My 1976 update backdate targertible coupe project

[qikcpa]

about 35 years ago, porsche made this car.


fast forward to 2003. a machine shop client owed me some money and he had the 76 targa in his shop. it was materially disassembled and he had over the last couple of years lost interest in it. it has no service records or maintenance history. not knowing anything about 911's i agreed to take it in exchange for the $1700 he owed me. whats a ppi? this is what it looked like.




the ppo cut off the targa bar. no rear glass and sc flares were added. an 81 3.0 powered the car. i was assured all the other parts were there including a folding top that would fit and that the engine ran fine they just hadnt started it since they got it from the dismantler.

a 76 targa was not the car i dreamed of as a boy. i never knew what it was called but i later learned it was this.



next thing you know the targertible was in my driveway on a flatbed surrounded by lots of boxes. my wife was less than pleased.

[Winter]

You probably can't go wrong, given the price of entry, particularly if you're going to do most of the work on this one yourself. Or part it out and come out ahead! Good luck, regardless!

[TRE Cup]

you got a great deal ! keep posting questions and do searches here , and you can get your Targertible RSR going soon

[drcoastline]

Personally I like the car Porsche built 35 years ago. But if you are going to rebuild that car build what you want. It would probably cost more to bring it back to original than to do the car you want.

Perhaps the 74 version of the RSR. Slightly less work same idea.



Good luck with the project.

[kach22i]

Keep it an open top, it's the view from the inside which counts.

[qikcpa]

the ppo set the car up to be a convertible. these are the standard top mount points cut from a cabriolet; probably an 83. strangely the seatbelt mount/top pivot was sunk into the body of the car by about half an inch and welded with a few quarter inch beads. he used machine screws to attach the lower mount point to the sheetmetal.

[qikcpa]

the top did seem to fit. the car however did not come with any attaching mechanisms. i rigged up a low cost mounting system by getting a 3 inch half threaded metric bolt and cutting the head off. i screwed the threaded end into the top (where the guide post was) and then threaded the other half of the bolt to accept a knob. to close the top you just have to guide the bolt into the receiving hole (bottom pic). it worked like a charm.

[qikcpa]

painted the car in my driveway. after hours of wet sanding the bugs and pollen out of the silver paint the car turned out quite well.



its been major repair free (other than clutch cable/suspension bushings) for the past 5 years. Other than routine maintenance ive not had to put any real money into it. i get to drive it 3-4 times a week and its been a wonderful ownership experience....

but, recently i've been think its time for a little change.



just for fun, i took the convertible top off, added a tail, removed the bumper pads and dug up the old 11x15's that came with the car (with 245/45/15 dry rotted tires). the rocker covers came off and a few dings were skim coated.

[qikcpa]

the ducktail came form getty designs. when it showed up the box looked like it had been dropped off the back of a truck and beaten with a golf club. the tail had some chunks taken out of it.


subsequently getty design did me right. fwiw i would do business with them again.
the repair was not too tough and the tail fit like a glove, which is a lot more than i can say for the $60 fiberglass front s bumper that i got second or maybe third or fourth hand (based on the 4 dift colors of paint). the "small crack" turned out to be quite long after a lot of research on the internet i proceeded to do my first bit of fiberglass work. other than the mess i was able to fix the crack and bondo some holes and chankers without much fanfare. lastly i fibergalssed an L shaped bracket to support the bumper. along with a pair of aluminum pipes that i crushed the ends on and bent, the front bumper was on.

[qikcpa]

i bought a pair of fiberglass light boxes since the early fenders were a bit spendy. i purchased them from a fellow pelican who chose to use a set of complete fenders he got for a reasonable price. these black light boxes were not worth the fiberglass they were made with. im not sure who manufactured them but they had two very different profiles and two different radii on the outside curves. one fit like a glove under the fender the other required about 25 ridial cuts to be able to stretch it out under the fender. both came up a bit short towards the wheelwell.

after hours of cutting refiberglassing and grinding with a dremel they sorta fit. I attached with sem 2-part panel adhesive that i pushed out with a screwdriver cause im too cheap to pay $60 for a gun i would use maybe twice. i enlisted some free labor.

a few days of bondo, shape, sand, primer, bondo, shape, sand, primer and they didnt turn out too bad.

