Just another backdate; but this one is mine...

[Todd1]

Some Elephant Racing rear coil over reinforcements and a front strut brace

[Todd1]

This was the workmanship from the previous guy. It was a complete joke and would have required a ridiculous amount of filler and would never have been "right". Anyway, once we decided to fix it properly, the trouble began. As you can see, it turns out that the roof skin on the car had already been replaced once some time in it's sordid past.



It took about 5 months and three roof skins from auto wreckers before I found a roof skin that wasn't just a welded over sunroof delete.



There are the two duds that I bought. Thankfully, they returned my money.

[Todd1]

This one turned out to be a keeper.



Then, Richard discovered that the roof had been replaced, but they had just chiseled off the old roof close to the gutters, and had cut through the second skin of metal (three in total) and never repaired the middle later. It was a complete mess.

Richard of course is a perfectionist, so he opened up the gutters carefully and removed all the old crap in its entirety. He replaced the middle later of support structure with good metal from the donor roof. He then carefully rolled the gutters back over the way the factory had done it and spot welded it in place.

[Todd1]

It was an entire week of work for Richard, but it's done right. The gutters were rolled back in and perfectly shaped. It looks great now.

[Todd1]

He also replaced the parcel tray. That was WAY more work than he had expected though. Not as easy as it looks to just pop that in. Someone had cut holes- we suspect for speakers. The best way to fix it was to just do the entire thing.

[Flojo]

jeeze! all that metalwork!
I admire this ability!

[strudelwagon]

Wow, Richard's work is amazing and he had a lot of fixing to do. Your car looks killer Todd, What's next?
Steve

[billybek]

Are you going to shave the gutters?












Nice work! Looking forward to seeing more.

[Todd1]

Well, it’s been a while and some progress has been made but we’re waiting for another car to move off the rotisserie before mine can move to the next stage. The glass hood has been finished and the fenders and doors are stripped and epoxy primered.

[Todd1]

What a great thread--I finally had time to read through the whole thing in one sitting. I'm struck by how great the advice you got early from everyone here was (not me . . . yet). Basically, start out fairly stock, simply, drive it awhile, and upgrade if you need/want to.

Fast forward a year, and boy, have you found some na$$ty surprises lurking in what originally looked like a nice clean car. Even if you have a huge budget, you still wouldn't want to dump it into a bunch of parts and then find the car had problems like this. The metalwork alone is worth a fortune (Richard's, not Brand X's), and I hope you are sitting down when you get the bill. Congrats to you for spending the money getting the bones right. One of the most terrifying phrases I see in want ads is "older restoration."

Since you are open to thoughts and suggestions, I'll offer a few:

1. Generally, I find that the inherent coolness of the 911 outweighs its inherent peculiarities by such a long way that I'll drive mine nearly every day. That said, mine has electric windows and mirrors, and will likely have AC as its next big add-on, though ITBs are calling. It will have AC because. . .

2. These cars are fun to take on road trips. My family and I took two vintage Porsches (a 1988 911 and 1989 944S2) on a tour through the West in 2010, putting 3,000+ miles on them in a couple of weeks. Parts of the trip were hot. The S2 had decent air conditioning. The 911 did not. By the end, were were all fighting savagely for keys to the 944.

3. I'm glad you bought two mirrors. I don't like doing anything to reduce the safety of these cars, as every year they feel tinier and tinier among the pick up trucks and SUVs.

4. Much of the inherent wonderfulness of the 911 derives from its lightness. Porsche spent a lot of money on lightweight Fuchs wheels, which were a $1500 upgrade on my car in 1985. That was a big chunk of change. They did it because lightness was so important to the 911's character, especially unsprung weight. For that reason, I don't put big brakes on my car. They are unnecessary unless you track the car a lot, and you pay a huge penalty in unsprung weight and reduced steering feel. I'm not a fan of 17" wheels and tires for that same reason, though I confess that I did move the 7x16s on the back of my car to the front and put 8 x 16s on the rear, because it looks so awesome.

5. Find another 3.2 engine. If the numbers are good and the head studs are intact, slam it in and drive it. Until you become familiar with the, ahem, unique driving dynamics of the 911, don't worry about big power.

6. I'm a fan of the 915 transmission over the G50, though I'm literally taking my life in my hands saying that. The 915 is a cranky *****, but mastering one--which can be done--is cool, and once you start driving the car hard, actually becomes better. That said, mine has a WEVO shifter. It's also lighter (I like that) and its flywheel/clutch is way lighter than that of a G50, which makes the engine feel a lot stronger to me.

Just my humble opinions. Man I love spending other peoples' money!

This is a very cool build, and Richard has done outstanding work. Looking forward to watching as you move ahead.

[Todd1]

I’d agree that the advice I’ve received here has been excellent. I also agree with you about the 3.2 “runner”. I was going to go all in and drop $35k on a new fancy engine, but I’ve spent more than I planned on the bones so I’ll have to scale back in other areas.

Your thoughts on the brakes make a lot of sense. I think this is one of those areas I can claw back some cash and just put the original ones back on. I’m happy to hear that the 915 is adequate. I’ll just bolt it up- I have no idea what condition it’s in but I guess I’ll find out the first time I take it out.

So you think the 16’s are good huh? Hmmm. Ill need to put some more thought into that once I get to that stage.

I kinda regret putting the wide flares on the car. I now really want to use it as a daily driver, and I think it will just look too “loud” with those flares and attract too many eyes. I guess I’ll tone it down with a subtle colour. You’ll probably think I’m crazy, but I’ve even thought about cutting those off and going a bit less extreme.

Anyway, keep the advice coming in. You guys have saved me a lot of cash so far

[Todd1]

It’s been sandblasted and epoxy primered. Richard found some more punky areas that needed repairing so it’s taking a little more time than we thought. That said, I’m pretty happy with the progress.

[Todd1]

These last pics are out of sequence from the previous post. These ones show the car just after sandblasting. Some areas areas around the heater tubes that were a little rusty and needed to be repaired.

[Todd1]

[Todd1]

Time to dry fit everything together now. Fenders, doors, hood, and trunk lid. I’m having two engine lids painted, one with a duck tail and one without.

Still unsure about the colour. Leaning toward signal yellow at the moment but...

[tperazzo]

Great project! You will be happy for years to come with that great metal work and panel fit. Details, details....pay off in the end!

[Outlaw_singer]

Awesome work being done here!

[Tremelune]

That is...pretty good looking primer, I'd say...

[Todd1]

These last pics are out of sequence, but interesting to see the bottom lip of the flares that were installed. The width of the lip wasn’t consistent and it would have been impossible for the rubber seal to stay in place without glue, so Richard fabricated an extension to the flat portion (the pics are looking up) then added a little “rail” that the rubber buddy seal will slip over.

Not sure if others have seen this sort of problem with the aftermarket body parts??