Porsche project update

mad_machine wrote: hmmm... how many car related projects started with too much beer?

If you are me... all of them.

David S. Wallens wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote:

JThw8 wrote: I belong to a VW club which has the motto "why restore it to its former shortcomings when you can modify it to it's full potential" That about sums it up for me.

ROFL! So true. OTOH, I also have one Corrado mostly stock, and one modded out. Isn't having two of them when one will do the Grassroots way?

As a guy who has two B16A-powered Hondas, I guess I can relate. By the way, one of them received a roll bar yesterday. That counts as a modification, right?

Well, yeah..but remembering Tom's original question about not cutting..."it depends!"

Didja have to cut the carpet or headliner to get the thing in there?

I have to admit-after actually thinking about it, I've actually I've got a better (i.e., maybe half-way serious) answer to Tom's OP in the first place, now that everybody else has reminded me about the "rareness" stuff..

I hate to see a `perfect example' of something cool cut up, but if somebody starts with an absolute basket case of a donor, it's cool with me. Theoretical example: perfect rust-free Alpina BMW CSL street car, no. Junkyard US market E9 with everything rotted out but the outer sheet metal, somebody throw an LS1 in that puppy!

One of the things I like so much about the Pro-Mod guys is that every one of them I talk to started with a shell so wasted that they just built the tube frame, (or spent entirely too much dough welding new metal in the floors, etc.) and hung the sheet metal on as "decoration".

Didn't your ad guy (my apologies, I can't recall his name at the moment) do something like that when he built that fantastic Camaro (the one in CM's nice "Pro-Mod" feature a couple of issues ago)?

On a car like David's, I think he's taking the right route. Subtle, period correct, and reversible. Now, mods can get fairly crazy and still be reversible. For instance 17" Fuchs and a late model big HP motor would both be pretty sweet while not harming the virgin shell. Of course, once you start down that road there isn't an obvious stopping point, so I think David's current direction is sound. That said, I'd love to see you guys do a frame up resto mod on an early 911. I loved the 914 build. It's certainly in my top 5 (Ro-Spit, 914, 122, 142, something else). Something of that depth, perhaps getting an old shell and doing a restomod / RS (that was the early 70's badass, right?) build would be pretty sweet.

if I were to build a 911 (and it is on my plans) it would be an early 80s 3.0 or 3.2 with a long nose conversion to "s" specs.

It would also have the way cool foglights mounted through the horn grills.

I had a 72 911e... I would like to replicate that car as much as I could.. while still being more modern (I wonder how hard it would be to put in the external oiltank filler that the 72 had?)

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

mad_machine wrote: hmmm... how many car related projects started with too much beer?

If you are me... all of them.

My engine swap project started because I gave up. I wanted more out of the BMC A-Series than I was going to be able to give short of an $11k engine. I went for a $600 engine some sweat, an angle grinder and a welder.

Its a POS, but not a classic.... someone had already welded another corner on, so I didn't feel too bad about cutting the whole front off. To me, if it's beautiful, rare, or significant in some way, I'm much less apt to modify. I also am starting to not mod cars that are daily driven unless it increases reliability.

Teh E36 M3 wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

mad_machine wrote: hmmm... how many car related projects started with too much beer?

If you are me... all of them.

My engine swap project started because I gave up. I wanted more out of the BMC A-Series than I was going to be able to give short of an $11k engine. I went for a $600 engine some sweat, an angle grinder and a welder. Its a POS, but not a classic.... someone had already welded another corner on, so I didn't feel too bad about cutting the whole front off. To me, if it's beautiful, rare, or significant in some way, I'm much less apt to modify. I also am starting to not mod cars that are daily driven unless it increases reliability.

I like your car a lot, it's actually kind of what I'm talking about. It's not like you used the First Sprite Ever Made(tm) or something for the tub. People have been hacking on the poor thing for 40yrs, and you made something cool out of it. (Absolutely loving the 4AGE, BTW!)

mad_machine wrote: hmmm... how many car related projects started with too much beer?

In my case, I think its all of them.

DILYSI Dave wrote: On a car like David's, I think he's taking the right route. Subtle, period correct, and reversible. Now, mods can get fairly crazy and still be reversible. For instance 17" Fuchs and a late model big HP motor would both be pretty sweet while not harming the virgin shell. Of course, once you start down that road there isn't an obvious stopping point, so I think David's current direction is sound.

I couldn't agree more.