Sunday, March 22, 2015

Engine Bay Comparisons


Here is a shot of the engine bay taken by the PO when he had the car for sale.

Below is a photo of how it looks now.



Lastly, here is that 1966 factory engine bay shot.




Saturday, March 21, 2015

Bumper Bling (Slight Return)

Another recent project was the replacement of the front bumper center.  The old one had numerous dings, dents, and rust spots.


I also lacked the bumper bracket bushings. I acquired these OOS - old, old stock we might stay- a few years ago but never got to putting them on, despite at least once having the bumper off the car. They are a bit crusty, but far better than nothing.


Heater Valve Resto

The heater valve had presented a problem for a couple of years. First, the inlet hose began to dribble at the valve, and second, the o-ring on the valve itself had outlived its usefulness and was now allowing coolant to slowly dribble onto the firewall and even on the transmisssion housing. Not fast enough to require adding coolant on a frequent basis, but still an issue. I knew this was something that wouldn't fix itself.


We wondered if the whole heater core would have to be removed to fix the problem but as it turned out the answer was no. Even better, the o-ring was a perfect match for the early 2002 style, still easy to obtain. As was the orginal s-curved heater hose, which is NLA but still available from Walloth and Nesch for under 10 Euros.


The old heater valve inlet hose alongside the equally crusty old piece of heater hose that had been used by a PO as a valve cover oil breather hose.

So Patrick at Midngiht Motorsport made the repair and now I am the proud owner of a gleaming, clean valve, with its attendant improvement to the all-important look.


Saturday, March 14, 2015

The `68 Cylinder Head

I have always wondered why the engine in the car runs so well but I figure, best not to wonder too much. I do know that my cylinder head was the correct 121TI type that the car was built with.

Today, while cleaning the old oil stains off the casting date stamp, I discovered that it's not the original head, but rather was made in October 1968, nearly a year after the car's manufacture date.


Rear Door Seals

I recently decided to buy a pair of new auxiliary door seals, or whatever you call the small seals that fit on the outer frames of the rear doors. They are NLA but still available in Germany at a price that reflects the situation.


They look like simple items to install. But as usual with this car, there is a little more to the job than you might think.

Basically, similar to other seals I have installed, these new ones were slightly too short. Had they shrunk with age, or rather been made that way on purpose?  I don't know.

Therefore they had to be stretched, and also pushed into the curve of the door itself. Which required lots of clamps, in other words.


But the final result was pleasantly eye-catching.