Door Popper Spring (optional component)

<< Door Popper                                           >>

Major System Category: Body (Door)
Task: Install door popper springs
Parts: Popper spring assembly and angle aluminum
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $5
Time Requirement: 3 hours
Date Started: November 8, 2015
Date Completed:  November 8, 2015

I am working on the punch list of things that need to be fixed, before I pull the car of the lift and prep her for paint. One item is working on the doors and everything that entails. The car has shaved door handles, and this requires door poppers to be mounted inside the doors. The popper is simply a solenoid that releases the latch when the circuit is fired. However, you need something to push the door open. This is where the spring comes in.

The popper spring is a strong spring that needs to attach inside the body shell and push through a hole to open the door. 

This turned out to be one of those visualization things that I didn't foresee until I was holding the popper spring in my hand. I poked my head inside the door and looked at where it should be attached. The only problem is there was nothing to attach the spring to. Oops. It was metal fabrication time again. I chose two pieces of angle aluminum that was 1 inch wide. I cut two pieces, then cut tabs on the ends so I could bend the metal over and rivet it to the chassis.

This is on the passenger side next to the seat belt hooks. (mine have been modified to handle the 4 point harness system.) These are held in using  

The placement here is a bit tricky. The spring projects a pin past the plane of the door into the cockpit. This is hidden by the seat and there is a opening to accommodate this. I fashioned the bracket so a flat side is against the inner body shell. This allows me to "trap" the spring assembly between the bracket and the body shell.

This is the hole drilled into the body shell. I started this with a 1/8 inch pit, then switch to step up bits. This ended up slightly larger than 3/4 inch.

I marked the popper on the inside of the body shell, drilled a pilot hole, then opened it up to the correct size.

This is the spring pinned in place  from the inside of the body shell.

Wrap Headers

<< Prev Link                                                                             Next Link >>

Major System Category: Exhaust
Task:
Parts: Steel Ties
            Heat Wrap
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $71
Time Requirement: 1.5 hours
Date Started: June 1, 2015
Date Completed: June 3, 2015
The Kooks header and exhaust system (marketed by Vraptor Speedworks) arrived one afternoon. At this point in the build, I am bogged down with a bunch of nagging, putsy details that all need attention. My work schedule has been unreal, and it detracts from the time necessary to work on the car.

Partially wrapped header.

The exhaust system consists of headers, cats and the super massive cross over pipe. None of this can be finalized until I have the engine in the car. I did lay the cats and tail pipes in place over the top of the chassis (above the transaxle) and did some preliminary measurements for brackets to secure the tail pipe, but I can't do much more until I know where the headers land and work my way back from there.

This stuff is pretty easy to use.

The one thing I can do is wrap the headers. I thought I could get away with 30 feet of heat wrap. The Kooks headers require 60 feet per header. The easiest thing to do is to wrap the individual pipes coming out from the engine, then wrap from the cats back. Secure everything with steel ties and hope for the best. I've never wrapped headers before, and the when looking at the donor parts, it seems the OEM wrap is pretty cheap stuff.

Based on my preliminary measurements (i.e. holding header in space next to the cats from under the car), it is going to be very tight vis-a-vis the linkage for the cable shifter. Next item, is to fabricate a shield/housing for those pieces.

A Pillar Covers

<<  Overhead Console                                                           >>

Major System Category: Interior
Task: Construct coverings for the A Pillar
Parts:
Sheet Metal (26 gauge)
Metal Brake Machine
Angle Die Ginder
Prerequisite Tasks:

1. Cockpit window installation
2. All wiring along A pillar needs to be in place
3. Overhead console must be constructed.

Additional Costs: $20 (estimate)
Time Requirement: 6+ hours
Date Started: August 1, 2015

Date Completed: August 22, 2015

This has been a major hang up on the build. Some people may just want to get the car rolling and do not care about the interior. I do care about the interior looks and layout, and I have found myself spending a lot of time. One issue is the A pillars. I want something more than just a black pipe and against rough fiberglass for an interior motif. In addition, I have wiring running up both A pillars to an overhead console. These connections are for lights, TPMS, mirror (e.g. lights, temperature, day/night sensors), HomeLink, Power jacks for radar detector, compartment for remotes and phone, GPS, Bluetooth microphone, power FM antennae and probably a few things I am forgetting..

