Randy, the FG bumper came with the car so I don't know the brand. Here is a pic of the bumper before I took it off...it was never installed or fit tightly up against the seals so I will need to do some modding. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6...2/P1080327.JPG

Rich, I will let you know if it is in the cards...I would love to see your new 'shack' on the lake as well =) I think I have been to the Snohomish Motorcycle show years ago....lots of hogs if I recall.

VROOOOOOOOM!!! Looking good!

Bryan, Great job !!!

on the + side, yo did not have to spend extra $$ for a nice light wt. FG bumper

good luck with the mods on it

Yes....I would have been pi$$ed if the fit was that bad and I dropped some money on it. Then again...these cars were essentially hand build so the fit varies all over the place.

My FG bumper has a vertical return flange on the top of the bumper that seems to interfere all over the place...I suspect it was copied from metal bumpers. The metal bumpers were thin and this FG flange is .20"+/- thick. I think I can just grind the flange off and make the top of the bumper flat & compress the bumper against the seal. I will have to stare at it for a while.

Bryan,
Just grind that flange on top off. Best to tape the bumper seal on the car to get the correct fit. Does it have the center factory bumper bracket plate moulded in the fiberglass? You can get these to fit great with some gringing/sanding! You can just make some hanging brackets off the sides since you deleted your battery boxes. Just give me a call if you need some help. I have installed dozens of these, and everyone is different. Car is looking Awesome!
Kelly

That is exactly what I was planning! Thanks for the instructions. I need it to fit right BEFORE i fab the brackets near the wheel wells. :D
I don't know what the 'center factory bumper bracket plate' is that you speak of. but it does have brackets inlaid for the corners and it has metal brackets to attach to the nose.....

Front brackets that mount to each side of the catch panel. Most "S", and "RS" FG bumpers have a pc. of Metal flatbar inlaid in the spoiler so you can use the Factory bumper brackets. Makes removal, and adjustment very easy. What also works well....On the ends...You can use a Nut-n-bolt and mount right to the bottom of the fender lip. Bolt just goes right through the bumperseal. Looks very clean with no brackets in the wheel wells.

KT

I am pretty sure that is what I have. I am fabbing up the brackest from the battery box this afternoon and I am going to try and hang the hood after the seals are in. the bolt through the fender seems like a good idea...i will see how it goes.

Day 327 || Escape
15May2012

Work + Life has been taking its toll on my schedule and I have the itch pretty bad to get this bastard on the road somehow, someway. The local early guys are off on another drive this weekend and yet again the car is not ready. I took a long weekend so Friday I brought in some gravel to build a small ramp out of the shop with the full intention of test driving the car this weekend. After the ramp was hastily built I pecked away at some of the last details before trying to move the car under its own power.....

-installed a fuel vapor exhaust line
-tore apart both door locks and serviced the internals (now they work like new AND I know how they function!)
-garage 'aimed' the H4 headlights
-monkeyed with the front ride height
-monkeyed with the back ride height. (I could not get the T-Bar to sit where I wanted it on the splines. I wanted 5 degrees of rotation but could only get 10 degrees for each spline...is this normal?)
-installed old shoulder belts on the driver (still waiting to hear back from Dave @ TRE about my rollbar...so no harness install yet)
-new wipers

My escape ramp in place
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a...-23-20_441.jpg



My first drive! 25May2012
The sun had set by the time I finished monkeying with the details and felt I could try the car out. A freak rain squall had moved through, which is weird for us in the PNW, and the pavement had started to dry so I got her started up and brought everything up to temp for my first shot at moving the car.

I have a little mechanical know how but Porsche's from the end of a wrench are totally new to me...so I wanted to be very ginger and incremental with each step in this process. The first step is to test the clutch in reverse per Wayne's book to see if the tension is set correctly...yep she moves fine in both directions in the garage and I can relax a little with the brake/ignition kill reflexes. Next up is to get her out of the garage and loop around the block and test 2nd gear and bed the old brakes in a bit. I close the shop door, hop in the car and double check the gauges. She is idling a little rough and popping every now and then but there doesn't seem to be any real evidence of fuel starvation and the pressure guage at the carbs is reading 6psi so I back up onto the street.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...1-23-22_98.jpg


'OK...lets go slow', I tell myself and release the parking brake, check traffic and bring the revs up and the start to move forward for the first time. I am looking down the road but my mind becomes very distracted by the glorious sound filling my ears! The wail from the back end, even at 3 grand on the tach', is intoxicating and makes me giddy! I have been so focused on wrenching that I didn't stop to realize that this, right at that moment was the actual realization of a 30+ year dream to drive my own 911!! The popping and backfiring is gratuitous but there is plenty of power and the gears and brakes seem to be fine which is a huge relief.

