How fast are the original 911 turbo's ?

[911Tfan]

I am wondering how fast the original 911 turbo's were. What was the top end of this type and was there a big turbo lag ? What kind of cars could you beat under acceleration ?
What is the horsepower and the weight of these cars ?

[Porchcar guy]

1976 Porsche 911 Turbo 234 hp @ 5500 rpms 156 mph top end 2785 lbs 0-60 in 6.7 sec
Turbo lag was present - A drag race depends more on reaction time etc so who you can beat is subjective YMMV

[redridge]

so a 3.2 1986 car is faster in 0-60?... I guess it is a 10 year diff.

[nkotselas]

depends which turbo your'e talking about
The 2.1 liter turbo made around 500 hp but thats a special case.
234 hp is correct for US spec turbos 76-77
260 hp for euro cars 76-77
1978-89 3.3 liter came 300 hp about 5.0 second time and a top speed of arouund 160. But be careful because turbos unlike carreras or sc's are very easy to extract power from. 200 mph turbos are around and there are users on this board who have hit this speed. I've heard these cars weigh no more than about 2900 lbs

89-91 they hadn't developed a turbo engine for the 3.6 964 motor so they stuck with the 3.3 but improved to 320 horsepower.

That's where my knowledge ends and we skip to today's 500 hp turbo or 530 hp turbo s while we wait in anticipation for the 998/991 turbo coming up

[Tinker]

The original turbos (76-77) were better highway than city cars. I love mine on long trips were it can cover miles with little effort. In the city its another issue with turbo lag taking some of the enjoyment out of it. The 78+ cars reduced the lag with a small increase in displacement and other changes.

0 - 60 is not their forte, but on the highway / freeway they can hang with most cars except the newer 'super cars'.

Modifications, depending on how deep your pockets are, can transform these cars and make them competitive with almost anything on the road.

Tinker

[drmatera]

if you compare them to other 77-78 model year production cars 930's were the top of the food chain. With a proper driver they would run low 13's at well over 106mph in the 1/4 mile which would blow away just about anything back then

[nkotselas]

so a 3.2 1986 car is faster in 0-60?... I guess it is a 10 year diff.

Could be, but it's not always that simple. Porsche is always conservative with their 0-60/quarter mile times etc. and HP isn't the average each car peaks, it is the minimum each car makes or else the engine is not used. I'm not sure if 6.7 is a conservative Porsche figure or an outside tester like C&D.

But it all depends on which carrera 3.2 you have. Early CA and Japan spec cars had the same 0-60 time of 6.7 because of their lower power, it also depends on weight and how optioned your car is. If i had to bet on one though I think I would say the turbo would win. Us spec cars had 217 hp and Euro specs have 231. With euro spec cars having run 5.3 0-60 they would surely beat the old turbo, but you can break your car in the process

[Dan J]

I remember well the first one I drove, a 76 without power brakes Dang it was fast!! Now not so much. But the 997 Turbo with PDK I drove last week sure is fast!! Wonder what it will seem like in 30 years

[nkotselas]

Dan,
I have wondered the exact same thing. I think that most "normal" cars 30 years from now won't be able to compare to today's turbo. There has to be a law of nature that states 0-60 under 3 seconds is pretty much impossible haha.

Efficiency of cars is said to have doubled in the last 30 years, that's why sedans have caught up to our cars in power. But 30 years from now I don't see parents putting their children in sub 3 second 0-60 sedans! I try to think cars will just rather be extremely efficient and economical and or flying

[rick conrath]

My '78 930 was easily the fastest car that I have ever owned. Off the line it did take some coaxing, but the once the turbo started to spool it would easily hit 60 in what seemed like seconds. Don't forget that with the 4 speed I could hit 60 in first gear. I never measured the 0-60, but it was faster than my modded WRX STI with 300 AWD/HP at the wheels. Rev it to 5k, feather the clutch off the line to get the boost to kick in, and look out.
Not that I experienced this first hand, but the 930 was geared so that the theoretical top end in 4th gear was over 190mph. With slight mods, the early 930's were crazy fast.
The Carrera 3.2 is/was no match for this car....period.
Rick

[svb]

I have an 87 930 stock and an 85 ROW 3.2 Carrera with euro muffler and Steve Wong chip with 231+hp. My Carrera will eek the 930 out up to about 30mph, and then, well lets say the 930 pretty much disappears after that. So I would imagine even more of a gap with a US spec 3.2

[nkotselas]

Surely 3.2s are no match for the later turbos but have any of you guys compared a euro spec 3.2 to a us spec 76-77 turbo w/234 hp?

