911T Project - Dansk Exhaust

It was dry and sunny last weekend, so eldest son and I popped up to Goodwood to see if anything was going on, and to take advantage of the last dry tarmac before winter sets in properly.

There was a track-day going on, but we couldn't see any particularly interesting machinery circulating.

On the way back - we took the scenic route towards Petworth on the road of death; a lovely section of fast 'A' road that twists up through the woods to the crest of the South Downs, then descends down along a valley for a mile or two before a sweeping, climbing left hander takes it up and over a final rise before it plummets down into the valley at Duncton. 

It's a favourite bikers' route, which might explain some of the carnage, but not how this poor bloke managed to go off so disastrously in a 30mph section.

But I digress; I dropped eldest so off with a camera and he took some footage of the car. Apologies in advance for the poor quality; there's clearly more to this motoring video blog lark than meets the eye!

SS7

911 Project. Should this be aloud?

I mentioned in my running in post that the silencer I'd re-fitted to the car was cream crackered. The internal baffles had worked loose - this might have been self-inflicted when I wire bushed the surface rust clean - and close inspection revealed cracks around one inlet and at the exit. 

The original plan had been to run with a 'three out' system. Essentially this adds two exits under the bumper overriders, and both can be closed off with removable metal caps when hush is desired. 

Original concept showing a '3 out' exhaust

However, research revealed that while this was possible, it would require a bespoke unit at a cost of around £800-.  I tried various 'wanted' ads without success, and eventually chose a Dansk unit from Parts-wise.com. This was billed as a 'Non-TUV Sports Exhaust'. Even shipped from Holland, it was less than half the price of a 3 out unit, and had two fat 60mm exhaust tips either side of the centre line.

Fitting it single handed was a bit of a struggle, and I did have to loosen the rear 'bumper' for some more wiggle room, but the fit was ok - never something to be taken for granted when it come to pattern parts.

Now I'm a middle-aged bloke who generally doesn't like to make a lot of fuss as I go about my business, but I just love the new exhaust noise. It rumbles like a Nascar at idle, has that typical 911 rasp in the mid-range, and rises to a buzz-saw howl over 5000rpm. The car attracts quite a lot of attention anyway, but in town necks now snap around to see what's coming down the road. Even though, I judge it not to be offensively loud, in the way say a de-baffled Harley is, but it'll be interesting to see if I get tugged at any point. 

On the downside, there's a little droning, but this occurs around town - at motorway speeds and at a light throttle opening the Dansk silencer is little noisier than the original unit. I suspect it means Goodwood track-days will be a no-go, but hey, the place terrifies me anyway! 

I'll work on getting a down the road video, but here are a couple of static clips I loaded onto Youtube:

Before: 

After: 

SS7

911 Project - On The Rollers

I mentioned in my last update that I still wasn't entirely happy with the way the newly revitalised motor in the 911 was running.  Although a huge improvement on its previous incarnation, some 700 miles into the running in process it was clear by state of the sparkplugs the rate that the fuel gauge plummeted that it was running rich, the idle wasn't very stable and it was hanging onto revs off the throttle.

All in all, there were issues to drive around, removing much of the joy of driving. It was also something of a financial disappointment as I'd already spent several hundreds pounds supposedly having the carbs set up.

Black plugs = rich mixture

It looked as if I'd have to bite the bullet and find a local rolling road tuning specialist who was familiar with the intricacies of Weber carburettors (the US-made PMO's I am using are essentially an improved Weber IDA 3C), so I was interested to read in the latest copy of Octane magazine of the editor's good experience at Airey Tuning, over Petersfield way.

One Monday morning a couple of weeks later I was up early to take the 911 to Cheriton. The weather was properly foul with wind, heavy rain and standing water, and I almost phoned to re-arrange, but I took a MtFU pill and headed west along the A27, up the A3 and along the A272.

I'm glad I did; it was a very interesting morning's work. Tom Airey is a character from the old school with a stack of stories to tell, but more importantly, with over five decades of tuning engines under his belt he really knew his stuff. 

Magician at Work


After lining the car up on the rollers in Tom's small workshop Tom climbed in (it's a two man job to 'drive' the car and operate the dyno) and we ran the car up through the gears to 4th to get some benchmark readings before making any changes. That first pull got us to just under 100bhp on the screen facing us, before Tom aborted.  At that point - some 5000rpm - the engine was already starting to run dangerously lean. 

