Ryanonarcher

Happy Sunday Porsche enthusiasts!

I am appreciative of the opportunity to post within this forum and learn more about my new addiction...air cooled Porsche's!

I recently purchased a 1987 Cherry Rot Red Carrera Targa from a local classic car enthusiast in San Diego and am beginning research in to everything that can make my car the best it can be. In advance, I would like to thank everyone for their feedback and discussion and I look forward to being part of the Rennlist community.

I am hoping to add my own touch to this car which boasts the original special order paint, matching numbers, a rebuilt (to spec) engine and a well documented and cared for interior & history without taking away from it's vintage integrity.

Throughout the purchase process I have toyed around with a few mod ideas:
-Lowering to Euro height
-Red brake calipers
-Ducklid (not sure how to best match the paint color?)
-Vintage triple stripe 'Porsche' side decal in black
-Upgrade headlights
-Upgrade speakers
-Unfortunately do not have original radio head-unit. Will look for 80's Blaupunkt to have but will also improve current head-unit.

-Interior is in relatively very good shape. In Rennlist's opinion, will overhauling the interior with custom carpeting, seats, headliners in a rather 'Singer-esque' look detract from future interest in the car if I ever decided to part ways?

Thank you for the time and I look forward to the feedback and interest in my new journey.

Ryan
San Diego

Fast40th

Ryan - Welcome to the addiction!... Congrats on your very nice '87 Targa purchase.
You will undoubtly enjoy the experience.
I entered the air cooled world just barely a year ago also with an '87 but coupe. Prior to doing mods, my best advice is for you to drive it, connect with it, and figure out what it's all about. That will allow you to make the right enhancement choices.

Enjoy it!!!

Ryanonarcher

Cheers Fast40th ~ I appreciate the sentiment and sound advice!

grgallo

Ryan ,welcome, congrats! and cheers, Cherry Rot, great color... i'm biased, my '87 Coupe is Cheery Rot also known as Carmine and the sticker under the front lid will show the code L80F... i believe a rare color... not Guard's Red no offense to the GR boys, (my '89 951 is GR). as noted: drive drive drive then decide if you want mods. duck tail not correct on an '87 Carrera, red brake calipers, why? barely visible through the Fuchs, "vintage" stripes are '70's not '80's, my apologies for the soapbox. original as possible maintains value and honors the Porsche marque. upgrade speakers? ummm, i never listen to the stereo, i listen to the air-cooled machine the best rock and roll ever. i make these comments with peace and love.

Ryanonarcher

Grgallo....your words speak volumes and shows how my head can get ahead of my heart. I appreciate you taking the time to reflect on my comments! Carmine...much easier on the ear than Cherry Rot. Thanks for bringing me back to earth with some of the modular fantasies!

Mark Salvetti

Welcome, Ryan! I agree with the suggestions to spend some time driving and getting to know your car. If you like to tinker, there are many things you can do that won't significantly affect originality, but until you get to know the car, it is hard to prioritize. You'll likely find numerous small things that need fixing before upgrading.

Here is a recent thread that I've bookmarked, because there are quite a few great ideas that I'm considering doing myself:
https://rennlist.com/forums/911-foru...989-targa.html

Mark

Bloose993TT

Congratulations. As stated above, drive it for awhile and get to know the car. There will be plenty of little things that will come up that you'll probably want/need to fix. As for mods I would concentrate on the handling aspect 1st. (Suspension, turbo tie rods etc.) These will truely enhance the driving experience. If your looking for the best resale value originality is key. Welcome and enjoy!

n8kruger

Ryan
Congratulations! Gorgeous car. A few things on your list, like lowering to Euro height, upgrading headlights (I have H4s with relays, I can't comment on the LEDs) and updating speakers are probably no-brainers. I would add to that list getting a solid state DME relay (as fast as possible) and Steve Wong chip.

For the rest of it, I do agree with the collective wisdom of the list that says drive it and get to know it before doing anything drastic.

I was able to fit new(ish) Blaupunkt speakers under my original grills. I would try NOT to cut up the interior for speakers. You can probably find already cut interior panels at a swap meet and save your originals for resale if you really want to go that route. I spent a lot of time piecing back together my interior which was cut for a super-mega high end 1980s 10 speaker stereo that clearly didn't last as long as the rest of the car.

All that being said, its your car, so do what pleases you. Resale is another matter, and a lot of custom/modified cars look pretty bad years down the road.

Best
N
1986 Targa (India Red)

Ryanonarcher

Mark / Bloose / n8K ~ salud! Thanks for the compliments & welcome. I am looking forward to the research and development with this new car and your feedback is always welcome.

It has been a fun couple days driving all around town - I am blown away by the drivability and strength this 30yr old beauty possesses and I can only imagine the incremental boosts in power and efficiency after I tackle some of the recommended improvements.

