DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

No need to apologise Nathan, it was a pleasure having you visit.
Today I continued with the door, window glass, runners and frame alignment. No mean feat chasing your self in circles but I got there in the end.
Starting with holding a plastic 12” rule down the front edge of the door to front wing I adjusted the hinges and lock striker plates to get the fit right. Next the front ali window posts and quarterlights were pulled in at the top using the adjuster at their base so that the quarterlight glass met the up and over windscreen pillar seal evenly.
Next with soapy water on the glass to lubricate the scraper seal I wound the window up and down to get the best position for the M8 bolt in the nylon block on the bottom of the glass that holds it into the winder arm.
Then I adjusted the rear vertical channels again to get the glass (when wound up) to close evenly against the rear roll bar seal. I then looked at the glass side on where it meets the roll bar seal and noticed it was a tiny bit out of parallel, so undid the M6 bolt on the top of the front ali window post and gave it a tiny nudge rearwards before nipping up. After which I went back around all pivot points to double check everything. Last of all I then adjusted the travel stops on the winder mechanism to set the maximum glass height without over shooting the ali post rubber tops, then completed by tapping over the ali channels to clamp the up & over and roll bar window seals in place.
A few hours went by but the jobs done now.
After a cuppa I fitted the recently painted sill covers using all new plastic rivets, stainless bolts and Acme screws. They took a little adjusting and persuasion but went on well and look lovely!
The little VW plastic rivets were a bit of a pain to knock the pins down, but after working out that if you pull the pin from the rivet and put the tiniest bit of oil on the pin; they knock in far easier.
I then fitted the two polished up threshold plates but found that although the rivets fit through the plastic plate the holes in the car are ever so slightly (by about 0.3mm too small) I’d not had the problem on the sill covers as presumably the PO had drilled them out when the fitted metal pop rivets in the past. After running a 3.4mm drill down all the holes, followed by paint on a modellers brush I had a quick cuppa while it dried. Just in case any rust was going to get in there I waxoiled all the holes for good measure and fitted the threshold plates and remaining plastic rivets.
Next to go on was a new stainless steel radio aerial. A new grommet was fitted under the wheel arch and the cable fed along its original route before plugging into the back of the radio.
With the car pushed out of the garage for most of today it was the first time I had been able to stand back and view it. I’d noticed the front valance where it met the bottom of the bumper was a little out of alignment. One side I could see ¼” blue through the gap, the other virtually none. As that wouldn’t do… I set about un-screwing and manipulating to a perfect fit. Not bad really considering the mess it was in when I bought the car. After an hour it was all back on and perfectly aligned.
Last of all this evening I fitted the rear tow eye plug in the bumper to complete the lower section of the car.
With lawns to mow and a need for food I called it a day.

Today I fitted the outer door seals that sit in the channel on the doors.
Using a modellers brush I put a tiny bit of impact glue in the base of the channel and on the corresponding part of the seals. Being very careful not to get it on the sides of the channel or seal.
With a small jam jar of soapy water and another modellers brush I coated the sides of the seal and the sides of the door channel; again being careful not to get the glue wet.
The seals then very simply slipped neatly in to place and sat fully home held in with their ridged sides and secured with the impact glue on the base.





I then started to clean up the floor inside the car as the seats should be back soon from the trimmers.
This was one of those tasks that you intended to do within an hour that’s turned into a mini mammoth job. I took out the armrest centre console as the top needs a retrim due to going sun baked and splitting. Suffice to say there was another dustpan full of sand under it!
Cleaning it up by hand was a real pain. (no electric in the garage so no vacuum cleaner and I don’t have a battery one either). The more I scrubbed and cleaned the more stuff I needed to sort out. I removed all the vinyl coverings in front of the seat runners and around the centre tunnel only to find the glue that was under them was all goooo like an old boiled sweet. So with a white spirit soaked cloth I had a very sticky sandy mess to clean up. To get at it properly I took the seat runners, seatbelt clips, seatbelt relay and loom out of the way. Now with seat runners out I turned them over and found the black paint flaking, so they’re off for a blast and powdercoat tomorrow now along with the little cover plate in the centre tunnel! I stripped the runners down in my shed this evening, driving out the roll pins and removing all moving parts and bushes for a proper job. I think I’ll call in at the trimmers tomorrow too and drop off the centre armrest cubby lid and maybe while the other part of the seat runners are off the seat bases take a good look at them to see if they need a refurbish aswell.
Anyway with all the bits out of the way I managed to clean up all the floor under where the seats go as far as the cross member. With tooth picks, pens, coins, safetypins, business cards and sand there was plenty of cr*p under there! However I was rewarded by finding 3, yes 3 of the black plugs that cover the screws in the interior trim.
What was going to take me an hour this morning ended up taking all day, but before I pushed the car back into the garage this evening I took a couple of pictures of the assembly so far.

It's looking great Darren!

