Since I have yet to buy an Aircooled 911, I had always been looking over the fence to see the greener grass. I felt at some point I was going to have to get one because I work too hard to always be on the sidelines. Constantly wondering and watching all the regular places nothing was that tempting for me to piss off my wife with another old car showing up at the house. Daily searching here, thesamba, Bat, CnB, pcarmarket, & even some questionable dealers in "Beverly Hills" and Monterey, craigslist, etc ... nothing worth the risk.
I felt like if I was going to get one in my price range I would have to sacrifice something from my dream 911. The allure of a Targa was strong, justifying that I live in SoCal and having an open top would be fun and useful. That would allow me to get a ‘better’ car for less money. I love the 78/79 SC, told myself if I find a 7/81 I would HAVE to do it (guess when I was born), but really like the 3.2. Mr. Horacio nearly got me into a ROW 3.2 Targa, and that’s one I regret not buying…I'd never buy a Cabriolet, nearly bought a few Cabriolet conversion and thought I could return them to Targas... just to get one. Yikes. I'm glad I waited.
Anyways… I’ve been looking for a minute.
Most recently I was aggressively bidding on one of Magnus Walkers’ cars thinking that the horrendous 935 FB kit on an NA car would keep the bidding down, but it still sailed past my comfort zone… I did end up buying a parts’ lot from the auction.I shared the pic of the Jetta with its trunk filled with an assortment of exhaust pipes with no context. Now you know...
Finally, this car popped up on BaT. Terrible thumbnail pic, definitely needs to be lowered and had some mismatched mods (RS Panels, Prototipo, but stock seats). Lots of things to scare the purists away. LWB 912 that was converted to a -6, so wont have the VIN that purists want to pay extra for… Was delivered in Irish Green, but was now in resale red, luckily with no trace of green anywhere… But then theres the motor… Motor Meister documented 2.4 rebuild. RUN!... however, it was rebuilt 20+ years ago and has already been driven over 25k miles. I think any issues would’ve reared their ugly face by now. Seller seems cool and just enjoyed a car that someone restored in 05...
So I’m bidding, a few bids over what I wanted to max out at and I’m thinking I’m actually going to win, but at literally the last second, some other yahoo tosses a +$250 bid. This seemed like a charity bid and I wasn’t going to enter a bidding war with someone who doesn’t seem remotely interested so I let the clock run out and he wins. I hope he follows through for the sellers-sake, as I have dealt with sh!thead buyers on BaT before. Now I’m bummed, but I have a project I need to finish, so maybe this was a sign to finish the damn Elan… but then I get a second chance at it about a month later. I pull the trigger, and it was dropped off recently.
Just for fun, I used my old-school modding tactics (IE MS Paint) to lower the car... not bad lol
What have I got myself into!?... I have a plan of attack on this car. I always do…Obviously it needs a drop, badly and I intend to do that.
First though is to see what’s going on with the 902/16 gearbox. I want it to be as good as it can be at shifting because if it’s a bowl of mush, the love really cant be kindled. There is a spare (stock?) shift rod, so looking through the receipts and theres instructions for a Weltmeister short shift kit. My goal is to tighten up the shifter, I can swap back to the stock rod later if I don't like how it feels when everything else is good. I have a ‘kit’ of 4 items in my PP cart ready to go, but not sure if it’s the best place to start. This includes the ball cup bushing, shift rod bushing, the shift rod boot and a new set screw for the shift rod coupling. I also have been looking at a few items that Patrick Motorsport is selling. Are their shift rod couplings better?... and then theres the Shift Rod Joint Coupler, theres the WEVO version and the regular version… oh where oh where do I start?!
The other ‘kit’ is to fix the ride height (turbo tie-rods, bump steer correction kit and steering rack spacers). The interior will get a few changes too. Prototipos are cool, but everyone has one so that’s going away and I will reinstall the 4-spoke and will be getting the hockey puck center horn. I also have a single Corbeau Classic seat that I want to install as a pass seat as I liked it but doesn’t have the bolstering I really want/ need and am exploring what would be a good option that matches for the driver seat… that should drain the wallet…
For now, they both have to share the tight space in the garage...
Once that’s all done, and the Elan is done there will be a final showdown. Only one will survive and I want to give both an equal chance to represent, hopefully my wife will be patient enough with me to let me make that comparison happen. If the 912-6 survives all of that, and the Elan goes away the next step will be a proper oil cooler setup to keep the 2.4 cool. Amongst the spares was an oil cooler, but not a front-fender mounted style. Not sure of all the different versions, but I have something (I'll post a pic soon). As for the kits I’ve found... they are nearly $5k, is that right?!..
