Well I've found a shop to do the suspension pan locally - they are estimating $1.5-2K with me supplying the parts and doing most of the teardown which sucks - but is in my "I don't want to buy a welder and learn to DIY this" range. They do not have a Celette bench but have done several of these and came well recommended. The parts arrived SUPER quickly from Restoration Design and look to be of very high quality. I bring the car and parts to him in a week or two.
So I've been working on that teardown and have gotten pretty far - as I also plan to do a color-change paint job before driving it again (and an interior after that) I've been taking about everything I can save the engine off/out.
Photos of progress:
https://www.icloud.com/photos/#08jgvE6g2jgcLdm56RoMeTDkw
I'll have to sell the 996 pictured there to afford this project - but in the end I'm looking forward to the results. I just ordered some camel tan quilted leather Recaro Specialists (first real money spent!) that will take 3 months to get here from Taiwan. I'm debating between Night Blue Metallic and Lapis Blue as front runners. Or the BMW color Tanzanite Blue.
Few questions:
- There was water entry where water pooled under the rear seat mat for a long time, lots of the metal is pitted even after a fair amount of time with a wire wheel. Same for the lip where the windshield and rear window sit. It isn't rust but more like dark almost black shiny pits. What should I do? Paint it? With what?
- I can't figure out how to get the antenna mast off - what's the trick?
- Can I remove the front A/C condenser? Anything special I should do other than just unscrewing the hose connections first?
- Same question for the front fender oil cooler - it looks ROUGH - maybe I should just leave well enough alone?
- What kind of degreaser would you all recommend to remove the terostat ribbon dum-dum stuff?
- Similarly what about the nasty glue behind the fiberglass matting insulation?