Pelican Parts Forums - Intro and my first (finally) 911!

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Intro and my first (finally) 911!

So - I have been lurking, watching, reading and viewing this board for a few years and VERY much appreciate all the contributors and inspiration offered by so many people, as well as the hosts.

Anyway, who amd I & who cares? 36yo - when 19 and while in college in Iowa City, IA, I worked at Bruch Motorwerke (VW/Audi/Porsche shop) to help pay the bills and be around the cars I loved. I was a water-cooled VW guy, but after spending some time in and around 911s, I decided that someday I had to have one.

I moved from Iowa to Colorado and spend years working at a mail-order VW firm, doing contract marketing with a supercharger company, water-methanol injection company and have recently landed at another (smaller) VW mail-order firm. Attending Vintage races, helping with others projects, always in the back of my mind wishing for a 911 to call my own.

Recently - my neighbor across the alley and I were having a typical week-night bench-racing and BS session sitting in his garage. He brought up an idea from one of his old-school hot rod buddies. The proposal was, "If you can have only ONE vehicle - what would it be??" Well, that simply goes against everything I have every done with a stupid plethora of project vehicles. I NARROW the focus of something to do *one* thing better, at the expense of everything else usually.

My neighbor pressed the issue. I instantly said "A 911." The next evening, while enjoying a Smithwicks in another buddy's Westfalia VW Camper (testing new propane furnace connections was the excuse while we bantered about SVX engine conversions in Vanagons) he asked if I had heard about his friends Porsche 911 that was going to be up for sale soon? Um, no. I start getting the details from him and I believe he noticed my jaw continue to lower while spittle started to drip from my lower lip to his camper carpet. The price was almost too good to be true, and it was only a few miles away. I called his bluff and he called his friend right then and there. I got the low down, and thanks to scribbling down notes, this is what I remember:

1973 911T
Converted to Zenith carbs from CIS
Painted red in ‘92
Momo racing buckets & steering wheel
Polished 15x6 Fuchs
Extra 15x8 Fuchs to go with:
Steel RS flares
Set of 16x6 & 7 Gotti 3pc wheels
Fiberglass bumpers in “SC” style
Aftermarket whale tail
Crane Ignition
Bilsteins

The bad was that it had been sitting for years and years, due to the front suspension mount pan rusting and collapsing (he has the replacement sheetmetal included). It was a Texas car, and then a Colorado car for many years, so chances were that it was clean, rust-wise. After setting up a date and time, I patiently waited 2 weeks while the owner traveled. When the set time came, I grabbed my camera and set out on the long 10 minute drive in my (now pedestrian) VW GTI to view the car.

As I pulled up, that slight apprehension came to me - much like the moment before meeting someone on a first date - and then went away. A handshake and a walk-around and questions started, followed by thoughtful answers, which made me feel like they were truthful and from a caring owner that had taken a real interest in owning the car, but had just reached the end of his Porsche rope, and had been taken over by other hobbies.

So, the deal was agreed upon, and my journey begins. I have appreciated so many builds and cars with certain styles and custom touches that mine will try to take the bits and pieces from those spark the most passion in me and try to build it in true hot rod fashion.
So - what are the plans for my first 911?

It’s a long-nose, so for me, that means period correct is important. Even on my less impressive projects and vehicles of the past, the theme and period being congruent is important. A late 60’s/early 70’s feel with modern improvements where prudent and appropriate - all while fitting into a relatively tight budget.

The first order of business will be to remove the items that don’t go along with my “vision” and to sell them to finance the replacements. The Momo seats and steering wheel are great items, but too new for the feel I want. I have some old Corbeau seats (mis-matched driver/copilot which is no problem to me) and a vintage Momo wheel that can replace them quickly and easily. The 80’s “Turbo” mirrors will go once I find some brushed aluminum or chrome items that fit better.

The next steps are a little larger in scope. The whale tail and bumpers and rocker covers have to go. Replacements will likely not be cheap, nor perfect, but important to the earlier look.

So, something along the lines of an RS/ST tribute is what I am thinking. Fuchs wheels - 15x7 fronts, 15x8 rears with the RS flares, either a ducktail or no rear spoiler, hopefully some tasty bits for suspension and brakes (not necessarily period correct) and then an engine based on a 3.0 or 3.2 with simple mods to increase some performance. The 2.4 will do nicely for now, and help with me re-learning trailing-throttle oversteer before it’s capable of higher speeds.

