ducktail fitting help needed
 

i'm fitting the new duck i bought and everything is great, except for the bottom (above the reflector on my 83). it appears to be sitting a bit too high and i may have to shave off some of the underside where it bumps out and meets up with the rubber strip on the body (under the lid, below the latch). does anyone have a couple shots of a well-fitted duck? particularly i am looking for a couple side views and then one showing how low the back should be (again, just above the reflector).

thanks.

man, your 911 has come along way Kris!

I was looking for duck pics and found this-
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/650155-duck-tail-images-please.html

There are several good photos in here.

funny how working way too many hours frees up money for car parts isn't it? now i just have to scale back on the work so i can finish installing everything i have.

how was the swap meet this year?

thanks for the link, i'll check it out now.

The swap meet was ok. The weather was crappy but it was nice to see old friends.

bummer about the weather. i was about 3 weeks behind on my job when it happened and spent 10 hours in the office that saturday trying to finish up for the east coast trip the following weekend (hershey, ac, jersey shore, ac, philly, baltimore and back to home.


i am by no means a body man, so if anyone can give me some pointers here i would really appreciate it. after looking at some of the ducks in the thread wayne posted mine is way off at the bottom. here is what i am dealing with.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/Untitled.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0922.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0929.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0923.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0928.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0927.jpg

this is the part i *think* i have to shave down but i'm not certain.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0926.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0925.jpg


as it sits now the only thing i have done is to add a pair of washers to the front-most bolts to push up the upper corners of the duck to meet the body. anyone got any ideas?

My tail has a very similar lift to it going the same direction...also interested how to fix it!

anyone have any ideas?

Start by taking the hood shock out of the equation. The duck is so light compared to the stock decklid that the shock will push it out of alignment. Then I would try different shim combinations and slide the duck back a few millimeters on the hinges. You may start to close in on the right fit. I would try all of these things before taking the grinder to the tail. Aftermarket tails rarely fit (my opinion) as nicely as a factory tail or decklid. Good luck!

I had the same issue and it still looks like a$$ ;)

Try shimming the front edge up so it better matches the roof line.

This should lower the rear edge down a bit.

don't think the strut is causing the problem but i could be wrong. the tail sits down all the way just fine, it's just too high near the license plate.

the leading edge matches the car's line perfectly right now, but i'll try it with another washer or two to see what happens. overall it seems like there is something preventing the tail from going down all the way above the license plate. i have a week to try to get it right before i take it to my body shop to have it painted (and fitted if i can't get it).

thanks all.

Agree you need to remove the lift strut from the equation. Do you still have the rear engine bay seal on the car? It's cut off in your photo. If you pull that seal does the tail sit on down like it should? How about shine a light in and look through the grill opening to see what's hitting? If I couldn't see what was hitting I'd run a ring of modeling clay around the edge and see where the interference is before I started grinding.

J

Did you know you can adjust the closed height by threading the latch pin in or out?

good point on the rubber seal. pulled it off when i got home tonight and the lid is almost a perfect fit without it. a little more fiddling with it and it should be great, which brings up 2 questions - do i have to have that rubber seal? once i drill out and install the rubber bump stops in the tail will that affect the height?

the latch isn't even installed yet so i don't think that is the problem. the tail is sitting down as far as it will go as it is.

I don't know on the seal. I've only had my 911 for a few weeks. My work keeps me around wrecked cars and bodyshops.

I'll have to look at the bumpstops on my car. In general bumpstops are used to set the gap and should be adjustable. If the bumpstops you have aren't adjustable I don't see any reason you couldn't add adjustable bumpstops.

If your tail bumpstops are like these from the front they simply thread up into a hole and are adjustable for height.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1339817579.jpg

Ya I have factory pieces. The tail didn't come with anything so I have to transfer everything over from my stock lid.

I'll play with it more this weekend but it looks like I was right and the tail will have to be shaved inside to work with the seal. They designed it so in my mind it has to stay.

Is your decklid seal fully seated? I know when I got my car home I was standing behind it with the lid up and noticed it was grungy behind the seal so I pulled it out and cleaned. When it went back it )or I tought it was in) the seal stoof up taller than before. Which is my longwinded way of saying make sure the seal is fully seated.

The seal works by compressing. With the seal installed can you push on the ductail and it sit down flush? As mentioned before would having the latch installed help pull the ducktail down?

How does the ducktail compare to your original tail?

The seal was seated all the way, and surprisingly clean under it - not a spec of dirt. I could not push the duck down far enough to make it sit properly with the seal in place. I can't see where the plunger would help based on my last sentence.

Just looked at mine. Yes, the bumpstops are adjustable. They just thread up into the lid frame. What suprised me is where the seal rubs the decklid. It's not on the bottom edge it's the forward facing edge where the rubmarks are.

