Restoring my first 914

[Darren C]

This morning before breakfast I gave the dash knee roll a final sand and inspection before loading it up to take to the trimmers.
I dropped it off a lunch time and called in at the post office to collect a sign for packet. Two new round relays I’d ordered to replace the fuel pump one I’d put into the blower and a spare.
Hopefully the knee roll will be re covered in new vinyl by the end of next week so I can finally get the dash all back together. It’s starting to look good with the refurbished gauges and column back in.



The saga of the windscreen continues. I hope to get a replacement in the next two weeks. A brand new one so to be fair it will be much better in the long run than the old one which wasn’t original anyway. Until then the window frame is all prepared and waiting; just butyl to add once the screen is here.



On the way back from the post office at lunch I called in at the sign writers and picked up my laser cut black strip for the bottom of the rear window. I chose a satin black vinyl with a slight texture so it should blend in completely with the bulkhead trim.
I also had it made 25mm wide instead of the factory 20mm insulation tape so it covers right over the bottom of the glass edge.
After work it was food shop and weekly clothes wash so once the shopping was put away and the washing machine on I leaped into the garage.
The rear window was cleaned a 3rd time and I carefully applied the vinyl with a rubber scraper following the curvature exactly without any trapped air bubbles. It looked superb!
Next I carefully fitted the two pillar trims. They were a little tight due to re covering of the top roll bar trim and the fact both side trims were recovered too. After a little effort the screw holes lined up perfectly and the trims were fixed in place. The coat hooks were next and I had noticed that the rubber cover that goes over metal bracket has two lugs on the base that “clip” over the metal bracket. When I stripped the car down one rubber cover was missing, but I fortunately found it under the seat. The reason was now clear. The metal bracket had been overtightened in the past which had compressed the foam in the pillar trim. This meant that the two lugs on the bracket sat into the trim foam and the rubber cover couldn’t clip over them and just falls off. I made a small black rubber packing piece to hold the bracket off the crushed trim about 2mm. This raised the bracket back to the normal height and the cover went on with a dull click and was locked firm in place. Finally I fitted two new blanking plugs over the screws.






Plan for the weekend now is floor vinyl, seat belts, carpets and bulkhead trim.

[Darren C]

This morning I got out of storage all the old bits of vinyl that I took off the car when taking out the interior. They had been well and truly sun baked to a crisp, scratched, punctured and torn in places so the only solution was to remake them with fresh supple vinyl.



Using the old bits as a pattern I drew around them with chalk onto my roll of black vinyl. This wasn’t as easy as you’d expect as they were blistered curled up and generally hard to lay flat.
After drawing around them I added another ¼” as they had definitely shrunk.
Cutting them out neatly I had a fresh set to go in the car.



I spent the rest of this afternoon carefully gluing them in place with high temp/high grip impact adhesive working them into all the corners and around the curvatures. This took far longer than anticipated.
The first easy ones to go on were the two rectangles that Kev mentioned earlier. These go just below the corners of the rear window to cover the metal panel where the seat belts exit.
Next the two “hockey sticks” that go along the rear of the door opening. Care was taken here to glue and cut them to roll over the spotweld flange that the door seal fits on, making sure they go from pillar trim to a good 5” along the top of the box sill.
The two sections that go over the crossmember were next. These get quite fiddly behind the hand break and around the switch. Also a little stretching was require near the centre tunnel to stretch it over the contours.
Once in it was the remaining centre tunnel sections that caused me the most difficulty. Getting them right into the corners at the rear of the tunnel and around the raised seat mounting was tricky. More so on the passenger side where I had to remove the seat relay and hold back the loom a little while I worked the vinyl into place.
After a quick trim with a Stanley knife all looked neat and tidy.
With a few hours of the day still left over I decided to fit the seatbelts and the handbrake switch.
Previously cleaned up and with new bolts and washers the seatbelts went in a treat.
Making good progress I took off the handbrake lever and fitted both sill carpets before refitting the handbrake, battery and testing the handbrake switch and buzzer.
All good!

[rhd racer]

Bloody hell Darren, I am not going to say the dreaded 'c' word again (reserved for show cars) but the dash looks absolutely gorgeous. Amazing work, keep it up

Cheers
Wayne

[Darren C]

Cheers Wayne, It’s turd polishing at its very best!

