Lil 70 Black Targa Build Thread

[awbar]

Hello Pelican family!

I'm so happy and excited to begin post updates for the build of this 1970 Targa 911T.





Backstory:

I have always been a pretty diehard VW guy/german car enthusiast and owned almost every generation of dub.

My wife recently pushed me into finding a good project car (I work too much). We originally spent time looking at 912's and even a turbo look slant nose in San Fransisco but the owner wouldn't let me test drive it or get a PPI completed so we walked. The main goal was to find a car with sound mechanicals and low low rust as I am not well versed in the bodywork or heavy into mechanical work but can change oil, gaskets, etc.

After a 12-hour round trip drive from Monterey to Simi Valley and back to inspect the car and have a PPI completed, the PPI came back clean and we ended up purchasing the car. The car took quite a long time to arrive due to the stock market crashing and international pandemic.



When the car arrived I can honestly say it was one of the best days of my life.



The Car

Current Car Specifications:

1970 911T Chassis original color: Pastel Blue
Mileage: 52010
Engine: 1980 Fuel Injected 3.0 SC
Interior: Black on Black on Black

The car itself is a bit of an outlaw/replica of a Carerra RS 3.0 plus or minus some body panels. The car has lots of cosmetic issues, bumps dings but overall a good looking car. My main goal with the project is to clean up the obvious, missing bump stops, screws, replace some rotting interior and some sheet metal, etc.

The previous owner was obviously a racer as the suspension and engine are in great shape and modified. The aesthetics need some work, most of the trim was spray-painted and upon initial inspection, the interior was glued down multiple times and is need of some attention.

After sorting the stack of receipts for many hours I was able to log the engine's maintenance and trace back some of the parts that are on the car, and it looks as if the most recent maintenance was completed 5/1/2019 at 51224. The car came with some great books so I have been reading heavily.


My hope in posting here is to join the community and meet some new people out here in California and learn more about my car in the process of repairing it and improving it.

First Improvements:

- The wife removing removing this gear pattern rev limit sticker


Nicole (the wife) and Austin (the goofball):




TLDR: I bought a 1970 Porsche after in the middle of a pandemic and now have a lot of time to fix her up.

[awbar]

I got the car out for one last long drive up and over Laureles Grade before parking it for the last two months for the shelter in place.



I was originally going to just swap a carpet in (thanks pelican!)



but............................. I have been so inspired by the little blushes of the original paint color around the engine bay and under the car that I decided to actually tear the car down and start a cosmetic restoration back to the original 1970 look.

Upon removal of the cabin carpeting we found the following:

- Rust & Damage / Dents on both sides of the floor pan
- Rotted wooden pedalboard (explains some the odd smells)
- Some questionable cuts in the firewall for the 3.0L parts
- Large hammer impressions over the (Idk how to describe it) transmission bump?
- Welded on seatbelt mount. (I think the 70 had tripoint belts not a fixed mount?)







I was able to find new homes for the door cards, seats, fiberglass wing, and some of the other post 74 parts on the car. In the process, Nikki and I have met some great people all around the Bay Area. I even scored a more period correct Targa top and an original decklid to inspire us further towards the ultimate goal of bringing it's early looks back.

So far I have purchased the following to begin restoration:

- Original Basketweave 1970 911T seats (photos coming)
- 70 911 Decklid (thanks pmax!)
- Grey Perlon RS style carpet kit (thanks pelican)
- Rennline Pedal Kit (back-ordered)
- NOS ABS plastic Pedal Board
- Pair of sugar scoop headlamp rings
- Period correct Targa Top (thanks Bill!)
- LOTS OF TOOLS
- Automotive Touchup (Custom Color Pastel Blue for painting small things)
- Goo gone (SO MUCH GOO GONE to remove the window tint)

Through my WTB thread, I was approached guy named JP (madeofoak) from Canada who was parting out a clean 71 Targa. I placed a deposit on the fenders, long hood, stainless Targa bar, and both doors which are mostly complete minus the interior door pieces like map pockets, etc. I should be getting them in the next month or so.



The next step is to remove the dash, fenders, hood, doors front, and rear bumpers and find them new homes. I have carefully disassembled & bagged the parts for the seat recliners and I am sending them to a chrome plating shop to get them shining again.




Questions!

1. What kind of job labor/job is it to replace the left and right floor pans entirely?
2. The rear of the car was converted to support the PORSCHE lens, what is the process to convert it back to the 70 rear center panel with the license plate mount?
3. What should high-quality paint job cost? I got estimates from twelve to eighteen thousand dollars for light restoration work plus paint, is this high or low?
4. I am having trouble locating good exploded views / technical diagrams, for VW I had access to a database for this, is there a public Porsche database of vehicle part diagrams?

[drcoastline]

Congratulations on your project and good luck with the restoration/conversion back to it's original looks. Also congratulations that you have a partner interested in and willing to participate.