As I half expected, the settings and jetting on the newly installed carburettors were all over the place. It was running far too rich at low and mid range, but leaned right off at high revs. 

The remedy meant the main jets, located deep inside the carbs, had to be changed. To get access needed some dismantling so I helped take the air-cleaners and trumpets off and between us we eventually were able to remove the jets they appear to have been tightened in place by an angry American.

A good way to warm fingers
on a November's day


Tom then went through a methodical process to improve things. He made some significant changes to main jets (up two sizes), the mid/low range air-correctors (down 4 sizes), plus a slight timing adjustment, changes to various other ports, bores, jets and bypasses - I'll admit the workings of an IDA/PMO are still mostly a mystery! He also fiddled with the various idle settings, and after putting things back together we went for a second run on the dyno. Now the dials showed 130bhp at around 5,500rpm with a better mixture and improved throttle response.

A 40 year old 911 engine getting
a good seeing to

This time Tom pronounced it too lean, and we needed a slightly smaller main jet, so the air cleaners and trumpets came off again and he changed all six jets for a matching set, and after a bit more fiddling, we put it all back together. He also suggested using an additive in the fuel to raise the octane to 100, so we poured a suitable dose into the tank and ran it up the gears one more time.



Now the number showing on the dial was just over 160bhp at around 6,000. This is what Porsche claim for a 2.4litre 911E, and was the level I had been hoping for. Fuelling was good all the way through, it no longer hung onto the revs off the throttle, and the idle was nice and stable. I examined a plug and it looked to be a bit cleaner than before, although Tom told me they were really a bit too fouled to clear themselves and should be replaced. I was then invited to take the car up the road and back. 

It was immediately obvious that there was a big difference in the way the car drove; pick up was excellent, the idle rock steady and off-throttle behaviour is much improved.  There was also a lovely snap as I blipped the throttle on down-changes and - as you'd expect - the performance felt much stronger too. I took it easy as the weather conditions were still horrible, but even at 3/4 throttle it ran noticeably harder through the gears. The leaner mixture and petrol additives should help the running-in process; bedding the rings and reducing crank-case pressure

I'd been reluctant to spend more money on the car, but this was definitely excellent value. Returning to Cheriton I waited for Tom to complete the paperwork, and while he was doing so we chatted about stuff - I found out that as well as building superb flying model aircraft he's also an astrology nut, so I found myself having a 'free' consultation (I should be looking for an Aires partner apparently). 

Looking at the completed report later on, I was surprised to see he'd written 'Engine 205bhp at 5,500rpm'. The lower number I'd seen on the big dial in the workshop was an 'at the wheels figure', and 205bhp is the more normal measure of engine output - at the flywheel and corrected for losses through the transmission. 
I've learned to take dyno power figures with a largish dose of salt, but if it's anywhere near accurate its an excellent result; by way of comparison, the legendary 2.7RS with its longer stroke is rated at 210bhp. 

Conditions driving back (the scenic route this time) were biblical, so I had to take it easy. Probably the best thing I could say about the motor is that it now feels much more modern; I no longer have to drive around problems and it just gets on with its business, and is wonderfully sweet in the critical 3-5,000rpm range. The fuel gauge now no longer plummets, so all in all it's much more usable, and I feel happier about planning the car's first service and sorting out a new silencer. 

A good result.

SS7

911 Project - Running In

It was always something of an ambition to be able to drive the old 911 to the annual Classics At the Castle event, held this year early in September, in Hedingham, Essex. A month beforehand that looked a forlorn hope; the car had no interior, bumpers, door & side glass, or effective brakes, and seemed a long way from being roadworthy. 

I put the hours in, and with some help from the usual suspects got as far as I could, before biting the bullet and handed the car over the professionals.  

On the ramps at Carrera Performance having 'stupid'
removed. Son #2 points to bits I'd missed.

Their brief included setting up the suspension, and carrying out a comprehensive nut, bolt and wiring check to ensure reliability and safety wasn't compromised by any stupid mistakes I had made. 

A running Porsche engine

It was with some relief I heard there weren't too many of those; I'd assembled the gear lever incorrectly, and some of the suspension bushes upside down, but nothing too serious. So two days before Classics at the Castle I had the MOT certificate in my hand. First job was to head over to Garry at ClassicFx for some help putting the side decals on. 

