My Factory Porsche 914-6

Ferrari California Showing

2008-08-17T08:23:00.001-07:00

When I arrived there was this Ferrari p4/5 prototype. It's based off of a Enzo. I think there is only one and it cost an additional 3 million dollars on top of the 1 million for the Enzo. Pretty crazy man!

Here's a model of the new Ferrari California that they are going make for about four years.
Here's the private showing of the car at Quail Lodge, Carmel.
Here's the tent that held the event.

Palo Alto Concorso de Elegance

2008-07-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from the show!

2007 Monterey Concorso Italiano

2007-11-26T08:12:00.000-08:00

The crowds of people!

Well, I'm finally getting around to publishing some pictures of this years Concorso Italiano. It took me long enough!

For sale: Green 1970 914/6 on eBay: Sold for US $24,100.00

2007-03-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

Winning bid: US $24,100.00
Year: 1970
VIN Number: 9140432104
Interior: Black

There's a pretty nice 914/6 on eBay right now here.

Looks pretty original except for a couple of things I notice which are:

1) Incorrect rear valance.
2) Incorrect rear bumper.
3) Not original steering wheel.
4) In the front trunk it's missing the charcoal cannister.

A few other things like it looks too have been repainted, there is no tool kit, the dash has been recovered, missing the passenger window crank, the fog light grills have been painted black, and the front bumper cover looks a little rusty.

Looks like there is a factory front sway bar or something interesting there anyway.
Heat exchangers look nice.
Looks like the tranny was converted to side shifter.

The interesting thing about this photo is that there are no "vent" holes at the front of the trunk. This is usually the case and I can't see any holes. My car is exactly the same so I'm guessing that this is on some cars but not others.

Here are more photos by the owner.

So if you wanted to get a correct rear bumper and valance that could cost about $1000.00 or so for a nice set.

Other that that it looks like a nice car based on just the photos that have been published.

Hopefully, it goes for the "Buy it Now" or more!

2007 San Jose International Auto Show

2007-01-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

I have my car along with six other cars in the San Jose International Auto show where we are featuring the Porsche 914 Enthusiasts Group.

It's pretty exciting having the car there.

Here are all the cars lined up.

All the cars from the rear.

Here's my car.

My car again.

Here's Felix and Ken. Felix organized the whole thing (Thanks Felix!) and Ken made the super awesome boards displaying our car and telling a little story about them. Thanks Ken!

Felix's Neo914. He doing a very cool custom 914 with a big bi-turbo engine.

Tom's Subaru Turbo conversion car.

Ken's very nice 914-6.

This is the day before the show where all the cars were being set up. Should be fun.
Ends Monday.

Golden Gate Lotus Club Event

2007-01-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

Track day at Laguna Seca yesterday Jan 02/07 was standing around talking when I heard a SCREEEECH BANG! This was the result.

Pretty fun overall. That was the only accident. Apparently it was a dealer car that someone took for a test drive. The driver vannished after the accident and abandoned the car. A total write off BTW.

I dindn't drive my car but I was a passenger in a Caymen S and a 911 RS American, what a blast! I don't think I'll be as good a driver as Ken or Joe that's for sure.

I'm going again though!

FS: 914-6 Yellow asking $30,000.00

2006-12-31T12:08:00.000-08:00

VIN: 9140432038

Looks like a pretty clean car in general except for what looks like paint problems on the front hood and other places. I wonder if the engine/clutch/he are nice.

Non original steering wheel is no big deal. Some aluminum shields on the door is interesting. Looks like it has the original smog stuff still there, the hoses are on the carbs anyway.

I'd like to see more pics of the underneath of the car to see how well preserved it is.

I'd sure like to go and take a look at this car to see how original it really is.

Looks good so far.

eBay Auction

Car on their website

1972 Porsche 916 For Sale: $325,000!

2006-12-30T16:57:00.000-08:00

Factory Porsche 916 for sale for $325,000.

Whoa, that's a lot of cash. I wonder if someone would pay that kind of money for this car.

It was featured in the February 2007 issue of Excellence magazine and the article was pretty good.

Description from the ad:

We will consider interesting trades as part of a transaction.

SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY.

1972 Porsche 916.
Blue with full original Cork leather interior.
The happy few who managed to secure 1 of the 11 prototypes of the Porsche 916 can be assured of having one of the most exclusive cars in the world.
The first 5 built went to the Porsche family.
This car is 1 of 7 remaining.
To accommodate the running gear, the fenders were widened making it wider than the 914.
A newly designed fornt air dam combatted front end lift at hight speeds.
The engine was the most powerful available from Porsche at the time.
It has four ventilated 911 S disc brakes and Bilstein dampers were used throught and anti-roll bars were provided front and rear. This car was at its best in a succession of fast curves.
Very orignal car.
Serious Inquiry's only.
Thank you.
Clarifications and new information from past owners and others familiar with this car 1) Engine is still in its original configuration. 2 years ago it was complete disassembled, inspected and resealed and has not been modified.
2) Regarding the color, the second owner who also owned 916 #0019 and sold it for to buy 916 #0018.
He recounted that the 1st owner had the color changed to the present color very early on by Porsche as he did not like the dark blue colour.

916 ad

They also ran a ebay auction here that went up to $200,000.00.

That seems to be a fair price.

I should go have a look at the car they are in San Fran!

Cars Dawydiak
Vespa SF
1450 Franklin St
SF CA, 94109
415.928.2277

Dealer Sold: White 1970 914-6 $25,000

2006-12-30T15:14:00.000-08:00

Pretty clean car. Missing original rear bumper, rear valance. Has a rear spoiler integrated into it. It was converted to a side shifter. Otherwise judging by the pictures, it look ok.

White 1970 914-6

eBay: Green 1970 Porsche : 914 914-6 Sold for $21,600.00

2006-12-28T06:14:00.000-08:00

Bidding ended: Oct-29-06 11:15:00 PST VIN:
9140430592

Text Of Auction:

Here is a rare opportunity to own a Original 1970 Porsche 914-6. The car has been very well taken care of over the years.

Vin # 9140430592

Motor # 6404347

The Porsche has a Certificate of Authenticity for Porsche verifing this particular 914-6. The certificate verifys the Vin # and motor # , the transmission # was not recorded, color Irish Green 1510.

The Porsche 914-6 runs and drives very well, original FUCHS mounted on 195/60R/14s

The exterior of the car is very nice , there are a few minor chips. The car has been resprayed the original color. The front trunk area is very strong and no rust issues. The rear trunk area is also in very good condition. The headlights and exterior lights all work. The targa top is in very good condition. The gauges all work and the interior dash is very nice. The interior (originally black) of the car is tan and does show some wear on the bottom part of the seats. The pans (see pictures) are in good shape . The car shifts very well and the clutch is also performing properly.

The motor on the car runs very well and performs as it should. On 8-19-2004 when the miles were 97858 the compression readings were 165-170 according to the work order sheet. Also at that time the plugs were replaced, scoped engine,syncronized carbs and linkage. The targa top attaches at all four points and the latches work properly.

For the most part this 914-6 in this condition are few and far between. The Porsche 914-6s are slowly becoming one rare car to find .

The mileage on the car is right at 99989. The car is 36 years old so the miles will be exempt due to the age of the car. All manuals and paperwork will go with the Porsche.The new owner will be given all the proper paperwork, title, drive away permit etc. Nevada residents will be responsible for sales tax.

The car is sold AS-IS, no warrenties expressed or implied. Do your dudilegence and inspect the car or have a mechanic inspect the car for you. I can refer you to the top Porsche shop here in Las Vegas if need be.

I will be posting as many pictures as possible. If you would like a certain area please email me and I will send you what you need. Also I will be shooting a video of the car running and driving for those who are very far away or cannot inspect in person. This will allow you to hear the car running and driving.

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Looks like a great car. Just from the pics I can't see anything to do to it except enjoy it if you want it to remain stock. Just the original rear valance is missing and replace with a short one. This was a pretty common thing to do as it is thought the original valance contributes to heating up the engine.

Also, there is no tool kit. Those things are rare.

eBay: Red 914-6 : $15,500.00

2006-12-28T06:03:00.000-08:00

Bidding ended: Dec-11-06 12:00:00 PST

VIN 9140430407

This car went for $15,500

This is a 10 day auction to give potential buyers enough time to fly and inspect this 914-6.

Here is a rare opportunity to own a factory Original Porsche 914-6.

I bought the car in 1972 with 9,000 miles. Currently it has 149,000 with 40,000 of those miles on a completely rebuilt engine.

VIN # 9140430407

Motor # 64704245

The color is Cornado Red (Burgandy).

The Porsche 914-6 runs and drives very well.

Original Porsche alloy rims mounted on brand new 195/65 R15 91H tires.

The exterior of the car is very nice, there are a few minor chips. The car has been resprayed from the original color of Signal Orange. The front trunk had two minor superficial surface rust areas that were arrested. The rear trunk also had two minor superficial rust areas that were arrested. The headlights and exterior lights all work. The targa top is in very good condition. The guages all work and the interior dash is very nice with no cracks. A stiffining kit was welded to the body frame under the battery box. The pans (see pictures) are in good shape. The car shifts very well and the clutch is also performing properly. The motor on the car runs very well and performs as it should. The car comes with original floor mats, original front and rear trunk mats, and complete original tool kit. Seat cushions were recently upholstered in original Herring Bone style.

The car has a Sansui Quartz Radio/Cassette.

The rear trunk lid was converted to a rod stand operation.

The engine was completely rebuilt 40,000 miles ago. The rebuild included:

1) An updated Carrara Oiling Chain Tentioner System 2) Brand new intake and exhaust valves 3) Brand new piston and cylinder units

Known Problem areas:

* The windshield wiper and washer are not working
* Rubber side window seals are worn and no longer sealing properly
* Driver side door storage pocket lid is in poor condition
* Center console VDO gauges (lbs/sq/in, vacuum, amps) are disconnected.
* A few pinpoint rust bubbles on front hood
* Two small upholstery splits in driver seat, back, and side cushions

It has the correct rear bumper and valance. No pictures under the car though.

Whoever got this car seems to have got a pretty solid car for their money.

Another $5000.00 into it and it would be a nice example providing mechanicals are good.

eBay: Brown 1970 914-6: Sold for $15,601.01

2006-12-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

Auction ended: Dec-27-06 09:42:42 PST
VIN: 9140430041

Auction text:

1970 PORSCHE 914/6 SN 9140430041 California car.

This is a great project car for the right person. I bought it in 1980, and stopped driving it when it couldn't pass smog. It last ran in 1990 and has been stored under cover in my garage since 1990. Before I owned it, it was a project car of a guy that worked at a local Porsche speed shop. This has always been a California car. It has never seen salt and has no rust. The battery perch is sound. Smog testing is no longer required for this car in California. The total mileage shown above is an estimate.

The car is very fast and out handled any other car I have owned and makes the greatest Porsche noises. I could deliver if you are within 500 mi or so.

