When Well Enough Can't Be Left Alone; Backdate, EFI/ITB, AC, and more!

[AG81]

EPS and XPS have been my friend for about 40 years. We have cut it with a hot knife, sanded it and created a number of mules to form it, much like you did here.



Well done !!! My favorite way to get what I want out of EPS is using a 5 axis machine owned by a business associate.

[Showdown]

Originally Posted by AG81

My favorite way to get what I want out of EPS is using a 5 axis machine owned by a business associate.

And here I thought myself ahead of the game by utilizing my table saw!!

Many years ago I watched my father and some buddies build a full scale foam sailplane (motor less glider) with 15m wingspan. They were making molds of it for production in carbon fiber.

They were a bunch of Swiss, German and Polish guys who could barely communicate verbally but worked together with pure harmony.

[chrisbalich]

Julian,

This thread really brings me a lot of joy. It's incredible watching someone with such taste and talent follow their heart without constraints.

Also, your movie quotes are perfect. I lol'd pretty hard at, "Mark it ten, dude."

[Showdown]

Sunday I couldn't help myself.

I ran to work while my wife and kids napped and grabbed some leftover perforated black vinyl I had from another project and decided to try and make a thing.

Some of you like putting big speed holes into your metal... I like putting tiny speed holes into my fabric. Get used to this, there's a lot more comin'

[Hulley]

Damn, that's very cool!

[Showdown]

Day 23

Going forward I'm going to update the thread on Saturdays when I get home from working on the car.

Back to the dash. With my table saw back in action I was able to finish cutting and shaping the MFD filler pieces for above the aluminum trim. The shape of the glove box piece is really complex and the ability to shape the material accurately was a major reason for choosing MDF and it did not disappoint.

Anyhow, with all of the pieces complete it was time for a dry fitting. I drilled several holes through each aluminum piece and countersunk them to receive a machine screw. I had to drill into the dash metal as well and happily, my alignment was spot on. The aluminum dash pieces will be bolted to the car and the fiberglass filler panels will be spot adhered to the aluminum. This way they can be pried off if ever needed… The filler pieces above the trim will be adhered to the car just like the factory ones which weren’t ever meant to be removable.

I chose to wrap the top filler pieces in black vinyl and after acquiring nearly 20 samples I settled on the least offensive one. None of them, including the so-called Porsche patterns were a perfect match and the biggest issues were the color and sheen. Luckily this is a dark area that will be overshadowed by the other parts. Ha, see what I did there… (work with me guys, I was up at 4:30am again)

I mentioned earlier that I eschewed the HVAC bezel because I thought it too busy and well, predictable. While I respect others’ feelings about basket weave, it’s not for me. With respect to the lexicon of design in the 911, it’s an outlier. It’s a pattern that doesn’t exist elsewhere and doesn’t reference anything else. To that end, I don’t find it special enough to break a rule of design. On the early cars with a wood dash, it referenced the wood steering wheel and felt really special; real organic wood in a car. I considered a veneer- I have rosewood, ebony, walnut, and a bunch of others but they didn’t feel right, maybe for a 356 or 901 but not this car.

So, sitting in the car I looked elsewhere for cues and I found them above and below me.

The headliner and the seats in my car are both perforated, one vinyl and white, the other leather and camel colored. Though the pattern, color and materials are different they point to each other and in that, there’s a harmony of design.

After requesting and receiving samples of perforated vinyl from 9 different vendors all claiming to have the correct pattern (only one did, World Upholstery) I was able to get some old headliner from another pelican (thanks 911Group!) and began finishing the glass inserts.

So now that I’ve written a thousand words, here are few thousand more….



I'm digging the perforated black vinyl accents and given that I have yards of it... well...


Dry fitting before vinyl and everything looks good


Dry fitting after vinyl and everything still looks good!


From a distance, or an acute angle it looks like plain black vinyl, but up close or an obtuse angle the perforation reveals itself.


With the HVAC face covered and the bezel, radio, ashtray and upper knobs deleted, the dash is minimal and clean.


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


The simple appearance of the HVAC controls betrays its mind bending complexity...ha! the knobs still need a polish but that can wait until my hands are clean.


Yes, I have plans for the ignition cover... now, where's that lathe...?


Up close, the color peeking through the hols reveals itself as gold... in the right light they shimmer a bit. A nod to the brass work that will appear around the car.

And there it is. Still just a dry fit so alignment isn’t perfect but it will be. A big change from the mid-year dash I previously had which was a mishmash of mayhem, and a subtle difference from the predicable backdate dash. I think it fits in with the car well, is understated, clean and most importantly, makes sense. Oh, and nobody in the world has it

[Uwon]

Following……very nice clean and unique result on the dash.
I’ll be back to review this thread when I embark on my CR A/C instal into my new project.
Cheers,
Johan

[Tom Elder]

Hi, Julian, nice work I like the original take on your dash / knee bolster. When I saw your switches and HVAC sliders, reminded me of this.

[Showdown]

Tom, as a student of and professional in the arts, the reference to Braun and Rams is a compliment of the highest order!

