76 911s Hotrod First Drive PHX to SEA

[ducatiroger]

Hello Pelicans,

After a few close calls over the decades I've finally taken the plunge and picked up a 1976 Sahara Beige 911s w 3.0sc motor. The car is showing 280000 miles but has seen a fair amount of maintenance over the years. It was offered up on Pcar market in early December and the plan was to drive it home (Seattle) from Phoenix. Life being what it is it took a few weeks before it was time to throw caution to the wind and take a look at what I had purchased. Given the documented service history it seemed like driving a 49 year old car 1500 miles over three days might be possible. Once the holiday festivities had run their course I was given a pass to make the drive. Jan 2nd I took the early flight to PHX and first "met" the car Other than a few things working their way loose the car made it! The most stressful bit was a quick onset of a right front vibration while keeping up with SLC traffic at 80+ mph! By the time I rolled into Seattle I really felt at one with the car. Looking forward to ticking off the items on the todo list and continuing this chapter of the car's history.

Thank you to this amazingly knowledgeable and supportive group of Porsche enthusiast. This forum was a big influence in taking on Porsche ownership.

I also want to send a huge Thank You to Bob in SLC at Concourse Auto (801) 313-9100. I called him in a bit of a panic with the front wheel vibration issue and he dropped everything on a Friday afternoon to get my car up on a lift and diagnose and adjust my loose front right wheel bearing. He was extremely knowledgeable and personable. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't came upon his name in a separate Pelican thread. Thank you Bob!

Let the maintenance begin!

Roger
own

[PeteKz]

Congrats on doin' the "fly'n'drive"! That's the adventure.

[silverlock]

Nothing better than driving a car back across a state line (or a few!). The anxiety about it making the trip is part of the adventure ;-)

Great looking car: Sahara Beige over Tan (?) is beautiful.

[Ralph3.]

Nice looking car, I see you have YoM plates.

[pmax]

Nice.

Let's see pics of the bug kill !

[ducatiroger]

Originally Posted by PeteKz

Congrats on doin' the "fly'n'drive"! That's the adventure.

Yeah, I do love to fly'n'drive. Last time was picking up an e46 M3 from the bay area. That was fun.

Originally Posted by silverlock

Nothing better than driving a car back across a state line (or a few!). The anxiety about it making the trip is part of the adventure ;-)

Great looking car: Sahara Beige over Tan (?) is beautiful.

State count = 5 Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington. The roads in northern AZ beat me up with the stiff suspension. Might have to step the T bars size down 1mm front and rear (to 20/26)

I think the interior color is "cork", but not 100% sure.

Originally Posted by Ralph3.

Nice looking car, I see you have YoM plates.

Yeah, found plates online and had to. Nice that Washington has that program.

Originally Posted by pmax

Nice.

Let's see pics of the bug kill !

The last day of drive was through fog, rain,and snow so bugs were washed/blown off. I'll need to wait until summer before the car can collect some serious bugs.

Started having a hot start issue that is looking like a failed fuel accumulator. Also need to track down an exhaust leak. Just waiting for the thin walled 13mm socket to arrive as the car has SSI heat exchangers.

[dailydriven911]

Congratulations!

[MrBonus]

Congrats on the ride home! I hope you have many frustration-free miles.

[Mr. Merk]

Awesome. You did it right. I always recommend driving the car home and bonding with it.

[Otter74]

Congratulations! Looks like a terrific trip. I love fly and drives. I've done them in my 911, my Saab SPG, and my BMW E12. Each trip better than the last.

[dreebs]

Yes!! What a great adventure. The fly'n'drive is a big move, congratulations!

[ducatiroger]

Originally Posted by dailydriven911

Congratulations!

Thank you. May the "honeymoon" stage of classic car stewardship continue!

Originally Posted by MrBonus

Congrats on the ride home! I hope you have many frustration-free miles.

Yeah, the car has exceeded expectations (so far).

Originally Posted by Mr. Merk

Awesome. You did it right. I always recommend driving the car home and bonding with it.

Some very good memories. Felt surreal at times.

Originally Posted by Otter74

Congratulations! Looks like a terrific trip. I love fly and drives. I've done them in my 911, my Saab SPG, and my BMW E12. Each trip better than the last.

I think this might be my 5th or 6th Fly and drive/ride. A couple of Syncro Vanagons, a couple of Ducati 900SS/SPs, and a couple other cars.

Originally Posted by dreebs

Yes!! What a great adventure. The fly'n'drive is a big move, congratulations!

This choice has worked out very well. Still early days though. May the good times continue to out number the others.

Exhaust leak identified and remedied!


Next challenge is firguring out what is going on here. Found some heavy build up on outside wall of the oil tank. Heavy build up around the oil level sender. ?? Bad gasket? The sender wires were incased in oil/dirt paste. Any insight from a more seasoned wrench?


Let the adventure continue.

[ducatiroger]

The weekend arrived with me eager to do some wrenching on the 911.

It's colder than normal (30F) today. Was that a factor in the fuel pump not firing up? Had the "pleasure" of removing the panel and giving the pump a couple of taps in order to deliver fuel to back of the car. Guess another item to add to the list.

Next item on the list was to inspect vacuum lines for cracks or being disconnected. The car has a low rpm stumble that clears out once above 2.5k It will also backfire in the exhaust at low rpms with a steady partial throttle. Couldn't find any obvious vacuum leaks but did find the intake boots (connecting to the air box) a little loose. Tightening those seemed to help things a little. I have picked up a fuel pressure gauge setup but ran out of time to base line the system pressure and control pressure.


Cleaned up the contacts on the cap and rotor.

Also won the battle with the right rear tail light assembly. Last weekend I attempted to pull the assembly in order to inspect the wiring and was stuck with a spinning outside captured nut. Doh! I could see it from the wheel well but didn't have the right tool to hold it in place. The 11" needle nose set arrived during the week enabled the removal of the light. Slightly longer pliers would have been better but was able to make the 11" versoin work. Took the opportunity to replace the dried out lens gasket. Very happy to have a correctly fastened tail light.



Lastly, swapped out my old puffy sun visors for brand spanking new units. There is something about puffy sun visors that rubs me the wrong way.



All in all a pretty productive day. Just need to keep chipping away at the list.

Roger