by John Glynn | Apr 9, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche News, Project Cars
Had some nice feedback on my latest 924 Turbo maintenance piece: thanks for that. I finally heard back from Porsche GB on getting a build date for the car, so I sent off my £65 for a Letter of Origin. Should be enough to register it here once it’s MOTed.
While writing the cheque for Porsche Cars GB, it occurred to me that Italy must have a HPI system for its cars, so I googled that and found the Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI) website. It’s the only source of info for Italian cars, and looked great. If you speak Italian and have a Codice Fiscale (Social Security number), you can find out anything you want about a car for a modest fee.
Much as I love Italia, I have neither the language nor the residency to go all the way with ACI, but Google Translate helped me find a section of the site to check tax status on a car registered in Italy. My 1980 924 Turbo carries the reg prefix RA, which is Emilia-Ravenna district, but the tax site showed it as last registered in Sardinia. The ragu thickens.
Amongst the nondescript paper shrapnel pulled from the car, I did find a stack of business cards from a bodyshop in Cagliari, capital of Sardinia. I emailed them a few months back but heard nothing in return. It’s obvious that they painted it, many moons ago.
The paint is now shot to pieces, but at some stage it probably looked OK. This led me to searching 924 Turbos in Cagliari and finding more Italian 924s with these Fisher-Price indicators on the front wings. I’m probably taking them off mine when we paint it: wonder who at Porsche Italy thought they were the right way to go.
Anyway, Sardinia Car Tax Online says this car was registered 1/1/1980, so I am guessing there was no official production date put forward when it was registered there. I could try to register it using the paperwork I gleaned from the ACI site, but I’ll wait to see what £65 buys me from Porsche: I’ll be cross if they also say 1/1/1980.
At least I’m now sure that rust-free chassis is because it lived in the sun for ages. I know it’s nothing special to most people, but I really like this car.
by John Glynn | Apr 8, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Just watched a terrific Storyville on BBC4. Entitled “From the Sea to the Land: Beyond Britain’s Coast on Film”, the programme gathered up 100 years of archive footage, to tell the story of 20th Century Britain’s relationship with the sea that surrounds it. With a thought-provoking soundtrack playing in accompaniment, it was spellbinding television.
The most impressive part for me was a shipyard section filmed in the 1960s, with amazing cinematography showing the scale of some of the vessels being built, when the UK still made the world’s greatest machinery. Deeply impressive on a multitude of levels.
The age of great British fabrication was briefly revisited on Saturday, when I finally managed to strap best mate Rob Campbell at Racing Restorations to his lathe for long enough to make a bush for my 924 Turbo’s steering rack. The 924 car failed its UK MOT on steering play, ascribed to a track rod but wound up being the bush in the end of the steering rack: those bumpy Italian back roads roads taking their toll.
I was happy to go and track down the part, but Robert insisted he could easily make it. Sorting this is the penultimate job before registration: all I need now is a set of tyres fitted, a retest on the MOT and official confirmation of date of construction, and it’s off to the DVLA with some paperwork.
In true OTT John & Rob style, the plastic bush I pulled out out of the Volkswagen steering rack – worth about 50p on a good day – was replaced with something that took rather more expense to manufacture. Robert turned it out of solid brass, giving me an hour’s entertainment and something good to blog about.
If you’ve ever seen brass being machined, you know it goes everywhere in splinters. But all metal is amazing to watch in transformation. Careful measuring throughout Operation Overkill meant the rack all went back together with no big dramas. I’ll get it back in the car sometime next week.
by John Glynn | Mar 20, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
I’ve been storing an original 3.2 Carrera Speedster hard top for a Dutch R Gruppe mate for a couple of years and he’s finally coming to collect it.
The email announcing his imminent arrival was accompanied by these pics of his latest build: Project 913.
913 is the codename for a 911 ST/930 hybrid with a bit of backdating, a lot of fabrication and many retro cool tricks in between. American Racing mags, slick red early-style interior, an air force blue colour scheme that could well become his trademark and something that should be a heap of fun to drive.
Sadly he’s not coming here in it any time soon. Could be time for another trip to Amsterdam: roll on summer!
by John Glynn | Mar 8, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods
Good times last weekend, as I spent Saturday covering the Saturday Surgery: a three-hour morning tech session. This is where owners can bring cars like this classic Porsche 964 Turbo in for a proper 45-minute inspection free of charge, and get some advice on keeping it right.
My friends pioneered the idea of these free inspections. They promise no hard sell and so it transpired, as four different owners brought their cars for attention, with only one spending money: on a much-needed battery. Two other 911s were new owners, checking the boys out for future servicing, and finding out if they’d bought a good car. The fourth Porsche was a silver 964 Turbo, not long sold but in for a trial fit of Fuchs alloy wheels.
The UK distributor of genuine Fuchs forged Porsche wheels always has sets in stock. The 17″ versions are still eagerly awaited, but these 18″ wheels were test fitted to the 964 and really did look a treat.
Fronts went on without a spacer while the rears tried a 20mm wide one that could easily be replaced by 10mm or less. I’d probably do something with the ride heights on these wheels, but it looks pretty good. What do you think?
by John Glynn | Mar 5, 2013 | New Models, Porsche News
The new Porsche 911 GT3 is packed with technology, but one of the most interesting aspects is this active rear-wheel steering.
Active rear-wheel steering/four-wheel steering is perhaps best remembered on the Honda Prelude of the late 1980s. In typical Japanese style, the effects were overly obvious, so I remember the Prelude as curious to drive, but the Honda’s mechanical 4WS system (below) was much vaunted by one of my favourite motoring writers (and noted Porsche hater), LJK Setright. BMW used the system on the 850 CSI, and it is still found on current 5-series.
Porsche patented a form of passive rear-steer on the 928, with its famous Weissach Axle, but active is a whole new ball game, made easier by the introduction of electric power steering. Active rear wheel steering has been added “to achieve higher precision and lateral dynamics”. Depending on the speed, the rear steers in the same or opposite direction of the front wheels, improving stability and agility.
Other new modules to improve dynamics on the 991 GT3 include a fully variable electronically-controlled rear diff lock (sounds very very trick), and the dynamic engine mounts. The 20-inch forged alloy wheels with centre locks are also new.
Based on the light, yet stuff aluminium body of the current 911, the 991 GT3 is 44 millimetres wider than a 911 Carrera S across the rear axle. Porsche says that the fixed rear wing makes a decisive contribution to the ‘exemplary’ aerodynamics of the new 911 GT3, which combines low air resistance with even more power.
That’s about as much as I can say on new 991 GT3 tech until we get some cutaway drawings from Stuttgart – normal service is henceforth resumed! I will blog about the 928’s Weissach axle, as that is quite interesting.
