Restoring my first 914

[914 KEV]

What was the original colour for the heat exchangers?
The tubes for the heating that attach to the exchangers are showing Black, the NOS back box is Grey. I presume the heat exchangers were originally Grey too?

Anyone know for sure

pretty sure it was a silvery grey colour on the original exchangers

Here is a photo of some NOS 2.0 Heat Exchangers.
The original colour for the heat exchangers is a darkish grey. The branch pieces from the fan housing are also the same colour along with the warm air elbow which connects to the heat control valve and the metal clamp strip to connect the branch pieces to the heat exchanger.
The J pipes are black along with the heat control valves.
The paint was very thin on the heat exchanger and attachment parts and it wouldn’t take long for the parts that got very hot to lose their paint coating.

This afternoon I fitted the new clutch cable. I need to get some new nuts for the end of it.

The clutch nuts are M7 for some reason.

The clutch cable to the clutch release fork and wedge uses a Single M7 Nyloc nut originally.

[jackstowers]

Have you still got one in your wallet Kev?

[914 KEV]

Have you still got one in your wallet Kev?

Yes, I have two in my wallet at the moment!
I quite often find I require the M7 Nyloc nut on many of the 914s I have worked on over the years to replace the odd ball of nuts used on the clutch cable.

Darren if you require one, give me a shout!

[Darren C]

Previously on “restoring my first 914”……

I’d primed the heater flap boxes.


I got up early this morning and put a coat of black paint on them, then cleaned up and went to wait outside the Post Office Depo before they opened at 7am. Time was tight as I have to be at work for 7:30, but I just made it in the nick of time.
The sign for delivery was my 8 x M8 copper Heat Exchanger nuts!

In my lunch break today I picked up the indicator relay (looks good) and I plan to fit it this weekend to see if it works. I also took a call from the calliper refurbishers and they are ready to dispatch. It’ll be good to see how they turned out.
Finally on the way home I called in and picked up my blasted heat exchangers and a few bits and bobs. They were absolutely soaked in oil, tar and sand when I took them off, so to see them blasted clean was nice. They look absolutely great.
Thanks Kev for posting a photo and confirming the original colours, much appreciated. Love the fact you carry M7 nyloc nuts! I have some new ones so the one in your wallet is safe for now, but thanks for the offer.
When I got home this evening I spotted a small box in the dark left by my shed. It was Peters Heater box. Arrived already! Top work Peter, many thanks.
I took it apart this evening, it was very rusty but still salvageable.



After a combination of emery and sand paper it was obvious the rust pits had really gotten hold of it, so I ended up turning it down in my lathe to get as clean a surface as I could without going too thin.



My original cap (judging by the one that’s left and the mess that is my other one) has the 4 tabs that pass through it with two spot welded. Since the PO removed it and clamped on some hose, he must have ground the spot welds and the other 2 tabs completely off! My only option was to very carefully file the tabs back onto the remaining legs. This meant that the cap sits closer to the flap housing by about 3mm, but it shouldn’t make any difference. Once fitted I bent over the 4 new tabs and spot welded two to match my un-molested one. I then used a small blob of seam sealer over the spot weld so that when its painted it’ll be a perfect match to the other. (That’s OCD for you)



Afterwards I gave it a coat of heat resistant primer and hope to paint it black in the morning.
Many thanks again Peter for making this possible.
With a whole box of heat resistant primer in my shed (in grey) I decided to get some on my blasted parts this evening before rust could set in. I gave them two light coats and again plan to flip them over in the morning and paint the other side before I go off to work. I also gave my NOS rear box a coat to cover a range of storage handling marks and also to make sure everything looks fresh and colour matched ready to fit at the weekend. Thanks again Kev, I think I’ve got the colour and right parts grey?

[DaveW]

Have you still got one in your wallet Kev?

Yes, I have two in my wallet at the moment!
I quite often find I require the M7 Nyloc nut on many of the 914s I have worked on over the years to replace the odd ball of nuts used on the clutch cable.

