lromanosky

Kind of jumping in at the deep end I know, but it is mine now! Let me think... my daily driver is a Honda Insight with a 3Cyl 1 L engine.... It's exhaust is approximately the same diameter as the Porsche's Turbo blow off valve muffler! I hoping not to kill myself....

Anyhow, looks like what I've got is this:

A 'grey import' bought in 1985 that was taken to a Ruf Dealer in Scottsdale, AZ "Ruf Western America/Scottsdale Motorsports" in 1987 for a conversion to a "Stage 3" Ruf BTR Conversion. The guy paid $51,000 for the car in '85 and another $35k for the conversion which included (from the invoice):
-Ruf spec 3.4L 5 Speed Turbo (Scottsdale Motorsports Stage 3 Specifications) $28,750, includes Ruf 17x9 and 17x10" wheels with Dunlop Denloc tires, rear fender ducts, built in fog lights, rocker panel flares.
-Scottsdale Motorsports exhaust system (free flow, increased capacity, ported) $1,500
-Sony Stereo System $3,388
-Remote Alarm $650
-Sony Walkman Conversion (!) $225
-Momo steering wheel and leather shift **** $275

It doesn't look like the car has had anything changed from this spec, the current mileage is about 37,500miles, and it remains in excellent condition.

I flew to Vancouver to pick it up and drive it home to Calgary today, but one of the rear wheel bearings was a noisy, so I got back on the plane and came home, letting Dave from MCL Porsche Vancouver sort it out... Super Crappy!!! I was **so** looking forward to the drive....

The car was originally from Hingham MA bought by Paul C., and stayed in MA until 2009, then sold into Miami to Bill P. (?), and then it came up to Canada 1 year later in jan of 2010. I read a reference to another owner Leandro in Florida?

The guy I bought it from only drove it a couple of times, not even 100miles, which was good as he had the boost at 1.5bar!

It hasn't been driven much lately, in 1998 it had 32,400 miles and when it came to Canada in Jan 2010 it had 37,400 mi.

I am trying to complete the vehicles history, so if anybody can tell me anything about the car, or who can it would be greatly appreciated...

The car was once advertised for sale, by Bill?, with 475hp, where the standard BTR had 374hp according to some sales literature. Wikicars says that a Stage 3 BTR has Motronic and 400hp. I don't think the 475hp is BS, because the car showed 1.5bar boost which is similar to what the racing cars had... Too much, no??? It has a boost control ****, and I don't think I will be cranking it that high... 1.0 to 1.2 ? Seems more reasonable as I don't want to rebuild the engine every year.... Comments?

I would like to know what was done by Scottsdale Motorsports, and what they considered a "Stage 3"... Just boost, or were their additional internal modifications. The idea of a 25year old car pumping out 20+ psi scares me a bit. There should be a switch to kill the fuel pumps if the boost reaches a certain level... what did they do with this switch and is it recallibrated to a higher amount?

Anybody know more about the Ruf dealers in the US at that time, when the 911 Turbos were grey market cars? Did different dealers do different things? Is my Scottsdale Motorsports Stage 3 BTR different than the other dealers conversions? Was every car different and built according to the clients wishes? Did Ruf enforce what the dealers did to 'their' cars? And how much difference is there between my car and the Ruf Vin Cars made in Germany. I think I read that a Ruf representative from Germany would fly out and supervise the build of these cars....?

Anyway, I am super pumped up about this car... Hopefully when Dave gets the rear bearing sorted, I have the time to fly out and drive it back, rather than transport.

Any help advise is greatly appreciated.... Care and feeding etc... Sympathetic upgrades in the interest of durability? What Oil? 5-50 Mobile One is what Im inclined to use...

Thanks Guys


85 Porsche 911 Turbo BTR conversion


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ZX3tuning

I hope you are going to bring that to the Escape in SunPeaks this Sept!

I don't know anything about the History of that car but it's definitely a nice find!

1.5bar is a LOT, even 1.2 worries me without knowing intimate details about the build of the engine.

I'd make an appt at MB Euromotors for a quick once over and an appt at Blitzkrieg to get it on the dyno and the AFR's checked out before you drive it back to Calgary. Both are directly on your way from MCL through Vancouver to hwy1 and both shops i'd recommend over MCL for their knowledge and skill with the older Aircooled cars. Bernie at MB is probably one of the best Techs in the PNW for Aircooleds. And it never hurts to have a 2nd set of eye's on your new baby. Both MB and Blitz provided the Crew for Bullet Racing at Daytona the past couple years with Blitz coming on this past year but working for Wright Motorsports the few years prior. I trust Bernie from MB and Bob from Blitz with my car, GREAT guys to deal with!


Just a suggestion, i'd hate to hear about something happening while driving the car home!

Daley88930

absolutely beautiful ----Congrats!

bucking

1.5 bar boost with CIS injection! I suggest a flak jacket while aggresively driving.... I couldn't tell from the photos, does it have either Ruf adjustable boost **** or the more common (today) Japanese- manufactured electronic boost control?

lromanosky

Thanks guys, I will look up MB Euromotors and Blitz... And would like to put it on the Dyno to see what it really develops. The car has an adjustable boost gauge, so I will just turn it down. I'm not too worried about the guy before me, he had only driven the car in Victoria and Vancouver traffic, essentially just taking delivery, and the delivering it after the sale, and the sustained high boost probably lasted for a couple of short bursts... He put less than 100 miles on the car.

