SteveMFr

Hi Everyone,
I had mentioned that I was going to do a build thread on the conversion of my 6t to 7GT2 RS and there were a couple of people who were really interested. I have started a thread - but it is over on 6spd (sorry...). Should I repost everything over here as well? Or just link and let everyone know when there is an update?

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/9...d-odyssey.html

Berra

I love build threads, copy and paste! Good luck!!

SteveMFr

A complete parallel thread... Do others agree?

Just to describe what I'm talking about a little more closely - beginnings:



Goal:

SteveMFr

I had a couple of different people reach out to me and ask that I copy n paste. So here goes...

SteveMFr

Hi everyone,
(long post- sorry) I really enjoy reading build threads and I thought I'd do one on my car to give back to the community. My project has actually already progressed quite a bit (see avatar pic), but I will start at the beginning and try to post regularly over the next couple of days (weeks?) till I've caught up.

This might be a somewhat long post as I want to explain the project and how I got here.

First off, a quick intro despite the fact that I've been posting here for a while. I am an expat living and working on the French/German border. I have been a Porsche nut all my life; my parents purchased an Audi when I was a kid and whenever they went to the dealer, I went along so I could hang out on the other side of the showroom . When I was 16, I popped into the local Porsche dealership to ask for a summer job doing anything. They had a great service director at the time who gave me a summer job as gopher. One thing lead to another and I ended up wrenching my way through college and law school at several different Porsche shops during every break, the last two in Munich. I do not consider myself an experienced technician by any means (I am way out of practice ), but I am well versed enough to handle just about anything as long as I do not have to do it for money because I am much too slow. I worked quite a bit with auto electrics/electronics in my time at these shops and have just recently re-entered the professional automotive world as part of a project to produce and distribute diagnostic systems and electronic accessories for my other automotive passion, Land Rover (gap-diagnostic.com). All of us involved with this project are having a great time - maybe we will move into the Porsche world someday

My Porsche love suffered a bit with the introduction of the 996. It wasn't the demise of air cooling or the fried egg lights that bummed me, it was the slab sides from front to rear. And this on the heels of the 993: one of the most curvy, gorgeous 911s ever built (I originally wanted to build a 993 GT2...). The 997GT3 brought me back into the fold and a wide body 996 (C4S) that passed me on the autobahn did the rest.

Since my original new-big-car-project plans revolved around building a 993GT2 replica, my thoughts around the 996/7tt platform were on a similar (silly) scale. I saw SMR's thread on building a 997 tt RSR and decided this was where I wanted to go - I even found a guy who had copied the RSR body parts and, I believe, supplied most of the people with replica RSR body parts on the market. I had also started searching in earnest for a 996/7 tt with (lots of) superficial body damage. Then I saw the pic below here on 6speed and I was instantly hooked.



A GT2 RS replica would not be nearly as silly as an RSR - especially cost-wise - and much more sane for the street/track day car I hoped to build. So I started searching for a 997tt to build on.

While searching, I also started looking up GT2 RS parts and stumbled across an ad from a guy not too far from Cologne who had similar feelings about the 7GT2 RS but, since he already owned a 6 tt and a solid set of tools, he decided to turn that into his 7GT2 RS I believe he realized that it was going to be much, much more work than he originally thought and, at some point decided to get out. In the meantime, though, he had taken his 996tt completely apart and purchased nearly an entire 997 tt / GT2 RS body in parts. I went up and visited with him - really nice guy - and more or less decided on the spot that I really wanted this project.











The fenders, quarters, decklid, doors, etc are not mounted to the car in the pics above, they are only zip-tied on or laying in place so it actually looks a bit more complete than it was.



It still took a good while before the actual purchase was made, but I ended up with a complete 996 tt (albeit in pieces) and a complete 997 tt / GT2 RS body with all OEM Porsche parts at a really good price. And the PO was happy to see that his project would be completed rather than parted out.

So I rented an enclosed trailer and picked up a lot of Porsche parts...









So the goal was (and still is) to take this large pile of parts and turn it into a good combination street / track day Porsche that is as close as possible to the original 997 GT2 RS in every aspect - maybe even better than the original in some.

I will see how quickly I can get the next segment up.

SteveMFr

So the next stop was the body shop. Actually I didn't even drop the car at home. I just unpacked all the rest of the parts, continued to the body shop with the car and then returned the trailer. A PITA client got in the way, so rather than returning to the body shop the following morning, it was a couple of days before I got back to discuss how to continue. A minor delay - but this was to be par for the course with this project (this was fall 2014, BTW).

