My Shiny New 964

Avro · 18 Oct 2013

Hello all,

I have a theory.

When buying a classic, either buy at the top or buy at the bottom.

Well guess which end I bought at?

And the final nail in the coffin....

How the winter nights will fly by...

kas750 · 18 Oct 2013

That looks a great project.There is a clearly a good car there with a bit of effort.

PeterS · 18 Oct 2013

:welcome:

Great first post, you are obviously what we refer to as a "lurker", as you've given a bit of story and pics.

As to the car, I agree with your theory.

If you are going to do the work anyway, the tattler, the cheaper.

Is the bodywork in OK condition? How many miles has it done?

I'm looking forward to a progress thread as you go, with lots of detail and pics. Have you done something like this before?

Good luck.

Great to have another 964 on here.

:thumb:

Chief · 18 Oct 2013

Welcome along Avro,
I'm thinking it's going to need more than the plugs and air filter that are in the passenger foot well to sort that engine out :grin:
Look forward to seeing your progress, good luck.

Ridders · 18 Oct 2013

:welcome: Avro,

a lot to do :mechanic: over the Autumn & Winter months to get it ready for Spring :mrgreen: roof down :driving:

I see you're in Cheshire, I can highly recommend John & Danny at Unit 11 in Warrington for any work (especially engine & mechanical).

They know their way around the air cooled cars and will give you plenty of advice should you require it.

Enjoy your project

Ridders

Vic · 18 Oct 2013

Well done, that will be a fun project :thumb:

Gazc2 · 18 Oct 2013

An inspection hatch in the bottom is always handy

good luck with that plenty to keep you amused over the winter minor compared to your engine issue but the renovo products will sort your hood out

Gaz

Avro · 19 Oct 2013

Thank you for the encouragement.

I purchased the car in April this year. Quite a lot has already happened - helped in no small part due to the valuable pool of information on this forum. So I thought it was time to give something back and share some of the joy (read pain)...

I guess we can all learn from others experiences - I know I have.

In answer to PeterS - have I done this before? Yes - but had a bit of a fetish for classic Japanese bikes of late so cars took a back seat. Always had a classic or two on the go but never a 911 and it was on the 100 things to do before you die list. Incidently if you like air cooled 911's, you'll love a Honda CBX 6, very similar in a bikey sort of way.

Is the bodywork good? - solid in the main but there isn't a panel which doesn't need something due a chip, scratch etc. Needs a paint really so currently looking for a decent bodyshop in Cheshire - recommendations gratefully received.

The car had been family owned for some time and has an unbelievable history file, with as far as I can tell every invoice spent including the original 1990 Dutton-Forshaw new sale- a snip a £60,901.87. How much would that be today?

However the first decision was what to do with that hole in the engine? Filler/Araldite was out of the question (tried it on a Triumph Toledo once) and couldn't find a small engine / bottom end for love nor money. Eventually had to buy another donor engine (from Traynors) to use as the basis for a complete rebuild.

The second decision was who to do the work? After a lot of ringing around I settled on D9 Autotech in South Wales. Not the closest but they really know their air cooled's, great labour rates with no Porsche tax. The final bill of course hit the wallet a bit more than I thought - but a rebuild is not an exact science and you don't want to do this twice.

Top tip number one, think of a number and add 30% - you'll want those extras.

Six weeks later the car popped out of the their workshop, running as new and time for my first drive - of a 911.

Now I know most of you already know this but for anyone having the should I, shouldn't debate on a 964 - trust me - just get one - they are the dogs dangly bits.

What surprises me most is how smooth it is, especially at speed. I didn't expect this particularly for a car that is 23 years old. Quite heavy on steering, heavy on braking - so solid, feels like a cross between a lump of granite and a Swiss watch. Hugely enjoyable. As for power can't really tell as still running in and limited to 3000 rpm, it's certainly powerful but feels more of a pacey GT than outright hooligan. And the sound - oh the sound, you can never tire of that.

Lots more to tell if you are still interested including gearbox problems, hood stuff and the dreaded blower motors? A few pics for now.

Donor engine:

I'm told these are quite important and don't like daylight...

Some bits that were left over - mmm.....??

Its amazing what a bucket of water will do.

Millomboy · 19 Oct 2013

Excellent, keep it coming. Surely you used two buckets of water and a lambs wool mit. :floor:

Chief · 19 Oct 2013

Wow, that's one heck of a before and after with little in between. This thread need fleshing out sunshine :grin:

dommorton · 19 Oct 2013

Blimey there really was a little diamond hiding in there!

Great work. Another fine car saved 8)

PeterS · 19 Oct 2013

Couldn't find a se f crankcases / bottom end/ for love or money???.

I've got one.

:frustrated:

Zingari · 19 Oct 2013

Nice one chum :thumb: Your balls deep into this one. As we can all testify you need deep pockets for these cars :roll:

I can recommend Topcoat Bodyshop in Halifax as recommended by my Indy and trailer collected/delivered for £60. They did my '64 and I'm very pleased with the standard of work :thumb:

Avro · 23 Oct 2013

Thanks to PeterS for reminding me he had a bottom end. I found it buried deep in a thread sometime after I'd bought the engine - Doh!
Thanks also to Zingari for the Topcoat recommendation.

Anyway - back to the story.

So I'm on the 3 hour journey back home from Discount 9 with the new engine humming away sweetly in the rear - feeling quite pleased with myself except for the burning sensation in my right leg. That'll be the heater stuck on full then - bugxxr!

Further investigation revealed number one fuse had blown leaving the heater vents on full. A few more blown fuses and I deduced that every-time the heater blower fans or demist button were turned on, the fuse would blow.

Thankfully there are a lot of excellent posts relating to heater fans and a DIY fix seemed possible. The best of which I found to be:

For HVAC diagnostics: http://www.porschehvac.bergvill.com/

For heater blower removal: http://www.964c2.se/

A bit of swearing later and a box of band-aid plasters it transpired both heater blower motors were seized.

Jcx recommended a great product - Fin Grease from Interflon which really did the trick. I lubricated both top and bottom bearings (bushes?) during the course of a week with a combination of the fin grease and GT85 (seemed to penetrate better).

I was unsure whether the left (PAX) fan could be removed with air-con fitted, but it can. You just need to remove the air con pipe retaining bracket and with a bit of persuasion the fan plastic housing cover will come off.

Eventually it was time to re-install and admire my handywork. Unfortunately fate was to deal another blow. Whilst removing / re-installing the right fan the outer squirrel cage ring must have been damaged. As I turned the knob to full power - ping - this happened.

The result - one very noisy fan as the outer fins lost their support.

Not to be outdone I could feel a 'Blue Peter' moment coming on. How to fix the fan with stuff from around the house?

I eventually decided on a piece of tubing from a GT85 spray can to act as support for the fan blades. The glue would be key to this working - ideally strong epoxy resin with some flex and a pack of Araldite Precision came to the rescue.

Holes drilled for the tubing:

Tube threaded through:

Araldite in place:

Ensure all the surfaces a thoroughly de-greased and roughen them to give a key for the glue. Leave for a couple of days at room temp to thoroughly set and voila!

My main concern was balance, but it doesn't seem to effect it. I can hold the fan in my hand on full power with no noticeable vibration - feels exactly the same as the other side. Result - fan saved and a few hundred extra pounds in the kitty towards the re-paint - or to fix some other random problem.

Time will tell how much of a permanent fix this is - but I have run on full power installed back in the car for 20 mins or so and all appears well. We will see...