1983 911 Slantnose conversion

[Jd21476]

So my Dad passed away last month and left me his 1983 Porsche 911 Slantnose Convertible conversion. I dont know much about the car except it has a 3.4L engine that was supposedly rebuilt recently. The car has been sitting for a few years because my Dad was sick. I just had it delivered to my house and was able to get it started and pulled in to my garage but it is blowing some serious white smoke and soubds really rough. It also had a drop of oil come out the left exhaust pipe.

1. Any ideas what this could be?

2. Are the convertible tops on these cars manual or power?

Thanks to all of you and I will probably need alot of help because I plan on restoring it and keeping it because its really all I have left from my Dad.

[sixbanger]

Burning that has collected in the cylinders. Maybe valve issue. Have you got any paper work on the rebuild. You could look and see what was done or maybe contact the shop.

How long has it been sitting?
Welcome to the board.

[darrin]

If the car hasn't been run for a few years, you should likely do some other things to it before trying to run it further. i.e. drain the gas completely, replace fuel filter, flush fuel lines, etc. Lot of Nasty stuff can gunk up in the fuel supply system when left sitting ike that. Also would help if you could shoot us some photos (especially pics of the engine/engine bay) - 3.4 liter engines are generally upgrades to 3.2 Carrera engines (swapping a Carrera engine into a SC is a relatively common upgrade) and not the 3.0l sc engine. 3.2 Carrera engines fuel lines have a tendency to crack (and spill fuel on the engine) with age, another thing to be cautious of . .. finally, where are you located?

Since you sound interested in getting this right, we can also help try to point you to the right experts to help you accomplish this.

Welcome!

[Jd21476]

This is the car and engine currently.

[darrin]

nice looking car! looks like your father DID swap out the 3.0l engine that was original to the SC for a Carrera-based motronic engine (the intake manifold, throttle body and airflow meter are all Carrera parts) -- which is a good thing (imo)! while a Carrera engine was 3.2l from the factory, it's relatively easy to upgrade to a 3.4 via wider pistons/bored cylinders. Also, since upgrading to a 3.4 would require disassembly of the engine's top end, likely that valve guides would have been assessed/ replaced at that time too (which is good, since some 3.2l engines suffer from premature valve guide wear that is $$$ to resolve).

Turning to the issues you raised in your initial post -- suspect that the oil/smoke that you saw is simply a byproduct of the car sitting for a while -- with a horizontally opposed engine (pistons/cylinders are horizontally oriented), oil can seep from the sump, past the rings and into the combustion chambers and cause smoke/rough running at startup. However, bad fuel (and fuel that's sat in the tank/fuel lines for several years IS likely bad) would also cause rough running/etc.

how technically inclined are you and how much time/effort are you willing to put into getting the car drivable. If it was my car, I'd want to at a minimum 1) completely flush the fuel system and at least assess the engine fuel lines for wear/damage, 2) change the oil and all filters (oil, fuel and air), 3) adjust the valves (if you don't have a record of when last done or done more than 10k miles ago), and 4) go through the brake system and flush the brake fluid. Assuming it was running right when last put away by your dad, this should get it running right and "streetable." None of this requires expertise beyond a typical home mechanic, just time . . . if not up your alley, should be an easy job for a local air-cooled Porsche specialist.

AS for the top, not sure == believe they made both power AND manual top versions -- while I have a targa, I BELIEVE the manual convertible top needs to be released from the windshield header with levers while the power top would not?