Making Slag and Planning for the Future

Today was a good day. I did some MIG welding, first time, and have the "sunburn" to show for it. I knew that the ultraviolet light could cause a burn but didn't know it would happen quite so fast - after only about 60 minutes of welding. Being the first time this was really just to get a feel for the process and the tools. It was a good time and, other than the burn, I'm looking forward to doing some welding for the 1974 Porsche 911 project. I came across some great resources for first time welders and recommend TheFabricator.com and articles by Marty Rice.

Looking at some images of '74 Porsches I came across a great looking Gulf RSR with an interesting tail light and reflector treatment. I'm going to consider this approach for my 911 as the tail light assemblies are showing their age and the reflector is in poor condition. I think with some effort and a trip to the scrap yard I can find some round tail lights that will recess into panels that replace the stock units.

All you first time welders remember, long sleeves and gloves.

Porsche 911 Build on a Budget

Maybe I've been watching too much "Wheeler Dealer", "Auto Trader", "Rides" and "Monster Garage" but my motivation to get back into the Porsche project, despite budget restrictions, is increasing. My thinking on this project has definitely changed. I'm less interested in new parts and rebuilding the car with the latest and greatest technology and more interested in getting the car back on the road at the lowest incremental cost possible.

The fact is, when I took the Porsche apart it ran and drove pretty well. I took it apart because it needed body work. Now the car is a freshly painted rolling chassis with the engine and trans under cover and the rest in various boxes.

What I've learned is it's time to make a list. Start somewhere and start listing the next steps. Listing the things that have to happen to move the project forward and get the car back on the road. Not having budget to invest in the project has actually made this easier. No more time wasted on tracking down and buying new parts. The focus has to be on making what I have work and in cases where I don't have the parts, finding the low cost approach to getting a good result.

So here's a start at making a list:

• Pull the front fiberglass bumper out of the attic
• Fit the turn indicators and driving lights
• Fill the gaps and fix the scratches, dings and other imperfections on the bumper
• Attach the bumper securely to the car using the original mounting points
• Paint the bumper
• Mount the bumper on the car

NOP Blue’s new home

New Old Porsche (NOP) Blue has a new home. The 1974 Porsche 911 has been painted, everything but the front and rear bumper, and relocated to a spot out of the way from the busy activities at the shop. Warren found a patch of clear, mostly level ground and also arranged for a couple of five by twelve sheets of aluminum sheeting. Saturday we raked out some gravel to level things out and fill in some small holes, laid some plastic as a moisture barrier, followed that with some plywood, and then laid the aluminum on top. This will provide a good surface for working on NOP Blue, easily supporting jack stands, etc. and making rolling around on a creeper really easy.

I’ve ordered an enclosed canopy that will surround the Porsche and keep the moisture out in the coming winter months. This will be plenty big to work on the car. Other progress has been made: I’ve ordered a wiring harness from Painless Wiring. I’m sure this project will test the company’s name. Now I’ve got a list of “while you’re at its” including MSD Ignition modules and an optical replacement for the points.

Why NOP Blue?

If you look back in the archives you will see the inspiration for the Porsche’s paint scheme comes from Ducati’s “New Blue” project. Also, NOP is a computer science abbreviation for No Operation, which seems a perfect term for the car at this time.

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Slow going on the Porsche

It's been a long while since I've made a post and I apologize. The last 6 months have been very busy with my new job, family and other things in life that have taken priority over my project car. That said, the Porsche 911 as not been forgotten and in fact has been painted beautifully by my father-in-law Warren, and the guys at Ocean Paint and Body. I'll get some more pictures posted soon but wanted to throw one out there so you can all see the progress here. We've lots of plans for the Porsche and as anyone who's done a project car knows, it's just a matter of time and money; neither in surplus at this time.

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Test Fit for the Porsche 911

The 1974 Porsche 911 project is making progress with the recent test fitting of the major body panels. A few weeks earlier the inner compartments and jambs were painted and now the team at Ocean Paint and Body are getting the doors, lids and fenders placed to verify everything will go together as planned when the paint work is done.

You can see here that a test panel has been used to check the graphics scheme and colors. I like the look of the Porsche silver and blue and have decided to keep the looks simple with just the stripes. Once the car gets painted it will be a nice looking rolling chassis. After that, the real fun will start for me as I’ll have to try and remember 1) where all the pieces are and, 2) how to put them all back on the Porsche.

I also need to complete the work on the front and rear fiberglass bumpers. I’ve already fit the bumpers to the car but they require a fair amount of work to get to a finished state. The rear is not too far off but I need to have the engine back in the car to finalize the exhaust opening. The front bumper requires more work to get the openings for the turn signal and marker lights sorted.

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A True Boxer Engine

Today is Mickey’s first birthday ...

I thought it would be fun to pass along a few pictures of Mickey hanging out at the shop while the Porsche was being worked on, these are from June so he’s quite a bit bigger now. You can see that Mickey is a real shop dog and enjoys being around the cars, especially the Porsche 911.

