rennline air blower cover

[Solamar]

I don't have much experience with Rennline products, but their blower cover didnt inspire much confidence.

PN 105 for 1977-89
My cars a '78SC

I bought the cover because my car came missing the blower cover. First problem, you need the stock blower cover to strip the mount from... Called Rennline, no problem, we have a mount you can buy for ~$30. OK.

The straps/mount they sell is 3/16" thick, guessing 3003 alum and comes with SAE hardware (figured that out quickly when I spun a 10mm socket on the nuts). A quick look and things do not look good. The left and right straps are identical, but the left attachment point is 1.5" further forward to clear the brake booster vac line. and the strangest feature is the bottom legs have jogs towards the rear which pushes the cover over the smugglers box lid

(Borrowed this picture from above) The red markup is the direction I had to bend the straps to clear the smugglers box lid and the brake booster vac line.



In the process of modifying the straps I realized the aluminum blower cover would need to be notched around the vac line as well and 3/4" would have to be cut from the bottom to provide clearance for the smugglers box latch.



I got it in. Looks a bit twisted,guess I'll have to play with it again another day.

My .02 is the strap should be redesigned, or something went drastically wrong in the fabrication

[AG81]

I did zero modification to the Rennline cover for my 88. I don't know if I was lucky or what. It fit great.

[echecsqueen]

Originally Posted by AG81

I did zero modification to the Rennline cover for my 88. I don't know if I was lucky or what. It fit great.

Like your trunk a lot. Very tidy. Glad your blower cover fit well. Maybe it depends on the year?

Sent from my BBB100-1 using Tapatalk

[AG81]

Originally Posted by echecsqueen

Like your trunk a lot. Very tidy. Glad your blower cover fit well. Maybe it depends on the year?

^
Thank you

[echecsqueen]

Originally Posted by Solamar

I don't have much experience with Rennline products, but their blower cover didnt inspire much confidence.



PN 105 for 1977-89

My cars a '78SC



I bought the cover because my car came missing the blower cover. First problem, you need the stock blower cover to strip the mount from... Called Rennline, no problem, we have a mount you can buy for ~$30. OK.



The straps/mount they sell is 3/16" thick, guessing 3003 alum and comes with SAE hardware (figured that out quickly when I spun a 10mm socket on the nuts). A quick look and things do not look good. The left and right straps are identical, but the left attachment point is 1.5" further forward to clear the brake booster vac line. and the strangest feature is the bottom legs have jogs towards the rear which pushes the cover over the smugglers box lid



(Borrowed this picture from above) The red markup is the direction I had to bend the straps to clear the smugglers box lid and the brake booster vac line.







In the process of modifying the straps I realized the aluminum blower cover would need to be notched around the vac line as well and 3/4" would have to be cut from the bottom to provide clearance for the smugglers box latch.







I got it in. Looks a bit twisted,guess I'll have to play with it again another day.



My .02 is the strap should be redesigned, or something went drastically wrong in the fabrication

Nice result. Looks great

Sent from my BBB100-1 using Tapatalk

[frankc]

I have the same issue that Solamar pointed out - after installing the Rennline cover I was unable to open the smuggler's box lid.

For those not aware, the issue here is that in 1977 Porsche moved the lower left bracket for the blower cover forward to accommodate the vacuum line for the new brake booster. The factory cardboard cover was made shorter to account for the master cylinder being moved from under the car to the trunk, but the metal mounts were not changed. This was not a big deal for the factory cover as the cardboard was easy to flex into position, but not so for the Rennline aluminum cover.

I am still deciding on which approach to take to resolve this issue (I was hoping that Rennline would have offered an improved set of asymmetric mounts by now), but will likely go the route that Solamar did with notching the cover and modifying the Rennline mounts (I think only the left mount will need to be modified in my case). My only concern with notching the cover is that it appears in the front photo that it may leave the brake booster vacuum line slightly exposed to objects that might be moving around in the trunk. However the side photo shows that the vacuum line may be recessed far enough back that this shouldn't be an issue.

