First timer takes on '84 Targa - Page 10

PushingMyLuck · 01-31-2014, 05:14 PM

Pelican should hire JMills to write all DIYs.

jmills · 02-03-2014, 05:54 AM

SiberianDVM- We typically go to Roebling 5-6 a year, but have been to CMP a couple of times. However, the Targa isn't going to make it to the track....or not on the track. The Targa is a fair weather/date night car. This is the track car.

jmills · 02-03-2014, 06:45 AM

The weekend was very productive, but I am not going to go through all the details of putting everything back together. You should be able to go backwards through the thread and reverse the steps. I thought I would just point out a couple of little things to be aware of and some tips that might make things a little easier.

Reinstalling the axles, throttle linkage and oil lines under the car were no big deal and easy enough to do. I was a little nervous with the clutch assemble. As I said earlier, these parts basically came apart when I was disassembling it. I feared there would be some question as to how it all goes back together, but turns out it was no big deal.

Here are all the parts to the clutch levers.

Make sure you grease the needle bearings on the large lever. I would also put some grease on the cross shaft and on the splines of both levers. You then need to mate the omega spring and the large lever and slide the large lever on the cross shaft. This part is easy, but now you have to get the omega spring in place. I tried prying on the spring in an effort to get it hooked on the peg, but no luck.

I then figured out the trick that I had read about. With the spring rotated approximately 180 degrees from where it should fitted, you can hook the spring on the peg. It should look like this.

You can now pry the lever with a long screwdriver and the spring will pop into it's correct orientation. This picture shows the spring after it has "popped" in place, but you can see how to pry on the lever.

Now that the omega spring is in position, install the secondary spring and small lever and go through the clutch adjustment process. Here is a good write-up on adjusting the cable.

Pelican Technical Article: Clutch Adjustment - 911 (1965-86) - 930 Turbo (1975-86)

Here is everything all put together.

I was stumped for a couple of minutes (luckily not very many) when I went to connect the clutch cable to the lever. The cable was a couple of inches too short and I could not figure out how I was ever going to get it to hook on the lever. It then hit me to check the clutch pedal. Sure enough, the pedal was on the floor. A shock cord attached to the pedal and seat work well to hold it up. Magically, the cable was long enough to attach.

Now to the engine bay for all the electrical connections, fuel lines and breather hoses. This is where all that time you hopefully spent labeling things pays off. There are a lot of connections, but should be pretty straight forward. I did figure out a fairly easy way to deal with the clips on the electrical connectors. If you use a small screw driver, you can get the clips in this position.

You can then just slide the connector into place and pop the clips back into place with your fingers.

I disconnected the cruise control cable at the throttle body. With the blower in place, a regular screwdriver won't fit to screw the screws back in place.

Vice grips and a phillips screwdriver tip worked as my "custom" screwdriver.

I finally got all the electrical connections, hoses, and fuel lines and was double checking to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Sure enough, there was one wire on the driver's side that didn't have a home.

I looked everywhere and could not find where it should connect. Thanks to this forum, I received an answer within a couple of minutes. It attaches to the back of the heater blower. I reached back there and felt blue my blue tape labeling the connection.

dickster · 02-03-2014, 06:49 AM

superb write up, i feel much better about the little jobs on my car that need doing!

jmills · 02-03-2014, 07:09 AM

And now for the moment of truth.....will the car actually start. I pulled the coil wire and turned the car over until it built oil pressure. I then plugged the coil wire back in place and hit the key again. As soon as I turned the key, it fired up and purred like a kitten.

The surging idle issue I used to have was also gone. When taking the engine out, I found that the vacuum line that attaches to the back of the throttle body wasn't connected. I figure this was the idle issue.

Here is my pile of stuff that was replaced during this project.

Yesterday, the weather was sunny and warm, so we took the car out for a spin to make sure everything was working.

So far so good!!!! It sure is nice to have this project wrapped so we can enjoy the car. The 911 is a work of art, but it looks out of place on jack stands with it's heart sitting nearby on an ATV jack.

If anyone is debating taking on a similar project for the first time, I say go for it. I have some decent wrenching skills, but I am by no means a car expert and have no real prior 911 experience. What we have told people, when then look at us in disbelief when we tell them we have pulled the motor, is that this just proves that we can follow directions. You also have many people on this forum who are happy to assist. I am sure there isn't a problem that you would run into that at least someone hasn't already worked through.