That’s definitely a 2027 purchase… I have a few other things I plan to do but this is plenty to get me started.
Heres a fun pic from last year and from this weekend...
Alright, let’s hear it..
I felt like if I was going to get one in my price range I would have to sacrifice something from my dream 911. The allure of a Targa was strong, justifying that I live in SoCal and having an open top would be fun and useful. That would allow me to get a ‘better’ car for less money. I love the 78/79 SC, told myself if I find a 7/81 I would HAVE to do it (guess when I was born), but really like the 3.2. Mr. Horacio nearly got me into a ROW 3.2 Targa, and that’s one I regret not buying…I'd never buy a Cabriolet, nearly bought a few Cabriolet conversion and thought I could return them to Targas... just to get one. Yikes. I'm glad I waited.
Anyways… I’ve been looking for a minute.
Most recently I was aggressively bidding on one of Magnus Walkers’ cars thinking that the horrendous 935 FB kit on an NA car would keep the bidding down, but it still sailed past my comfort zone… I did end up buying a parts’ lot from the auction.I shared the pic of the Jetta with its trunk filled with an assortment of exhaust pipes with no context. Now you know...
Finally, this car popped up on BaT. Terrible thumbnail pic, definitely needs to be lowered and had some mismatched mods (RS Panels, Prototipo, but stock seats). Lots of things to scare the purists away. LWB 912 that was converted to a -6, so wont have the VIN that purists want to pay extra for… Was delivered in Irish Green, but was now in resale red, luckily with no trace of green anywhere… But then theres the motor… Motor Meister documented 2.4 rebuild. RUN!... however, it was rebuilt 20+ years ago and has already been driven over 25k miles. I think any issues would’ve reared their ugly face by now. Seller seems cool and just enjoyed a car that someone restored in 05...
So I’m bidding, a few bids over what I wanted to max out at and I’m thinking I’m actually going to win, but at literally the last second, some other yahoo tosses a +$250 bid. This seemed like a charity bid and I wasn’t going to enter a bidding war with someone who doesn’t seem remotely interested so I let the clock run out and he wins. I hope he follows through for the sellers-sake, as I have dealt with sh!thead buyers on BaT before. Now I’m bummed, but I have a project I need to finish, so maybe this was a sign to finish the damn Elan… but then I get a second chance at it about a month later. I pull the trigger, and it was dropped off recently.
Just for fun, I used my old-school modding tactics (IE MS Paint) to lower the car... not bad lol
What have I got myself into!?... I have a plan of attack on this car. I always do…Obviously it needs a drop, badly and I intend to do that.
First though is to see what’s going on with the 902/16 gearbox. I want it to be as good as it can be at shifting because if it’s a bowl of mush, the love really cant be kindled. There is a spare (stock?) shift rod, so looking through the receipts and theres instructions for a Weltmeister short shift kit. My goal is to tighten up the shifter, I can swap back to the stock rod later if I don't like how it feels when everything else is good. I have a ‘kit’ of 4 items in my PP cart ready to go, but not sure if it’s the best place to start. This includes the ball cup bushing, shift rod bushing, the shift rod boot and a new set screw for the shift rod coupling. I also have been looking at a few items that Patrick Motorsport is selling. Are their shift rod couplings better?... and then theres the Shift Rod Joint Coupler, theres the WEVO version and the regular version… oh where oh where do I start?!
The other ‘kit’ is to fix the ride height (turbo tie-rods, bump steer correction kit and steering rack spacers). The interior will get a few changes too. Prototipos are cool, but everyone has one so that’s going away and I will reinstall the 4-spoke and will be getting the hockey puck center horn. I also have a single Corbeau Classic seat that I want to install as a pass seat as I liked it but doesn’t have the bolstering I really want/ need and am exploring what would be a good option that matches for the driver seat… that should drain the wallet…
For now, they both have to share the tight space in the garage...
Once that’s all done, and the Elan is done there will be a final showdown. Only one will survive and I want to give both an equal chance to represent, hopefully my wife will be patient enough with me to let me make that comparison happen. If the 912-6 survives all of that, and the Elan goes away the next step will be a proper oil cooler setup to keep the 2.4 cool. Amongst the spares was an oil cooler, but not a front-fender mounted style. Not sure of all the different versions, but I have something (I'll post a pic soon). As for the kits I’ve found... they are nearly $5k, is that right?!..
That’s definitely a 2027 purchase… I have a few other things I plan to do but this is plenty to get me started.
Heres a fun pic from last year and from this weekend...
Alright, let’s hear it..
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