"Ollie" 1970 911ST Project - Phase 1

[Trash Smasher]

Wanted to thank everyone for sharing their knowledge with me on this project, and provide an update. I really wanted to do the oil tubes through the body, but as I was told by others and as I discovered myself, the tubes are no longer available. I work for a company that manufacturers heavy machinery, and I checked with one of our hydraulics suppliers about having a set fabricated. I provided my set of external hard lines to our tubing fabricator, and he determined there were too many complex bends and he would not be able to make some of them. So here is a summary of the direction I'm going on the topics I originally asked about:

1) Stitch Welds - Did the factory stitch weld the body seams on the early 911 STs? My body shop is going to stitch weld the tub.
2) Hood Release Cable Tubes - should they stay or should they go? The rear tube for the engine lid is going to be deleted.
3) Under Hood - Should the undercoating be kept or removed under the hood? I'm going to stay with the steel hood, and will leave the factory undercoating I think. My flares are steel, and I'm retaining the steel bumpers front and rear. The body shop is going to mate the bumpers up to the flares. Since I'm going to be using the car on the street, I did not want to fit fiberglass body parts in the interest of safety.
4) Rear Strut Towers - were the rear strut towers reinforced / gussetted? I'm not going to gusset the rear strut towers.
5) Front Strut Tower - what type of reinforcement is correct? I'm going to install a "917 Style" front strut mount that fastens to the stock mounting points on the strut mounts. No welded mounting points.
6) Seat Belts - where were the attachment points for the seat belts? 4 point seat belts used? I got my seats from Stephan at GTS, I will be using the 4 point seat belts with the "Y" style connection that fastens into the rear seat belt mounting points in the rear deck.

[Trash Smasher]

Got my seats in from Stefan at GTS, an ST seat for the driver and an R seat for the passenger. Perforated vinyl bolsters with corduroy inserts.

[Trash Smasher]

ST Flares are installed on both sides.



As you can see in the pic, I've elected not to cut out the original battery boxes, I'd like to run the two 6 volt batteries as original, if they are still available. What did the factory do with the battery situation on the STs? Did they run the twin batteries? My understanding was that the twin batteries were used to improve weight distribution so I've assumed this would be beneficial in the race cars, more so than on the street.

[Trash Smasher]

My focus of my budget at the moment is to get the body work completed to a high standard. All of the other parts bolt on / bolt off, and can be upgraded to ST spec in the future as I desire and as my budget allows. I won't be building a 2.5L engine, I will go back in with my 2.7L RS spec MFI & 901 transmission. Likewise, I will not be fitting a 100L gas tank, or some of the other ST items like the 10k tach, or aluminum S calipers right away. Those features will have to wait, and can be added as weekend projects while I'm enjoying driving the car.

I've sent some wheels off to Harvey Weidman who is building a set of 15x8" for the front and 15x9" for the rear, in race finish. Harvey is sending me a 9" wheel to check the fitment and alignment of the rear flares, I hope to have it next week. He is also restoring one of the original deep 6 wheels to factory finish for the spare tire. Michelin TB's will be mounted on all 4 corners, but the spare tire spec is yet to be determined.


In the meantime, I'm trying to complete the restoration of the rear suspension so I can use the fitment wheel that Harvey is sending. I dropped the rear control arms off yesterday to be powder coated. I'm restoring the entire rear suspension with new rubber bushings, and installing new rear bearings. The front suspension was replaced not long before starting the restoration so it will be cleaned up but does not require new bushings. New front bearings will be installed, and the Koni shocks / struts will receive a new coat of paint as they were also a fairly recent purchase and are in good mechanical condition.

A previous owner had installed a Boxster brake kit on the front, which will be removed and replaced with "A" style calipers. The original calipers will be retained in the rear, and I'll replace all of the hoses and hard lines with new components.

I have a new windshield, seals, and aluminum trim for the front and rear glass that is in storage, along with a new headliner. I hope to have the body back from the shop in early July. I'd love to have Ollie back on the road by November 9 so I can "unveil" her at PCA Palooza 2017 in Eureka Springs. I took her to the inaugural PCA Palooza back in 2005, but she hasn't been back in quite a few years! Here she is in 2005, the only bright blue car in attendance...