Darren if you require one, give me a shout!

Also helps if the nut is on the right way around....as Kev's eagle eye spotted on mine

[Darren C]

Dave, how on earth did the PO put a Nyloc on backwards? That takes some stupid determination.

This morning I got another coat of heat resistant grey paint on the exhaust parts and a coat of black over the primer on the heater flap box cap that Peter kindly sent.
Here’s how they look tonight. Came out well.



During lunch today I visited my local source of nuts & bolts and picked up a few bits to put the exhaust back box on with. It was a very busy day at work so I didn’t quite get my 1/2hr, missed eating in favour of nuts and bolts.

The good news is that when I got home this evening there was a small parcel waiting. It was the bronze bush kit for the pedal assembly.
First though, I turned over all the exhaust parts and gave them another coat of grey paint. Whilst they dried the new bushes were fitted to complete the pedal box.



After signing off this evening I’ll go turn and put the second coat of VHT grey on the other side of the exhaust before bed. (they're in my spare room, so the fumes may give me some funny dreams tonight) Tomorrow morning, I start on the VHT satin clear coat!
Hopefully the heat exchangers will stay grey for more than the first 5 minutes of running after all this effort.

[Darren C]

I gave the exhaust parts a final coat of VHT satin lacquer to seal in the grey this morning and left them to dry during the day.
It was a typical Friday at work (sheer madness and last minute dot com problems that needed sorting) I escaped at lunchtime for half an hour to pick up the rocker covers from being powder coated and also called in at my tame iron mongers and picked up some stainless steel jubilee clips to hold the heater hose on from car to heater flap box.
Friday is Tesco food shop evening so it was a late start tonight, but I managed to turn over the exhaust parts and give the other side a lacquer seal ready for assembly tomorrow. While they were drying I sorted out the complete box of fixings I’d taken off the car (that hold heat exchangers and tinware under the engine) and matched them all from new stainless bolts, screws & washers. I cut and shortened some M6 bolts for the short rear heater tubes and matched the washers. (Fortunately I have a few draws of stainless bits and bobs collected over the years which include M6 washers in all sizes from 10mm od to 30mm od, plus the same for M4, 5, 8, 10 & 12.) Where ever possible I try to match the washer overall size, both for OEM look and also because it was designed that way usually for a reason.
The majority of the old slot cheese headed M6 sets that hold all the tin ware together were particularly chewed up and simply looked awful, so for a couple of quid off ebay its always worth changing them.
I’ve loaded my Volvo up tonight (about 10 minutes ago) for an early start (just need to put the exhaust in it in the morning).
Big assembly day tomorrow.

[Darren C]

Today I thought I was going to get the exhaust back on……

I started first thing this morning cleaning the gearbox. I figured while the exhaust was off it would give me better access.
10 hours later I’m shattered and my hands are rough as sandpaper from being in white spirit all day.
The PO decided to spray what can only be described as black tar all over the gearbox. What a nightmare it was to get off, scrapers, old wood chisels, miniature wire brushes, hard nylon brushes and cloths soaked in white spirit hardly touched it. Pretty soul destroying I can tell you.
Plenty of tea got me through it. Only a small amount is left to do over the top of the gearbox and is very hard to get at.
Its jet black and seems to run into every nook and cranny, not good when there are so many webs in the gearbox casting. I know each and every one very well now!

While cleaning up I noticed the speedo angle drive seems a bit wobbly into the gearbox. Is this normal? (It’s not the union nut, I mean the body of the drive into the box) I presume there’s an “O” seal or something in there

[rhd racer]

Yep, o- ring inside and wobble built in as standard Darren!

Cheers
Wayne

[Darren C]

Thanks Wayne, I was planning on doing an oil change on the gearbox and Kev advised me to drain the oil to do the seal, so I think I’ll change it at the same time to be sure it’ll be leak free when the cars up and running.

