God Bless America!

It'll have  modern look, but look how fun!
 

SIMULATION IN 3D:

AND FINALLY ...  IN THE FLESH!

10/18/08 Mounting Rear Bumper cover...

The rear fiberglass seems to have significant issues as far as fit on the left quarter panel. The car may need some adjustment. The quarter panel may be skewed.

LASER LEVELED !! ------------------------------------------------------------------
Something to do if you lack a reference point is to level a laser and measure from that to see if it's level. I guess it's really closer than I thought, but in the end, if it looks wrong to the naked eye, it's just wrong. I will do more measuring this way to see how to bring it into a perfect alignment. (as close as I can in the real world) Kind of 'Old School Porsche meets Star Wars' Definitely Cool.

Next Up: Engine Reassembly (3.0 Liter CIS)

Finally!!! The time comes to clean up my act. I think these pistons are a thing of beauty. NO BEAD BLASTING!
(Tom Amon - Thanks for the tip! which was: Wash up with chemicals - engine degreaser, then follow up with a HIGH HEAT DISHWASHER POT/PAN Cycle (Cascade Complete formula). NICE RESULTS! Clean enough to eat off! SWEET!

Too bad they will be inside the engine and black with carbon two days after I get the motor running. It's going to be plenty fun getting there, I can assure you. 9.3's and MAHLES to match. More soon... Check out the MOTOR WORK Gallery for more pics.

9/26/08 Frontend bodywork. This week has been very busy, but I managed to get the front end bodywork traded for the correct one. It does fit. It looks good. Also I was able to complete the front and rear bumper mounts and work on the deck lid fit. It's pretty close, but there is a lot of work to do.

9/21/08 Waiting for body work... new Business clients crowding my project schedule (a good thing...)

This week has been slow for working on the car, not only because I have to wait for the new body work, but my work, and business have been very busy. This is a good thing, but leaves me not very much time to work on the project. I guess it'll help me in the short run since I have to pay for some new stuff for the engine soon.

Coming up on my Optical Fuel business: 2 more websites, Club Resources, Kayak shopping e-commerce, and possibly some others will generate side work, plus much needed boost in my project funds. I have bodywork, paint, engine parts and engine reassembly to pay for. (and it ain't growing on trees!)

I sold the front end suspension on to a happy guy in the north bay area. (914 conversion) He dropped by and picked it up Saturday (9/19). He also picked up some other parts, rear suspension and brake assemblies. ($500 added to my project fund... nice)

I have sent off the 'wrong' front end (the one that is for 11" fenders) and soon I'll be getting a brand new front piece that is made for my 9" fenders. I think it'll arrive via Greyhound Express on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Then I can fit the front and back bodywork and prepare the car for final body work, and then painting. It'll be a few weeks before I can turn it over to be painted. I expect to be finally free of the 'wrecked' shell after this weekend. I have to remove the wiring from the shell, and then figure out where and how to get rid of it.

Next on my agenda (when I can get to it...) is cleaning up the pistons and cylinders, and measuring the rings to see if they will fit. I will post pictures of that process soon. Also I need to complete the duck tail (a far more visually satisfying venture) body work. It looks fairly close already.

9/17/08 Identifying remaining tasks

Trying to stay focused on the next thing to do is somewhat tricky. What IS the next thing. Well lets see what we got left to do: (somewhat in order of priority)

1. Get rid of the donor carcass. I need to reclaim some room in the garage
   This means: I need to finish extracting the rest of the parts, wiring and sheet metal that needs to be used on the 74, or sold. (this is almost done) I need to figure out where to take this after I am done with it. Dump? Junk Yard? Wrecking Yard? Recycle the metal?

2. Get front body work swapped out for the right part. (in the works...)
   TRE of Southern Cal is currently working on a deal for me to swap my front FG part for the correct one. Good news: They deliver to Lincoln, CA... so I can do the swap in person.

3. Fit and finish the body work on the 74, finish bumper mounts (1.25" aluminum w/ bolts) install sunroof and lock in closed position for painting then turn it over to TOM FAULK for refinishing in yellow.

4. Get the motor reassembled, ready for installation. The parts I am sure still need to purchase: Carrera Style tensioners, and a few other odds and ends. Need: Generator, Starter, Large engine mount bar, lots of fasteners (bolts & nuts like 10mm, 13 mm).

5. Once the 74 is painted, I need to: brush the entire interior, bottom pan, wheel wells, engine compartment and trunk with a good quality flat rust-o-leum (2 gallons oughta-doer), install headliner, install door panels, install wiring harness and dash components, install dash, steering wheel, seats (re-upholster?)

6. Install window glass, door glass, window regulators, locks and starter key.

7. Suspension checkout, install new upgraded adjustable swing arms, front and back sway bars, front drop links.

8. Install front and back bumpers , body work, and install front oil cooler, plumb with custom fittings.

9. Install brakes, master cylinder, brake booster, brake lines, calipers, brake pads, bleed brakes. Test.

10. Get new tires, Wheels checked out - road worthy.

11. More things I don't know right now...

9/15/08 More to be happy about than sad...

