1970 Porsche 911E Karmen Coupe
Well it took 2 years, but I've finished the suspension overhaul and rust repair
and I did a transmission rebuild and gas tank restore while I was in there. I
replaced all the rubber in the suspension, and installed new shocks, torsion and
sway bars. I've just got the car back on the road now and I'm enjoying the new handling, and the
ability to use second gear. I hope to get some good beauty shots soon, and more importantly take the car down the tail of the dragon.
I've started a suspension overhaul and found some rust around the driver side front
suspension mount points.
I have no idea how old these photos are, but the car does look good in the
rain. Now I want to listen to Fool in the Rain...
Some pre-concours obsessive polishing brings us to these photos.
I'm getting the car ready for the local Hurricane PCA
charity concours next weekend, and this is how it looks.
Lost some updates from this page due to a drive crash but here are
the photos from the interval (at least that I have keyworded). The
911 continues to run well, I drove it to Daytona for
Rennsport Reunion III and that was a blast. Got a 3rd place trophy
from a Carolinas Region PCA event, and have just been generally enjoying it!
Finished a bunch of little details on the 911. Bumper end caps are on,
rocker end caps are on, and best of all, new wheels. I finally put my
16x6 polished fuchs on the car. They look really sharp. Yesterday was
the
Hurricane Region of the
Porsche Club of America's
Oktoberfest. I, of
course, entered my car in the Concours, but I did not win my class (1965 -
1977 911) I did get second in the voting, but due to lack of pre-registration
in the class only one trophy was offered. Darn. I'm really developing a
complex about Troy Webb's 69E, which beat me this year. It's a cool car,
but it has all these little details that annoy me, and it wins all the
time!!!!! Argh.
Oh well.
Today I went to VIR for the SVRA race, took some pictures of my car
next to a nice 73 914.
Finally took some more photos of my car. These were taken at the
Charlotte Auto Fair last Sunday. I didn't win, but I still had fun.
Next week is the PCA Oktoberfest. I've got some trim bits to install
and a shiny set of new wheels to put on for that!
IT'S DONE! Ok, it's not 100% totally done, I still have to put the end caps on the bumpers and rocker trim, but other than that, IT'S DONE!
The final push came last friday. I got to Millersport at 9:30AM and started the final assembly. The was only going to involve putting
on the bumpers, and back installing the back glass. Just a few hours, right? 14 hours later we put the back glass in around
11:30 Friday night. I didn't have any door panels, and the headlights are unaimed, and one of the brake lights is not working right,
but I drove it home. Took it to coffee with the local PCA, and then shot some beauty shots in the
driveway.
Saturday I repaired the broken stud on the passenger door handle, again I have to thank Chuck at Millersport for helping me with this.
Sunday I put the new door panels in, and finished up the interior.
Tuesday night I finished installing the window squeegee, and that sucked. All I need to do are all the end caps, and put the glove
box door back, and find some front bumperettes.
Not bad results for 7.25 months of work!
Still going, almost all back together...
More reassembly. Got the quarter windows in. Doorseals in. Decklid on.
Hood mostly reassembled. Interior cleaner. Door panels removed. Door
handles are on. Taillights are in and hooked up. Fuel filler pieces are
all replaced. Wipers partially reassembled. Lots of parts are ordered.
Hopefully tonight we'll put the fenders and hood on.
Got the car back from the body shop yesterday. Rocky dropped it off around
10:30 and I immediately started working to put it back together. The car is
in the back of Chuck's shop where I've got lots of light, and room, and he
can help me. I'm not on a lift, but I've got a better place to work I think.
I did some inventory and figured out some of the missing pieces that I need.
I also put the taillights in, polished some chrome, and put the decklid
back together. I think this will be the first time the license plate lights
have ever worked!
I'm contemplating a change to RS style door panels because mine are just so
tired...
More pictures of my car after painting, and before buffing.
OMG!!!! MY CAR IS PAINTED!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stopped by the body shop and took some photos of my own. Things look
really really good, the dents are gone!
The dents are fixed, and the car is primed. Block sanding should
commence tomorrow. We're shooting for a show on June 10th.
The car is off to be painted, I took pictures of it outside
in the daylight. I drove it onto the trailer, car just runs,
doesn't mind a long sit at all!
Last minute disassembly before the body shop comes to get the car!
More stripping, I'm getting close to done! I've also aquired a fender and bumper, I
just need the hood and I'll have all my sheetmetal. I'm shooting for a May 19th Driver's
Ed at VIR as my completion deadline...
More stripping, roof is done, passenger quarter is done, and I've moved
onto the driver's side... I started stripping the left fender and found
one small rust hole so far...
Stripping and such continues a pace... so far no major surprises, I've removed
the rust behind the fenders below the windshield, only a small hole or two
was found there. I've got some threads on pelican parts discussing the whole
process of stripping, and rust repair.
I started disassembling and stripping the car!
These are the last photos before I start to fix the car...
I did my third drivers ed, and I made a movie!
I had a little oversteer problem, but everything got fixed in a day...
7/6/05 [no photos yet]
I did my second DE at VIR, this time on the full course. It was a little
hot, I had to drive slow on the back straight to cool things down a bit.
Oak Tree is a bitch, i prefer the climbing esses.
