by John Glynn | Nov 8, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
I’ve been swapping emails with friends at McLaren regarding Jenson Button’s future (not that they know anything) but another man at the Woking F1 team has a different connection to Ferdinand. Richard owns this Porsche 911 SC hot rod, which recently went back on the road after a long laid-up period.
I’ve been following the project for a while, after meeting Rich via EB Motorsport. The Porsche fan bought some of Mark’s Porsche 911 SC RS bumpers for narrow-body 911 models including the SC, and added a ducktail for fun.
“I was very happy with the EB Motorsport parts,” says Rich. “The ducktail engine lid fitted straight on with no issues, and the bumpers were good as well. I modified the smile at the front to make a centre bracket, which looks good and supports the front edge over the whole width.”
Gulf Porsche 911 SC
The 911 has just come out of paint and Richard has shared some new pics of the project. Normally, the Gulf tribute schemes involve light blue all over with orange stripes running from under the bumpers across the cars: it’s a look I’m normally not that sure about. Richard’s decision to go orange with the bumpers and carry a modified stripe theme is a good one: the car looks very cool.
“I’ve owned this Porsche 911 SC for more than 18 years. This is rebuild number three! It’s a pretty standard 3-litre SC engine, that has carried us more than 100,000 miles so far. Interior is RS-like, with 993 GT2 seats.
“Last painted eleven years ago, it came off the road for a few years when an oil leak required the engine out to repair. My wife was then ill with cancer and, after she passed away a year ago, my mates got me sorted with a barn with lift and it’s been keeping me occupied ever since.
“The engine was a filthy mess when I dropped it out, but we’ve done what it needed and tidied it up. It’s running very well: just needs lots of super unleaded!”
It’s always sad to hear stories of loss, but the aftermath of these traumatic events can be motivational, as we seek to cope with the loss and make sense of what comes next. My brother-in-law, David Bolger, was claimed by cancer over a decade ago: that was my wake-up call to share the Porsche love. What I do today is closely linked to his passing, and I think of him often.
Kudos to Rich for a car that looks good! It cheers all of us up to see long-owned air-cooled cars modified nicely, not just put back to standard and shoved on the market. A good way to move on: and well done to your mates for helping out too.
by John Glynn | Oct 31, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
The lightweight Porsche 911R race car in build at the EB Motorsport workshop has almost reached the end of its bodywork journey and is now being prepared for paint. Earlier this year, EB added another metal fabricator to their engineering business, who was also experienced in restoration. The new man has extensively rebuilt the rust-ridden chassis, replacing the huge amount of corrosion in the base chassis with nice clean metalwork.
Pictures I received of the project in progress made it look very nicely done. More shots just shared by Mark at EB Motorsport show the 911 with EB’s light composite body panels (handbuilt in the same workshop) attached, including front wings, doors and rear quarter panels. The roof is still steel, which begged the question why the guys didn’t use the EB Motorsport fibreglass roof panel to replace the original metal panel.
“Simple answer is that the lighter EB roof panel is perfect for replacing sunroof holes on cars originally equipped with a sliding roof,” says Mark at EB. “On a car without a sunroof, we would be putting a lot of work in to save two kilograms, so we’ve opted to leave things as they are and look elsewhere for weight savings.”
EB Motorsport reports a number of 911R kits sold to satisfied customers. I know a few people who have opted for a 911R conversion on their challenging SWB 911 restorations, using EB’s lightweight Porsche 911 doors and aluminium hinges, full front wings with built in sidelights, 911R tail light conversion and composite rear quarter panels. Target weight for the EB 911R is circa 860 kilograms: that would be quite an exciting achievement.
Also in the EB project stable is the 2.1-litre RSR “Baby” Turbo replica, which now looks little short of insane. Mark has been working on the flat fan conversion prototyping and recreating the magnesium oil cooler housings as per original race cars. He is also building a new front end for his Harley chopper. So much stuff going on up in Yorkshire: kudos to the guys there.
by John Glynn | Oct 8, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
This freshly-built Porsche 911 RSR replica recently enjoyed its track day debut at Spa Francorchamps. Replica, homage, interpretation: call it what you will, it’s a widebody version of the classic 911, but still more compact than your average modern sports car. Owner Tony tells it like this:
After much consideration on what style of sports-purpose Porsche to build from my 1979 Porsche 911 SC, I opted for an early 911 that packed a punch and would one day enable us to possibly race at international events. I therefore choose the 1973 2.8 RSR as the ultimate aim for my project, with the end result hopefully of a car with FIA papers.
