My 1979 Subaru EJ20 Swapped 911 Project

[MadMaks]

Hi all,

I figure it is about time I start a build thread for my 1979 911 SC project car. At the time of writing this, I have already been working on this shell for nearly three years.

My name is Maksymilian. Some of you may know me as "Peetsadrives" on Instagram. If you don't, consider checking out my page to see all the work I have done on this shell. Most of these first updates I make will be catch-up from the first three years of progress. I'll keep it brief and simple so we can quickly catch up to current work.

To start, and this is where I may lose some of you, I fell in love with these air-cooled Porsches when I saw my first RWBs online. I am someone who loves cars that have been chopped up, modified, and don't try to hide it. I completely understand not enjoying that, but if I get the opportunity, I will 100% be doing it to this car.

If I did not lose you there, here is another opportunity: This project will be getting a built turbo Subaru EJ205 engine swap. You can thank Rennch and 912STI for planting that idea in my mind. As a "Subaru guy", this is an opportunity to put a boxer platform I am very familiar with into my dream car chassis. As a mechanical engineer, I am very excited to design the systems/parts to make it all work.

If you are still here, you are in the right place because we are on the same wavelength.

Lets get started:

Around the beginning of 2021, I began a hunt for an air-cooled 911 shell. I was searching everywhere from copart to FB marketplace on a daily basis. Part of me was never fully serious because the prices of the most beat-up rust bucket 911s were (and still are) unreasonably high.

Fast forward to September 2022, my unserious search became very serious when a 911 SC shell was posted less than an hour from my location. Luck was on my side because I was probably the first person to see the listing. I messaged the seller and asked if he would sell the shell without the engine or transmission. When he said yes, I left work instantly to put a deposit on it. On September 17, my dad and I loaded up a Uhaul and brought home this barebones 911 shell.







While not perfect, the body was not as bad as many other shells I came across in my search. This car ended up in this state due to an engine fire, which cooked the driver-side quarter panel and lots of the interior components. The fire also affected the metal on that side of the car which invited corrosion and led to a lot of pitting and pinholes. As a result, there was a lot of weak metal in the rear seats and wheelhouse. I knew going into this project that a lot of the sheet metal would have to be removed and replaced.

For my next post, I will discuss making a checklist for all the work that the body needed (Spoiler Alert: alot)

[Yan2947]

Lots to do. Good luck!

[MadMaks]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

Lots to do. Good luck!

Thanks Yan. I will definitely need a bit of luck to bring this project to completion. However, I have a feeling that a project like this will never truly be complete

Before I continue on, I would like to mention that I had essentially no bodywork experience going into this project. At least at the level that would be required to repair a shell in this condition. Some of the things I post here may make you cringe as a result. My goal for this project is to do as much of it as I can on my own and within my relatively low restoration budget.

Basically, this will not be a 100% metalwork restoration with lead filler. I am planning to drive the wheels off of this car all year round, so a job like that would be wasted time and money.

Back to the timeline:

With the shell safely in the backyard, the first thing I did was to set up a car port. Unfortunately I do no have access to a shop for this project so it will be done outside. I ordered a simple carport off of amazon and setup a makeshift backyard shop. To try and keep moisture under control, I put some plastic sheets down followed by some cheap green turf from home depot. At the time I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Little did I know how much of a NIGHTMARE this carport would end up being.

Next up was to take an inventory of all usable parts. Every piece of the car was included, so it was a matter of organizing usable parts, repairable parts, and melted parts. Thankfully, a lot of the interior (dash and center console) was untouched by the fire.

With inventory complete, my focus was shifted towards identifying all spots that needed new sheetmetal welded in. Below is a list of the visible rust and rot (foreshadowing) or incomplete sections:

• Driver side quarter panel
• Driver side inner wheelhouse
• Battery tray/suspension pan
• Both door latch panels
• Both rocker panels (rear)
• Both rocker panel supports
• Rear shock tower seam weld
• Various small patch panels for cutouts

[MadMaks]

Here are some of the early pictures I was able to find:

This is the driver's side wheelhouse. Pinholes and extreme pitting



Next up are the rear seats. These were not in the worst shape, but I had no intention of keeping them for this build. Seats deleted.




