Big boxes of fun came today from the UK. Electric A/C, new alternator and the fancy fuse panels.
Since I'm missing a few tools like a pully wrench and hose clamps for the A/C lines, I figured I'd tackle the easy ones that only require hand tools while I wait for them to be delivered.
It's a pretty simple process but the wires don't line up exactly and don't always have the slack you'd hope for, plus the screw terminals aren't as big as the old ones, so for a few of the bigger wires or the double-up ones there was some minor surgery involved. But I got it done.
I did mess up one wire - the turn signals were turning on the high beams! I poured over the wiring diagram and traced it to one of the black/green wires on the top one space over. Moved it to the right spot and all was right in the world.
Did the back too. Less chance of screwing that up thankfully, but the provided sticky posts didn't actually fit the holes in the board so I improvised and used high strength velcro to hold it. Wires mostly keep it in place anyway.
I got new plates for the car and I needed to replace the nut inserts that hold the plate. This might seem like a pretty basic project but it turns out that finding the small license plate plastic nuts is really difficult! All the ones I found locally are too big for the Porsche plate holders (5/8 vs 3/8), and you can either buy a pack of 100 for $50, or they're $3/each on Pelican. Forget that.
Turns out McMaster Carr has downloadable 3D files for a lot of parts to use in prototyping, so I downloaded one for the inserts and printed up 9 of them.
Fit right in, easy peasy. Total cost, three cents?
New plate. "78 911SC" was available but the government wouldn't let me have it because it would be "confusing". But SC911 is fine. Go figure. I don't love, love it but all the other variations of 1978 911 I tried were taken.
In preparation for the A/C I decided to clean out the smuggler's box. Bit of fibreglass mess from when I blocked off the enormous hole.
In case you were wondering what that hole looked like: Yikes. A couple of layers of fibreglass, some black paint and some sound deadening covering and it's fine now.
While doing so I discovered a fun surprise from either the factory or the dealer A/C install, since it was under the white brushed on coating. A nice extra screw. Gotta love hand built!
