1973 Porsche 911E RHD – Silver

[911GP]

It has been a while since my last update but regretfully, there has been little to report. However, inspired by Richard's (inaglasshouse) efforts, I decided to tackle the wiring looms. There has been some discussion about new looms versus repairing old and I decided on the latter since most follow the repair where necessary route and this is what Gary Cook was planning anyway.

Unlike a lot of the work to date, this was a job that I felt we could do. I say we since my dad, a retired electronics engineer, helped me considerably (and even my mum joined in with some of the cleaning). Although my wiring appeared to be original and largely untampered with, it was in considerably worse condition than I had anticipated and some areas actually looked quite scary with badly damaged and burnt out wires. If you are considering repairing your wiring, allow plenty of time: in total we clocked up about 50 hours x 2 people. Carrying out the work ourselves was very satisfying and overall I am really pleased with the results. However, I am slightly less sanguine about the experience. Other than the hours, I think you need to be technically proficient to handle certain aspects. A good example was with one of the 14 pin multi-plugs at the back of the car where we had noticed some scorching on one of the pins and upon opening the plug, we found one of the wires was seriously burnt out. Repairing this and reassembling the plugs was a challenge and I therefore don't think it is for novices. You also require certain bits of kit, something which we had but I wouldn't expect everyone else to have lying about:



There were many areas where the wiring was not damaged but we chose to employ an if in doubt, change it attitude. One example was the rear screen heating element loom which felt stiff across about half its length and the pvc tubing was also hard and had gone brown, we could have changed this half but instead chose to change the whole loom.

If you are thinking of doing this yourself, here are a few tips I can share:

- The wiring diagram is useful but is quite difficult to read so I had it printed as an A0 poster and stuck this up on the wall which is also useful as a quick reference:



- It is a good idea to carefully open the 14 pin multi-plugs since there was a lot of dirt in mine. Obviously, when doing so, make a note of the wiring order.

- Some replacement wire with tracer is not available so I ordered the base colour and painted the tracer marking on with some Humbrol enamel model paint I had lying around which worked really well and doesn't readily rub off.

- We found that when repairing a damaged wire it was good to splay open the strands, join the old and new with a twisting action and then spiral wrap them with a single strand of new copper wire to hold them all together before soldering.

- Another useful tip from my dad: when using heat shrink sleeve on a soldered joint, apply the heat to the ends of the sleeve and do not apply too much heat to the sleeving over soldered area since it can puncture. Better to leave a soft balloon over it.

So in short, if you have the ability, I highly recommend doing this yourself and you can repair it to your own standard.

Many thanks to Richard (inaglasshouse) for his help and guidance.

Gitesh

[inaglasshouse]

Bravo, Gitesh (and family!)

Mine also took ages. Luckily neither of us has to justify the hours to a customer....
Have you done any testing yet? I found it childishly satisfying to get the instruments lit up, indicators flashing, oil level gauge moving etc. More seriously I'm pretty sure it saved time later - much easier to unplug stuff, continuity test, etc when it's on the bench.

[911GP]

Hi Richard,
We continuity tested all the looms and also tested for any shorts but haven't connected it all up yet since we still need to clean and repair the switches and I haven't received my gauges back from Reap. I know Gary will need these harnesses as soon as he starts but if we have the opportunity we will connect it all up and bench test.
Kind regards
Gitesh

[911hillclimber]

Good DIY stuff, nice to see, and mom and dad in there too, excellent.

1
You could sell those enlarged wire diagrams, I'll have one please, maybe a DDK donation to The Charity?
2
Never thought of single strand wrapping the scarf joint pre solder; I learn at least one thing every day.

I really dislike car electrics, anything to make it easier is a big plus, bet I'm not alone.

[jtparr]

Great stuff
That 14 pin connector is definately a weak link in the loom...

[tangerineT]

Me too for a poster if you have time to get them into production lol

Good work Gitesh !

[911GP]

Good DIY stuff, nice to see, and mom and dad in there too, excellent.

1
You could sell those enlarged wire diagrams, I'll have one please, maybe a DDK donation to The Charity?
2
Never thought of single strand wrapping the scarf joint pre solder; I learn at least one thing every day.

I really dislike car electrics, anything to make it easier is a big plus, bet I'm not alone.

Hi Graham,
I looked into getting prints of the wiring diagram but unfortunately the numbers don't work. The couple of printers I contacted couldn't offer favourable terms and by the time I get them printed and posted to members, it would be cheaper to get them printed directly. As you know there are different diagrams for different years and people may want different sizes (A0, A1, A2 etc) and possibly laminated too which then involves greater postage costs since the print would be posted in a tube instead of an envelope. Maybe another member who has a printing business, or knows somebody with one, could help?

In the meantime, for those that want to get a print, it is really simple. Google the wiring diagram pdf you need, download it and then upload it to a online print shop. I did this on a Sunday and it arrived two days later in the post.

One thing I noted was that the right hand side of the SL35 pdf I used has darker colours than the left side so the browns look closer to black. Not a big deal but if someone is more pdf savvy and wants to get these into production for a very worthy cause, they may wish to address this minor issue first.
Kind regards
Gitesh

[911hillclimber]

Sounds good, thanks for those details.
Times I've printed the diagram off the definition was poor, this sounds much better.
My Haynes pages are very soiled from oily fingers and tears...

[911GP]

If you recall, I was weighing up restoring my old overriders versus buying new reproduction ones. In the end I chose to have my original ones restored since I had heard that they fit better than the repros.

