odurandina

you think ? LOL. i like to think of the 911 lamps as making downforce, if after slowing down the car.

i don't see how the stock 968 eye socket could be viewed as anything less than a catastrophe (by comparison).

if i'm able to finish the bumper soon, then Eric Hill will be able re-produce it when he gets the car in his shop.

also, i still need to remove the 'Thomas the Train' smiley face.

odurandina

,,,,,,,,,,,

odurandina

update:

headlamp adventure looks like it's going to end well.....

bring steaks, chicken, burgers, hot dogs and your cars over....

i'll be happy to cut up everything (including your 968s).




life begins with the cheese grater.... i got away with using very little body filler, because my spot-welder buddy talked me into cutting open the fenders and simply welding in a strip of curved sheet metal (long, narrow triangle) for the win.....

one more thing... before anyone asks, this isn't cheap body filler. there's a significant amount of reinforced epoxy under there.

very strong stuff (not to make the fenders stonger, but to last for a long, long time) over spotwelding work, basically performed by (God).

here's before sanding.... getting pretty good at sculpting with the grater.



,

odurandina

just thought i'd give you all just a bit more background.... some might have been a bit too young to remember the shock the 959 sent around the world... compared to the 911/930/964 front end and fenders, the 959 immediately took ownership as the most beautiful 911, and when the 993 arrived, the world had been waiting six years, but the 959 style fenders were finally mounted on a stock 911... in 1997 Porsche made a nice upgrade with the HID light technology. others have done the 993 headlight upgrade for the 968, but no one has ever made something that can work for the stock Porsche Xenons, (as the lamps must be set at exactly the same angle as on the 993 (steep), and additonal space must be cut away (just in front of the wheel wells) for the large headlamp assemblies... luckily this part of the inner fender assembly isn't critical to the rigidity of the greater front clip...


.

odurandina

and a few hours later....

(closing in) there's still a few minor bumps....

next i'll lower the front valence so i can cut the bottom sections of the fenders.




absolutey true...

of course, you're talking most prominently about Evercoat products used by auto body shops.

(their Kitty Hair is good stuff).

http://www.evercoat.com/productCategory.aspx?cat=4

bondo ? 100 psi... Evercoat (polyester) kitty hair is like 1000 psi !!

then, call the nice folks at Devcon and ask them why you can barely smash their plastic welder adhesive with a hammer after 24 hours. their aircraft grade adhesives are about 4 and a half times stronger than Kitty Hair, and in an airtight seal away from UV exposure both products will last almost forever. but Devcon adds flexibility and strength.... so it's also the perfect composite for bumper repair. look closey at this photo from a few hours after using the cheese grater, and you can see the Devcon along the fender line nearest to the hood. i have to remove just a bit more of it then add a bit of bondo mixed with resin above.... then, i still have a bit of sculpting to do, but, as you can see i'm getting close.....




nailed it. i mentioned maybe about 2 pounds of plastic per side... well, it's probably closer to a pound maybe.... but, at some point, i'll pay a visit to Joel at GT Racing and he'll be able to clone them and be make the fenders available in either gelcoat or carbon for anyone who wants to run oem Porsche Xenons. can't wait til i'm able to show you the lamps turned on.




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flwbyu

odurandina, this has been a great project to watch unfold. I am waiting in anticipation for the finished product. I greatly appreciate you sharing this with the RN 968 group. It's also nice to see someone upgrading the looks of the 968. Keep up the excellent work!!

RajDatta

+1. Nice job Allan. Thank you for sharing.

alxdgr8

Definitely interested if GT Racing does a mold.

odurandina

thanks guys !! i was able to get in a few hours of sanding in under the tent during the pouring rain today..... on the driver's side fender. i still got about 3 hours of fine cutting to go, so please excuse me for the rough look.... the fenders will be painted Porsche Agua Blue or some close variant in just a few more days... the 4th photo is a kind of an odd reflecion from the flashbulbs..... as soon as the driver's side is done i'll simply drop the front valance and be able to trim the bottom/front sections of the fenders... then spray on epoxy primer. i've got window putty jamed in the creases at this moment (please excuse the mess there).



