Posts tagged Restoration
Engine Out Again

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:

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

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2020 Rebuild 1Richard FryPorsche, engine, Restoration
Throttle Linkage Simplification - “Morse” Cable Scheme

Because I'm a genius, unlike those Porsche engineers, I've decided I can do better than them in a couple of areas.

Hence the non-standard cables highlighted below:

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The lower one in the pic is for the throttle.

I'm not a massive fan of the standard throttle linkage on a '70 car. It's an awful lot of parts to do a simple job:

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Plenty to go wrong, in an area where going wrong can have unhappy consequences.

This thread on Pelican suggested an alternative scheme: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/309504-early-911-replacing-throttle-linkage-morse-cable.html

All the missing bits in this version of the diagram are replaced by a "Morse" cable:

throttlelinkageafter.jpg

In my case the specific type of cable I have used is called a Teleflex TFXTreme. Most commonly used on powerboats, I believe, and available from your friendly local yacht chandlery. Incidentally in buying these it turns out that, although Yacht Tax seems to exist, it's nowhere near as ridiculous as Porsche Tax.

Anyway.... this sort of thing:

The advantages of this type are high quality materials (corrosion resistant) and, importantly, small bend radius - nominal spec is 100mm minimum, but (in new-out-of-the-box state anyway) they remain smooth well beyond that spec. Point is they are flexible enough to easily make the control run for the throttle.

Final note - obvs my genius statement is slightly tongue in cheek. In fact Porsche changed the design later on, to get rid of all that bell-crank on the side of the gearbox nonsense. So a 964 has a cable run fairly similar to mine (but less flashy cable).

Click here for the full restoration story...

2019 Rebuild 1Richard Fryporsche, 911, morse, cable, Restoration, throttle
Pedal Cluster

Here's the rufurbished pedal cluster. Being RHD it has some slightly weird and wonderful extension rods, to bridge the gap from the accelerator and clutch pedals to the centre tunnel (much simpler in the LHD version).

As well as the plating and paint, it has new bushes and springs.

Let's have some pedal photos:

2018 Rebuild 1Richard Fryporsche, Restoration
Collecting from Southampton

This part of the import process was also very easy. Turn up at warehouse, bit of paperwork and id checking, winch car onto trailer, off we go. A van was also involved, for the many boxes of spares.

Thanks to Mel of flyingbluedog transport. Mel did the trailer bit while I was being Man with Van.

2014Richard Fryporsche, 911, 1970, shipping, import, Restoration
Leaving Queensland
Leaving Queensland

Here's my car at the docks in Brisbane.

Some spares were stashed inside, some can be seen on the pallet. Engine, gearbox, suspension and steering were all temporarily back on the car, so it was a rolling chassis to make it easier to handle.

I'd never imported a car before. The process of booking space in a container, and sorting out the various paperwork, was made very simple by my shipping agents. Many thanks to Kingstown Shipping (in Hull) for that.

Import Duty and VAT on modern cars are a significant cost, but there is an exemption for historics. Using the Certificate of Authenticity from Porsche and a few other documents, Kingstown helped me to get the required exemption from the UK tax authorities. Total import duty and VAT were about 5% of purchase price. 

2014Richard Fryporsche, 911, 1970, Restoration, history
Australian eBay
Australian eBay

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.

2014Richard FryPorsche, 911, Restoration, History, 1970