3.2 Sport Rustoration

[ChesterJLampwick]

Sadly I'm not as brave as some of you guys, so I am paying many monies to get my 3.2 free of the dreaded orange menace. I've never learned to weld, and this probably isn't the right project to practice on until I can do it neatly.

When I bought my 3.2 back in 2013, although it looked solid, even then I knew there were parts of the B posts and the sills where a magnet didn't stick. Looking through the history file, I found a PPI done in 2003 clearly showing a manky B post, and worryingly there were receipts for a pair of jacking tubes, but nothing else. Further investigation revealed fabricated boxes seemingly welded over the original kidney bowls, so I knew all wasn't well, and that the bodgers had been in there.

In the meantime, rather than play 'Whack a Mole' with bubbles that appeared on the front wings, I took the car to Road and Race Restorations in Walkden, an OPC approved bodyshop. They said they'd never seen such good paint over such crap repairs, and agreeing that the best course of action was to 'do it once and do it properly', I had them replace the front wings. While they were in there, of course, they found the usual rot along the tops of the inner wings, so that got repaired too.

Fast forward five years, to pass an MOT  I had bubbles that appeared in the B post and sills made to go away, by a local paint guy. Then I notice a wet, rusty bulge in the luggage space, behind the bumper mounts. I had a go at selling the car, to make it someone else's problem, but with no takers I've decided to bite the bullet, make the rot gone and keep and enjoy the car. While I know the local body shop could have a go, with a car like this I think its worth the extra to have it done by experts, after all it's always nice if you can shut the doors afterwards. Unlike my mate Duncan, who did all his own welding at home on his 70's 911, had it painted, then found his doors didn't shut properly any more.

So its back to Road and Race, who put it on a jig to keep the overall shape, and started cutting. As expected the car was shot in all the usual places, then some more - the rot had spread into the floor as well, also where the sills should meet the front wing support there was fresh air, see the first photo. They tacked a support around the B post, before they cut it out, to support the wing and keep it the same profile shape as the door, I wouldn't have thunk of that. You can see the new kidney bowls and sills, the old Frankenstein bowls having gone in the scrap bin.

There was a wee bubble above the back light box. This of course is now a hole, they'll repair that as a new rear quarter really would bust the budget. You can see on the photo its been painted twice, the last time was when numb nuts here caught the gate post and dinged the arch - they fixed that when they did the front wings. The light boxes fell apart when they removed them, as discussed on another thread Ive gone for the lighter, cheaper plastic ones, particularly once I found out Porsche ones are about £500 each!

 

 

[ChesterJLampwick]

Round two is a call from Road and Race about the rust they've found in the front scuttle area. The attached photos show rot where the inner wing meets the scuttle panel. If course you can't see this when the wings are on.

As its wings off again and glass out to fix anything in this area, it does make more sense to do it now, although I'm sure it could be ignored for a long time it won't fix itself.

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by ChesterJLampwick
spelling

[fat fuchs]

Good decision on getting everything done while it's apart. Painful and costly i'm sure but no point delaying the inevitable. Whether you decide to keep or sell in the long term, getting the work done has to be a positive thing. 

Cheers

FF

[Phill]

Love a good body resto thread. Have you got any pics of the B pillars before?

[ChesterJLampwick]

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Have you got any pics of the B pillars before?

No, I may have binned the pictures  that came with the 2003 Dick Lovett PPI,  it was that bad I didn't want them in the history file. There were large dark orange blurgs below the door catches.

As to how it was in 2019 (after another 16 years of secret festering), just imagine a magnet 100% refusing to stick to something that, while looking fine, is supposed to be made of steel, this is an example of how these cars can hide their inner rot so well. Noone else could see it, but I knew the rot was there, big time. If I'd ignored it for long enough, one day I could possibly have gone over a bump and had the door come open on its own, leaving a blooming great hole! Also, a petrol headed mate pointed out that rotten sills are all fine and dandy until you get T-boned, and end up wearing the car, not a jolly thought.

[Robos911]

That all looks very familiar!! Any updates?

[ChesterJLampwick]

I emailed the body shop on Friday, to check that my wheels had arrived back from their refurb (see thread in Wheels), and were Ok and undamaged.

Apparently all the bodywork is finished, but the restoration paint prep guy has been off sick, but comes back on Monday and will be getting on with my car.

