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The Porsche 917 is now stripped down to the frame. It is bringing back memories from when I built this car originally. This is like starting with a clean slate. You now get time to do things and change things that usually aren’t any time for. I put all the damaged parts on one side so I could make a list of what needs to be ordered. The rear cover of the car was completely messed up. One thing I noticed with the cover cracked and broken is how badly it was made. It was really heavy too.
Starting to fix the car
I had I guy come look at the rear cover of the to see if he would be able to fix it. He said from a structural point of view this panel is gone. He recommended that he would fix up the cover and brace it internally to get the shape right again. For all the vents we fitted afterward for the radiator and engine air intake he would do proper location sections. Everything that bolts or screws to the cover will like that is how it is supposed to be.
Once all this is done he would make a mold off the part. This would help for the future as well if something like this is to happen again. He will do a proper layup on the rear cover with a honey come structure to stiffen the cover. This would help to reduce weight and maintain strength.
The guy took away the rear panel and all the bits that bolt onto it.
Getting the parts
We place an order with Bailey Cars for all the suspension components that got damaged in the crash. Luckily the rear frame on the car is a sacrificial frame. If the car was in an accident this frame could just be replaced. This frame would bend before the mainframe of the car would bend.
It was about 2 weeks later and we received all the replacement parts for the Porsche 917. I could finally start with the build that in the end took up to 6 months to complete.
One thing that we noticed with the Xtrac Gearbox we ran in the car was the gear ratios were too long. We could only get to 4 gear in the back straight of the track. It made sense to get the ratios changed for this track. What is nice about this gearbox you don’t have to send Xtrac the complete gearbox. The gearbox has a cartridge at the back that comes out with all the gears. We sent the cartridge to Xtrac for them to rebuild. It was about a month before we got the cartridge back from the UK.
Cracks in the mainframe
With everything stripped out the back of the car, we could do a proper inspection of the frame. We measured out the box section of the frame and that was still 100%. After proper inspection of the engine bay part of the frame we found some cracks. I looked like there was a bit of a stress concentration on the tube where the engine mount pad started. It was right next to the weld. I made an extension of the mounting pad that would run thinner to reduce the rigidity of the frame at that point. This would reduce the stress and the chance of future cracks.
Building new exhaust
With the frame fixed now, the build could start. First, the freshly powder coated frame went back on with all the suspension bits. The Engine and gearbox also went in. The only usable part of the exhaust system was the headers. I had to do a repair on the one tube as the tube had a big dent in it. I just cut a section out and replaced it with a new piece of skin. The pipes had to look good as well. I took them in for ceramic coating. This would let them look good and perform well. The ceramic coating will keep a lot of the heat inside the pipes. This means more energy inside the pipe which means the collectors will be working better.
One of the things about this Porsche 917 was it was way to load. We got warnings from the marshals at the track. They always said we need to change the exhaust to bring the noise level down. This was the perfect time to do this. I bought a set of silencers for a 76-millimeter exhaust pipe.
It’s alive
It was a few months since the crash. Everything was coming together really well. It was really hard work to get the car back into a condition like this. The Porsche started on the first attempt, and it sounded great. The beast was alive again. Although the exhaust wasn’t as load as it originally was, it sounded better. I almost felt like the first time the car started up.
The body
We took the Porsche into the body shop that originally sprayed the car. We got them to do a complete spray job as there was some minor damage on other panels as well. They had the Porsche for about 2 weeks.
My boss called me in one day and said he bought a rear wing for the Porsche. The Porsche 917 was designed to have as little as possible drag. This meant the car had almost no downforce. The original 917’s had the tendency to lift up at speed and sometimes they did flip over. This car did not nearly do the speeds of the original 917’s but it did need some downforce to get the power to the ground. We made wing mounts and wing endplates and fitted that to the car.
The car didn’t look fully original anymore but the look worked for the car. We also got the down force we needed for the rear wheels.
The car was now once again ready for a race. All we had to do is take it to the track for a shakedown test.
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