The 912 Project - work in progress
I purchased a 1969 Porsche 912 Coupe a couple of months ago.
Not only is this a 30 year dream, it is my long-awaited 'Project Car'. There is a lot of work to be done and I will attempt to chronicle the progress here as well as on my blog site:
wossamottau
As you can see, it looks pretty good from a few feet away. It appears to have been painted a few years ago in someone's garage (or yard) and a real crappy job at that. The paint will be the last restoration project...at this point in time I am leaning toward Bahama Yellow (more orange-ish than yellow), one of the Porsche colors available back then.
Right now I am working on the upholstery and carpet kits as well as the bumper deco trim, front and back. Of course, they will have to be removed for the car to be painted...that may be a while.
Oh...I have had a few "victories". I purchased a Momo steering wheel on eBay and managed to get it installed (after purchasing the obigatory adapter and a few other doo-dads) with a horn button. The horn actually works now! BTW...I don't leave the $350 Momo installed right now. I'm sure some local neighborhood shit-birds will decide that it is something that will look good in their piece-of-shit rice rocket with the trumpet exhaust. Photos of the Momo forthcoming.
The engine issues are a whole other chapter. I'm still pissed at the clowns I bought it from in Portland for all the non-disclosure. Not half as pissed as I am at myself!
The seats were all tore up, especially the drivers side. The upholtery kit I purchased is adequate for now since my plan is to buy Recaro (sp?) seats eventually. It was quite a wrestling match getting the new, pre-cut upholtery on the frames. The seats had to be removed of course, a little tedious but not extremely difficult. Like I said, the engine is another story altogether. I'm pretty sure it is kind of a "humbug", mixed up mess of VW parts and Porsche engine parts from '65-'69! I know, this last statement is a bit redundant since a 912 engine is a VW engine! It runs relatively well for now although there are a few electrical issues including the generator not charging. In fact, it seems the previous owners disconnected most of the electrical functions due to this situation, ie, the heater motor, the horn, the radio, and the rear window defroster. As I continually find more problems in this area, I am not at all surprised that I broke down 200 miles south of Portland with a dead battery...I am also amazed I made it back to Modesto (651 miles) at all (under its own power). The important part: I made it back!
The passenger seat is done and reinstalled. The driver's seat is done and ready to be put back in at this point in time.
Thursday, 12/8 I managed to get the driver's seat back in today. The hinge hardware is a little trashed, but it still works. This is not an issue at this point as I plan on buying some custom seats later on.
I did put on the deco trim today also. The bumper install will need a little help from my assistant when she gets home from work (holding one side while I wrestle the mounting screws back in).
Next:
Friday 12/9 Got the front bumper back on (with the help of Loretta, a little swearing, and me sweating like a farm animal).
The new deco trim looks nice and is ready for a pair of new bumper guards, about $80 each from stoddard. At least it looks somewhat respectable now...from a distance anyway!
The Momo. It's as much fun to say it as it is to look at. This "splurge" will help inspire me to make the rest of the interior worthy. And, yes...the horn works!