Lets hope it can all get done before we all go down with this @#£& virus. 

[ChesterJLampwick]

Well a combination of lockdown and mission creep have made this restoration drag on and on, and the cost go up and up, but finally a truck arrived from Road & Race Restorations with my car on the back on Saturday. 😃

She looks great with the new look wheels and sharkfins deleted, but the main difference is where you can't see it. The rot has gone, there is a lot of new metal in the floor, inner wings, scuttle, sills and kidney bowls. Considering how extensive it all was, the door and panel gaps look perfect. Last week when it came to starting her up there was no spark, I had to pay another bill for an auto electrician to come and diagnose that the CPS had gone down (she was getting harder to start last year). I think it was replaced with the BMW option, they gave me the old one and the wire had been pinched at one point and was down to a few strands unbroken. The back light clusters are new, my originals were falling to pieces.

They reset the steering geometry and adjusted the corner weights, for the first time since I bought the car, and the difference is really noticable. It will be interesting when I get on a track, last time at Oulton she noisily understeered into corners and soon wrecked the front tyres. I got online and sorted out tax and insurance (R&R MoT'd the car last week) and took the wife for a trash around the Peak District.  Now the car feels pin sharp going into turns and inspires real confidence. The Mrs trusts my driving, but I did hear a couple of sharp intakes of breath at my entry speeds into some corners 😎 

I'm sure I could have got it done cheaper, but my philosophy was 'do it once and do it properly' and that mission has been well and truly accomplished, the body should be good for another 35 years. Gearbox and top end refreshes will get done eventually, but for now I'll just enjoy what I've got, there's been an empty space in the garage for too long....

 

[Ian Comerford]

Looks lovely, very nice colour and straight.

[SP72]

I doubt any Porsche approved place will be cheap - forget about the money if you can, enjoy what you now have as it looks superb in your pics.

[Andy352]

That's looking very very nice, well worth the wait. 

[ChesterJLampwick]

Thanks for your comments, I thought I'd add the following from an email I just got from John Bradshaw (Owner of R&R) after I commented on the improved feel of the car. You can see by this why someone who has owned and raced these cars is much better at understanding them and setting them up correctly than just a guy who has worked at a garage for years..

 

Quote

The tracking was out but I suspect the main cause was chassis flex causing understeer  at Oulton. The rear was toeing out on the left rear and the front had too much toe in. Toe out at the rear usually causes instability especially under braking and oversteer. Too much front toe in causes a dead feel to the car and a reluctance to turn in. The front camber was also out and showing positive on the front right. The misalignment would certainly not cause screeching understeer more likely instability and would make you feel nervous as it changed it's mind as to where it wanted to go depending on load and bumps. When a chassis becomes weak which yours most certainly was due to corrosion it leads to a numb car which just understeers everywhere. The weight distribution of a Porsche means it HAS to have a stiff chassis.

The main problem was getting the adjusters to move on the 4 wheel alignment and took an age of swearing and huffing and puffing and penetrating fluid, but all worth it in the end.

 

[JLewis]

Looks fantastic!!

[jehatwhitland]

6 hours ago, JLewis said:

Looks fantastic!!

+1 on that - really looks nice.

[GoldenLane]

My car needs doing too... Would it be rude to ask how much it cost?

[ChesterJLampwick]

All in just over £20K including VAT. It was spread over several interim bills and many months, rather than one big hit, but once they'd started, and kept finding more rot, it was too late to stop. It was a first class job though. They apologised for the cost and the mission creep, but they said they hadn't done anything that the car didn't need.

If I'd known it was going to be that much beforehand it might have been more sensible to flog the car cheap and made it all someone else's problem, but I having only paid £17k for the car in 2013, and become rather fond of it, I now have a much better sorted car than I think I'd get now for what it stands me at. You could buy one for £37k tomorrow, and find there was all sorts of hidden rust once you got it home, if looked hard enough.

[Robos911]

Looks great and i like the man maths! Sounds like one of my conversations with the Mrs🤣🤣

[ChesterJLampwick]

On 04/09/2020 at 19:09, Robos911 said:

Looks great and i like the man maths! Sounds like one of my conversations with the Mrs🤣🤣

Mrs L has her own version of man maths, proudly telling me how much she saved on her latest pair of boots, without ever mentioning how much they actually were....