HorstP

Winter finally arrived over here so there is some time to play with the car. I updated the front compartment a little bit. Installed a lighter smuggler box cover, removed carpet, some light painting. Had the chance to stop by at Elephant Racing in Santa Clara this week and purchased the strut brace. Already had one in, but it was homemade by a PO, did it's job but wasn't very pretty. Last thing missing is a new blower cover, I will have that locally made.

redridge

looks great! My only problem with this mod is that the trunk space is gone... is it still usable?

parkerfe

How do you get the spare out?

Reiver

I'm guessing those quick release pins near the towers.

HorstP

as Reiver said, all are hold in place with quick release pins. Matter of a minute or two. No, trunk is not really usable anymore. But I decided against using it already when I had removed the carpet. Of course it could be used in conjunction with a carpet and the X-part can be removed independently of the cross brace. I realized after now having the car for a little over a year that I never use the space using the car as I do.

JQ911

Just curious, what size are the Fuchs? Looks neat with those spare tires. Might do it.

HorstP

JQ,

That is a 6J 15 rim. To confirm this I had to actually remove the tire from the car. Turned out that removing the X-brace is really a matter of seconds.

Reiver

Looks really clean Horst...and the X brace would do a great job retaining your soft suitcase.

Amber Gramps

bob at www.appbizz.com has your blower cover and several other little details that make or brake a clean build. It's a real candy store there.

rusnak

These cars are brilliant, brilliant GT cars. By that I mean they are in their element on long, high-speed trips of different road characteristics. Hence the 20 gallon tank, the attention to tools and a spare tire, full sized battery, etc etc.

Go back to the 356 Carrera GT, which was the pinnacle in my mind of the concept. It came with special fitted luggage. I can, and do use the 911 for short trips of around 3-4 hours, but my most frequent trips are to outlying cities or the beach cities along the Pacific Ocean coast.

Which brings me to my point: You want to use the trunk at some point. I would probably be hanging the X-brace on the wall and using the tower brace only. The X-brace is mostly cosmetic anyway, and actually adds weight.

JQ911

HorstP, Thanks for the info. So now I am on the hunt for 6J x 15s.

HorstP

Rusnak,
I would love to drive to the Pacific Ocean, but that is a little far from where I live... But I have another car sitting on the Central Coast (66 Pontiac GTO) which I drive a couple of times a year, so I think I know what you are talking about. Matter of fact is that I am using my car very different then you seem to do. It is very low and stiff, all insulation and carpet is gone. No longer a GT. Very uncomfortable and I love it this way. I use it after work to drive for an hour and relax. Weekend drives are 2 hours or so, I never use the trunk. My girl friend hates it and my kids no longer fit in the back (size wise and not because there is a roll bar now). I understand your concern on weight, but that X is very light in fact. A little hard to see, but I have a very small battery, not the usual boat anchor people drive around. When that battery is dead, I will go to an even smaller size (Hawker battery in a special mount). My weight saving exercises need to go back to the rear of the car now. I have a lightened engine hood and some material removed from the fender (not visible). A lighter exhaust is next (which will be louder above 4000rpm).

blockhed

Horst, what are you thinking exhaust wise, because I do recall she did sound pretty good in that video. I'm currently going to try George's headers mated to a B&B 2-2. My car is stripped and I love making noise

HorstP

I am not exactly sure what the rules in the States are but here in Germany you are quite limited to what you can do exhaust wise. First and foremost I do need the catalytic converter for the year my car is. Since the video I have updated from the OEM ceramic cat to a state-of-the-art metal cat sitting in the stock housing. Any aftermarket exhaust needs to be approved. There is a gentleman over here building stainless steel exhaust which have a chance to pass that approval. He makes them in 4 different noise levels and 2 of them are very close to the OEM muffler sound level. The one I want however is a light weight version which is only available in 3 noise levels. I will wait for the sun to come back, drive around the car a bit more to be sure what noise level I can accept in the car as the new cat made quite a difference. I think I want stock muffler noise up to 3k and can accept everything else above 4000rpm. I will need to discuss this with him in detail.
I would love to go to headers, either without heat or SSIs. Either or requires a dual cat setup. The same guy adapts the SSIs to use with a 3.2 and shortend to accept catalytic converters. This setup however is very expensive (north of 5k) and really difficult to get approved. It has been reported however that you get more than 250HP which such a high end exhaust. I will most likely save that money and spend it for the 3.4l upgrade down the road.

blockhed

Oh that's tough, here my biggest problem is install and enjoy