Carrera tail and spoiler install (pics)

[emcon5]

I spent the day at a friend's house installing a Carrera tail and chin spoiler on my 82 911SC. Thanks to a fellow board member, who traded me a black tail/lid he had for a white one that I just bought, I didn't have to get it painted. Here is how the car looked when I got up this morning:


With Wayne's book in hand, we jacked up the front end and removed the wheels to get better access to the front valance. The plan was to mount the chin spoiler with the valance on the car. Unfortunately, the the bar shielding the front A/C condenser made this look to be more trouble than it was worth. Plan B was to remove the valance, which was ended up much easier than it looked at first. Two screws holding each trim piece in place behind the bumper bellows, one bolt on each end of the valance forward of the bellows, and two bolts from the luggage compartment and the valance was lose. Took the covers off the fog lights and disconnected the wires, push the wires through the grommets and the valance was off. The only PITA was getting to the bolt on the passenger side, as the horns and oil cooler fan makes it pretty tight in there. Here it is all apart:



With Wayne's book to show us how the fasteners went, we drilled and attached the ends, then drilled the other holes, and put everything together. To keep the small drill bit from walking around when we drilled the pilot holes, we put masking tape on the valance, then drilled through the tape. This worked out very well. Here is a shot of the spoiler mounted to the valance, waiting to be installed on the car.



And back on the car:



Next we removed the old engine lid from the hinges and set it aside. I purchased a dual engine lid shock kit from Pelican, and removed the existing shock to install the kit when Mr. Murphy showed up. The hood shock that came with the kit was the wrong one (DOH). The strut appears to be the one for the front hood. No big deal, mistakes happen, so thinking happy thoughts, I called the local Porsche dealer. Much to my surprise, they had one in stock. A short trip in my friend's car and $18 later, the second shock was installed.



Four bolts and two screws later and the engine lid with tail was installed. After an hour of adjusting both sides and the depth of the latch, I was happy with the fit, and it opened every time I pulled the release handle. A wash and coat of Mother's on the new lid and it was good to go:

From the Right:


From the left, note the mismatched rear wheel:


I am pretty happy with how it turned out. The big problem from here on will be getting in and out of my driveway without dragging it on the concrete.

The old lid was leaning against my friend's trash can, and I liked how the reflection looked:


To finish off the day, I took a drive on the freeway to see if I would notice any difference. It felt a little more planted at 75-80MPH. I seemed less affected by cross winds, and turbulence from passing big trucks. I was hoping to do a brief run to triple digits, but there was too much traffic, and it was dark by this time, so I will have to do that another day.

Some other stuff, in no particular order:

It looks like my front valance may have been red at one time. There are a few small patches on the underside where red paint is visible. My old engine lid was also red, but I don't think they were painted at the same time. The paint quality on the old lid was way lower than that on the valance. A spot where bird poop ate the paint in about 2 days can be seen in the reflection pic above (the thumbprint on the rear wheel, isn't a thumbprint).

The new lid has the correct tune-up sticker and vacuum diagram for the car, same year and everything. The old lid did not have a sticker. How's that for good luck?

My left front wheel has been rubbing on the filler hose for the windshield washer reservoir, and one of the A/C hoses. I added a couple zip ties to try and get them higher, but I need to keep an eye on that.

Lining up the engine lid was a pain in the a$$.

I am going to hit the hardware store tomorrow and see if I can fabricate something to attach to the tow hooks to act as a skid plate.

All in all, a pretty good day.

Tom


------------------
82 911SC Coupe

[Rollins]

Your car looks 100 times better with the tail. Good job!

[masraum]

Personally I love the Carrera style tail. I have a black '88 targa that came with the front spoiler but no tail. I am dying to get a tail for mine for appearances and balanced handling even though I have had my car "up there" without noticing a problem.

As far as the skid plates go, Tweeks sells some. You could probably make some cheaper than buying them from tweeks, but maybe if you can get a picture (no online catalog) it'll help you fabricate something. The tweeks part # is 403-653 and they are $50 a set. It looks like they are two thick pieces of steel approximately teardrop shaped with three bolts holding them together clamping around the stock tow-hooks. I need to remove my tow-hooks straighten them out with a big hammer, and then install something like that myself. Scary thing is my car is at US height and I want to lower to Euro (about 3/4" in the front).

[makaio]

Your car looks great!

------------------
Matt Chamblin
78 911 SC

[89911]

Here is your grade: Content A, Presentation A+, Difficulty B. Overall you score an A for your report. Nice job and it nice to see your car restored with it's missing appendages!

------------------
8 9 9 1 1, The last of the line.

[davis911s]

I LOVE IT, Great work I did the same to my 77 Targa.

Shawn

[Clark Griswald]

Tom,

looking good.

At the suggestion of another board member, I made my own skid plate reinforcements.

Picked up some large washers at OSH and appropriately large bolts, and just bolted the washers to the factory skids. Cost about $2 and works well. When they wear, pick up some new washers.

