DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Thanks Graham, Thanks Darren - you're right the weekly updates are addictive....here's the pack I received yesterday...

So this week, we have mainly been doing sills and gussets.

The targa has strengthening panels to try and give it a reduction in scuttle shake and general twisty-ness when you're going around the bends. One of these is around the inside of the footwells on both sides. Mine had both rusted through and this week Barry attacked the driver's side one. This was a difficult and tedious job, with lots of fiddling & forming of flanges and shapes - but what you come out with is this....





Which is looking a whole lot more rigid than it was a week ago - looks great in fact.

Next was knocking out a load of waves and bumps from the back of the floor to make it look like new







Again - this looks great now and I think Barry's pretty pleased too...

So then onto another key area of strength and reference points - the sills.

We knew that it had new outer sills at some point - but they were done rather haphazardly - looks like they'd tacked over the old metal.....and at the bottom hadn't done much welding at all....





Plus some cold air chisel damage to the bottom of the A-pillar



So off with the old and see how the inner - inner sills are -





Full of media !

But after clearing that lot out, in Barry's words "nigh on perfect inside, just needed a light keying and a heavy dollop of black etch primer"





Then it's on to replacing the metal - you need to do the jacking point and the front part of the rear inner wing to make this work properly and this is what you can see here - the prep for welding:



And after welding and tidying I have new inner sills -





With a new (and backdated) outer on trial fit, starting to look very solid here again

Quick question - How much of a 911 can you fit into the boot of a 5 series?



Answer - Quite a lot actually!



So here we have all of the suspension and other stuff at Alan's for refirb. I've asked him to do the full job on this, I'm no John M with a spanner and other re-build skills, so I'm going to get all the relevant plating, coating etc completed, but have also asked that new bearings & bushes etc are put into the suspension so that I essentially get a 'kit' to put back on. I don't have the tools to be drifting out bearings or pressing them back in for example in the rear banana arms, so here's another 'leave it to the professionals' moment on the re-build.

Brake calipers will be refirbed as will the pedal assembly, CV joints & steering rack which will also have turbo tie-rods put on it. Probably going to go with new discs too and a master cylinder - if the rest is new, makes sense to upgrade this important piece of the system. Old one works ok, but after 42 years.....

The yellow struts are new to me, sourced from another DDK'er (thanks Nige) and are the later SC Boge struts - Boge being the correct type for an S-Targa rather than Koni as first suspected. I'm getting them backdated (ie remove the sensor tabs) and they will be painted black and then will have new inserts - not sure which type yet. Any recommendations gratefully received.

I've always wanted a radio to fill in the big hole that my dash has had for the last 12 years - ever since I've had it infact.

Well - I managed to get this from an Early911 member - Kent, who does some really lovely stuff. This is a mint Blaupunkt Frankfurt US spec (remember mine's a US car) and it turned up in the post this afternoon. Look at the chrome on the face bezel - lovely!

Apparently it all works, including the dial light - not sure that FM will work over here, but if it's got radio 5 live, I'll be happy. Let's not forget that this is a targa - they're not known for their quiet & refined cabin noise....



The 'Z' indicates that this is a 68-69 radio, but apparently this is OK as many of the radios were dealer fitted from stock, usually older than the car and so in this case, this is one of those areas where it is OK to have some date mismatched stuff as it reflects the practice that went on in terms of fitting back in the day.

Just need to get the correct fitting plate and clips and a proper Hirschmann aerial to make it a complete set.



It's even got it's paper sticker on the top and the wiring behind is intact

Really enjoyable thread Richard, keep the details coming.
Matt

So after months of searching and having set my heart on getting a 914 380mm steering wheel with great leather and patina, this turned up over the weekend....





And most amazingly (must be fate) it has a 7/70 date on it, only 2 months before mine was built and absolutely the correct date as far as I can tell!



The leather is in fantastic condition - it has those hints of brown coming through the black dye, giving a lovely patina look to the wheel



There is a little bit of re-stitching to do, but all the holes are intact and this will be a really simple thing to fix





Steering wheels create a lot of passion in our world and finding the right one becomes something of a quest for many, with the best examples being very much held on to. As such I'd like to give a big thanks to Tim Barker for selling this great wheel to me!

