71 E -> Gentleman's RSH thread

Also, I found out the answer to my question on the trailing arms...the RS had steel arms and never aluminum. Tom Butler procured some nice steel arms that will have the RS reinforcements welded on. Like everything else, they won't be installed for at least a year while I continue to track the car in the driving season. Evidently if one wants to have aluminum trailing arms, they can be painted black to make them look RS-appropriate, but then you won't have the reinforcements.

Because I haven't been clear, the idea is to use this winter to do some body work to allow the car - originally a '71 E - to take a 915 transmission; re-do the interior to a RS M471 interior with roll cage and Recaro Profi SPG XL seats; and put in body reinforcements as would be appropriate for a tracked RS of the time (in addition to the transmission tunnel, we're doing some of the ST/RSR reinforcements at the shock towers). I'll continue to use the car primarily for DE's, though switching the engine from the 2.8 with EFI to a 2.7 with webers should make the car more pleasant to use on the street.

Then next year the car will be stripped down, painted, and have the 911/83 engine installed along with a 100 or 110 L tank...does anyone know which is correct for the M471? My recollection in "the book" is that both were installed?

The major work to be done this winter is metal work. Because the car is a '71 coupe, there are a few areas of the body which don't match '73 in addition to the normal reinforcement points of the RS vs the ordinary production 911s.

The good news is the body of the '71 E was largely rust free. When I bought the targa, I was a neophyte and stumbled into a solid car despite myself. Looking for the donor car to build the RS clone, I focused almost exclusively on California cars. Initially I had wanted a '69 912, but increasingly found that the days of "cheap" 912s are long gone, so that factoring in the cost of a 2.8 engine, ironically the cost of the '71 E was much cheaper than buying a clean rust-free 912.

With the carpets out, the interior looks nasty, but also beautiful as it is all-original (it was light ivory originally). All of the insulation will be stripped out to bare metal and this will be repainted gulf orange. The irony is the interior and engine bay will be repainted this winter for no one to see, while the exterior will have to wait for next winter. Increasingly I'm finding planning a car build is like a campaign to be waged over many months and years.

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Here is the first area to be attacked - the 915 requires a bigger tunnel, so this will get chopped out.

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The tunnel replaced with this from an old race car donor shell that is on hand. Note how much wider/larger the 915 tunnel is.

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Sadly, the totality of the car was not rust free. The car must of had some water intrusion from a bad seal on the rear windshield, so a little bit of the parcel shelf by the rear window will need to go. Also note that the hole for the oil tank is a bit of a hack-job as they fit a later Carrera tank when the car was converted to a track car about 14 years ago. That too will be repaired.

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The good news is if you are an anal RS clone builder, then the rear parcel shelf needs to go anyway! One of the great fortunes of having a shop like Automobile Associates do this work is that they often have reference material handy. This is in their reception lobby...

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Hard to describe exactly, but the parcel shelf of a '73 is flatter and different to that of a '71, so it will be replaced too. You might also note the harness anchor points in the original above. Fortunately, from New Zealand, I have some replicas, which I am told are much easier to install when the metal is outside of the car.

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And the last bit, back to the original...the rear shock towers of a '73 are much beefier than a '71.

The originals from the '71 that will be replaced...

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relative to the "correct" ones on the reference body.

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The shock towers will also get the ST/RSR reinforcements, which is a bit of a migration, but looks cool and in theory stiffens things up in a period-correct way. In any case, tons of minute detail to get a proper "clone" done, and none of it will be visible!

More updates...never in my life would I have imagined myself to be so excited about sheet metal and the painting of an engine bay. First up, some photos of the welded-in rear shelf, shock towers, and transmission tunnel. This is all a bit absurd, but then if you want a RS clone, you can't just slap a ducktail on it and pretend you're driving a race car for the road, can you?

First up is the rear panel, where there are two keys in transforming a '71 E into a '73 RS body. The tunnel reinforcement and the larger "hump" to fit the 915 transmission.

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And then from the rear, the flatter shelf, beefier shock towers, and most importantly, the shock tower reinforcement.

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And with that all done, the painting. Black first on the underbody...

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And then some Gulf Orange over the top. Note the shock towers and the harness mounts welded from below...

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And then, as is appropriate for the '72 on cars, the engine bay painted the body color, with those shock tower reinforcements looking particularly sexy in the fresh paint.

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And yes, in case not clear, the exterior of the car is staying white, so Automobile Associates did a cursory respray of the fridge white on the slam panel, etc, because the original conversion to race car white had some flaking and surface rust. I was joking to them that for the next year my engine bay is going to be a little treasure chest. The car will still have its dodgy off-fridge white exterior customary of a track car, and have an immaculate engine bay before the totality of the exterior is redone next year. All credit to them for accommodating my desire to drive the car while undertaking a fairly faithful build of a RS clone. Cross fingers that it all works ok in coming months.

Amazing little details for a clone! Nicely done.

Ravi

I was up there this week and took a look from underneath. As usual, beautiful attention to detail by Kenny and the crew.

Thanks guys. I can't take any credit other than having the good sense (and luck) to use a great shop. Hope you had some fun Tom, they have some really nice cars there right now. And thanks for the e-brake assembly! Now I have to get the correct rubber boot from Eric/AF! The build process for me is just procurement.

I have to go to Hoffman to pick up F & R RS fiberglass bumpers from Germany and will be stopping by later this week. I'm sure I'll say this again later in this build thread, but per Automobile Associates advice, the factory bumpers have a significantly better fit and finish than the best aftermarket pieces. The incremental cost (~40% after haggling) is more than made up in labor savings.

Any views on which of these is most correct for the hood decal for a RS M471? I am jumping way ahead of myself…

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To my eye, bottom left, followed by top left! What do others think?

Thanks, for reference those two are "official" Porsche decals. We'll see if that additional info draws out more comments.

The car is fulfilling its promise, if mid-build. Drive to event. Do stupid things. Drive home. DE was Monday. Today was autocross. In between, much to the dismay of my neighbors, it was a "daily driver."

For inspiration...or amusement.

1. Me, solo:

https://gopro.com/v/m0wQmme0Qdkmv

2. The lead CVR instructor, who has a similar car amongst his stable (~3 seconds faster than me and was fastest of the day in his heavily modified 996TT - only 2 seconds faster than this):

https://gopro.com/v/Ronz9R1M0zGBg

Admittedly there is a little upgrading going on in the suspension, but it still shocks me that a 50 year old car can do this. Though admittedly the SWB looks like more fun!