My initial troubleshooting indicated that there was play at the upper hinge pin. Additionally it was clear that there was movement between the tabs that are welded to the frame, which attach the hinge block. There were clear signs of some half-baked repair attempts on the frame tabs and on the door. Usually a bad omen for what is hidden underneath.

First step was removing the door, which ended up being a much easier task than expected. After removing the door card and disconnecting the switches I was able to locate the two connectors for the door harness. These connectors are tucked away under the dash on the left side of the driver foot well. Once the door was unbolted, connectors fished through the tiny pass through holes, and the door away from the frame the extent of the damage on the frame was revealed. Along with the nasty weld repair there were cracks at each of the tabs.

Onto the door itself. The upper hinge was clearly the one with the most wear, so that was where I wanted to start. After some penetrating fluid and a bigger hammer/punch the pin was out. I was relieved the pin came out with such ease. With the pin removed it was easy to see where the wear was present. Typically when a hinge is worn you would expect the hinge tab or the pin to be worn. In this case what was worn is the bushing material that interfaces between the hinge tab and pin. This means a new hinge tab is needed.

Brewing with optimism I moved onto the lower hinge. That hinge did not have much wear but since I had the parts and the other pin was so easy to remove, I went ahead and started banging. A couple hits in I knew something was not right. With each thud I could feel the hinge tab that is welded into the door move. Once I noticed this I knew removing the pin was not the priority anymore. This nasty weld was placed here for a reason and there was no way I would leave this as is.

I dove right in and started to cut away the weld and any compromised material. It did not take long to see what the real issue was. It appears the weld between the hinge tab and the door frame broke on the sides, but was fully in tact on the far side. Based on how the welds broke it looks like the factory welds never fully penetrated into the door itself as the break was way too clean.

Given the location of the weld it would be difficult to re-weld it, at least for an unskilled welder. I decided to manufacture a plate that would stabilize the hinge tab buy tying it to the surrounding sheet metal. The surrounding is just a closeout and very thin so it was important to make the plate as large as possible. I manufactured the plate out of 0.063” 4130 sheet, making it thick enough to provide the stiffness needed but not so think that it would be difficult to weld to the thin sheet metal of the door. Prior to getting everything welded I primed all the surfaced with weld through primer to increase the life of the repair as much as possible.

I took the door to Accuweld in Oceanside, where Jeff the owner personally welded the repair. He was even able to get a 0.5” weld at the location of the broken weld. Super happy with the outcome of the door repair. I decided not to risk replacing the hinge and pin given there was little to no wear.

With the door fixed it was time to take care of the frame and mounting tabs. I ground away all of the questionable weld repair and any paint and corrosion around the cracks found. I’ll admit it was difficult to discern where the repair weld stopped and base sheet started but it I persevered and the results were reasonable. Luckily the damage was not severe and could be easily welded up, that is if there is no hidden corrosion on the back side. It’s not uncommon for the metal to just pop when welding when corrosion is present, even when it’s on the far side of the weld.

For those not aware, the rule is if you own a welder you are morally obligated to help a friend in need. Much like if you own a truck. So I called on my good friend to take on this challenge. I have to admit I was worried what would happen, especially since it was a MIG not a TIG. Good thing he has a lot of experience with vintage race cars and botched repairs from previous owners. I was glad to find that there were no surprises when welding and it all got buttoned up. A little smoothing of the welds and it was good to go.

A couple coats of self-etching primer, basecoat, and clear to make it look better than new. Once the door was installed I was so happy to hear the door close with that characteristic Porsche vault door clunk. It has been over a year now and the door is holding strong with no signs of letting go.

Leaving the sunroof as is with the two broken section was not a good option. Neither was attempting to glue the fragments back in place as the break was not clean and would likely fail again. I decided to attempt a permanent fiberglass repair. The idea would be simple, lay up a couple plies of fiberglass to rebuild the flange while tying into the existing flange. Just enough to hold things together but not so much to interfere with the seal. The problem with laying up plies without an existing surface is that it is difficult to maintain the correct profile while the plies cure. Manufacturing a tool surface to lay the plies up against would be more effort than its worth. Looking for a better solution I reached out to a friend with a significant experience with composites. He recommended using Bondo Glass to reshape the flange, which would then serve as a base for the fiberglass plies. Bondo Glass is a filler that is reinforced with short strand fiberglass making it easy to work with while having decent strength due to the fibers.

