Overdue intro and SC hotrod project
 

I joined this forum back in March 2008 and thus my intro is long overdue. When I joined I failed to notice this protocol and by the time I found out it seemed too late. Now I am far enough into my SC project that I have something worth showing :)

Here is my 1983 SC being delivered last summer....

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I am not new to Porsches but these is my first foray into 911 territory. I had read a few articles about the R Gruppe and had always been fond of the long nose 911 look. Unfortunately by the time I got around to buying one I was at the height of the buying frenzy. I then turned my focus towards a Euro Carrera 3.0 but the very few that came up for sale were snapped up right away. I got tired of checking half a dozen websites every single day to catch the right car and decided to build a kind of R Gruppe impact bumper car.

My inspiration came from these cars that I saw on the www.impactbumpers.com site (I hope people are OK with me posting these here) and set about finding the right car to transform.

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I was looking for a car in one of the bright '70's colours like continental orange, mexico blue, lime green etc. but very quickly realized they are few and far between so I compromised for a black car that would undergo a colour change thinking that the black front trunk and engine bay would look OK with a different colour exterior.

After months of searching I found my '83 up in Fairfax, VA. It had been mechanically rebuilt but was cosmetically challenged which was just the car I was looking for. With around 100,000 miles on the clock it was fairly stock except for - repro fuchs 16x7 and 8, Momo wheel and shift knob, Alpine stereo and Carrera rear wing. Black with grey/beige interior.

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Let the games begin!

The previous owner ran an independent Porsche repair shop in Fairfax and had purchased the car from a customer to turn into an RS replica. He had his shop go through the mechanicals of the car end to end which generated a bill of some $27,000 :eek: With still lots of cosmetic work to do and a collection of other P-cars he already owned he decided to shelve the idea and sell the SC.

I bought the car with 70 miles on the rebuilt engine so first step was running in the engine then a valve adjustment. The Carrera wing came off in short order and a Getty Design ducktail took its place. The interior was gradually removed along with the factory soundproofing and I was pleased to find a solid structure underneath.

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Some light surface corrosion from a leaking rear window seal but some POR-15 quickly took care of that...

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Just love these ducktails....
Also snuck in a set of SSI's and an M&K 2 in 2 out sport exhaust which I painted flat white similar to the race cars of the early '70's like the Ferrari 512.

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nice project :) you picked three of the best off impact bumpers you have fine taste :D

Nice, please join the Plot as well. We'll give your superiority complex the support it needs from time to time... muuuuhahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!

(Seriously, welcome to Pelican and a great community!)

Nice. I've also found inspiration from the IB group for my hotrod '83 SC. Between this forum, IB and early S, all the bases are covered.

Thanks for the positive comments folks. The engine and transmission were both rebuilt by the previous owner. I hope I can keep them this clean :)

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The engine was rebuilt stock except for the cylinders were shaved a touch to bring the compression up to Euro level of 9.8:1 and the crankcase was boat-tailed (although I must admit to not being able to picture what this is exactly). Chain tensioners were upgraded, pistons and rods balanced, cylinder heads flycut and steel headstuds were used. The cylinders were measured to be within spec and were therefore reused but with new rings. I have heard this is not the best way to go but the rings seemed to have bedded in well, the PPI showed great leakdown test results and the engine blows no smoke on startup or operation so time will tell. The engine runs strong and pulls hard all the way to redline. Throttle response is immediate which is not what I was expecting after reading about the woes of CIS.

looks like you have Bilsteins on the rear anyway...

Yes, Bilsteins all around. All 4 calipers were rebuilt and brake hoses replaced along with the suspension bushings.

I am hoping to end up with a car that someone might have ended up with by hotting up a '74 Carrera. Not one for the purists but this is a hot rod after all. Bumpers have been replaced with Getty Design fiberglass replicas and the rear bumperettes have been dumped. Flag mirrors have been dropped for a pair of '73RS replicas in black. Mr. Weidman supplied a beautiful set of RSR finished 16x7 and 16 x 8 original fuchs. Rocker panel trim has been deleted.

Great stuff, they are definitely three great cars to reference. Glad we might have helped out on the inspiration front ;)

The '73 RS mirrors, are they the ones found on the green UK registered car near the top of the page? In that case, where did you get them, and how much were they?
When I finally buy my 911, I'm planning on mounting a pair myself. Do they fit 'bolt on', or do they require any modification to them or the doors?

I'm following this thread with great interest, as your plans for your car are very much like the ones I have. Keep up the good work!

John, thanks very much for maintaining your site. I spent many many hours looking at the cars in the hot rod section, picking out elements of cars I would like to emulate in my project car. After accumulating many bits I am at the fun stage of seeing it put together.

Here are some pics of the car undergoing a repaint by Huber Restorations in Tulsa. Jeff is a Porsche owner and has been great to work with on the little modifications I have requested. The first yellow coat is an etch primer that will bond to the factory galvanizing.

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Cool!

One day I'll dig into my '75 like this. And thanks to the link for impactbumpers.com. I didn't know about it.

---

Tom '75 targa

Hello Felix, thanks for the encouragement. I do not know what brand of mirrors are on the green car. The RS mirrors look like this picture below. They are readily available on eBay and the going rate seems to be about $80 per mirror although they do pop up on the Parts For Sale forum a little cheaper. The flag mirrors have three mounting holes which need to be welded up if you wish to use different mirrors. The flag mirrors are ridiculously heavy but probably offer the most stable view.

