Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Denver MCM garage expansion

[ODIS]

Here's how it currently sits.

Some of you will recognize many of the parts from previous posts, like the cerakoted fan, powdercoated cooling tin, etc. We're waiting on new heat exchangers because of this

When I got the exhaust system back from media blasting, I found a few holes. The original muffler was fine so it got a fresh repaint

I hope to receive the new heat exchangers this week - and bring the engine home next week

Merry Christmas1

On your fan, did you do the work of riveting the center hub to the fan? Also, sorry to read about the heat exchangers. Know these can be pricey. Did you go with SS and if so, who did you source them from?

I’m excited to see all the progress you have made on the Targa!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and family!

 

[kwyjibo]

On your fan, did you do the work of riveting the center hub to the fan? Also, sorry to read about the heat exchangers. Know these can be pricey. Did you go with SS and if so, who did you source them from?

I’m excited to see all the progress you have made on the Targa!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and family!

Hi Odis,

My friends at Eisenbuds sent the fan out to a machinist to set the rivets. My original plan was to collaborate with another friend, who is basically a retired machinist, to make a die because we have a few other friends that will be restoring their fans. So I had the fan, the pulley and a pile of rivets. But it was looking like we weren't going to get around to it in time, so we contracted it out. We may still go through with the die because enough people have asked about it that it would obviously be of use amongst our friends

I went with the stainless exchangers from SSI. I didn't do an extensive search, but from looking at the usual places, SierraMadre had the best price on the pair - with the current -10% offer, it comes out less than the what the shop would pay.

We didn't make it out to WA this year (and probably won't get out there until June), so I missed seeing your 911 in the LeMay. and now it looks like we'll miss the vette.

Thanks for reading along and have a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!


One last thing that I forgot to post this earlier
I got an early Christmas gift this year - the retro-styled shirts for our local car group came last week. This shirt makes me smile because I had a very similar looking CamelGT shirt when I was a kid.

 

[Andrew S]

Would you happen to know the grey muffler paint brand/details? I've been hunting for the correct Porsche grey for some pieces on my 928... Thanks, and keep up the great work on the 911!

 

[ODIS]

Hi Odis,

My friends at Eisenbuds sent the fan out to a machinist to set the rivets. My original plan was to collaborate with another friend, who is basically a retired machinist, to make a die because we have a few other friends that will be restoring their fans. So I had the fan, the pulley and a pile of rivets. But it was looking like we weren't going to get around to it in time, so we contracted it out. We may still go through with the die because enough people have asked about it that it would obviously be of use amongst our friends

I went with the stainless exchangers from SSI. I didn't do an extensive search, but from looking at the usual places, SierraMadre had the best price on the pair - with the current -10% offer, it comes out less than the what the shop would pay.

We didn't make it out to WA this year (and probably won't get out there until June), so I missed seeing your 911 in the LeMay. and now it looks like we'll miss the vette.

Thanks for reading along and have a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!


One last thing that I forgot to post this earlier
I got an early Christmas gift this year - the retro-styled shirts for our local car group came last week. This shirt makes me smile because I had a very similar looking CamelGT shirt when I was a kid.

Thanks for your note. Appreciate the information. I’m pretty sure my exchangers are toast and will need to replace so will take a look @ SMC. Not restoring my 911 and redoing the fan like you did would lead to more restoration projects on the engine. I have the 911 back but need to finish the ‘63 Cab and start on my friends Speedster. It’s good to have projects!

Thanks again.

 

[badonk]

Just ran across this thread - up way to late tonight catching up. Strange/funny that we haven't crossed paths before - or more likely we probably have. I'm just up the road from you at Holly and Alameda in a MCM too. AND I've been doing the old Porsche thing for quite a few years....John and Jim @ Eisenbuds etc. I recently heard that they found a buyer. The 904 Beck that you saw in Boulder is owned by a good friend of mine. I'm pretty sure I met your friend with the green spyder too a few months back at a breakfast club meeting. Anyhow PM me about the next meetup and I'll try to join in.

