My '72 911T

Author
Discussion

RC1807

12,482 posts

167 months

Sunday 28th June 2020
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Great work, and my very best wishes to you in advance for sorting out the wiring!

Shadow R1

3,798 posts

175 months

Sunday 28th June 2020
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Great job. smile

I'm not sure many look forward to the wiring jobs.

Paracetamol

4,225 posts

243 months

Sunday 28th June 2020
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Replacing the clock with a vent is a great idea!

I fortunately have AC in my car and its very effective.

Huskyman

653 posts

126 months

Sunday 28th June 2020
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gary71 said:
Next project (outside of metal bashing) was to try and improve the ventilation a bit. It's not going to be aircon by any stretch of the imagination, but even a 10% improvement in airflow would help those time when you are dying of heat exhaustion in the French countryside.

On the advice of our HVAC expert the suggestion was to use a small high performance intercooler fan within the original box.

24hrs later this little Spal fan turns up and it could have been made for the job! It sits beautifully in the hole left by the original fan with nothing more than some spacers to give a clearance to the backwall of the box.

I’ve obviously not tried it in the car yet, so it may sound like a jet at take off, but I haven’t modified the original box at all (other than three 6mm holes) so all else fails I can put it back.

The other thing I’d like to do is work out how to duct some air at face level as there is none. Vents didn’t make it to 911s until ‘74.



I had other ideas of using the speaker grille or radio aperture, but it’s the clock space or nothing from an appearance perspective.

I’ve added a Y piece under the dash and the pipe up to the dash should just about clear the wipers:





This eBay purchase looks like it will work. Lose the chrome accents and it also might even fit in the standard rubber ring, but that’s buried somewhere in a box!

Good old Alfa Romeo still using round vents

Whilst playing with the heater the miserable state of the lower connection from the RH valve to bulkhead finally tipped me over to do something about it.

It’s been in two parts with no fixings and held together with luck, tape and tie wraps for years. This meant the underdash vent was also held on with tape.

I had a plan to measure the other one, draw it up on CAD and get one 3D printed. But hey I don’t have the kit for that so made a steel one smile

The main tube of the rollover jig was exactly the right size to form the tube. Cutting it off at 30 degrees was fun, but the other part of the flange was easy enough using the shrinker/stretcher tool.

Probably a bit excessively strong now, but it’s steel and hence good smile

Coat of black paint and it will never be seen again.



And painted.

Oh yes. Wiring.

Can you tell I’m not looking forward to this bit?

There’s dodgy earths and connections everywhere, not surprising my indicators were a bit temperamental when it rained!
There are some skills being shown here I would love to have! With regards to the wiring are you going to refurbish the original looms, buy new or make own?
Last time I built a loom I used a peg board like a OE manufacturer and the look was lovely. I made pin connection drawings for each one of the connectors and made provisions for grommets and all good stuff like that. Have a look at project binky on YouTube. There is some good stuff about the wiring they did.

gary71

Original Poster:

1,963 posts

178 months

Sunday 28th June 2020
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I’m repairing the wiring rather than starting from scratch as most of it’s ok, some of the connectors are moulded on and made of Porsche unobtainium, but most of the spades and ring connectors have seen better days.

The biggest fight is the curse of ‘black wire’ when the flex gets surface corrosion on the stands. It’s a right pain to clean up to the point it will accept solder, so replacement is better if possible.

I’m also replacing the fuse boxes with modern alternatives as the round ‘vintage’ fuses are best consigned to the concours only box. For those that want to use their car it’s new blades all the way.

1602Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Sunday 28th June 2020
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Funnily enough I thought of you when I came across these guys a couple of weeks back, when looking at options for the 1602 fuses.

They look like they have some nice 911 solutions, although they're a little pricey for my pockets.

https://www.classicretrofit.com/

Liking that fan you've fitted. My OE fan has died and it's a pig to replace. If I'm going to go to all that effort I want it to be the best fan I can get in there. smile

gary71

Original Poster:

1,963 posts

178 months

Sunday 28th June 2020
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Certainly unless you are particularly tight or dedicated to the DIY cause the Classic Retrofit box is the way forward. My solution cost £20, but lots of labour and improvising!

I’ve modified the new boxes internally to replicate the bridging elements under the original. Won’t be sorry to see the back of the original fuses though!

My indicators might even work when it’s raining after all this! Work in progress, out with the old, in with the new.


New terminals on the positives, and the earth point, and also integrating the wiring for the heated screen and amp. There are two un-used fuses, rear screen and fog lights, so they are being repurposed.



Main harness and headlamp harnesses now done. Plenty more to do, but that’s enough wiring for now.

1602Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Sunday 28th June 2020
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The novelty factor of rolling the old bullet fuses in their holders, in order to make the connection again, gets old pretty quickly doesn't it? laugh

Nice job you've done there though. Not that I expected anything less.

gary71

Original Poster:

1,963 posts

178 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
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Wiring boredom kicked in so I’ve switched back to getting the shell fully dry built. It’s all coming apart again but I want to get it really close before hand.

Profiling the bonnet with the gas struts on is fun... it’s finally done and I’m happy with it.





The bonnet has a crown of about 3mm you can see in this pic, probably due to overpacking many, many times to Le Mans.

I’m sure a gentle persuasion can recover this as it’s otherwise bang in line and fits front and back.



I’ve also spent about 4 hours metal finishing the front bumper as my early efforts a were not all that. Still needs filler, but less!

I’ve made a bracket for the front bumper that connects the battery box to bumper and headlight bucket.

The original brackets seem to have vanished into the twilight zone normally reserved for 10mm sockets and the spanner you’ve just put down!

