Restoring my first 914

[Green Ernie]

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

Hello and yea i am dropping it off to do the bushes anyway. Plan "A" went by the wayside today and i ended up painting the garden fence instead !! Will try again tomorrow.

[Darren C]

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

Hi Stuart,

No not really, not for a whole 10 minutes, that would be just a waste of time.

This morning before work I went through the PET catalogue and made a list of parts I need and then went on line and made another list of rubber seals from 914 rubber and also saw they did the check strap rollers so added that to an ever growing list and emailed it over to them. I spent ½ an hour searching ebay both UK & USA and found some parts so did a price comparison check with Auto Atlanta, Pelican and Mittel. I luckily came across a new windscreen surround and clip set on ebay.de for a good price so went for the buy now on that one. My old surround is fair condition but with a few scratches and tiny stone chips I just know that after my new paint job it will bug me if I don’t fit a new one. I then loaded the bumpers, valances and sill panels into my car and went up to the garage where my car is for 6:50am to drop the compound key off that I borrowed this weekend so that I could work on the car while my friend was on holiday. Popped in and picked up some bacon butties on route as a thankyou. Then it was off to work.

At lunch time I took the bumpers and parts into the sand blasters. All 6 items blasted and etch primed for about £10 each. Not a bad deal as it will be certain to eek out any rust to ensure no nasty paint bubbling for many years ahead. They reckon they’ll be ready for the end of the week. Next I spoke with Porsche Centre Portsmouth and rattled off my parts list I’d drawn up before breakfast. Surprisingly they tell me some parts that I thought “no chance” are still available and not bad prices either. These being the plastic rivets that hold on the sill plates and sill trim, the 3 metal clips that hold on the ali trim across the rear of the roll bar, the main rubber seal that runs up the windscreen pillars and across the roof and the small L shape seals that hold the quarterlights. (Kev said to go OEM for these as no aftermarket ones are as good) One part though that I haven’t tracked down just yet is the padded trim that runs in front of the roll bar (has the two cut-outs in it for the targa clips) mines sun damaged like a bad dashboard and vertically split into about 7 pieces. I did think about recovering it but the splits are swollen up to mountains and valleys so you’ll see it under any over coat of vinyl. I’ll keep an eye out for a good secondhand one.

This evening when I got home I began the mammoth “cleanathon” of all the parts I took off this weekend. Starting with the glass, I used a brand new Stanley blade as a scraper to get off all the old stickers (multiple visits to Yellowstone Park in the 1970’s & 80’s….wonder if they met Yogi Bear?) then scraped all the calcium lines off around where the windows sat in the rubbers. This is damn hard stuff to get off and is caused when you wash a car with tap water over the years it calcifies where it sits between glass and rubber. Finally I scrubbed the window runner brackets to remove yet more sand before I washed it all off with soapy water. I then moved onto some of the plastic parts, headlight surrounds, headlight motor covers and the rubber headlight linkage covers.
Looking at the small round vents that came out the door shuts, after much sand removal from the filter media on the back of them, there was again more calcium white deposits deep into the ever decreasing circles. Since it was made of plastic I opted for a soak in neat toilet limescale remover. (Be careful if you use it on anything plated or aluminium as it will eat into it ) Plastics are fine, and after a few minutes the calcium was gone and they look like new.
Running out of daylight I wrapped up and came indoors to sort out some other car club stuff, write a 14 picture & illustrated instruction for installing the Delorean door brackets that I made last week so others can fit them easily, finalise the details for this Saturdays Charity car club meet at Farnham I’m organising and answer (only 6 emails today) of how do I fix this, that and the other for another club while my dinner cooked.

