Restoring my first 914

[Darren C]

This morning I took the two roll bar ali trim strips out of soak and scraped off the old double sided tape. The adhesive was still stubborn, but the thin foam of the tape came off, so back into soak.
Today at lunch I contacted Porsche Centre and the clips for the lower sail trim were still available and they said they could get some in for tomorrow morning.
I also had a card in the post for a parcel to collect yesterday so on the way home tonight I had a 25 mile trip to the Post Office depo to pick it up. It was my fuse box cover and the 4 “obsolete” rubber stops that cross referenced to a new number 2 for limiting the engine lid hinges when opening and 2 that cushion the front valance. Result!
I also called in to the blasters and powder coaters and picked up the license plate mounting brackets and the two brackets that fit behind the bumper. All looking like new.
Friday again (where did that week go) and food shop night, so after running around picking stuff up, it was quite late when I got home tonight. Determined to get some thing done I washed and cleaned up the rear roll bar trim that goes over the top of the rear window facing rearwards. It was full of sand inside as are all the ali trim pieces. After a final light polish I noticed that the roof must have rubbed/vibrated on it over the years and its worn a nice line through the anodising finish. Not certain anything can be done now, but with a polish it shines the bare aluminium to match the anodising so it’s lost to the eye. However I do know that now I know its marked I may have to change it as it’ll be sure to bug me.
Finally tonight I’m trying to track down a supplier of Perlon by the metre on line, but drawn a blank so far, unless anyone knows a source. Perlon is the trade name of the bonnet/boot carpet and targa headliner material, it comes in charcoal (what Porsche use) platinum, cinder & black. I might try Southbound on the phone tomorrow to see if they can help.

[chief]

Yet more Stirling work Darren!!
This thread is turning into a 'Life Guide', we seem to be getting so much more than just doing up an ol motor

[Darren C]

Thanks Chief, its all part of classic car ownership/restoration!

Today I got up early and sorted out the two trims in soak, got the glue off the back and polished them up. They have rubbing damage like the rear trim from the Targa top, but only visible under scrutiny so for now they are wish list replacement, not essentials.
After breakfast I started on the other Sail roll bar surround ali trims. The two wide curved rear trims have a square plate with M5 stud at the base. This was held in with a big glob of caulking which I picked at until it was out so that the two fixings could be removed, along with the now compulsory filling of sand. These then had a Cif cream neat soak while I cleaned up and headed for Porsche Centre to pick up the trim clips.
They had just opened when I arrived and were preparing for an open day. I collected the trim clips and got an invite to return later this afternoon.
Returned home and checked the clips, perfect.
Phoned Southbound Trimmers and they can supply the Perlon by the metre. The roll is 1.5m so a metre gives you 1.5 x 1 for £16. Result. That’s the new headliner sorted.
Afterwards I gave the Cif soaked parts from earlier a toothbrushing inside and out before a light brasso to remove old calcium water stains. They came up well, a few old light scratches, but nothing bad.
Next I had dropped the square plate M5 fixings in the white spirit before going to Porsche Centre, so took them out brushed them clean and a quick coat of waxoil to finish. They were still nice shiny gold BZP not a spot of galvanic corrosion which was very surprising considering them sitting against aluminium all these years.
The lower small trims along the bottom of the vinyl were next to be cleaned up. Same process as above but I was annoyed to find a layer of paint on the underside. Real lazy nasty respray the car must have had! Suffice to say that I had to clear it all off.
I was about to continue when I heard the unmistakeable sound of a flat six arriving. Charles off here had popped over with his son in their very, very nice early 911. After a short chat we went off to the open day for a couple of hours. I have to say the 911 sounds awesome and rides superb. What a treat that was. Thanks Charles.
So back to the grind. The two inner door top weather strips were next. I pulled out the rotten “fuzzy” seal and started to clean up the aluminium strips. These again were absolutely thick in paint where the car had been resprayed. It took me a good hour on each as I ended up using paint stripper on them in the end. Came up ok after all the effort and a finished polish with brasso again brought them back from the dead.
With the brasso still out I gave the two plastic covers from the headlight motor linkages a good polish. They were dirty, faded, dry looking and brasso did the trick in reviving them to a very glossy black.
Putting them back into storage I took out the black plastic surrounds from the headlight pods (that fit around the light itself). These too had plenty of paint overspray on them so had to be very, very carefully cleaned with cellulose thinners as and stripper would damage the plastic. The sides are smooth so it came of relatively easy, the front face however is textured which was a real pain to scrub old paint off. Again perseverance prevailed and after another hour on them the paint was gone.