I used basic painters tape to make a dam to support the filler. I added a fairly large amount of filler as I planned on shaping it after it cured.

After cure I cut down the height and used a diamond ball end bit to shape the filler. I shaped it to be thinner than the desired final flange thickness to allow for a couple plies of fiberglass.

I laid up 3 plies of fiberglass on the inside, tying in the bondo to the undamaged structure, and one ply on the outside running the length of the flange only. Flashbreaker tape was used to apply pressure to the single outer ply during cure. Three plies in theory sounded like a good idea, but without applying positive pressure to help consolidate the plies and squeeze out the resin, the final thickness was greater than expected. I had to remove some of the material after it fully cured. I removed enough material to ensure the seal would install on the flange without too much pressure while sitting at the same height as on the unrepaired flange.

A coat of paint and the sunroof was repaired. It has been three years since the repair was completed with no issues to report. It’s good to note that the real cause of my leaking sunroof was actually a pinched drain hose on the rear driver’s side. The drain hose is routed with the sunroof mechanism. Where the cable makes a turn at the sunroof, it was pinching the hose against the frame.   

My search for the fault continued. One of the commonly mentioned issues are at the fan resistors. There are two resistors located on the passenger side near the fresh air vent. These resistors serve to limit the current flow to the fans which in turn reduces the fan speed. Basically, the fan works on two circuits that are switched by the thermo switch, which activates one of the circuits depending on the temperature. The circuit at the lower temperature circuit runs through the resistors. The theory is that if the resistance is too high the relay will switch to the high speed circuit assuming “emergency mode”. I have not been able to fully confirm this as the fan relay is visually very complex while the circuit map does not provide any explanation of the logic.

Back to those resistors. The common issue appears to be corrosion at the wires or connectors. In my case everything appeared relatively clean. To be sure, I cleaned the connectors in some vinegar to remove any of the corrosion that was present. The next possible issue is that there is a fault in the resistor. I removed the resistors to see if their resistances matched. The readings I was getting were not very consistent but they trended higher than the rated 0.9 ohms. I went ahead and ordered one resistor to test out. Once I received it I went ahead and tested its resistance. And of course, it also read somewhat inconsistent and slightly high. When taking these measurements I never considered what the resistance of multimeter was. When touching the leads together I assumed it would read 0 ohm. When I touched the leads together on my multimeter, I got a reading equal to my discrepancy between the rated resistance and my measured resistance. Still, I installed the new resistor hoping maybe something will change. As predicted, there was no change.

Back to square one. The last component I have not replaced was the fan relay. This is that giant relay that costs over $200 from Porsche. I really did not want to buy such an expensive component without knowing it would resolve the issue. I bought a used one off ebay for a fraction of the cost and installed it the second it arrived, and it worked. My fan issue was completely resolved.

A couple months go by and I seemed to have developed a new fault, or more so of an anomaly. When taking the 968 to Angeles Crest Highway on a winter day I started to run slightly cooler than usual.

Usually the engine temperature needle indicated slightly above the first line or slightly below. Now it was indicating between the bottom line and the first line. Looking around the web I found a handy image that indicated roughly what the temperature is at each line.

 According to this image I was running much too cool at 70C, but oddly enough my fan was turning on. The fan should turn on at 85/93C, based on the installed thermos switch, suggesting that the gauge was not accurate. When investigating this I also found that the thermo switch I have installed is not rated at the correct temperature, as it should be 92/102C. When I was purchasing the switch I used the one I removed as a guide. This means that the one I removed had been replaced, maybe even to try and resolve the fan cycling issue. Since the correct switch turns on at a higher temperature, the new switch may help with the temperature, although the thermostat should be the primary controller here.

The new switch did not make a noticeable difference. Searching the forums I found a couple mentions of the needle not being calibrated or a grounding issue. Even the possibility that the needle shifted when driving over rough terrain. I bought a variable resistor to that I could hook up in place of the temp sensor to see what the gauge reads. I follow the resistance measurements and procedure on Clark’s Garage for this. This confirmed that the gauge is indicating incorrectly.

At this point I have not figured out what has caused this, but now I know where the new norm is for my 968. If there is any doubt I just listen for the fans.

