New POS project vehicle!

[CurtP]

How the engine bay looked when she was all together and running.


The newest steering wheel. Notice only one wiper - the guy who installed the windshield while I was gone damaged the wiper transmission, so I had to order a bunch of parts from Germany to fix it. What should have been a $400 windshield install ended up costing me $1k out of my own pocket to fix correctly.


Headliner is done - at least for now. I ended up using inexpensive foam-backed headliner material that is commonly found in domestic vehicles. It took 5 yards of material because of the way I installed it (the whole thing is seamless). This will do me until I can find German headliner material and do it over again.

[CurtP]

Selective yellow driving lights. It's just a film, but eventually I will end up buying the factory selective yellow lenses. The air splitter is aftermarket - made by a local guy in the area.


Current stance.


Current gauge cluster from a late 968. I didn't see a need to keep the stock boost gauge, so I used the 968 gauges to delete it (it's normally in the lower half of the tach).

[DJJordache]

YOUR ALIVE!!!


edit: sorry about the alive comment I didn't see the last post on the pervious page about your grandma, my condolences...


the car looks super clean nice job!

[CurtP]

I recovered a 968 cab rear seat delete with matching carpet, then covered the doors with the same headliner material. I wasn't very happy with the look overall.


So I recovered the doors with the same leather that's on the lower half of my dash. I think it looks much better.


I got tired of the craptastic plastic hinges breaking on the armrest cover, so I replaced it with the 968 Cup coin tray/pad. All the plastic in the center console is new with the exception of the cubby hole. I even replaced the blank-off plugs in the shifter bezel.




Aux input. I plug in my iPhone into it and use Pandora.

[CurtP]

YOUR ALIVE!!!

Yeah. Alive, but I'm a miserable asshole right now. I'm hoping things will change soon.

[CurtP]

Another shot of how shitty the engine bay looked. I'm hoping to change that when I put it back together. You can see that I rerouted the fuel lines around the back of the cam tower so they no longer sat directly above the exhaust. These cars are notorious for catching on fire because the owner neglects to replace those fuel lines on a regular basis.

[DJJordache]

I edited that post after you quoted it...

sorry live is sucking right now..... you still have us

[CurtP]

I edited that post after you quoted it...

sorry live is sucking right now..... you still have us

No worries - these things have a way of working out. Obviously I'm not drinking enough beer.

I thought I'd stop by, say hi and see if I couldn't find a n00b to pick on

[paulkeith]

I'm going to try to word this in a way that doesn't make me sound like a huge cock, but cheer up mang. I know life is probably tougher than I understand for you, but you alone are capable of reframing your perspective....you're alive, healthy (?), and you get to play with sweet cars at your leisure. You could be much worse off.

You do some excellent work, btw. That interior is sexy, gauge cluster in particular. I have a soft spot for old porsches. We've had a euro-spec gray market '83 911SC in my family since I've been alive.

Paul

[rstrucks]

Cars looking good man. I'm a sucker for those yellow lenses - even if it is just film.

[CurtP]

I'm going to try to word this in a way that doesn't make me sound like a huge cock, but cheer up mang. I know life is probably tougher than I understand for you, but you alone are capable of reframing your perspective....you're alive, healthy (?), and you get to play with sweet cars at your leisure. You could be much worse off.

You do some excellent work, btw. That interior is sexy, gauge cluster in particular. I have a soft spot for old porsches. We've had a euro-spec gray market '83 911SC in my family since I've been alive.

Paul

You don't have to try to word things in a non-offensive manner around me. Feel free to let it fly. I shoot straight from the hip and I expect everyone to do the same to me.

I know I'm being a whiny little bitch and I'm self-absorbed in my own little world when others out there have it much worse than I do. I'm not going to make excuses about it either. I know everyone gets down every once in a while - I just haven't been able to get back up yet. I'm crying because I want a regular piece of ass without all the drama and bullshit associated with it and I'm really sick of getting shit on. I'm miserable because I'm doing it to myself and wallowing in my own self-pity over things I have no control over (my grandmother, my dog, etc).