[Darren C]

This morning I finished off the ali trims that hold the door window weatherseal and the fuzzy strip that goes along the top of the door.
New fuzzy strips from 914 rubber to replace the original rotten ones. Slide straight in the slot and then gently pinched the metal to hold it in place.
The strips are held on with 3 cross head screws so I predrilled the fuzzy from the back through the original holes. Since the fuzzy has a metal insert and the screws are countersunk I didn’t want the heads to scratch the glass so using a 2mm shim plate in the fixing channel to stop me crushing it, I used a large centre punch to “stamp” a nice countersink for the screw heads in the new strip.
Next I sorted out the new runner fuzzies. The front large ones that sit in the polished ali quarterlight runner had to neatly seat against the top rubber end cap (cut squarely). I’d taken all this apart previously to clean it so un packed the end caps and temporarily refitted them to allow me to get the fuzzy in the right place. The new ones from 914 rubber are lovely and soft unlike my brittle baked old ones. For this reason I decided to use a little high temp impact glue along the base of the channel to stop them moving when the windows are wound up and down.
I also did the same with the rear BZP runner Fuzzies



Using a small ¼” brush I applied the glue, let it cure then carefully inserted the fuzzies. Top tip was to locate the seals at the top of the runners (without glue first) then glue from the first 2” downwards.

Finally the other ends were trimmed to length in situ when the glue was dry.



Again I was really pleased how good the original zinc plate is on the runners. Usually because they sit inside the door they rot out until the ends fall off and the windows get dislocated or jam. I’m amazed at the condition of these sort of pieces.
Hopefully with everything refurbished the windows should open and close effortlessly.

That’s about it for today as I had my son all day, first driving lesson (white knuckle ride for me, but he did very well for a first attempt), cinema, Mcdonalds, shopping in town and mow the lawns but still found a couple of hours for the 914.

[Darren C]

Today I ordered some more of the trim clips I picked up on Saturday from Porsche.
Each trim has 4 clips and I had planned on re-using some of the old un-broken ones. However when cleaning them they just fell apart with age so I needed a few more. All new is the way to go in this case.
I visited the paint factors at lunchtime and ordered in some new caulking ready to put things back on the car. I was quite surprised when the old boy in there told me that I was the first to ask in 10 years for caulking! Apparently with the advent of cartridge sealants no one uses it any more in the trade. Unfortunately nothing comes close to it so as a traditionalist I’ll stick with what I know and is period for the car. He was quite pleased to have the opportunity to order it in for me.
On the way home this evening I called in at the paintshop to select the satin finish from the test cards for the bumpers. I also measured up the Targa roof for the Perlon headliner while I was there.
Tonight I started on a bags of fixings I’d taken off the car for the bumpers and sill trims, carefully inspecting all threads, clips & nuts, then splitting them into clean or replace piles. The “replace” I first went through my shed to match up what fixings I already have and reduced it to a very small list of 4 items. I then turned my attention to the cleaning up the remaining fixings. Some are quite specific to the car and so I took great care in cleaning and preserving.
After a few hours I was ready to waxoil or paint. Even the tiny speed nuts that hold the chrome grille surrounds for the fog lights got a sand, wire brush and paint satin black



Finally I sorted out the rear bumper tow eye plug. It had been painted into the bumper (lazy or what?) and was thick in ripple stoneguard. This got cleaned off to discover sanding marks in the plastic. Can you believe the monkey’s who painted the rear bumper, instead of popping the plug out, just sanded over it and painted it in situ
Anyhow to recover the situation I used various grades of wet and dry getting progressively finer with brasso to lubricate until the surface was polished free of all scratches and shiny, shiny like new.

[Darren C]

The Cleanathon continues!