For the stator I used some 320 grit sandpaper and scotch brite to clean up the internal surface that seemed to have built up some surface rust in storage. I also cleaned off the protective enamel that was worn on the external surface and resprayed it with red enamel.

For the rotor I had a local alternator shop machine down the commutator slip rings. This is where the brushes contact the rotor and over time wear a groove. If the grooves are relatively shallow the rings can be left alone. In my case it was necessary to smooth out the surface, as with deep groves there is a risk of the brushes not seating or wearing out prematurely.

The assembly of the bearings onto the rotor shafts went smoothly, especially with the help of a vise. For the assembly of the housing I needed to purchase replacement screws as I previously had to drill them out or the head was almost stripped. For the four screws that mount the FWD bearing plate, I was able to easily find equivalent replacements at Marshall’s Hardware in San Diego. For the 4 screws that held the entire housing together, I had a difficult time locating replacements. After searching the web for several days I located the replacement screws at Alternator Starter Parts Wholesale. While on that site I was also able to find a replacement AFT bearing mounting sleeve, a plastic cup that goes between the bearing and the housing.

For the voltage regulator, which holds the brushes, I decided to go with the KAE replacement even though a Bosch replacement was available. The Bosch replacement did not appear to be of the same quality as the part that I removed. The replacement had riveted connections and the brushes looked to be made of a different material. The KAE had soldered connections and also happened to be made in Germany, unlike the Bosch which was made in Spain.

I also replaced the capacitor just to make sure, as it’s not an expensive component.

As of writing this post, the alternator has been installed on the 968 and has accumulated 4,000 miles without any issue.

The large bearing 6303DU8 that was mounted closer to the pulley (FWD) appeared to be in good shape. Minimal play and no grease or dust present around the seals. With the smaller bearing 6201DU that was mounted further away from the pulley (AFT), it was not the case. The bearing had more play and a large amount of grease and dust around the seals.

Both bearings were high quality NSK bearings made in England. Looking up the part numbers uncovered that the FWD bearing was designed specifically for alternators. The AFT bearing was nothing special. Doing some more in-depth searching I found a technical article form 1998. The article, High-Performance Ball Bearings for Automotive Alternator Applications published by NSK, explains the struggles of alternator bearing design due to the high speeds, loads, and temperatures in compact high output alternators. Seal design and grease selection is the key to longer bearing life in these applications. Modern alternators can run at rpms as high as 20k, which the 6201DU bearing used in the AFT was not designed for. This suggests that over time the grease and seals have overheated and the grease seeped out.

Using this technical article I was able to select bearings that are designed specifically for the high speed operation. The FWD bearing I selected was B17-102-A-1T1XDDG03-NSK and the AFT bearing I selected was SKF 62012RSJ. Both of these bearings have the correct seal design and speed rating for an alternator.

Many tools would work to get the job done but I decided to use my oscillating multi tool that I just bought. With the grout removal tool attachment I went through and smoothed out all the curbs in the garage. The porter cable multi tool did heat up a bit but never overheated or felt underpowered. A respirator and a shop vac were definitely necessary with the concrete dust that was being thrown up.

To further help smooth out the curbs I found a block filler primer made by Rustoleum that will bond well to the concrete and fill in the pinholes. This primer is super thick and really did fill in the holes.

To further clean up the look of the curbs I caulked all the gaps between the drywall and the drywall with Loctite PL adhesive.

For the paint on the walls I went with a light gray color to help reflect more light and contrast the medium gray floor. Even though I did do paint swatches, the paint went on much lighter than I wanted. Since the paint was already purchased, I went for it anyways. The previous owners never painted the garage so the wall texture has been exposed to the garage environment for 10 years. I had several locations near areas of possible moisture where the texture would stick to the roller when painting which made for a bit of a mess. I had to scrape off any suspect texture and redo the texture from a spray can. It wasn’t as hard as I expected to match the new texture to the old. After this painting experience, I believe wall texture should not be left unprotected for such a long period of time as it will absorb moisture and degrade over time.

