First post! Let me please introduce myself

[kinein]

nice ride.......

[nkotselas]

Welcome!
Nice car

Do you know what those seats are exactly?
I have them but I'm not sure what they are

[will hung]

Originally Posted by nkotselas

Welcome!
Nice car

Do you know what those seats are exactly?
I have them but I'm not sure what they are

They are factory sport seats. Excellent seats.

Congratulations on the purchase. She's a beaut.

[Drisump]

Not quite right, the seats pictured are like my 85 ROW, factory sport seat for the driver and stock Carrera seat for the passenger. Nice looking ride, cheers.

[Josh D]

If you'll notice from the picture, the driver side is a sport seat and the passenger is a standard seat, but they have the same upholstry. The cloth centers are nice in the AZ heat and they really hold you in place. The driver side is actually pretty difficult to get out of!

[jdbunda]

Welcome, a very nice looking coupe! One of my first cars was a '73 240Z also, which simply rusted away on me. I've also gone through a few BMWs (and a 993) on my way to my original dream car - the classic 911. Enjoy!!

[Josh D]

Originally Posted by Drisump

Not quite right, the seats pictured are like my 85 ROW, factory sport seat for the driver and stock Carrera seat for the passenger. Nice looking ride, cheers.

You just beat me to it!! So that is they way it would have left the factory? I figured it was something a PO had done.

[fbeatty]

Nice ride(s). Beautiful P-car.

I have the same combination, Jeep and sports car. At first my wife didn't like my TJ and said it was too utilitarian. The she drove it during the winter. Now she wants one and so does my daughter. May end up with 3 in the family.

Congrats, welcome and enjoy

[will hung]

Originally Posted by Drisump

Not quite right, the seats pictured are like my 85 ROW, factory sport seat for the driver and stock Carrera seat for the passenger. Nice looking ride, cheers.

Totally missed that when I was skimming through the pictures. I stand corrected. Those aren't correct for an 85 though. The sport seat pictured is the earlier style from 1974-1980 and made by Recaro. The later ones looked similar but had a circular recline adjustment next to the recline pivot point.

[Walter_Middie]

Josh D,

Like everyone said, welcome to the forum....nice Porsche....yada yada yada. Now to the important stuff. Nice Gladiator. I owned an early 70's J2000 with the round tail lights. That was my only vehicle for a number of years until someone took pity on me and I received the car we called the "Free Capri". But that's another story. My gladiator had the 360, turbo 400, and drum brakes. At the time, I was just getting started doing my own maintenance and wasn't able to improve it to where I wanted it. But I could now, and I wish I still had that truck (not so much the Free Capri). My daughter and I had a lot of fun in that truck - camping, wheeling, towing the boat for water skiing, snow skiing (that thing would go anywhere - anywhere there was enough room anyway). Of all the vehicles I've owned and sold, that is one I'd like to have now - but the realities of gas prices might make me change my mind. I still search craigslist for gladiators - they do come up from time-to-time. I can dream can't I? Jeeps and 911s - welcome to the insanity.

[tweezers74]

Originally Posted by Flieger

Hey you're in the same town as tweezers74!

Nice car.

Beautiful car! And yes, Flieger is very observant, you live in G-town too! I'm near Dana Ranch. I don't have a P car YET. Read my story on my other thread. Please post more pics and info about your car. Fun to follow someone that lives in my hood...

[Por_sha911]

Looks like you have a fun ride. Welcome.

[Josh D]

Originally Posted by Walter_Middie

Josh D,

Nice Gladiator. I owned an early 70's J2000 with the round tail lights.

Thanks, she's a real good truck and a real workhorse. I bought it in very rough condition in '02 from the western slope of Colorado when we lived near Colorado Springs. It was going to be a chassis donor for my '48 Willys pickup. After the drive home from where I bought it, where it absolutely flew over Monarch Pass, I fell in love with it and new I couldn't part it, and the '48 got sold. It's really only body work and paint from being an exceptional truck. I've spent a lot of time on it over the years including swapping the closed knuckle, drum brake front axle for a mid 80's Dodge D44 with open knuckle and disc brakes. Mechanically, it's done. Body work, paint, and re-wire with a fuse box electrical system and it's done for it's intended use. Never intended for a show truck, but a solid, useable, dependable, good looking vintage Jeep truck.