This evening I started on the rubber dog bones, the buffers (two taper slabs that sit behind the front bumper) and some remaining lower body fixings that I kept when taking the bumpers and sill panels off.
The dog bones have metal tube sleeves through them which I pushed out (they are quite loose) so that they could be wire brushed, sanded and cleaned up before a light coating of waterproof grease to stop them going rusty. The rubber parts got a good scrub with Cif & hot water to clear off the sand and dirt. Left to dry and then finished off with a cellulose thinners wipe (constantly moving to a clean bit of rag each wipe) to bring them up nice and black like new. Finally the cleaned and greased tube sleeves were put back in before bagging up into storage.
The taper blocks had the same treatment to get them looking good too.
Next I concentrated on the two rear numberplate lights. Again full of sand and dirt I took them out of the rubber boots, removed the bulbs and gave them a good Cif toothbrush scrub and soak. The clear lens was filthy and again it all came up sparkling with a hot water rinse. I needed a modellers brush to get into all the detail and corners but with a little patience all the dirt and sand was gone. The rubber boots had the same treatment and finished off with cellulose thinners wipe the parts were left to dry. The bulbs got a 5 minute soak in “Wonder Wheels” and came up like new. Much easier than trying to clean off the verdi gris than wet and dry!
I’m letting the bulb holder part dry overnight and will wonder wheel dip it tomorrow when its bone dry as it works best this way.
In the post today I got my brand new Genuine interior light from VW Heritage (the original lens is broke clean in two). There was also another small parcel from 914rubber. The door window external weatherstrips and a boot lock surround (parts that were to follow from my original order)
Last night in the box of removed sill cover bits were the two jack hole covers. I’d started to clean them but the top edge had a few chunks missing. I’d started to file the edge down a little to hide the missing pieces but it was obvious the whole plastic covers were far too brittle to survive. Sun baked and fragile the just crumbled.
This morning before work I spent a couple of hours on line finding and ordering more bits and bobs. The jack hole covers I found new for under 4 Euros each so it was an easy choice to order new ones. I also tracked down speed clips and Acme bolt/screws (that fit on each end of the sill cover at the wheel arches) 20 assemblies in a pack that included speed nuts large washers and the correct hex head screws all in gold BZP to match originals for less than a fiver, so they got a instant buy-it-now too!
I’d had trouble last night finding the part number in the PET for the square bumper insert speed nuts that hold the number plates on (they fit in the square holes in the bumpers). A quick text to Kev and within 10 minutes the part number came back. Cheers as always Kev!
Part number in hand I found them on the same website as the jack hole covers and cheap too. While on their website I had a look through stuff on my wishlist and found the two short ali trims that run front to back on the roll bar at the top of the sail fins. Mine have some nasty vibration rub marks on them. Again the price was reasonable so those got ordered with everything else. The site is called Rosepassion Porsche. I got the two chrome bumper fog light surrounds from them previously and service was good so was happy to be a repeat customer.
Finally before leaving for work this morning I sourced a few general nuts, bolts and washers so everything holding the freshly restored and painted bumpers, sills and valances together will be shiny and new.

[Darren C]

