SWB 911R...the beginning

[speedo]

I sourced some 911 rear engine mounts locally which had been cut from an unfortunate race car...torched out actually
I drilled out the spot welds and primed them with weld through primer.

I then needed to tackle the removal of the 912 mount and corner gussets

Once these were removed

And the area cleaned up and primed... the 911 mounts were fited..

Here is the completed result

I need to disassemble the doors a little further to get ready for media blasting ....took a short break this afternoon to celebrate Mothers Day....and assemble two short block 2.2s with a buddy....Mom would have been proud.

I tend to keep the parts I need for the current project...and get rid of what is not necessary. I do plan to use fiberglass front fenders. I have a great source for fenders that I have used on my 3.2 RS clone, 76 DE track car a, my 71 ST vintage clone, and this car too. I do tend to regret letting parts go that I may need later on...it's a space thing. Except for my weber carb collection. I just don't like to keep tons of parts on hand...which is why a lot of the SWB parts of the car will go away when the fiberglass arives.

[bigchillcar]

great project...keep up the good work.

[rennch]

Are the SWB fenders shorter than the stock ones? Are they tough to source?

[speedo]

Several differences....zero fender lips, different horngrill and turn signal mounts, and how they run the electrics out of the inner fender wall through a support tube to the bottom of the headlight bucket. They are just a couple years ahead of the LWB cars in terms of the "race to rust". These are in pretty good shape actually...I just need the fiberglass to get the "R" thing going with the turn signal delete.

Doors disassembled and gutted. Considering deleting the chrome on the car and going in the direction of black chrome. That would alllow me to still keep the little corner window vents on the doors that open...we'll see. The dang doors are so freak'in heavy to start with....I may need to nix the regulators and use the R window "pull straps"....with plexiglass windows.

[EarlyPorsche]

Don't lose luxury for weight reduction. Keep the windows. Don't ditch trim, it adds beauty. When you say black chrome I assume you mean a dark nickle plating. Although it may seem cool at first, I think just aged or cleaned up chrome will give the car a better look.

[TWork]

Nice job on the engine mounts. I admire the tenacity to take on the project -- and have a new respect taking on a project of my own with its share of rust issues.

I've got a SC shell just sitting here. If there are particular body parts you could use (like engine mounts), let me know. I'd be happy to send them your way. Otherwise, it's just going to the recycler when I finish my ST project.

[randywebb]

Here is some wt. data I've collected that can help you make your weighty decisions.

http://www.penaltykicker.com/911/data/

A fellow Pelican was nice enough to host it. IIRC, the window regulator and window glass wts. are in there.

I would not go to FG or CF doors on a street car.

First thing I'd do is to put in a Lexan rear window to save wt.

[EarlyPorsche]

Agreed, amazing job so far.

[speedo]

Actually, he is packed up ready to go to the sandblaster. etc

I wanted to disassemble some smaller parts to include in the blasting...pedal cluster, engine mount, pulley housing, engine sheet metal, lid hinges...etc

I am definitely going to keep the doors. The fenders are getting blasted to facilitate resale, and the hood will be blasted (verrrry carefully) just in case I don't go fiberglass. I am cogitating on doing a 72 oil tank to move weight forward. I might do something dramatic and move it way forward to the front trunk and run the lines through the longitudinals as they will be open when I replace the floors...haven't decided.

I have instructed the media blaster to please leave me some metal to work with. I'm sure there will be some surprises when the car comes back....some excellent bondo work that was uncovered....maybe fiberglass hiding more oxcidation. It will be a same day job, so I will get the car back for the weekend. I can't wait to start drilling out thousands of spot welds.

Restoration Hardware is backordered on right side outer rockers...so if anyone has a right side they are not going to use, let me know. You would save me a few weeks of waiting.

[speedo]

You have a PM....get yer sawzall out....

[rennch]

T Work...I have a chunk of passenger door jam I need, so maybe I could tack something on to Lars' order.

[Leland Pate]

I'm really looking forward to your next installment!

[pieterk]

Originally posted by speedo
I drilled out the spot welds and primed them with weld through primer.

Can you tell me which spot weld cutter you're using and where you get them? I'm prepping to drill out my impact bumper mounts on my '74, and although Harbor Freight is the only local retailer that stocks them, I wouldn't mind picking up some higher quality ones from Eastwood or elsewhere.

