Thanks for clarifying, thick me thought you replaced the bottom plate with lexan. Couldn't think why you would do that.

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I literally gave an audible "He** Yeah! Congrats, the feeling has to be amazing right now, the paint looks great! I can't wait to see this in the sunlight!

Still gets an A+ on my laptop! It looks like you got a really nice finish. I'd knock off the larger specs of dust, insects, small animals and sweat droplets, polish, and go driving!

I did have some of the the same "urethane wave" in my paint which is like slightly longer swells in the paint surface when compared to orange peel. Most people ignore it and start sanding with soft pads and 1500 grit on a DA. Which is what I did on my first go-around.

I wouldn't. It's a lot of work, but would get you to a 9.5 of ten. The effort you require to get to 9.0 should be exponentially less.

Experiment until you find what's working for you to get you where you want to be, and be happy!!

Thanks Jonny, always good to hear first hand accounts of surviving the well of madness!

I think I’m going to leave it as is for now, get the thing pilot back together and drive it.

Next winter I’ll cut and buff it when I have plenty of time and am looking for a mind numbing project.

Yes, that’s a bit backward and will require either another partial disassembly or a lot of masking but I’m ok with that.

Now, dealing with windshield seals is another story. [emoji12]

Handy hint to make sanding with 3000/5000 and buffing to a final shine, I use nothing but these two 3M pistol grip tools. Smaller and slower and more manageable than anything else I've tried. Basically no cleanup required and controllable enough that you can do a lot of work without masking for fear of damaging trim, seals, etc.

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Day 30

Whoa, I almost missed my weekly update, not that anyone’s really on the edge of their seats waiting for it. Still though, I've posted every week for 7 months...

But I digress...

I was traveling for work this past Memorial Day Weekend so I only had but a few hours working on the car.

I wet sanded and polished the hood and the results were ok. I’m still having difficulty finding the perfect combination to give me the finish I want. As a result, I decided that focusing on cutting and buffing the car now would mean that I probably wouldn’t get it on the road until mid-to-late summer and that’s a non-starter. The paint correction will have to wait until next winter. There’s a disappointment about driving a car that’s the product of my labor that’s not up to my standards but more so, I don’t want to not be driving a car!

The high of painting the car quickly yielded to a low of putting it back together. It’s tedious and delicate and not particularly exciting or fun. Just getting the rear glass ready for install (the gasket, trim and defogger wires) was, uh, fun. Had I foresight, I would have deleted the rear defogger system, run clear rear glass and saved the frustration. The front glass looks great and the assembly went really well; hopefully the install does too.

Other than that, there’s not much to report. New tires come next week and I hope to get the wheels on as well as getting the car road worthy and maybe, just maybe a fire-up.

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Don't drive yourself crazy with the paint. It will look like 10 million bucks out in the natural light. Even better when it's dirty and dusty!!

Great progress and FYI I've been looking forward to the update!

I would also think that a longer cure time will make it easier to buff out?

Enjoy reading your updates, thanks.

I am curious about what issues you are having with the polishing? I had bunch of micro-scratches and marring, almost like miniaturized orange peel, when I tried to do a "conventional" cut and buff. It was only visible when looking at it really close or magnified. I was able to lessen it by leaving the paint to re-cure for a few days between sanding steps and by sanding with 3000 then 5000 instead of using compound. If the compound advertises that it will remove 1200 or 1500 grit scratches it's pretty aggressive and is going to leave those sorts of marks, and the polish isn't going to remove them, just make them shiny.

Of course i'm just guessing at what the problem may be.

I think the issues I’m having with cutting and buffing are clearly user error. I’m likely not spending enough time with each grit and going too fast. Also, I haven’t yet figured out the perfect amount of “wet”. Too much water and the paper doesn’t cut, not enough and it gums up.

In any event I’ll have plenty of time in winter to deal with it (or ignore it for another winter!!)

Today my assistant and I tried to install the glass. We got the rear 80% perfect when the seal and trim separated and we couldn’t get them together again so the rear will have to come out for another try. What we were able to do looked really perfect and so I’m optimistic g that a second pass will be the ticket.

