A Tale of Two S/T's

[blyguy]

My apologies to Charles Dickens. I wanted to share my experience putting together my long-term projects, both with similar forms but different starting points. I hope this will be entertaining and possibly informative!

Lots of historical 911 S/T background is available at early911s registry and other sources. I am not a purist and don't have access to actual ST parts aka hen's teeth Neither of these builds will be MFI, 2.5 or have really expensive Fuchs or period correct Repa harness webbing. You have been warned...

1) 1972 Viper Green 911T, which started life as a street/track RS clone with a 993 3.6L
2) 1984 Black 911 Carrera 3.2, bone stock and neglected in the desert Southwest. The relatively light weight, 915 trans, and factory LSD made this model year a great candidate.

Both cars are going to be 911 S/T tributes/replicas/clones/whatever in slightly different ways. The '72 has been put to good use for several years by me, but broke a valve spring last year at Chuckwalla. With the engine out, it was time to address the body work. There was lots of bondo and cut corners (figuratively and literally) since the car was built in the olden days of the early 2000s.

The '84 would see it's shape take the form of an S/T but retain creature comforts like AC and upgraded running gear and pass CA smog. Something like a weekend/event car but with historically accurate S/T cosmetics.

As luck would have it, Mr ST in Poland was able to supply replica ST steel flares, bumpers w S/T curves, backdate parts and assorted items to do the job right.

My friend Dave Kealoha was gracious enough to refer me to his hot rod builder and metal crafter extraordinaire to get the job started. Enough with the writing, here are the pics.

Here's my green 911 with some friends at the San Diego PCA AX years ago. Mark Kinniger's Smurf went on to become an awesome RSR clone.

[blyguy]

Did I mention bondo on the green car? There was a thought to keep the car as is and just drive it. But it's a real 1972 911T with factory viper green paint - it needed to fulfill its purpose to be a 911 S/T, or so I thought. The grafting was extensive including poorly cut and lap welded RS flares and heavily damaged quarter panels. Thankfully the chassis was not damaged and had a sturdy DAS Sport roll cage tied into the front and rear shock towers.

The black 1984 was in much better shape and went under the knife first. Beautiful ST steel flares were butt welded, rocker holes welded closed, and spoiler 'delete' performed on the rear decklid. Turn signal boxes were used to 'backdate' the front.

The factory short hood was extended to maintain the nice gaps and factory fit of the panels. A latch extension (not pictured) was made to allow easy opening of the short hood latch - similar to builds done by Dave and Mark Kinninger.