This was my first experience trying to remove a rubberized undercoat. Very time-consuming, but an angle grinder and a wire wheel worked nicely. I heard horror stories of rust forming undetected because of moisture getting trapped between the coating and metal.



Speaking of undercoat horror stories, this is what the front suspension pan looked like. This was probably the worst section of the car. I am assuming that there was a battery acid leak that was able to get into the panels and eat right through the metal.




Probably not my smartest idea, but I decided to tackle the front suspension pan as my first real project on this car. The first thing to do was to determine the extent of the rust. I started by stripping the undercoat in the affected area to gauge how far the rust had spread.

I learned VERY quickly how dangerous rubberized undercoat can be. I was not even 5 minutes into stripping the undercoat before I realized the wire wheel was instantly eating through the metal going all the way back to the crossmember mounting point. Circled here in red:



I realized this whole lower section of the inner fender was going to have to be removed. Eventually, I got to this stage and realized the crossmember mount would also need to be replaced
(Don't mind the stack of washers holding the shell)



At this point, I called it for the day. I could not remove any more of the car since the crossmember mounting point was used to hold the car up. I made a list of all the sheet metal I needed and placed an order with Restoration Design.

[MadMaks]

Once I had all the sheet metal to complete the job, the first task was to support the chassis so I could change the mounting point on the dolly.

Luckily, this shell came on a Stoddard dolly, which makes adjustments easy. The hard part was figuring out how to support the shell while making that adjustment.

My solution? A Jenga tower of things around the yard. Including a wooden box, leftover 2x4 cutoffs, even more washers, and some plastic saw horses.




With the car ""safely"" supported, I was able to continue removing the areas affected by the battery acid. Once I reached the end of the rust, the car was looking very empty up front. The real rot ended right at the crossmember mount, where all the acid could pool up. I trimmed nearly to the top of the steering rack tunnel just to be sure I was only leaving good metal behind.




Now it was time to trim all the new panels to fit. This ended up being multiple nights of work because of how many pieces I had to align at once in 3D space. In total, this job ended up requiring the front suspension pan, lower front and rear sections of the inner fender, a portion of the steering tunnel, and the spike-looking, crossmember mount. Here is a picture of everything laid out after it was trimmed (sorry for the poor quality):




I got very lucky and found someone who had a steering tunnel section and was willing to cut out that small section for me. Otherwise, I would have had to buy an entire section because that is all that is sold online. Shoutout to that homie from the Facebook group. This is the section he cut off for me:



I decided to start by welding in the steering tunnel first to act as the "anchor" point for the rest of the job. I used the crossmember to help hold up the parts and align the spike mount as I put a couple of tack welds down. Very happy with how it all came together. I was expecting this part to be a nightmare, so it was a pleasant surprise when it was supported by its own weight in less than 30 minutes.




I wanted all pieces installed before anything gets a seam weld. The next post will cover the suspension pan and lower fender pieces...

[Yan2947]

What are you going to make with the 3-D scan of the rear passenger area from instagram?

[MadMaks]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

What are you going to make with the 3-D scan of the rear passenger area from instagram?

Great question. I am planning to design a rear firewall out of aluminum sheet metal. Since I removed the rear seats, I figured I could optimize the space for a battery, ECU, subwoofer (potentially), and some other goodies.

With the scan itself, I will be uploading the STL into CAD and designing the panels over the scan. This way, I can play around with some ideas without wasting material. When I am happy with the design, I can take the perimeters of each panel and use those dimensions to draw the shapes I need to cut over the sheet metal.

It's going to be a rainy weekend here, so I am planning to have all the CAD work done by Sunday. Hopefully, I can make some progress and get the real thing done next week. You can definitely expect to see some Instagram updates.

[Yan2947]

Sounds incredible. I’m not good with CAD stuff but have a 3d printer. I also wanted to do something with the back seat area for my computer and LS fuse box like a 3d printed rear seat delete. I will keep watching. If you come up with a clean rear seat STL file let me know. Would love to see how you did that!

