'74 US/Euro Porsches

[peter_soj]

Hey guys, I'm new here but I've just got a fairly simple question.

I live in Australia, I'm 16, and me and my dad have found a '74 911s targa that we're looking at for me to buy, its in pretty banged up shape, but we're planning on restoring it so I can drive it when i turn 18.

I've been doing some research and wanted to know if Australia got the US versions of the porsche, or the Euro version? Because I was reading that this particular model only had 165bhp new because of pollution restrictions or something, and the Euro version didn't have these restrictions so it had 175bhp.

I'm one of them kids who wants a bit of power in the first car I've always wanted a porsche and if I had one as my first car I'd be stoked! Problem is, my dad's already a car nut and has alot of cars! He recently imported 5 cars (3 mustangs and 2 firebirds) from the US so he could restore or sell here, but he probably won't be doing that anymore because of the economy crash. But yeah, mum definitely isn't too happy about the idea of us getting ANOTHER project car.

But yeah mainly I wanted to know about the power situation. I saw on a video that those rear "shock absorber bumpers" , or whatever their called, are about twice the size on the US spec ones, but I didn't get a chance to have a look at them, we only saw the car for a brief 5 minutes or so, and I hadn't read up on it beforehand

If we do end up getting it you'll probably see me around here alot more asking questions and whatnot, If I can manage i'll probably get some pictures up of the car next time we go see it, or If we buy it.

One more quick question, whats the price range for an engine rebuild on a 2.7? We have no idea what shape the engine is in, but its probably due for a rebuild, it hasn't been driven for twelve months. So yeah, just wanted a rough price range that I could tell my dad, obviously it could be anywhere from $1000 to $10000 depending on the condition so sorry for the broad question.

Thanks!

[naparsei]

Originally Posted by peter_soj

One more quick question, whats the price range for an engine rebuild on a 2.7? We have no idea what shape the engine is in, but its probably due for a rebuild, it hasn't been driven for twelve months. So yeah, just wanted a rough price range that I could tell my dad, obviously it could be anywhere from $1000 to $10000 depending on the condition so sorry for the broad question.

Thanks!

Good luck. My first car (bought when I was 15) was a 356A. It was a great car.

Your rebuild won't be $1000. In USD, expect $6000-$12000.

[peter_soj]

Originally Posted by naparsei

Good luck. My first car (bought when I was 15) was a 356A. It was a great car.

Your rebuild won't be $1000. In USD, expect $6000-$12000.

Ah ok, but i'm still not sure on the condition of the engine, did you do the rebuild yourself? Me and my dad were probably going to do this one, which I heard can knock off a bit of the rebuild price, but then again I'm not sure.

But yeah, thanks for the heads up, haha.

[peter_soj]

Anyone else know if Australia gets US spec or Euro Spec Porsches?

[mark 74 carrera]

I believe that Australia would get Rest of World (ROW) cars. Can you get the VIN for the car inquestion? If you did, someone here could tell you the origin of the car, whether it is an "S", a US Carrera, or a ROW Carrera.

The "S" and the U.S. Carerra are basically the same car. The Euro or ROW Carrera is a much more desirerable and sought after car. So, it makes a big difference on price.

Mark

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by peter_soj

Anyone else know if Australia gets US spec or Euro Spec Porsches?

It would help a lot if you provided an engine #

[peter_soj]

Originally Posted by mark 74 carrera

I believe that Australia would get Rest of World (ROW) cars. Can you get the VIN for the car inquestion? If you did, someone here could tell you the origin of the car, whether it is an "S", a US Carrera, or a ROW Carrera.

The "S" and the U.S. Carerra are basically the same car. The Euro or ROW Carrera is a much more desirerable and sought after car. So, it makes a big difference on price.

Mark

Alright thanks, I guess next time we go and see the car i'll grab the VIN. I'm pretty sure its a 911S, but I only know that because of the badge. Its not a carrera so I wasn't really expecting that. Yeah but you pretty much answered my question, that Australia would (in general) get the ROW car.

Another question, when I had a look at the spoiler, from what I can remember it had rubber on it. I thought the '74 model had the Duck tail? And i havent seen a duck tail picture with rubber on it yet so yeah anyone know about that? Again it would probably help a HEAP if I had a picture of the car, but I didn't think to get one when I saw it.

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

It would help a lot if you provided an engine #

I'll try and get it next time I see it. Thanks.

[rodoredas]

Hi Peter, well aren't you a lucky lad, if only we could all get a porsche at 16, I had to wait till I was 50, does your dad want to buy me another one?. the aussie 74's would not have had a duck tail, nor a whale tale except the carrera which should have the rubber trimmed whale. a stock 74 911 (150 DIN hp) or 911S (175 DIN hp) will look similar to mine, a 75 here http://users.bigpond.net.au/rodoreda/porsche.htm
lets see some pix and VIN.
cheers

[livi]

Welcome to the forum!

Good to see yet another non American joining the club.

I believe Australia generally got the ROW version, but I am honestly not sure.

