These Blues is Killing Me

The engine is now dropped outta the car and I have removed the gas tank for restoration. I installed new stainless steel gas lines and cleaned up a lot of gunk. I then started into the famous “hell hole” rust present in all un-restored Porsche 914’s. This phase of the project can strike sheer terror into your heart when you dig in; mainly due to the discovery that you have a “parts car” or a decent one based on the damage in this area. The goodness is that this car has minimal rust in the longitude. That said, it is still significant work and requires fabrication and welding. I cut out the rusty bits to inspect the longitude and see how much good metal I have to work with, what you are trying to do is preserve lips and shelf's for attaching metal and get to the bright, shiny metal to weld onto. So far, we are still inspecting and figuring out the shapes of metal we want to weld. I am going to treat the inner longitude with POR-15 as I tested the metal and it is all strong and in good shape, there is surface rust and so encapsulating it is a decent fix for the time. Some day in future I would do a repair in this area to fully restore it, but it is more than good enough and will stop any further deterioration. I have a lower, rear inner longitude and so I am going to cut and fit that and see if I can get welded in for a good fit. It is thick metal and will provide some nice strength.

In the pictures below, you can see the cigar shaped hole in the top of the longitude…

Then I cleaned it up and I am scrubbing metal, sanding, grinding, etc.

Battery tray removal and new parts…

Okay, this is more geared towards the “gas” version of one of my 914’s, but it is cool and it helps me clear the garage for the next phase of the EV restoration. I have purchased a tricked out Porsche engine with 100% working EFI system, a newly rebuilt transmission from my trip with Dr. Evil and the crew and a new SS Borla Exhaust (very rare) and I plan to put this into the yellow Porsche over the next couple weeks. Finally, it will be better than new, more powerful and more important, dependable (fingers crossed!)

The exhaust is a work of art…

I then had my son and his buddy put up my outside shelter, wired it for lights and power and turned it on tonight!

Well back to the Porsche EV and Restoration Project! I took the summer off to restore the tent trailer and having finished that, it is time to get back to the Porsche. I have half of the garage cleaned & organized and now plan to jump in next weekend and finish up the rear panel welding. In the meantime, I had to make sure I had a solid and reasonably perfect transmission to mate up to my Warp 9 Electric Motor. This weekend I went to southwest Washington (Battle Ground) and took a transmission rebuilding clinic with 13 others (and some observers throwing around non-PC jokes of all kinds) and finished my transmission. I now understand the basics of how to approach fixing a transmission and I have my super clean “901 side shifter” ready to go.

In pieces…

Back together…

I finished everything up the last couple weeks (except for a gas line) and this weekend I was off to camp at Battle Ground Lake State Park. It was very nice and I attended my Porsche Transmission class, entertained my friends Deb and Gary from Vancouver and it worked out well. I have another canvas rip, but that is an easy fix. This is my last post on this topic and I am going to call it good!

Here is where I started…

After all of my car rustoration metal work and welding this winter, I managed to eek out a few fabrication skills and I knew I would need them for the things I wanted to add to the front storage area of the trailer itself. I did the research on what I could buy to fit that “A” shaped area and I figured it was going to cost another $500 bucks, So I decided to build what I wanted myself. The first thing I did was spec out the cooler and I ended up with two of them (32 cans, 25 Quart) Iggloo Marine Coolers and tie downs. I figured I could fab up a bracket and mount the tie down system, they are just 11 inches in depth, so they fit perfect. So tonight I fabricated the bracket out of 3/4 inch steel, square tube, welded it all up and measured it in. I have to clean up my welds, drill and tap all the brackets holes and then mount it on the trailer. The fit is cool and it will look great.

This weekend I fitted the new covers for the bed foam that I ordered a month back and they look really nice in that ‘70’s retro way…

Then I built a frame, boxed it and mounted my “under the seat” cooler and filled the interior with expansion foam. Now we have dry goods and pantry storage.

I haven’t posted in a while on any topics pertaining to cooking and it is partly because I have been spending most of my spare time cramming on technology for my job and working on the restoration projects for the Tent Trailer and the Porsche EV Project. Coming into the end of summer, the tent trailer is almost completed and I will start back on the Porsche in October, so I figured it is time to catch up on some cooking. I have continued to put up Brisket and Sauces, but since I covered those before (links at the end of this post), they are redundant. But I have been thinking about Chili and certainly as I get to my golden years, I plan to do a lot of BBQ and maybe some chili cook offs for fun.

