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Thread: My 904 replica build thread ...

  1. #21
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    So, on with the story of the seats ...

    Since I'd run out of ideas/people/places in my attempts to source some original fabric, I decided to take a slightly different approach.

    Several of the restored 904's that I'd checked out featured seats which had been re-upholstered in a blue fabric that looked as though it might be a little easier to track down, so I started searching again.

    One of the excuses that the trimmer had given for adding the (unwanted) stitching was that the material had no 'give' - so the new fabric had to be able to 'stretch' a little.

    Eventually I found some fabric which seemed to fit the bill so I sent off for some samples.

    The material was sold specifically for upholstering hard-wearing areas (ideal) & was described as being 'water & stain repellant' - again, sounds good ...

    ... what I hadn't read in the small print was that it was targetted for the seating in residential care homes, etc where the occupants might suffer from incontinence !

    Consequently, the fabric had an impervious (latex) backing to prevent moisture penetration.

    However the (fabric) samples looked good & it turned out to be very easy to peel the backing off in one piece leaving a material which seemed to meet the requirements.

    It wasn't available without the backing (& I couldn't find it anywhere else) so I ordered 3 metres.

    The material arrived a few days later & I set about peeling off the latex backing - like with the sample, the backing came off in one sheet but .... left a white latex/glue residue over the entire surface.





    I experimented with a small area & found that it could be scraped off (slowly) with my thumbnail without causing any damage, so I laid it out on the floor & set about removing the residue ...

    - this was the result after about 4 hours (approx 1.5m x 1m):





    The whole job took me ~12 hours !!!

    I decided to give the trimmer another chance (he does some very impressive work on a whole range of classic sportscars, racers, custom 'rods' etc & has been in business in the same location for 30+ years) so took the seats & fabric to him.

    This time he followed my instructions & the seats turned out 'OK' - I'm still not happy with the fabric & will still keep looking, but these won't look too out of place in the meantime :







    Definitely an area to be revisited ...


    .
    Andy

    Early 911S Reg #753
    R Gruppe #105

  2. #22
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    Very impressive Andy. What a fascinating saga you have been on. I had no idea the seats just fit into channeled panel in the car. I'm sure you can't wait to break them in with your own seat.
    Brian

    '71T
    R Gruppe #299

  3. #23
    Senior Member Baron's Avatar
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    Andy,

    You've posted a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening thread !

    Thanks for sharing and I hope that you will soon enjoy the fruits of your labour!

    Chuck

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by andyjboy View Post
    Many (most ?) of M&W's previous 904 customers (I don't know the exact number but I think less than 20 have been built in the past 15 years) have opted for 3 litre engines (probably due to relative ease of availablility & cost) but, to my mind, these would give totally the wrong driving characteristics - the car needs a smaller/more highly-tuned engine.

    The relatively few 6-cylinder 904's that the Factory built were equipped with the Type 901/20 engine - 2.0 litre twin-plug on 46 IDA Webers producing 210 bhp @ 8000rpm so I wanted something that had similar specs ...

    ... now it just so happened that I had a twin-plug engine sitting at the back of my garage !

    This engine was removed from my 911R-inspired car before I sold it (I already had this project in mind at that stage) & has the following spec:

    7R crankcases which have been shuffle-pinned & time-serted
    Custom-made JE 90mm pistons (c/r 10.5:1)
    Rebuilt/modified 40IDA Webers (36 mm venturis) on 'tall' manifolds
    Ported cylinder heads with stainless steel valves and hi-performance springs
    High-lift custom hand-ground cams
    Lightened/balanced 2.2 crank with cross-drilled & grooved centre bearing
    3.0 SC oil pump
    etc

    In it's original configuration with crank-fire ignition this 2.5 litre engine produced 220 bhp @ 7800rpm but I have since swapped in a period-looking Marelli-style twin-plug distributor operating through twin MSD boxes (which will be hidden from view) - 2 (dummy) Bosch CDI boxes & twin Bosch black coils will be visible within the engine compartment - so I am hoping for a little more ...

    As I mentioned previously, I don't want everything to look 'too new' so I avoided any polishing/replating etc on the engine - opting instead for just a 'clean' look:

    Andy, that must be my old motor, right?

