I have been planning for a number of weeks the modifications I would make to the 914 engine compartment and gas compartments when it comes time to fabricate up the battery boxes and supports. My goal was to get a reasonable weight distribution to the center of the car and preserve a little of that mid engine magic the 914 is know for. Here is my engine compartment layout. I measured this up this weekend and in between my major repairs, I will start making a mock up for fitting purposes and sizing.

Doing a large project whether it be for your job or yourself has that special moment of satisfaction, that reward you work for not connected to “just money” or a paycheck. Everyone has a different point and personal response to these moments as I have discovered over the years leading teams on large software projects… and trying to hold together all the people it takes to finish something up. Personally, I love the moment when all the work is known and the ambiguity is at a minimum. All that is left is the process, finding and assigning the right people, resources and guiding the outcome. It is the moment when I know something will be successful and that it is possible. I am now at that phase on the passenger side of the Porsche. I have removed the outer rockers and inner fender and all the excess rusted metal. I am fabricating the strengthening parts for the double-walled portions of the inner longitude and have all my measurements and plans organized. It has been interesting getting to this point and I thank the connections the internet creates and the enthusiast forums which provided me with incalculable knowledge and documentation.

I also believe strongly that you should never tackle anything without the proper tools and I have invested in a complete welding setup, a fully stocked toolbox, a restoration rotisserie, unibody measurement tools and the Led Zeppelin box set. In preparing for the replacement of the inner longitude and rear suspension, the whole car will lose all structural integrity and you have to have it supported safely and know how to bring the new parts into spec. Otherwise, you have what is called a “highway bomb” which will break under stress. The 914 was prone to this without proper repair anyway because of the stupid engineering decision to place a lead cell battery over the passenger suspension components and it rusted straight down with extreme determination. The next affect was to take that rust and goop all the way down the inner longitude and ruin that part and the rockers. This is one reason that restoring a 914 is important and yet never worth the investment, they just are not worth the return. In my case I am happy to get in and repair these parts and I want a solid roller for my EV conversion and I like knowing all is well.

So let’s look at the exposed inner longitude after much effort I gave it cutting, grinding and the metal removal…

The other key thing is to take that extra time and document the measurements of the car. The funny thing is that a 914 body delivered from the Karmann factory was allowed deviations of 7mm to 9mm in the car. This is huge by today’s standards and that means that your roller maybe off that much compared to factory specs. Luckily mine is in pretty good shape. I measured everything up, fabricated a couple measurement shims for when I weld in the new parts to the final positions and matched up to the factory specs.

The last task of the weekend was to start to fabricate all of the pieces for double-walling the parts I am replacing. This is a PITA, but part of the fun of the repair too, you get to make parts from your own hands and skills and plan how they will fit. Sound creative enough for ya?

Finally things are picking up. I received 1/2 of my sheet metal order on Friday and started to plan out the repair of the inner longitude and outer rockers. Automobile Atlanta supplied the sheet metal and the parts look really well done. I also picked up my MIG gas canister for my welding unit and we started up the cart today. Laid down some of my first welding beads since 1982 and did pretty well! I am in Boston next week and when I return I will do a lot of sheet metal practice and plug welding. I started to prepare to remove the main rear suspension bracket (that cannot be ordered and it looks savable). Before I go any further, I am awaiting my bottle jacks and plan to level out the car and build a complete suspension jig for the rear of the car before I tear out any parts. This will allow me to get everything back in place and true. Most important was I picked up my WarP 9 EV motor this morning from Carlos @ EV-Supply and saved myself some shipping costs. 

 

 

I am in that phase of the project that is really tedious. I am stripping undercoating and removing paint down to the metal. I have been getting a couple hours after work each day and I manage to clean up about 1.5 square feet a day. I figure in about 3 weeks I will have the body cleaned and can start welding. Not fun work, but super important to get the proper look I want to the car.

In the meantime I am planning out and sourcing parts for the other aspects of the car. I decided early on that I would heavily modify this car to be more modern (brakes and suspension) and customize the electrical system. The thing I am trying to accomplish with the electrical system is to build out the “lowest consumption” system end to end that I can. The idea is that I would rewire with modern components and LED’s in all places for lighting. I also planned to have a completely modern gauge system optimized for just the EV information, not just a poor port of analog stuff from an ICE. My first step was to purchase the complete technical specifications for the 914 and a color wiring schematic. I have built a number of electronic projects over the years and even etched my own circuit boards, mostly for guitar effect projects. Cars are much more basic and considering this 1972 car, it is all simple relays and connectors. I ordered an modern fuse box panel upgrade from RennShift and that makes it easy to manage the fuses with blades versus the old style ones which are getting harder and more expensive to source.

There are a number of suppliers for LED to replace standard car lamps. I chose SupreBright LEDs…

Location	OEM Part	LED Equivalent
High & low beam headlamp	H6024	????
Parking light	1893	????
Front turn signal	1141	1156-x24 LED bulb $ 7.49 (each)
Rear turn signal	1141	1156-x24 LED bulb $ 7.49 (each)
Tail light	1157	1157-x24 LED bulb $ 7.49 (each)
Stop light	1157	1157-x24 LED bulb $ 7.49 (each)
Dome light	211-2	Not used
LED Turn Signal Flasher Unit		LED bulb Flasher Unit $ 12.95 (each)

I also ordered extra light sets for customizing the interior lighting and both trunks. I also added in some ground lighting for the step up when the doors are opened. I am still researching my best option for energy savings on the headlamps… but it is not looking good as most projects are DIY building headlamps. The only manufactures really doing it in production vehicles are Audi and Lexus and are complicated.

I also committed and ordered my WarP 9 DC Motor today and with my 144V pack, this thing will make the 914 sit up and haul. I am at the wash point and have done the math with replacement to rockers, hood, bumpers and trunk weight savings to fiberglass parts. My next calculations have to add in the chassis stiffening parts and battery box. I also ordered the motor mount and adaptor plate to the tranny.

Lots of progress and I will start building out the wiring harness next week.

Mary and I finally had the chance to take Beecher’s up on their Pike Place Market Foundation auction donation and be “Cheesemakers for the Day” and it was a blast. We ended up working pretty hard and they asked if I wanted a job. We stacked cheddar, added cultures, did rennet and cut the curds. Then we milled the curds and loaded up a good 23, 40LB blocks. We had a great lunch and the Market was packed.

Wow the weather has been great, ah the irony of rushing my project into the garage. I am in that slow portion of the project where I have to strip off the old tar from the floorpan and the undercoating. Then I start to strip to the metal in all the areas where I have to weld. I ordered all of the sheet metals for my project last week from Automobile Atlanta and decided to really tear out the rockers and fix the inner longitude. The new metal will make the frame super strong as I am adding strength in some critical areas. Sadly I am creating too much toxic crap as the tar was a good 80 pounds all up.

The pans are starting to show some cleanliness.