While the car was en-route for the UK on the good ship Integrity (I kid you not) I had plenty of time to scour the internet looking at 911 builds and think about what I wanted to achieve. I was pretty sure I didn't want to plough a load of money into a full-on restoration from the start, but to get the car roadworthy, focus on the mechanicals and not worry about the cosmetics. I could then spend the summer having fun and then evaluate things once I’d had the chance to learn exactly what I’d bought.
So the first aim was to get the car legal, safe, reliable and fun to drive. I was also attracted to the idea of removing the unknown quality that was the 130bhp (40 years ago..) CIS motor and replacing it with something with more grunt, possibly a used 3.0SC motor. A check with Porsche on the chassis number revealed that my purchase was originally a late (July 1973) 911T in metallic silver with some of the nice bits they added to the run out cars: Fuchs (long gone), sunroof, ‘S’ instrument pack, 5-speed ‘box and f&r anti roll bars. It was also likely to have the 7R strengthened magnesium cases. As any originality was long gone, it seemed an opportunity to build up a hotrod on a budget.
Now I was very unsure about doing this work myself, and started casting around for some professional help - and I should add that this was before I'd met any DDK-ers! I'd become aware of the reputation of the Tuthills company based near Banbury in Oxfordshire. I'd read articles about their rally car and hotrod builds in numerous magazine and internet articles, and chatted with one of their engineers at RaceRetro. They clearly knew old 911s and the idea of having the car looked after by a ‘brand’ might be a good idea as far as future values went.
So I contacted Richard at Tuthills and we exchanged some emails. I've just dug some of them out, and found them interesting. My original brief to him was: “My aim is to build something that is quick and fun, with solid mechanicals and worry about paint and cosmetics in the future. The car will be used entirely on the road, probably daily in good weather, and although I don't spend very much time commuting or travelling on the motorways it needs to be capable of both things. Nowadays I'm not into massive speed, and don't really exceed three figures on the open road, yet I want to be able to cruise quietly through the 30/40's. A stripped out road-racer doesn't appeal either, so I will want to retain sound deadening and fit some sort of sound system. As far as appearance goes, I like the S/T look, but will happily live with a bit of a ratty spin. While one of your superb paint jobs and leather/alcantara interiors would be lovely, I don't have the budget for that or a full restoration. So I'll keep the yellow matt paint for now, and might do a quick job with a black rattle can on the boot and bonnet. Essentially I'm trying to recreate the supple, balanced, responsive, confidence giving drives I can remember from cars I've driven or owned in the past; a couple of Integrales, various VW Golf and 205Gti's, an E30 M3, a 60's Lotus Elan, my old man's very standard 2litre 924(superb in the wet!) and a series of Caterhams I built.”
I arranged to go a see Richard, and we spent some time discussing options and continued the discussion later via email. He really seemed to get what I was trying to achieve and eventually we agreed on a plan of attack:
- Collect car from Southampton
- Comprehensive inspection
Then assuming the above doesn't reveal I've bought a shed:
- A full service including inspection of brakes, fuel system, electrics etc to ensure things were safe.
- Fit UK spec headlights, new seat-belts and tyres
- Check seals and rubbers to make sure it was watertight
- Suspension refresh, including uprated rear torsion bars and new Tuthills spec. Bilstein dampers
- Refurbish brake system, so pads/discs/flexible hoses and then fit Tuthills split master cylinders and pedal
- MOT and register the car
- Decide on engine options once the current CIS lump had been evaluated
I bought some nice Recaro Sports CS seats to replace to ones that came in the car, and asked Tuthills to fit them using their low seat mounts:
And I also sourced a Wevo sprung-gate gear lever to add a bit of confidence to my dealings with a worn 915 'box:
....and (the inevitable) nice used Momo Prototipo that I had double wrapped.
Richard supplied an initial estimate and it left room within the £10k I’d mentally assigned to the project for a used engine, so I gave him the ok. It was to be my first experience of how old Porsche specialists are also expert in separating customers from their money.
In met engine man Mark at the docks, helped him load the car, and watched it head off to Tuthills.
I then mentally held my breath and waited for the inspection to be complete followed by the inevitable phone call from Tuthills asking me to remove the heap of rusty junk that was lowering the tone of their establishment.
Meanwhile the car bombed one of their Facebook posts!
C>
