How to get some power out of an 81 SC and a couple other questions...
 

Hey all,

So, things are coming along with the 81 sc targa that I inherited a little while ago. I've been spending most of the time trying to get the interior looking halfway presentable since my father kind of neglected it, let it flood several times after parking it facing downhill in front of the house after i warned him not to... Anyway, I've got it looking fairly decent.

I got the Sparco Milano seat in there, and it ended up at just about exactly the same height as the stock seat, the sparco bottom mount bracket for the porsche is totally flat, its really nice.

Anyway, on to the topic. The car is definitely not underpowered, but it would really be great to have some more grunt to it. The engine's bottom end was rebuilt 45k miles ago (head studs), and the entire transmission was rebuilt 40k miles ago. The carrera chain tensioners were installed when the bottom end was redone... So, i know that, barring a radical change, I wont be able to get more than maybe 20hp out of it, maybe? (maybe less, maybe/hopefully more)...

I'm in California, so I have to do the mods with being able to pass the smog inspection in mind...

Also, i have seen a lot of sc's with this nice little extension/lip/splitter on the front valence. How would I be able to source one of those, and what would I be looking for?

Handling-wise, im pretty clear on what i can do, and what i will probably end up doing, but it is the engine that I am just clueless about. Like I said, I am brand new to the p-car wonderworld, and im loving every second of it... I did install a set of carrera sway bars in the car, and the difference is awesome...

The handling is so beautiful for a car that is essentially bone stock... It took a lot of money to get something close on my UrQuattro... And this is the starting point...

Any and all help will be welcome...

Thank you all in advance...

Michael

pmo's, ssi, cams, oh CALI, nevermind your stuck, stick with the bling

bling? sorry, not my cup of tea... i like sleeper cars...

pmo?
ssi?
cams - which ones, recommendation?

Come on, just a little help...

Michael

PMOs=Carbs
SSIs=Heat exchanger replacement(exhaust)
Cams- I heard 964 cams?

Thanks :)

I figured that the exhaust would help out a bit... the stock system seems incredibly heavy and overly restrictive. If I get rid of the head exchangers, doesnt that get rid of the heater system as well? (my car has the manual heater/defrost levers)

And yah, the carbs are out of the question being a california resident...

I'd love to touch something close to 200... that would be another 25 hp... a lot, maybe too much, but i can't believe that there's nothing much else that can be done... although, at the same time, i can, since it is CIS, and with cis, there's not much to do to help with it, other than redoing the metering head and such - but that would be useless unless i could get a huge increase in CFM through the heads...

Maybe the best first step is a good full exhaust system with a free-flowing cat. What are the benefits/drawbacks to the dual inlet/single inlet and dual outlet/single outlet versions?

Michael

It is kind of amazing, that there is such few HP upgrades.

Exhaust, in addition to more free flow, you can save tons of weight there(muffler). SC seats are heavy too, and bumperettes are heavy, and impact bumpers are heavy and....adding lightness is a popular way to raise performance.

I agree, shedding weight is the cheapest way of improving performance and handling.
Start there, you are restricted concerning engine mods due to you location... But weightsaving should make a noticable difference depending on how far you want to go.

There is the "other" way to improve the power-to-weight ratio, lose some weight. There is a tremendous amount of weight that can be gotten rid of, not only all the old-man-in-a-Buick stuff like AC, stereo system, cruise control, foglights, etc, but going to the custom stuff like 'glass bumpers, lighter seats, less sound proofing etc.

Less weight is better than more HP, as handling, braking, and gas mileage will also be improved::cool:

Replacing head studs usually indicates a TOP END rebuild, not a bottom end. Also read Noah's excellent article on CIS and More Power: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/911_engine_rebuild/911_engine_rebuild2.htm

Cant really do the exhaust to SSI's unless you have a friendly smog guy and/or are willing to remove and replace every other year. Really kind of a drag with all the exhaust studs that like to break. If you could fab up a custom cat converter setup that looked somewhat stock you may be able to pull it off, but it's a gamble. Couple that exhuast with some 964 cams and maybe a CIS setup off a 78/79 car or a euro setup........ and that 's where you go here in Kali.

