New Project 911t Targa

[cowboyrolo]

I just purchased this 1970 911t Targa as my new project.
She was in an accident, and even though the insurance company totaled the car, I think I can save her. While it looks bad on the outside, there is not that much internal damage. Being a Targa, it looks like the force of the accident twisted the body slightly. I have searched the board for answers, but couldn't find quite what I was looking for.
A couple of questions...
1) Where can I find the chassis dimensions for this car?
2) I would like to strengthen the chassis after I get her straight. What is the best way to to this on a targa without being intrusive or obvious?

Thanks

[Bobboloo]

I'll email you the dimensions tomorrow. I have them in my factory manuals. Send me your email address in a private message so I can send an email to you with the attached files.

As bad as that one pic looks you may not be in that bad of shape. It looks like the collision was a glancing blow. I hard hit on the nose or a T-bone destroys these unit bodies. The wheel well area behind the fender doesn't look tweeked so maybe you dodged the bullet. Anyway you can measure the chassis when you get the blueprints I'll email you.

Here's a link to my collision repair. DIY Home collision repair

I'm doing some reinforcement on my Targa and can share with you my ideas. I emailed Tyson Schmidt, who works for Wevo, for his input and his suggestions were in line with my ideas so I feel good about them.

First off, the Targas flex the most at the front and rear of the inner longitudinals. The front area is where Porsche added reinforcement panels that are not on Coupes. They help but they are are a very thin gauge panel. My solution is that I removed the whole inner longitudes from an 85' Carrera parts car I had. I will lay these over my longitudes to strengthen them. 85' up is heavier gauge longitudes than in the years before. I lucked out on that but any year will work. The 85' up front corner reinforcement panels are different however so I'll have to go earlier for those pieces.

There are other places you can strengthen like tieing the rear torsion tube to the rear seats with some bracing. A strut brace up front. A roll bar helps a lot too but is a bit obtrusive so you may not want to go there. A cross brace over the steering rack also helps.

Anyway that's a rough overview. I'll send you some photos to better illustrate what I'm talking about. I plan a detailed thread in the future to document the chassis strengthening I'm doing so you can check that out when it's done.

P.S. I don't know what you paid for the car but those deep six Fuchs are worth atleast $2500 by themselves and the rest of the car looks really good from a rust point of view. Great find.

[cowboyrolo]

So I've had a chance to strip away some of the damage and really get into what she needs.

1) Removed fender and door
2) Removed seats, carpet, etc...
3) Removed bent strut

After quite a few measurements, it looks like the door post went over about 1 1/4" inches. Since there is a pretty solid bar under the dash, this pushed the passenger door post over about the same amount.
In addition the door post looks to be push up about 1 1/2" inches.
Measurements under the car confirm that it's slightly bent like a banana.

Replacement strut should be here Tuesday, at which point it will be moveable again. Then we'll take it down to the frame rack and see how willing she is to come back into shape!

If things look like they will line up again, I'll need to get a clip that includes both posts, the longitudinal (inner and outer).

Any suggestions on where to get the clip? I'm in the San Francisco bay area and know about Parts Heaven. Any other reputable dismantlers?

[Jays72T]

You could try EASY http://www.easypor.com

Good luck.

[cowboyrolo]

Photo update

[SCWDP911]

Sub'd. Anxious to see how she turns out. Not to be nosy, but did you pick it up at an auction somewhere? I hope she straightens out for you. Good luck!

[cowboyrolo]

Can't seem to upload photos?

v8 -

I did not pick her up at an auction.
I saw her on ebay, and contacted the seller about a week after the sale.
Transaction did not go through and I was able to pick it up.
I used to do this type of repair 20 years ago, and thought it would be a fun project. Sweet lady owned the car, and really wanted it to be saved.
I'm really hoping it works out, if not, I have a 72 roller that I will put everything in. But it dosen't look as bad as I originally thought it was.

[cowboyrolo]

I replaced the strut and took her for a drive minus the fender and door.

LOL - My neighbors think I'm nuts, shoot even my wife thinks I'm nuts.
Steering is definitely off, and the strut cartridge was definitely blown, but she went through all the gears smoothly and even stopped smoking after about 2-3 miles.

Frame guy is not sure she can be straightened, but I'm also looking for a second opinion. Does any know someone in the Monterey bay area (Santa Cruz) that specializes in porsche frame restoration?

[Bobboloo]

That car can be fixed. It isn't that bad. Shoot I can see that the door hinge pillar isn't even bent that bad. If the car had been really tweeked the windshield wouldn't have stayed in.

Did the left A-arm bend the suspension pan?

See if you can find a shop that has a Celette jig with the Porsche 911 attachment pieces.

[cool5]

You might try asking Rick at R & D Motorsports on Portola for a recomendation. By the way where in Santa Cruz are you. I'm near Highway 1 and Branciforte Av.

Matt

[Bobboloo]

Here you go Bodystyle in San Jose. They've got a Celette jig with Porsche attachments.

http://www.bodystylebycecil.com/

[Britain Smith]

You should definitely contact Scott Yeamon at Yeamon Auto Body (650) 328-8169. I have seen him pull some really crooked Porsche back into shape. He has a Celette bench and a really good body guy who does the pulls. Tell him Britain sent ya, he knows me really well.

-Britain

[lookin]

+1
yeaman

[RWebb]

"I removed the whole inner longitudes from an 85' Carrera parts car I had.
* * *
The 85' up front corner reinforcement panels..."

- can you post any pics of these parts?

- and any pics of them being welded in?

Thanks!

[Bobboloo]

Hi Randy,

Here's the passenger side inner longitudinal. I haven't welded them in yet. I'm in the middle of another project at the moment. (late to early fender conversion)


As you can see the front will need to be cut off since this came from a coupe. The targas have this same panel but since the additional corner piece was added to targas the only way I could put in this whole longitudinal would be to first cut out the targa reinforcement panel to expose the front of the longitudinal.

My solution is to cut this one off at the front where it meets the targa panel and then overlay an additional targa reinforcement panel.



I've also included a picture of the passenger targa panel I'm talking about. I've circled it in red.

I would think anyone looking to reinforce their coupe could benefit from adding these targa corner panels. The longitudes in the coupe just go forward and tie to the wheel well. Adding this piece will strengthen the corners.

[cowboyrolo]

Thank you to everyone for all your help.
I'm going to check out both suggestion.
I don't have a lot of money for this project, as I was expecting my friend and I to do the work.
At the same time, I hate to see one of these fine old cars bite the dust.