Engine
2.5 L 20k Miles Aluminum case 2.2. Rods EMPI, 88 mm pistons and cylinders, Ported heads and manifolds
40 IDS Weber Carbs, CD ignition, 911S Distributor 67 911S Cams
Front 914/6-GT oil cooler with GT ducting, Aeroquip Stainless Steel Lines and oil thermostat, Sport Muffler

Transmission
Rebuilt 2000 Miles ago by Performance Haus, 911S copper faced clutch, Hand polished close ratio 906 gears
Late model "side shift" linkage

Suspension

Adjustable 19mm front sway bar with Teflon bushings
Bilstein Carrera RS front struts, adjustable perches, Bilstein rear shocks
Modified front 911S calibers with cross-drilled "S" rotors
Five 15x7" BBS modular rims Magnesium centers Titanium lug nuts, 12mm torsion bars.

Body

Body seams bead welded Fuel filler moved to cowl. Aircraft style cover
Side markers removed European front turn assemblies,French tail light lenses Factory Convex RH mirror
Quartz Iodide headlights European 911S gages including oil level
LeCarrera steering wheel Blaupunkt CR-3001 with 120W amp Phillips speakers
Scheel 914 seat.

On Dec-17-06 at 19:16:45 PST, seller added the following information:

1970 PORSCHE 914/6 SN 9140430041 California car. This is an original 914/6 The 41st one off the production line in 1970.

This is a great project car for the right person. I bought it in 1980, and stopped driving it when it couldn't pass smog. It last ran in 1990 and has been stored under cover in my garage since 1990. I spun it over in 2000 but have not tried since. Before I owned it, it was a project car of a guy that worked at a local Porsche speed shop. This has always been a California car. It has never seen salt and has no rust. The battery perch is sound. Smog testing is no longer required for this car in California. The total mileage shown above is an estimate.

The car is very fast and out handled any other car I have owned and makes the greatest Porsche noises. I could deliver if you are within 500 mi or so.

Engine
2.5 L 20k Miles Aluminum case 2.2. Rods EMPI, 88 mm pistons and cylinders, Ported heads and manifolds
40 IDS Weber Carbs, CD ignition, 911S Distributor 67 911S Cams
Front 914/6-GT oil cooler with GT ducting, Aeroquip Stainless Steel Lines and oil thermostat, Sport Muffler

Transmission
Rebuilt 2000 Miles ago by Performance Haus, 911S copper faced clutch, Hand polished close ratio 906 gears
Late model "side shift" linkage

Suspension

Adjustable 19mm front sway bar with Teflon bushings
Bilstein Carrera RS front struts, adjustable perches, Bilstein rear shocks
Modified front 911S calibers with cross-drilled "S" rotors
Five 15x7" BBS modular rims Magnesium centers Titanium lug nuts, 12mm torsion bars.

Body

Body seams bead welded Fuel filler moved to cowl. Aircraft style cover
Side markers removed European front turn assemblies,French tail light lenses Factory Convex RH mirror
Quartz Iodide headlights European 911S gages including oil level
LeCarrera steering wheel Blaupunkt CR-3001 with 120W amp Phillips speakers
Scheel 914 seat.

On Dec-20-06 at 17:42:15 PST, seller added the following information:

Note 12/20/06 5:30 pm PST. After numerous requests, I addes some more pics at http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p166/truckpentek/? I can't get any pics inside the front trunk right now because I broke the @#$$%% front trunk release. I think the cable may have broken. Working on a fix.

Let me know if more pics would help.

On Dec-22-06 at 01:26:27 PST, seller added the following information:

12/22/06

I have had many questions about the fuel filler area. Petr Dawe of Dawe's Motorsports helped build this car at Dick Troutmans's in the late 70s. I asked Petr how this was done, below is his answer.
Hi Lloyd From what i can remember the hinge and the flush mount latch was aircraft surplus. I believe all those parts are offered thru Aircraft Spruce Co. Peter welded a shaped piece of steel under the body cowl for the gas door to sit on . He also welded a fill pipe on to the gas tank. (Only for pros to weld) Then because of the pipe bends he had to put a vent from the original fill to the neck so the tank could be filled up to the top. All this was 20 years ago but I think thats about it. But you have to be as talented as Peter to do it right. Thats the TRICK. Thanks and happy holidays Petr Dawe

Thans, Petr for the great info.

On Dec-24-06 at 05:30:15 PST, seller added the following information:

I got several questions about the Battery Perch. The perch has some surface rust on the horizontal part of the perch. It is structurally sound. I took the battery out, took some pictures and uploaded 5 pictures of the perch to the Photobucket location (link above). One of the pics shows underneath the perch. Several people have inspected the car and concurred.

Several people asked me what needs to be done to restart.

1. Carefully break the engine free by hand, after lubing the cylinders with something like WD40 and letting the oil pentrate for a few days.

2. Change oil in engine and transaxle. Before I put it away the last time, I changed the oil and ran it to circulate the oil. There should be no problem with acid attack on the bearings.

3. Rebuild carbs, The housings will need to be boiled professionally and carefully inspected to make certain all of the varnish is out of the air emulsion passages.

4. Complete brake job. Replace all 4 calipers and Master Cylinder (for safety)

5. Carpets. The carpets should be replaced.

6. Clean the engine. A good steam cleaning will work wonders.

7. Paint Job. The current paint is 30 years old and beginnig to craze under the clearcoat.

I had questions about dents. All door dings were taken out during the last paint job. I showed a pic of the largest dent where my motorcycle brake lever hit it once. There are two small door dings on the drivers side and no dings on the passenger side. No dents in any other locations.

Conventional wisdom for starting a project car is get the best one you can buy. Fixing things costs much more than buying something already in good shape. I believe this car is one of the best starting points you will find. This will be a great 914/6 for someone willing to put in the effort. Just think, NO Rust Repairs.

Let me know if there are any further questions. Thanks,

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I'm looking at eBay 914-6's and am amazed at what people will spend for a car that is not very original at all.
Here is one: 1970 914-6 Brown
Here are more photos

It's a repray
Non original wheels.
Doesn't have the correct rear bumper
Doesn't have the correct front valance
Damage instrument dash.
Rusty body panels.
Non aluminium door sills.
Looks like all the rubber cv boots need replacing.
Underneath the car looks rough but the heat exchangers appear nice.
Original six rear valance missing.
No fog lights.(I think that was an option)
Non chromed front bumper.

Just by the pictures alone I would think all the rubber seals need to be replaced, there rear bumper needs to be rechromed or an real 914-6 bumper needs to be purchased, the transmission needs to be looked at and resealead, new heater hoses and heater control valves, new chromed front bumper and whatever else is needed to fix up the external oil cooler hacking, new tires and wheels, new front and rear suspension, new brakes, rebuilt rear calipers, new paint to original color, new door panels to get rid of the speaker holes, and more. Don't know how good condition the clutch is or if the motor needs help either. Also, the carbs need rebuilding for sure.

So whoever gets this car will have to put an extra $20,000 into it on top of the $15,000k.

914-6 of the future won't be cheap because of the refurbishing/restoration work that has gone into them.

This car seems to be missing a lot of stuff and the original engine too if you care about that.

993 RS at the Ring

2006-12-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

Going to install stainless steel break lines

2006-11-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

I've got my new stainless steel break lines that I am ready to install. Hopefully, I can get them installed this coming weekend otherwise I'll finish up the following weekend.

I also got some speed bleeder valves that I'm going to give a go.

I'm going to use Super Blue Racing brake fluid too.

Should be a fun project and add some firmness to my pedal.

Roller Bearings are good!

2006-10-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

I'm still in awe regarding Mike Meuller's roller bearings.

I have 200lb springs in the rear and adjustable Koni Yellow's all arround with 21mm hollow torsion bars in the front.

If I set the Koni's to all hard or medium, I would feel every bump be transmitted through the chasis and consequently my car would squeak and bounce around. Not a comfortable ride over a long period of time.

Once I had the roller bearings the car's characteristics completely changed. It's actualy comfortable to drive! A 1500 mile trip to Oregon proved it to me without a doubt.

Anyway, I just wanted to post some pics too and reiterate my happiness.

Rear Bearings:

Rear:

Fronts:

Fronts:

You can see the awesome quality and workmanship. These are totally worth the price of entry if you have a stiffer than stock suspension. Plus, you need them all around. I don't think having only fronts or rears is quite as effective.

Regarding the stock suspension, I went for a ride in a friends factory six with a stock suspension and it was fine in terms of comfort. I didn't drive it though so I can't comment on the handling...

Video of crap paint job by Brandon at Altissimo and Mark DiBernardi

2006-10-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is a video of the crap paint job done by Brandon at Altissimo Paint in Napa and damage done by Mark DiBernardi at Original Customs located in Napa, CA.

Do not go there. They will "lose" parts and damage your car and provide a million excuses why it's not their fault but your fault or someone elses fault.

You have been warned...

Replaced passenger lower valve cover gasket and transaxle seal

2006-09-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

I had pretty badly leaking right side lower valve cover gasket. Probably due to not replacing the old nylock bolts and washers. I didn't know how old they were and but I used them again after the last replacement. The left side, however, I replaced with all new hardware and haven't had a problem.

I look off my exhaust and heat exchangers because I wanted to give them a good cleaning and wanted to look around and see what was was up.

Got my new valve covers all set up and on nicely.

I also noticed when I got my car back from "The worst place to get work done" and noticed my rear axle seal was leaking tranny fluid.

It's the green seal that needs to be replaced.

I don't have any pictures of replacing the seal but it's pretty straight forward.

You will want to drain the tranny fluid to do this fix.

Undo the cv bolts, undo the expansion bolt, remove the flange shaft. Remove the seal and put in a new one. To put in a new seal make sure you have something of the same outer diameter to tap on to ensure the that seal goes in straight. I used a modified piece of PVC. Put everything back together. Fill with tranny fluid.

That's about it.

Haven't gone on any notable drives lately but maybe next week to Big Sur.

Road Trip To WCC 2006: Day Four/Five

2006-07-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning we got up early and left the Monarch Inn at about 5:30am. We wanted to get an early start and beat the heat.

The drive was pleasant and fun.

Our destination was the Benbow Inn in Garberville, CA. by the Eel river.

We stopped in Trinidad, CA at the "Catch of the Day" to enjoy some fish and chips. Trinidad is a very laid back place with very friendly people. Patricia and I liked it a lot.

We arrived at the Benbow Inn in Garbervill at about 4:00pm, checked in and promptly enjoyed a beer and glass of wine with our scrabble game. The Benbow Inn is very nice and situated right by Eel river where you can cool off in and have a nice swim. The Inn is old English style with scones served at tea and snacks.

Our room came with a great balcony which we enjoyed with a complimentary glass of Sherry that the Inn supplies to it's guest in the room. We had a great view of the river and the surrounding Benbow Inn's grounds.

The next day we left at about 8:30 saying good-bye to the Benbow Inn but we'll be back. It was an awesome place to stay.

The last day we drove home and got caught in a little traffic snarl in Santa Rosa, otherwise it was pretty smooth sailing.

