Inspiring .

Some more upgrades for Kermie recently.

I added a set of LED lights for the rear of the car from Spokeworks.
https://www.spokeworksled.com/911-led-solutions

I added both the square brake light board as well as the amber turn signal board.
Quality looked excellent and installation was a breeze.

Look at the boards:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566535432.jpg

Installed:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566535432.jpg

Behind the Hella Euro lens, you wouldn't know much was different.
You can barely make out the LED arrays behind the lens.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566535537.jpg

All of the lighting is now much, much brighter than with the factory light bulbs.
Tough for me to get a really good pic of these in the daylight...the notepad camera just doesn't pick it up.
Trust me though, they are incredibly bright and will be an great safety upgrade for in town cruising.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566535644.jpg

In addition, I ditched the H1's I've been using for a number of years in lieu of a set of these:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566535714.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566535714.jpg

These are are the JW Speaker 8700 Evolution 2 LED DOT Headlights that John Audette sells.
Premium LED Headlights for Porsches | Audette Collection: The Definitive Resource on Vintage Porsche 911 LightingAudette Collection: The Definitive Resource on Vintage Porsche 911 Lighting

I opted for the Chrome trim ring & premium Bosch 4487 fluted lenses versions.
Installation was again a snap and the light output even through the fluted lens is impressive.
The side profile of the lens is very aerodynamic as well.

The last upgrade (?) was a set of new tires.
My Michelin TB15's have served me well over the last half dozen years, but were finally getting too old in the date code for my comfort.

Could have just replaced with the same tire, but I want to try something a bit different.
I worked with Alfa9Supply over the past few months to get a set of these shipped in from Europe.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566536142.jpg

Pirelli P7 Corsa Classic.
Your basic tarmac rally tire that is used a lot in vintage rallying across Europe.
https://www.pirelli.com/tyres/en-ww/motorsport/all-tyres/products-sheet/p7-corsa-classic

I went with the 235/45R15 for the front on my factory 15x9 Fuchs.
The rear was a gamble as to size.
The previous Michelin 295's really filled up the rear fender wells.
Could I go with the Pirelli 305's?
The 335's were out of the question, and I wanted to try a bit larger than Pirelli's 285 size.
So I went with the 305/40R15's to go along with the 15x11 Fuchs.
These were going to put down substantially more rubber to the road than the Michelins.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566536630.jpg

The angle of the pic is a bit deceiving, but the overall tire with is about 1/2" wider for the Pirelli's but the actually tread width is much wider than the Michelin's due to the straight sidewalls.
The Michelins have quite a bulge in the sidewall in comparison.
On the fronts, the Pirelli's are actually just slightly narrower in the overall tire width, but the actually tire thread width that meets the road is substantially great than the Michelin's.

This car really puts down some "meats" in the rear now.
Will be really tough to break these loose even with the big 3.6 sitting in the back.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566536877.jpg

Now it's time to get the car out on the road to evaluate the ride quality and grip of these new tires.
Might hit the local cars and coffee this weekend....otherwise it will be just a quick trip though the back roads around my house.

The rears are tight/close to the fender lip, but I think they should work.
Since these are 40 series tires, the overall height is a bit less than the Michelins and that will help with the clearance issues if any.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566537063.jpg

Side view of the Pirelli setup with current ride height.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1566537186.jpg

I fear you may have a rubbing issue when cornering hard...

yo that's phat. And Fat. I like it. Should be fine. Looks like more clearance than mine and I have minimal rubbing.

Just came across this thread.
My oh my, what a beautiful car!
Cheers,
Johan

Time to get some odd jobs knocked out while the 914 project is out of the garage.
Allows me to spread out a bit.

Projects:

1) Replace the vinyl on the dash face with some new basketweave stuff that I also used on the 914 door panels.

2) Install my new lightweight seat brackets that I recently purchased off Early 911 S Registry from a guy down in New Zealand.

3) Jetison my 4 pt harnesses and install some retractible belts instead.

4) Install my 74 RSR type steering wheel and dig into the annoying scraping I hear when I turn the wheel.


Have the car in cross ways across 2 of the 3 bays in my 3 car garage.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571025021.jpg

View of the new basketweave vinyl for the dash face.
This is not factory exact, but a style that i found on-line and took a hankering to.
Was also able to add a "911E" emblem for the glovebox door that I've not had on this car in many moons....the car is a true E from the factory.

I pulled the aluminum dash face plates on all locations except for where the fresh air controls reside.
Here I just cut the correct shape/size piece of vinyl and glued it in place on the dash without removing the fresh air controls.
The heater controls were loose though so I can pull it out a bit and get the new vinyl underneath the perimeter of the fresh air controls.

