911SCR | Resources | Porsche Club Great Britain

Richard Stephens, 911 SC Technical Advisor / May 2021

There have been some special custom 911 Porsches throughout the brand’s history. Back in 1978 a special one morphed from the newly introduced 911SC. The story goes:

Some of the feedback at the time was that the Porsche 911 needed a lot of revs to get the best out of the engine. The Porsche line-up in 1978 consisted of:

911 SC 3.0L 180bhp
930 Turbo 3.3L 300bhp
928 4.6L 219bhp

Porsche decided to make the SC a nice torquey engine but was down on top end power. The mid-range torque does make it a nice car to drive. The first SC only had 180hp using the K-Jetronic fuel injection system to keep the fuel economy and emissions at an acceptable levels.

So there was quite a big gap between the top turbo and the SC. There was also a need to reduce fuel consumption and stricter emission laws had become a big issue in the 1970s especially with the fuel crisis in 1974.

Up to 1977 Porsche were making the 911 Carrera 3.0 with a 200bhp engine using the new turbo die cast aluminium crankcase. For the 1978 model Porsche introduced the 911 Super Carrera (SC) with a normally aspirated 3.0-litre flat six and 180bhp. This engine was designed to have better mid-range torque over the existing models, even though it does not show in the peak torque figures below for the European 911’s.

911 1974 to 1976 2.7L. Power 175bhp, 174 lb-ft at 4000rpm
911 Carrera 3 1976 to 1977 3.0L. Power 200bhp, 188 lb-ft at 4200rpm
911 SC 1978 3.0L. Power 180bhp, 188 lb-ft at 4200rpm

Apart from the expensive Turbo, customers who desired more power now had to go for the grand tourer 928.

One custom option was to turn to a German company called RUF, founded in 1939, which launched the 911SCR in 1978. RUF being the surname of the founder of the company, Alois Ruf Senior. Following on from their debut in 1977 with a tuned version of Porsche’s 930 Turbo with a stroked 3.3 motor, the RUF SCR was based on the 911SC and the company’s first complete non turbo Porsche.

A nice upgrade was to increase the piston size from 95mm to 98mm giving the naturally aspirated SC engine an enlarged 3185 cm3 producing 215 bhp at 6,000rpm and peak torque of 203 lb-ft @ 4500rpm. Not all customers took this option of a capacity increase as I have seen some RUF for sale with the standard 3.0L 180bhp. For the RUF conversion power output was limited by using the standard Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system since it was designed for fuel efficiency. It also limits any camshaft choice as it does not respond to high lift cams.

The transmission was custom as well with an 80% limited-slip differential added and RUF’s five-speed manual transmission gearing which improved fuel efficiency. A signature addition for RUF was to add the racing style of a lightweight front bumper, with cooling holes for the brakes as shown below:

Along with better traction and less weight the SCR’s road performance of 0 to 60mph in 5.7 seconds nearly matched the 930 Turbo. Top speed of the SCR was increased to 158mph. A weight saving of 50kg helped the acceleration figures and the handling (RUF – 1110kg, 1978 SC – 1160kg).

Using the 911 SC Porsche sports pack wheel offering of 16-inch Fuchs wheels with 225/50 rear tyres and 205/55 front tyres was a common choice for RUF customers. Some customers ordered the special RUF Speedline wheels shown below:

Personally I prefer the Fuchs wheels. Another distinctive feature of the RUF 911 was the use of the Turbo rear wing giving some good down force at speed. This needed to be used with the front splitter to reduce front end lift.

Interior wise RUF added a few touches. This included embossing the steering wheel.

There seems to be a gold plate on the glove box as well, letting people know it’s an authentic RUF conversion.

Usually the RUF cars are lowered to have a more aggressive look. A few more pictures to finish with: