1974 Carrera Coupe - RHD, UK car

[jtparr]

looking good Paul
what is the finish on the fan housing...looks a deeper mid/dark grey...?

[Nige]

Awesome looking starter motor, I really like the black finish that has been achieved on it. Very factory!

[911hillclimber]

Sorry, but has that starter been refurbished?
Casting grubby, pinion gear looking second-hand and that cable nut is not exactly 2013 new.

[Highfield]

Nice engine ...... what about the gearbox ? Oh how impatient we are

[Ferry Man]

Nice engine

Thanks Ian. It was nice to get that rebuilt and ticked of my list.
I have the engine sitting on a pallet and stored at work. Now I just need a car to put it in.

[Ferry Man]

I would have to consider facing up to the rusty shell again but for now just looking at the completed engine was consolation enough.

I now have a thoroughly and superbly rebuilt RS engine restored to factory spec. It doesn’t have the cold start ‘snorkel’ fitted because I asked for it to be omitted. I’ve never really understood the need for those. I know they’re not really necessary in our climate (I never did fit mine to my 2.4S) and the engine looks and sounds better without it installed.

You’ll also see the engine has the popular ‘chain tensioner’ upgrade fitted. That kit was already on the engine so when we rebuilt it, we chose to retain it.
It’s not an essential modification but I felt it a wise precaution to keep the worthwhile upgrade.

[Ferry Man]

what about the gearbox ?

Ah yes, another story for later in the thread.
Maybe I should get back to the shell....

[Sam]

To make it perfect Wurth plastic dye will get that airbox and the trumpets up a treat. It's £25-odd a tube but leaves a lovely matt, factory-esque finish.

[Ferry Man]

Wurth plastic dye will get that airbox up a treat.

Thanks for the tip Sam, I'll give it a go.

[Ferry Man]

It was all rather disheartening.
The cost of restoring the shell was being to look prohibitive.

The shell had been stored at Early911’s workshop whilst I decided what to do with the bodywork.
I spoke to several people and tried to gauge the likely price for repairing it.

Once the projected costs started to be revealed I began to have doubts.
The costs weren’t accumulating they were spiralling out of control.
Not only were the restoration costs beginning to far exceed the value of the completed car, I was also saying to myself “I’m going to end up spending more restoring an impact bumper car than anyone else has ever done”.
When I was pricing up the shell repairs it was questioned; “are people spending this much on IB cars these days?” I think many people felt it was folly.

[Ferry Man]

So, I was beginning to despair.
I even thought of selling the engine & ‘box, cutting my losses and discarding the shell.
It began to look like rescuing this particular car was not viable.

Then I chatted with Mike (210bhp) and he observed that I should set aside financial concerns, in this instance it didn’t matter too much.
The car was a keeper, it was to be mine and therefore I had every rationale for restoring.
Such wise counsel from someone so young.

And he’s correct, if you want to make money, go out to work, don’t take on an old Porsche.
If however, you want a high quality restoration and to end up with a very fine car that you know has been rebuilt as well as it possibly can, then be prepared to dip into your pocket.

[Ferry Man]

There are quite a few specialists that repair rusty 911’s but the work required for my shell demanded a company well versed in the work and confident with tackling such a comprehensive rebuild.
I felt that narrowed the choice down to just a handful of heavyweight players.

So I had a few options.
Early911 could restore it but they were swamped with body repair work and at that time they couldn’t fit in a job totalling many hundred hours.
I would also have loved to have used Barry Carter but he has a waiting list longer than the NHS.
Barry had checked the car over when I first acquired it and gave me a ball park quote but we couldn’t quite synchronise our diaries.
And in fairness, this was a nasty little project for anyone.
Who could repair a shell that far gone? Who would be up for the challenge?

In fact I guess I already knew who I’d like to use and that was Chesterton Coachworks.
I’d been in awe of the work they’d done on Garry’s car (visualfx).
His ‘67S was a UK, RHD car and was just as rotten as mine. Chesterton’s had worked miracles on it.

Amongst the premier league of restorers their name was constantly praised for their excellence.
Fortunately they were conveniently geographically close so I took a trip to see the calibre of their work.
And came away very impressed.

[Bootsy]

You could have gone for a Pre 73 donor shell and then forward dated it!

[Ferry Man]

You could have gone for a Pre 73 donor shell and then forward dated it!

Now there's an idea. Maybe an old RS?

[Ferry Man]

But no, no 'forward dating', I'd try and set about repairing the car.
So, my first job was to start buying some panels for the rebuild: