Please allow me to introduce myself.

[ibmiked]

Hi everyone,

If you're in the mood for a tale, grab your favorite libation and pull up a chair. Two summers ago I was presented with the opportunity to buy a 1968 White 912 from a friend of mine. I wasn't a big fan of the 912 at the time, but the car was inexpensive, ran well, and was (most importantly) rust free. At the time I had a very nice 1988 backdate, so the 912 was mainly intended to be a project car that I could hopefully make a few bucks on. I had a lot of fun, and learned a ton in the process.

See before:



And after:





This was mainly a cosmetic makeover, and I made a few thousand dollars when it came time to sell. More importantly, I had a ton of fun in the process, and kicked off a year and a half of fixing up and selling a few 912's and 911's. It was fun, but I realized in the process how hard it was to sell a good 912. They just have no respect or value in the market.

Fast forward a year, and the economy has taken it's toll on our business. We're in tighten mode so the backdate has to go. There's just too much money tied up in the car, and I sell it in record breaking time, probably because I left some money on the table. The car was always good to me, so I had a hard time seeing it go.





So now I'm basically Porsche-less. Which means I'm hobby-less, which means I can't go driving with my friends, or tinker around in the garage. Translation: I'm driving my lovely wife bat shit.

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[ibmiked]

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So at my wife's insistence, I start looking at 912's again. I always enjoyed driving the ones I had owned, however briefly. I didn't want a car that needed paint or rust work. Those were the deal breakers for me, and having bought a few I knew good ones are out there and undervalued. At least rust-free ones are. Nice paint costs extra, and usually a premium.

So I hit all the usual haunts. I had my favorite ways of searching the web, and had been lucky finding a few cars in the past. I did have a list of wants and two unbreakable rules were Ivory White and 1967. The color was because I had fallen in love with Magnus' '66 R-look car, and Rich Lambert's killer '66 911, and the year was because it was technically the first year for Fuchs and the "S" model, which I wanted to take a few cues from.

Months later I hit on a hopeful candidate. The car was relatively local (New Hampshire), so I could physically inspect it first which was a pre-condition for me. Originally a California car, the original bill of sale was included, along with a garage full of extras. The problem? Price. Big bucks. Almost 911 money for a 912.

I had to take a deep breath and think.

So I sharpened my pencil and did some back-of-the-napkin math. Yes the car was expensive. Yes, it was 'all the money' for a 912. But the car had great paint. It was rust free, had a super-strong motor, and came with a LOT of good, sellable extras.

OK, I'm in.











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[ibmiked]

So I pulled the trigger. I bought the car hoping my math and willpower to accomplish tremendous things wasn't misguided. It was a happy (and hopeful) day.







Seats (two sets), wheels (two sets), interior, trim pieces, steering wheel, lights, radio, anything and everything was rationalized as a way to offset the cost of the car, and damn if I didn't rationalize away. After it was all sold off and said and done, I owned the car for around $17k. Not bad for a clean, running, cosmetically nice car, albeit one missing a lot of crucial pieces.

But that wasn't where my sickness ended. Oh no. I'm a glutton for punishment. So what do I go and do next? Hoist the car up and drop the motor out. A perfectly good powerplant at that:



And then I found a very nice fellow on the 912 Registry who was looking for exactly what I had to offer:



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[ibmiked]

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So now I've got even less money into the car, but I haven't actually got a running car anymore. I tell myself I'm weighing options. I make some calls. I send some emails. I discuss the benefits of MFI with my (patient) wife. I look at my bank balance. Then I finally take the plunge. I start preparing for a flat six:



(not my pic)



I buy a recently rebuilt '68 2.0L aluminum case motor for just a little more than I was able to sell my 912 engine for.







Time to get to work.

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[ibmiked]

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Since business is slow anyway I have some time on my hands. Why not do a little cosmetic refresh on the motor? Should be simple right?





Too bad I didn't take pictures of the week in between.

So, can I really do this? Can I get away with stuffing this motor into this car? My word of advice: spend $150 at Harbor Freight and buy a hydraulic table like this one. It will make you a rock star in the garage. Seriously. Go buy one now.





Now a week of wiring and plumbing ensues. I think that the biggest hurdle is tracking down every piece of the oil tank system. That's until I get to the wiring part of the swap. Headaches abound, but then miraculously the UPS guy arrives (shout out to you Mike!) with the one jewel that makes me double down and figure this stuff out:



Pretty right?

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[ibmiked]

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So before the big finale, let me tell you about some of the ways that I spent the 'savings' afforded me by this car. I bought a set of refurbished Deep Sixes, and a set of Refurbished 7Rs (weld-ups). I bought a rollbar, and a 1967 911S interior (you know, all those ridiculously expensive 2 year only tidbits). I waited patiently while Stefan at GTS built me a set of seats (911R and Nurburgring) with corduroy inserts. I scored a flat 370mm Prototipo (again, many thanks to Rennman), I bought tires and other essentials. I lowered the car. I got a killer sport exhaust from a member here for $100. I even got some nice emblems (thanks Don):





So? How'd it go? well, here she is rolling out of the garage, aka 'birthing room':












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[ibmiked]

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And some more of my hard work:











And here's a gratuitous 7R wheel shot:



Yes, I've got a list of things left to do. Odds and ends that will take me forever to sort out probably. But it's the little things that will stave off the depression of being mostly 'done' with the transformation. Here's a cool little detail. I was born in January of '72, so I found this previously un-punched NOS inspection sticker forthe car:



That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed my dissertation on how I turned my 912 into a 911 in 60 days. Naturally I have more I would like to do, but for those of us who can't afford the bigger dollars for a 911, there is definitely an alternative if you like to do the work yourself.

Yes I know this will never be worth what a comparable 911 will be. I don't care. I built what I wanted, and paid in the end what I could afford. Thanks for reading.

Never lift. Cheers,
-Mike

[Reza]

Dang it Mike, great things take time, but bitchen car! green graphics on ivory. Polizei ! I love it.

[ibmiked]

Thanks Rez, but that was the first 912 I did. No graphics on this one (yet).

Cheers,
Mike

[Reza]

i love the steering wheel, bud, what is it. Car's lookin AWESOME !