Most accurate SWB sheet metal.

[CDOUGLEHMAN]

Okay , My car a 1966 Porsche 912 is in line at the sandblaster in NC ,to get the old girl to bare metal.

Dave Miller has cut out the obvious parts that would have been a waste of sand to clean up.He cut out the suspension pan, cross brace, and front wall of the trunk. I will get a list of parts needed after He has seen the car blasted.
Josh made and installed seals for the torsion tube. removed, bagged & labeled the few remaining parts,I must had left attached to the body then sealed the tubes & conduits, and masked the ID plates.
Finally after 2 years of it sitting in my shop.it is in the hands of a great shop!

Here is A little history ,I was struggling over my approach of taking the car down to bare metal. I had taken most of the rear end undercoating And stripped the fenders rear quarters with a combo of heat gun,scraper,wire wheel,paint remover,Mapp Gas . Did I mention I was struggling with the whole idea
Of sandblasting.I looked into everything that I could get good intel on ;having the car stripped with the guy in MICHIGAN that cooks the car body in a parabolic oven,chemical dipping then an ecoat, I then started looking into the dustless blasting (which after looking closer into it this type of blasting is water and sand which the guy was honest and told me that the it would be almost impossible to get the wet sand out to the crevices. ) I look into dry ice blasting for a minute but could not get with anybody that did this type of work. I believe that this could have been an option but was unsure of it getting all the rust away.i saw videos of water blasting which I thought was way cool but where is a good water blaster when you need one.

Anyway I am now at the point where The struggle is real. I need help from all who can.

I know I am going to need to get a
Front slam panel(front partition wall )
Suspension pan,
Pan reinforcements straps
Ballery tray
Gas tank support
Two hook
front floor(I may not need the whole thing but that I will need some),
rear parcel shelf (the part closest to the window),
the bottoms corners of both lock post.

This much I know, after the blasting
I may need both latterial gas tank supports and
two bearing brackets,

I have personally seen kits of the suspension pan from RD in Canada.
i know a few of the US Vendors are bringing in stocking from them as well.
I was looking at Stoddards pan and they say it has

SIC-501-580-20 Front Suspension Pan Repair Panel for 911 912 1965-1973. Correct Early Stamping without Drain Hole/Impressions

I have not seen this pan so I can't compare it to the RD pan. Does anyone know which is more accurate for a 1966 MY ?

i am also interested in feedback on the different manufacturers of the front half floor pan the one that stoddard has seems to have more material in the front than the RD product has. and the stamping looks a little different,
SIC-501-937-00 Front Floor Pan Half Fits 911 912 930 1965-89

which one in your opinion was best for a 1966 MY.?

The front gas tank support and battery tray is another
KURT at Parts Klassic has the Tasker with the battery tray already welded in
Then of course Stoddards has theirs ...

As for the front latch panel I do not believe anyone but danske makes it currently.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

What about the appearance of the two hook is there one out there that looks more accurate?


If you have any insight or recipe as to mixing and matching these parts to make the closest recreation from all these parts that are needed.
Please share your first hand experience and let me know what has worked best for you if you are familiar with the ever changing world of SWB sheet metal reproductions.

[sithot]

You are in good hands with Dave Miller, which is a good thing, as nothing fits right out of the box.

[VintageExcellen]

Restoration Design makes the most accurate panels. I have worked with them at great pains to get some panels right, sent some NOS panels to them for scanning and they also search for NOS panels to make their parts from - I got them to make the correct rocker panels for 65-73 whereas 95% of cars out there now with replaced rockers have the junk Dansk ones with totally incorrect bottom profile which is a dead giveaway after paint that the car has had major rust repair. They make the right front suspension pan for SWB.

I would ignore the SIC (stoddard imported cars) panels. Just buy from Resto Design.

If you buy the Taskers crap then know that the stamping was made in China - it's not good at all, the metal is inferior, and all the Chinese spot welds do not penetrate far enough into the metal so expect them to pop apart someday.

I have done at lease 20 front suspension pans in my life, learned a lot over the years. I like the metal and stamping from Resto Design as they actually care to make a decent part and have called me asking for details on differences throughout the years. The front pans I do now are not noticeable that any work was ever done - many people think the front pans I have replaced were indeed never replaced.

The floor pans on the other hand, no one is stamping them right for a SWB.

ALL PANELS REGARDLESS OF THE MAUFACTURER NEED EXTENSIVE FITTING - bashing, heating, cutting, etc

[sithot]

ALL PANELS REGARDLESS OF THE MAUFACTURER NEED EXTNSIVE FITTING - bashing, heating, cutting, etc

The truth and nothing but the truth.

[304065]

The truth and nothing but the truth.

When Damon was doing the body for '065, we first tried an RD pan on the Celette, which was about (in those days) as true as a potato chip.

I sourced a NOS factory pan from Shaun Budka, who personally drove it to Damon's place in NH in the back of a 944, or something.

Damon slapped it on the Celette and it was absolutely flat to the mounts, first try.

Getting it to fit to the CAR, well that took some work, but that NOS Factory pan was a masterpiece in green primer!

[mshaver51]

i am (hopefully) in the final stages of a SWB restoration. my project revealed, as the others -- with far more knowledge than me -- have said, that, if you can find NOS panels, you will spend less time fitting. I've met the guys at RD several times, and i appreciate the work they have invested in trying to get it right.

for me, both the Dansk and the Asian stuff was problematic.

finally, i'd simply like to suggest taking note that "304065" mentioned the cellette bench. if your shop actually has a cellette with the Porsche fittings, i suspect that your final product will be superior.

Regardless, good luck in your noble venture.

[sithot]

Simonsen makes some of the best "production" 356 metal to be found. Crisp lines - quality stampings.

[sebastianroher]

I am going to go with the others and say Restoration Design as well. Even though ALL replacement panels will need SOME modification, I found that their panels worked the best and are of the highest quality.

Doug, do you know Rusty in VA Beach?

[CDOUGLEHMAN]

I am going to go with the others and say Restoration Design as well. Even though ALL replacement panels will need SOME modification, I found that their panels worked the best and are of the highest quality.

Doug, do you know Rusty in VA Beach?

I know Rusty well.I see him a few times a week.
Thank you all for the input that all of you have given me.

I still ,at this time ,do not know the extent that time has done to the car. When it is completely blasted it will be evevdient as to what replacement parts are needed . I know for sure that a front suspension pan is needed ,as to what extent it is not clear yet.
I have found this Stamping from Dansk which if it turns out that I need this amount of the pan or even 3/4 of it is needed, it could be a nice Option,with a few
Simple modifications it could be a nice and accurate approach in the repair.

Anyone else work with this?

[Adore911]

Hi Doug,
We worked with it for a LWB: we needed all in front of the steering hole. We removed the hole just before the tow hook
and changed the tow hook to original specs based on this extra part: https://www.rosepassion.com/en/cat/9...ing-lug/P13441.
After some slight extra modifications it worked well.
For the next SWB job we will use the RD PP200 part to start with: http://www.restoration-design.eu/store/product/PP200.