JPP

... So, the pictures of serious surgical cuts started coming in .. and believe me, these were heart-stopping moments for me. This is the point where I was really questioning my sanity and I was reviewing Graham's build thread daily to keep myself focused ... and I was REALLY glad I had decided to spend the extra money and take the risks involved to send the car to 9m ..

Here's Marc drilling out the welds on the rear Quarters, getting ready to cut them off ...


and cutting a very precise line down the fender so the new quarter would mate up perfectly and NOT deform the new metal ... Note: this is being done freehand by eye .. something that comes from years of experience, confidence and skill ... not empty promises, but real, bonafide craftsmanship, no longer available in the U.S. ... but don't get me started ....


Carefully checking the cuts ... getting ready to move down to the 'B' pillar and sill ..


and ... the quarter is free and pulled away from the monocoque shell .. I LOVE the look on Marc's face .. was Owen not moving in the right direction?? and please note here that the support/closeout panel that was under the fender and still attached to the rear frame and the fender support struts dangling down are the original Narrow Body parts, not Turbo parts as they should have been .. the closeout wasn't even touching the inner fender and the struts had just been hand bent over to attach to the Turbo fenders when BHP did their work ..

JPP

Meanwhile, they had also been working on the dash and I recieved these pictures around the same time ... all I can say is .. OMG!!




No turning back now!
I think the saying is ... "That boat has sailed ....."

JPP

.. they do indeed .. not much left of her now ... BTW, BHP's weld's had not been sealed or even primered .. just left bare to rot.

RP993

as i'm looking at the pics and reading JP's comments i got a really "funny" feeling:
the best surgeons are from the US ( i know it from E.R. and Dr. House) but you have to come to Europe to find the best metal cutting phD craftmanship

RP993

honestly: i also had to travel 1800 miles to find a reasonable bodyshop and 500 miles were through south Germany, close to Stuttgart.

maybe it's harder to find a state-of-the-art bodyshop nowdays but otherhand the word become smaller and you can meet and work with people you could not even imagine 20 years ago.

aircooled

Add Content

JPP

Sorry, what?

NineMeister

Beats me.....

Spidey 993

Add content message comes from using the IPhone app. If someone hits reply button, then doesn't submit and try's to cancel out, it can leave a "add content" placeholder behind.

iPhone App bug/feature

Back to regular scheduled programming

JPP

^^^ Thanks for clearing things up Tony, ... I read Jim's post and thought .. '' Jeez .. how much more 'content' could you possibly want?' ...

JPP

.... so, now that the brunt of the car has been removed ... let's get back to the rear bulkhead. This area on a Speedster is quite different than a Cabriolet because the metal is formed at the rear and at the sides to accommodate the unique Speedster top assembly and allow it to stow low enough to clear the clamshell when it's closed. Unfortunately, Porsche has run out of the individual side 'pocket' pieces that need to be cut into the side bulkheads, so you have to buy the next higher a$$embly for those now ... and they never offered the rear Speedster unique upper bulkhead panel as a separate piece, so you have to purchase the entire rear seat pan. 9m picks the welds apart and separates the assemblies to get the parts they need to create the factory parts with the goal being minimum disruption to factory welds and alignment ... and they use the clamshell hinge assembly and their own in-shop built alignment jig to ensure that everything is perfectly positioned before and after each welding operation.

First the newly cut open rear bulkhead area is cleaned and prepped for fabrication ..


Here's the Speedster unique mid-bulkhead 'hat section' being fitted and welded in using factory welding techniques .. Note: the elongated triangle also provides additional stiffness to the rear structure ...


Same panel from inside the engine bay. You can see the arms of the clamshell hinge assembly sticking up as Marc has it bolted down to check alignment before and after welding ..


Inner details showing the Speedster unique placement of the engine lid hinge and neumatic shock mount .. the Speedster engine lid is limited by these positions so it doesn't open as far as a normal Cabriolet would allow ..



Additional work needed here so the new metal can be match-drilled with the factory access holes and then all seams are ground down to a factory finish ..



Many of the shops I interviewed thought that converting a 993 to a Speedster was no big deal .. just drilling a few holes in the dash area to bolt the windshield into and drilling a few holes in the rear deck to bolt the clamshell into and your done. Really. .. ..
What's really amazing is Freisenger, the dealer in Germany that Porsche sanctioned to build a couple of these cars for customers, doesn't use a factory bulkhead in their cars, but fabricates 'pockets' on either side so the top armature can set low enough to clear the clamshell, and it doesn't look or work like a factory Speedster ...



Instead of allowing the top assembly to 'nest' into the hat section provided by the factory bulkhead piece, the top hits the cabriolet bulkhead in the center and sits up quite a bit higher than a factory Speedster top when it's folded down for stowage .. knowing what I know now, I look at these Friesenger cars in a new light ...

aircooled

Guilty as charged...akin to "butt dialing"a cell phone, would imagine. "Spidey" correct on analysis, just totally wrapped up reading this thread and viewing photos in the bitty iPhone screen....with a shaky trigger finger.....

Super thread JP, many thanks for the documentation and story!!!

Fortunate to have been the in the presence of AND run with another incredible rendition ---Sir "SPEEDY".

I'm hooked!!

JPP

Hey Jim! Gol-Dang new-fangled button-laden interwebz stuff ... I've made a few 'pocket calls' myself .. and yes, easy to get 'hooked' when your around these cars ... can't wait to see the two 'redheads' together in October :-)

JPP

so, after the rear bulkhead was welded in, Marc and Owen started modifying the side bulkheads ... the Cabriolet side bulkhead pieces had to be 'picked off' without damaging the inner fender and a bit more cutting was necessary ...


and in the meantime, the Speedster unique inner fender piece that I bought from Porsche had to be picked apart to get this part isolated and prepped for install. This 'pocket' allows the top assembly side amature to nest deep into the car when it's folded .. again, this used to be available as a separate part from Porsche for about $60 a side, but not any longer .. now you have to buy the entire inner fender at $500+ per side ..


New side pockets welded into place ..



And, now the new side bulkheads can be mounted .. but in order to get everything to align correctly 9m now bolts in their 'Speedster tooling jig' and welds in a span of angle between the two new panels and then fits the Speedster doors to get a perfect alignment of all the parts and their respective relationships ...

mongrelcat

Amazing story JP. There's no way I would've been able to see something like that through. Congratulations to you and the 9m team.

I found this on Porsche's Youtube channel... There's at least one other person on the planet who can still meld a fender, at least.