I would highly recommend buying Wayne's 101 projects book, a Bentley manual and do a lot of reading on this forum prior to even starting. I also can't stress enough how important it is to label everything you take apart, take many many pictures, and organize parts in labeled zip lock bags. Make sure you take pictures of how wires are routed through the engine bay. You won't remember when you go back to install everything.

I am not finished with this car, but this is one big step in the right direction. I think all the projects in the near future will be quicker and won't require the car to be down for long periods. Stay tuned.......

GaryR · GaryR's Garage

Congrats Joe!

Smoove1010 · Smoove1010's Garage

Really nice little project and an excellent write-up - well done! How's the clutch and tranny working for you?

Congrats and best of luck!

GK

jmills · 02-03-2014, 11:41 AM

The clutch and tranny are about 95% better. There is still a little bit of chatter when first starting out from a stop. I am not if it is normal and I am just super sensitive to it or I have not figured out how to operate the clutch and gas properly. This is the first 915 transmission car that I have owned and ever since we have had the car, we have had to slip the clutch pretty heavily with a good bit of revs to work around the severe chatter. I am trying to not rev it too much when first starting out and may be under revving it. I also want to go back and see if the clutch cable needs readjusting now that it has been driving a little.

SiberianDVM · SiberianDVM's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmills

SiberianDVM- We typically go to Roebling 5-6 a year, but have been to CMP a couple of times. However, the Targa isn't going to make it to the track....or not on the track. The Targa is a fair weather/date night car. This is the track car.

Nice! I've probably seen it, and just forgot. If you see a '84 Slate Blue Metallic 911 Targa #202 at the track (or a '89 Dark Grey Supra Chump Car if I ever get it going) please stop and say hello.

You did a great job on the Targa.

Ferrino · Ferrino's Garage

Nice work - thanks for the excellent write-up!

cdagnolo · cdagnolo's Garage

J Mills is 'the man'! Excellent work!
Just want to add my name to the list of folks who appreciate all of your excellent efforts to share your adventure and do it SO WELL! :-)

CD
'82 911SC TARGA

dpayne1 · dpayne1's Garage

Awesome Job thank you for sharing

jmills · 02-05-2014, 08:38 AM

Glad everyone has found this thread useful. I'm just happy to give a little back since most of what I have learned about this car has been from you guys.

Festive_Zombie · Festive_Zombie's Garage

Great write up, I sencond that motion that Pelican hires you to write techical articles, very detailed and thorough! A+

NeedSpace · NeedSpace's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmills

So far so good!!!! It sure is nice to have this project wrapped so we can enjoy the car. The 911 is a work of art, but it looks out of place on jack stands with it's heart sitting nearby on an ATV jack.

If anyone is debating taking on a similar project for the first time, I say go for it. I have some decent wrenching skills, but I am by no means a car expert and have no real prior 911 experience. What we have told people, when then look at us in disbelief when we tell them we have pulled the motor, is that this just proves that we can follow directions. You also have many people on this forum who are happy to assist. I am sure there isn't a problem that you would run into that at least someone hasn't already worked through.

I would highly recommend buying Wayne's 101 projects book, a Bentley manual and do a lot of reading on this forum prior to even starting. I also can't stress enough how important it is to label everything you take apart, take many many pictures, and organize parts in labeled zip lock bags. Make sure you take pictures of how wires are routed through the engine bay. You won't remember when you go back to install everything.

I am not finished with this car, but this is one big step in the right direction. I think all the projects in the near future will be quicker and won't require the car to be down for long periods. Stay tuned.......

this sums up mu feeling as well. if you are patient, can follow directions and have average wrench skills, working on these cars is easy and fun. sure, you'll screw things up every once in a while, but that feeling of starting up and driving a car you put together is top notch.

SiberianDVM · SiberianDVM's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeedSpace

this sums up mu feeling as well. if you are patient, can follow directions and have average wrench skills, working on these cars is easy and fun. sure, you'll screw things up every once in a while, but that feeling of starting up and driving a car you put together is top notch.

Agree. As much as I cussed my '84 while converting it to a track only car, it was only because some working areas were so tight. It was only after I realized that these cars were basically designed with racing in mind that I saw the beauty of the relatively simple design. Dropping the motor and transmission as one unit makes many things much easier to work on, unfortunately I do not have that capability, yet.

Now that I am working on converting a 89 Supra to a ChumpCar, I appreciate the 911 even more. Way too much electronics, and after I remove something, I have to go through a startup and run process to make sure I haven't removed something that puts a fatal error into one of the computers.