itx
Part of things
Posts: 48
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PART SEVEN - COMMITMENTI honestly never thought I'd get this far in terms of chapters during the replacement of the engine, but here we are. Bloody hell, here we are. This chapter starts a few days back. While part six is yet to be completed, I hitched a ride to the car and got the wheels. Even though the pictures make it seem like they were kinda nice, the paint really wasn't. The original silver was already pretty worn and the can-black was just a cover-up, not a proper solution. Plus three wheels were gloss and one matte due to the lack of paint. And after the replacement of the tyres they really looked like garbage. First thing was to clean them. I had some primer left over and set out to clean and then sand them, primer over it and get the center black and the rim silver, clearcoat it and off we go. Little did I know that some of the prior paint didn't quite accept it's faith and decided to mess up the primer completely - the pictures don't really show the disaster... All over the rim and sometimes on the spokes the paint started to wrinkle and even after sanding and trying a second thin coat it just kept getting worse. Only option: Strip all the paint and start anew. Typical job that would've been easy and turns into days of work. So yeah, here I wass, power-drilling the paint off the wheels I was supposed to paint. In 0°C weather while it's windy and I already felt sick. This better be worth it. Today is paint-arrival-day. Sticking to cans but with proper surface preparation and clear coating this time. I cry like a girl if it doesn't work out dammit...! The day was cut short due to something else I had coming up. Something I had in my mind forever, but never went out to actually do it... Yeah, this is the shift pattern of the 016Z-transmission that is in my car. Digitized in Illustrator after photographing it to get every proportion exactly right. Anyone guessing by now where this is going to end? In the past months I created several different illustrations of a usually simple nature around cars (EDIT: As there was already confusion, the picture above does not feature my stuff, but is taken at the tattoo studio). This particular idea was finished shortly after receiving the car. My premise: The pattern the next car carries is the one. And then I bought the 24 with the Getrag, and the deal was sealed. And here we are. The car drug has got me and I won't quit. To end this chapter with true commitment, even though it's not about the two-four, here is the film of my latest holiday with my girl in Norway. Of course, on four wheels, with Mørk, the little motorhome. itx - black and white yet colurful.
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Last Edit: Feb 26, 2016 7:00:23 GMT by itx
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düdo
Part of things
wide as house
Posts: 770
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Feb 24, 2016 22:13:40 GMT
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The film is real nice. Looks like a great trip. I like the tones/ drone footage and you got yourself a nice lady.
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Cool car. Cool details. Cool composition. What more needs to be said?
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itx
Part of things
Posts: 48
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Feb 25, 2016 20:00:03 GMT
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Thanks for the kind words, I'll try my best to keep the quality up and rising! PART EIGHT - LET THERE BE LIGHT II (or NEARLY THERE BUT STILL FAR)After a really solid amount of time spent with the foglights, they are done and ready to be installed. The baseline was pretty solid with just the little amount of rust on the inside, which I now really appreciate as replacement parts for these old lights are close to impossible to source. They are now fitted with 55W yellow bulbs which should give me plenty of output with the new wiring - I'd call it perfect if they would just have a little more of a yellow glow to it... Can't wait to turn them on for the first time nonetheless! Even though I held them to the car few days back, solidly mounting them will be a totally different story, I still can't imagine the final result. But for now I stay silent and show you the pictures to this Hella nice set of lights (< ha, got it?). And then, after days of cringing and cursing, stripping the paint, then painting black, then silver, then black again and finally the clear coat: And yeah, I finished the whole set, not just the one. Of course one decided to massively annoyed me while the other three were smooth sailing after the paint was stripped. The finish is as with most parts not perfect, but matching to the car and its purpose. Initially I played with the idea of polishing the lip but as I wasn't going to remove the tyres this was the best way to go. So far I've got two out of three "after-engine-replacement"-things done, painting wheels & getting a set of fog lights. The only (and by far most critical and most labour-intensive) one left is to re-seal the rear hatch and replace the glass with a no-wiper setup... itx - no engine but a lot of spares!
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Last Edit: Feb 25, 2016 20:01:00 GMT by itx
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Ray Singh
Posted a lot
More German exotica in my garage now
Posts: 1,984
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Feb 25, 2016 20:51:39 GMT
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Fantastic - I love it when a car takes over the owner. Just like Stephen King's Christine :-).
