Porsche 914E Electric Conversion

Driver's Door Rebuild

2012-01-23T22:55:00.000-08:00

It took me two weekends to clean, prep and install the driver's side door. Here is the saga. First, everything was a dirty, grimy mess, so everything you read below I cleaned with soap, engine degreaser, metal restoring fluid and fine-grain wet/dry sandpaper (to remove the inevitable silver overspray paint).

Then I started into the rebuild. I wasn't sure of the best order to put the components back together, but a quick Google search on 914 window fuzzys led me to this page on Chuckles McGroover's web site. It gives a high-level view of the process, but I crave detail, so I'll give you as much as I can here.

I started by positioning the door frame on a suitably-high cardboard box and ran one of the top bolts into the hinge hole by hand.

I then ran in the other bolts snug and checked the shotlines between the door and the frame. I gently adjusted until everything lined up right and then tightened them all down.

The door had at least 6 holes and a couple of drywall plastic plugs in the mirror mount area due to the use of aftermarket mirrors over time. Rainbow welded the holes over and made the area nice and smooth for paint. Unfortunately they didn't drill the factory holes out for me. I had to locate the nuts from the inside and drill a small hole from the inside out. I then used larger and larger drill bits to expand the hole to the needed size for the mirror's large screws. By the time it got big enough, I had messed up the original threads, so I tapped the holes out to 1/4 x 20 and got two nice stainless steel panhead screws that look just like the factory. I'll mount the mirror near the end of the process.

I grabbed the thick rubber gasket and inserted it back into the channel around the sides and bottom of the door.

I spent a lot of time cleaning the fuzzy channel but it wasn't all necessary because most of it is located inside the door or hidden by weatherstripping. It does look nice and shiny though. Here are both sides of the channel, with the new fuzzy installed.

After 38 years, the rubber and fuzzy strips were pretty shot, so I bought most of the available door replacement parts at 914rubber.com, including the rubber and channel materials you see below.

Speaking of cleaning, here is the still-dirty passenger door latch mechanism next to the shiny clean one for the driver's side.

I also cleaned the window scissor mechanism with soap, a scouring pad and engine degreaser. This will go a long way to having a smoothly-operating window. After I took this picture, I sprayed the mechanism with cold galvy zinc paint, which will inhibit future rust.

Now we start putting parts into the door. We start with the window mechanism. I maneuvered it inside the door frame, then slid the nylon wheel mounted to the same arm as the rectangular mount into the slot you see bolted to the door frame below. Of course first I removed and cleaned the slot... I sprayed a good dose of lithium lubricant into the slot to help the nylon wheel slide easily.

I then moved the window crank into its hole and mounted the four bolts to hold the window mechanism into place. You can now test the action by temporarily mounting the window handle and running it all the way up and down.

Next I mounted the door stop mechanism. This is not working well, as it doesn't actually stop the door from moving in the wind as I found during this work. I decided to work out the problem later but it looks like the spring mechanism doesn't actually hold much pressure against the bar.

Next I installed the lock mechanism. To fit it into place, you have to rotate the latch until it clicks, as pictured below.

I then inserted it through the hole in the door from the inside. It's held in place by a large screw through the door frame and one inside.

I then slid the door handle through the hole in the side of the door and gently into the latch mechanism. It's held in place with a hex nut on a stud in the handle. Don't forget to put the U-shaped rubber gasket (that I got from 914rubber.com) between the handle and the door to avoid scratching the paint.

A hex-key bolt is installed on the inside.

Next it's time to mount the latch bar between the latch mechanism and the inside door handle. First slide the two rubber holders onto the bar. Then slip the holder clips onto each end as pictured below.

Pop the end with the double-bend in it, into the hole in the pivot in the latch mechanism, then snap the clip holder over the end of the bar.

Then do the same with the other end into the inside door handle.

Last, pop the two rubber holders into the small holes in the door frame. At this point you can test the action of the inside and outside door handles and lock.

Next we'll place the rear window guide into the door frame and lay it against the rear. We can't actually mount it yet because we need to move it around a bit. The fuzzy and the rubber cap are both from 914rubber.com. Hold onto the cap and screws until later.

Our focus moves to the horizontal outer fuzzy channel and end cap. The end cap is new from 914rubber.com and the channel needs to be trimmed a bit for a tight fit.

Here I slid the fuzzy into the channel in a fitting test.

Getting it nistalled is the result of a series of tricky maneuvers. First, place the end cap into place at the very rear of the window slot. Next take the channel and, while well lubricated with soapy water, slide it onto the rib of the cap by coming at the cap from an angle from within the door frame. When the channel is tight up against the cap, lift the channel up and push it into a friction fit onto the downward tab on the outside of the door frame. Got all that? This is what you should end up with.