This morning I finished off the number plate lights using a small modellers paint brush to coat the metal frame and bulb holder with WD40. The frame is riveted on to the clear plastic lens around the screw holes. You can see part of the frame through the lens around the screws and I couldn't get in to protect it against corrosion. The answer was to use a very small brush dipped in WD40 to apply it and let capillary action draw it in between the lens and bracket. The light spade connections were cleaned up, bulb put back in and reassembled in the rubber housing. Using a multimeter to check continuity across the spade connections I knew all was good before bagging it up and going to work.
I called in at the paintshop in my lunchbreak to check progress and took a few more pictures. Not really much visible change to report despite a lot of hard work. The doors, bonnet, boot, engine lid and headlight covers had been flatted and they were working on prepping the inside of the front and rear boots. We had a discussion about how to best retain the tamperproof chassis number sticker and painting above the rear window (under the roll bar). When removing the sun baked vinyl off the top of the roll bar I’d found a tiny dent (pea size) so I got them to agree to fill and finish it too, even though it’s going to be hidden under new vinyl. I know, I know, its an OCD thing!
Tonight when I got home some of the new nuts and bolts had arrived in the post from Mondays order. I sorted them out and bagged up, taking away the rusty old ones in sequence to make way for the new ones. (Making sure I have new before binning the old)
I then started to clean up the over-riders. (Following discussion with a few of you on here, the consensus was that the side markers could go but the over-riders should stay)
Again I gave them a neat Cif scrub with a toothbrush, let it stand for 10 minutes and repeat before they saw water. This removed all the ingrained dirt so a final rinse in clean water left them looking good. The evening was lovely and sunny so I left them on the garden table to dry while I sorted out more bags of old nuts bolts and fixings, this set from the seatbelts. I brass wire brushed everything up and a very thin waxoil coat was applied to keep them all looking shiny gold BZP.
In the same bag was the two coat hooks. I polished the black rubber hook covers with Brasso to a shiny new finish and brass wire brushed the metal brackets and screws before a little waxoil.
The broken Interior light was stripped down and the bulb cleaned and tested before fitting it into my new replacement Hella light fitting
In the same bag was all the little black plastic trim panel screw caps I’d taken off. These got a toothbrush wash as the rear and face had a sand dirt and dust coating. Fortunately all the trim screws that were under the caps were clean and gold BZP intact, so a quick wipe (from being in a bag with dirty stuff) and they got bagged up again in a new clean zip top bag. Last of all I’d carefully kept the rear window shim strips so these got a good cellulose thinners wipe to remove the sand and dirt.
An hour later the over-riders were dry so I ran an M8 die down the threads and sorted out some new nuts and washers. All but one over-rider on the reverse around the threaded stud has the metal plate insert visible that’s cast into it when it was made. Unfortunately these had just started to go rusty so had a good miniature wire brushing. I rinsed them off again as they had rusty dust on them and brought them inside to dry overnight so that I can paint the visible plate inserts tomorrow.

[Darren C]

This morning the over-riders had dried thoroughly so I painted the bits of the steel inserts around the M8 studs that were visible and let them dry while I ate breakfast. I gave the studs a coat of copper grease, fitted the new washers and nuts then left for work.
During the day the Perlon delivery arrived. Looks a perfect match.
Porsche Centre called to say my latest parts were in. I’d ordered two new windscreen washer jets but the hose number was showing as obsolete, so I thought I’d give early 911 hose a try. It came in and fit the jets perfectly but was clear not black, so the search continues as my original hose is all perished.
Tonight after work I started on the pop up light assemblies. The car had been poorly resprayed with pretty much no parts taken off, so the pop up light frames had blue paint on either end. So much so that it completely coated the two pivot brackets, bushes and part of the headlight holder. I started to strip it all apart and dropped the pivot brackets, socket head bolts, and backing plates in a jam jar of cellulose thinners to soften the blue paint.
While they were soaking I picked off the paint from the 4 nylon bushes by hand and cleaned them up. Didn’t want to risk thinners on them in case it damaged them.
Fishing the parts out the jar I wiped off the lifted paint and detail brass wire brushed everything up clean. This took the best part of 2 hours then I gave them a trade mark light waxoil coating and refitted the clean bushes (dry no oil/grease) back on the ends of the pivot brackets. In the morning the waxoil on the bolts, washers and backing plates should be dry so I’ll loosely put them together to prevent loosing any bits and bag up.
A few more fixings had arrived in the post today (replacement self tappers and some 15mm od M5 washers, so as darkness fell I sorted out the rusty/worn fittings and substituted the new in my now numerous labelled zip top bags.

[Canarydelia]

Darren, I seem to remember reading somewhere in this thread that you bought some new plastic jack covers...or have I dreamed this? If you did buy some, might I enquire where from? Thanks...and keep up the great work!