I love your art (PM incoming). I am going to go through the same hell shortly - I have to paint my cookie cutters soon!
Keep going on the 924 - its an under valued car.
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Chris™
Part of things
This is clearly filler material.
Posts: 519
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Feb 25, 2016 20:51:58 GMT
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Not seen this thread before but it's really quite calming and satisfying to read. Enjoying the high quality photos and great attention to detail
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Last Edit: Feb 25, 2016 20:52:32 GMT by Chris™
1989 Volvo 340 1986 Suzuki SJ413 2000 BMW 318ti 2006 Lexus IS250
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Feb 26, 2016 14:10:36 GMT
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Was in Norway last Summer, flew in and out of Oslo up to the north of the country - hard to comprehend the amount of snow up there in the middle of July. From my plane seat EVERYTHING in all directions was white.
Have worked all over Europe, Norway is right up there for incredible scenery.
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munky
Part of things
Posts: 462
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What is the estimated time of fitting for the engine? Fantastic video
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itx
Part of things
Posts: 48
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Feb 28, 2016 13:37:06 GMT
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Well, I guess that depends on the point of view. The time of actually fitting the engine into the car is about a day. The time until the engine is finally ready to be inserted is yet to be announced. Apart from one single hose and the engine itself every part and screw is ready and even though it's dead certain that there will be hickups on the way I won't stop until the car is peacefully purring on all four wheels. I am absolutely fed up with driving this ugly, modern pile of junk and my mood hasn't been worse the past weeks. Ended up hauling the wheels back into storage and finally mounted the fog lights. Still have to decide wether it's cool or not. Looks weird with the car pointing upwards on jack stands. I'll pick a choice once it's back on the ground. So here we are. Closed the garage door without a clue when I'll open it up the next time. itx.
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itx
Part of things
Posts: 48
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PART NINE - THE OBSCURE TWISTS IN LIFEBefore we go into the new stuff, just a quick recap: My engine seized, I managed to get a sponsorship for a freshly rebuilt one and decided to improve the little nickle and dime stuff along the way to never have this car breaking down again. Down the road I also prepared the wiring for the foglights. Time flew by and while I was ready for the new engine, the engine just wasn't ready for me. And still isn't. So here is what happened: This past weekend I hit rock bottom. Mood totally crushed, huge amounts of work to get us a bathroom again, stupid idiots screwing my timetable and the car still not running. And then it hit me: I might as well call the engine builder and ask if he has a date for the arrival of the crankshaft bearings yet. If he has and it is reasonable, I'll cringe and wait. If he hasn't I'll pull the head of the seized engine and see what's up. So I'll call the guy and goes "Yeah, no date. Parts all laid out, no bearings available.". Crank-crank-vroom - off to the car. As far as I could judge it, block and head both look fairly decent but more importantly, this may have actually been the first gasket in there. Up to '80 Porsche used 10mm-allen-head bolts which were tightened cold and then hot again. After-'80 they started using size 12 triple-square expansion bolts. Both kinds need to be replaced every time the head is pulled. Guess which ones I found... Quick look on ebay revealed a whole head gasket set including the screws for 80 quid. Simple question right there: Do I want to do two engine swaps instead of one and drive or suffer quietly while draining my passion in alcohol? Yeah, you know. And here is where the ironic part started to become obvious. I meticulously cleaned every part, hose and even clamp. Apart from the whole assembly known as "engine". So I basically polished the buttons on my dirty jacket. I tried to clean the engine best I could given the fact that I obviously don't really care about it. It is still an ugly pile, especially compared to the rest. Do I care? Not the slightest bit. I started the whole odyssey at 07.30am. Fixed, cleaned and assembled the engine by 11.00am (mostly). Removed the hoist by 03.00pm. Next time I pull this thing I'm going to replace the righthand engine mount. It's bent. Apart from that the times show the pattern. First try starting this thing was at about 09.00pm. Well it didn't wanted to. After a lot of cursing I got it to the point of actually running for one second before stalling. I went from no fuel to too much fuel to no spark