My son stayed over last night so we had a morning dedicated to driving lessons and highway code questions. Unfortunately when putting the cover over the Traveller I noticed a drip from the rear n/s hub. Bloomin axle oil seal is leaking. Another job to do!
Anyway after taking my son for lunch, dropping him off, mowing the lawns and washing 3 cars; this afternoon I started on the 914. I started by fitting the newly recovered bulkhead trim. After strengthening the backboard and adding metal channels it was far stronger than before and kept its shape at the base and sides better. After wiring and testing the interior light (all ok) I fitted the bulkhead trim in place. After a bit of fiddling around I realised the small handbrake cable cover plate has to be off to get the trim in. With the plate off it sat nicely in the car with the 4 hook tabs located under the window, the screw holes lined right up.
Next I fitted the new door rubbers to the openings and carefully cut them to a perfect length for a neat fit.
The sill threshold trim that goes over the door seal and grips the carpet was split in a few places around the screw holes so I’d bought two new black coated metal ones from 914rubber. The screws I’d previously cleaned and repainted satin black ready to fit went back in and all holes lined up. The plates were carefully installed ensuring the carpet was tight up to the door trim and gripped tight so it wasn’t baggy.
To be honest these 914rubber metal sill trims are the best thing I’ve had so far from them!
Next I unpacked my previously fully refurbished seat runners.



Theses were carefully fitted with the toothed bracket and after a little adjustment of the small M6 bolts (at the hinged bracket on the floor) the mechanism operated smoothly and the latch located fully to allow the seat runners to raise and lower.
The previously refurbished seat belt clips were the next to go on with nice new shiny bolts & washers and the new “Press” decals.
Slowly gaining space back in my house and shed I took the re trimmed and rebuilt armrest out of storage and test fitted it.



The engine lid pull knob that was originally on the car was split and pulled straight off the cable before opening the lid so it was another item I’d purchased from 914rubber in my bulk order. I went to fit it next and found that the internal thread wasn’t formed correctly and needed a M5 tap run down it. Afterwards it fitted snug. Considering the mess the rear bulkead trim had been in when I got the car, all the repairs and strengthening had paid off before it was recovered. The fit was now perfect into the corner of the car around the engine lid release. I was pleased with the result.



Finally I tidied up the cables to the seatbelts and seats and fitted the small rear carpets.



After a well earned cuppa I decided to give the car its first wash since getting home. The garage is quite clean but over the last 3 months the car had gotten dusty from having the garage door open a lot and wind blowing dust around combined with some left over from being at the paintshop. Before I knew it, it was getting dark again.

[nrc914]

Darren

Your car is looking fantastic and is a testament to the hard work and many hours you've put into it whilst overcoming all those 'little' niggles along the way. That interior is looking fantastic! This is definately going to become a reference thread for those of us following in you footsteps. Keep up the good work and look forward to seeing it (and you ) again sometime soon.

Regards

[Darren C]

Cheers Nathan.

Today was a busy day. This morning early doors I worked on the seat belt covers that fit over the metal guide on the roll bar pillars. I’d gone to fit them yesterday and they were a tight fit but jammed the webbing of the belt.
These were the early golf ones I’d got from VW Heritage on a punt. They looked identical to the Porsche ones, but on fitting; the part that clips just above the seat belt webbing was in fact too chunky and closed the gap in the belt guide.
With a bit of Stanley knife surgery and a rats tail file I cut out the back of the cover and filed the two circular openings slightly longer to allow the cover to sit higher over all. Next I carefully trimmed a little off the clip part that goes around the pillar bolt to allow that to clip in at a higher point. This all sounds far more complicated than it really was, but the net result was after an hours fiddling about, the covers fit perfectly and the belts slid in and out freely.
I left for work and during my lunch break continued with the replacement windscreen search. Autoglass can get me one in from Pilkington but its special order, £575 and 3 weeks lead time. On a whim I called Porsche Centre Portsmouth and ordered a new adhesive pad for the rear view mirror and just for a laugh asked them about availability of windscreens for 914 from Porsche direct. The answer was available Germany from Porsche 1 week lead time and £275 plus VAT.
No brainer that one. Genuine screen ordered!
So with a few minutes of lunch break left I called in at the local motor factors and picked up some new Bosch windscreen wiper blades in anticipation.
It was a late finish at work today and straight home for a quick change and off out to another car club committee meeting, so only just got in the door at 10:30pm in time to update the thread this evening, but at least I got a couple of hours in on the 914 this morning.

