Restoring my first 914

[Porky Scratchings]

Oooooooo Very nice Chief,

Looks like the car I looked at on sale in California then bought by the Camper guy's in Banbury ??

I'm going to have to re think my new paint job now......too many Alaska Blue cars

And here comes another...When I started my restoration the car was Guards Red, checking the Paint Code and COA it was supplied Alaska Blue so that's what it is again. At the time (2 years ago) this was not a very common colour, now there're everywhere...what's going on?!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130263453 ... 840463146/

[914 KEV]

And here comes another...When I started my restoration the car was Guards Red, checking the Paint Code and COA it was supplied Alaska Blue so that's what it is again. At the time (2 years ago) this was not a very common colour, now there're everywhere...what's going on?!

When I bought my ’73 2.0 in Alaska Blue ten years ago I very rarely saw another one in Alaska Blue and it would be in mainland Europe at the International 914 Meeting and not here in the UK.

When the Alaska Blue Metallic 914 was sold here in the UK it was known as Ocean Blue Metallic. Five were imported by Porsche Cars GB Ltd between 1972-73 for the UK, mine is the second one of these.

I like Alaska Blue Metallica and I’m glad to hear that there a few more of them out there now!
But also surprise too that so many have appeared in this colour in the last few years!

[Darren C]

Thanks Kev that explains something that was bugging me. I got my Certificate of Authenticity from Porsche last week and for colour it said Ocean Blue. I initially thought it was an error as my service handbook and the original sticker plus paint code all refer to Alaska Blue. What a strange set up. Most colours I’ve come across before have either a German name eg “HellBlau” or its English translation “Light Blue”. First time I’ve heard of two names for the same paint code. Thanks for sharing that Kev, you learn something new each day on DDK.
Hillclimber, White spirit is a great degreaser, so is petrol but both you’ve got to be careful with. One brilliant grease eater is acetone, I get mine from the GRP guy’s in the local boat yard for £10 per 5 litres, but keep the top on tight otherwise it evaporates like nothing you’ve seen before. Also it simply devours paint and plastic so be uber careful with it. The waxoil thing is just on stuff that’s going to be subjected to the weather (like door mechanisms where the water runs over them when it rains) I brush it on with a modellers/artists brush. Just a thin coat is all it needs to stop rust forming and its more durable than just grease alone. Once coated you barely see it on there.
Peter, boy you had some nasty rust to deal with there, but it looks great now

Anyway moving on to today’s tinkering. This morning before breakfast I was up a ladder with my resin gun sealing a settling crack in the house render. (Next time I’ll leave the bricks exposed; far easier to upkeep) I’d been waiting a for a few weeks of dry weather to ensure it was dry deep into the mortar so I could inject in resin for good adhesion. Since the forecast is maybe rain tomorrow I thought I’d get that job done today before going to work.
During my lunch break I collected my new front brake discs from the Parcel Force depo. I bought them and had them in my hands from the US in a little under 2 weeks. It’s been over 12 weeks now and Berlyn Services say they still can’t get any!! Absolute rubbish as I have quite clearly shown.
Next I dropped off the engine lid mesh and the two small mesh pieces off at the bead blasters for cleaning and coating satin black, before returning to work.
Tonight when I got home I assembled the last door check strap mechanism using the new rollers and cut two new stainless steel split pins to length for the locating pins and bagged them up in zip top bags until the grand rebuild. Afterwards I cleaned up the bonnet & boot catch (the parts that fit to the bonnet & boot, not the car) and the two door striker plates that had been in soak. I took the rear catch apart to get inside the spring and nylon bush and while the white spirit dried off I cleaned up all the cross head M6 bolts that hold the door locks and striker plates on with a brass wire brush so they shone like new without damaging the zinc plate.
Finally I coated all the lock parts with a thin waxoil as before and left them to dry for the morning and put more bits into the ice cream tub of white spirit for tomorrows clean fest.

[Darren C]

This morning I did a little more sorting out of parts, opened the front brake discs and checked them over and ordered a couple of bits on line before work. At lunchtime I called in at the paint shop to see how things were going.
Afterwards I called Porsche Centre Portsmouth and ordered a new pull cable for the bonnet. (Still available from Porsche) My original one had been bent double by the clamp screw and after a struggle drawing out the wire to get the lock off, I have little confidence in it’s strength. The best option is a new cable, and at £12 it’s a cheap item that would cost far more to rectify if it broke with the bonnet shut.
This evening I assembled the boot catch, sorted out and cleaned all the fixing bolts and washers before bagging them all up. My M7 bolts arrived from ebay(to replace the one I had to drill out the bonnet) so I cut one to length, drilled out the M6 washer to 7mm and made sure it fit through the hole in the bonnet catch. Perfect. The only difference is it has a 11mm head, not 10mm, so it will not look out of place and hold the catch firmly.
Next I cleaned up the parts in soak from last night before calling it a day.

[nrc914]

Quiet night tonight for you then Darren!

