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Nov

2015

Rennline is Growing- Construction Time!

Thanks to all of our loyal customers who continue to support our pursuit of top-notch Porsche, Audi, VW, BMW, Mini and more parts, we are lucky enough to need more space! Our existing building in Milton, Vermont was built so that we could make the move from a cramped city space to a larger facility capable of handling our new machining centers, second waterjet, and rapidly expanding staff. Now, four years later, we have reached the same point where expansion has become necessary, again thanks to all of our wonderful customers.

Initial construction of our current facility circa 2011

This is going to be a significant improvement for the Rennline shop. As anyone who has run, worked around, serviced, or even seen a water jet can tell you, they can be a little messy! This new shop space is going to be almost solely committed to ‘jet operation, which will free up a huge amount of space and allow us to spend less time scrubbing. We are also adding a third water jet, bringing our total to three in-house, which will massively improve the speed with which we can turn out your favorite parts!

Pouring the new foundation

New foundation complete!

We are hoping that this additional space will allow us to carry a larger supply of current Rennline parts and also to continue expanding our line of parts for Porsche models as well as Audi, Volkswagen, BMW, Mini and others. In the past year we have been able to significantly expand our offerings, specifically for VW models by releasing our RS Style Door Pulls, billet license plate mounts, tow hooks and GoPro mounts and more for the MK4-7 Golf, GTI and Jetta, and we cannot wait to flex our engineering muscles on some more parts for these cars!

Building materials for the addition arriving at the Rennline shop

The sun setting on another productive day here in Milton, VT

Beginning construction of the frame

Slowly but surely!

We hope to be moving into this space in January if everything goes smoothly, just in time to begin stocking up on parts for the race season. This also means that with our increased production capability we should be churning out a host of new parts for the new year! Look for continued development of the new 991 chassis and new lines of VW products to lead the way.

Last, but certainly not least we would like to take the opportunity, once again, to thank all of our customers who have made Rennline’s success possible. Since our opening we have worked hard to bring the best parts possible to market, and luckily we hit a niche with a lot of great enthusiasts who are passionate about speed and quality. Whether you’ve ordered $10 or $10,000 worth of parts from us, we would like to thank each and every customer for supporting us and making this all possible!

Oct

2015

Project: 73 RSR Tribute with 3.4T

After searching for several months for that perfect backdate project car, we came across a 1975 Carrera that had been converted to a Slantnose by a SoCal dealership in the late 80’s. Being a California car, this chassis was rust free and a great starting point for what was to come. In addition to the rust free chassis the car also had the entire drivetrain from a 79 930. After a few more questions we learned the car had been serviced by our friends at Poudre Sports Cars in Denver, Colorado. A phone call yielded the details; the engine had been built two years prior and the parts list included JE pistons, LN cylinders, ARP head studs, topped with a K27 Turbo. Between the chassis and engine build we settled on this car as being the perfect candidate for our project and had the car dropped back off at Poudre Sports Cars so that it could be shipped over to us in Vermont.

Upon arrival at the Rennline shop, we spent some time sorting a few small issues and putting some miles on the engine to ensure everything was running correctly and up to snuff. Thanks to Poudre’s top notch work, this was a short process and within no time the car was shedding its sheet metal in preparation for a complete restoration. A full array of early body panels were sourced and the slantnose parts were removed in preparation for the long hood conversion.

We are never ones to miss the opportunity to develop fresh parts for the Rennline catalog, and this project was the perfect chance to so some applied product development. First up was an RSR Style Strut brace which features dimple-died strut tower reinforcements to all but eliminate flex between the strut towers and caused by the forces transferred though the shocks themselves to the top mounts. Next up we jigged the new long hood on one of our water jets and wrote a CNC program to cut a hole for our new Center Hood Gas Filler. This piece is machined from billet aluminum right here in Vermont and is the perfect compliment to this or any 911 project.

With the extensive amount of body work needed for the backdate, we employed a hydraulic rotisserie that was custom built by one of our close friends with assistance from our CNC tooling centers. As anyone who has restored a car can tell you, removing factory undercoating is one of the worst tasks. This was made worlds easier with the rotisserie, and we tapped our catalog for some of Wurth’s OEM quality SKS Stoneguard to coat the entire under body. This included the engine bay and entire floor which was body-matched after the Wurth products were applied.

Next up was the rolling gear- the suspension was all in decent shape, but a combination of old rubber and the fact that we can never leave well enough alone meant that a complete overhaul was in store. The entire suspension and steering systems were stripped down bare nuts and bolts status, and every last nut, washer and bracket were media blasted and sent for OEM equilivant yellow Zinc plating. Since Aluminum can’t be zinc plated, and those parts weren’t coated from the factory anyway they were media blasted and clear coated both to maintain the clean look of the raw aluminum and to make cleaning easier in the future.

