New 912 owner

[Sean.P]

Thanks to 911-356 dave I am now the proud owner of a 1966 UK RHD outlaw 912! Dave is a top bloke being very patient on the sale as I was in Singapore until the end of last week.

The car is great, not without a few jobs to do but I'm cuffed with it. I made the journey up North to 'do the deal' yesterday and drove 180 miles back and she didn't skip a beat. Got loads of thumbs up too! Best of all the newly rebuilt engine didn't drip a drop of oil. Keeping under 3500 rpm all the way was a challenge but it kept me the right side of 70mph, just.

I don't have any immediate plans, I've been big into the VW scene since I sold my 356 a few years back, (even took a best of show at the weekend with my notchback), so I'm just going to let the Porsche blood back into my veins and learn more about the 912 before making the car mine. For now Dave has done a great job and I'm proud to cruise it as is for the summer.

A couple of shots en route yesterday..

I love those rear lights, does anyone sell these?

[Bathtub57]

I love those rear lights, does anyone sell these?

Thanks - again can't take credit for these but they do look the part on an outlaw. I'm not sure if these are the ones used or if they are available in the UK http://rebelracingproducts.com/images/9 ... lights.jpg

Nice to see you have a '66 Split too.

[Sean.P]

I love those rear lights, does anyone sell these?

Thanks - again can't take credit for these but they do look the part on an outlaw. I'm not sure if these are the ones used or if they are available in the UK http://rebelracingproducts.com/images/9 ... lights.jpg

Nice to see you have a '66 Split too.

Thanks for info.
Yes got a 66 split and used to have a RHD barndoor, but sold it to get the 912

[Bathtub57]

I guess I can star to say I'm not a 'New 912 Owner' any more as I've not had the car getting on 2 years. For it's 50th birthday I treated it to a spa week with Max.

Starting off with the front end the worn out dampers were replaced with some nice koni units. Down the line the front end needs rebuilding as the splines need to realigned as the car still sits about an inch too high for my liking although it's wound right down.



Max replaced the rear bungee catches on the deck lid and reinstalled an OG engine lid release system. There's less rattle now and the engine lid actually fits with half reasonable gaps now.

The rear seats have been installed, although they can't be used because of the cross brace, but I like the look of having seats there - I had to rig up a temporary pair of straps from some old offset leather as the seat backs I got had lost theirs.







The gear shifting has been clunky and I was convinced it was the gearbox but turns out that the guide bush was missing from the shifter rod and the ball socket was completely worn out.

The main work though was in the engine bay. First off refitting the exhaust as there was a blow coming from some blown gaskets. The noisy dynamo has been replaced with a refurbed unit (Max knows a guy..). The biggest change, and most expensive, was taking off the worn solexes ( the spindle on one side was especially worn) which were causing a very poor idle. These have now been replaced with a pair of new webers. My new idle revs..



Picking the car up was great - it's a cliche but it is like a different car completely. It handles better, stiffer but not harsh, it handles lovely now. The idle is spot on and steady. The exhaust sounds deeper and much quieter at idle. Foot down driving speed hasn't changed but shifting through the gears smoothly makes for a much more enjoyable drive. I went out for a quick 50 miles today and it was awesome.

I've fitted some 10mm sound deadening pads under the floor carpets which has stopped a little road noise -ideally I'd dynamat the lot but the floor needs some work so I'll get this done before I start sticking stuff to it.

[Bathtub57]

Did a little DIY job today and fitted the Blaupunkt Frankfurt I picked up a few months back. I've been procrastinating over this as this radio should really go into my Notchback (VW not 356!) as it's black button and the one I have in there is white - but anyway it's gone in.



Fills the hole nicely



I also got a DIN cable and so can play music from my iPhone on it. I have an OG speaker in the dash and that's it. The sound is superb - I'm amazed how good it sounds - given I spend more time listening to radio 5 these days it'll do the job nicely.

Now, I have a problem and need some help. I have an aerial fitted on the car, but the cable routes through the wing into the A pillar but stops there. I presume it needs to route through behind the door shut into the car but I can't see a hole anywhere. I'm wondering if the later wings I have fitted have a different routing for the aerial than earlier ones perhaps? Would appreciate if someone could let me know where the hole should be?

I tried to take a picture of what I mean but I can only get under the wing - I may have to take the door off to figure this out which is a pain.



I also managed to find some repro wheel caps that fit the gas burners - they are off my old 356 which had some moody fuchs on it when I bought it. Trouble is I can only find one - I know I have another 3 somewhere! I think it makes the wheels look way better.

[URL=http://s289.photobucket.com/user/Bathtu ... 9.jpg.html][/URL

In this pic you can also see the engine lid now fits much better with the correct lock.

Still need to fit the Torino seats and I think I will replace the rear vented windows with the glass ones I have - I'm not generating enough heat in the car to warrant the additional wind noise the plexi ones create.

[Bathtub57]

Inspired from my trip to Stanford Hall I decided to make the car a little bit more mine and progress it more toward the GT theme I'm after.