Welcome to the addiction.

Sounds nice, where are the pics???

Cool story and willkommen.
I like your ambition for what you want your 911 to be when you are done.
Good luck and make sure you post pics when you get it as well as during the transformation.

Wow, ya, unfortunate mismatch of parts....
HOWEVER, what a great starting point!
You can so easily resurrect it into a great classic 911. Ditch the tail, ditch the bumpers, ditch the seats and steering wheel, oh, and ditch the mirrors. Throw a few correct parts at it and it'll be AWESOME. Nice job.

Greg

When you decide to see the seats and steering wheel please give me a shout.

Todd
K9Torro@hotmail.com

Nice find! Keep the updates and pics coming!

I agree, definitely a great starting point. I am amused, though. It kind of looks like the PO wanted an amalgam of EVERY 911. The hood of the '60s, the engine of the '70s, the tail of the '80s, and the bumpers of the '90s. I can't wait to see you bring it back.

New suspension pan, the correct bumpers, ducktail (or flat hood), H4's and your done!

Welcome to the adventure/addiction!

welcome and nice intro! and I agree with TaleWinds - you have an excellent starting point.

with minimal effort you can correct the "upgrades" back to stock form in no time...

Typically I'd never ever ask this, but I'm too curious as to a ballpark price?
I'm betting you scored this for well under what a decent longhood would go for.
That said, with the alterations/ corrections suggested above, I'm really envious, the paint looks great, so if you can correct the ghastly mismatch of body parts you'll have an excellent classic at a steal.

Welcome to Pelican. I look forward to your progress. You should be able to whip that thing into shape pretty easily. Keep us posted.

Great find!!

I applaud your vision of restoring it back (or close) to the original look.

There's just something about the (relatively) narrow rear fenders and the long hood that make the front & rear spoilers look odd to my eye. And there's something just so "right" about the longhood chrome trim look, or the look of the classic RS with ducktail.

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing your progress.

p.s.
It might be helpful to put some inspirational pics of a fully restored '73 RS, RSR, or ST in your garage for when your encounter the inevitable and discouraging rust...

Thanks for all the positive encouragement. I know it will be a fair amount of work - but nothing out of my scope on other projects - except for the rust work. I can weld, though not the best with sheetmetal - so I will have a shop replace the front-end sheetmental needed now, and progress with the rest myself.

I got a good deal, yes. ;) He is happy because it's going to a good home, and I am happy because I am getting what is essentially a dream car to build. Let's just say I passed on a '78 SC with rebuilt motor, trans and fresh paint for $8500 (needing a few bits) because this deal was right.

I'm lucky in that there's a local Porsche shop I'm friends with and I've been into VW/Audi/BMWs for years and years modifying almost every one of them.

Congrats on the car and cool find. I agree with the others that you should be able to bring this one back without "too much" effort. Go period and she will look great. SSI's are a nice addition too. That blue goo sealant kind of concerns me though. Check for leaks in that area as I have heard that it is not a good product to use for sealing your engine. What was the original color?

Good luck and have fun. Go to www.early911sregistry.org also. Lots of longhood knowledge there as well.

Yeah, any RTV 'splooging out' on a 911 engine concerns me. It apparently ran fine for years, so my fingers are crossed I can use the 2.4 as a "driver" engine while I slowly and economically accumulate parts to build a healthy 3.0.

The muffler looks like an old Ansa - which we'll have to see how it sounds until I build a new one or mod a 2-in-2-out in an older style, etc. Megaphones would be great, but not very streetable...

So, got the car home and started giving it a good once-over. Inventoried the parts, and started a bit of little work.

The seats came out right away. They are great seats, but maybe for a 964 - not a '73 T. The brackets were obviously home-made and non-adjustable. Not bad or anything, but nothing I could use for what I want. And, as luck would have it, I bought a pair of Corbeau seats out of an early 911 to install in my VW Panel van. With brackets. =) So, I thought I would bolt in the GT8 seat I have, but it needs spacers, so a little minor fab work and they go in.

Also, there was a huge Alpine amp under the passenger seat. Don't need that so it came out. Savin' weight - almost a race car. Heh. Kidding.