With all the suspension looking brand new, we threw the book at it: Rennline HD parts everywhere, including de-cambered ball joints for increased camber, strut mounts, trailing arm bushings, spring plate bushings, and control arm bushings to name a few. With their rubber construction and higher than factory durometer composition these parts are perfect for significantly increasing the handling capabilities of these old cars without drawbacks associated with typical aftermarket bushings.

Below are a few pictures of #Project50ShadesOfGrey as it began to take shape outside of the Rennline factory. After years of working on such a big project it’s nice to finally see things coming together. We can’t wait to see how the final build turns out! Follow us @Rennline on Instagram to see updates of the car as the build comes to an end.

It’s now February of 2018 and #Project50ShadesOfGrey is finally done and we are so excited to share the final photos with you guys. What better time to release the build than right after the release of the newest 50 Shades of Grey movie. If you have any questions about the build, or the Rennline products used in the build, send us an email at orders@rennline.com. Cheers!

Oct

2015

Lug Stud Conversions – Porsche, VW & Audi Spacers, Studs, Wheel Bolts and Hardware

VW, Audi and Porsche love their wheel bolts, but do you? If not, convert to lug studs with one of our Rennline Competition Lug Stud Conversion Kits! We have added R13 Ball Seat Lug Nuts specifically sized for factory Volkswagen and Audi wheels and many aftermarket wheels to allow for a greater range of fitments. Of course, our classic R14 Ball Seat Lug Nuts for Porsche fitment wheels are still an option with any kit. We have also partnered with Adaptec Speedware and now offer their entire line of off the shelf and custom spacers and adapters, making Rennline.com your one stop shop for wheel hardware!

Our proprietary studs are precision machined and fully certified to ISO standards making them true race-grade parts; just ask TyrolSport who runs one of our Competition Stud Conversion Kits on their track day Golf R. Available in 35mm length for 5mm or smaller spacers, 45mm length for up to 15mm spacers or 60mm length for 20mm+ spacers, a stud conversion will let you run the spacers you need while making wheel changes a breeze. Our lug nuts are made from steel making them a perfect compliment for our stud kits, or perfect replacement parts for soft factory Porsche aluminum lug nuts with minimal weight penalty.

Adaptec Speedware has earned a reputation for being the best in the business thanks to their high standards of quality and finish in addition to their lifetime warranty. All spacers and adapters are machined from USA-sourced T5 aluminum right here in the USA which means you get the highest quality product possible and that custom parts are no problem. Please contact us if you need a size you do not need listed- whether you need to a bit more clearance for those new track wheels, or are just shooting for that perfect fitment, you can trust that Rennline and Adaptec Speedware have you covered.

The next time you need to make adjustments to your wheel fitment, just give us a call or hit www.Rennline.com for a full selection of our wheel hardware offerings. We also carry a full line of press-in style lug studs for early Porsches in four different lengths! We have made it easy to get the correct studs and nuts for your Porsche, Audi, VW and more! Loose your wheel bolts and enjoy the simplicity and change your wheel studs in less time, with less frustration!

Oct

2015

964 Turbo: Bushings and Coilovers

It has been a while since we updated everyone on the beautiful 964 Turbo barn find that Rennline owner Paul was able to recover in North Carolina. The 964 Turbo is continuing to rise both in desirability and value; the last of the Turbos to feature truly classic 911 styling, but were limited by Porsche’s budget at the time which. The result? For a long time the 964 was relegated to the “not so desirable Porsche” category. Fiendishly complex and technically advanced, the original 1989 964 C4 was Suttgart’s way of showcasing the technology developed with the legendary 959. C2 models followed for 1990, and a myriad of variants became available in the following years, however this would be the last of the legendary Turbo line not to be all wheel driven.

This particular 964 was parked years ago due to a leaky brake caliper of all things. The then-owner decided that lack of use and cost of repairs was enough to justify some downtime. ‘Some downtime’ turned into years, which turned into full fledged abandonment, and that is about where our story picked up last installment. This meant that there was plenty of work to be done. As many will tell you, a car sitting deteriorates much faster than one being driven, so there have been a number of time related issues that needed addressing. First up was the front suspension, which not only featured a plethora of dry rotted rubber bushings, but also steel bolts that were corroded and frozen into the aluminum subframe. The result was that we had to remove the driver’s side front subframe just to remove what remained of the bolt!

