The Jedi 911SC

[TeeJayHoward]

Replaced the failing gas struts on the surprisingly heavy hood with mechanical models.


10/10 impressed. Works exactly like you'd expect them to. Also a bit of a pain to reach the one on the driver's side!

NEXT!

[TeeJayHoward]

Someone asked me what my end goal was with this car. I referred them to this picture:


It's clean, empty, simple, and focused. Nothing there but what you need. I love it. Notice what's NOT there? A stereo. Despite my JUST saying I love the empty look, I DO want a radio. But with modern phones, why have a head unit at all? All you really need is a little bluetooth amp to connect to the phone and a holder. Well lookie lookie what just arrived from China! It's a super-cheap AliExpress 50W+50W Bluetooth amp. Shown here testing before I install, along with what are literally the cheapest new speakers I could find on the internet. Another piece to be replaced at a later date.


Wiring up the little bluetooth amp:


I broke the damned door card holder doohickeys taking off the door card:


Attached some spade connectors to the existing wiring:


Went to install the speakers and... Uh-oh. I should have bought 6" speakers instead. OK, it's not like I'll not be replacing these eventually. For now, let's just screw them in halfway and see how they sound. (I had considered designing and printing up some spacers... dunno why I didn't.)


Plugged in the little amp:


And a quick test...


Zip-tied it up under the dash:


There we go. My phone is now my radio. And of course I need a new battery. So...

[TeeJayHoward]

The old 911s use a super-short ground cable. It just goes from the battery to the chassis, right behind the headlight. Super easy to disconnect.


Then it's just a matter of making a new cable of the appropriate length. I decided to attach a battery tender quick disconnect while I was in there.


I then cut the head off the positive cable, attached the new head, and added all the little fiddly miscellaneous wires that always seem to be attached to the positive lead. (Plus one wire for the tender). Sat the battery back down in the hole, connected everything up, and heard the clock inside start ticking. Looks like it works.


Onwards!

[TeeJayHoward]

I was walking around my parts pile the other day, and saw a racing seat I had purchased and never installed. I was curious if it would fit.



Yup. Sure does. And it is SO much better at bolstering than the ones that were in there. Which, by the way, does anyone recognize them?

Now about my windows...

[TeeJayHoward]

My power windows stopped working on one side. I swapped the switches to test them, and sure enough, that was the problem. So... Out with the old...


In with the new...


Aaaand, done.


Thrilling, no? Yup, fixed the issue. However, I also discovered another one while screwing around in there.
The door stops are hosed on both sides.

Drivers:


Passengers:


I'll deal with that in the future. For now, how about some simple stuff?

[TeeJayHoward]

I added in a few things I've been meaning to get around to. Things like a dash cam:


Absolutely essential now that I'm on day shift and driving with the pre-caffeinated loonies. I also swapped out my phone holder for one that charges while holding the phone:


Adventure is out there!

[TeeJayHoward]

Threw a belt a few days ago. Didn't think anything of it, but made a note to put all of the tools to do a roadside repair in the car. Glad I did, because here I was today:


Oh well. Swapped it back in, continued in to work. It came off again along the way.


Took a bit of a closer look this time, and... Uh-oh.


There aren't supposed to be metal shavings. That belt-holder-doohickey is also supposed to be snug... It rattles around. And it got LOUD on the way in. It was very obvious that something was wrong. Rather than have it explode and constantly be pulling over and putting it back on, I just left it off and headed home. Temps didn't get too bad for most of the trip...


Then a ****ing 18 wheeler decided to attempt to execute a U-turn and clog up several lights. Even with my car off, things got dicey...


Got it home never going above that mark. But eesh. Since the half-pulley is normally the locking mechanism for removing the fan belt, I had to find an alternate method of removing the pulley. Thankfully ,this alternator includes a hex key in the shaft, so between that and a... 15/16"... What the... Whatever, a wrench...



It came off.


And here you can see the damage done by the half-pulley:


And the damage TO the half-pulley:

[TeeJayHoward]

(cont)And in case you needed a reminder, what it's supposed to look like:


So... Yeah. Remember how I only had five shims at the beginning of this story? Turns out, having the right number? Pretty damned important. Ahem. Back to it.

At one point during the drive home I had to pull into a parking lot and try to replace the belt/cool down the engine. Colorado Springs has dips and bumps and all kinds of things that are no good for a lowered car. Or even a stock height one. Entering the parking lot in the 911 resulted in my crack becoming a full-bore rip. At least I have the junkyard impact bumper front end to put on.


Neighbor had his toys out. I snapped a pic.


My fan shroud arrived ahead of schedule. I couldn't understand how it was packaged, so I took a bunch of photos in case it arrived damaged. It... Kinda did?






So far, so good. I wasn't expecting it to arrive in two pieces, but that's by design I guess. I can live with that. But the two pieces were rubbing on each other during shipping... Grr...


So Rennline included the hardware needed to connect the two pieces:

[TeeJayHoward]

(cont)
Install the dowel...