I finally got the heat exchangers on today. What a bloomin fiddle. I got 4 new copper washer seals and 2 rear box gaskets. The copper washers wouldn’t stay in the heads as gravity was not my friend (I’m sure they must have built them upside down at the factory!) I ended up putting a couple of small blobs of exhaust paste on them to hold them in the head recess.
The next issue was getting exchanger “hoops” around the studs. Something was out of line and they both fought me, but in the end after a struggle then went on. I’d previously cleaned up the threads and put a smear of copper grease on them. Then I could only get 3 out of the 4 copper nuts on. The 4th one on both heads (would be the hardest one to get to) wouldn’t go on?
After a bit of head scratching I needed to lower the exchangers until the other 3 nuts were only just on by a couple of threads to get the 4th nut on, then pull them all up together. It was the bend in the pipe that was stopping the last nuts going on (due to the integral moulded washers) when the stud is poking fully down and the exchanger is fully up.
Next I shone a torch up around the copper washer gaskets to check the heat exchangers had located properly in the small counterbore (where the copper washer sits). I then fitted the rear box with new gaskets, stainless nuts & bolts and left them finger tight to avoid pull on the exchangers. Once everything was in place I tightened the exchangers to head and finally the 6 rear box bolts.
Again it was one of those jobs that took 3 times longer than anticipated. Looks good though with its nice shiny paint finish!

[914 KEV]

I finally got the heat exchangers on today. What a bloomin fiddle. I got 4 new copper washer seals and 2 rear box gaskets. The copper washers wouldn’t stay in the heads as gravity was not my friend (I’m sure they must have built them upside down at the factory!) I ended up putting a couple of small blobs of exhaust paste on them to hold them in the head recess.

The copper head to heat exchanger gaskets do stay in place without any sealant!
Place the copper gasket into the head and then twist.

The next issue was getting exchanger “hoops” around the studs. Something was out of line and they both fought me, but in the end after a struggle then went on. I’d previously cleaned up the threads and put a smear of copper grease on them. Then I could only get 3 out of the 4 copper nuts on. The 4th one on both heads (would be the hardest one to get to) wouldn’t go on?

When I fit a 2.0 heat exchanger I often use a nut with an 11mm head and an 8mm thread for those two awkward studs.
On 1.7 heat exchangers you have a lot more room for the mounting nuts.

As the thickness of the mounting pipe to the head on the 2.0 is thinner than the 1.7 and the stainless steel 2.0/1.7 ones are even thinner! They can be difficult to seal.

[Darren C]

Cheers Kev,

I’m not sure on the ease of the “twist” method to hold in the copper washers. I’ve got fingers shorter than Warwick Davis. Getting the washer in from underneath was a real struggle for me. After much falling off the tip of my middle finger, and some very loud “Fook, fook, fooking stupid idea and fook” again; I used a small blob of exhaust paste to “stick” it in there while I next pressed them gently into place with two long flat blade screwdrivers. The paste was just to hold them there while I fitted the exchanger not to seal them.
As for the smaller nut, that’s a simple idea but I’d be concerned that the 11mm AF nut wouldn’t have as large an inbuilt washer diameter as the 13mm AF nuts have and compromise the grip on that exchanger “hoop”, even possibly pull the stud over if tightened and pulled inside the hoop (unless you put a separate washer on it of the correct larger diameter first)
I think the key here Kev is that I noticed it was the bend in the exchanger pipe that bows out past the vertical before turning away from that particular securing hoop on the exchanger. When you see this, its easy to work out that you put all the nuts on of the correct size whilst the exchanger is hanging away from head contact, and pull them up together. If you push the exchanger home, into the head first, you can’t get those two nuts on easily. Granted you still need a thin wall socket, but I feel more comfortable having the same size 13mm AF original nuts on the car.

Today I have mostly been sewing.

