Turning a "Boxster" in to a longhood!

[95avblm3]

Expect to see a hacked up Boxster cluged into an early longhood-looking atrocity? No, not here. I recently acquired a longhood project that has gotten a little long in the tooth. I was told the PO's wife once described it as a "Boxster" to a friend, since it was all in boxes. I thought that was a pretty clever description.

The car is an early-73 Targa that sat in a garage on jackstands for about 8 years prior to my purchasing it and from the history I have been able to put together, it has been in approximately the same state for the last 20+ years. I'm am hopeful to break the trend.

Here is a picture of it as it rested before I bought it:


The color is a pearl white that could only be found on an early-90s Lexus LS400. It actually is a decent 10 foot job but at the risk of offending any 1990 Lexus owners here, it is pretty ugly. I found the color code plate in a box and it suggests the car was originally Sepia Brown. The color inside the fenders and on various other hidden parts of the car support this. It has a period correct but a non-numbers matching 2.4T MFI motor out of a '72 donor. It is very dirty and hasn't been cranked in a long time but I am told it was dyno'd when removed and is supposed to only have some 40k odd miles. We'll see... I budgeted for a rebuild just in case.

I'd like to throw out some thanks to those who I have either spoken with here or lurked on their threads. First to kkinzli, who just lives a few hours down the road. His candid description and hands on approach to restoring his 69 is inspiring. Hopefully we'll get to meet in person soon. To Fishcop for the great job on his 69 and for building and posting dimensions for the "Octisserie". To my friend, neighbor, and fellow pelican jbizzle78, who is probably the reason I own a 911 in the first place. Many a late night have been spent in his garage lending a hand on his '71... it's what set the hook. There are many more to but you get the point... I don't want this to start sounding like an Emmy acceptance speech.

Here is a pic of the car moved to its new location, along with the boxes of parts that either go with it, or someone along the collected thinking they would go with it:


I'll end it here for now. Getting ready to head out to work on it. Since the above picture was taken, I have nearly completely stripped in preparation for body and paint work.

Thanks for looking!

Enter obligatory waving smily here:

[bell]

Awesome :-)

[sc_rufctr]

The body and paint looks pretty good... Why strip it? Rust, bad work?

Good luck with the build.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by 95avblm3

I was told the PO's wife once described it as a "Boxster" to a friend, since it was all in boxes. I thought that was a pretty clever description.

Cute indeed.

Good luck with that.

[vracer]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

The body and paint looks pretty good... Why strip it? Rust, bad work?

And the color is to be?

Repaint now if you are not 110% with the color or quality. I can't imagine how my butt would feel from kicking myself if I had to strip the car to repaint in two years. An added benefit is that you can let the paint dry properly between stages at this time while you're doing other projects.

One problem: Your local bartender is going to forget your name.

[95avblm3]

Originally Posted by bell

Awesome :-)

Thanks!

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

The body and paint looks pretty good... Why strip it? Rust, bad work?

Good luck with the build.

I'll have to admit, it actually does look pretty good in the pictures. I'm stripping for a couple of reasons. There is some old accident damage to the nose that has a fairly rough repair. It has a new suspension pan and gas tank support but the driver's inner fender is really rough... There is some combo hammer & dolly/welding work that needs to be done to the inner fender.

Elsewhere in the car, I have found loose undercoating with surface rust underneath. Over all, the car is incredibly rust free but I want to nip the potential problems in the bud now. ...and most importantly, I just can't stand the color and the quality of the job is okay, not great

Originally Posted by kach22i

Cute indeed.

Good luck with that.

Yes, I was amused.

Originally Posted by vracer

And the color is to be?

Repaint now if you are not 110% with the color or quality. I can't imagine how my butt would feel from kicking myself if I had to strip the car to repaint in two years. An added benefit is that you can let the paint dry properly between stages at this time while you're doing other projects.

One problem: Your local bartender is going to forget your name.

That is exactly what I am doing. Here is a picture I took yesterday showing the progress:


I went through all of the boxes and have catalogued the parts (not since yesterday but over the past few weeks). Stowed the boxes up on the loft in the workshop, cleaned my work area and began dismantling the remaining parts on the car.

This morning I was down to the wiring harness and cables. I have a spare wiring harness and really wanted to compare both side by side, pick the best and make any necessary repairs. That means I need to remove the existing one from the car. It looks like it should be straight forward but it felt like something was hanging up in the tube it runs through... so I stopped. Any recommendations? I'd leave it in place if it weren't as chewed up as it is.

Since I decided to stop working on that, I finished removing the sound deadening material from the floor. Yesterday, I got this far with just a scraper alone:


Today, I pulled out my new Harbor Freight cheapy heat gun... It worked fantastic and made quick work of the remaining!


