My Slightly Delayed Backdate

usera · 10-20-2018, 07:59 AM

How hard can it be to backdate a 1978 to 1973 RSR? It is actually quite hard.

Stupidly looking at Pelican Classifieds in 2013 I came across this project car:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-cars-sale/731508-semi-completed-73-911-rsr-project-based-79-sc.html

I owned my dream car at the time, a 1996 993TT that I had bought very cheap at $44K. I figured, I can sell the turbo for $60K now and fund this build, how much higher can the 993TT market go right? (I feel sorry for the sucker who payed $60K for that car, I don't follow the 993TT prices anymore, but I bet it's worth $40K now)

I called up GaryR and he told me that he sold the car to a guy in FL that had decided it was too much of a project once he took delivery so a few phone calls were made and a week later the car was at my builders shop. from there it is an almost six year story of headache and heartbreak where I spent about elevendy million dollars and was left with a car that looked great, shifted great, had a great tight suspension and wonderful brakes, but had a terribly running engine.

Shop #1, after telling me to swap from MegaSquirt to Tec3 Electromotive, said that the engine was shot, showed me leak down numbers to prove it and wanted me to drop in a 3.6. Something seemed off so I took it to shop #2 (although telling me otherwise) didn't know the first thing about the Electromotive and charged me another boatload of money to deliver me a car that went from running poorly to not running at all.

I was at my wits end so I called Dan Jacobs who built the engine almost a decade ago and asked for help. Dan was so unbelievably helpful, he pointed me to John Behe at RPR in MD and said that if anyone could figure this out it was him.

This is where the story takes a great turn. John was exactly who the car should have went to in the first place. He not only had to get the engine running but he had to fix all of the duct tape and bubblegum that the previous guys had hacked in. John did exactly what he said he was going to do, kept me up to date with the progress and then surprised me on a thursday afternoon with a text message video of the most wonderful sounding 3.2 SS revving like a an F1 car. I flew up the next day and drove it 9 hrs and 600 miles without a hint of an issue. I hit bumper to bumper traffic near Charleston, SC in 90 degree heat and the car never even got to 220 degrees.

John had known that this was a longer than normal shake down so he took extra time to really make sure I was getting a finished project.

I still have a bunch of small things to do, but the car has been a blast to drive and although the neighbors aren't 100% sold on the "Bag of Satans Hounds" sound they hear on my way to work or the flames shooting out on deceleration, I couldn't be any happier.

Big thanks to Dan Jacobs and John Behe for helping me have a happy ending to this very, very long project.

stujelly · 10-20-2018, 10:04 AM

looks fun to drive.

I have a accumoto special street build goiung and cant wait to drive it.

GaryR · GaryR's Garage

So glad you finally got to the end of the tunnel! When I got the car it had webbers and ran great so I knew the odd diagnosis was simply not true, the engine didn't go bad sitting in my garage!! Congrats!

Trackrash · Trackrash's Garage

Beautiful car. Any build pics?

usera · 10-21-2018, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trackrash

Beautiful car. Any build pics?

Thank you, but unfortunately I was thinking this was going to take five months, not years. I did not chronicle the way I should have.

4flyboy · 4flyboy's Garage

Way more interesting car in your drive then a 993TT.......

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

You had me a Bag of Satan’s Hounds.

Can we get a video clip? You can’t leave us hanging like that!

Congrats on the happy result.

usera · 11-01-2018, 10:47 AM

Sorry for the delay, been enjoying the hell out of this car.

Here is a short video,
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyvsQkFpeq8x1HvTxAbrRZQ?view_as=subscriber

175K911 · 11-01-2018, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stujelly

looks fun to drive.

I have a accumoto special street build goiung and cant wait to drive it.

Anything Mark White builds is a blast to drive!

Cory M · 11-01-2018, 11:28 AM

Looks great!

Do you know what brand of seats those are?

danco_ · 11-01-2018, 12:30 PM

Man, I do love this car. The dark silver, the blue accents, the SS 3.2L engine, just all of it.

Please enjoy it. And if you ever get bored, sell it to me. I don't need it but that has never stopped by from buying anything.

Cheers,
Ryan

PS: your youtube link is broken. It doesn't go to a video.

RSBob · RSBob's Garage

Gorgeous car with a motor to match. I hate you.

usera · 11-02-2018, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cory M

Looks great!

Do you know what brand of seats those are?

Call Roger at Classic Touring Seats. Great guy to work with. Delivered quickly and they are perfect for comfort and support.

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