Next, slide the fuzzy strip into the channel from the front of the door. Then drill a small hole through the fuzzy at the point of each hole in the tab. Run the tiny screws into the holes, which holds the fuzzy and channel in place in the face of many up and down trips of the glass.

With the cap in place, we now place the rear channel into its final home. The top of the channel fits into two slots in the bottom of the cap. Carefully position and wiggle the channel until it goes into the slots in the cap. Run in the screw through the cap, through the channel and into the door frame. The picture below shows the channel hole lined up in a test before the cap was placed.

Now we put the two bolts into the bottom bracket of the rear channel, but only loosely as we'll need to adjust later. This is the view from the top of the bracket inside the door.

Next I thoroughly cleaned the door glass and brackets. I gently inserted the glass into the door frame and lined up the other nylon wheel into the window channel ...

and the rectangular tab into its bracket. Run in the bolt, but do not tighten yet.

Now we fit the front channel. It uses a funky bolt with a flange, which acts as an in/out adjuster for the angle of the glass. Carefully lower the channel into place, access the nut through one of the holes in the door frame and run in the flanged bolt.

Move the bottom of the channel until the flanged bolt fits through the small hole in the door frame. Put on the washer and nut but don't tighten.

Gently push the big rubber gasket into place in the top of the door frame. Then wiggle the front quarter glass into place.

You'll know it's in place when you can put the cap on top of the front channel and the holes line up for the two small screws.

Install the inside window fuzzy strip.

At this point we can finalize the fit of the glass. Run the window up and down a few times and wiggle it until it moves smoothly through full travel. Tighten the glass bracket bolt, the rear channel bracket bolts. Adjust the in/out bolt, then tighten down the outer nut to lock the flange against the door frame.

I then installed the outer window squeegee strip using soapy water and a lot of patience. You have to insert the rib of the squeegee into the small gap near the end of the outer channel about half an inch at a time, then slide everything forward. When inserted all the way, I trimmed the rear to properly overlap the rear cap.

I then installed the door card (panel), snapping in the plastic fittings.

I installed the window handle...

and the inside door handle trim.

Finally I installed the door handle / map pocket using two hex key bolts and three small screws along the bottom. Now it really looks like a door!

Moving back outside, I mounted the side view mirror using the new screws. Note the original 914 only had a driver's side mirror, not one on the passenger side. Also, this mirror appears to be non-adjustable...

I then screwed in the latch striker into the frame of the car. Amazingly, the door closed nicely the first time, and it looks great! Don't slam it too hard, as the rear vertical window frame rubber gasket isn't installed yet.

Now that I know the process, the passenger door should go more smoothly. I still have to spend a lot of time cleaning though!

Front Hood Latch

2012-01-22T21:38:00.000-08:00

The front hood latch arrived quickly after I ordered it on eBay. It was in good shape, but a bit oxidized, so I soaked it overnight in the metal restorer fluid.

I then bolted it into place in the front hood. I couple of adjustments later, I tightened everything down.

The hood now latches down beautifully, with consistent shot lines all around the hood. I now consider the front end of the car complete!

Targa Top Foam and Liner

2012-01-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

Since it's dark by the time I get home from work, I decided to do some work on the targa top in the workshop with the lights on. I prepped for spraying contact adhesive by running wide painter's tape around the outside edge.

I decided to use foil-lined insulated padding which will cut down on road noise and heat.

I cut it into shape.

The foil side goes up, so it gets glued into the bottom of the targa top.

I then cut the liner oversize and spray glued it into place over the padding.

Next I will cut the liner to exact size, then mount the latches and rubber seals.

Lower Dashboard, 12V socket and Wiring Cleanup

2012-01-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

I contacted the USB hub vendor for assistance why it wasn't delivering power to the Droid Bionic, but got nothing back. I decided to install a 12V socket under the dashboard for two reasons. First, I know it will work. Second, depending on the 12V charger plug, it will deliver more than the 900ma I was hoping for with the USB hub. I had one lying around rated for 1A (1000ma) output. Hopefully that will be able to keep up with the power draw when the phone is running my PakTrakr app, GPS and Bluetooth.

I mounted the 12V socket and wired it to an unswitched fuse in the new fuse block. You can see the 12V charger plugged into the socket on the left side. This leaves me with 3 USB power ports for future use.

With all of the new wiring done, I tidied up under the dashboard. I put wire loom on all of the wire groupings I created and zip-tied everything into place and tight.

I then moved to the lower dashboard. The only change here is to bolt in the mounting frame for the two Electro Auto instruments. That went in nicely, then I screwed the lower dashboard into the dashboard frame. Mounted the instruments into the frame and wired them up. I then stuck in the right and left vents and tightened them down.

My to-do list is getting very short! To finish off the interior, I just have to install the glove compartment and refurbish the upper dashboard.

