Carrera51

Great find. Look forward to watching you bring this car back.

jpoint

I saw that above and wish I had heard of it sooner. I had a crazy idea when I was cleaning out my garage a couple weeks back and made a pad keeper. I haven't installed it yet so I might end up buying one if this doesn't look good. Here's what I started with:

This is a piece of left over gutter guard I was going to recycle (aluminum).

jpoint

Here's what I did:
I folded it using a piece of thin wood to make it narrower and give it a "finished" edge. I measured and cut it to fit inside the engine bay and test fit it to poke holes where the fastening points are on the car.

I then expanded the holes so the retaining caps will fit flush on the gutter guard.

After that I test fit it a second time and trimmed it to fit.

I thought about leaving it silver but decided to paint it black. The solid edge will face out when it's installed.

I just finished cleaning up the engine bay so the new liner and home made retainer aren't installed yet.

jpoint

I figured out a trick that has probably been revealed here before. For dry fitting the foam liner - I put the plastic caps back on the fastening points inside the engine bay to keep the pad from snagging on them. Made it easier to get the pad down in the back of the engine bay.

Still have some cleaning to do. Caps are circled in red.

jpoint

Thanks. Restoration is a tricky journey - especially if you try to stay on a budget. There are so many SBNC (small but not cheap) parts one can replace and probably should replace if they are harder to get to when the car is back together. Not to mention the urge to make things look newer and pretty.

jpoint

Here is the new insulation and home made pad keeper in place. The pad keeper barely shows which was the plan - but holds the pad snugly up in place. My only flaw was I didn't quite get the left side positioned where I wanted it but didn't notice until after the glue was set.

jpoint

Here's an interesting find. I bought a set of factory Cup 1 wheels for the car and one of them has the valve stem hole drilled in the wrong place. Never seen that on a factory wheel.

jpoint

Next up is the oil tank. I'm already intimidated by what I've seen so far. There's 2 inches of oil sludge and road grit packed into the rocker panel cover. i can just imagine what I'm going to find.

The sludge and grit pack runs almost the entire length of the rocker panel. There was probably 2 or more pounds of its. That's more than the difference in weight between the standard roof and the carbon fiber upgrade on a GT2RS - and it requires a $35,000 options upgrade. :~0

jpoint

Learning some of the subtle differences among 964's - I have returned some updated hoses from the oil tank to the thermostat for the original ones. While I'm waiting - I'm looking at several other things that will need to be done. Painting the car is not in the budget so I'm hoping the paint on the car - which is pretty rough from years in a parking lot - will clean up to a presentable 10 foot level. One clear exception is the rear bumper which doesn't appear damaged but has a paint issue on the left corner. I'm thinking there was some spot painting at some point that was not properly prepped and the paint is coming off.




I'll remove the bumper for repainting. I repainted the first car I ever bought and it turned out quite nice. This bumper is tempting me to pull out my spray gun but the dust, etc. for that work would be a bad situation in the jack stand warehouse.

Neill Watson

It's odd that yours is the first thread I stumble across as I commence my search for a 964. A Targa is something I have a soft spot for!

Here's my dilemma:

I have continually 'missed the boat' on 964 prices. Each time I thought they were in reach, they accelerated away again. However now, I feel I may be able to find a car like yours.
I'm based in the UK, but would prefer left hand drive and would almost look anywhere globally, really.
I don't want a car that's been coddled all it's life with a huge history file. That will be simply too expensive. Plus, I want to be able to drive it, regularly, sometimes on track, without worrying too much about the odd scuff and mark.
So I want a car like this one. Ideally a targa for those pan-European road trips at some stage in the future....
I also figure a Targa or Cab will be slightly less desirable, reducing the price a little further.
I'm patient and simply figure that if it's meant to be, it will be.

So should anyone ever hear of a car a little like this, drop me a line. This is only the beginning of my search.

I'll be watching your story with great interest!

Neill W

jpoint

Hi Neil - good luck with the search. Some of what you said is my reason for a Targa. I did my novice year of track events in a '90 Targa and had a blast. In the US PCA events you can't run an early cab without installing roll over protection - so a C2 cab is not an option unless altered. Targas are allowed. I won't pretend a Targa is an ideal or even a good track car if that is your focus but it was lots of fun - even if slow and a bit flexy. I think 964 cabs are currently cheaper than Targas perhaps because Porsche made 3-4 times more of them. There are some cheap cars I've seen at a dealer in Beverly Hills CA but they are rough and high miles. Might be a possibility for someone handier than I. Paying someone to rebuild a rough 911 will get expensive fast. I got very fortunate with this car in terms of initial purchase costs - especially for a car with 61k original miles. I personally believe 964's values will inch up rather than jump all of a sudden. That gives you a little time to look but also means the steady price increases are less likely to be a bubble that will burst and cause a big price drop. To me 964's are like the ugly duckling story. Porsche folks shunned them initially as clunky and odd looking compared to the very sexy 993's that followed. Now some folks are seeing the 964 as the last of the traditional looking 911's AND the most mechanically advanced. Among the Targa top cars - the 964 is in fact the end of the era. I don't know if that will ever be worth anything but I plan to keep my project Targa a long time. That's the only reason I'm exposing it on this thread. Telling people you're trying to do a project on a short budget is the worst thing to do if you plan to resell the car. My best return on this car would have been to sell it as it was when I bought it - complete but not running. I thought of that but figured I'd never find a replacement for the money collected in that kind of sale. My prior 964 Targa was a really nice original car - which I sold for $23k. That was over 10 years ago when I was on the slippery slope of track events and bought a 996 GT3. No regrets. Assuming the Targa works out as planned I'll be able to scratch multiple Porsche itches - open top, air cooled, vintage feel, raw driving, nearly scary, water cooled, drivers' car.

r-mm

Not to interrupt the thread here too much but I found my perfect imperfect 964 by posting a want ad. Said clearly I wanted a manual, not a cab and okay with no records, marked title, minor accidents. And that is exactly what came my way.

I think some people may be holding such cars but don't want to deal with the hassle of listing a car with 'stories'. I myself always browse the want ads before I put a car up for sale openly to see if I can't make a nice quick connection. Worked for my 3.2. Good luck!

Neill Watson

Thanks for the fast replies, hope I didn't interrupt your build thread!
Any track use would be very occasional, it's main purpose would be cool road trips and an almost daily driver.

Thanks to r-mm for the info, I was thinking of maybe posting a wanted ad somewhere, not sure where to start so will give that one some thought. Actually asking for a car with those criteria will probably be a good idea.

Cheers!

Neill W

911Jetta

If you're not driving a 964, getting into a GT3 is an approved "sidetrack", until you're back in a 964.

jpoint

Agreed - after all the GT3 has a 964 heart (engine block number on the GT3's starts with 964).