Narrow body hotrod build: '69 912 w/ 2.0L 911E (to eventual 2.4)

[procan]

I've been lurking for the past year, reading, posting the odd question, buying a few things, and generally working my way up to start work on my car. Well, let's begin!

Some history,
I've been obsessed with Porsche 911 ever since I can remember. I graduated college in April (engineering), landed a job, and got serious about buying my first 911. As a recent grad (and relatively newly married), spending $20-40K on a car was out of the question. I came close to pulling the trigger on a couple mid year cars with 3.0L swaps, but I knew, deep down, I would always long after an early long hood. I am in love with long hoods. After watching "Failure to Launch" with the wife, I became obsessed with owning one. I sat near the front in one of my geology classes, and all the kids behind me would get distracted by my laptop and my constant search for an early 911 as I did little else in class. I digress....

So I found one in my price range. An LWB '69 912 with a 2.0L swap from a 911E. I was in Calgary, the car in San Francisco. After many emails, some phone calls, and a couple one way tickets to San Fran, I was the owner of my dream car (or what has the potential to be). I bought some new tires and had them shipped to the sellers', who graciously had them installed and an alignment done.

In full confidence, I dind't get a PPI, and had no spare tire, and my tools consisted of an incomplete factory tool set. And thus began the 1,500 mile journey.

Things could have gone very badly (because of lack of preparation), but luckily everything went extremely well, although I don't recommend Downtown San Fran to learn a 901 shift pattern. My wife did buy ear plugs though after a couple hours. The carpet kit and sound deadening had been stripped out of the car. I enjoyed the sound though!

[procan]

Here she is when we got home:


Interior:


Engine:

[tharbert]

He shoots! He scores! Congrats & Welcome to the madness.

[procan]

In April my company moved the wife and I to the middle of nowhere in SW Manitoba, right on the North Dakota border. Our new place was just finished, and I now have a nice work space for the car! My budget is tight, so I am doing things in steps while keeping her drive-able.

The plans for now are:
- Bleed brakes, re-build calipers, new pads+rotors (she pulls to one side when I brake)
- Replace all the suspension bushings
- Carpet kit
- Door cards
- Fix/recover dash and steering wheel
- H4's
- Finish tearing out all the AC and heat parts (heat and AC already deleted)
- Repaint/ polish rims
- install windshield washer system (got a completed system from a pelican minus jets)
- New top coat of paint (I do not have the money to strip down to bare metal and get a brand new paint job. Need some suggestions).

That should keep me busy.

[Sway Bar]

Congrats...and talk about a great PPI trip I also took a gamble and bought mine without PPI (in Calgary in the middle of winter)

Good idea on the rolling refresh/restoration. Our Canadian winters can be a little long but allow for some good wrench time without taking you off the road. I'm 2 winters in and now have a full refreshed long hood and just the other week it was off to the body shop.

Enjoy the journey and have fun.

[procan]

Most of the carpet and sound deadening in the car had bee removed by a previous owner, except for the back seats and rear shelf. Spent the morning tearing out what is left of the carpet and rear parcel shelf in the back. Scraping off that tar/ horse hair mix away is not super fun.


Found a nasty surprise! Luckily after some prodding and scraping I uncovered some shiny metal.


Can anyone help me getting the backseats off?!! I've tried everything to loosen it. Is there a trick to this?

[rsrfan]

Can anyone help me getting the backseats off?!! I've tried everything to loosen it. Is there a trick to this?


Use an impact driver. Should start to back them out...

[irl]

Great story! Whatever you dont start pulling it apart with huge plans right away. Have fun a drive it, take on a project at a time. Too many stories of new owners immediately tearing them apart with too big of goals and they end up selling it all in a box of parts because they took on too much. It really looks like a great car.

[procan]

Thanks irl, That is why my goal is to bite off one chunk at a time while keeping it drive-able.

[redturbo911]

Great start.

[oh snap]

Love it.

[Craig_D]

Great story, and a great beginning! Good luck on the upgrades. I highly recommend Elephant Racing for all of your suspension needs. Here is one of Chuck Moreland's build threads that could give you something to dream of, or aspire to: Green Machine Thread

One note; I'm sure you're aware of the "slippery slope"...well that can also be classified as the "while you're in there", and redoing the suspension bushings is a classic scenario of the while-you're-in-there-slippery-slope. There will be a lot of things you'll want to replace when you start to tear into it, so I recommend budgetting for more than bushings, and also talking to Chuck at Elephant Racing on a balanced strategy for a suspension refresh. You can do a lot yourself, if you're mechanically inclined and this board is a huge help...both in inspiration and in knowledge.

Congratulations again on your first foray into 911 ownership. I look forward to many updates!

[procan]

This is my longer term project for the car. I plan on building this over the next year or so while I clean up my car. I am not planning on swapping it in until it is bolt-in ready.

It's a 73 2.4T MFI motor. I got it from a well respected local PCA member on the cheap as there was no paperwork with it and no fuel injection included. The story is that soon after a full rebuild the throttle got stuck and bent the valves on the left heads. The heads were rebuilt, but with the engine out of the car, the PO took the opportunity to swap something in with larger displacement, and left the 2.4T motor in pieces.

I recently bought solex cams, 2.2E heads for Zeniths, and Zenith Carbs. Now I'm working on sourcing a good set of 2.2S P&C's. I'm going with Zeniths because of the price (I don't think the marginal cost of Webbers or PMOs, not to mention much much more $$$ for MFI, is worth it). I will have some 34mm venturis made for the zeniths eventually as well.

I will soon(ish) be looking at selling the 2.4T MFI heads, as well as the matching cams, and P&C's. If anyone can use these, let me know.







Fresh, newly rebuilt heads!

[procan]

When I got the car, the odometer didn't work and the speedo, when hooked up, would make this grinding sound and the speedo needle would jump all over the place. I recently bought a working mechanical speedo from a '74 914 so I could swap out the worn out gears.



So here is the 914 speedo:


...and my 912 speedo:


SURPRISE!! They are not the same at all! I stuck my power drill on there to see where the gears are that are failing (FYI the speedo turns when the drill is in REVERSE). The grinding sound is coming from the first worm gear, which isn't turning. So I decided to take that part apart:







I took a look inside and all the grease was dried up, so I just oiled her up and popped the back on again. (In reality it's not that easy. That big wheel is a magnet and it pulls the housing towards it when you try to put it back on. Also the little pin is hard to get back in to the little hole on the other side.. but I finally did it, although it took many, many tries..) Hooked my drill back up.... and it works!!!