back date, the back half

[74911s]

i finally gathered all of the pieces and made time to finish rear flares and bumper on my backdate project on my 77. i did the front awhile back and just finished the back this weekend.

here is where it all began


drill out the spot welds on the reflector panel


panel removed


cut the quarters for rs flares


bolt on carbon fiber flares


its an early car!


the back half took me the last 2 weekends and the craziest part was taking the saw to the quarters of a perfectly good porsche, i had to sit there a little and think about it but finally i fired up the saw and did not look back.

[Chuck Moreland]

You can't do that.

You can't give us little close up pictures and call it quits. Let's see the finished product in all its glory.

That carbon fiber looks really cool. Are you going to leave it bare? and what about UV?

[Tyson Schmidt]

Bless you, my son. You're doing God's work.

[masraum]

Sweet, now more pics!!

[74911s]

ok, here are some more

the front


the flare




i will leave the carbon fiber bare. when i talked to hank at gt racing when i purchased the flares he said it would not be a problem to leave them exposed.

i figure at some point all 911's will return to the glory of long hoods and small bumpers! i am just doing my part, one car at a time.

Jim,
Island called me crazy for thinking about a backdate. Welcome to the crazy club!!!!!! Car looks great. Were the front fenders bolt on, or did you have to fabricate anything?
Mark

[74911s]

the front fenders just bolt up. you will need to remove the bumper shocks but after that you are good to go. i used fiberglass as my clone spends most of the time on the track but others have used steel, curtisaa was the inspiration for me with his backdated 88 and he used steel fenders, fiberglass bumpers and ducktail.

if you want to do it go for it, just keep in mind you priorities. money and time in do not translate to money out if you need or want to sell.

[Jim Garfield]

So Jim, all that you had to do in the rear was drill out the spot welds and the early bumper/
license panel bolted right on?

Which rear end did you use, and do you know if they make one that will work with Carrera
flares? This is a project that I've been pondering for a while and your pictures are making
my palms itch.

TIA

[curtisaa]

...and for an encore, "HERE COMES THE MEAN 3.6 twin plugged monster"... Congrats, you've made it to the "promised land of torque"

[74911s]

jim, it is really that easy. i used a 73 rs one piece fiberglass bumper. i imagine you could use factory steel pieces and the might take more fitting but why not drop a little weight in the process. you will not be able to use the bumper shocks as they have to be removed also.

you drill the spot welds and you do have to cut the front end of the panel where it meets the tail light housing.

some more detailed pics

[Jim Garfield]

Thanks for the photos Jim. I think that I'm going to go for it, although I'm very reluctant
to cut anything original out of the car.

Your car looks great by the way.

[Joeaksa]

Jim,

Know that this post is a few months old but I am getting ready to do the same mod on my car and had a few questions on your work. Did you need to cut the sheetmetal on only the fenders or also on the back end?

I know that I will need to drill out the spot welds on the back end to get rid of the bumper supports but did not know that there was anything else needing cut off of the body. If there is much cutting involved then will find or buy a sawsall, but if its just drilling out the spotwelds then have the tools already for that.

After driving with it for a few months how do you like it? I cannot wait to get rid of the old impact bumpers. Are you happy with the rubber tie downs on the back hood as well? My ducktail is not matching up very easily with the trunk latch and may go with the rubber on both ends. Where is everyone buying the rubber pieces?

Thanks,

Joe

[74911s]

the front does not require any cutting, just remove the bumper and bumper shocks. you could remove the bumper shock mounts but i did not.

on the back same thing applies to the bumper shocks, just unbolt them and remove, the mounts are not in the way. what you will need to remove on the back is the panel that the porsche reflector mounts on. it requires drilling the spot welds across the top and cutting up on each side along the tail ilght housing. i used a dremel with cutt of wheels and found it was more than good enough. maybe took me an hour to drill and cut the panel out.

i love my car more than ever as a backdate! the rubber tie downs are no problem. on the back you can still use the factory latch, mine just lined right up with very minor adjustment. the only down side is you do not have a locking front trunk but that was not a problem for me. i purchased the ruber tie downs from gt racing (1 800 797 2911), i do not know if pelican has them or not.

[Joeaksa]

Jim,

Just found the rubber tie downs for the front and back. $2.64 each plus shipping.

http://www.thomasregister.com/smartcat.cgi?az=72827629&type=details&ptno=DH-11418&template=http://www.spdhardware.com/spdecomm.htm

Thanks for the help!

Joe

[thrown_hammer]

Joe,
Killer find! Now how about rounding up some "R" decklid hinges for cheap?

[Joeaksa]

Shawn,

Show me what they are like and the search will begin! We can always make them if they are not to be found.

I just mounted my ducktail and had to fabricate some things and its not that difficult with the right shop to work with.

Joe