1973 911 - Making it right once and for all

[jbscheff]

Several years ago I documented the resurrection of my '73 911 in the thread below.

My "free" Porsche

Since then I've had a blast bombing around SoCal and autocrossing with the San Diego Region PCA. The car ran great and was a lot of fun, and looked fantastic. Beauty was truly only skin-deep however, as underneath it all the car still had some rust festering. I had been under the car several times, and had seen the signs that all was not right, and knew that sometime the car would have to go back under the knife. I knew the bottoms of the rear seat buckets were rusty, and I suspected that the parcel shelf was not fixed properly. I had no idea how bad it really was. The shop I took it to in 2004 gave it a great paint job, but they took lots of shortcuts, and as I'd learn later, they were masters at the use of Bondo.

In April of 2012 a couple of things happened to start the ball rolling. I discovered that I had some broken headstuds and so the engine and transmission would be coming out. The car also needed some bodywork (golf ball dent in the hood, and scraped the rear flair on the garage). Seemed like a good time to take it in and get the parcel shelf and seat buckets replaced too. I struck a deal with Mark at Qualtech and the work began.

I ripped out the interior and took off al the trim and hardware I could. Mark at Performance Porsche took the drivetrain out to fix the engine, and the body went off to Qualtech. I stripped off the suspension, brake, and fuel systems and they started removing the paint.


As expected, the parcel shelf and seat buckets were shot, as were the floors. Out they came.









As work progressed, more problems arose and questionable repairs were uncovered. Among other things, the rockers were shot, the front cowl was held on by bondo, and the door posts were rotten. All would be replaced.

More things would need to be removed to provide better access. Eventually the car would pretty much be an empty tub. Project creep set in, and many more components that were removed would be refurbed or replaced or upgraded.

I'll post more to illustrate just how extensive the rust damage was, and illustrate the improvements that were made along the way, but as I write this, 3 years after deciding it was time to make things right, the body is just about ready for paint, and then I can start putting it all back together again.

[1ricardo]

Hello Jeff
Could up send some close up photos of where did you bolt the rostisserie on the car? Front and back

Thanks

Ricardo

[RichardNew]

Wow I thought I had rust issues. Here's my rust.

The rear shelf problems come from a dried out rear window seal. The seat pan rust comes from dried out rear window seals. Everytime you wash the car you're creating more rust. The rust is really bad in hot dry climates. Check the condition of the rubber seals on your car.

Richard Newton

[Tom '74 911]

I am fighting a similar battle with a '69 tub and a '74 tub. Kudos to you for going all the way with your car. It's amazing how deep rust can go.

Looks like you didn't stay stock with your restoration!

Looking good - I bet after 3 years, it'll be exciting to see some color on it and to start bolting pieces back on to it.

Tom

[jbscheff]

The first time I had the car done the front window corners were pretty bad, and were supposed to be repaired. Instead of digging out all the rust, the previous shop apparently just ground down the rough spots slathered on bondo and smoothed it all out. Here's what we found.








Originally we planned to use replacement panels to fix the windshield corners, but as the excavation progressed it was decided to replace the entire cowl from window post to window post. The body was braced, a donor front clip was sourced and the cowl was replaced. I was really impressed with the welds on the windshield posts.

[jbscheff]

On the passenger side, the rust damage from the front window corner extended all the way down to the floor. Again using pieces from the donor, the bad section was removed and new metal grafted on.

[wayner]

Wow, I was going to say dejavu but now that I see more, I got lucky!

nice job so far

[jbscheff]

The outer rocker panel on the passenger side was replaced during the first go-around, but it wasn't done well. We also found a very significant dent in the bodywork just behind the door post, at least 1/4-inch deep. It had been filled with bondo. Outer rocker panels on both sides would come off. Once those were off, it was decided that the inners needed to be replaced as well. We also found the rocker reinforcement pieces disintegrated, and the leading edges of the rear fenders and the door posts would also get replaced. (Can anyone tell me how to fix the orientation of the pictures? They are right side up in my picture folders)

[jbscheff]

Ricardo, the rotisserie is mounted to the suspension points in the front, and in the rear to the bumper mounting points in the frame.

[jbscheff]

During the original rebuild I had settled on an RS-look for the car, putting on a ducktail, RS flairs, and RS front and rear bumpers. Not willing to cut into the tub, I put an oil cooler in the front fender. Not under the same restriction this time, I'm putting the oil cooler in the nose where it belongs on an RS.




We also added some reinforcements around the through-body sway bar mounts, replaced the rear mounts, and reinforced the rear torsion bar section in the frame.



The shock towers also got some added bling.

[jbscheff]

Since the body was getting such a thorough rebuild, I figured that I ought to clean up all the other stuff that will go back on. First up was the suspension. Using the auto hobby shops on the local Navy and Marine bases, I media blasted all the components and then had them powder coated.



