Bling in the rear.

Got more work done.  The other day we got home from a family outing a little earlier then planed, so I was able to work out in the garage.  So I finished up the rear trunk.

Both sides thank you very much.

The only thing I have left to do on the electrical is the console displays.  But most of that is ironically mechanical hook ups.  What I'm contemplating (read procrastinating) is going ahead and using white LEDS.  I will put them in eventually, so why not do it now.

In my best Arnold:  "Due it, DUE IT NOAH!!!"

A slow dash

I have been working the last couple of weeks, just not been posting.  Sorry about that.

Since the wiring is all in place now it's time to put the dash and lights together.  So here's the dash console all scraped down with the a coast of paint.

Here's another (since it was so much work):

Then I finished wraping up the electrical:

Then the dash and trim gets installed:
BTW, if I have the light switches in the wrong order, let me know.  I forgot to document that, and the Haynes manual doesn't cover it.

Dials and lights next.  Due to some timing issues; I'll be putting the trunk hoods on after that.

Back in the car.

Windshield wiper fixed and installed. It's always nice to learn new things; since this had a missing bolt and was otherwise messed with, it was nice to rebuild it.
I also finished installing the head lights.

Both of them.Doors are next and then the dash. But I don't know if I'll install the doors; it's so easy to work on the car without them.

A touch of bling

Just for some color, I added some bling to the blog. I hope you like it. Rick as always did a great job on 'cleaning' up the graphics.

Scrap and paint.

Last weekend I started stripping and painting the old parts I'm putting back in the car. A couple of good coats of rust-o-lium flat black will hopefully keep them in good shape for the years to come. The grill over the engine bay, and the rear trunk hinges.


Here's a close up of the hinges with the guide bars all attached and the mounting hardware painted black. The nuts standing out yellow just gave me the willies; so as long as I was painting today, I gave them a coat.

Here's the support arm of the windshield wipers. I'm not painting the whole assembly. And really this part was in great shape.

I found this under the car. I had to remove it to get to the breaks and gas tank lines. I was temped to send it along for blasting; but felt it might get misplaced. Since it provides a bit of aerodynamics under the car, I knew I was going to put it back on. And losing it would be unfortunate.

Headlight assemblies. All striped, primed and painted. I was also able to get these installed as well. Thanks to some well timed wife watching the assistance's.

All tucked away...

All cleaned up and waiting for another round of venture funding. To assemble the the car further I'll need to order some parts. Rubber seals, carpet, dyno-mats and get the seats reupholstered.

There are some sub-assemblies that I'll be working on in the mean-time:
Head-lights getting put back together.
Tail lights too.
Windshield wipers need to get reinstalled.
Dash board.
The trunk hinges working correctly.
And of course the doors.

Most of these will require clean up and a coat of Rustolium before installing. So I'll blog about each one indevidually.

Parts moving back in.

I finished up the wiring harness. And put it back in.

Here's the front all taped up, and installed. The three wires dangling on the left are for the gas tank level (irionic ).

Here's the engine compartment all nice and neat. For the first time in it's life.

The middle; not so much. Still needs to be installed, but I have to get the mounting hardware for the fuse pannel.

Working so hard!!!

I worked my helpers so much today; they had to take a nap.
I wish I could join them.

Better photos though technology

Back from paint and in the garage.

You can kind of make-out the pearl effect in the paint. No hole for the signal 'puck' or antenna hole anymore.

Focusing is way over-rated. All the dings are gone; nice and smooth.

The flash is making the blue come out more than it really does.

No more rust in the engine compartment.

All patched and painted; no more holes through the car frame.

Nice and straight, and with no rust. I didn't want the jack point; and forgot to remove the one on the other side. I plan to replace the rusted 'runners' with fiberglass replacements. They will stay shinny and black.

Even the doors are nice and shinny. The grill on the engine cover should be removed and painted black (and it will be).

Best photo showing the real color and effects.

And now a taste of things to come....

Woot Woot!! We have paint. The repair is almost complete. Here's the hood and engine cover.

Left side (which was dented) all finished up.

The Right side (which was a lighter shade of yellow) all finished up.

And just a shot of the front. Everything was so nice and shinny!

