'72 911T Hot Rod Build
 

Searched for a while to find a candidate for a hot rod (original search thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/911-foru...-driver-2.html). The car is in pretty good shape and mostly original. This will be a mild hot rod that will take some time for me (and hopefully my son will have an interest) to complete. Imagining a hot rod that someone might have built in the 70's using parts from other models/years - a sort of sleeper hot rod. It will remain a narrow body and mostly stock on the outside. I will share progress but it will probably be slow reporting as I work a crazy amount of hours in my job and will be working on a somewhat limited budget (kids in college!).

Here are my initial ideas for the build:
Start with suspension and brakes:
- 18mm front and rear sway bars (car was not optioned with sway bars)
- 21mm front and 26mm rear torsion bars (maybe hollow?)
- S front brakes
- Koni sports front and rear (currently has Boge)
- Replace all rubber bushings; leaning towards OE rubber vs. aftermarket upgrades
- 15" Fuchs deep 6's front and 7R's on rear (currently has 14" Fuchs)

Interior Ideas:
- Early 914/Carrera RS 380mm VDM steering wheel with early/SWB hockey puck horn
- 917 style shift knob
- Early/SWB window cranks (not sure they are actually lighter but look light and very cool)
- Remove rear seats, panels, shelf etc
- Lightweight carpet
- Simple door cards with custom leather pulls (vintage/rustic look to leather)
- Need to figure out seats (not sure I can afford real sport seats)

Exterior Ideas:
- Early S aluminum decklid and license plate panel (pricey but fun). Plan not to paint the inside of the decklid - leave as aluminum appearance
- Repaint in factory Signal Yellow (one of my favorites and seldom seen)
- Retain S trim as the car was optioned with it, but replace front bumper with S bumper
- Replace the 80's aftermarket mirrors with early/small flag mirrors
- H4's
- Thru horn grill driving lights (smaller - 5.5?)

Other changes to shave pounds:
- Remove a/c (appears dealer installed - not on COA)
- Replace spare with Mahle Gas burner from early 911 (lightest wheel offered on 911 - this is more fun than real weight savings from Fuchs). Keeping spare as I understand it is part of the front crash safety design.

Motor/Trans Ideas:
- Retain stock 915
- R or GT3 style muffler connected to headers (don't think I will keep heat)
- Need to figure out motor. My original plan was to put a larger 3.0 to 3.6 in it but since the car is numbers matching I will probably do a 2.5 or 2.7 build retaining MFI but that is way down the line. This will be the last thing to tackle before paint. The car runs and drives so I can drive it as I am doing the rest.

Open to ideas and input from the Rennlist community - wish me luck

The car was picked up in Michigan on Monday and is on its way to SoCal

I find that the specs of the RS that Porsche worked out long ago still make for a nice steetable rod...

Beautiful color!!

FG is what I used for rear lid & bumper and S spoiler (tho I'd prefer to strip an early Singer for the F. spoiler)

After you take 300+ lbs. out of the car, it gets really expensive to remove more (while keeping it streetable).

digressive shocks...

MFI is heavy (the pump was meant for a farm tractor...) - a 3.2 or 3.4 is nice but bumps you to the heavier but more rigid Al case
check the gearing and diff. ratios on different years of 915s to match your fav roads and engine characteristics

if you stick with a 2.7 or even a 3L a typ 911 trans. will be a lot more fun (as long as you are very careful in 1st - if not it will be a lot less fun)

nobody really knows if the spare is really part of the front crash safety design... mark it as a rumor & note that the spare would be pushed up in a crash anyway
* it does help balance out the wt.

*** work hard on the rear and up high (roll) and think about momentum, not just wt. balance - the '72 and its more fwd oil tank help you there

you list some things that are more cosmetic than functional (e.g. lightwt. carpet) - nothing wrong with looks tho I wouldn't put a lot of $$ or effort into that vs. say hp & FG

- sent you a pm

Thanks for the response - good things for me to consider for sure. The car has a FG ducktail on it now, but I prefer the standard decklid look. May consider FG parts though. I'll check your PM as well.

