DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Saw it at Cookie’s the other day.
Really super job!

Looks fabulous, love the attention to detail.

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Lightweight_911 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 6:33 pm .
Has it given you the restoration 'bug' ... leading to you scouring the internet on the look-out for your next project ?
.

Great question, Andy and very apt. I recently sold my comfort seats to a nice chap who is looking to thin his collection and has a RHD 1973 blut orange 911S available for restoration. While tempting, the answer is no. This project has been great but it has taken a lot of time and effort. I look back through the photos and although the end result is good, I remember areas that caused so many headaches and worry and I really didn't enjoy those low points. I can remember the anodiser pulling his hair out when re-anodising the window frames, something he said he would never undertake again. And then there is the financial cost. Parts and labour have gone up a lot since I started this project so another project is likely to cost more. I don't have the skill to do any of the restoration work myself and projects like these always end up costing more than originally thought. If I had the money, I would prefer to buy a really good, turnkey car and just enjoy it. Something like your old 904 GTS.

Anyway I talk like this is project is over. I would like to get the engine rebuilt when budget allows. There is no need at present but it would be nice to complete the project to finish the car off and for my peace of mind.

Kind regards
Gitesh

Smashing car, and an E so to me a bit special.
Love you drive for perfect detail and that of the specialists you have engaged to do this work, but you must have agonized over getting things right, FAR more patience than me!

An engine and possibly a box rebuild is a task and expensive too, perhaps best left alone to enjoy it all?

Hi Gitesh, I've just caught up with this.
It's great to see your car looking so well. The details are superb - a real credit to your hard work and patience.
Enjoy in good health, as our American friends say. And if you are planning to be at Classics at the Castle, let me know so I make sure I see it in the metal.
Best wishes, Richard.

Hi Richard,
It would be good to catch up with you. I will definitely let you know if I'll be there.
Kind regards
Gitesh

911hillclimber wrote: ↑Sun Aug 21, 2022 9:10 am
An engine and possibly a box rebuild is a task and expensive too, perhaps best left alone to enjoy it all?

Hi Graham,
Agreed, and that is why I had to leave the engine originally. There are a gazillion parts in there and no doubt many would require changing and others would have the "change them while we in there" approach. Mike Bainbridge did rebuild my gearbox during the rebuild and it has been running very smoothly since. We'll see how things go with the engine.

Kind regards
Gitesh

Just reading this thread there is amazing workmanship in the body. Also, the perforated original body shows just how lucky I've been with my car.

Car looks fabulous now.

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Congratulations. Looks super

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I can't believe I've missed your fantastic restoration Gitesh.
Wow what a journey. Lovely attention to details, it will be so useful to many others restoring theirs.
I hope I get my engine built soon so I can get to a show to see your car in the flesh.

Karl

Thanks, Karl.

It has been a couple of years since my last update. The car was running fine until earlier this year when I had some engine trouble after a long journey. The car felt like it was lacking power under acceleration and shortly after would come to a stop. I suspect it is due to over-fuelling but I am not sure. An engine rebuild was on the cards anyway so it was time to get this done. I was getting a small oil leak from the front of the engine, which Gary and Giulio had diagnosed to a crack in the case requiring repair. Also Gary had checked the engine over during the rebuild and had told me there was cylinder leakage in a couple of cylinders.

I asked Gary to book me in for an engine rebuild whenever he could fit me in and the car was collected and delivered to him last week.

Although I expect this will be another costly chapter in my ownership, I am looking forward to getting this done and hopefully will learn a lot along the way.

Kind regards
Gitesh

It has been just over a year since my last post. I picked up my car from Gary last week and am really pleased with the results. It was a lot of work, which is easy to forget over time. I wanted a first class result but Gary was also mindful of costs and did a great job overall. Here are some photos and details of the work carried out.

Engine Strip Down

My car drove well previously but I was unsure of the condition inside. Gary stripped it down and reported back saying overall condition was pretty good. As expected, there were some areas that needed attention but overall ok and some areas were actually quite good.









Some of the tinware was in poor shape so Gary arranged to have some sections repaired and some others were replaced. The engine support bracket was also poor and had been welded previously, so Gary replaced this with a good used one.
















Engine block:














Crankshaft was in good shape but the connecting rods had been machined down. Not sure why the previous owner chose to do this. Maybe to save weight or get them balanced.




Pistons and cylinders were ok and we looked into honing and using oversized piston rings and then some other options but in the end i decided on sticking to the original specification and we bought a set of new Mahle pistons and cylinders.










Parts washed down ready for inspection






More to follow as I sort through the photos.

Kind regards
Gitesh

Gary thoroughly checked through all the parts. He wasn't too happy with the inter-gear backlash so we decided to change this. With the high cost of restoration, I was keen to avoid any remedial work and adopted a if in doubt, change it attitude especially to components within the engine that would not be easy to change going forward.



You can also see the chip in the magnesium fan housing in the above photo, which needed careful welding. More on this later.

All the gasket faces were cleaned and flattened:
















The engine shroud was tired and had some localised repairs carried out previously so I decided to change this. Series 900 in the US manufacture replacements but Gary had a friend make a new one for me. As a side note, Gary had said that often restored engines can look too shiny compared to how they came out of the factory so we were keen to keep a more authentic look (think more satin than gloss).





The lower valve covers had been changed by a previous owner to these aluminium ribbed ones from a later model (maybe a turbo). The originals would have been magnesium and without the ribs. Often these would warp due to over-torquing, which would cause leaks. It is common for these to be changed to these later style ones.



Gary said it was unlikely to find a good pair of original magnesium ones. We could have left the turbo ones as they only visible from underneath but I decided to change to these replacements from Carpoint which are the original design but in aluminium:



The chain box covers were also from a later car. Gary said he would arrange to have the left hand cover machined down to look a little more correct for my model year.



Gitesh

Parts sent for powder coating:







and returned back looking a lot better:







Other parts disassembled and cleaned ready for re-plating:


















The MFI lines were quire rusty so Gary wire wheeled these before re-plating. I was surprised how well they turned out and originally thought we would have to replace these:

Nice attention to details, esp like the blanking of the large oil tubes and their threads.

Nice thread, good to read, thanks!

Agreed - really interesting update, enjoyed it a lot