SWB 911R...the beginning

[RWebb]

I don't understand why you aren't using the stock Porsche parts for the Al Xmember instead of fabbing flat steel ones. Do the stock items not line up right?
p/n 911 341 031 01

I used them, then just re-drilled a late model cover... that was on a LWB car tho.

[Macroni]

Can't wait to see it right side up.

[speedo]

.....I don't understand why you aren't using the stock Porsche parts for the Al Xmember instead of fabbing flat steel ones. Do the stock items not line up right?
p/n 911 341 031 01...

Comes the answer....

I find out that there are significant differences in the braces for the early crossmember and cover vs the later (aluminum) crossmember and cover. There are probably more than I list here...but these were my obstacles. First the cover itself is shaped differently, and attaches to the steel crossmember in the places I described....to the rear of the cover it attaches to the body, but to the front it connects with the horizontal face of the crossmember. The braces themselves on the early steel crossmember are attached (welded) to it. The later aluminum crossmember cover is shaped differently as are it's braces which also support the brackets for the front swaybars. Additionally they are not connected to the crossmember in manufacturing, they are bolted to it. My swaybars don't mount underneath the car...they are the "through the body" style. I didn't need the attach points of the braces that would have come with the aluminum crossmember. So...to use the later crossmember, and still utilize the early cover, the braces need to only facilitate "bracing" the member (to the extent that they do) and also provide "pickup points" for attaching the early cover. Simply put...you can't bolt up an early cover with a later crossmember, or early crossmember with a later cover....without doing some machine work. If someone wants to chime in here...feel free. I didn't mean to belabor the issue, but the question was asked...and I wanted to know why I had to create what I did.

Here is the cover
Painted, undercoated on the "bottomside" and now installed
I think the braces came out pretty well...not too "over-engineered"

I know I have said it before...I am REALLY ready to flip this thing. I got my dollies back today, so witha couple helping hands, this should be rightside up this weekend and off the rotisserie.

[911 tweaks]

as Billy Crystal says, "simply marvelious!!"
Keep goin' you are doing a fantastic job and inspiring many that would otherwise be surfing here sitting on the fat arses... (namely me!)
Thanks for the motovation and sharing your awesome talents with us all!!
Bob

[rvanderpyl]

What is the part number for those ebrake bushings? I can't find them in the catalog.

[speedo]

Josh will work for food...so he graciously came up and helped me get the car back upright. We started here...

Rolled it upright and attempted to steady it



There rear is supported...now removing the front from the rotisserie
On his own...with a rotisserie that needs to find someone that needs work.
I'm free

[rennch]

I would have come up...I was free today.

[Macroni]

Originally Posted by emptyo

I would have come up...I was free today.

me too!

[Plecostomus]

Man, you a really dedicated. That's all I can say :P

[speedo]

I finally get to work on the top side. I have fenders with the horn and turn signals deleted as well as the gas cap. R front and rear fiberglass bumpers, and an R rear lid. The stainless R hinges have arrived and TRE is sending the R light package with the spit bulbs. The mesh for the rear grill is still in question. I just bought a 4x4x3/16 lexan sheet to fab the 1/4 windows as well as the rear window.

Waiting for their turn
The preliminary door fit with the new sheet metal looks toght with great tight gaps.

I had some trouble with this install...
...but I realized I was trying to install it the wrong way.

I will also see what luck I have converting black annodized rear quarter window trim to polished aluminum trim. I will lightly sand off the thin layer of black and then try to polish out the dull aluminum using a bench grinder converted to a polishing wheel. We'll see...

[speedo]

Whether the doors came off the same car or a different car...they never go "right back on" even with the same shims.
I always "baggie" and label the bolts and shims just in case. This is no different...the doors were a struggle to get oriented with correct gaps. Left side took some "massaging" and finally got the door gaps correct
and mounted the drivers side front fender

The passenger side took more work....
The gaps were good, but I couldn't get the front bottom of the door to line up flush with the top edge of the outer rocker. I played with the hinges and shims, but no luck. The more I messed with the door hinges, the further the gaps increased in the rear of the door. Then I found the culprit
The bottom outer skin of the door wasn't straight. The door had been reskinned at some point and the forward lower edge actually flared out away from the door...here is a straight edge on the bootom of the door
No wonder...between a 1/4 to 3/8ths of an inch in the forward 7-8 inches of the door! I thought long and hard about how to fix this so the bottom of the door would be flush with the outer rocker.

[speedo]

As the outer skin is pinch welded to the inner box of the door, there was going to be no easy "just bend the lip over" fix. I needed to recontour the bottom corner of the door....as well as make sure the leading edge matched the rear edge of the fiberglass fender. If I just bent the lower edge of the door, the door would show the bend on the outside lower edge and it would look like crap. I needed to unflare the "flare". Heres what happened...first, marked the door for some fillets
And with my dremel tool, created several fillets

I then experimented with pulling the outside skin in, and compressing the inside skin allowing the fillet cuts to collapse and come together.
This is going to work...tack welded in a couple places
I rehung the door to check fitment...nice fit...and finished the welding
Dressed the welds and refit the door...nice fit and primed.

