Project Deutsche Coupe

[MichiganMat]

And so it begins...

This is the first post of a thread that will be a diary of another Pelican living the dream: a full custom roller build up.

A little history: I bought my current car, a '74 Targa, 4 years ago when I came to California with no PPI and little knowlegde of how to buy a decent car. Needless to say I got a car full of rust, body damage, and of little monetary value. Over the last years I've rebuilt nearly everything and have enjoyed my Targa everywhere from canyon runs to autocrosses to HPDE's. Its been a great car...

Original car (15x6s, trashed interior, bent frame, broken targa top, lots of rust, etc)


Last month (custom oil coolers, rollbar, flares, ducktail, 15x7&8s, carrera suspension, etc etc etc):



But all that is about to change. After years of hanging out on the Pelican forums and watching member after member build works of automotive artwork my time has finally come. I found a great little roller project on Craigslist last week and rolled it into my garage this weekend. I plan on creating a budget HPDE/street car that I can daily drive and yet still enjoy on the track when I feel the need. I have a strict budget, I'll be doing all the work myself, and I hope the result will tastefully reflect my personal style and love for these cars.







Details on my purchase:
1975 911S non-sunroof coupe (smog exempt here in CA)
No rust - none, zip, zero, nodda. This car is spotless
Wevo shifter
Corbaeu Forza seats
Gauges rebuilt by Palo Alto Speedo last month
6&7 Cookie cutter wheels
Factory oil lines
Bilstien HDs
Stiff torsions, not sure which yet
Boxes of new parts (headliner, tail lenses, interior bits, etc etc etc)

$2200 - a real steal!

The plan:
Sell off all the extra coupe parts I don't need, will nearly cover the cost of the roller itself
Convert all good parts from Targa to Coupe, sell off busted-ass Targa shell
Prep and paint it myself
Upholster interior in Ultrasuede (black with red stitch)
RS Carpet kit, RS door panels
Recaro SRDs / maybe keep the Corbeaus
Ducktail
Renspeed bumpers
Fiberglass SC flares, riveted
My current drivetrain (3.0 with fresh 915)
Rollbar if one comes along or harness bar

Pelicans, you're the best group of car freaks on the net and I can't wait to share this journey with all of you.

Selling the parts here: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-used-parts-sale-wanted/363085-oil-lines-tank-narrow-body-parts-knee-pads.html#post3437824

[SCWDP911]

Cool project! Good luck!

[Porsche_monkey]

Are you planning to instal the 3.0 engine as is? Not there's anything wrong with that....

Mind telling us what you paid for it? And what you'll replace the 3.0 with?

[MichiganMat]

Think "budget"

My current 3.0 will not be changing, stock CIS with stock exhaust. My goal here is not to build the next BBII, just a good, sexy, clean 911 coupe.

[Porsche_monkey]

You have a budget? Unsubscribed.

[khamul02]

Man, You are about to live the dream!!! It may be a nightmare but it will be fun to watch!

Good luck, can't wait to see the progress step by step!

[MichiganMat]

A quick update:

Stripping the tub is going well, lots and lots of parts to bag-n-tag. And dirty... my god things are dirty. Lots of parts for sale right now too: oil lines, oil tank, CIS Lambda brain, narrow body parts, 2 rear lower valences, lower dash pads (camel), etc etc etc. I'll put up a big post in the Parts section soon.

Still can't decide on a color combo. Im going with a quick single-stage spray so I can't go too flashy with the colors. I would go white but that would be my 4th white car in 2 years, hrm. My current idea is battleship-gray, the German way. RUF front bumper, rivet flares, duck tail, all gray paint with black "porsche" script down the doors. Utilitarian, no frills, all business :



Maybe add some blue tint:



All in all, its coming together nicely. The engine compartment is stripped, the gas tank will be out soon, and I've started labeling the wiring as its removed. I'll leave the loom in for painting. no matter what color I decide, the engine compartment will be painted gray along with the engine tins, nice and clean.