I also took the hardware and had it plated. It's pretty hard to find someplace that will cad-plate around here, so I had it all done in yellow zinc. I'm sure that there are a few pieces that I powder coated that the factory plated and vice versa, but I was primarily going for corrosion prevention vice going for a concourse restoration. It didn't start out this big, but when I was putting some of the sub-assemblies back together I couldn't stand to put nasty-looking hardware back onto my freshly powder coated suspension parts.





I then cleaned, painted or plated and rebuilt the pedal cluster. Recognize the book in the background?





Heater flapper boxes also got some work.



Because the car is originally a 911T, I've got the front struts with the 3.0 inch caliper spacing. Fortunately I found some aluminum Brembo calipers that fit. Less weight and larger pads up forward - sounds like a win.



I also ordered a new wiring harness from Kroon in the Netherlands, since the existing one needed to come out to do the job right, and there were so many splices and brittle connections I doubted it would have worked when I put it back. Plus, it comes with directions, so I didn't have to be too careful ripping out the old one. No pictures of that yet, but I'll take pics when I finally get to put stuff back in.

[Cory M]

Wow, what a project. Nice to see you addressing all the issues and doing it right. I'm interested to see the harness, the one on my project car is a mess. How much was the Kroon harness? Did they need your old one to produce it? Looking forward to the updates.

[jbscheff]

Cory,

the wire harness was about 1500 Euros. I didn't replace the engine harness, as I went from MFI to CIS and I didn't want to interfere with that setup, and all the wiring under the dash was still in good shape so I kept that too. I got replacements for everything in the front trunk and the instrument wiring under the cowl, as well as new interior lighting, foglight harness, and a couple other miscellaneous bits. It included new fuseboxes, pre-wired, and all the wiring is done in the original factory colors and patterns so the original wiring diagrams are still relevant. I did have to send them mine, as they refurb some of the connectors.

[MFX]

Originally Posted by jbscheff

The outer rocker panel on the passenger side was replaced during the first go-around, but it wasn't done well. We also found a very significant dent in the bodywork just behind the door post, at least 1/4-inch deep. It had been filled with bondo.

I feel your pain, the guys who last played with my car loved the bondo (or "bog" as we call it in Aus'). Looks great to see it all being put right.

Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Jeff.

[jbscheff]

After lots of work the body work is finally complete and the painting is underway!










Sorry, I don't know how to rotate the photos. They're right-side up on my computer.

Next they'll put the satin black on the dash and a few other spots, then by next weekend I'll be starting the put-back-together phase. It's been a long time, but the results look amazing in my opinion.

[Irhmsd]

What an amazing job you are doing with this car. Your bondo story is so familiar. My dad had his 1974 done by a reputable shop in the early 90's. Car looked fantastic until I decided to take her apart in January of 2016. The rust and bondo under the very presentable paint was shocking. I think this was pretty standard repair for these cars many years ago because they were not worth what they are now. I am sure you have close to $100k into your car already if you start adding up the receipts. It would never have made sense to do this two decades ago as the cars were "worth" far less. While I did not go as extensive as you, mainly because my car was better as a base case and I am just looking for a well sorted, pretty driver, it has been worth every nickel to me. Mine comes home next week. In six months I had all body work done, new engine (3.2) built and installed and interior spruced up. As you know, you are about to really enter the tedious part of the process, re-assembly. That takes the largest amount of time to do "right" as finessing parts back on correctly takes patience and often lots of correction, even OEM parts. Good luck. I can't wait to see more. Your car is going to be stunning.

[jbscheff]

The final paint touches have been completed and re-assembly has begun! I've started with sorting out the wiring. I had a new front harness made by Kroon Wire Harnesses, but elected to re-use the engine wire harness and under dash wiring. Now I've got to match them all up. Additionally, I refurbished my gauges by sanding down the bezels, painting the needles, and installing new glass.





One thing kicking my butt is the internal lighting wiring. I fed it down the passenger side A-pillar using an electrician's fish tape. The wire came loose from the tape just at the base of the pillar, about a foot short of being able to make the connection. And it's stuck. Furthermore, pulling the tape back out, it got stuck too. Super stuck. Won't go forward, and won't go back. Not sure how to free either one up.

I also seem to have lost the holes for the hoses from the brake fluid reservoir down to the master cylinder. There were lots of holes that had to be filled - I think perhaps they got a little carried away. I'll have to undo some of the progress so far, so I can drill new holes. Dang.

[RichardNew]

Wow - and I thought my '73 had rust.

That rear window seal is absolutely critical. If you have replaced it yet order one today. It's a huge deal.

It's especially critical if you live in CA, FL or TX where the sun drives out the rubber. There are times when I think we have more rust issues in sunny states than people have in Michigan.

Here's my rust project.



Richard Newton
FIA Historic Rules

[Cory M]

Looking good Jason. Noticed you are local, who is doing your paint work?

[jbscheff]

Cory, the bodywork and paint was done by QUALTECH. They were in Mission Valley but have moved to a new larger shop off Market. They also sent it to their sister shop Mapleview Collision in Lakeside for a while during the move. Although it took a while, the results have been fantastic.