[Darren C]

This morning I started on the pedal assembly cover plate. The fibre board was looking a little tired and worn. I unbolted the clutch pedal stop, sanded down the board and gave it a fresh coat of satin black paint.
During lunchtime I shopped around for Morris parts for my son’s car and continued with the 914 this evening.
I first cleaned up the removed pedal stop, nuts & washers and gave them a coat of waxoil. Rummaging around in my shed I found a bag of parts that I’d not gotten around to cleaning up so got stuck in with them. This contained the heater “on” light block from the centre console, the heater lever escutcheon and a selection of fixings for the console, dash knee roll and pedal cover plate.
Cleaning the parts up I found the 4 screws & cup washers for the centre armrest, so after a quick clean up I fitted them to the car and screwed the armrest in place.
There was also a bag of screws for the speaker grilles.
Way back in May I’d ordered a brand new set of speaker grilles from Auto Atlanta.
I should have known better, as in February I ordered a 914 badge that is STILL to arrive. They emailed me to say there was a problem with the fixing pins and it needed to be rectified before they would send the badge out.
So guess what. The two new speaker grilles I ordered and paid for in June are in a new email “on back order” with NO date by which to expect them.
Blo*dy frustrating. Why oh why don’t these so called specialist suppliers tell you the parts are out of stock before taking your hard earned cash. I certainly won’t be using Auto Atlanta again!
Anyway in my shed of parts that have arrived was a new accelerator cable from Roger Bray. I hope to get the knee roll back this week from the trimmers so I thought I’d do a few little jobs under the dash while access was easy.
I removed the old accelerator cable and fitted the new one this evening. The old one was getting tight to operate and made the pedal heavy. Once the cable was out it was obvious why. The white nylon sheath had snapped inside the tunnel tube, right where the metal ferrule fits on under the car (where the black outer sheath starts). This effectively made the cable “hinge” at the ferrule and had bent/creased the inner wire. Moving the pedal the bend in the wire was getting tight as it passed in and out of the black sheath.
Anyway with the new cable in place the pedal was far lighter to operate.
Before I knew it I ran out of light again. The nights are starting to draw in as I seem to be loosing 5 minutes each evening.

[Darren C]

This is still August isn’t it?
What god awful weather today, more like November than summer.
I was rushing around this morning sorting stuff out on my son’s car so it wasn’t until this evening I got to carry on with the 914.
At lunch I did manage to call in and see the trimmers in anticipation of getting the knee roll back but they hadn’t started it yet.
This evening I removed the gear knob, leather gaiter and fitted the centre tunnel carpet first. Then re assembled the pedal board with its bump & travel stops.
The board was carefully fed over the pedals and laid to rest in position. I then fitted my two new genuine Porsche pedal rubbers for the clutch & brake.
Back to my shed and out with a brand new 914rubber accelerator pedal that I’d bought in my bulk order. All was going well until I bolted it to the floor and went to fit the accelerator pushrod into the socket.
The brand new straight out the packet 914rubber accelerator pedal was making a cracking noise when it hinged?
That didn’t sound at all right.
I unbolted it from the floor and in my hand flexed the hinged base.
“Crackle” and “Grind” with jamming as it moved.
This got my interest so with Stanley knife in hand I cut the rubber off the back of the hinge part to find the internal metal hinge snapped clean off the base!
The metal was absolute rubbish inside the rubber moulding. As thin as paper and looked like it’d been beaten from a baked bean can on the streets of Beijing.
The blo*dy thing was damn right dangerous and could have locked up with the pedal depressed.
Another absolute waste of money and a part I’m adding to my ever increasing parcel of 914rubber parts to return.

Despite my rant, having cut open and seen inside the 914rubber accelerator pedal, I would strongly recommend anyone who has one fitted to stop driving your car until you can change it for a genuine Porsche pedal. The metal in the hinge is about a quarter the thickness of the genuine one and poor quality at that.

So combine this with the horizontal rain and the too dark to see by 7pm rain clouds I had a miserable evening.
I retired to my shed and cleaned up a few more bits including the semi circular pedal board retaining clamp that had the tiniest bit of paint flaked off. I stripped it completely and gave it an etch prime. Finally I cleaned up the leather gear lever gaiter and gave it a good coating of hide food to help soften and restore it before calling it a day.

