Pontifex4's project thread

[pontifex4]

Day one of the 6GT3 sport seat install: getting there.

Manual 996 rails have holes all along the bottom of each rail for the seat slider locks. I based my initial measurements on Mike Murcia's post on Rennlist, in which he says that he bolted the front of the rails to the floor using the first hole after the front stop in each rail. When I tried that, nothing would line up for me, but all the bolt holes were pretty close if I used the second hole after the front stop, so that's what I did.

For the record, you don't seem to need to bend the front tabs that hang down under the tracks up very much. You do, however, need to cut off the stud which is pressed into the bottom of each rail at the rear and drill out the resulting hole (shown in the attached photo) to fit a seat bolt on the outside. The hole shown is just a little off, and will need to be slotted over a bit for clearance.

On the inside at the rear, it appears that I'll need to slot two holes to make them line up with the bolt holes below. I didn't get quite that far because I didn't have a suitable bit for my die grinder, so I'll grab one tomorrow on the way to the farm.

These seats feel pretty similar in comfort to my excellent 944 seats, but the range of adjustment is a lot different. As Mike noted, they do go low enough, but they can also be adjusted to go needlessly high, and impossibly far forward. I may modify this as I go.

Also, I just got word that my replacement steel fenders should be in this week, so I'll need to head down to pick them up, as well as my new roll bar and Nissan Quest alternator.

Anyway, with luck, I'll have proper installed pictures of the seats tomorrow!

[pontifex4]

Okay, I'm certainly tired of lifting seats in and out of a car!

First of all, here is how much I bent the tabs on the front of each rail (the seat is upside down in the next few photos, so the top shown is what will be on the bottom in the car -- ignore the holes along the sides of the rails, as they aren't used):



And here is the post you have to grind off because it protrudes out of the bottom of 996 rails at the back (there is one at the back of each rail):



I ground them off with a 3" cutoff wheel on a die grinder:



...then drove what remained of the posts out the other side of the rail with a punch.

I then had to enlarge the holes as shown with a carbide bit in another die grinder. Here's the inside rail:



...and the outside rail:



The seat belt buckles can swap directly over from 944 seats (and most other Recaro products) on your 944's 17mm seat belt bolts, though I did need a washer for correct fit:



Here's the main connector on the bottom of the 996 seat. Note that the larger gauge wires are for the seat back motor, and that the smaller power wires are for the seat heaters. I haven't decided on a solution for the heaters, yet, mainly because I can't figure out what to do for the switch.



I scavenged the seat connectors from my 944 seats and spliced power in for the seat back for now. Note that the old seat belt warning light cable is also in place on the new seat:



Actually bolting the seats in is quite easy once you realize how to do it. Before putting it in the car, if you release the spring that runs from the front of the outside rail to the back of the seat, you can manually move both rails all the way back (as though the seat were moved as far forward as possible) then reconnect the spring under very low tension. Then, put them in the car, loosely anchor all four rear bolts, and slide the seat as far back as possible against the spring, while twisting it side to side until the rails are over both holes at the front. Lock the slide mechanism at that point, then put both bolts in with your fingers so you know it's going to work.

The outside front bolt is a breeze, as you can turn your allen wrench through 180+ degrees of rotation to tighten it if the seat is in the highest position. The inside one is a bastard because of the seat slider lever. I dug around in my tool box until I found one of these:



Trust me, it's a terrible tool, but you'll love it if you need to do this.

Anyway:





The verdict: they're very comfortable, but so were my old seats. Shoulder grip is certainly better, and I suspect that that will be welcome. They're too high for me by about 1/2" at the back. I always had my 944 seats as low as they would go, and with a helmet on, I typically have to lean my seat back a little more or I touch the roof. I'm likely to take the driver's seat out again and remove the height adjuster mechanism entirely in favour of a couple of plates which will let me set the height manually. This will also make it easier to move the seats forward and back, as the mechanism currently slides across the carpet in its lowest position.

[John Koa Wood]

Very nice, very nice indeed!

[pontifex4]

I was busy being a tour guide of our maple syrup operation today, so I didn't get much of a chance to work on the car. I did pull off the A.I.R. fiberglass fenders, though, in preparation for trading them for some steel ones with a guy in Maryland. He tells me that you can strip off undercoating on metal fenders with a steam/pressure washer. It sounds dangerous, but I am kind of curious. The fiberglass fenders are unbelievably light.



They fit so badly primarily because they weren't adequately attached, I think. For starters, they had been fastened with too-small Robertson screws instead of the usual fender bolts, and they were all backing out (or missing).

There was also only one bumper cover-to-fender bolt on each side, and the curved metal piece that goes under the joint between the fender and the cover is missing on both sides.

Anyway, here's how it looks for now:



This car has a bit of a questionable history (it was retubbed with an '86 NA shell) and I keep expecting to find weird stuff when I take it apart. The front end actually looks pretty good, though.

[Dougs951]

How hard was it to pull the fenders? I am planning on doing a turbo nose swap onto my NA this summer.

[pontifex4]

Originally Posted by Dougs951

How hard was it to pull the fenders? I am planning on doing a turbo nose swap onto my NA this summer.

