Patrick's 1973 Martini RSR recreation Project

[patrick911]

So, what's happening?
Lots of sanding for one, and Jason has been busy with the last couple of metal jobs that need completing.
The footrest needs to be welded in, the gusset plates had to be welded onto the left lower body for the transmission oil-lines (mirrored to the oil lines on the right hand side), the brackets for the shortened trailing arms, and we found that the springplates were also reinforced for RSRs, so those had to be made too.

Turns out that ST-Classic's brackets for the shock towers work for R and ST cars, but for RSRs that have a washer bottle, they need to be shaped to make the bottle fit.
Small mistake (on my part because that was the reason I ordered that bottle early in the first place - but i never actually checked)

On the buying front, I need to calm down a bit, because I have recently bought two 226mm fans and a housing, Clyde's old MFI fuel injection pump, a lakewell dash, and a MFI fuel pump (both also from Clyde's famous attic).

Funny thing, I bought two Bosch switches from a little VW online shop in germany, after studying RSR interior pictures.
RSRs had these flanking the ignition key, under the dials, to individually switch on/off the CDIs (probably to troubleshoot). I was fairly sure they were the correct make & model, but Clyde had an identical one lying on his desk....turns out these were used for the rear wiper. Makes sense obviously, as Porsche would always re-use parts whenever they already had them. Anyway, confirmed that I did buy the right ones afterall...

Pictures:
__PCHoih5WcB4AxXLFpFLzoPTwDX0dHgduXXNgQeSnp7IAiwz2VWZKek4XkhCvw_ciJ9vFEMRMMEqLBvVrE9kYr94xPoFalpXNHkaGXOO4ee14EO_K32-PWlzdK-kfbBBFZxDiMieiNIzZ43E8yT-W3Q8tZRuP3dWsaFK-4vVFmBXEygR1Zb83fRzkYFvI6yVJQX5X1TUoidC3UXtZqVK9xTensskAhHAfKYOGOGXJAz2mA9VFqnJqTIVfn8zfY

oeY_3jcIFIbVA4HnxequytOTvftoldPZOX0EswLgGGrPNxQHEQ1nDzoKH6EkaFWzRjAIsB1EwgGM4BgS0bbI6vcTDn94YmBLBLYg3ZovoWsfZ3JJ67dS_zJCUzjJzzBmIkHySvQ9MLQmt00RdWBaergDBjh2GHkn-C_6qupcfsJGhe8enmzSZlhNB7Jn-f5i6uFwKIYQwdidlEvRvA54dKpcxDgBPW1FD0i6o91R1g26D0If86gavn9FrIZ4qXg

[patrick911]

edPtvG2bZtpLMfHp7Fa_21T1T2sEYEhpY-XNe5All_LAXF-FaT8QlVxj1JMHFNWCTCFgEzJgNgy_f-EY0aTY-T8AeBPcQ__VSEEiLRMHds0wVHA08hZkxR2Je8R-n-XfeUuuLNSFhFv5BNwUNPEjUt--gnSfdNF_D5sGFur86yIkfLGHL-7EX-VSRO6taJA5SJbZ8Y7Tn1TBEMl3Al2ovYokglrdI0siCkml7zoYaqgolRatwd47Lvv6voH-o5t

GnDOsKNfcI6xWz9iHc6va_mt4EZoTVO0EFn41Xs8hOZycJNguYC6hCeKhQekMvxHWrJ4Hab0J6oF3EbvgX8e0aMeSHthiHGB-H91djleIhFBAdStQL2G5Ul-Hd4uLLDJW3Hw9PXaraMgkbx_Ww2iNcENKC-_NmEYdoBq2hQb8XF8LyASpEBlKsMrlLA9lKl_9qA51I-x4VFeDqRZB7HsnAw67U87MMDafxiRI3wtP5yE4zcvLELha9jcr7co0t_

00SxQhg9-J96_YvntQlsmqPtP5LKJIVlvInq67Ovb2WTxaE5CvEMjwLdr8xmbD-6CTbhK6stfNcg8EL-rAlDfHwZgluHnjHakUEre5dJ8i3afy2tHLsxpLF5Yy8WNhjH7gqzAlUe_q3dqOP98k6RnxbDJjFee0OYGmVlGkXQC1S2dQMZpIs4tOe3ktrzx7s-OrHZEmc7IS41HRc6O6myoAdHTp5HvFhBcKj4eklZuTfs5erirO_COKvf0AwzZAy

1pJvHTTHpcbrL-h5J1OQmXVBTs9cQlsMWfBhQA7t1loKpi-yO67dLX-SSl5oo7f1dY0oTJJxMHL3ho9qxsf43Z4IikWJ_yRuJ-tXqbWgu1XBYIfhSWQ1jHXXJDSnYr4EPmmHIAlERvJCNponrSp3zBK1UEr1f-GHnPeqvMXxVdWjiLh9RF7xapKXd6s2IrqCiyQjQbeiQGIW3rdcpk8f72VlwhymkRXLiuAvt5S84MGmojqTcb-lTXoil-XVVTi

[patrick911]

For who is interested and has time, I added all pictures both me and Jason have taken over the last few years in a single place.
I will keep on adding to it. It's not the best photography, but it shows the journey pretty well.

[Terminator]

Glad I can help...now where is that MFI brace hiding!!!!