[Darren C]

Very good Nathan forgot to say that Friday was Tesco food shop night, weekly clothes wash & iron night, plus getting one of my other cars prepared for a wedding today.
This morning I got up early to carry on prepping my pre-war car for a friends wedding this afternoon. I’d changed a starter motor on another car on Tuesday so that I could move it out to get at my old car. Having not been out since September last year I needed to give it a good going over. I ended up re-packing the open drive waterpump, lubricating the chassis, draining down the fuel tank and filling with a can relay from the local station, points, plugs etc etc getting scrubbed up, ironing a shirt and all before noon. The weather was kind and the sun shone for the duration of the wedding right until I’d got all the cars put away later this afternoon right on cue the heavens opened as I closed the garage door.
So on to the 914. This afternoon I continued by cleaning up the boot key lock and latch, then started on the bags of nuts and bolts that hold them on. Followed by cleaning up the interior light switches, contacts and connections. Then I individually cleaned up all the black rubber washers that hold on the engine lid grilles and Porsche script with cellulose thinners. Next the engine lid catches. There was a nasty step wear & burr on the lock striker pin which I had to dress out with a smooth file to ensure it doesn’t snag. Once clean I bagged everything up in order of “Doors, boot & engine lid”
Each nut bolt and screw carefully having had its thread & head cleaned out before a light coating of waxoil.
I then carefully drained off the top of the white spirit tub and disposed of the ½” deep layer of sand and dirt in the bottom before refilling and putting more bits in to soak for tomorrow.
In between everything I answered a Pelican Parts Survey, ordered some parts from VW heritage (New interior light, door light switch rubber boots and 4 more screwed rubber buffer stops for the bonnet & boot lids) The old ones had gone rock hard and wouldn’t cushion very well any longer and risked damaging new paint.

[Darren C]

Today I spent my time on the Targa roof. Having quickly taken it apart in a spare hour before the car got loaded up for the paintshop, now was the time to sort it all out.
Firstly I scraped off all the old sticky caulking (like industrial blu-tack). Messy job but needed to be done.



Afterwards all surfaces where it had been got a good scrub with scotchbrite soaked in cellulose thinners to get every little bit off.
I then sorted out the underside of the roof where the headliner material is glued on.
It was covered in old impact glue residue. Not a good base to glue on top of so it had to be cleaned off. Rock hard baked old glue is not easy to remove and I found the best tool was my Stanley blade holding scraper



Working with the roof curvature (across the car, not front to back) I eventually got it all off after an hour or so.
Next I gave the whole fibreglass roof a damn good scrub wash with hard bristle scrubbing brush and detergent. This took another hour as I washed, dried and washed again until all the sand and grime was gone. Repeating on both sides to make sure it was spotless for repainting.
The top surface of the roof has a textured (splatter) type finish. Over the years this had been damaged and some sections were scraped & knocked so needed repair. With various grades of wet and dry I gently rubbed down and feathered the edges around the numerous patches of damage before re-adding the texture.



Using a bumper texture paint with a “heavy” grade nozzle in short burst to almost “spit” the paint out to replicate the original finish. The paint is specially formulated to set hard and maintain texture so it’s ideal for the job.
The top is due to go down the painters for a final satin black paint from a gun, no rattle can stripy paint jobs here!
After preparing the top I then started on all the trims and catches.
First washing and cleaning the stainless trims at the rear of the roof that holds the fuzzy “U” shape seal on. Afterwards they were polished up with brasso.
Next I cleaned all the flaky rust off the front and rear catches. The rear catches that fit on the roll bar were quite messy so ended up being stripped down to bare metal and totally repainted. The fronts came partially apart and got a clean & paint too. Finally the rear blocks that fit onto the roof and have the hooks in them that the latches hold got the same treatment.
After a quick cuppa I scraped off the caulking and sanded down the two channels that hold the rubber over the door window glass. I had a small issue when I etch primed them. Not sure what the original black paint was, but the etch just pickled it. There was nothing I could do but get the paint stripper out and remove every bit of old black paint off the two channels. After a coating of stripper the residue was cleaned off in a bucket of water with scotchbrite before hanging up to dry.
Next I got every single bolt washer and screw that holds the targa top together and detail wire brushed each and everyone until they shone. With a modellers brush I gave them all a waxoil coat before bagging up a few hours later.
Last of all this evening I gave the locks and catches a second coat before calling it a day.

[Darren C]

This morning I decided to sand down and put a coat of etch primer on the two targa roof seal window strips that I’d had in paint stripper yesterday. After half an hour rubbing down with wet & dry and a de grease they were ready for paint. That was until a little neighbour trouble. Clear blue skies, birds singing and I get verbal abuse from a neighbour at their bedroom window. All because I shook my spray can for a minute and the pea rattle made his dog bark and woke him up. Suffice to say we exchanged a few words so I imagine the council noise man will write to me yet again for making noise before 7am. Ironically it was the dog not me that woke him, but he doesn't see my logic in that. Anyway I did manage to get a coat of paint on them (after a good prolonged can shaking for good measure of course) before breakfast.
Afterwards I loaded the bumpers, sills and valances in the car and left for work
At lunchtime I dropped them off at the paint shop and went through the finish I wanted with the foreman. I’ve opted for a subtle ripple texture stone guard on the valances and sills (for stone chip protection inside and out) and a smooth finish to the bumpers. All in Satin Black.
After preparing the Targa roof panel yesterday I dropped that off for painting too.
With what little lunchtime was left I managed to buy on line some small circlips to hold the levers on the rear targa catches. One was completely missing and the other wasn’t in good shape when I dismantled them at the weekend.
Tonight when I got home I had a rattle can shake fest of a time (before 7pm noise watershed of course) and gave the trim strips a first coat of Satin black. After an hour I flipped them over and painted the other side.
I then started cleaning up a collection of more nuts and bolts and the little plastic sleeves that go over the tabs holding the wiring loom in the car. Before painting I’d taken all the little sleeves off. A cloth soaked in cellulose thinners and a quick rub, the sleeves came up like new.
In between I had to nip out to attend a car club committee meeting tonight so lost a couple of hours to that.

