Repaint, 2nd time round, 73T

[911hillclimber]

Few more hours today roughing up the panel fits and understanding what makes things better and worse.

Put the steel bonnet on, a bonnet I bought after an accident in 1993 with the car competing at Shelsley Walsh, but arrived 3 days after the fibre glass bonnet I bought, painted and fitted.
Its been in 'stock' ever since in primer. It has some surface rust and the shape is a bit out in places but will try it; it cost me £30 back then...
Cannot believe just how heavy it is in comparison to the 'glass bonnet, and really wondering if to fit it at all as the glass one is brilliant. Plan is to fit the wings etc to fit the steel bonnet and get both bonnets painted.

After some juggling about got a good fit to the wings, enough to see where some tweeks are needed to the long inner wing mounting flange/wing. The Dansk wing pressings are not arrow straight.
In all this I have managed to get an even gap between the doors and the wings! This means no leading etc so a real bonus out of a good day.

Also fitted the 'new' front valance which fits a treat, just need to repair the captive nut cages on the two L brackets that failed when taking the other valance off.

In all this I installed the wide sealing rubber that is sandwiched between the valance top edge and the wings, and that all lines up well.

A good 3 hours and £150 saved in labour, and Hamilton won the Singapore GP.

[911hillclimber]

Spent some more time today despite the rain on the strip-down of the 911.

Pulled the interior out, doors disassembled all with no issues, even the drop glass came off their lifter arms.

I particularly wanted to get the glass out to see just how bad the recess bases are after 28 years of leaky rubbers.

The screen cam out disconcertingly easy without a crack and with the rubber/infill intact.
There are a few holes in the driver's side corner, not too bad and the inner part of the dash panel is sound, so my plan is to weld fresh back in without the need to remover the dash top which would entail removing the roll cage..

The passenger side is like new!

Rear screen next which was a bit harder as I was not wanting to break the original heated rear, but easing the seal had the rear out to reveal a few holes in the corners, but again, just the top side of the corners, the parcel shelf is solid.

Maybe I've caught these areas just in time.

Revealed is all the evidence of getting Dansk outer sills to fit, bought back a lot of frustrating hours in'89 trying to optimise them, what a pain they were.
Found more of the original green, the guards red and the yellow, the doors looking particularly sad.
In fact, the whole car looks sad!

I will now fix the rust before removing the engine etc and checking out the rear of the car which I think will be solid.

[Gary71]

Those holes under the rubbers are pretty typical. You are really lucky not to have lost the parcel shelf as well.

The front holes always lead to more underneath as it’s complex in there. Now is the time to find out and fix it, even if it makes the job longer and more complicated.

You’ve read enough Barry rebuild threads to know what’s under there!

[911hillclimber]

Indeed, these corners are complex, but a good thinscrewdriver poke and all seems good beyond these 'first layer' holes.

[Gary71]

I’ve got these panels for mine, not sure how much of it I’ll use in the end. Probably all of it!

[911hillclimber]

I'm hoping to be making mine over the next few days, I have 4 locals to make which will take ages.
Planning to use gas and mig to complete them.
Did so much of this patching back then, you forget that this is where the real time gets spent.
Glad I'm not paying for this as much as you are.
Plus all that satisfaction!

Slightly cut a finger today, so catching you up on the A&E front.
Stings when I do the washing up.....

[Flat 6]

Slightly cut a finger today, so catching you up on the A&E front.
Stings when I do the washing up.....

I recommend extra long finger plasters...and you should excuse yourself from all domestic duties until such time as the project is complete!!

[911hillclimber]

You do not know my wife.
We had a dish washer when we both worked and before a family, that was 40 years ago and it quickly broke.

I was its replacement. Been reliable for 40 years, so she will see that continue.
I should have been wearing gloves. It was a simple barb from a self tapping screw hole so nothing like the magnitude of Gary's misfortunes, but its in the wrong place and catches every move.

None of this rust was in the shell when I rebuilt the car in '89. There sure was rust elsewhere even when the car was only 17 years old.