[Darren C]

Today I got an email back from 914 rubber and we agreed a good shipping rate etc on my large list of parts, so I went ahead and placed the order. I’ve heard mixed reviews on some of the parts so chose wisely (a mix of 914 rubber parts and others I got direct from Porsche) and I’ll update you on the quality and fit of what turns up.
At lunch today I sorted out some zintec sheet for blanking the side markers and went over to the car to see about access to the compound this evening.
Good to go, when I finished work I managed to get a couple of hours taking a few more parts off before I had to leave and lock up.
During the day I called a local windscreen company and asked how much they’d charge to run their cheese wire around my screen to pop it out (bearing in mind I’ve already taken out the chrome trim)…as soon as I said 914 they declined? I called two others and no one wants to know. What’s wrong with these people, it’s their sole business yet they are scared to touch a 914! Pathetic really. The last 3 or 4 cars I’ve restored I’ve had the same issue and ended up taking the glass in and out myself. It seems that if your car is older than 10 years old then the windscreen people don’t want to know. To be fair they are so poorly skilled these days they haven’t got a clue. I had a new screen in my Volvo V70 a couple of years ago on insurance, and they made a right bodge of it, broke all the clips that hold the wiper motor cover, drilled awful self tappers into it to hold it back on and got the black sealant all over the cream interior A pillar trims. I went ballistic at them, it cost more for all the new parts they damaged than the screen cost. Put me right off a certain mainstream “automobile…glass” company.
I’ll just have to do it myself, so cheese wire is on my shopping list for tomorrow.

When I got home this evening I spent another 1 ½ hours cleaning sand out of the window winder mechanism, cleaning up the securing bolts and the tracks the nylon rollers run in. I then started to clean the whole assembly with brass bristled detailing wire brushes to get that just oxidised coating off the whole assembly. The two pull rods from the interior door handles had started to go furry too, so they got a good going over.
When I stripped the doors down over the weekend I found part of a broken spring clip that holds the rod into the door lock mechanism in the bottom of the door. Part No 113.837.199. I’ve seen them many times before in my VW youth so just checked and found them on VW Heritage for £2.50 so bought a pair. Although I only need one I thought for the sake of £2.50 I’ll just replace both clips that are inside the door. The ones behind the pull handle can be re-used as if they do ever break, they’re far easier to swap over than the ones on the lock itself.

I ran out of daylight again so called it a day.

[911hillclimber]

Good thread this, enjoy visiting it.
On that screen, I've had the same with my 73 T, they got a guy out of retirement to string mine back in.
He did a super job, on his own, drank 2 teas and accepted some cash and was gone in an hour.

The current fitters never get this call anymore.

[Darren C]

Thanks, it does seem to be common place these days for windscreen companies to not want to know about classic cars. Ironically I’m well experienced in taking out and fitting car glass in rubber seals, done it 100’s of times, but the 914 is bonded in like a modern car, which I have far less experience with. One company I called yesterday said they would most probably have to break it to get it out! I said that my 17 year old would be able to do it that way all by himself without any training or callout charge. (They didn’t get my sense of humour)
My plan is to gently attack it with Stanley blades to see if I can cut most of it out before the cheese wire is used. Since the car is currently stored outside I plan on leaving it to the very last moment before it goes down to the paintshop.
Anyway, this morning before breakfast I started to sort boxes and bags of parts out in my shed into “clean”, “refurbish” or “replace”. One item that certainly needs replacing is the rubber sleeve that the wiring loom passes through from inside bonnet to the sidelights. Mine just crumbled into 1000 pieces when I took the lights out and pulled back the loom. It was a sod to find in the PET illustrations as the picture of it looks more like the boot on the side marker than the long tube with 90 deg boot one end and grommet the other. By shear chance this morning I googled the part number for what looked wrong in the PET and sure enough it came up as the part I needed.
The part number for them is 91463121710 I found a couple for sale on line and opted for a pair from Auto Atlanta, placing an order this morning before work.
I had to go into central London today with work so popped into the newsagents to grab a magazine to read on the train. There I saw EVO with Kev’s 914-6 feature, so picked up a copy. Great read, much Porsche content and some great pictures of Kev flying the 914 flag!
As I was away over lunch I couldn’t get much done in the way of chasing parts which was pretty frustrating.
To make up for it tonight when I got home I finished off cleaning the window regulators by a giving the pinion, rack and pivots a good wash through with white spirit to clear out all the sandy grease. I worked it all in with a paintbrush until it operated nicely without any gritty noises. While they dried off I cleaned the same sandy grease out of the interior door pull handles too and left them to dry.
There is a small (about 8” long C channel that one of the legs of the regulator runs in (bolted to the door closest to the rear). These couldn’t have been galvanised like the rest of the regulator is as they were quite rusty. I gave them a good going over with emery paper and small wire brushes to clean them up before giving them a coat of Galv silver spray paint. (avoiding painting inside the runners as these will be eventually greased and any paint in there could jam them up.
After finishing the painting, the regulators were dry and I poured some waxoil straight from the tin into a spray can lid and with a small ¼ brush I gave the whole regulator assemblies a light coating inside and out to keep them from rusting and seizing in the British climate.
Running out of light again I moved inside and finished off by cleaning sand and dirt with an old toothbrush and Cif crean (magic stuff) off the 4 (2 each side) little rubber hoop guides that interior pull handle rod runs in to stop it rattling.
So that was today’s escapades. Switching my computer on this evening I had an email from Roger Bray re brake discs. Last week I had a series of bizarre emails from Berlyn, blaming everyone but themselves for sending the Beetle discs out, don’t want to go into detail, but Roger Bray will have some in stock next week so lets hope Berlyn sort their mess out and get the Beetle discs swapped over before my 14 day resolution deadline.

[Porky Scratchings]

How are the Felt window channels Darren, I'm re-building my doors at present and have replaced with Wollies channels that fit both front and rear channels fine. I also had to replace the top Aluminium track and felt which cost a relative fortune from Hess. Ah well it's only money!

Peter

[Darren C]

Yes Peter, I am replacing ALL the fuzzies. The vertical track ones were rock solid, and shattered into several bits in the bottom of the doors! The ali strip horizontal internal and external were shot too, as was the very outer rubber weatherstrip, so all ordered and on their way.
Today was a manic day at work, typical Friday issues (why the hell do things go wrong on a Friday at 5 to 5) Suffice to say I have just got home at 10:15pm

Before the gloom and doom this afternoon I did manage to get out at lunch time and pick up the nicely sand blasted and etch primed bumpers, valances and sill sections. They came out really well. Trouble is now they have no heavy textured stone chip on them I’ve spotted a few more dents. More tin bashing required!
This morning the postman delivered the new windscreen surround from Germany…that was quick.
Also this evening on the door mat were the two lock rod clips turned up in a jiffy bag and some engine lid rubber trim from Peter. Many thanks Peter “Top Bloke”
I placed all the parts in my shed this evening and with everything else in there it’s getting a bit crowded now. Roll on the 20th when the car goes in for paint and I can think about starting to put it all back together.

[Darren C]

Today was the day of the visit to Spellbound Cars. I got up early and loaded up my car with direction signs and went down to our local village Barbers for a de-mullet. They open at 7am, so I was waiting from quarter to.
Back home to get changed and then off to Spellbound Cars for 9am. I stopped and put up the signs and then met and parked up the cars. Kev & Nathan (great to meet you Nathan ) came along and after looking at some serious exotica including a total bare metal restoration of a 356, we were the last men standing. Talking everything 914 in the carpark for a good while afterwards!
On the way home I called in at a chandlers. I live a by the sea and we have multiple boat yards and Marina’s within spitting distance. They always have some interesting stainless fixings, braketry and general stainless nuts & bolts. This afternoon I was after some waterproof grease, the type the Yachties use on the winches and mechanicals at sea. I picked up a small tube and went home to work it into the joints and runners of my window regulator mechanisms. It’s great stuff, and perfect for this application.
I finished off painting the short runners with a coat of oil/grease resistant paint that I’d galv silvered yesterday and when they dried I put them all back together



I’m pleased how they came out.



I then greased up the interior pull handle lever assemblies with some more waterproof grease before bagging everything up to keep them clean ready for putting back on the car after it’s painted.
The other week I turned down on my lathe a press for blanking the side markers. At the weekend I took further measurements and found a gentle curve in the wing (about 4mm off centre top and bottom) Having had a re-think for a week, I decided to reverse the infill plate. In other words instead of pressing the wing I will press the blank plate.
So this afternoon and into the evening I spent several hours making a new press tool and cutting discs out of the zintec sheet I picked up in the week. Pressing and testing until I got it right. Finally I made several and cleaned up two for welding after putting the wing curvature into them.



