Project Minne - a 72 build thread

[jpnovak]

That Soul Glow!!!

No I am not talking about an 80s movie reference to hair products. I am talking about the car's soul and some light glow. Stay with me this will make sense.

One of my biggest worries on this build is the wiring harness. I unwrapped the entire harness, inspected wires, cleaned, treated, softened and re-wrapped the entire monstrosity while it was out of the car. Why, Because I had to. Most of the wiring had been out in the sun and elements, often submerged for lengthy periods of time in water and it was stiff and potentially brittle. The last thing I wanted, and always the first thing on my mind, was the potential for connecting a battery, hearing a pop, smelling smoke and then seeing the entire project burn before my eyes. Yes, I was paranoid. Yes, I could not stop thinking of this scenario everytime I messed with the wiring.

Earlier this year I pulled the harness into the car. Then I connected the engine bay console and finally the gauges. I left some dash plugs disconnected leading to the TS switch, wiper switch, light switch and main key switch. This was done on purpose so I could test functions before I burned the car down.

The other night I was feeling especially brave and got out a battery. I clipped some leads to the main 12V supply line and then put an ammeter between the ground lead... And touched it to the car. Waiting for a pop, spark, some sign of detrimental processes while the worst thoughts ran through my brain. I heard. Nothing. Nada. Nunca. And then a big sigh of relief when the meter showed about 100mA of background current. How could this be? Did I get it right?

The next step was to plug in the main ignition switch. The same. No drama.

The next step was to turn the key. I hear two loud clicks... One front under the dash and one rear by the engine console. I instinctively and immediately turn off the key while my brain processed the sounds and my nose processed the surrounding air waiting for that tell-tale smell that all the magic smoke had been let out. I waited. Nothing. Uneventful.

So I turned the key on again and was reassured that my brain had processed the sounds as the light relay under the dash and the FP relay in the engine bay. And then I saw it... A glow in the dimly lit, late night garage. The alternator light was on.



The ammeter was now showing about 300mA of current. About what I would expect from a dimly lit indicator lamp.

I also noticed that the oil level sender was pegged. It is not currently grounded so that is a good sign. More connection success.

This was a huge milestone of events. Since I Had successfully powered up the car and it didn't burn down I decided to connect more circuits. One by one I plugged in the light switch, TS switch, hazard switch and wiper switch with no change in background current.

Then I went to the engine bay and connected the power lead to my external fuse/relay system for the EFI, fuel pump and ignition. The fuse box powered up but none of the peripherals came on. HMM. A-Ha! there were no fuses installed in the fuse block. So, one by one I plugged a fuse into the 12V circuits.

ECU. Check
WBO2 - Check. LED blinking
INjector Bank 1 - Check.
INjector Bank 2- Check.
Ignition. Check. and then I saw a glow in the engine bay. The indicator LEDs for my ignition boxes were now on. More dimly lit glow behind the air-cleaner.



And so, I have now passed my wiring test. I will try to connect to the ECU tonight to load a test start file, verify sensors are reading and a few other book keeping items.

This means I am getting step-by-step closer to firing the engine.

[Mark Wilson]

Nice work! Congrats on the electrics

[jpnovak]

Super excited. I connected thr laptop to my ECU, powered it up and verified connections. All the sensors were reading correctly except for my wideband. There is not currently an O2 sensor plugged into the controller. I don't want to burn it out while troubleshooting. So I went forward with calibration. This will be the last update for a free weeks. I will be traveling for work.



The picture was taken before sensor calibration. Some of the values are nowhere near correct.

[jpnovak]

I'm back. Here it is a few days from October and we are still hitting triple digits - or at least really close. This kinda heat in the garage makes it difficult to stay motivated when you are thoroughly saturated after about 30 min of garage time. Ewww. Your welcome. If you are still reading after this then I will update on the progress.

The rear glass is now installed. I will say that I bought a rear seal from a vendor that was supposed to be factory but was not. Installation did not go well. The trim would not stay in and the corners were all crooked. I then punted and went for a dealer seal. And then it took about an hour to seat the seal, install the trim, run a cord inside the channel and put the rear glass into the chassis. Easy. This required very little straightening at the corners. Nice!



Once the rear glass was in I had to install the last remaining body panel. Yes, the Rear decklid. It is attached using 911R style hinges.



Now why did I wait to install the decklid? Because I needed the rear glass to support the decklid. Otherwise, It would have flopped onto the rear deck and ripped out the hinges.

The best part about these hinges is that I will no longer put additional dents in my forehead when looking into the engine bay. Yes, Been there way too many times.



At the front I installed the dash, trimmed the A-pillers and then dropped in the windshield. Same MO here. Factory seal works best. Took about 45 min for this one.

