Saving the "Rat" - Restoring a 69T

[kkinzli]

Day 25: Continued - Jacks removed. The stance on the car is awfully low. I think I accidentally turned the Rat into a lowrider. Espanola NM here I come Which way do I need to screw the ride height adjuster screws to fix this?





Here is a picture of the suspension with the adjuster screw, which is currently set roughly in the middle.

[Flieger]

Turn it the hard way- righty tighty. Lefty loosy lowers the car and is easy since the weight is working for you.

[kkinzli]

Day 25 cont: New driver seat installed (this is the action packer sport seat S) and headed out to the driveway for some grinding and welding

[Flieger]

Your car looks even lower than mine! And mine bottoms out (A-arm to chassis seam) on large bumps taken too quickly. I guess I need stiffer torsion bars.


Front Suspension, Rebel Racing bushings, rear view by Max_911S_fahrer, on Flickr

[kkinzli]

Originally Posted by Flieger

Turn it the hard way- righty tighty. Lefty loosy lowers the car and is easy since the weight is working for you.

Thanks! Would taking the weight off make it easier? I will count threads and keep the turns the same on both sides. What is a good reference point to measure the ride height? I was thinking of picking a spot like right below the adjuster screw and making sure both sides are equal. Looking back at old pictures I am pretty certain that my stance was level so I was planning on putting a level on my rockers to get the correct height (with a correction for my garage floor of course!! It is actually pretty level)

[Flieger]

I would use a reference point on the crossmember itself rather than the screw you are turning. Yes, taking the weight off will make it easier to turn but harder since you need to keep letting the car down to know how much further you need to go.

[kkinzli]

Day 25 cont: Welding in patches on the fender attachment rails and passenger rocker. I made sure to clean up the welds and set wire speed as low as possible and amperage as high as possible without blowing through in 2 seconds. This was great advice and many thanks to Cornpanzer and Daves911L (aka Obi Wan). Using the correct gage of steel also impacted my welding tremendously. Here are a few pictures

Nice clean metal with patch taped in so I can tack it


Not the prettiest welds but I feel like I have improved quite bit


After grinding


Bad metal cut out of outer rocker. The inside looked great!


With patches welded in

[kkinzli]

Originally Posted by Flieger

I would use a reference point on the crossmember itself rather than the screw you are turning. Yes, taking the weight off will make it easier to turn but harder since you need to keep letting the car down to know how much further you need to go.

Thanks! That is exactly what I meant. I was thinking of using the head of the bolt that holds up the crossmember as my reference point. I will try to do it without lifting the car because it will be much easier as you stated!

[kkinzli]

Day 26: I was able to raise the ride height by about 1 inch today. I will need to reset the caps on the torsion bars all the way to the top and try again to get the ride height right as I turned the screws as far as possible and cannot raise the front end any further. I was able to get some paint off of the roof and driver side rocker panel and repair a bad section in the driver side floor today!



Bad section cut away


Patch welded in - I feel like my welds are getting much better! Pretty soon I will be ready to attack the fenders The welds in the middle of the patch are from setting the wire speed



Final product after grinding. Keep in mind it is the floor pan after all and all of this will be covered in dynamat.

[flacht]

Kristoph,

Great Thread, I learned quite a bit yesterday, keep up the good work.

This car is going to be a special one, I can't wait to see the McQueen Grey.

Flacht / Peter B.

[kkinzli]

Originally Posted by flacht

Kristoph,

Great Thread, I learned quite a bit yesterday, keep up the good work.

This car is going to be a special one, I can't wait to see the McQueen Grey.

Flacht / Peter B.

Thanks Peter! Glad you liked the thread. I think you learned that I am crazy I feel like the McQueen Grey (Schieffer Grau) is ages away sometimes All the encouragement from everyone keeps me motivated! Your welder rocks!

[95avblm3]

Kristoph, Discovered your thread for the first time today at lunch and just finished reading it (had to work today...)

First, thanks for posting your project. I've owned water-cooled P-cars in the past ('87 944S and '88 924S) but always wanted a classic 911 or 912. I am actively looking for a car right now and am trying to absorb as much information as possible. Reading through threads like this is great for guys like me... Plus, my neighbor is almost finished restoring a signal orange '71 T coupe. I've had some hands on experience helping him with the reassembly which has served to firmly set the hook that I need a project for myself.

As a side note, I live in Tampa and am a mechanical engineering graduate of USF. I work in product design and really get a kick out of seeing how these cars were designed from a manufacturability standpoint. In so many ways, things go together much easy and repeatable now than they did then... but new cars certainly lack the soul and character.

Off the subject of P-cars, I imagine we are close in age and I can assure you that, as a native Floridian, there are real native Floridians and many of us are not yet in "heaven's waiting room" so to speak... it just so happens that you live in a part of the state in which really old folks tend to congregate... not that there's anything wrong with it. You probably have discovered it already, but if not, take your Carolina up the bay to Cayo Costa. It is a state park with lots of camping, fishing, hiking and miles of beaches... really a special place. Ding Darling's on Sanibel is really neat too.

[kkinzli]

Day 27: I made some great progress today. I was able to weld in the last patch on the driver floor pan and clean up the remaining areas in preparation for primer. I was also able to primer several areas such as the fender attachment rails that I welded over the weekend. I would post pictures but I think the camera went home in the Padawans pocket I am hoping to get most of the driver pan in primer before I head into work tomorrow.

[Evans, Marv]

Kristoph, You can get diagrams to show the ride height points as Porsche defines it. But most people just measure from the arch of the fender to the ground. Do a search & you can find out the measurement (25 or 25 1/2 for the front). So it might make sense to not bother about the height until you get the fenders installed. Then jack it up & set the ride height a bit high and adjust it after you put it back on the ground so you'll be adjusting down - the easy direction. Put your end caps on to allow for the max adjustment in the direction you want to go.

