Break, Bale or Bounce back?

Assuming the roof is still opening then if there is a second or so pause then BOTH sides have broken. If only one side had broken the trucks would be moving at different times and the roof would jam
You would need to remove the moving glass panels in order to fit the repair pieces. This can be done with the roof closed but is a little fiddle to gain access to the torx screws

Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Silverpig said:
The photos I posted are screenshots from the video done by German chap on YouTube, so sadly I can’t take any credit aside from plagiarism!

I’ve re-read your build thread and checked the operation of my OSS and I believe you are indeed correct, there is a pause in opening so it would be fair to assume one of the fittings is busted.

I’ll have another look at the YouTube video and see if I can get my head around how they repaired it with the roof in situ. From what I remember he took the glass out with the roof closed, I assumed this was because the roof was completely fecked and they had no choice, or would there have been another reason for doing it this way? I mean, you took your entire roof off, I’m assuming that was for the same reason or was it for some masochistic pleasure?!
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1) Ahh, I thought you'd got a wiggle on! What I can't remember is how good the access is in that area with the headlining in. I know you've got saggy issues, but avoid taking the headliner out where possible. Drop the light unit out as per video and have a peek.

2) If you can move the roof back it makes access to the moving glass fixing screws much easier. I think the video shows him just about reaching the front screws with the roof forward but then I think (?) he shows thr same screws with the panel back a bit.

3) I removed mine because a) I wanted to try an alternative repair method to the Audi one. b) I have a garage. c) I don't need the car as transport. d) I quite fancied seeing how it works (less obvious when fitted) and e) As mentioned before, I wasn't wildly keen to buy the repair plates as couldn't see how they could give a mechanically matching drive without issues down the line. f) No labour charges!

4) In your position I'd recommend the Audi fix: despite my thoughts It's clearly worked fine for a lot of people for a matter of years. Should they subsequently fail, the welded repair I used would still work, so you've not shut out that possibility by using the repair plates. The roof would then have to come off with the issues that brings of course.

Don't be tempted to use the roof as is: it's only a matter of time before it lets go still further: inevitably when you're about to park up to do a shift, it's gone very black and the first few spatters of rain have hit the car like pelted eggs :eek:
 
Ok, thanks for that. I’ll leave the roof alone and not open it until the kids go back to school (?) and I can have a decent amount of time to focus on it. I’m assuming the plates are still stocked, otherwise I’ll have to talk nicely to @depronman again!
 
Silverpig said:
Ok, thanks for that. I’ll leave the roof alone and not open it until the kids go back to school (?) and I can have a decent amount of time to focus on it. I’m assuming the plates are still stocked, otherwise I’ll have to talk nicely to @depronman again!
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Actually @Kleynie might be able to help with the plates. Paul does his own ones which I then design-tweaked to satisfy my welding habit. The latter requires roof removal.

I think a dealer can still get hold of them (not sure about UK or German eBays?).
 
Just to return to the subject in hand, the Devon car, yesterday I fixed (most of) the glovebox.

No photos but absolutely in character for this car, not only was the glovebox broken but it had three separate faults:

1). Catches wouldn't return. As both still worked in sync if manually pulled out (and handle used to retract) I knew the internal rack and pivot was O.K. so I removed the handle and rigged a crude return spring. Now works fine.

2) Glovebox light switch blade broken: as I could feel my blood pressure building, I simply inserted a bit of thin plastic between the light contacts and left it. I'll be like a primitive and live without a glovebox light. Paul does a repair for this but I'm reaching my limit on this car so it'll stay as is.

3) The pivot was missing from the right hand hinge, which explained why the glovebox opened and closed in such a lopsided manner. Replaced missing pivot with a 6mm bolt. Sorted.

So there you go: the car that keeps giving, even if it's giving faults. Three issues in 1 1/2 square feet. Brilliant.

Note revised signature: says all that needs to be said I think. Road test report to follow when I can bring myself to do it. In meantime, sun's out so me and Donald Trump are going to tackle the soft-touch finish ...
 
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Much of the soft-touch in this car was absolutely battered: glove-lid, handbrake, handbrake cubby, console, console sides. The only things that were unmarked were the panel adjacent to the glovebox lid and the one above the pedals. The whole lot gave the car a real tired old second hand car ambience. As I've said before on here, driving an old car is one thing, feeling like you're driving an old car is quite another.

P1020713sm.jpg


I'd noticed that the Instant Valet spray I'd been using around the interior seemed to react slightly to the soft-touch.

This is Donald. he came to stay at Christmas and hasn't left. He seemed confident that combined with Decasol Instant Valet he and his friend, Mr Duck, could clean off the offensive finish.