For the ceiling I used one coat of primer and one coat of white ceiling paint, Clark Kensington Ceiling Flat. I have found this ceiling paint to work really well and does not drip or spray much, if any, when rolled with a lambskin roller. I have come to love the lambskin roller and now use it for everything. For the walls I went with Behr Premium Plus Ultra exterior satin paint, color 790E-1 Subtle Touch. I went with the exterior paint as it will help with cleanup in the garage when things go wrong. The paint is very thick and does emit some fumes but the hassle I think was worth it. I only primed areas of concern; the rest was two coats of the exterior paint. The first coat did soak into the wall texture very quickly and dried much quicker than expected. I found that in the areas that I overlapped the ceiling paint on to the wall, the final wall color turned out a little deeper and darker. I suspect this is because the wall paint did not soak into the texture at these locations like the rest of the wall. Primer prior to applying the two coats, even though the Premium Plus Ultra is considered a primer/base, would have been the best option to achieve the desired color.

To protect the walls from the unavoidable car door hits I installed black vinyl dock edging at the common point where most car doors will hit. The dock edging, Dimex EasyFlex Plastic D-Profile, is complete overkill for wall and door protection but it adds some aesthetics by breaking up the large wall surface. I used Kreg wood screws as I liked the look and size of the heads.

I also added a black vynil cove base at the transition between the floor and curb. I bonded it on using Dap Weldwood Cove Base Adhesive. Oddly enough, that was the only cove base adhesive I found that can be applied to a painted surface. All other cove base adhesives I saw did not recommend using on painted surfaces claiming the adhesive needed somewhere for the moisture to go as the vinyl will not let it permeate and cure.

The cove base is easy to install except for the locations where it needs to make a turn. At sharp corners I had to locally thin out the material on the back side and use a heat gun to soften it. Then once in place, weights helped ensure it stayed put until fully cured.

Next came the very important lighting. I wanted the work area of the garage to be as bright as a professional garage. I went with Hyperikon Hyperselect Utility LED shop lights at 4000k. These lights have a very sleek look and were very affordable, especially as a lightning deal on Amazon. I have found the 4000k light temperature to be the perfect balance of accurate color and comfort for the eyes. The 5000k is supposed to be the most accurate for color correctness but it can fatigue the eyes. I installed three bars directly onto the ceiling and one dropped closer to the workbench. I hard wired all the lights into the location of the previous single bulb. I concealed the wiring using Legrand Wiremold non-metallic raceway wire channels, (NMW). The NMW series looks reasonably professional with a good selection of wire boxes. I also added a double light switch on the ceiling in the event I only want the workbench light lit. A word of advice, step back several feet when aligning all the channels as I made the mistake of not doing so. Now I have a slight skew which I will probably go back and fix when I get bored.

For the narrow section of the garage I used the Hyperikon LED T5 single fixtures. I did not use raceways for that setup since I had all the lights wired to an outlet. To control those lights I used a wireless remote light switch from GE. I placed the lights in the edges of the ceiling so that the lights are not blocked but the garage door when open. With 4 of these lights in this section the entire garage is equally well lit up.

To make air and power more accessible in the garage I mounted an air hose reel and power cord reel, both of which I bought at Northern Tool. The air hose reel is high quality and works great. The power cord reel is good given the lower price but does occasionally have issues coiling up as the cord jams against the housing. I mounted the reels to a 2 by 8 with T nuts and bolts, and the 2 by 8 was mounted to the ceiling using lag screws.

The next larger garage improvement I will be making will be adding storage in the form of cabinets and overhead storage, but that might not be for some time.

Since setting my goal, a lot has happened in life and with the car. Half marathons, overseas vacations, home search/purchase, and home renovations. All speed bumps or road blocks on the path of reaching Rennsport Reunion VI. Realistically speaking, the progress with the 968 was mostly at a standstill from mid 2017 to early 2018, until the garage was finally finished and ready to be used. I set the car on jack stands in the center of the garage and set to work. As I worked on the car I kept finding new areas I wanted to improve while knocking out other ones. Towards the end of July 2018 I finally got the engine together and was able to start up the car for the first time since I started working on it in November 2016. With 2 months to Rennsport I was feeling confident that I will be able to make it. In good fashion, I ended up taking two vacations before I finished off most of the details necessary to get the car driving on the road.

