My 1976 Porsche 911S Signature Edition

[Dat911]

Hi all,
Thought I'd introduce myself and my new project. Would love help and guidance as I go along with my project as I've never driven or worked on a Porsche before. I'm excited for this adventure but it'll be a slow burn as our 1 year old leaves little time for car projects!






The
Thanks.

[allaircooled]

Welcome and nice looking start to a cool project. I will look you up on Instagram.

[75 911s]

Great project! What's your engine plan?

[Trackrash]

Nice looking car, welcome. Looks like it will keep you busy. You will probably want to escape to the garage once in a while for sure.

What are your plans for a motor?

[Dat911]

Thank you! My plan is a 3.2L or a 3.6L and I'm looking for a drivetrain actively. I haven't decided what direction to take this project in the long run so everything is an option at this point. I have this vision of keeping some of the heritage and history of this unique car, with the seats and interior fabric, but also adding a bit of period correct hot rod. The one thing I am sure of is the carpet will not be cork/beige, that part can stay in history.

[GH85Carrera]

It looks like a long and interesting project.

Your real homework will be learning about the car before you commit to any major decision. This site has a discussion of pretty much every single problem, and how to solve it that has even been attempted on an air cooled 911. Some have brilliant simple solutions, some will be tedious and frustrating.

The car is pretty simple. First figure out what your goals are for the car, and then read up on how to get there. You will find lots of great ideas and projects on the site.

[juanbenae]

very cool. looks like a car that was tracked at some point and plans to make it into a full blown racecar may have run out of steam.

the Garretson sticker is very cool! that team was based out of Mt. View CA and was super successful back in the late 70's and 80's as a privateer operation. there are a number of guys that came out of that shop doing still doing business in silicon valley. jerry woods of jerry woods enterprises who is still active at the shop part time after semi retiring to reno a couple years back. ted robinson who owns and runs german precision, who is a very highly regarded machinist who's work on porsche heads is preferred by many to the point he is generally months out on back logged work. bob grigsby who owned and ran RMG enterprises an indy shop in sunnyvale. proud to know all of them very well after having done business with them and call them all friends.

good luck on the project and keep the crew here updated.

[Matt Monson]

I hesitate to say that years ago I sold one of those thatvwas cut in half and used in a display booth at SEMA years ago. The sins we used to commit.

I like the platina matching color on the original cookie cutters if you keep the Fauci it might be cool to paint them in the platina gold.

Congrats on the car. Enjoy the process.

[Dat911]

What to do with the wheels is keeping me up at night. How much do you guys think these 16x7 and 16x8 Fuch wheels are worth? I wouldn't mind selling and getting something else if that nets me some budget towards the rest of the car.

Here's what the interior of this car looked like when it came out:

[Tbone425]

I also have one of the 200 they made. There is a great story and cover in a Panorama from a couple years ago.

[Dat911]

Originally Posted by Tbone425

I also have one of the 200 they made. There is a great story and cover in a Panorama from a couple years ago.

I'll have to try to find that. It's a bummer the original engine was missing and the SC flares were added to some extent. Only 200 Signature Editions were made, of which I believe 100 were coupe, and a fraction of that without sunroof. However, the nice part about that is now I don't have to feel bad about doing fun stuff to the car and I think it looks way better with the SC flares.

[Tbone425]

Correct. First 200 off the line. werk924 has the interior material if you ever need it...although your basket weave looks to be in great shape. Many of the cars came with cookie cutter wheels in the same body color....and it actually doesn't look bad, in my opinion. I have a buddy that has been sitting on one of the targas that I might acquire. Its a big project though....and Im at the very start of a big 964 project. So it may have to wait.

I actually had no idea my car was anything special until after I converted it to a wide body RS'ish car. I would likely restore the Targa to original.

[flyingjay]

[Dat911]

I have a healthy 3.2L with some minor upgrades on the way soon! The bad news is that I'm now broke.

Once I can find a decent 915 gearbox, I only need to go over and fix everything else on the car and then I have a running Porsche... maybe.

[flyingjay]

I have a few gearboxes

[David_911]

Originally Posted by Tbone425

Correct. First 200 off the line. werk924 has the interior material if you ever need it...although your basket weave looks to be in great shape. Many of the cars came with cookie cutter wheels in the same body color....and it actually doesn't look bad, in my opinion. I have a buddy that has been sitting on one of the targas that I might acquire. Its a big project though....and Im at the very start of a big 964 project. So it may have to wait.

I actually had no idea my car was anything special until after I converted it to a wide body RS'ish car. I would likely restore the Targa to original.

Hello TBone425,

I see that you have one of the signature 911S's from 1976. I also see that you're in Washington. I was wondering by chance if it's my old car. I had mine converted to a 3.0 (euro motor) with cat delete, lightened flywheel and a few things. It was a great car. I sold the car back in 1995 or so to a person in Bellingham. There aren't too many out there, so just had to ask...... and it would like to hear more about yours if possible.

Thank you,
Dave

[Flojo]

Originally Posted by Dat911

Thought I'd introduce myself and my new project....

you state it's a 76.
why does it have SC/Carrera flares at rear?
should be a narrow body..

if 76, early or late?
late 76 were the first to get brake boosters.

Originally Posted by Dat911

What to do with the wheels is keeping me up at night. How much do you guys think these 16x7 and 16x8 Fuch wheels are worth? I wouldn't mind selling and getting something else if that nets me some budget towards the rest of the car.

don't sell.
7/8x16 is the searched for combination.
no substitute really.

edit: rather delete and sell the whale tail.
it's not a Carrera 3.2 nor a Turbo.
so ditch it.