2.4E From IKEA to Blut Orange

[jtparr]

Mick

Stunning colour, simply gorgeous

See you at Essen then..?...we are flying in Friday morning, what about you..?

Regards
Jonathan

[MT]

Time for an update I thought......

Despite the cold weather, a trip to France (where it was just as cold, but a teeny bit sunnier) and a first-time trip to Essen for Techno Classica 2013 - which I enjoyed immensely - and persistent nagging from herself to get the garden sorted, there has been some progress on the Tangerine Dream.

But first a little bit of Essen. Only a very little bit as my Canon EOS decided the night before we left to get a touch of the vapours and so I had to make do with my Olympus mini-digi. Anyway first thing of note was a 66 2.0 swb LHD like the Doctors car, also unmolested since new, but unrestored with a bit (well a lot really) of road rash on the bonnet and wings. Not my colour, but it was someone's because it reputedly went for something north of 150k€ Why? Perhaps it was owned by someone who had once sat next to Steve McQueen or something.



Then my once favourite car, but having seen one stripped and restored on Ferrari Chat, and seen how poorly they are made, they have fallen in the rankings, but still the prettiest car in my eyes.



And finally a quiz. Identify this car please ....



And so to Tangerine Dream. First off, in with the loom. I used a piece of standard electrical cable (red in this case) as my lead wire, from rear to front. Wrapped the side branches in standard masking tape and a light spray of silicon lubricant. Only thing to be careful of is to make sure it goes into the small box section in the top RH corner of the centre tunnel as you look from the rear.



One at the rear feeding in the loom through the bulkhead (having passed it down behind the bulkhead and over the torsion bar) and another in the car pulling through near the pedal box. A bit of wiggling, twisting and back and forth and it went in quite easily really. Up through the front bulkhead, and reconnect to the front section at the fusebox.



Route along the dash, connect up the dash switches, refit those bl**dy plugs through the bulkhead.



Lots of fun getting the wires for the interior lights down the RH A post and even more getting the sunroof motor wires down the LH A post. On the Doctors car I pulled through some mig wire when I removed the loom for blasting and left it in there as a pull through, but on this car dear old Bob had stripped all this wiring out to go racing, and of course there is much less space in the A posts with the sunrtoof drains in there on a sunroof car. Anyway got them in. I found strimmer cord worked best to pioneer the way through, followed by mig wire and then the loom.

Then the pedal box



And the rest of the centre tunnel, gear shifter, gear lever, handbrake, heater etc. Pleased to find my home-made accelerator bushes fitted and seem to work well.



Made up all new brake pipes and fitted ss hoses. Then on to the suspension - front first (note the experimentation with a collage!)




And the rear





A few other bits and bobs and that's the rear area pretty much done until the engine goes in.



Just started refurbishing the dash, so once that's done then it will be the wiper motor, blower, gauges, column switches and the rest of the wiring.

[KS]

Looks great! Boy, you work fast!

[dragonfly]

Wow, great work and its looking stunning.

Not my colour, but it was someone's because it reputedly went for something north of 150k€ Why? Perhaps it was owned by someone who had once sat next to Steve McQueen or something.

Only 150k? Probably only owned by someone who had once nearly sat next to SM...

[stretch]

Good stuff Mr T.

[MT]

Why thanks Mr. O'C. Nice to see you in Essen - well in a bar in Essen anyway!
I'll be down next weekend to collect my commission on that bonnet sale .......and repossess my mislaid property.

[MT]

A few steps forward a few steps back.

As you might have seen in another post in the 911 section I was having trouble figuring out how to refit the rear window wiper that was part of the original configuration. The separate loom with red, red/black and brown/white wires was still in the centre tunnel, but it was cut at either end and had been used in part to feed the fire suppression system in the engine bay. Extending the rear to the rear lid loom I have acquired was no problem, and extending the red to the front fuse box and the other two to the switch equally was no problem. But the diagram I have (see below) showed a 4 pole, make and break switch, whereas the one I had was just two pole.



Anyway the other post cleared all that up, and a a raid on a local DDK'er produced the right one (and a proper sunroof motor - more later) Didn't work properly in the 'off' position to begin with, but a bit of striping and cleaning did the trick. What you have to have is one of these.



And it goes here



So now on to the engine lid. Fit the loom and the plate lights



And the grille (newly restored), letters (courtesy of Mr. Moss) and NOS 911E badge. Love the contrast between the orange and the black.



Then the first step back - the rear wiper motor I had acquired in a pile of Porsche parts some time ago proved to be a dud - the motor windings were burnt out beyond repair. A quick search on e-bay produced another, supposedly tested and functional for £45, so perhaps not too bad. Really should check these motors out as soon as I get them!

Then finished the brake system with piping in the brake reservoir - bit more involved on a RHD as the pipes have to cross from the reservoir on the LH inner wing to the RH pedal/master cylinder. Lots of fun getting the funny grommets into place!





Also the restoration of the rear light boxes is going well. I have experimented with the shiney plate/chrome lookalike paint, and I have to say I am impressed.



