Bring 'Em Back Alive, Part II

Bring 'Em Back Alive, Part II

I guess it has to get worse before it gets batter

 This is the car sitting in Rob's yard in Minden after the soda-blasting paint removal. Just look at the ridiculous amount of bondo on this door.

Likely my handiwork
Would have been better to just leave the door dings as is

 Even at this point the car was starting to look better. Problem was, the car went over the mountain in November of 2013, and then just sat until Spring. I had somehow missed communication with Rob about the schedule, and he was fully booked over the entire winter.

Progress on the mechanicals also went slowly. When I first envisioned the project I thought it would take three months. But Llew was doing the work as a favor to me (and charging half what it would have cost with anyone else), and Rob was moonlighting and also charging me about half what anyone else would. It was hard to be patient, but I greatly appreciated their help.

Llew continued to accumulate parts and finished disassembling the engine to the level we had agreed. Air cooled motors require metal shrouding around the actual engine to retain and circulate the air. Llew removed all of this as well as the air intake manifold and the fuel injectors.

There are two ways to get fuel and air into an FI engine...the cheap way and the right way. The cheap way uses a “throttle body” which has a single injector which feeds into an air box containing a butterfly valve which in turn controls the amount of both air and fuel through a single manifold. Sort of like a carburetor system in many ways. The 914 is more sophisticated and uses the air box ONLY for that purpose...to feed air into a manifold. The fuel is shot into each cylinder through its own injector. The result is more efficient burning of the fuel, but much more complexity to control the timing and amount of fuel as the butterfly throttle is opened. Obviously there are also more parts than in a throttle body system, and greater cost. Not bad for a “budget” car.

In fact, the D-Jetronic system on the 1970 914 was the first mass market “electronic” FI system in the world, first used on a VW model a couple of years earlier. FI had been around for years, but previously had relied on complex mechanical systems. In theory an electronic system not only required many fewer parts, but offered the potential for much more precise control and reduced cost. But electronics were not fully up to the task (this was before the invention of integrated circuit “chips” as used in modern machinery and computers) and thus the system used discrete electrical part like resistors and transistors in a “bran” to control mechanical devices using barometric and vacuum pressures to move a number of valves to meter the correct amount of fuel and air for any given situation and altitude. Ingenious...and arcane.

Some of these devices, which lived bolted in various places in the engine compartment, stayed with the car, while others, attached to the motor itself, were part of Llew's disassembly work.

Llew also offered me a set of Pedrini alloy wheels for the car at a reasonable price. These were offered as options when the car was new, but were very rare. In fact, I had never seen a set before. The Riviera or Fuchs was the usual alloy you saw on the 914s. At first I was less than thrilled with the look, but it was too good a deal to pass up, and otherwise I would have had to find a stock wheel or fix my bent one, and still would have lacked the “hubcaps” which came with the car. I had scraped up one of the originals, so had long ago relegated them to a shelf rather than repairing or replacing them.

Llew also said it would be good to convert the car to the “side shift” linkage used on the six cylinder 914 as well as the later four cylinder cars. The 914 uses the same robust and costly transaxle as the contemporary 911. In that car the engine is behind the wheels, and the transaxle sits in front of the motor, so the shifter really goes straight down and into the box. However, in the 914 the engine is in front of the axle, putting the transaxle far back behind the shift lever. In the early 914s the shifter goes completely behind the whole assembly and enters from the rear, resulting in a long, vague reach and feel. The side shifter shortens the shift rod and connects to the box from the side, resulting in more precision and “feel” to shifts. Shifting the 914 is always a slow and gentle process and never has the precision of a 911, but the side shift is a big improvement over the original setup.

It is also a complex and expensive conversion, so much so that Llew offered to swap my box for one from a 914-6. In addition to the improved shifting the gearing is very slightly different, with a bit closer ratios. This was an attractive trade so I readily agreed. After the car was done Llew gave me back the tail shifter as he said that belonged with the car and he had sourced a different unit for the project for which he originally wanted mine. I tried to pay him to compensate for the “trade price” but he simply refused to accept anything. Tells you what kind of guy he is.