Then put the pieces together...


Then the little hex bolts:


And crank it all down:


The clearances are tight!


Oh well, my car requires a spacer (included) anyway. Lemme just pop that in...


*ahem* I mean, loosen everything, THEN pop it in...


Then tighten everything up and it's time for the new 175A alternator!


Exciting unboxing pic!


Lemme just toss that right in...

[TeeJayHoward]

(cont)

Then the new fan...


Wait a minute, that's not fully seated. WTF is going on? Lemme pull it back apart...


Aah, I see the problem. Whoever installed the woodruff key used a bit too much force and splatted it.



*ding dong* Huh, a distraction has arrived. And look how well it survived the trip! Surely nothing could fall out of THIS box!


Back to the woodruff key, it took a hell of a lot of mangling to get this thing out. In the end, what worked was dremmeling a channel down the center and then squishing it with pliers.


I'd guess about two hours worth of work went into getting it to this point:


Yeah, definitely squished. I ordered a bunch of different sizes off Amazon since apparently I don't have any here.


Well, balls. At least I have a good alternator already on the car. Let's just use that and get this beastie running again. Here I am disconnecting the shroud strap:


Then removing the two bolts that hold the coil pack (and the spark plug grounds) on.

[TeeJayHoward]

(cont)

Let's yank the shroud forward enough to access the screws for the vanes:


After that's removed, it's labellin' time again:


After removing the alt and shroud, a new problem was discovered:


I knew that the shroud was cracked, but I didn't realize it was also squished. Getting this alternator out is going to take some work. It's pinched in there good n' tight!


But through the grace of God (and a grinder), they were separated. Did you know that the OEM shroud was made of magnesium? Me neither! Know what happens when you send a spark at a pile of magnesium shavings? You get very, very startled.


Some minor reassembly on the alternator, and it's ready for the new shroud:


Slide it in:


Attach some stuff:


And finish putting everything back together!


Time for a drive. Does it work? Yup. But the 710mm belt I originally had is shot, so I installed the one the dealership gave me instead, which was tight AF. Turns out it's a 695mm belt, and it's squealing. I'm somewhat concerned that it's too tight. At least, I'm hoping that is what the problem is, because if I'm blowing through another fan, I'm going to end up in the poor house!

[AutoXer23]

Man, you're pretty handy.

[tdw28210]

Welcome. That's a lot of work done already. Congrats.

[Gretz]

That’s a lot of work. Looking good.

How did you replace the dash without removing the windshield?

[TeeJayHoward]

Originally Posted by Gretz

That’s a lot of work. Looking good.

How did you replace the dash without removing the windshield?

I undid the bolts and pulled it out. The sun had already dried it out so much that the vinyl under the windshield wasn’t connected to the dashboard anymore and the plastic connectors were crumbling. It just slid out. When I put the new one in, I just didn’t use the plastic pieces. 700 miles later, no squeaks or anything, and it’s still secure.

[chrisbalich]

This is fantastic.
Keep going!

[MikeD930]

Just wanted to say you accomplished a lot...good job!! It's hard to believe this car is your daily driver. As for your cracked stock fan housing...perhaps you tightened the housing band too much when you first replaced the alternator which may contribute to its failure?

[boyt911sc]

TJHoward,

You were able to post more than 90+ posts in a single thread in a day uninterrupted. This could be a RECORD and a remarkable achievement. You really got a lot of impressive talents. Your enthusiasm is contagious. Thanks for sharing.

Tony

[TeeJayHoward]

Originally Posted by MikeD930

As for your cracked stock fan housing...perhaps you tightened the housing band too much when you first replaced the alternator which may contribute to its failure?

I was thinking the same thing when I started this thread. At the time I had been working nights for a few years and my mental capacity was diminished. Little things like "Don't overtighten things" or "Use the right number of shims" didn't seem to stick in my brain. By posting this story up and re-reading through it, I'm realizing that I pretty much didn't finish any of the tasks I started so long ago.

As an example, my brakes - the very first thing I worked on - are still not properly powered. I'm debating with myself rather I want to switch to a dual master/unpowered setup like this:



with a mechanical brake light switch mod a la Bucketlist's excellent setup



or rather I'd like to see if my replacement junkyard booster is still good. I'm leaning towards the dual masters right now, because it'll simplify the engine bay for later modifications, and I've always been partial to properly set up un-powered brakes anyway. But on the flip side, the junkyard parts attempt is literally free, so... *shrugs*

[TeeJayHoward]

The hazard switch is currently en route. Looks like it's time to finish up the dash!

As I left it:


Key and surround removed:


Headlight knob removed:


Broken hazard switch being removed:


Aaaand, out:


Now we zoom... ENHANCE! Oh lord, look at that TERRIBLE job with the basket weave material!


Yeah... Let's just rip that straight off. (oops, now you can see my non-centered not-quite-round hole expansions!)


Apply all the masking tape:


Then take it back off:


And throw it on some paper!