first engine drop story and story on 72 E 3.2 SS-

[Gideon911]

Long post from a newer guy. Half about my first big job, and how that went. Half of the post is about my olive 72 911 E hot rod. Just wanting to share some stories and get a conversation going. Lets begin haha

I have an 88 911 with a couple hundred pounds out of it. This was my first air cooled 911. Flew across the country with my dad to buy this car a little over 2 years ago. As soon as I got it I redid the suspension and brakes as my first garage projects on the car. It has euro pistons and cylinders, hot cams, SW chip, SSI's. The car is really dialed now but as you guys know it never ends haha. Every time I've done a job on this car it was been really rewarding..so I keep finding things to do.

Back to the original topic of this post. I bought a 72 911 with a 3 liter with PMO carbs about a year ago. Drove the car for a couple months before a drunk pedestrian stepped right out in front of my car (I was doing about 15 mph). Minor damage to the fender turned into a full repaint, which took 9 months. 2 weeks after getting the car back I took the car to Tyson Schmit for an alignment. I also asked him to check to my heat exchanger. I saw a crack in one of the exchangers. The car felt great, but sounded like it had an exhaust leak. Tyson calls me up and says, "it's not an exhaust leak, you've got head studs"...long pause.."what you were hearing was the head lifting off the cylinder on acceleration"..long pause..****... Aaaand now I have a short stroke 3.2 lol he's about done with the rebuild. He is waiting on the cams to come back from the machine shop. I'm optimist I'll have the car in a week or two. I am really curious how it is going to feel.

I've driven my 88 about 15k miles, so I know that car very well. With much less seat time in the 72, I really can't figure out what I think of the car..Of course its fun.. It's much lighter feeling than the 88, feels a lot more nimble.

In the 2 1/2 years I've owned air cooled 911's, I'd never taken my cars to a mechanic aside from an alignment. I pulled the engine out of my 88 for the first time a couple months ago. Replaced and resealed most everything, valve adjustment, new clutch assembly, and a bunch of other stuff. 35 mile shake down then drove the car on a 2300 mile rally through Utah. What a rewarding experience that was. The fact that I'd done everything to that car since owning it..knew it so well, so much trust in the thing because I tightened everything myself. The car didn't leak a drop on the trip and I only added 1/3 of a quart for the 2300 miles. Success!

Obviously now I've taken the 72 to a mechanic for a rebuild. I wanted to take it on, but I had just finished the 88 project and my wife was ticked that I was in the garage for the month prior working on the 88. An engine build would take me a lot longer than a month. I've done everything to these cars aside from rebuild a motor, really. But I have to pay the bills, and I really want to enjoy this car..plus I'm going to have a really nice motor when its done. Tyson is pretty well known with these cars. I'm happy he is doing the rebuild for me.

I spoke to an older porsche guy who told me he used to do cross country rallies and how much fun they had. It made me wonder how many of you have great stories and insights about this stuff.

Hopefully my 72 is as good or better to drive as my 88. I have a feeling it's going to be a riot. That car has the softer bilstein B6 shocks, whereas the 88 has B8's and 22/29 bars. That car feels like its on rails. The 72 is a little softer ride which I like (for daily driving, and even the feel of the car getting set more in the turns), but I'm hoping it won't feel so loose. Tyson opened the intake and exhaust ports as well. I think the car should be pretty quick. I'm thinking it might be more of a "drive it with your foot" kind of car. The 88 has good power but I can use all of for the most part. Unless its a seriously tight turn, I can "slow in fast out/foot to the floor" pretty early in the 88 and its just fine. The times the back end has stepped out were really really controllable, and were due to entering the corner with too much speed..not from too much throttle out of the corner or mid corner.

Some of you have had so many of these, you know which model years you prefer and why. I'm curious to hear your thoughts. What would you prefer? I'm sure it's personal preference, but still fun to chat about. I learn a lot on this forum and appreciate the knowledge.
Thanks for reading my long post! If you see an olive longhood in southern Ca..say hey!