Restoring my first 914

[Darren C]

This morning before work I called in at the paint shop. The excitement of knowing the extra coats of Alaska Blue and Lacquer were dry and the car was coming out of the booth was too much for me to ignore.
After all the “wow, wow and more wow” I took a few pictures





Inside the front and rear boots and spare wheel well are like glass! I am really blown away with how good a finish they have made, the photos don’t do it justice. (The paper in the wheel well is just protecting it from the headlamp covers sitting in there for safe keeping.)
The colour match is superb, that’s why it always pays to buy quality OEM paint. The soft edge mask that was put around part of the door shut panel to protect the chassis anti tamper sticker is completely invisible where old paint meets new.
Really itching to get it home safely now. They are working on the insides of the removed panels this week and it should be all ready on Friday.

At lunchtime I rang dozens of specialist in “glass” to see if anyone would buff out the two front fog light glasses to no avail, looks like more hours with jewelers rouge.

Tonight when I got home I prepped the etch primer on the fog lamp housings and sprayed them satin black over the course of 3 hours. In between flip over times I started to clean up the lamp mounting brackets, bolts and washers plus the bezel clips and screws. All got a good detail brass wire brushing back to shiny BZP and a coat of waxoil. I even brushed and cleaned all the spring wires that hold the glass & reflector into the bezel. Fiddly little so and so’s.
Finally I use some old car inner tube (from one of my old pre-war cars) with my punch set to make two new rubber washers that go between the lamp brackets and the car body.
Last night I searched for new gaskets for the fog lamp glass edge (where it fits into the bezel) but even armed with the PET part number everywhere seemed to show “no longer available” so as a solution I gambled £3 on ebay for some very thin rubber “U” channel that may do the trick. Will keep you all informed. (unless anyone knows a source of the original glass seals? Even Hella websites and pdf parts manuals don’t seem to list them)

[Mr Pharmacist]

wow!

[914 KEV]

The fresh Alaska Blue paint work is amazing.

For information Darren: on the US spec front fog lights there was a gasket between the glass lens and the reflector, but on the Euro spec halogen ones the glass lens was glued to the reflector.

[karmann]

That really is looking very nice, this build is full steam ahead

[Darren C]

Thanks Guys. Cheers again Kev for the info.

Today I called in at the second paintshop before work. I had a look at the bumpers, valances, roof and sills. They had painted the rear of all panels and I asked for the stone guard on the rear of the sills and valances. The satin black was then applied and I was asked to check the sheen/colour one last time before they paint the fronts of all pieces. The sand blasting and hours tin bashing paid off, if the rear of the panels is anything to go by the fronts will do justice to the rest of the cars paint job. They look great.
At lunch today I called in at the motor factors and picked up my new box of 3M Caulking strips to fit behind the various ali trims. I also called in at my friends garage with the flatbed transporter. There’s a small glitch in the plan to pick up the car. It will be ready Friday afternoon but the Transporter is booked out. Saturday he can pick the car up but the paintshop won’t open up. Bloomin frustrating. Looks like it’s going to have to be Monday at 7am and be an hour late in to work.
Hopefully the bumpers, sills, roof and valances will be ready Friday (I can pick these up in my Volvo estate) so with the roof to assemble & trim, plus the bumpers and a few little bits left over in my shed, they’ll still be plenty to do over the weekend.
Tonight when I got home I continued with the front fog lamps, giving them a coat of fuel resistant satin lacquer. Not that I plan to spill fuel on them; just that these modern rattle can paints are namby-pamby tree hugging rubbish these days and the Eastwood range of US rattle can paints (from Frosts) are far tougher and durable, so a satin lacquer coat is all that’s needed.
Next I got the two oval side/indicator front lamp units out and started cleaning them up. Again a laborious task due to the PO having the underside and arches sprayed with a Shultz type underseal. This had to be picked and scraped off the holders bit by bit before I could brass wire brush them to a reasonable finish.
The insides (under the lens) were full of sand. Just when I thought I’d seen the last of it! They got a good clean out and a Cif cream clean to brighten up the reflective surfaces before a rinse off and left to dry.
Finally I cleaned up the “U” shape mounting brackets and finished with a light waxoil coat before running an M6 die down the mounting studs to clean up the threads.
I carried out a dry run on my Euro lamp adapters and a small tweak will be required to get them to fit correctly, but that’s for tomorrow night. .

[Darren C]

This morning before work I unmasked the Front fog lights and using a new Stanley blade very carefully picked off any tiny masking tape ridges on the rivets.
One lamp had a loose paper sticker in it when I took them apart. It was a Hella sticker with the bulb type. I could see where it was fitted and took a photo of the old sticky mark and the angle it was at before cleaning up the lamps. After cleaning the sticker I re-glued it back in place where it went. Finally before leaving for work I fitted the cleaned up mounting brackets.



