It's been a long time coming...

[ttweed]

...but my low-budget, R-look project car finally came out of the spray booth with a new coat of Slate Gray paint and I took these two pictures of it on Friday, hurriedly, in very poor lighting. More to come as I start reassembling it next week...

[John Straub]

Great Tom! are you going to be running it at the autocrosses?

John

[ttweed]

...are you going to be running it at the autocrosses?

Ya, John, that is the plan. I did the mechanicals first and then roughed in the body and ran it the first two events of the year with great success in FP class. Then I took it apart and put it in the paint shop in April. I traded speed for quality and cost (what's that old saying about "choose any two?") and 5 months later it is ready to put back together.

My evil plan is to move up in class voluntarily, due to the lack of competition in FP, and run it in GP against the prepared 944s, as a protest against the removal of all 911s from G class by Zone 8 rulemakers last year.

Here's what it looked like when I ran it on 1/27/07 at Qualcomm. It's not a TTOD car, but it's a blast to drive and can humiliate the newer models. On this day it was 13th overall out of 98 cars on raw time, and second on indexed time, only 3/100s out of first place.

[Steve@Rennsport]

Hey Tom:

Whatever that is, you have one GREAT window cleaner,....

[911pcars]

Tom,
Nice project. Looking forward to seeing it sometime.

Sherwood

[Bobboloo]

Slate Grey R. Niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[ttweed]

...you have one GREAT window cleaner,....

Oh ya, Steve, I have my bevy of pit babes to clean the glass before every run...

Actually, since I had already stripped all the insulation and glass, except for the windshield, and added the FRP bits, I had to put 200 lbs. of lead in a box bolted down to the passenger seat floor to make stock weight.

The cops actually pulled my mechanic over when he was test driving it after the align and corner balance before this event because they didn't think it was street legal. After looking at it, they had to admit it wasn't any less street-worthy than a Targa or cabriolet, and let him go.

TT

[ttweed]

Slate Grey R. Niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Thanks, Bobby (and Sherwood!)

I was going to keep it the original Sand Beige color at first, but then decided since it is so non-original in every other aspect, why not have it in the color I really want?

Since the goal was for it to be a sub-$20K hotrod autox car, I am not trying to make it a really correct R-recreation, and have neglected the really expensive features like the small rear flares, side oil-fill and centerfill tanks, fiberglass front fenders and doors, deleting the sunroof, etc., I'm just using some of the R-bits to give it a bit of custom, race character. The biggest compromise, of course, beside the added weight, is the lack of a high-revving Carrera 6 motor, but the Euro SC engine was rated at 204HP, and by adding headers and a sport muffler, it may be close to the 210 DIN output of the original R's, but with a much broader and lower torque band to help it pull out of those slow, second-gear corners at an autox and make it more streetable.

The car was originally built by Dave at TRE, who did the 3.0/915 conversion on a '68 sunroof coupe for a fellow named Alan Rusczika, who kept it for many years. It eventually passed thru several other owners until I found it in disrepair in my home town in late 2005. Over the last 2 years, I have stripped it and repaired the slight rust and rearend collision damage, added a roll bar, had the engine resealed, the oil cooler replaced and the case-window leaks welded up, added the headers and sport muffler and an MSD ignition, upgraded the suspension with 21/26 torsion bars, SwayAway adjustable spring plates with Elephant Racing bushings, added an 18mm rear ARB to match the 19mm H&H adjustable front bar, and put 7" Fuchs on it.

Once I get the doors, lids, fenders and bumpers back on it, I'll take it to the interior shop for a basic trim and carpet job, then install the lexan windows and sport seats and think about what kind of decals I want to put on it to dress it up.

It's been a fun project, and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, maybe by early next year....

TT

[bob tilton]

Tom,
Been looking forward to this build. Please tell us more about the susp/brake set-up. Did you swap in a LWB front end?

[ttweed]

Please tell us more about the susp/brake set-up. Did you swap in a LWB front end?

Hi Bob-

The car came with the early struts and A-arms, "S" calipers and vented rotors, and I have not done anything to them but remove the dust shields--any brake swap would put me up in class, as I am already maxed-out on points in F-Prepared under Zone 8 rules. Since it is just an autox car, and I still have my '73 w/ 930 brakes for the big tracks, the stock brakes are fine on the '68 for my purposes. I never had any fade problems while autocrossing the '67S with the same brakes and more weight, so I'm fine with stock.

It had Bilstein shocks on it when I bought it (yellow covers in the rear, so they may be Sports?) and I have not revalved them yet, but may in the future. The car was really well balanced in the two shakedown events in Jan. and Feb.--less loose than my '67S (maybe from the bigger front ARB and T-bars?) while rotating easily and throttle-steering like a champ, so I may just leave it alone.

TT