Quite easy, if you're patient and good with a box knife.

If they haven't been off before, you'll have to cut through a healthy dose of undercoat to find the three bolts along the bulkhead just ahead of the door, and then cut it free from the goo all along the top, as well. Pay particular attention to the top edge at the front, as they seem to stick really hard at that point, and you can crack the paint if you just try to yank them straight off.

Hunt around for just the right tool to undo the header panel to fender bolt on either side (you'll see what I mean when you get in there).

[pontifex4]

I swapped the axles this Sunday for new Lobro ones. They cost almost as much as the whole car!

Anyway, since both my axles were shot, I ended up cutting the old boots off for easier access to the bolts. It's a bad iPhone photo, but note that the one on the right is totally dry:



And here's a new one, waiting to go in:



I don't have a photo of it, but I managed to break one of the new bolts I got from Paragon at less than 30 lb-ft of torque. I heard it crack, then started backing it out, expecting to only get part of the bolt back. It all backed out, hanging on literally by a thread!

Something about the process seemed as though I wasn't doing it right: the bolt heads all seem to be tilted a little inward, and the head of my torque wrench kept getting closer to the axle (as though the heads of the bolts were all bending toward the axle) after tightening. Was there a step I needed to do after unpacking them before bolting them on? I was working my way around the axles, a half and then a quarter turn at a time until the wrench clicked.

[John Koa Wood]

Originally Posted by pontifex4

I swapped the axles this Sunday for new Lobro ones. They cost almost as much as the whole car!

Anyway, since both my axles were shot, I ended up cutting the old boots off for easier access to the bolts. It's a bad iPhone photo, but note that the one on the right is totally dry:



And here's a new one, waiting to go in:



I don't have a photo of it, but I managed to break one of the new bolts I got from Paragon at less than 30 lb-ft of torque. I heard it crack, then started backing it out, expecting to only get part of the bolt back. It all backed out, hanging on literally by a thread!

Something about the process seemed as though I wasn't doing it right: the bolt heads all seem to be tilted a little inward, and the head of my torque wrench kept getting closer to the axle (as though the heads of the bolts were all bending toward the axle) after tightening. Was there a step I needed to do after unpacking them before bolting them on? I was working my way around the axles, a half and then a quarter turn at a time until the wrench clicked.

Nice looking axles... as far as the bolts go, I usually run them in by hand, finger tight, then go with a ratchet, and finish with the torque wrench..

Did you use the same brackets that were on them under the original bolts? I have never had a problem with the Paragon bolts, but then I have only used them a few times...

[pontifex4]

Thanks, John. Yeah, I got them as tight as I could first by wiggling the axles and turning them with my fingers, then onto the ratchet, then torque wrench.

I used the same brackets (but in the correct orientation, this time -- the PO had the little ones on the outside and the big ones next to the transmission).

[pontifex4]

Oh, and I picked up my new metal fenders, Xsboost90's roll bar and my new Nissan Quest alternator in NY this afternoon!

[pontifex4]

I picked up some primer, base and clear to match some new parts.

I'm not sure I'll get a chance to shoot them this weekend, but I have a Euro rear bumper, two new fenders and correct headlight covers to go on the car, as well as a bit of temporary rust repair over both rear wheels (both rear fenders are quite wavy and show a lot of filler shrinkage where the filler isn't cracked, so that repair will just be a temporary one to last me the summer, as I have a good pair of quarters to put on this coming winter).

[Xpit77]

Can Can ???
Isn`t that an old disco song by the Pointer Sisters ?
Ya know darn well we can work it out, yes we can can yes we can can.
Ooops..... just time dated myself.

[DVC]

It's looking good. Are you keeping it Zermatt?

[pontifex4]

Thanks, guys. I'm keeping it the almost-Zermatt colour that it is now for now over some temporary (filler) repairs. I just finished sanding the last batch of filler on the rear fenders, and I'm going to prime tomorrow, then base/clear later in the week.

For what it's worth, I DO NOT like NAPA filler. You have to mix it insanely hot in order to get it to set up at all! Anything better I might have had kicking around would have been too old to use, so I opted for a small can of the stuff while picking up my paint supplies.

[pontifex4]

Paint!

In removing and trading my old A.I.R. Fiberglass fenders for new ones, I virtually assured that I would need to repaint something. My car also came to me with NA headlight covers, so getting a good fit on the front end was going to require a set of 951 covers (which were red).

Here is a fender in fresh base and clear.



Yes, I shot these in the wood shop. There's a little trash in the paint, but at least it was dry and warm enough.

Selective reflection shot (there's the odd fisheye in the paint, too -- I shot this without any kind of dryer or anything but a standard regulator / filter).



The driver's side of my pair of new steel fenders came from a race car, and does have a few dings which I didn't want to bother working out of it.

If I'm making this out to be a temporary paint job, it most certainly is: I plan to strip the car down this winter in my new shop and do a colour change.

I have the rear quarter patches in primer now, too, but I couldn't fit the car in the wood shop with all that other stuff in there, so it will have to wait for next weekend. I don't think it should be too hard to blend in.