Today was manic at work so I had to miss lunch all together but when I got home tonight I started work on the front side/indicator lamps that I’d cleaned up yesterday.
In US format they have a twin filament bulb that is side & indicator through the fully amber lens. I want to convert mine to Euro spec with a clear sidelight at the bottom of the amber lens. To do this requires fitting another lamp holder in the housing and new lenses to mimic the true Euro spec. I’d bought the lenses last year before the car arrived and recently purchased an “adapter kit”
Unfortunately the only word to describe the kit is “sh*t” on so many levels.
Firstly I had to re-solder the cable onto the lamp holders as the solder joint was “dry” (not enough heat) and one cable fell off with the slightest movement. They had to be cleaned up and soldered properly.
Secondly the bent aluminium plate was folded in the wrong place and simply wouldn’t fit the housing. The section with the lamp holder was about 2mm too long between bends. The only way to fix it was to drill out the pop rivet holding the lamp holder in place and re fold the bracket to make it 2mm shorter. This made the section at the front too long so the 2mm needed trimming off the end.
Thirdly, with plate the right shape it sat too high in the housing as there are two small pins in the housing casting to locate the original euro spec part. I then had to use engineers blue on the pins, insert the plate and mark it on the back before flipping it over and drilling two 3.5mm holes. Only then did the plate sit correctly in the housing and seat correctly to allow the lens to fit on top.
Forth, the lamp holder would no longer fit as the bend was 2mm closer to it so I had to file a flat on the lip of the lamp holder so that it would go back into the bracket.
Fifth, there was no good earthing for the new bulb. I can only guess the earth was supposed to come through the housing which is Mazak, via the top lamp holder which is galvanised steel, from a copper spade, then through the Mazak onto the new aluminium plate via the slot it slides into, across a pop rivet and into a steel lamp holder! Phew, too many leaps of faith of getting a good earth there for my liking.
So instead of just pop riveting the lamp holder back on I used a shortened bolt & nylock with a new crimped and soldered earth cable straight to the lamp.

As bought on the left, modified to fit on the right



In place



Fortunately the original top lamp holder has two nice clear holes already in it so I simply fed the new power and earth out through them. The plan is to keep the twin filament bulb at the top, use only the indicator filament spade connection and fit the other filament cable straight to the new lamp holder for a clear sidelight. No modification of the original wiring loom required.

For peace of mind I was a little concerned of the closeness of the rear lamp wire to the housing, so I cut a small piece of old car inner tube rubber to make an insulation pad. In this way if any over enthusiastic bulb changing occurs it wont short out and blow a fuse.



Hopefully this will help anyone else out who comes across these Euro adapters so they know what to do.

[Darren C]

This morning I loaded up parts and tools ready for a lunchtime visit to the paintshop.
The car was due home today but the transporter was booked, the earliest the paintshop and transporter are both available is 7am on Monday morning. So as they are not open tomorrow I needed to fit the door, bonnet & boot locks to hold everything shut for transporting home.

I called in at noon and they had hung the doors, so a few tweaks to get them sitting right and I fitted the cleaned up locks and striker plates. The bonnet & boot were on tressels still so I fitted the catches to them and the car. I also took along all the new rubber bump stops and screwed them in slightly high so that the closed bonnet & boot wont rattle and mark the paint because the seals aren’t on yet on the way home.
I was pushed for time but managed to load up the engine lid and pop up light covers to take home today before going back to work.
On the way home before food shop, I called in and picked up the targa roof and the front bumper from the second paintshop. Plenty to keep me busy this weekend!

After getting home and unloading the parts I had to stop and admire them while I had a well deserved cuppa.
I decided to finish off the second front sidelight this evening so more scraping and scrubbing required to clean up the housing.
Before & after



After last night shenanigans I repeated the same modifications to the second euro side light conversion plate and fitted it in the holder.
All that was left to do was insert bulbs and with the aid of a wiring diagram and spare car battery I tested all the connections.
I opted for a Hermaphrodite spade connector on the new earth lead and a male spade on the new side lamp positive lead. Both were crimped soldered and heat shrinked.
After a bulb test the original pins on the lamp were easily identified.
Pin 31 earth (with dual spade so original car loom can be connected)
Pin BL (remains un modified and is Positive to indicator filament - the brightest- of the twin filament bulb)
Pin 57 side light feed (original pin covered with grey heat shrink to prevent connection. This is where the new positive feed goes to new clear sidelight, so basically what was originally pin 57 is now the new flying lead)
All should be contained within the new rubber cable sheath to the lamps and no modification of the car wiring loom required

Finished lamps

[Darren C]

