71 E -> Gentleman's RSH thread

[RickWhite]

Thanks for confirming I'm not totally insane on the rear view mirror.

Look what monster got featured in our local PCA newsletter...



Oh the panel gaps! Those wheels!

[70SATMan]

It was also an excuse to get an aluminum hood, and put on the rubber latches on the track car...

Original...



Now with super-light and so much faster aluminum hood (honestly, the rubber hold-downs were 99% of the reason I wanted to do this). Plus, I got the chance to try out a paint color. As above, I've always wanted a blood orange long hood, but the color doesn't seem right for a RS clone. Signal orange, which is the color of my wheels, has a bit too much yellow for my taste...so the hood is testing out a relatively rare RS color of Gulf Orange (twenty-five sold with the color). It is quite similar to continental orange.

How do you like the quality of the hood? I've been considering buying one but, haven't seen any in person. Are the stampings crisp? How was the fit out of the box? Does it have reinforcements for the dog bones?

[larwik]

"Agree with Ravi - is definitely low"...probably relocated downwards to not obscure rearview due to the roll/harness bar...ask me how I know...

[RickWhite]

How do you like the quality of the hood? I've been considering buying one but, haven't seen any in person. Are the stampings crisp? How was the fit out of the box? Does it have reinforcements for the dog bones?

The fit is very good. I'll take some macro photos for you in a week. It is a shame as I dropped the car off today for tech inspection and a list of little things to fix. Everything looked great to me, but it is extremely delicate. A finger push will depress the metal. Given the cost, I'd probably put it down on the list of accoutrements to splurge on, but then I was keen to steal the original hood for my targa. The real question will be whether in a year or two the rock chips and other battle scars will come out when I have the car properly painted and have the lightweight panels put on.

Lars - understood on the harness bar, but I can't see right handers now because I'm tall! No use seeing behind you when you can't see what is in front! I confirmed today that the mirror is way too low based on the sunvisor test.

[70SATMan]

The fit is very good. I'll take some macro photos for you in a week. It is a shame as I dropped the car off today for tech inspection and a list of little things to fix. Everything looked great to me, but it is extremely delicate. A finger push will depress the metal. Given the cost, I'd probably put it down on the list of accoutrements to splurge on, but then I was keen to steal the original hood for my targa. The real question will be whether in a year or two the rock chips and other battle scars will come out when I have the car properly painted and have the lightweight panels put on.

Lars - understood on the harness bar, but I can't see right handers now because I'm tall! No use seeing behind you when you can't see what is in front! I confirmed today that the mirror is way too low based on the sunvisor test.

Appreciate the feedback!

[NZVW]

Rick,
i have only started reading you thread.
But I must say
Grandparents like that need to be treated like
"chocolate"
parents as well
and at a push,,
yourself as
2.

stay safe
be kind

[RickWhite]

Pictures of aluminum hood as promised…









Let me know if you want more detail. These are just iPhone photos rather than a real camera & macro lens.

And on my family, yes!

The funny thing is my grandfather underwrote any number of amazing cars for his daughters and wife, but always had a new Cadillac and couldn’t stand riding shotgun in my grandmother’s 525 because it was too stiff! Mind you this was an ‘83 (I think).

[RickWhite]

Some updates from the weekend.

1. Swapped out the 350MM Momo Prototipo for the 911R wheel from Classicowheels. I have a 380mm 914 wheel in the Targa and like it (aka, the wheel for a true "RS clone"). My brother, with whom I share the RS clone at the track, prefers tiny wheels so I let him have a go with the prototipo. I personally found it awful - way too small and the hub brought the wheel too close to me (despite being rather large, I tend to sit pretty close to the dashboard). The small wheel made my steering too jabby and not smooth. The 911R wheel is perfect. Nice thick grip, good size (I think it is 365mm, you can find a much more exhaustive thread on it in the forum). Only asterisk is that it flexes a bit if you really push or pull on it hard, which is a little disconcerting, but was totally imperceptible on the track. Highly endorse this wheel - it seems to belong with the bigger tires on the car. In contrast to the targa with its 6" front wheels which seem to dance over the front of the road and one steers with their finger tips, the "race" suspension and big tires (toyo) make the RS feel a bit more dead on roads and requires muscle on the track. The thicker wheel goes with the more physical act of steering and is sublime at speed.



