Another Long Hood Restoration...introducing "Brownie"

[samjepperson]

I have really appreciated everyone's guidance and help over the years on this forum and the early S registry so I thought I would try and pay it back by creating a chronicle of repairs/improvements/tricks on my new restoration project, a two owner original unmodified and neglected 1972T Coupe in Sepia Brown (or as my 4 year old daughter calls it the "brownie".

The coupe had been a local car for the last 20 years and was bought by a fellow Denver Porsche restoration expert 10 years ago. He drove the car until one day while driving on a Sunday afternoon he noticed parts bouncing off of the pavement and then a sudden drop in the front, yep the front tank support was rusted so badly that the a-arm mounts had collapsed and parts just fell off. Owner didn't feel like having a lowrider so he just parked it in the back of his shop. Car had spent some time outside...back inside, then partially dismantled...engine and tranny taken out and pickled and finally back outside under a tarp. I originally noticed the car four years ago while sourcing parts for my 71S Targa. The owner was adamant that he would restore the car some day and would never sell. Well this past fall/winter I was on the hunt once again for an early car and was reminded of the 72 under the tarp. I made a call and met the owner and worked a deal where we agreed on a price and that he would complete the necessary bodywork and paint. The Porsche god was shining brightly that day!

The plan is too complete a nice driver level restoration with a strict budget in place. I will attempt to complete all the work necessary except for the paint and body, which will be completed by Steve Lindholm (whom I highly recommend for any and all specialized sheet metal repair and paint work at reasonable prices in the Denver area).

Once the car was rolled into the shop, I had the opportunity to look the car and damage over more closely. The running gear is in excellent condition and the engine has been rebuilt in the past, including the MFI system. However, it has been taken down to a longblock - maybe an opportunity to add 2.2E pistons and cams???? Although we have a dry climate here in Colorado we still face the rust bug; a new front suspension pan will be needed and few other minor areas that will need repair - rockers, longitudinals, torsion tubes and other important areas are bone dry! Interior is complete but totally toasted from the sun - will need a complete redo. All in all an excellent uncut 72 that will definitely be a keeper.

So now comes the scary part - actually starting the process of restoration. How much rust is really there, how much stuff is really missing, what can I compromise on and what can I splurge on and finally can I really keep my budget....stay tuned as we walk thru the process.

[Porboynz]

If there is no rust at the base of the front window, the wing supports are good, the door lock and hinge posts and the jack points look good, I would say that you are onto a winner. Other tell tales are the sheet metal around the indicator assemblies looks to be good from the photos. That front tank mount area is an easy fix, probably battery acid related therefore very localised. Good luck and keep up with the photos.

[RWebb]

I love the '72 oil tank location!

Best wishes on not finding much rust!

[Winter]

Sam, if you need an extra pair of hands at any point in the process, I'm looking to gain some experience prior to my engine drop and resto of the ratty '75. I have a pretty flexible schedule. PM me. I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Cheers!

[samjepperson]

Well after taking a side trip this weekend to New Mexico to watch my CU Buffaloes tackle UNLV and Baylor in the Men's NCAA Tournament I am back home and was able to devote a couple of hours to stripping the coupe down further.

It took about two and half hours to get the back glass, windshield, interior and other miscellaneous parts off of the car - I wish assembling was that easy. A couple of tricks for the dash removal is too have the windshield removed, otherwise it is never coming out and you have too remove the gauges one at a time in order to get to the nuts (one on the left, two in the center and one on the right of the gauge cluster).



Before buying the coupe I was able to talk to the owner in detail on some of the body issues and other items, so I was hoping I would not get any big surprises...well surprise surprise! After removing all of the interior (including the tar sound deadening material) I found more of the dreaded RUST! The rear package tray looked to be solid from looking at it from the underside in the engine compartment and there was no evidence of leakage on the top thru the back window. However I found that the "package tray metal" was really just rust fragments held together by the engine sound deadening material (basically it was the meat in a sandwhich). I suspected that there might be a little rust up there as I have seen on my past restorations, but this was unbelievable. On a positive note, the rest of the floor pan including the back seat area and pedal cluster area was clean, except for some minor surface scaling here and there.

This is what it looks like from the engine compartment (not so bad huh):


This is what it looks like after removing the sound deadener panel (terrible):


The only other (besides the previous mentioned tank support arear) rust issues are the passenger rear window area on the bottom and a small hole on the drivers side by the fender attachment panel. Other minor body imperfections have been found such as a old repair to the passenger rocker and passenger quarter panel.







My next project is to start sorting thru all of the parts too see what is salvageable and what I need to get. Also I will start some of the easy items to restore such as the pedal cluster and interior trim pieces. Hopefully if it all works out I can get most of the interior ready and some of the suspension work done before paint (which should be in two months or so). I will be helping Steve with some of the bodywork as time permits and will try and do some of the other easy work to save some money such as grinding the rust scaling away and Por 15 it.

One of the big ticket items that I know I will need to get is a dashpad. Does anyone recommend a good repair company that can fix it, or am I stuck with trying to find a really good used one?

