1977 Flachbau Basket Case Rebuid

[SDFla7Nose]

Hey all.

My names Sam, im from san diego, CA. I joined a few days ago and have been trolling the classifieds trying to amass the ridiculous amount of parts i need for this undertaking. Parts have started to roll in, so i figure a build thread may be in order.

Fair warning for the purists so you can stop reading here: This car is getting a v8,

A bit of a backstory. The car is a 1977 911 Coupe, which was converted to a Slant nose some time in the 80's, It appears to be a fairly good conversion, Steel flares, fenders, etc, with smooth transitions and minimal filler. It was originally Geezer gold, but was resprayed guards red at some point, likely when the conversion was done.

The car supposedly led a decent life, but was sold to a local dismantler, who did their thing after it did not sell. The Shell was bought bare by my friend James(FSTTarga on here), with ambitions of a body swap, but priorities changed, and the targa lives on.

I decided to take the car off his hands (not really since its still at his house ) to house an LS1 i have had laying around for a little while. Ive been Contemplating my options with it, and this seems like the most fun.

The car is currently on a cart, he began to strip the paint off the hood before other projects became priority, and the car was put into storage

as it sits at the moment



i thought the crest looked neat with guide coat overspray and the mangy paint




Over the last week i have purchased just about everything i need to get it rolling. I got burned on one ebay purchase, but overall everything is rolling in nicely and as expected.

So far i have gotten some control arms, used boge struts off of James' targa, and i have gotten one of my front hubs, which i tossed in the blaster, and painted the exposed parts with some black paint, before knocking out the old bearing races, and loading it up with some new seals, races and bearings, i am still waiting on a hardware kit to finish up mounting, so at the moment only the inner bearing is installed. I have not decided on my brake setup so i decided to forego the cost at this point to get the car rolling.



I also managed to score a really clean gas tank off of a 73 on Offerup for $60 bucks. The tech at the shop i got it from was not pleased with the parts guy for letting it go so cheap, but im not complaining. There is some sort of coating that is flaking on the inside, so a hot tank and a coating at a rad shop is in order.

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a whole lot of baffling, so i will more than likely be running some sort of surge tank to prevent fuel starvation.




Unfortunately the hood struts are dead, so i had to resort to some interesting measures while loading up with parts



And one of the other part, a trick carbon sunroof skin, which i will be using as a plug, since i do not like sunroofs and i dont want to drop 1k plus on a smooth roof skin.







Thats all for now guys, Im still waiting on the rest of my suspension garbage to roll in, once it does im going to go buy some hardware from the local hardware store, and get her rolling and off of the cart (which, if the unnamed guy who this was bought off of, i do fully plan on returning the body cart once the car is on its own wheels, sorry about that, lmao)

Once she rolls i can get her out of the storage shed and into the workshop and the real fun can begin. At this point, it is going to be as budget friendly of a build as i can manage, since i do not have terribly deep pockets (i probably got the wrong car, am i right?) but as time goes on, i do plan on making this a fairly nice drivers car, but first order of business will strictly be running gear. Who doesnt love a ratty pile?

That being said, i am planning on doing a fairly complete respray as well. Im not sure on what color i want to spray it. Currently, Black, Amethyst, and hellgelb are on my list but im not entirely sure which direction to go at this point.

As far as Driveline, My motor is ready to go, and i found a pretty sweet deal on a 930 box that comes with an LS adaptor kit, i just need to find the cash to drop on it, but once i get that, the mock up and engine mount fabrication can begin.



As an addendum for anyone who may be offended by this car going watercooled, i do plan on doing the minimum possible modifications to fit radiators and cooling lines, i think i will be following the stock routing for the oil cooler lines for my water lines, and am toying with the idea of using a smallish front core, and using one or two additional radiator cores in the rear fender vents, to keep the modifications to a minimum on the chassis.

Thanks for looking

[tdw28210]

Well.. Not my cup o' tea, but welcome and good luck with the project.