I need to learn how to rotate the photos...

2. Clock delete, sourced from Jimmy, also available via search on the forum. Between the aluminum hood and the clock delete, I can tell the car is already .000000001 seconds faster.



3. The car came without an ashtray, which is clearly a werks custom delete to make the car even faster. I had found a nice ashtray to put in, because in the '70s, even the lightest car needed an ashtray to place your cigarette at the end of the Mulsanne. However, the RS is missing the little bit on the dashboard which the ashtray attaches to. Thus, the question for the crowd - does anyone have one of these attachment things, or any idea of where I can get one. The below photo is from my targa...



As always, thanks for the input & advice.

Next up, for eagle-eyed, that awful tach from a late 70's car, and the '71 combo gauge are going to be jettisoned when my '73 S gauges arrive back from NH speedometer this week. At least the cockpit will look the business.

Funnily, the engine's rev limiter is set at 8k (at least assuming the tach isn't broken), so even the 7300 will be a bit of a deception. That said, the engine was built as a 2.8 w/E cams and EFI, so running it up to redline is totally useless because the torque comes in pretty low around 3000 or 3500 and dies out at 5500+. Great for the road or autocross, not great for the full track (or at least LRP where other than the main straight, it seems a bit of a waste to upshift twice in the short straights and downshift twice again braking for the turns - I'm not that good). More on that to come, but winter work will be swapping engines between my cars and a 915 & MFI for the RS clone.

[RickWhite]

It has been a while since I posted...

The clone, which my daughters have taken to calling Karen (which is hilarious), did a last DE in November and got sent off to Automobile Associates for a long winter of work. They are as accommodating of my stupidity as they are skilled.

It was dramatically sent off as this (where I believe the correct euro housings are shown):



to have one of these installed:



and these couldn't come sooner.



My main question is technical. The intent is to make a clone worthy of the name Karen. The trailing arms currently on the car are I believe '78 aluminum SCs, as below. I believe that is a decent upgrade on these cars (?), but have heard conflicting views on whether or not the RS had them. Some say not at all, some say only after the first 1000. Could a faithful clone have an aluminum arm with the RS weld-ons? Any thoughts?

[RickWhite]

If anyone has been to Automobile Associates, or follows me on instagram, you probably will have seen the clone sitting up on a lift in the body shop. The metal work has commenced...



Before getting into the metal work, I've fully gone off the deep end on the M471 clone.

The first, truly insane dive was procuring a Euro MFI drive train, that is the 911/83 case, 019 MFI, and 915 with factory LSD. It arrived in surprisingly good condition, but is going to be completely taken apart and machined, shuffle-pinned, etc, so that it can handle DE work. The irony is I had already procured the 019 & S/RS TBs and Stacks which were done by Gus and Matt (Eurometrix), so I am now long an extra 2.7 MFI fuel delivery system. If anyone has a strong need, feel free to PM me (though I don't know that I'll have everything sorted for a few more months, and at that point I'll probably post one to the board for sale).

This is my 2.8 built by Reno Rennsport on the LHS (which is going in the targa because it has E Cams and is peppy at low RPMs, to say the least) next to the new to me 911/83 with the 019 MFI on top. Karen, the RS clone, will be using the 2.7 RS engine that was in my targa while the 911/83 has case work for the next year. It is a great engine from a 7R case that has been in the Automobile Associates/CVR PCA family for a long time.



The second, mildly insane dive was finding an aluminum frame RS ducktail in Germany, thanks to Dirk. It just arrived this week after many months of badgering the seller. It is incredibly light, and so much more solid than the fiberglass repo that is currently on the car. Nothing beats having a RS ducktail on your coffee table. Like the engine, this will probably sit out the next year of HPDE and be installed on the car when it is nearing completion.



The last one, and sadly I don't have pictures, but Harvey is now nearing completion on a set of period correct 7j & 8j wheels (he was able to find me the correct 911.361.020.02's). They will be the car's "dancing" shoes for street driving, and I have a separate set of 930 7j and 8j Fuchs that will have some RA1s on them for the track (DE and autocross).