Meet Ralph - 1970 ST project

[rich73]

Thanks for the comments. It helps massively with budgeting it you declare your time as worthless, although I have been keeping track and I've put about 850 hours in so far.
I've decided to get the panel gaps finished next, I've been struggling with the right hand door for a while, looked great until I remembered the panel gaps are three dimensional.

2022-07-12_01-36-21 by richard cannings, on Flickr

I've come to the conclusion that the key getting good gaps is being brave.

2022-07-12_01-36-32 by richard cannings, on Flickr

The wing must have need in tension , without any bending I ended up with this.

2022-07-12_01-36-45 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Now tacked with MIG and its fixed in place.

[rich73]

Just spent a couple of hours on the Left hand door gaps and feel like I'm getting there.

2022-07-13_03-59-37 by richard cannings, on Flickr

I've been doing it all by eye but had a quick measure before I finished. All between 3 and 4 mm where it looks correct and the couple of places where it visually looks like it needs more work it measures just outside this. I've just had a quick google and between 3 -4mm seems to be the tolerance people suggest aiming for.
Rich

[rich73]

Stared to make some progress again over the last couple of weeks. Front wings just before epoxy and a skim of filler

2022-08-24_03-29-08 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Panel between B post and rear arch needed some shrinking with Oxy.

2022-08-24_03-30-58 by richard cannings, on Flickr

You do need to be feeling brave but it works really well. This is the method I use if anyone's interested.

https://youtu.be/M3-WBYm3L_M

2022-08-24_03-31-14 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Right hand side after epoxy, filler and epoxy again. Will need more work but really happy with how its looking.

2022-08-24_03-50-17 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Left hand side progressing well and almost ready for epoxy and filler.

2022-08-24_03-31-33 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[sladey]

Looking great

[PeterK]

Thx for documenting your journey, I’m enjoying following it

[Bootsy]

Likewise, looking really good

[Darren65]

Awesome!

[rich73]

Thanks for the comments, feels like I'm making progress.
Got the engine lid fitted last week.
2022-09-01_08-00-12 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Bit of hammering, bead of weld and some grinding and things are looking happier.

2022-09-11_09-04-25 by richard cannings, on Flickr

I've decided to get the upper panels finished first so they have some time to sit before the top coat. I've used lechler 2K high build before but things seem really close already so think I'll just do another couple of coats of epoxy and flat. The epoxy dries with a slight gloss which if great when sanding as the low spots show without using guide coat.Once this is done the plan is to make the rear anti roll bar mounts, Mount the oil cooler and Oil lines. I don't have any oil lines yet but might just replicate the mountings of my 3.2.

I've been putting off buying the wheels but it would be reassuring to see the rears fitted before final paint. At the moment I'm thinking new fuchs from Rose passion, price of the wheels seems OK but its the price of a set of TB15s I'm struggling with.

[matteo68]

I’m still in awe of your skills Rich, mine are limited to finding and buying very expensive parts and researching the 21 M491 SRs in as much detail as I possibly can for GeLo.

Regarding original Fuchs 15” rims, I approached Otto Fuchs directly this time last year and was put in touch with JZM in Kings Langley who are the UK importer and distributor for them. I would recommend you contact Sai Mistry, Parts Manager there as this is what he told me in an email last year:

“Thank you for getting in touch.

In regards to the wheels you require, we hold the 7x15 and the 9x15 in stock.

The 8j option would need to be ordered in however due to the shipping and customs charges we get hit with the price is affected on a small delivery substantially.

- 7x15 - £434.68 plus vat each (Silver or Black)

- 9x15 - £480.51 plus vat each (Silver or Black)

- 8x15 - £470.60 plus vat each (Plus shipping charges - £150 per wheel)

Unfortunately the 8x15 wheel is not part of our general stock order as there has not been a demand for it and ends up costing more on the customers end due to the customs charges.”

They may have gone up since then but if you decide to go with them (you’ll be aware they’re not the correct finish being polished but you can always get them redone by Nick Moss or you could probably do them yourself with your skills!) but you’ll save on shipping & customs charges that way.

I was very close to buying a set of them as I thought they were very reasonable too (albeit no Porsche part number, small hole or date stamp), but then I found my 3/71-dated small hole 9’s and then an 8 so am way too far down the authenticity rabbit hole now to reconsider!

[rich73]

HI Matt,
That's really helpful thanks hadn't thought of a UK distributer. This image did make me start to think about Minilites though!
No 17 by richard cannings, on Flickr

I think this is chassis 911 030 0949 1970 car prepared by Meznarie.

911Meznarie by richard cannings, on Flickr

I quite like the idea of painting my car with an orange base as this car started out but with the later swirls down the side. My partner will be deciding on the colour though!

Orange st by richard cannings, on Flickr

Making steady progress, I've been interleaving sanding with getting mounting points on the shell finished.
I found a piece of stainless in the scrap bin that looked like wouldn't need too much persuading to become a lower oil cooler mount.

2022-09-14_09-25-44 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Finally found the correct curve....

2022-09-14_09-25-55 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2022-09-15_08-11-38 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Mounts for the oils lines done too, using measurands from my 3.2 Carrera and some 22mm copper pipe I'm confident of the position and managed to delay buying the lines yet.

Think I'm almost there with the the rear ARB mounts too, I've checked the position with the rear arms fitted and checked that the ARB will clear the gearbox mount. It seems obvious to me to mount to the torsion tube but I've never seen it done like this. Note that it will be fully boxed in.

2022-09-28_11-06-23 by richard cannings, on Flickr

If anyone can see a problem with this approach I'd be really grateful if they could let me know before I weld them in!

[RobFrost]

Assume somebody might jack off it.

All I see from a mechanical point of view is that mounted that way they're going to increase the torsion in the torsion tube when the ARB is under load. The shorter that bracket is the less the torsion will be, or if you can get it pushing at right angles to the radius of the torsion bar. If it was directly below it would be more resilient in the face of somebody jacking off it.

That flat plate bracket might be inclined to twist but I'm guessing the boxing in will resist that. Other than that, check for interference / rubbing with handbrake cable, brake lines, and access to suspension adjustment bolts.

[rich73]

Thanks for your thoughts Rob, looking at it again I'm pretty confident it will be much more solid than the original and cant really see any down sides.
Made the mounts for the coils this morning, this picture was the inspiration.

Porsche-911-ST-2.3-61609 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Happy with the result.

2022-09-28_02-01-50 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[Gary71]

Car is looking sweet

The prices on the Fuch wheels are almost ok…Which is surprising!

[rich73]

Hi Garry,
I agree, the price of the new Fuchs really seems quite sensible.

wheels by richard cannings, on Flickr

The tyres on the other hand......

tyres by richard cannings, on Flickr

If anyone has a worn out set they'd like disposed of then please let me know.

[rich73]

Oh, and the lights seem to fit in the holes which is nice to see. They did need the sugar scoop mounts cutting out though.
2022-09-29_09-08-53 by richard cannings, on Flickr