SWB 911R...the beginning

[speedo]

I bought a SWB car to create a 911R clone last weekend. After posting my dissappointing post sale rust findings....and generating both criticism and sympathy, the time came for actually digging in. I will try to remember to have a camera available and actually use it to chronicle the build.

For the record, I am starting with a low mile 1966 912.

Day one...disassemble. I removed the doors, hood, lid, glass and interior. I assessed the damage as I went along. I will need to replace full floor, outer rockers and full suspension pan, rear seat buckets as well as rust specific areas as encountered.

Day two...prepare for sand blasting. I removed the fenders, front and rear bumpers and trannie to start. Luckily the trannie ended up being an aluminum cased 5 spd 902/1 with favorable gears. I removed the gas tank and found rust in the "steering hump" cover at the right rear bolt...more rust repair. I removed the electrics up front and evaluated the rust on the lower left front inner fender wall. More metal to be fabricated. Front bulkhead has damage, but probably can be saved.

Removed all instruments and dash pieces as well as pedal cluster.

Removed all electrics from engine compartment and soundproofing.

Took the Charlie bars out and determined that for the most part, the inner fenders were in good shape

Headliner , mirror, visors, interior lights removed

Pedal cluster removed for sandblasting and rebushing as well as shifter.

End of Day two, car is stripped and ready for blasting.

I will most likely use fiberglass for the fenders, hood, rear lid and bumpers. The front bumper looks pretty cool with the periond correct hella fog/driving lights which I will probably put up for sale. I will probably offer the hood, rear lid, fenders and bumpers up for sale when I determine that satisfactory fiberglass R replacements are available...as well as the seats, rear glass, quarter windows etc.

I have just purchased a 2.7 with webers for the car...and will probably use stock heat exchangers with a sport exhaust and MSD. I plan to powder coat the basic suspension and run 22-26mm tbars . I haven't decided whether or not to run the original charlie bars, or update the sway bars.

Next installation will be when he (unamed at the moment) is back from the media blasting and the bad metal goes, and the good metal gets welded in.

See ya

Speedo

[rattlsnak]

It certainly looks like you have your work cut out for you.... GOOD LUCK!!

[pookie]

Holy rusted floors, Batman.

Someone had to say it.

Good luck, looks like one serious project.

[mikeferg75]

I wanna see this in person...

when you dry out up there again, (I see that snow in the background) let me know and I can zoom up.

Ferg

[Rich Lambert]

Speedo,

Dude, you've got a serious project on your hands. Looking forward to following your progress...IMHO, there needs to be more 911R clones.

[Jays72T]

It's great to see you save this car, looking forward to seeing more.

I agree with RATTLSNAK that you have your hands full but it will pay off when its done. Good luck!

BTW, its a project that I thought about.

[randywebb]

In a way the missing floors are good - you can weld in lighter steel or rivet in Al.

Are you planning to stiffen the chassis at all? Seam welding, more spot welding - extra gussets & so forth?

I'm told a push/pull system with a shop vac on one end & compressed air jets on the other end of all enclosed spaces and tubes works well for removing the excess media.

Looking forward to watching this evolve!

[rennch]

I'm always amazed at how quickly you turn these things around. Always such an inspiration to watch you!

[speedo]

I also sourced the 911 engine mounts locally so they will be cleaned up and installed after the 912 mounts are removed. I have also determined that the cover for the front steering cavity "hump"...right rear mounting point which is spot welded to the forward side of the smugglers box is rusted. I have sourced a replacement and will clean up to reweld. It has seemed that this is a common point to rust out when the smugglers box doesn't drain correctly. I could use a rotisserie for this....but don't have one . I don't like welding "up".

I will post pics of the engine mount conversion.

Car is scheduled to meet the sandblaster Wednesday.

Sheet metal will arrive about the same time.

The 2.7 motor and webers will arrive shortly thereafter.

I have a lot of welding in front of me...no big deal. I look forward to having clean fresh pans to work with.