Driver's side A pillar. You can see from the body shell that this makes for an irregular shape. This is why I thought I could make acrylic work, but it turned out I could not accomplish this with a single piece. However, with sheet metal, I am to bend and shape and press it into a shape that matches the requirement. Any gaps cane be handled using a carbon fiber trim I purchased two years ago.

I have a need to both secure and hide the conduits. At one point, a third party offered a complete set of coverings for around $400. This was a super deal. But when I went to purchase the coverings, he no longer was making them. That meant I had to build my own. I hadn't planned for this.

The first thing I needed to do was make a pattern. There is plenty of card board waiting to go to recycling, so finding pieces big enough is no problem.

I tried working with acrylic panels in various thickness. I found that 1/32 works best, but it is very touchy and you can screw up very quickly. This comes down to working on something for two days, then wrecking it by accident. The overhead console is made of acrylic, but that module lent itself to the material. The pillar and roll cage coverings require more severe bends, and the acrylic just breaks or refuses to work out.

30 inch metal brake I purchased from Amazon for $70.

Eventually, I came back to sheet metal. However, to make this work I needed a metal bending brake. The one I purchased is a 30 inch brake. Harbor Freight has an 18 inch model, but I determined that was too small for my needs. Typically, I am dealing with lengths between 14 and 24 inches for the coverings.

I traced  the pattern to the sheet metal.

The other problem is the irregular shape of the pillar area. This has to be done with the body shell attached tot he car, but prior to paint. I cut some card board and took it to the car. Here is where it gets tricky. While the shape appears easy when examining it from the outside, there is this pesky roll cage under the fiber glass and it is a 3 dimensional section that needs to be measured around. I solved this problem by taking a tape measure and measuring the circumference along the pillar at different points. I also mounted the dash pod, because there is a difference of two inches with and without the dash pod installed.

This oddly shaped piece of metal is the A pillar covering. It is ready to go to my guy for the carbon fiber treatment.

I cut the pattern out of the cardboard, mounted it on the sheet metal and traced it using a Sharpie. Then it was a simple matter of cutting the sheet metal using an angle die grinder. I have a cheap one I purchased at Harbor Freight that really works well for close work like this. I ground down two wheels cutting out both the passenger and driver's side coverings.

This is the pattern for the piece that runs from the A pillar to the overhead console.

I had to make a couple of bends and pressure form it to the car. It is not a perfect fit, but it doesn't have to be right now. I just need the approximate shape, and I can deal with the finishing when it is attached to the car for final fit. I think I can do attachment using double sided tape and probably a black  rivet or two. Final fit will have to happen before the wind shield is installed.

These are the same on both sides. Although final fitment seems to vary somewhat between passenger and driver side. I think this may be  something I did than a true difference in the body shell..

The cross coverings that run between the A pillar and the overhead console are pretty simple to construct. Basically, it is rectangle with a curved end that has a bend. Compared to the other pieces, I had these cut, bent and roughly fitted in about 1 hour.

Clamped for rough fit on the driver's side. I refined the bend and eliminated the gaps visible in this photo. The other issue is the wires that are present. They need to be there so I can ensure they actually get covered by these pieces.

The curve on the this piece follows the curvature of the wind shield glass. This is going to get a bit tricky on final assembly. Right now I am just clamping things into place without regard to the finish, but when I get to final assembly I have to be very careful. These will have three coats of clear coat over the hydrographics carbon fiber, but it is still a metal piece and things can get scratched.

Primed and ready for hydrographics.

While the overhead console needs to be installed when the body shell is off, these pieces can only be installed withe body shell in tact. I better be sure I don't need to take anything apart at that point, because it is a great deal of work to do that. When I do this for the final time, the car will be close to completion!

A pillar pieces ready for hydrographics.

Overhead Console

<<  Cockpit Rear Window Install                              A Pillar Coverings  >>

Major System Category: Interior
Task: Construct overhead console
Parts:
Acrylic 1/32 inch thickness
Metal Brake Machine
Angle Die Ginder
Prerequisite Tasks: Cockpit Rear Window Install
Additional Costs: $20 (estimate)
Time Requirement: 12+ hours
Date Started:  June 1, 2015

Date Completed:  August 5, 2015

The overhead console is not part of the build. It is an optional item I decided to build to accomplish a number of things. It houses the following items:

• Overhead lights
• Front and rear speakers attached to the parking sensors
• TPMS control panel
• The wiring associated with the rear view mirror (i.e. themostat, power, compass)
• GPS receiver
• Blue tooth microphone
• Powered FM antennae
• HomeLink Control Panel
• Power jacks for radar detector
• Compartment for phone and remotes

I started with a flat sheet of acrylic and drew out the pattern.