A little surface rust but overall and in need of a little hammer and dolly work, but overall the floors are in really good shape.

[kidrock]

Nice score, looks like a fun project.

[Bjarnvik]

Exciting project! will be looking forward to follow your work!

[95avblm3]

Originally Posted by kidrock

Nice score, looks like a fun project.

Originally Posted by Bjarnvik

Exciting project! will be looking forward to follow your work!

Thanks for the cheers!

Originally Posted by lindseypfaffo

I have a spare wiring harness and really wanted to compare both side by side

I have made a bold assumption that the spare harness that came with my car is correct for the year/type. I don't know but will find out as I start going through it. I know there was a donor '72 coupe a couple of owners back... I have pictures of it. So, I hope the harness is from that car.

But you know, it wouldn't be a good project (puzzle?) without surprises... it also looks like there was a SWB (probably a '67) at some point in time. I have horn grills, turn signals and seats from a '67... I guess the harness could be too. In the coming months, I'll pull it out and start looking. Will post pics of it when the time comes.

Big question of the day for the resident experts (if any happen to be reading my humble thread): The transaxle bolted to my 2.4T motor is a 902/1... the case is stamped as a '67. Obviously, it is not the "correct" transmission. But will it work? I have read threads here that suggest it can easily handle whatever extra torque might come out of the larger displacement engine, although some of the books I have read suggest that Porsche developed the 915 to have a more robust solution for increasingly more powerful engines. Opinions?

A sub-question to that is: when did Porsche start installing 915s? The car is a '73 by VIN with a build date of 7/72. The engine is a '72 by number (612XXX).

Thanks for reading and your opinions. I hope by starting this thread that I can eventually contribute something meaningful from this forum that I take so much from... If nothing else, maybe I can amuse the readers of it with some of my follies down the road

[95avblm3]

One last side note as I am getting a little long-winded: With regards to the incorrect parts I have (primarily the ones that won't fit), I'll be posting them to the classifieds as I reach a particular part of the build. Probably be glad to do some trading if anyone has anything I need and vice-versa. I suppose I could post links to whatever classified threads I start here if it is kosher with the mods. If not, that's okay.

[Joeaksa]

The earlier gearbox may work but I sure would try to find a later model 915 box to use in the car. Thats what the '73 came with in the first place and is a much better (and stronger) gearbox.

Congrats on saving another longhood! We need more of them out there!

[95avblm3]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

The earlier gearbox may work but I sure would try to find a later model 915 box to use in the car. Thats what the '73 came with in the first place and is a much better (and stronger) gearbox.

Congrats on saving another longhood! We need more of them out there!

Thanks! I tend to agree with your advice.

My plan all along has been to find a 915 but I read a thread the other day where a fellow Pelican asked about using a 901 with a 3.0 SC motor and some of the responses seemed favorable to it... sorry I don't have the link handy to post here. Then, I saw a '72 for sale (either here or on eBay) with a numbers matching 2.4T motor and it had a 901 (of some variation bolted to it)... so it made me momentarily second guess myself.

I will need to find a 915 shifter to go with the tranny as well, since the one I have is for the 902.

[Joeaksa]

Believe I have a 1972 model 915 shifter that I do not need.

Let me know if you are interested. Its original and I replaced it with a later model that was updated.

[95avblm3]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Believe I have a 1972 model 915 shifter that I do not need.

Let me know if you are interested. Its original and I replaced it with a later model that was updated.

Sending a PM now... Thanks.

[Bjarnvik]

As far as the shifter concerns, i have a later renovated 915 for my rs recreation. This will be used for my SC with high comp, s-cams and webers and should put out between 250 to 270 HP. The 915 gearbox is very sturdy, lightweight and crisp when rebuilt. 9meister also recommends them up to 400 hp. So it should work fine for you :-) Maybe with a shortshift?

[Daves911L]

Hello,
Followed your link from Kristoph's Rat thread. I'm getting to enjoy all these project stories. Good looking car. A nice start. Sepia Brown is a very handsome color. Much preferable to Lexus Pearl! Your car should absolutely have a 915 box to be correct, though I disagree with any who claim it is better than a 901. The '72 shifter is unique to that year, with the stamped steel base and the 915 pattern. Your car should have the '73 and later style with the cast aluminum base.
Good luck,
DG

[kkinzli]

Hi Jeremy!

