From Rally Dreams to a Real Build
Have you ever seen the rally videos of the old porsches going over dirt roads at ridiculous speeds and ending up wishing you could be behind the wheel of one? Vintage Car Works had the opportunity to do just that. A stock 1973 Porsche 911 was brought into them and was tasked with creating an off road rally race car. Dave DiMaria, the owner of Vintage Car Works, has a love for Porsches and a love for speed so he had no hesitation when he accepted this build.
The build started like any other Porsche restoration. The 911 was documented with many pictures and notes. Then the disassembly process started.
Tearing Down the Interior and Body
First that came off the 911 were the aftermarket speakers and speaker wiring. Once that was out the door pockets and door cards were removed. The old cracked dashboard was the next thing to be removed from the 911 following the quarter windows and the rear seats. The carpeting for the interior was removed then the gauges and all of the knobs and switches on the dashboard. The headliner and the seats were the next to be removed. Once 90% of the interior was removed the door frames were next and the side windows followed.
After all of these parts were removed, it was time to start removing more of the bigger panels. The front bumper, license plate panel, and both rear bumpers were removed. Then the fuel tank was removed and the fun really started when the engine and transaxle were removed from the 911. After the engine and transaxle were removed, the rest of the suspension and the last minor components followed. Lastly all of the body panels came off the 911. A custom cart was made for the 911 body, utilizing the stock suspension mounts.
Stripping, Sandblasting, and Restoring the Suspension
Once this 911 was on the cart the cleaning and stripping process started. The undercoating was first scraped off and removed from every panel. To access the underside of the 911 an external rotisserie-esque structure was fabricated to allow us to rotate the 911 90 degrees. Once the majority of the uncoating was removed and the body of the 911 was stripped of everything it was sent off to Blast Tech to be sandblasted.
While the 911 was at Blast Tech the suspension components that were salvageable were cleaned, media blasted then restored to be reused on the 911. Most of the major suspension components including the front and rear control arms and crossmember were powder coated so the finish is durable enough for the rally.
Straightening the Body and Engineering the Roll Cage
The 911 returned to the shop and was immediately taken off the custom cart and put on a Celette Table. A Celette Table is a table with many critical mounting points to ensure the body and frame rails are straight. While the 911 was on the Celette Table some rust spots were fixed to verify the body would not warp while welding.
While the metal work was being done to the body the engineering started. A roll cage was planned, seats were located, and the mounting points of the spare parts were planned. Once enough chromoly steel tubing arrived, two metal technicians started measuring, cutting, bending and welding in a full roll cage, tying it into the suspension mounting points to make the 911 as rigid as possible.
Built for the Outback: Spare Parts and Safety Systems
A more typical rally car is carrying multiple spare parts and a spare tire or two but this one was built to have a full set of spare suspension parts, ignition parts, two spare tires and more. Now normally when these rally cars have spare tires one is located in the stock location and one is placed on the roof, but a larger fuel tank was installed, so that ruled out the stock location. We did not mount the second spare on the roof for safety purposes.
The first spare tire was still located in the front luggage compartment but a pocket was cut into the bulk head and the first spare mounted right above the smugglers box. The second one was mounted inside the 911 behind the two front seats, another pocket was cut into the fire wall where the rear seat backs would be and one of the metal technicians engineered a mount to securely fasten the second spare. There were so many spare parts on this 911 one could almost build a second car.
Once all of the parts found a place to mount, the roll cage was finalized and fully TIG welded into the 911. 930 brake calipers and rotors were fit and a hydraulic hand brake was installed. One of the countries this car was traveling through would not allow a hydraulic hand brake so a back out mechanical was fit using the same clamping system a 1974 Porsche 911 RS 3.0.
Prepping the Body for Paint
Once the majority of the modifications to the body of the 911 were completed it then visited the paint shop and was thoroughly cleaned. Refer to the “The Complete Guide to Metal Preparation for Epoxy Primer in Classic Car Restoration” blog post to see all of the work that was done to this 911. With the nook and crannies that the new roll cage made, this 911 had to be rotated on a portable cart with outriggers to make sure epoxy primer was covering the entire car.
Now while the paint shop was busy with the 911 the metal shop didn’t have any time to slow down. 911’s have fiberglass bumpers but any external structure around those bumpers were not wanted, so what did the metal shop do? Well they did what they do best, they fabricated an internal skeletal structure for the front and rear bumper out of chromoly steel tubing.
After the body of the 911 was in primer it was block sanded and any imperfections were fixed as soon as they were found. The rear bumper was fit and then it was back into the paint booth for another round of primer. After the final round of primer, the front and rear bumpers were installed along with the front and rear glass and the exterior lights. The metal shop also fabricated small tabs that held the windshield, rear glass, and both headlights just to make sure nothing unseats after driving over uneven roads for hours. Hood and engine lid pins were fit to verify that they will not open as well.
Once Vintage Car Works gave the seal of approval for the trim fit, the 911 was disassembled and moved back into the paint shop for paint.
Paint Day: French Racing Blue Metallic
The first part that was painted was the inside of the luggage compartment. Then the engine bay was masked and painted as well. The inner apron was painted next and seeing the first signs of the French Racing Blue Metallic on the 911 was surreal. After that the body and all of its exterior panels were painted as well. The 911 was rotated onto its outriggers and the entire roll cage was masked so the interior could be painted.
After the 911 was done being painted and was curing, the entire population of Vintage Car Works would walk through the paint shop, stop, and get lost in the beauty of this car.
Assembly: Wiring, Systems, and the Engine
When the paint was finished curing the 911 was moved over to assembly and wiring harnesses were being pulled through the car along with fuel, brake and oil lines. For the rally, speed sensors were needed to be fit to the 911 so machined caps were installed on the back of the studs enabling a hall effect sensor to pick up the signal. All of those parts and spare parts that were mocked up and test fit were installed and torqued to spec.
Day after day this build became more and more complete. With all of the engineered parts and rally required equipment needed, it was all hands on deck to build assemblies, locate new sensors, computers, switches etc. and make them work with the build. A second battery was also fit and wired into the car as a back up in case the main one failed. Some custom parts were needed so Vintage Car Works used CAD and a 3D printer to create them in house.
With the bigger suspension, steering and wiring parts installed, the 911 was rolled out into the sun and it was gorgeous. That day everyone took a little 10 minute break to just look at what was being created.
Assembly resumed, lexan glass vent windows, window frames, an aftermarket amplifier and speakers, skid plates, headlights, turn signals, lexan glass rear window, quarter windows, speed sensors and rally clocks were installed. The engine was received from Steve Rowe with a bare fiberglass shroud. The engine was wired, married to the transmission then installed into the 911.
With the engine in and electrical completed, every light, radio, fan, clocks, anything electrical was turned on to stress test the systems. The systems passed the stress test and Vintage Car Works finalized the final details for the build.
From the Shop Floor to Peking to Paris
This build had something for everything, from the major engineering feats all the way down to the 917 inspired shift knob. After Vintage Car Works went over the 911 one more time to put their stamp on it, the car went to the Air and Water show and won the People’s Choice Award.
After the show it came back to the shop for some final details before its first rally. With everything dialed in and completed. It was time to send this 911 off to China for the Peking to Paris rally: 36 days, 12 countries, over 14,000km.
