Olympic Blue / Silver metallic 1972 US Import 1.7L

[LMR]

Thanks all for the advice on diesel, I have taken it out of the bores.

Now, in my introduction, I said it would be a few weeks before I get around to doing anything. Well, my 964 passed its MOT yesterday, and apart from an annoying oil leak which took a couple of parts from the OPC to sort, I had a couple of spare hours to fiddle with the car (I should have been sorting the workshop, but........!!)

When the car arrived, I was pleased to find there was more interior parts than I expected, but they were all needing attention. The seats were pretty mouldy. As the sun was out, I thought I would have an attempt at cleaning the seats up.

Before any work



A bit of time, vacuum, mould remover, cif, water sunshine, elbow grease and vinyl clear, one seat done, next to the other one to show the difference



Both are now done. It will be a while before they get refitted, but satisfying that they cleaned up so well !!!

[Canarydelia]

Looking good!

[Darren C]

Ah, you too know the magic powers of Cif cream!

Keep up the good work

[lennyhope]

Looks great. I have steels and caps on mine. Looks pretty unmolested. Where are you based?

[LMR]

Lenny

Solihull, West Midlands

[LMR]

So, despite me saying it would be a few weeks before I get going on the 914 work, I did some more today. I borrowed a very powerful jet wash today - which cleans with heated water, and went around the wheel arches and gave them a pretty decent clean. Unfortunately I neglected to take any photos, but I will get some shots of the results over the next few weeks. I am delighted with how well they came up - it appears I need very little work to get them looking good. There was a shocking amount of sand in this car - I think it must be related to Darren's car......

Whilst I had the car outside I did some more cleaning of the interior. I went from this



to this

[DaveW]

That interior is coming up well. Worth checking that the rear window is properly fixed and not leaking. My centre tunnel looked like that which progressed to hidden holes under the bitumen sound proofing resultant from the window seal having gone. Relatively easy job to fix the window though if it is suspect. Less so if the floorpan requires work.

[LMR]

Dave

Rear window is ready to fall out. I will remove it when I get around to making a box to store it in.

I have pretty much decided to get rid of the bitumen on the floor. I have had a very good look at the floor from underneath. I have two areas that need a repair, but the rest if it is very sound. I know a couple of car restorers, who have both said they would not put floors into my car as it is straight and original

I am guessing the bitumen is there as sound deadening? Has anyone tried dynamat, or reapplying bitumen? Whilst talking floors, what would have been the factory finish to the inside and outside floor of the car. Would it have been undersealed externally, sprayed body colour, or sprayed something different? And would the bitumen have had a finish put on top of it?

[DaveW]

Can't speak for what it should be however mine had bitumen on top of the floor inside which itself had been painted body colour. On the outside there is a rough underseal on the underside however the factory offered this as an option rather than as standard, so far as I am aware. Pretty sure the underside and arches would have been painted bodycolour originally, though I painted my pan and arches black schutz and then painted the arches bodycolour (as original). The rear window kit is a 3M adhesive seal that acts on heat (bought mine from Auto Atlanta). My floor pan looked solid enough until I removed the bitumen. The floor pan itself can be repaired in sections. Restoration Design do segments or the whole floor. Patrik Hess in Germany can supply the bits if required. I used adhesive backed rubber pads cut to size to reduce the noise. Seen others done with dynamat.

[LMR]

Evening

Curiosity got the better of me today. With the exception of the battery tray area and a couple of holes in the floor which I knew about, I have been overjoyed with how great the general condition of my 914 (crappy paint aside). I figured my luck would run out at some point, so I decided to remove the front bumper to have a look. I am determined not to remove every component off this car, but I have decided that I will be putting this car on a roll over jig at some point to get the underneath to tip top condition.

When the car arrived the front bumper looked a little neglected



Washing the bumper didn't cheer it up much. Whilst trawling youtube one evening, I came across one of the magic solutions that people claim work but rarely do. The video suggested coke / diet coke and tin foil was good for removing corrosion / rust. I barely had any of the latter but I had pretty much thought I would have to get some bumpers at some point, so why not give the coke / tin foil thing a go. Well, it works - it shifts all sorts of marks! What it doesn't shift is overspray. You will see on the photo above evidence of black and blue paint along the lower edge. When I took the bumper off, the full extent became apparent.



plenty of black and blue paint (is the black factory finish? it was pretty shonky).

So, after some thinners, elbow grease, and some car polish, I now have this



Shame the car polish cannot get rid of the dirty great dent in it - thankfully most of it will be covered by the number plate.

So did I find any horrors behind the bumper? No, apart from some dirt and dust, all is good!!!!!

[LMR]

Took my rear bumper off tonight. I have added the photo below. Should my car have a rear valance below the bumper?

[jackstowers]

Took my rear bumper off tonight. I have added the photo below. Should my car have a rear valance below the bumper?

Yes, it should.

[914 KEV]

plenty of black and blue paint (is the black factory finish? it was pretty shonky).

The black paint is not factory finish.
The factory just fitted the chrome bumper without adding any paint.

[LMR]

Evening all

I was meant to be doing something else in the workshop today, but that plan fell apart a little so I had a couple of spare hours for the 914. Previous photos show there is a dent in the front bumper. I am not terribly bothered about it as a UK numberplate will cover most of it, and I will do a full repair when the car gets resprayed and I will get the bumpers rechromed - don't hold your breath on the respray, I reckon is will be 2017 before that happens...

Anyway, Whilst I am not that fussed about the dent, I did take the worst of it out with a piece of 4 x 2 and a hammer. Sorry, forgot to take a photo, but the indent is significantly smaller than it was.

With both bumpers off and overspray removed, I was just about to wrap them up for storage, but I have taken a tip from Darren's work (okay, not the first tip, they are all good!).

I would always have wax oiled behind the bumpers, but have done that now rather than when the bumpers are refitted to the car. I rust treated in advance as well.

I have also done the insides of the wheel trims as well

[Darren C]

Nice to see your making good progress.
The bumpers are a pig to get dents out of as the steel is so thick. More so if you've got chrome ones.
Keep posting.