Okay, I have begun updating my 79SC with new bumpers, rockers, wing, H4's..

[FinallyGotOne]

I have now finished prefitting the yellowbird front bumper. I drilled two 3 inch holes into the bottom oil cooler grill area and mounted my fogs in there. they protrude about an inch and are bolted to the front tub.

I have the rear YB bumper prefitted, but am having a concern as two things are annoying me.

1st- the container on the passenger side is totally in the way of my drill! what is that, oil reservoir?

2nd-the ruber along the bottom of the PORSCHE reflector stops and then there are gaps around the fender areas? what do you do there? I'm debating cutting the rubber at each end of the reflector and gluing a rubber molding?

I have SKN rockers with the brake ducts and those are taking quite abit of work!

my 3.8RS tail is done and it looks great!

The car is sitting in my garage and looks like a race car right now!
i'm pretty excited about how this will look when done, Pictures are coming.

Oh yeah, I went with the front and back reinforcement bars. A bit of a peace of mind, dont add too much weight.

did I forget to mention, this is a HUGE freaking job!!!! I've got at least 14 hours straight into it and am about halfway! Although if you were just doing bumpers thats a weekend job easy. I've learned that the oil cooler tube up front bottom is in the way so the bumper needs to be notched there, and the other trick is to drill the holes in the fiberglas about 1/8 inch larger than the bolts to give some room to work with.

The rockers are hard work. after removing the stock rockers I basically had to cut about 2 inches in front of the torsion bar holes up around the top of the hole, then straight back to the back fender in order to have the brake duct fit flush to the body. Now I have a lot of grinding to do and will probably have to fasten a small rubber moulding on to the top of the rocker to make sure it has a nice finished look. which is proving very difficult.

also what to use up front as a spoiler lip is a challenge. I wonder if it is needed if I leave the two rectangle ducts on each side open and do not drive faster than say 130? advise?

[speedman]

I am in the process of doing some of the same things to my 79SC. I have mounted the rear YB bumper and I will be purchasing the front soon. I want to to mount C2 rockers also. Do you have any pictures of your progress so far?

[FinallyGotOne]

Yep, I'll get some up later tonight for you. What did you do as far as trying to get the rear bumper sealed up tight to the fenders?Did you cut the rubber mould that is attached to the Porsche reflector? please advise.

[speedman]

I bought new fender welting and then fit 1/16" foam tape between the bumper and fender. I bought 1" black weatherstripping for the area arounf the reflector and when the bumper was raised in place only the original black fender welting( black rubber bead) was exposed. I made some brackets to connect to bottom of each bumper lip so it would not flop around

[ben parrish]

1st- the container on the passenger side is totally in the way of my drill! what is that, oil reservoir?

2nd-the ruber along the bottom of the PORSCHE reflector stops and then there are gaps around the fender areas? what do you do there? I'm debating cutting the rubber at each end of the reflector and gluing a rubber molding?

...................................WELL........... ................................................

1st- If you are speaking of the rear of the car, yes, it is the oil tank. You know, the thing you should have drained the oil from when you change the oil...

2nd-remove the existing rubber and use 930 welting for the new "gasket". One roll will do both the front and rear bumpers and give you a finished look.



I have read a lot of your past posts and it appears that you are solely focused on the appearance of the car. I can understand this because most of us share your obsession with the 911 but understand the importance of knowing more than "it looks cool".

How well do you know your car and 911's in general? You are making a lot of changes to the appearance and changing the weight balance of the car. Do you have an alignment scheduled? Corner balance? What shape are your brake lines and pads in? How about bushings and suspension pieces? Shocks?
Been to any drivers Ed's or auto crosses to learn how she handles at the edge.
Please take the time learning about your car and ensure that it has had the proper maintenance before being concerned with the fact that it now "looks like a race car".

I have also changed to the Ruf bumpers and like the look. I did all the work myself and enjoyed every minute of it. I was familiar with the car as I had owned it for 5 years prior to the changes and had done all my own wrenching. I have now had it for 9 years and only had one mechanic ever touch the engine (oil change because I am in the Bahamas and the car is in GA)

Not meaning to seem negative; I just hate to see a car that has had cosmetics taken care of before mechanical and safety issues.

By the way, the car will look great and congratulations on tackling the projects yourself. Have fun and keep learning about your car.

[FinallyGotOne]

Had an alignment done at time of prepurchase inspection. Has recently been re-balanced, Brakes are all in good shape, lines are in good shape. Bushings and suspension all checked out very well.
I leak oil, but that is about it and it is not too much, but will definitely begin working on those this summer.
I removed the carrera tail and replaced it withthe 3.8 RS tail. I think that tail is about 5 pounds lighter. Ad i think will be an improvement on the handling over the rubber lipped carrera tail.
The front and rear bumper shocks, bumpers and trim have all been replaced with these much lighter pieces. I am thinking that the rear bumper was actually quite a bit heavier than the front so once i replaced them and added the reinforcement (nerf) bars that if anything the way the car sits may be just a slight bit high in the rear, but don't really notice that yet. I'll pull off that air pump probably very soon to further lighten the rear. seriously, most of my driving is back and forth to work, and on the denver hiways top speeds will rarely go over 85-90 max.
The rocker panels are very very light, and I removed the existing rockers so again, lightening. I am debating the actual reinforcment of these SKN rockers tho... need to spend some time thinking the proper way.

