Another IROC build - Aussie RHD 3.8

[wachuko]

Can you post, pm or email details on the gas cap setup? I need to do the same for mine and not having to modify the tank to do that would be a great time saver...

Initially I was going to do a center fill until I looked at all the work involved... need an alternative and yours looks very nice.

Thank you!!

Originally Posted by EarlySport

Just a couple of updates. Work has been slow as I've had lots of family and social commitments and the weather has been bloody awful in Sydney. I finished off the fuel tank resto and have refitted it in place. I've cleaned up the wiring loom to where it is now something like it was from the factory - it was a real mess prior. Thankfully after doing this the car still runs too :-)



I also managed to pick up a fibreglass hood at the right price, so I've prepped it and routered out the hole for my 'rear side' through bonnet fuel filler. I posted another thread about this and got numerous opinions. In the end I think this will be a very convenient place for filling her up, and it leaves me with close to stock trunk space, and I think it'll look cool :-)



Here's the billet filler cap mocked up in place.


And a quick 'Jack O' self portrait to show the positioning of the filler hole ( I was holding the fender in place for the shot! )

[EarlySport]

Hey Wachuko - I'll post some detail of the internals of my trunk fill when I put it together. I need to get to a muffler shop to pick up some pipe bends.

Anyway, the weather here has still been awful ( rain and humidity ) so final paint has been a no go. I'm painting in a makeshift booth, so I need conditions to be right. In the meantime I've finished making mounting brackets for the front bumper. These were folded up to form a box section and then car-glassed in place, and then fibreglassed. They are actually made from aluminium chequerplate. They mount to the two bolts in the standard bumper mount.



So the fibreglass hood, bumper, guards, and rear bumper are now mounted and ready for paint. The rear bumper was a PIA - it has had the be stretched about an inch and a half each side, and an extension glassed onto the fender edge to fit well. The rest of the fibreglass has been a reasonably good fit.





I'm also trialling a different muffler setup. It's s stainless steel dual pass straight through muffler. Basically the exhaust goes through the lower pass and then a pipe carries it back the other side for a second pass through the upper section. The twin passes should mean the car won't be too loud - we'll see. The muffler is going in place of the cat converter and mating to the standard 3.6 H/E's. I had to cut some of the original bumper mount steel away to fit it in nicely. The primary benefit IMO is weight. I'm replacing approx. 50lbs of rear muffler and cat converter with a single 10lb muffler, and saving the weight from the very rear of the car.





Not sure where I'll run the outlet yet - I'm kinda toying with a single or twin centre outlet GT3 style.

If I'm lucky the weather will be ideal this weekend and the car will receive final paint and assembly can begin.

[JV911SYDNEY]

lookin good craig!

muffler setup is interesting

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by EarlySport

Hey Wachuko - I'll post some detail of the internals of my trunk fill when I put it together. I need to get to a muffler shop to pick up some pipe bends...

Excellent!! Thank you!

[911teo]

Craig, dude... awesome work! I am in awe! It looks wonderful!

[EarlySport]

Well, a quick update.

We had some nice weather :-) 85 degrees F and very dry, with hot sun for baking. So, I've finished laying down the colour.

I'm not super happy with the job, and at some point I'll definitely need to colour sand and buff to get rid of the orange peel. For the time being though it's pretty shiny :-)







I'm now in the process of screwing it back together for transport back to my own garage. I still haven't painted the IROC wing, but I'm less and less inclined to put it on the car, and leaning toward a much lighter ducktail. I'll probably paint both.

When it hits my garage this week, I have the following immediate priorities.
- finish exhaust
- Mount new fuel filler
- POR 15 the interior.
- Rubber proof coat the underside and wheel wells.
- pull off all the suspension for refurb. and drop the engine.
- fit new rear wheel bearings.
- Clean up injection loom on engine.
- Paint engine bay
- refit engine
- refit suspension with 22/28 torsions, Koni front/Bilstein sport rears, sways, turbo tie rods.
- bolt on the 8/10 Fuchs with Kumho Victoracers.
- investigate/fabricate raised shift tower
- fit new shift bushings
- trim dash, door tops, knee pads in suede
- Mount Recaro Pole positions
- Fit Appbiz RS door panels and carpet set.
- Fit Prototipo or Mod 07 with quick release.
- fabricate flush rear quarter windows, refit all other windows ( rear plexi ).

