New POS project vehicle!

[downtowncb]

Where did you get those headlight assemblies coated? How much did it cost?

[CurtP]

http://www.fourdmetal.com out of Sunnyvale, CA.

I had 51# worth of stuff plated (nuts, bolts, washers, brackets, heat shields, etc) and it was just around $225 (including shipping). Price varies depending on what you have done. Minimum charge is $65 lot, or 65˘/lb for nuts, bolts and washers. Anything that can't be done in a lot is charged per piece. The example they gave was a 6"x6" bracket costs $1. Parts have to be free of grease, oil, dirt and paint. I bead blasted some of my parts prior to sending it to them.

[downtowncb]

Cool thanks! I'll have to look into them, and they're near by.

[CurtP]

Got a hair in my ass and decided to go ahead and do some painting tonight after work. I'll clear coat it tomorrow.

[Jeeptech01]

good luck getting the hair out and nice work!

[CurtP]

I refreshed the upper strut mounts:


Starting to put it back together. I painted the brake booster too:


Brand new engine bay harness. I wish I could find a new engine harness to go with it. Oddly enough, it's made in Germany by Delphi.


Rebuilt the HVAC plenum. Took it completely apart, washed everything and bleached the evaporator coil and heater core. New foam seals, recovered the flaps with new foam and am making a new gasket to seal the openings to the dash.


I had to come up with my own solution for the firewall grommets. They're all NLA from Porsche:


There's more done, but I don't have pictures of it yet.

[Ken L]

Nice work.

[CurtP]

Progress has been slow. The torque tube has been replaced with a freshly rebuilt one, transaxle is in, rear suspension assembly is in, engine is in. Brakes and clutch are bled, front suspension is in, wheels are mounted. I have a rolling chassis! However, the front control arms are coming back off to replace the ball joints, but that should only take an afternoon. I'm still waiting on the battery cables which is all I really need get this bitch started. Axles are out and I finished rebuilding the CV joints last night. If it doesn't rain tonight, I should have them back in along with the rest of the exhaust.

Modified transaxle mount. I used 2-part urethane from McMaster Carr with a Shore hardness of 80A.


Engine in:

[CurtP]

Well, shit. Guess it's been a while since I've posted, so might as well give an update.

Filled the transaxle mount with urethane (shore hardness 80A). This is to tide me over until I find a semi-solid mount that I like.


Finally found a good deal on a blower fan assembly that has the provisions for cabin filters. This is probably one of the hardest things to find for these cars as they were only available for the last year of the 968 (1995), there's no documentation in the parts catalogs except for the upper housing. The recirculation flaps are different, and there were some changes to the lower housing too. I used the original lower housing and a new upper housing. New filters, of course.


There's about 4 hours worth of alignment work on the hood, headlight doors and header panel. It's still not perfect, but it's about as good as it's going to get. The whole alignment process on the headlight doors is a huge PITA.


Harness adapter I made. It allows me to use a 1986 main harness with a 1987+ engine harness.


She's a driver again!




Yet another new steering wheel. This time, it's a factory 968 Club Sport wheel. The shifter is experimental. I cut my shifter in half then welded the upper section of a MINI Cooper shift lever to it. I hate the knob, but it was never intended to be permanent. I'm having a billet shifter made which will take a screw-on knob. I have one of the knobs already - a black round Delrin knob with a simple shift pattern engraving. I'll be ordering a stainless knob from Whalen Shift Machine soon.


I found out that my alignment was really fucked up. The PO messed it up, and the last alignment shop that tried to fix it made it even worse. This is the best alignment I've ever had done on any car, and they used equipment from the '50's.




Old door panels. Black over grey/beige. Always looked dirty to me.


New door panels from a later model with the 10-speaker setup. All the speakers are new OE. These are black over linen.


The map pockets/speaker grill assemblies were trashed. I spent a good week doing repair work on the plastic using Plastex from Eastwood. Holy hell does that shit stink. When I started, the screw holes were completely broken away and there wasn't anything to hold them to the door. The pins at the top were all missing on the driver's side. I didn't think I'd be able to fix them at all. New ones, if there are any left in inventory, are over $600/ea. I refurbished these for around $60, which included new carpet. Picture of the repaired broken pins:


Picture of the repaired screw hole. When I started, the entire flat area around the screw hole was missing. The blob above it is a repair area where there was a big crack that started from the screw hole and ended where the blob is. I know it isn't the prettiest, but it works.