For those of you wondering about the name, no, Mickey is not named after the mouse but after the Irish boxer in the excellent movie Snatch.

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Bose Active Suspension

Amazing video showing the capabilities of the Bose Active Suspension. The first part of the video shows an impressive ride but the last few seconds are truly amazing.

Alonso Lied About Emails

The rift between F1 world champion Fernando Alonso and team McLaren boss Ron Dennis appears to be at an all time low. Crash.net reports that Dennis and Fred, “have not had any conversations since that point [the Hungarian Grand Prix].” It also appears that Alonso’s threats to expose incriminating emails regarding the Ferrari spy case to the FIA were empty. McLaren COO Martin Whitmarsh says, based on McLaren’s investigation, “he [Alonso] cannot have been telling the truth”.

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Drama Continues at McLaren

The McLaren team continues to be in the focus of the press after the Belgian Grand Prix with several new articles on the BBC site. The tension between the teammates grows with Hamilton fuming over Alonso’s turn one maneuver that pushed him into the run-off at the start of the race. From the coverage I’ve read it appears this was a valid move from a driver trying to protect his position on track.

Of more interest are reports that Alonso threatened boss Ron Dennis with exposing his involvement in the Ferrari spying incident. Apparently Fred thought he could use this to gain primacy in the team and Dennis immediately contacted FIA officials to report the new information rather than give into his driver. Alonso is reported to have apologized later but this cannot be helping his position with a team that has an investment in Hamilton.

With these disclosures it’s no wonder that rumors are circulating around Alonso leaving McLaren in 2008 for Ferrari or Renault. Will Ferrari really consider dropping Massa and (why) would Alonso go to a team where he would not be the top driver but must battle for recognition with Kimi? Renault would be a welcome home to the world champion especially if he can help get the team in order for the new season.

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Kristallsilber: The Color of Progress

Today marked what feels like a major milestone in the restoration/transformation of the 1974 Porsche 911 as the first coats of Kristallsilber were applied to the interior, jambs, engine compartment and trunk areas. The original Porsche color looks great and it’s exciting to imagine what the car will look like with the Cobaltblau trim added.

There is still a lot of work to do with this project and even with the paint complete it will just be a more pretty rolling chassis. One of these days I’m going to be forced to remember how to put the thing together again along with figure out some of the planned improvements such as the new wiring harness with modern blade fuse box.

All of this will come in time.

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Latest FIA Disclosures Implicate Alonso in Spygate

Yes, It is Cheating ...

Both the Sporting Life and the BBC have reported on the involvement of world champion Fernando Alonso in the McLaren/Ferrari spying debacle. The former have a fairly detailed transcript of an email chain between Fred and test driver Pedro de la Rosa, including de La Rosa’s statement that, “All the information from Ferrari is very reliable.”

It is obvious that Ferrari’s Stepney was providing McLaren’s Coughlan for an extended period of time and that more than just the design documents were being shared. Undoubtedly, the flow of information into McLaren benefited the team, if nothing else providing them with confidence in their decisions and continuous pressure to improve their own designs.

It will be interesting to learn more about Alonso’s involvement, and how much he benefited from the Ferrari data. Also intriguing is the revelation that Ron Dennis learned of his driver’s email communications during the Hungarian Gran Prix and reported the discovery to the FIA the day of the race – this may be further explanation of the poor relations between the team boss and the world champion.

The FIA will be publishing the full judgment next week after, “both McLaren and Ferrari have been given the opportunity to redact any confidential technical information.”

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Thursday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council Rules on McLaren Spying Case

Is it really cheating if there isn’t a discernable benefit?

According to a posting on the FIA website, McLaren through their own admission, “was in breach of the International Sporting Code through their possession of confidential technical data belonging to rivals Ferrari, who are now all but assured of the 2007 constructors’ title.” In addition to the loss of the constructor’s title McLaren will also be fined $100 million. The good news for the team is that the drivers, Alonso and Hamilton, will not be effected by the ruling and will continue to compete for the driver’s championship.

While it is clear that McLaren has cheated to some degree through the acquisition and possession of confidential Ferrari documents one has to question the penalties. Certainly the team should suffer repercussions for their indiscretions but do they really deserve to be ejected from the constructor’s title? Ferrari’s relative poor performance this year has largely been due to reliability issues. McLaren has consistently run more reliable races and often been faster.

The McLaren cars have demonstrated better suspension characteristics, being easier on tires and more capable at handling varying road conditions. If anything, they’ve benefited by not doing what Ferrari have done. While the fine seems appropriate (after all, what’s $100 million to an F1 team) the title penalty seems severe.

I wonder what evidence the drivers presented. Something was definitely afoot with Fred not saluting the team at the end of the last GP - perhaps Dennis was pressuring him re testimony. I
have to believe Lewis would have been a good soldier and not provided anything to damning to the team; Fred would be focused on his championship opportunity.

Ferrari may win the cup but it will be marked by an * and we will all know who the better team was.

A Great Porsche Project Handbook

Insanity is believing you Will run out of projects ...

