The 'Maverick' Classic Porsche Forum and Classic Porsche Club for Porsche 356, Aircooled Porsche 911, Porsche 912, Porsche 914 & Porsche Replicas. 'We join for the cars but stay for the people'
inaglasshouse wrote:Kirk,
An honest appraisal.
Having also escaped Fenn Lane nearly unscathed, I would probably emphasise some of the positives as well as the lessons learned.
In general I found Vince very good indeed, and as you say the price and quality was generally good.
Until the shuddering, horrible full stop of Chris' suicide, FL only ever let me down on timescale. They did not lose any of my bits, or do any dodgy swaps of components with other jobs...with that said, the timescale let downs were on a different (epic) scale from the usual nonsense we experience day to day with these cars.
Things I have learned:
1) As you say: insure, and document all the bits you hand over
2) Drip feed. Nobody has ever had my entire car in their workshop. I don't think I would ever entrust an entire car to anyone, for any length of time. Partly because I like doing assembly and electrics etc myself, but partly for financial risk reasons. FL did my suspension bits, and I waited until I had got them back before giving them the steering rack, brakes and a few other bits. Then when those were safely home they got the engine and gearbox. The latter being a big risk and I remain thankful that it was back home before the s*it hit the fan.
3) Nowadays I always ask myself: what would happen if this place went bust tomorrow? Not saying that any or all of the businesses we deal with are at risk, but it can happen. The answer is probably a long wait, the need to prove ownership of parts, and a risk of my things going awol if other creditors are unscrupulous. Which leads us back to insurance and documented handover of bits.
Thanks for sharing, car looks good and I hope it was worth the pain!
Richard,
Good to have your reflections too which are much the same as mine. There were of course positives with Fenn Lane otherwise I would have had no hesitation in taking the car away.
The build has been difficult ( a first world difficult) but like many things that are a problematic journey they are largely forgotten once the end point has been reached and the result rewarding.
Bootsy wrote:Thread back on track after some tidying
Enjoying this thread about an ST Clone
Agreed. Would enjoy it more if Kirk’s PA would put some decent pictures up of the car. Not expecting David Bailey but how about one where we can see the whole car ......
Really enjoying the story Kirk and the dry delivery. What we can see of the car looks utterly fabulous, and your perspective of the recent history is very balanced and fair.
I am looking forward to the remaining instalments when your finger is up to it, and your PA plays ball...
93 964 C2
99 Boxster 2.5 > 3.4 hill climber
71 914/6 3.0 - gone
'You see Paul, hill climbing is like making love to a beautiful woman. You get your motor running, check your fluids, hang on tight and WHOA..30 seconds later it's all over!' Swiss Tony
Bootsy wrote:Thread back on track after some tidying
Enjoying this thread about an ST Clone
Agreed. Would enjoy it more if Kirk’s PA would put some decent pictures up of the car. Not expecting David Bailey but how about one where we can see the whole car ......
Whilst I would love to blame my PA I am completely to blame. David Bailey was unfortunately not available as he was doing a photo shoot of men's underwear. ( try not to get excited at the thought KS). Firstly, I tend not to take many pictures and secondly some of the images I took have been beautifully butchered by my
phone.
There will be full perspective images in future installments......
if I can find them.
rhd racer wrote:Really enjoying the story Kirk and the dry delivery. What we can see of the car looks utterly fabulous, and your perspective of the recent history is very balanced and fair.
I am looking forward to the remaining instalments when your finger is up to it, and your PA plays ball...
Very kind of you. Finger is being rested. The PA does his/her best. Unfortunately, he/ she has a busy schedule exercising improving mechanical skills on a vehicle; some kind of Porsche I am told.
Regards
yoda wrote:Would enjoy it more if Kirk’s PA would put some decent pictures up of the car. Not expecting David Bailey but how about one where we can see the whole car ......
Hi Feroz, good news, here we go with some more pics from Kirk.
This time he has supplied captions. Perhaps he was not impressed with my efforts last time around
The latest installment. Thank you to my PA for posting pictures so efficiently.
Even if matters had not come to a grinding halt at Fenn Lane and the car had been completed, it was always my intention to finally dispatch it to Autofarm.
Autofarm had built the engine so I wanted them to install it to ensure there were no issues. It was also in my plan that AF would check over all suspension and brakes to ensure all was safe.
AF took the car in February but had a wider remit than intended as there were still items to finish off. I had noticed that even pushing the car that the steering felt odd. AF diagnosed that one of the universal joints on the steering column was from an earlier LHD car. Easily sorted. However, here was an example of buying a project in bits rather than a complete car. Note to self: if I embark on another project ( highly unlikely) never buy a car in a disassembled state.
AF did not get very far when they closed their doors due to Covid but I could see a workshop full of cars including three complete restorations and at least thirty cars awaiting work on the forecourt. Put simply my car was bottom of the list for work. This was going to be a long haul.
