From the beginning of the pandemic, things started to gain speed and the restoration had really kicked off, I was learning so much about cars and how they worked. In the new year, the car finally has paint and looks incredible, new vinyl on the sails, and much more. We had to buff out and correct the paint where there were imperfections and other blemishes. We had to install a new dash and top pad of vinyl and reinstall the gauges that had been painted and cleaned. Almost every metal piece and part on this car has been wire brushed for rust and in soap and water for a good scrub to get rid of the 50 years of grime and “gunk” as my father referred to. The car has received dynamite in the cabin to lower road noise and eliminate rattles in the metal. The paint process was a relief to finish because it was time consuming. We couldn’t get anything else done before everything was removed and the body had been perfected with putty and other fillers to eliminate dings and small imperfections in the body. But nonetheless, The car is so close to being completely back together, and the car is close to starting back up. I will leave a few pictures of the progress.

Over the past couple of months, a lot has changed, I mean a lot. so far we have stripped the paint, took it down to the metal, put a coat of primer on the Porsche, dropped the engine and transmission, and took out all of the parts in the front trunk area which includes but wasn’t limited to: gas tank, carbon air filter, air box, windshield wipers, windshield wiper motors, front springs that hold the hood down and so much more. The 914 will be shipped off for paint very soon and will probably be in the prep and paint stage for a month. While the car is in that stage, We will be working on getting the engine in Pristine shape by cleaning it, scrubbing off all grease, sanding off and painting the tins that surround the engine, replacing aluminum vacuum seals, etc. Prior to dropping the engine, We ran a compression test and the car was compressing 90 psi in cylinder 2. This shows that there is a leak in the cylinder and we aren’t getting as much horsepower as we could be getting. We either replace the seal on the piston to seal off the cylinder from any leaks, or get a kit to bore out the cylinders and replacing the crankshaft, pistons, etc., and increase the volume to 2 liters instead of 1.7 liters.

The Porsche 914 has been coming along very nicely and, soon enough we will start the process of sanding and shooting the car with primer after we get the body lines straight. Then we will prepare for the painting part. We got the car driving and the brakes now work very well. The shifting at first was very poor and while driving, I could hardly find the right gear that I needed to. My dad and I found out that the shift linkages and bearings had been worn out and need to be replaced. So we replaced them and magically after, we started driving and found the gears we needed almost perfectly. The shifting was smooth, almost like butter, the car was driving very nicely and felt like it had been restored and it felt good to see it back on its toes belonging where it should. My favorite part about that car is hopping in and turning the key and hearing her turn over to life and letting all 80 odd horsepowers come to life. She is very, very, very loud.

After disassembling the breaks and spending about 3 minths with the brakes disassembled, we finally rebuilt the calibers, rotors, and replaced the brake pads, both fronts and rears, which required these steps:

• Ordering the caliper repair kit
• ordering new brake pads and rotors for all 4 wheels.
• cleaning the brakes off and sand blasting them to remove the rust and any coating on them.
• Sending the calipers to be plated in zinc chromate.
• ordering new brake lines.
• removing the master cylinder to be cleaned and sand blasted for any rust or any gunk, gummed up inside.
• cleaning the metal brake lines by removing them and sand blasting (this is one of the worst things to clean/repair on the Porsche 914).
• Installing the new brake lines .
• Installing the new calipers, rotors, and pads.

This all started around August 10th removing the calipers on all 4 brakes, and ended on October 10th, bleeding the brake lines for a second time. The car doesn’t have much pressure going to the brakes when you press on the brakes, so the master cylinder might need to be replaced. Or we might have to tighten the brake cable.

All in all the brakes turned out fantastic and look amazing. the plating on them looks original, and the calipers will never have to replaced again. When the car has full pressure going to the calipers to squeeze the rotors, it will be a wonderful thing to feel.

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Previously, the car had just been started for the first time in 10 years which is a HUGE accomplishment. Getting the fuel lines re-done and the air vacuum hoses and oil changed was a huge requirement to get this Porsche 914 running great again. But now, the car needs to be able to stop. This car has brakes that are in trouble. To fix this you can either: buy whole new brakes which cost large amounts of money, send them to be cleaned up to a mechanic, or buy a rebuild kit for all 4 brakes. The rebuild kit was the cheapest option. We want to get this Porsche driving on the road ASAP. The rebuild kit for the rear brakes has shown up, but the fronts have not yet shown up. in the rebuild kit, you are given many parts to rebuild and it gives the brakes a refresh. We took apart the rear brakes and put most of the metal parts in a sandblaster, as well as a metal vibratory tumbler. These two will break down the rust and will bring it back to bare metal and will make it look very new. Then we will plate the metal in chromate that is yellow/gold color. This plating will restore its original color and the metal will be dipped in zinc before that which puts a protective barrier for the long term against rust and other harmful materials to the metal.

Last post I talked about the car getting off the truck and assessing the vehicle and finding out the steps of what to do with the car. After a day of cleaning, we decided to try and see if it would start. before this, my dad back in California took engine fog and sprayed it into all the cylinders. which helps lube everything up and will help the process of starting the car. He tried spraying some starting fluid which made the car turn on but does not stay idling without spraying starting fluid. So after we cleaned it up back home, we did the same thing with the starting fluid and realized as it wanted to start, the fuel lines started leaking. That night we ordered all brand new air vacuum hoses as well as fuel lines from Auto Atlanta. When they arrived, we attached the fuel lines and the air hoses following a diagram of the lines under the car as well as throughout the engine bay. After doing that as well as a new fuel filter, we started the car and it ran for the first time in 10 years.

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The car was shipped on a truck from California and it took around 5 days to show up. I landed from the airport that night and got straight to work the next day. The first step was to analyze where to start and that was cleaning the interior and removing a few things. To clean the interior to get rid of dust and grime, I used soap and water and after I was done, it looked ten times better. After cleaning the interior my dad and I decided to remove both seats to assess the bottom of the car which had a bit of rust and lots of dirt so again, I cleaned it with soap and water. While the car was in California my dad went out there and took out the fuel injectors, and he shipped them off to get refurbished by “Mr.Injector”. Yes that is his name and we got them back, and the work was very good. We installed the fuel injectors as well as spark plugs and tried to get the car started but it would not run and we found a fuel leak. More to come on the Porsche 914 so stay tuned!