The car held out pretty well, no problems at all. I'm pretty happy with the 914-6, it's a trooper.

Currently repairing all the damage done by Mark DiBernardi at Original Customs in Napa

2006-07-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Do not take your car to Mark DiBernardi at Original Customs in Napa!

I've been fixing up my car. Repairing the damage done by Mark DiBernardi at Original Customs in Napa.

When I got my car back I found that I had developed a mysterious transmission oil leak. The passenger side seal at the diff is leaking.

Also, there are jack scares on my transmision end plate and case from them jacking up my car metal to metal.

I have to replace my windshield seal because he let my car sit in the sun while in Mark DiBernardi's possesion thus causing it to get soft and tear. I asked him to cover my car up when not being worked on and supplied TWO covers. He told me it was too much of a pain in the ass to to that so that's why my car windshield seal was ruined.

Mark DiBernardi has also simply STOLEN my rear valance that I had on the car when it was delivered to him.

Other items were not returned either.

I'm repainting my rear valance properly and also painting the back of the rear valance to cover the bare metal that over time would be susceptible to rust.

I have to reinstall my rear bumper as it was installed incorrectly.

I had to adjust and install missing parts on my pedal cluster.

This is just a short list of things that were wrong.

Had to replace all hardware holding my new valence to the car.

I would not recommend to anyone to take their 914 to Mark DiBernardi at Original Customs (www.paintandmetal.com) in Napa if they care about their car or want quality work done without massive amounts of baby sitting to ensure the work gets done right.

Mark DiBernardi at Original Customs (www.paintandmetal.com) in Napa is an amatuer at best.

When a customer points out problems all you get is a long laundry list of excuses or short cut crap solutions.

Original Customs web site claims:

"Original Customs is dedicated to creating the highest quality restorations and customizations on the market. We offer a full range of services including ..."

This is utter bullshit. Don't let Mark DiBernardi fool you! He'll take your money andy you'll be out of luck.
JUST DON'T GO TO MARK DIBERNARDI AT ORIGINAL CUSTOMS IN NAPA. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

I'll provide photos later on.

Road Trip To WCC 2006: Day Three

2006-07-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning there was a 180 mile drive planned that will take us to the top of Mt. Hood and along the Columbia River.

We all gathered around to get maps and driving instructions. There was also a packed lunch for us too. Not bad, mine consisted of a turkey sandwich, cookie, chips and an apple. Perfect.

Here we are pulled over to get organized after a traffic light split up the group a bit.

Here's a picture of our eventual destination.

At Mt. Hood. Hanging around talking about cars. We checked out the Mt. Hood Ski Lodge. That's where the filmed exterior shots for the movie The Shining. It was really nice. The people there were great too. Lots of skiers and snow boarders.
I really felt like jumping on a board and going down the hill.

More pics of the gathering. A bunch of cars took a wrong turn and got lost so we had to wait a bit for them to show up.

After a couple of hours exploring the mountain we left and went driving along the Columbia river. There we stopped to have lunch. Nice.

After the drive we went back to the Monarch hotel where there was a dinner planned. Lots of items were raffled off, I didn't win anything.

I got to meet more people from the club. That was great. There are quite a few great people that were at the dinner.

After dinner we went out to the parking lot and talked about the cars. I let Lee drive my car around because he was setting up a car that will basically be like mine. I had a few more trick items on it than he was planning so he tried out the car to see if he wanted to get them. Lee was going to flare his car while mine will remain a narrow body.

Lee is a great guy.

We stayed in the parking lot till about 11:00 because we had to up early and start the drive back home.

Oh well, that seemed short but sweet.

Road Trip To WCC 2006: Day Two

2006-07-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

We left bright and early, about 8:30am, after eating breakfast at the Requa Inn. The breakfast was superb. I had the pancakes and Patricia had the yogurt and fruit. We have another 350 miles to go to get to the WCC!

We arrived Friday at about 3:00pm to a bunch of car. Eventually, there were about 30+ cars that night. I got to meet a bunch of people from the 914club (which I have been banned from).

The first day was basically meet and greet. We all stood around in the parking lot talking about cars. Some people brought their RVs and towed a 914 along. There was a couple of beer kegs where people drank freely from. Some parking lot repairs were happening too.

We went for dinner across the street to the Old Spaghetti Factory and finished the evening off with more standing around the parking lot talking about cars and such.

Here are some pics of the turn out:

Road Trip To WCC 2006: Day One

2006-07-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the WCC 2006 held in Clackamas, OR right by Portland.

Patrica and I left July 6 and got back today July 10.

We spent two days getting to the WCC the first day we stopped in Klamath at the Requa Inn, a very charming bed and breakfast located at the mouth of the Klamath River. The first leg took us about 400 miles total. We left at 5:30 am to miss the rush hour traffic and travel in cooler weather.

Here we are on our way.

Patricia drove part of the way too. That was the first time she drove the 914/6 and she did a great job with it. Getting the hang of the idiosyncracies of driving the six very quickly. In no time she was driving like a pro.

On the way, just ouside of Klamath we saw a bunch of elk relaxing by Highway 101. We stopped to take some pictures of them and to check them out. They were huge. Larger than a horse.

We arrived at the Requa Inn in Klamath and found it to be very charming. The owners Barb and Dave were extraordinarily hospitable and the dinner was superb.
At dinner time all the guests were seated family style on one big table. We were forced to talk to each other. At first it was very quiet until I introduced myself and then everyone took their turn introducing themselves.
Patricia and I met some great people. A couple that worked at the Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico. They did work with various incarnations of electron microscopes examining materials for failure etc. There were about four couples in all. It was a great time.

They served the most delicious chocolate chip cookies at 4:00pm tea. Super yum!

Here is the dining room of the Requa Inn. The left most table was were we all sat for dinner.

Here is the view from our room of the Klamath river. It was superb.

Patricia relaxing in the bed. That bed was so comfortable. Especially after driving almost 400 miles!

Here is the exterior of the Requa Inn.

Here is Patrica the the car. The car performed flawlessly and thank goodness I got the Mueller roller bearings because it made the ride that much more comfortable.

Well, day one came to a comfortable close and we sure didn't want to wake up and leave the Inn. We'll be back Barb!

Video of crap paint by Altissimo pain in Napa

2006-07-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is a video hosted by YouTube to help show the extent of the crappy paint done by Brandon at Atlissimo paint in Napa.

Video of crappy paint job by Brandon at Altissimo paint.

Video might not be ready yet because it's just been uploaded.

Brandon should be ashamed of his work and what his company represents.

Oher people speak out about their crappy paint job by Brandon at Altissimo.

2006-06-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

I am a member at the 914club.com and now see it is run by facists. Everytime I tried to get advice about how to save my paint job my thread that I started was closed but not before a certain dunce responsed with stupid remarks.

Luckily the thread helped me get another person that was ripped off and related their story to me.

Their explaination as to what happened to them:

"Let me guess. Brandon did your painting?

He did my car too and I was expecting more professionalism.

I have many flaws and over sprays too. He charged me exta to pain the valences and rockers and do a rub-out (which left all my rubber pink stained.)

Mark needs to distance himself from this guy.

When I picked up my car from Mark (never actually met Brandon in person), he was making excuses for the guy's half-assed work. If I wanted Earl Scheib quality, I would have gone to Earl Scheib and paid less!

Someone paid him 20K to do a ground-up Jag and now he thinks his :stromberg: don't stink."

More people experience the same, like some kind of scam to lure people in...

"Trust me we aren't alone.... several other club members have had unfavorable experiences.

Maybe we're all had unrealistic expectations :confused:

Mark drummed up business for Brandon.

Brandon didn't even meet me at the delivery, nor was he there for the pick up.

Brandon did a half-assed job (aka the amount of effort he felt the [i]nominal[/i] amount of money was worth) and left Mark to defend his work.

I couldn't believe Mark even started to explain the imperfection I was inspecting when I picked up the car ?! [i]Oh that's a fish-eye, it happens when... [/i] Then my dad (who was helping with the pick-up) said to let it go. (To him, it is a great cheap paint job).

But still.... I didn't expect fish-eyes and bubbles and pink rub-out residue on my rubber and in all the cracks.

And I figured when I asked for fresh top coat it included the rockers and valences. Not to mention some professional pride in the effort...

For $1,000 more I could have gotten someone closer to do the work that cared more about the finish. Live and learn, Brother! You get what you pay for most of the time...."

And finally, I must say I'll do the same.

"I should have been more thorough about getting references too. But only remembered people posting positive things about his work. WTF.gif

You do what you gotta do. As for me, I just won't give him any more business...or refer anyone who asks me about his work.

Frankly, I don't think he cares about us 914 types, but he forgets we have other cars and friends..."

At least there is someone nice at the 914club.com offering constructive help:

Hi Olav:
Good seeing you both at the PA Concours!
Sorry to see your basic request for an opinion on the BBS has turned into a mud slinging contest statrted by Sir Andy. FWIW, I don't know why he's involved for sure!

I got my car panted in Las Vegas in part because in NV they can use stonger sovents/paint as opposed to CA's more rigorous air standards, thus a longer lasting paint job. I have not seen the paint job close up but Renegade says the guy they recommended did a great job and equal to any Porsche dealer. I will hopefully be checking the job out soon and I will verify that claim. If it's as good as they say I'll give you the contact info for the paint shop if you're interested.

The total job for me was $4,700 including stripping/prepping/painting the sail panels, doing moderate flares in the rear, filling the luggage rack and tail logo holes, repairing/smoothing miscellaneous dings/scratches, sanding and gloss painting the targa top and re-painting the front/rear valences; I would think your job would cost less than mine.
later,
A great member

Pics of Crap Paint on Valance by Altissimo in Napa

2006-06-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some detailed photos of the absolutely crappy, shitty, aweful paint job that Brandon at Altissimo in Napa did on behalf of Mark DiBernardi at OriginalCustoms.

Note the valance wasn't even completely painted black to begin with as you can see on the top edge of the valance the primer is showing through. This can be seen all along the top. When I showed this flaw to Mark DiBernardi at OriginalCustoms he suggested I take a can of black spray paint and spray it. Of course this suggestion is outrageous when it should have been painted correctly in the first place. If I wanted to paint it black with a spray can I could have spray painted it myself.

Note the bubbles forming on the paint. Those run all along the top and through the paint. That is crap!

More bubbles different angle, see the shit job:

Here are the bubbles forming on the rocker panel. I can't believe how I got ripped off.

It's like this tag team of body/paint business lure people in only to give them shitty results.

Review: Rear Valance Fab and Paint: Good, Bad and the Ugly.

2006-06-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

I've had a chance to look at my rear valance and note the good the bad and the ugly.

First the Good

I brought Mark at Custom Paint and Metal a pretty beat up rear valance. You can see from my previous posts how bad it was.
I had come up with a design I wanted him to fabricate which included inserting mesh in the lower portion of the valance. I brought the mesh to use which was from an engine lid. Also, I needed the exhaust port hole moved to match my current muffler.