[SalParadise]

Since '77 coupes are going up in value, even though this one has been modified as most were, please do not do a cheesy LS1 conversion. Save your money and find a correct engine.

[75 911s]

Welcome! Well I'm a fan of the slant nose, mainly because you just don't see them in the wild. I think I saw one at luft last year, but other than that...

I'd rethink the LS1 conversion as well. It's the worst motor for this car in my humble opinion. The conversion and parts will still cost you 10k or more. Since you seem adept at hunting parts on the classified, you may have noticed a trans for 2200, and several engines over the last year ranging from 6-8k. There was a runner 3.0 for 6k not too long ago. There have been quite a few 2.7 running motors for 6k or less on the classifieds as well. I know of a stock 3.2 for sale in San Diego actually. Not sure on the price atm. But I bought the intake off it and it looks very clean.

Yes you can drop 45k in one of these motors without blinking. But you can also get by for much less.

Props for resurrecting this project either way. If you do end up with the v8, there's a conversion forum on here that has quite a few successful conversions. Also Renegade, here in Las Vegas, makes conversion kits.

[ADDvanced]

Yeah, I gotta say LS swaps are just not that great in this car. The cooling causes you to hack up the car quite a bit. And yep, mid years are now going for $$$. You can find COMPLETE 2.7s in need of a rebuild for under 5k sometimes, and yeah, you'd have to rebuild it but honestly that would be fun.

[1QuickS]

Put the V8 into the bug.

[SDFla7Nose]

75 911s. Thank you.

Tragically the number one thing the LS has going for it is that I have the motor already,. And i just cannot justify spending the cash required to put together not only the engine, but the oiling system this car lacks as well at this point. Combined with the (albeit heresay) fact that they are lighter in full trim than a turbo motor,. Combined with some water weight in the front balancing it out,. I figure it will at least be a good time.

I do plan on keeping the tub as original as possible, because while an aircooled 6 is very far and away not in my budget now,. I want to be able to build and swap to one if i am ever so inclined.


Thanks for the info. I never even noticed the conversion forum,. I will go ahead and make another thread over there,. Im sure it will be slightly better recieved. Lol

Addvanced,. Im planning on fabricating my own swap mounts,. Frankly swap kits for these cars suffer from the same price inflation as factorty parts (in my opinion), and i am competent enough with a welder.

For what its worth im already getting the fun flat 6 rebuild experience with james' 3.2,. Its on the stand for turbo jugs and stronger parts.


Luckily i have plenty of time to change my mind but i will probably resign this thread to being mostly about chassis restoration.

[SDFla7Nose]

Originally Posted by 1QuickS

Put the V8 into the bug.

We almost did,. That chassis is a both literally and figuratively a pile

[1QuickS]

My comment was rather nasty and I apologize. Enjoy the project, ignore the naysayers & best wishes here!

[SDFla7Nose]

Originally Posted by 1QuickS

My comment was rather nasty and I apologize. Enjoy the project, ignore the naysayers & best wishes here!

I didnt see it as such,. But the thought of putting the v8 in that bug did come up but its just not worth the effort

Fwiw i did expect to be lambasted somewhat. I actually basically copy pasted this thread into one on the conversion forum after i found out that it existed, amd i think i will relegate this thread to being factory parts restoration only.


By the way, for anyone interested. The conversiom was done at golden coach works. I do actually have the documentstion for it, but its not like its a factory or even dealer ordered build.

[SDFla7Nose]

I got a couple more things.

Got my 914 steel crossmember, probably one of the few people to backdate this. Haha. Fit was okay,. The hardware was expensive. But at least the crossmember wasnt



I got the control arms mounted up,. Im still miasing a few componente,. Namely. A washerthat goes between the spring adjuster at the back,. And the cap for the front that accepts the third bolt,. And im not terribly thrilled on the hardware i got so i will likely replace it with something nicer

[Jack Stands]

It’s a shame that you need to hack up the front for the cooling for an LS as it’s a great engine that I believe is actually lighter than a 911 engine. Enjoy your project.

