Wings, welding, windscreen and wheel!

Its been a busy week at the RPM Porsche workshop. After setting ourselves a deadline at the last kitchen board meeting to have the car drivable by 27th October, there has been a lot of progress!

First job was to cut out, repair, weld and paint all the rusted area around the windscreen. The guys at Pennings in Leighton Buzzard have done an excellent job. This repair has now meant that the new windscreen can be fitted, which looks fantastic! Pennings will be giving the car to a full paint job at some point in the future.

Next, the new fibre glass front wings and bumpers have been fitted, including the headlight holes being filled with some plastic covers. There is a final bit of panel fit adjustment to be done next week, and painting will be dealt with at a future date. For now it will be staying a strange mix of white and purple.

Porsche 968 MFR with fibreglass wings and bonnet

986 MFR next to RPM's 944 clubsport track machine!

Porsche 968 MFR with fibreglass wings and bonnet

The Momo racing steering wheel with quick release fitments has also arrived and installed in place and that looks fantastic! I managed to clamber inside and with the seat, harness and belts and the steering wheel all now installed, it really is starting to feel like a racing car - and I fit perfectly! Getting out isn't quite as easy.

Despite the best efforts, the guys at RPM couldn't get the original dashboard to fit around the roll-cage, mainly due to the cross bar that is just under the windscreen. So the plan is to buy some pod gauges for rev counter, fuel and oil levels and fix them to the cross bar. In the meantime they have done a DIY job with the old gauges and some cable ties - spot on!

Momo steering wheel now fitted

View from the top - complex roll-cage in the 968

So jobs for next week;
1) Finish fitting bumpers and wings
2) Install necessary lights - think we need brake-lights, hazards and front spots
3) Reinstall all essential switches and gauges
4) Full engine service - all fluids, filters, etc
5) Tow bar for the Range Rover, so it can tow the new trailer

So its the final push to get it drivable for the 27th October where it will have its first shake-down on the Bedford Autodrome circuit. Watch this space....