Time to dig in...softie conversion

[speedo]

It is a tight fit with these Recaros. An older shop friend of mine has converted the bases of the E30 seats to fit the seat tracks of the early horse hair seats....I hope it works out, I am headed down a different path. I Installed and un-installed the seats to make modifications, add washers, subtract washers...10 times today
I love these cars, but sometimes the love wears on me like a human relationship.


I have a lot of time invested in the modification of these seats...what do you guys think? Be kind.


Other views


And more proud dad....


And


Speedo

[arrivederci]

Perf'd and basketweave, great look. Install looks nice too.

[Macroni]

nice.

[mikeferg75]

Love them!

[andy_uranium]

Seats look good!

[Kidasters]

Beautiful. I lust after this car.

[speedo]

...or I should say "dialed in", the passenger side was done in an hour. And that included the modifications to the sliders/base. I already knew what was going to be needed with respect to hardware. These Recaros are pretty amazing seats... for manual seats, they are very adjustable. It would be nice if like in the Bimmers I could mount them to the floor, but their width makes that not an option. I will be curious to see how my friend fares with mating the tops of the E30 Recaros with the bottoms of the Porsche Recaros. Maybe I can get some pictures and post the results. They are going into a 72 coupe.
So the passenger seat installed with little fanfare.

This is a dirty car...

If anyone wants to follow down the E30 Recaro install route, I can save you a lot of trouble as to what modifications and fabrications and hardware are needed.

Funny...periodically we run across cars for sale with the undocumented "just rebuilt" engine.

Although this one is just rebuilt, and documented...just never run. It has been waiting over a year and a half (don't worry, not going to mention the painter's name who shall never again be mentioned ) to get married to this which has also been waiting a year and a half

So I guess it was just a long courtship to make sure they are compatible. Make no bones about it, I have been out to the shop day and night during the year and a half...I would know if they had even attempted to bolt up. The clutch disc /plate alignment tool (yeah I know what you weirdos are thinking) is hidden up on my bench anyways. Nope, separate sides of the shop for both of them...until now
And these guys are ready to replace the shop cookies rollers too

Al Reed restored 15x7s with yoko 205 55 15s.
Starting to look like a car

If I can steal my motorcycle jack back from Mr Josh...my engine install might happen this weekend...did I mention the dirty car thing? Yuk!

Speedo

[speedo]

And "John " is an expert...I am told by the scheduler. He doesn't need an additional set of hands, as he has done these cars for 18 years...ok. Well John shows up on time (good thing) and questions whether the gasket they sent with the window is correct. Hmmm...low level of confidence we started with is eroding rather quickly. We (he) decided to go ahead and make the attempt.

Hi John...nice glass table

Well, two hours later (with my help) the glass would not seat. Go figure...car was never wrecked, windshield frame is not tweaked...maybe just the repro gaskets are not close enough to original? He left planning to come up next week with additional help and a new gasket. This is what we look like on his departure...big gaps at the corners



Disappointed nope. Been here before. The windshield will eventually get installed. I might end up bankrupting a couple local glass companies in the process.

Speedo

[Kidasters]

The saga of your glass is unreal.

The car looks fantastic though. I expect a You Tube video when you get it running!

Damn, I want it......

[mikeferg75]

Nice progress, should be done just in time for wait, I didn't see the studded snow tires

Seriously, call if you need a hand.

Ferg

[speedo]

Like uniting the engine and trannie...a "mating " of sorts
So the trannie needs to be drained and refilled with something good...
like Swepco 201...the good cheap stuff.
Pulled the drain plugs...yeah these hadn't been removed in 40 years.



So let me be clear here...I am not a fan of the brief two year (70-71) 911 trannie that was a "push" as opposed to the "pull" trannies before and after. I had planed on using a pull type 5 speed which is a 902/02 (912 trannie with AFMSX) ratios. All was going well. I replaced the worn speedo drive

With another dirty speedo drive that didn't need to be held together with JB weld

And cleaned up well

Then I realized my output flange was a six bolt and the drive flanges in my control arms were four bolt. And while I have both sets of axles, they are different lengths

So I can suffer through creating a "Frankenstein" axle....or hmmm maybe I have a trannie with a 5 speed and a four bolt output flange that matches my control arm output flanges. I found a 902/05 that has the larger 4 bolt flanges, and I believe to be a AFMSX. It is just gross and nasty

Feel like I am starting all over again. I love these cars....


