As awful as this engine looks from the outside, it was in relatively good condition on the inside. The cylinder walls were a little bit rusty and the piston rings fatigued, but the major engine components are in good shape. Typically the crank case is bullet proof on these engines; however, we had to split this one since it was leaking so much. Since we’re in there, we will replace the bearings and inspect everything else.

Typical of German engines, the cylinder heads are a weak point because the valve guides are so short. When the guides exhibit a tiny amount of play, the rocking accelerates the wear rapidly.  We will do a full valve job on these heads. More pics inside the engine here.

911.T

'71 T 911

This SC engine is super healthy, great running and has outstanding compression but it also has many little leaks it is filthy. We have done a huge amount of work on the body which constituted completely restoring the car so we are getting the mechanical work done while the car is being block sanded and painted. I have said it before and will say it again, these are the best engines, light, powerful, simple and parts are available anywhere.

I just ordered ever  body rubber seal, full front suspension overhaul kit, assorted specialized trim screws… boxes and boxes of stuff to make this car as new and the order was under $3000.  Incredible what you can buy and how inexpensive the parts are compared to Ferraris and other cars that we typically work on.

The flywheel was sent off to be under-cut and the carburetors are getting the royal treatment from Karl.

SC Porsche Coupe

We received some questions after posting the video below about calling the 512BBi motor a flat V-12. Mainly, if it is flat, then how can it be a v format?

The answer lies in a technicality. The moniker “boxer” refers to the piston timing of an engine, rather than the direction the cylinders point. On the Ferrari 512, the crankshaft isn’t a true boxer crankshaft – it is a V-12 crankshaft with the cylinders laid flat. Here’s why:

True boxers have one crankpin controlling only one piston/cylinder, and 180° engines share crankpins.

A true “boxer” (horizontally opposed engine) has corresponding pistons reaching top dead center simultaneously.

A 180° V-12 engine has piston pairs sharing a crank pin on the crankshaft and reaching top dead center half a crankshaft revolution apart. Most flat 12s are actually 180° V engines, including the Ferrari discussed here and the famous Porsche 917 racecar.

Interestingly, phase has always been of great concern to the motorcycle industry (think big bang configuration) as it directly effects vibration and riders sit right on top of it. Read more here.

Here is a great looking Porsche 911 photographed at the Cavallino Classic track day at Palm Beach International Raceway, Friday. Is this a Group 3 or 4 rally car or is it from another class of racing?

Authentic looking reproductions are very cool; a friend wants to make a tribute 911 Group 4 rally car in nasty 70’s livery – this car is too attractive in the Martini & Rossi colors

Martini Porsche

A few weeks ago a man called me to see if I was interested in buying a pair of 1967 Porsche 911’s that he has had for a long time. The owner had been driving the red car in the photograph for many years and decided that the car was deserving of a major restoration as the paint and rubber trim was looking nasty.

He methodically took the car apart, tagged and organized every part and safely stored the boxes on shelves in his garage. Upon removing the components he uncovered the dreaded “R” word…. RUST. He was not up for dealing with the rusty body shell so he located another 1967 911S coupe to turn two cars into one but after getting the second body shell, he found that is was better but still needed lots of repair.

Now he wants to sell the cars and I think that they have a great upside but I am not the one who is going to suffer the brain damage of restoring them on my coin. So, is anyone out there who may want to buy these cars? All of the parts are perfectly categorized to make a complete car with matching numbers. In my opinion, it is worth doing a high end repair on both cars simultaneously so the second body can be sold at a later date.

I have many more photos of the engine, trans and important pieces and would like to make these cars whole again.

So, what are they worth?

1967 Porsche 911S Coupes

I took this photo of a 1971 Porsche 911 T coupe and even though the car is not perfect, it looks great with that spotlight on it. The car is not clean or anything but I like the way the silver car looks on the snow with the sun hitting it like this. Sooner or later I will have to invest in a better camera!

1971 Porsche 911 Coupe

We picked up a spectacular Porsche 356 Speedster on Saturday December 23rd, I will call it an early Christmas present, my all time favorite sports car. These cars are so light and easy to drive without any body roll or harshness, smooth and settled. After we sold the silver car, we have been looking for something to replace it and when this car came up we just had to have it.