911vet

I'm looking for thoughts and opinions.

I can buy
1) 1980 911 SC w/ 124K miles and stock setup. $10K. Local car. Or...
2) 1987 911 Carrera w/190K miles track setup (but needs seats and harnesses) for $13K. Not local.

Neither have had engine or tranny work.
The SC has a new clutch.
The Carrera needs a clutch (kit comes with it, needs install).

I could provide lots of details that y'all don't want to take time to read. And obviously there are many factors to consider. I'm looking for general opinions.

I'd prefer the G50 tranny over the 915. And the hydraulic clutch seems a lot smoother than the SC clutch.

But... that 190K miles on an untouched engine scares me.

Is a 3.2 Carerra significantly faster on the track than a 3.0 SC?

Thanks for any advice. Car will be used as a dedicated DE car. Might one day progress to club racing.

A.Wayne

forget the SC .......................

Streak

I'm not an expert but I would buy the one with the most track preparation as that stuff gets real expensive real fast.

I bought a car that someone had built for the track ilo building out another car. The build out of my Boxster would have cost over $10,000 and I still would have had a car worth only $16,000 while the 86 911 I bought needed very little to go racing. It was also locally owned by a meticulous care taker

The flip side is that you could buy the nicest car for the money regardless of prep.

FWIW my 3.2 has 86K on it with 0 engine trouble.

3.2 faster than 3.0 - not in my experience We can argue that all day but there are some very very good wheel men in 3.0's out there.

The 3.2 will be more costly to fix. Particularly the G50 over the 915

Lots of people like the lighter SC.

Have I helped?

911vet

Yes, actually, your opinion is very helpful. I have an 87 that I drive now (been to 2 DEs with it). It has 124K miles and engine seems strong w/o oil consumption.

I took the SC for a test drive. The non-hydraulic clutch and 915 tranny take some getting used to. But I think it's just a matter of learning it.

I have wondered if the SC is significantly lighter and therefore can compensate for the lesser horsepower compared to the Carrera?

Hard to compare with just a test drive on the road. I've never driven an SC on the track. But my limited road drive made me think the SC was lighter and more "tossable." Could be the added oversteer is problamatic.

Chris M.

In the hands of equal drivers the 3.2 will not be significantly faster than the SC on track and if you go racing with PCA the 3.2 will be penalized with about 200 lbs. of weight making the cars basically the same. 190K on an untouched engine and the same on the tranny? How do you feel about dropping $10K on an engine rebuild and $4K on the tranny? The same could be said for the 124K mile SC running gear but 190K is LOT more.

People will go all day long on the 915 vs G50 debate so I advise you to drive both and decide for yourself if the G50 is worth the premium.

A.Wayne

the 87 is faster than the SC, but that's neither here nor there as that will vary and very driver Dependant . The 87 has the better transmission and more modern electronics if upgrading . Both will require work to become a good track dog and reliability is about the same with the exception of 28 yr old CIS and the playful soup of gears 915 trans in the SC.......

I would pass on the SC unless the Carrera is in bad shape and the SC isn't ...

good hands

Buying the newest p car with the most track mods is the way to go . Although Streak is a very slow driver he does have some words of wisdom. I would certainly go for the the caar with more track mods as they will be very expensive.

FredC

If you plan on club racing in stock class with the car you will purchase, go with the SC (weight advantage and no ecu). If you just want to do DEs and track days, then just go with what brings you the most immediate value.

Todsimpson

Get a PPI on both and buy based on condition, (assuming these two are your only choices.) The condition argument outweighs 915 vs. G50 and even cis vs. motronic.

I'm curious what track prep the Carerra has. A few mods like swaybars, or monoballs, poly bronze bushings, torsion bars, track alignment, brake cooling, rebuilt calipers and everything like tie rods, ball joints and wheel bearings freshened.

And if you're seriously tracking the car and those haven't been done, you'll end up going through all that stuff.

deep_uv

The 915 can be made to shift very nicely with a few mods - shifter and coupler.

911vet

You got it exactly. The Carerra has had essentially the suspension mods you mentioned (2yrs ago and not many miles since). The SC is stock.

I know that's a big advantage, but it won't mean much if I have to rebuild that engine right after I buy it.

911vet

I noticed it was hard to be smooth coming off the pedal on an upshift when I at the redline.

Low RPM shifts were smooth and similar to my G50. But at high RPMs, I couldn't make it as smooth. Might just be that spring loaded clutch pedal? It seems to want to pop off the floor. Is that a trait of these?

Can you make the shift feel seamless with practice letting up on the clutch? Maybe I was "popping" it because it wants to spring back.

Do 915 trannys synch from 2nd to 1st? When I was rolling to a stop, I put the clutch in and tried to downshift into 1st. Grinding resulted. I could downshift to 1st at very, very low speed/rpms. Is that normal for a 915?

Apex Rex

I thought the 915 was easier to shift up near redline, but that may just be me.

I have heard that you can really only smoothly shift into first at very low speed/rpms. I would just wait to stop before going down to first usually.

deep_uv

On mine there's a good bit of resistance from 2nd to 1st when rolling. I just apply steady pressure as I slow and it evenutally drops in to first with no grinding. When the transmission is cold, different story. Sometimes have to double clutch. When warm, no problem.

Gary R.

The 87 is NOT faster than the SC 0n 90% of tracks, even given equal drivers IMO. As for transmissions, i'll quote my mentor "the 915 needs a rebuild twice as much as a 915, but the G50 rebuild costs twice as much". Take a quick look at the times the D class (78-83 SC's) put down vs. the E (and F usually) class 87-89 G50 cars. SHeesh, Fred beat most of the 964's in our race at Lightning..