All the other parts of the dash face, I removed the aluminum dash plates, took off the old vinyl, cleaned up the old glue, cut and re-glued the new vinyl using 3M Hi-Strength 90 spray adhesive, put new double sided tape on the backsides of the aluminum plates, and finally reaffixed them to the dash.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571025021.jpg

Starting to test fit the new steering wheel.
Also just barely visible is a fun ignition bezel domed decal that I got from Carbone.
It's the "hippy" bezel and the colors go with the external Viper green of the car.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571025021.jpg

With the seats out of the car, it gave me a chance to give the interior a good cleaning.
Tough to get back there with fixed back seats and the roll bar.
There was an annoying film in the inside of the back window that Windex took care of very quickly.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571026162.jpg

Even gave the RS door panels that I put together many years ago a thorough scrubbing.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571026162.jpg

I purchased a set of retractible seat belts from Ebay for about $100 for each seat.
They are TRW/Repa units so they look very Porsche-like and fit well with the theme of the interior.
Luckily I already had all the anchor spots I needed for the belts....even a place up on my roll bar.
I made sure to use the correct 7/16-20 bolts that had the shoulders so that the top and bottom portions could swivel and allow the belt to function correctly and more importantly be comfortable for the user....me!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571026162.jpg

Here is where the receiver went on my car.
I just used the same location I had previously used for my 4 pt harnesses.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571026162.jpg

View of the lightweight seat brackets that are going in the car.
They came from a gentleman in New Zealand that frequents the Early S Registry.
Shipping was lightning fast as I got them in about a week's time.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571026862.jpg

What they were replacing is shown on the left.
The weight savings is definitely there.
The original brackets were something like 6 lbs while the new ones came in around 2.5 lbs.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571026862.jpg

I gave them a quick shot of self-etching primer followed up with a couple coats of satin black.
My new favorite products for rattle can spraying are from Mar Hyde.
They spray on easy, dry very quickly and leave a very nice finish.
Love the stuff.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571027508.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571027508.jpg

Both sets of brackets in place with new hardware just waiting for the Scheel 300's to be back in place.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571026862.jpg

Looks like the parking brake handle could use a little love.
Will have to mask that off and give it the Mar-Hyde treatment next.

Doug,

Really nice.

I regards to your scraping noise issue. I had that issue a long time ago from my steering wheel. It turned out to be that spring loaded contact between the wheel and the horn ring. As best I recollect, I filed off the rough edge that had formed and smeared some dielectric grease on the ring and the problem went away.

We missed seeing you last Thursday.

Tell us about the 914 build
Tony

Yes, Harry sorry I missed everyone last Thurs. Stuff came up last second. Thanks, I'll check that out with my steering wheel.

Tony, it's basically a 914-6 conversion project with a 2.7 MFI engine, close ratio gearbox, narrow body....all sleeper, but custom from head to toe.
The gory details are on 914 World:

914World.com - The largest online 914 community!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571032126.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571032126.jpg

Nice.
Where does the rear prop rod store when the lid is closed?
Does it rattle? (not that you could hear it if it did);)
Thanks
Bill K

The rod just swings up and snaps into the small spring retainer clip I have circled.
Comes as part of the factory 993 prop rod kit.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571082746.jpg

Currently undergoing stem to stern refresh of the car.
Getting prepared to get the car into Rothsport's shop in the near future for some engine mods.

One of the items on my punch list was a set of "street" friendly tires.
The Michelin TB15's and most recently Pirelli Corsa Classic tires were both too motorsport heavy.
Way too much stick for comfortable street use.
Just got a set of 225/50VR15 and 285/40VR15 Pirelli Cinturato P7's shipped in.
They fit my 15x9 and 15x11 Fuchs great and also fit in the wheel wells with room to spare.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594783811.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594783811.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1594784317.jpg

Additional work includes:

Installing a new set of factory oil lines that run up the side of the car.
Getting both oil coolers up front flushed/cleaned (Pacific Oil Cooler Services).
Cleaning out the oil tank and repainting/recoating the exterior.
Adding in a 100 liter rally fuel tank with full size spare and leather straps to hold down the spare.
Detailing a lot of the front end....suspension, brakes, lighting.
Cleaning up the front trunk which includes going through the spaghetti mess of wiring left over from multiple shops working on the car over the past 30 years.
Touching up the undercoating in the wheel wells and bottom of the car.

Doesn't sound like much, but it is when you've got a set of 3 year old twins screaming around the house that you need to help out with. Ha

I'll post update pics as I start to complete some of the above work.
A lot of it is already well in motion.
Sent out a box of hardware to TRU6 Restoration to get new yellow zinc applied.

Sounds like a nice tidy up of an already awesome vehicle.

What up with the oil lines and coolers? Why the internal cleaning?

Existing oil lines dented enough they don't present well on the car. In cleaning the car, when I drained all the oil, there was a little bit of sludge in the pan. So cleaning everything to take no chances and it's been 30 years on the oil lines, tank and coolers. Time for a thorough cleaning.