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While many 964/965-based RUFs keep their stock bumpers (with the addition of the infamous NLA front splitter), RUF also offers original carbon fiber bumpers based on their one-off “Ultimate” build.
I was planning on skipping this upgrade first because I didn’t think it was possible on a 965 and second because it’s quite expensive. That is, until I went to the factory and saw the blue 965-based RCT Evo featured earlier in this thread. Once I saw it, there was no going back!
Because the bumpers are a modern interpretation of the bumpers on the famous CTR “Yellowbird,” they only look right with a straight 930 rocker panel rather than the shark fin style rocker on the 964/965.
Remember how “85% of the car is new” for the 964 generation? Well one big change is that now there are indentations in the body where the shark fin attaches. These don’t exist on a 930 so the first step to this conversion is removing those indentations.
Still lots of work to do here, but big progress as the body shop has been able to remove the indentations, weld up the holes, and test fit the new rocker panel.
Ha! While personal involvement remains a major goal and I am getting my hands on everything that's going on with the car (to the point where my paint expert chastised me for getting fingerprints on bare steel), I am doing my best to make sure that it ends up being "my RUF" and not just "my car." That means using RUF parts and RUF techniques for all the aesthetic upgrades, and, for the essentially irreplaceable pieces that RUF did in period (like, for example, the drivetrain) leaving well enough alone.
We haven't discussed interior plans much on this thread yet, but there was a major switch a few months ago when I realized that the interior I'd designed (up to the point of getting renders done) went against the spirit of the build. As I looked over a friend's newly-delivered Singer DLS, I realized that what I had planned was much too Singer-esque rather than authentic to the history of the car and of RUF as a manufacturer. I knew I had to scrap what I had, and ended up spending hours going through every interior photo on the internet of a period-converted or built RUF trying to figure out what to do.
This is another reason why it's been so helpful to have RUF's support for the project.
That body work in the previous post? I would never have felt confident cutting into a 965 shell if they hadn't taken me into their fabrication shop and translated for me as I asked the fabricator how to convert a 965 for 930 rockers.
Anyway, I called them in the midst of my interior design existential crisis and, as always, they were helpful in pointing me in the right direction.
In the end, I settled on an interior that is heavily inspired by one of Alois Ruf's personal cars... fingers crossed I'll have the first photos of interior parts to share here soon.
Wow sounds exciting, Glad you are staying more true to Ruf than going Singer-esque. I wish I could have made it up that way last week with Carmelo. Funny, I spent a lot of time making the indents on 930 panels to work with 965 parts for a few builds. I wonder which is easier adding or removing?
A bit of a setback today.
Test fit the carbon fiber hood I’d acquired second hand and unfortunately the fit is substandard.
The edges can be adjusted but the curvature is slightly off on the driver side by the cowl, leading to part of the hood either 1/8 low or 1/8 high in the most visible spot for the driver.
It's not an issue of alignment like that -- we tried all the adjustments.
The curvature of the hood appears to be off on the driver side (it can be adjusted perfectly on the passenger side).
If you adjust the hinge so that the edge of the hood is correct, the part further in is proud of the cowl.
If you adjust the hinge so the inside part of the driver's side of the hood is at the same height as the cowl, the corner of the hood is low.
If it were steel we could bend it to make it work, but that's not possible with carbon.
This is why I gave up on CF and FG bits and used steal. The weight savings weren't substantial enough for the aggravation of dealing with issues like this.
Can't wait to see the colour you've chosen! I'm sure you have a ton of pics. I just came across this BaT listing for a '66 911 and they made a photo book of the restoration process. Neat idea!
12-01-2023 | 09:01 PM
