Project Deutsche Coupe

[vintagecarlover]

that heat exchanger needs a thread all by itself. good job. powder coat or paint?

[MichiganMat]

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

I scuffed it up after welding it and gave it a quick coat of VHT black to keep the rust at bay. We don't see much weather here in NorCal so Im not too worried about it rotting, heh

[JP911]

Great work, Matt! I'd love to see the Deutsche Coupe in person one of these days. Your fab skills on the heat exchanger is impressive. I'm missing heat in my car...

FWIW, you inspired me to use Dzus fasteners on my recent bumper project and they came out great! Many thanks for documenting your work for all to see.

[privatepang]

Wow.

Awesome read! Another 911s to follow.

[MichiganMat]

Its been a few months since my last update and I've been kinda busy with the car. A few months back I spaced out on the highway in rush hour traffic and kissed a Camry {le sigh}. This might be the reasoning I need to backdate the entire nose of the car in fiberglass, but I haven't fully decided yet:




I came back from a trip to Europe and noticed that the car feel really squirmy and loose. My first thought was a blown front strut so I tore into it and had such a battle with the stock under-body swaybar that I said screw it and bought a Tarrett through-body and totally refurbished the front suspension, painted everything, and converted over to Weltmeister plastic bushings (I refuse to fight with press-fit/friction-fit rubber bushings ever ever again, Im done). I didn't take enough pics though, :/ :



Put the car back together and she still felt terrible, but I had a dyno session lined up so I took it over to TPS Motorsports and put it through a few pulls. She did just about as I expected for a high-mile SC engine with CIS and headers. Still happy though, good numbers:




Drove it home the other day and finally figured out the handling problem, the drivers side spring plate had shifted the ride-height adjusters and the car was riding 2" lower on the driver side than the passenger side. That translated into the suspension by making the car feel really squirrelly when turning left as the weight shifted over the driver front and passenger rear, not cool. Not wanting to fight with any more rubber bushings (EVER EVER AGAIN) or with trying to adjust those eccentric bolts on the spring plates (Im done with those too) I pulled the trigger on a fresh setup from Elephant Racing. Removed the springplates from the car last night, painted the end plates and bought fresh fasteners this morning. Should have it all bolted up by tomorrow morning and off to the alignment shop on Monday:



Noticed that the stock rear swaybar mounts are shearing off the car too but Im just going to weld them up and reinforce them, the Wevo's will have to wait until I upgrade to a Tarrett in the rear

[MichiganMat]

Some video of a dyno pull. I really love the sound of the Magnaflow

[Josh D]

Just what I like to see! A working mans budget build! I dig. I dig.

[oh snap]

Love the homemade heat exchangers. Well done.

[911FASCINATION]

Beautiful work man, through and through-thanks for posting it!

[MichiganMat]

Recently I ordered graphics from Joe Bob and No Bad Days Graphics, really brightened up the car. Im also going to add PORSCHE across the rear reflector which is currently painted over.

Next up is stiffer torsions and maybe Rota Fox wheels, we'll see.

[MichiganMat]

Ditched the heavy flag mirrors in favor of a single Pegasus carbon unit. Its not attached in the cleanest, most perfect way but it'll hold until I get around to welding the holes in the doors shut and repainting the area. I was a little concerned about the size but its been perfect out on the street so far, plus I've always liked the way they've looked on our cars

[juanbenae]

mat, if you are going to make the RR at laguna this weekend call me to hook up. a bunch of us are camping there all weekend.

[MichiganMat]

Its been a long long time since my last update, so many things have happened... I got married, I changed jobs, I bought a house, and I built a 912 with Subaru STi power with my brother.

Now that the 912RSTi is out of my garage I've been able to get back to working on my 911. The past few months have been busy for the 911:
•The trans failed. I didn't account for the different in early vs late output shaft bearings when I put in the Wevo bearing plate 6 years ago. The 1mm difference in flange sizes wore out the pinion gear. I took it in to Sportech in Campbell CA, Mark did an amazing job as usual.
•Rebuilt the engine wiring harness and tied up a few grumpy oil leaks that really made things disgusting back there.
•Leaned out the CIS, car has been running rich.
•Started mounting the new bumper. My old bumper was badly cracked from kissing a Camry in rush hour traffic one afternoon. I changed out the old SC smile for 964 rubber, I really like the way it contours the gap. Need to work on brackets before I can send it out for paint
•Added a NASCAR tegris splitter to the new bumper. I had to section out about 10 inches from the center, but the result is perfect IMO. A huge upgrade from my old aluminum splitter.
•Added clear turn signals, because bling.
•Working on going back to the old "flag" mirrors. The Pegasus racing mirrors I added are nice but I miss the larger glass. I'll use the Pegasus mirrors on my 914 project.
•Added Turbo tie-rods and Weltmeister bump steer kit. I wanted the kit and when I went to install it I found out how back the boots and rod ends were, so the Turbo upgrade was an easy choice.
•Added Wevo RARB swaybar mounts. The big Tarret rear bar ripped the old mounts apart.

Thats about all for now, more than a few loose ends to tie up. I need to get the bumper fully mounted and painted, and then get the car aligned, and then I'll be back to having a daily driver again. In the meantime I'll be busy building my new '75 914 project for the 2016 914 Build-off challenge.

Never mind the PORSCHE script on the bumper, its just taped on there for pics and show.

[steenkamp]

just for the record, it's "Project Deutsches Coupe" ;-)

Greetings from Berlin

Guido

[Buechsen Gustl]

Guido, if it should be perfect, it has to be "ProjeKt deutsches Coupe" ;-)

Nice thread tho, keep the updates coming mate!!

[MichiganMat]

Originally Posted by steenkamp

just for the record, it's "Project Deutsches Coupe" ;-)

Greetings from Berlin

Guido

Ahhh, bummer. I was trying to play on words a bit from a classic Beach Boys song, "My Little Deuce Coupe". German is hard, haha.