Meet Ralph - 1970 ST project

[rich73]

Managed a couple of hours in today. I'd been unsure how far to go to go with the chassis strengthening, then decided to just do all of it. Tunnel to torsion tube seemed like the trickiest to do but having the rear seat bases out seemed like a good opportunity to get it done. Cut out a slot with the plasma and made a paper template. Still needs a bit of work but progressing well, hoping to get it welded in tomorrow. I've seen a few images online that seem to show captive nuts welded into the plate, I'm presuming that they they are for a cover but would but haven't found any images of a cover online. Any thoughts welcome?

2021-06-28_09-05-40 by richard cannings, on Flickr

While I'm in the area I need to add some rear ARB mounts, quickly decided that £226.98 for a pair of elephant racing mounts from D911 is not the way forward. Think I'm going to make a box section that goes all the way up to the torsion tube and welds to it. I'd like to do this before I buy the bar and fittings, is this sensible? I've got a 87 3.2 Carrera and was hoping to replicate the mounting positions...presuming they are the same.

Quite enjoying this Garage Time with Tom on YouTube at the moment, find him more watchable than Mr Rennch.

[BILLY BEAN]

Torsion Bar Tube strengthening:
Did this on my ST. It was an oversight not to think forward regarding fitting of the "grill" so no provision was made for captive nuts. There is a bit of a fall out of doing this mod on a 1972.
1 Standard brake pipe lines do not fit as the strengthening plate attached to the torsion bar tube gets in the way. Not difficult to make up some brake pipes to do the job.
2 The standard grill would not fit into the modified aperture as shown in your picture. I cut a piece of aluminium sheet with some sound deadening material on the rear face and used four self tappers to hold it in place. This is not the most elegant solution but it does the job. In any event the lightweight carpet was cut so it covers the entire rear foot well and tunnel in one piece.
If you decide on self tapping screws; beware that the fuel line runs very close to the aperture on MFI equipped cars so drilling for self tapper screws and length of screws needs care.
Good luck.

[rich73]

Hi Kirk,
Thanks very much for the advice. I'll get some captive nuts welded on, I may even have a go at making a cover now as I can see it as one of those jobs I never get round to in the future.
Rich

[rich73]

Had a lot on recently but starting to get time on the car again. Managed to get a couple of hours here and there, I'll take post some catch up pictures over the next couple of days.

Spent Friday with a heat gun and a selection of wood chisels in the engine bay (had cut out the parcel shelf before hand).

2021-07-26_08-58-09 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-07-26_08-57-54 by richard cannings, on Flickr

This mornings work....

2021-07-26_08-58-52 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-07-26_08-58-31 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Also did some further torsion tube strengthening that buts up to the centre seat belt mounting plates.

2021-07-26_09-11-13 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-07-26_09-11-46 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Rich

[BILLY BEAN]

Rich,
Whilst you are doing some nice strengthening mods have you thought of beefing up the engine mount brackets? This was a "works" modification. If interested I can provide details.
Regards
Kirk

[rich73]

Hi Kirk,
Hadn't heard of strengthening the engine mount but it would be great of you could provide details please. I know I won't be going back once the shell is painted so going to go for it now with pretty much any period modification I can find.

Started with TIG this morning but quickly got fed up with contamination so the MIG came out. Think there are now more TIG welding videos on the internet then cat videos.

2021-07-28_11-33-21 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-07-28_11-33-40 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Rich

[rich73]

Working towards getting the parcel shelf fitted. Rear screen corners both need repair.
Managed to get one side pretty much done today.

2021-07-29_04-23-20 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-07-29_04-23-42 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-07-29_04-23-53 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-07-29_04-24-06 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-07-29_04-24-30 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Aiming to get the other side done tomorrow.

[Gary71]

Looks good
Brings back nightmares for me

[911hillclimber]

Me too, and mine were really really good by comparison!

[rhd racer]

Fantastic fab work as usual

[rich73]

Thanks for the comments,
Been busy with other things recently but made some progress. New parcel shelf is now fitted, pretty straight forward although plug welding upside down wasn't fun. Also get the rear seat bases that I made welded in, found some welding rods that I'd inherited from my dad so decided to weld them in with Oxy which I actually quite enjoyed, much more control over the heat than I remembered. After finding the rear screen corners needed repair I was starting to get a bit nervous about what else might still be hidden. Most of the car has a couple of mm skim of filler all over which didn't help. Think its an American thing, they seem to love a bit of bondo over everything.
Tried a few methods but sharp wood chisel and heat gun seemed the best.

2021-09-13_08-56-06 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-09-13_08-56-26 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-09-13_08-56-39 by richard cannings, on Flickr

2021-09-13_08-57-26 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Big relief was that the roof is basically like new, front screen corners are in great shape and there are only a couple of small dents on the front bonnet.

Also media blasted and painted the rear tubes before welding in the seat bases.
2021-09-13_09-18-19 by richard cannings, on Flickr

[rich73]

More paint stripping today, couldn't help holding up a wheel arch at the end if the day.

2021-09-14_09-04-47 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Think I've decided on using TIG butt welds for the arches, got hold of an old Golf wing to chop up and practice on. Need to get the bumpers ordered first though, think I'm going with the EB Motorsport ones but was struggling with the price of 1K plus delivery, helped when I saw that Stuttgart Classica want twice that price.

[911SE]

Awesome skills, thanks for sharing!

[rich73]

Thanks for the comments
, Continuing with underseal and paint removal at the moment. Decided that I really want to try find anything needing repairs now rather than going back later. I've decided go with my current steel bonnet and engine lid, I can always replace with fiberglass later if I change my mind.
Does anyone know what year my engine lid is from and if the lettering is worth much? Haven't decided yet but may remove the lettering and weld up the holes.

2021-09-17_11-45-41 by richard cannings, on Flickr

Thanks
Richard

[RobFrost]

Most of the car has a couple of mm skim of filler all over which didn't help. Think its an American thing, they seem to love a bit of bondo over everything.
Tried a few methods but sharp wood chisel and heat gun seemed the best.

Have you tried those hard nylon sponges you can put on an angle grinder? I recently discovered them and they leave the metal shiny clean but take away the soft stuff. One disk costing £6 did a petrol tank.



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