Couple of questions about restoring a 73S Targa

[Mark Wilson]

I've taken stewardship of Warren Halls 73S Targa and am determined to make progress on the restoration in 2011. Warren had started converting "Annie" into a track car in the mid 80's. He managed to get the interior stripped out, strip some of the paint, cut out the rear quarters for turbo flairs and remove hundreds of misc parts and then became ill with CF and was unable to continue. The car sat pretty much untouched in his garage in dry west Texas from ~1986 until I picked her up a bit over a year ago. I was able to have the rear quarters repaired by a master metal guy here in Dallas and then my travel/work schedule became such that I've not touched her for months. Work has slowed somewhat and it's time to get busy.

Good news - the chassis is rust free! Alberto (metal guy) told me it was one of the most solid early cars he'd worked on. Floors, tank support, fr fender flanges, rockers, longs, rear window mount flange. metal at bottom of targa bar, and rear seat pans/deck are all solid. Doors are really the only trouble spot.

Both doors have some rust at the bottoms at the seam. One door has a prodigious amount of plastic filler - more than I want to deal with trying to strip and work the metal out. I believe I read that 73 is the first year with beams. Is it important to replace with a set of doors from a 73 or is it acceptable to use any 73 - 89 door? I ask this because I want to keep her period correct.

Did all 73S cars come with the S front bumper or was that an option? The bumper was awol when I gathered the parts.

Thanks for your help. Many more questions to come!

First pic is the barn find shot. Second is in Alberto's shop getting quarters reattached.

[popowitz]

Mark,

I wish you well with this project. Breathing life into that car will take time, resources and patience. I can tell you that in '73 the doors did not have beams. I believe that it wasn't until '74 that the beams went in.

Good luck.

Dave

[kentf14]

Best of luck on the project. As for the beams in the doors, I've come to the conclusion based on my own research that they came in at some point in '73. My car is a Nov '72 build and I'll be taking the door panels off soon and let you know what I find. I don't expect there will be impact beams.

Kent

[popowitz]

Best of luck on the project. As for the beams in the doors, I've come to the conclusion based on my own research that they came in at some point in '73. My car is a Nov '72 build and I'll be taking the door panels off soon and let you know what I find. I don't expect there will be impact beams.

Kent

My '73 has a 6/73 build date and it does not have impact beams. I can't speak to cars built after 6/73. Perhaps there is someone with a later build date than mine.

-Dave

[edmayo]

I'm with the others on the impact beams, most sources indicate 73, but it may have been later in the year. I know I have worked on 73's with the beams, but I never worried about what the chassis number was. As to the 'S' bumper, I'm certain they were always on S's, and in 73 on E's also. I'll check the parts book to see if any vin is given as start for the beams.

[Mark Wilson]

Thanks all. Ed, in your opine, do I need to go back with doors from a 73? I understand after some reading that there are some slight differences in later doors. I don't want to turn her into a Frankenstein. I want to get her over to your shop after the first of the year to try and get the engine to come alive.

BTW - vin is 9113310098, so I guess a very early 73.

[HughH]

my 6/73 (60 cars from the end of production) 911E did not have impact bars so I suspect they came in from 74 model cars built later in 73.
however i swapped over my original (but rust prone) doors with later galvanized and impact bar fitted doors about 10 years ago. The differences cannot be detected unless the door trim is pulled off (or from the lack of rust bubbles on the lower edges )

i am happy to be fairly pure in what I have done with the car but I don't keep it as a time capsule if there are sensible upgrades that are near enough to period, especially if they are "under the skin". (2.7 RS P&B upgrade, turbo tie rods, turbo oil pump, carrera tensioners etc)

the real differences in the later doors (different shape access holes inside the door etc) seem to come with late 1980's doors.

[edmayo]

Mark, I think you're okay with any door from 69 to maybe 74 or 75. What you need to watch for is that at some point they stopped installing the captive nuts down at the bottom for the flip out and rigid pocket hinge attachments.

[robmog]

i think side impact beams are a good thing.
i specifically used a 74 door in my resto for that purpose.
its invisible and rust free later doors are easier to find.
the door pocket screws are an easy fix.
down side: adds about 5 lbs of weight.

[RSTarga]

In looking at this revived thread, there was some doubts as to when the side impact beams were installed. Mine is a May 73 build, and unless I am mistaken, is that not the side beam in the door?