Let me know when you're in the market for another one. I'm active with the fullsize Jeep crowd and have been known to locate FSJ's for folks from time to time.

This is were it was about a year and a half ago when I finally dropped in the rebuilt 360 with some goodies!!

[Josh D]

Originally Posted by tweezers74

Beautiful car! And yes, Flieger is very observant, you live in G-town too! I'm near Dana Ranch. I don't have a P car YET. Read my story on my other thread. Please post more pics and info about your car. Fun to follow someone that lives in my hood...

Yep, I'm down off of Hunt Hwy, just a stones throw north of San Tan Mtn. I think I remember reading your thread about an old long hood that hadn't been on the road in awhile? How's that coming along?

[tevake]

Hey Josh don't bother with a bunch of bodywork on the jeep truck, I like the sleeper look. Plus you can still enjoy using it as intended.

Nice 911 , welcome to the forum!!

Cheers Richard

[KevinTodd]

Beautiful car!

Welcome.

[darcher]

Welcome to the club... Here I am doing car therapy on my wife's 85 Carrera.

[JQ911]

Congratulations Josh! Same here, I pulled the trigger last week and its my first Porsche experience. From a Merc enthusiast, I am getting little sleep reading technical stuff here. Nice bimmer and truck by the way!

[Josh D]

I wanted to give an update after one year of ownership, what I think of the car, what I've spent time and money on, and what the future plans are.

My '80 RoW SC has been my daily driver since purchased. I have put about 11K miles on it. Put simply, it has just been a joy to drive! Driving the car daily, you really get to know it. The sounds, the smells, the acceleration after 3500 rpms.........You get the idea. The best part has been the learning curve of driving and shifting the car smoothly. It's second nature now, so I'm hoping to take it to the next step and do some DE in the near future. I'd really like to see what it can do when pushed, and learn my limits as a driver!

It has kept me busy tinkering, fixing small issues and making improvements. Nothing surprising of a 32 year old car. Here is a basic list of the stuff I've done to it.

Fixed crushed oil lines (bought it this way)
Replaced oil temp sending unit
Replaced front strut inserts (original Boges)
Replaced shift rod, coupler, and ball pivot bushings
Tranny oil change to SWEPCO
Replaced all 4 tires (Hankook Ventus V12)
Refinished Fuchs (semi polished pedals to match anodized lip and repainted black)
Removed old window tint and had windows retinted
Cleaned interior light door switches so lights would come on when door opened
Removed, dissasembled and cleaned door window switch contacts. Windows work flawlessly now!
Replaced heater control cables.
Replaced auto heat control rod
Removed heater blower motor and backdated heat
Replaced several dash light bulbs that had burnt out
Replaced wiper blades
Replaced door window wipes
Dissassembled and rebuilt windshield washer pump
Replaced cracked tailight lenses with amber Euro lenses
Completely overhauled A/C system with kit from Retro Air
Replaced alternator and battery when alternator failed (only breakdown I had!)
Painted fan and housing
Replaced fan and A/C compressor belts
Made adjustments to timing, CIS A/F, and idle (car runs great now!)
3 oil changes
1 valve adjustment
Replaced spark plugs to a colder plug (W6 to W4)
Replaced air filter
Recentered several rocker shafts that were leaking
Removed air pump

I've spent in the neighborhood of $3500, not including some additional tools and equipment to evac and charge A/C. Aside from mounting the tires and the window tinting, I've done all the work myself.

With the work I've done, it runs, rides, shifts and looks better than it did when I bought it. It's really true that these are $20K cars, as my initial purchase was $17K for a 76K miler.
I'm still planning an engine drop to detail the engine compartment and replace the thermostat seal, vent hose, oil pressure sender, intake manifold hoses and seals, and any vacuum lines. Most of the parts have already been purchased.

Down the road projects are replacing the turbo tail with a duck, Euro H4's, SSI's w/Dansk Sport, and 8" Fuchs for the rear. About another $3K worth of stuff if I do the duck painting myself. Of course all of this will be done over time.

Here's a couple before and ofter pics:
Before

Now

Engine before (major clutter)

Engine after (you can actually see the engine!)

[ivangene]

looks great, what's the diamond plate aluminum sheet near the condensor on the deck lid do?