Time to dig in...softie conversion

[speedo]

Picture says it all...

Imagine my alarm and surprise when not one but two suspicious looking vans came careening in my driveway and screeched to a halt. John (glass guy) and his large sidekick Sterling (Mormon glass guy...more on that later) were armed with a new Porsche windshield gasket, two different suction cup thingamajobs, awesome collapsible work table and sharp weapon-like gasket implements. Went right to work yanking out the bad Chinese gasket, and setting up to quickly install the windshield with the good gasket. Rubber installed on glass, trim installed in rubber, cord installed in rubber and lubricated with their "secret sauce"....charge!
Hmmm..."this won't seat and the lip came loose on the other side and use the sharp pointed thing to pull this back out and....ok, lets remove the windshield and repeat" x two.
Finally they asked if I would help...what me?
So I did. Guess six hands are better than one or two. Hey it wasn't a bad experience. I learned from Sterling a lot about growing up in Utah in a large Mormon family, with a father that didn't like his kids, or his wife, or anybody for that matter. He explained how SLC has membership clubs not bars. Told me all about the change in the smell of the brine shrimp lakes. And the changes in the city before and after the Olympics. Tell you what, the parents did ok. He was a very nice man...knew his glass installation. Very professional and polite.
John just listened to Sterling...and when Sterling stopped talking, John perked up and started talking about his bike racing career for the Safelite corporate triathalon team. Understand that I just wanted to get the glass installed in the car. This was the fifth attempt and I didn't want to jinx it by appearing to be uninterested in the lives of the installers. So I got an earful as an intent listener...just hoping that this visit, we could get the damn glass installed and be done with it.

Drum roll........

Whoohoo! We have glass. The seal/gasket needs to settle. The corners are not perfect, but if they don't lay down they told me I can bring it by and they will pop the glass and re-fit or re-position it. What an ordeal. This means the saga of the interior is over? If someone sees something that I have screwed up on...do me the favor of not posting it...just send a PM

So here we go...

Yeah maybe I need to clean the crap off of the lense of the camera...uh huh I am using an old skul camera not my Iphone as I am not as adept as a normal person...but hey, I never claimed....



Speedo

[mikeferg75]

Whoo Hoo! Now have a beer. You earned it. Hope you got 2 cans of glass cleaner for all that fuss.

Ferg

[Jays72T]

This thread is beyond awesome, I always look forward to the updates and education.

Thank you Speedo!

[Macroni]

Nice.

[Matt Monson]

Congrats Lars.

Now that the roads are starting to get fixed and I am settled in at my new location maybe I will arrange to come by and return your tools before the snow hits. Oops. Too late, gonna snow tonight.

[Fishcop]

Congrats, this has been a great thread Lars.

[speedo]

Originally Posted by mikeferg75

Whoo Hoo! Now have a beer. You earned it. Hope you got 2 cans of glass cleaner for all that fuss.

Ferg

I got one can of PROFESSIONAL glass cleaner, a plethora (anybody impressed?)of razor blades and a box of PROFESSIONAL window wipes. My new best Mormon friend Sterling announced to John that he had given me the can of PROFESSIONAL glass cleaner, and asked what John had given me. John, not to be bested by Sterling went to his van and produced the box of towels...and "raised" Sterling by the box of razor blades. These guys were a hoot. I don't think you guys in California get this kind of love ...but if you do, don't post and blow up my little bit of windshield nirvana...at least for a while.

If I can get the trannie back together this weekend, maybe I get to do an engine install. Car is really filthy and it is bugging me. I want to wash it not wipe it down. That is going to happen Saturday regardless. And as long as it is going to be cleaned up...baby is going to get her new shoes. The shop cookies have well served their purpose...but I am tired of looking at them. The 15x7s are getting installed...unless there is more snow in the forecast.

This is the new competition/mistress for my Porsche time...don't worry, I know nothing about 60 year old wood boats. I inherited a 17 ft Old Town lapstrake runabout and that is about all I know.




Yeah wood classic boats are seen all the time at 8100 ft in the mountains...not. More like at lake Winnipesaukee.
Looks like we need to refinish the boat.

Speedo

[merbesfield]

Go burn the boat as firewood while you still have any brain cells left. You need a wood boat like you need another wood hole in your head. Good luck with that one

[Matt Monson]

It is a real shame you don't know anyone who knows anything about gearboxes and flanges and that sort of thing. Might save you done redundant work repairing a questionable gearbox and bearing plate when there is a perfectly good gearbox sitting on your floor with nothing more wrong with it than incorrect flanges.

[speedo]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

It is a real shame you don't know anyone who knows anything about gearboxes and flanges and that sort of thing. Might save you done redundant work repairing a questionable gearbox and bearing plate when there is a perfectly good gearbox sitting on your floor with nothing more wrong with it than incorrect flanges.