[kkinzli]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Kristoph, You can get diagrams to show the ride height points as Porsche defines it. But most people just measure from the arch of the fender to the ground. Do a search & you can find out the measurement (25 or 25 1/2 for the front). So it might make sense to not bother about the height until you get the fenders installed. Then jack it up & set the ride height a bit high and adjust it after you put it back on the ground so you'll be adjusting down - the easy direction. Put your end caps on to allow for the max adjustment in the direction you want to go.

Thanks Marv, I appreciate the advice! I think for now the ride height will be fine except that when I drive the car up on ramps in the driveway getting underneath it to work on the floor pan will be difficult. I think if I get some time on Sunday I will try to reset the caps and make the ride height as high as possible based on your advice. Having the car as high as possible will aid me in multiple ways and as you stated I can set the correct height when I am all done.

[kkinzli]

Originally Posted by 95avblm3

Kristoph, Discovered your thread for the first time today at lunch and just finished reading it (had to work today...)

First, thanks for posting your project. I've owned water-cooled P-cars in the past ('87 944S and '88 924S) but always wanted a classic 911 or 912. I am actively looking for a car right now and am trying to absorb as much information as possible. Reading through threads like this is great for guys like me... Plus, my neighbor is almost finished restoring a signal orange '71 T coupe. I've had some hands on experience helping him with the reassembly which has served to firmly set the hook that I need a project for myself.

As a side note, I live in Tampa and am a mechanical engineering graduate of USF. I work in product design and really get a kick out of seeing how these cars were designed from a manufacturability standpoint. In so many ways, things go together much easy and repeatable now than they did then... but new cars certainly lack the soul and character.

Off the subject of P-cars, I imagine we are close in age and I can assure you that, as a native Floridian, there are real native Floridians and many of us are not yet in "heaven's waiting room" so to speak... it just so happens that you live in a part of the state in which really old folks tend to congregate... not that there's anything wrong with it. You probably have discovered it already, but if not, take your Carolina up the bay to Cayo Costa. It is a state park with lots of camping, fishing, hiking and miles of beaches... really a special place. Ding Darling's on Sanibel is really neat too.

I am glad you are enjoying the project! One of the reasons I posted here was to hopefully get in touch with some local people for events, help and advice, etc. It sounds like you have the same "bug" that I had back in 2007-2008. If I hear of any good cars down here or elsewhere I will let you know. Although the 924 and 944s are cool cars they do not compare with the old 911s. I think you are well on the path to madness which is good to see

I also get a kick thinking about how these cars were made and manufactured. I always marvel at the craftsmanship that went into these machines. I also think about the people that built them and that many must have passed on by now. I originally wanted to be an automotive engineer before I decided that getting a job was quite difficult and prospects would be slim. My goal during a part of highschool was to go to GMI, Michigan Tech, or Harvey Mudd for automotive engineering but I opted for the more prudent choice of civil engineering. Anyway, being engineers we have almost 2.5 years of the same undergrads in common

Thanks for the tip on Cayo Costa and Ding Darling. We have gone to both and have been back to Ding Darling several times to paddle (We also have two 16 foot Tarpons). We actually like living in Heaven's Waiting Room and I wasn't ripping on Florida earlier on in the thread. We do have a disproportionate amount of elderly citizens down here but I like them more and more. Most of them are active and enjoy the outdoors and the beach and I hope I can do the same when I get old. They also help our economy tremendously , not unlike Texans that go sking in jeans in Colorado

If you are ever down here shoot me a PM and maybe we can get together for a beer[img]

[kkinzli]

Day 27 pictures: I found the camera hanging with the extension cords this morning

Here are pictures of welding the last patch into the driver floor pan and primer!! I also welded the factory alignment holes shut.

Cleaning up the metal so it is nice an shiny


Marking area to cut out



Cancer removed!!


Patch welded in. I have been using 16 ga to make sure everything is very rigid.



My welds are starting to look almost passable. I would give myself maybe a C+ or B-.
Keep in mind that D stands for diploma or done, which is my grade for the battery box work



Welds ground down


Primer over most of the pan. I have a few areas in the rear that I still need to Ospho a 2nd and 3rd time


Welded area ready for seam sealer

[ej911]

I lived in Bonita Springs for a couple of years, just moved away about six months ago. I lived about a minute on foot from this car and would drive by everyday to go to work. I would slow down, just to see if this old Porsche was outside. It looked great every time I got a glimpse. Even as a "rat" is got my heart a thumpin. I was wondering what he was gonna do with this car and now I know! Great job!

How's the garden going?

Ernie

[kkinzli]

Originally Posted by ej911

I lived in Bonita Springs for a couple of years, just moved away about six months ago. I lived about a minute on foot from this car and would drive by everyday to go to work. I would slow down, just to see if this old Porsche was outside. It looked great every time I got a glimpse. Even as a "rat" is got my heart a thumpin. I was wondering what he was gonna do with this car and now I know! Great job!

How's the garden going?

Ernie

Hi Ernie!

Wow, small world! Thanks for the compliment. Where did you live? I don't recall meeting you. The garden is doing great and we have more tomatoes and eggplants than we can eat. Where did you move to?

Cheers,
Kristoph

[ej911]

I lived on Tonya Court. Left out of your driveway. Straight at the stop sign and then first right. I said hi a couple of times. Wanted to bother you and talk about the car, but never did. I seemed to always be driving by, going somewhere when I saw you outside.
Moved to VA. Lots more work here.

Ernie