One of the rear mount Rennline hooks. A clear shot without the engine to get in the way. 

The front mounted Rennline tow hooks. The car looks faster already. 

Tow hooks

At some point in the not too distant future I'm going to need to be able to tow the Porsche to the body shop. This car had very few places to attach tie downs and winch cables making moving any significant distance a challenge. To make matters more interesting, the front tow hooks had been bent back and forth some many times that the right side was cracked through. It was time to get some serious hooks installed so I went with the front and rear units from Rennline. Having the engine out and the car lifted about 18 inches off the ground made the job very easy. When we go for paint at least we know the car won't be sliding off the trailer on the way to the shop.

Balancing the engine on two gallons of paint. Not the most elegant of solutions but it got the job done providing enough hide to slide the piano dolly under. Probably not the appropriate way to handle fine German mechanicals but sometimes you just have to improvise. 

The inside of the bell housing is covered in goo. I'm pretty sure there's an oil leak going on here. What's amazing to me is the actual density of the build up. 

The inside of the engine bay, sans engine. You can see the crud caked on the transaxle, inside, outside, top and bottom. 

A little TLC is in order with the engine out. I will wait for another project to go through the unit. For now I will focus on clean up and trying to get a handle on some of the oil leaks. 

Another look at the flat six which is now a fairly large lump in the garage. Unfortunately, on the piano dolly it does not fit back under the car for storage. 

The 2.7 out and balanced on the jack. Pulling this off with the bumper removed really made things easier ... it at leased save me having to crank the back end up another 10 inches. 

The car lifted and the engine being held in place by the rear-most motor mounts and jack. Just two more bolts and the unit was ready to slide out the back. To actually get passed the rear panel the air cleaner cover had to be removed. 

Engine pull

Today marked a major step in the project with the extraction of the engine from the Porsche. With tall jack stands the job was pretty easy to accomplish without assistance. I followed the outline provided in the excellent instructions from Pelican Parts, removing the wires, accelerator linkage, etc. and had the power plant out in an hour or two. The biggest challenge was trying to get it from the jack on to the piano dolly. This step is highly recommended as it does making moving the motor around a heck of a lot easier. A couple of gallon paint cans and some careful balancing got the job done - almost crushed a can in the process but overall the it was success without incident.
I have to say, Pelican recommends 32 inches of clearance and I only had about 30 with the current configuration (largely because the front end is off the ground by about 18 inches). The engine came out but I had to remove the air cleaner cover. The boot for the CIS intake just fit under the tail section. If the jack had of been a half inch taller I'd would have had to find a way to crank the back of the car up a few more inches.
With the engine removed I'll have a chance to clean up the compartment and prepare if for paint. I'll also scope out the leaks to make a determination of what needs to be done on this pass. I will eventually pull the transaxle to get it cleaned up and degreased. The unit is covered in bake on oil and grime and needs a good scrubbing. The bell housing is covered in grease so it is apparent that at least some of the seals are in need of replacement. Nothing like an old Porsche to keep the project list from shrinking.

The fuel pump hanging below the left torsion tube. Interesting setup from the factory, a cradle within a cradle. This give the pump protection from road debris and isolates the motor from the chasis. 

Prep to pull the engine

Yesterday I had a few hours to re-familiarize myself with the project after a few weeks on business travel. Spent a little time grinding on the right fender and then the rest prepping the fuel lines for the eventual removal of the engine. Most of this involved pulling the fuel pump and the final steps in removing the fuel filter. Should be getting close to dropping the engine as the oil is drained, electrical disconnected and the last of the fuel lines removed. Now I just need to figure out what I'm forgetting.

My step-dad Dave brought me this picture of the chocolate bar back in its glory days. Looks like a track day and one of the SoCal locations. Dave was the last owner of Porsche and kind enough to pass it along to me for the next phase of its life. 

I finally got in and pulled the rest of the dash trim today. It's amazing where rust formed. There some discoloration around the ignition switch and some outright damage at the top left of the dash. My guess is the water leaked in through the windshield seal and then wicked up through the foam dash trim. 

A look from further back and you can see the project coming together.  

Another look at the fenders from the front. The paint will be removed further back from the flares to provide plenty of room for the filler. 

Here's a look at the flare in place with a few screws. With a good bond job, feathering of the edges and some filler the flares should look original (or at least close). 

With the fender lip removed 36 grit wheel was used to take the area under the flare to bare metal. More trimming will need to be done as the sheet metal is fitted to the flare. 

Cutting off the fender lip. I used my dremel and a carbon fiber blade for a clean cut. The scribe mark shows the perimeter of the flare. 

Getting the fit right at the bumper. This provided the best overall appearance even though it does not create proper alignment with the torsion bar access holes. 

A portion of the lip must be removed from the back of the flares. 

Adding some flare

Spent a couple of hours on Saturday fitting the fender flares. These are the SC type and will extend the width by a total of 8 inches to match the RUF replica bumper. The flares are the most challenging part of the glass work as they require a lot of work to fit. Lining them up at the torsion bar holes has them forward by about a half inch. The decision was made to ignore the torsion holes and go for the fit that looked the best, particularly in alignment with the rear bumper. The space for the torsion holes will be cut out and feathered into the panels.
With the basic fit established I started work on the right side. The plan is to shape the sheet metal into the underside of the flare. This will provide more surface area for the panel adhesive and a blended finish in the wheel well. The goal is to make it near impossible to tell that the glass flares have been mounted. Cutting the fender lip got things started in earnest. A few more cuts and the sheet metal should be fairly easy to work with.

There's nothing better then a car show in San Diego, unless it's a Porsche show at the Del Mar Fair grounds. The cars were all parked in the courtyard of the pavillion.  

The obligatory shot of the engine, in this case the vastly under powered 1.7. The car did run really well with the factory fuel injection. When I first bought the 914 it had dual Webers and ran poorly (an understatement). The FI smoothed it out and proved to be very reliable. 

I had the interior re-done by Autos International in Escondido, CA. They did a great job of providing an original look. Technically the seat material is not accurate for the '74 but I thought it provided a classic look. 

It's been raining and I've not had any time to work on the 911 the past few nights so I thought I'd post a few pics of the old 914. Here's a shot at the SDPCA Concours.