Resurrecting Pearl; a tale of “Restomodration”

[m1franck]

After sitting under a car cover and up on jack stands for nearly three years it’s time to stop making excuses and resurrect Pearl.
Before the fun begins a little history;

’71 911T 2.2l light ivory/hellelfenbein 115k miles purchased in 2008 from Route 30 Classics in Mosier, OR. My wife took an immediate interest in this car, declared it as hers and named it Pearl. It’s good to have a spouse with interests like this.

We drove the car for a couple of years, while making various repairs and upgrades. In the fall of 2010 I decided it was time to replace the tired oil burning 2.2l with a low mile hot rod 2.7l that had been found locally. I began the replacement of the engine, then tripped, fell and began the tumble down the slippery slope of Porsche 911 “restomodration”.

The logic was as follows;
Since the engine is out for replacement, might as well refresh and upgrade the rear suspension. All of the bits were secured to install ERP poly bronze bushings, adjustable spring plates, hollow torsion bars, new dampers, alloy trailing arms and mono ball pivot bearings.

Since the engine and rear suspension are out this would be a good time to get rid of those later model rocker panel covers the previous owner had installed. Lets take them off blend the paint and be done with it.

Since the engine, rear suspension and rocker panels are off we might as well replace the replica fiberglass S front bumper and ducktail with parts that are less attention grabbing and more minimalistic looking.

Since the engine, rear suspension, rocker panels, bumpers and engine cover are off the car, we might as well do a bare metal repaint of the car, since it’s looking rather tatty and had been re-sprayed two times over the factory coat.

That’s where my attention, time and money became diverted on various family activities, household projects and business related work.

Fast forward three years and one day while in the workshop, for no apparent reason, I pulled back Pearl's car cover and started to work on the old girl. My wife noticed this unusual activity in the workshop and said “I’m glad to see you working on Pearl again”. Wow, what a great wife!

The plan for resurrection is as follows:

This will not be a factory to the numbers restoration. It’s just not in my style or nature to leave things alone and since I’m building this car for me, err I mean for my wife, then that’s the way it’s going to be done.

Bare metal to the tub repaint in the original light ivory/hellelfenbein. The car weighed 2180 prior to beginning this project and my goal is to be at 1999 or less at the completion of the restomodration. Removal of all unnecessary brackets and bits with the goal of lightness in mind. TRG fiberglass trunk and engine covers.

All new interior. Rear seat delete, RS carpet, light weight seats, etc.

All new front and rear suspension. Polybronze busings, Bilstein strut housings, Vonn dampers, hollow T bars, adjustable front and rear anti-roll bars.

Every nut, bolt and hose replaced as well as some other custom touches as the project progresses.

Below are a few photos of where this project started, some of the upgrades achieved thus far and where things currently stand. The attached link is a photo gallery of where many more detailed photos will be posted.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wddlv37ukhzi9l4/4Lbb9mPLIP

I’ll provide updates as progress is made, with hopefully no large gaps in time between those updates.








m1franck

[m1franck]

The old 2.2 lump with the new 2.7 lump waiting in the wings

[m1franck]

Rear trailing arms completed. Gone are the original steel trailing arms and replaced with '74 alloy arms. Lower shock mounts milled to provide clearance of shock body in upper shock mount point. All parts re-plated, ERP mono ball inner bushings, Wevo E-Z pin bolts, reinforced bearing retention plates.

[m1franck]

911S front calipers and stock rear calipers resorted to perfection by PMB Performance. Stainless steel pistons and Porterfield R4-S pads.

[m1franck]

E brake handle assembly restored. All parts stripped with glass bead and powder coated.

[m1franck]

Pedal cluster restored. All parts stripped with glass bead and powder coated. All new bronze bushings and springs.

[m1franck]

Steering rack rebuilt. All new bearings and spherical tie rod ends.

Heater flapper boxes stripped, powder coated and re-plated.

[m1franck]

Rear bumpers. Trim holes filled, built filler plate for leading edge of bumper to replace the original alloy trim piece that would normally attach there.

[Eric Hahl]

Nice!

[snbush67]

Very nicely done ! Looks great.

[docrodg]

WOW!!!! Very nice.

[m1franck]

The wiring harness was removed from the car last night. Some say it’s impossible or very difficult, to me that sounds like a challenge. Yes you can snake this harness from the back of the car, forward through the tunnel and out through the trunk. Some minor disassembly of the engine compartment connector heads were required, but nothing major. Also, the factory plastic sheath was removed in order to slide the harness wires from the right side of the torsion bar tube to the center where there was enough clearance to pull it clear of the torsion bar tube.
The harness itself is very simple and it’s likely the headlights alone on my daily driver BMW have more wires than the entire 911 harness.

[Alan Lindquist]

This car will be beautifully finished - I can tell that already. Subscribed.

The car will be valuable. Your wife, on the other hand, is priceless.

[pete3799]

This is going to be good........can't wait.

[RWebb]

quite a job!

but to get below 2,000 lbs. with steel R. bumpers will be difficult

[poorsha]

Very nice work.
Subscribed

[andy_uranium]

Looks amazing so far! Subbed for future progress.

[fasterlaster]

It's looking good already. Subb'd

[m1franck]

Made some more progress today. Removed the front and rear windows, dash pad and some more interior bits. The good news is no rust in the bottom corners of the either window frame. The back window has a 2 stage defrost element. Top and bottom sets of elements turn on separate from the middle set of elements. I’d like to convert this to a one stage defrost and in doing so eliminate some wires from the wiring harness. Does anyone know if there would be any problems with circuit overload if all 3 elements operate simultaneously from the first position on the defrost switch?

[Jim Horton]

Let me know if you need any help with grunt work.