Hello all... today I returned my leased 2014 Cayman (base with sports exhaust) and purchased a 1978 911 SC Coupe (no sunroof, no ac, no power windows, no passenger mirror) in silver. The car has 36K miles and the tensioners were upgraded and the head studs were done. I already love the car and I just want to know the basics to keeping it nice.

How often should I change the oil? What gas does everyone use? Having had the engine sorted out.. what kind of expenses should I expect? I plan on driving the car daily until first snow fall... then garaged until the salt is gone from the roads.

I am also considering an exhaust (for sound) and possibly lowering it to euro height.. what do you all think ? Could you also recommend the best H4 upgrade kit? I am not really into the scoops.

Thanks!


Sher-
Chicago

 

Here we go:

Change the oil once a year before putting it to bed for the winter, or every 3k miles if you drive it that much.

Use Top Tier Gas, 91 or 93 octane, whichever is the premium in your area. www.toptiergas.com

Expenses depend on what problems crop up. Maybe very little, maybe a lot. Each car is different.

Definitely lower to euro height as it looks better and offers a slight improvement to handling. Lots of exhaust choices, and they depend partly on your emissions requirements. If you state what you want from your exhaust, you'll get lots of opinions.

Best H4 kit is the Bosch euro H4 kit. Expensive but worth it. Also consider installing headlight relays if you go that route.

Welcome to the madness.

 

Another useful purchase is this book:

http://www.101projects.com/Porsche-101/index.htm

Many people also purchase a spare DME relay and toss it in the glove compartment.

 

whats that for?

 

There is no DME in an SC. They started with the 3.2 after 1983. Here is and explanation. http://philipraby.co.uk/porsche-data...ays-explained/

 

Sc is pretty solid if cis is sorted. None of the failure modes of the carrera.

No Dme relay
No ref sensor
No cht sensor.

I think youl be fine. If you do your own work a Bentley is an essential.

 

The DME is the engine control computer on the 3.2L cars (1984-1989 in our early air-cooled world).

So in the case of the SC, you don't need a spare relay, as we don't have DMEs to worry about.

For oil you should use one with high levels of anti-wear additives (ZDDP) to protect the camshafts. Most modern oils have lower levels, as the additives can poison the cat. Lots of info if you Google. Popular choices are Valvoline VR1 Racing oil in 20W-50, Brad Penn, or Mobil 1 15W-50.

Don't use synthetic gear oil in the gearbox. The syncros don't like the slippery oils. Most people use either Kendall 80W-90 or Swepco 201.

If you can't get alcohol-free gasoline, add Stabil to every tank, year-round (not just before storage) to protect the fuel injection system.

Mark

 

Lots of great advice here!

 

Try to fuel with clear gas whenever possible. Especially when it's going to sit for a while.
The old plumbing doesn't like ethanol.
www.pure-gas.org

 

I think Pep!RRRR meant Fuel Pump Relay. That's what I do.

Bricker

 

No, I was mistaken about the non-existent DME in SCs. Thanks for the correction!

(So should I have a spare fuel pump relay for my '86 Targa?)

 

no 84-89 use DME and DME Relay ( black box )

up to 83 uses fuel pump relay ( red cylinder)

 

Basically what everybody else said. I use VR1, have changed to the euro Bosch H4 headlights without issue. I went to SSI heat exchangers , but mine is a 49 state car and pre OX sensor.
Terry
75 911S

 

Hi Again,


As a write this I am traveling to st louis to pick up the car.. the car is being bought from ScmITT DANIEL... I AM JUST NOW READING THE REVIEWS ONT HIS SITE AND AM SCARED. I had checked the google reviews and BBB and all came up pretty positive. I saw the car last week and drove it.. before that I had even almost purchased it from the previous owner in Tennessee. I couldn't do it at the time because of time left on my lease. It wouldn't of mattered anyway because the seller (Steve) took it off the market. I asked why and he said he wanted to hold on to it. That was last summer. A couple weeks ago I see it back up for sale and I asked Steve what the deal was.. he said he decided to sell it and his whole porsche collection. Before I could make a decision it was sold! I was sad I hadn't pulled the trigger.... then a week later I see it for sale on Ebay through Scmitt. Thats when I drove over from Chicago to see and drive it... I had already spoken to the mechanic who Steve used for the work. Now I am 3 hours out from the dealership.. they only have a $1000 deposit.

Thoughts?

X-

 

It sure looks pretty. Interesting black painted cookie cutters instead of Fuchs. They wouldn't have been painted that way from the factory.