You need the help of a fussy perfectionist to get your
decals on straight

They'd been part of the look I'd planned for the car ever since the it had been taken off the road back in January 2013.  Even at that point I'd settled on the main body colour, and in May I'd asked Adidas designer Chris Jury to create one of the superb computer images he produces. I was looking for a hint of orange to compliment the Gulf Blue, but as so many of the Gulf inspired colour schemes are overdone I wanted to keep it subtle. After a lot of email discussion we decided to stick to using orange PORSCHE lettering against grey stripes. I thought I would look great.

I clearly wasn't the only one; later that summer I caught sight of Singer's 'Dubai' car, the eighth one built:

Great minds may think alike but fools seldom differ,
as my Aunt Sybil used to say

Once on the road, initial driving impressions were promising. Even keeping a strict 3500 rpm limit for the first couple of hundred miles it was clear that the engine now has much more power and torque on offer than in its original low compression CIS tune. From inside, the experience is dominated by the induction noise from six open throttles, while although the flywheel is still completely standard, the way the engine responds to the slightest sniff of throttle suggests large chunks have been removed.  The ride is on the firm side, but there is a decent amount of compliance. And the additional sound-proofing has reduced road noise significantly; previously the din at 70mph had made any motorway journey a wearing experience and it now appears hushed by comparison.

I spent the Saturday putting the carpet in along with a host of small touches, and next morning Boy#1 and I were up early for the drive to Hedingham; a two hundred mile round trip in a car freshly bolted together by an overambitious amateur.

Packed for Hedingham; sandwiches, tools,
spare oil, credit card, mobile and AA membership card.

We made it. There were the inevitable teething problems, most noticeable on a warm September's day was that no matter how much we fiddled with the controls the heater chucked out a roasting quantity of hot air, and after a score of miles the driver's side window glass fell out of its runner. On the outside, the engine cover wouldn't stay shut, and become more and more reluctant to do so the more miles we travelled, so we became used to acknowledging the worried toots and waves of other road users, and stopping ever few miles for another attempt at closing it. 

Mission accomplished; old 911 on the
Castle Hedingham lawns

It was also clear the initial settings of the PMO carburettors were some way out; the new engine hung on to revs on a closed throttle, and judging by the way a 50litre tank of Super Unleaded disappeared it was running very rich. While the car is surprisingly rattle free; the baffles inside the silencer have come loose, and from inside sounds like an old tin can filled with bolts being dragged along behind. As the daylight waned the headlights proved to be as effective as a candle in a jam-jar, and there are only a random smattering of functioning dashboard lights. But hey, it goes, stops, it was comfortable and it got us from West Sussex to Hedingham and back again!

The modern Recaros with a Retro-mod touch
were well received

Another stop to close the engine compartment and
worry about ineffective headlights 

That was a few weeks ago now. I'll admit that after the fraught (and expensive) month leading up the car's MOT the pace has slowed. The self-opening engine cover was sorted with a little fiddling, the window glass has resisted several attempts to get it to behave, and I've re-installed the old Becker radio and some other internal trim.

Friday chip run

There are now getting on for 700 post-restoration miles on the odometer, comprising mainly of trips around the South Downs. Although the initial slight engine smoking and high oil consumption seems to have eased as the oil rings bed in, the engine still isn't running as I'd like. To fix this, I booked a rolling road session for early next month, while otherwise the snagging list seems to get longer as the running-in process continues.

Basking in Autumn evening sunshine after another
go at fixing the driver's window.

While its easy to focus on the things I still need to fix, I'll admit there are times when I do look at the car with a certain satisfaction.  Just to remind you, dear reader, how far we've come  - here's a picture taken on the day I spotted the car in the workshops of a small Floridan classic car dealers three years ago.

January 2011, New Smyrna Beach, FLA. The
old thing and I meet for the first time

 

SS7

Seating Plan

I've written about the importance I attach to engineering a correct driving position before, and the 18 months it has taken to restore my 911 has given me plenty more time to think about seats. 

In 1973, a Porsche 911T would have left the factory with a set of 'comfort' seats. While they might have been comfortable, these seats were probably better suited to a fireside in winter than doing the job of supporting an enthusiastically cornering driver. 

Comfortable, but not good

At some point over the last 40 years an owner of my car felt the same. Sadly, they chose to replace them with the cheap 'sports' seats that were in the car when I bought it. They were uncomfortable, badly made and installed so high up in the car that my head brushed the roof. They needed to go. 