Even with the replacement box the conversion was not straightforward, requiring a different engine support as well as a different shift rod from the cockpit of the car. While this was going on Rob was having his own challenges.

It was after the end of the year before Rob could begin his work on the car. Once he started removing bondo he learned how much of a mess the repair from the 1972 accident really was. Of course I already knew that the rear end had been pulled out rather than replaced...the holes from the puller were obvious once we pulled off all the trim. But Rob determined that the fender was so stretched out it should have been replaced. I have no idea if the shop pulled a fast one on the insurance company or was in collusion with them to cheat me of an effective repair, but I suspect both...it was Florida after all. Stuff there just seems to happen with greater frequency than other places. This certainly explained why the rear trunk always leaked. The fender was a full ¼ inch lower than it should be, and the shop simply made up the gap..at least so it was not so obvious...with filler.

Rob worked miracles on that fender. In retrospect, once I knew what a treasure house of 914 stuff Rich Bontempi had I'm sure I could have bought a used fender from him and Rob would have had less work and with better results. But it was only after Rob's work was done and the car was back in California that Llew introduced me to Rich.

The rear of the car was so compromised that Rob had to “split the difference” in heights between the sides of the car, so if you know what to look for you can figure out that the “shut lines” of the rear trunk lid differ from side to side. But had I not said that only really knowledgable body and paint people would notice it.

There were a couple of other unexpected “gotchas” for Rob. The weatherstrip between the rear window and deck had hardened to the point it disintegrated as soon as it was touched, so the window was removed, I secured new material for the stripping, and the window was reinstalled. Many 914s suffered this problem, resulting in leaks through the rear window if not fixed.

There was only one place on the car which had a non-trivial rust problem not due to one of the two collisions in its past. There was a bit of rust at the lower corner of the driver's side of the windshield, just under the stainless trim. This trim is very difficult to remove as it is glued into the weatherstripping around the windscreen. The glass itself is no longer available...unless Bontempi might have it in his stash. And while the trim can be bought...the total price for the multiple pieces needed is breathtaking. So we decided to just try and treat the rust without removing the trim, and Rob's work at this point two years later is invisible and clean.

The other issue, the only rust-through unrelated to an accident, was a small place under the front trunk weatherstripping. Rob took care of this and, to help further protect what was a weakness, I later undercoated the wheel wells including this area on the insides of the front fenders. I could only get black undercoating, so simply painted it with “rattle can” white enamel. Though not an exact match to the car color, the match is so close and the area so masked by the wheels and suspension bits that I can't tell the difference.

Best I recall, the car finally came back home, but only for a short time, in the Spring of 2014. I was afraid of pulling a trailer across the mountain with the possible issue of snow, so Rob trailered it down for gas money. It was only here for a short time before it went back down to Cupertino to start the reassembly. But the new paint sure looked good...better than I expected and hoped. While I had it I reinstalled the bumpers and some other detail bits and took a photo so I had something to drool over while it was away again.

Just putting the light pods and bumpers on made it look "finished"

With the demands of his “real jobs” Llew was as frustrated as I was at the slow progress in getting the car back together. In fact, it was still not quite “finished” in terms of his work by the end of the year. I even wrote a whimsical little song ditty in December called “All I want for Christmas is my 914,” sung to the tune of “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.”

There was little I could do to help during this period. I had cleaned up any parts we removed which were to be re-used, such as bumpers, bumper trim, turn signal “boxes,” door handles, and the like. When disassembling the car Llew had removed the “hockey puck” side marker lights, an ugly afterthought needed for the American market, but I wanted to retain the original Hella taillight assemblies even though one had a bit of “parking rash.” I also began accumulating other trim bits such as Euro-style front turn signal lenses, door surround and other weatherstripping, new door threshold plates, and new plastic foglight grills to replace my corroded metal ones. By now Llew had pointed me at Bontempi and I also started buying NOS rubber to replace the worn or torn stuff I knew could not be saved. This included original German material for the front trunk, but the weatherstripping for the rear, though original, was still in remarkably good shape and would be reused. I also cleaned up the rugs for both trunks. We had removed the fuel tank before it went to Rob's, and I painted that and had it ready to reinstall.

