Intro and my first (finally) 911!

[gearheadgreg]

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.

[Por_sha911]

Welcome to the addiction.

[Talewinds]

Sounds nice, where are the pics???

[Oh Haha]

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.

[gearheadgreg]

How she looks right now.












The offending rust damage - hiding more I am sure.



Clean pans - checked from the inside.

[Talewinds]

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.

[K9Torro]

Greg

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

Todd
K9Torro@hotmail.com

[WoodSport]

Nice find! Keep the updates and pics coming!

[Poor-sche Lover]

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.

[GaryR]

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

Welcome to the adventure/addiction!

[Kemo]

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...

[Talewinds]

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.

[Scooter]

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

[dw1]

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...

[gearheadgreg]

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.

[t6dpilot]

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.

[gearheadgreg]

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...

[gearheadgreg]

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.


Quick weld.


More age-appropriate seat installed.




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.

[gearheadgreg]

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.

[billybek]

Looks like fun.
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