Ambition Fulfilled - my 1972 911T coupe

[Arne]

And yeah --- nice deer heads.

I gotta admit the deer aren't mine. They belong to the guy I bought the derelict FJ40 from.

[NZVW]

But it will end up looking like a loved, and well maintained car again.

I think that car of your's knows it is now "loved' and will be happily patient awaiting it's next cosseting.

[tomster]

Attachment 486530

I can't help but think that I actually do really fancy that steering wheel. Not so much those "bass holes" in the door pockets though...
Great car!

[Arne]

Today was an important day for 0317. The car is titled, registered and insured, for the first time in 18 years (estimated).

Yesterday, what I thought were the final parts for the seatbelts arrived. After sorting and seeing how they really work, I discovered that I was still short 2 special bolts. But I had enough to get the driver's belt installed.

So today, I belted up and drove the car to DMV for VIN inspection, title and Special Interest (i.e. Classic) registration. (In Oregon, Special Interest registration for 25+ year old vehicles is one-time non-expiring, and requires only a rear plate even though normally Oregon requires both F & R. It also allows me to use period correct plates, which I already had stashed away just for the possibility of a car of this vintage.)

Of course, now that I can drive it, all is not 100% good. Once good and warm, it bucks and pops a lot under light-to-moderate acceleration. It also idles a bit high, about 1200 or so. And while I fixed the worst oil leak, it still leaks from the pulley end of the engine. I suspect the main seal, but too early to say that for certain. Clutch adjustment seems a bit off as well.

Very soon I'll need to break out the MFI Check-Measure-Adjust papers and look into it in more detail.

[JT912]

Will we get to view it in all its' spendor next Saturday at Eric Jones?

[Arne]

Will we get to view it in all its' spendor next Saturday at Eric Jones?

I don't see why not, unless I break it between now and then. I will need to pull it apart far enough to track the oil leak before too long, unless I get lucky and can see it with my 'scope. But I don't think I want to do that before then.

[Arne]

Picking away at items today. Pretty sure there is an oil leak from the crank seal behind the pulley, and another drip at the other end coming from the MFI pump oil line. The oil line will be an easy fix, not sure how tough it will be to seal the pulley end.

When it arrived, the car was sporting a pair of badly faded black 911SC door handles with a separate key. I picked up a nice pair of used chrome handles, and then once the black ones were pulled, I disassembled all 4 lock cylinders, and after doing some selective swapping of the wafers I was able to re-key the chrome handles to use the ignition key.

Took it for another little drive today. Definitely some engine tuning needed. (Details on that process are here - MFI troubleshooting)

Also confirmed that (as expected) I dislike the KYB dampers, especially the much-too-soft front inserts. Need to decide whether I want to put original style Boge/Sachs in it, or upgrade to Bilstein. But that decision need not be made for a while.

[Arne]

While the car is drivable now, it still needs more work before really starting to use it. The brakes work, and stop it reasonably well, but the pedal feels soft, so I suspect I'm going to need to bleed it some more. And the KYB shocks and strut inserts are complete garbage. They look new, but the fronts in particular are horribly soft and lack much damping action. The shocks and inserts have moved way up the priority list.

Worst is that while it runs, it still isn't right. I've spent days working on the injection, trying to dial it in at least somewhat close. Making progress, but it is slow. (Tech details in this thread - MFI troubleshooting) In hindsight, given what I know of the history, I should have expected this.

Years ago (several owners back), someone pulled the MFI off in favor of carbs. Realistically, there are only two reasons why someone would do this: 1.) They wanted to do performance modifications beyond what the stock injection was configured for; or 2.) Someone so badly screwed up the MFI while trying to "tune" it that throwing a pair of used carbs on seemed the quickest way to get it running again.

In the case of my car, it was reason #2. When the previous owner rebuilt the engine, he decided to refit the original MFI (which came in boxes). But I suspect the MFI was still screwed up from before it was removed.

So I've been trying to get it dialed back in. It is a slow process.

Even so, the more I'm able to drive the car, the happier I get about it. Even with its current shortcomings, I'm enjoying it more than I did the '84 Carrera. It feels "more Porsche" than the '84 did. No, it's not as fast, but it feels livelier and sounds better. And the more parts of it that I get fixed up, the better it gets.

[Longballa]

Get that big ass driver side mirror off! It's heavy.

[Arne]

Get that big ass driver side mirror off! It's heavy.

You want to supply me with a correct replacement, Scott?

It's on my list, but I've still got plenty of higher priority items to worry about.