Repaint, 2nd time round, 73T

[AndrewSlater]

Since when does setting a budget stop escalation!

Great now that your budget has been set in stone, it is time to escalate it (that's how it seems to work for me).
I think returning the roof to solid would be a wise move considering the other work.

I also appreciate that both you and Gary are undertaking major work, to give me the slimmest of chances of getting my car back on the road before you.

[Bruce M]

Get rid of that sun roof now, at any cost. It will pay you many times over to do it .

I’m reluctant to offer any advice but I’d say that comment is 100% spot on.

[911hillclimber]

I've never given the value side much thought tbh, I've never put the car up for sale.
I figure that the DIY LHD to RHD conversion killed much of this car's value off, but a 'cheap' RHD 911 with 230bhp/tonne might make some overlook the roof.

I think I will do it if I can find a steel skin but not discounting a bonded plastic one (even carbon).
Keen to get started next week.

[richkaz]

[quote="911hillclimber"

Change/re-position the door mirrors to improve the RHD visibility (car was LHD)
I have Durant mirrors, but might use the racing mirrors I bought from Andy at the Autojumble, not too sure. The driver's Durant is set too far back to be really useful.
quote]

Whatever mirror combination you decide on, I would strongly recommend a wide view internal mirror.
Classic car mirrors are usually considerably smaller than modern mirrors and a wider angle internal rear view attachment makes a huge difference.
They cost next to nothing and just clip on / off your existing mirror in 5 seconds.
My Lancia is RHD and both mirrors are set as well as they can be. The drivers mirror is never a problem but, like other classics that I've owned
the passenger side mirror never gives the same confidence as a modern car's mirror due to the size of the glass area .
The 260mm clip on internal mirror is positioned slightly towards the passenger side and covers 40 % more than the existing passenger mirror and also
covers the rear view area in one quick glance. There is surprisingly little distortion on the 260mm version.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Oversize ... 3b0cf7cc94

[911hillclimber]

That is a great idea, thank you.
The mirroor I have is the original and just about allows full rear screen width to be seen, but there are big blind spots, so this is well worth trying.

Tried to start the strip down today, but had to repair the lawn mower!
Horrid things to work on, but all done and even works well.

Tried to remove the 3 gallons out of the tank after the mower success...
Opened the ful rail, switched the ignition on and no pump action.
I want to drain the tank via the filter so I can use the full in other cars.
Seems the pump only runs when the engine is starting and obviously running.

I need a simple pump from Machine Mart.

[Gary71]

Double post

[jb]

I need a simple pump from Machine Mart.

Syphon it.
Its not hard to do.
Just get the fuel moving then stop sucking.
You can see where it is if you use see through tubing.
I did it recently when I drained my tank.

[misteralz]

I'm going to go against the grain here, but I would keep the fabric sunroof. There's something brilliant about them, especially on a sunny day when they're rolled all the way back and you've got that cabrio feel but without so many of the drawbacks. And you obviously don't have aircon, so...

[911hillclimber]

After a detailed discussion with a fellow DDK'r who has known this car as long as me bar a year, and included in the conversation was The Boss, the roof STAYS!
I won't go into the details, but that is done. Thank you to all the people who have sent pm's, hope I haven't wasted too much time.

I will spend the money 'saved' (man-maths creeping in) on the skin, the smoothing time, the removal and replacement of the roll cage, the new bows, the fresh lining, and buy some Cibie fog lamps as long as someone on here will give me fitting instructions (electrically).

I will be very old when I'm done with this car, and at that point my daughter and son-in-law will get it.

Moving to the petrol side, I've ingested enough petrol over my garage years to catch light when testing a spark plug, so off to Machine Mart just and came back with a man-sized pump.

Had to go into the tank via the sender hole but that sure is direct.
Removed 3 gallons, straight into the Boxster in just over 10 mins. Brilliant device and £12. That will do for me and I'm slightly less flammable.
Last time I looked inside the tank was 1989 and it is still nice and shiny.

Life will distract me over the next few weeks with racing the Lola and tripping in the glorious Boxster before the summer season fades away....

[911hillclimber]

Back to work on the 911 today.
Plan was to get the tank out, the wings off and to have a poke about on the corners that have been undisturbed for 28 years.

Tank removal was uneventful, everything came apart to plan and fully drained off before lift-out.
Tank support was replaced back then, and is still sound bar some patches of surface rust.
The real colour of the car poked through after a bit of a wire brush. It might be the same colour as Gary's?