When I first took on the 1974 Porsche 911 I thought I’d do some general maintenance and maybe even some performance modifications before taking on the larger challenge of paint, body, and interior work. Being new to the Porsche 911 model I wasn’t sure where to start, looking in the catalogs and the online forums I found many cool ideas. It quickly became apparent that the cost of those ideas was going to add up so my next bright idea was to look for recommendations from a trusted source.

Wayne Dempsey is one of the founders of Pelican Parts, an online Porsche parts dealer that has established a strong following in the Porsche community. Not only do Pelican Parts sell items for Porsches they have a good library of technical articles and a very active user forum.

So back to ideas of the 1974 Porsche 911, I came across the book 101 Projects for Your Porsche 911, written by Wayne Dempsey and knew that thought it would be a worthwhile investment. This is one aspect of the project that has turned out as planned. The book is very complete in offering both maintenance topics and performance enhancement topics. Guidelines for technical skill, time required, tools, and parts are provided making it very manageable to plan for and execute on one of the projects. Best of all, the book is not a platform for selling more parts, I’ve actually found myself not buying parts based on recommendations in 101 Projects for Your Porsche. I highly recommend this to anyone who works on their Porsche or who is looking for great ideas to take to their shop of choice.

A Final Resting Place?

The new home for the 1974 Porsche 911 is a corner at Ocean Paint and Body in Oceanside. The car, engine and transaxle are covered to protect them from the elements and the occassional seagull passing over. For a while I thought this corner of the shop would be the final resting place for the little brown Porsche 911 but Warren had a different idea.

Last Ride of the Porsche 911

When I started this project I didn't think the 1974 Porsche 911 would leave the garage on the back of a tow truch but that's how it played out. At least its getting some sun and the dust blown off.

Kat and the 1974 Porsche 911

Here's Kat jumping for joy as the Porsche 911 is brought to rest on the tow truck. Not only is Kat happy to have space in the garage for her Honda Odyssey, she's ecstatic to not have to look at the poor old brown 1974 Porsche 911. You can see my new (Kat's old) minivan in the background - that's a post for another time.

Porsche 911 Leaving the Garage

The 1974 Porsche 911 as it is being rolled out of the garage and onto the tow truck. There's nothing much left of the chassis, only enough to make it reasonably easy to roll the car around. The horizontal six engine and transaxle have already been loaded onto the truck.

Homer's Odyssey and the Porsche 911

This has nothing to do with Homer but it does have to do with an Odyssey and a 1974 Porsche 911; this is where you find out what derailed this project that previously seemed to be moving forward at a reasonable pace. In about July of 2006 I decided to surprise my wife Kat with a new Honda Odyssey. She had minivan envy as several of her friends had new new rides and I had a decent sized bonus check from my previous employer. Kat not only wanted a new van she needed one, her 2000 Honda Odyssey had about 125,000 miles on the odometer and the new vans with the electric side doors and side-impact airbags seemed like a much safer way to transport our three little ones. I fished around for color ideas, got the finances in order, and headed off to the local dealership to buy a new Honda Odyssey. Kat had no idea and that night when she came home from a school meeting the new Odyssey was in the driveway. The only problem was that the Odyssey was in the driveway and not in the garage because the 1974 Porsche 911, supported by four jack stands, was taking up its spot.
The following weekend it was time to gather up the scattered pieces of the 1974 Porsche 911, call the tow truck, and have the entire project relocated to the shop managed by my Father-in-Law, Warren (Ocean Paint and Body in Oceanside). I have to say I was somewhat relieved to have the Porsche 911 out of the garage and it removed some of the pressure to complete the project.
At this point the 1974 Porsche 911 was (and still is) nothing more than a rolling chassis with the engine and transaxle removed, the wiring harness pulled, no lights, interior, nothing. We pushed the Porsche to a far corner of the shop lot, covered it with the newly acquired car cover, and mission accomplished: the new Honda Odyssey fits nicely in the garage. The problem is that now instead of having a project just waiting for me to get home at night or dedicate my weekend to, I have to travel to work on the 1974 Porsche 911. This combined with not having my tools handy and there be many other things to spend my time on (kids, new job, motorcycles) meant that the project completely stalled.
And now you know.

What the future holds

For anyone wondering what my current thoughts are regarding the paint scheme for the 1974 Porsche 911 here's a hint. This is a modern replica of "Old Blue" the 1977 Daytona winning Ducati.

Blog renamed

You may (or may not) have noticed that I've renamed this blog 1974 Porsche 911 from the original "Porsche Build or Bust". Why you ask, to make it easier to find in the search engines. Yes, I am adopting the best practices that I talk about all day and build into products within my own sites. I don't expect to make this 1974 Porsche 911 the hottest spot on the internet but it shouldn't be completely hidden either. If you're reading this post I have to assume you've found the new url and are updating your bookmarks.
I've also created two other blogs to sell off my current (small) stable of motorcycles. More on this in future but if you're interested you can click the links to find out more about my 2003 Suzuki SV650S and my equally nice 2003 BMW F650GS Dakar.