Soon to be Porscheless...

[Nathans_Dad]

Well, it's a bittersweet day. I had two offers working on my 84 Targa and decided to pull the trigger on one. The good news is the car is going to a very good home. I'm not sure where to go from here, I am kicking around the idea of a classic VW either a convertible bug or a convertible Ghia. The third option is a 73 911 E that my brother in law has which hasn't run in 6 years but is otherwise in good shape...

[Jim Richards]

73E is the hot setup, Rick.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Joshua 1:1-18

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

convertible Ghia.

Webers and a 2.7L in it would be awesome.

Old ad/example:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=257070

Thread the link came from:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/archive/index.php/o-t--t-149127--.html

More:
http://www.freewebs.com/burrman65/


Looks like those heat exchangers and hoses are going to be a headache.

[Nathans_Dad]

I was wondering about the idea of putting a Porsche engine into a Ghia...personally I was thinking about snagging a 1.8 liter from a 914, hadn't thought of a 911 engine. How tough is the conversion?

[djmcmath]

Go for the Porsche and never look back. I dumped $12K over a 2 year period into a '70 VW trying to make it fast, and it was never the same. The suspension isn't there, the engine bay doesn't have the space, and the quality of aftermarket parts is for beans. Worse, once it's built, you'll be plagued with bizarre reliability problems. You have no idea how many stupid little gizmos float around in these cars and fail after 30 years.

Now, if I had spent double that, I could have gotten a 2.2L turbo turnkey engine, had the suspension rebuilt from scratch as a halfway reasonable design, and could have produced a car that'd be much quicker. As it was, it was a blast to drive, but ... nothing like a 911.

So ... go for the Porsche and never look back.

Dan

[legion]

I wish I was in the same boat. I've had my car up for sale for a month and nary a nibble.

[Nathans_Dad]

It was kind of wierd. I have had it up on Craigslist for about 6 months now off and on. I had 4 people total come look at it. Went through the whole thing with Victory wanting to buy it, then backing out. For whatever reason I had two people come look at it in the last 3 days and both of them made offers. Guess it's just a matter of the right guy coming along.

I feel MUCH better about selling to this guy than I did selling to Victory. He seems like an upstanding guy and has several older cars in his garage. Plus he's an Aggie so it's all good!

[berettafan]

Rick your car really is great i am sorry to see you let it go.

What's the story on the E? Any pics? Sounds like a lot of fun to bring such a car back.

[Nathans_Dad]

The story is it is a 73 E, all original. Brother in law bought it about 8 years ago off a used car lot for $8.5k. Drove it for about 2 years or so on nice days. Car is silver, little to no rust, original interior. Then it sat for about 6 months and wasn't running right when he started it back up. He decided to rebuild the carbs and took them off the motor. Then he discovered that the exhaust was rusted so he took that off too. That was 6 years ago. The car has sat in the garage under a cover ever since.

He's not ever going to bring it back I don't think but my sister won't let him sell it. He told me last year if I wanted it he would sell it to me for $9k .

Should have bought it then on the spot. Of course I'm never sure if he is just kidding or if he really wants to sell it. Talked to my sister tonight and told her I was selling the Targa...here's the conversation on their end:

Sister - "Rick's selling the Targa"
B-i-L - "Ask him if he wants to buy mine"
Sister - "You aren't selling your Porsche!!"

Grrr...

Truth be told I'm probably better off with a Ghia or Bug...my mechanical skills are pretty lacking and I will learn a lot more on a simpler car I think...

[berettafan]

started w/ -0- mechanical skills and can tell you a carbed longhood is a good place to learn. no computers, no vacuum lines, etc.

E should be MFI however. this is kinda important to the value of an E.

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

Truth be told I'm probably better off with a Ghia or Bug...my mechanical skills are pretty lacking and I will learn a lot more on a simpler car I think...

In 2003 when I got my 911, I had really no tools. And I was perpetually scared to do anything on it. This evening, I tore into my 3rd Porsche (944 S2) for what was supposed to be a 30 min project. Took 2 hours. Grrrr. Point is, after a while you learn and don't look back. Have fun!

[Racerbvd]

Did you see this, listed here on PP???
1973 1/2 911 RS pro....

On the VWs, you can build a really fun sleeper out of a Super Beetle, not too big of a job to swap in 951 susp & brakes, notch the pan and you can drop in a 901 five speed, and isn't hard to drop in a type IV engine either

[Nathans_Dad]

I'm almost positive this one has carbs on it...in fact he was talking about sending the carbs to be redone a few years ago...

The other thing is that there aren't Fuchs on the car, they are the cookie cutter type wheels.

Anyhow, I talked to him tonight and he didn't offer to sell the car so I guess he's keeping it for a while

[Evans, Marv]

You should tell him your car will be gone so you'll have room for another one, and tell him you're ready to make the move to buy his. Put some pressure on. He'll be happy to have the room & $ for other projects. Go for it!

[ckissick]

Obviously, the 911E is the way to go, if you can get it somehow. If you do, try to find an MFI setup for it.

Otherwise, a ghia 'vert would be real nice.

[javadog]

Years ago, I had an employee that had a Ghia with a 911 motor in it. He spent a zillion bucks on it, it still was a bit of a turd and it was worth maybe 20-30% of what he put into it. You really don't want to repeat his experience. He was a professional mechanic in a dealership I ran and built the car with a large indurance settlement he received, so he was short of neither money or talent to do it right. Did I mention, the car was still a turd? Bottom line, you won't learn more on a simpler car. You'll just hate driving the thing.


Early 911 values are going out of sight. If you can buy that car for $9k, do so today. Talk to him directly and leave the sister out of the discussion.

JR

[targa911S]

Why use a 1.8? It was the worst of the 914 motors.

[cgarr]

Mine is for sale! Its a 72 had it since 85

[legion]

Originally Posted by targa911S

Why use a 1.8? It was the worst of the 914 motors.

Same reason the Golf guys put 2.5 NA 944 engines in their cars. May be the worst of the engines in that model, but they are cheap and a big upgrade to the VW.