996.1 aero restoration

For anyone interested in seeing what my sills looked liked when I started to investigate I'll stick some pictures up. I've always wanted to do a thread on my ownership on here but never had the time. I have however, recorded some of the goings on on instagram. For no more reason than it's just handy to stick on an update with some pictures. What started out as brake pipes over the gearbox for mot in June, quickly turned into a major job. The sills were completely rotten, the rear arches not so bad but I thought, when in Rome and all that. Basically I've made everything from scratch. Definitely not opc standard but I'm quite happy with it on the whole. I'd do a lot of things different if I had to start again but you live, you learn. The story on instagram is my story so far. A LONG way from finished but a new arrival to the family member is due so progress will pretty much stop for a while. I'm open to any ideas on work I have still to do. Anyways my instagram is @nedhannon Have a look and fire away with any questions. I'd say I've over 1000 photos of work so far, not all great though as I'm working in a tight space. I'll probably not put many photos on here as I seem to have to snapshot them again for some reason for them to upload. Feel free to browse.lol Already having trouble with the photos.lol

Rear jacking point

At the front

Inside the front drivers side sill

Next piece of the sill above the front jacking point

New arch made and tacked in. No real need for new arches now but I don't want to do this again

A big surprise, I didn't think that these cars rusted! Good work if you fixed that

Oh they do, just starting to come through now on the earlier cars. There only just starting so for many theres still time to protect and prevent this. My rear arches have started to go as well. Correct me if Im wrong but this is an aerokit car so has the side skirts. Ive got a feeling those skirts are hiding a multitude of sins on a lot of car. I'll look you up on Instagram and good luck getting it all done.

Much more of a surprise than I ever expected. Yes on the aero kit. Genuine from new. The skirts hold all the dirt and therefore the water. Same as any car with them. They fold right underneath past the fold in the sill so they collect everything going. I never thought it'd be that bad. The arches in fairness weren't bad at all. I just got a bit carried away. Got you back on instagram there coulstar. I had followed your thread on here so I'm familiar with your wheel fettish :floor: :floor:

Wow that's pretty scary what was underneath!! How easy are the sill covers to remove? It's a job I want to do on my GT3 but haven't gotten around to it yet.

The sill covers can be a pain to remove. I have recently taken them off my 190k mile C4 to do the bodywork, but it was nothing like as bad as this. MC

Good work Nedhan. Makes a bit of a joke of a potential MOT failure for brake pipes!

Thanks guys. By sill covers do you mean the skirts? Mine may have been off before due to a bodged repair at the back of the sill. Clips at the bottom are easy but there was a serious amount of bonding along the top edge. Not easy but what lay beneath was obviously worse. I'd image a gt3 could be a lot worse condition as there's no under seal from the factory but then again, it might not be as the factory sealer holds in the water if it gets broken. A gt3 would have to get new sills in this case due to value. My car has an accident history though I can't really see where so I don't have the worry of originality. The sill themselves can only be bought from porsche. No after market parts available yet as far as I could find. Also they're in 2 sections. The sill only comes from the front to about the rear of the door and the rear section is part of the quarter panel. I just didn't have the means to buy these so I had to improvise. A lot of work.

Urghhh looks terrible but I'm expecting my 98 to be the same when I remove the aero skirts. The jacking points on mine all look a little rough, in fact I have managed to poke my finger up through one Of the rear ones Ah well, I guess many 21 year old cars will also have rust of this nature.

Pauldeacs at least your on the case. It's not going to be pretty but there's no point denying its there. Just get stuck in. Don't be loosing any sleep,over it. We're not the first to get here, maybe just the first to admit it