I had originally planned to have the car done by the end of winter 2015 and I was going to be doing work like modifying the fender flanges or aligning the body panels myself. This did not work out quite the way I had planned as whenever the guys at the body shop needed me to come in and do something I had no time. I actually ended up doing only about 1/3 of the work I'd thought.

When I finally got back to the body shop several days later, the first task was assessing the parts, scope of the job, and deciding how things were to be done. In his enthusiasm to convert his 996tt to a 7GT2 RS, the PO had purchased a complete front end consisting of 2 new OEM 997 fenders, trunk lid, used GT2 RS bumper cover, new OEM GT2 spoiler, GT2 RS grills and front flares, and (almost) all the duct work. For the rear it was similar: 2 new OEM 997tt quarters, a used GT2 decklid/spoiler (with a carbon lip - I believe this is RS only), a used GT2 RS bumper cover, and the 2 insanely expensive carbon exhaust surrounds/IC air exits. I'd researched all of this prior to negotiating a price for the car, so I knew what it was all worth. The 997tt parts are expensive as is, but the parts that are unique to the GT2 RS are expensive squared. The front grills alone - 3 bumper grills and the upper center rad air exit - are around €2000. And the 3 bumper grills are standard tt parts covered in carbon. At about 4-5x the price.





After purchasing all of this, the PO dismantled his 996tt and suddenly realized that nothing fits. The curve of the 996 doors does not fit to the 997 fenders or the quarters, the 997 fenders do not fit over the 996 fender flanges (parallel to the frunk), etc. So the PO cut down the 996 fender flanges and purchased 997 doors. The doors did not fit onto the 996 hinge-posts (on the A-pillar), so he purchased 2 997 A-pillar cut outs from a Porsche dismantler. Luckily he stopped work before cutting up the A-pillars on the 996tt. With an older car, even an older 911, it might have been possible to replace a section of the A-pillar without compromising the vehicle's integrity. Newer cars such as the 996/7 contain heat-treated steel in critical body components and cutting sections of the A-pillar would have definitely compromised the vehicles structural integrity. Not to mention the fact that the 997 doors are completely different than those of the 996. The 997 has no inner door structure anymore - just a gaping hole on the inside. Window regulators, etc are all mounted to a plastic support that bolts into the door. I am relatively @nal about how work is performed on my cars - it has to be OEM-like inside and out. I want an experienced mechanic (who might be unfamiliar with Porsches) to not realize that it did not come this way from the factory when he opens something up. And I wanted the windows to shut as they did originally. No wind noise a 280kph on the autobahn









So it took me and my body guy about 15 sec. to conclude that the 996 doors were staying and the 997 pieces were going to be adapted. This meant sourcing 996 fenders with good back sections and damage at the front as mine were pristine and worth too much to start slicing up. So I picked up 2 back sections of 996 fenders that were headed for the scrap bin from a dismantler for €50. One of the least expensive purchases I have made in this project... The last thing was to decide color, etc. I love red on a Porsche, but as I already have a guards red 911 and a guards red '71 Camaro, I had already decided this one would be Carrara white. Coincidentally, the PO had chosen this color too - and had given me a 1:43 Minichamps GT2 RS model to go with the car.



So the body guys got to work.

SteveMFr

Sorry. Work, family, etc...

I have been pricing some of the parts I am still missing prior to final assembly. 85% of the GT2 RS parts came with the car (and I am hugely thankful for this every time I scan the PET and check prices). But the remaining 15% are bad enough.

I wanted to go with an original GT2 RS exhaust heat shield. 996/7tt side shields are $96 each (Auto Atlanta) and the center is $200. That's already not cheap for aluminum foil, but the GT2 RS pieces are... $427/ea for the sides and $1097 for the center piece.



8-0

So I will not be going with GT2 RS pieces - I've seen 997tt center shields for under €100 on eBay. I am going to see how that mates to my 996 side shields.

I was relieved to have nearly all the parts for the front bumper assy including the upper air exit grill for the center rad ($3800), the L&R front grills ($1945), and the center grill ($4637 and 57 cents). hilarious

I am only missing 4 bits: the GT2 RS center radiator support, the lower rad support bracket, a middle support for the chin spoiler, and a thin plastic frame that connects the radiator duct to the upper air exit grill.

I was most worried about the rad support, but this only costs $99 despite being a pretty complex plastic frame. The lower rad support bracket, on the other hand, is more or less just a flat piece of plastic about 30"x 3". It lists for $338.62. And the support for the chin spoiler, a 10"x2" mildly bent bit of aluminum



is supposed to cost $282.59. And the plastic frame for the center rad air exit



is supposed to be $593.22. hilarious hilarious
This is the same soft plastic that the ducts are made of - even on a regular Porsche it would not cost more than $35. But there is probably someone who lives not too far from me who spent all week making a mold for this bit - and they are only making around 1000 of these all together...