The windshield on the other hand was an hour of cursing, sweating and sore hands to no avail. We got the top lip seated but the gaps in the corners were HUGE- leading me to wonder if the glass will even fit.

Next week I’m going to take the seal off and dry fit the naked glass to get a better idea of the fit. I’ll do the same with the trim to get the shape right and then give it another go.

We were using. A plastic sheathed steel cable and plenty of glycerine but it just looked like the glass was the wrong shape.

I called a few glass shops and was quoted $600 for EACH install- and I would provide the glass!!!

Damn!!

Julian,
I had the same experience with windshield installation.......I started an aftermarket seal...and no effing way....so I ordered a Porsche seal....mo-betta...but once I had the windshield installed...the corner gaps were pretty big.

I found this tip on how to shape the window trim to follow the contours of the window opening and eliminate the big gaps. I used wooden shims, like you use for installing/leveling house doors. Got them at the local hardware store. I rounded the sharp end of the shim/wedge so it was a similar radius as the window corners. With the window/trim installed, slide the sharp, radiused edge under the rubber lip of the trim and, using a ribber mallet, tap the wedge gently....and it forms the trim and gasket into the corners, eliminating/minimizing the gaps.

I also made sure that the sharp edge was not too sharp, to ensure it could not cut the seal....

Thanks Al, I’ve been researching and thinking (had a 2.5 hr drive to the lake house to brainstorm) and I think I’m ready for a second attempt

I did buy Porsche seals and they fit really well but I think the fail point was the aluminum trim. I’ve read and watched some videos (Mike’s Restorations is particularly helpful with the glass) and it seems that unless the trim is in exactly the right shape, bend, position and emotional state, the install just won’t work so dry fitting it, shaping it and then as you mentioned, using shims to massage it after install is the answer.

Only problem is that I now have to wait till Wednesday to have another crack at it!!!

Once I get the glass in, I’m going to fire the engine and see if I can’t get it road worthy!! You’ll probably be hearing from me with logs! After the stumbles I had early on I took a step back and audited my install and process and identified some points of potential failure and hopefully rectified them. It’ll all be in the updates soon.

[I]
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The switches and dials are a nod to the great HiFi systems of the 60s and 70s
[I]

When I saw this, my first thought was you need to incorporate a couple of McIntosh level meters into your dash with the switches. I’ve always been a sucker for those level meters.

Or a McIntosh MX406....

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Day 31

I was traveling last weekend to the lake house so I didn’t get any P-time but I had a lot of time to think on the drive and prepare for this Saturday. I mentioned once before but limiting my working time to (mostly) one day a week gives me plenty of time to prepare and dress rehears in my mind so that when the work begins it’s much more fluid.

After my initial frustration with the glass I took a step back and audited my process and materials. After a lot of thinking and a bit more research I discovered the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING WHEN INSTALLING GLASS. THE TRIM. Nothing else matters. Nothing.

Here’s what I did (in hopes that it will help someone else):

• Seal on glass. Do this dry if possible. Soapy water can be used but then you have to wait for it to dry.
• Glass with seal dry fitted into car and centered.
• Trim laid on top and SHAPED to fit the car’s opening. The aluminum trim is soft and can be bent to precisely lay on the channel in the trim with no gaps while mirroring the shape of the window opening in the body.
• Two “ropes” fitted into the channel (1 x 26ga plastic coated wire and 1 x 18ga plastic coated wire both covered in glycerin). Wire is key as it won’t tear and is smooth.
• Trim into rubber. In tricky spots I used an Irwin clamp with rubber feet to squeeze the trim into the channel and hold it there while working other areas.
• Glycerin on rubber.
• Everything into frame and centered.
• Hand pressure down on the aluminum trim, not glass until the window and seal assemble "seat" into the opening.
• Start pulling thick wire from top center. When it inevitably slips out don’t fret because the thin wire is still in place.
• Pull thin wire.
• Using a little hook tool made of welding rod, coat hanger or other wire filed smooth, encourage seating of seal in hard to reach places like bottom by the dash. Plastic or wood trim tools will also be helpful here, and yes, coating them in glycerin is key.
• Once fully seated, using a thin, rounded wood shim, yes like from the home center (approx. 1” wide, 1.5-2m thick at one end and rounded at the corners) atop the rubber, under the aluminum trim and against the vertical part of the trim that goes into the channel at corners, with a rubber mallet or dead blow hammer tap trim outward until rubber is in place and gaps are eliminated.
• Step back and realize that it was pretty easy after all.

