78 SC Backdate hybrid hotrod

[Mark Morrissey]

Originally Posted by CBRacerX

Great Concept, Great Execution, Great Car, Great Thread!

Chris: Really kind words. Thanks very much.

[Flieger]

I think you should cut out the oil cooler opening in the RS spoiler and put in some black painted metal mesh, even if you do not have a front center oil cooler.

I never liked the RS spoiler becuase of that big barn door of an air dam messing up the sharp, purposeful lines of an early 911. The RSR spoiler had the oil cooler cutout but is too wide for RS flares.

JMHO, You do what you want- just make sure to enjoy drinving the car.

[Mark Morrissey]

Originally Posted by Flieger

You do what you want- just make sure to enjoy drinving the car.

The part about enjoying car. That I can do.

[Jimmysidecarr]

HOLY CRAP!!

Rich and Mark , you guys have been kicking butt on that thing!

What an awesome job!
The attention to detail and the total package are positively inspiring!

I see you have the Falken 615s all mounted up, I think you are going to really like them.
I paid my last payment on my 04 SVT today! Yea! So now I can afford to re-tire my car too.
I'm pretty sure I'm going with the same exact rubber as you except in 275/40R17 of course. They appear to be a great balance of grip and wear for a hot street car or someone not wanting to run in R compound groups.

I can't wait for this treatment to be over.

It would be such a blast to cruise together to the finger-lakes(glen area) and the Adirondacks on some of those back mountain roads we already know so well.

Maybe drop in on Rick and Nan, the sisters of course, and Mikey. And who ever else you want. I wonder what 93 octane will cost in 2 summers from now.(this summer is out )

Great job! That car is going to be sooooo much fun!

[Mark Morrissey]

Thanks James. Will call you again soon.
I was planning to take the 911 to Hershey but as most of you know, stuff happen. Have a few more things to sort out. Much better to be safe and be absolutely sure before heading out on a 150 mile journey. I did go, without the Porsche and met up with Luke (Macaroni), Mike (ibmiked), RICK RAES, Paul (onboost) and several other nice folks. Forgot almost everyone elses name already. Had a nice day. I hung out in Rich and Victor's R.O.C.S. booth and ate their food and drank their beverages. Thanks for that. Luke and Mike, your cars are terrific and it was really great to speak with you. We WILL plan a trip to New Hope PA or similar soon and encourage others to join in.

Mark

[CBRacerX]

Keep me in the loop for your New Hope visit!

[Mark Morrissey]

I've been kicking myself over the cage now for several weeks. The plan is to save for a sill mounted version and install it over the winter. I've also been lusting over a few different colors for the hood and engine lid. Mostly signal yellow and a few others. I'm not sure if I'm going to change it just yet.
The car is running nicely now. Sure to need a few tweeks. I have not driven it yet but reports from Rich are great. He says driving it with the interior as it is, is a raw, visceral experience. Loud and fast. The harnesses are in and what is left is this: Need to install new master cylinder, lower the car even more and do another alignment (the weight that was lost in the build brought the height up), adjust carbs, adjust clutch, adjust Wevo shifter a bit. Reinstall horn grills. And need to install a heat shield behind the rear bumper to protect the fiberglass from the exhaust. It gets really hot back there. Probably other stuff too but should not be long before I'm upsetting my neighbors.

[Mark Morrissey]

Originally Posted by CBRacerX

Keep me in the loop for your New Hope visit!

You got it Chris!

[911Rips]

Mark
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
Looks great - my shins hurt just looking at the pipes - but way cool!
Paul

[Mark Morrissey]

Thanks Paul,
I really don't want to cut the pipes, but I'm getting a lot of comments from folks who have had unfortunate leg encounters with similar. Maybe I can start with placing big orange autocross cones on either side when parked.