P1020711sm.jpg


It turned out the Donald couldn't clean up the mess after all. He had used too much hair product so was too course. Mr Duck was too worn.

I stepped in and went through an increasingly desperate search for something that would strip the finish more aggressively without touching the substrate.

P1020724sm.jpg


I was all out of ideas until my eye fell upon this Wurth product (on the left, above). It's been in the attic for many years (ten, twelve perhaps). Is it ethanol? Anyway, whatever it is, it works really well.

P1020727sm.jpg


I found the trick was to paint it on and try to catch it as the finish was halfway from being too soft to re-hardening again. At this point I could simply rub it off with a dry towel. It needed to be dry to have enough grip to peel the finish away. I did try a wet cloth but that just slipped over the soft surface.

Any remaining bits could be tidied away with my neighbour's toothbrush.

P1020719sm.jpg


I'd say, the actual stripping of the whole lot (not counting seat removal) took a couple of hours. It has completely transformed the interior. What did surprise me was that every bit of the soft finish came off: even right in the depths of the grain of the plastic underneath.

What's been fantastic is that there is not a mark on the underlying plastic: all of the scratches, particularly across the face of the glove-box lid disappeared with the soft-touch. Very happy with that.
 
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Another thing that was pretty poor was the handbrake button. Log-books now don't show previous owner details but sure it was Edward Scissor-Hands.

Just look at this:

P1020728sm.jpg


It was flatted down, polished up, dulled back down with a bit of fine wire wool and then lacquered:

P1020729sm.jpg


Leather cover was cleaned and treated and all looks much better. Almost can't wait to try it ?

P1020731sm.jpg
 
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I went round the interior with the vacuum cleaner and paint-brush, plopped on various products and cleaned all the undersides of the seats etc.

All back in together with a new set of cheap eBay carpet mats (which are excellent for my £11 or so: British made as well).

I'm going to call the interior done:

P1020734smallish.jpg
 
Rusty911 said:
I went round the interior with the vacuum cleaner and paint-brush, plopped on various products and cleaned all the undersides of the seats etc.

All back in together with a new set of cheap eBay carpet mats (which are excellent for my £11 or so: British made as well).

I'm going to call the interior done:

View attachment 64057
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What a great job. Only matched by the quality of the write up. I hope all your readers appreciate the touches of humour as much as I do.
 
Yes great thread and a very good read. I just knew by the way you sounded when you first joined that you knew a thing or two ;) and were talking from experience. All evidently shown in this thread, i'm also liking your sheet metalwork skills - very nice!!
 
Vorsprung durch Technik said:
Yes great thread and a very good read. I just knew by the way you sounded when you first joined that you knew a thing or two ;) and were talking from experience. All evidently shown in this thread, i'm also liking your sheet metalwork skills - very nice!!
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Thank you very much. By the same token when I tripped over the forum not long after buying Lasi (which itself seemed fate) I felt the content / members were right up my street. Many member's 'other cars' are ones I've either had, worked on or fancy: that's surely a good sign.

When I joined DDK-online in 2004, many of us were restoring early 911's as a DIY prospect. Others were running them as daily drivers. Although a step up from aircooled VW's (the usual route in) or British iron (TR's in my case), if you were prepared to graft you to could have and run a 911 for modest money. In fact, I was just early enough on the scene that the pre-impact bumper cars were actually seen as the car you bought because you couldn't afford a newer Porsche. How things changed! By 2015 RS's had gone from, what, £50k to £500k and up. S's £22k to £250k. I'd have never believed I'd later be working on cars that were chunks of millions. Luckily by then I was getting used to the actual work, and the figures seemed pretty irrelevant. They were still the same shells after all.

I was restoring them just before the values shot up and was able to ride the wave, and still do. What it also did though was change the forum: new people came in that were more concerned with values. Fewer people did their own restorations and no-one would risk using them as a daily. Therefore, as far as the forum was concerned, it didn't have the same technical 'get stuck in and try this' back and forth I'd enjoyed so much.

Don't get me wrong, I still love DDK and have many truly wonderful friends as a result, but coming here feels very similar to those early days, where the fun is keeping the cars on the road and the series of shared victories that result.

Long may it last, and thank you for making me so welcome. No doubt there'll be other projects in the future: in fact the search for the next one is about to start.
 
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Rusty911 said:
Don't get me wrong, I still love DDK and have many truly wonderful friends as a result, but coming here feels very similar to those early days, where the fun is keeping the cars on the road and the series of shared victories that result.