On September 3rd I took my first lap around the block. The 968 ran a little rough but later on I realized the hall-effect sensor was not plugged in. I figured it would take a couple startups for the DME to re-learn after sitting for so long. I felt confident enough to take the car to work. The next morning I went to start the car up but it struggled. It cranked once but it didn’t want to crank any more, as if the battery was dead. I gave it a couple more tries and it came to life. Now this in reality was the start of my problems. Writing about it now, there were many signs that hinted that I had a big problem on my hands. Back then each issue seemed to be an isolated incident. That same day I drove the car to lunch and it had a similar but much less significant startup issue. At that point I was already researching new starters thinking that might be the problem. That evening, before driving home from work, I noticed a small puddle of water under the car at the back of the engine, dripping from the low point of the header. It seemed like it might have been coming from the heater hoses. Maybe a clamp was loose and let some water out. On my drive home I started to hear sounds of water trickling from the heater core area. I did replace the heater core so I was thinking maybe some air was trapped in the system. A small water leak from the heater hoses and air in the heater core seemed logical. That evening I looked through the heater hoses but didn’t see anything loose or wet. The vacuum lines leading into the cockpit were not attached, a possible cause of my rough idle, so I reconnected the lines. I also noticed the water level was low. When I removed the radiator cap a significant rush of air pressure was released. Maybe the air bubble in the heater core escaped. Sure, why not. I topped off the water and drove to work again the next day. No startup issue occurred and no water was present under the car after its second trip to work. I assumed my starter issue was fixed, but it was still running a little rough. On the third day of driving to work I had one startup problem like before and the idle was significantly rougher. Sitting on the lights coming back from work I felt like I was driving a tractor, bouncing up and down when standing still. I know the 944/968 engines were not perfectly balanced and my motor mounts were shot, but this was a bit much.

When I got home I checked the water level, and it was low again with the familiar rush of air when the cap was removed.  I decided to pull the spark plugs. Cylinder 1,3 and 4 plugs looked normal but the cylinder 2 plug looked wrong. I put them back in with the goal of letting the car idle a couple minutes to see if I could smell or see a change immediately after running it. Maybe the plug was being fouled or no fuel was being delivered. I started the car up and let it idle. That’s when noticed a significant amount of steam coming out of the exhaust. It was a humid day bit this was much more than I would consider normal. I turned the car off and went straight to the cylinder 2 plug. I pulled it out and smelled what would seem like water burning. I looked inside the cylinder and saw water was rushing in. It didn’t stop until I relieved the pressure in the cooling system. My heart sunk. I’m 3 weeks from Rennsport and this happens. Cherry on top, I pulled the dipstick and the oil was a milkshake. The one saving grace was that I was only running water with water wetter. If I was running glycol coolant I would be risking all my bearings. Glycol can oxidize to form glycolic acid and other acids which attack soft metals used for bearings. At this point I had one decision to make. Should I try to make it to Rennsport or give up on my goal and fix this with no schedule rush? I chose not to give up no matter how difficult and time consuming it would be.

Project 968 Before Disassembly

Plug Inspection at Head Gasket Failure – Cyl 2 is Second from Right

In 2 days’ time I had the cylinder head removed and all the milkshake out of the engine (took 15 quarts of oil, 2 cans of seafoam, and 5 gallons of diesel to accomplish). I plan on posting a detailed write up of this, but I have two primary takeaways. First, diesel does work to safely clean out the crankcase and oil does not. Second, it is much quicker and enjoyable to redo your own work than trying to decipher what someone else did.

Stages of Cleaning Out Oil/Water Milkshake Using Diesel

The Perfect Setup for Engine Disassembly and Head Removal

So to the more exciting bit, what caused the water leak into the cylinder? There are really three main options in the 968: cracked head, cracked cylinder wall, or head gasket failure. Lucky for me, it was only the head gasket. But man what a head gasket it was. Complete swiss cheese. If only I knew this when I was replacing the cam chain I would have gone and replaced the head gasket before it failed and saved myself a lot of time.

Failed Head Gasket – Notice Cylinder 2 Steam Cleaned from Failure

Corroded Head Gasket at Cylinder 2

Cylinder Head Removed

Detailed Look at Cylinder 2 – No Damage to Cylinder Wall Found

Cylinder Head Removed

Fast forward 2 weeks and 72 hours of work later, the engine was back together. It would have been easier if I didn’t have a full time job, but that just adds to the feeling of success in the end. Since I already had the cylinder head off I ended up performing considerably more work than I planned. I replaced the balance shaft seals, crank seal, engine mounts, fuel injectors, throttle body seals (a beast to remove when corroded in place like mine). I also cleaned most of the gunk off the engine block and almost every part I removed took a trip through the ultrasonic cleaner.