The key was shaping the trim to fit the opening and then using the shim to continue to shape it. By tapping the trim into place, you can not only get it to mirror the shape of the opening in the car and look correct, but also push the rubber to cover the gaps and create a weatherproof seal. This approach turned this from an unsuccessful multi-hour two-person project into one that I did solo. In under an hour. With no swearing. NO SWEARING!

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The rear glass was a bit more work due to the defogger wires and having to cut openings in the rubber seal but again, following the same process as the front, the glass was installed in about 1.5 hours, solo. Without the defogger wires it would be a piece of cake.

With the glass (something I had beed dreading and that was holding me up) I had no reason not to push ahead;

Hood: installed
Engine lid: installed
Quarter glass: installed
Window frames, trim, seals: installed
Front bumper: installed
Rear bumper: installed
New wheels: installed

The door cards and passenger seat, and rear lenses are out and there are still a few small items like the rearview mirror, some dash pieces, etc… that need to be completed; punch list stuff, but nothing major. In addition, there are a few cosmetic items that I’m waiting to complete which should hopefully really tie the room together.

For all intents and purposes, it looks like a car!

On Tuesday I’m off to Yellowstone for a week for a vacation so I’m going to miss a week of working and my regular update but I think the forum will survive in my absence ;)

Upon my return, I'll wrap it up and try to get the thing driving!

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Damn Julian, car is looking good! Are those Group4 wheels?

BTW, enjoy Yellowstone, the wife and I plan on going next year.

Yup, I went with all 15x6. I’ll probably toss some spacers on the rear to move them outboard a bit

My Fuchs are 16x6 up front and 16x7 in the rear and with 50 series tires and 1.5 degrees of negative camber everything fit nicely but the new tires are fat and chunky and 65 series so I was concerned about them fitting which is why I went with 6”

Short question, long answer.

Looks great, Julian!

I can't wait to see this car at CIO.
Don't forget to register if you haven't yet. (I got it done right before I left for Ruchlos last week.)

Shouldn't you be working on a Monday update?SmileWavy

And yes Julian, great work!!!

Now you are a glass expert, this will serve you well.

I am.
I just emailed 20 or 30 pics to myself so I can upload them. Need to get my thoughts together and start typing.

You should come down for Checked It Out in August. It's the best show and Chicago has some of the best food. (absolutely has the best pizza)

Day 32


Well that wasn’t the vacation I was expecting.

The week before leaving, my Mother’s boyfriend bulged a disc, I tore a muscle in my back and oh, Yellowstone closed for the first time since the 80s.

The morning before we hopped on a plane to Salt Lake City and a 4 hour drive to Island Park, Idaho (just south of West Yellowstone and the Western entrance to the park) torrential rains and snowmelt washed away several roads and made the park unsafe for visitors. The damage was extreme and unlike anything before it. Climate change is a real *****.
In any event, we made lemonade as best we could. Aside from not seeing the park we actually did just about everything we wanted to do. I hiked from 6000ft to just over 10,000 to the peak of Sawtell Mountain and then to over Mount Jefferson. It was a long day and part of it was through unexpected snowpack but the views and experience of being alone in the mountains were truly breathtaking. I also saw some Poontang. Literally. The FAA radar station atop Sawtell is named Poontang.

