Born in 77 - A 74 IROC Tribute

[75 911s]

Hello!

You may remember me from such threads as "Born in '75. Me and my 'new' 911s" or Being Tall in Today's Short World

Well guess who's out here resurrecting another beat midyear? This guy!

Follow me as I turn this:


















Into this (Photo courtesy BaT)

[chrisbalich]

Super excited to see this one come together!

[dfhtrhjn]

I really want to see your build; my 1977 (1974 IROC clone) is currently in for paint (in Peru Red).

[Scarface]

Love it when a plan comes together!

[JacobS911]

sweet! Looking forward to this!

[CBA]

Should be a good one!

[evilfij]

Been following on the gram. Good luck and looking forward to seeing the progress.

[ryanjboutin]

Any updates?

[75 911s]

Originally Posted by ryanjboutin

Any updates?

Lots of updates! I'm putting together a youtube series and I'll post the first video here soon. I was pretty wordy in my last build, so I thought I'd change it up to visuals this time 'round! Meanwhile feast your eyes from my reference folder...

BTW these are images I collected here. If this is your photo or artwork let me know and I'll credit you.

[Jakub902]

Subscribed, can't wait to see how the roof swap turns out.

[75 911s]

Quick update for ya'll.

Tub is stripped. Picked up a roof clip in SoCal. Sold the leaky 2.7.









Decided on a color:

Gulf Blue







The build direction as of now:

• Tribute - not a clone. For example, interior will be different.
  Dash delete / minimalist interior / rs carpet, custom door cards
  9 and 11 X 15" RSR finish.
  Lightly upgraded suspension and brakes. Not 935/coilovers, but t-bars on RSR struts and adj. springplates, upgraded sway. 930 calipers
  Elephant dual cooler setup. Fender and front IROC.
  Fresh air, heat delete.
  My 3.4 project with Rader 915, My custom EFI and GSXR ITB setup, Timmy2 Harness.
  2200 lbs or less.

Work on the video series has started. Stay tuned.

[chrisbalich]

^^^This all makes me happy.
Stoked for you, DW.

[IROC]

Beautiful pictures. Love those cars.

A quick question, though. Is it my imagination or do some of the cars have a slightly "bolder" font used in the "PORSCHE" side script than others? I've always thought this was the case, but these photos above seem to validate it. I have the PORSCHE side script decals on my car and they are the "thinner" font version. I have looked and looked for someone selling the bolder version and haven't really seen them.

Ideas?

[75 911s]

I see it. Not your imagination at all. It seems original IROC cars do have a bold font.

[gomezoneill]

subd

[Jmorski]

Yes!

[Tonger]

Great project - how are you planning to delete the sunroof - cut the a/b/c pillars, unfold the rain gutters, or lap/butt weld a non sunroof section in?

I also have a non-sunroof clip that I would like to use to do a sunroof delete. Thanks!

[75 911s]

Originally Posted by Tonger

Great project - how are you planning to delete the sunroof - cut the a/b/c pillars, unfold the rain gutters, or lap/butt weld a non sunroof section in?

I also have a non-sunroof clip that I would like to use to do a sunroof delete. Thanks!

I'll go into detail in a future video of how we (and by "we" I mean me and my metal guy) will approach this. I make no claims of being a metal worker, which is why I've enlisted a local talent to assist with the roof and body work.

Speaking of which, work continues on building a YouTube channel. I've really enjoyed posting stuff on Instagram as well. They have a thing called IG TV which is sort of like YouTube on your phone. I'll be launching my IG build channel at the same time as the YouTube channel. For many this is a convenient way to watch your favorite Porsche content. I find myself in many situations where I can digest a quick story on IG during the day as opposed to a YouTube video (which is usually formatted for 16X9 content) As aspiring filmmaker, I hate that I might be tailoring content to 9X16 format, but the human hand holds a phone vertically easier. I can also format it wide and make people turn their phones...I digress.

My youtube channel and IG TV channel is called "Wik's Garage" and I'll post the link when they are ready.

----------------------------------------

My latest research on building the car involves the fuel system. I'm using the stock tank, but mounting a hidden under the hood filler neck. I plan to retain the expansion tank in the stock location, but I also want to retain the charcoal canister but with a modification. Instead of connecting the canister to the engine to burn excess fuel fumes, it will vent to atmosphere. I feel this is a better solution to the alternative of not running a charcoal canister at all, both in terms of environment and garage fumes.

I only know the midyear/sc setup for the canister, and it is my understanding that early canisters were mounted in the trunk. I'd like to mount my canister under the expansion tank as I'm no longer running a washer fluid tank or system. I'm looking at the carrera charcoal canister and making a bracket to mount under the expansion tank. Then I'll vent to atmosphere from there.

So I would love to hear or see your solutions for hot rods in terms of the fuel recovery system.

[chrisbalich]

DW,

I think that a charcoal canister and evap system that has no vacuum on it will not really work. It's just an elaborately filtered vent. The charcoal canister absorbs and holds the vapor until a vacuum is applied that subsequently draws the vapors out.

On my car, I'm just going to run a vent tube under the driver's fender with a rollover valve attached to the end. (So if I invert the car, it doesn't dump out all the fuel.)

[75 911s]

Major build direction change.

I started exploring the weld job on one fender and discovered a plethora of old school Bondo covering up a pretty bad lap weld on the right rear fender.



This discovery had me using a heat gun and scooping off copious amounts of pink polyester putty on the drivers side.


I was appalled at the thickness of Bondo throughout, but especially near the drivers lower door. It was 1/4" thick in places. I weighed some of the mess that I scrapped off and I estimate 3lbs of Bondo or more between both sides.







At that point, I knew I needed to cut off both rear fenders and start over. A quick check on Turbo quarters left me slack jawed at pricing. Because the original fenders were badly warped by the lap welding, new butt-welded flares weren't an option. The front right wing is also a hack job of a lap weld filled with Bondo. Surprisingly, the drivers front wing is a real turbo fender. Go figure.

If you've read any of my other build thread, you've seen my obsession with adding lightness. That's where my idea for going to an RSR build came from. I could change the build to a 74 RSR 3.0 tribute!

The period correct fiberglass fenders make for a lightweight and aggressive build. A proper RSR clone is easily a six figure proposition. This is not that build.

Right now I'm leaning into a more modern take on an RSR wide body style street beast.

I would still like to use 15" wheels, but I'm now open to other options in order to cater to a more street-able tire. Probably no bigger than 16" though. Since I'm not necessarily pegged to using a 917 style wheel, I could run deep BBS e50 or other vintage racing wheels that would allow me to change barrels to get the best fit. The 15" wheel options are Braids or Maxilite 9 and 11 X 15 with spacers (cheapest solution). I hate the thought of using spacers though. At least anything over 10mm.

The 74 RSR 3.0 has steel rear trailing arms, center locks, magnesium 917 super deep wheels, and 917 style brakes. That one sentence is about 45 thousand dollars in parts. You read that right.



Given those are key components in an RSR 3.0 build (the other being the RSR MFI 3.0 race engine) let's just say that this build is not going there.

Instead it will be a low and wide street beast with competent vintage suspension.

So it still has a lot of similarities to the IROC build, but because I'm not limited to the original 16 color IROC pallet I was thinking a color change is in order as well.

Chalk.

This is a rendering of the new direction: