Wot, not another '79 Targa resto thread

[911hillclimber]

It will be good exercise....
Looking great Peter!

[Gary71]

Loads of work in that post! Keep going!

[Dougieboy1]

I dont think i have posted on your thread before Peter but can i just tell you how much i am enjoying your build. Having been through one myself, i really appreciate your pragmatic approach to fixing problems, great photos, great write up and all done with inexhaustible reserves of good humour and resilience. Am looking forward to seeing your car back on the road in all its former glory!

Andrew

[PeterK]

Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PeterK]

So, self-isolation has some benefits. Mornings start with a lazy wake up, tea and breakfast in bed. Even though she's not my mother, as the twins had to keep away, I had to do tea duties again, even though it wasn't my turn *sulky face*. Go for a walk with SWMBO (2.25 hours today), do some chores (today was gardening), then I’m sent to the garage


Decided to crack on with some of the panels that needed attention with the hot spanner.

Firstly, when removing the crud and underseal from the NSF wing, a hole materialised. So, hot spanner out, small patch in, and hey presto


Then one cover sill had some crustiness and holes, so a small patch was let in



Next and onto engine tinware. One longer side bit had a few small holes, so I puddle welded them. Well, when I say I puddle welded them, what I mean is I poured in some weld, ground flat, noticed more pin holes, welded those, ground flat, notice more pin holes, welded them, blew more holes, welded them up , etc , etc, etc. Shouldn’t have been such a lazy bu$$er, so I did what I should have done from the start, cut out all the thin metal and let in a 6” patch. So I wasted an hour, trying to save time, then spent 30 minutes doing it properly.



Then came the corner pieces. The one with the hole for the hose just needed a small crack welding (bottom left in the photo).


The other one was well crusty and needed the entire centre replacing.



The lower rear winglets both needed attention, one a tiny bit and the other, not such a tiny bit. I started with


My original plan was to fabricate a patch, but I’ve mentioned a pair of very good condition lower wings here and they’ve now been on fleabay for a while, and no-one looked at them at Greatworth. So, why not save myself some grief and sacrifice one for the cause. I cut the end off the good panel and sliced away the rusty part from the original. I didn’t remove all of the paint and underseal, ‘cos it’s a bu$$er, and would need help from some heat in the corners. Better to add heat once the patch was attached to the full panel, and therefore more of a heat sink. So, I removed just enough to let me weld. Once fully welded to and titivated, I had


Having attached it, I could remove the remaining paint and underseal, so it now looks like this


The easier side just needed a couple of pinholes filling



Finally, and just in case things get even worse, I have been buying forward, so alarm, radio, front speakers, and various minor bits for the engine (assuming it all comes back) have been ordered. I did order a new oil pressure relief spring. It is in the post and now I realise I should have ordered two !, so more spending tomorrow.

The alarm supplier did finally come back to me, he’d been in hospital, hence the lack of communication. Apparantly Toad alarms are still missing components, and as the one I wanted is to be discontinued soon, I was offered an upgrade, so hopefully that will arrive early this week.


Tomorrow should see some final cleaning of the various unpainted panels, to be followed by epoxy priming (unless I go back to electrics for a play with the battery connected ).

[Gary71]

Good progress! I lost count of the times I tried to ‘save time’ only to scrap it and do it properly if half the time...

I laughed at your ‘pour weld in, grind etc been there, done that

[Phill]

Good progress! I lost count of the times I tried to ‘save time’ only to scrap it and do it properly if half the time...

True dat!

[PeterK]

Well I did go back to the electrics for a play, just couldn’t resist seeing how may faults I had to fix. Fuses in and off we go.
First opportunity was that the headlights were staying on whenever the ignition was on. Checked all light-switch connections and ran a few continuity checks. Traced issue to the light switch being turned on It’s normally the simple things that catch you out.

Anyway, sidelights, dip & main beam and flash all working as expected, although the indicators need some attention. In better news, the rear light cluster lit up well (once I remembered to connect the earth). Couldn’t get the oil level to read anything other than full when the ignition is on. Unfortunately, my fault-tracing found that the wire in the (extremely expensive) 6-way connector had broken / fallen off internally. More spends.

Then the postie delivered my brake servo bits. Bushings fitted into servo arm and seal between master cylinder and housing replaced. Brake cylinder working fine and now re-fitted into the car. Phew. All connections from pedal box installed, including accelerator and clutch cables/rods.

Really need to get on with the painting prep, but have turned on the plating bath this morning, as I have a few bits that need to go yellow.

[The Garage Bitch]

At this rate the next time I come to be your bitch it'll be for a test drive

[PeterK]

Plating bath got warm


.. and some random bits went a shade of yellow



In anticipation of further bodywork preparation, the lights and bumpers were removed. You probably don’t need photos here, but just in case you’ve forgotten what a naked 911 looks like



Post walk, lunch and gardening chores, I set to with the knotted wire wheels, and a (long) while later, the rear valances (yes, I know you only fit 1) were shiny and unpainted / bare of underseal.


Now that I have a ‘good / better one’ than the original, my plan was to fit that one. However, as my rear box has twin outlets, I may need to ‘relieve’ the valance (no idea until the engine is in). The original valance had been shortened because of the race pipes / back box fitted. Depending on mods needed, I will have a choice of 2, so I’ve deleted my eBay listing for the unloved one for now.

Anyway, a quick splash of PhosKleen B and they’re phosphated and passivated.



My new (still chuffin’ expensive, despite being RetroLine, & half the price of genuine Porsche) 6-way connector arrive today. IS there a market for the male half ?. I got ready to splice it into the rear light loom but it was starting to get cold without a coat, so I wimped out and came in to write to you (or maybe to have a coffee and choccy bar).

That will be tomorrow’s first project, probably followed by rebuilding the brake calipers, now that they’re plated and ready to go.

[911hillclimber]

Are you putting-off this painting game?
I hope you will be DIY the paint. This week has been warm and dry, gardens are best done after a few days of rain imho...

Love the thread and your approach.

[PeterK]

Thx, yes paint is& will be all DIY.

Need to get epoxy priming and filling & sealing done ready for summer. Can't miss either of those warm days this year

Having previously phosphated and passivated the front wings, they seem to have gone a very strange colour, with what could be seen as surface rust in places, although the whole surface looks like it has been varnished. Very strange. When I did the rear valances yesterday, I made sure that after I 'washed' them with PhosKleen B, I kept going back over them with the Scotchbrite and then a rag until the surface was flat grey, without any build-up or white froth visible. This morning the rear valances look as expected - matt grey and fairly uniform. Everything is always user error, so maybe I left too much on the front wings. They need a final sanding to remove some final, small areas of original primer / paint, so if I redo the PhosKleen B, let's hope they stay flat grey.

Next week isn't looking too good, although the week after is expected to be mid-teens her. Maybe a target then, prep next week ahead of epoxy prime the week after, then crack on with the filling and flatting.

[PeterK]

Didn’t quite get to rebuilding the calipers, but ..

SWMBO had me gardening too much, so needed some sitting down jobs.

Firstly the new 6-way connector was attached to the rear light loom

And loom wrapped



Thne I could make my new fuel lines for in the engine bay. I started two days ago, but when I got out my Mikalor double ear clips I had a good collection. I had many, including clips 1 size to big and 1 size too small. What I didn’t have were any of the correct size. eBay to the rescue again. Great service – ordered about 6pm, and they arrived early post two days later.


So I had bought new female connectors but couldn’t get any make or ones with ‘bent pipes’, so had to cut the ferrules off the existing ones and reuse the connectors. Luckily, on both pipe the ones I needed to reuse were in good condition, whereas the ones I had replacements for were grotty. Lucky, eh


Then it was onto the brake calipers. This started with a mega clean-up of the desk/bench. All my bits and pieces were then laid out and counted and tools arranged. I have new nuts but am reusing the original bolts, which have a been re-plated and heat treated. Clearly someone has had the front calipers apart before, because they are not the special Ribe bolts. I don’t have an M7 die, so had to waste a number of nuts running them down each bolt. For the front calipers, they use M8 nuts, and I have a die for that.



Anyway, by the time all this was done, it was time for tea, so the excitement of rebuilding the calipers will have to wait until tomorrow now.

[PeterK]

So the excitment is now here / over or whatever. Today’s the day …..only one snafu, but more on that later.

Space prepared & bits & tools laid out (spot the extras in today's photo - no prizes, such as red rubber grease)


.. and to work. Seals fitted to bores and dust seals fitted to pistons, and new seals for between the caliper halves (and spacers) ready to go on.


To set the 20’ angle, I aligned the edge of the ‘cut out bit’ on the piston with the mid-point of the pad area. I did make a gauge for checking though. If things did not look close enough for me, I rotated the piston using a socket wrench with a knurled handle plus a pry bar

Super effective and non-damaging to the piston.

Not long before 4 calipers completed, along with new pads and retaining ‘stuff’, although you can’t see that very easily in this photo.


Calipers then fitted to car and connected up. Front first


then rear



This is where the snafu comes in. I made up the rear brake pipes to run from the calipers to the flexible using as tight bends as I dared


Unfortunately, the difference means that they hit the training arm, so I cannot actually install them.


I need to make some replacements and be braver with the sharpness of bends. Unfortunately I only have enough brake pipe to make 1 replacement, so I’ll have to try and straighten the ‘wrong’ two and make a better one. Failing that, it is a tad extreme to buy a complete roll of pipe for 6”, but c’est la vie.


I am really running out of excuses & procrastination here and will have to make a more concerted effort on body prep for priming and filling over the next week. Boy will that make for boring photos - put on filler, rub off filler, put on more filler, rub off filler, etc, etc......

[Lightweight_911]

.

You're making good progress - if you're stuck for kunifer pipe I'm fairly sure I have enough in the garage that I could send you a couple of feet if it would help ...

.