Today I got up early with the intension of painting the engine lid satin black under the Grille.
The new paint on the top surface of the engine lid is flawless but on closer inspection I was not happy with the underside. It looks like during painting a load of sand from somewhere became dislodged and fell all into the wet paint along the forward edge eitherside of the hinges.
I very carefully masked up the top surface with two layers of kitchen roll, bubble wrap and finally a cardboard cover. All carefully cut to shape and only masking taped around the sides to avoid marking the fresh paint. With this in place I taped a double cardboard top onto my B&D workmate and flipped the engine lid over to work on the underside. After a bit of poking around I discovered that the diagonal brace was full of sand behind it where you couldn’t see. I spent a good two hours with a toothbrush size brass bristle wire detail brush with the handle sawn off fiddling around to scrub all the braces on the lid that you cant see between top skin and brace. I then used scotchbrite to feed into all the nooks and crannies dragging back & forth to clean every last grain of sand out. I must have got half a tea cup out, totally shocking! It must have blown in there layer upon layer and set with moisture, completely out of sight.
I then spent another 3 hours sanding down the new paint on the underside of the engine lid with 600 & 800 grit to remove all the bits of sand & sh*t that had blown into the new paint.
Finishing off with more scotchbrite to key every ridge & valley. Whilst I was being messy I sanded and keyed the top surface of the engine lid to take the satin black that I’d planned just to do today.
It took an age to clean out all the dust & dirt, with vacuum cleaner, dry brushes, tack rags and degrease wipe, then tack rag once more.
Fortunately I have a litre of mixed Alaska Blue from when I did the engine bay a few months ago, so I set about re-spraying the whole enginelid underside in my part finished loft conversion. Still considering whether I should make it a bedroom or a spray booth?
After a good few hours drying in the blistering heat of the loft I mixed up some 2 pack lacquer and gave it a good coat.



I spent a good long time making sure the hinges and braces were absolutely perfect and I’m reasonably pleased how it came out.
While it was still tacky I very carefully took off the masking tape and cardboard protection from the top surface as masking tape left too long on fresh paint marks the finish. Finally hanging it carefully to cure for a few days with minimal surface contact.
In between the paint coats while waiting for it to dry I started to strip and clean the replacement rear lamp assembly I’d got from Stuart (many thanks).
With Stuart’s old housing and my old lamp holders I reckon I can make up a decent righthand lamp to match my Left one.
A good Cif cream scrub was had of all parts and washed off. While they dried on the garden table I cleaned up a few more parts that I’d taken off the car previously. These included, the adjuster/stop nuts and bolts for the pop up lamps, the wiper collars, nuts, the pop up lamp arms and a few odd bits for here & there.
With things drying all over the house & garden I quickly popped out to buy two new bulbs for the euro modified front side lamps and grab a bite to eat.
Metal parts dried I gave them a light waxoil coat and fitted the bulbs, and the new rubber seals to the side lights before bagging up and putting into storage.

The plan for tomorrow is to brasso polish up the rear light housing firstly. The satin blacking of the engine lid will have to wait for a few days now for the paint on the underside to harden, but to be fair there’s plenty other stuff to do.

[Darren C]

This morning I starting to clean up the light lens Stuart sent me. The lamp holder was carefully removed by cutting out the resin around the spade connections and sliding the block out. The mounting studs were quite rusty so they got a good clean up with a M6 die, and a paint with aluminium silver. The first thing I did was check the plastic to make sure it wasn’t too UV degraded. This was a quick check by polishing one end to see if it was feasible to restore the unit.



The housing was reasonably good except for the frame across the top of the indicator that was broken and a few chunks missing. This was ok in my old unit that has a melted hole in the top, so I cut a section out and bonded it into Stuart’s housing to repair the corner. Next I grafted in a new tube to the single lens stud hole from my old housing. I discovered a couple of weeks ago that the housings were melted by cellulose thinners. I used this to my advantage and semi dissolved the joined in section and with a cellulose soaked rag, wiped over it. This levelled off the frame edge and made an invisible join. Several small area’s were treated the same with a little cellulose thinners to melt and 800 grit wet & dry to flat off. Following the repairs I spend a good few hours polishing the housing up with Brasso.
Finally my old cleaned up lamp holder was bonded into the replacement housing and the bulbs refitted. A quick check with my multimeter, the seal was fitted to the new Euro lens and the lens fitted to the housing with the cleaned up knurl nuts.
Last of all after cleaning all old impact glue from the housing surround the new seal to body was stuck on.