Passenger Seat and Center Pad

2012-01-08T19:48:00.000-08:00

Having learned the lessons on mounting the driver's side seat belts and having bolts that work, the belt went in on the passenger side without a problem. I then mounted the sliders to the bottom of the passenger seat, setting the bolts finger-tight and slid it into place. I gently slid it out again and tightened up the bolts. I slid it back in, and it works like hot butter!

I then cleaned the center console bottom pan and the upper pad. I screwed in the pan and popped the pad into place. It's held in quite nicely by the two inside seat belt units.

It now looks almost like a car again! I gave my wife a ride around the house a few times.

Front Indicator Lights

2012-01-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

The next step was to pop in the front and front-side indicator lights. I found that the silver overspray got these too, so I did a 1000 grit wet/dry sanding on the rubber gasket, cleaned them thoroughly, and treated the gaskets with Back-To-Black fluid. I hooked up the wires on the side unit first, then snapped it into place. I then hooked up the wires on the front unit, then mounted it with the bracket from behind. This really brings the front of the car back to showroom-new.

Front Hood Installation

2012-01-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

We're getting down to the final steps of the rebuild! This weekend I got a bunch of things done. First, I reattached the front hood. It has been sitting in my back bedroom / storage room for a year so it was a bit dusty! Installing it was a little tricky because I'm working by myself. In order to not scratch anything, I laid blankets all the way around and gently laid the hood down.

I reached under and got one bolt int each hinge to finger-tight. I then lifted the hood and got the other two bolts finger tight. I removed the blankets and carefully laid the hood down. It had good clearance on all sides so I lifted it gently to avoid moving the bolt position, then snugged up all bolts with a socket wrench. I laid the hood down again and centered the hood, making all of the gaps even. I lifted the hood and tightened all bolts down hard. I laid the hood down and the gaps were perfect!

I cleaned the hood with detailer and it looks fantastic. The only problem is I don't have an upper hood latch. I went back to my pictures and found that the latch went with the hood to the body shop, so I assume it's long gone now, along with the rear hinges. I searched around the web and found one on sale on eBay for $5, so I snapped it up. I'll clean it and bolt it into place when it arrives next week.

Front Bumper and Front Spoiler

2012-01-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

When I bought the car it was missing the "front spoiler", which bolts to the underside of the front bumper. A Porsche replacement part is over $500, so that's out of the question. I found the "Special Edition" front spoiler on Pelican Parts for $98,95. The descripion says

"Originally used on the Limited Edition 914s, this front spoiler will make a great addition to your 914."

Not a lot of detail, but the picture on the web site shows a black-colored spoiler, looking good, so I went ahead and ordered it a few weeks ago. I was hoping it was metal, but if not, then hard rubber would be OK.

When it arrived, I was very disappointed. First, it's made of fiberglass which it doesn't say on the web site. Second it came with a skim coat of white body filler.

Here you can see the terrible job done by the manufacturer in the finishing stage. It appears they expect buyers to do the final body filler / sanding / priming / painting / clear coating steps. This is not mentioned on the web site.

I could handle all that, but when I took it out to the car, it was about 3" too short to reach from one side of the front fender to the other. It's pretty stiff so I wasn't comfortable with trying to bend it into shape, to get 3" of extra width out of it. To summarize: it's fiberglass, it came unfinished, and it's 3" too small. So tomorrow I'll call Pelican and get an RMA to send it back. I get to pay shipping two ways on this oversize box, but it's just not what I'm looking for.

Since I'm not going to use a front spoiler at this time, I bolted the bumper back in place and mounted the fog light frames.

Rear Window and Driver's Seat Go In

2012-01-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

I'm at the point where I can start reinstalling a lot of the interior parts. In order to install the seats, you have to work backwards, installing the rear window, rear pad and seatbelts.

I was concerned about putting the rear window back in, as I discovered it's held in place only by a strip of butyl adhesive. I found this very helpful article and followed the steps closely. I got the article's recommended part from NAPA. It looks like a long strip of Darrell Lea black licorice.I was worried about the stickiness of the adhesive, but it's not as bad as I thought. In fact I wish it was more pliable and stickier, as I had to go all the way around the outside edge and push on it hard with my fingertips to get it to make contact with the glass and form a seal. I was able to take small pieces of the remaining butyl strip and roll it between my hands to narrow it down and stick it into some small gaps, especially at the bottom corners. This worked well as it sticks to itself nicely and forms a continuous waterproof bead.

Here is the opening, prepped and ready.

Here is the window in place. I must have thrown away the small 1/8" bottom spacers when I pulled the window over a year ago, so I fashioned two 3" long pieces from fine-layered plywood. The spacers are designed to hold the glass at the right height while you seat it in the adhesive and also support it over time so I'm not worried about the wood vs. plastic issue.