Hey, this is supposed to be a learning experience. Sometimes we need to figure stuff out ourselves...instead of stumbling and immediately going to ask our parents. Trust me Matt, you are on speed-dial, and I'm not out of the woods yet
As to which trannie was more questionable vs perfectly good...I hadn't a clue to either. No history. Tearing into one or the other at least gave me the chance to look the internals over. So at least now I have some realistic level of confidence on the 902/05 that everything looks good. The only confidence I had about the first 902 was that the exterior was cleaner. All that tells me is that the exterior is cleaner. Definitely a plus...just a small plus.
Anyway, this trannie needed love and it is getting love. The other trannie looks like it is a 68 only trannie and may be best put back in play with a 68 912.

Speedo

[Matt Monson]

Just having some fun. We all want to be needed.

[lateapex911]

Originally Posted by speedo

I got one can of PROFESSIONAL glass cleaner, a plethora (anybody impressed?)of razor blades and a box of PROFESSIONAL window wipes. My new best Mormon friend Sterling announced to John that he had given me the can of PROFESSIONAL glass cleaner, and asked what John had given me. John, not to be bested by Sterling went to his van and produced the box of towels...and "raised" Sterling by the box of razor blades. These guys were a hoot. I don't think you guys in California get this kind of love ...but if you do, don't post and blow up my little bit of windshield nirvana...at least for a while.

If I can get the trannie back together this weekend, maybe I get to do an engine install. Car is really filthy and it is bugging me. I want to wash it not wipe it down. That is going to happen Saturday regardless. And as long as it is going to be cleaned up...baby is going to get her new shoes. The shop cookies have well served their purpose...but I am tired of looking at them. The 15x7s are getting installed...unless there is more snow in the forecast.

This is the new competition/mistress for my Porsche time...don't worry, I know nothing about 60 year old wood boats. I inherited a 17 ft Old Town lapstrake runabout and that is about all I know.




Yeah wood classic boats are seen all the time at 8100 ft in the mountains...not. More like at lake Winnipesaukee.
Looks like we need to refinish the boat.

Speedo

Cool thread, and you've done awesome work. You mentioned the windshield trim corners needing love, and you probably already know about the wooden stick trick, so give that consideration. Your boat is neat! And yea, it looks like it's in good shape, but thats dangerous on a wooden boat, they need to be in great shape! (anything but great shape is rotting away, LOL). Not for the procrastinator. But man, there is NOTHING like a gleaming deep 3D finish on a wooden boat...sitting in a glistening CO lake in the spring, (I bet!).

[Macroni]

a boat.... why not..... remember to start a thread so your fans can stay abreast of your mis- adventures......

[speedo]

Originally Posted by Macroni

a boat.... why not..... remember to start a thread so your fans can stay abreast of your mis- adventures......

"If you don't have something nice to say..."
Luke, so per the discussion we almost had ...still ok for me to park the boat in your garage for the winter? You have one less car these days.

I could start one of those "staging companies" for real estate. I have the blue 66 R clone, a 54 Old Town runabout, and a 47 Luscombe 8A. Hollywood...I'm here .

Can I tow a boat trailer with my 74 2.7? It will be happy going down hill, probably not too happy coming home. I am nursing that little 2.7...it has been good to me, and has put up with all my kids learning at the track.

Not much done on the targa this weekend other than determining the clutch/pressure plate on the car was a 200mm and needs to be swapped for a 215. Several problems with hack repairs on the trannie...will report as they are fixed. Snow up here. How is So Cal doing?

Speedo

[r_towle]

Time to get back to work on that 914 on the rack next to the 911?

[speedo]

Helga was too nice. Probably translates to something nice in a forgotten Slavic tongue. New name is "Sorgenkind". I first thought about Murphy, (for Murphy's law) or Nemesis...but neither of those translated well. So Sorg for short.
Where was I? I was getting help setting the preload on my differential bearings. Needed more (spelled different) bearings. Ok...so mad a few phone calls, made some more, and then even more. Turns out these are either NLA or people are hoarding them for their own use. Managed to pick up 5 locally for a "bitter" sum of $$. Ouch.
I am going to start my own hoarding of these bad boys...now that I know what I am looking for. So we figured out the preload and set the backlash and replaced all the seals and checked the gaps for the respective shift rod couplers and put it back together with some fresh Swepco. It's happy now. I would like to be happy now.


