Reunited with my 83SC, Great mechanic too

[Deschodt]

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to buy back my first Porsche, an 83 SC with 167K miles on the clock! I did, but I immediately dropped it off at the local mechanic for a baseline service and a number of other things...

here she was before:



The guy took 2 weeks + and I am blown away by what he did and the cost. You have to understand I moved to FL from California a few years aback and I am still familiar with cali-pricing !

He did:
- A full tune up, valves adj, oil change, brake fluid (super blue), found out the wheels nuts had been torqued too much and had to drill them out & replace...
- Fixed an idle issue, distributor springs and vacuum
- Leak down: 2% on all cylinders hot (10% cold) - at 167K, not bad at all !

Then at my request:
- Put in new shocks all 4 corners
- Replaced ALL suspension & torsion bar bushings,
- Lowered the car
- Corner balanced and aligned
- Replaced all shifter bushings all the way to the tranny
- installed a Seine shifter gate and welded it
- replaced Oil cooler T'stat
- inspected the clutch, found it good and adjusted it

Here's the height now


Now the incredible (to me) part. Cost ? $800 of labor... (plus as much in parts but that is fine)

I am fairly sure I would have paid 2 or 3 times as much in california... At least at shop rates... $800 - you gotta be kiddin' me ! I love this guy !

Anyway, the car is transformed, I thought it needed syncros, nope, much better... It corners on rails, it responds like a go kart again.... The only issue is still heat... Granted, it's like 95F now in FL, but I will run easily 1/2 way up the gauge if I don't trigger my manually activated fan on the carrera cooler. with that on, it never exceeds 210F even in traffic, but I am fraid that will not be sufficient for track duties and high RPMs all session!

Quick Qs: I want a front oil cooler but don't like the valences typically associated with them. Ideally I'd like a 73RS "style" valence but those aren't made for SCs. Can't I just notch the front valance and have the front cooler stick through ? I can cover it with meshing... Anyone done this ? I want to see if it'd look ok !

Q2: GOt the Seine shift gate, and it does not do what I thought it did. It seems to prevent 5th->reverse pretty well and also 5th is definitely spring loaded, but I thought it made 3-4 as the "default" axis, it does not, the shifter is still sloppy between the 1-2 and 3-4 axis ! Maybe I misread the directions or mis-installed ? Isn't it supposed to default the shifter to 3-4 and spring load 1-2 as well as 5th ? Either way, not bad for the money but not as good as new bushings !