Whale Tale

[porkersc]

How easy is it to remove the whale tale on my 82 sc? Reason being i need the boot lid re-painting to a very small area of paint cracking where the spoiler is attached to the boot lid. Am wondering if worth ditching the spoiler all together and getting a new boot lid without spoiler. Have access to a good bodyshop as in the trade. Any ideas where i can get a rear lid.

Migration info. Legacy thread was 21472

 

[warren mcbride]

Check the classified ads in 911 & PW, also have a look at some of the breakers - eg douglas valley etc.

Im not sure about this, but i think you can remove the whale tail and hey presto you have a spoiler less lid. Can anyone confirm this ?


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[mitch]

E bay is usually a good bet, you'll probably find untold amounts of rust on the lid when you take the spoiler off. It's probably whats holding it on there! As you can imagine it's a bit of a moisture trap.

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[Jamie Summers]

The whale tail simply unbolts - so easy to remove. However, you will need to have the bolt holes welded up and filled to create a flat lid and you need the grille to go int he big hole ! (about £80 new). Cost wise I think you are better of getting an additional flat lid (hopefully already with grille) and keeping the tail to replace / pass on when you sell it. This is what I did.

Look on Ebay and in the back of all of the Porsche mags, they come up fairly regularly at about £150 -£200 ish without grille, £250 with.



Jamie


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[Maxy M]

911SC with no whale tail?? It's a must-have, surely...

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[porkersc]

Cheers guys. Will keep a look out. So you think an SC should be without whale tale?

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[warren mcbride]

some think yes, some think no. Go with whatever you like the best.

The "current" trendy opinion is the smooth look without the tail, but how long before someone says"hey, wasnt the old skool look with big spoiler cool?"

I personally think that if the spoiler look was around at the time the car was built, then its ok to have a spoiler, but saying that my 3.2 carrera came without the spoiler, but i would have bought one with the spoiler - do you get my drift ?


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[Maxy M]

Was my post ambiguous? 911SC with whale-tail: perfect.

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[Andy C]

I always thought the Whale Tail looked cool on the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera.
But I also like the smooth look of the car without the spoiler.
I think if it was me I’d leave it on, but then again if it didn’t have one I’m not sure I’d fit one.




Doesn’t removing the spoiler affect handling?




My 993 has the standard flip up spoiler which has an additional hoop spoiler attached, I’m not sure I’d replace it with a turbo type spoiler but I would remove the hoop if it was an easy job (i.e no filling of holes and re-spraying).
Mind you if the car was fitted with a turbo spoiler I’d probably leave it.




So decisive!


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[mitch]

My sc is a '78 non sport so it has never had a front or rear spoiler, it's in the petrol blue with the chrome windows and looks more classic. If it had the black window surrounds i would prefer the more modern look with the spoiler, but fortunately we're not all the same, we're individuals. Thats why we all drive Porsches isn't it?

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[warren mcbride]

Mitch - i couldnt agree more with your last comment.

My 3.2 came without any spoilers (so called non-sport), but i fitted the front black lip.

I spoke to Northway before i did so as i had also heard about the handling being affected and his reply was" supposedly with the front lip,but no rear wing, oversteer is an issue at high speeds - ie 140 mph and above" ,but how often will you be reaching those speeds Warren?" Apparantly at Weissach they experienced more lift off oversteer with this set up, but we are talking degrees here - i fitted the front lip and didnt lift off the gas sharply at speeds over 140 mph on long sweeping autobahn curves. no problemo.

But - its a different story the other way around - rear spoiler fitted, no front lip - then a lot of lift (even more than usually experienced on sc/3.2's) is experienced at much lower speeds, due to the extra downforce at the rear - ie more wandering at motorway speeds/more suceptable to crosswinds.




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[porkersc]

I think i may leave it on as the car has the front lip spoiler and personally i do like the spoiler as i have the black window surrounds. I think i will have the paint re done on the lid. The colour plate on my car says its Palisander which i believe changed to Rosewood later on. Will my bodyshop be able to match this colour?

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[warren mcbride]

They should - a friend of mine in the trade tells me that there is a gadget available that can read and replicate the colour of your probably little bit faded colour. The problem with older cars is that the paint changed over the years and applying new (correct code) paint doesnt always match the older applied colour. Best to do your research with your paint shop.

Spoliers are cool on period cars - the 80's iare back !


Migration info. Legacy thread was 21603