I am tempted to go ahead and order my fiberglass but I don't have the room.

Still looking for 26-27mm rear torsion bars.

[Jeroen]

that's gonna be a lotta work...
good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

[Sapporo Guy]

hmmm, I was going to tear out the back seats to see if my water leak caused any rust damage. ........

maybe, I'll be smart and just drive until I sell it ....

I have the bad feeling once those back seats come out, ALL bolts will come off too .... !!!!! .........................

[Porsche_monkey]

It's a sad day when you see a 911 on car stands and the only thing in the picture you lusting after is the stands.

That is a big undertaking, I applaud your energy and commitment.

I did a similar rebuild (not quite that bad). My only regret was not acid dipping or sand blasting the entire car to bare metal. Are you planning to do that?

[mjshira]

dude you've got balls I will give you that this is a serious project. good luck and keep the progress reports coming please.

[Porsche_monkey]

Provided the progress is steady I nominate this thread for a sticky note at the top of the B.B.

[randywebb]

some of these ideas on structural reinforcement might come in handy

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/259557-structural-reinforcement-post3195258.html#post3195258

I'd say Porsche owes you an award for saving their car...

[EarlyPorsche]

Don't put any fiberglass in the front at least. Thats just where you want the weight, no need to go lighter there. Put all the glass in the rear. I would go with an aluminum tag panel and decklid and thats it. The front with less weight would just make a drag car.

[speedo]

I have two race cars....already

This one will be for the street. As necessary, I will strengthen the chassis, but not at the expense of weight....or never to be unnecessarily needed in a street car. The early R's had to put 25+ lbs weight in the front bumper to offset the weight in the rear. It would be stupid to lighten the front using fiberglass...only to have to add it back for better weight distribution. If I run a centerfill tank, I will probably also keep the metal front hood. It will allow me to use a "crush" gasket at the filler to keep water out vs using a honeycomb fiberglass hood that might develop stress cracks.

Yes the car will be media blasted.

I spent a couple hours today and "relieved " the 911 engine mounts from their SC longitudinals from which they had been cut...and almost finished the removal of the 912 mounts and corner bracing. I will post pics tomorrow. The 911 mounts fit perfectly. I will weld them up before sandblasting.

Also cleaned up the scavenged mounts for the suspension cover that mounts to the lower front of the smugglers box. I decided not to separate the mount from the surrounding steel until I determine how much of the local area is bad.

Leaning towards fabricating a rotisserie for certain aspects of the underside.

I hope that the 2.7 with webers, SSI and a sport exhaust will approximate the hp of the early 911S, and not penalize the car for weight. I have a 911 oil tank that I plan to install in the right rear fender unless I decide to move it forward and run the oil lines in the longitudinal while they are open as I do the floor pan...we'll see. I anticipate (based on the recent 71 RMVR vintage racer I built 1850lbs) that this will be close to 1950 lbs without a cage...so the power to weight will be under the 67 911S, but over the 911R. I do however have that set of Elgin S plus cams (GE 60s) that I could use...first thing first.

Hey guys, this as always is a labor of love/insanity...don't need any other pressure to get the car done. I'll do it at my own pace...coincident as always with wife/life kids and the other stuff that is almost as important as our fetish for these cars. Yes I tend to get them done quickly, but give me the luxury of deciding the route to take as the car evolves...vs the stress of just getting the car done. Thanks for the attention....T minus 3 (days)to sand blasting.

For the record...I will be selling decent ...

Front bumper with foglight cut outs (and foglights Hella 128s)
left and right front fenders with period correct headlights
complete 5 gauge green faced instuments
center valence
rear bumpers
seats
rear window
rear quarter windows
gas tank
steel wheels with hubcaps
steering wheel
gas tank

At the appropriate time these will all be listed as for sale on the correct forum

[Porsche]

Looks like a great project!

[EarlyPorsche]

If you are now not going to use fiberglass fenders then why are you ditching the steel ones? I think you have an amazing project and you should definetly build it at your own pace.