Also, I've always been curious how you align the 911 engine mount corners in a 912 chassis so that they are precisely aligned. Is it easier than I think, or do you have to do a lot of measuring to make sure the mounts will center the motor correctly?

Thanks!

[speedo]

Pieter,
You are right...the spot weld drill bits do "hang up" and break and I have the same problem wherever I buy them. I use the ones ordered from our host as well as the ones from other retailers. I consider them to be designed obsolescence. I also use high quality cobalt bits. I think the key with the spot weld bits to be slow speed and with the harder bits...high speed. There is no easy way.

I will pick up the lexan for the side
and rear windows tomorrow. I need to decide if I will go with the quarter -opening windows, or solid windows. Really no sense to keep the opening windows in a car that has no rear seats. The key to remember here is simple is light.
I drop the car off at the sand/media blaster tomorrow at 7:00 AM and pick up at 1:00 PM....naw, I don't need to go to work...I'm visualizing myself as a trust-funder....not!

I have decided to build a rotisserie to work on the underside of the car. Next installment will represent how I plan to hold the car upside-down while working on the floor. It will also make the replacement of the control arm bushings, and front A arm bushings a heck of a lot easier. Not to mention the access to the rusted area for the steering rack cover. ...in front of the smugglers box. Anybody in the Denver area need a rotisserie when I'm done?

Hint...Chinese steel is cheaper than ours...

Still needing right side outer rocker and 27 mm tbars

[speedo]

The corners do require some attention when lining up the 911 engine mounts. But they are pretty basic. Email me off thread and I will help you. The hardest part is removing the 912 mounts and existing corner bracing...but if you like sparks....it is not so bad.

[Doug&Julie]

Originally posted by randywebb
I'd say Porsche owes you an award for saving their car...

Amen to that. I don't care what you do to it, I'm just glad you're saving it! Looking forward to progress updates.

[Fishcop]

Really looking forward to how this turns out Speedo - it's something I've wanted to do for a while, but scrappy swb cars are hard to come by over here in Oz.

[speedo]

And picked it up at noon. Very reasonable price...and they said I could keep the media that is stored inside the car.



Surprises...

1) some body work on the left side quarter panel...will need to be removed and taken down to bare metal before the LWB flares get added
2) rear shelf more "perforated" than previously thought...just will require a larger patch
3) rockers are damaged, but can be repaired vs replaced...I had anticipated replacing both sides.

4) jack points solid on both sides
5) fender wings in decent shape...right side requires small patch.
6) front bonnet in decent shape
7) rear seat buckets more perforated than estimated...both will need to be replaced


8) rust holes in left rear quarter below window will require patching
9) rear window lower corners are solid
10) doors are in great shape
11) pedal cluster area on pan was only oxcidized...not rusted

I threw a bunch of extra small parts at the blaster...pedals cluster, suspension pan cover, engine mounts and pulley housing, alternator strap, engine tin etc

[Jays72T]

Moving along quickly, looking good. Pretty cool that you get the keep media, I'd ebay it. ;-)

[speedo]

Baby steps...decided to start on small tasks and get some traction. Left rear quarter need some help, so I cut a larger area out around the rust


sized in replacement steel and shaped to fit

and welded in and ground the excess off

then found out that I was out of welding wire on my mig.

Ok...I can now dive in to the spot welds on the front of the car. The front drip sill was not looking great, but I have ordered a replacement piece so it was first to go


All cleaned up and ready for zinc and the new piece to be welded in place.

I hadn't planned on diving into the removal of the front suspension pan, but as it too was en route, and I couldn't weld anything else today....lets drill out 300 spot welds. I have another couple of hours of prep, but the pan is 85% drilled out and ready to be cleaned up and prepped for replacement. I will have some peripheral steel to replace next to the pan, but not too much. To my surprise, this area had a botched repair done at some earlier time that I uncovered while drilling out the welds on the lower drivers side.... what a hack job. The good news is that the inner fenders are in good shape. I will need to refabricate the battery ledge after I get the suspension pan welded in place

I realize the last picture looks pretty gnarly with missing metal, rust and power tools....hey, it's a project.

I was supposed to get my hybrid rotisserie going, but I was having too much fun breathing burning undercoating , and tatooing my arms with molten metal flying off my grinding disc. I now have three grinders set up, each with a different application...a grinding wheel, a wire cup , and a braided wire wheel . Thank goodness for $14.99 grinders at Harbour Freight.