With all of the front suspension bits finally freed up, we went about burning out the rubber bushings, cutting out the residual races where necessary, and pressing in a fresh assortment of Rennline HD bushings. Our High Density (HD) line of bushings feature rubber construction to avoid annoying squeaks and groans typical of aftermarket poly and delrin bushings, but feature stiffer durometer even compared to OE RS or similar parts. This means you get the performance increase of a stiffer, more responsive chassis without dealing with the extra NVH, squeaks and creaks associated with most aftermarket solutions. The installation of the front suspension bits went smoothly as expected, simply pressing into the control arms just like factory bushings. Thankfully it was less stinky than the process of removing the old bushings!

We are not known for leaving things “well enough,” so while the car was in the air and the front suspension was totally disassembled a set of Bilstein PSS10 coilovers found their way into the mix. PSS9/10s are widely known for their high-quality, rebuild-able design, adjustability and performance during track and spirited driving. Based on our past experience, we deemed these the best fit for the kind of roads and driving this Turbo will see. We paired these coilovers with a set of our Rennline Adjustable Camber Plates in the front and Monoball Strut Mounts in the rear. This will ensure that we are able to maximize the benefits of increased stiffness added by our High Density suspension bushings. Further, this will allow us to dial in appropriate camber settings when we get around to taking this thing to the track, and will ensure minimal suspension geometry changes during hard driving.

With the front end back together and the car on the ground it was time to get it moving under its own power for the first times since it came to the Rennline shop. When it first arrived, the first items on the docket were to drain the 5-10 year old gas, change the fuel filter, pump, plugs and wires. With this basic tuneup and a little futzing we got it fired up and settled into a nice, even idle with no smoke or strange smells coming from the exhaust. With the car on the ground we finally had a chance to give it a serious test!

Unfortunately, the brakes that originally caused the car to be parked have since deteriorated further. This meant that a single front caliper leak has developed into a front and opposing rear rendering the car able to brake but not able to do so quickly or exceedingly effectively. Despite this limiting factor the 964 made its first laps around the industrial park under its own power! The engine, it turns out, is indeed nice and strong, giving solid off boost response and a mid range without hiccups or misfires. The turbo spools up nicely and makes target boost levels in typical early-turbo style: plenty of it but after a deep breath to spool.

All in all we are extremely pleased with this project’s progression. It is a back-burner barn find that has provided a relaxed and enjoyable series of projects. Without a deadline and with all the other things going on in the shop we are taking our time with this one and having fun! That said, we are looking towards the 2016 season for the debut of this thing at some or our local New England track events!

Sep

2015

A Beautiful Example of a 911 Track Car

This 1974 RS “Re-creation” only lasted for sale two days on the Pelican Parts Forums. But that isn’t really a surprise when you look at the spec list. The short list on the built 3.2l includes Weber 46IDAs, ported heads, new rings and Cosworth pistons on rods forged rods. Big headers and a flowmaster exhaust were added to compliment the K&N intake filters and twin plug conversion. Although not known as the most exciting engine ever bolted into a 911 the 3.2 was claimed by Porsche to be 80% new from the 3.0l, but the best improvement was moving over to a Motronic Fuel Injection from the former CIS setup. This increased output, tunability and reliability significantly over the outgoing powerplant.

To be able to handle as well as it goes, the car received 23/31mm torsion bars and re valved Bilsteins to match. There has been a trend to convert earlier cars to coilover setups, but when properly sized, torsion bar setups are more than capable of keeping up with more modern spring setups. Tarett Engineering Competition Suspension Components provided their renowned sway bars to compliment our own Rennline monoballs in both the front and rear. Of course, after these and the rest of the laundry list of suspension upgrades, the car was dialed in with a track oriented alignment.

Our Rennline floor boards were added to the interior to replace the factory plywood units along with a host of lightweight RS parts for the perfect track car cockpit. Although the “driver mod” (aka seat time) is often touted as the biggest factor in lap times, it is important to make sure the driver is able to perform their duties without obstruction. That means floorboards are a critical modification to keep the pedal area clear and the Cobra seats, fire supression system and Momo Mod.07 wheel allow precision control in this Carrera. The builder also chose a Painless Wiring system integrated with the factory Motronic ECU to ensure reliability at the track.

Finally a set of 17″ CCW wheels were stuffed under the fenders sized 8.5″ wide in the front and 10″ fat in the rear. With a high-strung 3.2 all this meat was necessary to ensure maximum traction when exiting turns under power. Any 911 driver (and many, many pundits) will tell you never to lift off the throttle mid turn, so power-on at corner exit is essential to fast lap times and those meaty rear tires allow exactly that. All in all this was an awesome deal, and we hope whoever snagged it is continuing to track the car because, after all, that is what it was built to do!