Fastest way to unlock 911 steering lock?
 

Friday morning, I am going to pull a sad, sad 74 carrera from a caved in garage . It is not going to be a pleasant enviroment to work in . To add insult to injury , the owner cannot find the keys. This is basically a parts car, and has already suffered significant damage.
This car has been sitting for over 10 years, and because of the way it is located in the garage, there is no way I can get at it to remove the ignition , and unlock the column. The drivers side is up against a wall, with part of the garages ceiling caved in down on the car. Cannot even open the drivers door . Even if I had the room, I have zero desire to lay under the moldy , rat feces infested dash to try.
Think I can just muscle it, and break the steering lock? I will have all sorts of demolition tools at my disposal.
Maybe I need to watch No Mans Land again .tonight
I would make a lousy car thief .

Probably should have posted in Tech ....

I don't think you're going to break the steering column lock by just twisting the steering wheel. Might damage the steering wheel...

Put a pair of skates under the front wheels, or just pull it out and hope for the best. If I remember the photo, there's a lot of crap on top and around it. You bringing a skid loader?

JR

You might want to wear a good dust mask(the industrial type) when working in old garages/barns due to rat and mice droppings. Guy.:eek:

It has to make a 90 degree turn and has to travel over broken concrete, gravel, over a curb and grass. Skids are not going to fly here. It then has to be dragged through an alley , and about 4 city blocks to get to a safe open place for me to load it on my trailer. Good idea though. I am going to have to be able to steer it. There is no way a tow truck can get at it either. It is on a narrow little Pittsburgh street. I can barely get my half ton pickup back there. It is going to be a trying day. I may just have to break a few things to get it out. Poor old girl.

UNbolt the stering shaft and you can move the wheel by hand.

I actually know how to do this. Seriously. I was taught by a professional. Again, seriously.

It's not very hard. The 911 style lock is similar to Japanese ignitions of the same era. The key combination is complicated but the lock itself is not. There isn't anything between the lock and starting the car. So what you to do is take a #5 Craftsman flathead screwdriver and use a hammer to pound it straight into the lock like you were trying to insert the key. You get the screwdriver all the way in and you force rotate the screwdriver, which turns the ignition, breaking the lock. Once the lock is broken you can turn the switch back and forth freely with the screwdriver or anything else you stick into the keyhole. You don't need the key anymore.

That (above) is exactly how you do this. A screwdriver that lets you put a wrench on the shaft for turning is also helpful.

angela

Cool, Thanks. My job is to fix things like this that are already broken. Never tried to break one before. Sweet. I have some large Snap on drivers that can take a wrench on the top . Gone in 60 seconds.....

I'd probably go with opening the trunk and unbolting the steering linkage. That way, you don't trash a $750 part.

You can think of this as a parts car but I'd suggest you consider that someone will want to restore it, or make a driver out of it. A '74 Carrera is a neat car, and it's worth saving. If it's not worth restoring yet, wait a year. You might be surprised.

JR

I vote for unbolting the steering linkage. What ever you do If you can please take lots of pictures of the ole' girl. I love this kinda stuff.

Winner.

Unbolting the steering linkage is not going to fly. We have to drag this car 4 city blocks before we can load. Someone has to sit in the car, and steer, to miss all the cars parked on the street,and go around a few bends. I have spare parts . I am sure I have a lock clyinder , and lock assembly somewhere. I have been collecting 911 for stuff for a long time. If I am feeling very brave, I can try to back my quad cab dually and 20 foot trailer up in there, but honestly, there are literally inches on each side of my little truck when take it back there. Cars parked the whole way back one one side, and a cliff on the other, telephone poles, ugh.... This is going to be a tough one. I HAVE to be able to steer it. with a person in the drivers seat of the car. Praying that the brakes work , but not hopeful

Photos of this operation please!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1400687173.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1400687217.jpg

Hey, it's your choice. It's easy to steer a car by pushing on one front wheel, while walking beside it.

I pprobably wouldn't try the service brakes, unless you want to jack it up and pull the pads to get it rolling again. If you do anything, use the parking brake. Or just have a little help pushing it. Unless you're headed down a decent hill, two guys can stop one of these.

JR

There are what, 3 bolts holding the steering lock to the dash? If you can mock up a tool to easily reach bolt #3, then go that route. That might ultimately be much easier than not being able to steer the car or having the lock not disengage.

I promise!!

