My son and I would like to do a 911 restore. And I am looking for some suggestions on what years are the best for a first time restore. I am most concerned with parts availability and ease of restoration. Any opinions would be great or even shared experiences.
Thanks
Erik
There are a lot of factors that figure into a project as you may realize. Cost will be based on condition to begin with, level of detail and originality desired, and how much you plan to do yourself. Starting from a junker to reach concours is the most extreme and costly. If it were me and I wanted a car that would hold some value over time I'd go for a 69 to 73 long hood S > E > T in terms of desirability. Next either a 78-83 SC or an 84-89 Carrera. I'd keep it close to stock. There are plenty of both OEM and high quality aftermarket parts available for these cars. Pelicanparts has a forum where a lot of information on restoration can be found. Think long and look hard before you open the check book. There are abandoned restorations out there, you could also begin there as well.
That's great thanks! Now looking at those years you suggested (looking at the 80's models probably) should I stay away from the ones without working engines? How complex are the engins on those years. Are they fairly easy to work on? What issues might I foresee trying to get a no running car running? Was there a specific year that was relatively bad compared to others?
Thanks
The 84-89 3.2L introduced the hydraulic chain tensioner which is very important and has proven very reliable with good maintenance. Rebuilding any Porsche flat six is not cheap. A top end rebuild done thoroughly and with OEM parts can cost 10K parts and labor. Personally for a restoration, even just a driver not a shower, I'd want an engine (top and bottom) in good shape and ready to run. For the cost of a engine rebuild you can buy a running 84 coupe in decent shape. You might want to check out Excellence magazine on line and see what the values are for a 3.2 Carrera vintage 84-86 (pre G50 tranny) for some perspective. A 5K runner needing 5K parts and your own labor is reasonable. A non runner, even for free, that needs 20k for engine and parts is not reasonable. A 70-73 911S would be a different story. Do a little research on the Excellence website as a start and it will make more sense. Good luck!
The air-cooled 911 engine is the most complicated engine I've ever worked on; I did a full rebuild of a 70 911-T engine back in the 80s ... I considered myself pretty experienced as I used to restore cars and build engines for drag racers. I had to buy a lot of tools and pore through manuals and parts diagrams ... a 911 engine rebuild is not for the inexperienced. At the end, I surmised it would have been easier and cheaper to send it away for an exchange unit. I do now have all kinds of tools that I can't use on any other car
As to which one, I would go for a 87-89 Carrera 3.2 with the G50 transmission. The early cars suffered from tin worm and the 901 transmission didn't like hard acceleration in 1st. (Well, it did but the 1st gear bearing would go bad and become noisy.) The 915 transmission is fine, if you shift them as they were intended to be used... deliberately.
If you want something that will be easier to work on, consider a 69 912. A 911 body with a 356 engine and the longer wheelbase. If you can work on a VW engine, you'll have no problems.
