grit followed by 240 grit. Not a nice job, but after 6 hours at it, it was time to give it a quick coat of encapsulating primer to stop any rust starting on the areas where it was bare.





Fingers aching and locking up, it was time to move to another job.
Having taken the doors apart yesterday they were absolutely full of sand. 2” in the bottom and a good dusting on every surface inside them. The only way I could get it out was to cut the handle off a 3” paintbrush and get in side each door by hand with several buckets of water. Slowly working from the top down inside each door, into the ridges of the side impact bars, and back on myself onto the rear of the inside door pressing. Working with a big water soaked sponge and the brush I managed to get both doors clear of sand in about an hour and a half each.

Drivers door (taken through window slot looking down.



Passenger door through the bottom opening.



Afterwards I needed two buckets to swill the floor beneath the car to get rid of the sand that came out. (if you look at the floor you can see the strips of old broken window channel rubber mixed with heaps of sand)

The weather was kind today and I propped both doors open and the bonnet to allow things to dry nicely.
Not to be one for sitting around, I took off the sill kick plates (with the little plastic rivet clips) and the lower inner door seals and threshold plates while everything dried.
After which I packed up and put the car back under its cover with enough time left to drive home and mow both lawns (first mow of the year, which was tough going) weed the path, cut the borders and make my pack up lunch for work & iron my clothes while my dinner cooked.

[Mr Pharmacist]

The amount you pack into every day amazes me Darren!! I thought I kept myself busy but I think I do about half as much as you fit in (if that even!!).

Do you ever sit down and relax for 10 minutes?! :D