1974 body question... and correct engine?

[asterix031]

Howdy... Have a question as I'm trying to decipher a car I saw for sale. Its remote from my location so am trying to put together as much information as possible. I wasn't initially interested in it either, but its at the very least got me curious!

Its advertised as a regular '74 though the photos I've seen clearly show that the car isn't a regular narrow body. It has the arches of a Carrera / SC... A quick check of the engine number indicates that the engine is a 2.7 but being 6362xxx it should be in a 166Hp '76 - does this sound right?

Is it most likely that its had its wheel arches modified in some manner to give the Carrera or later SC look? I really need to get the car's VIN I think but if it were a Carrera it must be sad to have this engine in it.


TIA!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Mine is similar - retrofitting SC flares to the narrow body cars is a common conversion as it allows you to run wider tires.

The "plain vanilla" 911 for '74 had the basic 2.7, the "S" and Carrera had the 2.7 with the bigger valves (slightly higher output).

The most important thing to do with a 2.7 (any variety) is keep it cool - get rid of the stupid thermal reactors and 5-blade fan immediately if yours is a US-spec and/or add a front oil cooler. That will help a lot with longevity. I'm not aware that there were any US-spec RHD cars (I'm assuming this is since you're in Oz) but it's something to watch for. The extra heat generated (deliberately, to help with emissions) resulted in a lot of differential expansion between the magnesium case and the steel head studs and other components, leading to premature wear and in many cases, pulled head studs on the 2.7s, resulting (perhaps disingenuously) in their being pegged as "bad" engines.

Properly sorted and cared for the 2.7s are a blast and good engines (and light too!)

Wayne's book has the list of specific engine codes that will tell you if yours is a "911" engine or a "S/Carrera" engine. I wouldn't be surprised given the history of a lot of the 2.7s if at some point the original engine/case was swapped out with a later one however. Again, not uncommon. FWIW my car is technically a "plain vanilla" 911 by VIN, but has been converted about 90% to Euro Carrera Targa spec (a few things left to sort out and I'm probably going to keep the chrome trim that's supposed to be black on a "real" '74 Carrera, simply because I much prefer the chrome). I do have the "big valve" Carrera-spec engine so if that's what you have, smile and enjoy it. Even if you don't, it's not that big of a deal unless (like me) you're obsessing about getting all the stuff converted to an "S" or "Carrera" spec.

Good luck!

[Chris Morse]

Hello Andre,

A lot of the erly 2.7 cars did not have a front cooler, thermostat or lines to the front of the car, (they do have an engine mounted cooler and thermostat but that is just barely adequate for mild driving in cool climates). Warm weather, spirited driving or AC useage will see 240-250 and up oil temps - Not good.

It is easy to spend $2000-3000 adding a cooler, thermostat and lines if the car doesn't have it.

74 (USA), was the last year for decent exhaust, 75 saw the introduction of the dreaded thermal reactor, (usa + ? versions) and more restrictive exhaust manifolding.

During the PPI, i would specifically look for broken head studs, do a leak down and hope for a recent thorough, documented rebuild . Broken studs and a good rebuild could equal the cost of the car, (my dad paid $11,800 ten years ago).

good luck,
chris

[asterix031]

Thanks for the replies. I'll be eagerly waiting for the VIN/chassis number to find out more about this car. The engine code is definitely wrong for the year but for such an old car it shouldn't be surprising. As I'm not going for a museum piece its far from critical...

The importance would be condition, particularly rust and the mechanicals. I'm still patiently (well mostly) browsing and anything that I go forward with would include a PPI - I don't want yet another project like the '67 Mustang I had that never went anywhere. More so, my 928 spent equal time off the road as it did on...

This particular 911 is a ROW car so I don't believe in '74 it would have had much of any dreaded add-ons I've read about in the forums... Hopefully no bright spark decided to include them when the '76 engine was swapped in.

What bugs me the most is that about 6 years ago I skipped on the very car I would still want today... Newly completed, ground-up rebuild of a '76 targa made to look as a turbo wide-body and completed by a respected shop. I haven't seen anything around like it since