The 72 project resumes

[Eddie Brown]

Hello. After almost two years of the car just sitting in my driveway and garage, today I resumed my body work preparation. I've removed the bad paint it had on the fenders and doors. Now I'm removing the nasty paint from the door jambs, and quarter panels. I plan on removing the doors to really get in there and do the best prepwork I can for the body man. I've done a lot of rust treatment, and sealed the trunks with the roll on truck bed liner coating. The chassis still needs to be placed on a rack to be straightend. But at least I got off my butt, and put some time into my beloved 914.

My car was originally yellow. As I understand it, yellow cars are faster . But I may end up painting it red.

I just thought that I should let all of you know that another 914 is being brought back to life. I don't post a lot here, but I've frequented this forum for a long time. As I get deeper into the project, I'm sure I'll be seeking advice from all of you.

Thanks,

Eddie.

[lmcchesney]

Nice to hear from you Edie.
Good time of year to get back into the 914.
L. McC

[Eddie Brown]

Thanks. I worked on it till about 8 last night. This weekend should be productive for me too. Hopefully the exterior will be fully primered so that I can start taking a couple of small dings out of it. So far I've encountered very little bondo...

Thanks,

Eddie.

[Jason Porter]

That's good to hear. What engine are you putting in? Are you keeping it original, or building the car you like? What upgrades do you have planned?

Just curious...

[i love porsche]

ooo congrats...

it seems were both in a similar boat...have any pictures?

when are you speculating the car will be finished?

[Eddie Brown]

Hello. If it were up to my buddy, I'd be putting an LS1 in there...but, since it's MY car I'll keep it aircooled. I think that ultimately it'll have a 2258 (96x78), or a 2600 (103x78) with a Porsche fan set up. As a temporary motor, it may receive the 1911 that's in my 70 Bug. Suspension wise it'll have slightly stiffer springs, & sway bars. I'll have to change my rotor bolt pattern to fit the 15x6 American Eagle 911 replicas that I found in Arvin for $80(set of 4). I'll be installing a tail shifter tranny in it and see how it goes. I need an aircooled car with a 5th gear...

As far as my estimated time of completion...I'd like to say a year from now if my finances cooperate. Right now I'll be doing all of the work I can without spending too much money. I have the bottom end components to build either a 2258 or the 2600. The case has already been machined down in L.A. for the Porsche fan.

I'll try to post some pics as soon as I can. I'd like to finish sanding and giving the car it's initial coat of primer. I have a good body man locally that would like to work on this car. The body panels are very straight, and have very few dings. The only thing that worries me are the gaps on the passenger side door that aren't right.

I have to figure out how the car will look without the vinyl side covers for the roof pillars. I need to see what to do about the chrome trim that goes around the vinyl. I'll have to search this forum for pictures to see if I can find the look that I want.

I can tell you that no matter what, this car will come together. It deserves to be on the road & show with pride it's the great heritage.

I have a friend locally that owns three 914's. He's a nice guy, and is also encouraging me to finish the car. At least I'll have a local buddy to go cruising out to 914 events with.

Thanks for the encouragement guys!! It's a real shot in the arm.

I'll try to get some early pics of the car posted.

Eddie.

[Eddie Brown]

This was the day after I bought my two 914's with my Pop

This was after I found some 911 replicas for $80 (all four of them!)

[Jason Porter]

The 2258 should be plenty of power for you, and offer at least some form of reliability. Unless you go with Nickies for the 103's, and even then I'd like to hear Jakes experience with reliability in regards to that setup.

Either way, good luck on this thing, and keep us posted.

[Eddie Brown]

Here are some pics of the car being stripped of its paint all the way to the metal. I'm using a chemical from Klean Strip...

Sorry for the picture quality.

Eddie.

[i love porsche]

woah...what chemical are you using? how can i get it?? is it expensive...because im prettymuch doing something very similar....does it take off only paint?

[Eddie Brown]

Hi. I'm getting ready to put some primer on this puppy right now. I decided to take a little break. I bought the chemical at Auto Zone. It's made by Klean Strip. It's called A 1 Auto Strip. I paid about $7 for a Qt. If you have just the original paint to remove, then it may take just one application. When you have multiple coats of certain primers and paints, it may take up to 3 applications. But it sure beats sanding it down to the bare metal. It did take all of the paint off.
The paint on the right rear fender was pretty thick, but with 2 applications, using a scrapper, and then sanding it looks like the left rear fender.

Eddie.

[i love porsche]

im gonna try that....ive been using a sander...and this sounds a bit easier

[Eddie Brown]

Cool! It worked out for me. I just finished giving the car primer for initial body work. I have a new orbital sander that was starting to suffer and not really getting me anywhere. Be patient when using the chemical. Wear some gloves and buy a chemical resistant brush.

Good luck,

Eddie.

[BigD9146gt]

To be overly causious, us a full face sheild for your eyes and face... that stuff burns!!!

Eddie, the lawn wasn't looken to promissing to begin with, did the chemical stripper help?

[Eddie Brown]

Hi. LOL!! I'm watering the lawn as we speak before I go to play some golf this afternoon.

I noticed that on the front trunk lid there was a red type of primer under the original yellow paint. That's been tough to get off for sure. I have been stripping all of the old paint and bondo off of the car; exept for one section on the right quarter panel. It's very minimal.

BTW, I'm painting the engine compartment with a Duplicolor High Temp Gloss Black (I've already decided that the car will be black); As soon as it dries, I'll put some high temp clear on it for durability...I can almost hear it run.

Thanks for the advice!!

Eddie.

[BigD9146gt]

Its probably too late to mention, but try not to take off the factory base primer. I stripped my 9146gt project down to bare metal and worked up. Having done that, and used etching primer, its just not as good as the factory dipped chassis. If you do go to metal however, i recommend Glasurit etching primer. It works great as a base coat, and every other brand i've laid over it has proven to have better adhesion than any other etching primer. Good luck, Don.

[Eddie Brown]

Right now I took it down to the bare metal because of how bad the previous paint was chipping and flaking off. For now, all I did was spray a general purpose primer to prevent rust. I will re-sand the car at a later time and let the bodyman apply the self etching primer. I wanted for the car to look uniform for the time being. What I will do after I primer the car, will be to buy and weld into place the battery tray bracket, the tray, and the right side engine shelf. Besides, I have to check the chassis because on the right side of the car, measuring from top of the windshield frame to the roof pillar I have 3/16th less than on the driver side.

I'm hoping that it's only metal fatigue, and not rust that is causing the difference in door gaps and such. If it were not rust, could I just bend the car back into it's proper measurements? And if so, will the chassis stiffening kit be enough to prevent this from happening again? or do I need to reinforce something else? I just can find any rust along the longitudinal...the area where the receiver for the jack goes, shows no evidence of rust. I would hate to chop up the car just to look inside!!!


Eddie.

[silver2.0]

Just curious, but can you fit a type 1 from your bug into our engine bay? I didn't think the upright cooling fans would work. Plus you would have to figure something out for the exhaust, as it exits on the outsides instead of downward. Just wondering if anyone else had attempted that before.

[Eddie Brown]

I'm not sure that you could use a T1 engine in a 914 because of the exhaust. But you can use an upright fan shroud (DTM, FAT, or T1 style) on a T4. Besides, IMHO the T4 is progress from a reliability stand point over the T1, hands down.


Update: the body is stripped and primered to keep it from getting surface rust. I still have to sand and primer the doors(inside), & door jambs. I'm really excited...

Eddie.

[Eddie Brown]

Today's pic.