Here is the warped edge corrected against the straight edge again

[speedo]

You might notice the centerfill missing from the hood. Unfortunately, my efforts at the original centerfill hood were a little overzealous and I screwed the contour of the hood up by continuing to add the "inside sill/edge" to the centerfill hole. So, I elected to create another centerfill hood, this time leaving well enough alone without adding the reinforcement on the lip. Yeah...I too have an endless supply of hoods to play with....not. Oh well, if you are going to do it...do it right. I don't want to end up with a hood with a lot of filler. So, I have a slightly imperfect centerfill hood coming up for sale. I have to finish up the front of the fenders...making sure their contour matches the front of the hood, and then cut the horn grill/oil cooler holes to line up with the fog light cutouts in the front bumper

[speedo]

A while back I farmed a 1972 oil tank from someone on the board as well as an oil console. The stock oil console did not have a themostat...but could be modified for one which I did. As my inner right rear fender wall/ right side engine compartment wall did not have the holes in it for the oil tank (remember 912 vs 911) I can mount the oil console where it is supposed to be. I guess that would be one advantage of starting with a 912. I could still use some good pictures of where the oil console mounts on a 72 from the inside of the engine compartment. I used Josh's 72 as a mule for taking lots of pictures of the oil tank and lines. I also used the PET 72S schematic as well as a hand-drawn 911R oil system diagram. Josh's car had a front oil cooler(aftermarket) and a mocal thermostat. I finally figured out what my oil system should look like, and decided the first step would be to mount the oil tank, and then measure for the lines I would need to make...seven in all.
The tank support strap I got with my tank had been cut out of the car, so I need to create what was missing. The forward end that mounted to the inner fender wall behind the door post was hinged...but hacked off. I welded a piece of angle to the end which I was going to use to either weld or bolt.
The other end was missing the bracket to tension the strap using the captive allen bolt
So, I pulled out a piece of square tubing
And made the "capture bracket"
Which will likely need to be trimmed down later.

[speedo]

It was going to be difficult to figure out where to mount the front edge of the strap(with the hinge) so I taped the intentation on the oil tank and fitted it in the forward edge of the quarter panel

I then used a yardstick along the inner side and lined it up with my tape, held the yardstick in place and renoved the tank. I then marked the ends of where the yardstick rested to orient the spacing of my hinge.
I placed the strap in the correct location and drilled a couple 1/8 holes to use clecos to check the placement


So far so good
The tank fits tight so I bolted the forward end down instead of welding as this will allow me to remove it in the future if necessary
Checking the fit again

[speedo]

Now time to position the end with the new bracket

I temporarily mounted a 15x7 to check wheel clearance...looks ok, but just to be safe, I want the bracket to be as low to the inner fender wall as possible
So I trimmed my new bracket even futher
Test fit was good, so I tacked it, checked fit again and welded it in
Oil tank is now mounted
Area primed and painted

[911 tweaks]

I am a novice compared to the skill level you are doing here... but I just wanted to add that when you are fitting the oil tank to the body in the wheel well, I would suggest to use some kind of *rubber* between the tank and the body due to all of the rock-n-roll (no pun intended) that the tank will see there. Think of how a syk SC oil tank has that $60 rubber gasket/seal for it.
You are already about to post this feature I am guessing, but if not, you may want to consider.
Best of luck on this great project!
Bob

[speedo]

This is basically where the hole for the filler needs to go
I measured the center of the filler and scribed the approximate spot on the fender....then I removed the cap and taped over the filler hole and marked the center.
The plan was to try to center where the hole should be taking into consideration the slope of the quarter panel, the size of the cap with respect to the lower quarter window trim...and the fact that the new longer filler neck would be at a steeper angle 50 degrees to the original 10 degrees off vertical filler neck(which will ultimately be removed). Here are the calculations...
This is where I introduce the Porsche specific measuring devices. I had planned to drill a 1/8th hole and use a long finishing nail perpendicular to the slope of the car to "punch" through the taped filler opening to find out how close my measurements were
Correct angle of dangle
The nail goes in
And I remove the tank to see where in the filler opening I landed...pretty damn close!

[speedo]

And re-drilled the hole saw pilot hole
The moment I had not been waiting for...
We have a hole
With the filler neck and cap
Re-install the tank to see how the tank lines up
Dead on. I used just the new filler neck and positioned it at the correct 50 degrees to line up the cut for the tank. I sprayed paint down the neck to find the new filler neck position for the 3 inch hole to be cut. That is one hole saw I don't have...so this will wait till tomorrow.
From the rear...can't decide yet whether to surface mount the cap, or "fin it" and flush mount it...

[speedo]

Is a good idea...and I planned to incorporate a compressible 1/4 inch rubber pad bonded in a few places between the tank and the inner fender. Probably one of the last things to get mounted. I left myself at least a 1/2inch of wigggle room with my strap and allen bolt. I was most concerned this time around with the top and front edge fitment to get my quarter panel hole oriented. You are absolutely right, and I appreciate the "heads up" at any point along the way. Ther ain't no road map for this beast...