Before:





And after:



I had these done by Derby Chrome who were recommended to me by John at Chesterton's and their work is excellent. They repaired a corrosion hole in one of the overriders and triple plated. They were not cheap (approx 2x the cost of a repro pair and I still have to buy the rubber strip that fits on top) but as everyone says, you get what you pay for with chrome plating.

Kind regards,

Gitesh

[911GP]

It has been a while since my last update, mainly due to a lack of photos, so apologies for the radio silence. Gary Cook started my rebuild in August and there has been considerable progress since then. I visited him today and remembered to collect some photos so time for an update...


Oil Tank
When I bought the car the oil tank was leaking a little mainly after driving the car and upon removal I saw there were several holes around the top of it. The tank was from a later car and had been patched up previously and not in a salvageable state. Gary mentioned that it would be a nice touch if I could source an original 73 oil tank in good condition. Reproduction 73 tanks available but they differ slightly to the originals being squarer and slightly longer. I knew 72 tanks were rare since the side filler model was a one year item but I learnt that 73 tanks are pretty rare too since they were also one year only item. Obviously it was going to be difficult to source since most would have rotted away and the condition of any survivors would always be a gamble. I came across one in the U.S. and had it shipped over. The seller said that it was in a good condition but I couldn't be sure. Gary had the tank chemically stripped to remove paint and carbon before sending it to Chesterton's for repairs:









Although the tanks have a copper plating I don't think this prevented rust. Mud and dirt can sit at the top ledge and still cause rot and I had heard that they can also rust from the inside through condensation. To try and protect the tank I considered painting it on the inside but Gary advised against this since there is a mesh baffle that could get blocked by the paint.

Upon return from Chesterton's, Gary pressure tested it and then sent it off to Autofarm to be ultrasonically cleaned and inspected internally with an endoscope. Fortunately they said it looked good inside which was a relief. It was then sent to Graham at Limn Historics to be painted. Graham picked a suitable two part paint for toughness yet would bond well to the external mesh screen. Overall, I was very pleased with the results...






(the tank was sitting around for a while, hence the dust!)


A lot more to follow once I sort through the photos.

Kind regards
Gitesh

[911hillclimber]

Interesting about the over-rider fit v aftermarket.
I was contemplating a new set although mine are 'ok' but could be nicer.

That is a lot of detailed work on the tank, mine has never had a mesh screen...

[BILLY BEAN]

Gitesh, saw your car at GDC early part of last month. The car looks fabulous with superb work on the assembly.
As an aside I also had my original front overiders re plated as they are a guaranteed fit.
Kirk

[911GP]

I couldn't agree more Kirk, Gary's work has been superb. His knowledge and attention to detail have lifted this restoration to a level I wouldn't have been able to achieve myself.

Just working through all the photos I came across something which is noteworthy. If you recall, I opted for a Dansk floor since Porsche do not make a RHD floor and therefore the Porsche floor would have required converting to RHD. Gary assembled the pedal box but had issues fitting it to the car since the Dansk floor was slightly misaligned. He managed it with some time but it required careful manipulation since he didn't want to damage the paint work. I wanted to mention this in case any of you decide to use a Dansk floor. I don't have photos of this but here are a few of the pedal box and handbrake lever.







Kind regards
Gitesh

[911GP]

Now I am all for patina. The worn look of a well used steering wheel or the slight sheen that comes from 45 years of pulling on a door arm looks excellent and just right. However, scratches in the dash trim from jamming a screwdriver when fitting or removing a radio is not patina in my eyes. I had these re-anodised by Biagio and they came out rather well:




Since the previous owner had cut holes in the door cards for speakers I ordered new ones. Gary recycled the vinyl from the old ones for the dash trim:




Kind regards
Gitesh

[911GP]

Steering and Suspension

Like the bodywork, much of the suspension was fairly rusty. Gary advised against replacing it all due to the cost and much of it was cosmetic. He had the components blasted and after examining them, he advised changing the front torsion bars and rear spring plates due to the corrosion. The old ones were ok but it was better to replace them from a safety perspective. I sourced some good quality used parts from the U.S. and Gary had all the parts powder coated which made them look a lot better and well protected for the future.

Costs were spiralling and in an effort to save some money, we decided that we would clean the parts and Gary would reassemble them. It was not difficult work, just dirty and time consuming.

Steering rack before:





and after cleaning...





followed by assembly by Gary:








The front wheel hubs were also corroded at the back around the recesses for the threaded inserts. These can be replaced with newer items but to retain the authenticity I sourced some original hubs, again from the U.S. To protect these from our climate, I asked Biagio to re-anodise them and then paint them in a matching grey colour and Gary waxoyled them prior to fitting, which should hopefully be sufficient:















The rear spring plates I bought would need new bushes once they were stripped and powder coated. I opted for Elephant Racing rubber bushes throughout since I wanted a compliant ride that was close to original:








Gary had the all brake calipers reconditioned. Here is a final shot of the front set up completed:



And he did a good job reconditioning the steering joints:









Moving onto the rear, Gary said that the rear suspension bearings were loose when fitted. I had read on here that using a bit of Loctite provides a fix for this. However, Gary suggested machining out the arms and fitting oversize bearings as the right job so I opted for this although it was not cheap (with the machining it was about 8x the cost of a pair of regular rear bearings).











Installation at the front:













My car had Koni rear shocks but these were replacement units that were about 20 years old. They were ok but rusty and given their age, I decided to replace them rather than paint the old ones:









Kind regards
Gitesh