Thanks Stuart, It’s starting to look more like a car each day now!
Soon I'll have my house free of 914 parts

Today before work I started to brass wire brush the parts from the seat runners to get the white furry stuff of the BZP. I got an hour in before my son got up (he stayed over last night) and after breakfast we left about 6am to drop him off at his mums before going to work.
At lunchtime I called in at the trimmers and dropped off the padded centre tunnel arm rest lid and took a look at my seats. One was just about finished and the other not far behind. They hope to have them done next week (rear bulkhead included) so I need to get a move on with the interior ready for them to go back in.
Tonight when I got home I continued with “project floor clean” and spent a further 3 hours scrubbing the old glue and dirt off the floor under the seats and pretty much got it all clean now from the cross member rearwards. The plan is maybe tomorrow to start cleaning forward of the cross member (if my aching fingers are up to it).
I want to get it spotless under the carpets and free from the very last grain of Desert Sand.

This morning I got up early and masked off and painted the rear section of the floor that I’d spent several days cleaning up. I had a litre of basecoat paint left over so I thought I’d put it to good use while the floor was exposed. As per the rest of the car there was zero rust in the floorpan, just a lot of dirt & sand.
Having cleaned it up meticulously it was apparent that the factory barely put enough paint on the floor in the car to cover the white primer. It was very light and opaque in places. Giving it a good second coat would certainly help protect it for the future.
With the paint drying I left for work.
During lunch I called in at the powder coaters and dropped off the seat runners and the centre tunnel cover plate. I also spoke with Porsche Centre to see where the progress in a replacement key was. After no joy on the chassis number I emailed a close up photo as they suggested. “still with Germany” was the update.
Tonight when I got home the floor was nice and dry, so I cleaned up and rebound the visible wiring loom, replaced the cleaned up black sleeves on the loom clamps and reassembled the seatbelt relay block.



All this will be covered up when the car goes back together but I know what’s under there. Just got to do the front half next.

What time do you get up in the morning to be able to do a bit of a paint job first thing?!

It starts getting light (dependent on cloud cover) just after 4:30. Set alarm 4:15, get up, ablutions, cuppa and I can be in the garage for 4:40 and get at least 2 hours in before leaving for work.
(I do have other car projects that I'm working on in tandem with the 914, when my daily post on here is a little lean, it just means I've been doing stuff on my other cars, I try and work on them daily too)

I love this time of year, you can get loads done.

Winter is just depressing.

Yesterday I had a Fedex card through my door so today at Lunchtime I went and collect my parcel.
It was the Fog light glasses, and the replacement “non-grab” weatherstrips for the doors from 914rubber.
I opened the box and the seals are a slightly different design. Mark had also sent a replacement set of inner fuzzy seals (that were originally too short) FOC.
Having waited so long for the Fog light glass the first thing I did tonight when I got home was assemble them with my home made seals in my shed. The weatherstrips will wait for the morning.
With the lamps bases on the car it’s not easy to get the power cable, bezel clip and screw in through the opening in the bumper. Again with a little patience, lying upside down and a torch held in my teeth I got them both on.
The next thing was to offer up (without screws) the nice shiny new chrome grilles and adjust the lamp allen bolt so that the lamp sits central in the grill hole, then nip up the bolt.
I put the battery on and turned the fogs on to check all was well before aligning the height of the beam and clamping off the hex head through bolt. Again this is tricky through the bumper opening with the horns in the way. A ¼” drive 13mm socket straight onto a UJ was the only way I could get at it.
Just as it was getting dark I fitted the nice chrome grilles with new stainless screws to finally finish off the front bumper.

It's looking great Darren, keep up the good work!

Cheers Nathan

This morning I got up early and removed the handbrake lever and took it into my shed. Since painting the floor the other morning, it’s made things surrounding it look bad.
I rubbed down and primed the handbrake before breakfast being extra careful to mask up the nice 914 part number printed on the side in white lettering.
At lunchtime I picked up some stainless raised countersunk Phillips M6 for the door mirror and when I got home this evening I spent half an hour polishing up the heads so they shone like chrome.
The replacement seals that turned up yesterday got fitted next.
The reason the seals grab and jam is that you/we have the WRONG seals. It’s obvious when you hold them side by side.
The seal on the left is the 914 seal, the right is a 911 seal.



As you can see the left hand one is shallower & shorter and has an extra part that reaches down by the “bulb” locating strip to stop it “rolling” into the glass.

I fitted the correct left hand seal tonight and the windows wind up and down with ease, just as Porsche intended.
The answer isn’t talcum powder, its fitting the correct seal.
The confusion is that 914rubber and other vendors sell the 911 seal and list it as a 914 seal.
With the original genuine Porsche quarterlight seal fitted last week I was a little disappointed that the thin insert piece that goes in between the Ali window post and outer door skin was too short. My old one was like this so it must be a common fault. Not to be defeated, and since the new window scraper seals were over length, I very carefully cut the ends to make up a tab and close the tiny gaps. (post fitting the new mirror screws)



Finally I fitted the replacement correct length inner fuzzy door seals that Mark at 914rubber kindly sent to complete the door seal installation.

Finishing early this evening as I have guests coming to stay over for the Festival of Speed this weekend.