All wrapped in bubble wrap with the LH lamp and put in to my shed awaiting assembly.
Next I turned my attention to the pop up lamp motors. They got a thorough clean with a modellers brush in white spirit to get all the sand, grease and dirt out the worm drive casing webs. The whole assemblies were then brass wire brush burnish/cleaned to an as new finish. The electrical leads were individually cleaned carefully with a small rag soaked in cellulose thinners, followed by the relay holder. The relays were removed and the cross in each pin slightly opened with a Stanley blade, cleaned up and refitted. Finally the earth eyelets were cleaned before the whole assembly was coated with WD40 and wiped dry to a nice as new lustre, zip top bagged and back into my shed.
With the Brasso still out this evening I cleaned the door mirror within an inch of its life. I must have polished it a dozen times until I was happy it was good enough. I brass wire brushed the cross head fixing screws to a bright shine and spent a good while brushing out the cross head screwdriver slots in them too.
The mirror glass is held in with a black plastic surround which I cleaned with a combination of more brasso and a final wipe with a clean rag in cellulose thinners to bring it back to a jet black shiny appearance. I sorted out the new Mirror to Door gasket from my large 914rubber delivery and bagged it with the screws and mirror before placing in the shed.
Looking for a break from polishing and change of scenery, I went to the garage, swept it out free of any dust/leaves and cut two bits of 4 x 2 to act as wheel stops for pushing the car in tomorrow morning. There’s a slight ramp up to the garage door so don’t wont to push eagerly tomorrow and bump the garage wall!!
Before calling it a day, I fetched my trowel and dug up a load of weeds that had sprung up across the front of the garage door since I cleared it up a couple of weeks ago.

Fingers crossed the car will be home in the morning.

[rhd racer]

Bloody amazing level of detail Darren - we have all seen professional restorations where everything goes away for replating etc, but it is fascinating to watch someone achieve the same finish with some inginuity and Cif cream!

Looking forward to seeing the car come together - colour is gorgeous, well done

All the best
Wayne

[Mr Pharmacist]

I can't believe that is the same part I sent you!

You can work miracles with your household cleaning products!!

[914 KEV]

Fingers crossed the car will be home in the morning.

Big day for you today Darren.
Hope it all goes to plan.

Looking forward to seeing the photos of the 914 being reassembled.

[Darren C]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww4v2cP-MDo

[Darren C]

Thanks for the encouragement guy's

Stuart/Wayne, give Brasso a go on your rear light housings you'll be amazed how well and easy it is to get shiny, shiny lights.
(It's the result of years & years restoring classic cars when you're skint or the parts are just not available)


This morning I picked up the car from the paintshop. The weather was kind and the sun shone as we carried it home. Quickly unloaded and tucked away in the garage I left for work.

During lunch I drop off the two large discs that go on the end of the pop up headlight motors to be blasted and coated black. I called Porsche Centre and ordered up a few odds and ends. The collar/covers for the wiper spindles and retaining nuts for the wiper arms.
I spent the day eager to get home and start on the car.
First job tonight was to start cleaning. Yes more cleaning. This time it was dust from the paintshop, it’s bloomin everywhere in the interior, engine bay and a light dusting over the new paintwork. Bringing it home on the transporter the wind whipped it up and covered everything.
I very carefully washed the car and wiped over as much surface in the interior as I could with a damp cloth. This will need repeating over the next few days/months to get rid of it all.
Anyway after an hour cleaning I was itching to start re-assembly. The first job was to align the rear boot lid. It was loosely bolted on for transport so I carefully got all the gaps right and nipped up the bolts. Next I adjusted the rubber stops to get it sitting flush with the rear quarters by the lights. Only then did I refit and adjust the latch and striker pin.
Once aligned and free to open and close easily I fitted the push button rear lock.
I’d bought a new 914 rubber seal to go around the lock.
This was a big mistake and a waste of money. The new seal was so soft that the slightest tightening of the nut on the push button barrel compressed and deformed the new lock seal. It simply curled up and away from the body. What a piece of junk!!!
Not impressed I cleaned up, polished and refitted my old lock seal which is far sturdier than the 914 rubber seal.
Not a good start for 914rubber, fell at the first hurdle.
Anyway with my old seal cleaned and fitted I un-bagged the rolled up wiring loom that was in a carrier bag in the engine bay. Working to the deadline of getting the car ready for paint, I’d simply bagged it up out of the way without inspecting it.
Suffice to say the section of wiring loom running along the rear of the car between the lights had been painted blue! No surprise really as the back of the lights had blue overspray on them when the Muppets painted the boot floor long ago.
The only way to sort out the loom was to take off all the spiral binding tape and clean each strand by hand with a cellulose thinners soaked rag.
So there goes 3 hours this evening….Anyhow I got it all off before re-binding the whole rear loom with new black insulation tape being careful to replicate the helix binding pattern so the wires show through as if it was brand new.
With no electricity in the garage (contemplating a 100m extension lead) I had to call it a night when I couldn’t see anymore. Besides if I did get a light in there, I’d probably not bother going to bed.

[Mr Pharmacist]

It's worth contacting 914rubber and letting him know the issue - his customer service has always been very good when I've dealt with him, even on small parts