1986 Carrera 3.2 Restoration

[Zero-H20]

I bought my 1986 Carrera 3.2 from a family member in December of '18. He had owned it since the early 90's and after it wouldn't start one day in 2014, life got in the way and he never got around to diagnosing the issue (ended up being a loose wire on the starter). As I grew up this was the car that made me fall in love with 911's, so I was excited to get it back on the road and begin restoring it. I've taken a ton of pictures over the months and will document the story up to today. Enjoy!

This was the car in October 2018. 4 years of sitting with the windows down had it pretty messy.







Used two containers of armor all and cleaned a huge chunk of the grime up.



Engine as it sat, but soon to be rebuilt!



The before and after wash pic, right before we had it towed to Einar's Garage in Seabrook Texas.





Engine out and the car on the lift, with a beautiful '87 in the foreground that Einar had just finished. I cannot say enough good things about Einar's Garage. If you're in the Houston area, check him out!



This was the day I picked the car up after a full engine rebuild, heater backdate, new barrier hoses for the AC, removal of the aftermarket alarm system, new Continental head unit, new tires, and a Wevo shifter.



Here's the engine the night I got the car home. I intended to have it rebuilt to European specs, but ended up going hot rod and used Mahle pistons and cylinders to convert to a 3.4 liter. We also upgraded to 964 cams and installed a custom Steve Wong chip. The car already had SSI headers. I had the old Danske muffler converted from a two-in one-out to a two-in two-out, in addition to removing some of the baffles inside (love the way this car sounds). I never drove the car before all the upgrades, but I will say, the day I punched it after it was broken in I was grinning like a moron. The car is plenty fast for me!

[proporsche]

great story and very nice -now - looking 911;-) congrats..Just one thing ..get some rim spacers for the back....

Ivan

[Zero-H20]

Once the car was running solid I began to tackle the smaller projects that I was comfortable doing myself. The tint was peeling on the back window and I personally don't think a classic car needs tint, so I removed it all.



I used a cloth steamer on the front windows, but discovered the real trick when I was doing the back window, which you'll see below.



This worked so well, I was pretty amazed. Take a cheap black trash bag and cut it to fit the rear window. Soak the window with windex and then fit the trash bag to the window. It'll stick with the windex on there. Ideally you would do this in the summer and put the car in the sun to heat up the glass and old tint, but I did it in the winter so I put a few space heaters on the rear wing and heated the glass that way for about 20 minutes. After it's warm/hot to the touch you begin pealing the tint off (use a razor blade to get it started but be careful of the defrost wires). I peeled the whole piece of tint off in 5 minutes and didn't leave any glue behind.



All in once piece!



Used Back to Black on the wing. It looked great when it was wet but lost a lot of shine after it dried.



This was after a wash, clay, polish, and wax. I had never used an orbital polisher before but the paint is in pretty rough shape up close and I plan to have it repainted next year, so I figured I couldn't do much harm. In the end it cleaned up pretty nicely. I wasn't surprised by how much crud came off with the clay, but boy did it need it.



Took the car to Circuit of the America's for the Indy race in the spring.



And a Coffee and Cars shortly after.



And finally, a car control school with the LSRPCA. This was so much fun and really beneficial to be able to learn the limits of the car. This is my first car without any nannies, so I was glad to be able to see how the car behaved under heavy braking and around tight turns. This was ultimately the reason I began looking at redoing the interior. I was cramped on leg room and could barely walk the next day.

[Zero-H20]

The beginning of the dreaded interior. I have read every thread on Pelican about stripping interiors, painting interiors, carpet installation, and anything related. They were all very inspiring and ultimately kept me motivated through this back-breaking project!

After a couple of drinks I decided to remove the roll bar. Here's a pic of it installed - really cramped the front seat for someone as tall as I am.



The roll bar unbolted and came out in 30 minutes, then I discovered the tar pad on the floor was chipping up easily with a flat head screwdriver. This was a really nice surprise. From everything I've read you usually have to heat it up with a heat gun and scrape it up slowly.



Yuck. a 32 year old interior sure gets musty.



The parcel shelf came out really easily, and I finally saw the stock sound deadening pad. Couldn't believe how heavy and gross this thing was.



Sound deadening pad. This will be replaced by the AppBiz interior engine sound pad.



This all went straight into the garbage. I intended to weigh it but ended up just tossing it out. Probably around 40 pounds.



Now begins the fun part! I know tons of folks recommend Citrus Strip to get all the adhesive off, but I wanted something that wouldn't hurt the paint (Citrus Strip is a paint and varnish remover. From what I've read on here, it doesn't take much paint off but I didn't want to risk it because I didn't plan to paint the interior. Ended up painting anyway so if I did it again I'd use Citrus Strip).



This was such a long and tedius job. I spent at least 10 hours in the car stripping out carpet adhesive.





