RESTORATION PART 2
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As directed, I only had to drill the holes and trim just a little round part of the cut out so the light would sit flush. Wasn't bad.
Just using an extra rear marker light to mark the holes for the front.
Marked holes for fog lights with a little shot of black paint. Fiberwerks is sending me some carbon fiber pieces to go over the center dividers, next to the fog lights giving more room to countersink the screws.
Prefitting - Slow but sure, got the Fog lights mounted, now pre-fitting it to the body and marking the holes in the brackets, being held up with clamps..
I'm excited , it looks good, although it's turning out to be more tedious than I initially thought. I've been sanding all 4 pieces with 400 grit sand paper then 800. All the edges are nice and round for the factory like appearance, I like things that are nice and round. :-)
I put this nose on and took it off a few times to get the holes lined up and marked them to drill.
The factory drilled holes weren't exactly in the right place so I had to do some grinding (not on the car but on the bumper brackets), didn't want any stress on the fiberglass. I also used 2 washers as shims on each side to move it over just a little so the body lines would be perfectly straight.
I went ahead and painted the area behind the nose panel black.
Soon it will match the whole car. Not that anyone can see under here anyways, I am just getting excited to paint.
All Done, except for the grill mesh, which I already formed and will put on later. Once everything gets fitted the whole car will be painted gloss black. Kick @ss!
Next Rear Bumper...
Clamping to get one side marked and drilled then moved to the next one. Continually checking alignment.
This mod also lightened the car by at least 200 Lbs, even with the added rear spoiler and rocker panels (next), those bumpers are heavy.
Sanding the rear spoiler
...I need to make a custom screwdriver to take off the rear side strip nuts (Notch out a screwdriver with my Dremmel) and buy a 6mm Cheesehead Bit (Triple Square) socket for the lock pins. (special order through Snap-on or Sears. Finally got new hatch pins (Aug 2009).
Got the front wire mesh grill on, Ahhh! it's raining!
Got the other rocker panel sanded and fitted to the body line, now I can put both on. It took a lot of sanding on the front inside top of the rocker panel to get the correct angle. That's the way they come from the factory because 944's are slightly different between years.
Now that I got most of the parts fitted and mounted, it will soon be ready to paint. Monday I will hopefully be able to get it down to a body shop and have them estimate it. I've talked to a few and they just do accident repair and I keep hearing "We don't do paint completes it's too time consuming" or they are asking waay to much, so we'll see.
I just need to find the right one, and in Alamogordo NM there's not much. .
I got the new rubber gaskets for the door handles and side mirrors when they come off; install after it gets painted.
New update --- July 13 2008
Took off the old rear spoiler and sanded the corrosion off the inside bolts and the top for the side strips.
BEFORE
AFTER - Flat Black
I also repainted the old peeling black stripe on the underside of the rear window a nice flat black. I now realize this is actually supposed to be a mylar film but it looks fine no problem.
Primed the side pieces, sanded w/800, 2000 grit and repainted
I had to sand the underside of the wing a lot so it would sit down solid and help the two side pieces line-up as best as possible.
BEFORE
AFTER
Wife helping sand a little.
A small side story:
I haven't been driving it due to the cooling fan switch shorting out and ran the engine cooling fans all day, killing the battery. I bought one that turns the fan on at 85 degree's from Paragon, did the trick and shuts down after a minute or so like it should. Easy to install when the fan's out of the way.
And after about 2 weekends and 15 hrs of work, the wing goes on.
I did some repair/spot priming on the back and front left fender.
Matched it up pretty well with some sanding on the top.
Doesn't look too bad at all. Saweet!
- 26 July 2008 Currently at the body shop for paint.
The inspiration and design of the fiberwerks "Assault Rear Spoiler" came from the Porsche 930 and 911 GT2.
Enough for 1 page
Page 4 - Restoration part 2 (you are here)
Page 5 - Repair Photos
Page 6 - Ventura Porsche show 2006 photos
Page 7 - SETI Photos / Dale Jr, & Kevin Harvick Fresh Fit 500
Page 8 - Pomona Drag races
Page 9 - Photo Shoot
Page 10 - Stuff For Sale
Page 11 Albuquerque Road Trip