[Darren C]

This morning before work I mixed up a little 2 pack clear lacquer and using my airbrush I gave the pedal cover retaining plate a clear coat. This was flashed off at 50 Deg C in my kitchen oven while I ate breakfast.
In my lunch break today I called in at Porsche centre and ordered a replacement accelerator pedal and checked on progress of the screen.
This evening I had quite a good assembly.
With the clear lacquered retaining plate now dry I bolted down the pedal plate with all the cleaned up fixings



Next after having a trial fit and good look at clearance; I decided to fit the centre console before the knee roll is re trimmed as I reckon it’ll fit with the console in place.
Unpacking all the cleaned up fixings and bracket I screwed the console in place.
The newly refurbished 3 gauges were fitted to the panel and carefully holding it clear of the gear lever (with knob missing, it was just asking to scratch something) I fitted all the cables to the gauges and took off the very last of my paper wire i.d. labels.
With the panel propped upright I started assembly of the base insert panel.
The leather gear gaiter was nice and supple now and a nice black lustre was returned after 24 hours soaking in hide food. This was buffed lightly and fitted back into the base panel.
Next the heater lever escutcheon was given a blast of my heat gun and left to cool. The two long sides had, in the Desert Heat, bowed inwards to narrow the slot and restrict the lever movement. This looked awful, so with a small timber insert in the slot to hold it back open, heat was applied and left to cool back into shape. Being extra careful of course not to melt it and only heat from the underside so any risk of visible damage was removed.
The escutcheon was then clipped into place and the panel carefully held over the gear lever while I fitted the Heater illuminated block and wired it up. I’d cleaned up the block yesterday and sure enough the bulb was blown so this evening I fitted a new bulb and tested it. Heater block on the panel was finally clipped down and the vertical gauge panel fitted and clipped last.
The heater lever knob had faded to a milky pink on one side so I’d already purchased another (in the 914rubber bulk order). I was expecting it to not screw on, but no problems here, screwed on easily and was a nice even rich red colour.
Finally I nipped back indoors as it started to get dark and retrieved the passenger foot mat before fitting it in place and making sure the floor posts sat fully through the rubber eyelets to locate it correctly.
It’s starting to look quite nice in the cabin now. I was going to take another picture but the camera ran out of charge. I’ll take some over the weekend (if I manage to get that knee roll back)

[Darren C]

Today was one of those 914 one step forward two steps back days.
This morning I fitted my nice new gear knob. The old one had the clear insert disc in the top all crazed and cracked like a shattered piece of safety glass. It was nice to see a new flawless gear knob on the car.
I left for work and had a phone call from the trimmers mid morning. What I thought was going to be “your knee rolls ready” ended up being “can you come and take a look, we have a problem”
I called in at the trimmers in my lunch break and unfortunately they’d had another accident trying to cover the old vinyl.
Unfortunately they’d made another tear in the old surface and pulled out some of the original foam and new filler trying to remove the new vinyl that they had glued on.
I know it wasn’t intended, but I was really annoyed that this was the second time they’d damaged the part trying to cover it.
I had no option but to bring it home again for the third repair.
Suffice to say, this evening after food shop, I ended up cleaning and starting to fill the new damaged area.
I managed to get a first fill and sand and a second fill (to dry over night) on the knee roll before it got dark. Fortunately it was a nice sunny evening so sanding filler down outside was possible.
Not quite what I had planned for this evening and into tomorrow, but I have no option but to fix the damage.

[911hillclimber]

Tenacity must be your middle name...

We all have these forwards and back steps, bloody old cars...

Keep going, we are all rooting for you!

[Darren C]

These things are sent to try us!