While removing the stock seat belts, I noticed the PO had cut away some of the bracket so he could angle the stock seat belts. I don't like the idea of the anchor of my seat belts being significantly weakened. So I welded them up quick, ground down a bit and threw some flat black on them. So much for a quick seat-swap. BUT - I can rest assured the belts won't rip out when I need them. And got most of hte Schroth Harness in too.

This isn't even the worst one! There were others that were thinner.
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02272.jpg

Quick weld.
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02273.jpg

More age-appropriate seat installed.
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02274.jpg

On a positive note, I found the original owners manual and the service stamps up to 40k miles. Cool stuff. I think it has 'S' gauges, too, with a clock and oel level indicators, etc. Not sure though - feel free to correct me.

Little progress. Hard to do it while juggling other projects (soon to be sold to concentrate on the Porsche)

Whale tail - removed.

SC style rockers - removed.

Rear SC style bumper and center light fill - removed.

Crawled around underneath and poked - solid metal. No rust found back there yet.

Polished Fuchs removed, standard finish Fuchs installed.

Need to find decklid grill and/or ducktail, stock style bumpers, stock style sport muffler, etc. Getting there.

Looks like fun.
Subscribed..

Well done. Keep the pics coming mate.

Thanks - it's progress, and this board is a huge motivator. As everyone knows, juggling work, life, other projects, home projects, etc. can get hectic, but that's kind of what my first post in this thread alludes to: Get your one best/favorite project, get rid of the rest, and focus on it so you can enjoy it.

Anyway, a pic of the side with removed rockers:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02301.jpg

A pic of the decklid with 15yrs accumulated dirt with no where to go:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02302.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02303.jpg

And freshly cleaned - the flat black comes off with light fingernail pressure, so wetsanding should take care of it without even breaking a sweat. Though I will have to do something about those extra holes from the whale tail mounting....

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02304.jpg

The Ansa/Monza? Sport muffler (now up for sale) in surprisingly good shape, and a few extra bits that came out when I pulled the bumper off. Heh.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02305.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02306.jpg

Got a little 15x8 ebay present today to see if I like the look. Price was right. Me likee.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02307.jpg

Made good progress on the decklid wetsanding.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/DSC02311.jpg

I've had Minilites on some of my Brit cars and never really considered them for a 911, but after seeing some recent photos on this board - and especially your close ups - wow :eek: Those are going to look great on the car. And not something one sees every day.

BTW, the wet sanding looks like it is cleaning up the decklid nicely.

Thanks - The one car that really made me consider them is this one:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/swapmeet..._04/Pic402.jpg

This thread is great. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...light=Minilite

I think I will have to go 15x7 all around to start, and then step up to the 8s in the back when I have the flares installed. Or maybe by then I will be confident enough in my welding to do it. Heh. Everytime I read the story about cnielson's ST tribute car that makes me shake my head how he did it himself, 1st time welding.

Well, it took 3 years to make much progress, but at least it's progress.

It's on the trailer to get the front pans replaced by a local metal working master. Bumpers to get painted and need to fab/buy some seat brackets. Started it for the first time today - runs surprisingly well... Then it's driving time!

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...d/101_0626.jpg

Greg, looks good. Liking the minilites a lot.

I'm in Woodland Park and must see your finished creation at some point.

Maybe we can assault Pikes Peak.

Woo hoo! progress.
Isn't that what they say? if you've stalled on a project, just go out and clean something small for it. and then another, and then maybe re-attach something small, and before you know it you'll be waded back in chest deep.

Not that floor pans are small, but you've always had a different definition of what "Small" modifications mean.

It makes me miss mine.

Richard

You are totally right, Rich. Small bites - baby steps, whatever, just to keep the momentum from stopping.

I've got a 71 Bus in the garage now too, that is getting re-assembled. Too many projects, not enough time.

Oh, and something funny - I have been through around 20-30 sets of Recaros over the years, and have abou 6 sets and partial sets of mounts and sliders in the garage. I knew I had SOMETHING that would let me bolt the seats into it, right? Nope. So they are just sitting on a pile of garage sweatshirts.

Steering wheel adapters? I've got like 5 or 6 at least hanging around, all VW & Porsche, and thought for sure I would have a momo one for my Prototipo, right? Nope. I DID have a Nardi one and a funky 4 spoke wheel that works, though, for the time being.