The mesh and exhaust hole work was expertly done. I just had to prod him to finish off the back of the valance where he filled the old exhaust port hole with metal. I wanted him to grind down the welds so it looked better and had a factory finish. Also, where the new exhaust port was added he had to clean that area up too. Luckily I looked at it otherwise it would have been left in a unsatisfactory condition.

The Bad

Unfortunately, I could not supervise the job first hand to constantly give feedback and suggestions as to how to do the job right. I tried by staying in phone contact as much as possible but his working hours were a little odd and Mark had a tendancy to only answer the phone when he felt like it and return calls at his lesure if at all.
That would be ok, if he was managing everying well.
As a result the valance ended up a little crooked on the car. When I pointed this out upon seeing the car for the first time he said I could just take off the valance and bend it. Well, I thought that was his job. Now, I'll do that a little later.

The UGLY

The worst part about the job is the paint.

When I arrived I saw, right away, that he rear valance was not totally painted. The red primer was still showing through on the top edge and looked awful. Marks solution was to spray it with a rattle can! This was not acceptable to me considering what I was paying. Unfortunately, I could not explain this because he didn't understand the difference between a satified customer and a mediocre job. He would rather I show a medocre job to people and have an unsatified customer.

Now, after having the car five days the paint on the rear valance and rockers is bubbling off! That means Brandon the painter and owner of Altissimo didn't prepare the valance correctly or used incompatible paints or products. This is pure incompetence. I previously expressed my concern about the quality of the paint both Mark and Brandon told me I got what I paid for and consider myself lucky. So, approaching them about this problem will once again fall on deaf ears.

So, I have to get my valances and rockers repainted by professionals that stand by their work.

I would not reccommend Brandon at Altissimo paint restoration in Napa to do ANY work. They are unprofessional and blame the customer for all paint problems.

More about the paint job on my rear fenders later.

The valance itself almost fit. Mark told me to bend it myself. Unacceptable considering they bill themselves as restoration experts.

Conclusion

The metal workmaship looked good but I had to prod Mark to do a better job than he would have done if I had not seen the work in progress.

The paint is atrocious. I invited many of my friends to look at the valence and rocker paint, as well as the other panels and they all said a monkey could do a better job.

Rating
Fabrication: B+

Paint: F
I basically threw my money away.

Review: Original Customs and Altissimo work.

2006-06-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

I just had a bunch of work done by Mark Di Bernardi at Original Customs and his partner at Altissimo, Brandon in Napa. I took delivery yesterday of the finished product. I've looked over the car and work and will do a review of each item done.

Why I Chose Original Customs
I picked Mark DiBernadi at Original Customs because over a period of time from going to various 914club events and based on the input he has given over the years on the club web site he seemed to "get" 914s and sincerely wanted to do quality restoration work on old cars.

Also, I talked with him extensively and I got the impression that he was intelligent, insightful and respectful of older cars and their peculiar ways to handle them. ie. carefully because of there age and mindful that not all parts are available.

In addition his advertisment on "The Samba" states that they will cover all ground with your special project.

"High Quality Partial & Full Restorations - competitive prices
Got a rusty classic that's begging for a new life? Original Customs is ready to help breathe new life into your special project. Original Customs can handle all your metalworking, engine building, mechanical and interior needs. And our partnership with altissimo offers the highest quality paint and bodywork. That means we are prepared to cover every aspect of your project. Please visit the web site for many, many more pictures and give us a call to set up an appointment for a quote."

He is out in Napa which is about 100 miles North of where I am but I thought that would be ok if we stayed in communication and he has a web site where he posts all pictures of progress on the car.

He's been in business for 1.5 years I believe and I thought I'd give him a shot at the job. Some faith was involved too.

Since I was using Mark for rust/restoration I also inherited his partner Brandon at Atissimo since that is how Mark advertises his business. I have never met Brandon so I had to trust Mark that Brandon also "gets" 914s and will hopefully do a great job. I was a little apprehensive(read red flag) but relied on Mark's relationship with his partner and their ability to communicate the customers needs.

Review Criterion
I will be reviewing their work by:

Company Integrity

Customer Satisfaction

Customer communication

Quality of workmanship

Quality of final product

Project managing

Customer service

Delivery schedule

General professionalism

Handling and treatment of car while in possesion.

followed by overall impressions and a rating out of 10 for each item and follow up by a general review including overall custer satisfaction.

List of work to be done to the car (Original list)
The work I had done over the past approximately two months is this:

1 - Fix rust on drivers side under sail panel.
2 - Fix rust on passengers side under sail panel.

Typically, the 914 with rust from the inside out at this point because at the Porsche factory they put foam in the area. Over time the foam separates from the body and water from rain etc. gets shot up via the wheel well into the foam where it sits. So over time the water will start to eat away at the unproteted metal in the corner and the foam wil retain the water like a sponge.

3 - Apply new sail panel vinyl to the passenger, drivers side and targa top.

Due to the area being rust repaired and the fact that my car that the original vinyl on the car I decided to just get Original Customs to go ahead and replace the vinyl.

4 - Fix front drivers side wheel arch metal.

I had my car lowered a little too much and when I was doing a full lock turn the tire on the drivers side caught my fender and pulled the metal down causing the fender to get mauled a bit.

5 -Fix front hood where paint had been chipped off i.e. front passenger/headlight thing and drivers side by windshield.

6 - Fix passenger side rear by bumper where there is a crinkle and paint came off.

7 - Modify/fix factory rear valence to accept current 911 muffler and add ventilation slots to allow for air flow as per my design.

8 - Send pedal cluster for rebuilding to Eric Shea

9 - Fix split driver side jack point

10 - Before installation of Mueller roller bearings have the front A arms/rear trailing arm media blasted and powder coated.

11 - Respray left and right rocker panels and repair passenger rocker panel.

12 - Respray front valance and fix up where damaged from driving.

13 - Re-upholster passenger seat.

Incidentals:

1 - After roller bearing install and suspension install have car aligned.

Note:

I supplied rear valance for modification and mesh insert material. Also, old valance was still on car when delivered.

I supplied glue remover to remove old glue left from old vinyl.

Format of review.

I will do a new post for each item that was to be done with all the criteria listed and a rating followed by adding up the totals for a grand total final review of the work done and a summary post.

Let the fun begin!

At the Palo Alto Concours

2006-06-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Patricia and I went to the Palo Alto Concours today and had a great time. We were practicall the first to show up in the corral at 7:30 a.m. Right after I arrived a Steve in his '69 Charger R/T came along and parked beside me then Carl and Nancy in their sweet 356 S. After that? I can't recall, all I know is that Carl and I had the only Porsches there and I knew my neighbors. Actually, another couple arrived in their super clean BMW 3.0CS that Patricia and I met the previous year at the Concourso Italiano in Monterey.

Well hung around talking and watching the other cars arrive to get into the Concours, front row seats.

Thoughout the day people came by checking out the show and stopping in to see the ONLY 914 there, mine. I'm glad I got to represent.

People who stopped by:
Tom, who is currently putting a suby engine in his 914.
Steve with the awesome green 914/6
Ernie King was there he built a 914 with a 3.8 liter motor that is a Monster.
Mike was there, he just got a white 914-6 and is building it out to be cool.
Pat and his wife dropped by to chat. He's looking for a new car.
Nick who has a 914 and has had a lot of 914's and 914-6's too.

Everyone liked what I did with the custom valance and I raved about Mike Mueller's roller bearings so hopefully I'll create some buzz. They are the best. Everyone wanted to hear the story about how I found the car, how long I had it, what I did to it. It was good times all around trading 914 stories. Like the fate of Ernie's 3.8 914/6 and Nick's varous adventures.

Then the story came to my new paint. That was a different story. Everyone saw the color mismatch and the paint defects and commented on the rocker panels being painted wrong, glossy not matte. I didn't have to say a thing they hammered on it. I told them the back story to gasps of horror. I told them who the painter was and the work spoke for itself. They offered there condolences and recommended other painters that could do an excellent job repainting the car to get rid of the many issues with the current paint like dust contamination, fisheyes, color mismatch, air entrapment, runs, solvent popping, transparency they came up with a grocery list of things they thought were wrong. There were quite a lot of experts on paint there, I was surprised. I mean it was categorical and unanimous in their agreement that the paint job was crap. Can't argue with that.

So, I'll have to get the car repainted this year by a reputable place with no drama and that understands what needs to be done: End of story.

Moving along...

At about noon, another car arrived and parked in the corral: A Ferrrari Enzo. Wow, those car are real nice to look at and hear. It's also real cool to see them driving like normal cars on the street. I like the way I have a shot of an Enzo and my car together! I should have rolled the car up beside it.

Here is Patricia relaxing trying to grab some shade. Next time we'll have to bring an umbrella for the sun.

Here's a frontal picture not many people around, not to exciting but I'm showing it anyway.

All in all, I also got to meet a bunch of cool new car nuts, swap stories, share a glass of wine with our neighbours, and just hang out with my sweetie and my car with other like minded people. It was a fun event this year.

First impressions of Mike Mueller's roller bearings.

2006-06-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

The short answer: "They're awesome"

We'll I just got back from a 100 mile drive with Mike Mueller's roller bearings freshly installed and I can't say enough good things about them. My suspension set up before was this: I have fresh Koni yellows all around with coil-overs and 21mm torsion bars and Smart Racing adjustable front sway. Those are nice pieces to have. I also had the factory rubber bushings that were not worn all around.

Before, driving around wasn't bearable for long distances because all bumps in the road, expansion joints, uneven pavement etc would rattle the car and vibrate it and transmit much of that through to my seat and over time this became really uncomfortable. Also, in corners or changing lanes on bumpy surfaces my car felt like the kind of hopped around. And all the bumps and road imperfections would create a lot of noise in the car. My targa top would never stop squeaking either. So, in short it was rather exhausting to drive the car any length of time because of all the noise and vibration etc.

Now, with the roller bearings it's unbelievable. It's quiet for one thing, my targa top doesn't squeak anymore. I don't feel bumps. Railway tracks, expansion joints, various road imperfections, uneven pavement nothing seems to be a problem. They're quite simply gone. The car is solid as a rock where before it was chaos. I can drive forever just listening to the engine. I would drive over stuff that I KNOW would be unbearable with rubber bushings but now, serenity.

This is such a fantastic upgrade to the suspension and It's so hard to imagine unless you actually experience it. It's like night and day. The price of entry is nothing compared to the comfort and confidence inspiring changes in suspension that allows you to attack corners without fear of being bounced or rattled off course. It's empowering.

My hat is off to Mike Mueller and his super fantastic product. They are worth every penny and more.

Stainless steel fuel lines. Nice!

2006-06-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

I was reading the June 2006 issues of Excellence magazine and came across an article by Jim Pasha called "Fuel Lines" on page 161 which noted that the 914s scariest fuel lines are the plastic ones that run through the center tunnel that also houses the shift linkage and other stuff. These can eventually crack because of age and cause a fire that is very difficult to put out.

