914 2.0 > 3.0 GT Conversion

[defianty]

The next stage has been fitting the sill covers. It was obvious on purchase these would need a fair amount of fettling to fit correctly. I've never fibreglassed anything before so once again I hit up YouTube and sought out a few tutorials. Armed with just about enough knowledge I ordered up the relevant supplies and set to the job.

Whilst the lefthand one fitted well enough to the car the righthand one didn't - the top edge was at the wrong angle and pushed it up into the door. You can see in the pic below, there was no gap at all and bottom of the door scraped on it when opened.



It's difficult to capture but you can just make out that top part slopes down too much.



In the end I decided to cut off the top section and then reattach it at the correct angle. I took several measurements along the length before cutting and decided the edge needed to be 5mm higher to be at the correct angle. These struts held everything in place so I could fibreglass under the lip. Once set I then had both sills ready to fit too the arches.

[defianty]

So here’s the fit out of box… I guess you could say, not even close!





I scratched my head for a while went to work cutting it up. Then with thin aluminium strips for support I could bend everything to the correct shape.

You can see just how far I needed to move them to fit correctly.



I learnt that fibreglass doesn’t stick to aluminium foil so I used that as a backing in the first instance. I later found using duct tape a stronger method.



Resin starting to harden



Foil removed and offered up to the car for a test fit.



Next stage was bridging filler



Getting closer



After sanding to shape and some body filler I was really pleased with the result.

[defianty]

The front didn’t need as much work as the rears. This time though they were both a bit big and the profile wasn’t quite right.





Last was to cut the hole for the jack point and test fit the cover.




Next job is the front and rear valance, they both need an equal amount of work to fit perfectly. That'll be fun and it is a change from welding!

[KS]

Blimey! Just caught up on the last four pages... That's some work you've done there, boy! Very cool.

[sladey]

Nice work again Stephen

[defianty]

You know that feeling when you do something and it's not quite right. Annoying isn't it!

I didn't like the profile on the rear of the sill panel leading into the edge. After looking at a few other cars last night I came to the conclusion that I needed to round the edge a bit more. If fact the decision was made easy after studying the front section, it had a nice sweep to it the rear lacked.

So first thing this morning I reshaped it and I'm much happier with the results.

[jtparr]

[defianty]

Two months since my last update!

On the run up to Le Mans Classic James (23e Heure) brought over his 914 to me with a list of jobs he'd like completed. I spent a couple of weeks going though his list and during that time didn't touch mine. I'm at that point now where there's very little to do until the car is painted. The paint slot I was hoping for won't happen now but I'm close to making other arrangements now. In the meantime below are a few other little bits I've finished off.

[defianty]

Targa latch hardware.

[defianty]

Headlight Motors were fortunately it fairly good condition and the casing both displayed their stripes well. They only really need a deep clean.

[defianty]

The fresh air system really needed a lot of work to refurb. Like many, mine had been left in situ when the car was resprayed previously so internally it was light ivory! It’s also not uncommon for the drain tubes to snap off and mine had suffered. Mine had also lost a couple of the tabs the retaining clips held on to so some of the pieces needed replacing. If took a while but eventually I had a good enough set to set about making good.

This is what I had to start with…



Overspray extreme!





I don’t think the seals are going to be reusable

[defianty]

Starting to clean…

[defianty]

This lot could be better so it was off to the platers.







New seal pack from 914Rubber

[defianty]

All back together and ready to install. Quite a difference from the beginning. Another stupid amount of time spent cleaning parts no one will ever see

[sladey]

All back together and ready to install. Quite a difference from the beginning. Another stupid amount of time spent cleaning parts no one will ever see

You’ve seen them. We’ve seen them. That’s enough. Crackin job