The biggest challenge associated with the overhead console is the curvature of the roof. There are very few straight lines. I never really figured out a good way to create a pattern for this. So I started with straight lines and worked at shaping the ends that meet the roof.

This is a very rough looking after I applied the initial bends to the acrylic.

My earlier experiments with 1/8 inch thickness proved that the acrylic was difficult to work with. I decided to try 1/32 thickness. This is easy to bend and very unforgiving if it gets too hot. It proved too weak to simply fold into the shape I needed for the console.

I used about every clamp I could find to hold this thing together.

I discovered that I needed to reinforce the overhead console, and fabricated ribs (like for a container ship). I also drilled through each rib so I could run wiring through out console. I have wires coming off the front roll bars via the A pillars and from the rear cockpit window frame as well.

One of the [rob;es with the ribs are gaps between the reinforcing ribs and the shell. 

I fashioned the ribs our of 1/8 inch acrylic. I had this from some of my earlier experiments. The thicker acrylic proved too difficult to shape. I added angle aluminum to the edges of the ribs. I riveted the angle aluminum to the ribs, then used 3M's 8115 panel bond to adhere the ribs to the inner wall of the console.

I ended up purchasing bigger clamps to hold everything together, while the panel bond cured.

The overhead console is very ungainly, and it needs to be fitted inside the car. I used a ratchet strap to hold the console against the inner roof. There is a lot of fitting that has to take place, due to the curvature of the roof and the height of the console. I ended trimming the top of the console twice. The ratchet strap was the only way to hold the console in place.

I constructed a box out of 1/8 inch acrylic to hold remotes and my cell phone. This didn't go as smoothly as I wished. I ended up fiber glassing the opening to hide the mess I had made. This looks very rough, but as with all fiber glass projects on the build, I just kept working at it until it looked better.

It is important to center the console and hook it around the forward roll bar, This needs to be in place before the the A pillar and corresponding roll bar coverings are fabricated. The other issue is level. I used both a bubble level and the cross hatch laser level to ensure the console is sitting level in the center of the cockpit.

This is the overhead console prior to being primed for hydrographics work/

The overhead console will be installed using a rail system of 3/16 all thread that ties into the front and rear roll bars. This is run through the ribs and is designed to act as a hanger. This can only be installed when the body shell is off the car for paint.

Primed and ready for the carbon fiber treatment. Note: This is upside down in this photo.

This entire interior process took a huge amount of time. I had expected to purchase all these parts, and when it became obvious I would have to manufacture everything, I didn't have a clear idea of what materials to use or how to go about it. I think I will end up with a product that is superior to anything I could have purchased, because I designed it for this car and my needs.

Cockpit Rear Window Install

<<  Cockpit Rear Window             Overhead Console  >>

Major System Category: Interior
Task: Install rear window
Parts: Cockpit Rear Window and helpers
Prerequisite Tasks: Cockpit Rear Window
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 30 minutes
Date Started:  April 25, 2015

Date Completed:  April 25, 2015

This is a very quick task with one slight catch. You need three hands. I know some of you are saying, "Well you're a ninja something or other, use your foot." Even Ninjas run into problems from time to time. Of course, I have resources very few builders can claim - grand kids! In this case, Ethan and Zachary. So now I have six hands and and people short enough to easily fit inside the cockpit.

The problem is to install the window here. As you can see there is a lot going on here, and not much room. This is taken from the rear of the car through the engine bay to the front.

Installing the rear window is really a very big step in working out the rest of the interior. I found I needed to know exactly where this fit inside the car and I have done numerous measurements from the back window as I worked on the overhead console and NACA wing vents.

Everyone piled into the car. I had the doors on the car to make sure no one fell out.

Because the window is installed in the window frame, there is no easy way to reach a hand around the car and hold the nut and bolt for the frame, plus hold the frame up. My solution was to recruit helpers (this did involve a trip to Sonic and some ice cream).

Zachary on the driver's side as the lift goes up.

