Cool rear bumper for Turbo???

Hey you guys,

I'm forging ahead with my '74 coupe to 930/3.6 conversion, without regard for my girlfriend's 2 carat ring (I figure that little issue will work itself out).

In the last week, I've received European turbo steel front fenders, front valance & lip, rear steel flares, rockers, black window surrounds & aero mirrors. I'm pretty much set in going with the standard 930 front bumper/valance, because I like the way it looks.

I'm also going with aero mirrors and C2 Turbo wheels, so I'm not adhering strictly to a stock 930.

But....... I'd like to find an alternative rear bumper solution. I don't particularly care for the big bumperettes, and would like something cleaner. I suppose it could be fiberglass if need be.

Do you all have any suggestions & sources for a rear bumper that might help give the car a more updated look?

------------------
-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 Coupe

Richard,

My suggestion is the fiberglass bumper used on the limited edition RS 3.0 ... it replaces the turbo bumber perfectly, matches the flares, does not have the 'bellows' or huge bumperettes, and just generally has a much leaner and cleaner look! A slightly different variant was used on the '73 IROC cars, a nice article featuring them is in the February 2001 issue of Excellence, on pp. 77-84.

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

This may not be your style, but it is clean looking and also aids in cooling. Note the slot under the "Porsche" reflector. When at idle I can feel lots of hot air moving out of this slot. The stock bumper mounts are left in place, you can easily fabricate a solid steel crashbar to mount under the bumper using the stock mounts if you wish. There is also a lot of extra room for exhaust mods, enough room that I don't have to use a heat shield for the muffler due to fear of burning the 'glass. This particular bumper is the "Design 2" from BWMotorworks, very similar to many RSR units from other vendors.

Warren - Any idea who carries the RS rear bumper? Unfortunately, I don't subsribe to Excellence (its on my list - no flames from anyone please ).

RarlyL8 - I do like your rear bumper, any chance you have a closer picture of it?

I like the idea of eliminating the bellows, but I wonder if I'll need to eliminate the front bellows also? Hmmm, a guy could get carried away with this stuff.

------------------
-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 Coupe

Forgot to ask.... has anyone ground off their rain gutters? I'm wondering if its possible, or if it exposes seams that need to be welded.

------------------
-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 Coupe

Richard,

AIR - American International Racing
818 890-5878
http://www.americaninternationalracing.com

The RS 3.0 front bumper did not have the bellows, either! The AIR 'package' is called '74 IROC and also has the whale tail that extends out past the rear bumper 6-8" ... which street Turbo's never did ... I prefer the 'long' whaletail, as it kind of 'balances' out the rear end.

The AIR ad is on p. 86 of the February 2001 issue of Excellence, and does show the '74 IROC package. To justify the extra work and expense of getting rid of both sets of bellows ... you will probably be eliminating 150 lbs!!! Good luck!

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

[This message has been edited by Early_S_Man (edited 12-15-2000).]

Motion,
Sounds like you've got your plan in action, everything is sounding great. With regard to the rear valence, let my chime in my 2c on the bellows: it'd probably look better to either have bellows front AND rear, or no bellows at all. ie, mismatched front and rear would look awkward. There are some fiberglass "euro" and other solutions for the rear in automotion/pp etc. that are worth perusal. '74 IROC is always nice...

As far as the rain gutters, be careful in this area. This mod is tricky and best performed on race cars that will have full cages installed. Reason- that is actually a joint that provides some of the structural rigidity to the unibody. Most people closely guard their methods of doing this mod on race cars as it supposedly really does make a difference in drag. (and looks great). I know one tedious method involved repeatedly cutting down the seam, rewelding it, grinding it down more, rewelding it, grinding it down, etc, until it was flush. This was costly but very effective. Won't say whose car has this mod but the car is very uh..."wild" and races GT3-S...Another racer I know of sliced off the gutters and then split the channels inside the cabin. He then seam welded the gutter from the inside and rewelded the channels. Both cars I speak of have full NASCAR cages, your mileage may vary.

good luck, keep us updated!

ps where did you get your flares from? I just ordered a set from restoration design based on the quality of other parts I've received from them. curious about your experience...

------------------
Dave
--------------
http://members.nbci.com/dtwinters/garage/

Another potential source I have heard good things about is GT Racing. http://www.gt-racing.com/Default.htm

Motion,

I got my fiberglass rear bumper from Peter at Rennspeed Motorsport. He's local, to you, which might be a plus. I also added a fiberglass panel to continue the line of the rear decklid.

See it by clicking here. I think it makes for a less dated look for the rear, and it could be easily done in a turbo flare configuration. Like this:




If it were up to me, though, with your car, the 1974 3.0 RSR look would be the way I'd end up going.



Here's a longer, all-fiberglass spoiler more like the one Warren mentions:



By the way, is the plan for a 3.6 or a turbo -- or for a 3.6 turbo?

------------------
Jack Olsen
1973 911 T (3.6) sunroof coupe

[This message has been edited by JackOlsen (edited 12-15-2000).]

