1971 911T - Custom or oem?

[dpetteng]

So, I think I know the concensus, but I have a one owner 911T I purchased 3 years ago and shipped back to the UK when I moved home from the US.

It has been sitting in the garage waiting for my restorer to finish my other builds but time is moving.

Would you restore exactly as it left the factory or do some "oem-plus" upgrades like Euro barrels and pistons to up the CR, brake upgrades? Different colour?

Just looking for opinions.

[Litle brother]

Hi.
I would say that it depends on what your own goal is:

1: max value for money
Or
2: your heartfelt desire

If no. 1: keep it stock
If no. 2: go all inn with what YOU want.

For my own sake I never build cars «for others», only for my own pleasure.
And that’s why the enginebay in my 1978 SC looks like this:



And the interior looks like this:



Good luck from a hot rod guy

[Trackrash]

You can see my discision by looking in my GARAGE.

Basically you need to decide if you want to hot rod your car or keep it stock.

FWIW, when I first got my '71 T I thought it had great performance on the street as it was.

If you want to go the hot rod route, you have two choices.

First do some upgrades to the motor you have. More compression, more displacement, bigger cams and carbs. You know the drill. There are a number of options available for these motors. E cams and more compression would be a nice bump in performance.

Or if the motor you have is the original you could always put it on a shelf and put something bigger in.

Brake upgrades are probably over the top, unless you plan on tracking the car, IMO. However they could be bolt-ons and undone in the future. "S" brakes are a nice upgrade, but you will have to change out the struts to do it, but IMO worth while.

As far as value goes, the rule of thumb is original is best. But if you look at the $$$$ that some of the hot rod back dates have been going for the argument may no longer be valid.

As far as color goes, are you going to strip the entire car to bare metal? Or just do a basic respray? Again value may be a concern. If it is the original color, is it a common shade or a rare color? If it is a common color probably not much worry over value if you change to something you like. As long as the respray is quality.

[dpetteng]

Thanks, all valid comments.

My original plan was use this car as an investment as I have too many cars so in that case I would go down the oem route but the longer I own it, the more I want it as one of my cars so may go down the subtle upgrade route.

The car is originally metallic blue which is one of my least fav colours on a car so I may go for a colour change. My current project is a 1971 VW camper van with a 1985 3.2 carerra engine and transmission, Porsche brakes etc and that is going to be Porsche slate grey so not sure what other colours would suit the 911.

I also have a 1959 356 that is currently black but being outlawed and painted silver so colour changes are something that are not new to me.

I think I will go down the euro pistons and e cam but keep it on carbs as I love the originality of the carbs. Any other engine upgrades you would go with for this kind of spec?

Love the advice and comments guys.

[Trackrash]

In my case, I added 90 mm pistons and cylinders from a 2,7 to make it a SS2,5L with E cams and Webers. A really nice bump in power and a sweet running motor.

You could have your cylinders bored out and add higher compression pistons and E or Solex cams for a modest bump in power.

Or if you want to go bigger in the cylinders, you will have to have the cases and heads machined. Not sure if you want to go that route.

A 2,7 crank and rod set will make it a 2,4 with stock cylinders or a 2,5 or 2,7 or 2,8 depending on how far you want to take it with the bore.

It will still look the same on the outside at any rate. Here is my 2.5 motor, which I will be selling, BTW.