The other outlaw again

ignatzcatz · Dec 27, 2018

I'm still trying re the photos but here is a quick shot of the 915 gearbox which is quite a bit longer than the old 356 unit so the plan is to cut out the existing torsion bar housing and weld in a torsion bar housing from an early 911 approx. 3" forward of the original position then utilise 911 torsion bars, trailing arms and torsion plates. It looks like the existing shock mounts can be used. The chassis will be beefed up by running tubing from the existing rollcage forward to the front suspension and the rear will have a mini subframe running from the back posts of the rollcage down to the rearmost part of the car to take the rear motor mounts for the engine. So it's a bit of tubing, a bit of welding, job done. The brakes will be getting a looking at, there are 944 brakes already on the front but I shall be upgrading them to 944 turbo rotors and calipers plus fitting a servo up front which will get it's suck from a stand alone vacuum pump. All I'm doing is copying a car I saw in the States when I attended the 356 Registry's East Coast holiday in New Jersey this October, and that car had air conditioning installed as well, very cool and cool.

ignatzcatz · Jan 21, 2019

There has been some progress on the conversion so far. A considerable amount of the inner rear bodywork has now been cut away in order to position the 2.4 motor and 915 box, so there's no going back now. It all fits in snugly without the call for any lumps, bumps or humps to spoil the original contours of the car. An important factor in this conversion was that I didn't want any scoops or jacked up engine lids ala Fiat Abarths and 'hot' VWs. Also with a pair of early steel 911 trailing arms to play around with, it looks like I will be able to use the existing 356 torsion bar housing with adjustable 911 torsion plates although coil overs haven't yet been ruled out for rear suspension. And going from the bottom to the top of the engine, I wont be running the stock air-cleaners on the Zeniths but will have a set of, hopefully, rather racey anodised aluminium ram pipes. Unfortunately the rear inlets will not clear the engine cover so the inner part will need to be massaged for clearance then as I don't wish to run the engine unfiltered, I shall fabricate a filter housing within the engine lid that can will seal over the inlet trumpets when the lid is closed. A few pics . . .