[qikcpa]

so the front looked ok.

it was now time to look at the car as a whole. i couldnt have the accordian bumper in the back and a long hood bumper in front. i started looking at rear rs bumpers $425 at rennspd. oh, need a hood too. i chose the lightweight fiberglass race hood. $175 and well i really wanted to have a widebody car so i might as well just get the flares $200. and the rear rsr bumper... bulb housings for the front. so now im in $325 duck + 60 bumper + 200 lightboxes that suck + 425 rsr bumper + 175 hood + 90 turn signal housing + $45 lenses + supplies for a total of about $1500. doing the labor myself i saved at least $600 so my total cost to date is $900. Im a CPA so i know thats how that works.

[RSBob]

Great project. Keep sharing the progress.

[911lvr]

Originally Posted by qikcpa

so the front looked ok.

it was now time to look at the car as a whole. i couldnt have the accordian bumper in the back and a long hood bumper in front. i started looking at rear rs bumpers $425 at rennspd. oh, need a hood too. i chose the lightweight fiberglass race hood. $175 and well i really wanted to have a widebody car so i might as well just get the flares $200. and the rear rsr bumper... bulb housings for the front. so now im in $325 duck + 60 bumper + 200 lightboxes that suck + 425 rsr bumper + 175 hood + 90 turn signal housing + $45 lenses + supplies for a total of about $1500. doing the labor myself i saved at least $600 so my total cost to date is $900. Im a CPA so i know thats how that works.

I spy a 60s vette in there too..nice

[qikcpa]

while trying to drum up the courage to cut on perfectly good fenders i thought i would enhance the exhaust note. i have been thinking for years that the sport mufflers looked pretty cool. i even had an extra banana muffler for a while that my neighbor gave me. but before i could cut it up, i gave it back. do a search for sport muffler and youll find several good tutorials. i started off by cutting the muffler holes with a dremel, that way was too slow. i pulled the plasma cutter. that way was fast but way to easy to make big mistakes. (but WTF...its cutting with plasma, not some dinky wheel. for those that dont know, it fuses plutonium with unicorn dust to cut). i soldiered on with the plasma cutter and then an angle grinder cleaned it up a bit. put the pipes on a piece of 2x4 on a floor jack, leveled and squared, inserted into amoeba shaped holes and then proceeded to make the ugliest welds known to man. the pipes, 1 5/8 galvanized fence post (its what i had lying around) spattered and popped like crazy. come to find out galvanized is not really supposed to be welded because it puts off a toxic gas. still here. but if i stop posting you guys will know why. more grinding and another round of welding and they were on. they leaked at the seam so a few squirts of soapy water while it ran and more welding. more grinding. cut short and then welded a plate over the old outlet. it leaked too, grind, weld, grind, weld, etc.

stepped back and this was what i saw.




what at first seemed ok actually turned out to be a bit wimpy. louder, yes. but with more of a sound of a 60's vw bug on steroids. it was a bit higher in pitch than i hoped for. i was looking for that deep throaty rumble. having more time than money when its not tax season, i cut them off at the weld and widened the holes with a dremel and a metal cutting disk or 5. i pulled out about 4 times the volume of the muffler of some birds nest like steel strand (prob asbestos to go with the galvanized fumes). all sorts of manner were implored to get that stuff out...needlenose worked the best. i replaced with 2" galvanized pipe. but this time i held my breath while i welded. more spatter, missed welds, pits, burn-through etc. it looked like a 5 year old welded it. soapy water and grind, weld, grind weld. but i ended up with this.


a much deeper tone and maybe a bit louder. i think it would do for now even though ive cut my shins on them at least three times. we live, we learn, hopefully.

[qikcpa]

oops. this is what i saw...

[qikcpa]

now that the front is pretty much done its time to tear into the back. its all pretty much a no brainer. just need to remember its lefty loosey unless youre reaching under the car then its lefty tighty, i think. heres a pic of the 76 sans bumper, bellows and reflector... keep in mind i drive this car every day. were in the deep south here. aint no inspections...means you dont need no bumpers. you cant imagine the looks i get in the parking lot.


the fiberglass parts came in while my wife was out shopping. that would have been worth several hundred bucks extra if the shipper could have guaranteed that kinda timing. once i got it unpacked and the box tucked away it was time for a test fit of the rsr bumper. i held it in place with needlenose vice grips and it sat perfectly on the exhaust pipes. the flares were next.