 

[kwyjibo]

Would you happen to know the grey muffler paint brand/details? I've been hunting for the correct Porsche grey for some pieces on my 928... Thanks, and keep up the great work on the 911!

I used the VHT primer and paint shown below. There was another product sold by Stoddard, but it seems to be discontinued. According to the interwebs, the VHT is one of the closer matches to OEM color once it gets baked by a running engine. I won't be able to test this for a while

 

[badonk]

Not to pollute your thread - you may have seen this slate grey '72 around. I went through a lot of the things you are doing, documented it in a thread on pelican, and had it back on the road back in 2015 (never 'done' of course). Found its way into Excellence in 2017 etc. It sounds like you are connected up with all the resources you need on your rebuild and it looks awesome! I just joined GJ recently as I'm looking for ideas on how to design and set up new purpose built storage/workshop space.

Anyhow, I drive down Holly just about every time I head to my current workshop/garage condo in Centennial. It is somewhat similar to what one of your friends has although I'm a parts packrat and mine is a mess.

 

[kwyjibo]

Odis - I love my projects, and keeping busy... but sometimes it's nice to kick back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. I'm really looking forward to the day that ProjectConda gets out on its own power.

Just ran across this thread - up way to late tonight catching up. Strange/funny that we haven't crossed paths before - or more likely we probably have. I'm just up the road from you at Holly and Alameda in a MCM too. AND I've been doing the old Porsche thing for quite a few years....John and Jim @ Eisenbuds etc. I recently heard that they found a buyer. The 904 Beck that you saw in Boulder is owned by a good friend of mine. I'm pretty sure I met your friend with the green spyder too a few months back at a breakfast club meeting. Anyhow PM me about the next meetup and I'll try to join in.

It's funny that I'm still meeting new people, especially when it's in my own neighborhood. Our friend with the green Spyder really gets around, he's becoming quite internet famous
We usually meet across from the Tokyo Premium Bakery on Pearl St on Sunday mornings, from about 8:30 until 10.
I'll message you later

 

[kwyjibo]

Not to pollute your thread - you may have seen this slate grey '72 around. I went through a lot of the things you are doing, documented it in a thread on pelican, and had it back on the road back in 2015 (never 'done' of course). Found its way into Excellence in 2017 etc. It sounds like you are connected up with all the resources you need on your rebuild and it looks awesome! I just joined GJ recently as I'm looking for ideas on how to design and set up new purpose built storage/workshop space.

Anyhow, I drive down Holly just about every time I head to my current workshop/garage condo in Centennial. It is somewhat similar to what one of your friends has although I'm a parts packrat and mine is a mess.

I've seen that car!
Are you in the ManCaves by the airport? Stop by the next time you're cruising by

 

[badonk]

I've seen that car!
Are you in the ManCaves by the airport? Stop by the next time you're cruising by

I'm at (formerly) Dove Valley Storage on Otero by the airport. It is nearby. ManCaves wasn't in my budget for a 16x45' space.

 

[Andrew S]

Thanks! I didn't have any luck finding the Stoddard product either, I will order some VHT.

I used the VHT primer and paint shown below. There was another product sold by Stoddard, but it seems to be discontinued. According to the interwebs, the VHT is one of the closer matches to OEM color once it gets baked by a running engine. I won't be able to test this for a while

 

[ODIS]

Thanks! I didn't have any luck finding the Stoddard product either, I will order some VHT.