There goes Ethan on the passenger side.

With helpers, the rear cockpit window was easily installed and secured in less than 30 minutes. I raised the car on the lift and clambered up a ladder into the engine bay. The kids had a blast.

Rear window taken from the driver's side. You can see some wires coming through the top of the frame. These have to be threaded at the time of installation.

Same view from the passenger side. The wires come from the second power cell installed in the engine bay.

Diffuser

<<   Mount Half Shafts                                                  >>

Major System Category: Body (Undercarriage)
Task: Diffuser
Parts:
Vent Louvers
Strakes
Diffuser Grille
Diffuser
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $250 (estimate)
Time Requirement: 8+ hours
Date Started: February 20, 2015

Date Completed: February 28, 2015

The diffuser is the unwieldy carbon fiber piece that fits under the transaxle and extends slightly past the lip of the rear end. Factory Five supllies these little posts (ugly as sin) to connect the top of the Diffuser to the bottom of the rear frame (just below the license plate and the exhaust pipe openings). Each is entitled to their opinions, but these little post that hold the diffuser in place look cheap.

The Diffuser grille comes flat. The tabs need to be bent to provide attachment points for the grill to the body shell. These are no 90 degree angles. In order for the grille to fit properly, the angle is more acute (i.e. less than 90). With all the pieces already in the area (e.g. transaxle bracket, chassis mount for wing, backup camera, lights) there isn't a lot of room to get a rivet tool in there. I went with  short bolts and locking nuts.

Fortunately, Vraptor Speedworks makes this marvelous looking diffuser grille. I think this is a necessary purchase (from an aesthetics perspective) that really makes the back end look finished. The shape of the Gen I and Gen II cars is different, so this grille only works for the Gen II cars. I have decided to bolt the diffuser grille and diffuser to the car. The manual says to rivet everything in place. I prefer to have a way to access everything on the car without having to drill out 40 rivets.

I painted the diffuser grille gloss black, bent the tabs using a small vice as my metal bending tool. This is the grille clamped in place for initial fitment. I discovered that I had to "bow" it a little to get to go flush on the edges. The oither issue I have with rivets has to do with maintenance access. If you go the rivet route, then the only way you will ever get it off the car is to drill everything out.

Before I could pre fit the diffuser, I had to get the  half shafts and the transaxle installed. This way, I could remove the jack stands from  under the rear chassis and have free access under the car for the diffuser.The manual indicated that you should measure 1.5 inches from the rear edge of the diffuser. This is how far the lip of the diffuser extends beyond the rear fiberglass shell. This is probably going vary by .25 inches from car to car based on how well everything matches up for the fit between the diffuser and the edges of the body shell.

I used painter's tape to lay down a strip then I marked off 1.5 inches along the rear edge with a Sharpie. The blue tape is where I masked off the opening for the transaxle housing..

There are three places I ended up having to cut the diffuser for the initial fit. There is a section of the transaxle housing that extend below the line of the diffuser. This seems pretty common for most GTM builds that I have examined. Certainly, the 991 transaxle continues to provide its share of challenges. The other place I ran into issues was the bell housing. The lip interfers with the forward diffuser edge.

This is the diffuser and the grill clamped into place to see how close I was getting on having the transaxle opening correct. This seems like the measurement should be straight forward, but it isn't (at least for me). The problem is the diffuser piece is somewhat unwieldy (I came close to dropping it more than once) and the transaxle housing is a combination of curved shapes and straight lines. In addition, you need to worry about the side ot side fitment between the diffuser and the bottom of the body shell. You can see the cardboard roller I used to assist me in getting diffuser on and off the lift.

I measured about a gazillion times and made a 6 inch square cut for the transaxle housing. I used a Rockwell VersaCut for the initial opening. I used a die grinder to make the cuts on the leading edge to clear the bell housing. To handle smoothing out the edges, I used a router table and a plunge router to smooth out the edges for the cuts for the opening. I set up the fence on the router table to handle the straight cuts for the bell housing. The other cuts I made was to widen the areas around the control arms for the suspension.

Finally satisfied with the cuts for the transaxle, I did a preliminary lay out for the louver vents. This is before any drilling, painting or bending. There is a very definite right and left side to these pieces.

All of this took several iterations between cuts and remounting the diffuser on the car. The lift proved its worth once again. I had the car about 5.5 feet high. I had a roller behind the rear wheels. This allowed me to slide the diffuser into place and to check the fitment.

