Flank's 71 Targa intro & restro Floor pan replacement

[Flank]

Hi everyone, I wanted to share with you my restoration pictures of my 71 Targa. I've been working on this car for over six years now and I'm finally "done" with all of the rust repair. I had no idea that it would be so involved. When I bought this car I knew it had issues but after removing everything off of the tub, there was just one area after another that needed attention. First a little bio, I've watched my father restore MG's through out the late 60's, 70's and 80's. We've kept some of the cars, a 1946 MG TC, a 1949 Riley 2.5 RM, and a 64 MGB. These cars keep me busy just keeping them all running. I love driving them around, but I wanted a car to call my own. As a teenager, I've always loved the 911 Targa's. What seems like a long time ago, I bought this 71 Targa from a freind for $4,000. I was buying it to restore, but I drove it around for a year first. I'm glad I did this because I got to really enjoy what it was like to drive and own a Porsche. I plan to restore the car to as original appearing as possible, but with upgrades below the skin. The original color is Burgundy Red, I couldn't be happier because I love that color together with the chrome of the early cars. This will be a mini series on the sheet metal repairs that I've done so far.


After stripping everything out. I took lots of notes. I made a small book on removing the wiring harness. All the parts were bagged and labeled

Before starting to remove any of the floor, I made some bars that attached the tops of the door post to a point just below the targa hoop. This would keep the body from folding or spreading out. I'll send a sketch of these support bars if anyone would like. After removing the floor pans I had to do repairs to both sides of the front wheel arches below the fender joining panels. This was easier with the floor pan removed. here is the repair to the wheel arch, because the area is so curved, I made a 'shell' that fit inside the body. Then two strips of metal were welded in and sanded down. You'll see I use a lot of "clecos" to hold everything together. Then I was able to install the front half of the pan. Almost all of my sheet metal came from Cy at Doc & Cy's (those guys were great). Even though I bought both floor pan halves at the same time they were different widths! It took a bit of massaging to get them fitted. Also as you know rust doesn't stop where the replacement panels do, so a lot of the area's that the pans attach to needed to be repaired. Finally a picture of the finished floor.
My next repair was a major PITA which was replacing the roll-over-loop. Stay tuned!

[Flank]

Sorry, I forgot to post the picture of the wheel arch repair. Thanks.

[RickM]

Very nice work and write up. I'll stay tuned for more. Thanks for sharing.

[Flank]

Hi all.
Has anyone done a similar repair to the corner of the wheel arch like above? From the inside I made a 'shell' out of thin strips of metal. After it fit and was held in by the 'clecos', I added the two strips to the outside of the car.
Please share your experiences. Thanks