[ben parrish]

Great!! Sounds like you are heading down the right path.
Post pics!

[Rich76_911s]

>>>> Oh yeah, I went with the front and back reinforcement bars. A bit of a peace of mind, dont add too much weight <<<<<

What are reinforcement bars? Sorry for the ignorance just never heard of them before. Good luck with the project.

Rich

[FinallyGotOne]

tonight i'll get some up
Thanks for the info and advice Ben. I know i must sound like a total moron here on and on about the looks, and if I had 3/4 of a brain i'd drop the thousands on repairing the oil leaks. but that is just no fun

kinda like do you date the chick with a great body and sexy looks with the checkered past, or the average girl with a well-respected history...

?

[speedman]

I do not understand the arrogance of some people on this board. Number one it is your car and you could park it on blocks if you wanted to. No one has the right to tell someone else what to do with his money. As for Ben's opinion, he probability started on this board asking just as many questions that seemed to be slanted one way or another. I have owned my 79 for 14 years and ever one of my mod's were done by me. I cannot afford to live two countries so I do it all myself. If you want to paint it pink and hang furry dice from the mirror go on and do it. The founders of this board set it up for everyone so lighten up!!!

[ben parrish]

Finally, no, you don't sound like a moron. You sound excited about your car and I totally understand. I only meant to ask questions about the maintenance to make sure you have thought about the effects of lightening and proper car care. Check out the Rocky Mountain PCA. Good group of enthusiast that like to autocross and race. I miss the group and the back roads around Denver. One of my favorite runs was up Three Mile Canyon.

Speedeman, you need to "lighten up" man. I answered his questions and don't see anywhere where I told him how to spend his money. I think it is great the he "FinallyGotOne". I was just having a conversation with an enthusiast about issues he may not have considered. That is what the founders of this board probably had in mind...ask a question and get an answer plus maybe have something brought up that you may not have thought about.
By the way, where is your answer in your post? I didn't see one. Guess you just wanted to see your rant in print. You're right, the arrogance of some people on this board is unexplainable.

Ben

[speedman]

I guess reading not a required skill for Porsche ownership. He asked how I attached my bumper and how I sealed it up and I told him what I did. I just think that sometimes poeple on this board take themselves too serious.

[speedman]

Before anyone replies, spelling is not a required skill also

[speedman]

I love this board and the disscussion that go on. Please don't mis-understand my meaning. I just want everyone to get along!

[ben parrish]

Group hug!

FinallyGotOne, sorry about the oil line incident. Small set back.

[FinallyGotOne]

yeah, is a bummer! I placed my hand behind the panel and could have sworn that it was just fine, but I think as my garage temp went down, and my hands neared numb, I lost my sense of touch... So that was when I called it a night!
I was so in thought that I could get no work done yesterday and ended up leaving at 1PM thinking how much time this gave me with my black mistress, but after I drove all over getting Kitty Hair, adhesive, and moulding/welting I was finally home at 4pm. uuughh. Was 4 hours last night with her and think I managed to finally get the rear bumper in place. It seems though that something is just not letting me line it up on the driver side tightly, so I ll have to work on that, and I am not sure what to do with my licence plate lights. The wires are in terrible shape. I need a schematic to make sure I replace them and connect them correctly.

saga continues... stll fun tho

looks like I wont be "seeing" her tonight tho.

[speedman]

I replaced my lights with a product called bolt lights. They are bolts with an LED inside that holds the tag on and lights up. Really works well. My rear bumper did not fit very well on the drivers side iether, so I enlarged the mounting holes by 1/4" and was able to more it around until it looked correct. I was worried about heat also so I lined the inside of the bumper with heat relective material. It helped allot and now the bumper is cool to the touch when the engine is up to temp.

[FinallyGotOne]

great advice speed! that will keep it noce and clean, Can you let me know how you wired? did you just wire to the existing lights wire? Mine are set up as follows. rear bumper is removed now too,

Driver side has a bunch of orange thin wires. with two very small plugs, but passenger side has two very small wires (orange) and they are just bare and exposed, one is only about 6 inches long and the other about 9 inches. no ends on them.
so? how did you run teh wires for the bolt lights? did you runthem into teh existing taillights?

[speedman]

I took the existing tag light leads and connected them to the bolt lights. Ckeck out this website for a good look at the lights I used.
http://www.mooneyesusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1204&osCsid=71b95f7308dac8af435a5be66af2d914

[speedman]

If you wire the lights in directly you will not be able to remove the tag and tag holder so put quick disconnects on the ends of the light wires so you can remove the tag if needed.