Project 911 “x” with introduction

[BReyes]

Kevin,

Great project. Good to know persons want to build instead of adding to their list of cars bought and sold (I mean traded in because their car is useless in two years). Your creativity and wrenching ability can make for a satisfying project, and sharing with us makes it cool for others to see. In the end it is your ideas and effort that will provide you most. That is a fine way to save a Porsche, and another example of an enthusiast putting their dream on the road.

I saw this (first) saved this pic of bumper/ valence and then saw your project. Your ideas of tucking the bumper go well with a tucked valence and are a source for aero benefits.

Good luck and continue to take the time to do the work.

[ghost1001]

Very cool....look at the hood in the first pic you posted....that logo is DP motorsport. They are actaully the crew that created the inspiration car at the begining of my post....crazy!

here is the dp logo in the trunk

[ghost1001]

as promised:

The PO painted the trim black; they did such a good job scuffing up the finish prior to paint that restoring the factory finish was not an option. After I priced out new trim I realized the only option, given my budget, was to restore what we had. After a few attempts we settled on the following process:

Strip down to bare metal using a “fine” steel wire wheel on the bench grinder, this leaves a rough surface. Probably could use a chemical strip but then you would still be left with the anodizing on parts as well as the interior surfaces. I tried easy off to remove the anodizing and that just made a big mess.

Sand using 400 grit with a palm sander to level the surface and remove any pitting

Sand using 220 grit with a sanding block in one direction, although we step back
down here in grit hand sanding is not as aggressive as the palm sander (if you want a “brushed” look stop here)

Wet sand using 220 grit sanding sponge

Wet sand using 320 grit sanding sponge

The sanding sponges are not as aggressive as paper but they follow the profiles of the trim well and you can get a very even finish. If you were using paper you would probably go 400 wet and then to 600 wet.

It is a lot of work but looks really good. The finish looks very even and is comparable to very good factory trim. It is what I would call matte aluminum, not bright by any means....but brighter than black.

Pics with and without flash, left to right, painted, wire wheeled, 220 hand block, final after 220 and 320 sponge wet…..I only have like 8 more hours of sanding to go yea!!!

[jsveb]

subscribed.

[ghost1001]

OK, news first, I think I will leave the exterior of the car GP white which is the original and current color. My original plan was to have a white car with a black interior, so when I found this one I was really happy. Then of course, my mind started to wander and I thought, it would be really cool to strip the entire car and change the color to grey. I had a discussion with one of the shops that I thought I might use for the paint job this morning. The guy has like 30 years of experience painting cars and he basically talked me out of stripping it all the way down and repainting in a non-original color. His argument was basically that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. He was also concerned that a color change might affect the value. I had also underestimated the cost (as usual) for a bare metal repaint….he said 7-8k for a good jod and 4-5k for a not so good job. So the car will stay white.

I will need to address the paint in some manner, but will make it a repair and restoration instead of strip and repaint.

I think I will also delete the pass side wiper. I noticed that most of the new race cars use only one….not sure if I will realize any weight savings but it will look pretty trick and simplify the wiper assembly a good deal. I will weld the other hole closed so it looks "factory".

Now to the work….I began to strip down the interior in preparation for the new finish which I will apply myself. POR (as in POR-15) offers a very interesting product I may try it is called “hard nose”. It is a 2 part finish that they claim is just about indestructible and it comes in nice colors.

I covered the car with 4mil plastic, dressed in hooded coveralls, strapped on a respirator and went to town with the angle grinder using 2 steel coarse brushes. The section took me about 1.5 hours…and it makes a huge mess….but I am very pleased with the results. I estimate about 10-12 hours to strip down the entire inside to metal.

BEFORE

AFTER

MESS

TOOLS

HIGH TECH DEBRIS CONTAINMENT SYSTEM

[jsveb]

Hi
nice work.
My car is roughly in the same state.
Looking forward to follow as you progress.
Enjoy the holidays.

Jesper

[Jgordon]

Looks great. Not enough east coast guys doing this - seems like the west side has all the fun.

