race911

They are? Maybe if we're exclusively talking GT3. The 10K I put on my 4S running back and forth going skiing/boarding last year were memories you can't put a price on. Likewise ~10 years ago going back and forth from our Reno house with my '92 C4. Life's too short to drive a POS just for the sake of saving a 911 for, what, exactly?

In any case, fantastic to see the expertise and effort Colin and crew put into these repairs! And that he takes the time to show us the progress and results.

jrotsaert

Superb job but I have to aske: how does the cost compare to that of a new shell?

HiWind

Thanks Colin - beautiful to see the step by step fotos - very kind. Any chance your scrub down and repaint made an impact on the weight either way?

MetalSolid

Nice!

all2ofme

Very favourably, I'm hoping!

First estimates were a good deal cheaper than an acid-dipped bare metal respray, and I can only assume that a new shell would have been more expensive than that respray.

Either way, I shall be visiting Warrington with a cowering wallet, I suspect. I hope Colin and co. will be kind! After hearing that the chap doing the sandblasting looked like he'd spent the night at the beach it'd be very hard to quibble about prices

RSlite

This 9M refurbish is superior to a new shell, that would be per the original paint finish spec', plus a few scrapes from transit damage.

The cars are not intended to last, like any consumer goods.....

Good you did not acid dip the shell, it is the worst process possible for a pressed steel / spot welded structure. The acid cannot be rinsed from the smallest crevices where it migrates to by capilary action. I have seen an utterly rotten rally car 3 years old with a few thousand miles, the cage was holding it together. The sills & chassis members were like a 30 year old wreck. It was dipped to remove the sealer when being prepped, and rinsed thoroughly.

As others have said, very interesting, nice to see a job being done right, it will add significant value.

NineMeister

Oh yeah, massive difference: we've stopped it getting lighter by the month......



If you look at the preparation photos of the car you can see that the primer is around the same thickness as the e-coat, so the only additional weight will be the satin grey top coat. Phil probably used around 2 litres less the solvent flash-off, so my guess is <1kg.

NineMeister

You cannot buy a replacement shell for a Porsche out of production; but why would you want to?

If you own a GT3 that you value and find the floor in this condition you have a few options:

1. Sell car. Pass it on and let someone else unwittingly deal with the problem.
Obvious solution in the selfish, disposable economic world that we live in but eventually a new owner will arrive at this decision point.

2. Do nothing. Shell will continue to rust until it is no longer structurally sound then will have to be scrapped or restored.
This is probably the worst approach you can have to protect your investment unless you are prepared to store it indefinitely in a dry garage - but what is the point of having a GT3 that you are frightened to drive and get wet?

3. Strip, dip & E-coat. Strip the entire car to a bare shell, dip and e-coat, then repaint from the ground up.
Sure, this is the perfect solution, but it is also the most expensive option in terms of time, materials & expense. Problem is that the upper body of the car is perfect...

3. Restore floor paint.
The final and most cost effective option, provided the rust has not gone too far. We've not done the maths yest but our guess is less than 1/4 of the cost of e-coating, so it's pretty much a no-brainer decision once the owner gets past options 1 & 2.

HiWind

- lol true. I didn't consider it was only one or two coats.

D'you know how much the regular (top) body paint weighs?

NineMeister

Here's Phil applying the beige seam sealer over all the joints. Shell was tactfully located under our workshop radiant heater to accelerate the air drying process whilst also keeping Phil nice and toasty warm.

NineMeister

Difficult to say exactly because all paint contains solvents which flash off during the drying cycle and furthermore although you might shoot 1 litre through your gun a lot of it ends up in the booth filters or on the floor and in addition to that you also have variables in the number of coats & thickness per coat.

We hit this car with a solid colour top coat but most modern paints are clear laquer over a colour base coat; the colour coat is now a water based system and has negligible weight when dry so the only significant weight consideration would be the in the weight of the laquer.

NineMeister

Update of final floorpan preparation photos from yesterday. With the seam sealing all done the shell is loaded into the booth for final masking ready for painting the wheelarches yellow and blowing the colour across the floor areas as the factory did.

NineMeister

Meanwhile, back in the 9m Technic workshop, the boys got to work stripping down the major suspension assemblies in readiness for cleaning and media blasting so we can give them a coat of isocryl two-pack paint.

The hubs are also joining the pile of parts to be painted, so whilst we are there the housings were warmed up and the bearings removed so that they can be renewed before painting.

All the fasteners, brackets and clips have been separated into boxes for replating.

(Sorry about the quality of the flash photos from my iPhone).

Serge944

This reminds me of my friend who restores 50 year old VWs. Living in a place like California it is just wild to see a "restoration" done to a car less than 10 years old.

This is a big project! Keep us posted on the progress.

Atgani

Well firstly, as has been said, you can't buy a new shell from Porsche AG. There maybe a source in Germany, but historically they're not the cheapest supplier of NOS Porsche parts.
And you think that making good the corrosion on an eleven year old car will ultimately be superior to a new bodyshell ?

With a more modern design, superior production methods and a better understanding of how to avoid corrosion with the use of superior paint and sealing products, there's no reason any 996 that is looked after properly and inspected regularly shouldn't be longer lasting than any of the cars built by Porsche previously .


Done professionally there's not an issue, but keep digging I think there maybe a few people better qualified than yourself to judge whether it's a viable process or not . . . . .

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...-detail-8.html



I somehow doubt it will add any significant value. A Mk 1 GT3 is worth anything between £30K and £44K in the UK (depending on condition and mileage) Taking your £35K GT3 and having this work done will not increase it's value by the amount spent on the rectification work. It will however ensure the value of your investment is protected in the future.