912E basket case build
 

I've been dreaming of having an air-cooled Porsche for quite sometime now, and recently the stars aligned and I was able to aquire a 76' 912E vin# 0046! The car has changed hands almost a dozen times in it's almost 50 years, and most recently (8 years ago) it was completely stripped down for repairs. It sat in one shop for several years without much happening, other than a terrible rear seat repair, more to follow on that later. In the last couple years it was completely blasted and primered. Here it is the morning I picked collected it in the great PNW.

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I had to pick it up in one location and then drive a bit to the sellers house to gather parts.

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And after a VERY long day I had the old girl in my garage, time to start formulating a plan...

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Mainly making this build thread as a historical reference for me, but hope others find it entertaining as well. May make some videos along the way for ol YT, we'll see.
Anyway, more to follow!

Spent some time oogling it and sipping a beer assessing what I've just done.... It has some rust but not too bad compared to some I've seen. Some rust where the fenders bolt up and the 'wing' piece they attach to, frunk cowl sill, all 4 lower corners of the front and rear windscreens need addressing, and the backrest of the rear seats. Found replacement panels from various websites and took advantage of cyber Monday deals with free shipping to make a couple orders.

Ah I forgot to mention this will be getting a long hood backdate, which was started by previous owner. So I also ordered the long hood latch panel.

Parts!
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While I was waiting for panels to arrive, I decided to dive into some repairs. I've got the original build sheet with dealer options, one of which dealer installed ac. Had to go and provided a 'safe spot' to get into making patch panels. Disclaimer, I'm fairly handy but have never done repairs like this so I'm definitely learning as I'm going!

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Pretty happy with how they turned out. They look flat, but they're not had some shaping to do and what not. Tricky not to blow through the thin steel. I'm using .030 wire currently but a friend suggested .023 for sheet metal so I'll give that a try on the next repair. I'll be going back and cleaning up the welds later.

Onto the next!

Next repair was the rear seat back, started with passenger side as it needs less attention. Like I said before, I'm learning as I go so I'm working my way towards the more technical/visible areas.

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This isn't going to be a concourse restoration. Not to say I'll be cutting corners and doing a hack job, I'm just not aiming for perfection. So far I'm learning and having a lot of fun doing it! The repairs so far have cost the price of steel (about $25) so I'm very happy with that!

I checked out in the engine bay before I cut out the rusty area for that patch panel and saw the previously mentioned hack job repair of the rear seat tub! They pretty much cut SOME of the rust out and tack welded new seta pans in place. So there's still a large area of rust left, mostly on the hump and big gaps between the panels. I cannot believe someone thought this was good enough, I won't be able to sleep knowing that there's so I'll be addressing that soon.

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Similar to the rear seat 'repairs,' in the 90s someone paid a shop to install RS flares. They revited them on and the lap welded them! AND welded over the dang rivets!

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Was considering leaving them the way they are and just cleaning up the welds, buuuut the ADHD won't leave it alone. Plus it's not how I want me dream car to look! Sooo one more parts order.... Also I picked up an aluminum decklid from a 911s! It's got some damage, so it was 'affordable.' should be able to repair fairly easily *fingers crossed*


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We're going with 930 turbo flares! Roughly in place held on with tape and the lousy rs flares poke out, dang! Haven't done flares before so might as well make things more difficult by having a small slice to fill as well.... Classic.

This is where I'm at currently progresswise. Up next will either a similar patch on the driver's side rear area or the rear seat pans, haven't decided!

Had a little bit of free time last night, couldn't take it any longer so i removed the "repaired" rear seat pans. Took more time then it should have but that's only because I was trying not to damage the panels since I can reuse them. These weren't done in the 80s where someone. May not have cared about the quality of the repair, they were done in the last few years. Sad that a shop would do this level of work and charge someone. I'll let the pics speak for themselves...

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You can see how much overlap there was, crazy! Luckily I was able to save the seat panels so shouldn't take TOO much to get all that sorted.

Man, it's quiet over in the 912 section! Maybe I should post in the 911 area since(I forgot to mention) it's getting a 6 cylinder! ;) when I bought the car I found a really good deal on a complete running 2.4 from a 73 911t, couldn't pass it up!

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I out the rusty unnecessary metal, cleaned it up, and prayed with some weld through primer. Next i need to clean up the seat pans and start welding them back in.
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912 forum
 

The 912 forum at https://www.912bbs.org/forum/ is very active.
On the other hand putting a 6 in may be more interest to folks on the 911 forum.
I hate rust...

Good idea, recently joined that forum to sell the 4 cylinder. I'll make a build thread there too!

Congrats on the 912E purchase. I, too, have one - bought about 5.5 yrs ago. Mine has a 3.0 conversion by previous owner - but I've updated about everything on the car since then - just not as aggressive as your upcoming Wide Body! Very cool...

Yes --- See if a moderator can move this for you - or if you need to start over. Put this in the 911 Technical forum. I wish the current LS3 swap 912 was also in the 911 forum so it could also get more eyeballs. Best of luck! Will follow along for sure. You're going to have a lot of fun with this! Patrick

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1122278-9126001675-3-0l-coupe-nc-ownership-updates-5.html

Thanks man, I'm pretty excited about this car. I had a few really cool cars and this one has my heart! Going to sit down with a beer and thumb through your thread ��

Good idea, I'll see if I can find a mod to move it!

I enjoy seeing your enthusiasm with this project but your thread really does need to be in the 911 section.

912 forum 21 viewing
911 forum 1244 viewing

Looks like a fun project, you listed that 912e engine way too cheap. The heat exhangers alone are going to be fetching that price before too long!

This is such a great thread and an amazing project