I think the 3.2 would win that because it'll have better performance off the line, from there it has about the same power but weighs a bit less

[DanielDudley]

In the war between turbos and NA cars, torque is the deciding factor. A 230 horse turbo has probably 50% more torque than a 230 NA Carrera, and I don't even have to look it up to know that.

[oemexp]

I agree with Daniel and many of the prior comments. I have had a 77 Turbo since 1990 and I had a ROW 3.2L Carrera about 10 years ago. I kept the turbo and sold the ROW car.

1) Stock, the turbo is a little frustrating around town in that you idle in 3rd or rev 2nd everywhere. However, this really reminds you that you have an absolute rocket that's built for the highway. Slight mods to the motor and it works very well in town (larger compressor side of turbo, intercooler, wing for intercooler)

2) These cars blow everything away on the highway. The time required to go 60 to 120 can't be beat by anything of that era or since by most cars. Again, slight mods to improve breathing above 5K rpm and you smoke everybody even sooner. These cars get to high speed so fast, they save you money on tickets because you don't have to spend so much time to acheive a speed goal etc. Speed up and then slow down. Out of your system and the cops don't even know what happened.

The early cars are burdened with tall gears, lag and limited high rpm breathing. They are great but that's the deal when they are bone stock. Improve HP and the tall gears start to work in your favor. Install an intercooler and turbo mods and the boost comes on much sooner. Open the ports, install slightly hotter cams and you get power to 7500 rpm. All of this adds up to a very quick 300+ hp in your 3.0L or 3.3L turbo. These early cars are about 2650 lbs and can't be compared to almost anything other cars stock or modded due to their unique settup. They are very fast but, practically speaking, daily racing from 0-60 isn't going to feel that great because they tend to be slow off the line to mitigate blowing out clutches and destroying CV's etc. They idle at a high speed in 1st because of the tall gear ratio. That causes some bogging off the line. It's after you get rolling that all the fun starts.

[rick conrath]

My '78 had the full blown B&B dual exhaust with headers and quick spool turbo. Feather the clutch and watch the boost gauge rise, 0-60 end of story. Don't ask me how many pressure plates I went through. Ever see the flames you get on the early turbos (CIS cars) since they don't have cats? Flames on each hard shift.
Rick

[oemexp]

It's all about the flames!

[Les Paul]

I have a 76 euro. Came over in 85 on the 1 time exemption clause. No mods had to be done. The manual was in German but states 0-62 5.6 seconds. It was that 30-60 that would rip your head off.

[petevb]

A friend had a '79 Euro grey market car. 2800 lbs wet, trapped the 1/4 at 108 bone stock. In-gear times were significantly faster. Lots of turbo lag, but when it hit hold on.

It was reliably a bit quicker than the '86 944 turbo with chip, cone filter etc I had at the time, but slower than my later 944T w/ 330 whp (maf, turbo).

Look no further than traction control and tires to explain why today's sedans are as fast as yesterday's muscle cars. A six second to sixty muscle car used to be something that could turn into wheel-spin and near-death in a heartbeat, but with modern grip and seemless-shift transmissions it can almost feel slow today, and grandma can drive it just fine. I've driven a sub 3 second to 60 electric car and it did feel slow compared to my porsche- zero wheel-spin or shifting, just smooth acceleration. If people want faster cars manufacturers will continue to make them faster...

[rolls 912]

I remember the early - mid turbos were nicknamed the widow maker. The turbo boost was dynamite in corners to the inexperienced.

[cellison]

Originally Posted by Tinker

The original turbos (76-77) were better highway than city cars. I love mine on long trips were it can cover miles with little effort. In the city its another issue with turbo lag taking some of the enjoyment out of it. The 78+ cars reduced the lag with a small increase in displacement and other changes.

0 - 60 is not their forte, but on the highway / freeway they can hang with most cars except the newer 'super cars'.

Modifications, depending on how deep your pockets are, can transform these cars and make them competitive with almost anything on the road.

Tinker

+1 on this. 0-60 is not where it is at. sure a perfect launch will get great numbers, but i don't want to fry the clutch and mine sure doesn't shift a quick as my g50. where it really shines is on the highway....50-130 mph passing speed is phenomenal. granted the upgrades i have helps, but it sure embaresses alot of more modern "supercars" especially when the see my antique license plate.