So this week I planned out the chili and today I put it together. It is based on my BBQ Brisket, so that is a shameless plug to buy some from me @ $14.00 a LB…

Memphis Brisket Chili with Black Beans

Ingredients

• Peanut Oil
• 2 White Onions (not Sweets)
• 2 Cans High Quality Black Beans (not seasoned)
• 2 Cans DiNapoli Chopped Tomatoes in Heavy Puree (28oz Cans)
• 1 Can Embassy Smoked Jalapenos (7oz Can)
• 1 each Bell Pepper (Green, Red, Orange and Yellow)
• 1 Fresh Poblano Pepper
• 2 Fresh Anaheim Peppers
• 3 LBS Larouex Memphis Brisket
• 4 Isernio’s Mild Italian Sausages
• 4 Cloves Fresh Garlic
• ½ Cup Fresh Chopped Oregano
• High Quality Chili Powder
• Ground Black Cumin
• Celery Seed
• Brown Sugar
• Kosher Salt
• Cider Vinegar
• True Lemon

Pre-Preparation (mise en place, Everything in its place)

• Chop all the peppers into a 3/8 inch dice. Remove the seeds and inner skeins.
• Chop the Onions into a 3/8 inch dice.
• Place the sausages into the freezer for 45 minutes.
• Chop the Brisket into a 1/2 inch dice
• Remove sausages from the freezer and the chop into a 1/2 inch dice.
• Organize all of your spices to be ready at hand.
• Puree the 2 cans of chopped tomatoes in the Cusinart for a couple short bursts as you will want the chop to be around 3/8 inch.
• Puree the Smoked Jalapenos, leave them a little rough, but they will melt in the chili.
• Place the black beans in a strainer and rinse them with cold water.

Preparation (Makes 1 gallon)

• Use a large, heavy bottomed stock pot.
• Use high heat and be aggressive with your stirring and sautéing, heat matters as you don’t want anything to stew or extrude too much moisture. Use a silicon oven glove with your stirring hand to protect from the heat and splatter.
• Add 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Oil and heat.
• Add chopped sausage and cook until brown. The sausage will stick and brown up, just be aggressive in stirring.
• Add 4 cloves of garlic using your garlic press.
• Add 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Oil.
• Add all the onions and cook until translucent and the edges have browned. You should be getting some benefits from the moisture in the onions loosening the stuck bits, effectively deglazing the pot.
• Add Chopped Brisket Meat.
• Add 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Oil.
• Heat everything up and add 5 Tablespoons of your Chili Powder.
• Heat everything and you should see the oil take on the redness from the Chili Powder.
• Remove the pot from the heat and empty the mixture into another container.
• Return the pot to the heat and add all of the chopped peppers.
• Add 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Oil.
• Cook the peppers until softened and this step should have removed all the sticky bits on the pot.
• Add the chopped tomatoes.
• Add the minced smoked Jalapenos.
• Add 16oz of water.
• Reduce the heat to medium now and let the pot come to a boil.
• Add the meat back into the pot and stir to incorporate.
• Add the black beans.
• Add 3 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar.
• Add ½ Teaspoon of True Lemon.
• Reduce the heat to medium low, cover the pot and let the ingredients simmer for 45 minutes, stirring often.
• Add 5 Tablespoons of Cider Vinegar.
• Add ½ cup finely chopped, fresh Oregano.
• Add 1/4 Teaspoon of ground Black Cumin.
• Add 1/2 Teaspoon of Celery Seed.
• Simmer for 45 minutes.
• Add 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt.
• Simmer for 30 minutes.

All Your Prep Work Completed!

High Heat and Browning!

Ingredients…

Finished  Product, colorful and very tasty…

Summary

This is a mighty fine tasting Chili and with the smoked Brisket, it will be something no one can easily replicate! I vacuum sealed a bunch up for camping (just heat the bag in boiling water) and some for my friends to give away.

For reference, here are some of my other postings on cooking…

• Anthony Bourdain, Making Peking Duck, Making Ham, etc.
• Making Larouex Brisket
• Making Smoked Andouille Sausage

This weekend I finished plumbing in the last water stuff with the filtration unit and securing the lines in case they get pulled. The water is all done. I then moved onto cleaning up and inspecting the electrical panel and convertor system. I added new fuses, new interior lights and roughed in the skylight and fan above the cooking area., The electrical is all done.

Interesting challenge wiring the fan for the skylight in as the roof is a laminate of aluminum sheet, expanded foam and a thin sheet of wood. I ended up heating a long straight wire I made from a clothes hanger and sliding that through the holes to melt the foam. It worked!

Next I am finishing the flashing and waterproofing for the skylight, rouging in the under seat cold storage and redoing the propane gas system.