I really haven't had a chance to go through the car thoroughly, It was delivered to MCL, and I've only had a walk around and looked at it underneath when it was on the hoist. I haven't driven the car yet.
If what I read is correct, the BTR Stage 3, had a switch to Motronic, so that is what I believe is in the car.

bucking

If you look at the rear of the intercooler, there is a clearly a CIS fuel distributor to the left of the air filter element; it's NOT a Motronic system and, as such, not a BTR 3.

lromanosky

I guess you are right about the CIS, thanks, like I said I have only done a walk around, and looked at the car from underneath. As it isn't a RUF vin car, but a conversion done by the US dealer, they didn't retrofit the Motronic in this case.

The invoice reads RUF BTR Stage 3, so I am curious to know exactly what they meant by that....

LR

lromanosky

Does anybody know the difference between these two engines? They both have Ruf Stickers on the top of the fan shroud. The first one is my car, modified in Arizona by a Ruf dealer in 1987. The second one, is from a photo that belongs to another car, apparently modified in Germany in the early 1990's....

LR

ZAMIRZ

Your car may have had the front valence changed as well. The receipt says "built-in foglights" which come on a different valence that RUF installed on these cars.

bucking

Ironmanosky: Being CIS may be a blessing. Frankly, as a conversion, CIS will be very serviceable. Ruf built a number of very high horsepower BTRs. Just be cautious of boost levels as with CIS (or any system for that matter if it isn't properly installed, including motronic) given potential for lean conditions at high boost. I would suggest you get in touch with Sol Snyderman owner of Perfect Power in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, (Chicago area) at 847-465-8837. Sol runs a great Porsche racing and service business and he was, at one time, a Ruf dealer during the late '80s and early '90s. I have a '91 3.3 964 turbo which he, as a Ruf dealer, did a conversion on. He has built a number of BTR conversions following both the Ruf prescription and others with additional modifications including twin-plug conversions. Trust me, done properly CIS can make significant power. Today, however, with the right installation (and copious amounts of cash), EFI, both motronic "inspired" and other otherwise (i.e., Motec, for example) can produce even more with greater margins of safety. But until you want to go there, CIS works quite well. Plus, it's authentic Ruf. If the car is good, I'd get it as close to pure Ruf as you can and then enjoy the ride!

bucking

Regarding the sticker: (1) It is what it is --the injection system is what it is regardless of what the sticker says; (2) sticker could have been added by anyone; (3) if the car was built as a "motronic" car perhaps the system was removed, sold or whatever subsequent to conversions and replaced with a "salvaged" CIS system. Who knows. Also, it's entirely possible that whoever did the conversion simply deemed the car a BTR 3 because THEY had 3 levels of tune/performance available and not that they did an engine management conversion. I know that on my my when I had my conversion done I tried to buy the motronic conversion which had been advertised as available but simply wasn't readily available.

lromanosky

That is very helpful, thanks. My aim is to keep the car as close to what it was in 1987 as possible, and leave it there: a driveable artifact that was one of the fastest cars money could buy in the day, and an iconic design. My interests are more biased toward preservation, than on creating more performance. I want to drive it and enjoy it, but not re-create it.

I'm still on the fence as to whether to subject it to track days...

My questions about the stickers, are what to they make reference to? What state-of-tune do they signify (even if if the actual article differs).

And I was trying to figure out where the fog lights were....

I would also like a stock 1976 Turbo, and for track work a modern GT3.... hopefully that can happen in the future

Thanks again for your comments.
LR

bucking

The first sticker is hard to make out, but, it does say BTR 3.3/3.4 ltr, which simply means it's a BTR and references displacement of the engine as converted from a stock 3.3 ltr. engine w/ Ruf's own 3.4 pistons and cylinders , primarily because he preferred his own cylinder cooling fins. The second sticker references a BTR 3 which is motronic based which is confirmed by the stated non-adjustable idle mixtureand timing.

lromanosky

Well I guess that makes sense, as my car was done in 1987, and the 2nd car was done later in the early 90's... Also there was some discussion on the thread with the second car, a Blue BTR conversion, that was just in the Okotoks car auction close to Calgary a few weeks ago, where the local shops couldn't "crack the ecu".... Presumably with mine then, there is nothing to crack, just the air/fuel mixture screw adjustable with an allen key atop the fuel distributor? This is a comfort as I believe it is the same system as on my '80's Mercedes, and ex-Ferrari 328...

The "Stage 3" from the Scottsdale Ruf dealer could be referring to anything i guess.

On the hoist, other than the drivers side rear wheel bearing, the other issue was that the bushings for the ends of the anti-roll bar were shot, and actually fell out. The anti roll bar in this car is adjustable, and routed differently than the stock Turbo. Dave from MCL says these are Weltmeister parts, and he remembers them from his work crewing for the Rothmans Porsche Series (944Turbos). He doesn't think they are Ruf parts. Does any of that sound familiar?
LR

ZX3tuning

EDIT: if the car is CIS, it might not be true to the RUF build but i highly recommend getting your hands one one of these: http://unwiredtools.com/utcis.asp i'm running one of these on 88 turbo and it made a world of difference in not only the power i'm putting down but how much more drivable the car is. Again, Bernie and Bob are the ones to talk to on this but with your engine setup 450rwhp and perfectly streetable should be a cakewalk with one of these installed. i'm doing 400rwhp with a 3.3 and .8bar spring with it!



as far as the bumper goes, the car probably came with a different front bumper when it was originally converted and somewhere along it's life probably got squished and replace with that one or a few in between....

it's not a CTR(yellow bird) so i don't know how people will look at it for "authenticity" but Getty design makes a really nice widebody yellow bird replica front bumper. i went with one for my cab and had the foglights smoothed and replaced with Micro DE's to give it the clean/sleeker more modern look but it might suit the car better than the front bumper that's currently on there...



just an idea. i had the work done at a shop RIGHT next door to MCL actually!