1973 3.6 conversion update, part 2 (long)

Well, today it happened. The last of the innumerable details were taken care of, and my 1973 911 was ready to be picked up. I walked the two blocks to my local mechanic, and (one earth-shaking swipe of the Visa later) was handed the keys to my freshly-washed Porsche.

During this service, I had a new oil cooling system installed, stiffer suspension, a limited slip differential, a passenger-side rear-view mirror, and working interior lights with a delayed shut-off circuit.

The delayed shut-off circuit on the interior lights, incidentally, is really cool. It makes the old 911 feel like a luxury sedan.

Oh yes, I also had a 3.6 liter engine put into the car.

First impression? Well, I don't want to overstate it, but... wow! I took it calmly around the corner, and decided to take it through first and second. Boom - it's a very different car, now. First gear reminds me of tractor pull contests I used to go to in Illinois. It's over very quickly, but you go from 1000 to 5000 and you're suddenly breaking the legal speed limit on the residential-adjacent (don't worry, it was wide and also empty) street I was on. Then second gear. Much stronger through 3000 rpms, and then, well, kind of like you're taking off in an airplane. The car is thrown back on its (stiff, but not as stiff as it might be) suspension, and you're looking up, kind of, as you feel the torsion bars stretch and the tires ( part of a fairly low profile set-up) give under the torque.

Then you have to stop, because you're going too fast and you feel irresponsible for doing this in the center of a big city.

Oddly, the car is much quieter than I expected. It has a makeshift Carrera muffler on it, while the sport muffler set-up is on order, and in spite of the fact that it's a much simpler set-up than the C2s came with, the whole deal is noticeably quieter than the old 2.2. It leads to minor regret #1. I miss the cammy, early-exhaust sound of the older engine. It sounded so 'Porsche-like.'

Of course, the sport muffler that's going to go back there might dissolve this minor regret away.

Realizing I can't just drive the car the two blocks home and do the day's work (deadline? What's a deadline?), I hop on the freeway and decide to take the car directly to the same scale I las had it weighed on. It's a 30 mile round trip (somehow it becomes 80 as I gleefully miss exits), and it will give me a concrete answer to how much I've weighed my car down.

Freeway impressions? Well, third is just like second. Torque, torque, torque. Now, I know there are turbos and such that are much more dramatically powered, but this is my little 125 hp 911 we're talking about. It suddenly has 270 horses, and it's light. You hit the gas, and -- again -- it's like you're about to take off. The quiet muffler makes the experience kind of eery. You don't think that much is happening until you see how quickly everything around you seems to be slowing down.

And unlike before, if you want to pass, you don't have to drop down to fourth to make it sexy. In fifth, you hit it and the speedo is sailing past 80, 90, 100, with no end in sight.

Minor regret #2: I realize, as I'm sailing through unusually light Los Angeles afternoon traffic, that I'm going to get a lot of speeding tickets in this car. Unless I stay on top of myself every minute, my insurance is going to go (even further) through the ceiling. I tell myself, like it's a new mantra, 'save it for the track.' I've got four days of driving in three events lined up now for the next four weeks.

Got to the scale. The new engine and oil cooling set-up (and other miscellaneous doo-dads) have added an even hundred pounds to my (already pudgy) 73. It's now a 2570 pound car.

And it's also just a tremendous amount of fun to drive now. I hope I'll ease off pretty soon, but it's hard to resist reminding yourself of how much it has to offer in whatever gear you happen to be in. And from a stop, it's really (for a Porsche) incredible.

Minor regret #3: I should have gotten the kevlar clutch. I'm no streetlight racer, but the handful of faster starts I've tried leave the distinct odor of a stock 73 clutch dancing just as fast as it can to keep up with a 20-years-stronger engine.

Got home, so I could get back to the current work project, and... well... got back in the car just as soon as I knew the evening traffic was going to be out of the way. Took the car out on the freeway again (I'm going to get a ticket, I know it), and then up the Pacific Coast Highway, curving gracefully, then for a 10-mile or so stretch of Sunset Boulevard (almost all of it twisting). Left a 964 in my wake (he was driving responsibly; I wasn't). And then up to the top of the hills, and along the crest of Mulholland Drive, the road twisting like a snake getting a dose of electroshock, overtaking a Brabus Mercedes SUV (what the Sam Hill is Brabus doing modifying an SUV, and what the Sam Hill is some overpaid Angeleno doing driving it!?), then down through Laurel Canyon (no one in front of me, whoo!), and back home.

In addition to the custom exhaust, a couple of things still haven't been done. It gets a four wheel alignment and corner balance later this week, and after that the rear sway bar gets snapped in. So it's tough to identify how every change has affected its handling. It feels different through the curves, and I was taking them faster than I used to. It has a hundred more pounds behind me, and the alignment and rear sway control hasn't been settled in. So I can't give a full report, yet.

But holy cow. It's a whole new car. And did I mention, the interior lights stay on for seven seconds after you close the door?

How cool is that!?



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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T sunroof coupe

Nice writeup, and if I read you correctly, you like the car?

I know what you mean about being wary of tickets. I desperately need to get a radar detector, but can't decide whether it's worth spending double for V-1 over a Passport. I've been pretty lucky so far and haven't been caught during any of my high speed runs.

