904-090
December 31, 2007

Andy has finished with the re-invent of the blinker and wiper units. As we said, the switch is almost identical to a 1967 VW bus.

Andy has to plot the wires, re-connect a few wires so the proper color codes are visible, and of course, all the wires have to be shortened with new ends installed. We have all the original connectors for this process.

The housings are almost identical, so we use 090's housing (the black one) as a pattern to trim the column opening on the new one.

We have ivory knobs and when they're installed, they are almost identical in shape and look.

The good news is that they work like new. Tom's old switches were just a little worn out.

Remember, the horn and the high beams are activated by the control of these arms. You want these to work perfectly.

Tom's new switches have been installed. We will change the knobs out after it's re-installed in the dashboard.

Bret is hooking up the brake system...or is he really sleeping?

Remember, we used an old set of lines as patterns. Now, Bret is installing the new lines.

While Bret was on his back, he installed the new master cylinder with all new hardware. The fittings and the hard brake lines are as original!

Andy has got the column back in and is now hooking up the headlights. The original 904 headlight mounting bolt came from the top of the housing. Someone has re-mounted later lights (911). We will install what was there in the past...besides, original 904 headlights are as about as rare as chicken's teeth.

It seems like I have about a month in each door...guess what...I do! I am preparing the doors for the final light gray primer. You would think the door would still be cherry from the last time I block sanded and primed, but there is always a pinhole or a little low spot that needs attention.

I am stick sanding the hood for the final primer. You can see the filler showing on the front leading edge.

The filler is under the last primer, so the stick sanding pays off finding high spots. While body work is conducted over months of time, the good news is that things are still shrinking so block sanding will get these parts even nicer.

Even after the final primer, or even the final silver paint, when this car gets in the sun, the body will move, stretch and shrink. That will give the surface a little better original patina.

I will spend approximately two days making the underside frame nice enough for paint.

While I was sanding the surface, I noticed two cracks around the right hinge. Upon grinding the paint away, I noticed that the fiberglass in the area was fatigued. I don't know why I didn't see it before...I thought I was so perfect!

Guess what?...not even I am perfect, so I used epoxy and German cloth to repair the area. A little bit of filler and it's as good as new.

The hinge will be removed and painted and then re-installed. You can see the two 1/8" index holes. These are there to keep it in perfect alignment so the hood fits perfectly.

A lot of sanding and now it's ready for black primer.

The doors are finally fucking painted....did I say fucking?

The hood turned out real nice, but it should have. I've got about $15,000 worth of time in it and it's lighter than it was when new.

Now the rear window frame. Don't know why, but it was cut and trimmed beyond the original shape. So, I have to add glass to make it original.

I am pulling off a foam gasket, which keeps tension on the plastic window. You can see I have written where the material has been removed from the window frame.

I made a paint stick pattern with tape to re-enact the stepped edge of the frame and then used lead bags on the plastic lay up table. I used two or three layers of mat and cabosil to accomplish the repair.

After it's dry, the weight comes off and I make a special sanding block, which has the same shape as the step in the window frame, to sand the complete frame.

These parts were make from a crude two-piece mold (press mold) which enables the part to be smooth on both sides. The problem is, the folks who made the parts never had enough material between the two mold halves. When the part came out of the mold, there were many pin holes and areas where the fiberglass never took the same form as the mold. This part was no exception. The filler is used to fill in the hundreds of imperfections in this original part. Just for the record, the same guy made all these parts cuz we've never seen a 904 that had a nice original rear window frame, that unless it was restored, looked like all the others...shitty. Now you ask yourself, why don't you leave the part alone because that's the way they made it. I'm giving Porsche credit that they didn't make the part and they needed to get the cars done in a hurry, so even they looked past a lot of the defects in the fiberglass body parts. I just can't leave some of these parts alone because after the restoration, if I did, people would ask me why I didn't finish that part better. It's a "catch 22" these days about the big word...Patina.
I will explain patina on Porsches in 2008.

Andy is making sure the wires are correct before the bulbs are installed.

Ain't they pretty?

One light is installed and the hinges are painted black primer (the reflection makes them look gray).

These brackets are from the tail. The square one lines it up on the frame and the other one is the hinge pivot in the rear.

Again, these parts are actually black.

We used a picture from the fuel pumps of 904-040 and one fuel T from 090 and are making fuel T's for 068, 119. We are using the same part to make the carburetor T's, which act as the splitter from one carburetor to the other. The picture on the right is the restored oil filter housing. In one of the previous updates, you can see this part disassembled. We are waiting for those 6 sacks of plating to come back from the plater. A lot of the missing parts are in those sacks. We need these parts quickly so we can finish the brake system, oil system, and the fuel system. The holidays don't do a lot of good when you're waiting for parts. I know, I should have sent the parts 3 years ago...I guess I forgot.

Happy New Year!

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