Thanks guys! I'm stoked.
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Well, it's back to other projects! I was invited to check out a driver training center just North of Whistler, and so popped the car up on axle stands Thursday to give it a "pre-event" check. I was anticipating an issue with the rear wheel bearings on the right-side, and I wasn't "disappointed". The metal washer between the disc and bearing spacer had cut into the seal, destroying the first lip. Dirt then destroyed the second lip and the outer bearing had water/dirt ingested.
Normally the job is annoying, but not too difficult.
Public Service Tip: if you weld all new lower shock mounts onto your control arms, confirm that you can still remove the axle stub before assembling the car for the final time. Oops. Once I pulled the shock out I was able to get *just* enough room to cut away the required material. A mere 5mm was all I needed. With the stub axle free, the job was as per any other Volkswagen. Greasy but easy. Alas, we had incredible amounts of snow in the last few days, and the skid pad plowing went much slower then anticipated. Event postponed...but I'll get out there soon enough.
The Pre-event check also determined that the mud simply never stops. Geesh.
Back to the tach project. Started with a lot of measuring, and some basic drawings / concepts to figure out the direction I was going to go.
In order to get the drawings perfect I'm using a combination of Rhino3D, and then exporting it to Adobe Illustrator before finally exporting it to my vinyl cutter. The three steps opens a lot of room for file error, so test cuts are required.
Once the file was sorted out, various stages of 'look' for the tach dial.
The new tach will have the turn signal indicator where I can see it, as well as the high-beam indicator and an oil-cooler fan indicator so I can see when the fan is on (either tripped by the thermostat or by my override switch)
After modifying the internals of the Stewart Warner Tach, and then determining that my original plan of mounting it all inside the Porsche housing wasn't going to work, it was off to the Lathe! Unfortunately, this is where the project sits for the next little while. A slight 'lathe accident' means I'm on the hunt for a new 914 tach housing :P
-Dave