Block and Pistons Cleaned Up

Head decked, Valve Job Performed – Ready for Installation

Engine Head and Intake Installed – Cleanliness

At this point I only had 3 full days until I had to leave for Rennsport. Not much time to do a good shakedown and get some miles on the car. Ideally I would do at least one long run to ensure I won’t get stranded on the way to Monterrey. The best I could do is three trips to work 10 miles each way, one of which I intentionally drove the wrong way to get a 60 mile drive in. On Wednesday night I should have only been packing and heading to sleep early, but instead I was finishing off installing the interior trim, radio, spoiler, and doing a final wash and wax. I just couldn’t turn myself off.

Thursday morning, after two hours of sleep, I woke up at 2 am as the plan was to meet at 3 am in Vista to caravan up the 1 to Rennsport. I got into the car and started it up. All seemed well as I back out of the garage. I turned my lights on and noticed my gauge cluster lights were not working. This is an issue I had when I purchased the car but since then I got them working without any trouble. Then I noticed smoke coming from the top of the gauge cluster. Great! I didn’t even make it out of the driveway and my trip seemed over. In a bit of a panic I pull the car into the garage to see if there was something I could do. As I was calling my friend to let him know I would be late if I came at all, I remembered the gauge cluster lights had their own fuse and maybe if I pulled it, I could at least drive without the need of a fire extinguisher in my other hand. The fuse was already blown. I touched the dimmer switch, which that fuse controls, and the switch was burning hot. The switch must have shorted out which was the cause of the smoke that traveled behind the dash and escaped out the gap between the gauge cluster and the dash. A feeling of relief went through my body. I could drive with the dome light on as it provided enough light to see the gauges.

Fog on the 101 in Santa Barbara

Pit Stop in Los Alamos

Driving Above The Fog in SLO

Foggy View Point on the 1

914 Leading the Caravan on PCH

To my surprise, the rest of my drive to Laguna Seca Raceway was uneventful. Since we left San Diego County at 3:30am, we missed the LA traffic, hitting some slight congestion in Santa Barbara. In good fashion, we broke away from the 101 and took the 1 in San Luis Obispo. Sadly, most of the 1 was blanketed with dense fog which obstructed the picturesque views. But still, no matter how I pushed on the twisties the car never showed any weakness, besides the 11 year old rubber of my tires not cooperating on the higher speed corners. The other distinct memory I have is the right side of my seat getting very warm from the center tunnel. Luckily the day was chilly and the warmth was not entirely unwelcome.

Arriving at Laguna Seca was a mixed bag of feelings. Happiness was fighting the sheer exhaustion of the trip, and yet I had the desire to keep driving. I had met my goal of driving the car up to Rennsport, and my mind was telling me “Now let’s go home.”.  I was at the mecca of Porsche Motorsports and yet I wanted to leave?!? I had no idea exhaustion could have such an effect on me. It was not until the next morning, after sleeping 11 hours, that the awesomeness of the event hit me. Walking up to the Corkscrew and through the pits I felt excited again, unlike the dazed feeling from the day before. Like seeing a Porsche at the LA Auto Show for the first time when I was 10, a big grin on my face and excitement in my heart.

Campsite at Laguna Seca Raceway

Porsche 935 K on the Corkscrew

Rennsport Reunion VI Main Display – Poster Cars

Eifel Trophy Cars Exiting Track

Porsche Royalty – Wolfgang Porsche – Held up by a 914

Newly Unveiled Porsche 935 Awaiting Filming

Rennsport Reunion VI was an amazing event. The fantastic Laguna Seca track and amazing Porsche race cars that shaped racing history. The sounds and the smells are engraved in my mind. What journey it has been, and it’s only the start of the fun with Project 968.

Rennsport Reunion Badge from PCA and Porsche Classic Rag

After putting in 31 hours of work in the last week I have finally got the 968 running. This is a big milestone bringing me closer to Rennsport 2018. The first couple seconds of running was painful as the dry lifters were making a horrible sound of imminent failure. Luckily it quickly went away and the engine sounded smoother with every second of running. The second part of video is of the engine running after about 5 minutes. It sounds a lot better but it has a distinct whine, which is either an over tight balance shaft belt or the alternator breaking in.

I started the car up the next day, not shown in video, and it sound significantly better. Its all moving in the right direction.

