Oficial "restoration" thread, As if we need another of these Options

[gopack]

I wish!
I am working a job in Michigan, and the project manager decided we needed to work 13 days in a row, so I was stuck here all weekend working. I will have to call them in a couple of days and see what is going on

thanks for caring Dan!

[1bad914]

Mark,
Looks great! What part of Michigan are you working in?

[gopack]

Middle of da Mitten.
St Loius Mi to be precise, hotel is in Mt. Pleasant.
The only thing up here is CMU, and I havent even spotted any cute co-eds to oogle yet!

THis is a picture of the marker at the entrance to the site I am working at. Nice huh?

[gopack]

4/14/06 update!

In the last 2 weeks a lot has been accomplished on the car. The flares are now completely welded on. The hell hole looks like a factory fresh car. Engine mount and battery tray have been repaired/replaced. The targa bar has been surgically altered. The spot-welded flange has been cut off, and the entire thing seam welded up(except for the center where we will try to install a high mounted stop light). The head light doors and the eyebrows have been welded together (I don’t plan on using the lights that much, and they look better this way. No alignment issues). The rear half of the floor pan was cut out and the new piece welded in. the bottoms halves of the jack receiver support plates were cut off, and the rust underneath was killed and new pieces welded on.

Pictures to follow. Too lazy to resize them all and organize them. The body shop takes tons of pictures to document the entire job start to finish.

[gopack]

I will try one LARGE picture and see how it works.

underside of tunnel, floor gone. he also fixed the area where the tubes pass through the hole that is not supported by welding that all up before he put the new floor on.

[gopack]

so here are a few pics of the hell hole repair. hard top get a good shot of that stuff, first pic is how we left it 2 weeks ago.

[gopack]

so here are a few pics of the hell hole repair. hard top get a good shot of that stuff, first pic is how we left it 2 weeks ago.

[gopack]

so here are a few pics of the hell hole repair. hard top get a good shot of that stuff, first pic is how we left it 2 weeks ago. second pic you can see right through the side to the inner part of the outer fender. the thrid poic is the patch peices.

[gopack]

So here are a few pics of the hell hole repair. It is hard to get a good shot of that stuff. THe first pic is how we left it 2 weeks ago.

(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2627.jpg)
The second pic you can see right through the side to the inner part of the outer fender.
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2855.jpg)


The thrid pic is the patch peices ready to install
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2831.jpg)

last the finished product
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2866.jpg)
and with the battery tray installed, one of the few things i am going back to stock on!
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2868.jpg)

finally they dug under the engine mount and killed all the rust there, and fabbed a new piece to repair that area!
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2838.jpg)(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2848.jpg)

[gopack]

Here is the jack reciever repair. probably didn't need to do anything there, but it was showing some rust so we figured "may as well do it right.
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2844.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2846.jpg)
Don't seem to ahve any pics of the finished repair. Looks like new

[gopack]

New rear half of the floor was also installed. I'll post jsut a few pics of that
Floor out
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2769.jpg)

new floor panel
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2754.jpg)

fire wall rust from back bottom
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2763.jpg)

welded in place
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2796.jpg)

they killed all the rust in the places we were never meant to look after they welded thcar together in Karman.
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2786.jpg)

[gopack]

a few shot of the car in the sun

passenger side. looks pretty good!
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2687.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2687.jpg)
drivers side. this is the side that had a ton of bondo, all held on by drilling holes in the body and letting the "ooze" through the holes hold it on. now all holes welded up, and some major hammer and dolly work in the future! looks like a bad case of the pox or something!
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2701.jpg)
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2702.jpg

I'm thinking about these wheels! (NOT)(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2690.jpg)
seriously the flares are going to be soooo sweet I think

[gopack]

And finally my only indulgence other than the flares. I never liked the bright trim on the car, especially when it will be black, so we decided to cut off the spotwelded flange on teh targa bar, and seam weld it all the way around the trailing edge. I am pretty sure that this will be as strong or stronger than the spotwelded set up.
Before
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2806.jpg)

after
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2815.jpg)
another angle
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2816.jpg)
It is hard tro see, but there it is. I have a stop light bar i am going to try to fit IN the yarga bar liek the factory would do today if this was a new car. will keep you posted on that.