[Showdown]

Day 24

With the combination of the double holiday weekend (Passover and Easter) and my daughter’s 6th birthday party my time with the car was limited to say the least. A grand total of 2.5 hours was hardly enough time to make major progress. That said, I made the most of it.

I laid down another coat of primer and gave it a good old sand up to 400 and removed all of the formidable scratches.





While doing that I decided that my old oil lines which had been painted brown, white and dirt needed some attention if only to see what was under the accumulation. A brass wire wheel on the angle grinder and some 400 sandpaper has them looking vintage new. Sure, they’re not perfect but nothing on this car is and the wear and tear add to their…character…



A package arrived this week that I thought was going to be great news but it turns out that it’s just complicated the picture.



I ordered a gallon of pure white single stage paint from eastwood and a tin of Mixol universal dyes with the intention of color matching the white to my car and blending in the body work. I’m a fine art conservator by day, or at least when I’m not avoiding real work to play with the car which lives at my work studio. Part of my job is color matching so I’m extremely confident that I’d be able to hit the target if not the bullseye.

The issue is that I started to assess just how many areas I was going to have to blend and it was, uh, surprising; half the hood, the entire driver’s fender, half the driver’s door, both rockers, the tops of both rear fenders, the rear bumper area, the front of the passenger’s fender and a few more small spots…. It seems almost comical to attempt to blend in 50% of the car to paint that’s not quite great to begin with.

So, I think I’m repainting the whole damn thing. On one hand I’m pretty despondent that I didn’t’ decide on this from the get-go and strip the whole exterior and go all-in but what can you do, this was never supposed to be a years-long project- if you recall I gave myself 6-7 months to complete everything, and complete it I will.

But I’m a big boy and I’ve made this bed so I’m going to eat this cake.

I’m keeping the car white but changing the particular white. I think I’ll mix an off white- a lighter, less yellow version of chiffon white, something a bit warmer than grand prix or pure white but not so French vanilla.

Oh boy…

[chrisbalich]

Excellent.
Can't wait to see how it comes out.

[AG81]

Great work Julian. I've really enjoyed following along.

[rwest]

You are an inspiration!

I couldn’t help but to notice the tag line on your Eastwood products say “do the job right”. Maybe subliminal?

Best,
Rutager

[Showdown]

Originally Posted by rwest

You are an inspiration!

I couldn’t help but to notice the tag line on your Eastwood products say “do the job right”. Maybe subliminal?

Best,
Rutager

Haha, well then I would have done everything different!

I'm literally laying tracks just ahead of the train... I haven't the slightest clue what I'm doing and so I honestly don't know if it's the right way or blasphemy... all I do know is that it's fun and that matters!

[shoooo32]

You can keep working on it without getting FOMO - based on the current weather patterns we'll be seeing snow well into May

[Showdown]

Haha, well would you look at that….

My humble documentation of not listening to reason, throwing caution to the wind and laying tracks for a rolling train has made it into the top 12 of the Pelican build contest. (Which is funny because I’m so far from done!!)

Obviously humbled to be in the company of so many awesome builds that taught me so much (mostly to not just be happy with what is) this is pretty cool.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/support/spring2022sweepstakes.htm?utm_source=forums&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=promo&utm_content=DIYcontest

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by Showdown

Haha, well would you look at that….

My humble documentation of not listening to reason, throwing caution to the wind and laying tracks for a rolling train has made it into the top 12 of the Pelican build contest. (Which is funny because I’m so far from done!!)

Obviously humbled to be in the company of so many awesome builds that taught me so much (mostly to not just be happy with what is) this is pretty cool.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/support/spring2022sweepstakes.htm?utm_source=forums&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=promo&utm_content=DIYcontest

If I didn't have a dog in the hunt and a horse in the race, I'd vote for you!!

I have to admit to not following this thread as closely as I could, but just sub'd to it so I'll get the updates delivered right to my inbox. I'll look forward to Saturday updates the same way I do Chris's monday entries!

Great job, lots of fantastically creative ideas. Thanks for sharing them!

I really like your workspace. I feel like spraying paint in there is going to be a problem?

I might get flak for this but it's possible to paint single stage urethane with a brush and a roller. And I'm not talking about all those youtubers wasting a colossal amount of time painting cars with non-catalysed rustoleum (don't bother).

The VERY broad strokes (pun intended) would be:

- put on lots of paint
- sand it flat
- polish

As an art restorer you'll have an easy time building the relationship you need with the paint to make this work. If you're interested I could guide you along. It would be fun to be a part of it.

[Showdown]

I’ll be honest, I’m tempted to vote for others’ builds too- yours for sure!

The plan for paint is to build an enclosure around the car with 4mil plastic- basically a little spray room. The overhead door will be open and exhaust fans will pull the air out while fans on the other side will bring air in.

Before I had my exhausted spray “room” that’s what I did and it was pretty effective. Plastic on the floor is key though!

I have a pretty nice HVLP system with an inest awata gun and feel that if I can get the gun dialed for paint as opposed to the varnish I normally spray it *should* cut down on the amount of sanding I need to do. The reality is that I’ll probably be doing a lot of sanding one way or another.

Seeing Gabe’s work on the Avocado helps build confidence but I’ll be honest; I’m still pretty anxious about it.