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TheBlau

looking great so far! can't wait to see them in person...

xschop

I need a set for my 948. looks great Allan.

morghen

Looks great, get it finished and painted. The car looks 10 years younger with those things on.

Uli911

Disagreee.

Those standard goggle-eyes are unique to the 968, a/the recognition feature of this rel. rare car.
They look funny but cool. I love them.

If I would want a car that front end looks like a 993 I would buy a 993.


Sorry.

odurandina

thanks a lot !! i'll be getting them primed and painted in the next few days....




in a way you're right... the stock lamp's design is actually quite appropriate for the high bumper line. and being recessed, it also allows the front of the fender to come down at an appropirate angle..... that is to say the hight between the rear of the fender and the geometrical line of the front of the header panel *(if the 968 actually had a header panel) where it makes it's abrupt turn downward to form the top of the bumper line.... geometrically, this presents a significant problem (if attempting to run 993 style headlamps) and one of the reasons why it becomes necessary to lower the bottom of the stationary lamps by as much as 1/2"~5/8" from where the bottom of the stock 968 lamp is located....

i'm sure this was a crucial factor weighing in their final decision to run the frog eyes (as they turn out about 75 degress from an almost horizontal position).... but with the gorgeous fenders that Benji and Mark at *(D-9) made, and if copies of my Xenon fenders are done, then either staying stock or doing a conversion is a personal choice. i feel the stock lamps look perfectly horrible when not deployed. and even worse still when they come on. but this is not an objective opinion since i own one of these cars..... i also have no right to say this is what anyone else should do to their 968s....

there's also problem with cost.

the complete Porsche lamps and accompanying electronics are close to $4,000 (each !) at the dealer (and maybe a little less for the full kits, ballasts and wiring harnesses at Sunset or Suncoast Porsche)....

i got lucky, avoiding the (10X overpriced) Porsche ballasts/harnesses altogether and simply using high-end aftermarket electronics....... i was lucky to be able to source new oem fixtures that someone (who had done a large purchase for a group buy) was dumping on Ebay and got the two lamps completed with the upgrade to 6000 K for about $2,000.... then i did the cutting of the fenders, and paid only $500 dollars for the spotwelding work (got a discount because we went to the same high school).


i've asked a lot of people including strangers at the gas station (and elsewhere) about what they think about the pop-up lamps;

their response was fairly clear, as repeated by many rennlisters here (to paraphrase);

the pop-up lamps make the cars look quite dated.


i was parked on South Beach one day and i was standing about 15 feet from the car after i had washed and waxed it right on the Collins Ave strip..... a bunch of girls walked by and one of them uttered, "that's a Porsche right?"..... and one of the other girls said. "yeah but it's really old."

well, the Xenon lamps themselves really improve this problem with the 968.... on a sunny day, or overcast, they look great on or off... but at night, even better...... on the front bumper, i was trying extend outward to a late '90s look for the 968.... but overall, this isn't easy since, (behind the hood), we're going all the way back to the 944 (cerca 1986)..... if you go too far forward, these cars end up looking ridiculous.... on combining the lower front sections of the 911 and 968, the 993 front valance was so hideous that running it was pointless.... then i couldn't make the 996 front work with the 968..... in the end, my front end is a compromise. especially the angle (coming down from the bumper) of the lower front lip.

believe it or not,

the lower lip (under the main radiator vent) could easily be extended outward (another inch or two!) with the central bumper sloping outward instead of straight down, as currently configured.... if i do this, i'll definitely have to have a mold made with large honeycomb pattern on the inside to bridge the gap from the gelcoat to the inner 968 bumper assembly....

might end up doing just that (but save it for next year), as i need to do some other projects.



.

ChatyJones

Nice mod. Make sure you get some good photos at different angles when all is said and done. I'd be curious to see what a profile of the car would look like.
And I don't think you should repaint the car. Go for this instead:
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/15/m...d-porsche-924/