The evolution of Beaker, my '83 Euro SC hot rod

[msmall215]

Long time poster, but I figured it was time to properly introduce my SC, Beaker. I'm a bit late to the build thread game, so this first half will be more of a retrospective of the evolution til now.

After doing some research and evaluating what I wanted in a 911, I picked up the car in July of 2017 right here in the classifieds. It was a former PCA spec racer with some bumps and bruises to show for it, but the PPI came back clean with strong leakdown and compression numbers. The engine was supposedly rebuilt by Wright Motorsport in Ohio in 2012, though I have no paperwork, however I do have paperwork for a trans rebuild by them around the same time.

Here is how it looked the day it arrived, fresh off the truck from South Carolina



As I put the car through its paces over the first few months, I began to compile a list of to-do's both maintenance related and modification related. Little by little, I began to tweak some small stuff here and there and take the car back to street-savvy. Thanks to the parts classified, I found a set of Braid 16 inch wheels, 7s and 8s, and shipped them off to Rick at Fuchs Restoration. 6 weeks later, they were back on my doorstep in a beautiful proper factor anodized RSR finish. Along with some NOS Cibies, the car began to take shape.



I was never personally a fan of IROC bumpers on non-turbo body cars and decided to spring for the EB motorsports SCRS front bumper. Fit and finish was top notch. I hooked up with fellow pelican Jamie (jimtweet) who's right over the bridge from me in Philly. Along with the front bumper, I happened to find a Stratton ducktail painted black here on the classified to add to the mini body overhaul. Jaimie happened to have a spare hood that was close enough in color to match the ducktail, hence the color scheme.



While the car was down for the winter, I decided to do away with the CIS and go the EFI/ITB route. After conferring with Al at the X-faktory, I went with his Triumph Triple Speed kit along with AEM ECU and Rasant wiring. The motor ran strong so Jaime cleaned up the triangle of death with a mini reseal and bolted it all back together with some jewelry and freshened shroud.





The car was sporting a set of GTS classic R-style seats that were sweet, but didn't really jive with the car and were better suited for a longhood, so on to a set of Recaro Pole Positions 'Tweet had in his inventory aka his basement stash 'o' parts. After running through a ton of tartans, leather, etc, I decided to redo the inserts in...corduroy! A little nod to the OG Recaro Rally seats of the 60s and 70s. Super comfy, stays cool in the summer, warm in the winter. My goal for the car is several track days a year so in went a DAS roll bar, painted body color.



Onto the tuning fiasco. The EFI install was a breeze, but getting the car tuned was a royal nightmare. I called a local tuning shop that was AEM-factory certified and they said it should be no problem to get it running and dyno tuned. I dropped it off mid May 2018 and there it stayed til August. The shop couldn't get the car to start for nearly 3 months, with endless calls to Al and Andrew from Rasant (bless their souls and patience). After calling the shop to let them know I was coming to pick up the car, it magically ran an hour later, albeit on a startup file. Long story short, be it their lack of interest or plain lack of knowledge, I was glad to have the car back and running. Soon, it was on the truck to California for Rennsport. I flew out a few days early and picked up the car from my buddy Erik's place for a few days of NorCal mountain carving "break-in" miles,

[msmall215]

Post Rennsport, I left the car with Erik who brought it over to a friend of his, Hoover Chan of Turbo Hoses. Hoover is an automotive wizard simply put. He was in the middle of restoring David Hobbs' CSL beast along with a few others. Good enough for Hobbsie, good enough for me. Hoover had the car running like a top within in a day. When he looked at the ignition map when it arrived, he said the shop back in PA was more or less plugging random numbers til the car turned over



After a few dyno runs with muffler (M&K GT3 street version) on and off, I asked Hoover if he could take a crack at fabbing something up. My ask was good power, little drone, not super loud, you know, the usual 911 muffler dream list. I have had several M&K mufflers and they are true works of art, plus Brian's customer service is second to none. He will be the first to tell you, though, that their mufflers do best on stock or mostly stock motors. Hoover put together an exhaust now dubbed the Barry White due to its smooth and deep nature. See Erik's thread on his car for more info (leftcoasterik on here). What we ended up with was a muffler that lost no power when compared with open headers (200.4 hp at the wheels) along with very to no drone since its technically a one out, and a glorious note that screams above 3500.





