9126001675 3.0L coupe - NC Ownership & Updates

[ToySnakePMC]

Thanks John and A Ordinary! Nothing amazing going on here - just removing and replacing parts and cleaning as I go. Therapeutic to me I must say. Often times a cold beer joins me when I’m knee deep into this on a Saturday afternoon, lol.

Here’s what I posted before, holds water:
It feels good to post up here and add some entry-level content to the forum. My skill set is nowhere near what some of the artisans and creative thinkers here display on a weekly basis, lol ! But it's fun nonetheless. Thank you for taking a few minutes to look around here...

John, I thank you and the rest of the Raleigh area air cooled guys and gals for letting me join in your fun and spirited gatherings theses past few years! I’ll definitely post up interior updates soon. I should have my car back in another week or so.

[bmoyer83]

I love the 912E, following thread. Awesome progress so far.

[ToySnakePMC]

Have a little rain here this Saturday morning, so it’s a good time to update the thread on this 76 coupe. This is all about the cabin and coming up with a plan to refresh the interior – eliminate some black colors where reasonably possible and give myself an interpretation of what I think a longhood would feel and look like on the inside. This all pretty much happened during winter 2023.

I will break it down into 4 sections loosely based on sequence of events and to not challenge anyone’s reading comprehension – mostly mine!

HEADLINER.

Ivory headliner was intact when I purchased this in 2019. The random dark stains and overall yellowing of the headliner were somewhat soul crushing but not an issue if I didn’t look up when in the car. Replacement of said headliner was the original plan, but I hated the idea of removing window glass and dealing with replacement seals and such. So.., somewhere I read about SEM Mystic White Marine Vinyl Coat – along with their Tac Free Protective Coating.

From SEM: “This aerosol polymer will also eliminate tackiness on refinished vinyl and resists alcohol-based cleaners. Tac Free is great protection--and you can even do a wet-on-wet application to save time!”



I decided I had nothing to lose and ordered way too much product for the task. To do this, I scrubbed the headliner with vinegar based cleaner and soft brush & rags. Tape everything off and create a cocoon with bed sheets, bed spread, and plastic car cover to protect everything on and in the car but my lungs. It was the worst stuff I’ve every breathed in. The little mask I wore was just enough to keep me alive until I would jump and run outside between coats to catch some fresh air!



Over a 2-day period, I laid down about 5 coats of color and 3 coats of Tac Free. Headliner would wrinkle up with the wet paint, which was quite concerning, but it would flatten back out after the product dried. I am pleased with the results. I’ve always had one small puncture in the back of the headliner, but it doesn’t bother me. So, for about $65, I highly recommend this approach as you have very little to lose other than time if it doesn’t meet your expectations.

[ToySnakePMC]

RENNLINE RETRO DASH KIT.

This little 912E-3.0 came with a typical middie/ early SC looking interior. Basic black. Just a bit blah, a bit tired, and not an inspiring cockpit to operate in. That’s not to say that I didn’t grin from ear-to-ear every time I got behind the wheel – because I did and still do! The first mod I did was remove the 3 spoke wheel and replace with a used RAID wheel from eastern Europe on eBay. Has a lovely light patina on the leather. I just polish the spokes from time to time - and it's mounted with a Momo hub, 1" momo type spacer, and a Momo-to-Raid adapter from Amazon. Perfect spacing from the dash for me.



Enter the retro dash kit from Rennline. That’s the look I craved. My goal all along was to somehow incorporate the early basketweave dash look. And there are many good threads here on the Pelican with awesome DIY versions that I’d be happy to have. …But, I took the easy path and took delivery of a complete kit!

Steps were pretty easy to take. Remove just about everything, Take out seatbelt warning lamp, cigarette lighter, rear defrost switch, and pretty much all things that resided below that line. Heat shrink wiring, remove unnecessary stereo plug, and zip tie wires for clean appearance and eliminate possible rattles and such. The soft trim is just glued on and actually came off the dash in complete pieces. Side vents and glove box items were also deleted.





The lower steel panel with textured flat black paint went in with 5-6 special sheet metal screws provided in the kit. They have a thin, flat head so they’re not very visible when your eyes are anywhere above the shifter knob. I did grind and trim a LH corner edge to place it correctly – probably unnecessary but I felt that far corner was fighting me from a perfect fit. The 2 stainless steel trim pieces were next and somewhat easy to screw on – once the wiper stalk/ apparatus was removed. Getting behind that stalk was the hardest screw to insert. But that allowed me to clean up everything on the column and behind the plastic trim cover.





