![Porsche 911 Backdate: EB Motorsport Panels]()
by John Glynn | Apr 29, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Continuing our week of EB Motorsport news, I recently spoke to Neil who has used EB Motorsport Porsche panels to backdate his Porsche 911 SC.
What is Backdating?
Backdating is taking a later Porsche 911 and converting it to look like an earlier car. As the swooping roof line and much of the structural detail of the classic Porsche 911 body shell was unchanged for almost thirty years, it’s a popular way to get classic looks for a lower price.
Neil started with a 1982 Porsche 911 SC. The SC makes a good base for backdating for a number of reasons.
- The 911 SC shell was galvanised from new, so while there will be rust it is not always terminal
- Some of the rusty bits you change anyway through backdating
- The car is very simple and promotes DIY maintenance
- The 3.0 engine has excellent power and the chassis is ripe for lightening
- The 915 transmission, suspension and brakes are an improvement on an early car
- SCs are still cheaper than 3.2s (i.e. better 😀 )
EB Porsche panels include the ‘longhood’ early 911 bonnet, and early lighter bumpers front and rear. Neil also bought a lightweight roof panel, which he plans to use on the next build stage. “I fitted the panels and vinyl wrapped it in matt black to use the car and decide on the next changes. I also gold plated a few parts and installed a roll cage.
“The plan now is to change it a little, make it more Singer-inspired using EB Motorsport parts, including 911 ST front wings, 911 RSR rear arches and slightly different bumpers. I’ll fit the lightweight roof skin, probably install a centre-fill fuel tank and have it painted rather than wrapped.”
Ferdinand Magazine’s own backdate 911 project – based on the 1976 Porsche 912E shell I have stored in San Francisco – will kick off some time in the future. I will also use EB Motorsport parts, as the quality is so good. I’m looking forward to seeing what Neil does next on this very usable daily driver-style 911 SC base.
by John Glynn | Apr 28, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche News
Now Ted the Jack Russell Terrier is here, I’m probably going to run a split dog guard in the Cayenne and maybe get a roof box for the odd time the whole family takes off in it. Seems the standard Cayenne roof bars are too wide for most aftermarket boxes: need to try and find a Porsche one.
Looking at Cayenne roof box pictures on Rennlist (mostly a deterrent to my idea), I found these pics of Andy Roe’s paint-to-sample 1991 964 C2 Coupe with a Thule roof box fitted. Seemed pretty handy so I dropped him a line.
“At 320 litres, this is more than enough space for what I need,” says Andy, a Briton now living in Bologna, Italy who tours with his family in the Porsche. “There’s enough space for 4 or 5 reasonably-sized bags. I keep the heavier bags in the car.”
People will no doubt ask about the change in noise and efficiency. “No real change in wind noise at 65mph,” Andy explains. “Fuel economy did suffer slightly: maybe 5-10% difference. Some change in the way the car accelerates and how hard you need to brake when fully loaded, but nothing major. I recommend this to anyone trying to make their 964/993/911 more practical.”
No doubt there will be a few haters, but I bet Andy clocks up more miles fully loaded than most of them. This to me seems a great way to use a 911 more often and avoid the dreaded 320 Touring. It’s not going to damage the car and keeps the car in regular use for more than weekend meets.
by John Glynn | Apr 23, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
Back from a week of tearing around seeing family in Ireland with our LPG-powered Porsche Cayenne (below at Bunratty with daughter 2 and nephew 1), I came out the back gate yesterday to find it had made a new friend.
Connected to the rear of the Cayenne was a Zafira. By the jaunty angle of approach, I could tell the friendship was accidental. The Zafira had slipped the tethers of its handbrake and rolled down the hill to say hello at speed.
Porsche Cayenne Crash Damage
I was heading off to a meeting, so located the owner, got it uncoupled and discovered a reasonable dent in the Big Pig’s backside. My damage was not as bad as the other car, but the bumper has softened and localised paint is cracked. Parking sensors seem to have given up too, so it will take some work to sort this one.
Love my Cayenne but one of us must be cursed! I’d like to be optimistic but seems the pre-cat oxygen sensors are also playing up, causing shunting at low revs in high gears. Probably original so wear and tear: my Porsche specialist will be having a look.