This morning I awoke just after dawn and started work on a few more 914 parts. The filler was dry on the knee roll but before I got all dusty I thought I’d sort out the rear view mirror which had been bugging me.
Being a California Desert car the plastic of the mirror right against the screen had been well and truly baked to a crisp. The UV had started to degrade the surface which had gone white and started to crumble. The mirror glass itself was in fair condition so rather than try and buy a new assembly I thought I’d give it a go with refinishing it. The mirror glass was carefully masked and padded. The fixing foot was painstakingly draw filed with chalk to get all the PO random scratches out of it while keeping the surface perfectly flat. Finally I sanded it with various grades of wet and dry in a straight line to give it a perfect brushed finish. Next I gave it a good 3M red Scotchbrite to take off the UV damaged surface layer and key it ready for a coat of satin plastic paint. With such a hot day today I managed to give it several light coats over the day in between other jobs. The result was a brand new looking mirror ready to go on the new screen.
With the first coat of paint drying nicely (taken inside my conservatory to stop flies & dust) I started to sand and refinish the knee roll.
After a couple of hours the knee roll was all repaired again ready to take to the trimmers on Monday.
By now it was 10:30 and my son had arrived to work on his Morris. After a quick cuppa we pulled the rear axle half shafts, drove out the rear bearings and replaced the oil seals and re packed the bearings in the N/S hub. Stripped and de greased the mess in the brakes and fitted new shoes and adjusted everything. Next we took off the O/S hub to change the shoes and found the start of an oil leak on that side that wasn’t leaking externally! Hey ho, should have bought two seals; but as a jobless student he could only afford one, however its a good lesson in false economy for him. So that was the end of that. We ordered a new seal kit and held back on fitting the new shoes on that side until the O/S seals are fitted. A few other jobs done on the traveller, it was 4pm and time to take my son for dinner and back home.
As soon as I got back I started on the 914 seats. The runners that fit to the underside of the seats needed cleaning up. I brass wire brushed them clean and stripped the paint off the adjustment hoop handles down to bare metal as it was all flaking and looking awful. The handles were rubbed down and painted with a durable gloss black and coated the runners with waxoil before being put alongside the rear view mirror to dry.
Next I started on my newly upholstered seats. Only the original basket weave was left, all other vinyl has been replaced with new. Unfortunately as good as the trimmers are at seats, they won’t spend time cleaning stuff, so the basket weave was still pretty manky. I used a foaming trim/carpet cleaner and a toothbrush and spent about an hour on each seat cleaning into the weave pattern to get them somewhere like presentable before running out of light.

[Darren C]

This morning I had a well deserved lie in and started on the car at 7:30am. I’d charged my camera up last night so first thing this morning I took a picture of the recently restored rear view mirror before bagging it up for safe storage until the screens fitted.



I tried the recently refurbished seat runners (the ones that fit to the underside of the seats) onto the runners in the car. Hmmm, bit tight on the new powder coat so I spent the next hour fettling them until they slid with ease.
Just then about 9am the heavens opened and I had to quickly push the car back inside the garage.
I took the runners back into the house and fitted them to the bottom of the seats.
The pull handles and shiny metal runners looked good back in place.



The basket weave in the seats that I’d spent a good few hours yesterday had dried thoroughly but now there was still some greyness in the bottoms of some of the tiny square recess’s in the pattern. As it was throwing it down outside now, I spent another hour re-cleaning the seats again with a toothbrush working into the depths of the basket weave before placing them back into the conservatory to dry.
Still raining outside I decided to get my freshly restored and painted Targa top down from the loft. I gave it a wipe with a damp cloth as it was a little dusty before measuring it up for the new Perlon headliner. This is roughly 45” x 24” (if anyone needs to buy material). I carefully unrolled my new Perlon and marked a piece out to the size above, making sure all sides were true and 90 degrees to each other, then cut it out. Dry run fit and all was good.
Masking off the inside of the roof to leave only the area where it needed glue I then used a high temp, high strength spray glue from Woolies. Same on the reverse of the Perlon, waited 10 minutes until touch dry, then carefully fitted it.



I used an old fashioned beech wood wallpaper roller to go over every square mm to ensure it was well and truly stuck down. All that was then required was a tiny trim around the two rear catch mountings and the small webs along the front that are hidden under the padded trim. Looks very nice now. The old headliner was sand logged (see way back in this thread) and despite numerous vacuuming and brushing, it still dropped grains of sand and fibres of Perlon so with my new interior that simply wouldn’t do!
Just then there was a knock at the door and an old friend had decided to pay me a visit. Good time for a break, we popped out to the local Marina for a bite to eat and a catch up.
Perfect timing as after lunch, mid afternoon the sun had finally come out, so work could continue.
Car pushed out the garage once again I fitted the seats. Only to realise you couldn’t press the button on the seat belt catch as it was facing the seat; like a prize plonker, I’d fitted the seat belts on the centre console back to front!
Sliding the seats forwards I undid the bolts and flipped them around.
With camera in hand and the sun out I took a few more pictures starting with the re-assembled restored centre console, gauges, heater controls and gear knob.



Then of course the seats, which after that second scrub up looked like new again. New vinyl and soap & water, no nasty plastic cleaners in site!





Just need to get that knee roll re trimmed, get some new speaker covers and I can complete the dash.

[shoestring7]

Lovely stuff Darren, and your pace of work is putting most of the rest of us to shame!

C>

[Mr Pharmacist]

It looks great Darren!