Here's a closeup of the driver's side lower corner after I did a water intrusion test. I packed butyl into both corners to make sure water wouldn't sit in the corner and eventually leak inside.

With the window in place, I installed the behind-the-seats pad. My pad was in sad shape - some of the fiber backboard was disintegrating so I firmed the bad parts up with JB Weld. I re-stretched and glued the loose vinyl back into place with contact cement. The worst part was a badly cracked vinyl area over the driver's left shoulder. I think this was caused by repeated banging by the seatbelt buckle. I glued a spare piece of vinyl into place under the cracked area, then used a vinyl repair kit to glue the edges down and fill and texture the area with gel black vinyl and the small supplied heating wand. It's not perfect but it will do.

I then installed the driver's seatbelt, which was a giant pain in the ass. I bought 3-point retracting belts from Kiff Enterprises/California Pacific/J Bugs via Amazon.com. The belts are manufactured by Seatbelt Solutions and are good quality. The problems are mainly due to the "bottoming out" of the bolts I tried to use to mount the belt points. The nuts welded into the car only allow about 1/2" of depth, then they stop. My car came with 5-point racing harnesses and hardware which I removed, so the original bolts are long gone. I had to make a couple of visits to my local Blake's Hardware with its extensive hardware selection to find the right ones. The other problem was due to the belt design - the belt anchor has to be mounted on the same bolt as the retractor mechanism but it comes bent at an angle. This anchor with its bend, plus the retractor, plus a bolt short enough to firmly mount in the hole doesn't have any chance at success. I bent the anchor's bend as flat as I could in my big-ass vise, then bolted it into place. I had to give up on the metal cover over the emergency brake cable, as it was blocking access to the bolt head. The carpet piece does just barely fit, so it looks OK and should be fine over time. After a frustrating couple of hours, I got the belt installed, including the vinyl pad that where the shoulder point bolts in, then slid the re-assembled seat onto the greased runners and it slides and tilts nicely.

After all of this work, I'm now able to sit in the driver's seat and drive the car around my yard and down my dirt road a little bit! Here it is. It got too dark to see, so next up is the passenger seatbelt and seat.

First Bluetooth Data!

2011-12-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

My Android app to read the PakTrakr data is complete, except for the actual reading of the battery data - kind of an important feature to get working! I can pair the phone to the Bluetooth transmitter and open a connection in software, but can't get the code to read the data stream - nothing shows up. I confirmed this with an Android Bluetooth testing app called Bluetooth SPP. It will connect, but no data flows.

The Bluetooth transmitter has multiple switches and software settings and I tried every combination I could think of. I know the PakTrakr serial port is working since I can plug it into the COM port of my laptop and see the data streaming through. So the problem is the link between the PakTrakr serial cable and the Bluetooth transmitter.

I got a pointer from Steve Dolan, a potential user of my app with an awesome electric catamaran, to a similar project for PakTrakrs and Windows CE devices called EVDashboard. The directions say to solder a wire from pin 4 (DTS) to pin 7 (RTS). In desperation I did it this afternoon and BINGO! I see the PakTrakr data flowing in the Bluetooth SPP app! Thanks a million Steve! You win 100 Internets!

Serial ports, formally known as RS-232, are a 40-year old technology with most of the behaviour shrouded in mythology and magic. I believe this fix has something to do with constantly signaling that data is ready to flow. I don't really care why this works, but it does, so I can move forward by finalizing the data reading and handling in the app. I hope Ken Hall will offer a USB connector or a native Bluetooth solution so developers and users don't have to go through this pain.

Here are the components of the PakTrakr - Serial Cable - Gender Changer - Bluetooth Transmitter - Android phone data flow. I can't support any other combination of parts or settings, unless you prove it and I can easily recreate it. I'd love to avoid soldering the wire so anything that avoids that is greatly appreciated.

Buy a "Serial Bluetooth Adapter" from USConverters.com

Note that the IOGear Serial to Bluetooth unit is popular but I wasn't able to find a supplier and have no experience or advice on using it.

Set the following switches on the Serial Bluetooth Adapter

DCE - DTE switch to DCE (Data Communication Equipment)
N/G - G switch to N/G (Non-Group)
S - M switch to S (Slave)

Buy a DB9 Male-To-Male gender changing adapter from Radio Shack
Gently pop the two sides of the PakTrakr serial cable connector apart
Solder a single small wire into the PakTrakr serial port circuit board as shown in the picture below. This will connect Pin 4 (DTR) to Pin 7 (RTS). We benefit from the Pin 4 circuit coming through the circuit board to the leg of the chip, and just jumper from there to the connector's Pin 7. If you aren't confident with soldering the wire, contact me and we can work something out.