[Paulporsche]

Good luck. I like the blue.

[silverc4s]

+1 on the blue. Later, if you choose, it would be easy to add some Gulf Orange trim to that...

[MichiganMat]

Also leaning towards something like this. Off-white / tan with red porsche script on the doors:

[jkarolyi]

Looks like a great project Matt! Looks like the coupe might already have SC flares?

A suggestion on getting a decent cheap paint job...go to the different Earl Scheibs and Maacos in the area and look at the recently repainted cars. Not all cheapo places are the same! If you can do all the prep work yourself, stick with a solid non-metallic color, and find a guy who has at least a little talent with a spray gun to squirt the car, you'd be amazed how good it can look! Most of the money in the high dollar jobs is in the prep work which you can do yourself.

I vote for Gulf Blue with orange stripes or Viper Green with black stripes.

[MichiganMat]

The Rennspeed bumpers are in and are fitted as mock-up. As expected, custom mounts will need to be fabbed, but the rest of the fit is perfect. I had some fear about the fit and quality of these pieces, I know that Rennspeed is the cheapest maker of fiberglass out there, but I really couldn't be happier.





What else... the body is nearly prep'd for paint. I've decided to use Por15 Hardnose 2 part epoxy topcoat:

http://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?grp=HN&dept=5



This stuff should be plenty tough and tough is what Im going for. If its good enough for tractors and truck chassis, it'll be perfect for this project. I've ordered a gallon of light gray paint, and Im going to put a racing stripe (maybe 2) down the middle of the car either in orange, black, or red, I haven't decided yet.

Interior is stripped, still need to order the carpets, but its really one step at a time. Next step, wait for my Harbor Freight HVLP gun to come in, finish the bumper mounting, mount the front oil cooler, finish the body prep, and start spraying. Stay tuned for more.

[SCWDP911]

Cool, I must have missed it earlier but sounds as though you've decided to spray it yourself. I love your project - bare bones business... Looking forward to the future updates. Hope it is done soon. Looking forward to seeing the car with paint... One suggestion FWIW... I saw a longhood this weekend at Palooza that got me to thinking about a paint scheme... What if your stripe was the whole longitudinal midsection of the car. Basically, leave a recess of some sort where the rear reflector would be. Paint the orange/red/black from that recess up and over the whole top of the car, but end it at the front of the hood. So the hood, top (inside the rain gutters) rear decklid, and the reflector cavity, would all be painted your stripe color. Then you could also do the Porsche letters as a relief across the bottom of the rear decklid so that they would still be in grey. Maybe someone could photoshop it for you.

Anyway, just dreaming along with you a bit... keep up thee good work!

[Tom '74 911]

I'm interested to see what it takes to mount the front bumper - one just like yours is on my short list too.

Tom

[JeremyD]

Nice - that car looks like a steal at 2200!

[HelmetHead]

MichiganMat,
You are going down the same road I started on earlier this year.....I've detailed my build on Flickr and you might check out some of the photos for details on the bumper mounts (had to make mine too) http://www.flickr.com/photos/12148635@N02/

you can also view my PP thread here.... HelmetHeads' 1977 911s rebuild thread

Good luck!
Helmethead

[MichiganMat]

Painting has started. Its not as easy as it looks on the car shows, but its going well. Fenders and doors are painted and will need some wet-sanding + buffing to make perfect. How do you like my paint setup? Grocery carts are perfect for this job, perfect.

In hindsight I should have painted the shell first because now I have freshly painted parts and nothing to bolt them too. Will be doing the rest of the parts this weekend. Wish me luck.

[Jays72T]

Looks great and love the pic with the fenders on the shopping cart.

[ulrichd]

To be totally correct it should be: Project Deutsches Coupe

Ulrich

[Ricks911s]

I'll come down from Sacramento and meet you for a celebatory drive when you're done.