Has this car had its thermal reactor removed ?

[tdskip]

My 74 didn't have any of that, because it had a 3.2 installed. The car in this picture is a 1975 Targa.

I don't think I've ever seen a thermal reactor in person, it looks like it's been removed to my eyes, but what the heck do I know...

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

[ossiblue]

Well, since there is no picture posted or linked, we'll have to take your word. However, just because a car is a '75 does not necessarily mean it came with thermal reactors. Only cars sold in California had to have them so cars sold in the other 49 states often came without reactors installed. Since California was arguably the largest market, many '75 Porsches were imported to meet that standard, but certainly not all. I personally had a 75 that was originally imported to the East Coast and it did not have reactors.

Now, whether or not the particular car you mention originally had reactors will not be known until a picture is posted and even then it may not be possible to tell.

[tdskip]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

Well, since there is no picture posted or linked, we'll have to take your word. However, just because a car is a '75 does not necessarily mean it came with thermal reactors. Only cars sold in California had to have them so cars sold in the other 49 states often came without reactors installed. Since California was arguably the largest market, many '75 Porsches were imported to meet that standard, but certainly not all. I personally had a 75 that was originally imported to the East Coast and it did not have reactors.

Now, whether or not the particular car you mention originally had reactors will not be known until a picture is posted and even then it may not be possible to tell.

Oh geez, I loaded the picture but it isn't showing. Kind of hard to tell without that!

EDIT - looks like the photo links aren't working.

[tdskip]

['76 911S 3.0]

Those are not thermal reactors, they have been replaced.

This is what thermal reactors look like:

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by '76 911S 3.0

Those are not thermal reactors, they have been replaced.

Agree.

The heat exchangers on the '75 don't look original to the rest of the engine, and the plumbing for the EGR is also missing--something that was required for all cars. This leads me to believe that this car may have had reactors instead of being a 49 state version. Still, cannot be absolutely certain it never had reactors at all.

[tdskip]

Thanks guys, appreciate the eyeballs on it.

[tdskip]

Thanks Ossi. Agree no way to tell what might have been on there as delivered, or for how long.

I own this 2.7 engine now, trying to document what I can about it. Good that they were removed, but no way (at this point) to establish how long ago. Furthest back would be when CA dropped testing for 1975 cars, but that is conjecture.

Thanks!

[Jon B]

Originally Posted by tdskip

Agree no way to tell what might have been on there as delivered, or for how long.

The second digit of '75 and '76 engine serial numbers will tell you if the engine had thermal reactors when new.

If the second digit is 5, it was an engine built with thermal reactors to meet California requirements.
If the second digit is 4, it was an engine built without thermal reactors for the US and Canadian market.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by Jon B

The second digit of '75 and '76 engine serial numbers will tell you if the engine had thermal reactors when new.

If the second digit is 5, it was an engine built with thermal reactors to meet California requirements.
If the second digit is 4, it was an engine built without thermal reactors for the US and Canadian market.

This. Now if the engine isn’t original to the car it means nothing, but if the car is numbers matching the engine number will tell original spec.

[Walter_Middie]

[QUOTE][The heat exchangers on the '75 don't look original to the rest of the engine/QUOTE]

I agree that the heat exchangers look like they have been cleaned up and painted grey, but the configuration is the same as my 1975. The passenger side wraps around forward of the engine and meets the driver side by attaching to some kind of a resonator running alongside the drivers side of the engine. This may be the original exhaust.

I always thought it was strange that the engine would be completely surrounded by hot exhaust on all sides, tucked up close to maximize the heat transfer. Backdating to a 1974 exhaust seems like a great improvement.

[tdskip]

Thanks for the discussion.

Engine #6451742

[Jon B]

Originally Posted by tdskip

Engine #6451742

You have a '75 engine for the USA and Canada that did not have thermal reactors when new.
Here is the original exhaust system for that engine...

[tdskip]

Thanks Jon, super helpful and much appreciated folks!

[jrbennett]

Your engine type is also most likely 911/43 (49 state/Canada)
The 911/44 was for California