Back in beige

[jamie]

Minty mint mint calipers just arrived back from Classicar:



I have installed them in my office as decoration...

[Ferry Man]

I like your chair.
I like your propellor.

[Bootsy]

I like your chair.
I like your propellor.

Stop grooming him

[jamie]

I like your chair.
I like your propellor.

Thanks. Chairs came with the house (check out the ceiling!). It's the same age as the car.

[jamie]

Just received a message from Vaughn at Enviro-Strip - it's back to bare metal.



Can't wait to pick it up. I suspect it won't look as solid in real life...

[johnM]

Wow, looks like a piece of jewellery.

Its going to be a cracking once complete.

Kind Regards

[Gary71]

It may have its issues, but it's a nice clean place to start work from:)

[Darren65]

Lovely .......wished my inner front wings had looked that good!

[johnM]

Lovely .......wished my inner front wings had looked that good!

That was my thoughts, shell looks very solid.

[jamie]

Made the journey back to Tamworth to collect the car today. A friend came along to take a look and lend a hand with loading. Uncertain about the weather, and not wanting to expose my bare-metal shell to a 150-mile journey in the rain, I hired a very nice Transit LWB Luton. The van had a load area measuring 3.2m long. Knowing that a 911/912 was about 4m long, and that the tail lift would block the rear when stowed, we attempted to think of a solution. Unable to find one, we set off anyway, guessing that we'd work something out once there.

On arrival I was met by the sight of three bare-metal Porsche shells. One was a fantastic RHD 911 from Singapore - beautiful condition, with only a holed shelf and A pillars. The other was the most heinous patchwork shitball of plates, holes and spatter that I have ever seen - so many, that I suspect they out-numbered original metal in the car. The owner deserves utmost respect for opting to spend the time and money correcting someone else's absolutely disgraceful bodgery, so I refrained from taking any photos of it.

The third shell was mine. I checked it over - no more rust than I had already found. The front is looks better than it did, although I suspect most of it will have to go. The floors aren't as bad as expected, the shelf has holes, rear seats have almost vanished. Aside from the front pan, no patches or crash damage obvious to me. There are some weird bullet holes in each rear quarter with sanding marks over the top - perhaps where a dent has been pulled out.

I am overjoyed with the job Enviro-Strip have done - it cost a lot of money, but it's a beautiful result - I can't find one bit that hasn't been blasted perfectly clean. It looks and feels like a job done right.





Turns out the 3.2m Luton was able to accommodate the shell - with about an inch to spare. There wasn't even enough room to close the shutter door, but the tail lift stowed OK. Absolutely incredible luck...

[Gary71]

Lovely. Is it off to Barry now?

[sladey]

Fantastic luck with the van.

How did you get it in there? And can two of you manhandle the shell out at the other end?

[Mitch]

Absolutely incredible luck...

That's good karma that is.. good work, looks great.

[jamie]

Lovely. Is it off to Barry now?

Yep, that's the next stage, but he said he hasn't got space until summer or autumn. I'd love to get it in there now (provided I can afford it - need to get a quote first. I'm genuinely scared about how much work there is to put it right).

How did you get it in there? And can two of you manhandle the shell out at the other end?

Yes, but it's hard work with just two. We slid the nose out on some tyres and then a pallet, then girlfriend operated the lift whilst we lowered the back down. It's now resting on tyres in the garage. I'm going to build a pikey dolly out of another pallet and some caster wheels. I have lots of pallets.

[jamie]

Having said that, it gives me lots of time to get the motor sorted out.

Through my friend Jels at 83Engineering I met a really interesting guy who said he'd help with the engine build. My original plan was to do a fast-ish Type 4, but after a chat with him I decided it would be cooler to keep the original unit and play with that. A quick (not particularly thorough) search of the engine number revealed it is from 1967, so I'm suspecting it's not original to the car. I'm not convinced I'm right, but I'm not sure I care that much either way.

The engine dude is low key and I get the impression he likes it that way, so I'll avoid naming him. I expect Keith will know him, as he was involved in some engine work on his Beetle race-car-turned-street-car, Bluey. The Dude builds enormous power VW drag engines for fun, and they really are some of the maddest engines I've seen. Beautiful things. He is really into blueprinting and gnats-eyelash tolerances and stuff that I will probably never properly understand.

The only engines I've ever built have been the 1108 non-crossflow in my R8S (cam, balanced crankshaft, lightened flywheel, DCOE40), the MZ TS150 2T in my IWL scooter (standard spec, with electronic spark), and a Honda C90 engine (just stock), so I really know nothing about old VW / Porsche aircooled motors. It's a massive relief to have The Dude on board.

So next stage is to get my filthy old mill onto test bed and let The Dude analyze the it's wheezy cylinders and floaty crank.

Current plan is increase cylinder size, keep standard crank if good (I hope to god it's good because I'd rather avoid buying another...), flowed heads (Dude loves flow) and EFI. I'd like to aim for 120-ish bhp. Combined with the lighter weight of the 912 over a 911, and the torquiness of the 4-cyl motor, I think this should give a nice-driving car.