Tim is currently doing an amazing project on a T/R that has spent much of its life in Africa - the attention to detail and documentation of this really interesting and important car is captured on his thread on the e911s registry - if you haven't seen it and love detail have a look at this....... http://www.early911sregistry.org/forums ... ght=africa

Thanks Tim!

So all I need to do now is to create an appropriately great interior to show this off in.... anyone got a dash-top and some pockets they want to get rid of?

I've really lucked out with the fuchs, struts, lenses, radio & steering wheel - sourcing the parts was something that I was quite worried about at the start of the project, but if you give it time, an obsessive reading of the for sale sections and ebay, a lot of false starts, dead-ends & mistakes (still haven't got a proper durant mirror!) it does seem to come together.

Mind you , I'm not looking for chrome edged one-off tail light lenses for a 904 though am I! That's premier league stuff (Andy) and full respect.

That wheel will look great in your car Richard & you'll love the feel.

I get the impression that you're enjoying the 'hunt' - searching for/finding/buying those important parts ...

Turning into a right proper Bloodhound aren't we!

Great find Rich - I think you're enjoying this

Hi Andy - yes I am enjoying this....it's much less intimidating that I thought it would be when John and I took it apart at the beginning, I really wasn't sure I'd done the right thing then.....mind you still got to get it back together at some stage too

Darren - it does become a little bit addictive - I'm even keeping an eye out for the 'right' bonnet badge for you ....

See you in a couple of days....

Hi Rich.

I've also got a lovely 380mm 914 wheel that's been in the loft for many years. It's in lovely condition like yours, I believe a mod has to be done for it to fit a 911?

Regards

Matt

It depends on which wheel it is - what's the part number stamped into the centre ?

Hello Richard

Untill your post earlier this month I hadn't known that the foot wells had the additional gusset. I've done a bit of reading since and I found a piece in a book (The 911 & 912 Porsche by Dr B Johnson) It says targas have a steel reinforcing bar bolted under the dash. It doesn't give if this was all years though. Have you come across something like this? I cant find one on mine, but my car has never been stripped down as far as yours.

enjoying the story, loving that radio
Mick

grannysmith wrote:Hello Richard

Untill your post earlier this month I hadn't known that the foot wells had the additional gusset. I've done a bit of reading since and I found a piece in a book (The 911 & 912 Porsche by Dr B Johnson) It says targas have a steel reinforcing bar bolted under the dash. It doesn't give if this was all years though. Have you come across something like this? I cant find one on mine, but my car has never been stripped down as far as yours.

enjoying the story, loving that radio
Mick

Hi Mick

Richards car has the bar, its a crude looking thing, I am sure we took photos of it when we stripped her. Its difficult to miss. I am sure Richard will post some photos.

Kind Regards

Matt black70 wrote:Hi Rich.

I've also got a lovely 380mm 914 wheel that's been in the loft for many years. It's in lovely condition like yours, I believe a mod has to be done for it to fit a 911?

Regards

Matt

Hi Matt, I found this thread really useful - it's not entirely accurate as I've got the 805-10 which they speculate will need some changes, Andy doesn't think so and looking at it I don't either. What you're looking for is countersunk screw holes and the slight recess that allows the cancelling ring to sit flush. Mine has both, so I'm confident so far that it will be OK.

http://www.early911sregistry.org/forums ... el...Again

johnM wrote:

grannysmith wrote:Hello Richard

Untill your post earlier this month I hadn't known that the foot wells had the additional gusset. I've done a bit of reading since and I found a piece in a book (The 911 & 912 Porsche by Dr B Johnson) It says targas have a steel reinforcing bar bolted under the dash. It doesn't give if this was all years though. Have you come across something like this? I cant find one on mine, but my car has never been stripped down as far as yours.

enjoying the story, loving that radio
Mick

Hi Mick

Richards car has the bar, its a crude looking thing, I am sure we took photos of it when we stripped her. Its difficult to miss. I am sure Richard will post some photos.

Kind Regards

John's right, it's a really crude box piece of metal that sits across the car, a little under the dash. I don't seem to have any photos of it (it's that easy to take in and out!) and it's at Barry's now, I've asked him if he has a minute, to send me a pic.

In the meantime, this is where it bolts onto, the bar itself has a flange that goes over this receiver and then you just bolt straight through - hey presto no scuttle shake..... (not)