[redturbo911]

looks great so far keep the pics of the progress coming.

[qikcpa]

heres a pic of the flares held in place with sheet metal screws. the right one fit like a glove. the left one...not so much.


i lined up the torsion bar holes but the left fender was about an inch in front of the left side of the rsr bumper edge and touching the tire. i pulled it back and temporarily mounted it so i could have a look from a distance. something wasnt right.



i figured no point stopping here to waste my time with thinking about stuff and such. grabbed the angle grinder and cut the flare in half. stretched it an inch to make it line up with the torsion bar and have it start the same distance in front of the rear turn signal housing opening as the other side. this is where our story takes an ugly turn. i put tape behind it so the resin wouldnt stick to the body and applied a few coats of fiberglass. i also fabbed up a quick and dirty heat shield to keep the bumper from melting. just to be safe.

[bluesky]

Excellent thread!!! I have really enjoyed the read so far.....I'm waiting to hear about the ugly turn.

[qikcpa]

i used my kids sharpie to trace the outside of the flares (dotted). then i pulled them back off.



next i scribed a solid line 2 inches below the flare edge line. that was my cut line. at first i lined the cut line with tape to protect the finish...duh. ill be grinding the paint off anyway. the cut fiberglass flare held its shape well when i pulled it off and i was able to put a couple coats of fiberglass resin on the other side. then i sat and contemplated the rationality of hacking into a car with perfectly good sheet metal. heck at some point someone had taken substantial time and effort to add the sc flares and i was going to hack them off. no sense wasting any more time. i put on my big boy pants and headed for the shop cabinet. i only had to choose my tool. angle grinder with a cutting wheel? it worked well on the vertical first few inches, but when it came time to make a turn it was useless.

i grinned feverishly as i fondled the tip of the plasma cutter. unfortunately the rubberish undercoating, oil and grease from years of use had accumulated under the flares. i figured as soon the 4 million degree tip caught the flamables a small fire would erupt. (ask me how i know...ill get to that later). i chose a sawsall or as my wife called it when i first got it "the sawz-a-lot" since obviously it cant saw everything. twenty or thirty second of the 1 inch wide metal blade getting caught in the curve and my arm was about shaken out of its socket. i set it aside....dremel?...girls tool and it would take a month and like $300 of disks. tin snips?...couldnt get them in the existing kerf without amputatiing a few fingers. f%$#. i ambled around the garage, kicked the dog a few times and poured another cup of coffee. brilliant : the light bulb flashed. having run out of short term ideas i did what all good men/mechanics do. i went back to the angle grinder knowing that by now it would work flawlessly. sadly i forgot the goggles and got an eye full of sparks. time for a break.



so here i was. car with half a fender cut off. im sure the guy with the 996 in the parking lot at the office would have a good laugh when he saw this. i have a body shop client i could call my tow truck client and in an hour it would be off my plate. a few checks mailed to the right people and im done....roto zip?...no metal bits. i went to my basement to the tool cabinet of forgotten tools. another sawzalot. nail gun - maybe for my forehead. bosch hammer drill? it had a cold chisel. hmmm. ill keep looking. another dremel. and another dremel (they make great christmas gifts from forgetful inlaws)...router? too much shrapnel. another dremel. hack saw?...i could make my kids do it. it would be slow but pretty safe. put one on one side and one on the other. tell em first one to finish gets off x-box restriction. i had a fire extinguisher and so i began to calculate the odds of the plasma cutter actually starting a fire and the odds of the fire actually engulf the car and then me not being able to put it out vs. what the insurance payoff might be (if any). then, whats that...an old skill jigsaw that i borrowed from my dad 10 years ago, with a cord and all, and look, its got a diamond coated metal bit. with renewed enthusiasm i bolted up the stairs plugged it in, popped it in the kerf, pulled the trigger and braced for the shakedown. nothing. oh yeah i cut the cord last time i used it. (please see homeremodel.com/forums for that story). some electrical tape and i was in business. like cutting through butter it zipped around the scribed line and neatly severed the sc flare. other side went just as smoothly. oh how i love old technology somtimes. after a few minutes with the angle grinder and a paint removal wheel, it looked like this.




ps. keep in mind i wanted to keep the sc flares in as good a condition as possible in case i ever want to put them back so i didnt hack them off a section at a time....thats just how i roll.