Etster88

Just got home from picking up my 1971 911T - which the previous owner had converted to an rs replica. I would really like to ask some questions of experienced restorers of these cars. My intention is to build an outlaw r gruppe type car, and i have lots and lots and lots of ideas, but what is most important to me right now is to get the car driving right.
The car has had several upgrades done to it. It has 930 turbo brakes front and back. Bilstein suspension front and back. Fenders have been widened for the rs look. The best part of the car, a 1977 930 3.0 engine with rs cams and Weber carbs. I must say, driving home, i just could not wipe the smile off my face, what a sound and boy does she have some grunt.
The part that i am most concerned about is that it has the dog-leg gear box, and every time you want to select first, she grates.
Please could someone give me some indication of the best gear box to match with the 930 engine? I'm thinking 915 gearbox (if i can find one???) with a short shift kit? Any suggestions would be very very welcome.
Also, the previous owner has just put in some elephant suspension blades? Any comment on these. My feeling driving home was that the car 'swayed' a little from side to side on the road, and under heavy braking, was a little unsteady.
Much appreciated.

Elephant Chuck

Great looking car. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with this.

I'll try to help with the handling issue. Can you explain what you mean by "Blades" ? I'm not sure which product you have.

Also can you list any other suspension modifications that are present?

rusnak

That's a 901 transaxle. It'll be ok unless you decide to rev the motor and dump the clutch, NHRA style. If you do that, the weakness is the intermediate plate. You might have work syncros. It's not like you're driving a handgrenade that will blow up, so I'd wait on the 915 until you get the car sorted first.

Etster88

Thanks Chuck
Attached pics of the 'blades' i have on the car and a bad pic of the suspension rear.
Chatted to the guys at my local Porsche garage. They say that the syncro's of 1st and 2nd are gone and that it may be worth re-doing the 901 gearbox before trying to get hold of a 915 box.
Ultimately i am wanting to put in a short shift kit. Do you know if a shortshift kit works on a 901 box? I have heard that it is not that great an end result?

Elephant Chuck

Those 'blades' are called Spring Plates.

While we do make our own version of Spring Plate (Quickchange Spring Plates), what you have there is not an Elephant Racing product. That part you have is made by Sway a Way. While our Quickchange spring plates offer a number of advantages over the sway a way product, I doubt the spring plates are related to the 'sway' and unsteadiness under braking you describe.

Can you describe under what conditions the car was swaying? eg. driving straight, in fast turns, over choppy road surface etc.

Unsteadiness under braking could be a number of things. Again it would be helpful if you gave a fuller description of the symptoms eg. threshold braking only, car is pulling to one side etc. Even without this information, the first thing I would check out is the 930 brake conversion. Make sure you have all the 930 parts front and rear to maintain proper bias - and the 23mm master cylinder to go with it.

I note in the shock picture your CV is covered in oil. I would check this out and find the source. Could be the CV boot failed, but it looks like engine oil to me.

Lastly the trans in 70 and 71 cars is technically called a 911 transaxle. Similar in most respects to the earlier 901, the 911 has a mag case vs Al for 901. 1st gear should not be pushed hard on either box because it sits cantilevered out at the front of the trans supported on one side only. Putting a lot of torque into 1st gear will shear it off!

Etster88

HI Chuck
Just got this car, so all your info is extremely helpful, thanks again. Gonna need to drive the car a little more to get to know exactly what is a normal 'early 911 2 wheel rear driven car' feeling as apposed to the 964 carrera 4 feeling that i have gotten very used to. I certainly have been surprised by the way that i have to put so much more effort into the brake pedal to get a result.
My intention is to strip the car and have the body work done. I found out today that i am going to have to replace the front pan due to rust as well. Then i will get onto the finer mechanical details - which for me is the fun part.
Does anyone know what gearbox Singer uses? Is that way out of most peoples league?

budge96

Hello your replica looks very nice ,you have plenty of things to attend to which will increase your 'Porsche ' knowledge level considerably .
Unless the front pan area is very weakened and soft I would get a second opinion but battery acid and rust often combine to increase the necessity of repair.
When you say pedal effort is high to obtain result you may need to examine the brake
master cylinder when the 930 brakes were installed possibly the 19 MM master was
retained and this won't provide enough volume to operate the later calipers without
considerable effort.This can be rectified by going to a 21 MM master .
The Singer uses a G50/21 six speed with modified gearing and final drive ratio, the cost
to retro fit to your chassis would likely make it's installation cost prohibitive...say $6500
US for the box and another 6K to alter your chassis and buy necessary components...
A 915 at some later point much more easily attainable, Bert

Etster88

Thanks Bert. First thing i'm gonna do is have a look at the master and see what is there, thanks. Been trying to find a 915 here in SA but they are like hen's teeth. Everyone who has one is not selling them. How are LA dismantlers for their stuff. I may consider bringing in one from them?

budge96

No problem ,after writing that response I saw your avatar pic ...are you considering installing a 3.6?
If so you most certainly will want to upgrade to at least a 915.
Not certain if LA Dismantlers has much earlier stuff although I've always found them relatively easy to
deal with and have bought a few engines from them as recently as two months ago.
You might do better on shipping at least to buy out of Germany it's a straight shot across the continent!
I actually was in Joburg year before last visiting a friend who was living there at the time ,we even
flew to Capetown for the weekend during my stay absolutely beautiful countryside.
I stayed while in Joburg in a newer modern town outside the main city but the exact name escapes me. .Maybe the last stop on the new rail from the airport? Possibly Sandon?
Bert

1stgear

Very nice!

budge96

OP sent you an email re; 915 trans ,thanks Bert ecrobinson1726@msn.com

2mAn

Crazy! Love the car. Im actually considering doing almost the same exact thing. There is a white '71 911T roller and I found a 77 3.0 motor I was thinking about installing in it, but also found a 2.2 thats from the same year. Trying to see if it would be worth keeping it somewhat "correct" with the right motor, or going for a RS replica like you. This has been thinking of the latter. Keep it up, I'll be watching the progress!

Etster88

Hey 2mAn, to be honest, once i have spent some time driving the car around with the beautiful 3.0 engine, i cannot imagine driving it with a less powered 2.2l. The chassis and this engine work really well together, so for pure driving pleasure, the 3.0 wins every time. You just get addicted to that pull!!!

Etster88

ok, so i've taken the engine and gearbox out. Will start stripping the car down next weekend to send to the paint shop. Had to get a new front pan (the one around the petrol tank) found that it was all rusted out.
Well, upon inspection, seems like i am gonna have to source quite a few genuine parts as the previous owners did a bit of a bush job on some things. What i would like help on for now is to ask if anyone can help me source a proper manifold for the 3.0 engine and my Weber Carbs. If you look at the pics, you will see that the fit is very poor and the gaskets are also very poor. Any comments greatly appreciated.