I did my first driver's ed event! I ran the car on the
North Course at VIR
(Virginia International Raceway). This was a Porsche
Club of America event with the First Settlers Region
of the club. This thing kicked ass! The car ran great, read all about it
here.
The car has been running great for the last 3 months. I put almost 1000 miles on the rebuilt
engine so it is time for another trip to the shop for a valve adjustment. I've moved into my
new house, so the car has a new garage which is much better than the 1 car i had before. I
completed a couple of projects on the car, I've re-glued all of the carpet that had come loose
due to water leaking in around the back window. I've also cleaned up the headlights and got
them working.
My current to-do list (in no order)
The car is back after a 3 month engine rebuild and other things. 7 new rockers
and rocker shafts, new cam tower, reground cam-shaft, new oil return tubes,
carrera chain tensioner upgrade, and a host of other small fixes while
the engine was out.
The car broke. The car broke more than expected... read all about it
here
and see pictures of the my motor and it's various broken bits.
I've been driving the car for a month now, and it's been a blast. I've cleaned and
polished enough that it looks pretty good from 5 feet. I've fixed the headlight
trim ring. I installed a new door handle with my old lock so my keys still work,
AND my door opens from the outside. I replaced some gaskets to stop a small oil
leak, though it's not fully fixed yet. Yesterday and today were spent polishing a
lot of oxidation off of the paint. I used a lot of car cleaner wax and then topped
it with a good coat of carnuba. The quarter panels are
pretty smooth, but the fenders, hood and some of the roof feel like fine sandpaper. I'll probably need to power buff
those panels. Still it's a major improvement from the dull, gritty, oil stained finish it had!
I have the car! After 42 days at the shop, the car is back and is in the best condition I've ever seen!
Chuck Miller at MillerSport is fantastic. He fixed my pedals, replaced my master cylinder, fixed my
lights, replaced the oil and air filters, points, cap, rotor, and all the fuel lines in the engine compartment.
He then adjusted and fixed my timing, and fuel injection. Removed a rat condo from the fan shroud, and
fixed my main oil leak.
Called a tow truck and the car is now in the good hands of MillerSport.
Went out to look at the pedals and electrical issues, I think I may have bitten off more than I
can chew as I don't know how to start with the brake light issues. Perhaps it's time I got
professional help.
Drove the Car 4 miles today! Took it down the road and back. Would liked to have driven
farther but the throttle was messed up and none of the lights, except for the hazards, worked.
Looks like I need to track down some more electrical gremlins, when I hit the brakes it blows
the fuse for the back lights. Also the headlights don't work, and the throttle sticks.
Once I got the batteries charged and put some fresh gas in the car it started and ran. It
leaked a lot of oil at first but once the engine heated up the seals started to work and
now the car only leaks a little. Also, here's a movie of the car
running.
Brakes are completed, new lower valve covers are installed, front wheels are back, and the
front end is off the jack stands. I need to change the oil, charge the battery, and
the driving can commence!
Bled the brakes for the first time! I made a brake line for the left rear to replace
the broken one. The right front caliper is still stuck so I decided to use the car to
unstick it since the air compressor had failed me. I installed the 2 rear calipers I
bought from a parts car, mounted the rebuilt left front, and attached the right front.
I then bled everything to get out the air, and the right front came unstuck. I unmounted
that caliper and used the air compressor to blow the pistons out with ease. Progress!
I also got a shift knob, and a new deck lid from that parts car.
Installed new back brakes, and attempted to get the lower valve covers off, but I could
not get them free.
1/31/04
Found a parts car in Chapel Hill, a 1969 911E. Bought the batteries, deck lid, back brakes,
and shift knob. I'm going back for the left bumper, and right fender. Maybe the hood.
Finally some new photos after having not touched the car since august. Brakes are off,
and new rotors are on. New fan belt in place, new hood shocks, working on the busted door
rebuilding the calipers is a top priority. You can see most of my rusty spots. Not too
many of them...
Got the car up on jacks and took off the tires. Found some oil leaks, some fuel leaks and
some stuck rotors, but things look good. Also the heat exchangers look fine.
Went out to the garage and gave the car my first inspection. Photos with comments are
here. The car seems
to be in decent shape from a rust standpoint. I think a more thorough inspection is
needed, especially after a good washing with the pressure washer. Put the rear end up
on jack stands and had a look underneath, but, well, what do I really know? Right wheel
is stuck, probably the brakes, which I'm told are bad in the back.
6/20/03
The car arrived from West Virginia towed by my brother. I didn't have a camera with me
so I don't have pictures of the arrival
Backstory
Purchased in Morgantown, WV in March 1991 by my father, the car had been under used
and under loved for the majority of the last 12 years. In a bloodless garage coup
the car was moved to NC in August of 2003 where I began to bring it back into shape.
The odometer claims 64,000 miles, but I'm inclined to believe that it has rolled over
at least once. The engine was rebuilt at around 50,000 miles and the car does start
and run (roughly). When I got the car, main problems that I knew of where an
infestation of tinworm and bad rear brakes
(the right wheel is stuck right now). Other problems included the usual litany of problems
on 30+ year old Porsches including rusty heat exchangers, body rust, electrical gremlins (hooking
up the tach kills the motor right now, and most of the lights didn't work) and oil leaks.
Here are some
photos
of the car in my parent's garage in WV
All the photos
All Photos of my 1970 Porsche 911E (including full resolution 4mega pixel copies)
to do list