It is getting there… Slowly…
A Few Photos of the Jagermeister 935 Replica…
Jagermeister 935 Replica
I was trying not to get distracted by the 935 replica. Doing a mock-up with the wheels was a very, very bad idea…
Finding a fantastic decal supplier (https://www.isaydingdong.co.uk/) that had all of the Jagermeister stickers in stock didn’t help either!
Just like the white RSR project that is just being finished up, the old pink car spend a lot of its life in the Porsche Cup just going round and round like a goldfish. The rules of the day said that carpets needed to be fitted so there is glue residue everywhere, but it seems that is was also mandatory to fabricate things as poorly as possible and have an illogical roll cage design. At least this shell is in amazing rust and accident damage free. The car is still on a CAMS logbook so I can’t do a lot with the roll cage without starting again. It isn’t what I would install now at least the design isn’t too bad.
I am not a huge fan of abrasive blasting because it is so hard to get rid of the residue, but it was really the only easy option in this case. There were so many holes in the floor and panels to fill in, and I have still haven’t worked out a good way of getting rid of glue. The added bonus was seeing everyone’s reaction reaction to the shell going down the road on the trailer. It really was more secure than it looked!
The car is looking great now that some colour has been applied. Once the roof has been in primer for a few weeks it can be blocked back and the outside of the shell painted. The nose clip has been painted and is ready to go on when the shell comes off the rotisserie. I was surprised that even though I can fit a twelve inch slick on the front, the nose is still narrower than the GT2.
Fitting the rear quarter panels are going to be as much fun getting a prostate exam so the car might be parked out of the way and against the will for a while. Putting the rear boots on really shows how wide the rear is!
White Powder
Over the festive season I spent way too much time with that white powder up my nose. Yep, that fine fibreglass dust gets everywhere you don’t want it, and leaves you scratching like a crack addict for days. I am not sure how composite work became part of my job description but it seems really hard to be able to buy quality panels and parts off the shelf…
Many moons ago I tooled up for vacuum bagging and resin infusion when I was making all the parts for the aerobatic plane which included seats, instrument panels as well as the plug, moulds and ultralight weight skins and tail. The project took an inordinate amount of time just shaping, sanding and polishing but being able to switch off my brain made it quite cathartic and enjoyable.
Maybe the fond memories of that project are actually due to a cognitive impairment due to all of the nasty chemicals and dust. Having to repair the panels that were purchased for some of the current projects has been far from enjoyable and really slowing progress! It seems that buying body kits from the US is like a lottery and I am yet to have a win…
I knew the rear quarter panels for the GT2 project needed to be widened from the start. The only commercially available panels we could find were ones to suit the 996 RSR narrow body. That challenge was accepted, the complete kit ordered and I grabbed some two pack foam so I could so some sculpting. What I wasn’t expecting is the one quarter panel to be 13mm shorter than the other and so many pinholes and voids under the gelcoat in all the panels. It is a reasonably big job to mount the rear quarters, so having to spend so much time repairing the front panels that should bolt on with only minor fitting is frustrating! The massive Cup Car centrelock wheels and slicks are a really tight fit under the flares so the chassis needed to be wheel aligned first, the panels pulled into shape and the flare positioned in the correct position before foam filling. The fit is actually so tight that the old smaller diameter Cup tyre needed to be fitted up for alignment as the 710 diameter wouldn’t fit inside the flare… At least the bulk of the work is done now and the mould is made. All the work to make the massive Kardashianesque rear end is definitely worthwhile when viewed from behind! I am pretty slow updating my website so maybe the panels will be made and the car painted by the time I get around to uploading this blog. Maybe.
The 935 kit is even more of a nightmare. I didn’t have high expectations but it seems the moulds have aged as well as a tattoo on a geriatric. Considering it is a project that I am not supposed to be working on, I was hoping for an easier installation… The big one piece nose fitted up quickly but the other panels all need a fair fit of work before they will come close to fitting. The roof overlay bonded on relatively easily too but the back of it and one sill is was so warped that it it many layers of glass needed to be added before the excess was ground away. So much fibreglass dust!
The rear quarters are just going in the too hard basket for now. As can be seen in the photos, all the trimming in the world isn’t going to make them fit easily. I have tried leaving them fitted up for weeks in the sun, slicing them to relieve the stress where they are warped in the rear bumper bar segments and even praying to every god I could think of – but nothing changed… It is a pity that the vents are different from left to right too!
As I am writing this I am starting to realise why I got so many more grey hairs last year. Even the white RSR tribute has had its moments. Luckily I didn’t have to fit the massive rear flares because they were a veritable nightmare as well, but something that was seemingly as simple as ordering an amber fan shroud has turned out to be difficult. The normally aspirated 3.8L engine has been converted from a 3.6 Turbo so it has the rare combination of two bolt heads and a relatively unique fan housing. The deeper alternator means that no one seemed to be able to supply one. After getting the runaround from a US supplier that said they could make one, I finally couldn’t wait any longer and made the mould myself. I have vacuum bagged one sample but am not happy with the colour of the vinylester resin. At least making another one that is slightly more amber is a fairly painless process now.
Every kid’s dream – a 935 K3!
When I was a kid, my bedroom walls weren’t lined with posters of Pamela Anderson, they were lined with posters of the all conquering Porsche 935s. And ever since I have wanted one. Or more to the point, I needed one! Watching them breathe fire down the Mulsanne Straight at the Le Mans Classic a few years ago really didn’t help my need either…
Meanwhile, I have been wondering what to do with a car we affectionately call Cupcake, an ex-Porsche Cup racer. Being built on an early model shell that is in unbelievably good condition; and the ever increasing values of the long nose cars; the smart move would be to restore it back to standard. I have never been that smart, so I ordered some late 935 K3 panels and hunted around the workshop for the angle grinder…
Removing the existing 930S body kit was quite cathartic! I don’t know what Porsche was thinking when they came up with the slopenose body in 1981 – it has always been a bit embarrassing, it is like the ugly lovechild of a 944 and a 930 – and no one likes a 944! Then again, it could be argued that painting it a three layer pearl pink could also be considered a bit silly. I was young…
It was like Christmas came early when the kit turned up! It was pretty painless compared to some of the other kits I have ordered for customers. I had to sit the panels on the car to see how much work was ahead of me. As you can see from the photos – a lot!
The one piece nose is going to be pretty straight forward. Unfortunately the existing splitter isn’t a good fit so a new one and matching flat floor will need to be laid up. The rear is a bit more complicated. The panels aren’t too bad but I want a fit that is better than the average race car so it isn’t going to happen overnight. A 935 is 2 meters wide and in original form ran 19 x 16 inches wide wheels so it makes the existing 16 x 13 inch wide rear wheels look a bit silly. Heck, it looks like some really bad quality VW kit car at the moment! I better sort out some decent sized centre lock wheels. I really need some old school centrelock BBS wheels with the fans…
