Reintroduction, new project car - "Stinky"

[FrayAdjacent911]

*** UPDATE 11/21 MORE PICTURES***


For some that have read a few of my posts, and the local guys, I purchased my first Porsche earlier this year, a 1970 911T sunroof coupe. It was running, but needs a lot of little things, and several big things. Has a few areas of rust, that though repairable, would be some work for me. Being a noob to this stuff, it would have been difficult.

I did get to drive it a few times, and one run through some Hill Country roads with Jamie and the Austin crew was enough to get me hooked. I had a big $h*t eating grin taking turns and enjoying how well the car handled, even though the front was shaking like a 6.0 earthquake at times!

Well, recently Jamie and another local guy, Morrie, found a 1969 911T Targa which had been sitting in storage for 15+ years. (Jamie, fill me in on the story, I'd like to have it for the history of Stinky!). They intended to part it out, and figured I could use the tub to cut up to patch up my coupe. However, they thought the same thing I did, since the Targa was in pretty good shape, almost no rust, and is very solid and very complete, they'd sell me most of the car, and sell off some parts. I think it worked out good for all of us.

So we worked out a deal, and I will be working on fixing up the Targa, and then will part out the coupe when I have used everything I need from it.

When Jamie and Morrie picked it up, it had been sitting for years, and the carpets had mildewed and rotted quite a bit, so it was pretty stinky inside. Morrie dubbed it 'Stinky', and I think the name will stick.

So here she is - Stinky

My first 'drive'. Loading onto the flatbed to take to my 'rents garage for the starting work.


In the garage, ready to be worked on -






I will be transplanting the engine, transmission, brakes, seats, dash cover and a few other things from the coupe to get Stinky running and driveable. In the longer term, she needs a little body work -you can see the dent in the first pic on the driver's side, and the passenger side rear fender has some bondo work on it. We'll cut from my coupe to transplant later on. The undercarriage will be cleaned up and recoated, and the carpets and targa seals will need replacing. Then a paint job.

Overall, I'm excited about it. This car will fit what I want better than the coupe, and will be easier for me to get her to where I want her to be. I don't really intend to track the car or soup it up (although a more powerful engine down the road won't be out of the question!), I just want something I can drive on the weekends on the beautiful days we get around here, like right now.stuff

[MichiganMat]

Nice looking project you got there, but Im a bit biased. Toss on some 15x7s, maybe a soft-window conversion, clean up the interior... she could be a pretty kickin' little ride. I would leave the body alone though, its got character

[jstgermaine]

Looks good Matt! Be careful though, I'm sure Jamie and Morrie have a lot of ideas for it!

[FrayAdjacent911]

Hey guys, yeah, I'm sure Jamie and Morrie will have some input! I'm a noob at this, and they've been amazingly helpful. I think I'm fortunate to be in this area and to have a couple great guys and some help on it. We've got a great group in this area.

I'm gonna transplant my 15x7s from my coupe, so that's already in the works! They're imitation Fuchs, though, but they still work. After I get the body and interior stuff squared away (which will be kept as is... no flares or anything!), I'll want to do some engine stuff to make it reliable as possible. Later down the line, I think I'll go for the soft window conversion, as the car will be my weekend toy... the SWT would be a great almost-convertible for weekend runs!

I'm very excited about the car, and I'm looking forward to many great miles and days of fun with her!

I'll post periodic updates... or get off my lazy duff, and write up a webpage, and just throw the link in my signature.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Very cool Matt, I'll be looking for the progress pics.

[mjshira]

good luck, welcome to the s-car name club.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Cool project!


My personal rule on car names: they must be self-deprecating in nature, or they seem cheesy.

Stinky is perfect!

[mjshira]

I am waiting for "slutty" that would be ahh, different ;-)

[FrayAdjacent911]

Hahaha... 'slutty'... that would have to be for a car that has been passed around a lot... ridden hard and put up wet!

