John Glynn's Blog | 911 Porsche tales & other stories
WEVO engineering smartypants Hayden Burvill, and his Porsche-road-trips-for-the-soul cohort Steven Harris, have been given the thumbs up to take part in the 2010 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge.
Carrying the same DNA that spawned the Paris-Dakar, Peking to Paris is perhaps the ultimate test of ingenuity and endurance, communicated through the medium of classic cars. A friend of a friend took part in this ‘59 356 a while back but sadly didn’t get very far:
This year’s event starts on the 10th September in – you guessed it – and finishes 37 days later in – yes, right again. With just four days off in the planned schedule, the rally name is a masterstroke of understatement.
Driving any car from Peking to Paris in 32 days would be a test, let alone something like David Ayres’ 1907 Itala 40, or Jonathan Turner’s 1918 Stutz Bearcat. The participants’ willingness to inflict potentially terminal punishment on these innocent and valuable old cars shows the strength of the torch competitors carry for the spirit of the event. It is breathtaking.
The vehicles to be used represent a stunning cross section of vintage, historic and classic: 13 cars from the pre-1921 era, 75 from the ’20s to the ’50s and 23 pre-’68 machines. The average age of the cars may well be higher than the average age of the drivers.
Though Hayden and Steven will be competing in a 1964 356, and thus (we assume) in relative comfort, there are still huge challenges to be faced. Not of least of these will be getting a 46 year-old 1600cc car, carrying two full-grown guys and a substantial amount of kit and fuel safely and reliably across some of Asia’s highest roads, back to the bosom of genteel European society.
Drag out your atlas and tell me this trip is not going to give our intrepid pair a lifetime’s memories. Following the historic Silk Route, they start with two days driving in China, before entering Mongolia via a border post that was closed by Chairman Mao and reopened by a rally organisers’ passion.
The drive across Mongolia – itself the size of mainland Europe west of Stuttgart – takes the cars through epic terrain: the Khangai mountains and Gobi Altai. Russia is next, followed by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy and France; an expected total of 14,600kms.
Mexicar is Steven’s short wheel base 911 built especially for classic rallies, but Mexi is sitting out this trip. Seen here wearing ‘Namste’ plates, new arrival Lola is currently enjoying a makeover, to set her up for what the boys say ‘ should be a whole lot of fun’. Methinks she doesn’t know what she’s in for. Namaste for sure!
I spent a day with my buddy Dominic Delaney of Worcester Independent Porsche/Specialist Vehicle Preparation last weekend. We were at Cadwell Park, testing the Boxster Dom’s just built for Dave Hughes to race in the BRSCC Porsche championship.
The night before the test, we stayed over at a B&B near the track, where I caught up on one of the other projects under way at DD’s Rushock HQ at the minute: the right hand-drive 934 recreation.
The car started as a very tidy early 930 in black. It was stripped down to the barest of shells, before heading off to be dipped to remove every ounce of paint. Only the tiniest traces of rust were found: this was a very clean car to start with.
Once back at base, a full cage was built and welded in situ. The shell received some further strengthening, at which point the sunroof-equipped roof panel was cut out, and a non-sunroof roof panel welded in its place.
Moulds were taken for the bag tank and the fibreglass shell it sits in. The tank architecture relative to the front compartment bracing and so on was all worked out by SVP, and the final fit is very smart. Dom is now the agent for these tanks.
Once the fabrication was complete, the arches were test fitted and the shell was moved to the bodyshop, where it was prepped and painted. The inside is black, while the outside is Continental Orange. Sounds familiar! Here’s a shot of it fresh from paint:
With the tub painted inside and out, reassembly could begin. The boys have been busy: blasting, cleaning and powdercoating the original parts, with new bushes and other consumables along the way. I like the masking-taped axle stands:
Progress on the 934 is steady, and the attention to detail looks good. The owner’s plan to run the car at Classic Le Mans has come to naught this year, and there is a big question mark over whether a right hand-drive 934 replica would ever be allowed to run at CLM or similar. That is not deterring Dominic’s customer, and the chaps have some nice rare parts coming for the car, which will certainly set it apart from the strictly cosmetic recreations often seen elsewhere.
