Ambition Fulfilled - my 1972 911T coupe

[rower]

It’s looking great! You will love it.

[Arne]

Arne, I'm so pleased to see this old girl getting a new lease on life. Nice work!
DG

Yes, David, the car has come a long way since you watched it load on the transporter. Still a fair bit to go despite how good it looks in pictures, as I've re-used a lot of trim parts that I will want to replace eventually. But my first goal is to get the car back on the road as a reasonably attractive, functioning car. Getting close now.

But there are still delays. I missed the goal of making the first local PCA drive of the season, the car wasn't ready even if the event had not been cancelled. Headliner took longer than I had hoped, but I didn't want to rush it. I've also run into parts issues (latest is a mis-marked quarter window seal, I received 2 rights and no left), as well as concerns regarding local business availability amid increasing COVID-19 precautions. I'm hoping the mobile glass service will still come on Wednesday, and I'm reluctant to drop the Fuchs off at the tire shop without some certainty that they will be able to mount them up prior to them being told to close shop. (Tire shop might be deemed essential, however.) I've got similar concerns about seats, but the situation on that is even more complex. More on that later.

In the interim, the door windows and frames are now back in the car, and the window regulators (as well as the door locks and latches) have been cleaned, lubed and adjusted and work better than any early 911 I've experienced. Very pleased. Spending time to make sure that everything works as I go, successfully so far.

I've got time now, no more artificial deadlines to show it off to friends now that PCA and other local events are all cancelled or postponed. But I still want to wrap this up soon—it has been 6 months since I've driven it...

[savagejayj]

Great looking car, it's just different when you do a lot of the work yourself, GREAT JOB

[Arne]

I mentioned the seats above. Some interesting machinations there. The short version is that the seats that came with the car (black comfort seats from a late '72 or '73) are going to end up in my friend's '73.5 targa after complete recovering (and new padding) with black vinyl and pepita. Those seats are at a local shop now getting the work done. The targa has a pending sale, and the buyer wants the pepita comfort seats. I will be putting the seats from the targa into my car. Those seats are aftermarket Recaro, probably Idealsitz N. The Recaros are great seats, but possibly not what I will want long term. But neither were the comfort seats, so even if only temporary these Recaros are a bit of an upgrade.

But the timing of this all is a bit on the uncertain side. The new covers (from Tony at Autobahn) arrived late last week. The next day I took the comfort seats and covers to the shop I had been working with, but when I got there he decided he didn't want the job. I talked to a different shop, they said they'd do it, so I took it all to them today. They expect to have them done later this week. Assuming—of course—that the governor doesn't force them to close for the virus. They don't "think" this will be an issue, as they have adequate space in the shop for all employees to maintain a good buffer, and they don't really have any retail traffic. Worst case is that they think they could be told to close after finishing all jobs currently in the shop. So I'm hoping to get seats back by the weekend.

Which is good, since because the Recaros are still in the friend's car, I've got no seats at all right now. So while I expected to be able to drive the car shortly after the front and rear glass is installed, I now need to wait on the seats too. Probably early next week. With luck.

The seats now in the shop:



The Recaro seats-to-be:

[Arne]

All the glass is now in, save the left quarter window for which I am still waiting on the replacement seal. Wipers and sun visors re-installed as well. Started on the replacement wiring for the rear defroster, will have that in place and tested tomorrow.

Still no seats...

[Arne]

Rear defroster wiring installed, connected and tested. Defroster works now, probably first time in several decades. New door jamb compliance sticker installed, fresh from Warsaw, Poland. And the refinished set of proper early flat-six Fuchs that I bought way last year are finally on the car. A great accent to the silver paint.

Still no seats...

[kp.sfo]

Blown away by the progress. I was on a longhood hiatus the last couple months and just came across your thread again this morning. Just wow!

[Arne]

Picked the best of the two real Fuchs that came with the car to use as a spare. It's a later flat-six, so 3-prong center caps for the wheels on the ground (once I get some) won't fit it, but for carrying around in the trunk I consider that to be inconsequential.

Stripped all the black paint off the face, cleaned thoroughly, masked carefully and painted it. Turned out fine for a spare. Moving on to other things. Need to find the sticky pad for the inside mirror. I know it is here somewhere.

Still no seats...

[Chuck Miller]

Nice job on the wheel Arne....

[Arne]

I mentioned the seats above. Some interesting machinations there. The short version is that the seats that came with the car (black comfort seats from a late '72 or '73) are going to end up in my friend's '73.5 targa after complete recovering (and new padding) with black vinyl and pepita. Those seats are at a local shop now getting the work done. The targa has a pending sale, and the buyer wants the pepita comfort seats. I will be putting the seats from the targa into my car. Those seats are aftermarket Recaro, probably Idealsitz N. The Recaros are great seats, but possibly not what I will want long term. But neither were the comfort seats, so even if only temporary these Recaros are a bit of an upgrade.

And today the recovered comfort seats were finished and picked up. They look REALLY good. Will be installing them in the targa soon, which means I will have some seats for my own car soon also!