Here's a closeup of the jumper in place. The angle is deceiving - it comes up from the pin of the chip and loops back down to Pin 7 - it's not touching the next pin on the connector.

Snap the two sides of the connector back together again. Put the three parts together into a sandwich. I don't trust the ridiculously tiny and hard to turn screws built into the parts, so I used two small zip-ties to hold the three pieces together, then two more around the assembly which pulls the zip-ties tighter and locks everything together. You should end up with something that looks like this. Boy would a single cable with Bluetooth be a great PakTrakr option!

Place this assembly into the vehicle and run power to it, and set the power switch appropriately. I used the USB hub I installed earlier to drive power to it with the supplied USB-to-MiniUSB cable.

When you run the app, you'll see the blue Status LED flash then go solid once the Android phone is paired. More info to come once I debug the data stream handling.

Carpet wrapup

2011-12-29T19:58:00.000-08:00

The carpets dried in the sun by the next day, so it was time to pop them back in. I used spray adhesive to attach two pieces of vinyl on the bars just in front of each seat, and the pieces on the side members. I put the pieces behind the speakers and mounted them in place. Then I laid the rest of the pieces in place. The center piece is bumping up a bit due to the unused connectors for the instruments in the non-existent center console, so I'm going to remove those and wrap the wire ends. Same for the seat sensors. It's starting to look like a car!

Start of Interior - Carpets

2011-12-26T22:22:00.000-08:00

Alert readers will remember that I felt I needed a bit more clutch pedal travel to gently shift gears, so I bashed the firewall back about and inch and took a drive around the yard. Just right!

This leads me to the step of finalizing the wiring and installing the carpets. The carpets were a dirty mess when I got the car, then a year of sitting on the floor in the shop with sawdust was not a pretty picture. Fortunately I have an electric pressure washer with a "gentle" tip, so I first soaked each piece, then sprinkled environmentally-friendly detergent on them, then spent the next hour and a half cleaning and rinsing with the pressure washer. I was amazed at how much dirt and grime came out, and how long I had to rinse to get all of the foam out. I let them dry in the sun (did I mention it's the day after Christmas and it's 67F and sunny?) and install them tomorrow.

I have some 1" wire loom on order so I'll pick it up tomorrow morning and protect and run the big cable bundles under the dashboard and down the center of the car, then pop the carpeting on top. I do have some major work to fix the pad that goes behind the seats, it has some major tears in the vinyl.

Here's all of the carpet drying in the sun. I'm really glad I have the little mechanic's rolling seat as all that time bending over with the spray nozzle would have killed my back.

Headlights Done - Really

2011-12-26T22:13:00.000-08:00

I try to own up to my mistakes, so I have to admit I scratched the driver's side headlight cover as I was installing it. Argh!

I tried to do a touch-up job on it, including wet-dry paper and everything, but I just couldn't get it right. I took it in to Tom's and asked him to sand it down and respray it as he was doing the rear trunk hinges. Well the hinges are lost and will take a while to come in, so Tom sprayed the cover and gave it back in a couple of days.

I gently installed it and got it aligned. Now the car looks symmetrical with the lights up and down. Soon comes the front hood!

Tail Lights Are In

2011-12-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

The latest saga was installing the tail lights. First I have to say that I thought I had lost them! I wanted to install them several weeks ago and tore up the workshop and two storage bedrooms with no luck finding them. Then last week I was talking with Tom at the body shop about picking up the rear trunk hinges and he said "Oh yeah I have that box of other parts too". I asked him what parts and he said "Tail lights, side mirrors and stuff". I just about cried. I wasn't looking forward to buying two new or used units, that is some expensive plastic! Apparently he asked for them when they were finalizing the metalwork around the rear end and I forgot I took them in for him.

I got the "box" from Tom last Friday. This is what I saw. Covered in body shop dust. So yet another clean / paint / install project!

As with the rubber trim on the rear bumper, the red lenses had some silver overspray on them, so I sanded them with 1500 and 2000 grid wet-dry sandpaper. It left the lenses red but cloudy, but I had a plan for later.

When I disassembled the left side, I found most of the silver paint had come off the plastic reflector unit, causing poor reflectivity.

It was tricky to get the reflector out of the housing, so I just cleaned everything, gave it a light sanding, tucked paper under from all sides and taped up the bulb holes, then painted it with silver plastic paint.

I also found extensive corrosion of the bulb bases and sockets on that unit, I assume due to the missing gasket between the red lens assembly and the main housing. I cleaned everything with sandpaper and electronic contact cleaner spray, then reassembled.

Bingo! The lights all work but the right-blinker doesn't blink, so I'll have to put that on the to-do list for later as it's probably the infamous relay.

You can see the dulling of the lenses due to the sanding, so I bought a 3M headlight restoration kit. I skipped the initial steps which are for badly scratched and clouded front headlights. That left me to use a wet pad in my drill, followed by a buffing compound on a sponge in my drill.

