Hey all, my first post here. Little background. I cut my teeth on cars working on Porsche street/race cars (my claim to fame is restoring and working on a 962 GTP car!!!) back in my younger days, strayed towards V8 drag racing Mopars, but always had an early 911 in the back of my head. Past couple of years discoverd Turbo Dodges, and the fun of boost and going through turns in a little turbo Omni. Nows the time for a Porsche!!! I have always been fond of the "4 door" 72's and recently found one in a friends backyard. Going to look at it Sunday. Its a 911T, complete car, told it has some rust, motor is out and apart, cases cracked........but it is complete. $800. What should I look for as far as prone rust areas?? I would say the rust is my major concern, otherwise, the rest will be less (more???) then stock. Not looking to do a concourse restoration, I'm a hot rodder, so it will be a long drawn out process, but the end result will be an RSR replica. Its been a long time since I've touched a Porsche, but cant wait!! I'm sure all the little things will come back to me, like riding a bicycle!! Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Brad

 

No one has any insight as to where to look for hidden rust?

 

My experience w/ them was 30yrs ago when they were fairly young. At that time ALL the inner panels above the floor were likely gone after only a few years of 4 season use. The floor was fully double sided galvanized and would look fine, but when a fender or something was removed for whatever reason the inner panels door post etc were gone. Lower parts of fender would be similarly afflicted. Doors seemed to be better protected for some reason?

The exception to the floor rule was the front suspension area around the gas tank, that rotted out quickly was well.

 

Hey, for $800 you can hardly go wrong....unless you can put your fist right through the car, how bad can it be. If you are doing an RSR, you will be replacing the front and rear fenders, decklid, bumpers anyway, so all you really need is a sound tub.

Assume the thing is as bad as it can be, and swallow hard and have a good body guy just rebuild it.... so what if it costs 6-8 K.... you'd spend that much for a decent T driver.... and it would still probably have rust... this way you start the project with a known sound body....

Sounds like you are a good mechanic so the rest of the car you can probably to yourself and save $$$$$$....

Worst case the thing is absolutely beyond hope.... you can walk away from $800... in the Porsche world that counts as a cheap lesson...

Have fun

 

Thats what I wanted to hear!! Yah, grew up working on Porsche/VW's (had an incredibale teacher!! Craig Watkins of Smart Products), now a master Mazda technician, been at these things for 8 years, so mechanical stuff is a cake walk. Body work is my soft spot, so thats why I am mostly concerned with rust. I will find out how bad it is on Sunday, maybe get some pics, and update on here. Thanks!!!

Brad

P.S. Not sure whoes car this is (saw it in another post, feel stupid for not remembering names!!), but this is the look I want!!

 

Jack Olsen. Do a search on this board and you'll find a lot on him and his beautiful car.

 

Rust can be everywhere, but some common places are the bottom edges of the windshield and rear glass, rocker panels, around the door striker plates, battery boxes, headlamp buckets. Your best bet with rust is to completely strip the car down and take care of all of it up front or at least understand what you have.
Besides, you will have to strip it anyway if you want your car to end up looking like Jack's.
Good luck. Sounds like a fun project

 

Head light buckets, battery boxes, bottom of doors, gas tank, (gas tank is cheap to fix though).

Sounds like we grew up in somewhat the same manner. keep us in the loop.

Even if the tub is a total loss you the rest of the mechanicals will cover your $800...

e

 

Brad - my 71 had rust, and I had to have it fixed several times. Battery boxes and headlight buckets are only an anoyance (non-structural and non-visible), but I also had the frame rails around the rear torsion bars and the front suspension pan replaced. Also check bottom of doors and fenders. The straw that brock the camel's back for me was when I noticed the only thing between the rear seat cushion and the ground was the tranny. If you get the car (and that is a great price), I would strip it completely and get rid of the rust correctly. I did it a piece at a time, and it kept comming back. Keep us posted.
Bob

 

OK, my next question would be....are the replacement panels readily available? If so, any good sources? What about for some steel RS or RSR flares? Thanks guys!! I just may mke one of my dream cars come true!!!! ****Stumbles off to look at 68 super stock Hemi Dodge Darts****

 

Try Restoration Design for most of your metal panel replacements. I bought from them and was very happy.

http://www.restoration-design.com/index1.html

 

Great link!! Thanks! Not as expensive as I thought. He he, this might get fun!

Brad

 

DB... most of the steel flares around are Turbo flares not RSR flares... they are slightly different.... Turbo flares look great... just not exatly the same... if you can find steel RSR flares, let us know... I haven;t found any... but I havent; looked all that hard yet.

GT-Racing.com has RSR kits for about $2K complete. Nothing wrong with glas if the body shop preps it correctly... plus it is light.. if your fenders have rust, its is an economical solution.....MAShaw is another source that appears to have a reasonable reputation.. but I've never dealt with them... these are the two sources that seem to get mentioned as being dependable... bad fiberglass is a nightmare.

Project sounds really neat... a 3.0 or 3.2 and put PMOs on it would me a great engine... you can find a good one for $5-6K or a rebuildable one for maybe $2-3.... or if the T bottom end is sound, put 2.5 or 2.8 pistons on it... get Bruce Anderson's Performance Handbook. Don't think the 72 T had MFI, but if so, don't be afraid of it... Pacific Fuel Injection can rebuild them, and I believe will also re-valve them for an engine displacement update... throttle respnse on good MFI is the best IMHO... plus it is period correct for an RSR.

Vintage Seats has period reproduction RS and RSR shell seats... beautiful

 

DB... also check out the rgruppe.org website if you haven't already... excellent