I finished up the water system and got it all tested. I ended up having to replace every hose, the tank and the pump faucet (which was a hard to find part).

I also plumbed in the option for an electric pump line and the drain option that is a twist versus the plug that usually strips…

We managed to get the trailer out for the first trip this last weekend to Whidbey Island. It towed well, but all of the work I have not completed on the inside and the support stuff was a hassle. I started to stitch the canvas this week and I am now doubling the size of the water tank and getting all the water systems in order.

I decided to swap to a ABS unit versus the polyethylene and all of the toxic stuff. I have the space to mount it under the seats and I am using water heater straps, etc. to mount it. I will post details and I cut the holes and finish it up.

I finished up the electrical*, the trim and the weather calking, things are looking good!

* -- Phase 1 as In plan to do a full seven wire conversion when I get the time for the backup lights, backup spot and electric brakes.

Final paint is going down on the body this week. Then the electrical wiring and all new lights, backup spot, leveler’s, etc. I am also adding a full electrical braking system controlled from within the truck, so the overall safety of the trailer will be way better than when we started.

Check out that shine on that Rustolem paint job! You’d never guess it went on with a roller <shivers>

Finished up the rebuild of the axle and braking system. I am awaiting new drums before I mount the nice new wheels and tires.

Here is the original setup, and it was obvious the brakes would have not worked if they were charged.

Then the new setup, all rust encapsulated, painted and new brakes.

Axle mounted and taped off for the final paint on the body.

I finished up the coats of paint on the trailer lid and it looks really good. I am going to let it cure while I work on the body.

Next I went through all the parts and lights attached to the body with sheet metal screws (which I hate) and put in the nut holders and I will tack with a small weld and tighten them up, this makes the lights replaceable, etc.

Then cut the new inserts in the sheet metal for the new triple rear tail lights.

Next I will do the under body rust treatment then start painting the body.

We stripped down the whole trailer to bare metal and started fixing the little things. I then taped it off and decided to paint the the top of the trailer before I worked on the other stuff, this makes sense as we can raise it out of the way and tape it off. I applied the first coat of the thinned Rustoluem paint (50% paint – 50% mineral spirits) and it is an nice almond color. Looking at 6-7 coats over the next several days and then polish/buff. I am excited to see how good this comes out.

Let’s go back to my initial enthusiasm in acquiring a 1974 914 2.0, certainly the most desirable model of the entire run of 914’s. I was mostly concerned with the integrity of the body and rust and since this car was stored and maintained, it was in excellent shape for it’s age. I figured the mechanicals were no concern because the car started and the documentation was with the car. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!

I failed to pay attention to this little sentence uttered in the course of the transaction by the seller “I took it to a mechanic, but he had trouble making it run well. He recommended switching it over to carburetors and since that is $1200.00, I decided to sell it.” That was a prescience statement and I blew by it in haste. I missed that “that” bastard of a mechanic took all the proper Porsche specific parts off the car and swapped in VW parts that did not match the displacement or the Bosch EFI setup. I recognized this folly once I started to work on the car and realized that I needed to gain expertise in the EFI components and try to secure them through EBay and other means. Of course many parts are NLA, so this proved to take the better part of 3 months and it involved my getting scammed a couple times. I discovered that the NLA Porsche parts market is very tricky and you need to be really informed about the part, what can be swapped and the specific details of how that part will work in your car. This is common sense for sure, but compared to Detroit vehicles, the details are critical and the prices 10-20 times more.

Here is what I needed to acquire…

• Proper Distributor for 1973-1974 2.0 (231 174 011). Thanks so much to Brad who documented all of the important details. Eventually I ended up with a 1975 2.0 Dizzy that was in excellent shape and although it is not documented as a swappable part (231 174 021), it works perfect. I ended up buying 3 distributors before I got one that worked well. The first one was the proper part number in the EBay listing, but the seller sent me something completely different (a 1.7 Dizzy) and after I asked, he refunded my money. The second one was so worn out and sloppy that it was terrible and the third one was near perfect and in great shape.
• MPS - Manifold Pressure Sensor (280 100 043) – This is a NLA part and one on the car was from a VW bus and had been hacked (removal of the screw adjuster) and in a sense could have probably worked if everything else was tip-top. But it is not the right part for the car and so I ordered a remanufactured unit from AA and it works great.
• Bosch 2.0 Fuel Injectors – These are the big problem areas for me. When I started the car and did my initial troubleshooting, I noticed that the car ran rough. First I noticed that one injector was unplugged, bingo. Wrong, plug it in and the car ran worse. So I backed up and tested that the injectors are all spurting gas, this involves putting them into a baby food jar and seeing the gas spurt. The design of the 914 EFI has triggers built into the distributer to fire the injectors, when a plug fires on one side, both injectors dump into the cylinder on that side. All four injectors seemed to work and I don’t have the equipment to measure volume, etc., so off to the Witchhunter for cleanup and tuning. I reinstalled the injectors and things still seemed rough, so I rebuilt the fuel system deliver end to end with a new Fuel Pressure Sender and new German high pressure fuel hose.
• Throttle Body Sensor – This part was in okay shape, but I did have to pull it, clean it up, readjust it, make a gasket for it and reinstall. These parts are NLA and it is based on a circuit board that uses tension across a set of three leads to change resistance, like a drive by wire system built by a steampunk.