[MrPerkles]

love thsoe pipes really suit the car,I would try and keep them as long if it were mine
Would love to hear it running and screaming off into the distance ,nice Job

[Mark Morrissey]

Complicated to say the least and I won't go into everything, but at least its on the road and running nicely. I hardly know where to start. I'm just going to try to keep this simple. We hit several snags in sorting the beast out but the biggest and most frustrating one was the 915 trans. I had put a lot of money into gears, upgrades including an LSD and Wevo case mods. Something just wasn't right and after about a month the guys at the shop trying their best to put things right, I blew up my brand new Quaife limited slip differential at an autocross. Thankfully, it is warrantied and Rich and Victor have a spare 915 for me to use in the meantime. That's keeping the story very short on the trans but I really think I lucked out big time even thought it was a real pain waiting for the problems to get resolved.

As most of you know, this ain't no trailer queen. By no stretch is it perfect. I knew it never would be. It's rough around the edges and it will be enjoyed and driven hard.

The car is unreal to drive. It is so loud inside the interior because of removing the sound deadening and adding the sport muffler. What an experience. You wouldn't believe the roar when entering the highway and stomping on the gas. It really pulls well and sounds so nice.

And finish is a relative term here because we aren't really finished with car. One of the biggest regrets for me is the floor mounted cage. I am going to replace it with a sill mounted one coming this winter. Not sure yet which one I'm going to get yet but that change, when it happens I think will make a BIG difference with the overall look of the car. The paint has a few spots that need addressing along with a few other minor details such as straightening the grills and changing the jets in the Webers.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out. Thanks to Rich and Victor for their hard work. Thanks to you Pelican folks who have followed my thread. I really appreciate your encouragement, advice and even your criticism. Now that I'm road worthy, I look forward to meeting as many of you face-to-face as possible, and checking out your cars.

I'm not particularly handy with a wrench as a lot of you are. I just know what I like and even though my vision and concept for the car evolved many times I'm mostly very pleased with the results. This certainly isn't the end of this thread. I will update whenever things of interest happen. But for now, I finally have some shots of the car in my driveway instead of the shop. That by itself is the best news of all!
Cheers,
Mark Morrissey

[Mark Morrissey]

and a couple more shots.

[Mark Morrissey]

Please know, right off the bat, that this is a really lame video. I just wanted some simple footage of the car moving in the sunlight to add to the thread. I hope to create something a lot more interesting to look at. For now, I had Rich just drive it around the block for starters. Next time I'll be driving and hopefully, will get it moving and growling a bit more. Thanks for your understanding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ufNm1laSq4

[Rich Lambert]

Mark, that looks really REALLY good. Everything about the car is so sanitary. You made some great choices on the gray hood & trunk and the fender mounted lights. That's an RS clone that stands out from the crowd. Isn't it wonderful when a vision comes together?

Congratulations on getting it on the road...ENJOY!

[Tom C.]

+1 on that. It looks great. But I can't say it's an RS clone because you've done so much to it. The center fill tank, quarter windows, engine and horn grills, full tilt lightweight interior, etc. If you went back and removed the ducktail and the front spoiler it would be even less RS-like, but both the tail and spoiler look right on the car. It's all a great combination that works.

[sabeo.m]

Mark, Great looking ride! The video footage is pretty cool too... The guy crossing the street when you pulled up at the end looked like he wanted to car jack you!

Cheers!

Sabeo.m

[Stutgart46]

I love it all the way down to the license plate frame. I don't think I would ever get tired of looking at the beast.

[onboost]

Congrats Mark!!
Glad to hear that you've hit the road, car looks great.. Kudos to Rich and Victor as well!!

So now we'll have to try to meet-up at one Mid-Atlantic happenings.. look forward to getting some run-time in with you and Mac in the near future.

Paul

[mercman]

gorgeous car, great choices on all of the details.

Also located in NJ (Montclair), looking to get together with some fellow NJ Pelicans for some weekend drives...

Rob

rwmoran@comcast.net