912 rescue (with help from a friendly 911)

DaveE · 05-27-2005, 06:04 AM

My wife's '66 912 is so badly rusted. The floors, front suspension pan, rear longitudinals in the control arm area, rear quarter panels. She wants the car back very much especially since I recently bought a very nice '78 911SC for a daily driver for myself.

Here's my plan. I found and bought a '76 911 stripped shell in excellent condition, no rust but bare, no loose panels come with it (doors, hoods, fenders) and plan to put as much from her 912 on this shell as I can and add the rest, with early front fenders and bumpers. It will look more like a '69 I hope. I have rear suspension from a later long wheelbase 911 to add, will need to work out alot of details like early gearbox mated with later rear axles, moving motor mounts, installing early gauges, wiring harness, stuff like that.

More of a bastard approach than purist, but she'll have a driver and be happy. Any comments or suggestions, pitfalls?

Steve F · 05-27-2005, 10:33 AM

I'm not completely sure,but you may have short wheel base(1966) vs long wheel base(1976) issues on the body panels,but good luck with the project if I'm wrong

DaveE · 05-27-2005, 12:48 PM

Yeah Steve, you are right about short vs. long wheelbase issues. I plan to address that by using later long wheelbase trailing and control arms in the rear. I'll still need to find rear axles from a later car and mate them with my early gearbox.

61sktnbug · 06-05-2005, 06:52 PM

im intrested int his plan also, any other tips?

bt1211 · 06-06-2005, 09:46 PM

Dave you have to get a new front panel. The 66 has a long hood the 76 has a short hood. You can cut it off your 66. If the 76 has gauges don;t change them to the 66's. You can but how good are you at reading a wiring diagram? If push comes to shove pull the harnes out of the 66. I dont think it will be a problem with the shafts, check to see what a 912e used.

DaveE · 06-07-2005, 05:00 AM

Thanks for the comments, bt1211. I'm planning to cut the front latch panel from the '66 car and use that hood also. The '76 doesn't have gauges, it's totally stripped. I have to spend a few bucks finding all the heater controls and other dash equipment but am planning to use the old gauges. The wiring harness in the '76 is cut in several places so it's basically junk, and the fuse box is gone. I'm going to use the '66 harness and fuse box. I do electrical troubleshooting for a living on much more complicated transportation equipment so feel comfortable with this. What concerns me about the rear axles is I believe the output flanges were changed on the 901 gearbox in '69 for the long wheelbase cars for different CV joints. I think Porsche was concerned because of the constant angular change and began using a different CV joint at that time. I may need to retrofit (if I can) the newer output flanges to my old aluminum gearbox. Just need to do a little more research on it.

bt1211 · 06-07-2005, 04:09 PM

I know that you can change a 912 into a 911, easily, everything bolts right up. It would stand to reason that you could do the reverse just as easily. I have a 74 911(it has a 915 trans like your 76 had) and I have a 68 912(901 trans) I'll take some numbers this weekend and get back to you. I know that Porsche only changed the banana arms(longer) in 69 they still used the same trans (901) until 73. In 74 they went to the 915 trans. Ask around to see who has put a 915 trans into any car that had a 901 (SWB or LWB) and that would be your answer.
Bryan

bt1211 · 06-07-2005, 04:36 PM

I just looked up some stuff. 7/68 to 9/71 used a 108mm CV joint, 1/75 to 86 used a 100mm CV joint. Sorry thats all that I could find.I would call a shop that repairs 911 trans and ask them what combo would work. I would seem that you would need to get any rear set-up from a 69 to 73 (that used a 901) and just dump the 66 stuff.

DaveE · 06-07-2005, 04:57 PM

Thanks for the numbers bt1211. The rear banana arms I have are from a 69-73 I think. They're steel in any case and for long wheelbase and I think in 74 they went to aluminium(?). I hate to dump the 66 gearbox because it's in good shape and aluminium, not mag. I guess if I found a good mag gearbox it wouldn't matter too much, just more expense. The 912 won't stress it much anyway compared to a 911. I guess I need to find out how hard it would be to replace the output shafts with later ones, if possible at all. I'd prefer to do that and keep the 66 gearbox if I can. Putting the 1600 in a 911 body should mostly be a matter of welding the motor mounts in. I don't even need to remove the 911 mounts(for that 3.6 later, hahaha).

61sktnbug · 06-22-2005, 08:39 AM

any more progress? how about pics?

bt1211 · 06-22-2005, 06:27 PM

DaveE, I'm not sure that this will help
.www.geocities.com/clarkblumberg/911-912mainpage.html
This guy took a 69 911 and put in a VW. He might be able to answer some of your questions.
BT

DaveE · 06-27-2005, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 61sktnbug
any more progress? how about pics?

I'm in the middle of replacing the front suspension pan in the '76 shell right now. It was pretty well rusted out but the rest of the shell is in good shape. I haven't taken any pics. You mean of the shell or the old car?

BT - Thanks for the link. I'll take a look at his project too.

61sktnbug · 06-27-2005, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveE
I'm in the middle of replacing the front suspension pan in the '76 shell right now. It was pretty well rusted out but the rest of the shell is in good shape. I haven't taken any pics. You mean of the shell or the old car?

BT - Thanks for the link. I'll take a look at his project too.

both!!!! i just think its a intresting project!

61sktnbug · 07-21-2005, 08:46 PM

bump for pics?

DaveE · 07-22-2005, 05:05 AM

I'll post some this weekend if I can. I haven't done alot on it in the past month. I've been working alot. I'm now thinking I might convert the long wheelbase body to short wheelbase. Most of the quarter panel on the '66, in the wheel area anyway, is in good shape and it would be kinda like butt-welding flares I guess. Lately I'm drawn to the early flatsided cars and it would simplify things mechanically.

Thanks for your interest.

61sktnbug · 07-22-2005, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveE
I'll post some this weekend if I can. I haven't done alot on it in the past month. I've been working alot. I'm now thinking I might convert the long wheelbase body to short wheelbase. Most of the quarter panel on the '66, in the wheel area anyway, is in good shape and it would be kinda like butt-welding flares I guess. Lately I'm drawn to the early flatsided cars and it would simplify things mechanically.

Thanks for your interest.

awsome!

61sktnbug · 03-17-2006, 10:32 AM

is this project still going on?