Here we go again! Zuffenhaus MS RSR project...

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Keith, on the welded in receiver nuts. Do you use those over Rivnuts because of authenticity or because they are better than Rivnuts?

[eimkeith]

Just for authenticity - when you don't have to worry about ruining the paint, the welded in tab nuts like this are what I like.

On the other hand, Riv-nuts are great, we use them frequently!

[Tom '74 911]

Hi Keith,

Just wanted to say thank you for documenting and sharing so many of the details of your process on this project. It's super interesting to read through & I appreciate the photos as well. It seems silly to say, but I appreciate the quality of work you're doing. To see how it's done when taken to "11" is interesting and impressive. I especially appreciate the attention to detail in all the measuring, aligning, squaring everything up, etc... I can relate to that and appreciate how much time and energy it takes!

I wish I were closer to NC... actually, on second thought, it's probably better I'm not!

I look forward to checking the thread every few days for updates.

Tom

[eimkeith]

Well, thank you!

And I should clarify about the welded nuts - I have no idea if they are used in the Mary Stuart or any other '73 RSR beneath the fuel pump mounts, as I haven't had the opportunity to get personal with one yet. The weld nuts were used on the S oil cooler mounts (M8 variety) so they are authentic to the era - not necessarily to the car in question.

I'd prefer not to crawl under the dash to tighten a nut, though - so in they go!

[eimkeith]

I put in a day on the battery boxes, was hoping to resolve them both, but was not able to complete the grinding of the welds on the driver's side block off plate, nor complete the rust repair and fastener installation on the removable inner trunk wall.

That being said, I think I got a lot done.

I started by trimming in and welding the block off/trunk wall on the driver's side:





Then I moved to the passenger side, which was untouched before this point. I started by cutting out contours that were incorrect for the early trunk wall, as well as random holes that are incorrect for the early harness:



I trimmed in my donor piece (which was a partial cut; too short) and had to fabricate the bottom flanges of the battery box opening.







Then welded it all in, cleaned it up and made a block off plate for it.







(The inside needs a little attention still. )



keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Here's where we are at closing time, Friday night



Hope everyone has a pleasant Memorial Day weekend!


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[Tim K]

Hi Keith,

Thank you for taking the time to upload the images and provide explanations of all the detailed work you are undertaking. I've been following with great interest!

A couple of questions.
1. Is the 'removable wall' referring to the early sheet metal around the driver's battery box? Is this to avoid the can of worms resulting from backdating the LH tank support and late battery tray?

2. What primer are you using to protect the completed metal work?

Tim K

Originally Posted by eimkeith

...

As I mentioned, I was able to make headway on the driver's side battery box and fuse panel arrangement also.

The historic car had battery box deletions, so we're recreating those while visually backdating the trunk wall.

Here is the trunk wall and battery box roughed in, before trimming off the back of the box



...

Originally Posted by eimkeith

I put in a day on the battery boxes, was hoping to resolve them both, but was not able to complete the grinding of the welds on the driver's side block off plate, nor complete the rust repair and fastener installation on the removable inner trunk wall.

...





keith.

[eimkeith]

Originally Posted by Tim K

Hi Keith,

Thank you for taking the time to upload the images and provide explanations of all the detailed work you are undertaking. I've been following with great interest!

A couple of questions.
1. Is the 'removable wall' referring to the early sheet metal around the driver's battery box? Is this to avoid the can of worms resulting from backdating the LH tank support and late battery tray?

2. What primer are you using to protect the completed metal work?

Tim K

Thanks Tim!

Regarding the trunk wall; yes, it is the early fuse panel wall around the battery box. We chose to go this route since aside from the trunk latch panel change, no structural work was intended at this point in the project (the frame bench decided otherwise, as it revealed a twist in the front of the car) and we thought the removable fuse box wall was an out of the box solution to visually backdating the trunk that did not require invasive work to a sound and solid chassis. It certainly could have been done the other way (complete replacement of side, floor, and front of trunk compartment) using the frame bench, and had their been impact damage or misalignment of the front pickup points in any other direction other than being rotated along the car's central axis, then it would have been prudent to do so in this case as well.

Alternatively, had I had more donor material (the donor car was compromised in those areas) I likely could have grafted the side of the trunk into the G chassis floor also. This would have required successfully separating all of the donor panels before installing into this tub, so that they could be cut/trimmed in individually.

At the end of the day, though, this is still a backdate project - there will be tell tale signs of it's actual vintage all over the place for the experienced eye, to the point that short of starting with an actual 1973 tub, one has to realistically gauge how much of the date-correction work is needed to accomplish the project goals.