Playing with heater/ fan controls was another story. That’s an interesting piece from Porsche. There’s a little mystery, at least to me, on the puzzle sequence with removing and installing the billet Rennline control panel. What a nice addition to the overall feel and look of the dash. Not that I even know how to operate the damn levers – not sure if I could defrost the windshield if I didn’t have a bath towel within reach! It’s just jewelry on the dash to me!!






A roll of thin, black basketweave came with the kit. Not my preferred color. Basketweave update to come soon.

[ToySnakePMC]

VINTAGE SEATS.

Keeping this interior refresh going, I teamed up with Vintage Seats, LLC to build what I wanted from the get-go. Several good small companies build seats, and I like just about every offering out there. These just seemed most interesting to me for some reason. They were great to work with – and they started construction, building the shells, and ordering my fabric within a week or two of order! Who does that these days!!? So, great customer service – no doubt – from beginning to end. I think I had them back in my shop within 6 to 7 weeks IIRC.

These are their RS seats with my desired red, white, & black pepita fabric. I should also mention that the wifey urged me to change the seats – and I just couldn’t disappoint her.











Very happy with feel and look of the seats. They shipped with optional sliding tracks and peanut headrest. If I have one gripe – and no fault of Vintage Seats since I never saw or sat in one of their products prior to mine – I wish I sat about an inch lower. Front of bottom cushion is at same height of Comfort seat it replaced. But I’m used to it now and am still comfortable after a full day of mtn blasting!

[ToySnakePMC]

SONDERWERKS SQUARE WEAVE CARPET.

Having first met Dave and touring his shop the year prior, I felt very comfortable with his shop’s ability to knock out a custom carpet build & installation for the coupe. My original black carpet was in pretty good condition, but it was… black. Needed to go.
So watching one of my favorite YouTube channels, I was catching up on old shows on the Grey Ghost and saw Michael O’Neil’s HOT @SS interior! I love his content on RENNCH – and I think he has a sharp, creative eye and has a sports-purpose style that I like. So, if copying someone is the highest form of flattery, I'm guilty. I definitely used his interior as my muse – color scheme -etc! Not ashamed. He’s on the Left Coast and I’m on the East Coast – plenty of distance between two air-cooled cars, lol. In fact, I sent him an email with two photos side-by-side to show him his influence over this interior build, lol.

Link to a great rabbit hole to dive in if you’re not familiar: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ0JSLjr9zoeT4RWMsIRUxA

Loaded up the car and let it spend about 8-9 weeks of mild winter north of Charlotte at Sonderwerks.



So, Dave and JP, the talkative and informative shop manager, were both gracious and helped put the final touches on this interior redo. They ordered the carpet roll from Relicate, cut out their patterns & pieces and used black vinyl to edge where necessary. (Did I say RENNCH?) After some delays and rejected pieces, they located some suitable red basketweave for the dash. They also created a new simple rear shelf wrapped in appropriate black vinyl like the dried out original one.

Mechanically speaking, JP discovered my inoperative parking brake and didn’t like the friction point I had with my fresh clutch cable and pedal box rebuild. After new Porsche parking brake cables and pieces and adjusted cable, we had a happy 912E that was ready to head home.

Let’s take a look at where it ended up. But first, here’s Michael’s Grey Ghost interior:



Here’s mine, lol ��:













Also, my door stops and surround metal were junk. I purchased black belt leather, stainless steel bimini top straps, and Chicago-style binding screws to create R door straps. (Think Jeep as well..) Sonderwerks installed the required rivnuts and attached said straps. I’ll probably shorten them a half inch and remove the old door stays – just haven’t bothered as of yet. By the way, the window cranks are Achtung Kraft that I removed the anodize and polished up. My original dash top and door panels have always been in great shape.



That sorta wraps up the interior. Been a lot of fun and damaging to the wallet all at the same time. Cheers. Patrick

[tk32]

Missed this thread! Nice driver oriented refresh going on over here and the sneak peeks at other random builds are fun. More 'vette!

I dig that the 912E sleeper badge remains in place

[chucksmith]

it looks great!

[ToySnakePMC]

Originally Posted by tk32

Missed this thread! Nice driver oriented refresh going on over here and the sneak peeks at other random builds are fun. More 'vette!

I dig that the 912E sleeper badge remains in place

Thx fellas! Yes, it had a 911 badge when purchased on BaT in ‘19. A kind Pelican sold me his 912E badge and been proud to show off the least loved of all Middies.

[chrisbalich]

Patrick, If you like the AK winders, you have to install the stalks. (wiper & blinker) Such a huge improvement in regards to feel and function. **They don't look particularly long-hood in my opinion tho.