And you can see below that it looks magnificent! I'm thrilled with the way it turned out. The whole back end of the car looks factory new and shiny! I put a big order in for door fuzzy seals and rubber pieces from 914Rubber, including new gaskets that fit between the taillight housing and the body. I'll loosen everything up and pop them in when they arrive.

Radio Comes to Life

2011-12-26T21:48:00.000-08:00

I bought the new radio a long time ago, driven by the need for it to connect to my Droid (now upgraded to Droid Bionic) phone. The two devices will talk Bluetooth for music and telephone calls, and USB for charging and music also. I don't really care for the blue fluorescent display, but it was one of the only units on the market that met my needs at the time.

First think was to install a new powered antenna. The original antenna worked, but was badly pitted from age and would cause wind resistance when I wasn't actually listening to FM. The new antenna went in fairly well, with a reinforcement bracket rivnutted into the fender and sprayed with undercoating, but the angle of the fender is just slightly off the closest adapter so there's a small gap that will always bother me.

Next I wired up the radio's connector to switched and unswitched power, the antenna, the dashboard light circuit and the two front speakers. I was amazed that it powered up the first time and made the antenna go up and down correctly. I then spent about an hour getting the radio to talk with the phone over Bluetooth, synchronizing my phone book and the rest. It will take me a while to fully explore everything they can do together.

Here's a shot of the radio installed in the dashboard, playing some music. It even comes with a hand-held remote control, so I don't have to lean across and try to fumble with the tiny controls.

Rear Bumper

2011-12-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

The rear bumper is made up of three parts. The top is a hard rubber trim piece, the middle is the chrome bumper itself, and the bottom is a metal trim piece. Each came with its own set of problems.

The rubber piece was oversprayed in silver paint from the terrible paint job done on the car at some point. I worked on that with wet-dry sandpaper for hours until I got it all off. Then I worked through my wet-dry paper finishing up with 2000 grit to make it as shiny and smooth as possible. It actually came out looking pretty good, and soaked up a bunch of "Back to Black" rubber conditioner.

The bumper took a good cleaning and then some work chrome polish to bring it back to life. It looks fantastic!

The lower trim piece is a writeoff. It is damaged and bent in several places and frankly I like the look of the back of the car without it. In the future if I decided I can't live without it, I'll either buy a replica or try to fix this one up and bolt it onto the bottom of the bumper.

You can barely see I installed the rear trunk key latch, after cleaning everything really well.

Engine Cover and Grilles

2011-12-26T21:32:00.000-08:00

Bodywork re-installation is starting now, well except for the rear trunk lid, which I can't install since the body shop has had the hinges for a year and a half! I call every few months asking for them and the Targa top. Tom says "Well Mike I screwed you again... I'll paint them this week, call me on Friday." I went this week and he told me that he lost them in his shop! A guy who used to work there "moved" them and now they can't be found. Tom is buying a set from his parts dealer, will paint them and drop them off at my house. This is the first time Tom's shop being a complete mess has let me down. Oh well, as long as I get the hinges... After all of the hassle with ElectroAuto, nothing can throw a wet blanket on this project.

So that leads me to working on the engine cover and the metal grilles that go into them. There are small fixed grilles on the left and right side. A long time ago, I cleaned, sanded and painted all of the grilles gloss black and then sprayed with lacquer to keep the paint in good shape. Here are the left and right installed into place. Don't worry about the marks and dust...

The big effort was getting the grille into the engine cover, and then the P O R S C H E letters into the grille. I bought a bag of "speednuts" as the original ones were all shot from the disassembly. The grille goes in with a thin gasket along the top edge and a U-shaped gasket along the bottom edge. The pins on the grille fit nicely into the holes in the cover and then gently held into place with speednuts.

Placing the lettering was an effort in measuring and spacing. Finally I got it to look good and fastened them down with speednuts. I'm not going to install the rain-catcher under the cover as I don't think there's enough clearance between the bottom of the cover and the top of the battery box. I think I'll like the white top of the battery box showing through.

I'm holding off installing it into the car because I want to make sure I have enough working room to install the rear trunk hinges first. I will also be using Richard Rodriguez' magnet latch method. I have the magnets, but don't want to install them until the cover is in place and I understand the clearances.

Officially Electric

2011-12-26T21:15:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting to stick on the "Electric" badge I got from Plug In America. I cleaned, lightly sanded and painted the 914 badge with plastic silver paint. The silver on the letters was badly worm from a lot of carwashes and age. One I got the 914 badge installed, I used blue tape to make a line across the bottom, then stuck the Electric badge into place.

Not the same size or font, but I think it gets the idea across. And the font does look a bit Star Trek Next Generation to me...