The final build objective was to create a car that could pass as the historic Mary Stuart from the 'parking lot' vantage point, and build it in the 'spirit' of the original. This is being done through careful component selection and evaluation of which parts of the G Chassis need amendment according to their impact on visual authenticity - we're hoping the false wall accomplishes both (and elicits a smile from those who notice it.)

Modifying the other trunk wall is straightforward enough to not justify more invasive work.

Regarding the primer; I'm covering everything that is bare metal with a self-etching zinc weld-through primer (the stuff used between sandwiched panels) so that it doesn't flash before it gets to the paint shop. (My Winzer guy says it's green to blend with the e-coat on the Japanese cars.) In addition, the purple-black stuff is rust converter - I spray this stuff anywhere I can find an access hole to areas that can't be reached, as well as on bare steel panels that have to be left overnight for additional work.

If anyone has better/more appropriate product suggestions, I'd love to hear them; we're not a paint & body shop and may not always have current product knowledge.

[eimkeith]

Back at it.






keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Ok, so that's going to work (need to do some metal work on the panel and then it's done):







I'll finish up the bolt in panel in the morning and move on to the brake reservoirs mounting.


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[Tim K]

Thanks for your reply, Keith.
As for the primer, I'm always trying to learn what others are doing in an effort to improve my own processes. I've used a similar product - Spies Hecker Priomat Primer 3255- on the 'in-process' areas:

http://m.products.axaltacs.com/mcat/us/en/sh/product/3255.html;jsessionid=61DF00732758103AE584792D4BADA D6F.tomcat2?mobile=true


Tim K

[eimkeith]

So I mounted the RSR brake fluid reservoirs this morning.

I've been contemplating how I was going to approach this for the past week or so; it is important to remain visually true to the historic example, but parts availability throws a wrench in it.

Here's the Mary Stuart trunk again, for reference:



You'll notice that the reservoir bottles are big & little, arranged small in front. The large bottle is mounted askew, due to the contour of the wall behind it. So far, so good, no issues, right?

Turns out there were 2-3 variations of the large bottle, as discussed here:

http://www.early911sregistry.org/forums/showthread.php?49295-RSR-Brake-fluid-reservoirs&p=810444#post810444

The available reproductions are copies of the taller bottle with the straight barb fitting used on the 74+ RSRs, from what I can determine.

Those were mounted on a bracket because of the inner wall contour interference and overall bottle height, from what I can gather (the earlier 2.8 RSR bottle was shorter and had an angled nipple, it would seem.)

This is an example of the 3.0 RSR mounting bracket (photo graciously sent to me by my partner)



There are a couple of additional variations shown in the linked thread as well.

So that's all well and good and understandable, but it doesn't look like our reference picture.

So after some mock ups, I decided to forego the bracket and mount directly to the trunk wall, using a combination of reversed weld nut as stand off and creative tweaking of the reservoirs' mount straps:





The rear bottle doesn't have the correct skew as the original, but I think it feels more like the Mary Stuart than a later bracket solution would. (You decide)



Routing the fluid hose is going to be interesting due to the overall height of that bottle, but that's secondary to the visual advantage of this mounting solution in my opinion.

And with that, I'm wrapping it up today; going to put a couple of laps around the shop on the motorcycle then bike home and take the day off.




keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

I had to travel on Tuesday and Wednesday to pick up a piece of equipment (we needed to retire our panelspotter) so I'm just back at it this morning, making brake duct holes in the side walls of the trunk compartment:





We had to order a dedicated cut & flange tool for these huge holes!

Should look great with the hoses in them.


keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[eimkeith]

Also welded in the pedal box floor area for the RSR dual master cylinder setup. (I cut this in a few weeks ago.)

During prep:



The floor section:



And in place.





keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[jpnovak]

Keith, You are really making great progress on this chassis. Love all the mods and appreciate all the effort.

[eimkeith]

Thank you sir!

[eimkeith]

Just wrapping up the dead pedal installation:








keith.

(sent from my rotary dial phone.)

[DaddyGlenn]

Keith,

I've been following this thread for a long time. Nice to see progress being made again.

If I ever get mine back on the road, I'll have to do a shake down road trip, perhaps come visit your shop.

I love the attention to detail and the quality of workmanship. When I look at the product of my efforts in comparison, I have to remind myself that I am an amateur without the right tools or I'd end it all.

Thanks for sharing this journey with us.

[eimkeith]

Hey, thanks; and I wish i'd gotten this sooner, I was in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, would've loved to have seen your project!

[DaddyGlenn]

Originally Posted by eimkeith

Hey, thanks; and I wish i'd gotten this sooner, I was in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, would've loved to have seen your project!

Next time you're headed this way, give me a shout.