Olympic Blue / Silver metallic 1972 US Import 1.7L

[shandyhaggis]

Morning

is the ball joint bolt one of the tapered ones or just a straight through bolt? If tapered then I have a couple from my 76 suspension youd be welcome to.

Andrew

[LMR]

Darren

The condition of the wheel arches is like the rest of the car - far better than expected. It is changing the direction of the restoration. The initial plan was to get it to back on the road with minimal fuss. Given how good a starting point I have, I will be spending a little more money and lots of time making the underside very good indeed. It won't be a show car, but it will be very high quality. The respray of the body may get deferred by a year to get the underside and engine to where I want it to be. If I do defer the respray, expect to see a gulf inspired livery.

I am glad you mentioned parts. My shopping list is getting ever longer. I have a good relationship with my local Porsche parts manager after working on my 964. I am aware of Roger Bray, and various other suppliers in Germany and USA.

Porsche genuine parts can be eyewateringly expense. But it is not always the case - your windscreen shows this. And there is a certain satisfaction to get an item in a logoed box. Also, I can collect stuff from there.

Mail order is fine, but I work during the day so parcel collection is a pain. Also, I have just had something arrive from America (see future update) which required me to pay VAT to HMRC and a handling charge to Parcel Farce (they think the spelling is force but my years of dealing with them suggests my interpretation is correct).

Comments from others would be welcome, but I suspect that parts from overseas suppliers would be a bit cheaper, but if anything needs to be returned, then the cost of postage would be negated? I may start a separate thread if someone hasn't done so already.

[Darren C]

"The condition of the wheel arches is like the rest of the car - far better than expected. It is changing the direction of the restoration"

Some cars do that when you truly care for them.

[LMR]

Darren - how true!

[LMR]

A bit more progress today, but fairly short as I popped into a car show in my 964, and I have a cold (not man flu). The front suspension still fought me, but in a different way to yesterday. The bottom bolt came out easily enough, but the track rod end didn't want to budge. I considered cutting it, but instead wound it out - which was both dull and tedious

Anyway, it is now off - photo showing the condition of the suspension unit and of course sand.



I also removed the metal plate which covers the steering rack (which I am sure has a proper name). As the photo shows, plenty of sand and other detritus to clean away.



Whilst packing up, I had no more than 5 mins cleaning in one of the wheel arches. Before and after photos below





There are some rusty bits in the arches, albeit surface rust. I am keen to go for body colour in the arches, just to be a little different from the undersealed finish on most cars. I am going to give this some more thought, as I want a car that can be used all year round, so may end up with black underseal.

[LMR]

Andrew

Thank you - mine is a straight bolt

[LMR]

Life got in the way too much this weekend, so didn't get as much time in the workshop as I had hoped.

Progress has been gentle, I have split the ball joints so the shock absorbers are now separated from the wishbones. Removing the remains of the bolt I drilled through last weekend took another tedious afternoon.

I am hoping to make some better progress next weekend.......

[LMR]

I was going to write about all the things that have stopped me making progress this week, but after the week Darren has had.........

I have been a tad distracted this week. My motorhome needed an MOT, and whilst dropping it off, my friend had a car on his drive which he is trying to get rid of, which might just suit as a parts chaser. I am just waiting to find out if my offer is good enough. It isn't a Porsche, but is interesting enough to own.

Anyway, after a sort out of various piles of parts in the garage and a move around as I was fast running out of storage space, I spent some time making brackets in preparation for getting the car onto a rotisserie. Tomorrow will be more of the same.

[LMR]

More cutting and grinding today. I started with some metal flat bar



which after plenty of cutting, cleaning and wire brushing gave me the brackets which will bolt through the bumper mounts and attach to the rotisserie.



I then moved my attention to taking the remainder of the interior out. As I have little faith in wiring diagrams, I have meticulously gone through each wire and traced what goes to where. By the time I finished today I had two of the three dials out. The trip reset for the speedometer was proving tricky to get the knurled piece off even after I drilled out the grub screw. I think the two parts have rusted together. I have soaked the whole thing in penetrating fluid and will attempt to strip during the week. Failing that, I am not that fussed about the reset switch, so it might have to get cut off.

My gauges need tidying up, new glass etc. Has anyone done this on a DIY basis, or any recommendations for who to use for a refurb?

[Darren C]

Just done my gauges (its in my resto thread)

The "glass" is plastic in all but one console gauge (if you have a console) Most light scratches should polish out with care. The hardest bit is getting the bezels on and off, but with patience you can pry 180 Degrees of the bezel open at the back and slip/unhook the rest off.

If you replace the glass, the diameter is as important as the thickness. There is a rubberised sponge seal in the bezel that keeps dust & damp out. Too thick a new glass and you'll not get the bezel back on. Too thin and they'll rattle or vibrate.

Good luck

[LMR]

I was trying to work out over the weekend why I haven't made much progress during the last few weeks. I have recently changed my work location which dispenses with my 100 mile round trip commute and replaces it with a short train journey, meaning I should be getting home an hour earlier. Then I worked out I am covering two roles at the moment as a colleague is off sick. When he returns, progress will improve.

I am also easily distracted. I mentioned last week that a mate of mine had an interesting car on his driveway that he was looking to get rid of. With my change of commute I can cope with something slightly less economical., so I now own this.



I wanted something I can move parts around in much easier than my car. And it has a 4.4 litre V8 engine with six speed manual gearbox, so I reckon it should have enough power to get parts to and from the powder coaters

Anyway, back to the '14. My time this weekend has been spent having a sort out in the workshop and getting organised as my workspace was becoming a mess. And I have spent some time preparing the instrument surround. Rust has been addressed, and I got around to priming it.



I am also working on the brackets to get the car onto the rotisserie. I am not posting photos of the work going into the brackets as I figure that may not be the most interesting thing going on.

[LMR]

More progress this weekend - it must be due to the clocks going back

I am making progress on stripping out the interior. I think I might need a new speaker.......



I have got the top of the dashboard off



And whilst I was on a roll, I decided to get the windscreen out. It was already cracked, so I wasn't too worried out keeping it in one piece, but I was still careful as I wanted not to damage the frame. So I have gone from this



to this



Stripping parts is fine, but I always like to have something going on which feels like progress is being made. So I took a few mins to start the top coat on the binnacle surround.

[Darren C]

Great progress

Looks some how very familiar

[Mr Pharmacist]

You're making good progress!

I'm not sure your work shop is quite big enough though

[LMR]

If only all the space was mine.......

Me and a friend found the unit a couple of years ago. We couldn't afford it, but got others interested and split the space to enable it be sustainable long term. Having people around helps with motivation and access to a spare pair of hands. It also means we club together and buy stuff jointly. For example, our air compressor is much bigger than a hobby one - it can actually keep an air tool going.

Downside is, however much space you have, you always fill it