We rode horses into the wilderness, went whitewater rafting, lots of hiking, saw a berserk rodeo, saw bald eagles, bears, moose, tons of deer, and generally reveled in the raw wilderness that’s so far away from Chicago life. When asked what they’re favorite part of the vacation was my 6 and 8-year-old replied; “the bunkbeds”

But I digress, nobody’s here to hear my vacation so I’ll get on to the main course.

When I left the car was tantalizingly close to being put together and ready to start. After spending Wednesday and Thursday scrambling to get back up to speed at work I took Friday afternoon off to do some work on the car including the application of some vinyl.

I know, vinyl!? But hear me out. It’s a $40 way to test out different liveries without committing to anything in paint just yet. Maybe I’ll change it every year, maybe not. Maybe I’ll find one I love and put it into single stage… who knows. Anyhow, I put the vinyl on the hood and rear bumper, took a step back and decided that I quite like it.

In addition to wrapping (haha) up some of the eternal work on the body I spent some time in the engine.

A while back, before I started all the body work, I removed the ITBs (I got really good at this chasing air leaks and making improvements!) and bench sync’d them with a shop vac and synchrometer on advice from Jonny and good lord was it easy. I can’t imagine doing this fully with the engine in and running; the RHD adjustments must have been made for a child’s hands!

I set the static timing, calibrated all the sensors, and said a little prayer to Saint Butzi, the patron saint of idiots who think they should be working on old 911s.

I turned the key and instantly the car started. The RPMs jumped to 2500 and so I had to dive into the engine and work those ITBs some more. After a bit of tinkering (damn those tiny adjustments!) I got them all synched to 4 on the synchrometer which resulted in a smooth idle of about 1000.

I have to set the timing but I’m having a hard time understanding that procedure and am hoping someone can point me to a primer for idiots. My car, a 77 S is set to have +/- 2 degrees TDC @ 950-1000 RPM… Check. At 4000 RPM I think it’s supposed to have 25 degrees BTDC as that's the mark on the pulley wheel but there's nothign in the tech specs about it. My dizzy is bottomed out clockwise so there’s that too. Currently I’m running the car with fixed timing at 0 degrees. If I try to run it any other way, I get blowback through the ITBs and the idle and engine are much rougher. At fixed 0 degrees the engine idles well and there’s no popping through the ITBs.

I started it up, let it warm up, and then put it into gear and backed it out into the waiting sunshine. Feeling good about the way the car was running I decided to take it around the block. It felt so damn good to drive the car again!

I was able to get and keep the idle at around 1000 but the AFR was at 10. Grossly rich and running like gas wasn’t $6 a gallon. I took a look at the tune Al provided and decided to start lowering the entire table until I got an idle somewhere around 13.8-14 at idle. I had to lop off 20 points off the table to get it to not be painfully rich. This tune was bonkers!

I took the car out with the laptop and tried to adjust the fuel table to keep the AFR as close to 13.8 as possible. Very hard while driving, but I was able to get it running smoother and smoother by monitoring the AFR table and pulling over to adjust accordingly. There was some stumbling and hesitation below 2500 RPMs but above the car felt really strong- it was also still filthy rich at 10:1. One odd thing, as I pulled into the garage, the idle surged to 2000, then 2500, then 3000. All the linkages were rock solid and tightened down completely. Hmm. I'll have to see what that's about.

Unfortunately, TunerStudio crashed and I lost the log of that 20 min drive. aargh!

I’m going to have to take an afternoon this week to gather another tune to analyze.

I also I emailed a few Megasquirt tuning shops to make an appointment. I want to get the most out of this car and one really needs a lot of experience and a dyno for that; neither of which I have. Luckily in Chicago we have plenty of shops that specialize in tuning aftermarket EFI and were all too happy and excited to get a vintage Porsche in their shop.

Oh, I just got my Check22 confirmation... so now I really have to get this POS running well!!

Some lousy iPhone sunshine photos to prove it actually left the garage! In the sun, all of the little paint issues totally disappear, which is nice.


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This is one of the updates I've been waiting for!

Excellent progress. I'm curious which shop you're using for tuning.
I may need to borrow their expertise to get my car dialed the rest of the way in...