[mjshira]

we have a few like that on this board. I have to keep mine for at least 15 years as per my agreement with its master... ah I mean former owner :-D

[FrayAdjacent911]

Hehehe... I hope Stinky will be around that long. Luckily I'm single right now, so if there ever is a Mrs Matt, she will know from the get go that I'm a package deal. The car stays. hehehe

[jpnovak]

Wow, Stinky made its public debut...

Yes we are excited for Matt and his new (b)ride. A little history you ask? Here is what I know. The car was owned by a guy in Houston that has a history of owning P-cars. It was a daily driver for sometime but was put away after developing a fuel leak. I can only assume that he would get to it "next weekend". Fast foward 16 years. Owner finally decides to get the car running again. He has it towed to a local shop. Shop looks at car and gives owner a price to get the car road worthy. Owner decides its too much money and asks shop to sell it if possible. We bought the car as a non-running "stinky" car. We named it this because it badly smelled of varnished fuel and mold. We towed it the 3 hour drive with the windows down to help air it out. It helped the interior but not the front trunk.

It turns out there was a hole rusted through the gas tank releasing the stench. ONce the tank was pulled the car didn't offend but the name was set.

Stinky is an incredibly solid tub. Obviously it was in a well used storage place since the hood and decklid show signs of items piled on top. There are a few dings and dents in the fenders. The only rust is the middle of the driver's floor from top leakage. There is one hole in the pass side lower longitudinal - a puncture from improper lifting and not from rust. The seam is also folded over giving us clues to its cause. The patch will be small and quick to fix. The front pan was replaced at some point with extensive repairs. No sign of rust in the longitudinals, jack points or rockers. It makes a perfect platform for Matt to swap drivetrain and some other running gear. As he mentioned, the 70 coupe has extensive structural rust.

The car was going to become a cheap driver. Unfortunatly, the motor is seized with #3, and #5 cylinders badly corroded. The #1 valve is so rusty the intake tract is full of crud. I can only assume that the motor sat wet for sometime. We kept the drivetrain and will likely tear it down just to see how bad the problems are. There are a few parts that will slowly become available as we define condition.

Stinky will live on through Matt's hardwork in the coming weeks. A bit more rubber, some TLC and it will go like.... some cliche I can't quite put my fingers on... you get the idea.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Matt, COngrats on a nice find. Listen to Michigan Mat, he's right. Personally I;d stay with 15x6's and I'd put it back in its correct creamy white. Its gonna be a nice car.

[FrayAdjacent911]

Thanks for the backfill Jamie! I have faith in Stinky, and that I will be able to make her into a real nice car. Enough time, work, and of course, money, and she'll be sweet. I'll always be thankful to you and Morrie for giving me the opportunity with this one. Looking forward to many weekend drives, trying to keep up with you, and not lose everyone else behind me! hehehe

[FrayAdjacent911]

Dan - she's gonna stay white. I think the white/black/stainless/chrome scheme will be perfect. For now, I only have the 14x probably 5.5 and 15x7 wheels. That may change in the future. I'd like to keep it narrow, but have a good solid suspension and footprint under her.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Matt, Excellent plan.

My car is being repainted literally as I write this. Heading over to see her now. I so wanted an early car like yours but in the end had to compromise and buy a mid year car to avoid the rust issues. But I love that narrow rear. Your car is gonna be a good one.

[FrayAdjacent911]

A little update on Stinky.

The gas tank that was in the Targa when it was found was toast. A large hole was rusted in the front edge of it, and the gas had turned to varnish. I got the tank out of my coupe, and though there was some rust around it, and the left side tie down was bolted to nothing but rust, the tank is fine. A little rust on the seam in a couple areas, but not bad. Got on it with a wire brush and got it cleaned up. One of the POs of my coupe sprayed the car in silver, with practically no prep, and also sprayed in the front trunk, so the gas tank was covered in it. It was bubbling in a few areas, but I got on it with the wire brush, and found no major issues. The bottom was OK, had some coating, which was flaking off in a couple areas, but not bad. I'll be trying to find a radiator shop to flush and seal it this week. Then strip the paint off the top, and probably the bottom. POR 15 around the edges, at least, then epoxy primer, and some roll on bed liner for the bottom.

