Sportomatic: daily driveable in 2021?

[Bullfighter]

I'm disabled due to an accident in my 356 five years ago. Long road back. I am able to drive again -- but my left side is of limited use. I love the early 911s and thought a Sportomatic might make this feasible.

I'm familiar with how these work, but from a performance and especially service/spares perspective are these usable or strictly for cars and coffee type events? I'm no longer commuting anywhere, and live in southern California, so I'm not racking up big miles or driving in rain or snow.

I'm assuming a 964/993 Tiptronic is the easier path, but...

[edmayo]

There are some up shift and down shift adjustments that need to be done as per the manual, once those are correct there is no reason they can't be a daily driver, and in fact with today's traffic are kind of nice to drive. I had one for a while and the only downside is some of the pieces like the vacuum diaphragm will be hard to find, but then they rarely went bad,,,,although of course they are older now.

[Bullfighter]

There are some up shift and down shift adjustments that need to be done as per the manual, once those are correct there is no reason they can't be a daily driver, and in fact with today's traffic are kind of nice to drive. I had one for a while and the only downside is some of the pieces like the vacuum diaphragm will be hard to find, but then they rarely went bad,,,,although of course they are older now.

Thanks! Is there a source for the vacuum diaphragm? Everything fails eventually … and 50 years is certainly “eventually”.

[Scott A]

i'm sorry to hear about the life-changing 356 accident.
but i thought i would let you know that the clutch, for the 1970 and 1971 (2.2 liter) cars, is easy to push.
try one of those if you get a chance....some people don't like them. I like it, but mine has never been a problem.
they need to be adjusted correctly too....

[Bullfighter]

i'm sorry to hear about the life-changing 356 accident.
but i thought i would let you know that the clutch, for the 1970 and 1971 (2.2 liter) cars, is easy to push.
try one of those if you get a chance....some people don't like them. I like it, but mine has never been a problem.
they need to be adjusted correctly too....

I would if I could… my left leg lacks adequate coordination for driving a car with three pedals..

[Bullethead]

Also sorry to hear of your troubles, but agree that a Sporto could be your long-hood salvation. We have a '68 that has served us well for many years (wife can't clutch- it was her daily driver) so we've prudently hoarded parts.

If you find a good one I'd be happy to make a couple of the usually needed spares available. A well sorted Sportomatic can be a lot of fun to drive.

[jeff eelkema]

There is a local engineer here in Australia that has a sporto and he had a batch of diaphragms made up so he could keep it on the road and pretty sure he had a reasonable amount made, he is on the Aus TYP901 forum but name escapes me at present but I'll see if I can find a contact if anyone has interest

[Bullfighter]

There is a local engineer here in Australia that has a sporto and he had a batch of diaphragms made up so he could keep it on the road and pretty sure he had a reasonable amount made, he is on the Aus TYP901 forum but name escapes me at present but I'll see if I can find a contact if anyone has interest

This may help me and probably others as well. If you can find his contact information, that would be very useful.

[epilot]

Jeff,

It's Bill 72_sporto on typ901, he's also on ESR and Pelican but not regularly, best if you pm

[cwrm4]

I'm in the same boat...crushed both legs in a plane crash 17 yrs ago. After endless surgeries and therapies I found myself the identical twin of Douglas Bader, and had to concede that driving a manual was no longer feasible. My issue is my right "leg"...ok for the gas, but not so much for reliable braking. So I'm left "foot" braker now. Certainly, it's possible to rig up a bunch of controls to work the clutch, but those inevitably end up a bit Rube Goldberg, and I tend to like cars "the way they were built".

Initially I was bit gutted - in fact was in the process of negotiating on a pristine 1-owner, low-mileage '65 356SC at the time of my accident. But then I came across a really nice 964 Tip coupe, and bought it (and still have it). Sure, it is an true automatic - even in manual mode, it still shifts for you at redline - but it felt immensely uplifting to be able to get back in an air-cooled Porsche, with the sounds and smells of a "real" 911.

Still, the 964, though a great car, does lack that extra "something" you feel with a 356 or longhood. So I started looking a few years ago for a Sporto, and recently found a nice one.

My take on the 964 Tip vs Longhood Sporto:

1. Transmission - the Sporto is a much closer experience to a manual - you still have to shift it, and the gear shift lever "feels" like a manual 911. The Tip, as above, has a manual option, but, in the end, it is true "slush box". (But driving down the highway at 70 mph, it doesn't matter if it is a Tip, Sporto or manual.)

2. Daily drivability - being more modern, the 964 wins here, it has power steering/brakes, pretty good A/C out-of-the-box (particularly 93-94, which are factory R134a), more safety stuff, etc. But if your driving is limited, and in pleasant weather, a Sporto would be fine.

3. Maintainability - the 964 is a somewhat complicated car, with a lot of pre-OBD, "early" electronics. It's usually very reliable, but occasionally an electrical gremlin will pop up that will drive you insane trying to find and fix it. The Tip box is a ZF unit, also used in Mercedes and again reliable, but there are a lot of electronics involved. Recently I've seen a few posts on Rennlist of folks having a helluva time trying to solve weird electrical issues with the Tip box. I've actually just purchased a spare Tip ECU and wiring harness, just to be safe. Fortunately, there are a lot of Tip parts floating around now, since Singer is gobbling up every cheap 964 they can find, for the engine and body.

Obviously, a Sportomatic is just a regular longhood with a few extra bits, some of which are readily available, and some aren't. Great overview of how the Sporto works is in the original supplemental manual - it's just not that complicated:

http://content.us.porsche-clubs.pors...tomaticUSA.pdf

The key unique Sporto parts that could wear out:

1. Shifter contact/microswitch - available new from Porsche
2. Vacuum line check valves - available from new from Porsche
3. Oil pump - NLA but a lot floating around, never heard of one breaking.
4. Vacuum lines - the "big" one is available new from Porsche (and other sources), but in the end, you can fab any vacuum line quite easily.
5. Clutch/pressure plate - clutch parts are all available except the pressure plate. I bought a NOS pressure plate on eBay, however, just to keep. (this is for the 905 version, not sure about availability for the later '72+ 925 Sporto).
6. Torque converter - haven't heard of these wearing out, but a lot floating around out there on eBay etc.
7. Parking "pawl" - to lock transmission in "park". Have read of these breaking; for the 925 there are new ones ($$$) on eBay, for the 905 I think you have to salvage one from another transmission. Or have a machine shop make one.
8. Vacuum solenoid - seen a few on eBay
9. Vacuum servo diaphragm - in addition to the Aussie one mentioned above, there is a guy in Florida who is making silicone diaphragms that he is selling on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18449703406...oAAOSwAaJaTNmV

I bought one as a spare, along with the Marson clamp he is selling, and it looks like it would work fine. He also has some videos on rebuilding the servo.

There were also a lot of Sportos converted to manuals, so the parts are out there. I recently picked up a "working when removed" 905/20 transmission, with the vacuum servo, for $500 after inquiring on a couple years old ad I found on the bird.

Over the years I have had many Porsche "purists" make incredibly snobby and disparaging remarks under their breath along the lines of "true Porsches are manuals". But I am so grateful Porsche made both the Sporto and Tip, as it allowed me to continue to enjoy air-cooled 911s. Now to find that elusive 914/6 Sportomatic....