[Darren C]

Yes 2 post back from Rosepassion Porsche here:

http://www.rosepassion.com/en/cat/piece/P19626

This morning before breakfast I sorted out the fixings I’d cleaned and waxoiled last night, loosely assembling the pivot parts and bagging up.
During lunchbreak I called in at Porsche Centre and picked up my windscreen washer jets and remaining trim clips. I left the clear 911 hose which was a gamble that didn’t pay off.
Last night during an online search I found the genuine black high pressure washer hose on sale at VW Heritage (Beetle 1303) so ordered a few metres to replace all the hose in the car.
This evening when I got home a few more fixings had arrived (speed nuts and Acme bolt/screws) for the sill trim ends. I swapped over the old ones and placed the new in the sill rebuild fixings zip top bag and then started on the pop up headlight assembly.
I carefully stripped it down to the component parts ready for blasting. Mostly grey in colour the frame has a lot of blue overspray on it and painted in dirt & sand, so they’re going to need a good sorting out. While tinkering with the small removed parts I found that the pivot bushes on the assembly that connect to the motor arms are badly worn and crumbling from UV exposure. A quick search on line tonight seems to show they are obsolete! The 4 pivot ones seem to be still available (but I don’t need them) it’s the motor arm ones I’m having trouble finding. May resort to turning 2 down on my lathe in phozy-bronze if I can’t find nylon ones.
Anyway as night drew in (late start this evening from having to do the weekly food shop) I was rummaging in one of my sheds for some new speed nuts of the right size and colour when I found a bag of 10 black plastic rivets.
Now, I recall buying these in 1989 for a VW restoration, they were left over dash pad rivets I’ve had in the drawer for over 25 years!
Guess what……they look identical to the 914 sill trim and threshold kick plate black rivets!
Now these in black from all Porsche vendors and under a Porsche part number are ONLY available now in clear plastic as I found when buying some last month.
Having been resigned to thinking I’d have to paint the heads (which I was not happy about long term as the paint was bound to chip off) it was a glum prospect.
So tonight’s “find” was very welcome.
The best bit is they are in a genuine VW Audi bag with part number. Part number that’s different to the Porsche number.
A quick google of the VW number and hey presto multiple VW aftermarket suppliers with stock of black rivets to choose from. R-E-S-U-L-T
Ordered enough to add to what I found to complete the re-assembly tonight before posting this.
The part number for all 14-ers wanting the correct rivets is 113857117B
Averagely the various websites have them at £1.14 each.

No excuses now for having metal pop rivets in your sill trims

[jackstowers]

Darren are these the same?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10x-Befestigu ... 43d01bdf32
Does one need a special tool to fit these or is it a case of push them in and pull with pliers?

[Darren C]

Yes David,

I did see that listing when I googled the part No but was suspicious of the country of origin and price. That said you may be lucky.

Push in, then tap the centre pin home to open up the barbs of the rivet in situ. To remove you have to drift the pins all the way through (you'll loose some inside the sill) and gently pull the rivet out. I managed to save about 15 out of the 36 on my car.

[Darren C]

This morning I carried on cleaning up all the pop up headlight parts. Running die nuts M5 & M4 down the adjuster & bezel bolts to clear out the threads. Cleaning up the brass lever pin and nuts and finally all the speed nuts. A quick waxoil coat and I had to leave for work this morning.
I’m working on a production line bodyshell trolley at work and today we had a Hi-ab lorry take it over to our workshops so I had to take delivery and sort a few things out.
On the way home this afternoon I called into Halfords and picked up a bubble pack of speed nuts to replace two on the headlights (metal plate split by screw).
I also called in at the local scrap yard and had a look around for a few things.
When I took the seat belts out last month the bolts that go into the sills had started to rust on the heads and after cleaning them up the other night I wasn’t too happy with the lost gold BZP. A search late into the evening for the Repa special bolts cross referenced to early Golf, Jetta & Derby, still available from VW but a bit pricy at £8 + Vat each for a shouldered 7/16 UNF bolt! So I had a good walk around but no early VW’s to be found, however I didn’t give up and searched 40 or so cars, unscrewing multiple bolts to see what they were like. After persevering I found a match in the strangest place. Berlingo Van/people carrier, rear seat belt floor bolts. There were two Berlingos in the yard so I got 4 bolts. The heads are under plastic caps so when I flipped them off the BZP was perfect shiny gold colour. The shoulder length was also perfect match. Some may think I’m being fussy but it’s the one seat belt bolt head in the 914 you can see easily and a rusty one would drive me nuts.
Anyhow walked to the gate and showed the chap the 4 bolts and he said “go on you can have em” so all in all it was an hour and a half well spent.
When I got home the post had arrived and my new minature “U” trim that fits on the engine lid mesh had arrived along with the new black windscreen washer hose.
I went into my workshop and sorted out all the seatbelt bolts but there was one large rusted washer that I couldn’t match or find a replacement so I put it in the lathe and faced off both sides and the edge before hanging on a welding rod and spraying with Eastwoods BZP gold effect paint. It’s not seen so this seemed to be the most cost effective solution.
As it was a baking hot day today I decided to get the bucket out and some 1001 carpet cleaner and sort out the seat belts. They were absolutely full of sand so the whole thing got a good scrub and submersion. I pulled the belts out all the way and gently nipped them with mole grips so the spring spindle couldn’t wind them back in, then scrubbed and scrubbed them with 1001 and a nail brush gently on both sides, left to soak then scrubbed again. All the clips and fittings got a good scrub too.
I have a hook outside my sons bedroom window that we had a bird feeder on when he was younger, which worked out ideal to hang them on to dry in the afternoon sun.



