Thanks Wayner! I am also looking forward to seeing the Rat in slate gray. Nice work on fitting your bumper. I think the current fit on mine is passable but not nearly as good as the original bumper. Just one of those compromises you have to make when you consider $350 for FG vs $1400 for original steel. The Rat is in no way going to be a garage queen and I fully expect to have scrapes on the bumper in the coming years. If I need to replace it in the future with something else it will not be a big deal.

Here is a link a thread about slate gray paint codes I started. Thanks to everybody that posted the sweet looking slate gray cars

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/707964-slate-gray-paint-question.html

Day 58. Today after work I swung by Ace Hardware and picked up a tungsten cutting blade for the dremel tool and cut the oval holes in the FG bumper to fit the smile. The dremel tool has been a lifesaver throughout the entire project and I highly recommend it for all sorts of small jobs from scrapping and grinding rust to polishing and cutting oval shaped holes;) I am very satisfied with how the fit turned out. I also checked the fitment on the front headlights, signal lights and horn grills in relation to the FG bumper. It looks like the body shop will need to work on the passenger fender a little as it still shows a gap at the signal light housing from a previous dent. Overall I think this is going to turn out pretty well. In the final picture I did not attach the FG bumper to the fenders and that is why there is such a large gap. A word of wisdom to readers of this thread: Be careful when tightening the T bolts on the smile!! I snapped one of them off with very little applied torque:mad:. Luckily the smile still snugs up nice with 7 instead of 8 T bolts.
I finished the evening by taking the smile back off and watching Lemans for inspiration! I still need to sand down and repaint the bumper and take care of several other small tasks but I think I can have the car ready for paint by the end of the weekend. I will be calling the shop to set up a schedule in the next few days:D:D:D:D:D:D

Day 58 pictures:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1348627842.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1348627862.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1348627883.jpg

I called the shop yesterday and the Rat goes in on Monday morning (fingers crossed). Before then I have to sand down and repaint the front bumper, set the ride height, spruce up a few things on the interior including a final coat of flat black on the pans and tunnel ( I don't want any black stuff getting on the new paint even in dust form), bleed the brakes (read no brake fluid on new paint), address the headlight attachment screws (I might drill these out a little larger and tap the new holes - the shape of the tabs is not too bad other than the oversize screws). I might have to "drive":rolleyes: the car over to Peter's to weld in new tabs if the first option does not work. If I run out of time I might deal with the tabs at a later date but that is my last option. One other thing I want to do before paint is drill the holes for the license plate in the new rear panel. Luckily I have the old panel and can use it as a template. I also need to layout the new headliner on the guest bed so it has plenty of time to straighten out. I am also planning on recovering the dash next week and getting various interior pieces ready for the final install.

Yesterday I was able to place what is hopefully my last order. I purchased the Autobahn Interior Perlon Carpet Kit (Haargarn was way too much at $1000) and based on pictures from Tony I will be happy with this kit. Matched with my RS door panels I think the carpet will look great. I also ordered a new paint plate that I will stamp 68-6801, rivets to attach the threshold plates, vin tag on A pillar and vin plate in the trunk. I also ordered new end caps for both the front and rear bumpers. My original end caps for the bumpers and rockers will be for sale shortly in the classified section.
As a few of you may remember from earlier my mother in law shops at Pelican! I have now convinced my biological mother to follow suite and I am getting a new trunk carpet as an early birthday present:cool: Maybe I can get a toolkit case for X-mas?

Is there anything that I am forgetting? Please post any advice or suggestions on things I need to address before the Rat goes off to the painter.

did you get a list from the painter as to how he wants the car?

maybe call him or go by there with a pad & pencil, as he may be more of a talker than a writer

Hi Randy,

I took the car to the painter the same day I had the wheel wells blasted. He told me he wanted the car with all the panels on so they can do the block sanding and make sure everything lines up. After I inspect and ok the final sanding I have to take everything apart for the final paint.

Kristoph,
Regarding the headlight retaining screws (which keep nagging at me). The rat had sheet metal screws in there, which I believe it should not. I think the correct retaining screw was threaded, maybe an M4? Perhaps someone here will weigh in with the correct thread pitch and diameter? It would seem easiest to me to weld a nut to the backside of the tab. Or weld the nut to another tab which could clip over the existing tab. Those are a sweet set of vintage H1's, which you don't want accidentally flying off some day (and you know my underlying selfish reason for this).

But very excited to see the progress. And let me know what you would like for the bumper and rocker deco end caps. I could use them.

