Ultimate Backdating Thread

[Jens]

But grasshopper, the Talbots were in fact OEM factory options in the day. Kardex factory documents even show Talbot mirrors installed at the factory. So that would make their fitment quite cor-r-rect!

[Ed Bighi]

Forget the mirrors. I have been driving without side mirrors since 94. I tried RUF 935 style units for a while, but I thought that even those spoiled the lines. So I removed them. There is a certain special look that comes from using no mirrors. No I don't have a wink inside. It only takes a couple of days to get used to it. I have had no driving problems without them. Even on the track.

[rcm]

Completed, with mirror and cleaned pics tonight. Stay tuned.

[Joeaksa]

Ed,

Have you driven on the 101 loop in Phx/SDL during rush hour lately without mirrors? You are a braver man than I am if so. The problem is not me nor my car but the other idiots out there in the Jap racecars who you do not see until the last moment.

Course my not being able to turn my neck very well after the parachute accident does not help...

Rick,

Cannot wait to see some more photos. The last looked great and will be nice to see the car after you get all the final touches completed. Bet you are ready to get it on the road!

JoeA

[Ed Bighi]

Just drove it a few days ago at around 5pm. While it can be bad, I am used to I-95 in Miami during rush hour. I guess I am just used to it. Besides, my friends and I really like the no-mirror, top-end-shootout look. But if I were to use mirrors again, only the DP/Kremer/Ruf units would do.

As to this backdate thing, it has been taking a good percentage of my daily allotment of thinking for a good part of the last ten years. One of these days I'll bite the bullet. But when I do it, I will go all steel and will remove both the front and rear bumper attachments. Especially in the rear so I could attach the bumper the proper way on the ends of the frame.

For those of you drilling out spot welds on the rear reflector panel, check out the Eastwood catalog. They have special spot weld removal drill bits which do not drill all the way through. They just leave a tiny mark instead of holes.

[rcm]

Joe, i drove that bad boy home last night. Kind of a smokey run, burnin' off a little extra run off.

[Joeaksa]

Rick,

You are not helping me at all! Suppose it was fun with it being a lot lighter! Glad you are back on the road and hope you have fun for all of us following this thread.

Cannot wait to get mine going again. This thread is not helping either as it makes me see how mine should look (except in silver) and would if work were not taking so much of my time.

Ed,

Got very lucky with my boss. We are based in the Scottdale Airpark area but he bought a large industrial building 6 months ago in central Phoenix. It has offices in front and a warehouse in back that is about 200 by 200 feet that was a working garage for a taxi company in its previous lifetime. He could care less about the garage as he needed the offices and T-1 for his internet team.

I made him a deal and now have total use of half of the garage, for $200 a month and 10 hours of busy work around the place. It has room for my 911 and 69 Jag which is being restored. To tell the trugh we could put 10 cars in there if needed but wanted some working space. It needs work like getting the swamp coolers and lighting working right but room like this is hard to come by, especially at this price.

Lets get together sometime and will show you the place and what it takes. My car has the front and rear bumpers off and you can see the pile of weight it removes. We were doing a 3.6 conversion and I decided to backdate at the same time. Started a year ago and got bogged down when the boss bought a new plane and started working us hard. Now I have a little time and a place to work and hope to make some good progress in the next 2 months...

Joe

[Jens]

I'll use FRP and not steel on my cars. It's not just lighter. The '73 Carrera RS used the same fiberglass front and rear bumpers. The 911R used Fiberglass hood, doors, bumpers, front fenders and rear decklid. My '68 lightweight will use all Damon's goods, even the engine shroud and lightweight watershields for the Webers. The lighter it gets the faster it goes (and stops and turns...).

[rcm]

[Jens]

Hey Rick, he early mirror looks good. That's a hell of a garage you've got there. Looks like it sleeps ten 911s!

[rcm]

Ya need room to spread out once and while.

Jens, sorry I missed you the other day. Maybe, I'll catch you on a return trip. I work in Lebanon, Damon says you make it into the area every so often.

Rick

[Jens]

Rick, I'll be heading back down to Dartmouth-Hitchcock in about three weeks, we should grab some lunch somewhere and swap some lies about Porsches and skiing!

There's gotta be some cool remote roads down there we can r-i-i-i-p.

[PanAmeriCan]

Just a quick thought; is the weight lost by switching to pre-'74 f/g hood and bumpers sufficient to require a change of torsion bars in an '84 coupe?

[MotoSook]

No, but you will likely need to lower it and corner balance.

[c_fahlen]

Series900

Complete package, hood,fender extensions(wrap around to accept die cast or frp light hsngs over to horn grilles), light buckets, bumpers, all bolt on, 2500, still need lenses horn grilles and gaskets/rubbers, and I will take care of those that are willing to step up

Damon,

It looks like you have created the perfect thing for backdaters. Are the package available for order now?

/Christian

[alf]

Damon
Do you have a price/availability for the back date items?


alf

[rcm]

You may want to pm the boy.

[Ho Hum 74]

I'm also very keen.

I have a massive front oil cooler (70 row). What front bumper do you have that will fit? Currently I have the IROC like Jens.

Thanks
Tristan

[Porsche]

How about backdating a 911 to a 356 look? Has that ever been attempted?

[MotoSook]

Backdating Tristan? Hmmm...you'll likely need to run the RS bumper up front. A standard RS bumper in the rear will require you to cut out the reflector mounting sheet metal. Maybe you aren't concerned about it since you will track you car. But I've got a spare RS rear bumper that i will play with to make a bumper that doesn't require cutting out the sheetmetal. Maybe that's the route you want to go. I'm just playing with it....not trying to develop a part for sale.


The last I saw Damon post he was going through some problems at home, so he might not post for awhile (best of luck Damon.)

A 356 backdate would be difficult, the lines are wrong and the proportional won't be quite right...you are better off buying a Speedster kit from PanAmerica or some other (I recall there are even coupe kits out there), built onto a tube frame or VW Bug pan, then put a 911 engine in there. Although there are some powerful 4 banger VW's out there..