Might also check out this fellow on YouTube: Mike's Restoration. If you don't know of him, he has done an amazing job restoring a '65 911. Really good content.

https://www.youtube.com/@MikesRestorations

 

[kwyjibo]

I hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year
Just a quick update on the targa -
The new stainless steel heat exchangers showed up so the build could be completed. Here's a comparison with the repainted original

I'll paint the otherside once I get it back from having the holes welded
A friend and I moved our engines home from the shop, which is moving a few blocks away. It was nerve wracking to watch the trailer bouncing down the potholed streets on our way across town. Here's my engine waiting to get loaded into the trailer

Because of the shop move I brought a bunch of my parts home to keep them from getting lost. With the addition of the engine and all the parts, the garage became a disordered mess. I though that it seemed like a good time to re-organize the bins. Before moving all the bins back into the garage, I took a few photos

 

[nicholam77]

Nice to see some wider shots of the garage interior, again — such a nice space!

 

[kwyjibo]

I've done a terrible job of updating here... again.

Here is a quick update on ProjectConda
Since the last post the tub has made it's way over to the bodyshop with the help of some friends on a cold Saturday morning. I previously drove over the doors, hood, decklid and bumpers to which the shop had already made some repairs. The shop and I inspected the body after media blasting and were happy to see that no $urprise$ were uncovered. But we did decide that the driver's side fender needed more work than originally thought and it would be less expensive to replace it.

here's the replaced passenger door lock post

and, of course, the before photo - after I picked and pried whatever I could knock off to see how bad the rust was

The gaps were pretty good originally, but now they are nearly perfect

This phase of the bodywork has progressed quicker than I had hoped. There are a few more repairs to be made before it can go out for paint but I am hopeful that the body will be back in my garage within a couple months. There are a few other smaller things that I'll post later but this covers the biggest news since the last post.

One last thing: @badonk has become a regular at our Sunday mornings at the bakery.

 

[Andrew S]

What a pleasant surprise to have body work progressing faster than expected! Did you use a genuine Porsche replacement fender? I've been amazed at what Porsche Classic has been reproducing.

 

[badonk]

Patch work looks great and the panel fitment is spot on. Are you going to have them return it painted with all the panels fitted (hood, bumper, fenders, doors, decklid)? Or get it in pieces to fit yourself? I had my 72 in pieces and I've never been truly happy with the fit of the doors. From what I remember, doors are fitted first, then fenders, then hood, then bumper - back to front.

If I can ever get my act together and get the 72 in for the rear fender fixes, I'm hoping they have some tricks to aligning the doors better.

 

[kwyjibo]

ProjectConda is moving closer to paint. The photos don't appear to show much progress but the shop has been busy with all the little dents and holes that the body accumulated in the last 50+ years

@Andrew S, the fender is from Porsche. I was also pleasantly surprised that the price from a dealer (Porsche Colorado Springs) beat the price from most internet/mail-order guys (especially after you add in freight costs) and not far from the price for an aftermarket part.

@badonk, we talked about this last week but I'll just quickly reiterate it here in case someone else had the same question: I will get it back from paint with the fenders and doors hung.

I haven't posted this on the early 911 forum yet, but we (myself and several local Porsche shops) have been searching for someone to install the rear swaybar pivot pins into the trailing arms. My 911T did not have rear bars installed. Although there is an indent pressed into the trailing arm where the pin is welded, the pivot pin on originally equipped arms are not simply sticking out 90degrees to the gusset face. I convinced Jon at the MetalSurgeon in Englewood to make a jig that locates the ball to the correct position. You can see my two arms next to an original from a '72 911S, and a close up where you can see the angle

Lastly, I'm happy to write that the snow has mostly cleared from my favorite mountain roads

which means that soon we won't be spending Sunday mornings eating donuts and drinking coffee at random locations around town

 

[slik560]

I've not been there, but guys in my local PCA section say that the dealership in the Springs is the Mecca for Porsche people.

 

[kwyjibo]

@slik560 I apologize that I didn't reply sooner. We're lucky that we have Porsche Colorado Springs (relatively) nearby. In addition to being one of the few Porsche Classic centers in the country, it has an amazing modern inventory. You usually don't see so many GT cars outside of a PCA event. They host several events throughout the year, like most recently, the Pikes Peak Hillclimb driver meet and greet. But, even on a normal day it's worth a stop.

