Your Mission.....

Should you choose to accept it.......

I got an e-mail from the owner of TRE Motorsports that read:  I am sending a job, it's a big one.....

He sent us a 72 911 T.  It looks ok, but in a deep inspection one can see that it has lost some battles, and had not done well against time and the elements,  the scars show that it's had a hard life.

Our mission:  Use all we have learned on previous builds and make this the best conversion we ever built, a triple black 1972 RSR  with a whole list of modifications.  Short of power steering, everything a modern ride has.

But first things first, the front of the tub and the rear end are damaged, in needs to have a ride on the frame machine, once we have it all squared, it needs to get naked.......

A trip to the oven and let the heat slowly strip it of its undercoating and sound deading materials.  and then,  some metal fabrication is in order.                                              We will keep you posted !!

Lightened fast

After enjoying his cab for several years, one of our customers comes by and tells me,  "I don't think my car is not responsive enough, and I've been thinking about one of those light weight flywheels"

There are two schools of thought about that......why aren't I surprised...

This is an all stock engine,it has been maintained regularly and so far only the body have had some injuries, but have only needed cosmetic surgery.

As every cab in Los Angeles, it is enjoyed to the max, it has been driven long and hard.

Now,  it may seem unbelievable that by removing a few pounds from the flywheel we can obtain a great difference on acceleration on a car that is  3000+ pounds, but it is.  On cruising speed the car will maintain speed easily and requires very little throttle input, the road has very little effect on the car's velocity, primary due to the flywheel

Of course, there is the other school.  If it takes very little effort to accelerate, it will also take a great effort to decelerate, in a race situation a driver will request a faster change in engine speed.

Just remember that what's good for the track is often totally wrong for the street.  to get the best of both worlds, get a flywheel that is lighter by a few pounds.

Tools of the trade

We have a new member in our team, and the other day I asked him to bring me a #1 phillips screwdriver..................he asked what size??

Oh Boy !!!   I told my boss, he is going to need training......I just hope my teaching skills have not diminished that much,   as I get older my patience bucket gets empty real fast.

I am going to have to teach him about specialty tools.  We are often asked to do certain things to these cars and sometimes we have to invent our tools, but sometimes we can get lucky and find that someone has made one.

Even though I owe the Snap On Tool man my right kidney and probably part of the left one, I do have tools for pretty much every job, some tool I used only once, some tools I have put to the test and some have just been plain abused

Of course, the argument about tools is a long and boring one,  I prefer Snap On, the fit, they last and they look good.  Never ask how much it is, if you know the price, you won't buy it.

Take care of your tools and your tool will take care of you.

Yes pumpkin......you are pretty

When I got to work this morning.......Pumpkin was there.

Busy as we are I have forgotten all about the big show in Monterrey, so if Pumpkin is going to make a showing, it needs to be prettied up,  see, It's been a long rebuild, and it has been a few months since she went home.

A full face lift and new hips were given, then the bath of orange elixir took place, but with all our paint work, we let it rest for a few months to insure a good cure, then a final colorsand and polish to really make it shine.

The duck tail and trunk lid are carbon fiber, but we gave them a few coats of high viscosity clear to match the orange glow.

The 3.6 turbo that was the junk in the trunk, had to be replace with a stock one, few minor details are not worth the risk of injury during the long journey up north........But don't get mistaken, you don't want to meet this little pumpkin in a dark alley......it can turn into Halloween..........

We can make it stronger....we can make it faster.....

We have the technology........

 After having a few rounds with two insurance companies, we finally got approval for the repairs needed.

 One of the biggest challenges was that there are no replacement parts available,  you can buy the whole kit, but that would be overkill.  We had a price to buy the one half, but somehow, it is higher now, and the insurance said, no supplements.
We have no choice but to use our skills to repair it and make it stronger.

First things first,  We have to relive all the pressure from the fiberglass by cutting the areas that were folded from the impact, then attach anchors to hold the body in place.  Hey !  I think doctors fix bones this way.....

 To insure strength we are going to sandwich this portion between coats of long strand fiberglass reinforced body filler,  it is a product hard to work with, but it the strongest one.

 Once the easy part is done, then we start shaping the area, smoothing and making sure there are no bubbles that may come back to hunt us later on.

Of course, we have to reinforce it from the inside too, we used a polyester mesh along with our filler.  In the end, this repair cost more than the insurance paid for, but the important thing is to get our customer rolling again.
Now that the body has been mended and we have made it stronger,  it is time to make it faster.    stay tune.

On life support

As it is tradition of a car enthusiast, as soon as a car gets acquired, something needs to be upgraded.  It could be simple as a shift knob, or extreme as a complete body kit.

But at some point,  it will go back to its original shape,  This 73 long hood took a detour and was lost for years a C2 body fiberglass suit, now now it has found its way and it is ready to join the long hood party


CLEAR !!!
beep..beep...beep.......

Now that we have brought back to life, it is time to address the other terminal deceases,  A typical weak spot in a car of this age is the suspension pan, we will cure that area first.

So, after painfully removing all the bad areas, A coat of rust inhibitors will be applied to the hidden areas and then we fit its new parts. 

After welding and sealing all needed was a coat of its original color,  next we will move to the other sensitive area.............The rear tray.