[samjepperson]

Slow going but was able to cut out part of the front gas tank support and the front latch support lip (where the weatherstripping goes). Unfortunately there was some rust under the tank support where you usually weld the support to, so I will have to cut that out and then have Steve weld in a new custom piece prior to fitting the new support from Restoration Design. Next step after this will be to fit and weld in the new support and then I can Por 15 everything and finish with factory undercoating and then a final respray with Sepia Brown. Also will have to custom fabricate the lip for the latch support...

[lrodri64]

Hi Sam !
Been there, I also have a 72 T with more or less the same work. I did all body repair myself. Good luck with your project, you need to do something EVERY DAY to see progress. Attached are a couple of pictures for your reference.

[samjepperson]

Thanks for the pictures, that last one is exactly the custom piece that needs to be built. I wish I could work on this everyday to see results, but with two little ones at home, it would be impossible. I have a target date of December to get it done, we shall see. If you have any pointers or suggestions please let me know.

[zotman72]

Boy Sam I saw this car rusting away behind Steve's shop several years ago. The rust never slept on this 911. You are a brave soul. I have a good dash that might work for you, but it will not be cheap. My 72T was originally Sepia Brown too. I will watch your progress closely. Good luck!

[samjepperson]

Progress has been made on the car over the last couple of weeks. I was able to get the front suspension and other components off of the car in order for Steve to put the car on a rotisserie. I have bagged and labeled everything up and have sorted items to get plated and other items to get powdercoated. I have used powder coating on all of my other previous restorations with excellent results...it is not cheap but lasts and the best part is that I do not have to sit in front of a bead blast machine for hours and then mask off for painting.



Once we got the car up on the rotisserie we were able to get the front pan replacement almost complete. Really no issues, other than we had to form a couple of parts that did not come from Restoration Design.




Since I do have some free time after the kids have been put to bed, I have tried to start some smaller projects to keep on the timeline. I was able to remove the gas tank and oil tank and took them to a radiator shop in order to get dipped and cleaned. Neither one was in bad condition or had scaly rust issues, I just felt better knowing they have been cleaned since the car has not ran for 10+ years. I have to say though, that after receiving them back I could really see not much difference! Oh well better safe than sorry. Next up will be to clean the gas tank up and possibly spray a proper grey over the original undercoating, since I have heard that the original grey undercoating is no longer available. I am open to ideas on this one. The oil tank will be sent off to the powder coater for the proper black. I have also been trying to rebuild the pedal cluster, but ran into the issue with the clutch bar "welded" via rust to the shaft...I got some excellent ideas from some Pelican heads and will try that tomorrow.

Also I have been laying out the plan for my suspension rebuild. I was able to source a 15mm stock front and rear sway bars, thanks Pelican! I have been going back and forth on torsion bars and decided since this will not be a full time track warrior but will participate in DE events I will be going with 21mm fronts and 27mm rears...if anybody has a set they want to sell please let me know.

Lastly, I have gone back and forth on replacing the original 3" struts with the Bilstein struts in order to utilize later model calipers and of course Bilstein inserts. Next step was research...after conducting many many hours of late night surfing on all sorts of car forums, I stumbled across what I believe is a fantastic solution that all Porsche owners (especially those with 3" caliper spacing struts) should know about.



If you look closely you will see a caliper next to the stock ATE caliper that looks familiar to an "S" caliper, well it is not. Low and behold it is an aluminum Brembo caliper off of an Alfa Romeo that will fit the 3" struts and all other spacing perfectly! I have heard of this caliper from different sources and an excellent brake restoration shop that many of you know, but could never get the details for some reason (maybe they wanted to protect there secret). Well I like to share good information with the Porsche community, so here are the details; any Alfa Romeo Milano, 75, GTV6 model year 1985 and up utilize the Brembo aluminum caliper, see Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums. And they also utilize the ATE rebuild kit for a SC...

Next up this week will be to continue to sort out parts, use the recently acquired parts tumbler from Harbor Freight (yes that store) to start the terrible process of stripping all of the bolts, nuts and other foreign items in order to get them replated. And hopefully we can start work on the back of the car, replacing the package shelf.

[samjepperson]

Almost forgot, I just happened to also be sidetracked this week by finding a replacement for the 72 during the restoration...here are some teaser shots...

[samjepperson]

Well, time just fly's by doesn't it. I have been working off and on the project over the last 8 months and decided to finally update the posting, but decided this would better fit over on the Early S Registry, so if you are interested check out the details over there. And thanks again to everyone who contributes here...absolutely no way that I could embark on a project like this and be successful.

[gint]

Do you have a link to your S registry thread?

[911 tweaks]

not a member of the "S" registry...can you please post it hear and have the s folks get the link to here...
I hope to be able to follow your great project here on Pelican... :-)
Thx, Bob

[Laneco]

I'm not a member either, can you please post here? Even if you just cut and paste from there, I assure you that there are many of us who would enjoy the read and cheer your progress!

angela

[samjepperson]

Okay no problem I give in...I will cut and paste the info here so both sites get to see the progress (albeit very slowly)...

[vintagecarlover]

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