mmporsche

After much negotiation I picked up this 1989 3.2 this morning. The car has been sitting outside for the past 3 years as the owner is touring South America. It has factory sport seats, LSD and factory tail. 100% original minus the stereo. Needs lots of TLC but I already took her to the detail shop today and she is coming back to her original glory. She requires a lot of mechanical work so I am taking it to the shop Monday to begin the long and likely, very costly process. I plan to keep it mostly original but set it up for a good canyon carver/DE car.

Opo

Looks like you about to start having some fun congratulations and keep the pictures coming

mmporsche

Here are some examples of the ugly....

wildcat077

Congratulations on your new ride !
19K is a good price for an 89 with LSD and sport seats,i paid 23K for mine 4 years ago and it needed a bit of work as well ...

Had the same torn CV boots and cracked "S" hose along with the original 20 something year
old shocks, although mechanically it was sound

Cheers !
Phil

Ed Hughes

Good luck on this. Where did the $19k^^ figure come from-that isn't what you paid, is it?

mmporsche

I think "wildcat" read my other post where I found the car listed for $19,900. I had a thorough PPI that uncovered many expensive repairs so I was able to negotiate a price significantly less than asking. It will require a ton of my personal time to repair certain items because it wouldn't make sense to pay a shop to fix everything. If I did, I would be upside down on the car by the time I was finished.

I am looking forward to really digging into the car next week to get all the mechanicals solid. I am very OCD and I have trouble owning anything that is not 100% perfect so it will take some time but I will get there in a few weeks/months.

I plan to update much of the suspension to make it a capable track car. I raced for many years so I have high expectations and know what these cars can do when properly setup.

Ed Hughes

Good, you'll have a fair amount of dough in just suspension and brake refresh, let alone all the other stuff that will crop up. 3 years is a lot of sitting for an older car.

mmporsche

My budget is around $12K to get the mechanicals solid and upgrade much of the suspension bits. That being said, I am looking for suggestions. I want to keep it simple so I am thinking of the following upgrades:
-Bilstein Sport Shocks
-22 and 29 torsion bars
-smart racing anti-sways - probably 23 front and rear
-turbo tie rods
-bump steer
-maybe camber plates if I cannot get the negative camber required - not sure though
-monoballs (f+r)
-Rennline pedals and 3 point front strut brace
-Shaved Toyo RA-1s
-New rotors and pads - sport setup
-Ate super blue brake fluid
-longer wheel studs
-steel lug nuts
-headers with sport exhaust - need suggestions on a street/track setup that sounds great -I don't care about heat in the car but know how nasty these can sound with a good setup

I am sure I am forgetting many items but it is late......

SPDADCT

Congrats- it already looks good after the detail. Look forward to seeing more posts after everything is sorted out on the mechanical and interior.

SARGEPUG

She looks real sweet detailed, did you have to buzz kill us with the ugly? Lol
What's the mileage?
Best of luck and congrats, keep us posted with pics and progress on the restore!

wildcat077

Glad to hear you paid less for your car than 19K ... my car was in great mechanical condition for 23K,came with a pile of dealer records but i like to have a tip top shape vehicle as well ...

Now as far as 12K for all the maintenance and performance items go ... you're not even near the final amount as many here will attest !
I'm into mine for 25K and i'm still counting ... lol

Cheers !
Phil

Ed Hughes

Yep, you are going to be tight at that budget. Your list is pretty good, and somewhat similar to what I ran on old Ruby.

The 22/29 bars are good for the street and some track, but you'll want to valve the Bilsteins to match.

A bump steer kit is useless with a lowered stiffened 911-pull your spindles, and get the arms modded to adjust for that, and more camber availability-you can bypass the camber plates then, IMO. I guess you lose the bling too... send the spindles and shocks to Jae Lee at Mirage Intl in San Diego, he is the suspension guru for T-bar cars for many racers. It won't cost an arm and a leg, and he knows what to do.

You will need new suspension bushings, so I'll help you spend more money and point you to Elephant Racing's poly-bronze. Same place to order the monoballs.

Depending on how hard you drive the brakes on the tracks, consider Motul RBF600, much better than ATE, IMO. You may end up wanting to upgrade brakes, I went to 4 pistons all around over 309/32mm rotors in front with a 23mm m/c. Break out another few $k. Of course, then you start looking at wheels.

I had B&B headers (w/heat-nice for defrost on cold mornings!) and Flowmaster muffler. I had a video up here recently (search for Thread called Ruby Rebuild Redux) where I dyno'd at the end, at 1:15 in the vid, it is purely symphonic, at least to my ears.

You will want supportive seats and harnesses, meaning roll bar or harness bar.

Phil's budget is pretty close, but then again, you don't have to spend it at once. Have fun!

mmporsche

I am very fortunate to live in Denver where I have access to Chris Cervelli. He is a former pro racer of RSRs and many others and knows how to setup a car. He did the work on my other race cars and I always had great success.

The budget is just a starting point but I plan to keep the car looking stock. I will install some race seats and 6 point harnesses but I won't be upgrading the brakes or wheels, although I may go to 8 and 9 x 16 Fuchs (wish I would have never sold the 2 sets I had). I raced a 1981 Euro in stock E for years with the tiny brakes and found the car did well and rarely ran out of brakes. That being said, the car weighed 2702 with me in it with all my gear so I will have to pull some items out of the 3.2 to lighten the load. That being said, does anyone know the stock weight of the 3.2?

theiceman

i always give the same advice, fix whats broke before you start modding like crazy. unless of course its on the same subsystem.
it really doesnt look that bad. replace your s hose at next oil change. throw a couple of half shafts on, then have the underside steam cleaned. will be much easier to see what you are dealing with.

doesnt look that ugly to me. you can take your time with the mods.

MrBonus

Are you planning on reupholstering, replacing, or restoring (Leatherique or similar product) those seats?

Looks like a fun project and that car has a great set of options.