I made a big photo album of the car at that time, no digital cameras then, and looking through it just, what a crusty car this was, AND it was £3000 to buy it!

Thought a few pics from the past might be of interest to some:

Under the filler, and sums the car up really:



A trip to Club Autosport and £600 later, this lot for the car. All other panels had to be hand made to repair the shell and doors:



Exactly 28 years ago. The ducktail was swapped for a stock steel deck lid, still with the car.

[AndrewSlater]

It looks like you have caught the rust on the screens at a good time, as it should be a relatively straightforward job to sort out.

It is good to see the old photos of your car as clearly the car was in a worst state back in '89, so should all be a bit easier this time around.
Not sure your daughter will be glad you shared the photos though - best not to tell her

Keep up the good work - but try not to finish before me.
Andrew

[911hillclimber]

Thanks Andrew, she is 33 now and used to her dad embarrassing her (and himself).
I knew the car was a basket case when I bought it from a small ad in Exchange and Mart; a small dealer in Coventry had it and only sold it to me because I knew it was dangerous!
He delivered it for me in the price.

Had 2 hours on the car today before a DDK'r came round for a chat and up-date.

Made the pesky little repair corners ready for when my cutting discs turn up and rust removal can commence.

These are the parts that take ages, and I'm embarrassed to admit 1 hour each for these bits, but I only have tin snips, a toffee hammer, a 4" vice and a MIG that seems to work well today, but not every day.....

At £50/hr it almost makes sense to buy the repair panels but I like making these parts, bit of a challenge.

picture share

[jjeffries]

Nice work. John

[911hillclimber]

Thank you John!
It's been since '89 since I did this kind of thing so it takes some time to get back into the swing of it all, the last bit I do will be fine, as is ever the case.

The passenger side wing is bugging me, and I dreamt about it last night...

The slot for the indicator unit looks 'at a slant compared to the drivers wing that fit great.
If I correct this so the slots are level to each other the panel gap of the wing rear edge to door closes up massively.
To level the slot I simply bolt up the head lamp bowl bolt from relaxed to 10mm tighter, this leaves a gap of about 10mm between the bowl and the bracket on the battery box.
The slots then look great from the front, all 'measurements' by eye, rarely fails me. My DDK visitor saw the same issue when he saw it yesterday.

If I set the door gap to 'even' I have to push the nose end of the wing down hard (about 6mm) before the inner wing bolts can engage in their captive panel nuts.
This immediately tries to close the door gap in a tapered manner, the wing is hard up against the sill rebate, and wide at the wing mirror.

I can't yet find a balance where everything is right and not under stress.

The wing I took off was not like this but I don't want to re-use it.

Hope to have a good few hours on Sunday to resolve it.

[210bhp]

I had a discussion with Barry about those lower rear windscreen corners which trap the water getting under the rubber window seal. It’s one of the few design imperfections on a 911 (!). There is always a little puddle of water on the glass in the corners after washing the car or heavy rain.

I asked Barry if he could fabricate a couple of holes/tubes in the metal to drain the excess water into the engine bay. Seemed logical to me but what do I know.

Regards
Mike

[Gary71]

See that idea.
That’s a good idea .
Consider it stolen!

[911hillclimber]

Yes, it was voiced by my DDK visitor yesterday too! (Gary, it was Matt)

The front screen seal is not really plump enough on my car and the screen had dropped down exposing the top driver's side corner quite open. Filled it with black rtv years ago, but not water tight obviously.
V tempting to braze a small tube to the 'bottom' of this puddle trap and then to drill through to allow a pvc tube to be pushed-on and led away through the body somewhere and out to the road.
The rears are easier to route out, and now I'll HAVE to do this mod since it has been mentioned!



Went to the PCGB Concours today at Ragley Hall.
Wish I hadn't as the few early cars there had gaps that either Barry put there or a good CNC miller has.
Maddening.

Maddening too as the wing I have taken off of the passenger side is 3 wings welded together yet to fits perfectly, nearly like a Barry Wing.

Off now into the 'body-shop' to see if I can effect the drain mods and the wing re-positioned right.