Rats, mice, snakes, and a '72 911

[JTR70]

Perfect example of how water and then rust always finds a way no matter the climate. The repair panels look great and of course your attention to detail really makes all of the difference in the quality of the final outcome. This was very generous of you to repair this rust David, after all it still is a 40+ year old used car at the end of the day. The new owner will have to be impressed. Nice work! Justin

[DG58INNM]

Thanks for the kind words Justin. Rust never sleeps, eh? I was really bummed when I found this mess. When I parked it I know it was perfect. My own fault for not taking better care of it over the years. But just like about everything else in life, this can be fixed. Actually finding it an easy repair. Good access for cutting and welding. The new parts fit well. The only thing I don't like is not being able to hammer the welds out. My arms would have to be 5 or 6 feet long to reach both sides at once.

I know this is mostly a 356 site. But figured if I posted here the new owner can watch the progress. Hope it doesn't scare him!

Wrapped up the passengers side, and started on the drivers side today. There are a bunch of brackets for brake, fuel, and vapor lines that need to be transferred to the new part. Cut out the old and used it as a template for the locations.


New piece, sans brackets


Old piece laid over the new


New piece marked for brackets


Brackets harvested, cleaned up, and fixed to the new piece (John, the Quickspot made short work of this stuff!).


Remains of the old piece, now without brackets, next to the new one. Time to trim and fit it to the car.

Take care,
DG

[JTR70]

Thanks for posting updates on this David. I'd love to see more 911 project content here. Since it may be a few more years until I can get to that '66 and or the Targa its going to have to be someone else willing to share their work on this later stuff. Beautiful work and love how your transplanting all the original bracketry onto the new pan.
Thanks again! Justin

[tperazzo]

Thanks for sharing David. I thought the 356 seat pans were one of the most difficult repairs on my 356. You made this look really easy. Good for you and the new owner!
Thanks,
Tom

FYI, I remove the galvanized coating on both sides prior to welding. About 5/8" from the weld edge. I wasn't sure if the heated coating vapor is toxic, so I removed it, but that may help in the weld contamination department too.

[DG58INNM]

Thanks Tom,
I took your advice and it made the welding a lot smoother.

Justin, you'd better get onto one of those 911s soon. The 911 world needs you. I watch some of the 911 forums. There are a few guys doing nice work, but a lot of them are doing pigeon shit and patches, making 911s like the mess John is fixing now. I've been thinking more and more about getting my old '68 sw targa underway.

Finished installing the left side seat pan, and fixed the box section at the junction between the package shelf/firewall. Almost there now. Just a matter of cleaning up some welds and painting/undercoating.



Drivers side welded in. The long weld seam on this side came out much cleaner, thanks to Tom reminding me to grind off the galvanize.



Looking a lot better back here now.



Looks sort of funny from underneath, but its all nice and solid now. Going to be a lot of work to clean this up and re-coat it! Just noticed the sway bar brackets are crushed. Probably better do this too while I'm here.



Here is the box section at the top of the firewall with the badly rusted top cut off. You can see the shape of the section over against the far end. Cleaned up what was left and put a bunch of zinc-rich primer on everything. I previously replaced the forward edge of the package shelf. The raised area was made with a bead roller.



New piece screwed in place. Used the bead roller (the same HF POS John was cursing, and it is pretty wimpy) to make the stepped flange that gets spot welded to the package shelf. I used the piece of angle you see to hold it straight and horizontal wahile I made the weld to the firewall. I was afraid it would come out warp while welding.



And here its all done. The long butt weld is just above the stiffening indent. I still need to grind this smooth, but it came out pretty nice.



Looking down from above on the spot welded joint between the package shelf and the box section at the top of the fireall.

Take care,
DG

[John Pierce]

That turned out quite nicely, DG! Too bad your selling the car as it's turning out to be a keeper.

[JTR70]

Your 911 repairs are just as beautiful as your 356 efforts. Looks like there is some useful carry-over between these two worlds huh?
My plate is completely overflowing so its going to have to be up to you David; my dad's 911's will have to sit a few years more So you're thinking about pushing your 356 projects to the side and beginning your Targa? You're a big boy and your decision of course but I would highly recommend against that. You are spreading your talent and time way too thin which means none of your projects may ever reach full completion. I fight with myself every now and again. I am on this speedster conversion now and for myself I only work on the coupe. Some days I think Oh,I should work on my Vette or my coupster project. My next immediate thought is, "Sure, Right after you finish that coupe!" Its a battle to stay focused but I know if I let myself wander onto other projects another 20 years will quickly be gone and that damn thing still won't be done! Again, just my 2 cents and would be interested to seeing progress on whatever you decide to work on.
Great work on that 911 David! I hope the new owner appreciates just how rare attention to detail work is to come by!
Justin

[cmptrf]

David,
What a great job you're doing )

[DG58INNM]

You are spreading your talent and time way too thin which means none of your projects may ever reach full completion. I fight with myself every now and again. I am on this speedster conversion now and for myself I only work on the coupe. Some days I think Oh,I should work on my Vette or my coupster project. My next immediate thought is, "Sure, Right after you finish that coupe!" Its a battle to stay focused but I know if I let myself wander onto other projects another 20 years will quickly be gone and that damn thing still won't be done!

Justin, thanks for the reality check. Yes, that is good advice. I need to stay focused and finish something. Its just that its more fun to start projects than end them! Just as soon as the '72 is gone, I'm going to get back on the Swiss Miss. I've got the crazy notion I might want to drive her to Rennsport V a year from now.

Sort of off-topic, but I saw the most gorgeous Porsche today. Sitting outside the Owl bar, in San Antonio, NM (a dusty one-horse town, famous for being the site of Conrad Hilton's first hotel, and an ongoing feud between the Owl and Mannnie's Buckhorn for worlds best green-chile cheeseburger ) was a 3-liter turbo carrera in cockney brown. Wearing personalized NM plate "930"! Perfect! Wanted so bad to stop and find the owner and try to buy it. But I would be divorced for sure if I brought home another one.

take care,
DG

[Carrera_The_Kid]

Hi David,

Just noticed this. Thanks for sharing, looks like you are doing an awesome job. makes me want to get started on my better halves '65

Cheers,

J.

[JTR70]

The next Rennsport sounds like a nice goal David! I don't know if your woman is anything like mine she'd greatly appreciate a nice running, driving 930 provided you sold all the "junk" cars out in the work shop in return.
But what challenge would there be after that trade?

[DG58INNM]

I don't know if your woman is anything like mine she'd greatly appreciate a nice running, driving 930 provided you sold all the "junk" cars out in the work shop in return.
But what challenge would there be after that trade?

Justin, they could be sisters! I have heard this argument many times from Charlotte. She loves Porsches. But she doesn't share my fascination with rust, dust, and projects.

DG

[911vic]

Just wondering if you would have door window frames and 1/4 window frames for 1972 911 T CP

[JTR70]

Welcome Vic, thanks for joining us! I'll ask around and see what I can find for your project.
Justin