I also prefer no duck - it adds wt. but also adds stability maybe as low as 85 mph. I rarely go over 140 so...

Start with suspension and brakes:
- 18mm front and rear sway bars (car was not optioned with sway bars) - Good, factory option back in the day was 15/15
- 21mm front and 26mm rear torsion bars (maybe hollow?) - Good, Sanders hollow w/ rubber bush's all available from Elephant, I replaced the rear spring plates w/ Rennline adjustable versions they come w/ sport rubber bush's installed and make corne balance easier.
- S front brakes - Good
- Koni sports front and rear (currently has Boge)- I'd go w/ Bilstein hd all around have digressive revalve when you know the final weight
- Replace all rubber bushings; leaning towards OE rubber vs. aftermarket upgrades -See above Elephant rubber front, Rennline spring plates
- 15" Fuchs deep 6's front and 7R's on rear (currently has 14" Fuchs) - Good but you ought to be able to use 7ET23.3 all around, 205/50 & 225/50 x15( or more conservative 205//50 all around) tires will have a lower gearing & inertial cost than oe 185/70 x15

Exterior Ideas:
- Early S aluminum decklid and license plate panel (pricey but fun). Plan not to paint the inside of the decklid - leave as aluminum appearance
- Repaint in factory Signal Yellow (one of my favorites and seldom seen)
- Retain S trim as the car was optioned with it, but replace front bumper with S bumper On my '72 I replaced the oe steel S bumper w/ a f/g version the S trim can be bolted to that, Similarly in back use f/g

- Thru horn grill driving lights (smaller - 5.5?) - do you really need driving lights? If you upgrade the motor you will need front oil cooler and the existing front vents, or use an RS bumper & center mount cooler

Motor/Trans Ideas:

- R or GT3 style muffler connected to headers (don't think I will keep heat)- SSi are among the best exhaust choices for 2.4 to 3.0 they come w/ hea use it or not
- Need to figure out motor. My original plan was to put a larger 3.0 to 3.6 in it but since the car is numbers matching I will probably do a 2.5 or 2.7 build retaining MFI but that is way down the line. This will be the last thing to tackle before paint. The car runs and drives so I can drive it as I am doing the rest. - Forget a 3.6 unless you go to SC/RS quarters, the tires just won't be up to it. a nice 2.7RS build is the way to go.

^ thanks, Bill. Glad you confirmed much of my thinking. Those are the tire sizes I was thinking as well. You and Randy pointed out some of my items are purely cosmetic. I admit that I am trying to create a modest hot rod with some purely cosmetic touches - however this may change as I get further into the build (ie driving lights)

and there's nothing wrong with that...

BTW, the wider the tire the better the stick, BUT the worse the steering feel...

I use 6s & 7s... again like the RS

OTOH, I have the Eleph. polybronze in front, not rubber - I like it but AFAIK most people prefer the softer rubber

This will be a fun build no matter which way you go

(when you're done you can drive it a few years then start to reverse everything due to your own aging or to WAF)

Thanks - I do need to really think about the bushings. On the fence given my modest build and the way I will be using my car. I forgot to tell Bill that I am a fan of SSI's - one of the best upgrades I made on my SC many years ago. May consider them with this build as well.

+1 for GTS Classics. I just visited Stefan's shop last weekend to pick out the details on my custom seats. There are certainly cheaper options, but if you really want a custom look and fit, you can't do much better.

^, ^^ thanks guys. Yes, very familiar with them. Heard nothing but good stuff. Will definitely be a consideration.

Not that this was the most important part to start with, but I purchased my first part for the hot rod. I found an Early 914/Carrera RS 380mm VDM steering wheel. These are getting harder to find and increasingly expensive for basically a donor wheel to be restored. I hope I don't regret buying one in poor shape - but it was fairly cheep. I will restore the spokes and send off to Autobahn or Dallas to be re-wrapped in leather (thick). Now to find the hockey puck horn - wow these are scarce and crazy expensive for what it is.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...e73ac12e76.png