Whilst researching and preparing my budget, it became obvious that the cost of such a project was going to be considerable. We therefore decided to break the project into two phases.
Phase 1 would include chassis, suspension, brakes, bodywork and paint. I knew that, as an ex-Porsche Club GB championship car, the SC had a strong and willing power plant. Therefore, if I added rigidity, removed weight and upgraded the brakes and suspension, it would be an exciting drive. Phase 2 would be all about more power. Phase 1 thus became:
- Strengthened shell, built within the FIA rules, including revised rear crossmember
- Wide body with lightweight panels
- Coil-over suspension with Porsche RSR front Bilstein struts, Reiger dampers and monoball top mounts
- Early adjustable RSR anti-roll bars with RSR strut brace
- Brembo brakes (not FIA)
- Custom Cages T45 historic cage
- 8 x 15″ Fuchs front wheels and 9 x 15″ Group 4 rear wheels
- Michelin TB15 tyres: 215mm F/270mm R
- Front-mounted oil cooler
- Lightweight windows inc heated front screen
- Lightweight fuel tank (bag tank)
- Target weight sub-1000kg
The Porsche project 911 2.8 RSR replica commenced in March and was due for completion in time for a track day at Spa Francorchamps on July 14. I got to know some great people during the course of the project. A special thanks must go to all the guys at Track Torque Racing for building the car, as well as Dan Sutherland at Dansport and Mark Bates at EB Motorsport for Porsche parts, advice, support and expertise, without which the car would never have been completed.
Despite a few teething problems immediately prior to leaving for the Hull ferry, the trip was fantastic, with circa 1000 miles through Belgium and on track at Spa. The car was unbelievable. It delivered astounding performance in the wet conditions in the morning and was capable of running very quickly in the dry PM session, however it was clear the grip level would not last forever in the dry conditions and that Michelin TB5s would be more durable.
Regardless, I now have a car which always delivers a great big smile to my face, whether in the garage or when I’m behind the wheel. Ultimately the car is fast, light, agile and fun: exactly what a Porsche should be all about! The best thing of all is I still have Phase 2 to look forward to!
by John Glynn | Sep 21, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods
When the Porsche 911 SC Cabriolet was released to the public in 1982, it was an instant hit. The first fully convertible Porsche for 18 years since the 356 Roadster, build slots sold out and the cars changed hands for well above list price once in the open market.
Based on the 911 SC Targa, which had been the only open-top 911 for many years until the 911 Cabriolet model was developed, SC Cabriolet shells had few changes over the rigid-glass sibling. The main changes were reinforcements to the bottom of the b-posts and changes to the top of the latch panel where the Targa bar would normally sit, replaced by the Cabriolet roof mechanism. The small differences mean that Targa-to-Cabriolet conversions are quite straightforward, and not that rare.
Porsche friend David bought this Porsche 911 SC as a Cabriolet conversion from a 911 SC Targa. “I rescued it from a barn, where it had languished for fifteen years. It came with big bills for new brakes and lots of injection work to get it running but it had a broken headstud or two and some crappy paint.
“It was already non-original (colour, cab conversion, seats, etc) so it was a perfect subject for a bit of hot-rodding – weight loss and backdating being main aims to get a car that (to me) looked good, sounded great, handled well yet was still comfortable enough for a long day in the saddle.
“Having removed or swapped bumpers, front and rear lids, sill covers, stereo, heating, door cards, seats and more I dropped a total of 135kg (~300lbs). This affected the ride height, particularly on new Bilstein Club Sports all round. This had to be sorted, so I was ready for the next step – to re-bush with Polybushes, fit late 3.2 ARBs and sort the ride height and alignment.
