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I should mention I learned the hard way about Weldwood and 3M contact adhesive, and you have to get all that stuff off, before you can successfully apply the Landau top adhesive. I tried just applying the Landau top adhesive over the old stuff and sticking it back together (which worked for a few months, but it eventually came loose again. The upholstry shops sell adhesive remover, which will soften the old adhesive and let you rub it off with a rag, but it is a very difficult process.

Once you get the old stuff off, the Landau top adhesive works like a champ. It looks like snot (just like the weldwood), it's highly flamable and probably bad for your health, so wear a good chemical respirator

Thanks for the tip. I will try to swing by the upholstry shop where I got the vinyl today and ask them about adhesive.

Hi Kristoph SmileWavy

I've just caught back up on your thread. Lookin good. I feel like you've picked up your pace here at the end while mine has slowed way down... not that it's a race... but it does help spur my desire to keep forging ahead.

Fortunately, I think I've finally gotten my hands around my front-end and have a plan to go forward. I've just been scraping undercoating until I have a chance to pick up some sheetmetal.

Keep up the good work. You realize, once this one is done you'll have to start another project... so many of us here look forward to your updates, I don't know what we'll do when you finish.:D

Cheers!
Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,
I think I have indeed picked up the pace towards the end. Once the car was back from the painter it was incredibly motivating to see it sitting in the garage "with only a few small things to do" before getting back on the road. Additionally the things I have been doing certainly beat grinding, blasting and welding in the FL heat. Therefore I think the current speed might be due to three factors: motivation, nature of tasks, and temperature. I am not sure that I want to do another project any time soon. It has been a great learning experience but it has been a huge financial drain. If I was not a professor ( in a country where educators are not monetarily valued) I might be able to afford another project. Maybe I should have been a "real" Dr. and then I could have 5 911s, personalized Dr. plates and all;) I am certainly content with my time off I get as a professor and will enjoy driving the Rat all over the place. In terms of future projects there might be a 356 in the works in the coming decade so stay posted;) I am glad you have enjoyed the updates and I am sure I will be posting plenty of Rat related things even after the car is done. Sounds like you are making great progress on your "boxster"!

Cheers,
Kristoph

Last night I was working on tuning the engine and I have the Rat running great up to around 4500 rpm under load. At 4500rpm and above the engine cuts out and backfires preriodically.:( Sitting in the garage (no load) the engine goes all the way up to 6500 rpm (I have a rev limiting rotor) and sounds fantastic. I set the points at .012 inches, which I think is the correct point gap. The timing seems to be set fine ( I have two hashes on the crank pulley and at full throttle I am at the second hash). Does the timing sound correct? Could this be condensor or coil related or could it be my rotor/cap? Are my points set correctly? I have consulted Obi and I will be cleaning my fuel tank screen tomorrow to insure that it is not a fuel starvation issue. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kristoph,
Point gap is normally 0.016". Heard your message this morning. Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday.
DG

I have reset the points to 0.016" and I appear to have solved my problem.

Day 94: Today I was able to make a lot of progress on getting the Rat back on the road. The first step was to check if the screen in the gas tank was plugged and full of crud. I found something quite interesting when I took the tank out of the car. First, the gas in the car was opaque and it was a miracle that the car ran at all. Second, due to a huge dent from a previous driver hitting the tank on a curb or rock the tube for the exit gas line was broken inside of the tank. When I unscrewed the fitting the broken piece came loose and I had to fish around in the tank with a "homemade" tool to get the piece of the fitting out of the tank. The fitting was brass so a magnet did not work and I had to improvise my magnet. I ended up with a truly pragmatic spur of the moment engineering solution:cool:. Additionally, the screen was only abot 2 cm long and incomplete. I removed what was left of the screen and plan on putting an inline fuel filter before the fuel pump in addition to the filters for each carburetor. I was also able to make some significant progress on the dash. This involved reinforcing the top of the dash with several layers of fiberglass and using some body filler to smooth everything out. I am hoping that I will get a chance to finish up the sanding and smoothing of the dash sometime this weekend.