That last mile…

Once I had done all of the above, the car was still not up to snuff, but it did run. It missed and backfired through the throttle body and so I was stuck. I ended up taking to a Porsche shop and he fixed the timing and other sensors, but I forgot to bring the air cleaner apparatus and so the car could not be tuned for idle. I certainly thought I had all vacuum leaks covered as I had new hoses and the proper installation of the pieces, but the idle would not adjust and it hunted up and down indicating a leak and the car would cut out once I hit the road. So I started to think, injectors again. This time through the wonderful documentation of the folks on the 914 World forums, I tracked down the replacement injectors that would fit the car and offer the same performance for a 2.0. These are the Neihoff 57512 injectors for a MB SEL 450. I swapped them in this week and fitted new rubber gaskets into the injectors. This proved to be an issue and I removed one injector, I could see that the gasket was compressed and likely leaking. I also had new rubber boots to install on the injector connectors to hold them fast in place. This involved pulling the wires from the plugs and reinstalling. In doing this I notified that one injector wire as cut through in 2 places and I had never noticed this before because the harness covered it up. It was not all the way through, but just a couple strands holding it together. Fixed, installed the injectors, fastened the boost and fired it up. YES! The car idled now and was only showing issues under acceleration. I then swapped in the new Dizzy with a Hot Spark Ignition setup to replace the point and set the timing.

This journey is near its end to really get the car running great and just needs some optimization tweaks to get it where I want it. There’s a couple little issues in the power curve at 4k RPM, etc, but easy stuff from here.

What I learned…

These kinds of things are frustrating to most people, but I enjoy the learning that comes from a project like this. Taking a 35 year old car that would not run worth a dang and getting it back out there and enjoying it is very rewarding. Learning the “ins and outs” of the Bosch EFI was fun and I am now in the expert camp and can tune it and troubleshoot one with confidence. I also learned the Porsche NLA parts market is something to be very, very wary about. There is a reason someone is selling something and likely it is because it is worn out and they think that you understand that risk. I didn’t and it was really a drag opening a box for a part you had been trying to track down for a month and it was all wrong or a waste of money. Stick with forum’s and ask lots of questions, I did many hours of research and found almost every situation documented on 914 World and that was they key to success.

We have been wanting to get a tent trailer for a number of years, but the price and the number of years we would use it seemed to make the price too high to justify the purchase. I looked at used ones and did the research and you can easily get into $1500+ of costs just replacing canvas, tires, springs, etc. So it was great that last weekend we ended up being given a 1984 Coleman trailer and it met my lowest price of “FREE” and it is in decent enough shape for being 25 years old. The canvas needs some attention to patching, but it is worth keeping. The undercarriage is intact and with some POR-15 treatment, it will last a long time. The paint and sheet metal showed no “rusting through” and so I figured it was a candidate to easily fix up and paint. The last issue is to repack the wheel bearings, replace the springs and get new wheels and tires. All told, I figure 500 bucks should do it. I plan to replace all the electrical (after I just rewired the Porsche, this should be a piece of cake), add new lights, mattress covers and new water & gas lines.

I have been wanting to test the internet legend of the “$50 Paint Job” using high density rollers and thinned Rustolem paint and the Tent Trailer Restoration is the perfect project to test this out and see if I can recreate the results everyone is raving about. We ended up doing a lot of work this weekend to get the trailer prepped for painting and have most of the sheet metal and aluminum exposed and ready for primer.

I will update the posts over the next couple weeks as I finish the restoration and get camping!

Okay this is off topic, but I wanted to show how I planned to haul my EV when I needed to take it to a show or pull it home. Early, early this morning I had to drop my yellow Porsche off at the shop in Seattle, so I needed to haul the car about 22 miles. I feel bad that I humiliated the poor car, but lots of folks honked and gave the thumbs up. people really like 914’s and yellow one even more.