This was the last straw that finally motivated me to get stainless steel fuel lines made by Chris Foley. His fuel lines are a piece of art and will last a lot longer than the car so I can put the cracked fuel line worry to rest once I install them. Hopefully before my trip up to WCC06.

Check them out:

Powder coated front hood springs and more...

2006-06-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

At the last swap meet I managed to get some front hood springs that were powder coated. I was going to paint mine since they were looking ratty but picked up these instead. They look a lot better.

Also, got some parts that sit on the center tunnel. They are access panels. Nicely powder coated too. They were thrown in the deal so I couldn't say no.

Got the final seals for my car.

2006-06-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

Finally got the last of the seals that need replacing, that I am aware of, to complete the car with new seals.

The old seals were usually cracked, shrunk, hardended, and deformed over the last 36 years rendering them no longer as effective as they could be. Plus, they were getting rather ugly.

I got the left and right vent window seats. Also, when I have my targa top on it squeaks a little. It's gotten better when I replace the windshield seal and window seals and now that I have the targa roll bar roof seal I hope that puts the squeak to rest.

Should be a fun project to install them.

Reupholstered passenger seat.

2006-06-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

Got my passenger seat reupholstered because the original vinyl was cracking and showing the foam underneath, basically after 36 years of wear it's finally giving up the ghost. I tried to hide it with some judicially applied black duct tape but that just looks like the proverbial comb-over. So, since I had the opportunity, I go t it fixed properly and I'm glad I did. I sure looks nice now.

Powder coated suspension

2006-06-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

Nicely powdercoated suspension parts.

Looking good.

Palo Alto Concours D'Elegance

2006-06-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

Got my papers so it's official. I'm going into Palo Alto Concours D'Elegance Porsche corral as car number 358. I applied to go as an exhibitor in D class but since there were only two spaces available I missed out. I could go to be judged but didn't want too really. Instead the corral is the next best thing. That should be just as fun I suspect.

I'll be hanging around on the field answering questions and listening to enthusiasts from all over recounting their stories about the 914s. That's always a lot of fun.

Can't wait. Only a couple of weeks to go.

Suspension getting media blasted

2006-06-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

I'm having my suspension powder coated by Mark De Bernardi. He is doing a great job. First repairing and modifiying the rear valance then repairing some minor rust and body issues and now removing the suspension pieces so he can powder coat them in his own home brewed oven.

First the pieces need to be media blasted to get off all the old paint, oil, and other contaminants.

Then they are powder coated. After that they are going to be delivered to Mike Mueller to have his world famous needle bearings installed.

Here is a before pic with all the pieces removed:

After the media blastation has occured. They pieces turned out real nice.

Next powder coating...

Got my pedal cluster refurbished

2006-06-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Sent my pedal cluster out to be refurbished to new by PMB Performance. Eric Shea did such an awesome job of refurbing the cluster I can't believe it's the same one.

Some before pics:

After pics:

I'm cant' wait to get the new cluster in my car.

West Coast Classic 2006

2006-06-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

Heading out to the 2006 West Coast Classic being held in Portland, Oregon - July 7, 8, 9. I'll get to meet a lot of non-club members for the first time. Should be fun.

For the third annual 914 West Coast Classic we are aiming to top last year's event!

Our goal is to gather well over 100 cars, with participants from all over the world

Without a doubt it's going to be this years biggest 914 event!

With a Saturday road tour into the Columbia Gorge and Cascade Mountains, followed by a group dinner and Sunday at the Portland Historic Races with our own “914 Corral”, a parade lap of the track and charity autocross, the WCC 2006 will have something to offer every 914 enthusiast
Best of all, you get to enjoy the company of your fellow 914 enthusiasts and 914club.com friends!

This year's event will be held to benefit the Ronald McDonald House
All proceeds received after expenses will go to this wonderful organization

Event is open to all interested, 914 not required

There might be a convoy of 914's heading up or several convoys.

New paint pics after body work

2006-06-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of rust spots that I wanted removed from the rear quarter panel below the sail panel on both drivers and passenger sides. Also, there was some damage to the drivers front wheel well from the tire hitting it in a full lock turn because the car just got new tires and suspension bits.

Here is a shot of the new paint. The front and rear quarter panels have been repainted while the door has not. The front valance and rockers were repainted and look great.

I'm getting my old rubber bushings removed and Mike Mueller roller bearings installed by the man himself. Here is my car on jack stands in preparation for the front and rear bits to get taken off.

I'm going to get the A-arms and rear control arms powder coated to help protect them and make them look awesome.

Looking forward to driving the car with the new roller bearings.

Completed custom rear valance

2006-06-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots of the completed rear valance all painted and installed. I like the way the mesh turned out, very subtle yet functional.

Side veiw of the valance.

Rear view. You can barely see the muffler through the mesh. I think it looks great. This will allow air to flow out from behind the valance that previously would be trapped thus contributing to heating up the engine and such.

I think this is an excellent rear valance design for the car.

Went to PartsHeaven anual swap meet.

2006-06-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

Went to Parts Heaven annual swap meet this morning in Hayward CA. to look around. They also had a concours of mostly 911 type cars. It was pretty good. Lots of people. Met a bunch on 914club.com people too and we went for lunch after the event.

Here is from the left Steve, Patricia, and Thomas. In the background is Steve's most awesome metalic green 914-6. He's put a 3.2L motor in that car and it runs real sweet. You can see a bunch of people ogling it in the background.

Here's some pics of the swap meet and the concours part of the event.

Here we are at lunch. That is Thomas's 996 twin turbo in the background.

All in all it was pretty fun seeing all the stuff. Boxes of crap all layed out to pick over running up and down both sides of the street as far as the eye could see. I got some powder coated front hood springs and some powder coated other bits I didn't need also picked out some Swepco gear lube as it was a pretty good price.

The time flew by and before I knew it it was noon and lunch time.

Custom front valance mod I like.

2006-06-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

This is the idea for my front valance mod. This is car No. 914.0.43.2105 - a car owned by Gerd Quist, a driver from the Max Moritz Racing Team.

I like the way it looks and nobody else has one like it. Plus, I like the green paint on the air dam fin. I will paint mine Signal orange though. I like way it can be painted but in a subtle way.

Painted valance and rockers

2006-05-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

Still in the paint booth but nicely painted. These rockers and the valances are going to make my car pop.

Can't wait to see them on the car.

My rockers have never looked this good, ever!

The custom rear valance looks especially nice.

New paint on valance and rockers

2006-05-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

Getting my front valance and rocker panels beautified at the same time as my customized rear valance so everything matches up.
My rockers needed painting because they were fading after 36 years of duty and my front valance was seeing some battle scars too.
These are the items after being textured and primer added. The custom rear valance turned out real nice.

Newly textured and primered rockers.

Textured and primered rear valance close up shot.

Textured and primered front and rear.

These are gonna look nice on the car. Signal Orange and black are a sweet combo.

Custom valance update

2006-05-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post on the custom valance.

Mark is doing a great job welding in the mesh along the lower part of the valance. The mesh will hopefully allow enough of the air to escape while still hiding the muffler.

This is a close up of the welds. Each mesh "finger" is welded to the valance. Looks good.

Can't wait to see the finished product painted and attached to the car.

The front valance and rocker panels are being repainted at the same time so all the paint matches accordingly.

Should look sweet.

New valance vs Old valance

2006-05-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a series of pictures of my car without a valance and with early and late style valances. The last valance picture is an actual valance for the 914-6. The after valance isn't finished yet it's just in the mockup fitting stage but it was expertly reconstituted by Mark De Bernardi. See pictures of how it looked before to see how good a job was done rebuilding it.

I was driving my six around for a long time with no valance and this is how it looked. Kind of raw but ugly.

I had the early style valance hanging around for a while and finally decided to try it out. It looks nicer covering the seam in the muffler and only showing a bit of it. I polished up my muffler a bit to make it look nicer.

Now the muffler is completely hidden. This is sweet and finally how I really want it.

Not quite done. I'm going to be adding some mesh to it to allow the air to flow out the bottom portion of the valance so it's not acting like a scoop. Actually, Mark is going to do it. We're using the mesh from the engine lid. Should look tight!

Most expensive car wash...

2006-05-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a guy that can charge a customer 5,000 Britsh pounds to wash a car. His customers own the ultra exotic machines like the Bugatti Veyron and Enzo.

The full featured 5,000 pound car wash is 61 steps including an ultrasonic depth gauge measurement to see how deep the scratches are while he is polishing the car.

He says "The biggest nightmare is bird droppings" so he goes to the cars whereever they are to clean off the bird droppings otherwise it can be very harmful to the cars finish. But, if it's waxed I guess it's semi safe for a little while.

5,000 Pound car wash.

3rd Annual Bay Area 6speedonline Porsche Drive with SharkWerks/Carlsen Porsche

2006-05-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

I went to one of these drives, I believe it was the first annual drive, there was a guy with a 911 TT that put out over 600 hp and the car was featured in Excellence. It was outrageous. He spent about 200 grand putting in all the trick equipment like nitrous and CO2 intercooler gas cooling and way more stuff.

Here is the third annual event details:

"It's finally stopped raining here in the Bay Area and hence it’s time for all of us Porsche enthusiasts to come together once again. Please mark your calendars for Saturday June 24th as we will all be meeting and parking at Carlsen Porsche in the morning from 9am. There will obviously be a lot of different Porsches (the past couple of years we’ve had around 100) on display (and maybe a few “guest” appearances but more on that later) to check out and Carlsen will be providing Coffee, tea anddoughnuts before we head on out for a pleasant drive down to Monterey. Those of you that have done this before will know the drill but for those that haven’t, we will be driving a route (this will be handed out during the event) and all meet up at the Baja Cantina for lunch. I’ll post more on the details."

Locations:
Carlsen Porsche
3636 Haven Avenue
Redwood City, CA94083

Baja Cantina
7166 Carmel Valley Rd
Carmel, CA93923

To sign up:

Email me to alex@sharkwerks.com
Include your full name (plus guests)
Car & Year
If you want lunch

We will keep you all posted with further details! See you all there…

Valance rebuild progress...

2006-05-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Some photos of the valance being transformed from a piece of crap to something that looks factory.

Looking good. The exhaust porthole is nice and clean now.

What is looks like now.

Some more modifications are forthcoming to allow for air to flow through the valance rather than trappipng it and contributing to the heating of the engine.

My Other Car.

2006-04-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is my other car. My daily driver in fact. It's a 1997 Porsche 993. I love the styling of this car. I've had it for six years and its been flawless and super fun. I love driving this car so much. It's an incredible experience and its the last of the air cooled Porsches.

This car mixes nice creature comforts such as air conditioning, power assist steering, air bags, six speed transmission, dual exhaust without the clutter of new electronic gadgets that don't really add anything to the driving experience.
This is the last Porsche without a cup holder and without any digital readout gauges. It is the last one with the traditional 5 VDO gauge cluster. I believe it's the last truly hand built Porsche too.

It's awesome!

An artistic shot.

I just washed it so it's nice and pretty.