Jack - Thanks for the info on Rennspeed and the great pics. You and Warren are right - the RSR rear bumper is definitely the way to go. It's nice and simple and compliments the rear flares nicely. I'm not sure about the RSR front, though. I'm not real partial to the big rectangular opening. For my car, with the aero mirrors and C2 wheels, I think it would look too dated. I'll have to keep digging for more ideas. Going with something without bellows looks like the way to go.

Thanks for the bad news on the rain gutters, Dave. Looks like I'll have to bypass that mod. I figured it was going to be too tough to tackle. I got the rear flares from ajusa.com. They're galvanized steel and local to me. I picked up the front Euro 930 fenders from a pp in the Bay area. Price was right.... it beat buying the flares separately and having them installed.

Jack - I'm going with a 3.6 twin turbo by Andial (I wish!).... I called a couple of motor builders, including Andial a couple of years ago, and would you guys believe that you can spend $50 to $75k REAL fast on a tt3.6 motor? I couldn't believe it. I had to buy a TRD Toyota carbureted 1.6L 4cyl for my Formula Atlantic a few years ago. I thought that thing was bad at $20k. I'm really going with a mostly-stock 3.6L to begin with. Since my car will mostly be a street thrasher, I'll keep it for a long time and do mods to the engine over time.

------------------
-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 Coupe

I did the RSR conversion on a '73T a few years back. The bumper used was the one Jack has pictured. It is very similar to the one that is on my current SC, but the license plate mounts higher, closer to the rear reflector. Both bumpers are very clean and look good. I don't think you would be dissapointed. By the way - did you see the article in the latest Excellence on the 3.8TT/993 bodied '85 Carrera Cab.? 700+hp. I think this is what you need!

Rarlyl8 - I just sent in my subscription card today for 3 years of Excellence. Hopefully they'll send me the back issue.... I might go down to Borders this weekend and pick up a copy too. 700 HP sounds good to me. I wish someone would come up with a way to get that kind of power for low bucks..... hey, you're a chemist.. I'm sure you can figure something out!

Just got the new Tweeks catalog in the mail today, and there's a very nice looking RSR back bumper on page 71. I think I'll go with it.

Thanks for all the input everyone.

------------------
-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 Coupe

Hey Rich - the RSR bumper pictured on pg 71 of the TWEEKS catalog is NOT an RSR bumper - that is MY car! The picture has been air brushed. Take a close look at the last picture Jack posted. THAT is an RSR bumper. Note the raised portion at the top and the positioning of the license plate area. The pix of my car was taken at the TWEEKS show last July, a company in Mattoon,IL did the airbrushing. I would imagine if you order the bumper from TWEEKS it will look like the one Jack has posted, not the one pictured. Why they didn't use an actual RSR bumper for the picture I do not know.

Hey - looks like your car's famous! I'm a little confused as to why they would post a picture of this bumper, though, when in reality it appears that the actual RSR bumper is significantly different. I liked the look of the one in the Tweeks catalog (yours) because the license plate area was relatively small. But the actual RSR bumper appears to have a much wider mounting area!

Also, it looks like you paid around $500 for yours from bwmmotorworks.... any idea why Tweeks gets only $199? Is there that much of a difference in the quality of a fiberglass piece?

------------------
-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 Coupe

Hey - looks like your car's famous! I'm a little confused as to why they would post a picture of this bumper, though, when in reality it appears that the actual RSR bumper is significantly different. I liked the look of the one in the Tweeks catalog (yours) because the license plate area was relatively small. But the actual RSR bumper appears to have a much wider mounting area!

Also, it looks like you paid around $500 for yours from bwmmotorworks.... any idea why Tweeks gets only $199? Is there that much of a difference in the quality of a fiberglass piece?

------------------
-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 Coupe

I've not seen TWEEKS version of the RSR rear bumper in person. The BWMotorsports Design 2 bumper I have is VERY thick, requires no support of any kind. My last 911 had the RSR rear as seen above. They are quite different if you look close. I would love to post a picture if I had a scanner. It looks the same as Jack's picture though, only black. That particular bumper was pretty thin and did require support. Can't remember where it came from.

Has anyone seen the article about the original IROC cars in the Feb. 2001 issue of Excellence, yet? Those were some GORGEOUS cars, for sure!!!

Too bad ABC does put all of the archive footage shot for that series out on video, in unedited, raw form ... every last hour!

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

How do you have the Feb. 2001 issue of Excellence already? The only issue I can find around here is December. If they run 2 months behind for news stands, I really need to subscribe.

Strangely enough, my copy must travel via Alaska, because it is at the bookstore three or four days before mine arrives by USPS! This happens every month, which is why dozens of items for sale in the classifieds have been sold when I have called the same day the Post Office chooses to deliver!

------------------
Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Those 74 IROC cars are awesome. For me, that point in history was the defining moment for the 911.

------------------
Jack Olsen
1973 911 T (3.6) sunroof coupe