“I limped around in it for a few months until biting the bullet for the inevitable engine rebuild. I took the opportunity to remove the heat and go with bare headers. John Holland at Unit 11 did the rebuild, and it works very well. Elsewhere the bodywork is tidy: a few minor issues to look at, but otherwise it’s a strong and solid classic 911.”
The Cabriolet conversion is less obvious than the other big change over standard: a backdate to early-style front end and bumpers from the solid aluminium impact bumpers. Advantages with the backdate conversion include the lower weight – David estimates he has dropped almost 150 kilograms or about 10% of the Targa’s original weight. It’s the equivalent of two people in the car so quite a lot to lose.
All of the parts to backdate came from our friends at EB Motorsport: bonnet, bumpers and the new wing infill lights, which fix straight to the impact bumper front wings and match to EB front bumpers. The normal fitment involves filling to match the wings but David is a dad on a budget, so has kept it good enough to use and enjoy. To me it is everything you want in a hot rod: 911s are all about driving and this aspect is top of David’s list.
Here’s some video of the car in action: sounds terrific.
by John Glynn | Sep 14, 2014 | Modified Porsche Hot Rods, Project Cars
Caught up with fellow ImpactBumpers.com forum member Alex this week, to discuss an agreed insurance valuation for his Porsche 911. Alex’s car is a 911 3.2 Carrera, but runs a 3.6-litre engine transplant: a 964 engine, rebuilt with some 993RS trickness. The car is light, so performance is “adequate”:
One issue with the 3.6 transplant cars is the exhaust: what do you do with heat and silencer under the rear of an impact-bumper car, a chassis that has less space available than the later models? Alex’s solution is the best I’ve seen yet: all titanium and all home/hand made. Alex explains:
“I liked the first version transplant exhaust on my car: a cheap, simple set up that worked well but with a few limitations that were increasingly bugging me.
“The first system used reasonably priced 1.75″ dia headers going into a 14” Magnaflow rear box. It sounded great if a little on the noisy side, particularly on a long run, so I made up some inserts, which made it quieter without costing power. This made me wonder why I didn’t just use smaller tubes in the first place.
“The lack of heat, low ground clearance and drone over long journeys sent me back to the drawing board. I decided to follow other transplanters down the 993 heat exchanger route, then build a similar system to 993 Cup cars off the 993 exchangers.
Titanium Exhaust Porsche 911: Akrapovic GT2
“My first system followed a few tuners to through-the-bumper exhaust outlets. I was undecided before doing it, and it was interesting when done, but the novelty wore off. Eventually, finding a titanium Akrapovic exhaust silencer/muffler on eBay from a 997 GT2 sent me down a route I thought would be more in keeping – albeit lots trickier.
“One question was X-pipe or not. Some silencers are x-pipe inside and don’t seem to hurt the 911’s power, but others believed more power would come from a non-X-pipe system. I had already manufactured quite a complex system using the X-pipe idea, but the muffler also had an internal X arrangement so we decided against using two crossovers.
“The first work on version two was to finish my cheapie 993 heat exchangers. With the flanges cut off and jig made, they needed rotating, welding back on and linishing flat. The other side needed patching and a new pipe cobbled together. The steel on these is very thin and although stainless, it’s not the best grade so can corrode.
“Then it was a case of making jigs, which other transplanters were a great help with. Twisting these tight-fitting pipes can be tricky, but a fellow IB’er helped with a fitment guide that worked really well. I bought some more titanium tube, including many bends and had quite a bit prepared by a local water-cutting firm, before my welder friend came around to do the final assembly on the car.
“There’s always a few bits you think I could have done better and there’s still some finishing to do – I may do double slip joints in two places and the tailpipes are just bits of tube at the moment – but it’s on and sounds good. It’s still quite loud, although much quieter than the Magnaflow, but it now has a real rasp to it and makes a racket on overrun.
“With the new exhaust I think the car is now running a bit richer but haven’t done enough miles to really get to know it. Fingers crossed the bumper doesn’t catch fire!”
Awesome work by Alex – so many hours and for sure a pricey system, but if you’re going to think outside the box, then expect some of the costs to live there too. Read more about Alex’s car and many other Porsche 911 hot rods on the Impact Bumper Porsche 911 hot rod forum.
