MY 1970 911E Restoration Project

[tom1394racing]

Although I don’t like to admit it to myself, I have been procrastinating starting this thread on my 1970 911 E restoration. The project has been ongoing since Aug of 2013 when I purchased the car as a roller with boxes full of parts in an estate auction. Progress has been slow but steady with the car in the final assembly stage at this point.

I had been itching for another project since completing my RSR clone in 2005. With the recent surge in pricing for early 911’s, it seemed the time was right to bring another old 911 back to life. I had been searching for a couple of months when the untimely death of a fellow PCA/CVR member resulted in invite only estate auction. One of the gems at the auction was an unfinished 911E project. It turned out that I had the correct numbers matching engine and gearbox in my parts stash from a previous local parts purchase. The odometer showed an original 85,000 miles. This was an opportunity I could not pass up so I made sure that I went home with the car.

Given that 95% of the original parts came with the purchase and that I had the correct original engine and gearbox, I decided to bite the bullet and make this a 100% correct original restoration. Since I do not have the metal, body and paint skills to do justice to the final results I envisioned, I decided to follow the same project plan that I did with my RSR. I would strip the car myself and outsource the metal repair, body and paint work to my trusted friends at Auto Associates in Canton, CT. Like the RSR project, I would do all the part prep, finished assembly and engine & gearbox work myself.

Below are some pics of the car as it arrived at my garage in Aug of 2013.

[tom1394racing]

Like any project, once I got this one home, I discovered the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good – The chassis was fairly solid except for some improper repairs that had been made to the rockers and left rear torsion area. The interior, with the exception of the dash, was also in good condition. After laying all the parts out, it seemed like almost everything needed was there.

The Bad – The original wheels and front windshield were missing along with the steel front bumper and bumper guards. The radio appeared to be a Japanese dealer install.

The Ugly – The metal repair work on the rockers and left rear torsion area would have to be redone. The repair work on the left rear quarter panel would also need redoing.

Once the car was stripped, I delivered it to Auto Associates for their assessment and crossed my fingers hoping for as few surprises as possible.

[tom1394racing]

Delivery for the body work..... January 2014

[jpnovak]

Nice Tom.

reminds me of my current project.

[tom1394racing]

The Project Plan

A “100% Correct” restoration project can encompass a pretty broad work scope with a very slippery slope. This is especially true when you are faced with an unfinished project and baskets of parts. I am fortunate to have a large inventory of early 911 parts as part of my retirement business and the resources on this website to guide me, so I figured I’d give it a go and see how “correct” I can make this.

My philosophy has always been to not compromise functionality for the sake of correctness. The original hydropnuematic struts on the car had long ago been replaced by 3.0 “ Boges with M calipers. I decided that a pair of early Koni S struts with early S calipers would be the “correct” replacement for this project since I had both in my stash. The rest of the front suspension would be stock with the original 15 mm front sway bar, all new rubber bushings, freshly plated original hardware & fasteners and new Koni inserts. The rear suspension would remain original with all bushings, hardware and dampers refreshed just like the front.

It is important to me that the car look as original and “correct” as possible. However, a little extra pep in the engine is always nice to have. Since the original Biral cylinders were too worn to be useable at 84 mm, I decided to have them bored to 86 mm, use a nice 2.4/2.7 crank I had in stock and make a 2.45 liter. Since the car will be a street driver, I am going with 9.5 CR JE’s, and a set ModS cams. The heads, throttle bodies and stacks will be opened up to 34 mm and the injection pump recalibrated for the 2.45 application. The case will get all the standard mods and I will do the assembly myself.

Even though the original interior was in decent shape, I have chosen to have all the seats, panels and dash redone in original materials to ensure the right match.

Although the COA does not specify the options for the car, it appears to have been delivered with the appearance group options including the wide S bumper and rocker deco trim. I have chosen to include a date matched set of deep six wheels refinished by Harvey Weidman with Avon 185/70/15 tires. I also have a nice Blaupunkt Frankfurt to replace the Japanese radio. The finished color will be the original Bahia Red.

[tom1394racing]

Metal and Body Work
The progress at Auto Associates was painstaking slow as some not unexpected surprises showed up. At this point I had decided to try to make the car as perfect as possible. With that in mind, Ken the body shop manager and co-owner advised me that the doors, engine lid, rear bumpers and front fenders would require too much work to make perfect. Luckily I had good replacements for the doors and rear bumpers in my stash and Ken had a good engine lid. We decided on factory replacement fenders as there are almost no good, used replacements available and aftermarket would not cut it for this project.

Both the left and right rockers, quarter and latch panels required extensive repairs as well as the left rear torsion area. Once again I had replacement panels that met Ken's approval in my stash.

[tom1394racing]

Metal and Body Work
An unexpected surprise was some light damage to the right front wheel housing area from a previous collision and a rust hole in the right battery box. Both were repaired. The underbody was stripped, all floor jack dents removed and then primed.

[tom1394racing]

Based on some research on the forums and Ken’s experience, we decided on the following finishing process:

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...-E-trunk-color

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...ls+paint+color

1) Primer over bare metal
2) Greyish beige undercoating was sprayed in the engine bay and the undersides.
3) Body painted body colour
4) Black paint was applied in the wheel wells and engine compartment

[tom1394racing]

Undercoating

[tom1394racing]

Underside Painted Body Color