The Manhattan Project

[AndrewSlater]

I have done this engine thing so many times, but it always amuses me when I read someone else doing the wretched job!
Those drive shafts are THE most frustrating part of the tedious job.

It gets harder with the gearbox in place, and the drive shafts loom big and large on the to-do list!
Mind you, I would be scared stiff of damaging the paint!

The driveshafts were definitely a pain, but I did refurbish them first so hopefully they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

We have yet to scratch the paintwork - but it is only a matter of time!

So the gearbox and engine were finally mated together, again this took a while as I had moved one of my engine studs over whilst the car was on the stand, in order to lock the flywheel. I couldn't understand how the bolt could fit through the gearbox case until I realised my mistake.

The new starter was fitted, and the gearbox wiring sorted.
I also fitted the throttle linkage at this stage, but it later fouled with the driveshafts when fitting so had to be removed again.


So we reset the clock, so that we could fit the engine in record time... but again it didn't work out like that.

We installed the engine millimetre by millimetre and once it was roughly inside the engine bay, we lowered the car on the axle stands inch by inch. The installation took much longer than expected but mainly because I managed to trap a number of pipes and the like along the way.

After much cursing we got to this point.

It fits !!!

And looks quite cool !!!

One mistake was I forgot to connect the speedo cable as we were fitting the cable - and it seemed to take forever after the event to connect it up.

So in summary everything is connected, with the exception of the breather hose from the airbox to the oil tank ( unless anyone spots anything else ).

Finally everything was torqued up, the wheels refitted and the car dropped back onto it's wheels.
The car seems to be sitting really low, but I think that is the optical illusion of having seen the car sat high at the back without an engine, and more recently jacked high into the air in order to fit the engine.

Overall quite a satisfying milestone in the project.

To celebrate we went to the Goodwood Supercar Breakfast!

[jtparr]

Well done Andrew..a good milestone....

[AndrewSlater]

Not as much progress on the project of late as I would like.

I have been side tracked with front brakes for the 914 (which seems to be taking me forever), and replacing fuel lines and carburettors on the 912 (which also seems to be taking me forever).

On top of that I have had to repopulate the pictures in this build thread when the Photobucket ones stopped working.
Seemed a shame to lose the thread history - so Flickr to the rescue!

What time I have had, I have been building up my rear light assemblies.
I changed the wiring so that the side markers are now part of the indicator circuit.
I did change the side marker bulb to an LED one but it was pretty poor so went back to the original filament bulb.
Given the side marker is a much lower wattage than the indicator bulb I am hoping it won't affect the indicator circuit too much.

[AndrewSlater]

After returning from a fun road-trip to Germany which included visiting the Porsche Museum, we have managed to spend some more time on the project.

After many hours of cleaning, inspecting and repairing the remaining wiring looms it was time to fit it.
Over the course of a couple of days the loom slowly went in.
What a fiddly and time consuming job to get it all in neatly.


All the gauges have been refitted along with a NOS Blaupunkt Frankfurt so the wiring loom is 99% complete, other than wiring the speakers.



The heart in your mouth moment was reconnecting the battery for the first time.
Luckily no sparks or fire.

System by system I have gone through all the functions, and other than a couple of instrument bulb failures, everything seems to work - even the clock runs probably for the first time in over 30 years!
Another major milestone in the project!

I have ordered some replacement instrument bulbs, and once they are in and fitted I need to tidy the underdash wiring and then fit the under dash knee pads.

The only thing I seem to have mislaid is my ashtray hinge/bracket, and I am a little unclear how the ashtray light fits ( maybe I am missing another part ).

But overall I am pretty pleased with progress, there are now a few less boxes of parts to refit to the car.

[AndrewSlater]

As part of refitting the dash there are a large number of grommets to fit between the bulkhead.

I have four smaller clear grommets that for the life of me I can't figure out where they go.
They came out of a bag marked dash/interior but I can't seem to find them on PET.

If anyone can suggest where they go that would be most helpful.

[911hillclimber]

Made me smile!
When I finished mine I too had a handful left over!
Still have them in a special box 28 years later.
Good luck finding their home Andrew.

[MT]

The four small ones look like those that were fitted in the holes along the inner edge of the body frame down by the seat base - about 15mm up from the floor pan. I think they were used when the frame was wax oiled or similar. These holes might have been filled in during the resto.

Ones similar to the big one went in the holes in the inner wing up near the bonnet hinges - i think when the hole wasn't used for the electric windows loom. You can just see it behind the wing support in the top RH corner of your photo in post #12 on page 2.

Some similar, but slightly smaller ones go in the four holes in the front slam panel (2 at each side).

Been a while now since I installed mine so take this accordingly .....!

Mick

[AndrewSlater]

Thanks for the help Mick, if it is the area you described it may well be the holes have been welded up when the sill tube access cut-outs were welded back in. I will have a good look tonight.

Maybe Graham should post a photo of his stash of spare bits. You could help him identify the parts and finally repatriate them after 28 years with his soon to be freshly painted car

Another niggle is whether my car originally had a wiper delay or instrument brightness potentiometer fitted. When I got the car the hole to the right of the steering wheel had an aftermarket toggle switch fitted possibly for an aftermarket alarm.

Some references talk about a wiper delay pot with a large knob on a '74 car only, which became one with a smaller knob in '75.

However I can't find this on the schematic I have. Later schematics seem to have both.
I don't seem to have any unconnected part of the wiring loom in this area so I am guessing it was blank in '74 on my car.

If anyone knows any better do let me know as I did source a '75 pot that I was intending on fitting.

[911hillclimber]

I have quite a box of such parts over....
I think many were closing off holes in the doors and under the dash, but when I cut and shut the bulkhead behind the heater/blower fan to convert my hill climb car to RH Drive all manner of holes got filled, several about 10mm diameter.
I don't remember plugs in the inner sill sections though.

[Gary71]

I found these today when refitting the CDi box. LH rear inner wing, just under the engine lid hinge. Looks like the same bits?

[911hillclimber]

Yep, seems Porsche used them all over the place.
Guess I might find the holes that need them when I get into the shell rebuild.

[AndrewSlater]

Thanks for the suggestions guys - I do have a pot full of the larger bungs still to fit ( and plenty of candidate holes in the shell ). It was the smaller bungs that I was struggling to identify where they went.

The next step was to install the front blower parts and piping. After several hours of fitting and refitting parts and then an hour or so of checking all the cables were adjusted correctly it is all back in situ.



If only I could find the two foam cable spacers that fit on the blower cable it would be 100%. I'm hoping they will turn up soon otherwise I might have to make some equivalents.

Whilst hunting in the loft I decided to get the sill trims down and fit them. Bought new side rubbers as the old ones were a little scuffed. Looking pretty good.



I then moved onto working out what goes where in terms of all the fittings under the front wings.
I had started fitting the washer tank and fuel overflow tank but realised this would prevent me fitting the impact bumper shocks so decided to call it a day.

I definitely seem to have fewer boxes of parts to fit these days

[Gary71]

Coming together really nicely. Better than new!

[jjeffries]

Utterly impressive. Seriously....the dog's 'nads. John.

[PMNorris]

Looking great.