I just can not see shelling out nearly $1000 for a bit of aluminum stock and a plastic smile...

SteveMFr

The body guys were excited about the project and got to work relatively quickly on the car. The first phase of work involved putting the entire rear-end of the car together: quarter panels, panel at the base of the rear window, and door sills. This is all more or less one piece. Doors and the front-end are bolt-on.

I looked into sourcing 996 rear door jambs from a wrecker so as to be able to sell my 996 quarters in one piece, but the amount of work involved in drilling out all the spot welds negated any possible savings, so the pieces were cut off my quarters and welded back onto the car (where the PO had very meticulously removed them LOL). The 997 quarters were cut to match and welded to the 996 jambs. New 997 sills were also fitted. It would have been much easier to leave the 996 jambs on the car, section the sills under the door (the 996 door has a very slight curve on bottom), and section the quarters somewhere on the C-pillar rather than going all the way up to the roof. But the PO did not count on the 997 body parts not matching the 996 doors...



996 jamb, 7 quarter, 7 B-pillar, and 7 lower sill



Quarter panel to roof. The creases in the 7 roof section are about 4-5 mm off the creases in the 996 roof section. Not a problem - but extra work.



Quarter installed and 7 intercooler duct test fitted.



Luv a fat *** LOL

So the next step was the front-end. There would be a slight delay here, tho, as we had to source the back sections from crumpled 996 front fenders so the 997 fenders would fit to the 996 doors. And cutting up my perfectly good 996 fenders seemed a waste (I now have those to sell, BTW. Anyone (in Europe) need a 996 turbo/FL fender?). The fender sections were sourced very quickly, but the delay ended up lasting nearly 6 months due to work on both my side and the body shop. So no 62T RS on the street in 2015...

Berra

I love the GT2 RS, just a beast of a car and IMO, the best Porsche, together with Carrera GT! Prices are crazy high now so the next best thing would be this.

Speaking of which, how much power are you going to run?

Color on the car when it's done?

SteveMFr

I agree completely on the GT2RS prices and the car. But, as I posted above, I am a hot rodder at heart, so the GT2RS gets me going much more than any Ferrari, Lambo, or even the CGT.

Power this year will be limited to what I can get out of stock turbos - I think. Ultimately I'd like to be somewhere near the limits of what the stock bottom end can take - though drivability on par with the original is a must. We'll see. I will do much more on the suspension this year, though.

Color etc is as posted above (and as in my avatar pic).

"02996ttx50

i agree best 911 is the 9972RS hands down, though 3rs is a close 2nd LOL..

but i gotta say again.. far as I'm concerned, as long as the car'll be making 600rwhp+/- then this is THE project. it's gonna be smashing.

SteveMFr

Yep. I like the 7.2 GT3RS as much as the GT2RS. But I had a lot of choices already made for me by the PO. And I am OK with most of them.

Could have just posted a pic of my car in my last post above. This was Christmas - shortly before coming home in the first week of January. And my avatar pic is my car too. Sorry for the weird sepia like tint - body shop lighting and iPhone.

Berra

Looking great!!

SteveMFr

The thread is starting to drag on at the same pace as the build went...

The first step in getting the fenders done was aligning the panels on the front end so that the fenders could be removed one at a time and have the back 2" sectioned off and replaced with 996 parts. I spent a couple of hours aligning the front section. It was great to finally see the form taking shape. But the first issue was the trunk lid hinges. The 996 hinges were much narrower - the hinge is on the inside-side of the baseplate whereas the 997 hinges have the hinge on the outside of the baseplate. But the 997 hinge baseplate is shaped quite differently and can not be easily adapted to the 996 body flange. So I cut the 996 hinge baseplates and swapped the sides that the hinge was mounted to.






I made the cuts at the correct angle to give me the length and angle (hinge height) I needed and welded them back up. The small separate piece was cut out to provide the correct length (just in case anyone wants to do this in the future). After the welds were ground down and under paint, they look OEM.



Then the front end was assembled completely for the first time.



I picked up 2 quite damaged 996 fenders (actually, just the rear halves) and the body guys got back to work again - after a small delay of 4 1/2 months.



After that things happened quickly and the car was finished and primered within a couple of weeks.



One more post should bring us up to the present status.

Berra

Nice job! Keep it up!