These are the cuts for the vents. You need to be very precise here, because you have to be  aware of the edge beyond the body shell and running our of room as the diffuser bends around the frame. There is maybe a .25 inch fudge factor. I used the VersaCut, for the gross opening, a drill for the rounded corners and the router table to smooth and straighten everything out.

Once satisfied with the cuts for these openings, I started on the louver vents and strakes. The louvers are shipped flat. I used these as a template to determine the minimum cut opening for the louvers. I used the same method for the cuts and drilled out the corners to better provide for rounding. Next, I used the drill press to make the holes for black rivets. I purchased these a long time ago, because I think it looks really cheap to have this beautiful diffuser peppered with shiny aluminum rivets.

These are the strake and vents. Vraptor did a good design job here, because the strakes rivet to the outside and the louvers rivet to the inside. I was able to use a single rivet to fasten the louver vents, diffuser and strakes together. These are the black head rivets.

The strakes are designed to be attached with the same rivet. I used the louvers as a template for those rivet holes. The diffuser piece is easily drilled with a hand held tool. Before final assembly, I painted all parts a gloss black and opened the louver vents, by bending them open. This is really pretty easy to do, you just need to take your time.

The end result is the diffuser with plenty of venting. This is clamped in place. I will not worry about final attachment until the car is painted. I plan to go with  1/4 - 20 Helicoils for the frame and bolts and lock nuts for the body shell to diffuer connection. Some of those fasteners will be awkward, but I have a way into the underside of the car should the need arise.

Mount Half Shafts

<< Axle and CV Joints                                         Diffuser  >>

Major System Category: Transmission
Task: Install half shafts between rear hubs and transaxle
Parts:
New Half Shafts (Custom Made)
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $1300
Time Requirement: 8+ hours
Date Started: November 15, 2014

Date Completed: February 14, 2015

The governing principles for Super Car Build are quite simple:

• Failure is not an Option - Unknown
• Never, never, never give up. - Winston Churchill

I decided that to do this job right it might take longer than I wished, and probably cost more than I anticipated. Okay. I refuse to end up as one of those guys with a half built car and a $50,000 price tag for failure.

This is an assembled half shaft per the Factory Five Manual. Looks good and it certainly would fit a G50 transaxle. But I have been off the reservation  since I went with the 991 transaxle. 

The half shafts should be a simple task. Some grunting, scraped knuckles, a few choice words, but nothing that should take months to complete. In my post on the Cable Shifter, I listed all the things up to that point that had to be adjusted for going with a Porsche 991 transaxle versus a Porsche G50. It is a long expensive list, but the end result is a state of the art, 7 speed transaxle straight from Germany. The kind of transaxle a super car deserves.

The green circles show the shaft stubs on the 991 transaxle. They measure out around 22 inches. I know you're supposed to get this stuff down to the 1/4 inch. However, there is enough play that you have some room to work with.

I assembled the half shafts with the Corvette CV joint on one end and the 930 CV on the other end. It took a little time, but it was a straight forward task. The next day, I planned to install them. I slid the Corvette CV into the Corvette hub and tried to get the other end of half shaft to connect to the transaxle. Guess what, when the shaft is several inches too long, it just isn't going to happen. The problem arises that the width of the G50 between the shaft stubs is 10 inches. The width of the 991 is 22 inches. At the time, I didn't know what the width of G50 was. I know now it is 10 inches.

This is the half axle from the Drive Shaft Shop. No, it isn't made out of gold. My buddy Brian commented that it was a beautiful unit. It is - these guys do good work.

I sent an email to Factory Five support and asked them for that dimension. They didn't know the answer. Then I asked them for assistance in specing out new half shafts. They buy their shafts overseas and couldn't help either. What about the spline count. They thought it was 28. Ever count splines by hand - you might go cross-eyed. The only thing they said was figure out the difference and divide by 2. Duh, I ALREADY KNEW THAT!

I ended up taking off the caliper, rotors, tie rod and shock absorber to get a enough room to work. My buddy Charlie chided me that I was supposed to be putting things together. In this photo, I was doing the heat - tap - heat  -tap process to get the CV splines through the hub.