The top right is a plain disc, far right was the old tool pressed first attempt, bottom right is the flat pressed reverse wing infill and finally the two on the left (top & bottom) are the finished ones with wing curvature. Running out of evening I finished off by down loading today’s photographs, writing an article about the visit for another club magazine and website and posting my update here.
Dependent on how I get on tomorrow I plan on welding the side marker holes up.

[karmann]

This is the most comprehensive build thread ever! It's a joy to read with great detail and humour, your work is an inspiration. Can I book my car in once you have finished your lol

[Darren C]

Thanks for the kind words Karmann, if I had a penny for every time someone asked me to help restore their car I’d have 73p …. Just kidding (it’s probably far more) but I do get asked all the time to fix stuff, and always try to help out where I can; a whole car though would be pushing your luck!
Today was a dawn start, I had access to the unit so loaded Victor “the wonder bus” (my V70, so called because each time I go out, I wonder what’s not going to work today on it). Today it was the central locking, but to be fair the car has a special system that works on an algorithm shift rota. Today it was the rear door on the drivers side that wouldn’t unlock, last week it was the petrol flap. All random stuff that fixes itself the next time I drive it.

I cooked my speciality Panini’s first thing while loading up and delivered them at 7am to a hungry team at the unit (a 59 chevy in need of clutch ajustment, a Seat leon with leaking manifold and my friend who's unit it was) before starting work on the 914.
The weather was really kind again and I cleaned up back to bare metal around the side markers on BOTH sides of the wings. Scraping off some PO underseal first. With the sidelights removed I could get in easily and see what I was doing easily. Using a half round file and a rat tail I cleaned up the large hole and three smaller holes so all was clean and good to go for welding.
A dry run on the plates I made yesterday showed they needed a tiny tweek with pliers before the fitted perfectly.
Both discs were welded in and the three holes welded up, before finishing off with a flap disc to take the weld down flush.
Since it’ll be a week before the car goes into the paintshop I gave both sides a good coat of encapsulating primer, working the paint into the rear of the wing. After a few days to dry I plan to seam sealer it all up to protect the plate from corrosion from the inside.
While the paint dried I started to clean up inside the boot. Again like everything else it was full of sand. Unfortunately the PO sealed up the rear lights with caulking (a black tar like blu-tack) and mastic. Suffice to say it was a nightmare to get off with plenty of sand stuck in it.
There was a question about rear badges on the car, or lack of. During cleaning I found the rear of the badge holes (the ones to the right of the boot lock) had been filled and painted over ???. I quite like the car having the 914 and 2.0 badges so I dug out the filler and revealed the holes. Running a drill bit down them by hand to fully clean them out.
It’s that time of year now where all the car shows begin and I had an invite to a show at Chichester College today. I wrapped up at noon, picked my son up from Portsmouth, went home, cleaned up and took another car to the show. There was an interesting selection of cars and as per normal I chatted with friends new and old before returning home about 5pm to start on more 914 bits.
The parts I had collected from the sand blasters had revealed many more dents and scrapes now that all the textured stone chip was removed, so I set about them again with a planishing hammer.
I finished the two sill trims off and started again (stage 2) of the front valance. I’d had them etch primed so I could see a few new dents, that took an hour or so to get out before I moved on to a bucket of water with a squirt of washing up liquid. Dip in a cloth and wring out and wipe over the part (to apply a soapy water gloss) and lo and behold a whole new series of dents showed themselves. More hammering required and I called it a day at 8pm after hearing a few slamming doors from the neighbours!

