1981 911 need opinions

calimedeiros · calimedeiros's Garage

I have a chance to buy this car owner says it's a euro spec but has the catalic converters removed but good overall condition
Hers a link to i guess the add he bought it from 5 years ago
Looks like a USA car but now it's in canada
Can anyone tell me what u think about it and verify if the vin matches a euro spec

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Flat Six · Flat Six's Garage

Ad says sold.

Can't vouch for VIN, but does have euro side markers and rear bumperettes. Looks like Carerra/3.2 valence; was this part of M496?

Josh D · Josh D's Garage

The marker lights on the fenders, the H4 headlights, and the narrow rear bumpers are indicators that it could be a RoW model. H4 headlights are commonly added to US cars, but side markers are not.

The '81 RoW SC would come with the desireable 204 hp 930/10 engine with the K-basic CIS. If in good shape, this would make for a nice car.

javadog · 01-27-2014, 07:56 AM

It's a ROW spec car. The front valence has been changed, along with some of the lights. Decent, not great, condition. I doubt the mileage is accurate.

It appears to be sold, so no point in discussing it much.

The ad from 2009 was a real fun one to read. Whoever wrote it was an idiot.

JR

calimedeiros · calimedeiros's Garage

I guess he bought it but it's now up for sale again here in canada
He said they had the catalic converters hollowed out and set timing to euro specs

Anything wrong with doing that ??

javadog · 09:00 AM

Sounds like the guy's an idiot. It would not have had a cat originally, or been able to properly run one, as it had a different CIS system that was not compatible with a cat. So, unless all of that's been changed, or a different engine is in there, I'd question the cat issue. The other possibility is someone just stuck a cat on there and hoped it would work. Not a good idea and not in keeping with the ad language that said the car hadn't been messed with. The cam timing can be changed within about 6 degrees. Since the ROW and US car used both timing specs at various times, there is no "Euro" spec. There is a correct spec for that particular engine but it's not a big deal.

Note my earlier reply that indicated that the mileage is suspect. If it was legally imported to the US there should be some ducumentation to go along with it. I'd be asking for that...

JR

calimedeiros · calimedeiros's Garage

He told me when the car was imported from Europe into the us they had to install the catalic converts to meet us regulations
Then when he bought it he hollowed the cats out
Does that sound right

javadog · 01-27-2014, 09:18 AM

Here's the problem. That may have been what they did but that was not the correct thing to do. To run a cat for more than a few miles, you have to control the air/fuel ratio pretty tightly. Porsche did that on the US cars by using a different version of the CIS system that inculded an O2 sensor and a frequency valve, to monitor the exhaust gases and adjust the control fuel presssure, which varied the fuel mixture. If you run the system too rich, you do bad things to the cat.

SO, did they just bolt on a cat and hope for the best? Did they fake the cat installation? Did they change the CIS system?

At this point, it doesn't really matter what they did. What matters is what is on the car now and how it's adjusted. You need to find out what spec engine is in the car, using the engine type number and serial number. Then you need to have someone knowledgeable look at the car and see if it's original, or if it's been hacked up.

Then you need to take a hard look at any missing mileage. It was normal for importers to change the speedometer to satisfy US laws and they generally started over again at zero miles, erasing any mileage accumulated in Europe. These cars were generally imported as used cars, so it could have been a few miles or a bunch.

This car will need a good PPI, as it's not all that clean underneath, so I'd suspect that it needs some work.

JR

calimedeiros · calimedeiros's Garage

Thanks for the good eyes and info I will try and get more info on this car as I like the look of the euro body and engine

calimedeiros · calimedeiros's Garage

Another question regarding the euro engine is this a totally different engine from the sc engines sold here in North America
Can we still get parts easily here with this euro engine

javadog · 01-27-2014, 05:26 PM

The main difference from a day-to-day point of view is in the injection system. Most of the parts are different but the availability isn't any worse than the parts used in the US system, as these cars are old enough that there's no guarantee that Porsche will continue to stock all of it anyway. The pistons are higher compression but you don't change those very often...

JR

PushingMyLuck · 01-27-2014, 07:37 PM

Javadog, can you point out the negatives you see underneath?
Anything specific or just the general caked on oil and gunk?
1981 Porsche 911 SC Whale Tail EURO for sale: Anamera

javadog · 05:48 AM

Oil leaks that have been there a long time.
A fair amount of surface rust and corrosion.
Enough road grime and brake dust to suggest it's seen a fair bit of use in the rain and has never been cleaned underneath.
No evidence that anything has been maintained. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the shocks, bushings, brake lines, etc. were all original.
Tires are probably old. They look like Yokohama A-008's and I think those have been out of production for a while.

It just points to more miles than what it shows and I'd be surprised if it had a detailed service history going very far back.

You never know until you look deeper into the car and its paperwork. These pictures show the car 4 or 5 years ago. They may not be relevant now.

JR