After I finished up the door sill, I decided to hang the door and tackle the following…

• Weld in new steel and cover the door handle insets. The car will have “shaved doors” and will be opened with a remote. This give the side of the car a long, clean line. You can see the roughed-in delete on the door handle in the picture.
• Install the 911 Power Window Assembly.
• Wire up the actuator and solenoids for the lock, door opening and window (up and down).
• Install a modern door clasp to replace the stock 914 door clasps. The problem is that the 914 door latch moves sideways and I needed to open it from a “downward pull” of the solenoid. The inside area to “play in” in a 914 door is very limited. The mounting will require fitting, alignment and welding.
• Line up the rear quarter panel and get it fitted.

I will document the shaved door installation and power windows in later posts.

The side view shows the car with the pieces hung and it is starting to look like a Porsche again, albeit an ugly one!

Great progress on the passenger side and have completed…

• The boxing of the bottom of the door pillar. Kid of a PITA to make this part and get everything aligned.
• Tacked in the door sill.
• Mounted the “safer” door from the ‘74 parts car.

I am going to focus on some door fabrication activities next. I need to enjoy the heavy metal work being done on this side and do something a little less taxing. I plan to mount in the 911 power window assemblies and the shaved door kits. This is the best time as I have to move holes, cut things, etc. Then I will work on the considerable work to mount the rear quarter panel.

And BTW, I received my forged aluminum Fuch’s and they are from an original 914/6 which is nice. I plan to strip them, clean then and then prepare them to be painted on the inside and then polished in the rim areas. Imagine the red wheel below in Irish Green and you get an idea of how cool and matched these will be on the car.

I am ready to seal up the longitude and put on the rocker panel. I needed to finish up all of the welding that could melt my plastic wire conduit (2 in) for running all the heavy battery wires. I welded in the passenger side of the Engman stiffening kit…

Then ran my fabricated conduit into the front and rear of the positions of the previous warm air returns.

BTW, can you spot a mistake I made from the pictures?

Sure, I mean Johnny Cash, but I digress. I rarely post anything on this blog that I consider to be political and try to focus on things I am doing with my life. But I have become aware of things that hope others are paying attention to in their lives and holding onto their precious resources in this time of trial and toil. We had started pull back some time ago on credit, loans and excess (Sushi mainly). After looking across all of the credit accounts that I have left open (it is not always in your best interest to close an account and better to keep zero balances) and started to notice many “changes in terms of service” for these accounts in the mail. Then I decided to go back do some analysis on APR creep. You would think in this moment when the interest rate is at or near zero, how the hell can banks and credit card companies jack the rates into the stratosphere?

Here are the changes…

• WAMU (Is that !$%*# CEO Kerry in Jail yet?) now CHASE – Has moved their APR calculations to some new, obscure APR aggregation timing mechanism which kicks in every time Simon trashes a song… is now @ 23.95% on new purchases.
• AMEX BLUE – 21%

Then you get pissed. You call them up, cancel and ask the person on the phone who “fakes that they care about you as a customer”, that the company that they work for is behaving unethically and criminally (TARP you took, I say --yoda) and they are now contributing to that deceit.

So I needed something a little more grounded after all of this, hence I am listening to Johnny Cash tell it straight and true.

Is it good? Is is great? Yes, this movie was very tight, great photography and excellent direction. It never deviated from the story in anyway and made a brutal sport/show very sympathetic. He should get the Oscar.

Normandy Park is a sleepy little south Seattle suburban area with it’s own police force and a small neighborhood feel. What it lacks is anything resembling a commons area for meeting up, doing business, a solid pub and non-fast-food restaurants. Initially when the Normandy Park Towne Center was proposed, I had high hopes and then they diminished when I saw that the design was more strip mall than a true center and the place is designed to be car centric and the huge parking lot that creates a wasteland in the middle of things. But that is just me wishing more folks would read Suburban Nation and take to applying it.

We have a solid community restaurant that is not named Starbucks. Cafe Mia just opened and it is configured with an open area and a walkup counter that at first impression I thought it was a little cold, but as the neighborhood comes in, it warms right up. I like the idea they have for the wine sales, it is all done retail and they charge corkage. So getting a great bottle is as easy as going to your favorite shop and not taking the typical 70% restaurant markup. The food is very well done and simple. Very good cheeses and excellent pizza. We have fallen in love with their gelato and especially the tiramisu flavor.

Another review here…

Cafe Mia
19803 1st Ave. South, Suite 104
Normandy Park; 206-429-3145

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