[SDFla7Nose]

Jack,. My goal is to run a wide, short rad in front with auxiliary rads in the rear fender vents,. Im going to try and keep the tub mods isolated to an rs oil cooler duct or something similarly sized. Worst case, new sheet metal for thst area is stupid cheap so im not worried about future reversal


In other news,. My column showed up. Decent shape unit,. Sounds like one of the bearings is less than happy but it is perfectly usable for the time being

[SDFla7Nose]

More parts amassing, I picked up A 915 shifter and shift linkage from two local members.

I kind of impulse bought these, without doing any research, as i figured there were 3 possible outcomes

1: they work flawlessly on the 4 speed unmodified, and i didnt have to overspend on 930 parts
2: i can modify them to work flawlessly
3: its never going to happen and ill sell them on


Luckily it looks like its going to be a mix of one and 2. I did not realize going into it that 915's dont have a "German" reverse gear, and that its actually in the standard layout beneath 5th gear. Oh well, i was prepared to modify it



Cue the overdue research that i should have done in the first place.

It looks as if the 930 shifter uses the exact same shift base, with a very similar rod. I found an ebay ad for a 930 base, and it literally has the bosses for the reverse detent springs with nothing in it, and a top plate with no detents for reverse and 5th, otherwise, unless i am mistaken, it is identical

Looks like with the light application of a grinder, i will have myself a 930 shifter for half the price

[Speed metal]

Yeah! That LS motor is lighter than a big flat six, don't sweat the flames. Reality is, its a converted slanty(Super cool BTW) and anything can be converted back. Keep on truckin! In the end youll have one fast mid year slant nose.

[SDFla7Nose]

Originally Posted by Speed metal

Yeah! That LS motor is lighter than a big flat six, don't sweat the flames. Reality is, its a converted slanty(Super cool BTW) and anything can be converted back. Keep on truckin! In the end youll have one fast mid year slant nose.

Thanks bud, to be honest, i expected to be roasted quite a bit more, so im pleasantly surprised, ive actually had a car that the decision to LS swap it actually caused a guy to decide not to sell me a series of nice interior parts he had agreed to sell me, nevermind the fact that the same guy had roughly 3 cars that had non original swaps It doesnt change my short term plans, and at the end of the day, its my car, im the one dropping the cash to get it driving, which means i get to choose what accomplishes that goal.



Anywho, back to the regularly scheduled programming of daily small and near pointless updates

Nothing showed up, but i fished out a set of turbo tie rods for when my Rack arrives, and also a momo hub that we had laying around, which allowed me to bolt up my nardi classic black spoke wood grain. I actually ran this wheel in the camaro that the LS came out of, so its fitting i suppose.

The column is hanging at the moment, i bought some hardware to bolt it up on my way home tonight so i will get that buttoned up when i get back to the car. but for now, enjoy the hands down nicest component on the car





I believe just about everything else for the suspension is scheduled to show up over the next two days, so hopefully that means ill be able to get her on the ground sometime this week.

[tdw28210]

Dig the Nardi. Maybe a bit too dished for me, but like the look of the wood and stripe.

[SDFla7Nose]

Im personally a big fan of dished wheels,. Also im 6'6" and im going to be moving the sest back a fair bit, so it will be nice to not have to run a huge wheel spacer to get decent placement

[chrisbalich]

interesting project. i have a friend who bought his 993 as a shell and saved it. decided to stuff a turbo VR6 in it from a VW. he took a fair amount of hell for it, but that car is awesome and he spent less on the tub, resto, and driveline than a decent 993 motor goes for these days.
stick to your guns.

[jjeffries]

There are, and always will be, plenty of stock cars around. I have one! But I like your project, too. John/CT.