[ollieg]

Nice write-up Darren…think those tips on the roof resto may well come in handy.

[jackstowers]

I did chuckle at the rattle can shake fest remark but did wonder how the neighbours react to the dawn chorus of tin bashing, scrubbing and can shaking. You'll have to perfect the circular shake where the ball rolls around the circumference of the can almost silently! (My preferred method anyway) I'm surprised you haven't rigged up a spray booth indoors near the hall radiator you use for drying painted items, perhaps using the cooker hood extractor and saving the noise issue by shaking indoors. Perhaps the washing machine could be adapted to shake multiple cans?!?!
Can't wait to see the car in paint soon, what's your planned completion date?

[Darren C]

This morning I put another coat of paint on the Targa roof catches and latches befor going off to work. This lunchtime I spent scanning documents and printing off emails and correspondence for my Small Claims Court case against Berlyn Services, labelling each page and logging it all down ready to submit to the Court as evidence. What a pain, I’d rather have spent my time doing something on the car!
Anyways this evening when I eventually got home (after calling in to Halfords on the way to buy more paint then B & Q for more white spirit) I set about sorting more bits out. I drained off and topped up my ice cream tub with fresh white spirit and put my two sand & grease logged exterior door handles into soak. Next I put another coat of Satin black on the targa seal channels.
I had a phone call today to say the engine lid grilles were ready but didn’t get time to pick them up today. This should work out fine as tonight I found the two US license plate brackets and two chunky bumper brackets in a box in my shed which need blasting. I’ll drop them off tomorrow when I pick up the grilles. As for perfect timing there was a small box by my side gate from the postman. Opening it up it was the new chrome PORSCHE script for the engine lid, so ideal for tomorrow night when I get home with the freshly coated grilles.
I then started the brain numbingly boring task of cleaning up a bag of fixings I’d taken off labelled “door shuts” It had all the screws that hold the black threshold plates (the ones that clamp the door seal down to the carpet, plus the tiny screws that hold the door outer weatherstrip trim. Now you may think I’ve gone mad but I individually spent two hours wire brushing all the rust, gunk and glue out of the screws. Next I used a scriber to dig out the dirt in the cross heads before screwing them all in a row into a piece of softwood about an inch apart. Followed by satin black painting of the screws that hold the threshold plates in and silver painting the screws that hold the weatherstrips.

This was followed by a final spray of the roof seal strips that had had a couple of hours to dry and finally the last hour of the evening cleaning up an array of nuts and bolts from the doors, before a lick of waxoil to preserve them.
Just when I thought I’d had enough for tonight I spied a bag of plastic bits. Window winder handles, interior door pull cups, seat belt covers etc and brought them into the house for a good soapy tooth brushing in the morning.

[Darren C]

Can't wait to see the car in paint soon, what's your planned completion date?

Thanks David, no real deadline other than before the summer ends, I kinda think about 6 months which takes me to July sometime. I'd like to have a bit of fun with it this year before I get on ebay late at night looking for my next project

Love the washing machine can idea, as for internal spray booth.....isn't that what my half finished loft conversion is for? (see previous pictures of exhaust spraying)
Was thinking of buying one of those in-audible dog whistles and plumbing it into a car tyre at 3 bar with regulator so it blew for hours and hours when I left for work, but that would be really wrong wouldn't it

[jackstowers]

[quote=
Was thinking of buying one of those in-audible dog whistles and plumbing it into a car tyre at 3 bar with regulator so it blew for hours and hours when I left for work, but that would be really wrong wouldn't it

Hmm I see your thinking but possibly a bit unfair on the dog!

[Darren C]

Yes it would, I was just thinking out loud David, but I did have a friend once who had a messy break up with his wife. They lived in a flat (which see kept) along with the dog. He visited during the day while she was at work a few weeks later and fed the dog 4 bars of laxative chocolate through the letterbox.
Another friend who worked away during the week on a building site was kept awake all weekend when he got home by his neighbours dog barking, so at 3am on Monday when he got up to drive 300 miles to Newcastle for the week, he put their dog in the back of his van and let it loose in a park in Newcastle.

[jackstowers]

Apparently a block or two of beef dripping has a similar effect!
The dog to Newcastle is pretty good, interesting call from the Geordie RSPCA for the owners