Checking a few pictures on line I can see what I’m missing so made one up out of some thick stainless I happened to have. It’s probably a mm or so thinner than the original from memory so I’ve added a little brace to reduce flex.



The two brackets didn’t end up entirely symmetrical as the battery box brackets are different, probably my fault!

Just for reference for people worried about original finishes I’m thinking of going ‘original’ for my engine and luggage bay as it can be recreated by a blind man and two rattle cans of green and badly applied satin black for £4.50. I’ll not spray the rust layer back on though!

Found this old photo lurking on a hard drive from when I first owned the car and pulled the tank out to fix a leak.


The new brackets are now in place.



I spent a few hours this afternoon fighting lamp/horn grille fitment. Just bolted up they are dreadful.
The only way to get it right in the end was to cut off the top of the bracket that goes between grille and lamp, fit everything without the bracket then move the bracket to the lamp and weld it back on. Wing on/wing off/wing on...

It’s still not perfect, but maybe it never was (and certainly never has been whilst I’ve owned the car) and I’m too used to cars with +/- 1mm tolerances!



I’m going to try the other side tomorrow, that’s an original period wing so maybe better than this £1000 Porsche panel

Gallons Per Mile

1,868 posts

106 months

Sunday 12th July 2020
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It all looks spot on from this end of the internet!

Excellent progress as usual and you're doing such a brilliant job thumbup

Aluminati

2,475 posts

57 months

Monday 13th July 2020
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38 pages of splendidness just read.

Thank You smile

Slippydiff

14,742 posts

222 months

Monday 13th July 2020
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gary71 said:
Then a super exciting repair to the 964 door I bought a while back. It had an ugly hole hacked in it so I cut it out and replaced with a little plate.


I fear that ugly hole that'd been hacked out of the door, may well hold a sinister secret Gary. It's the exact location of the build number, that as I understand it, is unique to the car the panel came from. The number is stamped into both doors, the bonnet and the engine cover. The guy that did the bodywork on my car said the secondhand engine cover I bought, had been similarly butchered, and that it was indicative of (though not a definitive sign) the panel was from a stolen car that had been broken for parts ... or the panel was from a legitimate Cat A or B car that had been broken for parts and any trace of its identity erased as a condition of it being sold to salvage yard.

Door number :



Bonnet number :



Engine cover number :



I bought brand new OE steel doors off Porsche to replace the Techart carbon fibre items that had been fitted to my 964 RS.

The new doors had no build numbers stamped into them :



and as I was doing a concours build, I sourced two mild steel blanks of the correct gauge and had the correct numbers (taken from the engine cover) stamped into them on the bench (these were trials to establish the correct font) :



We then cut out the original sections (no more than 3cms x 8cms) from the new doors and let (TIG welded) the stamped items in :



Once dressed back, primed and painted AND painted with the correct satin black paint, you couldn't see the join, but better still, the panel is double skinned, so even if you were to replace the door skin, you'd never know the build "number plate" had been frenched in to the the new door.


1602Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Monday 13th July 2020
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Lovely attention to detail.

Penguinracer

1,593 posts

205 months

Monday 13th July 2020
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Gary, are you planning to return it to the original colour (was it green)?

gary71

Original Poster:

1,963 posts

178 months

Friday 17th July 2020
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Interesting about the door numbers. I bought the door from a legitimate scrap yard, if there is such a thing!

And yes it is going green! Underbonnet and engine bay are going satin black, which is also as original for this model year. I was planning green for those, but without great attention to detail (which was never done in the factory) it won’t look good anyway.

gary71

Original Poster:

1,963 posts

178 months

Saturday 5th September 2020
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Front end alignment finally done! (With the aid of a sandbag to push the seals down)



But... It’s not that easy is it?

Yes another original panel going in the skip pile frown (although I’ll keep this one and paint it for wall art)

I’d kind of suspected my bonnet been made of filler and hope for the last 15 years since it was painted. And yes it is. smile

To be honest whilst filling over holes isn’t good practice it’s survived a very long time without breaking through the surface other than a couple of very small bubbles.

The 5mm thick layer on the A surface probably held the visible rust back for a while smile

My experience with the engine lid tells me not to even try and fix this as I’ll just burn hours then buy a new one anyway.



After some soul searching about aftermarket parts (and cash) I bought a new OE panel from the dealer that’s provided all the expensive black bits so far. With a healthy discount it was the same price as the aftermarket part...

It’s certainly Porsche OE for the win on this one.

Absolutely nailed the fit .

Not bolted to the hinges yet, but this is a good start.



Look at the curve smile

gary71

Original Poster:

1,963 posts

178 months

Friday 30th October 2020
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It’s been a while... what with Covid and all things got put on the back burner...

But!

As of today I moved the dry built shell to the house of Barry and popped it on the Celette to see what’s what.

Borrowed an awesome covered trailer from a chap at work:


6.5 hours drive later....

Gently does it, up she goes:


And she’s on (and screen jigs in)



Verdict is it’s pretty much straight, needs a gentle tug across the back (2mm) other than that it bolted straight on.

Barry is happy with it, no horrors found, not bent as a banana!

A great relief smile

Beer in hand now at the hotel and a long drive back tomorrow ready to tidy the garage!

80sMatchbox

3,891 posts

175 months

Friday 30th October 2020
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Good news that it was as so straight! You must be chuffed.

I'm not surprised with your attention to detail. smile

Shadow R1

3,798 posts

175 months

Saturday 31st October 2020
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Great stuff. smile

1602Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Saturday 31st October 2020
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There aren't many other people cars that I'm excited to see updates about but this is most certainly one of them.

Glad all your hard work is paying off. smile