DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Great thread, thoroughly enjoying this

The magnetic buggers comment cheered me up this morning.

The best tool i used on my build was the Ikea flexible clip light..! It was a bargain at a Tenner. Clip it anywhere to see the welding area.

Really enjoying this thread.

Working clockwise around the car the next job on the list was the parcel shelf and rear window corners.
These didn't look too bad on the surface (under the paint, filler and fibreglass).
This appears to be an area where even a tiny bubble can be evidence of catastrophic rot.

Here is a spot on a 76 Targa I looked at the other day.



I tried to gently suggest to the new owner that he might have an iceberg on his hands.
He didn't really understand what I was saying.
"I'm sure its just a quick touch up" he said, obvious thinking that the rust was working it's way down through the paint and not understanding that the rust was devouring his parcel shelf and working its way up to the surface.
Anyway, he'll find out soon enough!

In hindsight I should have cut out the whole shelf and window frame support and put in a new one. But is cruel twist of fate Dansk (via Sportwagen Eckhart) only recently started making swb window frame supports. I had the option of cutting out mine and replacing it with a later Targa parcel shelf but for some reason I have a deep love for the SWB pressings on the parcel shelf and the hole pattern of the window frame support. So I tried to save them, and in the process made life very complicate for myself.

They looked pretty solid on the outside.













Once I had cut away a bit more, the extent of the rot increased.







The parcel shelf (from the terminal Targa) was reasonably cleanly cut out. So i should have just used the whole thing.







My precious pressing...



Here the quality of the previous repairs can be seen.





Many plans were considered until only the most complicated remained.
That's not entirely true, I like to think I have a fair ability to mentally comprehend 3 dimensional shapes, but this section had me flummoxed for weeks; trying to figure out how and where the three pieces came together.

Random picture of Porsche dog getting some love.

Bootsy wrote:Great thread, thoroughly enjoying this

Thanks very much.
This rebuilding a thread business is as much fun as rebuilding a car!

stretch wrote:The magnetic buggers comment cheered me up this morning.

The best tool i used on my build was the Ikea flexible clip light..! It was a bargain at a Tenner. Clip it anywhere to see the welding area.

Really enjoying this thread.

Funny after the fact!
Ironically, I've had two of those clip on lights (brilliant as you say) but the first was broken by a falling magnet and the second when I forgot to remove it before flipping the car over.
It seems I am the weakest link....

I took my time with this one.
Although smaller in repair area, there were a whole bunch of bones in here that I really didn't understand...still don't to be honest.
After looking at it from different angles (figuratively and literally) I realised I had to cut out the pinch seam joining the window frame to the fender. There was no way to get at the rot and the rust without breaking out the dremmel.





Handy to have the off-cuts of the old Targa on hand.
I would like to point out that I had nothing to do with cutting up the Targa.
What I mean is that I was happy for it to be done but I had no hand in the way it was done.
My partner in the deal found a factory prototype S (1966) that was properly rotten.
he needed the longitudinals to repair his rather precious car so everything else was sacrificed to make sure these came out in a way that he could use. Because I am a magpie and half Scottish I took all the off cuts for a rainy day.
We could have had a lot more usable pieces if we had spent the time drilling spot welds.

Big piece, small patch





In she goes.



And thus followed another lesson: welding upside down. Don't do it. Unless of course you want to experience the sensation of being stung on the top of your head by a wasp as small balls of red hot steel fall into your hair. Another one of those things that is funny to the audience, but not to the welder.





I purposefully left this way over length as I wasn't sure how it would tie into the underside of the window corner patch.



The replacement window corners from RD are brilliant, but for one oversight: they lack the rain channel lip.
A shrinker/stretcher would have made this addition easier, but it was a real pain doing it by hand.



I started with the outside patch.



After putting 90 degree into the patch it seemed that the best way to replicate the profile of the pinch seam was to clamp it up against the existing seam and work it into the right profile.
[please look away now Mr Carter...you may find the following images disturbing.





The result wasn't too bad.





Then just trim and weld.....as if it was that simple!

