Was the 1968 Horn Grille (2 screw) wider than the 1969-73

[svonkampen]

Hi,

Was the 1968 Horn Grille (2 screw) wider than the 1969-73........

I'm wanting to buy the 2screw versions from Pelican Store.....but they say 1969-73

Mine are 2 screw but look wider than the ones shown by Pelican ....or is it just the photo??

SVK

[svonkampen]

Forgot to add I have a 1968 911L

[campbellcj]

Hi Steven, glad to see you on the board here. I am pretty certain the SWB horn grilles are incompatible with the later 69-73 LWB versions, in both size and screw position/pattern.

If your current grilles are not -completely- trashed, you may be able to grind and fill any pitting and then have them rechromed.

I am not aware of anybody making repros of the early grilles, unfortunately. Maybe one of the Pelican guys will take that on as a project!

[svonkampen]

bummer ;-(

thanx,

How much you reckon to rechrome both?

svk

[svonkampen]

hey....i know u

svk

[Hoffman912]

yes, they are longer. you can probably buy cheep-o plastic replicas that dull and look like **** after one year, and dont fit right from stoddards for about $50 if you dont want to rechrome.

rechroming.. all depends on how badly pitted yours are.

Harry
68' 912

[tangerine69s]

YES, the 68 grilles are wider than later ones.

Josep
1968 911L soft window targa

[Evans, Marv]

If your old ones are too pitted, look around for a decent used set, or keep an eye on ebay. Rechroming should run you about $35 to $40 each. Don't try to get badly pitted ones rechromed, you'll just end up with nice chromed grills with the pits apparent.

[svonkampen]

how does one fix pits...prior to rechroming?

Steven

[bob tilton]

the SWB horn grilles are hard to find in mint condition. i was lucky to stumble upon these in almost new condition at a local salvage shop for $20 ea. if you see them on ebay they will command top dollar.
harry is right on about those repros - terrible fit and craftmanship. they are a temp solution at best.
tell us more about your new car and post pics. you've come to the right place for info and new parts.

[Hoffman912]

bob.. you lucky sob!! those look amazing! you stole those suckers.

speaking of grills, im putting in through the grill driving lights. rather than cut up my good set i called parts heaven, told em i want their worst set, so i could cut em up. 10 bucks for both, and pitted to no end. i sanded all the pits down smooth (as much as i could), and i cut em (very mathimatically)
heres a posty i made on the 912 bbs:

the other day my friend and i finished modifying the horn grills. didnt take too long to cut them with variuos types of dremmel bits, but took about 2 days of planing out how to do it, mocking it up so the lights dont hit the trunk lid, and figuring where to cut them at. Thanks to my buddy Kenny, a senior in Ohio States school of Industrial design, we figured out the right angle to mount, the right arcs to cut out, as well as some artsy farts stuff in his bag of tricks, and they are looking amazing. after showing him what the real ones look like, he came up with a better looking, more organic design, so that the fog lamps really look like they were meant to be there all along. now we just need to make our mounting idea work... but i have to wait til i get the car back for that.





as you can see they are pitted pretty badly, but after i clean em up, spray em with some kind of silver/chrome paint, they will look decent. afterall, nobodys really going to be paying much attention to the horn grills anyways.. theyre gonna be lookin at the driving lights.




this is how the lights should look, mounted from the front. (sorry rough mock up.. hard to hold all this together and steady, while i take a pic)





here is another rough mock up.. but you can see how the curves of the light match the curves of the modified grill, to create a very nice look, and fit.

more pics to come when io get them mounted.. when the car comes back




i really like the way they came out. my plan was just to borrow my friends dremmel and go to town myself. but i decided to ask him about mounting the lights, and thats when he got caught up in everything, and was wondering what the hell i had in mind. i showed him everything and and he thought.. "hmm thats not too difficult".. then we went over board. besides comming up with a mounting system, he was intreagued with how the grills were going to get cut. i showed him the pics of what original milght mounting horn grills looked like, and he thought he could do better, and make it more organic, natural, and make form fit function (he grew up in a porsche household so he knows the porsche design philosophy to a T). anyways, Kenny came up with the dementions, and scale, and how it should look.. i just did some of the cutting.

so what do you think? did Kenny do better than what Porsche originally did?

heres what originals look like.. id say he did alot better, maybe im just partial.





