While passing time wondering the www as is my habit I came upon the 911 SC section of the air cooled forum and was pleased to find it at least recently active with Tom`s thread on the acqusition of his 79 SC providing him with so much pleasure and subsequent answers to his questions of aspects of originality being answered by numerous helpful folk. All of which reminded me of my years of air cooled ownership beginning with a well rotted 60`s 912,later moving on to a 77SC and finally ending up owning an 82 SC, thus I spent a fair bit of time in and around my SC`s over 10 years or so, I learned enough to be able to help a couple of Porsche club pals with issues they had with their SC`s and spend a bit of time hands on with the then RO`s 928, a slightly more complex beast..
In the 911sc79 thread I noted Peter Bull seemed to suggest that the non-sport SC as being "desirable," which caused me to wonder in reference to which other 911SC, as it seemed to me that the Sport was likely to have been thought of as the more desirable of the two with it`s Fuch wheels and spoilers as being de-rigueur at the time..? Both my SC`s were non sport equipped with the smaller 15" Cookie Cutter and thus shod with higher profile tyres to equate to the same rolling radius as the 16" Fuchs with lower aspect ratio tyres, which could make for less of a problem when switching between Fuchs and Cookie Cutters as there would be no change in gearing or speedo accuracy suffered..?
Given the opportunity to drive a Sport equipped SC it seemed obvious that the ride was unsurprisingly less ..err...comfortable given it`s stiffer Bilstine dampers than the Boge ones on the non-sport SC, and the lower profile tyres while making the steering more responsive also conveyed more..err contact with the type of road surface one was travelling over, thus on today`s pot hole strewn roads I suspect Peter may be correct relative to the non sport`s desirability..?
My 77 SC was an old car perhaps 13 years old when I bought it and while it seemed to run well compared to my 912, the engine sounded a tad thrashy, which I later found out was due to broken outer valve springs, wOn replacing the broken spring , I suspected the cause to have been over revving by a previous owner, as I also found the rev limiter built into the distributor rotor arm to be seized... Might be worth checking yours, if you forget to make religious use of the rev counter while pushing on...?
When I upgraded to my 82 SC it was a non-runner, having a non releasing clutch and unsurprisingly to me, it too had broken outer valve springs and a seized rotor arm rev limiter... As part of the engine works I fitted new timing chains ramps and the later 3.2 oil fed chain tensioner system. I also fitted stainless silencers, along with replacement tinware and powder coating it, the cooling fan and cowling, which was a tad bling and not something I would repeat today, as it seems the older I get the more I seem to value originality..Hmm..?
I greatly enjoyed my SC`s both being quite the best built sports cars I have owned to date, and I have had a few..(-: If there might be any interest in pics of my SC`s which I took years back... just SHOUT and I will try to post a few.
My newest 911 driving experience was at the UK launch of the 993 at Cameron house on the shores of Loch Lomond in November 93 where the now defunked magazine Car Week editors were looking for a 10 year old Porsche to create an article in which to compare with the then new 993 ... Tony the PCGB RO in my area at the time and was contacted and suggested my old SC could perhaps fit the bill, Car Week editors were happy it seemed, but not as happy as was I to attend the launch and drive the 993 over my favourite stretch of road in the Trossachs...I was also informed that I was the first private individual to drive the 993 by the then MD of Porsche cars GB..!!! It was also great to see my old SC appearing in the magazine alongside the then brand new 993. I also wrote a few paragraphs and took a few pics which appeared in Porsche Post.
As some of you may know Cameron house suffered a fire a few years back and apparently it has been refurbished and considerably modernised and due to open this April... I have read in the 993 register section of Porsche post that there was Covid halted round the UK baton relay planned and had been in progress, I thought it would have been great to plan a possible Cameron House change over lunch or whatever...? Perhaps if the pox continues to restrict the baton`s progress perhaps November 2023 could be a significant anniversary..?
Finally I note that there seems to be no 993 register entries in this months Porsche post...?
In the 911sc79 thread I noted Peter Bull seemed to suggest that the non-sport SC as being "desirable," which caused me to wonder in reference to which other 911SC, as it seemed to me that the Sport was likely to have been thought of as the more desirable of the two with it`s Fuch wheels and spoilers as being de-rigueur at the time..? Both my SC`s were non sport equipped with the smaller 15" Cookie Cutter and thus shod with higher profile tyres to equate to the same rolling radius as the 16" Fuchs with lower aspect ratio tyres, which could make for less of a problem when switching between Fuchs and Cookie Cutters as there would be no change in gearing or speedo accuracy suffered..?
Given the opportunity to drive a Sport equipped SC it seemed obvious that the ride was unsurprisingly less ..err...comfortable given it`s stiffer Bilstine dampers than the Boge ones on the non-sport SC, and the lower profile tyres while making the steering more responsive also conveyed more..err contact with the type of road surface one was travelling over, thus on today`s pot hole strewn roads I suspect Peter may be correct relative to the non sport`s desirability..?
My 77 SC was an old car perhaps 13 years old when I bought it and while it seemed to run well compared to my 912, the engine sounded a tad thrashy, which I later found out was due to broken outer valve springs, wOn replacing the broken spring , I suspected the cause to have been over revving by a previous owner, as I also found the rev limiter built into the distributor rotor arm to be seized... Might be worth checking yours, if you forget to make religious use of the rev counter while pushing on...?
When I upgraded to my 82 SC it was a non-runner, having a non releasing clutch and unsurprisingly to me, it too had broken outer valve springs and a seized rotor arm rev limiter... As part of the engine works I fitted new timing chains ramps and the later 3.2 oil fed chain tensioner system. I also fitted stainless silencers, along with replacement tinware and powder coating it, the cooling fan and cowling, which was a tad bling and not something I would repeat today, as it seems the older I get the more I seem to value originality..Hmm..?
I greatly enjoyed my SC`s both being quite the best built sports cars I have owned to date, and I have had a few..(-: If there might be any interest in pics of my SC`s which I took years back... just SHOUT and I will try to post a few.
My newest 911 driving experience was at the UK launch of the 993 at Cameron house on the shores of Loch Lomond in November 93 where the now defunked magazine Car Week editors were looking for a 10 year old Porsche to create an article in which to compare with the then new 993 ... Tony the PCGB RO in my area at the time and was contacted and suggested my old SC could perhaps fit the bill, Car Week editors were happy it seemed, but not as happy as was I to attend the launch and drive the 993 over my favourite stretch of road in the Trossachs...I was also informed that I was the first private individual to drive the 993 by the then MD of Porsche cars GB..!!! It was also great to see my old SC appearing in the magazine alongside the then brand new 993. I also wrote a few paragraphs and took a few pics which appeared in Porsche Post.
As some of you may know Cameron house suffered a fire a few years back and apparently it has been refurbished and considerably modernised and due to open this April... I have read in the 993 register section of Porsche post that there was Covid halted round the UK baton relay planned and had been in progress, I thought it would have been great to plan a possible Cameron House change over lunch or whatever...? Perhaps if the pox continues to restrict the baton`s progress perhaps November 2023 could be a significant anniversary..?
Finally I note that there seems to be no 993 register entries in this months Porsche post...?