The sports seats prior to an appearance on Ebay

Back in 1973, the original buyer could have opted for a sports seat made by Recaro (as are all Porsche seats) but these were expensive, and not many did - although if you'd been sensible enough to buy one of the 1,500 2.7RSs built that year you'd find a set when you opened the door - at least if you'd bought a 'Touring' version you would have. 

Recaro sports seats in a 2.7RS Touring

Original sets of these are now unobtainable - or at least, obtainable only if you're prepared to hand over a kings ransom. It is possible to buy reproductions; they are expensive, and while I'm sure the quality is good, I did want to sit on a set of real Recaros. I've experienced Recaro seats in any number of cars in the past and always appreciated their comfort and support. My need for access to the back of the car in order to stuff luggage or small boys into the rear perches meant I needed a front seat that tipped forward. That ruled out many of the race inspired models with their fixed backs, but this was always going to be a road car anyway. 

I spent a lot of time on the 'bay chasing after typical 1980's Recaros, and researched the possibility of modifying a period Porsche tombstone in the same way as Singer have done, but that didn't seem very original. 

A pair of modified 964 seats in a Singer Porsche

A few years ago Recaro produced a seat snappily called the Sportster CS. It's a high back design with good side support, slots for full harness shoulder straps, and a hard plastic back. Better still it adjusts for rake, and the back tilts. Recaro have used this design as the basis of many bespoke versions for manufacturers to fit in their sporty cars, so you'll find similar seats in hot Fords and Renaults, as well as upmarket vehicles from Aston Martin and Maserati. 

Now the Sportster CS is best part of £1,000 new, but I spotted a pair of the original aftermarket versions on the 'bay, and snaffled them up with a cheeky £900 bid. They had a slightly odd combination of grubby red Alcantara seat and squab with grey vinyl leatherette bolsters and head restraint, but they looked promising. When Tuthills Porsche were readying the car for its first UK MOT I asked them the install the seats. The first set of seat frames were too high, but a second version dropped them a couple of inches to the perfect height for my 6' 2", and I used them in the car for its first year on the road. 

The Sportster CSs as originally installed

There were many things about the pre-restored version of my 911 that were difficult to live with, but the seats were probably the best I've ever used in a road car. The colour though, didn't work with the otherwise black interior, or the yellow bodywork, and they were top of the list of things to change when I started the 'light' restoration. 

I'm something of a non-conformist when it comes to car interiors. As evidenced by thousands of aspirational Mercedes, Jaguars, BMWs and Audis etc., it seems the great majority aspire to have their seats (and dash, door cards, centre tunnels etc.) covered in leather - creating a veritable womb of dead cow skin. Why anyone would choose to sit on something that's cold in the winter, hot in the summer and slippery all year round is beyond me; leather doesn't really appear to be a material that's at all suitable for car seats. If you look at the most expensive coach-built limousines of the 1920s and 19030s you'll see that while the hired help doing the driving made do with a leather clad perch, the wealthy owners in the back sat on rich fabric. 

Sumptious fabric for this Bugatti Royale's owner

I'm with the fabric sitters,  so when it came to recovering the seats it was only going to be a fabric.

I researched the fabrics Porsche have used over the years. There's a wide range, from psychedelic checks that mess with your eyes, through wild tartans to utilitarian corduroys.

Bad trip

Eventually I chose a black and white houndstooth check known as Pepita in Porsche circles. This was used in the 911s from the late 1960s to early 1970s, and the two tones would unite the white headlining with the  black vinyl door cars and would be mirrored in  'Salt and Pepper carpet.  Sourcing an exact match to the original proved difficult and expensive, but there are options available that are so close only a Porsche geek with a ruler would know wasn't real. The small rear seats would use a combination of Pepita and vinyl that's close to original and matches the fronts.

So seats and fabric was handed over to Joe at Trimdelux, and in the fullness of time he worked his magic and I put the transformed Recaros back in the car in time for the MOT.

 SS7

911T Project - The Light At The End of the Tunnel

You might expect that once your project car is back on its wheels with the engine installed in the right place you are nearly done. The past weeks I've spent franticly working through a long work-list belies that; putting the glass in, sorting out lights, exhaust, bumpers, wiring, controls, interior and a host of other small tasks took all that time and more, but I'm finally about done.