I'll then drive it for a while, prior to pulling the motor again for the fitment of cams, 3.8 P/C's, and probably ITB's ( I have them already ). I have to do a top end rebuild on my other car ( 73 RS rep ) before I get into the 3.6.

So it's all good. Hopefully in about a month I'll be on the road... :-)

[EarlySport]

Originally Posted by 911teo

Craig, dude... awesome work! I am in awe! It looks wonderful!

Thanks Matteo Understand that me following your build-up was the total inspiration for my project. I simply wouldn't be building an IROC replica if it wasn't for your car. Of course my version is nothing on the level of quality, components, or outright brilliance of your car, but it should be fun to drive nonetheless

[EarlySport]

Hey Wachuko and others,

I finished up the fuel filler so I've got some pics for you. It's a simple fabrication from 2" mandrel bent mild steel pipe. Depending on the actual filler you use the mounting plate at the top may vary. Key is to have adjustment slots so you can tweak for a perfect fit through the hood hole. The motorcycle filler I am using has a thick rubber seal that fits nice against the top edge of the 2" pipe, and allows about 3 mm movement in any direction. It also has some 'squish', so I can use the four mounting bolts through the plate to tweak the angle a little for a perfect fit. The mounting bracket has a washer under each screw to give me some height adjustment too.

The neck;




And here it is in place. ( and yeah, the red hood hinge is yet to be painted :-) )






I've also finished up the exhaust, bar a tip. I want to run a dual 2.5" tip, but I'm not sure I'm going to have the depth for a Y adaptor. I'm yet to try. I can report the exhaust is surprisingly quiet - maybe too much so! Obviously the twin pass straight through muffler works...



The car's bodywork is now assembled, and soon it will move to my garage for the interior etc. When I have it outside I'll take a few pics. I'll hopefully fit the correct wheels too. I warn you it'll look high! With all the weight that's been removed it's riding more than an inch higher on it's suspension than when I started the project!

[wachuko]

Thank you! I got some bent pipe from a friend that has a muffler shop. Will give it a try.

[EarlySport]

Hey all,

I haven't posted for a little while as I've been held up with work and social commitments and haven't progressed a long way in the last week. I have now got the body assembled, short of fitting any glass and some tweaking of door gaps etc. I also had to spend a number of hours sorting out electrical bugs and getting everything working correctly. Suffice to say it's now sorted, barring power window wiring which I need to complete.

I drove the car out of the workspace it's called home for the last two months and into the street to snap a couple of pics on the weekend. It is about to move into my own garage which should mean work on interior and mechanicals progresses rapidly.

I really need to colour sand and buff the paint yet for a really good finish. I haven't even de-nibbed it yet, and there is plenty of peel! Shiny though :-)

Also note it's still on it's 'roller' wheels, rather than the actual 8 and 10" RSR fuchs. I haven't had the Kumho 225 and 265 tyres fitted - maybe this weekend.

You can all see what I mean about the height - I haven't touched the suspension since shot one. Suffice to say ( even though glass and interior has yet to go back in ) I have lightened the car considerably! I think it's sitting almost 2" higher on it's suspension. Gotta love fibreglass body panels :-)








Obviously there is no tail on it yet. I still haven't painted my IROC tail yet, and I'm actually really set on a ducktail, especially for street. Much, much lighter than the IROC tail, and I think it's a cool look. I'll probably paint both.

[saintz]

lookin really good.

Keep up the great work.

[Carsten]

Yea,
I am fitting a ducktail to my car as well and to satisfy the purists you are aware that the IROC actually were delivered to the US all wearing Ducktails... so thats my excuse LOL.

Besides 11" rear rims with flared arches and a duktail looks damn good. (and weighs ALOT less than the whaletail.)

[Kemo]

Subscribed!

[Targa4now]

Cool... subscribed!

[EarlySport]

This is a mod that I've wanted to do for a while - raising the shift tower for better ergonomics.

Let me explain my reasoning...

Here are two pics of my 968CS daily driver and sometime track fun machine..




This car has superb ergonomics - the shifter just falls to hand, and has a lovely short throw. Note the sideways shot showing the shifter position relative to the steering wheel. It's almost in line with it, and higher than the lowest point of the wheel. Now here's the same shot of a 911..