at all in about 25 minutes. I gave up on 11.30pm. There was literally no spark left for neither the car nor me. The problem was sourced down to either coil, cap, rotor or the electronic ignition. My rebuilt wiring loom has a silver coating for heat deflection. Turns out this alloy coating actually grounded the coil which killed the ignition. Forethought killed the spark. Ironic, huh? I had to skip friday as I was full-on working in our apartment, but headed to the car on saturday after some well-deserved sleep. The video is about 30 minutes after I got there. Did I mention I didn't saw any sense in fitting the exhaust if the car wouldn't run? Well, the neighbor didn't like it. I did! To retain the peace I started fiddling around with all the other stuff left before I could actually make it move down the street. Surprising just how much time goes into these machines if you removed more bolts then necessary. After the exhaust was mounted I inevitably had to find out that the alternator wasn't charging. I thought I might had cracked it during the removal as I dropped it. About two hours and a lot of cursing, re-doing parts of the wiring and a drive home and back to the garage again I found out that I didn't attach the ground from alternator to engine... Now I at least know how to mount the alternator while everything else is in place. Started it back up (with exhaust connected but dangling freely)... 13.8V! That was about the time I was sure it would take 15-20 minutes and I could go for a test run. As the sun was completely set and no light out there at all I finally cranked the key with my butt in place. Only to get right back up twice to adjust the clutch linkage as it was undrivable. Drive around the block - ugly clunk. Put the proper torque on the wheels (one should do that!) - drive around town. Belts scream a little, but everything else seems to work. I certainly had a proud moment driving around without the hood and revving this thought-to-be-dead-1984cc-pile! Did I mention the fog lights are awesome? At about 08.30pm I was finally ready to go home. I had to pirate the battery from the girl's car as mine was dead and even with hers the car didn't really wanted to crank. Naturally, I forgot about certain amount of things: Hood release - not fitted at all, hood release cable - moving freely in the engine compartment, wiper wash-system - left it in the garage, water pump pulley - two out of three bolts loose and the fuses for the right side of the light still installed despite the relais. I ended up driving solely with the fog lights as the headlights constantly switched between high and low beam and the idle was dangerously low at times and with a starter of sorts I really didn't the car to die in the middle of the city. Luckily, I made it all the way to both my girl cooking and a timing light fixing my idle problem. The hood stayed shut and the fog lights survived the first real test. Today I just tackled some small stuff. The hood release mechanism was fitted again (kinda useful really!), the pulley bolts tightened and the proper battery re-installed. Oh and as the engine look way to terrible for the rest, I searched the basement for my old rocker cover, sprayed it silver and garnished it with a polished cap and new nuts. A little tidy up of both plug wires and injector lines later I found myself in nasty weather on the road home. But who would I be to not top this major success off with some pictures of the mess altogether? itx. - lovin' it!
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munky
Part of things
Posts: 462
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Wow! That's so cool to hear! Congratulations on winning the fight. Looking forward to some more of your amazing pictures!
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ozboy
Part of things
Posts: 19
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Well, what more to say than: FREAKING AWESOME! Love your level of "dedication".
Nice photographing skills too...
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totti
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,153
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Well done!!
Gruss
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65 'Ford Taunus 17m 66' Ford Taunus 17m Turnier 73' Ford Taunus 63' Ford Taunus Transit 1250 72'Ford Escort 2000cc 71'Ford Escort 1700 4 door 89'Ford Escort Express 87'Ford Fiesta Diesel 64'Ford Cortina 1500 deluxe 57'Volvo PV 444 Califonia 54'Peugeot 203 Commerciale 2004 Harley Davidson Fat Boy 78'Zündapp ZR 20 88'MZ ETZ 250
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Volkswrencher
Part of things
... in the garage, wrenching!
Posts: 54
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Mar 25, 2016 19:05:42 GMT
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Really nice write up! Love the pics and the fact it is back on the road! Any news?
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Mar 27, 2016 19:03:39 GMT
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Stunning pics, as always. And glad to hear you're still persevering, despite the problems.