[jpnovak]

Next up was the exhaust.

I had a really crusty early, 2 in/1 out muffler in my stash of parts. Might as well cut it up. So, it was destined to become a sport muffler. I followed the "sport muffler V2.0" that Brian Lee (Blee) posted on a few years ago. I always wanted to do the same - meaning run symmetrical flow inside a chambered muffler. Brian Beat me too it. Thanks for paving the way.

Here is the muffler after it was cut and modified. the inlets are on the bottom and come upward into their respective chamber. Flow then goes into the last end tanks and then comes across to the middle chambers. flow goes down through the two perforated panels and then mixes in the lower half where the outlet pipes are.



Welding the top back on really sucked. Thin, rusty, crusty and dirty is not a good recipe for welding. This was the worst welding job I Have done in a long time. Next time I won't start with a muffler that is so rough.

Eventually it was closed up and pipes attached. I dressed a few welds and called it good. It is mostly hidden under the car. And it would be painted to hide some (not all) of its dents, bumps and bruises. A local friend commented that it looked like it was shot down in WWII. Ok. I am good with that.



Eventually it received a few, fresh coats of BBQ black high-temp paint. Then some newish clamps were installed and it was ready to bolt up.




Good thing I have done this before. It offered right up. New gaskets, stainless hardware and a liberal coating of anti-seize were now mating the SSI outlets to the muffler inlet.

And even the tips clear. Overall, good alignment.



I guess time will tell how it sounds.

Speaking of sound. highest priority on the build is to get the engine started. That should happen in the next 2 weeks assuming I don't have to travel for work.

[jpnovak]

Been a while since I have updated. Probably because I have not done much on the car.

I was reflecting on the project and realized I had a new side mirror to install. And, I had about 10 minutes of spare time so... I was then reflecting.



Looking forward and backward at the same time started to prepare me for the next phase.

[jpnovak]

I have finally had some time to spend looking at the final wiring connections to start the engine. The starter didn't seem to work with the key. I thought I had a wiring issue.

So, I started with a 12V jumper wire at the starter. starter Working.
Then I went to the 14pin connector. Starter working.
Then I went to the other 14 pin connector. Starter working.
Then I went to the wiring plug under the dash to the ignition switch. Starter working.
Then I pulled the wiring plug from the back of the ignition switch. Starter working.

Then I used the meter to check the key-start position. Not working. HMM. I decided it was dead and punted to order a new one. Don't want to be stranded somewhere.

Then I took apart the ignition switch. I always wondered how they work. There are 3 main parts. The cast housing attaches to the mechanical key part of the ignition switch. There is a center cam section that rotates inside. The cam rotates and pushes spring contact points on/off.



The the last part is the wiring pins that are connected to the spring contacts.
Of course, the spring contact point for the key-start had no more spring in its step. It was permanently sprung open contact. And that means, 12V worth of electrons can not go down the yellow wire.



A few days later the new ignition switch arrives and I can finally put it all back together. There is another story about the security plate but I will reserve that for later. Let's just say if you don't have a security plate the starter just kinda wobbles back and forth in the dash. When you get it all right, the ignition switch bezel (or more correctly escutcheon)



And that means.... The key finally works properly. I know how everyone likes videos...


https://www.youtube.com/embed/whLOKG0yMt0

[jpnovak]

Since the starter was working I had to go a little further.

The 710 tank was completely empty. I still had assembly lube in the engine so a few turns with the starter was not going to do any harm.



I went to the storage shelf and found the 2 jugs of oil I bought a long time ago. It was probably a Walmart closeout or other special. The jugs were quite dusty. I had to clean them off before opening to reduce risk on dirt getting in my tank.



At least the insides of the jug was nice and clean. Liquid Gold. Texas Tea. There are many names but this is just lubrication and coolant to my 911. So... I poured in 10 qts.



Now 10 quarts of oil barely fit into a 72 tank. And the lines were all full of air. I guess it was time to do something about that.

Now back to the key that was previously repaired.

Watch that gauge on the right.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0izaoUYlURI

Yes, Minne has really good oil pressure off the starter. There were no plugs installed and the EFI system was disconnected.

ONce I Had oil pressure it was time to test other electronics. I found that 2 of my sensors were not working and the crank pickup didn't actually pickup. HMM. It seems that the locking plate on my Deutsche connector had pushed a few pins out of place. If they don't make contact they can't work. That took a few seconds to sort out. Now I register about 280 rpm on the starter and that's about right for a 911.

Hopefully the next post will have an engine running...