Draining the bad gas
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358515488.jpg

What was left of the screen
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358515551.jpg

Broken portion of gas exit assembly in tank
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358515616.jpg

Broken piece removed
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358515701.jpg

My awesome "fishing" rod
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358515754.jpg

Gas eats the rubberized undercoating so be careful. This picture also shows the huge dent that weakened the gas intake assembly to the point of breaking.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358515844.jpg

Screen removed from the intake. Having an inline filter before the fuel pump will be easier to deal with in my opinion. For me to replace the broken screen I would have to do some serious body work on the tank to address the dented area.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358515889.jpg

Day 94 cont: I was also able to clean up the engine bay and cleaned the bottom of the engine using Gunk engine cleaner. Here are some pictures of work on the dash.

Cutting grooves into the top of the dash with a dremel to structurally reinforce with fiberglass

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358516188.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358516254.jpg

Fiberglass in the grooves
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358516313.jpg

First layer of body filler. I still need to do several applications and lots of sanding to get everything smooth. The fiberglass reinforcement has resulted in a very strong dash that I should be able to recover:)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358516403.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358516458.jpg

Kristoph,
New tank fittings with screen available from stoddard. Doesn't look quite like original (shorter I think), but should suffice. Fuel problems are a real nuisance. I would imagine with your humidity in Florida and the high ethanol content of virtually all fuel no, it will be a constant battle for you.
DG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358519327.jpg

I would replace the entire tank.

IIRC, Grady says no inline fuel filter before the fuel pump... not sure where that was posted tho.

Hi Randy,

I would replace the tank too if I wasn't an underpaid professor;) So far the tank has served me since 2008 and around 6,000 miles. In the spirit of sustainability "if it ain't broke don't fix it". I will put the fuel filter after the fuel pump. Thanks for the advice.

You are doing a truly fantastic job!

I can't wait for you to start on my 69 E when you get done. Lol,....no really please?http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358603950.jpg

Kristoph,
If I am thinking correctly, there actually is a filter screen in your fuel pump. There is a little cover on the bottom that twists off, and a screen inside that can be cleaned. But you probably knew this already. I'm assuming you still have the old Bendix style pump.

I liked the Corbeau seat. Was that from your friend Peter? Looks like the 914 Corbeau. If you can find a mate, and fabricate mounting brackets, not a bad little bucket to have. Made me flashback to the Corbeau ads in every car magazine of the '70s with the very buxom lass saying "keep your eyes on the seat"!

DG

yup - I know all about that - you've done a lot of labor to save $$ on restoration

Here is the thread I was thinking of and another one on tank rehab. (post #7 - the issue is cavitation and fuel pump destruction), in case you didn't already find them

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/673766-cutting-access-hole-1970t-fuel-tank.html

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/682413-new-me-problem-fuel-pump-sounds-like-cavitating.html

Thanks!! As much as I liked doing the restoration of the Rat I think I will stick to my day job:D

David,

There is indeed a filter screen in my fuel pump. The cover comes off using a 17mm wrench if I recall correctly. I cleaned the screen in the fuel pump the day I was tuning up the engine. Peter brought over the seat the day we were mounting the rocker trim. I believe he had it in his 914 before he got a different seat. He just had it sitting in his garage and thought I could put it to good use.:D I am sure Peter and I can fabricate something to make the seat fit. Sounds like my seat caused you quite a good "flashback"!! If you find a picture of one of those ads please post it on here;)

Thanks Randy. The restoration has indeed been a labor of love.

Day 95 Today I was able to refinish the shift linkage cover and attempted to recover the dash. I say attempted because I made great progress and had most of the dash covered when I was stretching the vinyl around one of the corners and it ripped.

I decided to throw in the towel on the dash and did not use it to wipe my face as suggested below

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358866714.jpg


The dash is currently at the upholstery shop and should be recovered by next week. I did make some significant progress on getting the dash ready however.

Final fiberglass
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358866915.jpg

Final sanding complete
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358866984.jpg

Partially covered dash :mad: Based on how my recovering looked I think the dash will turn out nice. All of the sanding resulted in a smooth surface for the vinyl.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358867029.jpg

Shift cover before and after

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358867065.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1358867096.jpg