It sounds like the consensus is to start with bolstering this Targa's on street performance - that makes a lot of sense. What is the groups opinions with the recommended upgrades and if any of these would require attention to other areas of the car to ensure the compatibility all works together?
-Turbo Tie Rods
-DME Relay
-SW Chip (opinions on different chips?)
-Headlight options?
-Lowering will most likely include suspension upgrade...?
-What else makes sense for initial performance upgrades?

Thanks again for the feedback. It certainly helps support the online research throughout this process as well!

A couple pictures from the coastal cruise yesterday!

n8kruger

Steve Wong has an excellent performing chip and does very nice customer service. If you do modifications like a pre muffler etc. later on you can exchange for a different chip for $80. The car ran much more smoothly and felt like it had more power. It's definitely noticeable in the butt-dyno.

I had an autothority chip back in the day and it may have been a little better than stock but nowhere near as good as Steve's. You can have it if you want it. I don't think it's worth even bringing to a swap meet.

Www.911chips.com
Straightforward DIY; do the DME relay at the same time while you have the driver's seat out.

Mark Salvetti

Lowering won't require a suspension upgrade. You will probably need to re-index the rear torsion bars, and that can be tricky - you have to pull off the spring plates and then put them back on, shifting them a few splines. The spring plate is adjustable though, so depending on how much you need to lower, you may be within the adjustable range. Common rule of thumb is to have the front fender lip at 25.5" from the ground, and the rear 25".

Fronts are also adjustable a bit, or you may have to re-index them too. You should re-align and corner balance after the ride height changes, so this would also be a good time to install the turbo tie rods (if they are not already there).

If you were to upgrade to a stiffer suspension, that would require replacing the torsion bars, and obviously if you were to do that, it would be most economical to do that when you changed the ride height. Slippery slope time..... Not sure if I would do that with a Targa, since it isn't as rigid as a coupe. Mine is stock.

Headlights - check the fuse box to see if someone installed relays. Stock has all the power for the headlights going through the headlight switch. Not good, especially if you were to go to bigger bulbs. You can get relays from JWest or Daniel Stern. You probably have the stock H5 headlights. Common upgrade is to go to H4s. Those would be $650-$800, depending on whether you went with original German Bosch or the cheaper current units made in the Czech Republic. I don't think just going with brighter bulbs on the H5s is going to do much. If the inside of the glass is foggy, you can clean them through the back with Windex.

Get this book:
Lots of tutorials and another very good forum at Pelican Parts: http://www.pelicanparts.com/911/911tech_articles.htm

Also a link to the 1984-1989 factory work shop manual, but I understand it is missing some sections: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vaum8yzxav...anual.pdf?dl=0

And the Bentley manual:
Mark

grgallo

ryanonarcher, again congrats on a beautiful car and great pics on the CA coast, my comments were my own of course, there are many here among us who would mod a P-car, i have seen some beauties and some disasters. i have considered many. i've only landed on Zimmerman drilled rotors and FVD Brombacher cat bypass. sure i would like Raid steering wheel, Euro rear bumperettes, A/C delete, radio delete and RS door panels, but when i'm dead a gone the wife will have to sell the car to pay for my funeral, apparently A/C and radio are desirable. as for other mods i have no clue on impact on resale. i did not buy this car for monetary increase. i suspect a number of buyers out there use the "non-original" mantra to knock down the price. i don't care. it's your car do what you like. my mechanic guru nixed the chip, why do you "need" it? and the 3.2 block etc. was designed the way it was for a reason, Porsche could have modified the DME, etc. they didn't. there is thread here somewhere on chips, check it out, one rennlister noted after the chip install the engine was in the shop.. Hmmmm. Peace and love.

Ryanonarcher

N8k - thanks again I will research the chips a bit further.

Mark - looks like I have a couple inches of room to bring the car down to those recommended numbers. Appears that I have some type of upgraded Bilstein shocks in the rear, but front looks stock (see pics). Headlights look to be original Bosch. I have seen some pictures of some 911s with the yellow covers, would be a fun swap out from time to time.

Grgallo - completely understandable comments. To each their own, don't hesitate to voice your opinion! I am not looking to dramatically altar the originality of the car, but a couple cosmetic and mechanical tweaks to improve appearance and drivability wouldn't harm anything - especially if I retain the original parts for the next guy.

Please take a look at what appears to be oil leaking from the rear. Not a lot but I noticed a couple more drops over the last couple days under the engine.

Well - pictures are not attaching through the app at the moment. Here is a link that looks like the shocks that I see on the rear: http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/...Prc91_pg24.htm

Ryanonarcher

Looks like I can post one pic at a time...

Ryanonarcher

Front.