Thanks for the compliment too. Working on the car is my therapy. Obsessing over the little details is probably not healthy though

Now help me decide on cam tower bolts. Stock allen-head bolts @ $5/ea, ARP 12-point polished stainless @ $4.50/ea or ARP 12-point black oxide bolts @ $4/ea? I need 23 bolts total.

[sevenslats]

the polished ones.

Oh, wait... Was that a joke?

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

Car is looking awesome!

[ATL ZJ]

Now help me decide on cam tower bolts. Stock allen-head bolts @ $5/ea, ARP 12-point polished stainless @ $4.50/ea or ARP 12-point black oxide bolts @ $4/ea? I need 23 bolts total.

Not knowing what a cam tower is, it's hard to say. But I normally shy away from stainless for anything non-cosmetic, even though you said they're ARP. And black oxide just rusts, so that's out. I'd go with the stock socket head cap screws.

[chadjans]

And black oxide just rusts, so that's out. I'd go with the stock socket head cap screws.

Stock is probably also black oxide.

What do they get torqued to?

Good to see you typing Curt.

[CurtP]

Not knowing what a cam tower is, it's hard to say. But I normally shy away from stainless for anything non-cosmetic, even though you said they're ARP. And black oxide just rusts, so that's out. I'd go with the stock socket head cap screws.

On this engine, the cam is above the valves in a housing. To get the cam out, you have to take the whole housing off - there is no cam cover. The lifters are hydraulic followers that sit between the valve stem and the cam. It's a pretty crazy design if you're used to domestic V8s.

The cam tower is held to the head by 15 metric grade 8.8 8x1.25 bolts. The original bolts are cad plated allen head with a captured wave washer. It is recommended to replace these bolts when the head comes off. There are 6 of those bolts under an allen head cap on top of the tower (look at the picture of my engine above - you can see the caps right above the raised "PORSCHE" letters on the cam tower. You remove those aluminum plugs to get to those bolts, but you cannot fit a standard 3/8 drive 6mm allen drive in the hole - it's too small. So you have to get a really long allen drive making the torque value worthless because of the excessive flex in the shaft. Or you can machine down a standard allen drive to fit through the hole.

The ARP bolts in 8x1.25 have a 10mm head on them, which can be easily accessed through the hole with a 1/4 drive and doesn't flex as much during the torque sequence. A 3/8 drive 10mm socket is pretty close to fitting through the access hole, so a couple of minutes with the bench grinder will do the trick. I do have a 1/4-3/8 adapter that fits through the hole too, so I can use a 1/4 10mm socket, the adapter, then a 6" 3/8 extension with no issues.

Normally, I shy away from stainless bolts, but I have had very good luck with the "ARP 300" stainless in numerous stressed applications. Their catalog lists the "ARP 300" stainless and the heat treated 8740 chrome moly (black oxide finish) as both having a 170,000 psi tensile strength and as being stronger than SAE grade 8. And there's 15 of these bolts holding the tower on. The other 8 are to bolt the intake to the head (same bolt).

Since I would have to buy the ARP bolts in bulk, I would end up with 25 of them at a cost of $4.45/ea (plus shipping) for a total of 111.25 and I'd have two bolts left over. Summit part number ARP-771-1004.

The stock bolts are $6.50/ea from 944online.com. 23 of them will set me back $149.50
Pelican has them listed for $3.75/ea, but I'll have to verify that they're the correct ones and that they're OEM.

I could order aftermarket bolts for $1.50/ea from a vendor, or go to McMaster and get them in bulk for less. I'm not very inclined to go this route at all.

[jfowlzj95]

Working on the car is my therapy.

When shit hits the fan, that always seems like the best way to get through it.

Car looks awesome! Glad to see you're keeping at it with great detail.

[CurtP]

Stock is probably also black oxide.

What do they get torqued to?

Good to see you typing Curt.

Original ones were cad plated. New OEM are yellow zinc. Torque is 14 ft lbs. Exposed bolts corrode.

Here's a whole write-up and breakdown of the cam tower: http://www.dietersmotorsports.com/tech/2002/8-2002.htm

Good to be back!

[Z]

Nice ride. Except for that crappy headliner. What about using Alcantara?