Speedo

[KNS]

For the seal use only a genuine Porsche seal, they really do fit better. The metal trim can be massaged into place with a thin, wooden shim and a rubber mallet, gently push the trim outward at the four corners. I showed this trick to my glass guy (who is very good in any case) and he was surprised that you could do that to make the rubber seal fit better.

[preston_brown]

Originally Posted by KNS

For the seal use only a genuine Porsche seal, they really do fit better. The metal trim can be massaged into place with a thin, wooden shim and a rubber mallet, gently push the trim outward at the four corners. I showed this trick to my glass guy (who is very good in any case) and he was surprised that you could do that to make the rubber seal fit better.

I second what Kurt said about "massaging" the aluminum trim into the corners to make it seat.

[Clay.0]

I just read through your entire thread and not only was I entertained, also now very motivated to get working on my car. Great work!

[speedo]

And two glass mechanics
Heard that before. This is going to happen. Wow...just realized the thread is over two years old. This is bad...we need to keep each other motivated and focused. I really feel bad about this conversion dragging on so long. Never my intent...painter or not. I have a 914-6 in the "wings" actually up on a rotisserie waiting for attention. Need to get this car done. Thanks for the encouragement.

Speedo

[speedo]

Could/should be a song...."I got them mean ole transmission blues". So after determining that I had no interest in creating a Franken-axle, I pulled the 902/05 out of it's corner.

Other than determining from the type number that it is an AFMSX five speed, I know nothing. I don't remember where it came from, much less when I ended up with it. Furthermore, I have no idea what the condition of the internals is. I am going on faith
I spend a half hour drenching myself while cleaning it with the pressure washer. It is now lighter and reasonably cleaner. All was proceeding well till I decided to move the newly plated throttle bellcrank from the other trannie to this one. Now I remember this trannie...it had a broken bellcrank shaft that I tried to remove with an easy-out...that broke
Can I blame this?

So I have no shaft, and I have a buried broken easy-out to complicate things. And unfortunately the shaft doesn't screw into the front housing, no it screws into the intermediate plate. Ugh. Ok, now I get to take the trannie apart, as the only way to fix the stud broken in the intermediate plate is to drill it out from the inside...yay!!
Ok, so this gives me a chance to check out the internals...right? Not all bad news? Great news in fact (just trying to convince myself...putting a positive spin on thing...I will let you know if it works). One step forward , three and a half steps back.
My basket of bolts.

The good news is that the gears and syncros all look good...on the forward gears. Somebody was learning to drive...in reverse and there is some minor wear there.
Otherwise, all looks good and I have the gasket set to put this beast back together...so I can install the bellcrank shaft next weekend.

I was able to save my Swepco from the other trannie...such a cheapskate.

Hey, I'm not falling behind, I'm just not pulling ahead. This is like being married...we are working though issues...happy face

[Kidasters]

Speedo -

At least you have the skills to manage it. The rest of us poor dumb hacks would have given up by now.

[speedo]

My man John is coming (back) up tomorrow with the correct gasket, and hopefully a glass sidekick that knows what the hell he is doing. Like anyone that has experienced less than satisfaction (whatever the endeavor)...my hopes are high and expectations marginally increased now that I know they are bringing up a Porsche gasket...confirmed they bought it from the dealer. Gosh am I excited or what.
On a side note...and I probably should have started a separate thread on this, I am at 8100 ft and the floods in Sept were a pain, but I and my "stuff" was ok. I hope everybody else front range Colorado made it through ok. From my house, looks like nothing happened. Down lower...closer to Boulder and Longmont, there is severe carnage.
The intermediate plate is done. Wow! Thank goodness it was aluminum not magnesium. The area...not just the stud, but the area around the stud was milled out. In addition to the easy-out that broke off...found these.

Which suggests that this had been repaired before...might I add "rather poorly". So it suffices to say, the original shaft was clipped by mishandling. Some bozo drilled and tapped another shaft that subsequently got sheared off. No wonder I had difficulty with my easy out...there were two broken studs stuck where there should have been one
So here is the new refinished plate. Drilled and tigged to add back material, then drilled and tapped for timecerts.


Trannie goes back together this weekend. I need to accomplish some small tasks to reassure me that I am not going absolutely nuts with this car. Hopefully the glass guys will figure the glass install out, and I can at least cross that off the list.

Speedo

[rennch]

The depth of your knowledge and skillset is astounding, Lars. Nothing is ever insurmountable.

[daepp]

You must be a very patient man!