Getting Some Paint and Body Work Done

2006-04-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Wanted to get some paint and body work done on my car for quite some time now but couldn't find the right place/person that I felt comfortable enough with and that had the right attitude toward the Porsche 914.

Well, my search has ended and I finally took the plunge and drove my factory six up to Napa Valley to Original Customs where Mark De Bernardi will do the metal work and his partner will do the paint portion. Mark is a real 914 enthusiast and an active participant on the 914club.com forums and going to the 914 breakfasts. He is building another 914-6 out with a 3.6 liter motor and numerous other projects. He is very passionate about what he is doing and that's what I like the best. I really trust him and can't wait to see the results of his work. Another great aspect of giving the car to Mark is he will coordinate other work that needs to be done because I won't be around for half of the month.

As far as stuff that's getting done to my car, I'm getting the rocker panels, front valance and rear valance painted. Also, the rear valance will have major custom metal work done to add mesh to it so air can flow through. Other things are going to be fixed up on the car to make it look way better than even now.

Mark said he would take pictures of the progress so when he does I'll be posting them here.

Anyway, thanks Mark!!

Tranny fix follow up...still no leaks!

2006-04-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

Still clean as a whistle.

Nice.

No tranny fluid making its way out of the speedo angle drive which is great.

Just wanted to post more pics of the fix a few days later to see that there is no seapage of tranny fluid.

You might think I'm taking this a bit too far but you have to understand that this leak was the bane of my existence. It bugged me royally and it made an unsightly mess of my muffler. Not to mention there should be NO LEAKS!

Also, notice how clean it is under my car. Ahh, a beautiful sight to behold. Alas, I'm the only one who really enjoys just gazing at the underside of my car and admiring it's mechanical cleanliness. I know I'm a bit off... :)

And now just a artsy pic...

Fixed transmission fluid leakage from speedo angle drive.

2006-04-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

Transmission oil was leaking out of my speedometer angle drive and running down my speedometer cable. That is not suppose to happen!

Turns out it was happening because there is a seal between the angle drive and the transmission speedometer gear. When I took out the speedometer angle drive it was wet with transmission fluid and the seal in there was completely shredded. That's where the oil is coming from.

So I removed the transmission gear housing and took out the old seal put in a new one and now it clean as a whistle. No leakage at all.

Now I have finally achieve a leak free transmission. All the seal are new. Yahoo! I'm stoked.

Found crappy factory 914-6 rear valance...

2006-04-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

I bought a crappy factory 914-6 rear valance off of a guy on eBay about 4 years ago. I thought I was getting one in better condition but whatever. I have to modify it anyway to fit my 911 muffler exhaust pipe and I'm going to add some mesh to it to create a passage for air to escape from the rear because as it comes from the factory it tends to trap air, hot air, and interfere with engine cooling. Well, that't the anecdotal evidence but I'll buy it. The mesh will be the same as the engine lid mesh.

I'm actually not going to do the metal/paint work myself but get someone else to do it. I've picked the person and I'll show after pics when the project is complete end of May. Then I'll announce who did the work.

Here are some pictures of the current condition of the valance. Pretty rough.

It's gonna look pretty cool when its all done.

Replaced Both Outer Door Seals.

2006-04-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

Replaced both outer door seals. They were bad and ready to go. The PO had a left hand door seal on the right hand door. No wonder the door didn't close that well! Now it works a lot better.

I didn't have to use any glue, which is good, because they fit nice and tight in the seals channel.

That's two projects this weeked. Not bad. I replaced these before the door stays.

Added New Door Stays.

2006-04-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

Got two new doors stays. One for each door. Very nice. From Dave Sprinkle who is a member of the 914club.com. He manufactures the new door stays himself because factory door stays are NLA.

They arrived nicely packaged. Here is a pick of the new door stays with the old one that is getting ready to be replaced.

I removed the door panels and other stuff to get the door stays out. That's factory original plastic on the door. I'm pretty proud of that!

Here's the old door stays that are 36 years old. They were badly worn and the plastic roller on the drivers side was completely worn out. It had a hole rubbed right through it. The passenger side was also badly worn but not as bad. I'm glad to get new ones.

New door stays in place and ready for installation. They fit like a glove and the quality and craftmansship are awesome. Now the doors work great and don't make that loud clicking sound. Also, they stop where they are supposed to and look great!

Added a rear valence.

2006-03-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

Decided to put my fiberglass rear valence on my car this weekend. Had it for over 3 years and never got around to it. So I painted, make the appropriate holes, went to the hardware store and got some screws and put it on.

I think it looks pretty good. I have the factory valence but I'm modifying it to accept the 911 muffler and also putting some wire mesh in it so the air flows better but in the mean time I thought I would try this valence.

We'll see how long it lasts.

Memory Lane: My first 914

2006-03-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

This is my first 914 I got in 1997. It's a 1.8l 1974 Sunflower yellow mint 914. It was in great shape until my neighbor's wife smashed into it while parking. That was so disappointing. The right fender was dented in. Sad to see on such a mint car with original paint and all. Anyway, I got it fixed and it was fine.

I really liked the car a lot and it was super reliable. But, it lacked power.

I had always wanted a 914-6 so when I got my six I sold the /4.

Before I sold it I transfered parts from the /4 to the /6 that weren't in as good a shape and I'm glad I did because now I always remember my little /4 when I'm in my /6.

NorCal 914 Monthly Breakfast

2006-02-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

It was that time again for the last Saturday of the month get together for breakfast at the illustrious IHOP.

Lots of cars lots of people and lots of fun.

Cleaning gas tank area

2006-02-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics that were taken when I was getting my Smart Racing anti roll bar installed in 03. There were a group of us all working on the car. A sort of "clinic" on how to install a sway bar. Also, the torsion bars were upgraded to 21mm hollows and the shocks were replaced with Koni sport adjustable yellows all the way around.

Just some before after pics of clean up and the holes that were created to fit the bar.

Before:

After:

A bit cleaner!

Took a drive to Seaside

2006-02-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

It was such a nice day today I took a drive to the beach at Seaside. Love the sound of the engine.

Three Factory 914-6GTs

2006-02-03T10:41:00.000-08:00

You got to love these cars. The awesome factory 914-6GTs. These won Le Mans in 1970.

Some engine bay shots.

2006-01-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

Took some pictures of my engine the other day. Thought I would share them. I love this engine. It's sounds awesome and works great. Electromotive crankfire ingnition is sweet. Lots of goodies in this 3.2.

One of the triple throat IDA 46s.

Crankfire coil packs.

Overview of the carbs engine and coil packs.

Left side carburetor.

Another general engine shot.

Electromotive crankfire sensor pickup mount.

Generally, a nice clean engine compartment if I do say so myself.

Got to love it!

First 914club.com breakfast meet in the bay area.

2006-01-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

First breakfast meet for the 914club.com bay area contingent this year. There was a great turn out at the Original Pancake House in Fremont. Large turn out of 25+ people and around 10 cars I believe. Two were original factory 914-6's.

Here are some of us at the Original Pancake House talking before our eats came.

Here's a shot of the rest of the table. More people trickled in later too.

Some of the nice cars that showed up. The Sunflower Yellow 76 in the foreground is for sale. It's a nice car.

Here's the contact info:

Carl's excellent /6. A really nice example and super nice color.

Here's everyone milling about after the breakfast. The red 914 is getting a 3.6 transplant. That will be sweet!

That was a fun get together, maybe next time there will be a drive too.

Kinda been raining so instead of driving...

2006-01-25T18:51:00.000-08:00

I replaced my to rubber seals on the passenger side. The targa top seal along the window top and the roll bar seal on the side. They were trashed and made a lot of wind noise when driving. Also, water came in there if my car ever got caught in the rain!

Here is the Uber Six sitting in the garage waiting for a sunny day!

Can't wait to get in the six and drive again!

Gratuitous pix

2005-12-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

Just went for a drive today and took some pics of the car too.

Here are a few just for fun!

Took the drive down to Big Sur. Today was awesome as there was no traffic to hinder my drive. Real nice. Pretty soon the bad weather will kick in and I won't be able to get the Six out as regularly. Oh well, there is always a project or two lurking to fill my fix.

Looked at the new Porsche Cayman

2005-12-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

Had a look at the new Porsche Cayman that dealers are getting in now to preview to the public. They are owned by Porsche so no one can drive it or anything like that. All you can do is just sit in it and open up stuff here and there. I went to Stevens Creek Porsche in San Jose to check out their loaner.

The car does look pretty nice in silver with the 18" wheels. Sitting in it I had lots of leg room and massive amounts of head room about 4" more than my 993. Lots of room in the read hatch back and the front has a deep storage area for suitcases and what not.

It's weird that you can't even look at the engine though. I like to look at the engine every so often and fiddle with it but I guess there is nothing to fiddle with in new computer controlled cars.

The Cayman didn't grab me emotionally like the 993 does or the 914-6. Maybe if I heard the engine and drove it a bit I'd feel different about it.

Base price is just under 60K which is a fair chunk of change. I'd rather get a used GT3 for a little extra cash, that car grabs me as does the Lamborghini Gallardo!

Installed the heater control boxes...

2005-11-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

Well, Friday I installed the new heater control boxes. I painted the various areas that were missed by whoever manufactured them to guard against rust. The inside areas and the flapper disks on the inside where the spring is had no paint so now it does.

I should have taken a photo of the original heater control boxes, next time I will, because they are different from the new ones. The fresh air intake on the old one has a big round hole in it where the new ones are solid. Either something was missing on the old one or this new design might be better at rejecting bits of debris from the road rather than having a giant hole for dirt and moisture to go into directly.

They fit pretty snug, had to use a bit of elbow grease to get them on there but they are on and secure. Look a lot nicer now too since they are clean and nicely painted rather than a 35 year old part with grease, dirt, rust etc. The only people who care about this stuff are the people who look under the car to see how clean and nice it is. Like me!!

I also cleaned out my K&N air filters. Got the cleaning kit and sprayed them down rinsed them off and hung them up to dry over night. Then, I sprayed on the special red oil dirt catching material and reinstalled. Nice clean air filters now. Next is my fuel filter but I need to get some hose clamps first to clamp off the fuel lines around the fuel filter so to avoid spilling gas everywhere.

It was real nice out today so I fired up the car and went for a drive. That's always a lot of fun. I love the sound of the car and the shifting is so nice now with the new synchros and James West Engineering Rennshift.

Drove up to my friend's place in Castroville, he helped me with the syncro install, to show him my car.

Pete had the first 914-6 to come into the U.S. in 1970 and the review of the car was written up in the now defunct "Up-Fixin' Der Porsche" in Road testing the 914/6 Bob Rassa 6/70, Vol. 3 p 193. He owned the car and is pictured with it in the review. He is super knowledgeable about Porsches. As-a-matter-of-fact he was converting 911SC 2.7 to a 3.0 liter engine but, rebuilding the engine first that he got from Parts Heaven. He now does Porsche stuff from his garage at home.

Anyway, he liked the car and and took a few pictures of it to show his friend that had a factory six back in the day when the cars were new the same color as mine, Signal Orange.