Glad to see that you have a thread going! I will be following it closely and I am excited to see what you end up doing with the car. My brother just moved to Tampa and I am probably going to be up there fairly frequently so maybe I can come by and see your "boxster"! I am hoping to take the fenders, rear deck lid, and rear bumpers for blasting today so that I can post some progress on the "Rat" thread. Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Kristoph

[95avblm3]

Originally Posted by Bjarnvik

As far as the shifter concerns, i have a later renovated 915 for my rs recreation. This will be used for my SC with high comp, s-cams and webers and should put out between 250 to 270 HP. The 915 gearbox is very sturdy, lightweight and crisp when rebuilt. 9meister also recommends them up to 400 hp. So it should work fine for you :-) Maybe with a shortshift?

Originally Posted by Daves911L

Hello,
Followed your link from Kristoph's Rat thread. I'm getting to enjoy all these project stories. Good looking car. A nice start. Sepia Brown is a very handsome color. Much preferable to Lexus Pearl! Your car should absolutely have a 915 box to be correct, though I disagree with any who claim it is better than a 901. The '72 shifter is unique to that year, with the stamped steel base and the 915 pattern. Your car should have the '73 and later style with the cast aluminum base.
Good luck,
DG

Thanks for the 915 discussion. I am going to look out for one to put in the car. Daves911L: thanks for the information on the shifter. I didn't realize there was a unique shifter for the '72s. You're right, though. Mine should have the larger aluminum base.

Sepia is the original color but the car probably won't be returned to Sepia. Sorry to the Sepia fans but I think I am going to change it. I'll withhold the color direction for now as it isn't finalized but I can tell you it will at least be period correct and if it goes the way I'm thinking, it will be quite stunning (at least to me).

[95avblm3]

Originally Posted by kkinzli

Hi Jeremy!

Glad to see that you have a thread going! I will be following it closely and I am excited to see what you end up doing with the car. My brother just moved to Tampa and I am probably going to be up there fairly frequently so maybe I can come by and see your "boxster"! I am hoping to take the fenders, rear deck lid, and rear bumpers for blasting today so that I can post some progress on the "Rat" thread. Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Kristoph

Hey Kristoph! Thanks for the post.

Yes, I saw you mentioned taking parts for blasting... let us know how it comes out. My neighbor, fellow Pelicaner jbizzle78, had way too much aircraft stripper left over from his '71 project and passed it on to me. I think I'll be going that path for the exterior panels. Probably going to have the tub blasted, though.

Send me a PM when you head my way and I'll give you directions to our shop. We recently purchased a beater garage fridge and it has a disproportionate amount of beer to water right now Maybe you can stop by and have a couple.

Today I am going to hi-jack my own thread for a post... I was hoping to check in today to report progress on the 911, but I spent yesterday working on my wife's Volvo. It had developed a condition where the air conditioning would intermittently cut out for 5 to 10 minutes at a time... this is bad in FL in August. Turns out the AC compressor clutch was worn and would not always engage when the car/ambient temperature was hot. Fortunately, it was adjustable by removing shims between the clutch and compressor. I did all the work with the compressor still in place and found that by removing the front bumper I had plenty of access to it. I took a picture and posted on my wife's FB page yesterday... more as a joke:

In this next pic, you can see the shims that space the clutch off of the compressor in the middle of the splined hole. By removing some of these, it is possible to bring the gap back into tolerance:

Finally, it fits back onto the compressor here:

I still had a little time to work on the 911 when I finished but wound up kicking tires with my dad and brother, who along with fellow Pelican jbizzle78, share an industrial warehouse "mancave" we call the Gorilla Garage (after its former tenant). Here is a picture of the space taken by jbizzle78 the other day from the loft:

You can see my pearl white beauty in pretty much the same state as my posts from last weekend. The Signal Orange is a 71T and is owned, along with the 993 but jbizzle78. The black Carrera is my dad's, a recent acquisition through Pelican. It is an '89 3.2 w/G50 and is a pretty sweet ride.

I'll be back at my project this week. I'm down to (still) cables and wiring harness to remove from the inside. I have the harness to the point that it just needs to come out of the tunnel. Can anyone recommend the best way to do this? It appears to run through a metal tube inside of the tunnel and I was planning to attach a chase wire to it to ease with reassembly at a later date. I'm running into a problem in that is doesn't want to come out. I'm afraid there may be other leads branching of it that I have missed. Are there any components with electrical connections that attach in or near the tunnel? Finally, it looks like it should come out from the back end. Does this sound right? I checked the shop manual but didn't see instructions on the removal/installation of the wiring harness... but I may have missed it.

Well, I have wasted 5 good minutes of your time this afternoon. Thanks for reading and your comments in advance.

Cheers!

[brads911sc]

Great Thread! Congrats. Looks like it will be alot of fun!