[peter_soj]

Originally Posted by rodoredas

Hi Peter, well aren't you a lucky lad, if only we could all get a porsche at 16, I had to wait till I was 50, does your dad want to buy me another one?. the aussie 74's would not have had a duck tail, nor a whale tale except the carrera which should have the rubber trimmed whale. a stock 74 911 (150 DIN hp) or 911S (175 DIN hp) will look similar to mine, a 75 here http://users.bigpond.net.au/rodoreda/porsche.htm
lets see some pix and VIN.
cheers

Hey, well yeah I guess I am pretty lucky, but my 19 y/o has a '02 Monaro, '70 Vette Stingray with High performance engine, and a '66 mustang. My other brother has an E46 320Ci. So its my turn to get a car .
Hmmm, well then I guess this one might not be a 74, because it definitely does have a tail, not sure which. I think its a whaletail, but, it's a 911S, saw the badge. So maybe the 75 911s had the whale tail?
I REALLY need to get some pictures up, that would probably help alot. Heh.
Also I noticed that there wasn't any chrome around the windows and that. I was hoping it would be a '74 because I heard there were a lot of problems with the engine in the '75 models, so that would probably put us off buying it, as I don't plan on spending too much money on it.

Thanks again.

[peter_soj]

Originally Posted by livi

Welcome to the forum!

Good to see yet another non American joining the club.

I believe Australia generally got the ROW version, but I am honestly not sure.

Thanks for the welcome

That's good to know, more people that think Australia got the ROW version the better.



Also Rodoredas, forgot to ask, where in Melbourne do you live? I live in melbourne as well, to be specific; Alphington.

[rodoredas]

Peter, I'm in Lower Templestowe, near macedon plaza, 74 engines are the same as 75, all 2.7 with bosch k-jetronic fuel injection, except carreras which have mechanical injection plus other mods to get 210hp . you'll read a lot about the 2.7 not being as good as the 2.4, but it's still a porsche engine. try and get some background on the motor if you can. no matter what rebuilds are costly. previous owner may have added a tail, mine had a tail but the 1st owner still had the original engine cover which I've put back on.
cheers

[rodoredas]

Peter, could it be a later model, like a 3.0 78, chrome stopped with the 77 series. is the driver side door mirror chrome or body color. but then again, people replace the chrome with body color so who knows. call the owner get a VIN.

[peter_soj]

Originally Posted by rodoredas

Peter, I'm in Lower Templestowe, near macedon plaza, 74 engines are the same as 75, all 2.7 with bosch k-jetronic fuel injection, except carreras which have mechanical injection plus other mods to get 210hp . you'll read a lot about the 2.7 not being as good as the 2.4, but it's still a porsche engine. try and get some background on the motor if you can. no matter what rebuilds are costly. previous owner may have added a tail, mine had a tail but the 1st owner still had the original engine cover which I've put back on.
cheers

Yeah, with the engine, the problem I was mainly talking about was overheating or something? Heard that they had much less life span than the previous 74 model. And yeah I'm starting to think the previous owner must have added a tail because I talked to my dad and he said the rego on the car had '74. There must have been some modifications done to it, also when the guy popped the boot there was a nice shiny amp in there, amidst all the other crap.

[Flieger]

Likely someone added the tail and blacked-out the chrome. Easy to do and popular during the horrible time when people cut up longhoods to make "updated" impact bumper wide bodies or slant noses "because it looked cool"

The issues with mid year engines, the 75 on, was thermal reactors which are restrictive heat exchangers which raise exhaust temperatures to burn off bad emissions. They also had a 5 blade fan to make the engine run hotter for emissions.

This heat kills the engine. Magnesium 2.7 cases are already notorious for pulling head studs and the above parts only add to that. It is easy to fix, though. Get an 11 blade fan and the heat exchanger exhaust from and early car (1973 or earlier). You will pick up power and engine durability.

Pulled studs can be fixed with Time-Certs or Case-Savers. These are steel threaded inserts into the Magnesium. Do not use "heli-coils".

An oil cooler will also reduce engine wear. Use either 930 cam chain tensioners or Carrera pressure-fed tensioners with piston stop. This will help prevent valves and pistons hitting. The early tensioners can fail after 30 years and the timing goes way bad ($$$$$).

You may be lucky, though. If the previous owner went through the work of a tail, trim, and stereo, he may have cared enough about the car to do the engine work as well.

[rodoredas]

I agree with you, Flieger, about the tail and blacked out chrome, but the aussie engines do not suffer from the same heat issues as our US counterparts. We have no thermal reactors and have 11 blade fans, so a lot of the hype about unreliability and overheating of the US engines does not apply as much to the aussie engines. I found when I first joined this forum lots of talk about this issue until i understood that there are significant differences between the US and Aussie 2.7's (no thermal reactors, 11 blade) and some of the issues you have don't necessarily apply. Most 2.7's here have had the Time-certs upgrade and the 930 chain tensioners fitted.
cheers

[Flieger]

lucky you.

Classic Adelaide, Targa Tazmania, Bathhurst 24 hour V8 Supercars, F1,

and no stupid emissions time-bombs.

Bonza!

[rodoredas]

yeah, and the best roads here in Victoria, the Great Ocean Road and the Great Alpine Road to name 2 internationally renowned roads.
cheers

[Flieger]

Of course, the California coast has some great canyon roads.






much like this



But you don't need roads down unda'

[SgtTurbo]

Originally Posted by peter_soj

Anyone else know if Australia gets US spec or Euro Spec Porsches?

I know there is at least one 1975 US Carrera down under, but it was imported there a few years ago.

#147 I think.