The stripped and repaired map pocket:


Map pocket recovered, reassembled and installed on the door:


Guess that's about it for now.

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

You're ALIVE! I love this thread, you've done an awesome job on the car and all the hard work is definitely paying off.

[K2]

Wow! Waaaaaaaaaaay more patience than I have, great job!

[CurtP]

New shifter in the works. Mine is the silver one - obviously, it's not done yet.

[downtowncb]

Lookin awesome. Going to be a brand new 25 year old car!

Are you having those pieces machined by a shop or doing it yourself?

I laughed when I read that you used Plastex, I can't believe it's still around. I used to work for the guy that invented it. I sold it at trade shows and stuff for him, we parted ways when he refused to pay me for several weeks of work. Unfortunately it was all under the table.

[CurtP]

I'm having it made by a shop in Finland. There are several aftermarket shifters made here, but I didn't like any of them. The most common aftermarket shifter uses a straight shaft. Not only do you have to use a clamp-on shift knob (like Momo), but the lower shift boot has a large hole in it where the factory knob goes through it, and there's no place to seal it on the new shifter. The tapered shaft will fill the lower shift boot nicely, and it will have a M10 x 1.25 thread for a knob.

I already have a ball knob made out of black Delrin with a simple shift pattern milled in it. I'm also looking to have a knob made out of stainless too with a little nicer pattern. And I may order another Delrin knob that has a tapered tail on it too. I'm just not sure the round knob will look good in my car, but does have a nice feel to it.

I also had a new upper shift boot made so it will fit over the new shifter. The stock shifter has a one-piece boot that covers the shift knob too. I went with black leather with linen stitching as a accent. I'm hoping it will have a subtle look to it.

[CurtP]

Finally - the new shifter is installed! It should have been easy, but of course, wasn't. I ended up having to replace the shift rod which was a huge PITA. So on with the pictures:

Here you can see the bevel that allows clearance for the shift rod.


Here is the other side. The nick is what happens when you're not paying attention and install it backwards. Oops.


Here is the adjustable pivot. Yes, I know the isolator is shredded, but it'll have to do for now. This one is only a couple years old, and I'll replace it with another new one next time I remove the transaxle. You can see the bushings in place on the shift rod. With the bushings in place, there is absolutely zero side-to-side movement.


Here is the adjustable pivot trimmed down. I wanted it as low as possible, so I removed eight ridges from the pivot. I can still move it up a bit if I want the shifter a little taller.


Here is everything in place. The thread size is M10 x 1.25, which is a pretty popular thread and there's quite a few shift knob options which is why I chose it. Getting everything together takes some effort as it's tight! I used a little Swepco 101 moly grease on the bushings and pin.


Lower shift boot in place.


Console in position. Yes, I install the radio prior to installing the trim. It's easier to get my hands in there to manipulate the wires. I tuck everything behind the radio, including the Blitzsafe iPhone/iPod adapter. If you don't, it makes getting the cubby installed a PITA. There really isn't a ton of room back there.


It's together! I went with a black boot with linen stitching as an accent. Please be honest - what do you think? I don't like a lot of flash, but wanted a little something.

[AgitatedPancake]

Clean and simple man, this car is honestly looking incredible! I personally like the shift boot also

[KDUB]

That all looks sharp. Nice choice with the stitching.

[JordanA]

Looks great. I like the simplicity of the shift knob. The accent stitching on the boot sets it off.

[19onebadzj96]

Wow very impressive, looks awesome!

[Jeeptech01]

Very tasteful. Keep up the good work.

[CurtP]

Thanks everyone. I'm really happy with how it turned out and it makes driving it much nicer. Absolutely zero buzzing/rattling coming from the shifter, which is a problem I had with both the stock one and the modified one I was using.

Next up - seats! I have found a set of Recaro Turbo seats (which were a less expensive model of the Sport from when they had the Modular line). They're cloth, in near-perfect shape and I've already replaced some of the plastics on them (seat back releases and trim). I still have to order a set of rails for one of them and the mounting brackets for both. While I really wanted OE seats in the correct color (linen), I got these seats for next to nothing. I figured if I like them, I may end up shipping them off to get reupholstered in leather later on.