    Cheers,
    T.C.

    JBR7.jpg

  5. #25
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    Hi TC - yes, it's the motor from your old 914/6 GTR.
    Andy

    Early 911S Reg #753
    R Gruppe #105

  6. #26
    Senior Member boba's Avatar
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    Andy, that looks like Cox Motorsport exhaust. Don't think you will be using that, pointed the wrong way. lol
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  7. #27
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    I had another piece of luck a few months ago in tracking down one more item on my 'wanted' list ...

    I had been trying for the past 12 months or so to find out what rear reflectors were originally fitted to Factory 904 cars (sad or what ?) - each car that I'd looked at had a diiferent type fitted.

    Finally, whilst checking out the 904's at Rennsport Reunion in October, I was able to find 3 cars - one of which was unrestored - all with the same version of rear reflector.

    More searching turned up a matching NOS reflector in Germany...

    Here's an original :





    & here's my NOS (but a bit dirty/scuffed - just what I wanted !) version:







    - & with the rubber surround removed:





    Just need to find another one now !
    Andy

    Early 911S Reg #753
    R Gruppe #105

  8. #28
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    M&W are able to supply suitable instruments to suit the customer's power train & personal preferences - but, again, I had a few 'ideas'.

    Since I have quite a good relationship with the people at North Hollywood Speedo, I asked them if they would make me a set of suitable gauges. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I didn't want everything to look 'too new' so I asked Hartmut at NHS if they could use some secondhand parts in the gauges - e.g chrome bezels, needles, etc.

    Understandably, companies who offer restoration/renovation/refurbishment services are reluctant to supply 'substandard' parts & consequently the gauges looked suitably excellent when they arrived.

    Not to be outdone, I visited NHS when I was over in California for RRIV & picked up a selection of old/used chrome bezels ... which, on my return, I swapped for the perfect, new chrome bezels which were on the gauges !

    I also took the opportunity to set the odometer to 21,250 km - which I felt was the sort of distance an original 904 might have covered since 1964/'65 ...








    Andy

    Early 911S Reg #753
    R Gruppe #105

  9. #29
    Senior Member platas's Avatar
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    Andy,

    The whole thing is impresive......
    San

    53 Pre A, 65 356
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  10. #30
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    A lot of time has been spent researching & trying to track down parts - still not managed to find a second original rear reflector !

    As mentioned on earlier, I'd already obtained a correct/original Les Leston woodrim steering wheel but now needed to fabricate a suitable hub. I briefly considered modifying an off-the-shelf Moto-Lita hub but quickly ruled it out from an appearance point of view, so I decided to utilise the splined section from an original 911/912/914 wheel.

    However, I didn't want to use the splined section from 'any old' wheel since all 914 & 911/912 steering wheels from '69 had part numbers & date codes stamped into them - it therefore had to be a swb (420mm) wheel ...

    Luckily the hard plastic (ebonite) 420mm wheels are largely unloved & I was able to find a cheap candidate via DDK (Chris Jury - thanks). Since I only wanted the splined section (& to minimise shipping costs from Germany) I asked Chris just to cut through the spokes & send me the centre section :




    After drilling out the rivets & removing the remnants of the spokes & the horn push mount, the splined hub was cleaned up & offered up to the LL wheel to ascertain the relevant dimensions :





    The original 904's used a 356A horn push & I had been searching for a suitable used one but they're pretty hard to come by & command fairly high prices so I reluctantly ordered a new repro version from Stoddard's :




    So, armed with these components & measurements, I set about producing the relevant drawings for an adapter (to mate the splined section to the wheel) & a trim ring (to mate the 356A horn push to the wheel).

    At this point I was contacted by board member Manuael Campuzano who'd been through a similar process in the past when installing a LL wheel in his 356 & he very kindly provided me with drawings/dimensions - thanks again Manuel.

    A DDK member who coveniently has a lathe at home offered to machine the necessary parts for me & after a (very) short space of time I received these perfectly-fabricated parts - exactly what I wanted !





    - & after assembling:







    That's another job ticked off ...
    Andy

    Early 911S Reg #753
    R Gruppe #105

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