I got up at 5am this morning and washed and scrubbed the 4 car mats I took out yesterday.
I used 1001 carpet cleaner (you can get it in Tesco or similar) After years of cleaning cars and having kids, I haven’t found anything that works as well.
I did away with the spray and just poured it onto the mats and worked it in with a soft brush and let them soak about ½ an hour (only because the mats were out and it didn’t matter how wet I got them.)
I used about 6 buckets of water on each mat, submerging them while scrubbing until the water was clear. They were absolutely minging, 4 buckets in and the water was still jet black. 40+ years of dirt!
Anyway I hung them on the radiators (held with pegs) to dry them out before going to work.

In my lunch break I called Roger Bray and chased up my new speedo cable which is on a 10 day lead time (hopefully in tomorrow and out to me for the end of the week). Then I spoke to Ash the parts man at Porsche Centre Portsmouth to see if Stuttgart had gotten back to him on the indicator relay. Not yet, so I decided to order a few more bits and bobs including the 3 seals for my very wobbly angle drive and also two rollers for my boot spring wires. I noticed in several pictures on-line that there are white looking roller wheels on the hinges on either side of the engine bay, and my car has none? (You can just see in my photos early in this thread)

When I got home this evening with carpets dry I got my needle and thread (strong upholsterers thread, not cotton) and started to re-attach the edging and do a little darning repairs. I repaired around the heel mat and one of the hold down eyelets. With my pedal bushes worn the clutch pedal had rubbed the wooden board slot oval and split the plastic mounded edge of the slot in the carpet in several places. I carefully super glued the cracks and melted it carefully back together with a soldering iron. Just one tiny triangle about 4mm wide is missing, but the rest was split and curled up so still there to work with. All back into shape now.
Unfortunately the passenger mat has one circular ferrule/eyelet missing, so if anyone has a worn out mat that I can transplant the eyelet from I’d be grateful.
Interestingly all the edging and eyelets are dark grey, yet the stitching on my drivers mats (front and behind seat) is in black thread from the factory, yet my passenger (front and behind seat) is stitched in dark grey thread???? Anyone else have this?
Both sets of mats look as old as each other and you could possibly say that maybe the drivers mat was replaced at some time, but the one under the seat wouldn’t get any wear or sunlight, so why replace that? Maybe it left the factory this way then, if so I wonder if this is common.
Anyway, I’m seeing double now as I write this from 4 hours of close up sewing by hand, so time to retire this evening.

[Darren C]

Today was a real disappointment.

Since buying my car way back in September I’ve been looking for a secure place to keep it when it arrived just before Christmas. I have garaging and a big carport at home where I can keep 8 cars securely, one on the drive and space on the drive for visitors. Nearby is a block of ex council garages now privately managed, of which I have 2. I applied for a 3rd to keep the 914 in and was told there was one available back in September but needed the lock changed as the previous tenant had vacated with the keys. No problem you would think…..
Well, week after week I called by to ask if it was ready until November when I called by fortnightly (so not to pester) to the “management (not my choice of description) company”. Each time they palmed me off with how busy they were and it would be done next week. Anyhow, when my car arrived the urgency increased and I offered to supply and fit a new lock myself; surely they’d agree? After all they were losing income on it being empty.
Nope “you're not insured to work on our properties” was the reply!
Anyway this has gone on and on until yesterday I saw a new handle on the door of my new 914 home when I went over to fetch some stuff out of one of my other cars.
Today in my lunch break I rushed over to the management company, drew the key, signed a contract and paid a few months in advance.
The first thing I did tonight was call in at the new garage and unlock it to see what was inside…a bit like that US show “Storage Wars”. Unfortunately as I tried to open the door I suddenly found it was very heavy and not lifting easily at all.
Then I saw why

The bottom 3 ft of door frame had completely rotted away and the door spring mechanism just coiled and wrapped itself up in free air.