[MadMaks]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

Sounds incredible. I’m not good with CAD stuff but have a 3d printer. I also wanted to do something with the back seat area for my computer and LS fuse box like a 3d printed rear seat delete. I will keep watching. If you come up with a clean rear seat STL file let me know. Would love to see how you did that!

I'll definitely let you know how it comes out. I finished designing the panels yesterday, and I am pretty happy with how they came out. Picking up some aluminum sheet metal this week to get the pieces made. One of my buddies has access to a large plasma cutter, so I may go get them cut properly.

And feel free to reach out if you need any CAD/Reverse engineering help. Ive been working with SolidWorks for nearly 10 years now so I am always happy to take on a challenge. Also, if you need any large parts printed, I built a 500mm^3 volume printer which can handle some hefty prints.

[Yan2947]

Originally Posted by MadMaks

I'll definitely let you know how it comes out. I finished designing the panels yesterday, and I am pretty happy with how they came out. Picking up some aluminum sheet metal this week to get the pieces made. One of my buddies has access to a large plasma cutter, so I may go get them cut properly.

And feel free to reach out if you need any CAD/Reverse engineering help. Ive been working with SolidWorks for nearly 10 years now so I am always happy to take on a challenge. Also, if you need any large parts printed, I built a 500mm^3 volume printer which can handle some hefty prints.

Thanks! I definitely will reach out. I have a bambu x1c printer, which has a volume of 256 cubed only. I don’t plan on putting the battery back there but everything else. I wish I had metal skills that you do. Great project to watch!

[MadMaks]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

Thanks! I definitely will reach out. I have a bambu x1c printer, which has a volume of 256 cubed only. I don’t plan on putting the battery back there but everything else. I wish I had metal skills that you do. Great project to watch!

I wouldn't say my metal skills are that great yet. I only post the stuff that comes out nicely

I've been slacking on updates. I am turning the car in for paint this Friday, so I have been in a panic trying to get all the finishing touches related to the engine swap done before I pass it off to the real professionals. Mainly just drilling holes and cutting some firewall pass-throughs for the coolant lines. The more I can do before painting, the less chance I have to scratch/mess up the finished paint. Ill resume the catch-up updates soon.
I wanted to make this post because today marks the 3-year anniversary of me bringing this project home.

[Yan2947]

These projects take quite a long time unfortunately and somethings are out of our control. Do you have any photos of the past through for the coolant lines? Where are you bringing your pipes or hoses through?

[Yan2947]

How good is your 3-D scanning skills? I would love to have this fiberglass DP tail scanned and then changed so that I could mount it to the black lid on the back of my car right now with the radiator on it. The DP tail is just not tall enough to encompass the entire radiator. You can see what I did on my black car where the radiator stuck out the back of the turbo tail and then it was capped with another fiberglass piece. It did not look that good. This was long before 3-D printing became super popular.

[MadMaks]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

These projects take quite a long time unfortunately and somethings are out of our control. Do you have any photos of the past through for the coolant lines? Where are you bringing your pipes or hoses through?

I will get you some pictures tomorrow. I am planning to do something fairly unsafe for the coolant lines haha. I am going to run them inside the cabin under the passenger seat. Additionally, I plan to cut out 1ft sections, right where the passenger footwell starts, and add clear polycarbonate/borosilicate glass tubes. My vision is to be able to see coolant flow to and from the radiator and make it a "showpiece" of the car. It may be a little silly, but I'd like to add a small amount of UV dye to the coolant and use some UV LEDs to make it glow.

As for specific routing, I made cutouts in the lower firewall at the back of the passenger floor pan and in the footwell right into the smuggler's box. I'll try and make a diagram so you can see my exact routing path.

Originally Posted by Yan2947

How good is your 3-D scanning skills? I would love to have this fiberglass DP tail scanned and then changed so that I could mount it to the black lid on the back of my car right now with the radiator on it. The DP tail is just not tall enough to encompass the entire radiator. You can see what I did on my black car where the radiator stuck out the back of the turbo tail and then it was capped with another fiberglass piece. It did not look that good. This was long before 3-D printing became super popular.