Both Belts still retained the “Porsche” sewn in label and as the webbing dried they came up looking like new, no tears, scuffs or loose threads. The plastic sides of the Mechanism has blue overspray on them (god knows how the previous painters managed to get paint on it, when its behind the bulkhead trim?) So tomorrow when its fully dry a bit of cellulose thinners should get it off.
While the sun was out I decided to clean up the sill carpets. So more 1001 with a little washing up liquid and multiple scrubbing repeated for about an hour (1/2 on each) followed by several buckets of fresh water to rinse. After 5 or 6 buckets the water was still running dirty so fed up with fetching buckets of water I decided to fill the bath.



With a good soak and scrub they were finally clean. Mind you I did need to give the bath a good clean afterwards, perks of living alone!
Hanging the carpets over my shed roof to drip dry I moved on to the rear lights.
The US lenses were all red and I picked up some genuine amber Hella Euro lenses last year while the car was in transit from the US. Problem is the whole rear light assemblies they aren’t too clever.
I started by prying off the broken red lenses. They were siliconed on! Plus Caulk masticed into the car and covered in blue overspray all over the rears with sand painted into them. (Really awful)
With the lenses off I emptied more sand out of them, peeled off the old seals, mastic and caulking and took the bulbs out. The PO had mixed a twin element bulb and single element bulb around in the RH assembly which had overheated and melted the reflector part. The housing was also warped so I may need a heat gun on it to straighten it out tomorrow so that the new lens seats properly. Next I took the two screws out that hold the reflectors and bulb holders into the housing and tipped out more sand. Inside the LH assembly I found a broken off wire that’ll need soldering back on.
To make the most of the sunny afternoon I filled another bucket and with a toothbrush and Cif cream I cleaned them both free of sand and dirt then left them to dry.
Finally I cleaned all the bulbs up, they were so dirty it was a wonder any light shone through.
With everything drying nicely I decided to take one of my other classics out for a run to make use of the lovely evening. I’d done a few carb adjustments on the car (mixture & idle) the last time I put it away but hadn’t gotten around to seeing how it performed on a run. The car has a mechanical pump and after a long time in storage it takes an age to crank over to get fuel up from the tank, so with this in mind I took the top of the air filter and squirted a few ml of petrol from a small syringe into each barrel of the carbs and turned the key. Fired straight away and ran for a few seconds. This was just enough to draw fuel so second turn of the key and it ran up perfectly. Top back on the air filter I went out for a 10 mile drive. Perfect, there’s nothing like a classic car on a summer evening.
As I put the car away I noticed the garage floor paint flaking where I’d painted over a previous tenants oil leak. So back out with the car, wire brush, brush and pan and floor paint. I stripped and repainted the 2 ft patch which was fortunately in the centre of the garage, so I was able to put the car away over the top of it before it dried. Job done.