Driver's side front wing was next. All bolts simply unscrewed, but found a few rust holes under the bonnet seal by the air intake, just on one side, but also lots of surface rust to sort.





The A posts and closing plate are all 1973 and all sound, the inner wings the same, even the local repairs I did in '88 are good, battery boxes good, a good start!

Fibre-glass front valance came off next, an item from Autofarm way back and has all the marks of the offs hill climbing etc, so will be put in the attic along with the Autofarm 'glass bonnet. I have a steel bonnet ready.

NS wing next, and prised the reluctant filler tube out of the rubber funnel to reveal some rust holes. Now I know why after a fill-up I had petrol fumes. The holes can be welded.
All bolts out easy even the pesky one behind the rubber funnel. Again the A post and closing panel, all 1973 are sound as are the inner wings and battery box.



Removed items like wipers etc and the battery isolator switch from the hill climb days and it started to rain, so packed up.

Next job is to put the new wings on and see what gaps I have to sort. Might not be plain sailing. Hope my lead-loading skills are still with me.
I will fit-up the lights too following Jamie's adventures with the gaps in the bowl/wing assembly and seals before sealing, chip coating etc.

The old wings are quite good, only some skin rust at the rear bottom, everywhere else is sound. I have the new one now so will swop them, but keep these as good spares.

This has been a pivot-point day, and has finally started the re-build, not always easy undoing something that works so well, but has become tatty.

[911hillclimber]

Grabbed a few more hours on the 911 today.

I wanted to trial fit the Dansk wings to see how much work they would need.

The doors I re-skinned in '89, and the sills are also Dansk, so 3 sets of Dansk panels to match together...

Started on the driver's side with the car outside to allow a lot of standing back. I trust my eye and hands more than measurements.
It bolted straight on and was even a reasonable fit but the wing/door gap was poor. It was with the old Porsche wings too so no surprise. Some careful lead loading of the door will soon fix that.
I will make all adjustments on the doors as there is much work to be done on them. They were well rotton in '89 and I welded them to death then.





Encouraged by this instant success, the off side was similarly trial fitted.

Well, no so fast!
The wing would not move back close to the door leading edge, and it was fighting me. Found out the reason, the tube brazed to the inner section of the fuel bowl/A post flitch fully interfered with the A post flitch, it was 45 deg out compared to the old factory wing.



Simple fix, I cut the offending 10 mm of tube off and will use some longer pvc tube to allow passage of the fuel filler flap release wire.

Also, and maybe of some consequence is the base of the fuel bowl where the large rubber funnel locates is far bigger on the new wing than the original Porsche, 5.5" dia v 5" dia. I presume there is a latter model year fitted?

So, it was trial fitted and to a much better position.

The gap of the wing to door is really nasty so that will need leading too to get the right gap consistency I want.



Unfortunately, I keep on imagining Barry is looking over my shoulder crying at my efforts. He has a lot to answer for raising the bar so very high for us DIY guys.

The fit by the front panel was a bit gappy on both wings, so fitted the bolts that go through the headlamp bowl to the mounting bracket on the battery boxes.
There was a good 10mm gap so I slowly bolted each side watching to see what might happen or crack.

It is startling what effect this bolt tension has to the fit of the rear wing to the door/sill and the improvement is huge.
There is a gap of 3mm there now to the bowl/bracket, so that will be shimmed to suit after paint.



Hope to get another few hours tomorrow to fit the steel bonnet and the 'new' front valance.

It takes up a lot of time and so far I have 'worked' for 8 hours to do what you have seen.

Times £50/hour = £400 saved. It will be £600 by the end of tomorrow.

[Gary71]

Good stuff, no going back now!

That green looks a bit lighter than mine, but it might just be the light.

[911hillclimber]

No, your green looks good!
The green on my car is a factory colour, but the code has been sanded off by previous painters in the dark past.

Check your wings Gary on the tube position when you get there.

[maxakarudy]

I don't know if you are handy with a mig welder, but if you need to build up an edge a couple of mm's, I'd prefer to mig it, just my 2 cents
Martin

[911hillclimber]

Thanks Martin, I'm expecting to build up the rebate on the door, not the edge of the wing.
This will leave a convex radius to file, much easier than a concave curve.

Done this twice before on other cars, worked out well.

The one side has a need for upto 3mm along 450mm or so...