Longhood "GT"

[pozee]

“GT” = Getting There

Original mission: Acquire an all-original black on black ’69-’73 911 in good to excellent condition.

Outcome: Unable to accomplish mission.

Modified mission: Find an unmolested rust free car and restore.

Outcome: Found an all-original 85k mi car with the PO’s recent attempt at body restoration. Originally Leaf Green, the PO had bodywork and repaint done. Wanted a dark blue, unhappy with the first shade, repainted dark blue – using lacquer.

The car was originally bought in the SF Bay area. Spent some time in Chicago and then in FLA.

Accomplished so far: Got it to run right. Stripped the car. Stripped the paint (all 7 freakin’ applications! – The original factory base, the factory primer, the factory color, the reapplied primer, the first recoat, the second recoat and the clear!) Replaced outer rockers and jack receptacles, replaced various rusted out areas on deck lid and front fenders (found these areas to be chock full of filler.) Prepped the bare metal and applied epoxy primer. Applied 2k primer.

Overall I was extremely pleased with what I found under all that paint. Solid longitudinals, solid tub, solid battery boxes, solid rear shelf, trunk, pan, doors etc.

This has been a tough undertaking to say the least! In my opinion, the 911 is a bear to restore! Previous American iron restoration experience is good to have – but get ready for the ride of your life!

Wayne, his book, his BBS and his business have been instrumental in making this undertaking palatable.

Guys like Grady Clay, Milt, Darryl D, Early S Man, Sherwood Lee, Tim Hancock and many more have been unbelievably unselfish with their advise and postings. Thanks!!

I could have done it without you – BUT, it would have been REAL HE*L. It’s just plain he*l now. Thanks again for making it easier and more fun! This board sure provides moral support and great tech. assistance!

Some food for thought:

1 – If you plan on decent results, have a plan and a budget. Then double the budget.
2 – Allocate time for the project – Then double it. If you have a job and kids, triple it!
3 – If you decide to strip the paint off yourself, do a small area first to get an idea what you’re getting into. These cars have TONS of nooks and crannies. In retrospect, I would NOT have stripped lacquer as a DYI project. Especially several layers of it. Stripper activates this crap and it acts like wet paint all over. If you wait for it to dry, it sticks again. What a mess! Had I known what I know now, I would have opted for a media blasting solution.
4 – Welding that thin Porsche metal is no easy task!
5 – A two-car garage is the LEAST amount of space you need to get this accomplished. You will need a basement or shed to store all the stuff you took off the car!
6 – Keep track of all the parts you buy as you progress. I’ve inadvertently duplicated purchases!
7 – Your body is not the same as it was when you restored that “other” car 5 years ago. My arms are about to fall off due to all the sanding etc..
8 – The factory base (epoxy or whatever) is VERY difficult to remove. That stuff is on there!
9 – Last but not least, after market (OEM) outer rockers DO NOT fit without major work!

What’s to come:

1 – Lots of block sanding.
2 – More block sanding.
3 – Tensioner upgrade.
4 – Front bushings etc. (Oh boy!)
5 – Paint.
6 – Carpet, headliner and other interior stuff.
7 – Reattachment of all the bits and pieces.
8 – Satisfaction – Hopefully.

My goal is to put a decent, all original (as much as possible) driver on the road. As reference, if DarrylD’s 912 project will end up being a 10 (which I know it will be), I think I can do a 7 or 8. I’ll be very happy with that! Hope to be almost done sometime next fall.

Here are a few before and during pix…..

[DW SD]

GREAT WORK! Impressive. We all learn some things the hard way. The harder the lesson, the deeper it sinks.

Keep pushing, you'll be there before you know it.

Doug

[BlueSideUp]

It's awesome to see someone undertake this themselves.....despite what my signature says.

[pwd72s]

I gota confess, you "hand skills" guys never cease to amaze me...I did it the easy way. Bought a low mileage car early on, then just kept it clean...for 33 years. Soon, we hope, you'll be seeing pics of it in it's new home.

Turns out somebody listed the car's weight at 4,ooo Kg's...ALL documentation had to be shipped back to the USA for recertification. Taking over 6 weeks now to clear a very fussy Turkish customs...