The time has come to move on from the one bedroom apartment to a condo with a proper garage. The garage at my new place is a two car tandem garage with finished walls and a small area on the side. Not a huge space but enough room to turn it into a good workspace. The first improvement I decided to tackle was the garage floor. I wanted to make sure this was taken care of before any moving in occurred. I think we can all agree that once the garage is moved it, it would be a huge hassle to resurface the floor.

The New Home for Project 968

I spent many hours researching all my options. Doing an epoxy floor appears to be superior to any concrete sealer. When applying an epoxy floor, much like with any painting or bonding process, the most important part is the surface preparation. The coating is only as strong as the bond between it and the substrate. Professional companies that apply epoxy floor coatings will grind the concrete to ensure it is smooth and contaminate free. As a do it yourself project, grinding is not the most user friendly option unless the concrete is in really bad shape or has an existing coating present. Since the concrete in my garage appeared fairly clean and smooth, I was hoping to find a coating that would not require grinding.

There are many epoxy floor coatings out there but the reviews vary quite a lot. Reading various articles, watching videos, and talking to people had lead me to UCoat It. The UCoat It epoxy coatings pride themselves on their proprietary bonding process. The first coat of epoxy is applied onto the concrete when it is still wet, unlike the other coatings that require it to be perfectly dry. As long as the process is followed correctly the coating will adhere well. I decided to pull the trigger on UCoat with UGloss-AF floor coating system. UCoat with Ugloss-AF This coating system uses two coats of epoxy and a clear coat which improves chemical resistance. I decided to go for the medium gray color as it would be light enough to reflect some light without being too light to highlight all the dirt. I also opted to not use any “paint flecks” with the coating. As much as such a treatment will hide imperfections and hide dirt, it will also hide any small parts that I will drop on the floor. I think we have all been there, looking for that tiny washer screw. A single color to help ease that problem. The timing of my purchase lined up perfectly as I was able to catch the Memorial Day free shipping sale (it appears they have free shipping sales every holiday).

UCoat It Packages

Step one in the process is surface preparation. The UCoat It process calls for muriatic acid to prepare the surface for the first coat of paint, but before that occurs, any oil needs to be cleaned from the concrete. If the oil is not cleaned off, the acid will not be able to prepare the surface. My garage only had a couple oil spots where the cars were previously parked. The oil spots were dry but appear to have soaked into the concrete. I decided to give simple green a shot. I sprayed liberally over the stains and let it sit overnight. I was not sure if this will work, but the next day I found the simple green was able to bring the oil to the surface. If a degreaser would have not worked, the other option was TSP (trisodium phosphate) with kitty litter. From what I have read, TSP is very powerful stuff that will clean even the most stubborn oil from the concrete. The purpose of the kitty litter is to make a paste that will then absorb the oil that is lifted from the concrete. Luckily, I did not have any oil stains that would require that.

Spraying Small Oil Stains with Simple Green

Oil Stains Lifted to Surface After Overnight Simple Green Soak

In addition to cleaning off the oil stains, I decided to pressure was the garage. The UCoat-it process did not require this but I didn’t want to take any chances. For cleaning concrete a gas powered pressure washer is required as an electric one will not generate the pressure needed. I rented a gas powered pressure washer off craigslist and cleaned the floor as best as possible. This was able to clean off any other non-oil stains left behind by the previous owners.

Garage Floor After Pressure Washing

It is also important to confirm that the concrete has not been previously sealed as that will prevent the muriatic acid from penetrating the concrete. A water test can confirm the presence of a sealer by simply dripping some water on the concrete and checking if it changes color. If concrete changes color, there is no sealer. While pressure washing I noticed a couple areas that the water did not seem to penetrate into the concrete, as it did not change color. This concerned me as that could indicate that the concrete was previously sealed even though a previous water test I performed did not indicate a sealer. I performed a final test using a drop of full strength muriatic acid. To my relief, the drop instantly reacted with the concrete.

Muriatic Acid Test for Sealer

The UCoat It kit is supplied fairly complete and comes with most of what is needed to finish the job, aside for the muriatic acid. To be prepared I bought extra roller covers, chip brushes, and small and large buckets. The muriatic acid is not included in the kit but that can be easily found at Home Depot. I set aside three evenings to perform the work and enlisted the help of a good friend. This entire process can be performed alone, but it would take much longer and it would be much more mundane.