 

[kwyjibo]

I ****. I've been slacking off on updating. But in my defense, I've been doing less interesting stuff lately. Hopefully that will change when ProjectConda returns from paint.

Here are a few highlights from the last couple months-
After almost a year of being on the waitlist, my wife and I finally got into the newly refurbished Casa Bonita. We had a table near this hungry young fellow

It might be summer but there's still snow in the Rockies

ProjectConda is currently waiting for a spot in the paint shop. Here are a few photos from the final testfitting of the panels and trim



I'll update when paintwork begins

 

[badonk]

@slik560 I apologize that I didn't reply sooner. We're lucky that we have Porsche Colorado Springs (relatively) nearby. In addition to being one of the few Porsche Classic centers in the country, it has an amazing modern inventory. You usually don't see so many GT cars outside of a PCA event. They host several events throughout the year, like most recently, the Pikes Peak Hillclimb driver meet and greet. But, even on a normal day it's worth a stop.

...was just there yesterday and you are right to say the inventory is impressive. Every GT car you can imagine, a singer DLS, a few Spyder RSs, a few Dakars (one stealth matte white with no decals), sport classics, etc. Many had sold tags on them.

 

[kwyjibo]

Big update: ProjectConda is now at the painter!!!

I got a call from Jim, the painter, on Wednesday just after the body was delivered. He was coming in for the morning of the 4th so I made every effort to meet him to discuss the details of the job.

Jim was really happy with the metal work of Jon at the MetalSurgeon and said that it looked like a straightforward paint job.

He is hopeful that I should have ProjectConda back in my garage and ready to assemble by the start of Fall. I'll post updates of the paintwork along the way.

Also, I made a trip down to Porsche Colorado Springs to visit a couple friends and stop by the parts desk. I'll post the photos of what's currently parked on the floor later this afternoon

 

[kwyjibo]

As @badonk pointed out, here are some of the amazing Porsches I saw during my visit to the Colorado Springs dealership on Friday (7/5).
I know most here are interested in teh newer models, but I was most impressed by the 916 that I last saw in a recent article [https://www.excellence-mag.com/issues/300/articles/the-hen-s-tooth]. The other car of note to me was the black 356 because the metalwork was performed by the Metal Surgeon, the same shop that worked on ProjectConda. If my targa comes out half as nice...

 

[kwyjibo]

quick follow-up post:
I stopped by Porsche Colorado Springs this morning to pick up my newly mounted Pirelli CN36 tires. These tires have been infrequently available for the past few years so I picked up a set now even though I don't expect projectconda to need them for a while. I was also very happy to find that Porsche Colorado Springs quoted me the best price - even lower than TireRack. Together with the fender pricing a few months back, they're doing a great job to dispel the myth that dealerships have the worst prices.

 

[Trapps]

Those Fuchs are so tasty!

This car is going to be amazing!!!

 

[kwyjibo]

Yesterday was the annual Italian car show, Automezzi. As usual, I spent most of my time around the old Alfas rather than the contemporary Ferraris and Lambos.
First up, the polarizing Alfa Romeo SZ

I cannot unsee the resemblance to Quagmire here

little step nose Veloce


Giulia hotrod

my wife's new favorite, Montreal


Over in the non-Italian section

And over, over, over from the Alfa section, an outcast GTV6. For whatever reason, this poor car was directed to park in exile

 

[smschriefer]

I wonder of what crime the GTV6 had been found guilty. Seems a pretty severe sentence. The Montreal is a beautiful car in person and I get why your wife loves it.

 

[slik560]

Carrera GT - Exquisite.

 

[kwyjibo]

I wonder of what crime the GTV6 had been found guilty. Seems a pretty severe sentence. The Montreal is a beautiful car in person and I get why your wife loves it.