I’m taking my own orange 1976 911 across to Worcester soon. It’s a quick visit to check on a minor oil leak, and a gear oil change to some miracle Q8 stuff that Dominic has started using (with apparently very good results), so we should get a chance to have a little ‘fruit bowl’ photoshoot and grab some close-up shots of a few more tasty details. In the meantime, here’s a slightly blurry shot of where it stands at the minute. I heard a rumour that the white indicators are coming off soon.
SVP can be contacted on 01299 251152. Tell Dom you got his number here – bound to make him laugh!
Here’s a important maintenance bulletin for Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera owners.
Later Carrera models have jacking points fitted front and rear, to help get the car off the ground at tyre depots and on two-post garage lifts. Those jacking points were useful in the early life of the cars but nowadays are a rust trap. A quick look at their locations tells you why.
The picture above shows the front jacking point. Here we can see that the road debris thrown up by the front wheels blasts the undercoat and stone chip protection from the metal, with obvious rusty consequences. This is also an area where mud and grit can collect inside, with the trapped mud rusting out the leading edge of the floor. It’s a tedious and time-consuming repair: best to ensure it never needs doing.
The rear points (seen below) are ahead of the rear wheels, so slightly better off, but you can see that even on this very late and low-ish mile 3.2, rot has already set in. The anti-roll bar mount above has already been weld repaired but is again looking rusty. Rear arb mounts are a classic weak spot on impact bumper 911s.
Best way of looking after these areas is scraping off any loose underseal, getting back to nice clean metal and then rust proofing, zinc primering, and paint/epoxy primering with a good dose of fresh underseal. A regular protective coat of Waxoyl or similar around the internal surfaces does them no harm at all.
I’ve had a longhood for a while now and have been to and fro on selling it or keeping it. My business plans for the next two years leave almost no project time, so I’m getting close to selling and letting someone else have the fun of building it up.
A friend of mine is looking at building a period competition car and has been in search of inspiration. It seems to me that a good way to go with the RS-arched T would be towards a Carrera RS, an ST or Le Mans GT category car, like the version successfully raced by Porsche devotees Raymond Touroul and Andre Anselme at Le Mans in 1971 (pic below).
I know Touroul’s was white, but I would keep the Gemini Blue base and apply some wild race paint – like the Andy Prill Audemars car we all drooled over at the 2008 Classic Le Mans:
I love the look of short wheelbase 911s but, as Paul Frere rightly points out, the long wheelbase B series has always been a much better proposition for competition tuning. My car, a ‘71 T, has a 2.2E engine in unknown fettle but with MFI and allegedly rebuilt not long ago. That is a nice base to start with. Alternatively, the rules also allow carbs to be used, so it could run Weber 46s. OK, neither way is easy or cheap but with 10.3 compression it’s pretty hot.
The engine would be the dearest part of the work. Some bits can go but some can stay and that helps keep costs manageable. The cars used by Larousse and Waldegard to 1-2 the 1970 Tour de France are another inspiration, particularly as they are/were punchy but mega light (250/260 bhp in under 800 kilos) with plastic front ends. I love these pics by Larousse himself (borrowed from the Sportcar Racing Website). Again I think Gemini with silver, green and purple Tour de France-type graphics would look top notch.
Suspension and brakes were relatively standard on these cars and to be honest I have no idea what is fitted to mine but the underpinnings are pretty easy to come by. That is another plus.
I would get the 7s and 9s the car needs to look right made by Harvey out in the US – I prefer Fuchs to the Fuchs front/Minilite rear looks most people use. Although the famous ’sunroof ST’ is rather gorgeous:
The only problem with pics of the Sunroof ST and the also very famous French ST (below) is that they are both superb colours! It’s tough not to rip all the Gemini paint off and go with them. That said, if you are taking off RS arches and welding on ST versions, then the paint is coming off anyway.
I think it’s worth going to town on stiffening the shell as much as possible, with seam welding and a welded cage (like Lex’s car below), but I think it is probably possible to build a nice car for sensible money and then go have some fun. Thanks to working my butt off on freelance jobs since the recession kicked in, my hobby finances are in ever-improving shape, so I may yet do the job myself.