The trunk hood and doors have been prepped and will go in the oven tonight. Saturday for a pickup. And into the garage for putting everything back into the car.

On a side note; I got a response back that the AC24LS engine is now ready for delivery.

Working but not working..

Currently the 914 is still getting ready for it's big reveal. How they do these in one week really is a mystery to me now. Still fabricating metal for the rusted out pieces. The hood, doors and trunk lid are completed and primed. The passenger compartment is complete and the trunk is almost done. We're still working on the engine bay rust.

Oddly the soda blasting is working for and against us. The bare metal is a breeze to fabricate and weld to. But because the job was done so well; the priming paint job requires two coats (minimum) to fully protect. Cal-Blasters got to every nook and cranny; so now the paint has to as well.

Did I mention this car is going to rock? I'll try and get some photo's next time I'm at the shop.

Getting ready for the home-comming

As long as the car is out of the garage for the second to last time (getting the breaks once overed will be the last time). I wanted to make sure the garage would looks it's best when it gets back in there. This is something I've wanted to do since moving in.


Insert awesome car in to this picture here.

And a huge thanks goes to Rick, for what could have been two days of back breaking work; being two mornings of back breaking labor (with a lot of joking between shots of Gatorade).

T-minus 10,9,8... PAINT!!!

Here's what a 914 looks like in the buff:

And the trunk:

Even the 'rust' in he trunk looks good like this:

Very good idea of the rust in the engine compartment:

I even found out the front left panel had been replaced at some point. But they did a nice enough job that the seam never showed. I always wondered why the paint was lighter.

Up next:

• A quick primer job so nothing rusts.
• Then metal work for what rust needs to be fixed.
• Then body work to get out dinks and bends.
• Another coat of primer.
• Under carage paint job (JBL or such).
• Paint the car (color number BF1F1).
• Spray the trunks with bed liner. (Maybe later I'm going to be painted out after this)

I will then have a car ready for batery racks, motor and inverter.

There's a hole....

I meant to post yesterday, but I was working from home; and didn't have the time.

The reason I was working from home was the car was being transported over to Cal-Blasters. And it went. Now the garage is an empty nest. Just a lone transmission. It looks so pitiful.

But soon there will be a painted car in there.

Ohh Ahh.

Idle hands do the devil's work.

After making a huge mess in the garage, and pitting new types of grease and grim againest my wife. Now that the cars is finished. At least till the middle of next month anyways. It's time to pay the piper. 1 gallon of grease cutter (the bio friendly type), a scrub brush, and two hours of labor gives you this!

This also required a couple of 'Aleve' that evening.

Last time it will be yellow.

I've got the date; June 12th. I'll send the car up north, and it will come back minus any paint. But here it is: for the last time, in yellow!


Front end completly torn down.


All the door trim and dashboard removed.

Engine compartment all bare and wraped for transport.

And the final indignity. No doors or wheel.

Next shots will be of the naked cars. At last dirty pictures. Ironically they actually will be very clean...

A Man, a plan, a Sears gift card, and a Memorial Day sale...

My MIL has a great sense for gifts. For Christmas she sent a Sears gift card. Well I needed a jack and stands a couple of months ago. So part of it went there...


But I've been biding my time; wait for the moment to exact my revenge from Sears for the 'Tuffins' pants my mom used to buy us.


At last the three day weekend was upon us; %50 off plus %15 with coupon. It was time to strike!

Revenge is sweet my friends, revenge is sweet (and metric).

I think the bolt is giving way...

Say what you want about my K-Mart tools; at least they don't break.

Gotta lay off that spinach.

Well there’s your problem

Having dropped the engine; there remained one major system to remove.

All the wires. Rick came by and we got medieval on the wiring harness. And the gas lines, clutch cable, gas and speed-o-meter cables.

Oh, yeah:

All the internal (and external) trim.

Two weeks of work

I've been getting a lot of support, both from friends and my wife. My friends getting greasy and my wife freeing up my time.

Well maybe the brakes still need a little work…

But major props to Alberto at club NARP for spending a day here at Ground Zero Labs.

Something seems to be missing….

Look ma, no engine (and transmission (and exhaust)).