SC Coupe Restoration

[tperazzo]

Thanks Bruce, the 911 should be a fun no frills car that I can enjoy without being overly worried about scratching it. The mechanicals are very intriguing to me and I think it will give me something fun to hot rod for a change.

As to the deck lid fit I have no idea? I do remember that the gaps were tight, but your right they seem tighter no without paint? Weird.

At first I thought I would massage the perimeter a bit to gain a tad more clearance. This was a risky experiment because it bulged the body just outside the opening. So I shrunk it back down with my TIG torch and hammer dolly. This gave me a half millimeter at best.

Something had to be cut and it wasn't only in the corners.

I'm not sure this is the best way, but I just opened up the gap at the rear with a grinder and then welded the edge.



This is also a dicey operation because this naturally shrinks the unconstrained edge which warps the deck lid skin into a potato chip.

It was slow going, with lots of hammering, but I welded the entire width of the bottom.








I constantly checked the shape with my trusty ruler.



So I ended up with 3mm which I hope is enough. One corner is about 4, but a bit of filler will make it even.

If you don't mind Don, I'm curious what your C gaps are on the deck lid. If you can't tell by know I'm coping your car!

So hopefully I'm clear to move to the doors to fit all those goodies. I found a note in one of my parts bags that said fix broken guide tube. Good thing because I forgot about it.

Here's a picture of the tube that is supposed to do welded to the inside of the door.




I scabbed on some more metal to the existing tabs. This time it's a little beefier.



More tiny welds.


Thanks for all the help here,
Tom

[Don C]

Tom,
My car may look OK from 10 ft. away but its pretty rough. The deck lid gaps are all over the place.

[Don C]

[roy mawbey]

Don,

Your gaps would look fine from 10 inches, from 10 feet as you mention better than perfect. I keep looking at mine and stepping back, then a little further.....

Roy

[tperazzo]

Your gaps would look fine from 10 inches, from 10 feet as you mention better than perfect.

I agree they look great. And thanks for taking the time to report those detailed numbers. I hope to achieve similar gaps after paint and filler, so I think I'll be ok now.

Thanks,
Tom

[tperazzo]

More bad fitment news here. I remember back in the days when I used to drive my car versus working on it, that the drivers window frame rubbed the B pillar and was loose and rattled.







The gap is way too wide at the front wind wing and touching the b pillar. It was beyond the range of adjustment as far as I could tell, so I disassembled things to see where it was bent or needs to be bent. I also had to repair all the broken attachment screws so it won't rattle anymore.




It seems that the front diagonal portion isn't straight.

I dreamed up some careful fixturing that would help true this up, but I went very low tech instead.



Hardwood was used inside the window channel to prevent the sidewalls from buckling in.

Here's another "bending die" for a different spot.



There's one more tweak I want to make but I just ran out of time. The fit is now much better though.







As always I'm open to tips and tricks to improve the frame fit. My plan is to get it as close as possible without rubber and then try again with rubber.

I also need to shift the 1/4 round weatherstrip trim back. That's my fault for drilling the holes in the wrong place, so I will need to redo.
Many thanks,
Tom

[JTR70]

Tom, you are right where I was a few years back with my car.

I know yours are original to your car but I purchased a restored set of frames and sold my originals assuming they were all the same. I quickly found out they were not. The new ones rubbed the roof and like yours did not follow the opening consistently enough for my liking. Fortunately I had accumulated several frames so I was able to put together a pair that fit nice. Most of them I found where too flat in profile in the middle. I still need to have them chromed...about a grand to redo I'm thinking. Live and learn.
So wise of you to do this before paint. Nice work as always!
Justin

[Jack Staggs]

Those exterior mirror holes on the door do not appear to be anywhere near factory location for any mirror offered by Porsche for your car.

[JTR70]

Great catch Jack, and before final paint too!
You're not done welding yet Tom.

[tperazzo]

Wow! Thank you Jack for pointing this out. I should have questioned the location of the mirror since there were two other holes welded up.

First thing was to remove the wrong holes as I plan on installing the standard Durant mirror.

Seems wrong, but I open the holes up to 1/2" and then make a sheet metal plug as opposed to trying to fill the hole with weld.




Gotta be quick before the tape starts to melt of catch fire.

These are probably the correct holes.



Here are the dimensions.



I searched for accurate information as to where the holes should be, but many of these were apparently just eye balled by the dealer.

Here's a Car I found with the same mirror.






The mirror has some adjustment forward and back due to the way the hardware fits the mirror base.


At least
this time I used a crash pad. See, I'm learning something Jack.



Please let me know if this mirror location is good.
Thanks again for everyone's help.
Tom

[JTR70]

Would have to get an official ruling from Jack, Bruce or someone with an originally placed mirror but if the yellow one is correct in your photo then there appears to be a slight tilt downward at the front where you appear to have yours mocked up at perfectly horizontal...

[JOP]

Tom,
This is Road Schoolars Cab borrowed of the web to help you out
I wont have time to check on my own today
But the base seems to follow a straight line ( not the holes...) as the rest of the body !
Cheerio
JOP

[Jack Staggs]

Tom, those old welded up hole look close , but not quite right. The tilted yellow one, no.

[Don C]

Tom,
Here's the location on my "C". If adjusted correctly they actually work.

[bbspdstr]

You made me look at two original cars here and then remember that the majority of the mirrors were dealer installed. Those here are all over the place, so all one can say is that they are on the door....and in approximately in the same area....and an opposite side mirror is almost a waste of time for most drivers as far as practicality, but they are seen often enough, I guess for 'balance.'

Take into consideration that the driver may be 5'3" or 6'9". I always weld the holes closed and when all is assembled, make the mirror placement from the primary driver's input while in position to drive and held by another person while trial placement is done AND don't forget the mirror's adjustment limits. (Repro mirrors rarely have the latitude of movement of the originals in any mirror style.)

Tape is broadly placed on the new paint first, marks made on that when choice is finalized and drill through that tape (maybe a little oversized hole for tweaking), touch-up the paint in the hole, attach custom-positioned mirror. You do NOT have to go by what someone else did to be "original."

Don, I just did the same vent lock pivot treatment on a T-6B that was being sold....works well to hide the rust. The frames are brass so the chrome is long-lived.....but on steel? HA! Asking 50 years of those is asking a lot. Thankfully, the aftermarket stainless version is available if there is too much pitting to allow rechroming.

Lastly, I feel that the gap differences from point-to-point and car to car on the later model C...is that the new models were out and they weren't so intense with the QC...."just get 'em done." The earlier lids were much more uniform and I've seen high rust-throughs on more T-6 lids and few on pre-T-6 lids. That should be taken as to lacking QC as well.

Just personal observations and opinions,

Bruce