I found two. I spoke with both quite extensively and they're both really familiar with MegaSquirt and the local racing scene. The work with tons of modified cars and Porsche didn't seem to phase them one bit. It also didn't incur any P tax which was a nice bonus. Time-wise they're about the same from me, distance wise the one in Antioch is much farther so I'm probably going with RC, just in case I don't make it, I'd rather be in the city than out in the country for tows and whatnot...

I'm hoping to get to one of them within 2 weeks, at least before August. I'll update, of course.

RC Autoworks
www.RCautoworks.com
7434 W 90 St
Bridgeview, IL
60455
708-599-5884

And

Dyno Source Performance
20009 W. State Line Rd | Antioch, IL 60002
justyn.bell@dynosourceperformance.com
773.209.9015
www.dynosourceperformance.com

Great update!! Car looks wonderful.

Lets dig into the timing. Do you have a CDI+? I've forgotten. EDIT - Sorry that's a stupid question. You have a megasquirt and you've locked out the distributor?

You're a scholar and a gentleman.
Now if I can get everything to run correctly, I'll give them a call to squeeze out the HPs.

Thanks Jonny!

MegaSquirt with MSD Streetfire and Pertronix, Clewett wires, new plugs.

The dizzy is locked as far clockwise as I can turn it- the lock bolt is all the way on the right side of the slot.

I set the static timing to cylinder 1 and tried to follow Al's instructions on setting and checking the timing with the MegaSquirt and using the trigger wizard but I got stumped. (I'v never timed an engine BTW...)

With the MegaSquirt timing set to use table or fixed and at 10 degrees (the default) I get a choppy engine and blowback through the ITBs. Blue and orange flames are super cool, but not inside the engine bay!

With the MegaSquirt timing set to fixed and at 0 degrees, the engine instantly starts to purr and is super smooth. The blowbacks are gone and it's smooth through the higher RPMs

Per the tech specs my car needs +/- 2 degrees TDC, which I can get with the MS at 0 degrees and the dizzy locked all the way clockwise. My timing light confirms that. So that's a win.

I understand that I need to set the timing at 4000 RPMs and I *think* my car needs 35 degrees BTDC but the tech manual is blank on this. There is a notch and stamp at 35 degrees BTDC so that's where I get that number.

So I need to set the timing at 4000 RPMs but given that my dizzy can only go CCW I'm guessing that may be a problem?

I guess what stumps me is what to do with the MegaSquirt. Leave it at 0 degrees or use the table?

I think it’s a really cool car but for me, there’s too much going on with the white, gold, grey and black. The wheels look like black holes or almost like it’s on a chassis dolly and the grey doesn’t let the shape of the body flow from front to back. I’m all for trying something different but I’m not feeling it here. I do like the gold accents in the front. It reminds me of the 906. Terrific car though and I sure wouldn’t kick it out of my garage.

Ahah! So, when I say "distributor locked", I mean is the advance mechanism disabled.... Has it been? The distributor shaft is split in two parts, and the realtuonship between the is adjusted based on rpm and a set of centrifugal weights indie the distributor.

Do not drive this car until you know what is going on with the timing. You're a smart enough guy to figure it out for yourself based on the information available.

I say that because following someone else's (including mine) directions may get you in trouble. A "tuner" is not necessarily going to be able to help you. And at the end of the day you need to understand what's going on with the motor for yourself.

I suspect the car runs fine at 0 timing because the distributor is doing its job. But only the guy holding the timing light knows for sure.

^ What he said.

There was a thread on here recently with people tying themselves up in knots over CDI+ timing. Same thing unfolding again here with MSD. Essentially, the fundamental concepts of ignition timing need to be understood. Whatever ignition unit you have - it is just the tool to facilitate that timing.

You need to learn the rules of the game. Otherwise you're just moving the pieces at random hoping to win.

Start with what is meant by 'locking' a distributor and why we do that when using the electronic ignition.

p.s. I rather like the gold decals!

You are completely wrong.

I don't have the slightest clue as to what I'm doing. Really.

