The Hulk - resurrection of a '69E

[rdelmendo]

Hi all-

I've been lurking on the list for a couple of years and am restarting a stalled project. I got a '69E a few years ago, stripped it down and then let it sit due to other priorities...

The car was pretty abused but not a rust bucket when I got it. The plan is to restore the car to make a nice daily driver. I'm looking forward to the excellent knowledge that this forum provides.

My first task is metal work.
How would you recommend patching this located on the right rear fender? Should I try to cut out a piece from a parts car or fabricate the patch from sheet metal (18 gauge?)?



This hole is in the firewall under the rear window. Should I try to fill with metal on top of a copper bar or cut some sheet metal to fit?



How should these holes be fixed? It appears that the car fell off the jack a few times as the holes appear to be punctures not rust!

Many thanks it advance. I'll have more questions as I start this odyssey.

[Rich76_911s]

Ron,

Welcome to the forums.

Take a step back and let us see that '69 in all it's glory

I really can't help with the choice between finding a donor piece or shaping some 18 guage metal. For me there would be no choice because I don't think I could shape a piece of metal well enough to fix that.

For the rear luggage tray. That entire piece looks like it is toast if you are asking me. You can get a replacement tray. Check Pelican first and see if they have the restoration design piece avaliable, if not go straight to restoration design's website.

Finally it looks like a jack may have gone through there, but I think it was due to weakend metal from rust, and not sloppy placement. To do it right you are going to have to grind off the paint and undercoating and find good metal to start the repairs from. A nice tool to help remove undercoating is a Needle Scaler, they are availiable at Harbor Freight or Northern Tool, and you don't need to get the big one, small will do.

-Rich

[wildcat077]

I would try to find replacement pieces and cut out the rusted areas and weld the new pieces back in.A lot of the parts have stampings in them for reinforcement so it would be hard to fabricate those unless you're a restoration wizard.

I bought a TR6 a few years ago with the hopes of restoring it but i just gave up as it would have been too time consuming for what it would be worth ...
Looks like you will have a nice long term project on your hands !

Cheers !
Phil

[kkinzli]

Glad to see that your are saving a 69. Don't be afraid of welding and replacing panels. I had never welded before and I learned along the way. I had to replace several areas on my 69 with new metal. Here is a link to my thread that might be helpful. There is a discussion on the thread about what made 69 such a unique year.

Saving the "Rat" - Restoring a 69T

Good luck and welcome on board

[E Sully]

You will find it easier most of the time to get a donar piece for the repair You will find a lot of the surounding area is in bad shape. You can't weld to thin rusty steel.

[RWebb]

you may want to defer any patching until you do some blasting - then you will be able to measure the thickness of the good metal and think about whether it is thick enuff for the rigidity the unit body of a sports car wants...

anyone stripping down an old 911 body should consider making the torsional stiffness higher - Dave B./TRE did this for a customer car (the fraise car?) and apparently, the result were spectacular

- there seems to be some sort of epidemic of '69 cars being restored recently - where are all the 1970/71's?

[rdelmendo]

Hi all-

I've changed gears a bit and decided to have someone else do the metal and paint on "The Hulk". I took the body over to American Stripping in Sacramento this week and the removable body parts up to the body guy in Grass Valley. Here's a shot of the body with it's older sibling before stripping.


My goal is to restore to a correct performance daily driver. I'm not looking for concours or a track car; just a great solid driving car.

So, some questions for the experts on the forum:
- Front trunk and engine compartment, body color (Tangerine) or black?
- Trunk and engine lid hinges body color or black?
- ER bushings or OEM rubber?
- I've planned to powder coat suspension parts; semi-gloss black?

Many, many more questions to come, but this will keep me busy for a while... Thanks a lot in advance.