This shouldn't be too difficult to scan. I have definitely done larger scans before. There is also a lot of intricate geometry on the tail for the scanner to reference, which makes scanning go smoother. I also really like the rear radiator design. I never even considered mounting something to the outside of the decklid. I'll keep that in mind for the next project I do

I think this is a doable project.

[Yan2947]

Recently, I borrowed someone’s scope to look in the heater duct tunnel on the left and right side of the car. I think you can access that from the rear wheel wells, kind of where the front of the rear quarters meet the rocker panel area. I think there is plenty of room in there. There are also some small holes that can be viewed through the top of the heater dump tunnel.The heater duct is only one part of that rocker panel area. The rest looks like empty space in there. Take a look with one of those camera scopes. It might be a good spot for you. Of course you wouldn’t be able to see your coolant lines.

[MadMaks]

Originally Posted by Yan2947

Recently, I borrowed someone’s scope to look in the heater duct tunnel on the left and right side of the car. I think you can access that from the rear wheel wells, kind of where the front of the rear quarters meet the rocker panel area. I think there is plenty of room in there. There are also some small holes that can be viewed through the top of the heater dump tunnel.The heater duct is only one part of that rocker panel area. The rest looks like empty space in there. Take a look with one of those camera scopes. It might be a good spot for you. Of course you wouldn’t be able to see your coolant lines.

I was actually thinking about using those at first. If I ever do another one of these projects, I will definitely be using those for a nice stealth install. The only thing I would be worried about is getting the hose routed through without having to cut open the rocker to guide it.

[MadMaks]

Ok, finally getting back on track. In real-time, the shell has been dropped off at Masterworks in Hudson, New Hampshire, for bodywork and paint. I love this car, but it is honestly a huge relief knowing I won't have to deal with it for a couple of months. Now is my time to figure out some of the more mechanical aspects of the project.

Anyways, continuing with the front suspension pan rebuild...

With the crossmember mounting panel and the threaded pickup aligned and welded in, I was then able to start fitting the main suspension pan "horseshoe" into place. I had to trim both ends since I was only going to be using a partial section of it. I installed the control arm on the driver's side to ensure the holes were aligned. A couple rounds of tack welding later, and the car was starting to look whole again:



Next up was fitting the lower portion of the inner fender skin. Out of all the panels needed for this job, this was the easiest to align and weld in place. Here is a pic of me getting it done in very professional work attire:



The rear portion of this lower fender skin was the exact opposite. It was quite the nightmare to align, and worst of all, it did not align at all with the front portion I just finished welding. Since I was closing up that lower fender area with this panel, I sprayed healthy coats of epoxy sealer all on the inside to hopefully extend the life of this car.



I had to get creative with pie cuts and forming the replacement panels to close it all up. Please excuse the welds here. These were the only pictures I had before I ground them up a bit. But, as ugly as it may look, the alignment of all the panels was spot on. At this point, I knew I was going to be coating the frunk and wheel wells with bedliner, so I was not too concerned with a spotless welding job. My main concern was sealing from rust. This area was also going to be covered with a new section of the driver's fuel tank support panel, so I took this time to seal the pinch weld and fill it with seam sealer. Again, nothing beautiful, but it will keep all the water out.




At this point in the job, I was very happy with how everything came along. It was a huge confidence boost to tackle what was likely the most critical job and get good results, especially as the first real restoration job. The "meat" of the suspension pan was all back in place, and I could easily bolt and unbolt the suspension to the car. I let the car sit with the control arms bolted up for a couple of days to see if it would help the new panels set into place. I was also looking to see if any stress in the panels could have caused the welds to crack. Better to catch it early, before I fully finish welding the accessory panels.

Thankfully, a couple of days went by, and the suspension still bolted and unbolted perfectly. From there, I fit the front portion of the fuel tank support and the brace for the control arm bolts. Again, the welds were not clean, but there was plenty of penetration. With everything welded in, I let it sit for another couple of days to let any creeping stress show itself.



I made sure everything was sealed in epoxy and considered this job done for the time being.