PS.. i think what we came up with looks so good, im gonna spend the money to have them chromed, and also have the pits worked out by the place who does the chroming. more expensive, but done right! hell i did the work, my friend did alot to helop me get em designed just right.. might as well do em justice.

[Hoffman912]

oh.. and on a different note.. my 'other type of grills'

just restored a set of 65-67 style hella lamps, (like em better than the 68-8? kind). while i was at it, i added a little more flare to em...






btw.. that bottom tab has been modified to be held in place by the same screw that holds the light to the fender, so it does not stick out like that anymore.

i know... im an r-gruppe wanna be.

[svonkampen]

Here's my 1968L that I am starting to restore.....Only 81.000 original miles on her....(I named her Ashley).......paint is terrible.......As soon as I get my X-Mas bonus she gets a 7000.00 paint job....I'm thinking guards red.....No rust.....just ordered S-Trim Kit and an original 1968 Chrome grill....still looking for vintage Recaro Sports Seats...
She used to be Sportomatic but was converted to a 5 Manual......I paid 8000.00....all numbers match.


Steven von Kampen

[bob tilton]

harry,
that is one hell of an effort which turned out great. a perfect example of being creative and resourceful to keep the costs down of owning a 30+ year old car. glad to read that you are having them chromed instead of painted. keep us posted on the results. also like the headlight treatments. i always like walking aroud cars and looking at the details of something that is different and unique. i call them little invitations. when you see those type of details and have to ask if that is from the factory then it's done right.
steven - looks like you found a nice example. how did you discover this car? are you looking to replace the front and rear turn signals for US versions? i'd be happy to trade you outright if they're in decent shape. i have orig equipment in great shape as you can see from the pic. the lens are not faded and are the orig deep amber unlike the repro replacements.

[svonkampen]

Thanx Bob.......I found the car on ebay......She was in Vista and I'm in Carlsbad (Only 5 miles down the road).....I did order new lenses so keep in touch.....but mine do have cracks....

By the way .....apparently Porsche is making the SWB 1968 Chrome Horn Grilles again.....250.00 a piece....yikes......oh well why not....

Steven

[Early_S_Man]

I believe I could have a set made of Titanium ... for $500 per pair!!!

[svonkampen]

hehehe

[bob tilton]

hold off on those $500 horn grills - not that anyone would order them at those prices . another source may become available in fabricating a decent quality set.
with the 68 you will find other "exclusive" parts that do not appear on any other year such as the door panels, rear view mirror, side reflecters, elephant hyde dash material, etc. there are some great salvage shops out there.
let me know if you need any hard to find parts and i'll keep my eyes open.

[Hoffman912]

Originally posted by bob tilton
harry,
that is one hell of an effort which turned out great. a perfect example of being creative and resourceful to keep the costs down of owning a 30+ year old car. glad to read that you are having them chromed instead of painted. keep us posted on the results. also like the headlight treatments. i always like walking aroud cars and looking at the details of something that is different and unique. i call them little invitations. when you see those type of details and have to ask if that is from the factory then it's done right.
steven - looks like you found a nice example. how did you discover this car? are you looking to replace the front and rear turn signals for US versions? i'd be happy to trade you outright if they're in decent shape. i have orig equipment in great shape as you can see from the pic. the lens are not faded and are the orig deep amber unlike the repro replacements.

thanks! i worked really hard on restoring the headlights. they were completely shot and every inch was gone over and cleaned up and repainted, and all rust removed. only things not touched were the lenses and chrome which were just cleaned.

the grills turned out great.. just need mounts!!!! (swb mounts are few and far between and i cant figure out a good solid way to mount them )

next on my list after i get the front pan, struts and wheel bearings replaced are talbot mirrors, and 911r tail lights.

goin ralley car on this one.

[svonkampen]

Bob.....i sent you a PM

SvK