[ToySnakePMC]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

Patrick, If you like the AK winders, you have to install the stalks. (wiper & blinker) Such a huge improvement in regards to feel and function. **They don't look particularly long-hood in my opinion tho.

Sounds good! Also have their well-designed and built oil cooler scoop. AK creates some really handsome parts I will admit!

Quick update. 4 weeks ago, I did A semi-impulse purchase of a square set of 15x7 Phone Dials from eBay with an ordered set of Amazon’s finest ZeeTex 205-55 Indonesian tires. $80 each - worth a shot, sticky enough, and have a retro looking tread pattern, to me anyway... The whole idea began with the idea that I needed a spare wheel & tire. Looked at one Phone dial and ended up buying the best set of 4 wheels I could find in a 2 day search, lol.



Today, this Reverse Lock Out came in from JWest. Got it installed in 10 min, and it doesn’t appear that I’ll need to adjust shift linkage upon first attempts at shifting and pretend driving. I love my shifter and look forward to no worries of catching reverse when downshifting on some curvy NC or VA mtn roads...







All of this and more is in preparation for 3-4 days of ripping up some southwest Virginia backroads with 5 pals. We have 5 air cooled G bodies and 1 495HP LS3 Miata (folding hardtop) that is in GT3 territory when it comes to power/ weight ratio. We leave out Wednesday and cannot wait. Good weather and well-planned Appalachian routes ahead of us along with some craft breweries and small towns to visit.

[GothingNC]

Wow, Looks really good with the phone dials !!
Looking forward to the trip :-)

[ToySnakePMC]

Amen! Thanks to your expert help, John, with routes and such - this is gonna be a great week!!

[dg567]

Love the phone dials - have a great trip fellas and hope to join on the next one!

[ToySnakePMC]

Originally Posted by dg567

Love the phone dials - have a great trip fellas and hope to join on the next one!

Lol, Says the fella who sells some of the nicest, upscale & interesting Porsche wheels on BaT!
Danny, we should plan a North meets South outing with groups from “both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.” That would be a blast. We’ll scout it out this time and have it dialed in better next time for you Yanks up yonder.
Patrick

[reclino]

Very nice build, I have been avoiding reading other people's build threads because it tends to make me frustrated at the slow progress of my own. Your retro inspired interior gives me some ideas for my own.
Keep up the good work.
David

[GothingNC]

From our trip to Tazwell.

[GothingNC]

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by reclino

Very nice build, I have been avoiding reading other people's build threads because it tends to make me frustrated at the slow progress of my own. Your retro inspired interior gives me some ideas for my own.
Keep up the good work.
David

Incremental progress is still progress.
Make 20 minutes a couple times a week and you'll get there.
The mental challenge of continuing to push is the hardest part for me.

[ToySnakePMC]

Decided it was time to bust out a quick update on some minor work performed on the least desirable air-cooled – the 912E. ��

Back in the Fall, I installed an Adapt Motorsports updated fuse panels (front & rear). And then more recently, I installed a new pair of Achtung Kraft aluminum turn & wiper stalks.

The fuse panels are nicely done and have a nice feature or two when compared to other brands. If you look for another Pelican’s review, he explains exactly how much larger the terminals are for inserting your random clump of wires and the switchable LED indicators that give you some indication of what’s going on with your mini blade fuses.



The installation process was not hard at all. Adapt provides some neat little zip ties that also have a little rectangle tag to allow you to label your wires as you go from front to back. Easy Peasy.
Edit: Note the grounding wire to body on LH end of fuse panel. I did that as a quick remedy (per the mfgr's instructions) to provide a path to ground for the integrated headlight relays. I had sanded & painted my fuse panel bracket just before this work was performed and was worried that i didn't have a good ground through a mounting bolt. I can remove that wire once I properly prepare a ground/ mounting screw. And large diameter wire in far RH terminal is for my hidden stereo amp to play my SiriusXM and charge the iPhone (no head unit in dash). Adapt provides this extra terminal for customer-installed electrical thingies (technical term).



The rear required a little more work – only because you need to drill 2 holes in the LH aluminum electrical panel for mounting this tiny rig. Same procedures as before. Not certain my rear fuses actually perform any functions since I’ve removed the rear defog switch from the dash.



And a quick and awful photo of the Achtung Kraft turn signal stalk installation. You have to remove a small steel pin with the tap or 3 of a hammer on a similar sized nail to drive it out. Insert AK’s sexy & rigid aluminum LH & RH stalks, button up your column cover and reattach your favorite steering wheel. Turn signal action is now more crisp, lol! The old plastic arms must have had holes wallowed out creating some slop! I installed these as AK offers a version that spaces the handles 1” further away from the dash to better work with my flat steering wheel mounted on the spacer.