We’ve moved the car to Rob’s new workshop now, so I guess it’s time to go look at Gemini and get a proper idea of what is possible. And how much it’s gonna cost!
I’m seeing quite a few Porsche cars around at the minute that, in my opinion, were hastily bought. When it comes to pre-’89 911s, this is not a good idea.
The usual Buyers’ Guides point out where to look. The spots are always the same but, since many guides have not been updated for a few years, the information is behind the market. This is not good either.
Even when the ‘what to avoid’ information is pertinent to the car in question, buyers are opting to ignore the clues and spend hard earned money on a Porsche 911 that has problems bubbling beneath the surface; ‘bubbling’ being the operative word. It’s high time I finished my own Impact Bumper Buyers’ Guide and I have recently returned to work on it. I’m hoping to have copies on sale here by the end of May.
In the interim, listen carefully. When it comes to 911s, there is one big thing to watch out for. It’s not the early 915 gearbox some guides bang on about, and it’s not the must-have full history others mention. It’s rust.
RUST is the number one thing to watch out for on any pre-’89 911. Once it’s in there, it is a proper nightmare to get it out again, and a double nightmare to keep it out. Opting to buy a classic 911 that shows obvious signs of rust, no matter how small, is a BAD IDEA unless there is absolutely no other option.
“They’re galvanised” say the sellers, “they don’t rot. That little bubble by the door latch is where I caught it with a bunch of keys and never touched it up.”
WAKE UP PEOPLE! Farm gates are galvanised, but anyone who has ever tried to climb over a 20 year-old one, only to find their foot breaks the bottom rung in half, knows that galvanising metal does not make it indestructible. These old Porsches have completely unlined under-arch spaces, with a few handy ledges for mud to build up and get trapped on, near spots that have been sandblasted raw by the gravel flung up on much-enjoyed roads. What do you think is going to happen there?
“Why did Porsche make such a mess of the design then?” you ask. They didn’t! Our beloved 911s still look fresh in terms of style, but they’re 30 or 40 years old. Some rot in that time is inevitable on a UK-supplied RHD car. A similarly-used MGB would be scrap in half the time.
Trust me: anyone who tells you Porsches are galvanised and do not rot is talking out of their tradesmans’ entrance. When conditions are right, the metal in these cars rots like any other.
Any statement by a seller (regardless of how respected you believe them to be) to the effect that the little bubble of rust on a 911 door slam, sill, under a window rubber, on a rear quarter panel or under a 911 headlight is just a stone chip left untreated, should be disregarded until you have seen the other side of the panel with a flashlight and a pokey thing.
In pound-note terms, if a 911 doesn’t have Fuchs, factor in at least £1000 with tyres to sort that and remember: most of the take-off wheels which come up for sale to help pay for Fuchs are worth nothing. If it doesn’t have an original steering wheel, add £100 minimum to sort it. Non original seats? If it had sports seats to start then £400 minimum.
But rust: what to knock off for rust? Put it this way. If you took a 911 with a few tiny sill bubbles showing above the sill cover (on an impact bumper car) to a bodyshop to have it repaired, you could end up paying £1500 a side to have sills and inner sills done including basic paint. More if it needs kidney bowls (see below) and B-posts (the metal panel where the door latches sit), and more again if the paint is complex metallic that has faded with age and is going to take some skill to match.
So the next time someone says “It’s a 911. It’s galvanised. It doesn’t rust”: remember this. It didn’t rust for the ten years the protection was guaranteed for, but that was the extent of its warranted chemical envelope. Car and protection are now in the region of three times that age: well past where you can expect rust to have started eating away at a car that has been in the salt-sprinkled UK all its life.
Yes, there are one or two rot free cars out there, but they are the absolute minority! Do your homework, get it inspected (I do inspections if you’re looking for someone quick and sensible) and take your time making sure it’s right for you. Don’t rush in to anything – unless you’re happy throwing money down a 911-shaped hole, that is.