You've got some catching up to do. I got my first air cooled VW dunebuggy when I was 12 (40 years ago) .... and I've been laying awake at night thinking about this crap every night since!!!

The point is I had to read a book to learn all about this stuff:

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You have the World Wide Web!! Start reading!!:

https://www.onallcylinders.com/2020/09/11/timing-is-everything-how-initial-mechanical-and-vacuum-advance-work-together-to-make-power/

But it's not a game you are running around in a minefield!!

I think the basic problem is that people don't fully understand that too much ignition timing will put holes in pistons and break ring lands, even on a relatively tame motor.

You don't want to be messing with this stuff if you don't know what you're doing. We have reached a point were a "Car Guy" can get to a ripe old age of XX years without owning a timing light, much less knowing what to do with it and what it all means. It's downright scary.

The good news, it's not rocket science, it's super interesting, and really rewarding to know. It's actually pretty simple. But you need to understand how an internal combustion engine works (suck, squish, bang, blow), that cams turn half the speed of the crank, and the basics of spark timing.

PS - I suspect that reading and memorizing the well written Classic Retrofit CDI+ manual (available at their website for free!) will give you a heck of a shove in the right direction.

Thanks for the hand holding fellas, I suspect if you're not already Fathers, you'd make fine ones.

I have to admit that I'm not as much of an idiot as I profess to be; self-deprecation is a cultural pastime for my people... That said, I wanted an adventure that would push and teach me and this hasn't disappointed.

--

My main confusion was with how to make the dizzy and the MegaSquirt play nice and sync with each other; which one to adjust, which to give priority to, etc... Sometimes the internet, and the overload of information in general just makes a mess of relatively simple things.

Turns out my approach and rational was correct and after a bit of research and emailing Al, I was and am on the right track. His system doesn't use a locked dizzy but does allow for adjusting the timing table if necessary; a hybrid approach, I suppose. It works for Al and that's all I need to know for now.

My engine requires basically 0 TDC @ idle at 35 @ 4000. Setting the MegaSquirt timing at fixed and 0 degrees and verifying that timing with my light was and is correct. And wouldn't ya know, I did it right the first time! Hooray for this idiot.

I still have to check at 4000 RPMs; Working my way up to being that close to a spinning fan of death ;) But barring anything out of the ordinary, I should be good to go.

Then I can start tying to figure out my fuel map and not spewing gas all over the neighborhood.

The good news is that I can pull, clean, and replace all the plugs in about 20 mins. Practice makes perfect...

Good for you! Keep that timing light hand and check it often! I wouldn't go past 32 degrees BTW. That $6 a gallon gas isn't what it used to be....

FWIW I fully believe you can tune your car 100% yourself with an AFR gauge, the dyno won't help you with drivability, cold starts, highway cruise, etc. and will be an expensive lesson. I wouldn't think you are quite ready for it yet. Sounds like you're getting the bugs out of it already. Keep up the great work!!

I do want to learn as much as I can but I think that having a professional tuner look it over (while I’m asking lots of questions) is a totally reasonable approach and will hopefully be a small price to pay for some real masterclass experience.

There’s nothing like watching someone work- I’m learning that lesson on the other side with a new assistant at my work and seeing just how valuable it can be.

Plus, I figure that with gas that expensive, the cost of a tuner tightening up the fuel map will pay for itself toute suite!!

Fair enough! All good points.

If you're like me and oft find yourself wearing a hoodie whilst working on the car, I recommend tucking in the hood strings...or designating one hoodie for working on the car and pulling them altogether.

I don't always remember, but the 'tink' of the knarps on the strings hitting the moving fan is a terrifying reminder that I'm in harm's way.

Good lord that would make me ***** my pants.

I don’t know what I was doing but my knuckle grazed the center of the fan and I nearly jumped out of my shoes; and that was at idle!

Yeah, back when I had ITBs, I spent an inordinate amount of time leaned over the engine while it was running. One of the best things about changing over to the 964 manifold is that I find myself leaning over the running engine a lot less. (specifically, not at all)