The ST should have an oil catch tank utilising a plastic washer bottle. Long story short. Three different Porsche washer bottles later still could not make one of them fit. My ignorance was showing. I tried to follow what had been used in earlier STs and locate the SWF washer bottle on the rear bulkhead close to the right hand damper tower in the engine compartment. The bottle being held in place with a bit of knicker elastic from a 356. The rear bulk head on a 1972 is in a different position to earlier cars so made fitment impossible. I finally found a picture showing that the washer bottle was actually located close to the bulkhead but on the right hand inner wing in a1972 car. No possibility of a fit there either. The law of decisions made years ago came into play. The car at some point in South Africa had coil over suspension so the damper towers were reinforced with some chunky pieces of steel. Although not correct for an ST I decided to keep these on the shell a few years previously in the build. These reinforcements meant that a plastic washer bottle was a no go. In the end I got an odd shaped aluminium catch tank fabricated to do the job. Not an elegant solution. Much time wasted and a tad more frustration finding a solution. Plastic SWF washer bottles for sale!
Back to the broader plot. The electrics were not happy on the car. This was obvious as soon as a battery was hooked up. This led to several expensive hours tracing wiring to rectify things that did not work, things that worked sometimes, switching on one thing cause something else to come on. In short a mess. Most of the looms were new from Kroon so should be fine.(Not to self : old looms completely knackered so don't buy a disassembled project ). I was confident (he says) that it was the wiring up that was wrong. Although what I know about wiring can be written on a postage stamp with a kid's jumbo crayon. Mechanical things I don't have a problem understanding but electrics, although I am told are simple, have always been a blind spot.
It transpired there were lots of small issues; wheel studs not seated properly, front ARB not centred to body, nuts not properly torqued up, fuel tank union rubbing on body, earth straps missing, "cotton reels" not in centre tunnel, door latch fouling etc, etc. Was the cheap labour route at Fenn Lane coming home to roost? A little but I had still saved a great deal of money (using man maths) even with the trouble shooting AF were involved in.
Once AF got back to work after furlough there was clearly a major backlog of work. Different people were working on my car and this was not a recipie for continuity and minimal errors being made. A discussion was had and one guy was put on the job.
My extra brake light fixed whilst the car was at my mates workshop had given rise to much mirth ( Yes Dave & Martin) was adhered to the rear screen using 3M double sided tape. The 3M product I was assured would "certainly do the job". Actually "it sticks like sh×t to a blanket". Didn't as the brake light unceremoniously fell off. I made the mistake of telling Dave who I knew would find it a laugh. I received several joke emails about the failure: some from people I hardly knew. The brake light was subsequently fitted on a simple bracket.
Last edited by BILLY BEAN on Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:49 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Finally, the engine and gearbox went in. Engine started first time.Wonderful moment. Light at the end of the tunnel? Nah! Don't be silly. Some gears could not be selected due to the wrong gearshift rod. Apparently, the rod is 15mm shorter for a 915 gearbox compared to a dogleg box. Note to self: never buy a project in pieces. Who knew that gear rods were of different lengths? Well I did now and at the cost of engine and box being removed from the car.
Gear rod shortened. Thank you Gary Cook for the advice on how to achieve this. Engine back in. Would not start. Loose wire to Hall effect sensor in the distributor and fuel leak to the fuel console. Engine starts and car taken for a short drive. Brakes fine, rev counter sticks, fuel sender (a repro for 100 l tank) does not send, short shift kit (original to car) declared "horrible", and fifth gear whines (hopefully not like my ex wife).
Back on the lift for a check over. Drive shaft gaskets spewed out. Drive shafts are apparently for a later car. Note to self etc.
They can be modified but time is of the essence. AF should have noticed this problem on installation so accept responsibility for labour and materials. AF quote for Porsche drive shafts which is the price of a holiday for two in the Bahamas. Gary Cook has a pair of new GKN drive shafts at the price of a meal for two (no wine) at a Michelin starred restaurant. Problem resolved.
The fifth gear whine. The gearbox was rebuilt well ahead of time almost five years ago. The guy who rebuilt the box and does so for Tuthill has a distinct lack of interest in even trying to resolve the issue as it was " a long time ago". I will live with the noise for now. So getting things organised ahead of time is not always beneficial.
Are we there yet? Not quite. The tire hold down strap was put in place made by a local guy. Ride height discussed, corner weighting carried out and geometry set up. Very light front end on steering even with 40 litres of fuel. GRP front end more than compensates for the additional potential fuel load.
And then......oil leak from engine oil cooler. Diagnosis? Faulty "O" ring. Sorted.
Next step will be getting some miles on it and seeing what snags arise. Finally, it will be getting some make up by the way of a few stickers to reflect its track life in South Africa. Final installment at some point.