Finally back in PA, I stumbled on a set of Ronal R9s here on the board, a set of wheels I had been after for years. I've always loved the 917-style 5 spoke but never fell for the 1552 Magnus wheels. The proportions never looked right. I jumped on the R9s as they were priced right and were gold. How perfect! This brings us to how the car sits today.







Up next is deleting the sunroof, finishing the second half of the suspension refresh and some paint work. I will do my best to keep this thread updated when that work kicks off later this year. Thanks for following along so far!

[Hugo11]

Beautiful car. The wheels in the last couple pics made me comment. They look awesome!

[Flojo]

cool!
the sunroof delete will save you a lot of weight!

maybe Little is missing..., maybe a front /Turbo)lip? maybe a grill and reflectordelete Panel from Spadescustomz?

[chrisbalich]

Mike! The car looks great. Can't wait to watch it evolve from here.

[911SauCy]

Would love to hear it!!

[1979-930]

The muffler is interesting.
I have Brian's muffler on my Turbo and I was talking to him about 2 years ago, when ordering my turbo exhaust, about using the oval muffler tubing in a GT style exit to eliminate drone. On a NA build of course.
He thought it was a good idea then.
It's cool to see that it works.

[RSBob]

In a word, gorgeous.

I do wonder about the duck without a front spoiler, but if you don’t do excessive speed, it’s mute.

[msmall215]

Thanks all for the kind words so far. Here are some quick videos I shot so you can get an idea of how the muffler sounds. One is a cold start, two are quick on-ramp videos.

[msmall215]

Originally Posted by RSBob

In a word, gorgeous.

I do wonder about the duck without a front spoiler, but if you don’t do excessive speed, it’s mute.

I read through Al's EFI thread on your SC multiple times...it seems we have similar taste in mechanicals and aesthetics...similar and great taste. I've pondered the idea of a lip in the front from time to time, would probably be easy to fab up. I don't think it will be spending a lot of time up in a speed zone that would require it, but I will reassess after my first track day with car.

[75 911s]

Mike - great build. The Ronals rule! Can't get enough of that Barry White!

[msmall215]

Originally Posted by 75 911s

Mike - great build. The Ronals rule! Can't get enough of that Barry White!

Thanks man, they fit the car so well. Did you get your BW from Hoover yet?

[lvporschepilot]

Great car! This particular ITB setup is just perfect for these cars. Flow is just right, and enough of us have done this now that there is a good support network.

How is cold start for you? I run a very similar twin plug setup but with a super hot cam and high compression in my 2.8L. Cold start has just never been great, which I have to think is due to the cams. Runs absolutely fab otherwise.

[RSBob]

Originally Posted by msmall215

I read through Al's EFI thread on your SC multiple times...it seems we have similar taste in mechanicals and aesthetics...similar and great taste. I've pondered the idea of a lip in the front from time to time, would probably be easy to fab up. I don't think it will be spending a lot of time up in a speed zone that would require it, but I will reassess after my first track day with car.

You are so right. We probably shouldn’t be seen associating.

[msmall215]

Originally Posted by lvporschepilot

Great car! This particular ITB setup is just perfect for these cars. Flow is just right, and enough of us have done this now that there is a good support network.

How is cold start for you? I run a very similar twin plug setup but with a super hot cam and high compression in my 2.8L. Cold start has just never been great, which I have to think is due to the cams. Runs absolutely fab otherwise.

Cold start is dialed in very well. Don't usually have to even pump gas pedal. Cams are stock along with rest of the engine internals.

[Reiver]

Sweet...sounds great too.....makes me want that induction system....

[trader220]

Philly Naval yard? I was out on my motorcycle the other day and stopped in at Revzilla. Road right by where you snapped those shots.

Car looks fantastic!

[msmall215]

Originally Posted by trader220

Philly Naval yard? I was out on my motorcycle the other day and stopped in at Revzilla. Road right by where you snapped those shots.

Car looks fantastic!

Yup, nailed it, I live about 15 mins from there. Buddy was in town for the day and we spent a few hours down there shooting.

[trader220]

Originally Posted by msmall215

Yup, nailed it, I live about 15 mins from there. Buddy was in town for the day and we spent a few hours down there shooting.

I live about 15 minutes from there too, except it would have to be 2 in the morning to get there in 15 minutes otherwise traffic will make it 30.

Your car looks fantastic... I live in Bala, love to see it sometime.

[jimtweet]

The car and the owner are a pleasure to work for. Very lucky to have been given the opportunity not only to work on the car but make a great friend doing so!!

Looking forward to a long laundry list this winter