The work on the car is progressing, albeit at a moderate pace. New updates are:

1. I now have pistons and cylinders - now 90% of what I need to re-assemble engine. I am working on preparing the car for painting and then while it's out of the garage for a few months at Tom Faulks place (a local painter who I'd recommend very highly) I'll shift focus to getting the motor ready to go in.

2. Bonded Duck Tail skin to metal decklid, and acquired lid grill. For details: See pictures in the BODY WORK section. Now I need to fine tune the fit, and gaps.

3. Pulling off last good parts off the donor... and getting ready to get it out of the garage for good! (my wife will throw a party when that is done!) Details: I spent a very good part of Saturday night yanking on the left side swing arm assembly. Let me tell you -- pulling a torsion bar assembly out of a seriously tweaked car (try 100MPH + slam into a telephone pole - broadside) is a HARD job. I was torqueing on that with a long breaker bar - with a pickle fork -- for about an hour and a half.

I also ended up using: a "saws-all"... cutting away sheet metal, a 2 TON floor jack wedged in between the torsion bar end, and the door jam, and even ended up wasting a nice construction hammer handle.

I finally was victorious, when I made some progress with the floor jack> It was a major challenge. At about 1 hour into it, I figured it was a lost cause. It is satisfying to have overcome. It ended up being the rubber portion of the swing arm that was so wedged in the side, that it would barely move. I kept rocking it back and forth till it started to move, a 16th inch at a time. I found out just how difficult the job was the next morning... when my entire upper body was pretty sore.

Earlier... Setbacks will happen...

The bodywork I was waiting for (Front Air Dam) arrived today and it turns out it's actually for 11" fenders not the 9" fenders I have on my car. It's sure disappointing, but I will probably be able to sell it soon, and be back on track. I did however get the rear duck tail grill (fits and looks perfect) and also a very clean looking front oil cooler.

Lesson learned: NEVER buy anything without first making sure the MEASUREMENT is correct.

Seems pretty self evident, but somehow it got missed in my enthusiasm to acquire the bodywork. Here's how I recommend measuring your fender width:  How to measure your fenders: grab anything that is heavy, can be tied to a string and has a point on it... then tie a length about two feet of string on to it. Next hold the end of the string with the 'pointed thing' hanging near the ground. (You can also use a board that has enough length and is 90 degrees) Hold it at the tip or edge of your fender, then mark on the floor (with a piece of masking tape or something like chalk) exactly where that is pointing. Repeat on the other front fender, then measure that distance on the ground (between the two points you marked) and you'll know exactly what dimension your fender are. Cheers! EXAMPLE: My fenders measure 65.5" precisely. These are noted as 9" fenders. 11" fenders should measure in at about 4" past that... 69.5" or there abouts.

Stay tuned...

A while ago... Threading bumper ends...

This part was easy to make in theory, but takes a while to actually do. The threading size I decided to go with was 1/2 inch, so it'll be plenty strong. It gets embedded about 1.5" and will also have at least thread lock. I might even use JB Weld, but it won't take much. It'll serve as a solid mount for the bumper fiberglass.

More later...

With some enthusiasm... 'Bending the crap' out of a 1 1/4" Aluminum Rod... Front piece also...

Update: Front piece now in process:

Its amazing that I got this so precise on the first try. It fits PERFECT. I mean snug!! It will need to be slightly adjusted for depth, which I will do by cutting the ends off slightly, and then adding large washers to fine tune the front to back distance. It's my fascination with engineering that makes this project so enjoyable and satisfying. I know what I am building will be solid and dependable. My plan here specifically:

1. Bend two 90's or so with the proper distance between the two sides.

2. Fine-tune the depth and make the FG bodywork just rest on the rod so I can drill and tap it to secure the back portion of the body work to it.

3. Drill and tap the ends, so it can accept a 3/8 allen bolt to secure the rod support, on both ends.

4. Making the bends in the middle portion to fine tune the fit for front and rear body work. Front body work will be required to make those adjustments. I should get those within a few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

To my surprise... Test fitting more parts, Visualizing 911 Perfection. (Do you see it?)

Following a fantastic flurry of fragile marked deliveries ... and this car is starting to look like a real 911. It's a long distance from being completed, but now I am getting a sense of it's personality. It's going to be a fun car to say the least. Mean and beautiful at the same time. The front body work should be arriving in a few weeks. During that time, I'll finalize the rear deck lid and block sand the rest of the car (including the front hood). It's amazing to see the transformation, but I have already seen the final vision in my minds eye, so I already know where I am going with it. I was especially relieved to see that the car is sitting perfectly level after completing the installation of the wheels on the driver's side of the car. I was a bit concerned with that left side droop, but it turned out to be the funky spares that were causing the angled posture. It's all well, that ends well. But I expect there will be a surprise or two in store yet. We'll grit our teeth and start sanding... at least it's fun work, as apposed to normal work... I guess....	| Like a face without teeth...
	Looks too wide for the garage :) (almost always a good thing)
	... a pretty angle, even raw...