[Darren C]

I had a well deserved lie in this morning and got up at 7:30. I started on the seat belts and now they were dry I cleaned off the blue overspray and polished the hoop guide that fits behind the mechanism and also the eye that fastens to the roll bar sail. One seat belt sill anchor had started to go white and furry so that got a brass wire brush before a very thin coat of waxoil to preserve.
Next I started on the rear lights. Having stripped them down I was left with a very dull grey box with old impact glue all around the frame and blue overspray all over the rear. I tried a small bit of cellulose thinners on the inside of the housing and got a reaction. Not what I wanted, but always wise to check an unseen area first. This meant I would have a real nightmare trying to clean off the blue overspray. In the end I opted for Brasso. This removed the paint and actually brought back the housing to a very, very high gloss black finish. Mind you it was very slow and monotonous work. It took me about 3 hours in all to do the Left hand lamp assembly, but the results were stunning in comparison to the un touched Right hand assembly.



Taking a break from Brasso-ing I decided to give my aching fingers a rest and began repairs on the now shiny LH housing of the broken cable I found yesterday. The earth cable had snapped clean off inside the housing at some point in the past so I cleaned up the terminal, stripped back the wire and soldered it back on.
I then spent another fiddly hour cleaning up the lamp holders free of white furry oxide. The chrome/silver reflectors had lost most of their silvering leaving a patchy black surface in places. This wouldn’t give the best light so I used some Aluminium silver high temp paint to paint the dull areas. The bulbs also got a miniature wire brushing before a light WD40 and assembly. I used my multimeter on continuity to check each bulb was good before inserting in the holders. Finally with the holder assembled I did a quick continuity test on the spade connections (that I’d previously cleaned) and came up with another snag. No continuity? Hey? I took the reflector bulb holder out again and checked continuity at my solder. Perfect.
Back to the spade on the outside….nothing.
I was astounded, the spade on the outside is riveted to the cable crimp on the inside but the rivet must have corroded and there was no continuity from the rivet to the spade. The spade was solid in the holder so it wasn’t loose, the only thing I could do was solder the rivet to the spade on the outside of the housing. Fiddly clean up with a swiss file and a successful blob of solder did the trick.
With everything tested I glued the small reflector plate back into the outer end of the housing and opened my box of bits from 914rubber. Inside was a new outer lamp to body seal and a new O seal string to fit in my new Euro amber lens. Very carefully I assembled the unit.
A rummage in my box of bits and I found the 3 knurled knobs the hold the lens on, unfortunately they were covered in more blue paint! A quick cellulose thinners test and no reaction, so into a jam jar they went for an overspray softening soak.
The garage that did the poor paint job had also painted the boot floor with that tar stuff I scraped off last month in preparation to go down the bodyshop. The lazy sods had sprayed the boot floor blue on top of the tar stuff without bothering to take the rear lights out which is the reason they were covered in paint.
Anyway a quick tooth brush scrub in cellulose thinners and the knurl nuts came up like new.



A protective covering of bubble wrap and into storage it goes.

Things were going fine and dandy until I started on the Right hand housing. I knew it was badly bent from an overheated lamp, but when I started to dismantle it I discovered the moulded tube that the single lens stud passes through was broken off and missing. It got worse, when I started to look closer I found that the frame where the lens seals and the body to housing seal rests was split about 4 inches long across the bottom and the top. Now I started to think…when I took the lights out the car it confused me a little as the white knurled nuts on the RH lamp were holding the housing in the car and M6 nuts held the lens on. This was back to front! Someone had mixed them up and since the lens studs had very little thread protruding they had crushed the housings in to fit M6 nuts and washers (easy when the stub tube is broken off! Makes me think they may have purposely broke the stud tube off so they could get the nuts to fit)
What mupperty!
The knurled nuts have a taper end that reaches in the housing and you would think it was obvious. Mind you they had forced a twin element bulb with different height bayonet pins into a single element equal height pin holder. With both elements lit the heat had melted the holder & housing. The M6 nuts in the wrong place had been over tightened and split the housing across the top and bottom.
What a nightmare, all caused by some idiot in the past. I guess it was a garage rather than the PO as I imagine the PO having had the car from new would have known how to change a rear bulb.
Needless to say it’s well and truly Fooked.

So my question is,

Does anyone out there have a spare Right hand light housing that I may purchase?
Just the black bit, I don’t need the lens.
Thanks in advance

[Mr Pharmacist]

I used to have a couple of the black parts of the rest lamps in my garden - not sure of they are still there or not but I will have a look at some point and let you know