The front is mostly done. I went ahead and swapped the hubs from the coupe, and installed new vented rotors. Got the calipers on and the brake lines connected. I also took the swaybar out of the front of the coupe, since it will bolt right up to the Targa. I'm gonna clean it up, and maybe paint the drop links and arms... make it look better and protect it. (I also had a good idea.. I have a tumbler for cleaning brass... I might drop the small parts in there for a few hours... that should get them nice and clean!) Also need to replace a couple of the bolts, as one was crossthreaded. Lowe's or Home Depot should have acceptable replacements. I want to drive it without the sway bar, then install it, just to see how it feels! I also bolted the 15x7s on the front from the coupe. They're definitely going to make Stinky look more aggressive!

I also got under the coupe and started disconnecting things to prepare for the engine swap, which should happen this weekend. For now, I'm gonna try to use the 69's ignition setup. In a couple months, I'll get the Crane optical replacement for the points system, and then get an MSD. Again, I want to see the difference with the better stuff in there!

Also swapped the seats from the coupe. It has pretty decent Recaro sport seats in it. The seatbelts aren't acceptable... I don't think I wanted to try to reuse the ones in Stinky... they're 36 years old and really crusty. The ones in the coupe were just lap belts clipped to the back of the seat frames. I sent a guy that posted in the 914 parts forum about some seatbelts, but haven't heard back from him. (input on options is welcome! I'll need seatbelts before she's driveable!)

She's coming along well. It's been a lot of work, with a lot to go... and lots of little projects to keep me busy for a while! It's going to turn into a really nice car, I know it!

[FrayAdjacent911]

Update with some pictures.

Most of this stuff I did last weekend.


Got the gas tank out of the coupe to prepare for cleaning it up before putting it in Stinky. (Stinky's gas tank was toast. There was a large hole rusted through near the front seam, and the gas in it had turned to varnish... and smelled real bad... which is why Morrie started calling it 'stinky')



That little spot on the front edge was mostly loose rust from the tie down. I cleaned it up and went all around the rim with the wire brush, and it cleaned up pretty well. No separation in the seam anywhere, just some surface rust.

Next, some new rotor bling!



Installed:



Stinky had solid rotors all around, and the coupe has vented rotors. The front rotors were grooved pretty bad, and were pretty worn, so I decided to get some new ones in there.

Then the seats. Jamie and Morrie had already sold the back of the passenger seat, and the other seat is pretty worn out. The coupe had nice seats in it, so they are getting transplanted.

Old:



New:





More to follow as she goes! This weekend, she should be getting an engine! I'll also be swapping over the rear hubs, rotors, calipers and axles.

After this weekend, it will be a matter of getting the gas tank done and installed, making sure the pump isn't toast, getting a new filter in and flushing the lines. Replacement seatbelts will be inbound soon. Also have to get the ignition system working, and the wiring mated up. I'll be using the wiring and ignition from the '69 engine. (Later, I'm gonna get an MSD). Then bleed the brakes, get the title transferred, get her registered, get tags, get inspected and she'll be roadworthy

[k9handler]

very nice...save the ol' gal and enjoy!

Make sure you strip the interior and clean up the pan, rear seats...etc. POR-15 it when done and it will be good for many years to come.

[FrayAdjacent911]

Another update!

The engine is in! (big thanks to jpnovak for the assistance) We had it out of the coupe and into Stinky.

Me jacking on it, Jamie up under the car... where he usually is!



That sucker is heavy!


Took the carbs off for cleaning, got the intakes taped up, ready to clean the engine off. It's dirty and leaky, so I got a few things to do in there!


Stinky is going to get her original muffler back. Here's after I sandblasted and wire wheeled it, ready for some high temp paint:


Also a few parts of the front sway bar that I blasted:


And after I painted them (for protection, you know?)


Cleaned up the rear lamp housings that I took from the coupe. (well, one was from the coupe, the other is from Stinky, the lenses are from the coupe)