[ATL ZJ]

I'm a hardware snob. And I think you're coming close to oversnobbing this decision.

Check these out- http://www.mcmaster.com/#91303a192/=4cyovo . They have a higher tensile strength rating than the ARPs. What I don't know is how ARP's rating methods vary from those used by the mcmaster bolts' manufacturer's. So ARP might call "minimum tensile strength" 70% of the load at which the fastener failed, whereas mcmaster's "minimum tensile strength" could be 75% of failure. Who knows.

Unfortunately, mcmaster has no metric 12 point fasteners, nor do they have any flanged socket head cap screws. So if you need a flange, this option won't work for you. Otherwise, they look fine for the application, and you save a boatload of cash.

[CurtP]

Nice ride. Except for that crappy headliner. What about using Alcantara?

Ha! Crappy on purpose, but looks better in person than it does in pictures. Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your headliner with a point-n-shoot camera? That headliner is temporary until I decide what I want to do. The original was perforated vinyl. There's a header panel where the sunvisors go that is covered in vinyl. There's another wide header behind the sunroof, so there's not a lot of the cloth exposed. I was thinking either leather or German cloth. I don't think Alcantara would look right in this car and I'm not a huge fan of it.

I'm a hardware snob. And I think you're coming close to oversnobbing this decision.

Yup. And I'll probably end up with the ARP bolts anyway. I have the grade 8.8 version of the bolts you posted a link to and there's no way I'm using them. I'm sure they're adequate, but I know they'll rust quickly where they're exposed. The stock bolts don't have a shoulder either, but they're stupid expensive.

[ATL ZJ]

Yup. And I'll probably end up with the ARP bolts anyway. I have the grade 8.8 version of the bolts you posted a link to and there's no way I'm using them. I'm sure they're adequate, but I know they'll rust quickly where they're exposed. The stock bolts don't have a shoulder either, but they're stupid expensive.

Chevy used blue-coated hardware to attach their LS motor mounts, and the bolts on mine look brand new. Black oxide rusts almost immediately. But it's your money to waste!

[CurtP]

Chevy used blue-coated hardware to attach their LS motor mounts, and the bolts on mine look brand new. Black oxide rusts almost immediately. But it's your money to waste!

Have you used McMaster's blue-coated bolts? I had a few of them on the 'Bird and they rusted fairly quickly.

As of right now, I'm sending the bolts that I have to the plater - I may reuse. Most of them look good, only a couple didn't pass inspection (flattened wave washer, threads corroded or stripped allen head). If nothing else, it'll let me get the car back together.

And I'll need to get it back together soon to get it to the body shop and into storage. I pulled the car cover off of it last night to find the hood and roof badly damaged from falling acorns. My WK got beat to shit too.

[ATL ZJ]

Have you used McMaster's blue-coated bolts? I had a few of them on the 'Bird and they rusted fairly quickly.

Yes, but just very recently. I am using some to bolt my c30 pressure plate to my vette flywheel. I'll post up in this thread in a few years if they rust.

[CurtP]

I ended up with the 12-point ARP in stainless 300 and the old bolts went to the platers anyway (just in case I don't end up using the ARP bolts. All the brackets and bits and pieces were sent to the plater with the bolts, so I hope I'll have those back soon.

I bought new factory nuts/washers for the head. Widefire head gasket, Viton covered steel core cam tower gasket and a complete upper gasket set is here. Still trying to decide what to do with the headers - mine are cracked around the mounting flanges. I may just weld them and hope for the best. ARP stainless 300 header studs will hold them on.

Fuel injectors were sent off to WitchHunter Performance for cleaning and flow testing. Various coolant hoses, clamps and heater control valve are on order.

Currently I'm looking for a NA cam and I need to do something to clean up the cam tower, head and intake before installing it. I'm tempted to bead blast them. But afterwards, do I paint/clear them or leave them bare?

I still have the wheel bearings to install too.


As a side note, I've decided that just because nobody else gives a shit about me is not enough reason not to give a shit about myself. I'm changing my look and I'm getting back to the gym. I joined Bally's yesterday and will be hitting it 5-6 times a week.