[jpnovak]

Last week I had fuel pump issues. I put a new fuel pump into the car and all was right with my plumbing. No leaks and pressure easily set to 3Bar as expected.

So, What could I do but turn the key? Took a few turns and then roared to life. That always makes me jump no matter how many times it happens.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/iH909-N8NNg

I did have an issue where my lower plug wires were offset one place in the wrong direction. That was an easy fix.

The cam break-in is complete. And I spent some time to tune and set idle.

The car now idles at 750 with no drama. Love EFI controls.

Next step is to install axles, connect clutch and fill some brake fluid. Then I will be very close to driving.

[jpnovak]

Since the engine started it was time to work on control systems in preparation to drive the car.

First was finalizing the pedal cluster. I had a rebuilt one in the closet for a long time. So, I dusted it off and in-fact it dropped right in. Why is this a big deal? There was a lot of welding in that area to repair the rusty tub. Always good to verify that things go together before paint. I didn't. I won the pedal cluster lottery.

I also did not have a gas pedal. The Porsche Tax on the early rubber gas pedal is absolutely ridiculous. Then I noticed that the D-zug RSR pedal was on sale at a number "rebelious" racing vendor. So for a minor upcharge I added some bling to the footwell. Thanks Justin and crew for making a great part. The only thing it needs is a strip of grip tape to make it perfect.



Since the throttle linkage was connected I moved on to the tunnel controls. The hard part was disassembling the rear braking system so that I could pull the parking brake cables far enough forward to slide onto the balance trunion. If you have not done this before you are in for a real treat. Not much room there. I really wonder how the factory handled this task. In the end I had heat cables, parking brake and hand throttle. Yeah, don't forget that new drag link on the hand throttle.

The parking brake assembly was then covered over with a Hargett shifter. This has been sitting on the shelf for so many years I forgot when I bought it. The only thing was that it was a local Craig'slist find and I thought I could use it one day. Now is that day.



I admit I am really in love with the ergonomics of this shifter position. The hand just naturally wants to fall off the wheel and onto the shifter knob. Notice I specifically did not say that my hand slides naturally onto the knob. Ha! Wonder if anyone is actually reading this to catch my childish humor.




Now, as I was connecting the shift linkage there was a few modification. First was to move the reverse lockout from the 915 location to the other side of the console in the 930/901 location. This took just a few minutes to swap a bolt over and lubricate a spring detent ball.

Next, I was attaching the linkage rod. This does travel outside the tunnel and has some self lubricating universal joints. No slop here but I can't leave well enough alone. The linkage attaches with set screws. I am not a fan of set screws into hard materials. Since the rod is steel this falls in this category. So I made a few changes.

First we start with the setscrew.



Then I cut some slots in the side of the u-joint. You will see why in a few pics.



Another shot of the slot with the set screw removed. I want clamping force. See where this is going?



Next I purchased some dual sided, split collar clamps. The collar clamps are 7/8" ID for the shifter console end and 1" ID for the transmission end. The collar clamp slides onto the u-joint and aligns with the slot. Now I have very easy shift linkage adjustment and most importantly much higher clamping force than a set screw.



This does increase the industrial look of the shifter linkage but form follows function. Mission accomplished.


The transmission shifts nicely. The parking brake works on 3-clicks with minimal drag. The heater cables pull. The hand throttle moves the MFI linkage. Yes! Now its time for foot controls.

That pedal cluster I installed earlier did not have any thing connected to it other than the throttle pull linkage rod and bell crank.

The 930 brakes require a larger master cylinder. The recommended size is a 23mm ID and cross reference to a Mercedes PN. I bought one of these once I realized I was using these brakes. However, it slipped my mind that I had modified and triangulated the steering cross member. HMM. That 930 MC doesn't fit.

They say that nothing you do is new. In this case, I agree. Some detailed searching in the archives came across a post about using a 90s non-ABS VW master cylinder with a 22.6mm ID. Close enough to 23 I will never notice. This was cross reference to a Jetta, Passat and Corrado. Anyone remember the Corrado? Fantastic handling little car. I digress. The new MC arrived and its perfectly sized to avoid my clearance issues.

A few things about the MC. The feedline ports are close to the body of the car similar to the stock 19mm. This means no interference with the tie-rod boot exiting the steering rack. Second, the pressure outlet lines are angled upward at about 45 deg angle. This is good to avoid air bubbles in the MC when bleeding. The downside is that I will have to bend my output lines slightly to align. You will also notice that there are 4 ports. I only need 3. The front two brakes will use the forward most ports. The DS rear port is capped with an M10 sealing plug (from Bel-metric) and the PS rear port will go straight across to the 90 deg elbow at the tunnel.




Next installment should show working brakes and clutch cable connections.