I now have enough confidence to drive her to the local Cheveron and put a 1/3 of a tank in and then I can't help myself. My curiosity is killing me at this point and I have to see where she is at on the freeway and row through the 901's gears (of unknown origin) knowing full well the alignment and corner balance is way off.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-s...-39-33_694.jpg

I have a small test loop I usually take so I I make my way to the I-5 on-ramp and wait for a clear shot up the ramp and accelerate up onto the 'Five'. The first thing I notice (going uphill mind you) is the raw acceleration. I didn't expect this! So much for being 'ginger'! 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th! Not one miss or grind. I look down and I am doing well over the posted limit! Weee! ...then Woah!!!! The alignment at speed is now clearly off. The car has become a handful as it hunts and darts over the bumps and grooves. I settle her down and try 5th and then check my rear view for 'smoke, fire, etc' and in the darkness I see all manner of sparks and what looks to be embers flying off the back!!!

Thought #1, "the car is on fire!"
Thought #2, "You idiot! The fire extinguisher is in the garage!!!".

I quickly decide that pulling off on the freeway to look at something on fire with no way to deal with it is not an option and I am only a mile from home and the fire station that is just down the block. I dive off freeway and pull to a stop and look in the rear view. 'Hmmm, no smoke or sparks! That is weird.' I get all the way home without incident and inspect everything and I can't find any signs of 'fire', rubbing or wear. I think this beast is just blowing out carbon, crap in the exhaust?! I am relieved and happy. It is all tweaking and tuning from here on out. This is going to be fun!

Saturday, drove to West Seattle to continue the test/tune and pickup my surprised girlfriend to go to a BBQ. All I can say is that I have to get this machine road trip worthy. It is way too much fun and way to dangerous to drive the way I want to drive her. 75 miles on the clock so far! Stay Tuned.... :D
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-s...-15-30_635.jpg

To get finer increments while adjusting the rear torsion bars you need to turn one spline on the inner end and then go one spline in the opposite direction on the spring plate. The two ends have different numbers of splines to provide much finer increments.

Congratulations Bryan!

Flieger...that is what I thought too...maybe I am just not doing it right. I didn't take of the rear calipers so that might be interfering with me sliding it into the right position. I will be taking it in for alignment and corner balancing and to get the new rubber mounted & balanced asap , so it can be taken care of then.

Thanks Rich! I am pretty darn excited. There is a small leak somewhere on the motor (cross tube?, cam tower?) but it is not aggregious. There is also a leak on the output shaft seal but I guess I can live with that for now as well. =)

Congrats Bryan!

Thanks John!

Bryan! Awesome! What a great feeling to fire the car and then put it on the road. Welcome to the club.

A few things. Popping on the carbs should not be usual. If through the intake then the car is running typically lean. The idle mixture may not be set right or it could be that there is a plugged idle jet. If popping through the exhaust then the car is really rich. You mentioned 6psi fuel pressure. Please, no more than 3.5 psi. Your floats will thank you for this. This might also cause fuel spill-over which would cause lots of popping in the exhaust. yes, this is minor adjustments and part of sorting the car.

RE torsion bars: The adjustment is actually, one click on the outside in one direction and 6 clicks on the inside in the opposite direction. You can get about 0.5 deg adjustment with this method. I would just suggest to spend $100 and get some later adjustable versions from an SC or 915 Carrera (84-86). Well worth the ease of adjustment.

The car looks great on the road. Thank you for saving this one and putting it back on the road. Great Job!

my answers inline below in green

SmileWavy
Congratulations, it's great feeling isn't it?!

Congrats on getting her back on the street, bryan!

Congratulations! Cool story and close call on the first drive!