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The car is now all in primer but has yet to be blocked. Hopefully that will happen this week and it will start looking more like a car again. It is a little nerve wracking to see your nice complete car slowly look less and less like a viable form of transport as it gets stripped down for the painting process. Fortunately the professionals are doing it rather than myself who would be bound to screw it up royally beyond repair. Those with keen eyesight may notice the hole for the aerial has been filled, as have the windshield washer holes (Rain-X is your friend), side rocker trim holes, the front license plate holes in the front valance and the holes for the driving lights. The rear reflector delete panel can be seen sitting where the decklid should be.

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Probably my only hesitation with going for an impact bumper model was the bumpers themselves. I really like the way the long nose bumpers round off the point at each end of the car whereas the impact bumpers stick forward too much. I was heading down the lightweight bumper path along with Euro lightweight crush tubes when I decided to see what could be done to bring the bumpers closer into the car. I ditched the crush tubes and instead drilled a hole in the existing bumper shocks (always stand to the side of the hole when doing this :) ). Once the fluid was out (amazing how much fluid is in each one) the shocks were pushed back taking the bumpers with them. Since my bumper blades are fiberglass they can be adapted to fit the stock rubber belows without too much trouble and the rear bumper has an integral lower valance which avoids having to mess with this alignment. The rear bumper now allows the tailpipes to stick proud of the bumper (woof!) and the front bumper should now be about half an inch out from the smile. Hopefully it will all go back together in this manner.

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Here is a teaser of what the colour will look like on the car.

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Shout outs
 

At this point I must pay homage to some folks on this list that have really gone out of their way to help me with my project thus far -

javadog who listened to my endless raves during my car shopping period and stopped me from buying a turd on more than one occasion and also let me buy a gorgeous pair of aftermarket Recaros from his secret stash of 911 stuff.

hesaputz for educating me an all areas of steering wheel appreciation, loaning me a lovely vintage Momo from his collection to get me addicted, selling me a great set of fuchs from his secret stash and donating a pair of interior quarter panels to a worthy cause.

JoeyD911 who gave me a terrific carbon fiber decklid prop so I don't have to rest the ducktail on the back of my head to check the oil.

Stephanie (sorry lost your username) who gave me the Quiet Car soundproofing paint left over from her project.

Jack Olsen for answering a PM from an unknown user and within a few hours had me some links to buy the '911' Millennium edition badge that I had seen on his car but could not find anywhere on the web.

In the words of NZ boxer Jimmy Thunder Peau on his Wheel of Fortune debut, you folks are "O for awesome".

Wheels and tires ready to go
 

I bought a cheap set of near-new Dunlop Direzza Star Spec tires off of eBay and had them mounted today. I really like the RSR finish and can't wait to see these on the car. Car was blocked this week and is ready for final coat of primer early next week.

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are you going to Palooza Kiwookie? There always seem to be a large contingent there from Tulsa...

Shane, I have heard great things about the Palooza weekend but unfortunately I will not be able to make it. I have two kiddies under the age of 4 thus weekend getaways are a thing of the past, at least for now.

Houston, we have color
 

A beautiful coat of Arrow Blue single stage Glasurit arrived this week and it was worth the wait. A week to fully cure, block sanding to a high gloss and then the reassembly can begin.

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The doors were painted off the car but hung back on before it was moved out of the paint booth. It is surprising how many parts needed to be painted separately - bumper extensions front and rear, gas filler cap, torsion bar covers etc.

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Sub

Great Color :)

nice job so far...I know the anticipation has to be killing you

If you ever come back I hope you bring it with you!!

Great Work

Cool Project! Subscribed.

Nice color - did you consider back dating?

Original Color
 

The original color of your car was black right? In looking at the re-paint photos it appears the sills, engine compartment, etc are blocked off. Are you not painting these that gorgeous blue? Just wondering since I have decided to keep my car the original color exactly because I do not want to paint everything!

Thanks

Tom

I did seriously consider backdating but I could not find a donor SC in any of the colors I was interested in (arrow blue, continential orange, lime green). Unfortunately my budget did not stretch to a backdate and a color change.

I chose black for a donor car as I was not planning to take it back to a tub and black would be the most palatable color to leave the front trunk and engine bay. The doors were painted off the car and the interior was taped off where the door rubber sits, so the sills and door jams are the same color blue as the exterior but you cannot tell from the photos. I will probably paint the front trunk and the engine bay with black POR-15 to tidy it up but that will be some time in the future.

Thanks! Yeah I am itching to get it back on the road at this point. I have to tell myself not to rush it or I am likely to screw it up :) I hope to have it finished by Christmas which I think is a reasonable goal. The interior will be the make or break item from a timing point of view since the headliner has to go in and the dash needs to be recovered and installed before the windscreen.

Hi, I've just signed up to PP having lurked here for a while.
Here I am searching for inspiration for my own project, and I stumbled onto your thread. I've come the opposite direction though, i started on impactbumpers.com and have recently bought an Arrow Blue SC as a base. You won't be surprised to hear I'm not changing the colour though!
Your car looks and sounds fantastic and I'll be following this build closely. I can't wait to see the end result

You are very lucky to find an original arrow blue SC. From my search I concluded it is an extremely rare colour. There is one guy (FXM) on impactbumpers with a lovely arrow blue SC. I think he is in the UK. He was kind enough to send me some pictures of his car which sold me on my final colour choice. On the SC registry there were a couple listed. You need to start a thread about your car SmileWavy

nice build and a great colour choice that looks even better inrl,dig the back box as well makes a change from polished bling
good job looking forward to seeing the finished article

subscribed! great color. I bet it looks even better in person.

SmileWavy
Thanks and sorry for the hijack. Mine's no garage queen, but it appears a basically sound car with loads of potential and I love the colour. I've seen pix of FXM's and I won't be parking alongside his anytime soon!
I need to decide how i'm developing it before i can start any useful threads, but here's a taster:
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Beautiful, love that colour. Here's mine and Franck's at a track day in Le Mans:

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