Mostly done in the back at this point. I used Goof Off, a plastic razor blade, and Scotch Brite pads on the seam sealer. Never found more than a small bit of surface rust.

[Zero-H20]

Moving to the front area now. The tar pad on the floor boards was honestly the easiest part of the entire project for me. Again, I got lucky. I've seem a couple other people have it chip up easily like this. No clue why, but I was happy.





The middle console came out without too much trouble. Probably an hour to get it totally removed. I was extra careful with the white capillary tube for the AC.



Next step was to get all the tar off the floor.



Floor sound pad removed, but there was tons of grime left on the floor. I decided to paint the interior around this point so I spent a good 5-10 hours scrubbing off the grime and cleaning the floor before I brushed it with Rustoleum clean metal primer and paint. It was clean enough to sit on in dress slacks before I painted - pic down below.



Odorless mineral spirits are, in fact, not odorless. Wear a respirator (I should have). Also, I poked a small hole in my thumb when I hit a screw while scrubbing with a scotch brite pad and got mineral spirits in it. That hurt BAD. Wear latex gloves and replace them when they rip. My thumb throbbed for 2 days and didn't stop hurting for over a week.



Passenger side done. I found that a lot of mineral spirits and scotch brite pads worked well to get the grime off the floor, then wipe up with shop paper towels. You will still need a lot of elbow grease.



Floor pretty much clean at this point. After the mineral spirits, I used Marine Clean to degrease and clean up before paint. It worked well.



Removing the pedal assembly was a major PITA, but worth it. More on that below.



Definitely looking better after a bunch of Marine Clean and paper towels.

[Zero-H20]

Obviously not the most ideal way to paint an interior, but it worked. If budget allowed I would've stripped the car to the bones and had it blasted and sprayed, but management (my wife) turned down that request. When I retire in 30 years I'll work an extra year and pay someone to totally rebuild the car, but for now, this works.





After about 20 hours of disassembly and cleaning, I was able to prime. I used this stuff: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001005RH0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1



After a few days of letting the primer dry, I tackled the paint. This is what I used, but if I could do it again, I'd go with flat, not semi-gloss: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030DB2LK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1







Hard to take a pic of the interior now because it's so dark, but I got the hand brake reinstalled and the shifter, after painting the base black with Rustoleum aerosol primer and paint.



A week after the paint dried I began laying down Dynamat extreme. It went on pretty easily. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00020CB2S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[skinnerd]

Great looking car and lots of work to get it back to tip top shape.

One question.....why did you go with black for the interior?
I would have had a local paint shop put some of your blue color in a couple of rattle cans and gone that direction.
Guess most will be covered up by the sound deadening material anyway....

Nice job and super looking car.

[Zero-H20]

The pedal assembly rebuild wasn't too terribly hard once it was out of the car, but getting to that point was pretty dang frustrating. There are two bolts that you have to remove from under the car, which are hiding under a skid tray - you have to jack the car up to get to them. I bought a long arm floor jack from Harbor Freight but it didn't get here in time, so I borrowed a jack from a friend. It wasn't a long reach though, so I couldn't jack up on any of the recommended points under the car. Ultimately I was able to jack up one side of the car, place jack stands under, and remove the skid tray and bolts. I'd say the pedal assembly in total was a good 5-6 hour project. I found some instructions online but Pelican is killing the hyperlink when I try to share it. Just Google "pedal cluster rebuild carrera 3.2" and the instructions will be on the first page of results.



Finally! Got it removed. Ready for some powder coating and bronze bushings.



I think I got lucky with the roll pin, but it came out without too much trouble. Once I got the pedals in a good position to hit it with a punch a few times it came out. The next hurdle was the clutch spring. Wayne's book says it's a two man job but I used a trick I saw someone else on Pelican use. Extend the spring with the pedal and then place washers (or quarters in my case) in the spring. When you release the spring with the pedal it pops right off. Took 3 minutes to do.







Fully disassembled.



I had the tray and both pedals powder coated. I screwed up though and didn't tell them not to coat where the brake rod connect to the brake pedal. Ended up having to use my dremel to grind all the coating off. Pain in the butt that could've been avoided if I paid more attention. Still, it all looks good.



The reassembly wasn't bad. I installed the bronze bushings and used a small amount of white lithium grease on each of them. Some people say that's not necessary because they're "self-oiling", but I figured it couldn't hurt.



Reinstalled in the car. I am loving the way the Rennline pedals look. Definitely worth the money in my opinion.




That's everything! Over the next few weeks I will get the rest of the sound deadening installed and then install an RS carpet kit from AppBiz. Will post more progress pics as I get more done.

[Zero-H20]

Originally Posted by skinnerd

Great looking car and lots of work to get it back to tip top shape.

One question.....why did you go with black for the interior?
I would have had a local paint shop put some of your blue color in a couple of rattle cans and gone that direction.
Guess most will be covered up by the sound deadening material anyway....