As far as we can tell the organizers thought that more Alfas would arrive and he was the start of another row of cars. Unfortunately, he was actually the last Alfa to park and so was sitting out in no man's land

I stopped by the FuelFed Coffee and Classics in nearby Boulder on Sunday. I don't think that I've been to one of these events this year so it was good to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in a few months.
Lancia Fulvia

BMW E30 M3 Evo

lots of variety in attendance, from del Sol to i8 to GT4s

to Datsun B210

to Citroens

and of course Porsches, 356A to C, and Turbos

And lastly, the lonely GTV parked in exile around the corner


ProjectConda update: primer is being sprayed!

 

[kwyjibo]

whoops, I forgot to post the photos of the start of projectConda's primer process

 

[TX4runner]

Lol. That GTV is banished all over town.

 

[hewey]

Sharing some beautiful cars as always

 

[kwyjibo]

We just got back from the probably-annual trip to visit the inlaws out in Tacoma Washington. I'll post the automotive photos next, but here are some random things from around the area

Bertrand Goldberg designed St. Joseph's Medical Center


Thomas Dambo troll on Vashon Island

nice sign for local generator rebuilder

Museum of Glass

Kimo on the beach

 

[kwyjibo]

Of course I had to stop by the LeMay museum


The main hall exhibit focused on Japanese automobiles - my favorite was the Toyota 2000GT

but my Porsche-bias showed when I couldn't stop staring at the 4-cam engine fitted to a VW Beetle

There were several kei cars in the exhibit but there were probably as many on the local streets - which I didn't get photos of as they drove by. Here are a couple I caught street parked: Suzuki Carry truck and Subaru Vivio Bistro

And the last Tacoma photo, I went by the now-closed Alfa of Tacoma

 

[kwyjibo]

It's not a vacation unless I get out to a car show. So early Saturday morning I made my way up to check out the Exotics@RedmondTownCenter. It's always nice to see different cars and people
Citroen XM and a good look at the venue

Baur BMW

no less than four Syclone/Typhoons

Many BMW E30 M3s, at least four of them were Evos

Lancia Delta Integrale Evo 1

Saab 9000 with Toppola camper, freshly imported from Sweden

BMW M6

overview of the central plaza

 

[Andrew S]

What are the odds...! That's my white 928 in your last photo. I would have liked to meet you and talk Porsches and architecture! Glad you enjoyed your trip out this way.

 

[kwyjibo]

What are the odds...! That's my white 928 in your last photo. I would have liked to meet you and talk Porsches and architecture! Glad you enjoyed your trip out this way.

I'm sorry that I didn't meet you. My wife was walking Kimo around the periphery so I didn't stay for very long. Your car caught my eye because of the BBS RS wheels, I don't think that I've seen that combo in years. At some point I also noticed that this was probably the most 928s that I've seen in one spot in a long time. Five? (I might be miscounting because of all the 944s there too)

I really struggled with the decision to not make any plans beforehand because it was supposed to be a trip to visit my wife's family. But I was able to squeeze in a few trips for myself, like the E@RTC and LeMay. Hopefully we can meet the next time out

 

[Andrew S]

I'm sorry that I didn't meet you. My wife was walking Kimo around the periphery so I didn't stay for very long. Your car caught my eye because of the BBS RS wheels, I don't think that I've seen that combo in years. At some point I also noticed that this was probably the most 928s that I've seen in one spot in a long time. Five? (I might be miscounting because of all the 944s there too)

I really struggled with the decision to not make any plans beforehand because it was supposed to be a trip to visit my wife's family. But I was able to squeeze in a few trips for myself, like the E@RTC and LeMay. Hopefully we can meet the next time out

Now that I think about it, I do remember seeing your dog.
Yes, I agree, more 928s together than I had seen in a very long time.
For sure, if you have spare time on your next trip, look me up!

 

[kwyjibo]

One of the first things I did after returning from Tacoma was stop by the paint shop. ProjectConda is now close to getting its final primer coat - another step closer to actual Conda green paint!