And to think this trannie rebuild all started here

But it is all better now


So while the trannie was in pieces (while I was parts-searching), I was looking over my clutch/pressure plate and noticed that somehow when I was bolting up the pressure plate, my clutch alignment tool somehow didn't center the splines of the clutch disc. If the splines are not lined up correctly, this means that joining the trannie to the engine was going to be harder than it needed to be. No big deal, loosen everything back up, position the disc correctly and tighten back up. I was re-using the flywheel, disc and pressure plate that all looked good (disc looked almost new) and came with the car. When I was getting ready to bolt things back up...I looked at the stamping on the outside of the pressure plate. Should be 215 right? What the...it was stamped 200.
I have never seen a 200 mm clutch and pressure plate. Measured the disc, yup 200. Did some research and it turns out that it is a late 356 clutch and pressure plate. This threw me! No way...a 356 clutch in a 2.2 ltr car? Everything has gone so well with this resto...nothing has gone wrong...not one thing out of the ordinary. Get over it dude. Dump the 200 and find a 215. Be done with it. I had an extra 215 pressure plate and clutch disc on the shelf. Disc was below specs and needed to be replaced. Put a magnet to the pressure plate to make sure it was steel and got a good pull to the magnet. Ok, off to order a new T clutch disc. On the way down to Denver to pick it up, I tossed the pressure plate in the car "just in case" I need to make sure the disc fit the plate. When I picked it up, and was fitting the meaty T disc to the plate, my buddy Jim asked if I had a T pressure plate or was it possibly an S. I told him it was a T and if he didn't believe me to check it himself. We bet a beer and I lost. Even the aluminum S plates have a coating that will pull a magnet. Learn something every day. I asked how much the S clutch discs were...close to $500. Hmmm, think I'll keep the T disc and look for a decent T pressure plate. What are the odds of my only extra pressure plate being an S? So I started making a few calls. No need to buy a new pressure plate if I can source a reasonably priced used one right. Success, local racer friend had an old 215 he had been kicking around the shop for years. Price was right, only caveat was I had to take the flywheel and worn clutch disc as well. Deal, or was it? Threw it in the truck and headed up the hill to measure out what I had found.
If in spec, I'll use my new T disc, the used pressure plate and I am back in business...or not? Not.

Speedo

[speedo]

The clutch disc looked thin, and the pressure plate could be faced, but before I do anything, I need to make sure my new T disc was going to work with the pressure plate. Grabbed the magnet and...wait, it has pull but the same pull as the S pressure plate? I put both plates side by side and compared them...visually they looked the same, and with the magnet both are the same. Crap, I have two S pressure plates and discs, and one new T clutch disc that won't fit either...yeah. Sorg wins yet again.
Sometimes you need to back up, sit down and rethink. My old German mechanic friend had mentioned that back "in the day", he used to reface clutch discs. I asked who he used...they were still in business in Denver and I called them. "Sure, bring everything down" I was told. I mentioned the prospect of having the clutch discs remanufactured to a couple friends... and they said that clutch discs were "throw away". Well at $500 a pop, a new disc was a bit stiff and I was willing to learn more. The argument against facing the flywheel and pressure plate is that the thousandths that come off the two would mean that the new clutch disc would not respond the same, or as well when the diaphragm in the pressure plate is released...removal of material would cause this. I get it. I told the shop owner my concern (old school guy) and he was all over it. Told me he takes into consideration the refacing of the flywheel and pressure plate when he rebuilds the clutch faces and he increases the thickness of the disc, by the amount removed from the facing of the flywheel and pressure plate. Duh...makes sense. So I left him both setups and picked them up a week later...sweet. I will use one setup on the targa and probably sell the second set ready for someone to plug and play.
Before...



And after...they even polished out the wear marks on the diaphragm


And bolted up and torqued. Another strange trip I never realized I was going to take.

[merbesfield]

Wow Lars, you are really a wealth of information. Looking forward to meeting you and Sorg. Seems like a good name for what she has out you through.

[speedo]

This is not a deal breaker.
The likelihood of having three bad starters on the shelf makes sense to me for two reasons 1) I have had many more over time, tested and used the good ones, and got left with the dead ones. Kind of like who was the last one to use the bathroom and just left the paper tube on the wall...uhmm, not me and 2) this car is named Sorg...nothing more needs to be said. Two of the dead culprits.

Hunert fidy, hunert fidy, hunert fidy. Translated into Porsche-speak means ..."sir, the cost to rebuild your starter will be $150", or "you can buy a remanufactured starter for $150"...or NAPA will take my core in trade and offer me a NAPA brand (not) unit for $150. Screw it...keep mine and have it rebuilt. This hole will stay a hole for a couple more days

So it is time to pull out the motorcycle jack and get the engine shifted off the furniture dolly. I would normally use a hoist and the I beam in my garage...but my lower back has been feeling pretty good recently...think I will chance it and just "muscle" the damn thing over. This sucker has been covered in plastic for almost two years...
Feel like I am about to lift the veil at my wedding...

Someone may note that I am using a new set of MFI SSIs. Before the business sold to Europe, I had the chance to pick up a couple sets. You can use the MFI sets for anything, but you cannot use the non-MFI sets for MFI. Si I ...given the choice bought the MFI sets. Given that the company has been sold, in retrospect, I am glad I did.
And the perpetrator in place

Bellcrank stud back where it ought to be

Few final thing to prep, but we are close

Oh yeah, the bag of shot (ballast) was needed to balance the additional weight of the trannie "out front"

I am pleased to see this after a long couple of years since removing and separating

I'm not getting cocky...I deserve this

[Kidasters]

soooooooo jealous. Beauty.