If Shane (Vraptor SpeedWorks) had had a G50 sitting on the floor of his shop, he would have measured it for me. I ended up getting the dimensions from GBox. Trust me, wherever they have the dimensions posted on the web is well hidden. There are diagrams, but they are so distorted that you can't read any numbers off of them.

This bolt is the correct size and that is the Torx head I needed to install it.

I don't know what caused me to check, but I decided to see if the bolts fit. Of course not. Porsche in their modern transaxles have switched to a M10 x 1.0 mm thread. These are about as common as the proverbial unicorn at the end of the rainbow. I tried finding these on my own, and finally called Carousel Porsche Audi in Golden Valley, MN (where I had the Boxster serviced). They ordered me 12 bolts designed for the 991 transaxle. And I thought I was home free, I was just getting in line for another smack across the head.

My weapon of choice (eh, I mean tool) to get this monster assembled.

The assembled half shaft with CV joints on both ends is smidgen over 30 inches long. The actual shaft if 23 inches long. This means I needed a half shaft that was 17 inches long before I added the CV joints. I probably double checked this measurement 100 times. I knew this was not going to be cheap. I ended up ordering custom half shafts from the Drive Shaft Shop. It is a good thing they knew their business, because I certainly was swimming in the deep water. He told me how much it was going to cost. I swallowed hard and gave him my VISA info. They were on the door step in two days. These guys do really good work.

This is a beautiful sight. Normally, it takes about 20 minutes to get here. I had a minor 4 month detour.

So now I have the bolts and the half shafts. Everything should work - right? The first problem I run into is that the splines on the Corvette CV joint are new (versus the ones I got from Fparts on the donor pallet - that seems like a million years ago). The spline is correct, but these buggers are really, really tight. There is a new hardware store 3 miles down the road from the NSMC. The dog and I ended making two trips that day. The first one was to buy a torch.

Installed! I was on top of the world, and greatly relieved that it finally worked.

I used the torch to heat up the hub and heat up the end of the Corvette CV that goes through the hub. It took about 15 - 20 minutes on each side to heat, tap lightly with a hammer, heat - tap -heat - tap. The Corvette CV joints that came with the donor pallet use a 34mm nut. I had purchased a 34 mm socket. The nut required for the new CV uses a 36 mm socket. No, I didn't have one of those behemoths handy. This precipitated trip #2 to the hardware store. The pup was beginning to think I was insane.

Bracket installed on the chassis to reinforce the area that I had to remove material from.

Back at the NSMC, I believe I see light at the end of the tunnel, or it could be an in bound train. It was a train. I get lift to the proper height, I position CV and I can't get there from here. The problem  is the cradle I built for the transaxle to keep the drain plug safe. I did this, because I didn't want to cut into the chassis. <Sigh>. The only way to make this work is to cut into the chassis. Out comes the cutting wheel and angle die grinder.

Another look at the channel brace I built.

A long time ago, my dad was faced with a similar problem. A building inspector decided that two 7 inch logs was not sufficient to support a structural truss. This was a bunch of hooey, but dad was also driven to get this house built. A few days later he showed up with channel braces that distributed the load else where. I adopted this idea, and created a sleeve to reinforce the area where I cut away material. My dad was a brilliant engineer. I'm just a kid using his idea. I built the sleeve and removed the cradle. Now the everything should fit - right? Nope.

Those bolts that I special ordered from Porsche -  they were short. However, I had one thing that I never had when I looked for those bolts on my own - a Porsche part number. I maintain an office at the NSMC. So I sat down and brought up Pelican Parts. I found the bolts for the 991 transaxle (M10 x 1.0 x 46mm). I also saw in the related listing transaxle bolts for 997 transaxles. A different part number. I clicked on that link and discovered that Porsche changed the bolts when they went to the 991 transaxle. The older bolts are M10 x 1.0 x 50mm. Well what did I have to lose, I ordered 12 bolts. (I have  acquired several sets of bolts that do not work in this application.) I was already a gazillion bucks over budget on this task, what's another $20. My dad was driven to build a house; I'm driven to build a car.

The new bolts arrived. I tested them in the transaxle and they were the correct thread and pitch. They were long enough going through 930 CV. I hooked up the air ratchet and attached the biggest Torx bit I have. Literally, 20 minutes later I had everything attached!

"Never, never, never give up!"