Long may it last, and thank you for making me so welcome. No doubt there'll be other projects in the future: in fact the search for the next one is about to start.
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And isn't that what it should be about, the love for the car and keeping them used on the road. They otherwise become like dead people forever entombed cocooned - beyond anyones reach, and that is good for no-one least of all ones soul.
 
I totally agree cars are designed to be used for transport. Don’t use them and leave them outside and the repair bills soon start to mount up. Storing a car in a garage does away with some of the negatives but you can’t go anywhere in it in a garage so what’s the point
They are designed to transport you from a to b and for you to enjoy the journey and the driving experience
Long may the A2 be a usable car, I for one do not wish to own a garage Queen

Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Rusty911 said:
I went round the interior with the vacuum cleaner and paint-brush, plopped on various products and cleaned all the undersides of the seats etc.

All back in together with a new set of cheap eBay carpet mats (which are excellent for my £11 or so: British made as well).

I'm going to call the interior done:

View attachment 64057
Click to expand...
Barry
Having the dubious distinction of being the supplier of your Devon car project I can only say that I am genuinely staggered by what you have achieved in such a relatively short space of time - chalk and cheese doesn’t come into it!
Suffice to say that should I manage to scrape together the budget to restore the bodywork on my 1976 930 I will undoubtedly be getting in touch with you.
For the time being, congratulations on an amazing achievement.....I’m so pleased that she didn’t go to the breaker’s yard!
John
 
Latest update. It's amazing how it's totted up: I don't think there's anything on the list that you'd think of as being particularly expensive. Getting pretty tight to stay within £1000, which frankly even that's a lot more than I expected when I started. Mind you, labour aside, I guess you'd struggle to get a TDI in this spec for this money. At least I know what I've got here and if I'd bought, say, a car for £900-1000 there would inevitably be issues to deal with then anyway.

I could do some man maths to give me another £100, in that I'm charging £100 to this car for parts taken from or swapped with Lasi. In actual fact, all in I came out dead evens on Lasi so that £100 I've charged to this car is 'extra' from somewhere. I'll see where we get to: I've got it in my back pocket as back-up so to speak ?

Car £250
Wheels: £100
Fuel: £110
Valeting materials: £10
Rear springs: £33
Key cutting (no chips, manual locking only): £25
Rear bump stops (pair): £14
Various paints / abrasives from stock: £10.
MOT: £37
Air freshener: £3
Parts taken from Lasi (price reduction to dealer as result of): £100
Timing belt (bare), Dayco: £35
Oil Filter: £4
Oil let's say roughly £25.
Air filter: £10
Deproman wiper arm rebuild: £35
Deproman check-strap rebuild x1: £25
Deproman electronic services: £35
Postage with returns for above: £22
Old set eBay mudflaps: £5
Rear window repair: £0
Webasto exhaust repair: £0
Club regalia £28
Wiper blade £15
GummiPfleger sealant restorer (1/3rd bottle) £3.50
Roof seals strip (1/3rd roll) £3.50
Used Parts (hatch trim, 2x remotes, right hand vent, wheel centre puller) £35
Rear spring bases £13
eBay A2 carpet set in black: £11
Thermostat £9
Temperature sender £12

(Less theoretical value of spare 15"'s (£75)

Running total at this point: £944

Still to go at this point:

Stop starter motor squeal.
Fit replacement driver's vent.
Replace thermostat
Replace temperature sender.
Climate control.
Fuse cover repair.
Baby DIS
Cruise? Looking less likely for reasons that will (might) become clear.
Bluetooth (ditto)
Centre vent repair. Wanted: vent lever! I think the rest looks O.K., just need the actual lever. Will be nice not to use a pencil to adjust it ...
Key programming.
Flat and polish or have painted the bonnet (only cleaned so far).
Upgrade main beam bulbs possibly.
Split and clean headlights, re-polish.
 
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B300ABT said:
Barry
Having the dubious distinction of being the supplier of your Devon car project I can only say that I am genuinely staggered by what you have achieved in such a relatively short space of time - chalk and cheese doesn’t come into it!
Suffice to say that should I manage to scrape together the budget to restore the bodywork on my 1976 930 I will undoubtedly be getting in touch with you.
For the time being, congratulations on an amazing achievement.....I’m so pleased that she didn’t go to the breaker’s yard!
John
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Thank you John, that's extremely generous of you!

Did you get my text re: the traffic film remover? Was a while back now, I should have e-mailed it as well really!
 
I'd be taking the £110 fuel cost out of the price by now; surely that could be seen as taking your dog for a drive to somewhere different for a run around ?.
 
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