Darren C wrote:The reason the seals grab and jam is that you/we have the WRONG seals. It’s obvious when you hold them side by side.
The seal on the left is the 914 seal, the right is a 911 seal.



As you can see the left hand one is shallower & shorter and has an extra part that reaches down by the “bulb” locating strip to stop it “rolling” into the glass.

I fitted the correct left hand seal tonight and the windows wind up and down with ease, just as Porsche intended.
The answer isn’t talcum powder, its fitting the correct seal.
The confusion is that 914rubber and other vendors sell the 911 seal and list it as a 914 seal.

Hi Darren,
This is not correct.
The seal on the left is not for the 914 door to window glass scrapper, it looks more like the repro seal from inner windscreen seal to dash top.
The 914 factor window scrapper does have a lip.
One thing I did mention to you was that there are three seals on the door to side glass. Have you replaced the outer inner fuzzy strip that slides into the seal mounting gutter?

Thanks Kev,
Yes I have replaced the fuzzy that goes in the ali channel under the scraper.
The left hand window scraper in the photo is NOT the dash to screen seal its similar I grant you, but different. This is definately the window scraper seal. You've confused me now...3 seal types?. The left seal in the photo fits fine, works fine and looks good

Despite going to the Festival of Speed today I got up at 4am and got a couple of hours in on the 914 before my guests and I left to beat the queues!
While working on the doors and windows I’d noticed that the passenger door had up inside it, the plate with two threaded holes to take a passenger door mirror, but the door skin had no holes.
Porsche must have done this to allow passenger mirrors to be retro fitted or fitted by special order at build.
Now; with a LHD car in UK a passenger door mirror is quite helpful. So after a search on line I found some NOS for sale in Germany for £80 including the gasket.

All that was required was to locate the exact position of the threaded holes and drill the door from the outside….not as easy as you’d think.
After a few days pondering I decided to reach from inside the door, put my centre punch in the threaded hole from underneath and tap gently to make a raised pimple on the door skin that I could see from the outside.
Very carefully I centre punched the pimple and then drilled a 2mm hole. Looking from the inside of the door with a mirror on a stick I could see that I was almost central but not quite.
A 3mm drill was used next followed by a 3.5mm. In this way I removed the risk of cutting into the thread in the door and damaging it. The hole was then enlarged with my swiss rat tail file until it matched perfectly the threaded M6 core diameter. I then carefully ran a 5mm drill down it to ensure it was circular before using my sheet metalworkers step drill to take the door skin nicely out to 6mm without damaging the threads.
I repeated this on the other hole and had two perfect 6mm holes in line exactly with the factory threads.
Finally I cleaned up the burrs with a tiny countersink and painted around the holes with two pack paint.
Roughly an hour a hole but it was worth spending the time to get it right. Doing it wrong is only going to hurt the pocket!

Today was another very busy day with Friends staying over, but I did manage to squeeze in a little time on the 914 at the start and end of a long day.
As the paint around the holes had dried I fitted the new Passenger Mirror with a good coating of waxoil down and around the mounting holes before it went on.



It looks so nice that I may need to get another new one to replace the drivers side which has some tiny/miniature stone marks in it.

After a busy day entertaining, I got back into the garage at 6pm tonight and began “Operation Dash Stripdown”
The top roll has a few sundried cracks in it, the bottom roll has a single crack under the glovebox, the top padded vinyl has shrunk and come unstuck, as has the basket weave insert. All in all the closer I looked the more issues I found with it.
So the only way to sort it out is to redo it all. Taking the dash top roll off I was greeted with another load of fine Desert sand beneath it.
I also plan on cleaning up and repainting the front half of the floor so I stripped out the centre console and all the remaining bits of carpet ready for a good scrub up and bubble bath.
Who on earth thought it was a good idea at Porsche to have the steering column pass through the carpet?????
To get the passenger foot rest carpet out I had to remove the steering column!
Not a bad thing really as I found all the windscreen washer hoses perished and split behind there plus a few wires that had come unclipped from things.



Again I worked until it started to get dark and hard to see, but I made good progress.
Trouble is, just as my shed and summer house were gaining some space again Ive gone and filled them up and given myself another load of work to do.

Very impressive work Darren - in every way.

Re bumper tops.
Thought you might be interested in this thread on 914world http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=258661

Is he suggesting that what he's selling now is a different spec to what you bought ?

regards

Andrew

Hi Darren,

For about 5 minutes we were neck-and-neck but I can't keep up with your work rate, even parts that I took off, (albeit 2 years ago), no longer want to fit, took me all most of yesterday to re-fit my rear valance and one rocker (cill) cover. Mind you my days aren't as long as yours!!

Read with interest about the window scraper rubbers, got mine from Mittlemotor and they too are the "wrong" ones. No issues as yet with them coming off but as my doors aren't fitted yet I haven't raised and lowered the window very often.

All the talk of "Fuzzies" has confused the life out of me. I have re-newed and re-fitted the Internal one which is in the aluminium channel but is there another then at the top edge of the door skin?, looks like there might be from your photos (door mirror holes). I didn't have one when I stripped my doors so this has thrown me.

All the best Buddy!!

Peter