Previously... we had identified this point of leakage from the cooler area, and eliminated the cooler itself from our enquiries - it pressure tested fine.

With cooler removed, the area looks like this:

And Porsche has been kind enough to give us a clue about one possible source for a leak:

Close up of the cast-in pipe on my engine:

At this point we have a suspect, but no proper smoking gun. Because, on my engine, the side of the cast-in pipe outside the oil cooler cavity is in exactly the same state, and is not leaking.

Still, it can't hurt to follow the procedure in the service bulletin, which can be summarised as "gunk it up".

With the help of those more expert than me (thanks DDK), I realised there was another potential problem in the oil cooler area.

On the left, the studs behind the cooler on my car. On the right, an example picture of what should be there...

View fullsize

View fullsize

As well as the obvious difference of the domed nut, more importantly the correct washers are thick and have a chamfer on the inside edge to retain an o-ring. Same as all the other stud nuts. My engine had no o-rings.

Correct parts ordered from my OPC and fitted, and, boom!

Leaks are gone.

Phew, simple fix in the end...

The main problem revealed by initial running was a fairly sizeable oil leak. Or leaks.

Not quite a gush, but more of a drip than a weep, if you know what I mean. Seemed to be coming from the oil cooler area:

I had lazily / optimistically just bunged the original oil cooler back in, cleaned but not pressure tested, so the cooler seemed the first likely culprit to check.

Following a modest investment in a Stomski Racing pressure tester (and yes, I do realise there are cheaper ways to achieve the same result, but I can never resist buying another slightly obscure tool...), the result: nope, cooler is fine:

So having established that the cooler itself was probably not the culprit, I disappeared down the rabbit hole of internet wisdom about the cooler-engine seals. Long story short, there are various types:

...and many folks believe that not all types seal properly...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/795980-oil-leak-dilemma-part-2-damn.html

So I got all excited thinking this might be my problem.

I sent this pic to Barry....

... and proposed that the pattern to the left of the large hole suggests that one of the high pressure seals (at the top, out of shot) has leaked, oil has ended up in the recessed area of the cooler, and made its way out via that blackened channel. Not necessarily during my ownership.

Barry was, as usual, the brains of the party. He pointed out that my leak happened even when turning over on the starter to get a bit of oil pressure before the first run. So at very low oil pressure, maybe 10psi. He wasn't buying my failed seal idea, and when I switched on my brain I had to agree.

So I ordered a new set of seals from my OPC, on the basis that I might as well replace them and the Porsche ones were the most likely to work. For the record, Porsche sent the green type. Many thanks to Paul at OPC Guildford for delivering them FoC. A quick go in the ultrasonic cleaner, and then the cooler went back on the engine:

Where were we? I think the borrowed throttle bodies were on, driveshafts fitted, ready to give the engine a run and try some gentle movement under the car's own steam. So we (meaning Barry and I) gave it a run. Resulting in good news and bad news.

Good: Starts easily, no funny noises, revs cleanly and responsively, good oil pressure, feels fine. When we dumped the oil after a few minutes running everything was nice and clean with no nasties to be found. So the basics seem good - phew! - but doubtless lots of tweaking will be required in due course.

Bad: Well, the day ended with more of this sort of nonsense:

....and the engine back out of the car:

Moving on to the oil system, I've made a start on cleaning up the oil tank.

Turns out it's copper plated, which I dimly knew was sometimes done, but thought it only applied to special cars like RSRs.

The tank is now away being stripped, acid dipped and copper plated.

The strip and dip will make me feel more comfortable connecting this thing directly to my newly-rebuilt engine - need to be rid of any crud and rust. I will admit that the copper part is completely pointless overkill, given that it will be obscured by some black paint. But I will know it's copper plated under there, and maybe one day a bit of paint will rub off and (if I have my head under the rear wheel arch for some reason) I will feel like a restoration genius. Not like a weirdo at all.

What have you been doing for 2 years?

Researching History (continued) 

So, the car was Guards Red, Fat Backside, Whale Tail. 

I said it was the full stockbroker treatment. But luckily our unknown 80s Australian fashion victim was, seemingly, not a stockbroker. Or not a very successful one anyway. We can tell this because the update was, luckily, not very thorough. Not much money spent, lots of original parts survived.

The first item not-even-slightly updated was the engine:

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

MFI type code shown here. According to Michael Burgess' website http://911mfi.com/5.html, this is correct for the engine. Also note date codes on the cylinders: 6/69 so almost certainly original to the car.

In summary the original engine, MFI, intake system, oil union etc, gearbox survived. Some ancillary parts are wrong (throttle linkages, cam cover paint, fan shroud and trumpets painted, oil lines wrong, oil cooler has repair so probably scrap, etc etc). But basically it's all there.

