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Thread: Project Minne - a 72 build thread

  1. #91
    It's looking great!
    1973 S Targa #0098
    Member # 1498

  2. #92
    Jamie,
    I don't know how i missed this project, but I am subscribed now.

    regards,
    al
    Al Kosmal
    the X-faktory
    Current projects; 69-911.5
    76S rat bastard---off to Germany

    1970 914-4...off to Wisconsin
    73 911X Cafe Racer...........(off to S.F.....now racing in Germany)
    66 912 ...off to France
    71E 9111200979 ( gone to Paris..then to Corsica)
    77S (off to NY)
    Early S #1240

    RGruppe #669
    www.x-faktory.com

  3. #93
    mad scientist
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    537
    Feeling motivated so I made it out to the garage again. This time I started to tackle the lower wheelhouse panel. The two corner sections under the battery boxes were quite perforated. They had to go. I purchased the full wheelhouse corner panel from Restoration Design. The panels are acceptable but not quite perfect. Certainly easier than trying to fabricate.

    The first step is to cut out the rusty parts. I made a horizontal cut across the bottom of the battery box. This took care of the rusty section and made an easy parting line for panel alignment.





    After cutting I trimmed the panel to fit the hole. It sometimes sucks cutting just a section out of an expensive panel. Oh well. Its all in the name of progress.



    I still have to clean up the edges so the panel will move upward. This will close up the top gap and make it easy to weld.

    I left the F, R and top edging of the battery box. This will give some rigidity to the wheel house section. I will need some rigidity to support an oil cooler in this location.

    Some of you may also realize I left a small corner (front and top) of the old battery box. Some of you might be saying... WTF? Well, there are two important holes in this location for Through-the-grill light brackets. Might was well leave the factory mounts. I will trim them up later and triangulate the back side to stiffen them up. They take up little space and still allow plenty of airflow.
    1971 911T SWT - Sun and Fun Machine
    1972 911T - "Minne" painted and undergoing assembly.

  4. #94
    mad scientist
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    537
    It seems I had to continue onto the Driver's side. Same problem as the previous post. In this case, the battery box was in good condition. So I left it to mount my battery.

    Cut out the rust... Trim the patch panel...



    Align the panel to the car...



    Get ready to weld...

    But before I can weld there is one last test fit. The tank is the last part that must fit in this section. it dropped right in, confirming my panel alignment. So, next step is to take it all apart and prep for welding. This is surface etch, box section priming, panel priming, plug hole punching, and a bunch of other busy-work.

    Maybe this weekend I can fire up the welder.
    1971 911T SWT - Sun and Fun Machine
    1972 911T - "Minne" painted and undergoing assembly.

  5. #95
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Hermosa Beach, CA
    Posts
    195
    And he makes a mean hamburger too! Nice work dude!

  6. #96
    mad scientist
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    537
    Thanks James. It's been a long time. Let me know when you come through Austin again. Funny you mention a burger. Have a brisket on the grill right now. Started at 6am and will be ready for dinner. If you are reading this you have about 6 hours from now to make it to Austin and I will provide samples and beverage to wash it down.
    1971 911T SWT - Sun and Fun Machine
    1972 911T - "Minne" painted and undergoing assembly.

  7. #97
    mad scientist
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    537
    It has been a while since I updated this thread. While I have made progress work travel for just about the entire month of November got in the way. Despite these life hurdles I have managed to spend a lot of quality time with both my welder and grinder.

    The front pan has been welded. Well, basically the entire front end has been welded and finished. I Have a few small touch up areas to complete. Here are a few random pictures of bare sheet metal.

    The first step was to weld in the lower, main pan section. Once tacked in place I connected the lateral tank support sections. These have to go in as they locate on the inside of the wheel well section and sit on top of the pan. Following the lateral tank supports the front mount saddle straps must be welded in place.

    After the initial assembly the interior of the pan was etched and painted with galvanizing compound. The edge seams were then painted with weld through primer and the top tank support section was added to close it all up.



    After the tank support is added I plug weld the part in place to mimic a factory spot weld. I admit I am not going the extra step to light each plug weld with the TIG torch to give them that spot weld look. I just grind them down. Additionally, I seam welded the entire front section. Eventually the welds were all dressed down on the inside and it was time to move to the underside.



