I tried this on the 911 board, but only got two responses in as many days. I wonder if some people are still sore over the Fat~n~lazy fiasco?

 

Any shark owners that also have an early 911 willing to give advice? Here is a link to the thread on the 911 board and my description of the car. https://rennlist.com/forums/911-forum/228508-73-911t-buying-for-928-dummies.html

 

I owned a 73T and it is a great car. It comes in two basic flavors, MFI and CSI. I had the mechanical fuel injected model and it was pretty reliable but parts were getting scarce. The 73 is rust prone. Check carefully under the battery box, under the rear side windows and at the back of the doors and under the front windows. Any sign of rust, run. Fixing them is expensive and the fixes don't last long. If you can set your sights on a 78-79SC. They made a lot of them and there are some bargins around and they don't have the rust problems because of zinc preped steel. Other problem areas with old cars is torsion bar rust. If you don't plan to do a lot of the work yourself then shop very carefully. Overhauls go for $6K, rebush everything and align about $2K, transmission first gear and synchonizers go and work on them costs. Get a PPI from the meanest mechanic in six counties, one you or the PO DON'T know! Good luck.

 

I don't think you got more responses because the two you did get were good. The biggest issues with the early 911's is rust which both responses got into. The 2.2 and 2.4 engines were pretty much the same except the 2.4's had a longer stroke. These were the last of the high compression 911's of that era. The original engine might have had the bosch mechanical fuel injection which was problematic when not running good but made lots of horsepower. Running webers was a frequent change made to these engines.

 

Yes many things... in my opinion that in many ways is one of the least desirable 911 years models as the T was the basic car low power, small brakes, It was the first CIS injected 911 had the mildest cams EVER and 8 to 1 compression 2.4 liter magnesium case engine. The old long hood early bumper but with added rubber cushions. Little magic in that one. Check CAREFULLY for rust. Early 911s are nearly as bad as the 356 for rust !

 

Much like VW beetles early 911s are rust buckets.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Are you prepared to sweat.... Pelican Parts has a great forum for early 911's

 

I do own a 928 you know!? Doubt i have much sweat left.

 

My wife and I had a 930 (76) and currently have a 77 targa widebody with a 2.7. everything is new or rebuilt and it is 99.9% rust free(Cali-car). My wife loves the 911 and so do I. Ask us if we needed cash tomorrow, which one would go, it would be the 9.................11.

 

The early 911's are a hoot to drive. Very light and nimble but with the dreaded overstear. A lot of the early cars especially non-sunroofers are being gobbled up to make early RS and RSR replicas. The early 2.7 RS are still to this day considered one of the finest 911 drivers cars. I had 70 911S that was one of my favorite cars to own and drive.

 

I can definitely agree with this statement!!! When i drove the car the other day i was pleasantly surprised with how much power it had and how nimble it felt. I fully expected to be unimpressed with the 2.2 motor after driving my friend's built-up 3.0 SC, and regular rides in my ole "fat~n~lazy" I was fully expecting a nice looking car with somewhat pedestrian acceleration and handling performance. Boy was i wrong. It was by no means a hair raising event but it definitely could be fun.

As i stated on the original thread on the 911 board.. i think i will wait to find an early 911 in original and in absolutely beautiful condition. This car was nice , but just not quite as nice as i need it to be.

The other day as i looked at the car the owner asked "will you sell that 928 then?" Not a snowball's chance in hell.

 

I don't own a 73 911T but a 1972 911T. I would always go for the 72 due to the ouside appearance (more chrome) and the unusual oil tank position. Mine has the original Bosch mechanical fuel injection and it is tricky to setup. But if it is tuned correctly the throttle response is awsome and the sound too! It has all features of a modern electronic fuel injection but is fully mechanical.

Just a wonderfull piece of engineering...

