Australian Delivered 1969 ST for me!

[marcus_cottrill]

They look very nice ! Its amazing what a difference new seats make

[911ex2]

I'd be leaving it in replica ST mode, takes a bit longer to wash, but the.handling in certain aspects will be better.

[Silver Fish]

Road Registered!

Well our friends at Regency, the SA vehicle inspection place have finally smiled on me!
In Oct '15 they weren't so friendly the story goes like this.

Buy an interstate car and you have to pay $ and take the car in for an identity inspection. This was all going ok, inspector said "good news the car is all as expected,......but I want you to go get a detailed seating inspection, coz I'm not sure about the seat brackets. Grrrrrrr.

OK - I drive around the corner for seating inspection. Pay more $ and come back in 2 weeks. Grrrrr

I turn up at allotted time and inspector ushers us into the inspection shed, "Hi I'm Mark, I'm here for a seating inspection" I say. He looks at me as if I just turned up from Mars and dead pan and with no tonal variation comes the reply "Drive it on the hoist. We know what we are doing."

After looking at the car for 20 minutes, banging on the floor pan hard enough to wake the dead, he comes back to his computer and writes out a Failed inspection notice and goes through it.
1. reverse lights to operate. - Fair enough one was not working on inspection day.
2. red reflectors to be fitted to rear of vehicle - Fair enough and I had some at home.
3. Left front indicator faded - yes, but in my opinion not that bad and the RHS was worse!
4. Left Headlight reflector fallen down, replace light. - Now when he said this I had to speak up and very politely I pointed out that that was actually a "genuine and original to the car H1and they have a separate reflector" - I'm greeted with a dead pan voice again "Yeah right"
5. headlights to dip down left or down. - It worked and had high and low beam but the RHS light was a plastic H4 lens, tough but fair enough I suppose.
6. Proof front windscreen is safety glass - no makers mark was evident, so I have to concede that one, but the amount of stone chips would have been more relevant.
7. certified practicing engineer to address seat mounting, - this is what I came here for and he could not even say what was wrong with it. (nothing it turns out)
8. certified practicing engineer to address seat belt mounting points - politely I say "these are original 69 seats and the belt is supposed to mount to the bracket on the seat"..."yeah right" is the reply (there were actually genuine seats from '70 fitted at the time)
9. certified practicing engineer to address steering rack joints or return tie rod ends to standard - OK
10. Right side front suspension rear pick up point crack in floor, left and right chassis rails near rear suspension pick up points - all to be returned to original shape and strength. - here I'm thankful they spotted a crack in the front mount as I had not seen it. Good call by them. The chassis rails comments is from a bit of overzealous jacking over the years and I had seen worse.

Over the next few months I save up my coins and fix the reverse lights, fit reflectors, install the new indicator lenses previously posted about, install 2 x new to me headlights, and have a new windscreen installed.
While this occurs I determine that I would use Mel at Edwardstown Custom Body repairs for the serious work and we sort an engineer to come and discuss the plan of attack. The consensus from the engineer is that the work is minor and he has no issues with the seat or belt mounting points. Similarly he is happy to certify the tie rod ends or equally happy for me to install the new turbo tie rod end kit I have. They both agree the chassis rail straightening is minor and straight forward and the engineer will reinspect prior to painting.

We start the work and find a bit of corrosion around the jacking points so we opt to open up for a deeper look and are relieved to find it largely superficial and the inner sills dry and solid. Some new jacking plate surrounds are collected from Mark Poole around the corner and repairs are underway. While we are there we remove the oil cooler lines that were through the sill, and while there we decide the floor is structurally sound so we will weld up all the holes in the floor that were from race seats, extinguishers, battery etc. While we are there...while we are there ......end result a melted credit card and a nice clean floor and a happy engineer!

So 5 months after the initial inspection we book in to Regency for the reinspection, pay more $ and are called into the shed. New inspector this time and we are greeted with "Hi, cool car, come in and let's have a look." So in we go and on to the hoist for a 2 minute inspection and a read of the engineers report and check of all working lights. A 10 minute chat about Porsche repairers in Adelaide and his Merc that he is restoring and he hands me a PASS and says "Go do some skids."

I depart that place faster than lightning and the next day front up with my forms to the Services SA office to collect the plates. Lady at counter says "Sorry your identity inspection form from Oct has expired you have to go back and get another one." Red face, steam, %$#^ and !*#@ but no one cares! A week later back to Regency, new form signed in 2 minutes and back to Services SA to get the plates.

This time man at DISServices SA counter gets told about the messing around and duly goes off to get the next allocated plate and turns up with a plate "S911 BJU" So there are some sympathetic people out there.

We are legal and on the road!!!!!

[Silver Fish]

A few more pics

[Reubs]

Congrats Mark.

[epilot]

patience, thats what dealing with the public service teaches us ! you should try being a public servant, that teaches us perseverance ...
fantastic to have the car on the road, congrats !

[Merv]

We have all been there at some stage Mark.

At times it is luck of the draw, who gets the moron 'approved' inspector. Then you fix a few things (which did need doing) and meet a qualified, intelligent inspector. The temptation is to go back to the first one and point out his lack of knowledge, but leaving sleeping dogs lie is probably best.

[alexwebster]

So when are we going to see it in the flesh? Rennsport?!?!

[Silver Fish]

Thanks guys, it sure is good to see it with local plates!

Merv you are correct, best just let it go. After getting over the initial annoyance of a list of things to do from the authorities, it did serve to get more done in less time, and I could always say to the Minister for War and Finance that "it has to be done to get it registered!"

As for Rennsport, might have to wait for the next one.......funds a bit depleted and have only driven it short distances, and to do 1500km might be a bit much for the nerves. I have been enviously reading all your planning posts wishing I could be there. Next time!

[Silver Fish]

Installed a new Rennshift recently and along with new bushes in the linkage it now shifts even sweeter!
New steering wheel went on in 5 minutes and feels very period. But I think I need a hockey puck to complete the look.

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[Silver Fish]

Been dealing with Cameron Smith from our sponsor Classic Wheels Australia and now have a nice set of 15x9 Maxilite Fuchs.


Cameron was brilliant to deal with and was very helpful. I think the description of RSR finish is a bit misleading as they come with polished petals, rim and lip and this meant I had to get the petals and rim painted in an anodised look but after that I’m pleased with the result. 75046D75-07C2-42FC-B983-62DE53CC9285.jpeg

[Silver Fish]

0606E994-911B-4F01-88E7-69497A678FCE.jpeg In case this can help others out there, I wanted some TB15s for the 15 x 9 rear Fuchs and had an interesting discussion with Nth Tce Tyres here in Adelaide.

I asked for TB15s to be brought in and was quizzed on the type of use and mileage etc and the dealer recommended the TB5 as a better option. The TB5 is a dry weather tyre with a harder compound than the wet focused softer TB15.

Understanding both are road legal tyres I was still reluctant due to the limited tread only in the centre of the tyre. The solution we came up with was what I call a TB10! This is a TB5 with an extra groove cut in an effort to give the constabulary one less thing to pick on.

Images for your thoughts and comments

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