Supplies Ready for UCoat It Application

With some nervousness we started the process. We diluted the acid per the instructions and began etching the concrete. We used plastic deck brushes to scrub the concrete and spread the acid. Pouring the acid onto the concrete had an oddly rewarding feeling as it fizzled and smoked on contact. The acid really did a good job cleaning to concrete. We performed two passes, washing away the debris after each pass using water and a large floor squeegee. After the second pass, the concrete was super clean and had a very smooth porous texture.

After First Acid Wash

After Second Acid Wash

We mixed the epoxy for the first coat in a 5 gallon bucket. According to the pot time chart we had about 60 minutes, which seemed like enough time to coat the entire floor. One person cut in the edges while the other rolled the epoxy out. We had to re-wet the floor as we painted as the concrete dried out fairly quickly. Turns out, even when working with a friend, 1 hour was barely enough time to complete the task. By the time we got to the end of the garage, the epoxy gelled with a couple feet left. This meant that a small section near the garage door got a very thin coat of epoxy. Nothing we could do about it at that point, so we let it be.

Immediately After Application of First Coat

First Coat Dried

For the second coat, we learned our lesson from the first day and decided to roll out the paint in two batches. Also, instead of rolling out paint from a bucket we used a paint tray. This made the process much smoother and less rushed. The second coat went down a lot easier than the first. For the second coat it was important to have a uniform finish as any imperfections will be visible through the clear coat.

Second Coat Supplies Setup

Second Coat In Process

Immediately After Application of Second Coat

Second Coat Drying

The third and final coat was the clear coat. For this coat we followed the same process as with the second. The clear coat is very similar to an automotive clear coat and its definitely some potent stuff. It didn’t take long until the effects of the vapors made us thankful that it was a fairly strong breeze that day. The primary difficulty with rolling out this coat was seeing what was already painted and what was not. In the end, a couple spots, specifically at the interface between the cut in and roller, were not fully coated. The clear coat took 24 hours to cure before being able to walk on it, and 7 days to fully cure. Throughout that time it continued to have a distinct and powerful odor. After smelling it for several days I did not notice it but anyone who came by during that time noticed it from a far.

Completed UGloss It UGloss-AF

Lack of Coverage of Clear Coat

Completed UGloss It UGloss-AF – Tape Removal

Completed UGloss It UGloss-AF Trim

Completed UGloss It UGloss-AF

In the end I am very happy with the results and quality of the product. It’s clear that if the directions are followed there should be no issue with application. There are several lessons learned and things I would consider doing differently if I were to do this again. One of the main things to note is that any imperfections on the concrete will be more evident when painted with a glossy paint. Sounds obvious but knowing what imperfections are present is not that simple. The concrete in my garage had a couple small cracks that were barely visible but once painted there are much more obvious. There are also many little holes, about 1/8” in diameter, which show up as black dots. It’s very likely that these holes were not present until the acid wash exposed small voids in the concrete. Also, any surface finish changes or irregularities what were present during the smoothing of the concrete are now very visible. In the end, all of these imperfections are minor for a garage, but they are there. If I were to apply this coating again, I would seal up any voids, cracks, and holes with concrete filler after performing the acid wash. To remove the overall surface finish imperfections it would be necessary to grind the concrete. But the benefit of the irregular surface finish is that it will hide any damage to the floor that will inevitably happen.

Here are more lessons learned and observations that could come in handy if you decide to do your garage floor with UCoat:

-Coat the floor in batches and do not rush the process.

-Use a roller tray to help keep the application smooth.

-Use a higher quality roller handle that prevents the roller cover from slipping off. (I used a Wooster Sherlock on the second and third coat which helped)

-The roller covers supplied in the kit claimed to be lint free and shed resistant but that was not the case for me, even after removing all the lint initially present out of the packaging. I recommend using the highest quality rollers you can find.

-The chip brushes, like any cheap chip brushes, will leave behind bristles. I would spring for a quality brush next time to eliminate this issue.

-For my health I probably should have used a respirator when applying the clear coat.

-Fill any cracks or imperfections in the concrete.

-The finished coating is very slippery when wet. The kit came with silica sand for texture but since I live in a dry climate, I chose not to use it. From speaking with people that have used it, it does become a magnet for dirt and any work done on the floor becomes painful for the knees.