Wow, Eric. That's a neat-looking dash!

Here's a picture of the Gen-1 dash, when we still had to include the OEM cluster. The new one will have real gauges, and may be a bit bigger. Since the header panel it's bolting to is a complex curve there are multiple angles involved. Dad cut a wooden buck with the appropriate angles, and we hammered the brackets into shape over them, like an old English car



The dash top has keyhole slots for quick removal without having to remove the screws and dropping them behind, say the gas pedal Works nice.

New build news!

Roll cage came in - got all the options - dash bar, Nascar bars both sides, and rear diagonal - I'm not going to skimp on the cage. I used a Hanksville Hotrods cage - he has made dozens for the 944 Spec guys out west and has a computer controlled bender for excellent repeatability, and ease of install (pre-notched & fitted) You can see the cage design here:

http://www.hanksvillehotrods.com/gui/content.asp?w=pages&r=220&pid=221

I haven't got a picture or weighed it yet. Shipping wt. was 135 lbs, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.

I sold some various switches & motors and the center console - all in good shape. That got us over the $1,600 mark - recouped the cost of the car!

Head & crank are at the machine shop - hope to have the motor together in 4-6 weeks (holidays!)


I have updated the O.P. to reflect these costs & income. Budget is on track so far!

Removed the entire chassis wiring harness today (not the engine harness), and the fuse-box. 33 lbs out of the car! I'll have to put in a few lbs of wiring and a small fuse block in the car to run the coil, dash, brake lights, etc., but I should still be 25lbs or so down.

Had some friends over today & made some major progress. The real build party is next weekend, when Rob Shiering comes down from Minnesota to pick up my old car. Anyone in the Chicago area is welcome to come out next weekend. PM me for info. Nick "Many 944's" of Bennington Motorsports (www.BENMS.com) will be there, and Chris Streit of MotoDelta (www.MotoDelta.com) may make a cameo appearance as well.

Got the weld-in cage from Hanksville Hotrods (http://www.hanksvillehotrods.com/gui/content.asp) out:



This thing is a work of art! Well pack & organized, all prebent & notched & well labeled tubing. Very complete & professional full color instructions as well:



I also like the cage design. It's set up so that the weld points are accessable through the sunroof & windshield area, so you don't have to cut holes in the floor to drop the cage to reach the top of the welds. Also, it's very structurally sound, with multiple tubes coming together to form one node just behind the driver's head - a very nice area to make strong!

Prep work & tacking in the precut mounting plates:





Some pics of the cage tacked together, awaiting final welding below. The yellow marks are guides to locating the the ends of the bars - makes set up very easy. You can see where the cage was test fitted - small tack welds neatly ground down. I'm sure this is what helped the install go so smoothly. The fit is so close that we had to remove the tar mat on the side of the door to get the door to close fully over the Nascar bars!




It's nice to finally be putting something back in the car! It's now starting to feel more like a racecar than a parts car

Kelby may be too tall for racing 944's!


Ray teaching his youngest bad behavior:




Angel showing why he wants an LSD next year (yes that's a shred of R-888 he's holding in his fingers!)