How did he get in your roof and how are you going to get him out?:p

The interior is looking fantastic!

Thanks for the kind words! I am glad you have enjoyed the thread and I hope it has been educational. My wife and I had a little bit of an incident kayaking so I will be posting updates shortly.

John, thanks for the compliment. One of the reasons I attacked the car now was that with kids it would have been nearly impossible. I congratulate your efforts and I really love the picture of you and your son reading the 911 restoration manual:)

Day 90: In a surprising twist of events I will be posting progress much earlier than previously scheduled. On Saturday my wife and I packed up our sea kayaks and a ton of camping gear for a three day two night trip in the 10,000 Islands, which is part of the Everglades. Our goal was to camp out on an island for a couple of days and do a lot of reading, fishing, and relaxing to decompress from the semester. We started our trip off at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center and launched our gear laden kayaks at low tide. Launching the kayaks was a nightmare as the muck at low tide was about 1.5 ft deep and I promptly lost a sandal in the muck. This was the first sign that the trip was doomed. We left the visitor center boat launch and paddled our bathtubs into the tide. I say bathtubs because our usually sleak boats felt like we were towing underwater parachutes due to all of the gear. After paddling about two miles we saw some dolphins hunting and flipping fish in the air. That ended up being the highlight of the trip. Shortly thereafter my aluminum paddle broke in half. Not to fear I thought! I was prepared for this and pulled out the emergency paddle. Luckily for us the emergency paddle also broke and we were forced to return to the visitor center with our tails between our legs and our paddles covered in duct tape;) The silver lining to this story is that I got to work on the Rat yesterday to get over the 2012 Kayaking Christmas Calamity.

I was able to make some significant progress on the Rat that included finishing the carpet, installing the door rails, installing and "fixing" the seats, and installing the door seals. Here are some pictures from the unplanned Rat work day.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752203.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752229.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752272.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752297.jpg

Day 90 continued: During the last part if the carpet install I had to run to the hardware store for more 3M 90 spray glue. While at the store I saw some black duct tape and thought to myself "I can use this to fix my seats"!

Before
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752420.jpg

After

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752448.jpg

I plan on eventually getting these recovered but that will have to wait. I have already spent way too much money on this project. My hope is to have them recovered within the next two years and until then the duct tape will have to do.

Door seal installed
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752546.jpg

Seats, seat belts, and floor mats installed
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752578.jpg

Day 90 continued: After I was done installing the seats I figured it was time to take the Rat for a drive around the neighborhood. It had been way too long since I had driven the Rat and it felt great to be behind the wheel of a 911 again. The feeling was a little different than I remember due to the Rat being sans windshield, but it was awesome nonetheless. I cruised around the neighborhood for a good 20 minutes all the while with a giant grin on my face. The Rat ran decently but I will need to re-adjust the carbs a little and do an oil change before any real driving takes place. Oh yeah, I will also install the windshied and rear glass;) Here are a few driveway pictures.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752951.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355752987.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355753011.jpg

After the drive I cleaned and organized the garage and now have two old oil dripping German machines in it for the first time in a year. It felt really good to transition the garage back to normal after such a long project. At some point in the spring I will repaint the ugly floor.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355753118.jpg

looking good!

- time to buy a canoe

Thanks! Our two sea kayaks are sit on top so you can't ever swamp them. Canoeing out on the open ocean is not such a great idea.

I thought you were back in the Glades... anyway, it sounds like you will need an aquatic kid hauler in the future...

what's next - refinishing the wheels or recovering the seats?

We have a tandem sit inside kayak with a baby seat in it for when the kids come! We also have a 16' Carolina Skiff that we can use when the kids can't paddle yet. Up next for the Rat will be recovering the dash and putting in the glass. I have the driver rear light issues to sort out and I need to get an alignment and a new appraisal for the insurance. I also need to pull the air cleaner and the carbs and give the engine bay a really good cleaning. After all of that is done I need to wash the new Rat for the first time and get some wax on the paint. I am not sure when I will refinish the wheels or attack the seats. I think it might be a while.

[QUOTE=wayner;7148228]How did he get in your roof and how are you going to get him out?:p

What do you mean?

Kristoph,
You're the only guy I know who would jump an old 911 with no glass and an expired out of state tag and calmly motor around the town!
DG

Hi David,
Just for the record the tag is not expired until the end of the month;) I didn't really motor around the town. I stayed away from actual lights and stuck to neighborhoods.

You'd have to read the comment that I was responding to.

My lame attempt at humor[QUOTE]

wow amazing progress since i checked in last. keep up the good work!

You really are putting me to shame!

Can't believe you took her out for a spin with no glass!

Good on you!

I really need to crack on with mine, but it's a bit damn chilly at the mo

What's the temperature where you are?

Driving without glass is easy... You just have to keep your mouth closed so that you don't eat any mosquitos or no-see-ums. Don't know what a no-see-um is? Come to Florida! :D

Kristoph, I used to have a 16' Carolina with a tiller steered Yamaha 30 that made a great one-man surfer to shoot across Tampa Bay. I got some real stares sometimes but it was great fun! It's actually my uncle's boat so I just gave it back to him when we bought our own. Sorry to go off topic.

A few days ago, you had asked me about my flywheel. Is your's really bad? I can take better pics of mine and inspect it closer but not sure of it's condition... Starting to consider my path to a 915...

Cheers!
Jeremy

Thanks! Happy Holidays to you up in Canada eh!;) I have always felt that I am a Canadian at heart but don't think I will ever be able to move there as my wife thinks it is cold in Florida during the winter:(

Hi Tony,
The temp in Florida has been around 20 to 25 C for the last several weeks. The spin without the glass was awesome and I recommend it to anyone who wants a huge momentum boost in their project;). I do recommend that you have a working brake system before you do this! Your project looks great and I have been following any updates to your thread with much interest. Keep up the progress and Happy Holidays!

Hi Jeremy,

Just before we left for NM on Tuesday I took my wife out for a spin around the block. We made sure to have sun glasses on, closed our mouths, and made sure to avoid dusk so that we did not eat bugs ;). I don't think the Skiff is off topic because a) it has an engine b) I have it in my signature and c) I need to rebuild the engine on my Johnson 30hp. Mine is a center console 2004 and it has been a great boat for running around Estero Bay fishing and just for cruising with family. Hopefully I can get her back in the water once the Rat is done.

I am not really sure about the flywheel but I have a feeling I will be redoing the clutch within the next year or so. I have not had the engine out and I still don't really know what size motor I have. It might be a 2.0 or a 2.2. The only thing I do know is that the cylinder barrels are cast iron which makes it a T. The case has no stamping but I do have the chain tensioner upgrade. Once I drop the engine I will know more about the shape of my flywheel and hopefully what I have powering the Rat. When I drop the engine I plan on attacking the triangle of death and hope to seal up all of the leaks. I also plan on repainting the engine bay, refreshing the rear suspension, painting and patching the heat exchangers, and blasting and painting the exhaust.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas up in Tampa!