About 6 weeks ago someone (oncoming) did not see me approaching and turned across the road essentially right in front of me. I did veer right to avoid and it could have worked if the other person would have hit the brake instead of the throttle, but I got hit in the side and pushed to my right into another car that was waiting to my right, ready to pull out.

Even the officers patted me on the back in sympathy when the tow guy dragged my car up to take it away to the tow yard. It hurt to see. It helped slightly that the officers wrote the other person a ticket and the insurance company found me to be 0% at fault, but it hurt since I had been looking a loooong time to find a car like mine, with a combination of options and low miles hard to find.

Shortly after this happened, I recovered my car, first with the intention to part it out or sell the wreck. Yes I did also visit the doctor... and all I can say is I am very happy I was being notorious about the speed limit, it could have been really ugly otherwise. But this is about saving the car.




As I removed the broken stuff, the car just looked more and more like a racecar taken apart, except more dressed up (seen many).


Still intended to sell, but offers still a bit too low for me wanting to release the car. Took it to a collision bodyshop that does racing Porsches, drift cars, classics, even Rolls Royces, to have it professionally measured. Result: Straight frame.

There was just one thing to do: The car saved me - now I will return the favor!



Took it back to a small private shop shared by a few buddies, equipped with everything needed to do more or less anything on a car. Jacked it up and rebuild process begun, very thorough, even control measured my PSS9s, changed wishbone, wheel carrier and a control arm that didn't look broken/bent at all. Measured several points on the frame myself , just to really assure symmetry.


Wheel carrier had a crack. But the GT2 wheel was straight like an arrow and vibration free. Talk about design strength of that wheel.




This side got lucky, the fender, radiator, condenser and bracket took it all.

Once bent radiators, condenser, radiator brackets and plastic shrouds were taken off, the fun begun. Rebuilding these cars is a very straight forward task, the engineering is incredible "service minded". New body panels went to paint while I was mouting new parts.









Made a GT2 rear lid (Misha) and functional front (Precision) conversion while I was at it (thanks to everyone who posted info for the GT2-radiator mod, especially the detailed write up from Titan with that kamo-painted car). Also mounted GT2 adjustable front wishbones from Tech Trix Motorsports, Eibach race-swaybars, GMG World Challenge rollbar, while I was at it. Have Endless semi-race compound pads and fluid (best in the business) waiting to go in as well, but first a test drive to make sure all felt familiar...


Moving all the internals from the old to the new door was not so fun, just had to be done. Felt really good when done though. Power window adjustment takes a lot of trial and error patience.

Gotta be careful when working on interior stuff, leather is soft and car has only just above 20k miles.

Just took the car out last weekend for a first thorough test drive and man.... I can't even tell you how good it feels. The car feels exactly like I remembered it, actually didn't remember it felt this tight and compact.

Runs even better than before with the wider front stance (I have 7mm shims right now) and is a bit more "tucked down" at freeway speeds with the GT2 aero, the Turbo swam a little more with more air going under it. Barely noticeable but it IS definitely there for the sensitive driver to notice.

Have a few small things left, like installing some front trim and rubber seals below headlights and mounting passenger airbag (just got a new one today - and seatbelts already taken care of), however the main part is done and my car is running strong again!

Jobs to be done in the next week is first of all for the body shop to wetsand and buff and glaze new parts and polish so the whole car has the same color tone, depth and shine around the car.

Then comes rear LSD install and 2WD conversion, 4WD is completely unnecessary since I don't daily the car during winters, and more important, it ruins the wonderful balance that can be dialed in on a 911. I also want the car to feel a little wilder, it is too conservative right now. Small things like wiper delete will happen soon as well as GT2 clutch slave conversion.

I am also looking for good 2- or 3-way shocks for doing Street/Modified class competition events, the PSS9 are good quality but for proper adjustment abilities I want minimum 2-way.

(car is partly totally dusty from the shop in this pic - took a week before I found a car cover to keep on it - clean shots to come soon)

There is nothing better than GT2 aero for these cars (IMO). I am very happy I did this, it transforms the car to exactly what it should look like.

 

nice work!

 

Nice... Looks like a twin of my GT2.....

 

That I take as a compliment!

 

very nice

 

Great story and most importantly that you are ok. Car looks awesome, congrats!!

 

Been in the exact situation in my previous pride and joy, didn't work out so well unfortunatly. Very happy to see that you did better - congrats!

 

Thx! Did some little stuff tonight to get closer to your times... (wiper delete and removed rear seat backrests haha). Actually rear seat backrests are surprisingly heavy, doubt I'll ever tune so hard I get sub 8 sec though, more focused on handling for track.

 

For track you should do RWD, LSD, and Cup Car suspension. Then you can increase more power in that car.

 

Thx! Hope there will not be a next time, for any of us!

 

great story...you now know your car in a way that few of us do...I believe you will cherish it now more than ever...I'm a sucker for happy endings

 

Great work. Really does look like a GT2. Put a guard LSD, some lower control arms from a GTx and it's essentially the same car.

Are you in LA (Los Angeles) or LA (the state)?

I know someone with a set of stock GT2 wheels and tires that would go well with your car.

 

Wow, talk about turning lemons into lemonade!

The car looks great, and I'm sure it will look (and drive) better than ever when you're done. Nice job!

 

Glad you keept it and made it better!

 

Thx! Los Angeles. GTx arms and GT2 wheels (8,5 and 12 x 18) are on it. But if they are GT2 Mk2 wheels I am all ears.