Then out with the refurbished gauges from North Holywood Speedo that have been sat in the box they came back in last September. All went well, and I managed to restore the original wiring behind the dash from the racing mods with no 'I wonder what this is'. Pulled out the last gauge from its wrapping (the large combo) only to find.... (I believe it is the original Sporto combo gauge with the additional oil warning light for the torque converter in the centre)



Bu**er. Back to California for a repair and check that no other damage was done. Not the biggest problem as I have plenty of time, but still costly in shipping and more risk of loss or damage.

Better news on the sunroof motor. Having established the one I have is for later cars, and that I needed the early rectangular one to fit the mounts (plan B was to make up a modified mount to allow use of the newer version as suggested by another on this fine forum). Anyway my dawn raid also secured one from Swampy II. It also didn't work - not too surprising given the state of the car. But a little dismantling and TLC and it now runs well, so it'll be going in tomorrow or over the w/e.

For info the innards look like this



And under the gasket



Really enjoying this rebuild, especially in the sunshine.

[Lightweight_911]

Great progress being made Mick !

[Darren65]

Great to see it all going back together Mick.

What process did you use for restoring the grill, is it powder coated?

Cheers,

[MT]

Darren,

Cleaned, sanded and painted satin black.

Anyway, first a little diversion with (unfortunately) no Porsche content. In keeping with our trip last year to Aus/NZ and as a continuation of our disjointed 'grey gap year' herself and I took off for a few weeks in Norway by way of a change. Hired a car, booked a few hotels, flew into Bergen and out of Alesund, and just went where the music took us. A few 'taster' pics, but we had a great time. Landed the day before 'National Day' when all get dressed up and parade about a lot. A few observations

1. And most important - lots of Norwegians are VERY PRETTY, at all ages. Didn't get pics of the best ones as was too embarrassed to get the camera out and worried about a) being kicked (again) by herself and b) being apprehended as a peeping tom.



2. The place is beautiful beyond description





3. Cross-country skiing is a cracking way to exercise the dog



4. A few old vehicles of unknown manufacture (to me) in the Bergen parade



5. Some cracking driving roads (if a little narrow in places) and some amazing tunnels and civil engineering



6. The Hyundai i30 has remarkable fuel economy



7.As a keen birdwatcher there are some great birds to see (excluding 1. above)




and the odd mammal



Strongly recommended if you like the great outdoors, and especially if you need to detox - alcohol is prohibitively expensive
Going back to Scandinavia next year though- Sweden.

Now back to the car

[MT]

You'll recall the large combo gauge had a cracked glass when I opened it up after its refurb by North Holywood Speedometer. Well a quick chat with Becky, and off it went back to be rechecked and re-glassed. All done under warranty - all it cost me was the postage out. Sent back to arrive when we got back. Superb service in my opinion.

Fitted along with its mates, and the dash top, dash, heater, radio, glove box and knee pads



Then the rear quarters, trim, and refurbished light boxes



And then (with Garry's assistance) onto the headlining. First using Charles' (shoestring7) as a template I fitted the new headliner to the sunroof frame




Sunroof motor in and checked. 3mm scrim foam glued to the roof and the motor per Charles'



Headliner clamped in place for a trial fit



We have now done a few non-sunroof cars and have refined our technique a bit - one key learning is that applying contact adhesive with a brush is much better, and more controllable than using a spray can. However we had not tried a sunroof version - no tensioning wires for example. We decided on a plan to fix the liner around the edges first before cutting the roof hole. So first marking and gluing the front and rear edges, then the sides





Mark the edge of the aperture and the cut line, and only add glue between the two



Cut, pull and wrap over the edges. Slide the roof liner into the guides on either side. Refit the ally sunroof mechanism guides




Looks good - very happy. Once again I have to say it is not a difficult task - with two people and well within most people's capability. Took us just under 3 hours from start to finish. I bought this sunroof liner off ebay for £75 and the quality was the same as the more expensive options



Then on to the A&B post pillars. Unlike the swb the LWB pillars were first coated in foam, then vinyl wrapped. So out with some 3mm scrim foam. Used my templates, glue and fit. Good job I'm a DDK member and not therefore a member of the 'General Public' otherwise I'd not be able to use my contact adhesive (????) If you can't read it, the can says 'For Industrial Use only. Not suitable for use by the General Public'



Fit and cut




Then the vinyl, but only glue on the edges beyond the foam...






In with the engine board and mfi pump, filter etc



And finally in with my refurbished fuel tank. Anyone know where the vent pipe on the tank vents to??




And that's us up to date. Next a bit of interior, rear parcel shelf, then front and rear screens.

[Bootsy]

Looking superb, top work

[MT]

Thank you Bootsy - while in truth I really do all this for my own (selfish) personal satisfaction, the appreciation of knowledgable others is still very rewarding. I also hope that someone will find in all this the assistance to their own difficulties in the way that I have from the restoration threads of others on here.

[Bootsy]

^^ that's what it's all about! ^^

[KS]

Do you think you could work a bit faster in future?