[Arts911]

Nice 911 , but are you sure it is a 1970 and not a 1980

Everything about the car looks 80s . The dash with the middle a/c vent and the rear seat pan . If you remove the dash it should have a speaker hole . A lot of work went into changing that into a 80s 911

Congratulations on your project

[awbar]

Originally Posted by Arts911

Nice 911 , but are you sure it is a 1970 and not a 1980

Everything about the car looks 80s . The dash with the middle a/c vent and the rear seat pan . If you remove the dash it should have a speaker hole . A lot of work went into changing that into a 80s 911

Congratulations on your project

Thanks! it looks like an 80s but the vin and the one year only original paint under all the donor 80s parts makes it a 70. To my knowledge it’s obviously been updated. The PO wanted this look.

What about the rear seat pan says 80s over 70?

[Arts911]

I could be wrong . The rear seat pan is different on cars 73 and up . 66 to 72 have a different design .

Did the old PO cut up the dash for the A/C vent ? That dash is 77 and up .

[awbar]

Originally Posted by Arts911

I could be wrong . The rear seat pan is different on cars 73 and up . 66 to 72 have a different design .

Did the old PO cut up the dash for the A/C vent ? That dash is 77 and up .

I’m not sure it’s next on my list to get under there and see what’s going on. I do see all the original blower tubes etc under the dash. Yes the dash is a later dash. My guess is he found a later donor car and used these parts as they are more readily available.

[andoni510]

Austin, I now have a better vision of parts you need to restore it back to a Pastel Blue 70T. If you currently have a 915 transmission, it explains why you have those dents in between the rear seat pans as it is required to clear the top of the transmission housing.
The previous owner sure went all out to update this car to an 80’s SC era. Glad you are trying bring it back to correct Longhood status.

Bob

[Larmo63]

There is a thread by Jonny042 you should follow/read:

Project Heavy Metal - an all steel classic, remastered

I need some of your leftovers........

[awbar]

Originally Posted by andoni510

Austin, I now have a better vision of parts you need to restore it back to a Pastel Blue 70T. If you currently have a 915 transmission, it explains why you have those dents in between the rear seat pans as it is required to clear the top of the transmission housing.
The previous owner sure went all out to update this car to an 80’s SC era. Glad you are trying bring it back to correct Longhood status.

Bob

Thanks Bob looking forward to talking with you soon.

Originally Posted by Larmo63

There is a thread by Jonny042 you should follow/read:

Project Heavy Metal - an all steel classic, remastered

I need some of your leftovers........

What leftovers are you looking for? I found a lot of inspiring moments in that thread. I hope my car turns out to be a little less involved but hey I know how these things go!

Right now I am looking for a fab / Paintshop near Monterey area I can bring the car to in August to get the bodywork complete.

So far I have sold the front fenders, hood this last week so progress is still moving forward! I will get a big update out soon once I clean out my shop! It's so small I wish I had another shop to work on the car!

Do any locals want to rent me some shop space?

[Munky King]

Your comment on cost of light resto plus paint for $12 - $18k is almost impossible to answer, as it depends on what light resto is needed and the quality of work.

One of the best guys in my area (Midwest) has just given me a quote to backdate my 86 externally only, which includes color change. Including glass panels and me supplying wheels, Ally engine lid and polishing existing trim, rather than replacing (bright work around windows) I was looking at $55-$60k. Oh and a 10 month wait. He does concours level work normally.
To give you some idea of the lengths they go to, the first thing they would have done to my car, is set the desired stance, and then aligned the car before even thinking about the bodywork. They even put weights in the car to replicate the expected final distribution at this point.



The $55k quote included taking the Carrera rear quarters off and replacing with narrow body panels.

That’s out of my league!

Watching your thread with interest while I work out if I have the guts to backdate mine myself!

[awbar]

Originally Posted by Munky King

Your comment on cost of light resto plus paint for $12 - $18k is almost impossible to answer, as it depends on what light resto is needed and the quality of work.

One of the best guys in my area (Midwest) has just given me a quote to backdate my 86 externally only, which includes color change. Including glass panels and me supplying wheels, Ally engine lid and polishing existing trim, rather than replacing (bright work around windows) I was looking at $55-$60k. Oh and a 10 month wait. He does concours level work normally.
To give you some idea of the lengths they go to, the first thing they would have done to my car, is set the desired stance, and then aligned the car before even thinking about the bodywork. They even put weights in the car to replicate the expected final distribution at this point.

The $55k quote included taking the Carrera rear quarters off and replacing with narrow body panels.

That’s out of my league!

Watching your thread with interest while I work out if I have the guts to backdate mine myself!

Yikes 55K, that's a tough pill to swallow, but you get what you pay for. Im building a driver, something I can take on timed rallies and cars and coffee events. I have to say it's been nerve racking to spot check areas with my palm sander and begin to take the paint down, I am lucky to have my neighbors rooting me on!