Pozee? A tip of my hat to you! I wouldn't have the patience or skills required to do what you're doing. I hope most of it is fun for you...and I wish you total success at the end!

[Zeke]

I love to see projects coming along. If you get in a bind, you know where to ask.

And, I think your list is spot on, but the rockers aren't that bad, are they?

[Scott at Pelican Parts]

Excellent work!!
Are you going to paint it Leaf Green?

[mjshira]

good job!

[Type911]

Hope you re-paint it Leaf Green

[jpnovak]

Great Work! I too can appreciate the list of project thoughts. I completely agree with all of them. You might want to revise your list to add some extra "more sanding". It seems never ending. I guess I will end up in the "I'm satisfied" section at some point.

Leaf Green would like quite nice.

[pozee]

Thanks for the support, All!

Milt - Yes! They were depressingly bad! For some reason, the driver side was worse than the passenger side. The threshold areas were way off!

Scott & Type911 - I wish you had not brought that up! I have been wrestling with that for months! After all the hard work I really was contemplating a "concours" resto. Thank God I was diciplined enough to recover from those insane thoughts! Had I continued on that path I would definitely have painted it the original color. Trust me, it was hard not to once I took off the previous PO's paint and saw the shiny leaf green on the rear of the driver's door as it was when it left the factory. To make sure I don't go there again, after having the gas tank resealed, I painted it a non-Wurth grey (close but not quite.) Although the leaf green looks awesome in the picture above, I'm going to stick with the original plan of a black early 911. Still a tough decision!

[t6dpilot]

No black, nnnnooooooooo! Leaf Green

Project looks great - good luck finishing it. Regarding the paint removal, I would probably opt for media blast as well. I can tell you from experience that those little sand bits will come out for years, yes, years, to come. I vacuum that stuff up all the time. But still better than stripping by hand IMO. Good luck finishing her and any color you pick will look great on the car - it is a longhood after all. I am just partial to the jelly bean colors.

[Zeke]

Sorry to hear the trouble with the rockers. Seems like they are "expanded" a bit, but I don't mind that. I line up the threshold first, then the bottom door gap with the door on by jacking up at the bottom of the curve. It takes a couple of trys to get it right. That's why we have clekos and sheet metal screws.

I, too, vote against black unless you're gonna have a perfect surface to paint on and love to dust off your car. Mine is dirty in minutes after cleaning. However, a perfect black car is hard to beat. They just don't stay perfect very long.

As for stripping vs. media blasting, if the areas to be stripped are only the top side of the sheet metal, then I prefer stripper. If the trunks, etc. have to be done, blasting is the way. One restorer that I have gotten some tips from does as much hand stripping as possible and then "touches up" with some medium (not sure what he likes). Still, just a little blasting and the stuff goes deep into the nooks and crannies (read sub frames) and seems to always be there. Soda will dissolve and wash out, but do you want to do that is the question.

[Jgordon]

I dunno man - I have a black 911 and I think she's great, but a pain in the ass to maintain. Plus there are a lot of black 911s running around. If you have an opportunity, and a reason that good to go with a color that beautiful and unique, I think you'd regret not using it...

Either way nice work.

[RSBob]

The color of this man's car really needs to be put to a vote for the benefit of the greater Pelican community. Long Live Leaf Green!

[RWebb]

blue

or a dark metallic gray if he wants to get close to black w/less hassle

[pozee]

Well, I'm about a year or so behind on my project due to "toomanyprojectsitis".....

Went with a mid 90's Porsche black. Pleased with the color. Had several areas on the doors I was unhappy with so will have to re-do them when the weather allows next spring - pushing the project back even more. Oh well.....have decided not to get frustrated and just enjoy the process

[SCWDP911]

Nice progress. Looks like it will be a nice car when done. I wonder if paying a little homage to your car's history might work for you - some leaf green deck stripes of some sort.

[pozee]

Shane - this is really uncanny. I was thinking EXACTLY that just last night! I was thinking about either striping the hood and decklid leaf green or repainting both leaf green to pay "homage" to the original factory color. I think it may be a nice contrast. We'll have to see.

Thanks.

Zee

[SCWDP911]

Sounds cool to me anyway. In fact, I might even paint a set of Fuchs all leaf green and maybe just polished caps. Cool car!

[janz]

Black is the fastest color.