(apologies for photo quality, it was off my work phone)

What complete bunch of morons would fit a new door lock, return to their office, hand over the keys and say “there you go, ready to rent out”
I’ll have to wait until they open tomorrow now to see what they say. The door barely opens, wont stay open and even if you lock the nice new lock, the rods that latch the door shut have nothing to latch against so you can simply open the door with it “locked”
This weeks Darwin Award for hindering my 914 restoration goes to the anonymous maintenance man that took 6 months to fit a new lock to a useless door.

Anyhow rant over, I retired to my shed to look through a big plastic storage tub of stuff I’d previously taken off the engine.

It then occurred to me that I’d not taken any pictures of the engine bay to show how it arrived. I wish I’d done so because people I’ve spoken to so far can’t quite grasp how much sand and sh*t was in there. So here’s a picture of the throttle body as it came off.



This was slightly shielded by the air filter and carbon filter, so hopefully you’ll get the idea.
I spent two hours tonight carefully taking it apart and starting the big clean up. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have a better day.

[Mr Pharmacist]

When I got home this evening with carpets dry I got my needle and thread (strong upholsterers thread, not cotton) and started to re-attach the edging and do a little darning repairs. I repaired around the heel mat and one of the hold down eyelets. With my pedal bushes worn the clutch pedal had rubbed the wooden board slot oval and split the plastic mounded edge of the slot in the carpet
Unfortunately the passenger mat has one circular ferrule/eyelet missing, so if anyone has a worn out mat that I can transplant the eyelet from I’d be grateful.

Hi Darren, I might have an old carpet with the eyelet you need. I will have a look and let you know

[Darren C]

Thanks Stuart that’s great, if you find one and the mats no good just cut out a 3” square with the eyelet in, so it’ll fit in a small A5 envelope, I’ll do the rest, just let me know if you come up trumps and I'll pm my address.
That’s cheered me up a bit.

Today at Lunchtime I went back to the garage agents and I have 3 options.
1. Give 4 weeks notice to cancel the contract I signed and walk away £65 lighter for the experience and no hope of finding a short term local home for the 914.
2. Fill in a defect form and wait 28 days for an acknowledgement and be put on a waiting list for repair, while paying for a garage I can’t use, with no idea how long it will take to get fixed. “The garages are low priority” so I kept getting told. (I felt like saying, “paying the rent is low priority for me then”)
3. Break their rules and fix it myself at my cost, without refund, while paying a rental agreement that covers cost of repairs but forbids me from carrying them out!

To say I’m not very pleased is an understatement. I put my name down again on a waiting list for an exchange garage while I decide what to do.

Anyway after getting nowhere with them I went to the local motor factors and picked up some more PU adhesive, before going back to work.

This evening when I got home a small parcel was waiting. New heater hose (brownish red 60mm id heat resistant rubberised canvas with internal wire spring) Looks a perfect match to the old stuff!

After cleaning last night and 10 hours at the weekend my hands are as rough as sandpaper so I thought I’d give them a rest and go back to the floor mats. After sewing the damaged edge trims back on the other night and melt/welding the plastic bits around the pedals I needed to sort out the heel mat.
The pile on the carpets came up like new. I was really surprised and pleased as they had 40 years of muck, oil, road tar, chewing gum and desert sand on them. All the colour is back as is the grey fleck that was'nt at all visible before!
The PU adhesive was “injected” under the lifted heel mat and used to glue it back down. The area at the base of the accelerator pedal was all split and a section missing. It had a hole worn completely through the mat. The heel pad is a particular texture size with heat mounded ridges. I could simple sew in a new pad but it wouldn’t be the same, so I thought I’d try a low cost repair first.
I used the PU adhesive to mould the tiny missing triangle back in the mat around the pedals and then I masked up the hole in the mat from the underside.
Rested on a flat surface (bit of 4” x ¾” timber) I filled in the hole with some plasterers scrim tape and more PU adhesive. A second flat surface on top (wrapped in cling film for easy release) was clamped on.
When the PU adhesive is dry tomorrow morning I should have a strong flexible hard-wearing hole repair under the original broken vinyl heel mat. This should give it some support for repairing the damaged surface vinyl tomorrow.