DG

Hi there Obi Wan,

Today after teaching I was able to sand down the front bumper and shoot it in a fresh coat of primer. This primer actually stuck as I had sanded down the gel coat. I was also able to set the ride height to 25.5 inches and the Rat looks a lot better. I think I can leave bleeding the brakes until after paint and was planning on addressing the headlight screws tomorrow afternoon and wrap everything up on Saturday. I certainly understand your concern about the headlights! I currently have all of the new parts layed out in the garage for when the car comes back from paint. I should be getting the carpet and all of the yellow zinc nuts and bolts by the middle of next week! I will throw the endcaps in the mail for you sometime next week.

Day 59: Today I was able to fit the rear license plate and drill the holes in the hood for the crest. I also dealt with the loose headlight screws and ended up using an M5 nut and a phillips head screw attached with JB weld. I am able to torque down the screws quite hard after letting it sit for 24 hours and I think this will work fine. This reminded me of when I JB welded a part of the shifter over three years ago and it is still holding strong. The reason I decided to go with the JB weld was that the tab was quite thin and I think it was beyond my welding skills. Here are a few pictures

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1348937857.jpg

I know this is not the correct badge because it is not orange but it is what the Rat came with. I will rock this for many years to come until I randomly get the money to replace it. Who am I kidding, as a professor it will be the red badge for as long as I own the Rat!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1348937875.jpg


Starting to do some of the dash recovery work. So far it has not been very successful
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1348938041.jpg

I have to say I prefer the red badge over the orange ones - apparently, so did Ferry or someone at Porsche...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1348957862.jpg
Here is a slate grey alternative, I chose Porsche grauschwarz 7A1 or grey black from 2010 GT3RS.

Day 60: I am incredibly giddy right now and I have a feeling it will be difficult to sleep tonight. Thinking back to my childhood I believe I felt this same way about Christmas. Tomorrow morning the Rat goes to the painter!!!:D:cool::p:)http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif

In order to finalize things I did a final cleaning which involved using the air compressor and shop vac for about 2 hours to make sure all of the garnet from blasting was gone. I think there was about 4 hours of total cleanup and vacuuming after blasting. Even so the blasting was well worth it. Here is a picture of the Rat on the driveway during the final cleaning.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349052173.jpg

After the final cleaning I sprayed the floor and the tunnel with the final coat of flat black!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349052240.jpg

The last step was to pick up the tow dolly from Peter

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349052566.jpg

I think I am all set to take the car in the morning. Luckily the "Black Knight" will only have to tow the Rat for 1.5 miles. The plan is for the shop to do the final sanding of the entire body and the minimal bodywork on the right rear fender, roof and sort out a few other minor dents and dings. Once the final sanding is complete I will head over and inspect the work. If I am happy with it I will diassemble the car at their shop. They will then paint the removable panels and the car with 3 coats of slate gray (6801) with single stage urethane (Dupont) in a paint booth. The final coat is going to be urethane with clearcoat mixed in. I have seen several cars at their shop with this type of paint job and they look amazing. The shop will also do the final buffing. Once everything is done I will take the parts back home apart from the car and store them in the guest bedroom again:rolleyes: I will use Peter's dolly to get the painted Rat back into the garage and then the assembly can begin. I am not sure how long this process will take but I am thinking maybe by the beginning of next week I will have the Rat back. In the meantime the zinc plated parts, the final order of trim parts, and a new carpet should arrive this week! This will be an epic week for good old 119121826:)

Great story, can't wait to see the endresult.

Thanks! Neither can I;)

Day 61: Transporting car to the painter. This morning before heading into work I was able to take the car to the painter. I was able to use Peter's tow dolly and had no problem towing the Rat with the Black Knight. After a lengthy discussion with the painter I decided to go with a basecoat clearcoat instead of a single stage urethane paint. Basically, I will have 3 coats of color and 3 coats of clearcoat on all sides of the panels. The shop will do the final buffing as well. Some of the work they showed me today was show quality and they said that mine will turn out the same :D
I also got a call from the electro plater and was told that my parts are in the mail!!

Here are some transport pictures. I made sure to cushion everything with old towels and tie everything shut to avoid any damage during transport

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349124136.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349124156.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349124175.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349124191.jpg


My sad empty garage:(

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1349124263.jpg

Hey Kristoph!

Must feel great to see the car go to the painter. Sorry if you already said it... but how long until you get it back for final assembly?

You should have a celebratory beer this evening for a pretty major milestone. I look forward to the day I can do the same.

Jeremy

Just think about how happy it will be with a shiny, Slate Grey 69T in it.:D

Hi Jeremy! It does indeed feel great to have the car go to the painter. Today was indeed a big day for the Rat. Orange rats are not nearly as cool as slate gray ones so I can't wait to see the transformation. I think I will have the car back sometime next week.