 

Schocki that is sweet! In college my business teacher had a pristine 1970 Corvette 350 350 hp with a close ratio 4 sp and a 3.73 rear. I went back to school after graduation to see which car was quicker, his or my 70 911S. In the car with me was a friend of the teachers that had a 1970 454 390hp Corvette. He confided to me that the teachers 350 350 was quicker. We drove for about a half an hour through the backwoods roads of central PA and found that the cars were dead even up to about 90, but he wouldn't go any faster. The fellow with me that owned the 454 couldn't believe that my little 2.2 liter was so fast.

 

Shocki has the right idea (and the right year early 911) because of the position of the oil tank. Just don't let anyone else near it pump gas or you might end up with an oil tank full of gasoline.

I had two MFI 911s, a '70 911E and an identical '71E. I concur with Jim Bailey. The 2.4Ts were dogs. Fat dogs at that. Their throttle response rivaled that of a concrete sled buried in 10 feet of sand. I had a girlfiriend's T targa once for a month and couldn't stop yawning. I got cited by the police for obstucting traffic and decellerating too rapidly. Ts were great cars for the USA because we don't drive like P cars are designed to be driven in Europa. Thus dealers brought in lots of T models, and few E and S models. If you liked the T you drove, get into an E or S and watch your reaction. T has torque lower in the rpm range and can get off a line quickly, but after that it is no contest. Power comes on above 3000 in an E or S and the E will smoke the S up to 100 mph. That should tell you why not so many S model were sold compared to Ts.

MFI is fantastic. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Great throttle response, and even better with high butterfly throttle bodies and RSR cams. Snaps into action. The crispness is addicting. The sound is addicting. The exhaust spitting sound is entrancing. The problems are setting up the pump correctly, (all 911s brought into California were leaned out to pass emissions and then re-set later to run correctly), and keeping the valves set correctly and engines sealed. Air leaks are anathma to MFI 911s. If you get false air entering the intake system somewhere, you will prefer to be dropped into an erupting volcano. Once set up properly and on a soundly built engine, MFI is happiness in a cammy 911; get the rpm up above 3500 on the right road and you will crack your face grinning. There was a guy in Northern California who set up pumps; I'll bet Jim Bailey remembers him. Guy was a wizard. He could render happiness into your life once you received your MFI pump from him and put it on your 911 engine. Can you tell how much I like those engines? And I have, are you ready?....a perfect condition 911RS MFI pump. HA! HA! HA! Wait until I get it on my 2.7.

As for the '72 you described; I would run, not walk from it. Rust has been mentioned. I bought a '71 E and in Honolulu it lasted for one month before rust bubbles began to appear on the front fender at the seam between it and the inner body panel. The advice to go to an SC is universal. The mag case 911s were OK in lower displacements but once they were into 2.7l they were disasters. The 2.7L without case inserts will self destruct at around 85000 miles: head studs will pull out, oil seals will fail, life will seem evil. There is no way out. The fix is to either get a 3.0 aluminum case or go broke trying to save your 2.7 case ( I have $1800 invested in my 2.7L case and outrageous amounts in the crank and heads). Get an SC and forget about it all and enjoy your life.

The problem is that the early 2.2 and 2.4 cars were lighter and lots of fun to drive. Crisp, instant handling if set up properly. E cams in a 911 engine result in night/day difference compared to a T. Beware of 2.2 models ('70 and '71) that have the original 901 gearbox because the intermediate plate was the weak point. The 915 box fixed all of this but the 901 can be made to last with some work and attention to detail. Why do that when you can have it all in a 915 box in an SC? Because CIS injection is not so much fun IMO as MFI and the early cars.

And the Holy Grail of all of them is a lightweight 2.7RS; find one of those and sell the farm for it. You only live once they say. May as well know the truth and that car is it. I bought my second E just one month before I saw my first lightweight RS in Vasek Polak's showroom in Hermosa Beach ( or wherever "beach") and went home and beat myself up after seeing a car that Porsche should have made all along available before my very eyes. Should have sold my new E and bought that RS right then and there for....are your ready.......MSRP:$11,500.

I'm going off to pout now thinking about it.