Nice job and super looking car.

Thanks! It is gratifying to see it coming together, and sure is a ton of work. I debated on the color, but figured it will all be under carpet anyway and the Rustoleum I used is the "Stop's Rust" variant. I figured that even though there was very minimal rust found, that paint would knock out anything I missed on the clean up. If I could do it all over again, I think I would seriously consider just cleaning it and not painting. Also, spray paint would've been easier but also messier with the over spray.

[Mellow]

Subscribed - great start to your project.. I also have an '86 in Iris Blue. I am curious to see what you do with the interior, as there are so many equally cool directions to go with our 80's cars. I chose an RS look, with Dynamat sound deadening after removing the factory pads, but it is still a bit loud with just the thin AppBiz carpet.

I am curious about the backdating of the heater - did you get details of what was required to be done?
Cheers.

[Zero-H20]

Originally Posted by Mellow

Subscribed - great start to your project.. I also have an '86 in Iris Blue. I am curious to see what you do with the interior, as there are so many equally cool directions to go with our 80's cars. I chose an RS look, with Dynamat sound deadening after removing the factory pads, but it is still a bit loud with just the thin AppBiz carpet.



I am curious about the backdating of the heater - did you get details of what was required to be done?

Cheers.

I am going to do a bit more than just dynamat, so hopefully it's at least as quiet as stock (which really wasn't that quiet). I'm planning to go with a black sliverknit RS kit from AppBiz, and am waiting on two Recaro Speed seats that won't be here until end of August.

For the heater backdate, it's a fairly common modification on the 3.2's. The engine blower motor for the heat is removed and you just close off the line where the blower motor was. Essentially just simplifying the system. The hot air will still make it to the front when the baffles are open, just won't have the help of the engine bay fan. With footwell blower motors I have read you can still easily toast your feet. I like how much it opens up the engine compartment. If I'm wrong on any of that, anyone can correct me.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Cairo94507]

Great story and rebuild thread. Nice work and you will have a great car when done. Congratulations.

[mam911]

Great work! Car looks great as she stands...but as mentioned, I would get some spacers on the back to fill out the wheel wells..

[Zero-H20]

Originally Posted by mam911

Great work! Car looks great as she stands...but as mentioned, I would get some spacers on the back to fill out the wheel wells..

I will definitely look into them. I'm hoping to pick up some 16x8 or 16x9 Fuchs for the rear next year. If spacers are cheap I might put them on in the interim.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[jjeffries]

Beautiful car and great effort. The 968 Cab in the same barn looks intriguing too...

Probably many of us will suggest other stuff to do/add. Here's mine: my 82 coupe came to me with good A/C thanks to the original owner having had Griffiths components installed. This past week I added the Kuehl vent... $130 well spent to get more of the cold air onto you.

Best wishes, John/CT

[Edoyle]

Great work so far. I used a similar adhesive removal method on my 77 for all the carpet glue and it worked well. I see you have placed Dynamat in certain areas instead of just covering everything. I assume you must have read the thread about using the three layer method to cut sound.

[Zero-H20]

Originally Posted by jjeffries

Beautiful car and great effort. The 968 Cab in the same barn looks intriguing too...

Probably many of us will suggest other stuff to do/add. Here's mine: my 82 coupe came to me with good A/C thanks to the original owner having had Griffiths components installed. This past week I added the Kuehl vent... $130 well spent to get more of the cold air onto you.

Best wishes, John/CT

The 968 had a leak in the cooling system after we installed a new coolant overflow reservoir and we never got around to addressing it. Been sitting for about ten years but will probably be for sale soon.

I have heard really good thing about Griffiths stuff, and hope to do the Mr. Ice project in the future (I'm in Houston - I need more AC!). The Kuehl vent looks pretty cool. I'll add it to my list!

Originally Posted by Edoyle

Great work so far. I used a similar adhesive removal method on my 77 for all the carpet glue and it worked well. I see you have placed Dynamat in certain areas instead of just covering everything. I assume you must have read the thread about using the three layer method to cut sound.

Yep, I read the long thread here on Pelican and it made sense. I may have still overdone it with the Dynamat but I'm not worried about a little extra weight. I have Dynaliner (closed cell foam) and Dynapad (MLV) on the way from Amazon. Hoping to get it all installed next weekend. Here's what I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WQOR4C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KM5IZO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Great thread, Noah, and welcome to the fraternity. This place is great for ideas and inspiration.

I have an Appbiz carpet set in a box waiting to be installed.

[G450X]

Nice job, I will probably do the same thing next year on my SC.

IMO ‘86 is a good year with a few updates, and the 915 weighs less than a G50.

That’s a nice shade of blue, is it Minerva blue?

Enjoy!

[rolfjahn]

Subscribed, I've done the strip, paint and Dynamat thing in both cars-it makes a huge difference.