Saving another '73

[frankc]

Continuing with the photos…

At some point the car was hit at the left front (I think this is when the PPO took it off the road), causing the battery box to push in the inner fender. My plan is to attempt to press this out myself. If it doesn’t go well, I’ll take it to a pro.


Left inner fender. I believe this is collateral damage from the water pooling in the pedal cluster area, as the rust goes all the way through to the footwell (2nd photo). Fortunately, RD has a repair panel for this as well. Notice the stash of sunflower seeds



The right fender support panel has been replaced, but looks like it was either riveted or screwed in place from the bumps under whatever that grey material is covering the flange area. Oh, and then there are the two holes for A/C lines that have to be patched (and two matching holes in the engine bay).


The left fender support panel and outer rocker have already been (partially) removed. Obviously more repairs needed here.


The base of the A-Pillar/Cowl is another one of those areas that I expected to be totally rusted away, but it doesn’t appear to be. Don’t get me wrong - there is definitely rust here, and I’m sure I’ll find more once I grind away the paint and filler, but I was expecting worse. I just hope I don’t have to reconstruct the inner A-Pillar section. RD Panel #250 to the rescue here.

[j911brick]

TO spite how good some of these early cars look, almost all of them have hidden rust, or rust repaired (many times poorly). I cant tell you how many times I have seen cars that looked perfectly good only to find a hacked up rusty car once we got the paint off. At least Frank know what he has and can fix it correctly as I am sure he will.

[frankc]

I mentioned earlier that thus far all the fasteners have been cooperating and coming loose without too much drama. Well, there were two fasteners that were being stubborn - the front ball joint nuts. About once a month I would take a chisel to them, they wouldn't budge, and I'd spray them with AeroKroil and try again next month. After several months of this I had enough and decided that a more brute force method was necessary. Since I didn't car about saving the nuts or the ball joints (only the control arm), I decided to cut them off.

At first I cut only one side, but the nut was still putting up a fight, so I cut the other side as far as I could reach with a Dremel, then split it with a chisel to finally claim victory.




In the second picture you can see that the rust penetrated only the first 1 or 2 threads of the nut & ball joint, but that was enough to essentially fuse the two together.

[tdskip]

Thanks for the update, keep pressing on.

[frankc]

A big day for the '73T project as the following crate was delivered this afternoon:


A peek inside:


I was fortunate enough to be contacted by a fellow Pelican who decided to sell the 1973 2.4T Type 911/57 engine that he had. So while it is not the matching number case for the '73, it is the next best thing. I know I'll be busy this weekend .

[frankc]

My work schedule and travel has prevented my from getting too much done on the '73 project over the past few weeks, but I did managed a little progress.

First, while removing the engine tin from the 2.4L, I noticed a familiar sign under the fan shroud:




And a better view of the nest upon removing the shroud. Why do rodents love these engines so much?




When I removed the Zeniths, I noticed that the left bank of the engine must have been exposed to moisture at some point, which caused some corrosion on that carburetor. Somebody attempted to rebuild the carburetor (I received the engine with all the hardware for the left carb in a bag), but ended up stripping the threads on the forward fuel bowl drain, and snapping the center accelerator pump jet. Fortunately, all the parts are still available from Alfa1750 (eBay), and I will be sending the carb to Paul Abbott for the repairs.

And in another stroke of Pelican luck, I was able to find a 1973 915/02 for sale. Again, not "numbers matching", but correct year and type. This has got to be one of the cleanest Mg case 915s I've seen. I applied a coating of Gibbs when I received it as it was already starting to show white specs of corrosion. With the 915, I now have all the major pieces for the project. Next is sheet metal, but I'll wait for it to cool down here a bit more before I begin welding.

[j911brick]

That doesnt look like the right flywheel. Was the motor in a pre70 car or 914? I may have a flywheel.

[frankc]

James,
Good eye. Based on the wiring harness, the engine was in a pre-70 911 as it had the older (pre 14-pin) type harness, so that would probably explain the 901/215mm flywheel. And yes, I do need a flywheel - although I haven't decided if I want to go with an OEM style, or a lightweight version (e.g. Patricks).

Is there gearbox chatter with a 915 and lightweight flywheel? The reason I ask is that I installed a lightweight flywheel in my M3, and there is noticeable chatter, but I knew this going in.

[j911brick]

Actually, a pre 70 did not use a 14-pin connector. I have not heard of any clutch chatter problems with an alu flywheel. But I would use a stock lightened flywheel and alu pressure plate. I have some carbs freshly done by Paul Abbott. Last I heard he's not doing Zeniths anymore.

[frankc]

James,
Yes, that's what I meant - even though the motor is a 2.4L, it had the earlier 2.0L harness when I got it (anyone need one?), so I'm guessing that the motor was most recently installed in a pre-70. And based on the flywheel, it looks like the 901 gearbox was also used.

I will be going with an aluminum pressure plate for sure. I need to do some more research on the flywheel.

You're correct about Paul no longer performing complete service on Zeniths, but I spoke with him and he agreed to take on the small repairs needed for the left carb - thankfully.

[j911brick]

I may be able to use the harness if its for a '67.

[alfadoc]

Sub'd

[frankc]

Originally Posted by j911brick

I may be able to use the harness if its for a '67.

Sorry, I missed this post. I'm not sure what the differences are in the various SWB harnesses. Below is a photo of the engine harnesses I removed - let me know if either are what you're looking for.

[frankc]

Sorry that I haven't posted an update here recently - I've been busy tearing down the 2.4 motor. At first I had planned to simply do a top-end rebuild, but after seeing some of the internals, it looks like I'm going all the way with this one. I have a thread started over on the Engine Rebuilding Forum:

2.4T Rebuild - Many Questions

I also received the water damaged Zenith back from Paul Abbott who performed his magic on it (new throttle shafts and couplers, repaired drain port), so it's now good-to-go, I just need to order the rebuild kits and find the time to rebuild these and put them on a shelf until I'm ready for them. I'll post before and after pics after I rebuild them.

[frankc]

Winter has finally arrived in central Texas, and so it's back to work on the '73. I had some work done over the summer (alternator & engine fan/housing restored), and purchased a few more parts, but that's really about it.

One of the last tasks I performed in the spring was the removal of the soundproofing material on the floor pans so that I could get a good look at the state of the sheet metal underneath. The front half is definitely in need of replacement due to the water settling in that part. However, the back half does not look too bad except at a couple of places, so I'm wondering if I should just patch it instead of replace it (yes, I realize the tunnel needs some serious work). As many of you probably know, RD has their floor pans on sale right now, so I would like to make this decision by tomorrow to take advantage of that.

Here are some photos - let me know your opinion on the back half floor pan - replace or repair?

Right rear soundproofing removed - I was optimistic as the pan didn't look too bad:


But upon removing the front half I could see where the water got under the material and did its damage:


Anyone have any idea why this hole was punched through the front right footwell? Aftermarket A/C system? It appears to be intentional and not a rust hole.


A view of the hole from outside:

[frankc]

Photos continued.

More evidence that the front half needs to go:



Back half has rust near the tunnel and kick panel on the left, and rocker on the right, but otherwise doesn't appear too bad. Patch or replace?