Forgot to mention I also have a dash piece set with no holes whatsoever that should be ready in the coming weeks to delete hvac controls, radio, lighter, fog light switch, defroster switch, and the seatbelt lamp.

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What an awesome build. And that color for the shell is spectacular!

1985 Carrera Build Thread!
 

Thank you, I appreciate it!

Alex what a great build. Love the detail. Quick question, earlier in the build it looks like you had a Rennline lower dash but changed back to the oem leather covered knee pads. Did you not like the Rennline. I was thinking of getting the Rennline lower dash and your car is the first I've see with it installed. Also I might be interested in buying some of your parts in anodized black but still in deciding how I will be changing my interior.

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Hi Brian, thank you for the kind words. Yes it’s true, I did change from the rennline lower dash piece back to the oem leather one. The rennline one is great and I like slimmer profile it gives the dash, a little more knee room. However when I designed my own dash pieces I had based the measurements off the oem lower pieces. The problem is that for a seamless look I created a bend in my pieces to match the curve at the ends of the oem piece. When the rennline piece arrived I realized they cut the ends flat at 90 degrees. This caused a strange gap and overlap that I didn’t like so I recovered the oem pieces and used them instead. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4b46c64b81.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2bee361a26.jpg

You can see the tapered down edge in these two pictures. I don’t have a picture that close up of the rennline piece at the moment unfortunately. I still have the rennline piece that I never used if you’d like to buy it for cheaper. However, I don’t recommend you use the rennline piece with the pieces I made unless you don’t mind doing a little trimming. Let me if you’re interested or have any questions!


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A lot to update on this thread. Since my last post I installed the fenders and doors along with the engine and trans back in the car. Fuel tank, fuel pump, and oil tank went in as well.

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I wired in the original bosch motronic system and attempted to start it a few times but had no luck. I had a friend of mine who's very familiar with the motronic system go through it and couldn't find the issue. Rather than start replacing sensors and patching up wiring I decided to start fresh with a MegaSquirt system. In retrospect I realized the problem with the bosch system was a faulty crank position sensor but I realized too late. This was something I had always wanted to do anyway and would've probably done in the near future anyway. I went with a Microsquirt based of a Megasquirt 2.

I was able to replace all the sensors with gm sensors that can be found just about anywhere for a fraction of the price. Being a diy system, I was able to get the standalone ecu wired and running for possibly less than the cost of fresh sensors for the old bosch unit. This includes new wiring. Unfortunately I didn't snap too many pictures of this process. I ended up putting the ecu under the seat in the factory position along with the new fuel pump and ecu relays. The wiring passed through the original hole by the rear seat and I created and engine harness wrapped in insultherm high heat wire loom.

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To make wiring a little easier, I switched to s197 mustang high impedance 24 lb injectors as well. After finally creating a base tune based on what I could gather of the original ignition and fuel maps online, the car turned over (although a little rich)!

Motivated that I would soon be able to take the car for a drive, I finished a few loose ends I had in the suspension and installed the calipers after rebuilding and painting them. I finally bled the brakes, adjusted the clutch and throttle pedal. After a few more days of tuning I got it running well enough to do some street tuning. I put the bumpers, decklid, and hood on and went for the first drive in almost a year last week.

Still have some panel gaps to adjust and have to lower the rear a bit more. The interior is all wrapped up too. Suspension still needs some aligning adjusting and the tune still needs work. Overall I'm very happy with how it drives. The suspension is tight but not harsh at all and the cabin noise is minimal. This is how she stands now



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Looks, fantastic, Alex! Really love the color.

Did you end up making this? Any pics of the finished piece?

Looks very nice.

Thank you!

I did but due to the holidays there was a bit of a delay. The pieces are scheduled to be finished the first week of February. I'll update you with pictures as soon as they're done!

Thanks!

Hey Alex - spoke to you last Sunday at DRT. I was the Wine Red Metallic SC with the tail parked in the street almost directly in front of you.

Love your build. Car looks amazing. I am getting ready to refresh my interior, which is currently in black/brown/champagne. I seem to recall seeing a pic of your car with lighter interior. What color was your interior originally? I am considering a color change to black/grey so I'm wondering if you changed the interior color via dye or simple replacement with black panels? I realize the door cards are RS - I'm more concerned with the rear panels and a-pillar/b-pillar etc.

Other question: i noticed that you have rotary HVAC controls. Did you go with electric AC or some other option? If so, how does it work in Florida (I'm in Tampa)?