[Darren C]

After yesterdays revealing of the rear badge holes, this morning I set about an availability and price comparison on-line for the rear 914 & 2.0 badge. While I was at it I checked out the P O R S C H E script for the engine lid grille. After an hour I’d found the best deals and snapped them up (including the securing nuts which annoyingly are extra) before leaving for work.
Today I was back in Central London, all went well until this afternoon with a signal failure at Clapham Junction most trains were cancelled or delayed. Instead of a straight through train I ended up changing 3 times and getting home 2 hours late!
I started again on the front valance with more tin bashing on the final dents. This was followed by draw filing to remove any high spots and after a few hours another coat of etch primer to finish off. I’m determined to get it back to shape without using any filler. In such a vulnerable position, at the slightest stone impact any filler would simply be dislodged and make a right mess. Since I have plenty of time while the cars away for painting it’s worth doing properly, even it it’s a real painstaking job.

[Darren C]

This morning before work I went through more parts that I’d taken off and added the chrome on plastic Fog/driving light surround grilles that fit into the front bumper to the replace pile. (The chrome is starting to fall off mine)
I googled the part number (from PET) and did a price comparison on-line and was at first shocked at the price new. In the end I found a good deal from a company in France and ordered a new pair before leaving for work.
During lunchtime I visited Porsche Centre Portsmouth and collected the front up & over seal, the quarterlight seals and a few clips. Curiously the little black plastic rivet clips that hold the sill threshold plates and sill covers on, turned up clear plastic? I recall Kev saying something about this at the weekend. I suppose I’ll paint the heads black if that’s how they come now.
I also called another windscreen company (recommended by Porsche Centre) and they said they’ll come take a look and let me know if they would be prepared to remove the screen which is more than any of the others have said so far.
On another note, today was the last day of my 14 days notice for Berlyn to change the Beetle discs for 914 ones. Total time now is 11 weeks since I placed the order and paid. Guess what….not a word, so off to small claims Court it will unfortunately have to go. Since now I am completely entitled to claim consequential losses too, I have ordered another set of discs now from another supplier. It’s really disappointing that it has come to this but I simply cannot rely upon Berlyn and my restoration moves on even if I have to pay twice for the right part.
Anyway, as it was so warm and sunny this evening I visited the car and worked until dusk. After welding the side markers up at the weekend and painting the metal inside & out, it had had 48 hours to dry so I sealed it all up on the reverse with 3M Drip-check sealer.
Next I finished off getting all the visible sealant off around the windscreen with a Stanley knife to make it a little easier for the windscreen chap tomorrow.
Moving on to the boot that I’d cleaned out on Sunday there was some strange stuff going on across the floor in the middle below the boot lock. The floor had been repainted at some point (presumably when they did the poor respray) There was a paint tape line just back from the first set of corrugations so only the first rear 12” of floor had been painted? The surface had skinned and drawn. A bit like crinkled cling film? It was soft to the touch and with pressure it left a fingerprint!
So out with my scraper and old wood chisel and it simply stripped off like butter to reveal a substance that can only be described as sticky tar? Anyway it all had to come off. After about two hours I’d scraped most of it off from the rear panel seam to the end of the first set of corrugations. It revealed the original blue painted floor, but showed signs of rubbing down. There was some small bits of surface pitting from old rust, but with 80 grit this came out. All I can imagine is the previous owner coated it when he saw the first signs of rust with the black tar substance. When it went in for paint I guess they just sprayed over it, but as it never really set the paint just dragged.
There’s more work to be done to get it all off but it dissolves in white spirit so with more scraping and a soaked rag it should eventually come off.
Before dark I worked on the area closest to the back of the car and the back panel seam getting it all clean before I put a nice bead of Drip check along the rear panel joint to re-seal it.

[chief]

This is getting like a Haynes Manual Brilliant, it will help lots of us soon to embark on the pilgrimage to loveliness

[Canarydelia]

Darren, just a thought from me, one of the devoted followers of your brilliantly written restoration thread....

How about recording some of this restoration and starting a YouTube channel? That would be really useful to the rest of us...and to be honest, at the moment you still seem to have a few hours spare that you are quite possibly wasting sleeping between the hours of midnight and 3am

Thanks again for your contributions Darren!

[milhouse914]

Darren, I used these guys to remove and replace my 914 windscreen:

http://oldschoolwindscreens.co.uk/