Summer in the Highveld means cricket.
Wanderers is just down the road.
A Sunday afternoon watching Chris Gayle smash Steyn about (or get bowled in the first over) is welcome holiday from the garage.



In my opinion there are few better soundtracks for a weekend in the garage than test cricket on the radio.
Pity we see a lot less than we used to these days.

This is how I decided to best repair the parcel shelf corner.
I may have been drunk....but the photograph is on focus so perhaps I can't use that excuse this time.







This was in a noble but perhaps ultimately futile effort to save the original ribbed parcel shelf pattern and the frame support.

The idea was that this patch would fill this hole, and tie into the frame support.

I've just had a look at Mike's Finnish Targa thread, featuring another update from Mr Carter.
I feel embarrassed at documenting my metal work.
One day when I grow up I'd like to do one panel, just one patch, that is half as good in form, fit and finish as Barry on a bad day.
Extraordinary.

We 'DIY' guys all feel like that.
Undisputed King of the Hill he is, but what a reference base. Those pics he takes are like his work too, so irritating!

I'm contemplating taking my 911 off the road for the first time since '89 for a make-over and to tidy a few corners that are iffy. Just had a good stare at my 'restoration' fixes to my shell back then, and doubt I dare
1
do a thread on the re-re-work (for reasons you state)
2
Remove my repairs and use a lot of $$$$ panels and still have lumps and bumps from my welds. (for reasons of costs and time)
3
I don't have the patience today, but have all the time in the world (for reasons of early retirement)
4
Scared of what I might find....

I think my shell is quite good, but the standards are SO HIGH for the diy guys to approach, but the results, if to your personal satisfaction are acceptable, then the job is a good one!

Love this thread.

911hillclimber wrote:... but the results, if to your personal satisfaction are acceptable, then the job is a good one!

Wise words.

I have come across many master craftsmen who, despite their unassailable ability, are very reluctant to share their school fees and experience with weekend amateurs. Testament to this forum, to Barry and the owners who share their experiences with the master that we all get to see his skill and learn from it.

Mid surgery.
I had to patch in the rear part of the corner to make a rain channel.
Definitely not the way the factory did it...



Cut this buck to help form the rain channel (the RD patch doesn't have a channel)



And Bob's your aunty.



Drilled and clamped



Welded



Reasonably solid.



The pinch seam closed over and the quarter patch welded in
A bit steam punk about this repair.



Making life difficult for myself



The rather inelegant repair.
Took a couple of goes to get it right....well, to get it to fit.







Done.
Not pretty but strong.
Sounds like something Bill McLaren would have said..."Schalk Burger, not pretty but strong"

A few photos of the garage up the road. The lair of Mr Vos and his various collaborators.
There is always something going on, and generally always cold beer.
From Paris Dakar drivers to single-seater historians to rusty bits of motor racing history.









Mr Vos is top right, just underneath the photo of the 908 he built from a 1:18 scale model.

Pretty much the same story on the RHD side.

The outer piece of the windscreen support had succumbed to the rust.



Time to make a complicated patch!
Flattened out a piece of the original to make a copy.
All measured up.

I cut a few 3mm deep lines into a piece of wood and used that as a buck to get the pressings.



The first 90 was easy.



The 2nd edge took a little bit of puzzling.





Working the flanges with a Shrinker would have helped get the right curve.
Not bad.
I should have made a full length piece and replaced the lot.



With a bit of learning from the LHD side, the set of patches were a bit easier to make.



All clean and etched.



Welded in.
Looks like a shark attack survivor.



Definitely Schalk Burger on this one.



Tick a big on off the list.
But the LHD sill and the front slam panel were lying in wait.

Well, until just I couldn't work out where those pieces with all the holes went!
Lot of work but so much better.
Looking forward to the next 'holes'!

Nice thread - good to see someone getting stuck in. From the pictures you can see how your fabricating skills improve the more you do it. Ive got to re-do the rear roof seam so interested in how you achieved that

For metal shaping I'd recommend this DVD. I appreciate you've come to the end of your metal work but you can never learn too much
https://www.stakesys.co.uk/david-gardin ... torial-dvd