My '72 911T

[Gary71]

One straight bit now made!



Due to the wonders of the under utilised facilities at the local technical college and a handy student



Unfortunately whilst the box bender was wide enough the sheet stock wasn’t so I made two parts with the same section and I’ll make separate end pieces with the return flanges on. Probably easier that way anyway to get a nice fit.

They said I can come back at anytime to use the equipment. They may regret offering that as they also have lathes, mills, laser cutters, 3D printers...

[Gary71]

Only a couple of hours this week due to family commitments.

Bulkhead top ends are coming together, although I’ll end up with another join this way I don’t think a one piece part would have been possible for me to make.

Off to the pub now!

[sladey]

Nice work again Gazza

[Gary71]

Cheers Mark, If only it were welded in!
It’s all held in with self tappers as nothing is finalised yet until I’ve done the screen corners in case I need to get to the back of the joints.

I had planned to do a long weld to the original bulkhead but practically it will end up a distorted mess so I’m going to do a neat joggled joint instead. Whilst not original it’s all hidden and should look like it as meant to be there.

[Gary71]

Bought myself an air joggler and punch (didn’t know they existed before!) and edged the new panel. Came out neat, certainly a better job than the hand joggler I’ve used before. Cutting a dead straight line in the old bulkhead was a proper pain though!

It’s now ready to weld in as I’ve worked out one devious route you can feed the parcel shelf in from the engine bay with it fitted.

[911hillclimber]

That will feel good all welded up!
What are the swaged holes for in the fresh panel?

[Gary71]

What are the swaged holes for in the fresh panel?

They are for access to flood the small box section with Ditronol or similar.

I’ll paint the insides with epoxy and use weld through primer on the flanges, but I want to be able to cover the back of the welded areas and stop moisture sitting in the joints.

This box has rotted out once and I’d rather it didn’t do it again!

And also dimpled holes are much nicer than plain holes!

[sladey]

Yep - gotta love a dimple hole!

[911hillclimber]

[Gary71]

I’ve been putting it off but it’s time for some dimensionally important A surface repairs around the rear screen lower corners

I’ve a Restoration Design panel for this area but I’ve decided to take a different approach and do it in several hand made sections to avoid losing the shape. Plenty of overkill bracing was also added along with having the parcel shelf fitted.

Defiantly’s borrowed Shrinker/Stretcher was again the tool of choice and does a tremendous job of the initial bend. Obviously it would be too easy if that fitted so much fiddling bending tweaking and trimming later it’s ready to weld in.

[911hillclimber]

I very much doubt I will ever do a full restoration again, but if I did a shrinker would be the first tool I would buy.
They seem to save hours and give such a good result, quite cheap too!

Those corners are a subtle but complicated part!

[Gary71]

Those corners are a subtle but complicated part!

Agreed. Lots of form, ten minutes with a shrinker and two hours of tweaking!

[Gary71]

Definitely not invisible mending, but happy enough with this.

[DustyM]

That's Great work.

[911hillclimber]

Drain tubes?