Introduction - First time Porsche owner, long time fan

[PsudoPor]

Good morning Pelican Ladies and Gents,

Before I start peppering the forum with inane, super specific questions about my new project I thought I'd introduce myself and the car.

I'm a 60 year old corporate puke type living in the Northern California foothills. 2020 was a year of reflection that convinced me to seek out a car with which to rejoin the enthusiast community. In my past I've enjoyed the cultures around air cooled VW's- 73 Karmann Ghia, BMW's- 95 318ti, even the Isuzu Vehicross (2000) community. I spent way too much money and time tinkering around with these cars and I found that I missed having the passion, obsession and comradery that comes with the territory.

So, long story short, I found myself last fall looking at options around Ghia's and 912's which I felt might fit my budget. I've always loved the G body 911's but the 76 912e is not smog exempt in CA and earlier 912's are now hard to find for starter money. Gave up on Ghia's too as many were either gawdy customizing experiments or bombed out rust buckets.

In early September of 2020 after months and months of daily, national online searches I stumbled upon a day old ad placed by a classic car consignment dealer in the Bay Area for a 1980 Wine Red 911SC for what seemed like a very reasonable price. Spoke to the sales guy late in the afternoon same day and made an appt (COVID) to see the car the very next morning. Test drive was limited due to a sticky caliper issue but my inspection yielded an honest driver (paint chips and dings), all original, everything worked as expected and came with several binders of receipts and notes going back 20 years. The engine and transmission were rebuilt by the PO which seemed a little scary at first but not enough to dismiss the opportunity. In the 20 years of ownership and after the rebuild the PO appears to have put on 22K. The car had about 95K in total. I was able to secure a PPI by Cameron Wayland in nearby Santa Rosa a few days later. He noted the usual oil leaks and some tired suspension bits but otherwise was a fan of this SC. I signed the sales contract on 9/11/2020. The dealer let me know they had hundreds of calls after me and a handful of offers 5k over asking price sight unseen.

I made plans to get the suspension rehabbed and have an engine service done by Holleran's Performance in Auburn. John Holleran really didn't have the bandwidth at the time but really appreciated my desire to keep this a driver but give it a more canyon carver bent. It now sports new Bilstein RSR units up front with Bilstein Sports in the back all with custom valving to John's specs for an SC. Elephant racing sway bar up front with the through body modification and reinforcements. Elephant racing hollow plated and plugged torsion bars all around with custom machined plastic spring plate bushings. Turbo tie rods and Holleran's custom rubber engine mounts. Aligned to John's spec with Euro ride height and corner balanced. With fresh Conti Extreme Sport Contact rubber this thing handles like a go cart now, without the jarring, stupid stiff ride you'd get with a race setup. Still qualifies for vintage rallies with torsion bar setup.

At this point, I'm satisfied that she's solid mechanically. Brakes are stock but new. I plan to perform an A/C delete, stereo delete, backseat delete, fog light delete, rocker valance delete, RS door cards, bullet mirrors and an M&K exhaust. Stock heat exchangers are in great shape so won't go the SSI route. Might look for a Carrera front fender oil cooler at some point in the future. D'Eser seats and square weave re-carpet perhaps in 2022.

OK, so there you have it. Now onto the minor niggling details that I'll tackling to address cosmetic stuff. Although I'm new to the brand, not new to using forums to learn, DIY and share. I'll be posting a handful of new posts to see if others have solutions to the issues I'm having. If I'm posting about it, it's only because I gave up searching through the millions of posts on this site.

Thanks in advance!

Jeff

[rwest]

Welcome,

Great story and beautiful car!

[Funracer]

Fantastic color. Welcome to the Club.

[Rodney Nelson]

Super Carrera !!!!!!

[John W.]

Nice car. Drive lots and enjoy.

[Rodney Nelson]

I recommend H4's with chrome rings. Will go great with wheels and bullet mirrors.

[thetorch]

great color, looks terrific.

[Smoove1010]

Great looking car - congrats!

[fanaudical]

Great story! Welcome to the forum! I've found lots of help here.

[shadowjack1]

Welcome. Very nice car.

[Pedro '84 Coupe]

Welcome! Lots of super knowledgeable on this forum. Beautiful color. Looks like a very nice example.

[Joe Bob]

Welcome to the slippery slope. Find a local Porsche fanatic and make friends.

[jac1976]

Your plans sound great, but the bullet mirrors (which I like) might cause me to pause for fear of messing with what seems to be nice paint. That said, there are a couple of vendors that are offering a plug-and-play solution that I would certainly vet.

[Bill Douglas]

Nice car Jeff. You'll have lots of fun with that.

[pmax]

Beautiful pic.

Welcome !

[WPOZZZ]

Welcome to the madness!

[Gianni at Pelican Parts]

Beautiful car and color!

Sounds like you have some good modifications already that should greatly improve the driving experience.

CSF Performance Coolers makes some quality front mount oil coolers, and WEVO shifters makes a great chassis mount shifter for your car.

You'll find lots of great guides in the "How To" Tech Articles Section.