Time to order some more parts.

Back story - so, a while back, I had oiled the cylinders with some very lightweight oil, (removed plugs, squirted in oil, cranked it over by hand several times, then installed new copper plugs). Batteries were tested good and slow charged to full weeks ago. On Sun afternoon, installed them, put the plug wires back on, and hooked up the battery charger just to help. Unplugged the ignition box (Crane) and cranked it over several times. Cranked pretty well, actually. Heard the electric fuel pump clicking, then hum a bit. Saw the oil pressure come up on the gauge. Checked the clear fuel filter in the engine bay and it had some, though not much, fuel in it. So, plugged the ignition box back in, used a spray bottle with gasoline in it and squirted a few times in each carb barrel and got in, looked around, and realized there wasn't really anything keeping me from trying, and turned the key to start. Pumped the throttle a little bit and it fired right off! But, only for a few revolutions - not surprising, really. Figured it was only running on the sprayed in fuel, and didn't know if the carbs were gunked up or what.

Why not do it again? Few more squirts this time, get in, hit the key, and it ran a bit longer, then as I expected it to die off again, sputtered some more before dieing. Hmmm. Maybe it is getting fuel... Cranked it without the gas from the spray bottle, pumping the pedal and VAROOM! It ran, had to pump it but it ran, and not too badly. A couple lean pops out the carb throats, likely a plugged idle passage or something, but it ran. And on half+ throttle, it reved well enough to raise an eyebrow. Big smile.

Look into the alley and can't see the neighbors garage all of 25 ft away... Lots of smoke. The oiled down cylinders are to blame, so it will take some time at temp to really burn off. I didn't run it very long because I wanted to check for leaks - lots of gas leaking from the carb accel pumps on the zeniths, and a little from the fuel inlet fittings - tightened those a smidge, and put a rag under the leakier carb, and was able to back it out, shut it down, pull up to the trailer and shut it down, check ramp alignment, and start it up and pull on. Easy.

Today, at Bulli Klinik's shop, to unload it, it started up on like the first revolution - Mike even commented on it, and I was a little pleasantly surprised. It seemed to rev and idle better, though not perfectly, and it didn't seem to leak much gas at all - maybe even none. I assume the dried out carb gaskets swelled back up a bit and maybe sealed better? Will still disassemble and replace them after I get it back from his place and make it road worthy. BUT - it's not fighting me yet. =)

Oh, and that flat six song I haven't heard in way too long - Sweet, sweet music. Helps to get the juices flowing on a project again.

Well, since my old photos have been lost, I decided to reload and post them again, so we have a starting point.

When I was picking it up for the 1st time:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...ps6b2664f2.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...ps4fcbdc2d.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...ps8cbbe0d9.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...pscd2ec038.jpg

As soon as I got it home, stripped the offending extra pieces off - bumpers, skirts, whale tail, Momo seats and wheel. Started cleaning off that decklid by wetsanding (still needs some work).

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...ps29a47941.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...ps8783aa31.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...psa5bad114.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...psb8c90d07.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...ps6e733e48.jpg

Well, Mike at the Bulli Klinik Bulli Klinik let me know he was making a little progress after finishing up a slpit window VW Westfalia nose and floor replacement.

Anyway, the PO let me know the reason he parked the car was because of the front suspension pan needing replacement. Seeing these photos makes me wonder if he was teh one that covered it up, or if it was an owner prior to him? Either way, scary. I don't think there is a thing called structural cardboard...

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...regs911012.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...regs911013.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...regs911014.jpg

So glad I have Mike replacing the front suspension pan for me.

That cardboard looks pristine! I can't believe the car rusted around it! :)

Ha.

Some updates - and progress! Yes - thanks Mike! Even with a bum finger because the 911 bit him (6 stitches).

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...ead/911009.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...ead/911010.jpg

Wow, that front pan fitted like a glove. Which brand is that? Doesnt look like he had to "massage" it too much either....

Regards,

Johan

1. Mike is good. Really good.

2. Ordered all the metal from Pelican!

Pan is welded in! And he reinforced the so-so looking spot welds on the front control arm mounts. Getting closer...

Thanks Mike!

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h4...rhead/9020.jpg