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itx
Part of things
Posts: 48
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itx
Part of things
Posts: 48
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Apr 28, 2017 10:30:40 GMT
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BACK AGAIN - THE LADY GOT THE TREATMENTSo this thread hasn't been updated in forever, the main reason being that nothing was done to the car in the time being. At least nothing positive... So this part of the story begins in September of 2016. I was on production in the UK, jobs going horribly wrong and chaotic and that's when the phone rings at 9am in the morning. Together with all the personal trouble between me and the girl I was already pretty stressed just seeing her number on the phone. But considering all options, what she said was probably not the worst of all things she could've said to me that morning. Apparently a lady in a Jeep wasn't paying a dime of attention and reversed into my parked car. Now here is the deal: The car was parked in the quietest dead end we have around here. Nothing ever happens on that tiny stretch, which is why I parked it there in the first place. Funny, right? Even more funny (sarcasm) is the fact that this another flashback moment in my 924 history. Remember that whole engine seizure in early 2016 that happened exactly a year after the engine seizure in the previous car and led to most of this thread? The way that car was ultimately killed and then sent off you may ask...? Yes, that's right. An impact on the EXACT SAME SPOT while parked in a dead quiet street. The impact was heavier though, and I almost quitted 924s at that point so that car no longer exists as a whole. Back to the recent past. Luckily, the insurance company didn't act up and since I still had a bumper and indicator from another car all I needed to do was buy new mounts and the dear thing was ready to be repaired. Now since this involved painting it, I took a save distance and let people do it that actually know their craft. I also stepped away from re-mounting the fog lights. They proved to be of no additional use and the mounting solution was something I disliked for a while now. The wires are still there though, so I could re-fit them if I wanted to. After getting the car back on the 23rd of December (yup, that stuff took a while...) the car looked better. That's it. As my "day job" is being a freelance filmmaker mostly in an automotive environment I get to meet people that have so much more skill than me regarding cars but sometimes need a little help in the imaging department. But charging friends sucks and I have a camera with me nearly all the time anyway when going out... ...so I designed a little booklet in the style of 90's Porsche advertising using all the pictures I shot over the course of nearly two years. And when I got to leave the country to fly to LA for a job back in early March I got asked to leave the car with the dude... (If you want to know more about his awesome craft, I made a film a while back, too - FILM HERE) "We'll take a look at it." - Yeah, sure... So as my morning coffee sits in front of me here in the office, let me explain what happened between the first of March and this 28th of April. The car was test driven by him and brought to another shop before both involved parties, specialized in 964s and 911s in general, realized this is not only a terribly driving and shifting car with uncountable faults but nothing they know about. So the car went off to a local specialist for transaxle cars and the three guys stood around the car and basically laughed a lot about all the faults, or at least that was what I was told. The summary was simple: Shifts horribly bad, drives badly, wipes whenever it damn well pleases. So where are we right now and why did I have wait another month for the car after landing from LA? Because a lot got done. The transmission was replaced with a properly functioning one, the whole suspension was looked after and sports new Koni dampers all round as well as a much needed sway bar in the front. The transaxle is a freshly overhauled one. The brake drums in the rear got replaced, the whole brake system got new fluid and apart from a new TÜV (MOT) the wipers work as intended as well. It's pretty much pointless to state how thankful I am right now. Is this end all? Of course not. Because right now I am so motivated to finally take on the three dozen other things that still need to be addressed. Beginning with the horrible fumes coming though the not-really-sealed rear hatch. That has to be done first. And maybe I get someone to polish her up and see how much bling is left in the old paint. Oh did I mentioned I desperately need to get a roadtrip in with the old lady, too? Pretty insane to think of me coming back from LA and then drooling over pictures of other cars and now, within a week, I have two cars at my disposal. In case you missed it, I also bought a Range Rover Classic that gets his own story (check HERE). Today also marks 3.5 years with the girl. A lot of things to be happy about. See you next time, Cheers!
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Last Edit: Apr 28, 2017 10:35:01 GMT by itx
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ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,117
Club RR Member Number: 134
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Apr 28, 2017 12:45:01 GMT
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This is an interesting idea... Will be following!
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g40jon
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,569
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Apr 28, 2017 13:02:08 GMT
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Love some of the photography in this thread, the pics have a kind of period look that goes well with the car. What lenses are you using?
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itx
Part of things
Posts: 48
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Apr 28, 2017 13:28:05 GMT
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What lenses are you using? Not the easiest to answer - This thread spans over nearly two years now and I used at least five different cameras throughout with a lot of different lenses. Tell me the picture and I can tell you the setup.
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