I went through the same search as you after buying my 82 SC--there is some good info on this thread: (set aside an hour to read it!)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/417853-250-bhp-cis.html

Hey, i was looking at what the SSI's are... So, there is no 50 state version of the SSI setup? I know that i sound like a complete newbie. And i have been trying to get through the inredibly informative thread that was posted above, but there is a lot of information...

I would LOVE to get a set of SSI's, but it seems like it might not be a possibility if they arent CARB friendly. Is there no way to get ssi's and have a cat w/ muffler setup?

Im just trying to get my head around how the whole 911 setup actually works...

And, from what i've read, there's really nothing I can do.

If the SSI's are not an option in CA, IS there an option for headers in CA, or is it possible to get any improvement from a better muffler and cat setup? It seems like there MUST be some improvement capable from replacing the stock muffler and cat with a more efficient setup, even if i have to leave the heat exchangers the same...


Thanks in advance,
Michael

well you could go with the SSI version of the system you have on there now retaining the cat and a sport type muffler, but that does nothing for performance or weight. so, just a lot of cash for nothing. (but it looks good). The hot SSi set up is a backdate prior to cat converters.
Like Seinfeld-"No soup for you!"

Either drop in a 3.6 or sell the Targa and buy a Turbo. Everything else is a half-measure and you won't be satisfied.

Forget about SSI's if you need a cat to pass smog. You can't have a cat with SSI's. You could go with a better muffler but you're not going to get more than a couple of extra horses. You might shed a few pounds there though.

Other than that, changing to 964 cams might get you another 10-12 hp.

That's it. There's nothing more you can do with that motor and still be CARB compliant.

However....

For a couple thousand bucks, you can have shorter gear sets put in your transmission and it will feel as though you added 50 hp. It amazes me that so many guys overlook the transmission gearing when considering how to make their car faster. And the additional upside is that it won't affect your emissions status.

Hey all. Thanks for the replies. I keep laughing to myself about the limited options available to me. Imean it's a Porsche, not a Hyundai. Oh well. And to the personwho said that i'd never be satisfied, well I actually would. My UrQuattro has about 350 hp and custom efi, etc. It is way more than I need for a regular/semi-daily driver. I was just hoping for that little bit extra that is usually available in street engines. I just want another 10%. Just enough to feel that extra oomph. Damn, I love san francisco, but I hate CARB.

I'd love to drop in a 3.6 but honestly I just want a 6 second car 0-60 for my regular car. The sc is what, 6.7-7.0sec?

Regarding the gearing, you are completely right, and maybe in the future I'll go with that idea, but it's an expensive one.

A couple grand for ssi's and cams would work in my limited budget, and would get me to my goal. But it seems like I'm up *****s creek when it comes to making this car quicker.

Michael

Your gearbox likely has the 8:31 ring and pinion. A 7:31 one from an earlier 915 would spin up faster for sure. BUT they are not as strong and I think only found in 72-75? 915s? Keeping the 8:31 and shortening up the gears is probably a smarter way to go.

SSIs and a sport muffler will add quite a bit of punch (torque) if not top end hp.

You very well may destroy your gearbox with repeated hard 0-60 runs.

Get rid of that AWD Scirocco now that you've got the best car ever built. ;)

You could get aa early exhaust set up. Change it out for inspections. There really is a nice bump in power just from that.

have you checked you origin papers , ? was it a cali car to begin with , these moved around a bit if not ca original f- the smog , does yours have a smog pump, if not then go for it , also it only takes 2-3 hrs to swap an exhaust setup it the bolts arent rusted and siezed out , so just fix it the weekend before every two years, if you get pulled over the chp dont know what to look for any way... .:cool:

Heh. Yah, it's a Cali car. It's whole life has been spent in the bay area.

I was referring to the 0-60 time just as a reference to the kind of thrust I'd like to feel pushing me in to the seat when I really get on the gas.

I try to rationalize that the car is quicker to 60 than the stats say because of the LONG 1-2 shift. Hehe

and I'm not even going to justify certain comments with a response.

Michael