There was a point along the way when the rubber centered clutch plate was changed out to a more conventional pressure plate although I can't find that info now.
As far as removing the tail goes, I have seen info that the lower chin spoiler must also be removed or handling problems at speed will result.
Perhaps someone has this info at hand.
My stock little SC is no drag racer, but boy is it fun to drive.....
Good luck on your search and welcome!!!

when I bought my 82 a couple of years back, it didn't have a pop off valve, tentioner upgrade, and has the origional clutch. I picked her up with 100k on the clock. It now has the tentioners, pop off valve, but still has the orioginal clutch. 133k on the clock now.
Welcome to the club, you will love your car even more in a couple of years.

I would worry more over broken headstuds when buying a SC...

Wolf is right. Broken headstuds is the main issue when buying an SC or Carrera for that matter. Although, SCs tend to suffer a bit more from this.

For Sure, a few $20.00 a piece broken head studs sends you into a world of a $5000.00 bill to fix. I know all about this.

welcome to the SC world Bob. Enjoy the car...

^+5,000

To answer your original question, I bought my 81 SC new. The rubber donut blew up at about 14,000— slightly past warranty. I got it replaced free with the European clutch, although that took me supplying then part nos. because the dealer didn't know squat about it.

When closing the rear deck, push down on the grille, not the metal deck.

When closing the front trunk, push down on the Porsche emblem.

To go from a whale tail to standard deck lid, remove the entire lid with tail, and replace with a standard lid. You can usually sell the whale tail for more than the decklid... enough more so that you can get it painted to match if it doesn't already.

Head studs are the issue with the SC's, tensioners, pop-off valves and even the rubber clutch are not that big a deal. There probably are not any rubber clutches around any longer to speak of.

SC's are great cars. Bought mine 2 years ago 130,000 ok documentation. Do get a PPI done, well worth the $200.00. No real big issue with the car, still the old tensioners, does have the pop off vavle.
The car is a daily driver but is tracked around 12 times a year. Never left me stranded, the biggest problem was pinched oil lines. Great cars.