Wheel dollys? Jack the car up and put a wheel dolly under each wheel. Then roll it where ever you want.

sometimes i like to just go down to the bottom without reading and just type

Broken pavement would prevent this from working.

How about unbolt the steering gear and have an assistant sit in the trunk and steer?

Now we are getting into hold ma beer and watch this video material.

well you give them the beer afterwards, of course

I like the idea of video though...

It's already a damaged parts car?
Already in a garage that is falling in?
Hell - Hook a chain to it and drag it out with your pickup truck.

Not to HiJack an awesome thread but I have been wondering..
Fast Fred, are you the same Fred that has Ronnie Sox's old Hemi Duster?
The suspense has been killing me for a long time

No , not me , there are actually quite a few Fast Freddies in the world.

Bring 4x4 or 2by6's nails etc with hydraulic jack(s) to take collapsed roof weight off car - be very careful as there is no telling what will happen with the roof as you start to move it and certainly get the heck out of there before you start dragging the car out .


1. drag the car to where you can open the door. A good quality steel hydraulic jack with someone on the handle can be used to steer the car or reposition it at the back

2 unscrew the plastic cover off the ignition and cut screwdriver slots on the breakaway bolts with a dremel and remove the two bolts with a screw driver.

3. with an allen wrench remove the lock-nutted bolt that points up under the dash

4 remove lock.

Good luck

You have a backhoe, now, don't ya?

Wish I would have took it today.... I am beat, I worked my ares off all day down there, and yet still came home empty. Well, no 911, just two trucks, and one trailer full of debris.
WE FOUND THE KEYS!!!!, and with a little cohersing, I was able to get both doors open, and the ignition unlocked. He kept bragging about how well he tarped it up , but in reality, all he did was seal in all the moisture, and speed up the process of it going back to mother nature.
USA carrera, so nothing overly special, and it is RUSTY. This one will not be saved. I will just part it out, and warehouse the good stuff for now. I stuck my hand right through the frame near the rear spring plate area. The roof is good, but not much other good sheet metal left. Just a regular 165 hp cis 2.7. A 74 trans is a good rare piece to own because of the 915 with 7:31 gears, but the best part is 15X9/15x7 rsr frosted fuchs . Score!!!!
We have one more day of work to do. We just plain ran out of time. Still have to drag his 55 ford out of the alley, and then drag the 911 out and on to a trailer. Going to try to finish up some evening this week. The 911's wheels are of course locked up tight. Hopefully they will roll , once I winch on it. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1400882804.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1400882883.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1400882903.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1400882926.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1400883006.jpg
His old ford convertible . The caved in garage is directly behind this alley/garage which was housing a lincoln, and six tons of debris, and a petrified dead cat.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1400883132.jpg

Oh that is painful. I have a friend who paid a LOT OF MONEY for a '74 U.S. Carrera.

Thats a 56 Ford if you give a rats a**. Better looking car than a 55 I think.

Fred, I would not part it out. Yes, it's nothing special in terms of the engine. Steering wheel, sport seats, tail are all worth big bucks (probably not 9x15s on rear, offset is all wrong...it's a front end wheel size) but prices for these things are going up like early Turbos, etc.

If it's numbers matching, it should be saved. and will be worth it in the end.

Yep. As the values for the '73 RS have gone out of sight, the '74 has crept up too. Maybe just clean it up and sell it to a restorer/ collector?

That does not look that bad, but underneath might be ugly. It is a good color too.

You may be right, I will not move on this car till fall/winer anyhow, I just wanted to get it home, de-louse it ,and pack it till winter. I have zero time to mess with it right now. I promise I won't make any hasty moves, but this car is very rusty. The rear bumper extensions, and first 1/2 inch of the quarter panels came off with the car cover. The fenders are toast, the pan is gone, the area by the spring plates is gone, rockers, ,cowl etc.The rear bumper is falling off, on the one side. The pictures do it a lot of justice
I am not 100 % sure they are 15X9's. but I took 4 spare 911 wheels with me in case these would not hold air. Two of mine are 15X8's and when I held them up against these wheels, they are significantly wider. Cool frosted finish also. I guess I'll know when I pull them off.
Cool find either way though, don't know if you remember this thread or not, but this car was the first 911 that I ever had any experience with. It was a childhood friends dad's car. I have not seen it since I was 12 years old. I can remember playing with matchbox cars out in their garage right next to this car.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/788014-i-may-just-end-up-p-car-started-all-me.html