The standard 911 915 shifter is approximately 2.5" further forward and 3" lower than the 968. This was measured in neutral too - put both cars in first ( say fifth for you LHD'ers ) and the difference becomes even greater. I'm 5'11", and I find it a stretch for first when I'm strapped into my harness, unless I want the wheel right in my lap. I intend to run a quick release on this car too, so the wheel will already be closer to me. My solution? A fabricated 'tunnel extension' to raise the shifter back 4" and up 4". Then I think I can run a short shift kit or even just shorten the factory shift lever and still have an almost ideal shift location.

First step was to slice open the factory tunnel to allow the shift rod to come up at an angle.



Then begin to fabricate the raised portion of the tunnel - this will mount the shift housing and also the handbrake mechanism. I decided to run it the full length of the car - with a lowered section up front on the right to provide room for a dead pedal.



Here is the final part ready for installation into the car. Fabrication is all from 20mm square thin wall tube. I could have made it from smaller diameter material for less weight, but this was all I had available. It ended up at just over 7lbs total.



Here it is welded into the car. A word of warning - standard cars have their plastic fuel lines running in the upper left cavity of the tunnel - so be super careful if you weld in that area. My car will be running braided fuel lines ( to fix up some horrible PO work in the engine bay when the 3.6 was fitted ), so no problems for me. I guess this piece could also be bolted in, but I can't see any need to have it removable at this point.



After careful measuring, I shortened the shift rod 3.5". I did this by fabricating a very neat fitting inner sleeve ( had to hammer it together ), getting the shift rod in place and positioned, and then just three little tack welds to stop it moving.



First test drive and I love it, and this is still with the unwieldy standard gear lever. The shifter falls straight to hand. I have a factory short shift kit that will now go into the car, and I think it will then be perfect ( perfect location that it is - it's still a 915! )

I still need to fabricate a new handbrake linkage ( I have a plan...), and I will cover the new tunnel in something lightweight ( probably a removable fibreglass cover ) before trimming. I also plan to incorporate a change tray under the handbrake, and maybe even a cup holder in front of the shift housing.. :-)

[rennch]

That is *awesome*, and I can't wait to see the finished product. I have never seen this mod before, so I'm really impressed. Top notch work.

[Walko]

Interesting.

Will slicing open the centre tunnel cause any loss of structural interigity ?

Michael

[EarlySport]

Originally Posted by Walko

Interesting.

Will slicing open the centre tunnel cause any loss of structural interigity ?

Michael

Good question. I don't think so. I am confident that by welding in the new structure I have retained, if not added to the structural stiffness. I also didn't cut out the double skinned folded edge that the fuel lines normally run through, to retain longitidunal stiffness. Also note that I positioned the upright supports for the tunnel addition right by the seat mounts, to ensure maximum strength in this area. I could also add some diagonals to further reinforce my new tunnel if necessary.

[Sean_irl]

Brilliant work....thanks for posting.

BTW, you're so lucky to be living in Melbourne.....ooops you're in Sydney

(subscribed)

[EarlySport]

Hi All,

Just a short update. The front suspension and brakes are now removed from the car to clean up the tub underside and rebuild the front end components. The car already has AP 4 piston calipers on Carrera rotors. It will also get 22mm torsions, adjustable sport Koni's, poly bushes, turbo tie-rods, and a bump steer kit.

I'm also working on the interior. I pick up my suede for the dash today. In the meantime I have fabricated the cover panel for my new tunnel.

You car audio guys will have seen this before... :-) Basically I stretch an old T-Shirt over the new tunnel to create a former, and then fibreglass over the top to build a finished part.

First the T-Shirt. I used hot glue to hold it in place and taut.


Then the fibreglass. A single layer of 60oz mat is used, doubled up in key places. I want it light, and really it's just there to support the carpet covering ( and house the coin tray and cupholder! )


With this completed, I then POR-15'ed the entire floor pan for future rust prevention, and because it looks clean. I chose the grey color. You'll also note all the factory sound deadening tar mat has been removed.


I'll have some pics of rebuilt front suspension after the weekend. I was going to fabricate extended control arms for this car, but I think I'm going to save that project for another time. By the time I consider the re-cambering of the struts, extended tie-rods, and control arm fabrication it will be a lot of work. I'll make it a stage two project.. :-)