The beginnings of Night Lightning 69 911

[tchesney]

My first post here, thought I'd share TAJ Motorsports latest project.

A little back-story, client is very partial to a particular WWII aircraft, the P-38 Lightning. The tie-ins are that the Night Lightnings were painted black, and they had twin turbo-charged engines, so we are at least doing those mods. We are transplanting a 1996 993 Twin Turbo engine and a six-speed trans-axle in here. Not sure what other "vintage aircraft" references we are going to do yet, but stay tuned. Any ideas are welcome. Definitely don't want to do a cheesy rendition of "rat-rod-military-style" interior, but a much more classier version of an interior with aircraft appointments. Black leather, maybe the bomber style gauges, custom milled shifter handle, etc.

Being that this vehicle is so rusted, we didn't think the car would be a candidate for a full on concours restoration, so it was decided to go the resto-mod route. Plans include a 3.6 liter twin turbo M64/60 engine and a G50-96 six speed transaxle, new tub floor pan (one end to the other!), coil-over suspension, modified wide body kit, replacing any and all rusted out areas...and whatever else we find!!!!

These pictures are the beginning. Will post up more as the build progresses.

Pictures are in the following posts.

[MichiganMat]

Ill get the popcorn, brb....

[tchesney]

[tchesney]

[tchesney]

[tchesney]

[tchesney]

I'm sure no one here has ever had to drill out the bolts holding the door hinges on have you?

[SCWDP911]

Wow! Definitely a project! I would use a minimalist interior, meaning mostly metal painted to match exterior, and use brown leather trim - needs to be the right brown though - think leather bomber jackets!

[absolom]

tchesney is my pops lol



gonna be a hell of a project, probably gonna build a rack like we noticed in another thread...

we've got a rotisserie we've used on mustangs, but if we try to support this tub at the bumper mounts, it would probably fall apart on us

[nineball]

Originally Posted by SCWDP911

use brown leather trim - needs to be the right brown though - think leather bomber jackets!

this is the brown vinyl i found that was the closest match to my interior. if you want some more info just send me a pm. the rear seat delete and parcel shelf have been recovered, the side panels are original.







good luck on that rust. that is one hell of an undertaking!

[absolom]

Originally Posted by nineball

this is the brown vinyl i found that was the closest match to my interior. if you want some more info just send me a pm. the rear seat delete and parcel shelf have been recovered, the side panels are original.







good luck on that rust. that is one hell of an undertaking!

we've done something a little like that on my 66 mustang coupe, we'll probably end up doing something pretty similar with sound components and interior designs instead of the useless rear seat

[calling911]

Umm.. Im biting my tongue on this one...

[tchesney]

Just some ideas flowing.......

[jpnovak]

This is going to be a great build. I can't wait to follow it.

btw, I think your car came with the "lightening" option. I can't wait to see the lightning option transformation.

I think you need to add some Kirkey seats and brush them down while putting the light brown leather cover in place. Combined with some old latch style harnesses you would really start to enhance the theme.

Keep everything clean and simple while living the rule that "form follows function" and the car will turn out great.

[Craig_D]

Oh man, those gauges look great!

[78-911SC]

This one will be a fun one to follow. Any plan for approximate completion date?

[tchesney]

No set in stone date on this one! We are working it in and around our other builds that are going on... 65 Mustang Fastback, 67 Mustang Convertible, 1952 Ford F-1, 1938 Cadillac LaSalle, etc.

We take our time and do things correctly. You never know really just how much time something will take. For example, the doors should have been a simple removal, but with the rust that was present, and the fact that paint and corrosion were present in the bottom of the hinge bolts, we ended up having to drill them out. What should have took less than half an hour ended up taking over two hours. All kind of hidden easter eggs on projects like this.

[t6dpilot]

Now this will be a cool build. Pulling at my Warbird background... If you want to do authentic materials, olive green canvas was a common material on aircraft seat cushions. If you go the brown leather routine, make sure it is of the distressed variety. Even a mixture of both - sounds ugly, but actually really works.

I like the second set of gauges - vintage aviation style. Don't forget to install an 8-day wind up clock. Oh, olive green belt webbing too.

[kenikh]

Great progress...I am digging it.

[TRE Cup]

go with green faced guages with numerals , led conversion from no ho speedo. see if you can find luminous paint for the needles ;-)