by John Glynn | Feb 10, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods, Project Cars
Jan sent me some pics of the Turbo Look Porsche 911 Carrera he’s building as an RSR-style hot rod out in Hamburg. We’ve been chatting about using a Twinspark WEVO Porsche shifter to sharpen up the gearshift of his 911, and interesting ideas to tidy the inside.
This is my favourite kind of project: a constantly evolving development. Just as every 911 owner is always changing and picking up new inspirations, so those inspirations must find their way onto classic Porsche canvas.
It’s as yet decided what route Jan will take on gearshift. So far he’s got SSI heat exchangers and a two-out muffler, an upgraded chip, 9-and 10-inch Fuchs, Bilsteins and new bumpers. There might be a paint to do, or not. Looks cool as it is, though the sharkfins have to go.
Hamburg is a very cool place to build cars. Going out there soon to see the Prototype Museum. More news on that coming up.
Got a 911 hot rod build in progress? Send your pics to me as they are always up my street. Ferdinand is the home of hot rod Porsches. Email mail@ferdinandmagazine.com.
by John Glynn | Feb 8, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars, Race and Rally
Just had these pics through from our mate and Japanese Historic racing champion, Tetsu Ikuzawa, of his immaculate short wheelbase 911 fitted with lightweight Porsche doors made by Yorkshire’s EB Motorsport.
Now the Japanese distributor for EB 911 parts, Ikuzawa’s car also runs a bonnet, deck lid, bumpers, polycarbonate headlight lenses, side and rear windows and lightweight engine tins from the EB classic Porsche 911 parts catalogue.
Lightweight fibreglass or ‘glass fibre’ panels on Porsche once conjured up images of ill-fitting parts that failed to inspire. EB literally broke the mould on junk fibreglass: all the EB panels I’ve seen have been of superb quality. EB Equipment has been making composite parts for the agricultural and food production industries for more than fifty years, so those boys know their stuff. And they are great fun to hang out with.
Ikuzawa’s car must be super-light now: I’ve asked him to weigh it for us. Here’s some video of Tetsu in action in a Porsche 906. Stick with it, as the early close-crop madness gets better.
Tetsu Ikuzawa drives Porsche 906 (video)
by John Glynn | Jan 16, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Chris and Andy Osborne – the terrible twins – have been busy in Tuthill’s fabrication shop, fitting steel front wheel arches to this Porsche 911 RSR build.
Steel Front Wheel Arch/Front Wings 911
The most common front wing solution on widebody Porsche 911 RSR builds is using composite panels like the EB Motorsport Porsche 911 RSR front wings, which include the front wheel arch and are moulded in lightweight fibreglass. The main advantages of this approach are reasonable cost, very low weight and easily replaceable panels when things get bruised in competition.
For some of those building dream RSRs, the issue is less about cost and more about craft. Steel is solid, long standing and a rare commodity in arches for bespoke 911 builds. High-end Porsche aficionados like a complex metal wheel arch and the Tuthill Porsche fab shop is more than capable of fulfilling their wishes.
The Porsche 911 RSR build seen here is for street, circuit and rally use. It features a number of composite lightweight Porsche parts from EB Motorsport, but also a measure of old fashioned steel. It is true to classic Porsche, and to the owner, and will definitely turn a few heads when it’s finished.
by John Glynn | Jan 15, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
I keep in touch with Steve Bennett at 911 & Porsche World magazine, and we’ve been talking about the Cayenne since I bought it. I’ve run gas-powered Subarus for years, and soon fitted gas to the Cayenne, so Steve was interested in my Cayenne LPG experience.
Steve ran a Citröen Xantia on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) a few years ago, and is familiar with the upsides of a car on gas. I just wrote a quick piece for him on buying the Cayenne and fitting the gas conversion. I took a few pics of the main Cayenne LPG components and they seemed worth sharing here, too. See more of the story in Porsche World next month.
Above is the engine bay showing the injector relays (blue) and the evaporator (silver thing on the left hand side of the engine bay). The install is not super pretty, but who cares when you’re doing the equivalent of 35 mpg on petrol. My November fuel bill was £360, December was £163 on LPG with roughly similar mileage.
This is the dash switch: the red light on top is a gas level gauge, telling me to top up sometime (got 60 or 70 miles left at this), the green light on the bottom shows we’re running on gas. The light on the bottom right would come on if I was on petrol.
This shot shows the gas tank. I had a 50-litre toroidal tank fitted, which filled the wheel well and is level with the boot floor, but will ultimately sit lower in the boot. I’ll drop the floor panel back in (I use a load liner at the minute) and then fit a cylinder tank behind the seat, which should give me a total gas range of almost 400 miles: 750 when you add in the petrol. I get 50 miles more per tank of fuel than a certain track fiend friend of mine does! He strenuously denies this is possible: it always makes me laugh.
The floor of the actual bodyshell will be quite cut about to accomplish this tank drop: easy to sort as best mate Rob Campbell at Racing Restorations is an expert metal fabricator, historic race car builder and Porsche rust repair guy. Most normal owners just use a cylinder tank behind the rear seats and have done with it but, when you’ve got a pet metal guy, you put him to work.
The last pic shows the automatic transmission fluid being changed the other day. That is a whole other story.
by John Glynn | Jan 10, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Spotted a familiar Porsche Carrera hot rod at Tuthill Porsche yesterday: Simeon Anderson’s orange Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera with the classic ducktail rear end.
Based on a 1985 chassis, this 911 is a great example of impact bumper upgradery. Now kitted out with Tuthill 6-pot brakes, EXE-TC suspension, Recaro trim and an engine transplant, the Carrera also runs a torquey 3.6-litre engine, rebuilt by Nick at Redtek to give 290bhp.
I first encountered Simeon’s car for its 2013 insurance valuation. Back then it was painted mid metallic blue, but it now wears a colour worthy of its sass. Somewhat reminiscent of Oli Wheeler’s Lime Green 3.2 update, last seen at Cameron Sports Cars down in Wiltshire, the big difference is Oli’s car (previously owned by Chris Harris) ran a stock engine, with Jenvey throttle bodies and an Omex ECU.
Is this a future feature car? For sure. Anderson is a petrolhead par excellence and fine Ferdinand material!
by John Glynn | Jan 8, 2014 | Porsche News, Project Cars
To celebrate the 911’s 50th anniversary, Porsche Centre Madrid Norte held a live art event, where the artist VILLOTAF brought his vision to a pre-prepared 964 Porsche art car. Much of this video is in Spanish, but watch through to the performance: I know some of you will enjoy it.
Before making your conclusions, take some advice from the late Freddie Mercury. “Modern paintings are like women, you’ll never enjoy them if you try to understand them.”