[emcon5]

Thanks everyone, I am really happy how it turned out.

Chuck, I hit Orchard Supply Hardware as well as the local True Value this morning. Unfortunately, the largest fender washers I found will only hang below the tow hooks by a few millimeters. I hit Home Depot and the hardware store again, trying to find something larger, but didn't find anything I could use. The problem I found was that my tow hooks are bent a little bit, both angled slightly toward the drivers side. I need to come up with something, they have taken quite a beating.



I need to try and straighten them out, but I am not sure how. My favorite 4' crowbar won't fit I am also a little afraid I will screw something up. I will work on it some more.

Tom

------------------
82 911SC Coupe

[jevose]

What did you do about the decklid emblem. Did you move it to the tail with the lid? Or was there one already there? I just installed a tail on my SC and the "911SC" emblem holes are partially covered by the tail. I have not gotten around to try and redrill the holes. What did you do??



------------------
jevose
82 911 SC
88 930 Turbo

[Clark Griswald]

The washers I used are about 2 inches, however the Carrera has a different style skid. I thought the SC was the same.

My goal was to reinforce the skids as they tend to bend / wear with use, not to make them hang lower. However the washers do hang down an extra 1/2 inch or so.

I don't think the washers would work as well on the SC skids. You might pick up a set of used Carrera skids at Parts Heaven or Easy. They Can't be very expensive.

[emcon5]

Originally posted by jevose:
What did you do about the decklid emblem. Did you move it to the tail with the lid? Or was there one already there?

There wasn't one there, and I haven't put one on yet. My plan at this point is to order a new emblem, then remove the mounting studs and attach it with some sort of double stick tape. 3M probably makes something designed for attaching badges.

On the later cars, the emblem didn't have the mounting studs anyway, so this should work. Before I do anything, I will pull my old badge of my old lid and look at the back to see if it looks doable.

Tom



------------------
82 911SC Coupe

[ZwickSAN]

Great job!
Now, I might consider adding one to my '88 Carerra.

Mick
AFC

[stuttgart]

she now looks great!!



Eric Mckenna
78SC

[Kurt B]

Looks great man, nice job!

[Matt Holcomb]

Very tidy work! You should be very proud of yourself, Tom.


Matt Holcomb
MFIWDP
1974 911 Carrera 2.7 RoW
1975 Mercedes-Benz 280SE
Dedicated Homepage
Engine Rebuild Homepage
Porsche Owners Gallery Profile
Pelican Gallery Profile

[Jadams1]

Nice transformation, looks great! I'm thinking of doing mine next year. I'm hoping to pick up the tail and chin spoiler at Hershey.

[emcon5]

Thanks guys, even though this thread is from last November. I still haven't done anything with the badge, I think it looks OK without one.

Stuttgart, Yours looks good, it that tail new? Looks like an RS-America type without a rubber lip, is it?

Tom

[stuttgart]

TOM,
YEP IT'S AN RS TAIL IT'S ALL FIBERGLASS VERY LIGHT.. THEY ADD A WHOLE NEW LOOK TO THE CARS..


ERIC MCKENNA
78sc

[pwd72s]

Greetings to all...I'm writing from Paul's machine to comment on skid plates..I wanted them for this ride based on a previous big ride in my '77..install was a low priority/last minute thing..couldn't get my act together to fabracate my own design so I called Pelican who did a special order of the tear drop design that masraum wrote about..I received the plates and figure I wasted my bucks..I didn't think they would preform..Well, 11,641 miles later and bashing from over 13 states in all kinds of terrain that a 911 could possibly be on proved my initial thoughts wrong...No way a set of washers would have held up or provided the protection I received from these plates..I could have build a more complicated/stronger skid plate, no question..and, IMO, they are overpriced...but if you need a simple install that performs spend the bucks and call Pelican.......
ALSO..the S-03 set is probably good for another 3k
..a HP cop saw me behind him when he entered the Interstate. Limit was 75 mph..I'm still wakeing upand sipping coffee at 70 mph..I watch him race ahead at big speeds for 2 minutes...10 minutes later I come over a hill and the guy is below with his laser to wack specifically me for his coffee and donuts conversation...I'm still w/my coffee and ruined his..
.. have not heard from Permatune yet on why I had ignition problems on the Extratrestral Hy in Nevada that led to strange happenings...Pelican parts man Darren bailed me out big time to get me the parts I needed while traveling to strange parts of this planet [ I keep being drawn to OreGun for some strange reason ]
...Attending ThunderHill to meet Pelican heads was a kick..faces to attach to their spirit was educational and gave me a clearer prespective on who I'm hanging with on this board..on a brief note, the smoothness and low key cool of MMARSH in person is transfered to the track...IMO Mike is a prince in waiting..if you meet him on a track now is the time to pass him, don't miss this season or next to do so..it may be your last...
...gotta run..the weather is opening for I-5 ride in Washington.............RoninLB...