Phew!

There's plenty of further evidence to suggest that our Australian forward-dating friend was on a tight budget. For example, as this pic shows, the red paint liberally hit the outside of the car, but in other places a black rattle can (with very little disassembly) seems to have been used.

Which is why (up to date pics below) there's still a fair amount of original orange paint to be found in the nooks and crannies. 

Might be useful for a colour match. Nice to see, anyway.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Last pic of the 80s legend.

Note
1) Vigorous use of the under-bonnet rattle can
2) The mod to replace the front-mounted oil cooler with a length of pipe. Maybe the cooler got damaged, or maybe it didn't fit with the new front bumper etc.
3) Front calipers are not correct - should be alloy of course.

What have you been doing for 2 years?

Buying Stuff

And earning money to buy stuff.

I have some very expensive pieces of sheet metal from Porsche, and lots of other bits. More on that, with pics of the more interesting parts, later.

What have you been doing for 2 years?

Researching History

Most of the credit for this goes to the previous owner in Australia, who bought the car as a resto project. He was kind enough to share what he'd found out. Thanks!
Here's what I know so far:

Porsche Cars Australia and Porsche Cars Great Britain have confirmed that it was delivered as a Signal Orange right hand drive 911S in the UK. Production completion date was 1 December 1969. 
Ian at Porsche Club GB has it in his records. According to him it was first registered as CLK 92H, with the LK signifying London.

Three Signal Orange UK S-es were registered early in the 70 model year. Mine has supplying dealer "Porsche Cars GB" on the CoA. Demonstrators and press cars? The other two are fully restored.

DVLA says that my car has not been registered here in the UK since 1983. 
Australian Customs say they have been tracking incoming cars by chassis number since 1989 and it must have been imported to Australia prior to that as it does not show up in their system.
So it seems likely the car originally travelled from the UK to Australia around 1983.

Starting at the other end of its life (2010), the car was sold by Exclusive Cars in Perth (Tasmania) to a private buyer shortly before the PO bought it. 
It was last registered in Tasmania as SI2687 in 2006.
The car was brought to Tasmania from Melbourne, having been bought at a Fowles auction around 2001, after which it sat for some time in the workshop of Berry Motors (VolvWreck) before being transported to Tasmania. By that time it was in the red 'wide body' guise.

It was last registered in Victoria on 22 February 2001 as NMH695. Porsche Cars Melbourne say it went through their workshop in the mid 1990s, although they no longer have detailed records from that time.

To get some pics into an otherwise colourless post, here are the two sister cars. 

First one, owned by a DDK-er who has helped me out on many occasions - thanks! 
This one has a chassis number about 40 below mine, and an engine number about 50 below. We've also compared "build" numbers (the numbers stamped into the dash, near the ashtray). All seems in order...

Second one. I don't know the owner - if you're reading, please do get in touch.
This car is one chassis number below mine. Perhaps they were nose-to-tail on the production line.
Photographed by me at Porsche Classics at the Castle, Hedingham.

If anyone has any history of my car based on the registrations I mention above...
UK 1969-1983?: CLK 92H
Victoria, Australia 1983?-2001: NMH695
Tasmania, Australia 2001-2010: SI2687

... or any other info about the sister orange 70 S-es, I'd love to hear it. Please get in touch via the contact form on this site.

I live in the UK, own a couple of Porsches, and was looking for an early 911 as a restoration project. Preferably an S, preferably RHD. 

As you know, the condition of these cars can vary enormously, so it's important to see the car in the metal and get an expert inspection. So... buying this one on Australian eBay was probably not the wisest thing I've ever done.

There was a lot going for it though, in my rose-tint-obscured eyes.

1. It's an S
2. RHD
3. Matching Numbers (chassis, engine and gearbox), with Certificate of Authenticity from Porsche
4. Not ridiculously rusty, not obviously mangled
5. Original colour: Signal Orange. We like. You might not! But it is a proper 70s colour. A Safety Colour, in fact, in Porsche terminology. Hence the name of this website.
6. As well as the engine and box, most of the important ancillaries seemed to be there: Original MFI system, Oil console etc
7. Came with some interesting spares, including a couple of NOS parts that are not easy to find

A UK car, exported to Australia quite early in its life. Unlike a lot of resto projects found in the UK, it doesn't look as if it's been in a swamp for 20 years - road salt kills our cars. No road salt in Australia. 

The vendor was super-helpful and had posted an extensive set of pics of the parts included in the sale. He had intended to restore it but the project had stalled. He'd got as far as stripping it down, had some work done on the front pan, sills and rear wings. The usual areas. Engine and gearbox untouched. I think they last ran sometime around 2011.

Deal done, time to think about shipping.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Click here for the full restoration story...