Steering Column Adjustment

2011-12-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

When I bought the 944 wiper/blinker control mechanism, I didn't think the stalks would be set at a different depth, but yep, they're too close to the back of the steering wheel. You may have heard me comment on the video that I was banging my fingers on the stalks as I turned the wheel.

A quick Google search led me to LTB Autosports and their 1" wheel spacer. It was just what I was looking for, and it came with beautiful new screws. The ones that came with the car were scratched up and had most of the allen-key hole rounded over. You can see it in place between the wheel and the original column.

The only downside was the adapter is painted and won't let the current through to complete the horn circuit. I did a gentle wire wheel grinding on my drill press to open up some shiny aluminum and it beeps like a champ. Now it looks great and won't scrape the skin off my fingers every time I need to turn.

First Drive!

2011-12-04T21:11:00.001-08:00

I spent yesterday running the last PakTrakr cable through the center hump, and cleaned up a lot of wiring, putting it in wire loom and zip-ties. I also did a better job of mounting the mid-battery box's exhaust hose to the opening in the steering rack area. I then bolted the steering rack area cover back into place.

I charged up the pack, bolted the wheels back on and lowered it down to the ground. This is the first time it's touched the ground since I trailered it over to the Paso airport cars how in May. I bolted the steering wheel back on, and realized that there is no clearance between the windshield control stalk and the steering wheel, so I'll have to get an extender of some kind.

I suction-cup mounted my GoPro camera to the top of the targa rail, and ....

It works! I'm really happy with the acceleration too. I noticed a clunking noise coming from the passenger-side shock tower. I'll check on that when I get the wheels aligned. Also, the clutch pedal definitely needs about 1" more travel because it's not smooth getting the gears.

Now, I just have to put the rest of the car back together.

Headlight Reinstallation

2011-12-04T07:42:00.001-08:00

While I was waiting for the PakTrakr extender cable, I decided to put the pop-up headlights back in. Like every other part of this car, it's a finicky, multi-step process with lots of tiny parts. Let me walk you through how I put one back in.

First, this is all of the parts associated with the mechanism. I preparation for the rebuild, I painted the shroud ring black and the cover was painted along with the rest of the body. The I cleaned everything with soapy water and sanded down any rusty or discolored metal.

The headlight area has a grounding stud, and it's important for quality electrical connection to clean it down to bare metal. Check the integrity of the bundle of ground wires into the ring terminal and replace if necessary. Mount the grounding harness and the headlight motor ground wire (not shown yet) to the stud.

I ran the wiring harness in a small strip of wire loom.

I placed the large rubber gasket on the shaft of the motor, and wiggled the relay socket through the lower hole.

Here I mounted the motor ground wire to the ground stud.

I plugged the red, green and gray wires into the connector.

I then placed the motor in place, aligned the round bracket with the holes and put the three bolts in place. Wiggle the motor into a middle-position in the holes, then tighten down. Make sure the motor it not touching the body.

I then placed the arm on the shaft and put the nut on loosely.

Next, take the light assembly and gently wiggle the tube onto the post mounted on the body.

Then, take the triangular bracket/post and slide it into the other end of the headlight assembly tube. Slide the bracket down near the three holes.

Take the triangular plate, place it over the three holes and run in the three bolts, finger tight.

Mount the connector to the headlight. I found that both of my connectors were very fragile due to age, so yours may fall apart.

Make sure the light switch is in the down position. Mount the connecting bar between the motor arm and the headlight pivot.

Tighten the pivot arm bolt.

Remove the connecting arm, then put it through the rubber boot and re-attach the pivot arm. Be sure to put the snap ring on the end of the pivot arm. Fit the rubber boot in place around the mounting plate. Gently insert the headlight relay into the relay socket. below the rubber boot.

Use the headlight switch to test the pop-up action. If it doesn't work, check that you actually plugged in the relay (don't ask) and then the fuse in the fuse block. The lights should be able to work independently.

Tilt the headlight assembly up and hold it in place.

Snap the connector bar onto the headlight's pivot point. You will have to exert a little pressure with a long screwdriver due to the rubber boot going through a slot to the headlight area.

Mount the plastic rubber boot cover with two Phillips screws.

Screw the cover plate onto the headlight assembly with two small silver Phillips screws, one on each side.

The fender side screw is a little hard to get to, so be careful about damaging your paint.

Place the headlight shroud into place and attach with three small Phillips screws.

Gently adjust the plane of the headlight cover so it matches the little plate just in front of the headlight. Tighten down the three bolts.

Test the pop-up action with the light switch about 20 times and giggle that it actually works! I then zip-tied the 3-wire connector down and made sure the wires were all nicely tucked away. In hindsight, I should have pained the motors black.

