Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Denver MCM garage expansion

[kwyjibo]

I needed to access and move a few large things in the garage which meant that the e9 needed to move out for the first time in a long time.

And since it was out and running, I used that as an excuse to take it for a drive around town. I made a couple stops for my wife's errands and a few more for some photos, including the Wings over the ROckies museum



I hate to sound like a broken record, but I hope to have some good news regarding the targa soon

 

[kwyjibo]

***photo dump alert***
I was out in Monterey for Rennsport Reunion, a celebration of Porsche history.
I'm going to start off the photos with some of Al Holbert's race machinery. The Holbert family (his father was also a racer) is severely under-appreciated by most Porsche enthusiasts. My Carrera was originally sold by the Holbert dealership in PA and I'm happily surprised when people recognize the name on the license plate frame.

 

[kwyjibo]

 

[gearhead1960]

I remember well when Al Holbert ran the Lowenbrau Special. Saw it run at Pocono, Watkins Glen and even Daytona 24 hours. Back in the day, I was running around with a guy that was a buddy of John Mafucci who was Jim Downings co-driver on his Mazda IMSA cars. We used to get pit passes for all the races and got very close to that car numerous times. Damn shame Holbert met an untimely end.....

 

[kwyjibo]

 

[kwyjibo]

 

[kwyjibo]

 

[kwyjibo]

Although I was out of town, targa stuff was still getting done. I received a few boxes in the mail:
Here's the rebuilt fuel pump, powdercoated bracket and replated clamp

For reference, here's how it looked when I removed it

Here are some other bits back from powder coating

and some plating

 

[mmsheb]

Thank you for sharing your photos of the Rennsport Reunion in Monterey and some of Al Holbert's race machinery. Is the license plate frame on your Carrera the original one from when it was sold at the Holbert dealership?
Mike in WI

 

[kwyjibo]

Thank you for sharing your photos of the Rennsport Reunion in Monterey and some of Al Holbert's race machinery. Is the license plate frame on your Carrera the original one from when it was sold at the Holbert dealership?
Mike in WI

Hi Mike, thanks for the question - yes, it is the original frame that was on the car back in '74. Despite growing up on the other side of the country I've been a fan of the Holberts since I was a kid so I have a few Holbert memorabilia, including another NOS pair of license frames, brochures, etc

 

[kwyjibo]

Another photo dump....
Made a stop at the Petersen Museum on the way up to Rennsport. One of the highlights was the Alfa Romeo BAT7

This Rolls Phantom had round doors and was GINORMOUS, probably 20' long

 

[kwyjibo]

A few more
Alfa Romeo TZ

911 from Top Gun Maverick

 

[kwyjibo]

Lastly, I was told there were only 2 of these '74 Carreras

so there is a 50:50 chance that he was parked next to me at the Larz Andersen German Car Day back in 2014

 

[mmsheb]

Amazing and that frame is a treasure! I really like those special touches, especially when they are original.
Mike in WI

 

[Vette60]

Hi Mike, thanks for the question - yes, it is the original frame that was on the car back in '74. Despite growing up on the other side of the country I've been a fan of the Holberts since I was a kid so I have a few Holbert memorabilia, including another NOS pair of license frames, brochures, etc

That's really neat - I went to Lehigh and Al's son was a year ahead of me in the Mech E. program. He was heavily involved in Lehigh's Formula SAE program. Also, a machinist that I dealt with a lot in PA was a member of the support team for Holbert's Lowenbrau 962 team - he had some neat signed photos and great stories from his time with them. Cool stuff!

 

[kwyjibo]

A few more progress photos

I'm not exactly happy with how it turned out, but after almost a year, I got my fuel tank back from the painter. These tanks have the same rubberized coating as some downward facing body panels.

I took apart the window frames to inspect the components and decide which need to be replaced - also, I obviously need to find a green tinted vent window

I like to make real-life exploded parts diagrams on the floor to make sure that I have everything either refinished or replaced. Here's the front suspension. You can see that I forgot about a few fasteners

Bonus points to the first person to point out a mistake in the images

 

[slik560]

A YEAR for the fuel tank? Extenuating circumstances?

 

[kwyjibo]

yes (but to be completely fair, it was just under 11 months). No understandable extenuating circumstances - It seems that things have changed at the previous go-to shop.

 

[Trapps]

A few more progress photos

I'm not exactly happy with how it turned out, but after almost a year, I got my fuel tank back from the painter. These tanks have the same rubberized coating as some downward facing body panels.

I took apart the window frames to inspect the components and decide which need to be replaced - also, I obviously need to find a green tinted vent window

I like to make real-life exploded parts diagrams on the floor to make sure that I have everything either refinished or replaced. Here's the front suspension. You can see that I forgot about a few fasteners

Bonus points to the first person to point out a mistake in the images

We're going to need a titch more info. All images or just the suspension?

 

[LaCorski]

Only have parts for the RIGHT side? :0) Maybe its just the angle of the shots...

 

[slik560]

He's right-handed

 

[kwyjibo]

We're going to need a titch more info. All images or just the suspension?

I'll narrow it down to just the last photo with the strut. I'm afraid that I may have revealed my ultra-911-nerd self. Maybe I've been hanging out on the early911 forum too much lately where anything not "correct" gets called out immediately

Only have parts for the RIGHT side? :0) Maybe its just the angle of the shots...

I got lazy and didn't want to dig everything out. The strut is the only handed part in the photos, so good eye!

He's right-handed

And correct! I am right handed

 

[kwyjibo]

I got out for a drive this morning. By the looks of things I'm about a week too late for fall leaf colors - also means that sightseeing traffic was low

 

[burger]

Beautiful car! I love them but way too much $$$!!!