[Harpo]

My blower cover on my 74 was also easy

Originally Posted by AG81

I did zero modification to the Rennline cover for my 88. I don't know if I was lucky or what. It fit great.

[Synchro Joe]

Had to do some tweaking on mine, but eventually it fit OK. As said here, before really tightening all the mounting screws, loosely tighten them by hand and tweak the alignment.

If so many are having issues, why not contact both Pelican and Rennline? They're on the site occasionally or try Tom Rittenburg VP - Rennline Automotive - Orders@Rennline.com.

Sort of strange they haven't chimed in to try and make it right before now isn't it ?

[Russ at Rennline]

Hey everyone, one of my customers just made me aware of the issues brought up in this thread. I ran down to the warehouse and snapped some pictures of our brackets next to the stock ones. Are both of your brackets the same for drivers side and passenger side? I am wondering if the factory made side specific ones for certain years?

[Solamar]

Originally Posted by Russ at Rennline

Hey everyone, one of my customers just made me aware of the issues brought up in this thread. I ran down to the warehouse and snapped some pictures of our brackets next to the stock ones. Are both of your brackets the same for drivers side and passenger side? I am wondering if the factory made side specific ones for certain years?

I think FrankC summed it up well (above). When the vac brake booster was introduced (1977) the factory pushed the drivers side blower cover support forward. No problem if you have a flexible cardboard cover and don't mind bending it rearward to open the smugglers box. With the aluminum cover there is a pretty substantial interference.

Also no problem if you don't need to open the smugglers box, but whats a smuggler to do?

[76FJ55]

Based on part number, Porsche installed the same cover assembly from 77 on (911 551 067 03) for cars with brake boosters, so shouldn't be any change to the brackets unless you are comparing pre 77 to post 77.

[Russ at Rennline]

Originally Posted by Solamar

I think FrankC summed it up well (above). When the vac brake booster was introduced (1977) the factory pushed the drivers side blower cover support forward. No problem if you have a flexible cardboard cover and don't mind bending it rearward to open the smugglers box. With the aluminum cover there is a pretty substantial interference.

Also no problem if you don't need to open the smugglers box, but whats a smuggler to do?

That is strange! The factory brackets I compared with are from an 82' and the aluminum is thinner than the factory cardboard. I am having on of our customers take some pictures for me on a G50 model as I think there might be an issue with where the factory moved that lower bracket. I will update what I find...

[Robey5]

Got a 79 over here, and opening the smugglers box requires removing the (sweet looking) blower cover. Perhaps my smugglers box door-hinges are out of tolerance?

[Robey5]

I cannot get the photos to be oriented the correct way, so ... I guess this Rennline addition will allow the P-Car to defy gravity as well as not allow me to open the smugglers box.

[Magurk]

I love that diamond stitched cover!

Im the same, I need to remove the blower cover plus nitrous to get to the smugglers box to access the bricks of yo-yos I keep in there. The blower cover mounts straight up on my early 80s turbo as well, no mods were required.

[frankc]

Originally Posted by Russ at Rennline

That is strange! The factory brackets I compared with are from an 82' and the aluminum is thinner than the factory cardboard. I am having on of our customers take some pictures for me on a G50 model as I think there might be an issue with where the factory moved that lower bracket. I will update what I find...

Let me know if you need any photos of the bracket locations in a '77.

[sbrown.nw]

Hi everyone,

Resurrecting an old thread here. I bought one of the Rennline blower covers and do not have my factory brackets. Does anyone have other options besides the Rennline brackets?

Thanks,

Scott

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by sbrown.nw

Hi everyone,

Resurrecting an old thread here. I bought one of the Rennline blower covers and do not have my factory brackets. Does anyone have other options besides the Rennline brackets?

Thanks,

Scott

Car Bone may have some. They usually show up to Hershey every year.

https://car-bone.pl/

[AG81]

Might try ladismantler DOT com.....

[AlKidd]

For those that run strut bars / braces, can you still open the lid to the smuggler box? Mine hits and because it opens towards the window, getting anything out of there is impossible in the small space remaining.