Pete's car was originally yellow, he said he quickly ripped out the 2.0 liter and put in a bigger engine and painted the car black, since he's a "black car kinda guy".

Was coming home and got to show off to some Boxturd driver that scooted up behind me. He was suprised when I blasted away from him, I think he spilled his latte!

Now my car is quietly waiting till it gets to go out agian. Trying to drive it a bit more before the rainy season kicks in and won't get to go out in it for a while.

I have a few more projects to work on so when the rain does come I'll get to do some tinkering on it still!

New Heater Control Boxes

2005-11-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

Got a new pair of heater control boxes from Otto's at a really good price. Half the price of what the bird board is asking as a matter of fact.

Whenever I work under my car I see my 35 year old boxes without paint, kinda rusty maybe ready to fail. Thought about repainting them but the insides didn't look to nice either.

When I saw the price of the new ones I just couldn't resist.

I'll get them in this weekend!! Coolio.

I phoned them up because there was a rumor that they were going to have to move because their rent was going up and they were going to have a big fire sale. Turned out they worked things out with the landlord and the sale was called off. Anyway, I got these because of the rumor.

New Toy

2005-11-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

Not 914-6 related but cool never the less.
This is our new expresso machine. It's an Elektra handmade in Italy.

I just wanted to say this makes the best espresso I have ever had. It's awesome. It's a piston type so you push the lever down and it slowly rises making the espresso.

Here's a link to a very detailed review: Elektra Leva

If you're thinking of getting an espresso maker and like to be involved in its production this is the machine to get.

Did some tinkering

2005-11-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I did a little bit of refurbishing. I bought a new front hood rubber seal and installed it. The old one was 35 years old and was a little bit beat up, ok a lot. The new one fit perfectly and is great. I got the factory seal not a reproduction btw.

Also, I repainted my fuel expansion tank, it was looking a little scratched and was an easy thing to do. I did that because I replaced my old fuel sender because the gas gauge wasn't going all the way to full. So, I hope this fixes that problem. I'll know next fill up. Otherwise I have a spare sender. Or the original sender with a 914 part number. The new one has a 901 part number.

Also, I installed new plastic seals by the windshield those little plastic strips that fill the gap by the front fender and windshield. The old ones were a bit short and kinda shot. They were cheap and easy too. I like the low hanging fruit repairs.

I'll keep chipping away at the pile of things to do. I keep finding little things and they all add up to make the car look and drive better.

Part of the fun having an old car is adding TLC to it.

Deetjan's in Big Sur

2005-11-13T15:17:00.000-08:00

Took a drive with Patricia a long highway 1 to Deetjan's restaurant in Big Sur. Very nice place. Very rustic and yet elegant. Breakfast was delicious. You can rent rooms to stay over night at the Big Sur Inn that is part of the place.

We sat outside and this was what we looked at. Very comfortable and warm considering its almost the middle of November.

Inside they had nice cozy rooms to eat and decorated with a bunch in interesting stuff. They also had a cozy fireplace to warm you up.

It's about a thirty mile drive from Carmel along the beautiful California coast.
Highly recommended.

What I love about taking the 914-6 out for drives besides the motoring fun is that when we stop to get food or rest or take in some sights someone invariably always starts up a conversation about the car and relates some memory they had either growing up or some friend had one etc. Nice to always talk to people about cars it's fun. I get to hear about their projects or past cars that were owned.

This trip was no exception. We met Chris, he had the BMW E30 parked beside us, when we were leaving we talked cars, project cars, dream cars, rust, performance, cameras etc. It's always nice to meet new people. I guess the 914-6 is sorta a friendly car. Who knows.

Laguna Seca 914 club event

2005-10-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

I just came back from the Victory Lane Vintage Racing and 914club.com get together at Laguna Seca.

We had a pretty good show of cars about 14 including the race cars that were participating in the vintage races.

At noon all of us non racers got to go around the track a couple of times following a pace car. They kept our speed down to about 40 mph or so, so I didn't get out of third gear. That's too bad but I'm glad I got on the track anyway.

Here's a pic of us all coming out of the cork screw...

This is all the cars lined up where we were hanging out on the paddock. There were 14 cars in all including the race cars. Even a real nice 914/6 with the factory M471 GT option installed, signal orange of course.

Here's a closer look at the 914/6 with a twin plug 3.0L engine. It's real nice.

Here's everyone milling about taking pictures of all the cars lined up in the paddock.

There was a party after the racing concluded on Sat. but I couldn't make it unfortunately. I know the 914club.com members partied on though!! All in all it was a fun time and I'm glad I got to see a bunch of people from the club.

Had a nice drive today.

2005-10-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Took my car out for a drive today after all the work I did to it over the past month or so.

I keep my car in Carmel Valley and live in Los Gatos so I can't get to it every weekend to work on it.

Had a chance this weekend though.

When I last worked on it I had just put it togther again after taking the tranny out and replacing the 1st and 2nd gear synchros, the intermediate plate gaskets, the main shaft seal and the speedometer angle drive. Also, I replace the exhaust valve cover gaskets.

When I fired it up, to my dismay, it had a massive exhaust leak. So I shut it down and had to wait till this weekend to have a look at it. It turned out that one of the gaskets had fallen off one of the engine exhaust studs while I was putting the right heat exhanger back on. So it was half on half off. That's a relief. It was any easy fix. Just take off the exchanger again and put new gaskets on, properly.

This time I put a little spot of grease on the gaskets by the stud holes to hold them in place so they wouldn't slip off while I'm holding the heat exchanger up and installing the barrel nuts. A very awkward procedure lying on my back with the car approximately 8 inches away from my face. The heat exchanger blocks my view of the gaskets so I can 't really see what I'm doing that's why I didn't notice one of them didn't quite make it on correctly in the first time.

I also had to take off one side of the muffler. Did that and replaced the copper gasket since the previous one technically should not be re-used. I also put some anti-seize on the exhaust head studs to get the barrel nuts and copper nuts off easier next time and I did the same on the muffer bolts too.

With everything re-attached I fired up the engine. Purrs like a kitten.

I also changed my oil so I put in about 2/3 of the required oil first then started the engine and waited for it to warm up before I added the rest of the required oil. Required procedure is to check the oil while the engine is running and at operating temperature. It sure looks nice and clean now.

All I had to do is adjust the clutch cable a bit because it was loose then I went for a drive to test out my new transmission and assorted gaskets.

It was awesome. No grinding into second, shifts great, no leaks anywhere. Nice and clean under the car. Getting into first is a bit of a wrestle because of the new syncro but if I let the clutch out just a bit it slides right in perfectly.

This car is a joy to drive. I sounds so good with the 3.2L engine right behind my head and the exhaust note is awesome too. Had the top off as it was a beautiful day out for a drive. I love the way the car accelerates and handles, I just have to lean my body and it turns, it's incredible.

This car is great value for the money and I really enjoy working on it as I get to meet a lot of interesting and knowledgeable people in my pursuit of information regarding the various projects I take on while maintaining and modifying it.

That's all for now. Drive on!

914 Gathering and Vintage Racing, Laguna Seca

2005-10-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

I'll be going to Laguna Seca Oct 29 for the 914 gathering and vintage racing. A bunch of people from the 914club will be there and a party on Saturday night.

Should be a lot of fun!

Fixing the transmission

2005-10-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I've taken on the project to fix my transmission. It had a few transmission fluid seeping issues right at the intermediate plate and the speedo angle drive was seeping too.

Also, since I'm going to fix the leaks I'm also going to replace 1st and 2nd geer syncro rings since first is used a lot and grinding started a little when engaging 2nd. Rather than wait and replace the dogsteeth, which cost a lot more, I just would nip the problem in the bud.

Here is a picture of my transmission out of the car.

The tranny on a stand with the first gear shift fork removed already.

Here are those synchros being replaced. They were tired and worn down. It was easy to press them into the gears and take them out again compared to the fresh new replacements.

Now I was wondering why the tranny was seeping. Well here is your answer. There were no gaskets on the end plate or intermediate plate shims. Nothing, only goop and that doesn't work worth shit. Some asshole cut some corners here...

I'm just finishing up putting back the transmission into the car now that it's been fixed.

Luckily it wasn't too hard to do as long as you can lift the tranny by yourself you can do it alone. I had a little help make sure the tranny didn't get caught up on anything that I couldn't see while I was wiggling the beast into place.

Well, that's it. I put all the other stuff together and fired it up. Going for a drive soon.

Changing my exhaust valve cover gaskets.

2005-09-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

There has been a bit of oil coming out of my exhaust value covers so I decided to replace the gaskets in there.

Also, I decided to replace all the exhaust gaskets and associated hardware while I'm in there because removing the heat exchangers makes getting at and replacing the exhaust valve gaskets that much easier.

At the same time I'm going to change the engine oil.

Here's my left heat exchanger.

Here is a picture of my exhaust ports. Notice how large they are. They are quite a bit larger than the ports found on a stock motor. This allows my engine to breath better but since I'm using stock heat exchangers I can't really take total advantage of the modification.

Having removed the heat exchanger I have a nice working environment with plenty of room, all things considered.

After I have removed my exhaust value cover and cleaned up the surrounding area of any old gasket and lingering oil here is what it looks like.

Now I've cleaned my exhaust value cover and overlaid the new gasket to check things out I'm ready to install it on the car again.

Here are my exhaust valve covers reinstalled. Torqued to .45lb/in and new Nylok nuts tightened from the inside out.

I did my right exhaust valve cover first but didn't take any pictures. It's practically the same procedure. My heat exchangers came off pretty uneventfully and I have replaced my exhaust gaskets with new ones.

I'm going to be taking my transmission out next to fix a leak between the rear cover and the intermediate plate and between the case and itermediate plate. While I have the transmission apart that far I'm going to inspect it and replace anything that needs replacing.

Went to Laguna Seca

2005-08-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

The Porsche Club of America was having some races so I thought I'd drop by and have a look.

It was pretty fun watching the different cars race. There was a 914 with a 2.5 liter 4 holding it's own against the 911, 944s, and BMW's. Actually quite a mix even a 80s Pontiac Firebird was zooming around the track.

Didn't make it up to the cork screw and should have because there was a lot of off-roading going on up there.

I saw a real nice Sheridan bodied 914-6 with a 3.2 I think in it. It went around the track once and I didn't see it again. Didn't find out what happened to it either. Was going to take a picture and I waited and waited... drat missed the chance!

I'd like to do that but I'd like to use my car the way it is and not race prep it. But, I think I'll just leave it alone until I get a dedicated car for the track because I don't want to hurt the current car at all.

As I was coming into the track someone ran out in front of me to flag me down. All they wanted to do was shoot the shit about my car and go down memory lane. I like that about my car it brings out the people and the conversations start flowing.

Some great people there I had a lot of fun.

Luckily I still had my fold up seats in the back trunk so I could go anywhere and set up to watch the cars.

While I was there I filled up with some 100 octane too, I like the smell of the exhaust now :) . It's $6.00 a gallon btw.

More Concorso Italaniano 2005

2005-08-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

Pics of the Porsche corral in the morning when we arrived.