 

[MadeByMiller]

I looked up the strut and my guess is that you had the bump stop piece upside down?

 

[smschriefer]

Shouldn't the brake shield be black? I also noticed the top hat hardware looks black and should be yellow zinc finish I believe. I'm not super knowledgeable on 911's as I only owned a 912 many years ago when I bought it for $1500.

 

[kwyjibo]

I looked up the strut and my guess is that you had the bump stop piece upside down?

The strut insert came straight out of the box like that and I didn't check the bump stop before placing it on the blanket, so you could be correct

Shouldn't the brake shield be black? I also noticed the top hat hardware looks black and should be yellow zinc finish I believe. I'm not super knowledgeable on 911's as I only owned a 912 many years ago when I bought it for $1500.

I've seen black brake shields and I don't know the specifics of which years got them but mine were zinc (under all the crud). Speaking of which, the hardware is zinc plated under the crud - there is either the asphalt-like sealant or black paint on them. I still need to clean them

Here's the answer that I was fishing for: the brake shield is for the rear. I couldn't find the fronts buried in the sixteen or so boxes I have stacked in the garage so I substituted in the rears for the photo

We had a small gathering this morning at a friend's house. I'm sure most people are tired of all the Porsche photos, so here's a sampling of the non-Germans

 

[burger]

Triumph TR is very ****. I do like the early ones with the low slung doors.

 

[kwyjibo]

Our usual Sunday morning meeting spot at (I think) the best bakery in Denver has been inaccessible all summer because of a farmer's market. It finally stopped for the year. A few new people and cars stopped by:

 

[kwyjibo]

Well, its been a mixed week.
First, the bad - our sewer line backed up. The short version of the story is that the pipe was supposedly replaced by the previous owners (aka: the flippers) prior to closing. Our realtor sent me some photos of a large hole in the front yard because I was in NH at the time of work. A couple months later I saw the new cleanout caps (left side of photo) when we moved in and thought all was well for the past 10 years.

I've been gradually improving the landscaping, as documented here, not realizing that there was a ticking time bomb in our frontyard. Fast forward to last week when we had the line scoped: the *original* clay pipes have collapsed with lots of root intrusion. So it appears that the flippers installed the clean outs and nothing else. No cyber-shopping for me because I spent Thanksgiving weekend moving a 4' square paver and taking apart the privacy fence to make room for the work.
The scope also revealed that the tee into the city sewer line had broken and was misaligned. A new saddle tap is part of the pipe replacement so this wasn't a big deal. But, I was surprised that this was all happening about 10ft below the street (I thought it was more like 6').


On to the good news - assembly of the 2.2L motor for the targa has begun!

 

[gearhead1960]

That ladder in the trench with no trench box is likely an OSHA violation! That operation would be shut down if caught.....

 

[Trapps]

Bummer on the sewer.

Love the 2.2! What did you use to clean the case?

 

[kwyjibo]

That ladder in the trench with no trench box is likely an OSHA violation! That operation would be shut down if caught.....

Yea, I was asking about that. Then the next time I look outside they had shoring up. Then about 30 minutes later a city inspector was having a look down the hole. I have a feeling they put it in for him

Bummer on the sewer.

Love the 2.2! What did you use to clean the case?

I don't know what the machinist used. I got them sorta clean with the usual degreasers but the machine shop got them to the very clean state they're currently in. I'll ask the next time I'm at the shop

 

[gearhead1960]

Yeah, they put it in for him on many levels. No shoring when he showed up would have been grounds for a fine and shut down of jobsite until there was shoring. That guy being in the hole was a violation and if the inspector knew, there might have been hell to pay for the contractor.

 

[bdbecker]

I had to have the sewer replaced at my first house... not fun. This was the scene when I arrived home from work.



The contractor did call me during the day to let me know what was going on, but it was still a bit of a surprise. Instead of being a straight shot from the side of my house to the street, the line cut across my front yard. He was getting nervous towards the end that we would have to demo a section of the driveway, but thankfully it turned right before that point and I only had to replace a section of the sidewalk.

 

[kwyjibo]

I had to have the sewer replaced at my first house...

This is the image that I thought of when I was first looking at the sewer line scope. We were (relatively) lucky - the houses in our neighborhood use a rotated or mirrorimage of a limited number of floorplans so that the houses look different from the street. Our house uses an "original" plan so the utilities generally follow a logical path. Some of our neighbors with rotated plans have found that their utilities enter/exit on the "wrong" side of the house and/or follow the least direct route to the service connection. I'm happy that our plumbing crew did a great job of minimizing the damage to the landscaping and street.

 

[kwyjibo]

Update on the targa 2.2 motor
Reground cams, new oil pump, etc and the compression ratio is now 9.7:1



Rebuilt/refinished distributor, fan, carbs and alternator are next

 

[kwyjibo]

A quick update on the project targa's engine before the Christmas break
I've been heading to Eisenbud's, my friends' shop that is assembling my engine, as often as I can to learn how to build an engine (and take photos)

here are the rebuilt carbs

and the carbs installed

 

[kwyjibo]

Here's how it currently sits.

Some of you will recognize many of the parts from previous posts, like the cerakoted fan, powdercoated cooling tin, etc. We're waiting on new heat exchangers because of this

When I got the exhaust system back from media blasting, I found a few holes. The original muffler was fine so it got a fresh repaint

I hope to receive the new heat exchangers this week - and bring the engine home next week

Merry Christmas1

 

[ODIS]

A quick update on the project targa's engine before the Christmas break
I've been heading to Eisenbud's, my friends' shop that is assembling my engine, as often as I can to learn how to build an engine (and take photos)

here are the rebuilt carbs

and the carbs installed

Looking very nice and will bet as each part gets installed, you are more excited to get the engine running!