US SC slower than Euro?

[Yorkie]

I'm currently looking for an SC or Carrera Garage Queen to replace my slightly scruffy Euro SC and having driven a few US SCs. I'm now under the impression that the Euro SCs are noticeably quicker. Mine has a serious bump in thrust at 4500 rpm. Does the lack of AC, electric windows and sunroof really make that much difference? I'm starting to think about just cosmetically restoring mine as she drives so well. Is the Euro motor different?

[mkossler]

The Euro SC produces 204 peak horsepower, where the US version produces approximately 180 in stock trim. That gap can be closed by replacing the US SC's stock exhaust with either a backdated version, or by buying headers such as SSI's. Expect the cost of the upgrade to the US version to cost in the neighborhood of 2000.00, more if you add a muffler upgrade.

[mkossler]

P.S. Our generous host sells all of the parts you would need for the upgrade, and you can look for backdated headers on the Part For Sale forum. They're generally very popular though.

If you read books like Peter Zimmerman's, by the way, there are things you will want to check on a Euro car that has gone through the U.S. conversion. I'll leave that to Pete to describe if he's inclined. RoW cars are cool, but they're not always a slam-dunk.

[mkossler]

And you'll also need to lower the US spec SC.


I'm done now.

[Gogar]

Euro cars also have higher compression, IIRC.

[mkossler]

Before 1980 the RoW was lower (930/09, 8.6:1 CR) than the US (930/07, 9.3:1). In the B program SCs it went higher (930/10, 9.8:1) than the US spec (930/16, same CR of 9.3:1). I should stand corrected, that's what I get for talking in generalities - the pre-1980 model RoW models had 188 HP, and went to 204 with the advent of the 930/10.

[psalt]

There are many more differences in the Euro SC's, especially the later models. Different heads, pistons, airbox, runners, distributor, fuel head, WUR, timing specs, rev limiter, etc. The US spec changed many times, but the hp ratings stayed the same because of the cost and requirements of US certification.l

[DanielDudley]

My 81 euro SC had SSIs and it was a very fast car. Much faster than a stock US SC, it was as fast as a Fast Carrera to 100.

My current SC has Euro P&Cs, Euro fuel distributor SSIs and 993 solid lifter cams. Fast car.

I can easily believe a US spec car with SSIs would wake up and still have a snappy response, but I believe my 81 Euro was stronger than 204 HP by a good margin.

My 81 was the only car I ever owned that I seriously regret selling. (My wife hated it.) If I thought it would be easy to replace, I was wrong. Your mileage may vary, but that's my two cents.

[mkossler]

Originally Posted by psalt

There are many more differences in the Euro SC's, especially the later models. Different heads, pistons, airbox, runners, distributor, fuel head, WUR, timing specs, rev limiter, etc. The US spec changed many times, but the hp ratings stayed the same because of the cost and requirements of US certification.l

The specs I cited come from the engine models. They are what they are. The equipment may be different, but the OP asked about performance.

[mkossler]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

I can easily believe a US spec car with SSIs would wake up and still have a snappy response, but I believe my 81 Euro was stronger than 204 HP by a good margin.

As we know, Porsche was often conservative with the power estimates of their models, and it is certainly possible that this holds for the "Euro" (RoW) SC. That said, I'd expect that this measurement "delta" was consistent across the variants created for different markets within a given model year. Your "seat of the pants" evaluation might be right on the spot - for your vehicle. After all, power output can vary quite a bit from car to car, in that model year or production run. I would hesitate to extrapolate that evaluation to all cases, though, in the absence of quantifiable measurements that support that evaluation.

It's a subjective thing, sitting behind that wheel.