I'm Looking For 968 Shark Fins in GRP...

[944 man]

...to fit a 944. I want to use them to cover the torsion bar access holes I'm drilling in my rear wheelarches: similar to those just visible in this picture.

They dont need to be of fantastic quality, but they need to fit the car and be sensibly priced.

Any helpful suggestions appreciated.

 

[Fen]

I apologise if I'm about to teach you to suck eggs, but...

They don't fit straight on. I bought a set for exactly the reasons you want them though in the end I dropped the beam off the back and re-indexed that way and was happy with the end result so heven't actually cut the panels.

The 968 has a very different look behind the PU sections than the 944 - it has cutaway sections at the wing bottoms and (I think) the torsion bar ends, and it also is not only drilled for the fasteners but has the holes recessed into the panel by means of depressions around them. All that means that you cannot use the 968 mounting method as the PU trim will sit proud of the body by close to half an inch. It also means I have a bag of 968 side trim mounts in my garage, though I used some to replace brittle ones when I changed the rubber seal on my 964 as they are the same.

To fit mine I went with external fasteners I chose that for 2 reasosns:

1. I like the look - hopefully it echos the 924CGT and GT2 wheel arches.
2. It means they can be removed and refitted if necessary which the other option of bonding them on would not.

I was also worried if I bonded them that for a time I'd be worried they would come off again.

I have also mentioned on here before that I cut the totally solid front wing bottom corners off my car with a jig saw as the 968 front sections cannot be fitted over the profile of the bottom of the 944 front wheelarch.

I got mine from Simon Butterworth at a Husborne Crawley meet for £35, though that didn't include the front sections which I ended up buying new as they are "always the bit that gets destroyed when a 968 has an off". They clearly came from a car that had had bodily contact with the road surface.

I had to not only use external fasteners but also trim off a lot of the moulding behind the 968 trim where the clips attach with a Stanley knife as even that would not let it sit flush with the 944's body. I didn't fasten the bottom edge to the floor at all.

The end result is below. I have said before I wouldn't bother again, though it does make the car look exceptionally low and it would hide the torsion hole if I had one...

 

[944 man]

Fen, thats a superb post and I feel guilty typing this..... Im looking for 968 lookalike 'shark fins' made to fit a 944, in GRP. I apologise for the ambiguous nature of my original post. As I will certainly be using external fastners, Id be extremely interested to hear how you did it.

 

[andy watson]

Have you tried ebay, do a search for 968 side skirts think there is a pair on there now.

Regards
Andy

 

[Black_JPN]

Fen,

What did you do with your plate when you moved to NZ? Did you realise a nice profit from it or is it still on the 944?

 

[Fen]

I realised when I reread your original post just now that you actually said GRP, so not a surprise. Anyway here's the pic of a nude 968 I knew the existence of (thanks again Stu):

As for how I did it - well I bought the rear sections as desribed above from Simon B, exhausted the options for used front bits and ordered new ones via OPC Exeter along with the fitting kit and rubber edging. I then gave the 4 PU parts to my preferred bodyshop to paint Glacier blue. When I got them back I was probably £300 into this project and that was when I discovered that they weren't going to fit straight on [].

I then positioned the trims using tape and drilled through some minimal holes to hold them on, and discovered that they still didn't fit because of the moulding behind for attaching the clips, so I trimmed that off with the Stanley and fitted one of the rear sections flush with the car. Then I offered up the front and discovered I had to cut my wings. I appreciate that with all the people who have crunchy wing bottoms it was borderline criminal to do that.

It wasn't especially difficult, nor even time-consuming in the grand scheme, but it was a classic case of what started out as a simple plan turning out not to be so simple, allied to a case of "well, I've come this far..." I actually really like the look and I guess not many people would go through with copying it so it will stay fairly unusual, although I suspect you aren't worried about that.

Sorry, I have no idea how well GRP replicas are made or fit, but at a guess Simon at ESS could get some, and maybe Club Autosport do them, though in that case I wouldn't bet they fit any better than the genuine ones. I would say that mine being flexible is a real boon - they are pretty scuffed underneath from brushing kerbs etc. as they ground long before the front splitter, and in GRP they might be cracked, though they hang down below where they really need to and if they were snug to the sills at the bottom it might not be an issue - I like how low it makes the car look though.

edited to remove a spurious "I" at the end of the original post and to add thanks to Stu C-S for the pic.

 

[944 man]

I have Andy, thanks. Two sets available currently. One being sold having never been fitted, very possibly from the vendor of the second pair; who has appalling feedback due to selling shark fins that dont fit...

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: Black_JPN

Fen,

What did you do with your plate when you moved to NZ? Did you realise a nice profit from it or is it still on the 944?

I was only looking after it for the real owner. Jon has posted just today that he saw it on a CLK cab in Exeter which I imagine is the real owner's car as he has always been into his soft top Mercs. It's for sale - I think he wants £50k for it.

If I bring my 944 to NZ and (even less likely) I go through the hassle of certifying all the mods so I can register it for the road I might buy it 9EX as a plate here (assuming it's still available) for old-time's sake.

 

[944 man]

Im guessing stainless steel screws into the cars original sills?

 

[Fen]

Currently SS screws and washers, yes. I also Waxoyled in behind as soon as I had done it.

My indie suggested using "rivnuts" in bigger holes in the sills which then have the advantage that they can be painted before the rivnut is fitted without the paint just hetting stripped off agaian and present stainless both sides of the thread. I actually think black screws would look better on my car and I have the option to go mild steel button head (socket headed) screws in black if I go the rivnut route.

 

[Peter Empson]

This doesn't help, but I considered using blanking plugs (as found on earlier 911's) and just making some holes in the sills, but decided against it in the end as I was worried it'd be another good place for rust to start. I suspect the next suspension mod may involve removing the torsion bars altogether, but I don't really want to start thinking about that just yet [8|]

 

[lali]

The white race car and indeed my old S2 had a legth of pipe welded in the hole and then trimmed down to fit flush and also stop any water getting into the sills.