Lastly, if you have more of the black dash inserts, I'd definitely be interested. Again, great job - you are an inspiration to us all ;)

-Ethan

1985 Carrera Build Thread!
 

Hey Ethan,



Thank you for the kind words. I was actually checking out your car more on instagram last week, love that exterior color! Nice Corvette too!



The color was originally tan, not sure the exact name porsche had for the color. Tan door cards, carpet, seats, and console with black dash and headliner. The seats were cloth and reupholstered in red vinyl. All the other panels are the original panels that I had the upholstery shop recover in black vinyl. Door cards and carpet were replacements I bought from appbiz. I had the upholstery shop order me a few extra yards of black vinyl and recovered the a and b pillars myself when I did the headliner.



The AC is an experiment that I'm still working on. I purchased a vintage air system and made some brackets to hold it in place in the trunk where the factory AC system is located. I then drilled some of my dash panels to fit the rotary knobs. So far I've done the wiring and ducting so I'm able to get a good amount of air moving through the cabin with the blower motor. I've also routed the ac hoses through the heater ducts behind the rocker panels. This last weekend I mounted a 19x11 inch condenser with a cooling fan underneath the front bumper. The RUF bumper provers just enough space to be able to fit the assembly. I already got the fittings in to reuse the factory denso compressor. I've been told the factory compressor has more than enough output. Once it's hooked up I'll have cold air and be able to report how cool it keeps the cabin. We'll see how it works come July/August!



As far as the dash panels I still have plenty in stock! Available with all the factory cutouts, radio delete version, hvac delete version, or completely smoothed out. tinkeredco.com! Let me know if you'd like one, the ecommerce part of the site isn't up yet but I can use PayPal for now.



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Thanks again,



Alex

Love the door cards. They resemble stock with the diagonal stitching. Adds appealing detail and looks much better than the blank RS cards. Are they custom or did you purchase them? I think you also get the award for the quickest “light restoration” project completion time. Most on this board take a couple years to complete and farm out more work. Nice DIY skills and love the finished project. Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks, I agree the standard rs door cards looked a bit too simple. I actually purchased them from appbiz. They had made a few with the double stitching going all the way to the bottom of the card after a customer requested it and still had a few in stock in different thread colors. At the end it was somewhat quick but it felt like an eternity in the midst of it! Especially during sanding.

Thanks again!

Alex


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Love the direction you took on this- nice blend of outlaw with a good dose of usability left in.

Thank you!

Thought I'd update on the AC. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1554151354.JPG
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With the RUF style bumper, I was able to bolt on a decently sized 10x18 condenser in the front to get good airflow along with a 9 inch fan. The opening in the bumper helped as well. It was a tight fit but it fit nonetheless. I routed the hose through the frunk and bolted the drier inside as well. I kept the original denso compressor as I was told it had good capacity. On the drier I used a binary switch which triggered the compressor clutch, the cooling fan relay, and sent a signal to megasquirt to open the idle valve a bit more to compensate for the drag of the compressor.

The vintage air unit works by recirculating air from the cabin so I had to keep as many openings between the cabin and frunk as possible to make it one large space. Otherwise the unit would be working double by picking up hot air from the frunk, cooling it, and sending it to the cabin. This way, the entire area is cooler, so the air going through the evaporator is cooler to begin with. I ran the refrigerant lines going to the compressor through the old heater duct in the rocker panel to protect them road debris and a cleaner look. With the lines hooked up I charged the system r134a and tested it out. The tune bumps the idle up smoothly and immediately however there is a noticeable difference in power with the power on or off.

Most importantly, it cools! We're already in the mid to high 80's in Miami and the AC keeps me cool enough with the windows up that I actually had to turn down the fan speed while driving. I should add that I was worried about the greenhouse effect all that glass would have so I had ceramic tints put in in the lightest shade possible. The addition of AC makes this car much easier to drive on longer trips or trips where I might expect heavy traffic, especially in summer. I can't speak as to the accuracy of this old thermometer, but it shows vent temperatures between 32 and 35 degrees fahrenheit pretty consistently. I've put about 1000 miles on with the AC in place and no complaints so far.

The vintage air unit has a heater core inside as well that I was told would accept oil just fine. If I find a safe way to tap into the oil lines and get oil flowing through it I might consider it to have working heater for the rare cold day in Florida.

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Thought I'd show how the condenser fits under the bumper and a correctly oriented vent temperature picture.