My car is breaking appart !!

[IMONBOOST]

My car has all the interior carpets out (It's in race trim!) and I noticed that the interior gel coat is cracking all over the place since I intalled the new suspension (Which means it is undergoing alot more stress). Is this something to worry about? Dies this mean the welds are next? I am going to install a Roll Bar soon, will this help?

'77 Carrera 3.0

[Doug Zielke]

Gel Coat??
What the hell are you talking about? Is your car made out of fiberglass? Please explain.

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'81 SC Coupe (aka: "Blue Bomber")
Canada West Region PCA
The Blue Bomber's Website

[IMONBOOST]

I believe the Porsches have some kind of gel coat or rubber like coat beafore they paint them on top of the welds, kind of like the black stuff under the car to protect them from rust. If this is just my imagination, then my car is trully breaking! The cracks are in the following spots, you can't see them beacause this is not my car and the carpet is on,



'77 Carrera 3.0

[This message has been edited by IMONBOOST (edited 08-10-2001).]

[Doug Zielke]

Yeah, that makes it a lot clearer!

Actually, the interior floors do have a sort of coating that was intended (I think) to deaden sound. In an old car, it's probably starting to dry out, hence the cracking.

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'81 SC Coupe (aka: "Blue Bomber")
Canada West Region PCA
The Blue Bomber's Website

[IMONBOOST]

Sorry, I tried to fix the pic but could not. This is where the Shifter Coupler resides.

'77 Carrera 3.0

[dtw]

I can't really picture your car or problem areas, and I don't really know what mods you have done or where you drive your car. That information would help. Now, inside the cabin, there are big thick tar paper sheets under the paint. These can flex which would crack the paint. It is not likely that suspension mods caused this cracking- the floorpan is not really a stressed member. You probably are just noticing it for the first time.

I have worked on a '75 Carrera running monoballs, uprated springing, and heavy track use. This car had stress cracking, splits, and outright fractures in the unibody above the front shock towers. There was also a bit of deformation around the front suspension mounting points.

If you are going to be tracking this car, you may wish to consider (in order of cost escalation...)

-triangulated strut tower bar up front, and fabricate reinforcing plates to weld into the front shock towers. \
-seam welding all front and rear unibody panel joints (costs even more $$ if you want pretty paint afterwards)
-weld-in partial or full cage.

Give us more information about your existing mods, and what you are trying to do with the car. Or refer me to a previous thread if I missed something.

-d

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Dave
'72 911T to '73 RSR Replica Project

[This message has been edited by dtw (edited 08-10-2001).]

[IMONBOOST]

The cracks look very fresh to me and I really doubt they were there.
This is a track car, it has attended two events so far, it has the following:

Upper stree bar (Weltmeister not triangulated)
F and R Sway Bars 22mm
F and R Torsion Bars 23mm and 29mm
BF R1s on 7 and 8s

'77 Carrera 3.0

[not_sure]

This is easy, peel it all up and weld all you seams, that would probally stiffin you up a little.

Tom
71T (in race trim as well, sorta)

[jlex]

Check it in the winter time... maybe you've just never noticed the expansion that summertime temperatures may account for. May close back up in winter to where it should be. Just how wide are these cracks anyway? Probably nothing to worry about.
regards,
jlex.

[IMONBOOST]

I live in Puerto Rico, it never gets below 70s here. Thanks for the suggestion anyways.

'77 Carrera 3.0