Battery Box Vent and Windshield Washer Redux

2011-11-27T21:32:00.001-08:00

The EA plans for the mid pack battery box exhaust call for drilling a big hole in the passenger-side front wheel well. I've been dreading making that hole and now that I'm at the end of the project I need to do something to get rid of the hydrogen generated during charging. The position of the hose and hole drove me to get rid of the original windshield washer tank and install a small tank on the back of the mid battery pack.

Today I had an epiphany. I was down under the car and noticed a large hole in the bottom of the body right below where the gas tank used to be. The hole actually opens into a protected area where the steering rack lives.

I started by running an exhaust tube from the battery pack's fan port down to the hole.

I anchored the bottom of the tube to the brake line. Not the cleanest thing in the world, but will suffice for our needs. I have the leftover tube mount bracket so I'll see if it's viable next time I get a chance.

This gave me the room I needed to mount the original windshield washer fluid tank back in its home, and run the output tube to the new electric washer pump.

And the beauty is I got windshield fluid squirting out both jets the first time I tried it! This meant that the replacement 924 electric actuator lever and new electric pump worked just ask I planned. I'm happy I was able to ditch the ugly but functional fluid tank and go back to the original.

Even though the tank cap looks like it's in a low position, I was able to get a lot of fluid into the tank. I don't plan on sealing up the hole for the spare-tire-pressure-hose, as it will act as a pressure equalizer.

Auxiliary Battery Disconnect

2011-11-27T21:24:00.001-08:00

The EA kit just has you bolting multiple ring connectors to the positive and negative terminals of the auxiliary 12V battery. As I was working on different systems on the car, I had to bolt and unbolt over and over. I realized that this was really inconvenient and also possibly dangerous if I needed to disconnect the battery in a hurry, like in a crash or fire. Since I had used an Anderson connector on the charger output, it made sense to do the same for the auxiliary battery. I crimped all of the incoming and outgoing wires into the connector pin to make everything nice and clean. Oh and I put wire loom on everything in sight!

PakTrakr Next Steps and USB Device Power

2011-11-27T20:44:00.001-08:00

With the PakTrakr remotes installed and tested, it's time to add the current sensor. The opening in the sensor is not big enough to pass a lug or battery cable through, so I used the copper bar provided in the kit, and bolted it in. The sensor's data cable runs through the firewall and in behind the dashboard for its ultimate home in the PakTrakr dashboard display unit.

With that done, it's time to clean up the wiring. Each PakTrakr remote has a generous amount of wire to run to each battery. With the help of some butt terminals and zip ties, the wiring is now nice and tidy.

Here's the front battery pack.

Here's the mid battery pack:

Here's the rear battery pack:

and here are the saddlebags:

The final component to go into the PakTrakr system is the serial port output cable. I've got it lined up here next to the serial port Bluetooth transmitter device which provides the path to the Bluetooth receiver in my Droid Bionic. This delivers the data stream from the PakTrakr to the Android app I'm desperately trying to finish up, which will run in the phone as I drive down the road.

The Bluetooth transmitter needs power and conveniently it will take power via a USB cable. My Droid Bionic also will take power via a USB cable. I also plan to mount a GoPro video camera which recharges with USB power. See a pattern developing? With three USB devices, I looked around for a USB hub with 4 ports (for future use or passenger's device) and high-power delivery a la USB 3 at 900ma. It has to take 12VDC so I don't have to have a separate power regulator. I came on this sweet device, the awkwardly-named USBG-3X4M. Notice the green 12V power connector.

Here it is mounted up under the dashboard. The BlueTooth transmitter powers up no problem, but my Droid Bionic won't recognize any power coming from the unit, no matter what USB cable or port I try. I've emailed the vendor and hopefully they'll have a suggestion.

CalPoly Electric 911 Project

2011-11-27T19:04:00.001-08:00

I went to the local Porsche Club New Member BBQ a few weekends ago and met up with CalPoly students in the Motor Car Association who were recently given an electric-converted 911, in baby blue... The downside of the project is the current range is somewhere around 100 yards!

The students built a really great display. They're looking for assistance and donations to restore, upgrade, learn a lot and get it out on the road.

The bad news is the 10 12V lead-acid batteries are toast.

The good news is it's got a Zilla ZL-1 controller! There's a lot of potential there with the right battery pack.

The original owner had some good ideas, including 4 contactors!

I was approached by Bruce Bero of the Porsche club, as I'm the resident "expert" on electric cars. The club has agreed to assist the students and the project in whatever way we can. The first bit of guidance I gave to the team is to ditch the batteries for a set of Lithiums (LiFEPO4) if they can get donations. The controller, charger and motor are all good, so the batteries are the natural starting place. I pointed them to the video archive at evtv.me to get a deep dive into electric cars and battery technology. I'll stay in touch and help them as needed.