How-to 914: Rear Trunk Floor Pan Install

by

Ever wonder how to install a rear trunk floor pan in a 1973 Porsche 914? In this video, the guys at Restoration Design show you just how to do that.

As always, we recommend doing a lot of the prep work before starting on the installation itself. We’ve drilled out all of our welds, ground down the steel and prepped it with weld-through primer.

It’s also worth mentioning that we coated the inside of the transaxle support channel with POR-15 to help reduce any potential future rust.

We also recommend prepping the floor pan itself by punching holes for the rosette welds and do any necessary trimming to get it the size you need for you specific car.

Next, put the piece in place in the car so you can scribe your line and cut the existing piece to fit the replacement piece. Then, using self-tapping screws, put the piece in place and use your hammer to make any necessary adjustments for fit.

After this, you need to make sure your trunk support fits properly. Using the two holes on either end of the trunk support, make sure at least one of them lines up with the floor pan.

Once you have a nice fit, go ahead and weld in your trunk pan. When doing your rosette welds, make sure to leave enough space between the welds to keep the temperature of the steal down. Then, roll the car over and take care of your sway bar mounts.

You always want to make sure the measurement from centre to centre of the sway bar mounts matches manufacturers’ specifications. If your 914 didn’t come with sway bar mounts, as some of them don’t, make sure you’re installing them properly as they’re essential.

Get more details about this installation and see the finished product in the video below!

Porsche 911ST Update

by

Did you check out our introduction to the Porsche 911ST project we were working on? Check out this follow-up video update.

Adam takes us through levelling the sled bench, panel installation and fittings for the doors and windows.

The most exciting update for this project is the new car bench. By adding some adjustable legs to the car bench, it allows us to make it level and help with using the zero plane on the car.

You may remember that the 911ST came to us with very little metal left on it. When replacing parts on a car, don’t take too much metal off at one time. In the meantime we’ve taken care of the front end and the door placement. Adam put all of the panels on the front of the car, but is still working on making the left side level.

We’re going to be redoing a lot of the bracing. Once we have door towers on, we can get to mounting the doors, then taking care of the rockers and other essential parts of the front end.

To level the bench, we used an old school machining level.

Adam uses a bunch of jacks and jigs to prop up the car and mark the zero for the car.

Find out how Adam found the zero plane for the car, and see the rest of the Porsche 911ST update!

 

Restoration Spotlight: Mike’s 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster

by

Back in the summer of 2006, Mike bought his 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster from an Ebay seller in Washington, DC. The former racecar had already had all of its paint and decals removed from the body with chemicals.

This Porsche 356 Speedster had been sitting in the owner’s barn for the previous 18 years. When Mike brought it home, he started by sorting all of the parts that came with the car. By cataloguing all of the parts first, he was able to identify which parts were missing.

Then he dismantled the whole car, had the car sandblasted and stripped, and built a rotisserie to make the restoration project easier.

Once the car was stripped, Mike started to replace panels. Part way through the metal restoration part, the de Jonges purchased Restoration Design, putting the project on hold for about three years.

Mike took the car to Cambridge Collision for some body work that he didn’t have the time to do himself, and the team then took the car to the East Coast Holiday in Boston, displaying it on the rotisserie with all of the metal work done.

After the car was finally painted, Mike brought it home and started on the electrical wiring and replacing all of the parts that had been taken off, while the upholstery was farmed out.

See more of this amazing restoration in the video below:

How to 914: Battery Tray and Support

by

In this instalment of our 1973 Porsche 914 restoration project, we show you how to install the battery tray and support properly.

After you remove the battery box, take some measurements to be sure you’re putting it back in the right place. While it doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s nice to get it back where it’s supposed to be.

Coat the area where the battery box will go with POR-15 to keep rust at bay, and grind the area you’ll be welding the battery box to. The battery box will come in two parts, the bottom and the and the top. This gives you the freedom to replace just the top of the battery box, leaving the frame as it is.

Prep and drill the holes for your plug welds, and coat the whole battery box with weld-through primer. We welded the two pieces together using a spot welder, as we have one readily available.

POR-15 is not easy to weld to, so you’ll have to take a measurement and make some marks on the frame and grind it down to get a good weld.

Attach the battery box to the frame once it’s in place and you’re happy with the fit, using self-tapping screws.

When you’ve done all of the plug welds, give it a quick inspection and clean up some of the welds. Then, top it off with some weld-through primer and you’ve got yourself a battery tray and support.

Check out the video to see how we did it!

How To 911/912: Install Your Front Gas Tank Support

by

As a follow-up to our last blog, How to 911/912: Front Suspension Pan Restoration, we’ll be showing you how to install your front gas tank support.

Because our vintage Porsche’s lateral gas tank supports were rotten, first we installed new ones.

Next, we had to install the suspension reinforcements and the gas tank support.

After covering the lateral gas tank supports with weld through primer, we can install the gas tank support.

Depending on the year of vintage Porsche 911/912 you have, you’ll need to choose the corresponding front gas tank support to fit your model.

While some companies believe in “one size fits all” when it comes to front gas tank support, at Restoration Design we aim to get you the right part for your model year.

After you’ve screwed in the gas tank support, you can start welding it – starting at the top corner, moving to the opposing corner, to the diagonal corner and back and forth. This makes sure no one part heats up too much and prevents distorting the metal.

Check out the rest of our front gas tank support installation process by watching our video.

How To 911/912: Front Suspension Pan Restoration

by

If you’re interested in restoring a vintage Porsche 911 or 912, this is a great starting point.

In this step-by-step video, we’ll show you how to restore your front suspension pan.

First off, you’ll have to remove all of the rusted metal. For our own restoration, this took about 8 hours.

Depending on where your Porsche is cut, you can trim our front suspension pan piece to fit your specifications. It’s also a good idea to spray it with weld-through primer.

Once you’ve done this, you can begin securing it with self-tapping screws to the body of your vintage Porsche.

If you think you’ve got it in the right place, you can test it out by lining it up with your suspension. From there you can adjust it to fit if you need to.

Check out our video for more details about this step in the restoration process!

 

Restoration Spotlight: Uses and Benefits of Galvanneal Steel

by ⋅ 1 Comment

At Restoration Design, we often get questions about the kind of steel we use.

We use galvanneal steel, which is used in a lot of industries, with the biggest being the automotive industry.

A lot of other restoration shops use mild steel because it’s more cost-effective, but we prefer galvanneal. It’s also better than galvanized steel because it goes one step further in the production process: after it’s coated, it’s heated at super high temperatures, resulting in a higher corrosion resistance than other kinds of steel. This also means it has a longer shelf-life.

The main reason we prefer galvanneal steel over galvanized steel is that galvanized steel’s coating will flake, and galvanneal will not rust when exposed to water.

Watch our video to find out more about the difference that using galvanneal steel makes, and see some examples of Porsche restorations we’ve used galvanneal steel on.