Olympic Blue / Silver metallic 1972 US Import 1.7L

[LMR]

I can't resist a gadget. Last week I bought a very cheap endoscope. Today I have been to the workshop and had a poke around. The cross member is pretty poor, so I was concerned the inside of the centre tunnel would be similar. The inside is pretty good, so I will cut a couple of access holes and clean up, but avoid taking the whole tunnel off, which is something I was contemplating.

Hopefully more progress tomorrow

[LMR]

More grinding and addressing rust today. Photos below show the bottom of the front boot.

a few bits of rust



Stripped the areas which showed rust.



Rust inhibitor applied



In between stripping (which isn't my favourite task (have I mentioned that?), I am continuing to address sub assemblies. Chief popped in and gave me a hand stripping the seat sub frames.

Before





So these are now ready to be powder coated. I was going for black, but Chief is full of good ideas. If any of you have seen his 964 you will know the man has an eye for detail, and after the conversation today has got me thinking of a different colour.....

[LMR]

Lots going on but all very boring so not really worth posting photos. I have investigated all the key areas, and continue to be surprised as to how good generally everything is. The cross member under the seat is more crusty than I thought, and there are a couple of areas in the floor which need repair. To save the time / effort of making repair panels, I will be using these

[LMR]

A trip to the Monaco Historic Grand Prix distracted me a couple of weeks ago

I have been amazed at how few bolts have been seized on a car that is over 40 years old. The one on the right below rounded



After some drilling and the use of an easy out (which are normally rubbish), the bolt came out.





After that, getting the steering rack and front beam off was plain sailing

[chief]

Looking good Phil, I need to drop down and see you Saturday.....

[LMR]

I didn't realise it has been so long since my last update. Real life has been getting in the way, but I have also been waiting for the services of a metalwork genius to become available. My welding "skills" are best reserved for anything that needs to look agricultural. By contrast, my friend Mark works absolute wonders. As is the case with the best people, they alway have a queue of customers. But recently he has dropped onto my 914 and has really cracked on.

The area know has the hell hole definitely needed work, but wasn't completely disastrous. The inner wing was definitely very frilly, as can been seen below;



If I was doing the welding, I would have patched the inner wing, but Mark has the skills to carry out this work properly. So he cut out the inner wing.



I am really glad he did this. I would not have been brave enough........

He has fabricated a new panel, and installed the new battery tray and support



It is great to have some progress

This week is also significant as I have, thanks to the generosity of Three Two, now driven a 914. I have another holiday coming up, but once that is out of the way, I will be upping the progress, especially as I now know how great these are to drive!!

[LMR]

More welding done

Side lights removed



And the new crossmember fitted, with a couple of repairs to the floor



At this rate, I should be on the rotisserie by the end of the month

[chief]

Loving your work Phil. I can't wait to come over and have a mooch over the progress.
Keep up the good work! Some of us are loving it.....

[LMR]

Thanks Chief, I was wondering if anyone was reading this.....

More parts arrived today, and more welding done. Just need to order rotisserie now

[Mr Pharmacist]

I'm reading it! Great progress - brings back distant memories of me doing mine.

I look forward to more updates!

[Bootsy]

Likewise - great thread

[Dean.s]

Keep the updates coming. I'm just a bit further on my bodywork after nearly 6 months. I thought I would sort mine in a couple months start to finish. Oh how wrong I was.

It's good motivation to see someone in the same boat. One thing I haven't done is touched any of the sub assemblies. I want the shell finished first as I need to roll the car outside to work on other components.

[LMR]

I have mentioned before that I have been considering a rotisserie. Well, I took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and ordered one. I took the day off work on Wednesday waiting for delivery - it finally came just after 1900. I could have done a full day at the office and had an evening in the workshop.

It came mostly assembled, but I did need to finish it. Yesterday, Mark the magic welder completed the brackets for me. Today, I finished work early, and with the help of Chief (thank you for popping over), I now have a car which is so much easier to work on







Thankfully, flipping the car over has not revealed any more horrors. I just have many hours of surface preparation ahead......

To break the tedium, I have also dropped some parts off for powder coating, and have placed an order at my local OPC for parts to go with the powder coating. My plan will be to split my time between bodywork and sub assemblies.

[Green Ernie]

Thanks Chief, I was wondering if anyone was reading this.....

More parts arrived today, and more welding done. Just need to order rotisserie now

I'm still lurking Phil, gonna start my resto thread very soon, off to Modena in the morning, Mrs Green Ernie taking me to the Ferarri, Lamborghini museums etc for our wedding anniversary. Keep up the good work, looking good.

[Mr Pharmacist]

Looking good - get yourself a few decent spot weld drilling bits for the floor pan!