On another note, the biggest argument I have heard for leaving the color stock is that it doesn't match the interior (hard to get paint to the door sills and other hard-to-reach spots). It seems like you're doing a lot of stripping in the interior already, and that you could fairly easily strip most of the areas which usually provide difficulty.

Another point would be that you're doing such a thorough job on this car, that it would be a shame to come up short of your dream. Might as well go all the way and paint it the color you want. I'd bet that the work you have done and would be able to do would bring down the price of that paint job a lot.

At any rate, it looks like a great project, and I'm looking forward to seeing you work through it.

[911st]

Fun stuff!

[911Rich]

Hey Kevin,
I see you've been staying quite busy. Looks like you and Nick are on a fast track to project completion bliss! Very, very nice.

Keep up the good work!!

Rich

[Ole Petter]

Here is what I did
I removed the impact shocks and made new mounts from aluminium. I also removed the bumperettes and cut off 5 cm of the rear of the bumpers. All in all that reduced the weight of the bumpers by more than 19 kg.

Some like it, but most don't... Many prefer the original look - but the weight loss and, im my eyes improved look, makes me happy!
What I really was after was to remove weight at the extreme rear of the car and I achieved that.

The car weighs in at 1040 kg with a 3/4 full load of petrol.

[ghost1001]

Very nice!!!

I think I remember seeing your car in another post on bumpers.

I like the shortened bumpers, great color too.

1040kg is great....I am shooting for under 1000kg....maybe 950-975kg!!!

Kevin

[ghost1001]

Here is one of my greatest finds to date.

A direct (not OEM) replacement wire harness for the entire car. I found a reference to it in a post here and contacted the pelican that used it. He said it worked great.....so I ordered one, only $350!

This is designed for the VW bug. I spoke with the owner of the company that sells it and he is very knowledgeable about auto wiring and said it should work fine…..they also offer support for the install.

It replaces this:



With this:



Almost done with the interior strip down:




After much debate I will paint the entire car Porsche sport classic grey (side by side comparison with white below) the interior will be painted the body color….I may do black in the trunk, engine bay and dash.



I will now do BLACK trim and black fuchs wheels, I dropped the stuff at a local powder coater, $300 to blast and coat all the wheels and $200 for all the trim….I thought it was a good deal.

I went back and forth on the trim but decided I want to have a very “clean” look and just decided that having everything grey/black was the way to go.

[78SCRSMAN]

Subscription post.
Nice job... I'm headed out to the garage to work on mine with yours as inspiration. Nice color choice too.

[Kemo]

subscribing...thanks for posting!

[RODI]

nice work! sub

[ghost1001]

she’s back on the road.....sort of:


Jack at performance fabricators is working his magic....keep in mind that this is not a bare metal repaint, that is not in the budget. Basically the paint is sanded down and a self etching primer is used, Jack is welding holes closed as he goes from panel to panel. Here is the product he is using for the prime:

And here is some of the work (top sides only....then bottoms, everything will get new paint):


As you can see, it is all very high tech and controlled

I know that people will want to let me know what is "wrong" with the process or environment, etc. The fact is that Jack has been painting cars this way since he was 14 (he is now like 67) I am sure he has seen and done it all, I trust him. The finish coat will be single stage.

If you are even still here you know that this will not be a concourse car...corners will be cut here and there on this and that. It looks like i will be putting some money into the motor so I am bracing for that.

He has also been working on the bumper:




The cooler scoop needs to be tweaked but the overall bumper look is just what I had envisioned. I know he is working over the weekend so more updates will be posted on Monday.....this is all very exciting!!!

[FinallyGotOne]

This is really cool stuff! looking forward to the pics and updates. That new 2010 911 Classic is BEAUTIFUL!!

[wolf76]

You are doing an amazing job so far! I look forward to the finished product. I am in West Orange by the way. If you ever need a hand or feel like getting together shoot me a pm.


Chris

[ghost1001]

Paint today people.....I searched and searched for the right color, then found this...
New 2010 factory color.....Porsche Sports Classic Gray color code: L63A, love it!!!




Black dash and trunk



Tub will be in prime by the end of today and color will be shot next week.....pictures to follow

[MichiganMat]

Gray is the new flat-black:



Nice job, really enjoying watching this one come together