I believe I can get the paintwork down to $10,000 if I continue to strip the car down and do some of the metalwork myself. Im going to keep my SC flares and my rear bumper pieces and have them bonded together to produce custom rear bumpers that mate up to the body lines.

Today I made a major step forward by drilling out the spot welds and removing the rear reflector panel that was welded on pretty good. I tapped a line and cut down it slowly and managed to not damage the fenders at all. It looks as if the car has been in a small rear collision early in its life. Behind where the bumperettes mount you can see two indentations on both sides.

I also got some paint stripper and started out by stripping the paint off the Fuchs center caps. They had 4 layers of paint and primer, this stuff is pretty amazing.




Does anyone know what this muffler is? I will need to sell it and replace it with a 2 in 1 out for the 70's rear bumpers I got.



This car was lightly tracked at some point because it has a TON of racing gravel in small areas around the car.



I have more photos to post soon of all the sanding I have completed.

[awbar]

Tiny update:

Thanks to my buddy Jon up north I met him in Morgan Hill to grab this really retro Blaupunkt speaker shelf, it's really neat and adds a unique looking bump in the read of the window behind the head of each seat, almost like a Carrera GT? Yay or nay? It could be good for rallies, the bottom of it is carpeted and it could be easily removed for car shows etc but enjoyed for daily driving?




My wife picked up this awesome duck tail from a local in Santa Cruz! We've always loved this specific look, what do you guys think? I think it's fun and the project is already a hotrod! My plan is to have both this tail and the original decklid painted so I can change up the appearance from time to time. I have always thought about Porsches and old VW's like grown up lego's and like the idea of having both around.





My new friend Steve picked up the fenders and short hood this morning so the car is looking nice and bare! photos coming.

Also the border has been closed so my long hood parts are stuck in CANADA for now.

[Hcarraro]

First of all welcome to the Porsche community we are proud to have you and Nicole. I wish you had kept the car just as purchased and just drive it until the wheels fell off. Man that car was beautiful.

Thumbs up on the ducktail. Best of luck with your project.

Henry

[Mixed76]

I hope you saved the racing gravel, it's much faster than ordinary gravel.

Sent from my Nokia 7.1 using Tapatalk

[Rodsrsr]

That is a very cool looking car! Cant wait to see more updates!

[Larmo63]

I like the idea of having to deck lids. Like building model cars. The speaker pod? Meh. I wouldn't.

Pastel blue is an insane color. Can't wait to see this car take shape.

You are going to do the Targa bar back to stainless? You must!

Carry on.

[Pedro '84 Coupe]

Nice project! Have fun with it. I'm looking for a ducktail too. Cool that you found one locally.

[awbar]

Originally Posted by Hcarraro

First of all welcome to the Porsche community we are proud to have you and Nicole. I wish you had kept the car just as purchased and just drive it until the wheels fell off. Man that car was beautiful.

Thumbs up on the ducktail. Best of luck with your project.


Henry

I agree Henry it was beautiful and I had some good pre Covid fun with it. It was a looker from 15 feet for sure but it was kind of mod podged together.

The photos made it look better than it was. Most of the panels had mismatched bolts and hardware and I believe the car deserves more than that. Furthermore the car has some damage on the undercarriage from racing that needs attention as I live near the ocean and rust is a concern.

Originally Posted by Mixed76

I hope you saved the racing gravel, it's much faster than ordinary gravel.

Sent from my Nokia 7.1 using Tapatalk

Thank you I will, great tip!

Originally Posted by Rodsrsr

That is a very cool looking car! Cant wait to see more updates!

Thanks Rodsrsr, I'm going to be posting a lot more updates as I go into the metal work, with hopefully some help from some shops up north.

Originally Posted by Larmo63

I like the idea of having to deck lids. Like building model cars. The speaker pod? Meh. I wouldn't.

Pastel blue is an insane color. Can't wait to see this car take shape.

You are going to do the Targa bar back to stainless? You must!

Carry on.

Yes stainless bar, pastel blue paintwork and some rear bumpers that work with the SC flares, I like the booty as it is. I've been so busy with work during covid that I have only been able to tool on the car on the weekends but mid August I have some time off and Ill be taking it to a shop to have the longhood latch panels and replace the front suspension pan! In the mean time ill be removing the windows and as much black paint as I can. So far the car has been blue, red, black in certain places.

Originally Posted by Pedro '84 Coupe

Nice project! Have fun with it. I'm looking for a ducktail too. Cool that you found one locally.

I feel lucky to have this ducktail! It's stylish and not to much!

[911 SLANT]

Nice Ducktail. I got lucky too. I traded a 1976 decklid for a nice Ducktail. I'm putting my 1971 911T back to a more original look. It will be a 1971 RSR look when I'm done.