Most of the work so far has been underneath and in the engine bay so it was nice to set to with something that would have more visual impact. Thanks to Charlie for the tips I managed to remove the stripes from the car with a hot air gun.







Unfortunately the paint did peel in a couple of places despite my best efforts and untypical patience. As a long shot I popped into Halfords and to my surprise they were able to mix me up a touch up pot and an aerosol of Slate Grey (code is 6801 on their system should anyone else feel the need). The colour is absolutely spot on and although I know where the blemishes are from 10 yards away with rose tinted glasses you won't see them.

[Bathtub57]

Also picked up a bit of wheel porn...





And not in such good condition but way better for driving than the momo

[Seven]

Hi Mark,

thanks very much for posting your updates and very interesting to see your developments.

I was thinking about getting a Protipo wheel so was interested in your comment about changing yours for a more standard one. Can I ask more detail about why you made the change and what difference it has made?

Marcus

[rinkster]

Hi Mark,

Enjoyed seeing your car in the flesh at Stanford Hall after following your posts on here. Loved the gas burners and liked the stripes but think it looks even better now !! Brave man removing them yourself.

I also can sing the priases of Max after he went through my car this winter. Changing from the Solex's to Webers has made the car so much more responsive and fun.

Keep the updates coming !

Cheers

Tim

69, 912 Ivory White

[Bathtub57]

Hi Mark,

thanks very much for posting your updates and very interesting to see your developments.

I was thinking about getting a Protipo wheel so was interested in your comment about changing yours for a more standard one. Can I ask more detail about why you made the change and what difference it has made?

Marcus

Hi Marcus,

Thanks for the comments, glad you like the updates.

Like a lot of things on the car there was a lot of form over function. A good example was the plexi rear windows with vents. Look cool but they seemed to draw in noise, changing them to glass has made a huge difference to the noise levels.

The steering in a 912 should be positive and light. The smaller diameter steering wheel made the steering heavy, especially when parking and provided way too much feedback. On a track I'm sure it would be perfect but around towns in traffic not so much. It's only a 5 minute job to switch them over once you've done it once so go for it - just keep the OG wheel!

[Bathtub57]

Hi Mark,

Enjoyed seeing your car in the flesh at Stanford Hall after following your posts on here. Loved the gas burners and liked the stripes but think it looks even better now !! Brave man removing them yourself.

I also can sing the priases of Max after he went through my car this winter. Changing from the Solex's to Webers has made the car so much more responsive and fun.

Keep the updates coming !

Cheers

Tim

69, 912 Ivory White

Thanks Tim,

Good to see you and your car too - thanks for letting me have a look around it.

The Webers do make a difference, I'm sure a perfect set of Solex's are a joy but Webers are an easy fix for worn out 50 year old carbs.

Glad you like the changes so far - there are many more to come!

Cheers,

Mark

[55ovalcharlie]

Looking great Mark!

[danny]

Nice new wheels

Have fun making it your own.

Some nice other vehicles hanging around in the the background there Mark.

[Bathtub57]

Thanks Danny and Charlie - you guys and the rest of the DDK crew are to blame for me wanting to make some of the improvements!

The wheels have come out really nice, I've had them sitting around for a while now - one set is to go on the Westy and the other on the 912, although for now they are pride of place in the office.

And yes I do have one or two too many cars, I really need to sell one or two as the wife keeps reminding me.

[Bathtub57]

Greetings DDK'ers - a little update on the Outlaw following another visit to see uncle Max..

Whilst some of the R type mods look good and have a certain cool factor, they don't do it for me on a day to day driving basis. One of the major ball aches were the window straps. Over time the leather straps stretched and the windows would just not close properly. Also opening or closing the window whilst in motion meant putting life and limb in danger with an almost impossible series of movements to lift the window, lower it and find the hole to clip the strap to. Anyway, long story short I now have winding windows. Super exciting photo below...



And yes that is a pikey winder handle on there as I didn't want to shell out for new ones until I get the full interior refurb.

Next on the list was the seats - I posted a page or so back on two sets of seats I had acquired. One is a set of original seats which will look great when eventually the car gets restored, the second was a pair of BF Torino seats. These created their own problems. First off they had no runners on them. Eventually I discovered that BF Torino sell through Rennsport Classics here. I ordered a set of runners and thought I was good to go, but nope I needed the cross braces. Duly purchased I then realised I did not have the sill plate mounts - simple enough to buy a pair you would think, but oh no, they are completely unobtanium. I played around with the idea of making up some plates but eventually Max came up with a pair and I now have full sized grown up seats, as opposed to the Hobbit seats that were there previously.



Just as a quick recap as to how far the little car has come from a driving perspective. I can now steer (full sized wheel), wind down the windows at will, listen to the radio, fit my whole backside into the seat, rest my head, leave the car at idle and drive over bumps without continuing to bounce for 5 mins afterwards. All of this makes me much more inclined to go for a drive and I feel much closer to my goal of having the GT car I always wanted. (CLM is my dream).

Next on the list is to sort the seat belts, front and rear, which involves removing the cross brace and to fit some sound deadening to the interior.

Out for now, Mark