Have you tried sliding the tail back? Ignore the fit up top and slide the lid "out" on the hinges. Are the hinges sloted? Looking at your pics again it looks like your lid lower trailing edge could come out a little to pull even with the quarters. You may end up with a wider gap at the top/front edge below the window but that's an easier fix than grinding away at the lower portion.

Someone else suggested adding washers to the upper bolt on the hinge. I agree. I think you raise the leading edge and pull the whole thing back.

Keep in mind that the lid was made from two parts. Upper and lower. If they aren't bonded together just right fit issues show up. Lower has to fit the hinges/latch and upper has to sit in the hole and fit with no gaps. If your lucky these two are the same spot. As you are finding out more than likely they are not. You just have to keep adjusting 'til you find the best compromise fit and then start modifying to clean up the bad spots.

J-

yep, that is the same edge mine is rubbing on (forward most part of the bump out on the bottom). i'm going to reinstall the rubber seal and cover it with chalk to see exactly where it is that is causing the tail to sit up but i think i know the answer already.

the slots do have some adjustment but sliding it back any further causes the end of the tail to extend past the line above the reflector too much. i've already added some washers to bring the upper edge (along the window) to be flush with the body, and any more and it will be above the body.

It looks like you're down to removing material from the "frame" of the ducktail. I'd focus there. Removing any material from the upper surface disturbs the gel coat and you may be fighting some show through -- forever. So, keep the gelcoat intact as much as possible.

Having said that, it appears from the pix (not certain about this) that the front edge of the lid has too much of an arch. It appears flush in the middle and low at the hinge corners. This may be just the lighting, but if you adjust for the corners, it will ever so slightly change how the lid sits in the rear.

yep, i was referring to grinding/trimming down the under side of the tail at the bottom, where it meets the rubber seal.

i think the pics make the top edge look worse than it is. it actually looks pretty flush along that edge, and with a couple washers on each side the corners match the body well.

Sounds like you have it covered. Typical ducktails on the market today should be thought of as a copy of a copy of a copy. The originals didn't fit perfectly.

Most copies seem to leave big gaps along the sides.

In the past, I've tried replacing the cast "frame" on fiberglass ducks with a stock steel frame, hoping the fit would improve. But that brings its own set of challenges, including separation of the fiberglass from the steel (this is an area that heat cycles a lot). Good luck. I think you're on the right track. Please share progress pix.

just to be clear this is the edge i am contemplating trimming. it appears to be the one that is causing the tail to stick up when the rubber seal is installed but i will know for certain in a couple hours when i can get out there.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...Untitled-1.jpg

I have only done this once and I'm not a body man but it is all about "splitting the difference". Especially if you are not going to grind and fill the edges with FG as most manufactures would suggest.

You seem to have washers only under the front (top) hinge holes. Try stacking another washer or 2 under the front holes and then like maybe 1 in the lower hole. This may lift the bar you want to grind enough and still be OK with the under the window and qtr. flush fit.

i'll give it a shot but i don't think that will solve the problem. by adding washers i will be raising the front edge, which doesn't need to be, an doing nothing to help seat the tail lower over the rubber seal. thanks for the suggestion though.

didn't get a chance to mess with the duck today but for comparison here is the duck with the rubber seal in place.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0922.jpg


and here without

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0933.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0934.jpg


getting there.....


i happened to go to a local track today where my pca was hosting a de event. there were a pair of 911s sitting next to each other, both with ducks. one sat fully flush with the quarters and the other was slightly raised like in my last 2 pics above (the sides). after seeing them both in person i have changed my mind and like it sticking up a bit along the side. i can't tell you why, it just looks better to me. luckily that way is a lot easier to achieve in my case :)

finally figured out the problem. the duck was for an early car as it had the area on the bottom (under the lower lip) to mount the license plate lights. instead of cutting up the tail i removed the rubber strip and replaced it with some foam that the tail can seal up against.

Do these ducktails come with provisions for an a/c condenser?
I really want to put one on my coupe.

i don't think so but i could be wrong. i removed my ac years ago and don't really remember how they connect. i can tell you they do not come with the mount for the engine bay light so i'll have to figure out a way to mount it.

They don't. But creative fabrication can be done to mount to one of the aftermarket ducktails.

My aftermarket condenser mounted to the hinges in front, so I fabbed some brackets out of aluminum angle across the rear of the condenser to mount to both sides of the tail.

http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/a...asyover/c2.jpg
http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/a...asyover/c4.jpg
http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/a...asyover/c3.jpg

this is the edge i was talking about

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0926.jpg


here you can see where older style license plate lights would go

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...e/IMG_0925.jpg

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