Edit: First Porsche Crash Estimate
The first estimate for the repair of this damage is back. Parts £530, labour £360, paint £230. About £1500 all told. Let this be a lesson to all of you: Cayennes are not cheap to run around in! No doubt I will find better estimates. As this could have been me paying for the damage if I had not found it like this, I am going to sort some sort of accident camera recording system for inside the car also as too many fraudulent accident claims in the UK now.
A friend is dealing with complete insurance fraud against his company at the minute. So far the insurers have paid out £25k on courtesy car hire and he is now battling a £75k personal injury claim for a car pulling straight out in front of him, then braking hard as it exited a roundabout. Fraudsters everywhere.
by John Glynn | Apr 21, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche People
Two years after starting on Instagram, Ferdinand Magazine remains a big fan of the platform and our Cult of Porsche Instagram feed makes new friends every day. One early Instagram friend was John Benton, a detail-obsessed Porsche mechanic based in Anaheim, CA.
Disappointed by his experiences as a Porsche-owning workshop customer, John’s background in high-end facilities engineering led to wondering why attention to detail was not a given in classic Porsche maintenance. Guessing he was not alone in feeling, Benton took a chance and opened a modest Porsche shop in Southern California.
Driven by solid demand for his services, Benton moved to bigger premises last year. Watching Benton’s day-to-day Instagram feed shows his focus on detail, and the comments show that customers love it. His reputation has blossomed into Benton Performance, which has taken back-to-back Porsche wins on Carrera Panamericana.
Underpinning all of Benton’s output is a reverence for classic Porsche style. “We’re so blessed and lucky to have these cars. There are no new 1966 Porsche 911s being built. Out of respect to them, I remain true to the form, but I like to build it a little better.” I hear that.
Customer and film director, Heath Mattioli, is a big fan of Benton’s and recently shot a small feature film with some satisfied Benton customers. It’s interesting, different and sheds light on a few Porsche truths. See how many you identify with.
by John Glynn | Apr 6, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
Now that the Cayenne is home with its gearbox problems sorted, I took a few hours off yesterday morning to get the DAB digital radio install finished. I use the car on a twenty-mile countryside school run every morning and only the 6 Music breakfast show will do for that task.
I’ve tried a few glass mount antennas for DAB since buying my Kenwood 4210 head unit. I’m in a patchy DAB area at the best of times but glass mount was totally useless. No signal anywhere! I had a look at the DAB on Wheels recommendations and bought the Kinetic DRA-6001 amplified roof mount aerial with a 5m extension lead.
I will probably use a roof platform on my car now and then, so no way was this going in the middle. The fitting instructions say mount at least 25 cms from the roof edge for best performance. I was not putting it above the front, so had to be in the rear. I decided to drop the headlining to get a better view of the rear roof section.
Dropping the Cayenne’s roof lining is right fun and games, as it looks like it’s the first part to go in. I’d stripped some of this before so knew the form. Took a while but I got it down enough to see what was what. The roof has a huge amount of stiffening, especially at the rear where the massive tailgate is hung. I could go in front of that and still look sensible: a bit ‘bee sting’ but whatever, long as the DAB works. I marked a centre point 20 cm in from the rear edge and drilled a pilot hole: no changing my mind now.
The Kinetic needs a 14mm mounting hole, which I drilled with a cone cutter. I primed the roof and test fitted the antenna. The supplied base gasket is an O-ring which kept the aerial base a good 7mm or so off the roof and meant I could not get the bottom nut on. After a bit of experimentation, I modifed the gasket arrangement to drop the aerial closer to the roof. Not easy but it worked and would keep the water out.
Now the nut would just go on. Refitting the base over a lot of grease as specified, I tightened it to where I was happy but the leading edge was still slightly proud of the roof. It needed a little more tightening. I gave it one tiny squeeze and the brass nut slipped on the cast threads. The base was not going to sit flush on the roof. Fitting the aerial mast, that would not tighten in the base either. The whole thing was a let down.
I was pretty cross so took a break and came back to it later. It looked a bit rough outside but I managed to get it tight, so why not give it a try. I rigged up a 12v supply and took the antenna lead to the head unit: instant success. The DAB reception was perfect.
I’ve put it all back together, but am 99% sure I will swap this for the Hirschmann Auta DAB antenna in a few weeks time, when I take the roof out again to sort the reverse camera. If you’ve bought and are fitting this one, my advice is to bin the base gasket and just use Sikaflex to seal it up and get it tight to the roof. If you’ve not bought it yet, save your money and buy the budget Hirschmann.