Cable Shifter

<<                                                             >>

Major System Category: Transmission
Task: Mount Cable Shifter
Parts: 991 Cable Shifter
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: Part of the transaxle purchase
Time Requirement: 8+ hours
Date Started: January 26, 2015
Date Completed: January 30, 2015

The 991 transaxle is the 7 speed I purchased from GBox. It came with the cable shifter. The GTM is designed for the much older G50 transaxle and a cable shifter that is housed in a square metal box. If you go with a rebuilt G50, then you won't have much of a problem, because everything will fit.

Porsche 991 cable shifter and Vraptor shifter mount.

The G50 transaxle first went into a production 911 in 1987. I was much taller, thinner and younger in those days. Sometime between then and now, Porsche quit producing square cable shifter housings and switched to curved polymer housings. Guess what, those don't work very well with the GTM bracket welded to the frame where the cable shifter bolts on horizontally.

Vraptor  cable shifter mount. The smaller piece (top) bolts to the frame. The larger piece is designed to attach to the rear of the cable shifter and it bolts tot he smaller piece. 

The current list of changes caused by going with a non standard transaxle are as follows:

1. Redesign, cut and weld the transaxle bracket to accommodate the wider 991.
2. Build a cradle to hold the inverted 991, and deal with fitment of the drain plug.
3. Order new half shafts for the CV joints.
4. Order special bolts from Porsche to attach the 930 CV to the transaxle. You need 12 of these and Porsche charges $4.50 per bolt. Trust me, you can't find these bolts anywhere else.
5. Purchase an extra set of cables and perform magic to connect them. Jim at cableshift.com was a big help!
6. Fabricate a mounting bracket for the cable shifter. I purchased the Vraptor Speedworks cable shifter mount. This proved to be a good starting point.
7. Finally, (I hope), a 7 speed shifter knob (in the correct pattern) and boot. I got this at Gaudin Porsche Parts in Las Vegas. Mark helped me with this purchase.

Porsche 991 cable shifter and top part of the Vraptor bracket. I'm just trying to get an idea of how this is all supposed to work.

The GTM design envisions bolting the cable shifter to the side bracket in the upper tunnel. The 991 cable shifter envisions four or five bolts into some kind of flat plate for a vertical mount. And did I mention, it is a round polymer shape.

I ended up enlarging the opening for the cable connectors. This was pretty easy using cut off wheel on the die grinder.

I figured out I use the Vraptor mounting bracket as a staring point. This is a two piece bracket that bolts a smaller piece to the frame and establishes an angle. The larger piece bolts to the cable shift box and then to the smaller piece. 

This is the bracket looking straight down. The cable shifter bolts into the rails. Ignore the four holes. They all had to be moved towards the passenger side (bottom) because I failed to account for the square piece inside the frame that is supposed to be used to bolt the G50 cable shifter to the frame. 

I had some angle aluminum stock. This may not sound very exotic, but I have discovered that you can fabricate a number of useful things for the car using this stuff. Since most of it will be hidden, it doesn't have to be a perfect job - just functional. I designed the bracket so I could bolt the cable shifter vertically into the angle stock. There are four 1/4 inch holes.

I trimmed these two parts off the cable shifter. They were just plastic.

The 991 cable shifter had an index tab and an additional hole. I had to cut these off the shifter, because they were not going to work for me. I used to get nervous about things like this, but now I just think it through and keep working.

Vraptor lower mount bolted into the frame.

I bolted the bottom piece of the Vraptor mount to the car, then clamped the larger piece to that one. This allowed me to work with the bracket and determine where metal needed to be trimmed so I could accommodate the frame.

I had to remove some material to accommodate the driver's side of the frame. After a fair amount of mumbling, wandering between the car and bench and maybe a harsh word or two. I had something that worked.

The front side of the bracket needed to be secured to the inside top rails of the tunnel. For this I used a heavy, straight aluminum bar. I bolted this to the front of the bracket, then cut 2 three inch pieces of angle stock so i could bolt one end to the bar stock and rivet the other end into the top frame of the tunnel.

Frot bracket. It is attached with rivets to the inside of the top tunnel frame.

I reinforced the area where I bolted the shifter to the bracket with 2 six inch steel strips. I wanted this piece to be as solid as the Wing mount on the back end of the car. I put everything together, then crawled into the car and got the masterpiece bolted in place.

Finished product sitting on the bench.

Finished product installed in the car.