Later on in the day...

Here are some overview pics of the event.

A bunch of Lamborghini Gallardos...

Concorso Italiano 2005

2005-08-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Luc Donckerwolke in the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder.

Here are pics of Patricia and I just enjoying ourselves at the Concorso.

Having a picinic...

Beside the 914-6 in the Porsche Corral.

More picinicing...

Standing next to my car.

There was a lot of interest in my car at the Concorso this year. Lots of stories about people's experience in the car when they were in college and people just stopping by shooting the breeze. Pretty nice. Lots of friendly people. The gentleman that parked his GT2 beside me with over 600 hp and 600ftlbs of torque has a 914-6 he bought in England 35 years ago. He was going to bring it but suffered a broken clutch cable the day of. Too bad.

Concorso Italiano 2005

2005-08-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got back from Monterey Penisula Concorso Italiano 2005.

It was a lot of fun this year and I had my car in the Porsche Corral right up front near the show.

Patricia and I brought our own picinic to enjoy between outing looing at all the cool cars on display.

This year there were some nice ones like the Lamborghini Gallardo spyder prototype with Luc Donckerwolke sitting in it.

Also, there was a Lamborghini Miura barn find. I couldn't believe but it's true. The car hadn't been run in thirty years. It was in awesome shape. I talked to the finder as to how he found it and it was through a old timer mechanic that knew of it's existence. The current owner tracked the car down and negotiated with the original owner for over a year before he finally sold it. Pretty exciting.

I got my picture taken with famous Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni. He's a very nice man and very friendly. That was the highlight of my day. I was walking with Patricia through the sea of Lamborghini's and I see in the distance Mr Balboni. Well, I run up and wait a bit because he is being interviewed then ask if I could get a picture with him. Cool.

New front bumper installed

2005-08-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

When I was picking up my newly chromed rear bumper from Superior Chrome in San Jose the owner Mark showed me a real nice front bumper for the exact year of my car. So instead of having my front bumper rechromed, because it did need it, I just swapped out theirs for mine.

Looks really nice especially since I got new fog light grills to match.

I was concerned about the fit but it seems to fit better than my old one.

Score!

That was pure luck!!

Pics under my car.

2005-08-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

I wanted to relocate my cluch cable a little to line it up with the pulley better so as to relieve some stress on it that was cause it to fray and make a squeaking noise.

While I had the car up I decided to take some pictures. It seem my valve cover gaskets aren't doing a very good job and there is a bit of oil coming through and making my heat exchangers look wet. At least that will prevent rust!

Otherwise it looks pretty good under there.

Replaced windshield frame seal.

2005-08-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

Just replaced my old ratty windshield frame seal.

As you can see it was coming apart badly. That's the drivers side door area coming apart. The top is also in bad shape as is the passenger side.

I also installed two new chrome strips that the seal fits into along the sides as the original ones were a little beaten up after 35 years of service.

As I was installing the seal the top part didn't fit nicely onto the windshield frame lip so I had to separate the seal by cutting along the inside because it wasn't correct compared to the worn seal. Looked like during manufacturing of the seal the two edges fused together. That worked perfectly.

Here's a pic with the job almost done. Just the passenger side to go.

The passenger side chrome strip didn't have its holes drilled in the correct locations so I had to modify it by drilling the holes. That's ok, since no one will see the hack job but sheesh. I wonder how big the lot is that was drilled incorrectly.

Here it is all installed and the top too.

Here's a pic of the old seal going to eBay... just kidding.

Newly chromed bumper installed...

2005-07-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

I put on my newly chromed bumper and it looks fabulous. I'm glad I got it fixed up and rechromed and put back to it's rightfull place.

The previous placeholder bumper didn't really fit right and was not the "correct" bumper so whenever I went anywhere and there was someone who knew a bit about the 914-6 would always and I mean always comment that that was not the original bumper.

Now, I've got the right one back!

Got my bumper...

2005-07-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I picked up my bumper yesterday and it looks great.

Just when I looked at it closer it looks like they cut out the mounting brackets that are used to mount the bumper to the car to fix dents and stuff. When they welded it back together it looks like a pretty sloppy job with holes in the braket because the welder made it to hot. Plus the welder didn't look to experience in that respect.

I hope when I put it back on the car I don't have any alignment issues with it. I guess that is standard procedure to do, wish I had know so I could be prepared for the aftermath.

They also filled in four small holes and you can't even tell they were there in the first place. nice.

Chromed rear bumper update...

2005-07-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Just phoned Superior Chrome Plating to see if my bumper was ready. As you recall I brought it to them June 22 and they told me it would be ready July 22.

Well, no dice. It's not ready.

I even phoned them last week to confirm that the bumper would be ready and they assured me that it would.

When I called to go pick up the bumper they started up the excuse mill saying it was two weeks from hot August Nights and they were really busy etc. and only one guy can work on my bumper because it was so thin and on and on.

First they knew August was coming and they knew the bumper needed special attention even before they set the deliver date!

So far I'm kinda disapointed, but I pray it turns out perfect then I'll be happy and make suggestions accordingly regarding refering business their way.

Got my corral tickets!

2005-07-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

I got my corral tickets to the Concorso Italiano.

I stoked. I've been going for that last fours years I believe and it's been a blast every time. I'll be posting pictures on this blog this year. Last year I posted on my own sight, hmmm. Might do that too or I might be too lazy, we'll see.

Aug 19, 2005 is the day of the event. Hope nothing comes up to screw with my plans.

I've been adding stuff to my car and spiffing it up for this show so it looks a lot nicer, why not?

Steering wheel intalled.

2005-07-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

Just installed my new steering wheel. A Momo Montecarlo.

The hub didn't seem to want to go onto the steering shaft so I compared the stock steering wheel splines with the hub's splines.

They matched up fine but the hub splines were taller. To correct the problem I rolled up some 100 grit sand paper and sanded down the hub's splines till it fit.

At first I thought I had the wrong hub!

Now everything went on smoothly and my horn works better than ever.

I got the new steering wheel because my new seat pushes me forward and up a little bit too much and my knees started to hit the steering wheel, now that problem is solved too.

I took the car for a drive to Big Sur. New steering wheel works great, I'm not driving a bus anymore.

New Steering Wheel

2005-07-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Got a Momo Montecarlo to install in my car because since I got the new seat my knees are hitting the steering wheel.

I'll keep the original steering wheel around so I have all the original parts still though.

I also went to Parts Heaven and got a good used lower dash pad I'm going to install because the current one has unsightly cracks in it right below the ignition key.

Should have the new steering wheel, lower dash in this weekend.

New Foglight Grills Installed.

2005-07-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

I finally added my new foglight grills. I cleaned up my horns and stripped the paint of the foglights themselves. I found that the metal around the light was brass or something so I left it bare because I think it looks kinda cool.

Stanford Concors June 26th Pics

2005-06-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

Mercedes/Mclaren SLR: Very nice car.

Custom 49 Roaster all custom work done in metal. Awesone.

Maserati Race car so cool.

There was also a couple of Ford GT40s and an original Ford Daytona LeMans winner.

Lots-o-stuff there. Pretty fun.

Got new fog light grills...

2005-06-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't believe it. I can buy new parts for my 35 year old car still. I bought two, left and right, fog light grills.

I tried to clean my original ones but I'll never get them to look new like these two.

New seat installed...

2005-06-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

Just installed my new seat. It's a great improvement and pretty darn comfortable. More confortable that before.

The only thing I'd like changed would be to take out some of the cushioning because I feel a little too close to the steering wheel otherwise it's perfect. Oh, and it's more comfortable than an Elise if anyone cares. (I just went to a ride in my friends Elise)

Got a new LeMans drivers seat.

2005-06-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Getting a new drivers seat from GTS-Classices

Should be nice.

I'm going to install it this weekend.

Getting my bumper chromed

2005-06-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

I just brought my rear bumper into Superior Chrome Plating to get it rechromed and the dents fixed on it. It's $350 to rechrome. Hopefully, it will turn out cool.

Installed a new high torque starter

2005-06-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

Just installed a high torque starter in my 3.2L powered factory 914-6. What a difference. It turns over in a flash now. When the engine was warm and I had to start it up the original .8 hp starter motor wouldn't do its job at all, now with 2hp it's a snap.

Survey shows spouses take back seat to classic cars

2005-02-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

Well, what a surprise!

I'm guilty of this, I spend an inordinate amount of time primping and preening my car . Buying new stuff for it, planning the next new thing I'm gonna do, staring at it at coffee shops once I find the perfect spot to park it.

I must confess I really like my car. Some would not find a 1970 914-6 attractive. But I do.

LOS ANGELES - The heartbeat of America this Valentine's Day appears to be in the fast lane, according to a survey of 7,000 classic car owners showing spouses often take a back seat to treasured vehicles.

Nearly a third of those responding said they bought a gift for their car on Valentine's Day and 60 percent said they spent more on their car than their spouses in the past year. Sixty-two percent said they talk to their car.

"What amazed us the most was finding that nearly a third of those surveyed said that they actually bought a gift for their classic car on Valentine's Day," said McKeel Hagerty, president the Hagerty Insurance.

Traverse City, Mich.-based Hagerty, the nation's leading insurer of collectable cars, received 7,000 responses to its online "Love in the Fast Line" survey, an unscientific poll.

"We also asked how much enthusiasts spent on their classic's Valentine's gift and over half admitted that they spent more than $250. Now that's true love," Hagerty said.

The survey found 67 percent remember the date they bought their first classic car, 42 percent named their classic car and 64 percent would reacquire their first car if they had the chance. Additionally, 73 percent remember the year, make and model of every car they have owned.

The 3.2 Million Dollar Car

2005-02-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

1954 Oldsmobile F-88 GM concept car sold for a cool 3.2 million dollars. What a rush to be able to spend 3.2 million on a car.

It's acually going to be displayed at the Hendricks Car Collection at the Gateway Colorado Auto Museum.

What's Bugging the High Tech Car?

2005-02-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

This story in the New York Times illustrates a problem with modern cars and especially luxury cars that adopt new technology a little too eagerly.

The article states:

"On the other hand, when he bought his most recent car, a 2002 Mercedes-Benz C240, he made sure to get one without a lot of extra features. It has fewer things to go wrong, he said.

Electronics problems are the bane of luxury cars, he said, and owners often don't know if they have the latest version of the software that runs crucial systems.

He mentioned the drivetrain software in his own Mercedes. "I know there are four different versions of the software," he said. "I don't know which one I've got. If I went to the dealer, I'd ask him to update it, because I'm sure I'm two or three generations away from being current."
"

Now imagine that car in the used car market and it's unknown if the software in the car needs to be updated or if there is some sort of failure in their main computer, how do you replace it without knowing the necessary software?

I'm always leary of getting to many gadgets in my cars because I don't want to have to deal with too many headaches when things go wrong. Also, I like to keep my cars for a while and it seems that the whiz bang tech gizmos will, in the long run, prevent keeping beloved autos too long before all the gadgets are obsolete and no longer available to us.