Let The Journey Finally Begin . SC Upgrades & Fixer Upper-grades

[LeeM]

 Very very nice Steve

[Steve88]

Hey guys sorry I have been off the forum for a while work got too busy and I got too tired . I picked up my SC from Darren At Autocoupe the week of Christmas and have not stopped driving it since . 

In truth I told myself when I first purchased the car " If this is how they drive A: I don't like it  B: don't see what all the fuss is about &  C: This is pretty crappy " But persisted with the rebuild and essentially put all my effort , energy and finance into making it what I thought it should be . With Darren`s fantastic knowledge , passion and honesty we began to pretty much pull the SC apart and rebuild it from scratch.

This was a lengthy process but every stage proved to have its hidden challenges , the "whilst your there " factor and of course 37 year old gremlins . But at every point there was the proof that this car had a lot more going for it then it was currently showing . 

The start was to rebuild the transmission due to a bent gear selector rod ( leaks ) and all the associated parts through wear and tear and lack of maintenance . This also gave me the chance to upgrade to a Wevo Short Shifter ( this car came from factory with sports seats and short shifter ) PSJ , all new hardware ( bushings ect) along with every part of the transmission being rebuilt . 

Whilst this was underway the cars interior was completely stripped as I was having Paint & Custom fill in the holes that were there due to a 3.2 tail being placed on the car at some point in its life . This came up a treat and I picked up an original deck lid grill and choose not to put the SC badge on but a decal . I feel this created a really nice flow off the back of the lid.

At the same time I purchased new from Porsche all the same pieces that annoyed me about the interior that had worn or bent out of shape over the years , This included heater switch , new revision mirror and new sun visors ( ouch $$$) . 

The interior of the car saw alot of upgrades which included obviously re-trimmed factory sports seats, brand new headliner in the same material ( pattern and quality ) Porsche used and a brand new injection moulded dash .  

To redo the headliner the glass needed to be removed . Darren was able to save my original glass which was made here in Australia and whilst it was being refitted the car got treated to all new seals aswell . Really giving it a fresh look and new lease on life . 

I also love the sporty feel of the Rennline products . Stainless steel and black . They are well built , well finished and high quality . I upgraded my door lock pins , door turning knobs and surrounds , gear shifter , key hole surround ,hand brake , placed the coupling cover over the carpet in the rear ( sounds weird but looks great )  Black track mats for the front ( had to trim these myself to fit) , Passenger floor boards ( again with the holes all in black ) and drivers pedal kit including the most fantastic accelerator pedal set up . All these components give a high finish to a little bit of a tired black plastic interior . I wanted (as silly as this sounds) to be able to jump in and everything myself or the passenger touches feel nice and fresh . Rennline products was really able to do this will these subtle changes .  I also did the battery isolator switch with removable key wit the fire wall cover too . This really cleaned up under the hood. 

Suspension on the car felt lazy . Once again 37 years and a large chuck of that being left sitting things new new life . Darren was able to arrange for all my shocks to be re-valved ,  a front sway bar in the trunk was dialled in , upgraded and replaced all the bushings ( I went for Rennline spring plate , trail arm bushings and a few other ones ) upgraded the rear torsion bars to a larger size and the car got treated to a basic alignment to let everything settle . It will be back for a more aggrieve one closer to the PFA track day . Ride height was dropped to giving it a perfect street feel and stance . I had no idea how comfortable a car could be over country roads and bumps . It felt like my daily taking the bumps as they came and pushing you through the corner whilst feeling so solid . This is where I finally understood what people loved about these cars so much . 

Whilst the engine was out all the tinware in the engine bay was replaced , all the hoses were replaced , new injectors , new this and that the list is literally 3 pages long of all the small items that were tidied up and refreshed . We also removed about 20kg worth of stuff that really didn't need to be in the engine bay ( junk ).

Two adjustments I did make in the back  were the Ramshorn headers Darren got for me and I purchased a new style air box ( ugly one form PP or eBay ). I will say induction noise is up and so is the bottom end torque . This makes it more comfortable taking off at the light and definitely adds a deep burble of a note. As mentioned I was very excited about the Bisimoto exhaust pipe Ipurachsed from Bisimoto directly as it promised HP gains , Weight reduction and ZERO !! Drone . What else could a Porsche owner want ? Firstly Yes HP gain and weight reduction YES ! But the in cabin noise was too much . So I had him manufacture a arrestor which slots into the exhaust via a small incision and delivers no sacrifice to HP or weight  as its only about 100g but promises to a sound reduction of 20Db . I have not placed this in yet , as in the Bisimoto pipe is not on the car as yet as I ran out of time waiting for the arrestor to come in so my SC is currently rocking my DP motorsport pipe  . Also going back i do feel that with the combination of headers possibly and the new Rennline accelerator pedal that the pick up and peak power is more gradual on the car instead of foot to the floor and boot . The power delivery feels more progressive , maybe true maybe not , maybe just me ?

Aircon . This was a tough one . With all the information online and all the opinions what to do seems daunting. How I honestly went about it was to ask people who work on these cars what they would do . I spoke to Darren of course who had just recently finished doing the Autohaus kit and spoke to Scott and Autohuas too . This may seem like a small pool of contributors but the honesty ( Scott from AH seems like literally the no bullshit guy of the P-World .That can't bullshit if he tried . He was transperant in every way . Its great ! End of story he said. How could i argue with that ? ) I got from both of them was enough to make me feel comfortable with the choice I made .