    One advantage of the octisserie is to flip the car up so you do not have grind laying on your back. It makes working much more comfortable and more productive. Here is the underside of the pan after dressing welds. You can also see that the lower corners of the wheel well were repaired as well as a section of the nose/latch panel. The white coating is part of my metal etch process and rust abatement. This will all be cleaned up before going into epoxy.



    This is a shot of the Passenger side battery box delete. I know its not factory but in TX I need all the heat rejection I can get. Especially since a non-stock motor will be motivating my little project car. While installation of an oil cooler is possible with the battery box in place, it places the cooler very close to the tire and honestly blocks most of the airflow that allows it to work. I thought about installing a cooler behind the bumper but decided this was the next best thing, primarily for weight distribution. Some might be asking why the flange is left. The battery box is also the factory mount for Through-the-grill fog lights. That might be an option down the road so I wanted to leave the mount in place. I will contour the edges so it looks clean as part of the process.



    Right now I am finishing the welds on the floor and tying up loose ends on the underside. I am trying to target next month to shoot the entire underside of the car with epoxy (including wheel wells) followed by undercoating. I am not sure if I will make it but I have to set targets for these milestones. Honestly, I can not wait for the day when I can unplug the welder. Though, this means my arms will get a workout as I start to prime, and sand, and sand and sand... Body and paint prep. You get the idea.
    1971 911T SWT - Sun and Fun Machine
    1972 911T - "Minne" painted and undergoing assembly.

  8. #98
    mad scientist
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    537
    Moving right along...

    The passenger side longitudinal had some rusty holes. Here is the all the glorious, rusty, crusty section. The holes are located underneath the spring plate mounts and torsion tube. I can thank the water collection from the inside hole by the rear seat pan.





    Specific thanks to Dave (dtw) here. He had a rear clip carcass and spent some time to cut me a patch. This will certainly come in useful. I realize that the access hole means its from a later tub but its easier to close up a hole than to start from scratch.



    So, I offered up the patch and scribed a line and began cutting. About 45 min later it was clamped, aligned and ready to weld. Should not take long to butt-weld the perimeter and put a few rosette welds along the seam.





    The patch was just a hair short on one corner. I will close that up after the main section is in place.

    Closing up this hole is the second to last major repair on the list. The last one is the dash/cowl sections. There is still a lot of detail work to get ready for paint. I will start crossing them off in the next few weeks, day job permitting.

    I had a box arrive containing two bottles of Upol Gravitex Gray and a spray gun. I hope to use this after the underside is in epoxy.
    1971 911T SWT - Sun and Fun Machine
    1972 911T - "Minne" painted and undergoing assembly.

  9. #99
    mad scientist
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    537
    Thanks for the support.

    In my previous post I showed some rust holes in the Passenger side longs. This originated from the hole in the pass seat pan. The rust was on the egdge and ate through the inner wall structure. This allowed water to pool inside the long and rust from the inside out. Thankfully my patch worked out well. After some QT today with the welder and grinder I managed to call this section finished.





    There is one small section that I can not dress the welds. There is no clearance for the grinder behind the support leg from my octisserie. I will have to address this once the tub is off the mounts. I also have to weld the spring plate boss reinforcements and will do both at the same time.

    While working on the floor there was a section on the floor by the steering tunnel that I did not like. I started cutting and found lots of rot underneath. Of course, this is at the bottom of the smugglers box, behind the heater tube. There is no way I could access from the top. Oh well, while I was in the cutting mood I took care of it.



    YOu can not see that there was a support wall structure here connecting the bottom of the heater pass through to the floor pan. I did replicate this strut but did not get a picture of it.



    I made a piece that replicated the floor here. There is a double step down from the Driver's side floor and then a radius and then another flare. I got it close. Its structurally sound and that was what I was after here. I think it will blend nicely once primed and undercoated.

    I can almost say the underside of the car is structurally sound. I have a few reinforcement panels to install and then I can move on to finish and primer work on the underside. Yeah, More time with the grinder. I need that anyway since I have to finish blending my weld seams. They need some attention in spots. I purposely left them high since I had a very aggressive wheel on the grinder. I did not want to go too far.

    Next up... the cowl, A Pillar and Dash sections...
    1971 911T SWT - Sun and Fun Machine
    1972 911T - "Minne" painted and undergoing assembly.

  10. #100
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    10
    Keep it up, and Minne will be on the road before my car!! Great work...
    John
    ---------------------
    '72 911T 3.0 coupe Bahia
    '86 Targa Iris

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