1972 ST Clone

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BILLY BEAN
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1972 ST Clone

Post by BILLY BEAN »

I have not posted a build thread as I often did not have time or the inclination to do so. Commitment as a sole carer resulted in being time poor. However, I thought I would post a few details of this project which has been ongoing for 5 years and is almost complete.
I purchased a largely stripped car which had originally been delivered to South Africa and had been used as a club racer, dressed as an RS, at Kyalami and Killarney race tracks. The engine was a 2.8 on carbs with two seperate distributors to provide the spark for the twin plugs. (One distributor running off the end of a camshaft).

There are advantages and disadvantages to buying a disassembled car. The advantage is that the bodywork and shell could be easily assessed for "perforations" although anyone claiming that SA was a dry country obviating rust needs to think again. The disadvantage is that you never really know what is missing and thereby lies a problem.
The 'car' was located in the South West at a Porsche 'specialist' who thankfully is no longer in business.
The shell had a very dented floor pan due to the numerous "offs" at the races and people useless at jacking up a car. However, the floor was sound. Inner wings were good, chassis legs fine, bulkhead sound, front and rear slam panels fine too. Door skins rotten but supporting structure in good order, parcel shelf like a piece of decorative lace work and a couple of small holes in the seat pans presumably to let the water out. The rear quarters were rough with one having a steel RS flair and the other one of GRP. Front wings were repairable and front and rear (with duck tail) lids OK. Outer sills needed replacement but kidney bowls were in excellent shape. So structurally a good shell.
The aforementioned 'specialist' proved to be less than trustworthy or reliable and after stripping the shell of the rear quarters and replacing one outer sill the car and the myriad of bits were pulled and taken from the metaphorical frying pan into the fire. Next stop Fenn Lane.
Fenn Lane were given the shell which was dipped and mounted on a jig. Result? Rear engine mount pick up points were out by 15mm as the result of a minor accident to the rear end. Fortunately easily pulled into shape. It was at this point that the torsion tube was found to be too rusty to save. So replaced.
Fenn Lane were slow getting the sills and rear parcel shelf replaced but the work was satisfactory. Frequent visits were made to check on the work.
It was at this point that Stretch, who I had known as an acquaintance, convinced me that I should build an ST replica. What an attractive idea that seemed at that point in time. Subsequently, trying to get historically correct parts escalated both the costs involved and the time taken to build the car. To his great credit Stretch provided copies of the Sports Purpose catalogue and parts list to guide my project and has helped search for parts and provide details of genuine STs. Invaluable help indeed. In fact Dave has become a very good friend who I value greatly and that has been the tangible benefit of the project. Enough words for today. My one finger typing on my small mobile has called time. If you have got this far and have not fallen asleep: well done a prize for perseverance.
Last edited by BILLY BEAN on Sun Oct 16, 2022 8:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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bjmullan
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by bjmullan »

Looking forward to more of this story and of course pictures!
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by Bootsy »

Likewise
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stretch
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by stretch »

I knew i would get the blame :) 5 years....is that all.
It's a cracker lads, worth the wait.
70T barn find...... to ST.
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by 72911E »

Interesting ....keep going...what was the base car?
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BILLY BEAN
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by BILLY BEAN »

stretch wrote:I knew i would get the blame :) 5 years....is that all.
It's a cracker lads, worth the wait.
Yes it is all your fault.
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BILLY BEAN
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by BILLY BEAN »

Thank you to those that managed to read some of the above.
Spoiler alert: posting pictures may be an issue as Tapatalk still seems to want to rotate any of my images through 90 degrees. Also I tend not to take many pictures at all.
To back track and answer one of the questions posed above:
The original car was a November built 1971 ( so 72 MY) T in light yellow with, wait for it, brown interior trim. Although by the time I got hold of the car the interior was long gone and the car was red/orange. The car had a full roll cage, OMP seat and race harness and oil lines running inside the cab to a front mounted oil cooler.
Back to the build.
Under Dave's malign influence or possible too may beers the following specification for the shell and interior emerged.
Shell
GRP: Front and rear bumpers, front lid and front ST wings.
ALUMINIUM: Door skins (a saga in itself to fit properly) and engine lid.
STEEL: Rear ST quarters.

Interior
To lightweight specification.
Rear seat delete, lightweight carpet ( thanks Dave), glovebox lid delete, radio delete, clock delete, simple door cards with leather pull straps, no door caps or interior rear quarter caps.
Nothing unusual to see here.
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inaglasshouse
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by inaglasshouse »

Good start Kirk, keep going! Maybe try to tell the story a bit faster than resto real time?
(I'm looking forward to the engine bit).
...from the metaphorical frying pan into the fire.
Surely nothing could go wrong :)

Cheers, Richard.
BILLY BEAN
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by BILLY BEAN »

The fitting of the GRP parts and getting the panel gaps to my satisfaction proved to be a long and frustrating journey. Fenn Lane would 'complete' work and I would inspect. The result was that I would not be satisfied with panel gaps and surface alignment of panels. It took 18 months of regular visits, pointing out where I wanted improvements before we got to a stage where I was happy with the result. The issue clearly was that there was a mismatch between my expectations and those of the guys doing the panel work. Of course during the 18 month period my car was not being worked upon all the time other "smaller" jobs on other cars interposed. In addition some of the panel fit issues were not the result of Fenn Lane.
The GRP front lid seemed to develop a life of it's own. The fit would be good and meet my expectations. Two weeks later and the car had not been touched the lid would not be flush with the scuttle. Another week on and the lid would not be flush with one of the front wings. This was frustrating for all concerned. The aluminium door skins also caused issues which required the removal of one of them to be reworked around the door handle position. So all my careful riveting of the front edge of the door skin was undone.
Trial fitting of the front lid seal caused further problems with the GRP lid position. Eventually it was necessary to shave some rubber off the back of the seal to get a proper lid fit.
Once the shell was complete it was delivered to Retro Refinishers run by a friend Nick Kyte, to get painted and so started another conundrum. How lightweight should the shell be?
Last edited by BILLY BEAN on Sat May 30, 2020 2:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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BILLY BEAN
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by BILLY BEAN »

inaglasshouse wrote:Good start Kirk, keep going! Maybe try to tell the story a bit faster than resto real time?
(I'm looking forward to the engine bit).
...from the metaphorical frying pan into the fire.
Surely nothing could go wrong :)

Cheers, Richard.
Thank you for your 'encouragement' Richard. The relating of the story is the abridged version to protect the innocent and the guilty ( except for Dave). Added to which in my advanced years, whilst time slips by quickly, my recollections are slow and my typing speed is diminishing slower. Or should that be exponentionally slower?
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by Mike »

Pictures at any angle would be better than no pictures at all! :roll:
cheers, Mike.

previously..
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1994 993 C2 Carrera Riviera Blue
1972 911S to Martini RSR Prototype Spec
1973 911E to RS Lightweight Specification
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Darren65
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by Darren65 »

Mike wrote:Pictures at any angle would be better than no pictures at all! :roll:
Indeed.....I'm a believer that 'photos or it never happened!' :wink:
rhd racer
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by rhd racer »

Looking forward to this...
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by 72911E »

Can you get your PA Dave to post pics for u !
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inaglasshouse
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Re: 1972 ST Clone

Post by inaglasshouse »

Or email them to me and I will post, Kirk
Cheers, Richard.
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