One thing about the Autohaus kit is Its not like all the other kits you can get , its basically the best working parts from all the kits and some parts which they have manufactured for them all rolled into one snowball . So I purchased the AH kit and got Darren to make up all the lines as he had done that with a Targa in his workshop and I loved how clean it looked . I drove to Phillip Island and back from Kinglake three days ago. Apparently is was 36 degrees outside . Me and my wife and our dog couldn't tell you honestly because our AC was on 1/2  ( 3 stages 1,2, 3  we had it on 1 and 2 as it got too cold ) and we were just cruising . Nearly a 6 hour round trip . So in summary . Lot of money yes but lot of cold air for the money . 

I upgraded the stereo to a Pioneer head unit that had a feature where you are able to change the light colour display and brightness . This gave me the chance to change it to dull orange and what do you know blends right in with the gauges and park brake light . Darren`s boys were able to place the USB plug where the old cassette stacker went in the console and have done an awesome job on hiding the mic for the bluetooth . I have also purchased a Pioneer GMD1004 micro amp to plug into the back of the head unit as they do not need to run to the battery and improve the power by about 95% . Personally even with $600 splits an amp is required for the style of driving and comfort I want to achieve . 

Finally All the electrics were treated to some spring cleaning and tidying up . New headlights and fog lights and a few new relays . So now everything in the car is actually doing what it should be . 

Wheels were changed to replica Fuchs from Cam ( forum sponsor ) this was something I couldn't wait for as the original owner polished them wheels and I patched this up with a rattle can so to have clean perfect wheels on the car really finished the project perfectly . Cam was also able to provide black wheel nuts swell . I purchased replacement centre caps from 911design . They are plastic and fit straight in . Perfect in every way . With the lowered stance the car has a subtle aggressive look but still classic . Like all my endeavours with the car I tried to retain the factory spirit but enhance it with small details that are to my taste and desires . 

I had Darren arrange for his detailer to come out and go over the car  . As I have caught up with a few members over the last week they can vouch for the quality of work . I have been asked on many occasions if the car is fresh from paint . The car does present like new with being freshly detailed , new wheels , new seals , new interior ect .. the car is perfect . 

I started this thread back in May and can say I have crossed the line in December . This was because of the approach that I wanted to take with the car . Not rush through things , continually research and look a little deeper into what could be .

Darren from Autocoupe was brilliant with this approach too. We sat down at the end of every month settled up the account and planned with the next stage would be . This made undertaking something so big like this possible and transparent . The paperwork and invoice from Darren were detailed but he has taken the fluff out of it . Every part was explained in price , why it was required and how it will now work better then before . 

The way in which I approached this build was to have collected all my parts and pay for the parts I want installed and have money ready to go for the labour and other random things which appeared or would present themselves . I would`nt do it any other way . This gave me the power of ultimaelty having the best parts and having them installed to preform  at such a level whilst not being a day dreamer and being able to pay my account at the end of 30days . I do see how these builds do slip away from people as it did slip away from me somewhere in the middle. Fortunately I don't mind cleaning toilets and waiting tables on the weekend to catch up . 

My faults and flaws in the process were buying two things that didn't fit . This gave me the shits . Measure , measure , measure , check , check , check  . The other part which got away from me was the ability for me to want to do more and more and more and more and more . This came on like a decease . This was not only dangerous for my bank account but for my health. I was so consumed by this build I developed a FOMO ( fear or missing out ) for things I didn't need. I averted from my plan . Lesson learnt . Stick to the plan . 

My piece of advice for those who plan to under take something like this or a project is to research the heck out of it and have the money to back yourself up . There were times where we would discover that a $400 part A would need to be replaced . Luckily I had that as a buffer . Build a kitty  , build a buffer , build another buffer . Have a clear objective . My objective and goal with this car was to have a tarmac set up I can kick the crap out of for 1-2 hours per week if I can find the time , whilst being comfortable . This is exactly what I have built . Its quick , its very very very sticky and its bloody comfy  ( for my wife too , bluetooth , AC , dreamy seats ) . Have a vision , keep a log book of your parts and keep a tab on what your spending . Ask every question and don't leave it to chance . I asked every question , every day  , twice a day  . What should this cost , how much should this be , roughly whats the damage on this . I waited for promo codes on Rennline stuff , bargained on freight charges with other parts ect . This part may not be relevant to most people but for those who are lucky enough to have fallen into 911 ownership without it being easy take this advice .  These are probably things I have missed and apologies for the grammar errors as I`m not in the best position to type at the minute . But any other questions just let me know guys !

I will try to get some more photos up in the coming week or so . Kindest regards and thanks for all the support guys . Steve

Grrrr.  PB is such a PITA from the smartphone.  I noted 'postimage' used by another member yesterday and signed up.  See how it goes.  EDIT image deleted so I don't wreck the thread.

Steve, can't wait to see the update.

update and all info up mate  Its sprawled out to page 4 

[P-Kay]

Can't wait to see it in the flesh. GORGEOUS!!!

[Steve88]

Can't wait to see it in the flesh. GORGEOUS!!!

thanks mate ??

[GUT]

I've seen close to the finished product - it's a ripper

[Coastr]

stanced perfectly. Two thumbs up

[hugh]

Love your work mate, particularly the side script 

[scashin]

When the photo appeared I was eyes wide open in "lust" haha.   Amazing work, just how I'd do mine.

And your long description of what happened wasn't long enough!   You could have expanded it 10 fold and I would have read it it all!  Hope to see you at a Melbourne meet soon.   Darren is "the man" 

Shane

[poli84]

Well done Steve, nice summation of the project and your thoughts after complete.

Thanks for the drive the other week, you've built a beautiful car that sounds, looks and drives sensational.

I'm going to follow your advice about 'things you can touch" and look at some Rennline replacements for the 964.

[Steve88]

Well done Steve, nice summation of the project and your thoughts after complete.

Thanks for the drive the other week, you've built a beautiful car that sounds, looks and drives sensational.

I'm going to follow your advice about 'things you can touch" and look at some Rennline replacements for the 964.

 Thanks heaps !