Passenger Jack Post - 'Hacked Off!'

I could see the Long beneath the Jack Post had alot of rot which needs fixing...so off with the Jack Post with the spot weld drill bit, angle grinder and some brute force. The Long is the main structural member that runs along each side of the car at the base of the door opening - connecting the front and rear of the car effectively. It needs to be in great shape for a HP upgrade...

I should mention during this operation, Zoe came in with a cup of tea. I put the drill on my lap as I was sitting on the floor. Finished the cuppa then picked up the drill and inadvertantly pressed it on. It wound up my overalls and started to chew into my thigh!!! Funny looking back on it but it hurt quite alot at the time...daft bu**er! (and I don't mean butter!)

Jack Post succumbing....

Here's the view after the Jack Post has been removed...lots of holes! I'll replace the bad metal and put in a new Jack Post which I already have. This will be a tricky job for me but I think it could have been ALOT worse.

I'll take off the Sill Support which is the triangular bit with the two holes in on the right of the pic above and then weld in new metal to replace the rust.

It'll take a while to get this all done; so for now, I've just covered the area in cheapo primer to prevent surface rust starting..

Passenger Rear Wing - What Lies Beneath!

Marked out the line to cut along in order to expose as much of the chassis beneath. Then....deep breath...gulp...cut along the line with a 1mm disc on a Dremel.

You can see the previous owner's repair job. Many of these plates/patches aren't properly welded - it definitely can't stay this way. I have the proper panel to weld in but it's a big ol' job for as novice like me! Check the pic below..

Looking upwards into that cavity shows more trouble..this bit will be fiddly because there's good and bad metal in close confines and the panel joins are tricky.. What's more I'll need to do some repair to the 'Longs' first - see the next post for more on that.

Passenger Rear Wing Paint Strip

...stripped the paint off the rear wing before I chop it off to get at the hell hole. Looks nice under all the crappy paint job.

Rear Brakes and Control Arm Removal

Now the car is settled in its new home and not going anywhere anytime soon, it's time get its wheels off so I can can crack on with the bodywork. I'm going to get on with fixing the notorious 'hell hole' (more on that later) and also stiffen up the chassis; bearing in mind that around twice as much HP than stock is going to be trying to bend the body through the corners!

I've taken off the rear Brakes, Struts and Control Arms. This should be a straight-forward enough job assuming you can get all the nuts and bolts undone. But that's never the case on a car that's been sitting for who knows how long is it! Infact, the brake calipers had seized on one side so I had to dismantle them in situ in order to get them off.

The biggest lesson learned was to loosen the main hub/castle nut before removing the wheels.. handbrake on, chocks in place, a breaker bar AND 4ft cheater bar with a 30mm impact socket later and the nut is loose.

 Then off with everything else: wheels, calipers, discs, disc guards, struts and control arms. A very messy job...

Now for some more paint stripping before attacking the hell hole...

New Home

FINALLY..the 914 is in its new home. Haven't got pics of it but I had to do alot to the prefab garage before I'd want to spend any time in it. I had to repair some walls, paint the walls, trusses and 2-pack paint on the floor. I also cut a pedestrian door into the Ali 'up and over' with a jigsaw - the phrase 'hot knife through butter' springs to mind..tricky but got it done nicely.

Here's the inside...got me posters up too! A proper bloke's hideout in need of a house-warming...

Ian's GT

Things were in limbo following the house move and any spare time I had from work was spent working on the house and garden. The new garage needed alot of work before I moved the car in but I did get a 914 fix when I visited a fellow Porsche addict, Ian Gunney, in Cardiff, to pick up a few bits and pieces.

I bought a mint dash top from him aswell as some early 911 front struts complete with 'M' calipers....I may well use these although a more 'modern' setup with larger calipers might be more suitable with my intended 200hp (ie. 911SC or 3.2 Carrera).

Here are a couple of pics of Ian's Signal Orange GT which has a 2.7 and produces over 200hp.. His garage is like a shrine to Porsche, clearly. He has a lovely 912, a 'parts car' 914 and a Porsche Tractor 'in parts'!