A couple of years earlier I had found an upholsterer near Jackson and given him a couple of small jobs that he did very well and at reasonable prices. Replacement seat cushions, door panels, dash material, and carpet kits I found could be bought commercially, but I asked Charles Christenson what he could do...he secured the right material for the door panels, and also sourced the OEM correct waffle weave material for the dash, seat cushion, and bolster. He did a great job on the door panels and the materials he used were the right ones for the early cars. A change had been made for later cars in both the “smooth” and “waffle weave” materials, and only the later stuff was being sold by the parts places. So I got the “right stuff” for a better price, and also retained more pieces original to the car. I also asked Charles about doing the rest of the interior, other than the bench seat, and his quoted price was so good that, even though I had not originally planned to go to this level on the car, I could not resist and told him to plan on the job when I got the car back.

When Llew started the car it was running really poorly. This was the first indication that those FI components left in the engine bay while the paint was stripped might be an issue.

It had also been hell to find new injectors for the four cylinders. The best he could find was two new and two used ones, even picking through Bontempi's hoard. It took Gary Hubback to figure out that the car was only running on two cylinders...and that the NOS FI trigger points obtained from Rich were defective. Unfortunately electronic stuff came without guarantee, so there went a couple of hundred dollars from my already badly blown budget.

I said earlier that the FI system was arcane...at least by later standards. Remember that in 1970 the integrated circuit had not been invented, so instead of chips determining the various factors needed to make the system work, it relied on a combination of discrete electronic parts like transistors and resistors, interacting with mechanical devices which were driven by things like the position of the throttle butterfly and the barometric air pressure. Brilliant, but tough to diagnose.

One of these devices was a second set of contact points, buried below the normal ignition points plate in the distributor. These triggered the fuel injectors, which fired in pairs. The duration of the firing pulse was then controlled by a control unit (ECU) based on those other inputs. Once the original and undamaged points were re-installed the car ran on all four cylinders, and Llew had completed his commitments to me. It came how for good in the Spring of 2105...two years from when we started the project.

Home for Good
But lots still to do

I spent the next bit of time hanging more trim and getting the lights working. I did not want to mess up the front trunk weatherstripping as that is glued in, so I asked Charles to do that work when I brought it to him for upholstery at a later date. But I did do things like replace the threshold plates and the clip on door surround weatherstripping.

Llew had sent the wheels out to be restored. They had cleaned up in spectacular fashion and with that I fell completely in love with them. I did have to replace the dented old center caps from yet another parts source Llew told me about, but could not find replacement mounting bolts. At some point I would like to have mine replated, as they are pretty worn and look shabby against the rest of the assembly.

Once they cleaned up I really liked them

My first tentative drive in the car was a revelation. I only went a few miles down Highway 88, and the feel quickly came back to me, but I had forgotten how light and responsive the steering was, or how throaty the exhaust of an air-cooled motor is, particularly through the deep baritone of the new Bursch muffler. I noticed intermittent vibration through the steering wheel at about 65mph but it was minor and, at that point, low down on my research list.

Of far more consequence was the stumbling, surging, and other indications of engine “unhappiness.” These continued to dog me for months as I learned more about the FI system and replaced one expensive component after another...the most costly being what is likely the last NOS throttle position sensor switch in the world...$400! Thanks, Rich.

Though the car runs well now, and the vibration has largely disappeared and was likely caused by either out-of-round tires or the poor centering ability of wheel bolt systems compared to studs, it still is running too rich and idles poorly in hot weather. I can live with these but would like to get this final fine tune corrected.

I'll end this long post here, and finish up my comments about the restoration in a short addendum to follow.