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by Showdown

I’ll be honest, I’m tempted to vote for others’ builds too- yours for sure!

The plan for paint is to build an enclosure around the car with 4mil plastic- basically a little spray room. The overhead door will be open and exhaust fans will pull the air out while fans on the other side will bring air in.

Before I had my exhausted spray “room” that’s what I did and it was pretty effective. Plastic on the floor is key though!

I have a pretty nice HVLP system with an inest awata gun and feel that if I can get the gun dialed for paint as opposed to the varnish I normally spray it *should* cut down on the amount of sanding I need to do. The reality is that I’ll probably be doing a lot of sanding one way or another.

Seeing Gabe’s work on the Avocado helps build confidence but I’ll be honest; I’m still pretty anxious about it.

It's easy to underestimate how much overspray there will be but it sounds like you can deal with it. As you were!!!

It's actually convenient to paint a 911 in parts, the biggest one being the roof. You can do a soft edge mask at the drip rail, and paint the cowl and roof as one, each quarter panel/rocker as one, hood, front fenders, bumpers etc. all in batches.

I'm a terrible painter, but a great sander. You can adjust your gun such that there's a bit less overspray than there would be otherwise - this comes at the expense of atomisation and the finish will be wavy compared to a "pro" job in a booth.

I painted my car twice trying to achieve the surface finish I wanted. The prep for the 2nd round of paint started around page 9 of my build :

Originally Posted by Jonny042

I now officially no longer have fingerprints. And obviously it's not from typing!!

Now this is all a learning process for me, as I have never tried to produce paint results that were perfect. Lots of perfectly acceptable work but not show car standard. My wife has a black yamaha piano with a pretty well done finish. That's my target. So your results may vary, and your experience will be different, I'm just going over my trials and tribulations and maybe it will help someone avoid the same mistakes if they are looking for similar results.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm a mediocre painter, at best, but I'm really good at sanding..... perhaps a little too good. As time went on I kept finding thin spots in the paint that revealed my lack of talent with a spray gun.

Also, lesson learned, I used a bit of wet on wet sealer, here and there, as a final step prior to painting, on the odd edge or high spot that came trhough on my final 600 grit sanding. Wet on wet sealer is not a great idea, if you have a super smooth, nicely sanded finish, then you spray a sealer on then paint on top of it, you are spraying colour on a slightly textured surface in those spots, and I swear every single spot (probably a half a dozen places) that I used the W.O.W. Sealer I ended up with it peeking through after just looking at the spot with sandpaper in my hand. Note to self, no more of that!!!

Not that long ago I posted about how I decided to pull the car into natural light, and MAN did it look good.





I guess I was trying to convince myself to leave it alone but it didn't work. 99% of people would touch up the spots and get on with building the car but I couldn't do it!!

So this happened.....



I decided I should go back to the drawing board. Turns out the paint store is on the way to the drawing board. The paint store is an expensive place, but they always seem happy to see me. Note that I buy nearly as much sandpaper as I do paint. So I am stuck in a never ending cycle of sand/paint/repeat that is good for their bottom line.

I had a few different problems with the paint (not including the aforementioned never to be repeated wet-on-wet sealer issues)

1. - My colour sanding process (the first time) was: dry with 1200 grit (dry was easier to see when I got all the glossy low spots out), then 1500 (wet), then 3000 (wet) then compound, then polish. I decided on these steps based on a bunch of research, testing, and prior experiences. I now know that doing this will get you paint that looks incredible. Really, really nice. In comparison it made our 2017 Golf R look like it was painted with a roller. BUT..... looking closely at reflections, there was still a waviness to the surface. Seems this is sometimes refered to as "urethane wave" but whatever it is I couldn't stand for it. I am 99% sure this is the lingering influence of the texture of the original surface. Because I used a DA sander (6" and 3") for the sanding I was careful to use a soft interface pad. Works for matching texture on collision work (and rust repair on beaters) and for getting rid of dust nibs but not the hot setup for truly outstanding paint.

2. Orange peel in places the sun don't shine. I have no intention of wet sanding and polishing my door jambs, but was unhappy with the spraying I did in these areas. I mentioned my lack of painting skill..... here's a pic of me sanding out the peel with a guide coat prior to repainting.....



Mind you the guide coat amplifies the texture (which is why it's so useful, more on that later!) this was actually a pretty nice finish, but not up to my expectations.

3. Uneven coverage - I had some thin spots and poor coverage in areas, especially some trick spots. Here's a particularly bad spot (after prep for paint part duex)



I also had some issues with coverage inside the drip rails. More on that (and my solution) later.

4. "Marring" from compounding - I was having difficulty getting a perfectly clear and smooth finish after the compounding step - I've since learned I was probably not careful enough with my pads, and should be cleaning them more often, and seasoning them better to make sure I am not introducing issues to the paint - I was getting defects that would be best described as microscopic peel - actually only visible if I have my reading glasses on BTW. Difficult to photograph.....

[chrisbalich]

Best of luck, Julian!

I don't stand a chance this time around. (I'm just glad to still be recognized as a DIY enthusiast.)