Project: 1976 911S

[Apoc]

Welp, I still don't have the car back. I had surgery, then traveled for work, then went on vacation. I hadn't followed up on the car in all that time because I had enough shit going on. I'm learning that this shop is good for smaller things, but probably not something that requires a bit more effort. The delay is because the ducktail had to be repainted - there was a reaction with the fiberglass on the first pass and he wasn't happy with the results. While he was waiting for the painter to finish, he didn't put the decal on. Wha? Paying people to do things is supposed to make is mo fasta and betta. I think I need a new shop.

[WRXtranceformed]

I feel your pain brother. I'm waiting still waiting coming on 7 months for a $285 watch

[Apoc]

Another month and still no car. This is the email I got from the shop today. It really shouldn't take two months to paint a damn ducktail, but what am I gonna do at this point? Demand it back and pay someone else to fix it? The shop owner outsourced the work to a body shop, so it'll be interesting to see what considerations, if any, will show up on my bill.

I had a lengthy conversation with the body shop yesterday. Naturally you and I are both a little frustrated on the time taken for this task. His issue has been getting a perfect match on the paint. He's assured me as of yesterday they have a proper match with the assistance of a PPG representative. The panel is supposed to be painted at noon today. 

Should all happen as it is supposed to at this point we'll have a car for you Friday. Finally.  

[Goodspeed]

Wait until Friday to get your car back? Unless they've given you a bygone firm delivery date or two before, it sounds like you'll be made whole pretty soon. Did they keep you in the loop about paint match woes?

[ScottyB]

Did they keep you in the loop about paint match woes?

this.  i can handle delays on certain things if the vendor is just polite enough to articulate why things aren't happening the way they should.  i hope it wasn't a surprise on their part for you to want a status update after 2 months to paint a single panel.

[Apoc]

I've called roughly once every three weeks and I've heard "hopefully this week" about 80% of the time. The reason has oscillated between the painter not being happy with the finish, him being underwater, and now him having trouble matching the color. I suspect my shop is telling me everything he's being told by the painter, but the shop owner is pretty laid back so I doubt he's yelling at the painter every week to get it done. The car is sitting in my mechanic's shop, so I'm sure he's sick of moving it around to work on various cars. There's telltale speedway green in their facebook posts, so at least I know he hasn't parted the car out. 

edit: The one thing I think I failed to mention is I'm having the shop replace the stock headlights with Cibies. I'm not sure if/when I'll go bigger, but at least I'll have matching lights (and lights that don't suck) when I do.

 

[Apoc]

I got pics from the shop owner. Hopefully this means I'll actually be getting it back this week.

Up next is the tint place for window darkening and vinyl application on the rocker panels. 

Then, maybe, I'll drive it.

[Apoc]

Finally. So, yeah... it took over three months from the time I ordered the ducktail until it was all finished. As mentioned, I had them put in a pair of cibies as the old lights were mismatch sylvania bulbs in the stock housings. The lights are a subtle change, but it does clean up the front end a bit. They were pretty reasonable... especially compared to what the ducktail was all-in... so I just went ahead and did it. The shop painted my grill flat black, which looks pretty awesome because my dad had horrifically spotted the thing with an orbital buffer and wax. I added a PCA PNW grill badge to complete the euro ricer look. I'm not a big PCA guy, but their logo is pretty freaking cool so I couldn't resist. I think I'm going to move the badge, but other than that I'm pretty pleased with the results. 

The tint and vinyl will likely be done the last week of this month, as the shop is booked out a few weeks. I also decided to put a hub spacer on, as the prototipo is in knuckle scraping territory. I guess I'll fix the door pull when that gets here. There are a couple informal car shows in August, so I'm looking forward to getting this all wrapped up and attending those shows. After that, I let my bank account recover. I do think wheels are gonna have to happen at some point, but I don't even really want to think about that. I'd also like to replace the rear bumper, but I'm pretty gun shy about needing paint again. I guess they'll have it figured out, but still. Maybe I'll just drive it for awhile...



























Oh, and the door pull pulled off in my hand as I was trying to get out of the car.

[WRXtranceformed]

Turned out great man!!

[JPolen01]

Looks great. I think some wheels would really bring it all together.

[Senor_Taylor]

Looks great!

[Goodspeed]

Looks great. I think some wheels would really bring it all together.

+1, looks really good.  That has to be a pretty drastic aero difference too, I'll be curious to read a driving report once you hustle it a bit

[Apoc]

Looks great. I think some wheels would really bring it all together.

+1, looks really good.  That has to be a pretty drastic aero difference too, I'll be curious to read a driving report once you hustle it a bit

Most things I've read say they were actually pretty terrible for aero. This car floats pretty bad at speed, so it would be a nice perk to settle things a bit. I've got some highway miles planned next weekend; will report back.

[GTBrandon]

Wow wow wow, this car is stunning. I don’t think it needs anything other than the side vinyl lettering.

What tint percent are you going with? I’m back and forth on whether any tint at all would look good on this.

Also what wheels were you looking at? The current ones are classic.

[ScottyB]

love the new decklid and more of the same from the peanut gallery - would be perfect with a set of larger wheels with a bit more offset and less sidewall.

but yeah...go drive it a lot

[.RJ]

Disagree on less sidewall. Its an old 911, thats how they are.

Some wheel spacers might be nice, though.

[Apoc]

Wow wow wow, this car is stunning. I don’t think it needs anything other than the side vinyl lettering.

What tint percent are you going with? I’m back and forth on whether any tint at all would look good on this.

Also what wheels were you looking at? The current ones are classic.

30% front, 15% rear to match our other cars.

I'm really on the fence about wheels. I think the fuchs are pretty classic, but I'm going through this "all silver/chrome is bad" phase. None of the online configurators have cars this old, so it's hard to even get a sense of what wheels look like on the car. I'll probably wait until it needs new rubber before doing anything.

[.RJ]

http://www.52outlaw.com/

[JPolen01]

http://www.52outlaw.com/

Please don't give any money to Magnus Walker. Do not aid in his horrible work!

[ScottyB]

Disagree on less sidewall.  Its an old 911, thats how they are.

Some wheel spacers might be nice, though.

i 100% get what you mean.  i'm talking maybe jump up an inch in rim size, not like riding on rubberbands.  

i think this looks amazing