An undertaking of a former race car.

[lelix]

After many months of silently reading through these forums, I figured it was time to share my project.
The story begins from an impulse buy of a 1980 911SC in November 2014. The car came up in a local ad with limited details and pictures, and being in the market for a new project, I had to see it in person.
The car has been prepped for the track by one of the previous owners, after which it was apparently traded in for a.....minivan and found by the gentleman that sold me the car. Unfortunately, somewhere between the used car dealer and the original owner the car, a lot of history and information has been lost about the car. The car was wearing an odd, for a '80 model year, non metallic, purple color, resembling a shade of the older Aubergine. The paint code did not seem to exist in any database and after a phone call to POA it showed to be a paint to match "metallic" color originally. The shell turned out to be very clean, a rare occurrence in the Canadian climate. However, the car was obviously sprayed many, MANY times, and along the way someone did not spend the time prepping for a quality respray. Somewhere in it's past, hood pins were installed, bottom valance replaced with a cheap fiberglass lip and the hood crest....shaved
This was the car where it sat.


The interior has been semi gutted, and a weld in cage installed.
The original 3.0 engine has been fitted with Webers, pre drilled for twin plug and sported a 964 cam.
The heat exchangers were previously replaced with headers and a custom flow master like exhaust that leaked like a sieve at the connection flanges and welds... A recipe for some serious backfires and popping when combined with the Carbs. As I soon found out, people tailgating you, was not an issue with this car..
The transmission was unfortunately on it's last breath. 1st gear shift was harsh, 2nd gear was non existent, the rest of the gears were functioning as they should.

The car came with a great set of 16x7 and 16x9 genuine Fuchs that would not clear due to 964 front brakes. Shortly after getting the vehicle, I have started to dig into the car. The whale tail has been removed, Fuchs fitted and the cage cut out.


Shortly, the winter months set in and it was time for a tear down. The engine has been removed, and the shell sent off to a body shop for a rework.

Despite being a unique, custom color, the purple did not hit the right notes with me and I've opted for a color change, especially since I could not locate the correct color code for it. After leaving the car at the body shop for an estimate, it was evident that the car had been resprayed WAY too many times before and to do it properly, it would need to be stripped down to metal. And so, the glass out respray began.


The body shop needed to tweak the front clip a little as a result of an incorrectly repaired minor collision to the right front. The car showed around 6+ previous resprays.
As suspected, the shell turned out to be rust free.
After correcting previous mickey mouse body work, the car was ready wear it's new color, a non metallic, medium grey. A tricky color to photograph since it tends to show up lighter than it is.


This is the car as it sits now, the paint will be sanded and new seals installed next week.

In the meanwhile, I have completely gone through the gearbox. The 1st gear dog teeth were incorrectly installed as symmetrical yet the sleeve remained asymmetrical, which made for some interesting machining. The second gear dog teeth were shot. Aaaaand whats at 915 without loose bearing races. Mine had loose pinion shaft, as well as both intermediate housing races. The case has been shipped to CMS and received all new races and steel sleeves to repair the cases. A one piece bearing retainer was also installed. All synchros, carrier bearings, pinion and main shaft bearings (Front and rear) Synchro dog teeth, sliders etc were replaced. Gears inspected, ring gear checked.
To my surprise someone had previously installed the Wevo gateshift, and a lightweight flywheel and alloy pressure plate, which I wanted to do and was a bonus. The transmission input has has been leaking onto the clutch disk which was also on it's last breath. The pressure plate and disk have been sent out to Euro Drive for a rebuild and a fresh kevlar lining on the disk.

The engine wiring has been hacked together after previous CIS removal, and had to be redone. The engine seemed very healthy and will remain a project for the next winter. All the accessible seals were looked over and the leaky ones replaced.

Well, I think that's enough typing for one post. I will try to update the thread as I go along.
Cheers.

Here is the finishing touch waiting to go on.

[LakeCleElum]

Very nice. Thax for sharing........

[MetalDoc]

Looking forward to seeing your next post. Thanks.

[al lkosmal]

Nice choice of color.

[T77911S]

its nice to see one come back from the track.

good choice on the wheels. not a fan of the ones in the first pic.

i did like the white stripe at the bottom though. gave it a bit of the early car look.

just curious what a paint job like that is these days??

[Kemo]

looking good...thanks for posting!!!

[bbthomson]

Great work - subscribed!

[lelix]

Slowly coming back together. Hoping to have it back in a week or two!

[sugarwood]

If you lose the paint code sticker, there's no other way to figure out what color the car came from the factory??

[RSBob]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

If you lose the paint code sticker, there's no other way to figure out what color the car came from the factory??

Contact Porsche for a COA certificate of authenticity. They are not always right but it's the best way to find out.

[lelix]

The body shop needs to replace a couple more seals, so hopefully it will be out by next weekend.