[gopack]

and a few misc. pictures.

welding the eyebrows to the headlight doors. it is going to be a weekend (day) driver mostly so I figured it looks better this way , and less to get properly lined up.

(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2904.jpg)

welding up lock hole and 6 holes for porsche reflector. I am keeping the reflector, but i have a different one that usedd 4 bolts to attach. ( sue me but I like that look!)

(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2884.jpg)

(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2885.jpg)

[gopack]

I have a bout 140 more pics on my (new) photobucket account. If there is something you want to see, take a look there. I think I made my folder veiwable to all, but someone try it and let me know if they can or can't see the pictures. username is gopack42 on photobucket.


And Dan, thanks! I am just glad someone out there cares! LOL

[gopack]

visited the body shop on saturday. getting to the end now. just waiting for the bumpers to arrive so they can fit them and make sure the flares line up with the bottoms of the flares. I am anxious to see how good the flared portion of the 916 bumpers matches the flares.

so far the rockers and doors and roof and front hood are primed and the first block sanding done.

doors
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2937.jpg)

also fixed the thresholds and welded new peices on there (before: no after pics yet)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2906.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2907.jpg)

filled in antenna hole
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2908.jpg)

arial view
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2911.jpg)

also had to work on the edges of the top aftr they took the paint off of it
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g75/GOPACK42/HPIM2922.jpg)

after the bumpers get there, it looks like about 3 days to get it in primer and paint the sills and trunks and pass and engine compartment! (thank God, because the wife is starting to make unhappy noises, AND the checking account is starting to run dry!)

[gopack]

Well, it has been a while since anything has been done. The only progress I can report is that the UPS tracking number for the 916 front and rear bumpers indicated that they will be delivered today (the day the shop is closed!). When I ordered them, I was "promised" (quoted?) a 2 week delivery time. That was march 31st! Oh well, what you gonna do? once they have your money , they dont give a crap do they. I chose this particular vendor because they had a catalog item for flared and non flared 916 bumpers, and they were quoting only $100 to ship the pair. Seems only the rears will be pre-flared to match the fenders. Same price as the others, but half the shipping price. I will post pics and comments about the quality when I see them this weekend (I hope). No other progress, as the shop was waiting for all those parts before nailing everything else down to make sure it all lines up nice.

[gopack]

Well I guess it is time for an update.
Talked to the body shop guy, and he was NOT pleased with the quality of the bumpers, but from all I read I was not suprised, and I expected a lot of work on them. They have the front fit and ready to go, but the guy that is assigned to my car is off on a one month vacation to europe (he goes to Croatia every year).
I talked to the shop owner, and he asked me, since he was a man short, if it would be OK to put the car on the back burner for a month. they have a 1968 Z28 they neeed to get done for a guy in the service who is scheduled to ship out the first of July, and they wanted to get it done before he lwaves. SO my baby will sit till July, and then it should be only 2 weeks after that untill she is ready to come home and start the jigsaw puzzle assembly!

I am not lookign forward to that, in fact it has me a bit scared! I may be calling on all you semi local guys to help with the work or at least moral support when the time comes!

[BigDBass]

Ouch! That's a long delay! I'm here for moral support at least. July won't be the best time for me as you know. July will be the best time for me, just not for cars! :storksmiley:

[aircooledboy]

Exciting as hell Dan. I never get tired of the resto threads when guys are doing it right. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif)

Bummer about the delay, but your car is looking really great. It will be worth it in the end. Count on me for help putting humpty back together if you need it. I've got a couple complete side shifter set ups if you are still thinking about making the switch. We can talk about it on the 17th if you are still coming.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)