I have the same engine in my car (1992 C2, 38K miles) and think my car is fast. I can't imagine shaving off 400 pounds and adding another 20 HP. You must have done something different because the 964 is listed at 250 HP.

Do you have to suffer through a break in period?

Yes, I do like it. And no, no break-in. The engine has 17,000 miles on it.

The extra twenty horses are from a custom performance chip. It also might help that it has a lighter flywheel, no power steering burden and a less-cluttered exhaust path, but the chip is the main thing. I hope to dyno it, in time.

Oh, and I feel I've got to hand some credit out for what became a no-surprises event from beginning to (almost) end. My thanks to Dr. Steve Timmins and his excellent conversion kit and instructions and support, and also to Bob Brumley, my mechanic who put in a lot of weekend hours methodically bringing my hybrid car to life.

[This message has been edited by JackOlsen (edited 10-17-2000).]

Hey Jack,

CONGRATS!!! Sounds frighteningly fun. To have ~2X the 2.2's power in the same car, with actual noticable grunt down below 3500rpms, holy whiplash batman! I've been in 3.2's and 3.6's before, but only with their original overweight late-model cars wrapped around them.

Anyway, I drive Sunset/PCH/Topanga/Mullholland all the time, so I'll watch for you!

If I ever decide between a 914/6 and an RS clone as my next project, I'll pump you for more details if you don't mind sharing some info...if I do the RS clone it'd probably be a 3.2 or 3.6, the 914 more likely a 3.0.

BTW - is Johnsons going to do your suspension stuff? I due in there sometime soon myself...my 911 is in need of serious alignment & handling help.

Chris C.
70 911E Targa (with "only" 2.2 liters)

[This message has been edited by campbellcj (edited 10-17-2000).]

Congrats on the 3.6 conversion.

I will be looking for you on the LA roads...champange 1982 SC

your conversion has inspired me to dreams of tearing the engine out and doing a DIY engine rebuild, just a way for me and my porsche to bond...but not till the mailman gives me a box filled with 15,000 in cash...I want to bump it up to 3.2...SSI's...MFI or Webers...*sigh

anyways...speaking of tickets...in my short driving career (6 years, being only 22) I have had the privilidge of acquiring 14 speeding tickets, that is not counting the seperate citations...so I know the pain and anxiety...not something to be proud of think of all the fix ups I could have done on my car with that money...I just got my P-car 3 months ago...bad choice...going to court tomorrow for a traffic violation. As you can tell I am a complete blockhead. the ironic thing is I have never been caught trying to go fast...just the times I am zoning out and cruising at 10 or 15 over...and if you think that number is impossible, it is because 6 were in college in New York before the laws changed and tickets began transfering...and that explains my 2900 insurance...well good luck to you and hopefully it is a long time before you see the flaching blue and reds...shudder....


Oh chirs are you familiar with Callas Rennsport right next to Johnson's...I have been using him initially...seems very good, pricey and slow, but seems to do really clean professional work...really helped me for my first maintenance job when I bought the car, also wrung my wallet, but not as bad as he could have...

[This message has been edited by 82SC (edited 10-17-2000).]

Chris -

Funny thing. My mechanic, today, says there's only one place I should go for alignment and balancing -- Johnson's. I think he said it's a father and son operation, and the father runs one of the locations, the son the other. Any tip on which generation I should trust?

I don't know what their backlog is like, but I'm going to try and get it done this week.

Of course, tomorrow, I've got to pay a visit to customs at LAX to try and get a set of wheels I bought from a guy in Singapore. If anyone has any advice for this trip, I'd appreciate it.

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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T sunroof coupe

Johnson's out in Torrance, on hawthorne?

Steve is the Porsche guy there...by appointment only, usually takes a 1/2 week to a week early notice for a time, except when there is a race weekend, then he is swamped. I have heard from every where that is the place to go, really nice guy

The Yello cab in Excellence a couple issues again was done by him...

Steve Alarcon is the guy at Johnsons. He did Todd Serota's 996 cab and is very active in POC racing etc. People drive from hours around to his shop.

I actually haven't been down there in years...hence the need to go back SOON! Gonna do some light mods and resto on the 911, and then struts and alignment on the 914 when the wallet recovers a little more.

To perhaps overburden today's celebration, here are two links to pictures from today.

One is of the car, back in my back yard. Look how the weight of the new engine has caused huge cracks in my concrete driveway!

http://members.rennlist.com/jackolsen/Imback.jpg

And here's one of the engine, in the engine bay. Note: no air conditioning or heating, yet, with an aluminum cap on the fan vent. Eventually this will function as a low-volume heater blower.

http://members.rennlist.com/jackolsen/Imback2.jpg

Jack,

Great description. From here in sunny South Florida, your trek sounds like Christmas(times 100). Being an early car proponent, your vision(and completion) for/of this project was/is grand. I know it's been said before but do you think you could charge admission and let the rest of us drive that nast machine? Sort of like a carnival ride. Let me know. Also, how did you get the image attached to your sig? I thought UBB code did not support images in the signature. Please let me know. Cheers.

Rich

[Brian993]

Jack, is this the slippery slope? Interesting history on BB. Loose wire, bad cylinder....wanton spending. Your my kinda guy!

[cab83_750]

Jack,

Search the archives. People always say that Steve is the best.....however, don't be surprised if 'another' body working for Steve actually does the job.