restoration parts fit

[WRGREENER]

i am in the process of replacing my front latch support panel, suspension pan, and gastank support on my 67 912. after cutting out the gas tank support i tried to put the new "restoration design inc. part in and found: the =passenger side fits great. the battery side does not. the new piece is shallow and does not fit both in the front and rear. ck out the pics. is this normal, any thoughts?

[sfoster13]

I've bought most of my parts from the S company but generally speaking my experience has been that the replacement panels are just a starting point. Some are closer than others, but all have required some degree of massaging with some requiring significant reshaping. Have not replaced that specific panel however.

[962porsche]

as SEAN stated ! you will have to make the part work . if you cut it and add in a piece of sheet metal it should fit . a part like that is 1/2 the cost of what porsche sells it for but twice the fab work to get them to fit .

[clarkd]

I ran into the same match up issue on my 73. I believe our original tank supports are similar. I'm trying to make the left hand side of my RD tank support look as original as possible.

From an email I received from Mike at RD when I inquired about the part:

The gas tank support you have is a copy of a generic gas tank support Porsche made for all the 911/912 models up to 1984. The gas tank support you need is not being made currently by any one. We have looked for NOS gas tank supports for the 65-73 model but to no avail. We have cut a used one out of a wreck and we are getting that scanned and then we will make dies for the production of the correct gas tank support, which hopefully should be ready by the end of the year. We have a number of other new dies scheduled for production , so that is why it will take this long.

I'm still not there yet reshaping mine, but I started by using a welding clamp to bend up the back left edge.

[WRGREENER]

that is exactly the same response i got from him...with the addition that i could return it at my cost and he would only charge me a 15 restocking charge. it looks like yours fit a bit better than mine..looks like you have a higher shoulder?

[rvanderpyl]

The replacement parts restoration design and many other places make are built to 'fit' as many years as possible, you will always have to massage them into place

[Fishcop]

RD pieces are a 100% head start on what most of us can fab from scratch and are a great option in the absence of OEM. But you still need a hammer and dolly and some cutting and welding before some things will fit exactly.

I used RD's floor, inner and outer rockers and kidney bowls - no real complaints, but as 962 says, you do get what you pay for.