Targa -> Coupe Conversion project

[Charles Freeborn]

Wow. Bravo!
What engine / trans?

[tomritt]

Thanks guys, looks like this threads back from the dead. That car had a 3.6 with 915. The car has since been sold to a great home, and I'm working on a 75 backdated to 73 rsr. Its got a 3.4l Turbo motor, so the car should be a riot.

[Tom '74 911]

Hi Tom,

Great project. Do you have any additional photos of how you attached the roof to the targa body? It looks like at the a-pillars, you left a few inches of the originals. You mentioned that the sections were different - did this just require some massaging? How'd it work out at the b&c-pillars? I'm thinking of doing something similar and am hoping to find some images to help me visualize how it's going to work.

Thanks,
Tom D.

[911SauCy]

What an awesome looking product...I just can't help but ask WTF!?

When there are so many available coupes why would someone take the time and $ to transform a targa? The VIN will always denote Targa...Is there an outstanding benefit I'm ignorant to? (coming from a targa owner and no this has nothing to do with me wanting to procure existing targas)

[tomritt]

Originally Posted by 911SauCy

What an awesome looking product...I just can't help but ask WTF!?

When there are so many available coupes why would someone take the time and $ to transform a targa? The VIN will always denote Targa...Is there an outstanding benefit I'm ignorant to? (coming from a targa owner and no this has nothing to do with me wanting to procure existing targas)

There are some minor structural advantages to using a targa, but the main reason why I started with a targa was because that what was available to me and the price was right. To be honest, the targa -> coupe swap was one of the easier parts of this project.

I have received a lot of questions regarding the conversion. I just want to mention, I would never consider doing this on a car without a full cage. There is a lot of dissecting on the A-pillars, drilling out spot welds etc, so I wouldn't want to rely on them for structural support. The B and C pillars are very easy, and weld right in with some carefull measuring/custom fab/gusseting on the B pillar. In reality, a very easy swap, measure twice cut once, and alot of common sense

[Tom '74 911]

Originally Posted by tomritt

the main reason why I started with a targa was because that what was available to me and the price was right.

In reality, a very easy swap, measure twice cut once, and alot of common sense

That is the same for me. I have a pretty rust free targa shell and a very rusty coupe shell. My end goal is similar to this project - a fully caged coupe. A nice side benefit to doing it this way is easy access to the top of the cage for welding before the roof gets attached.

In looking at both bare tubs side-by-side, it does look like it could be pretty straightforward - putting a coupe roof on a targa. But I'm sure there are issues I'm not seeing that'd need to be worked out! I was planning to make some basic templates of the window openings to help etc...

Thanks,
Tom

[dicklague]

Great project....great result and as someone else said another ugly targa turned into something attractive!!

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by dicklague

Great project....great result and as someone else said another ugly targa turned into something attractive!!

"Ugly Targa" huh?

Opinions are like... well you know the word.

Glad that there are not too many out there who make childish posts like this...

[benjoys02]

tomritt,

amazing work! you did a fabulous job! looks like you used the same doors you had on the targa. did you need to modify them in order to fit the window frames? if so, was it complicated?

[AG81]

Great older thread I sure I would of never seen....... Amazing skill set needed to pull this off. I'm saying this knowing what I had to do to my own car to get it in the shape it is....... I would have never attempted this, but it's nice to know someone did and they have the ability. Two thumbs way up.