[patrick911]

So the seats are here!
I purchased a RSR seat and a 'lollipop' last March with GTS in the US. It took 'm 6 months to make them so they're obviously busy.
The RSs (M472 version I believe) and RSRs in 1973 were delivered with the so-called RSR seat. I'm not sure if they all came with headrests, and I can imagine the racers did not fit them due to the extra weight, but for me it's a safety concession I did not want to make. The RSR passenger seat had to come with a headrest.

For the driver I went for the 'lollipop' seat, as pictures show that even though this seat was generally introduced in race cars from the 1974 season onward, the factory tried them out in the 1973 season in the works cars. 'R6' was fitted at the Targa Florio with such a seat so I had to have one too.

seat-00.jpg

The verdict on GTSclassics is still pending.
The seats are really good and look (in fire retardant Perlon/Nylon) exactly like they should. The lollipop is (as they warned me about) very very snug, so I need to stop drinking beer and eating burgers! What bugs me though is the packaging. They came in a single carton with not a lot of protection. The box was damaged so I feared the worst.
there's a few scruff marks and scratches on the plastic back of the RSR seat, but things could've been much worse. The fabric is OK and once the seats are in no-one will see those scratches. But.... you wonder why they, for such an expensive, quality job, don't spend $15 more on some bubble wrap. The mind boggles.

They also forgot (or chose to) not make the holes/fit grommets on the RSR seat for the headrest, so I need to fix that myself. Stefan (GTS) is sending me the parts & instructions on how to do that, but annoying, and not something you expect from a quality product.

FWIW: I did buy my ST seats for the yellow T from Phil; I guess the lesson is that I should have asked him first...

Anyway, they do look great, especially with the harnesses dry-fitted for the picture.

[e72phil]

I used to work with Stefan but his customer service skills left a bit to be desired. Sorry to hear he didnt package the seats up well. we have learnt from long experience in this business shipping our seats out from europe then around australia that they need to be well packed. We go to great lengths to ensure your seats arrive looking brand new.
My take on GTS is that they try to offer too many models and end up making each set as a "one off" per order hence the long lead times. From viewing some of their seats, I think their quality is too variable and far from consistent. Not good you have to do the extra work yourself to get what you wanted.

[patrick911]

You're right; it does look as if each order is a 'one-off'. I didn't care, as I ordered my seats long before I can actually fit them in the car.
Problem is though, that others like Vintage in the US or Deser do seem to make these models, but don't have them (or didn't have them a while ago) advertised on the website.

I'll reserve my judgement on quality until they're in the car, and the headrests in place. fingers crossed.

[mrar]

For who is interested and has time, I added all pictures both me and Jason have taken over the last few years in a single place.
I will keep on adding to it. It's not the best photography, but it shows the journey pretty well.

Thanks for the link.
Enjoyed the journey so far!

[markymark_1968]

Wow! Coming together, Patrick! Gonna be amazing...

[Bremith]

You having a bit of a clearance of excess bits on FB too?

[patrick911]

thanks guys!
Yes, plenty of things that came of the '76 S that I won't need, so put on the classifieds section of the Classic Porsche Australia forum to raise much needed funds.
Didn't think about it, but i probably should post things here too; there's after all a number of people with impact bumper cars.
Most of the little things I've got yet to sort through, establish if I need them or not and clean them up before I post them.

[patrick911]

I finally spent a bit of time sanding last Saturday. May sound weird but with Jason doing all of the hard metal working things at the moment, I love being involved, even if it is a tedious job like sanding. I brought a few bits along with me as we needed to check the fitment of the washer bottle (engine bay) in relation to the shock reinforcement bracket (hint: it doesn't fit), and the Lollipop seat (which does fit on the new F-series seat brackets that Jason is putting in).
A few more details we found that are required to turn this into a real F-series lookalike (top left corner of the glove box compartment apparently differs) but apart from those and a lot more sanding, we're getting to the point where we can paint it.
I love what Jason has done with the reinforcement bracket that goes over the spring plate mount, and although I love the somewhat battered look it has now, Jason obviously prefers to hammer it a bit to make it look just that bit neater. I do understand where he's coming from, because, well, it's his workmanship people will question if they see this, not my mental state

Other things he has done is the footrest, weld the sheet for the rear seats back in and re-position the brake-line brackets (due to the shortened trailing arm extension brackets).

A few pictures:
IMG_3544.jpgIMG_3550.jpg

IMG_3564b.jpg

[patrick911]

IMG_3555.jpg
IMG_3566.jpg

[Silver Fish]

Looking good, keep up the good work!

[patrick911]

Still sanding...
but, Jason has fixed the right bracket so the bottle now fits. He has also completed the holes with threads to have the seat-brackets mounted (as per F-series) and found another silly detail that was addressed with gusto; the glove compartment for a G-series has a different top left corner, so that had to be fixed obviously.

When studying these silly, little details I found another one.
Both period pictures of the R6 (0588) and R7 (0020 - the museum car) Martini works cars have a ring around the tacho. I wanted to find out what it was for, when i suddenly noticed that:
1) the tacho used in these 2 cars is smaller than a standard tacho and same size of the two dials flanking it, and
2) the actual face of the dial is completely different than the 'standard' RS/RSR 10K rev counter.



So you probably guessed it, seeing they only had a 911, 912 & 914 in their catalogue, they used another racing piece they had lying around, probably just because it was 15 grams lighter...
From period pictures and a quick Google search, it looks as if what they used was a 908/917 mechanical tacho.

Clyde, I don't suppose you have one of those in your attic?