It was the nasty, cheap, smelly and suspiciously sticky carpets installed in the car when I bought that it really started me on the whole project. I seem to remember my initial objectives were to renew the carpets and fix the smokey engine, before it all snowballed into the restoration I've detailed here. 

Anyway, here is the old set laid out on the lawn for reference:

Rancid carpet

After a couple of abortive attempts to order carpet from a well known Dutch supplier I decided (with the help of a trimmer friend) to make my own. It took eight metres of carpet, and a good couple of days in a hot workshop on the warmest day of the year to cut out the dozen or so pieces I needed. I've selected an original Porsche carpet known as Salt and Pepper.  

Carpet template.
Right handed scissors + left handed user = sore hands

This all needed to be fitted into the car, which took another couple of days breathing fumes from strong contact adhesives, but the end result is looking promising. 

Re-trimmed rear shelf,  basket weave vinyl, and salt 'n pepper

I decided to re-use the exhaust that came with the car. A go-faster stainless set up is the ultimate goal, but this will allow me to get the car running. 

Yellow silencer

When the car was painted, back in the US, there was no attempt to mask the system, so the silencer was covered with yellow overspray. A few hours with the wire brush in the grinder and some light coloured high temperature paint sorted that out.

Grinder and wire brush; instant exfoliation

Bright shiny exhaust straps, white silencer, waiting for the
rain to stop falling on my 'workshop'

Trying to source a set of bumpers was a saga in itself. The glass fibre RS style front and rear bumpers that were on the car originally were of poor quality, and I didn't like the RS front air dam without the matching RS ducktail. In any case they were wrecked when the paint was blast cleaned off the car.

Bumpers V1.0

Modern road conditions and my heightened sense of self preservation means I probably won't venture much above 90mph so I can live without a front spoiler. So I sourced a standard, steel non-spoiler front item on ebay The car will look like the 911Rs that were raced before Porsche really started to understand that air flowing under the car generated lift, and therefore needed to be stopped with air dams and spoilers.

A 911 generating lift

The ebay buy was in good condition, so it just needed the trim holes filled and then painted. 

I also bid on a cheap used rear unit, but when it appeared it seemed to be only good for scrap; certainly it needed more glass fibre repair work that I was capable of. I was about to order a new unit from one recommended supplier when they told me delivery would be delayed by a month while the workforce went on their summer holidays. I then tried another specialist, but when that one arrived it had none of the brackets needed to fit it to a car. 

By this stage I had three of the damn things littering the place, and not one good enough to send to the paintshop. Then, while wandering around the local sailing club, I had a bit of a brainwave. I found a local chap more used to sorting out damaged glass fibre dinghies, took along the cheap ebay bumper, and a week later collected it looking almost as good as new. 


When the engine was in the car it became clear the the Carrera 3.2 specification oil pipes I'd so carefully cleaned and painted were the wrong length to match up to the earlier engine. So I estimated the dimensions of what I needed using some stiff wire and had a suitable flexible hose made up by a local hydraulics specialist. 

£50- worth of flexible oil pipe

At this stage, I needed to go and get the seats that had been sitting on the shelves of an understanding Joe at Trimdelux in Littlehampton ever since I stripped the car a couple of years ago. Over that time we've had long discussions over colours, fabrics and finishes, and the final decisions have been made. This gives an idea of what we're going for - a combination of traditional 911 materials, black leather, and modern seats.

Rear seats in progress

Salt 'n Pepper, basket weaver, belts, extravagant
hide covered B pillars

Finally I'd got about as far as I could with the limited facilities available. There's only so much I can achieve working outside on the driveway, and without an ability to get properly under the car even tasks that would be simple with a lift, like attaching the petrol pipes or fitting the earth strap to the back of the gearbox, are next to impossible lying under a car. 

So earlier this week the car was pushed onto the back of another trailer and taken off to Jez at GCS in Horsham. He's been tasked with setting the suspension geometry and ride height, checking all the nuts and bolts are tight, sorting out any of my FUBARs and obtaining a MOT certificate.

Off for the finishing touches?

As I write, I'm waiting for Jez's verdict. 

SS7

911T Project - engine update

I'll just leave these here. Its the lovingly rebuilt engine from my 911T, complete with its new set of lungs courtesy of PMO in the US.

And here it is again, back home in the car where it belongs:

SS7