'77 Carrera 3.0 Hot Rod / Outlaw

Bought my car from Mike D'Silva in May 2021 - it was originally delivered in Germany, then imported to the USA and now here in Oz, so well-travelled. Originally silver, the car was re-sprayed India Red (Indischrot) a long time ago and was resprayed in that colour during Mike's ownership. It is not a matching numbers car but does have a genuine Carrera 3.0 engine in it that is not stock and really well built by Mike D'Silva. The engine number is 31 units down the line from the engine originally fitted to the car. Have been personalising the car since getting it from Mike and thought I'd share some of that here. Will start off from some photos of its earlier life in the US, when it was owned by the President of the Delaware chapter of Porsche Club America and had a fair bit done to it for use as a track car.

After some years passed, Mike D'Silva bought the car from the USA and imported into Australia. He improved the car's appearance with a  respray and went for black Fuchs but given that he builds engines, this is where he spent his time, coming up with a really strong, high-compression Carrera 3.0 motor on ITBs that puts out considerably more at the hubs than a standard car has at the flywheel. The car was loaded onto a transporter at Mike's home in Brisbane & brought down to Victoria - at that point it gave me a great base for the personalisation I had in mind - more on that to come soon. Images here are all from Mike D'Silva.

Now that the car was mine, it was time to personalise - I get mine serviced and looked after by Mike Jacobson at Spyder Automobiles in Warragul - good operator and a long-time friend. There were a couple of things that I wanted to address right from the start (lack of headroom meant that we'd need to modify or replace the seats for example). As we worked our way through getting the Vic roadworthy and crawled all over the car, there were various things that came up. As most on here have no doubt experienced, there was a fair bit of "while we've got it apart, let's do that" which of course snowballs and grows the job list. One of the early changes was going to slightly wider wheels (7s & 8s) with a nice set of Fuchs reps from Cameron at Classic Wheels. Then a possible problem with getting the Bilstein struts re-bushed for the roadworthy (fixed with the bushes all done after a bit of chasing around) led me to look into KW V3 dampers earlier than originally planned. So went down the route of KW, Elephant bushes and Elephant plates plus ran the car lower (raised ride height when I got it due to the steep driveway in Brisbane). Number of other jobs around the car to get everything tweaked nicely and off we go!

I miss that car and the responsiveness of the motor! You've really taken it to the next level Tony

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Thanks Mike - SUCH a good engine build you did on this one - strong everywhere, responsive and tractable. Gives a really good base for me to play with. So, we all know how things can grow bigger than the original plan. The car has a fibreglass front air dam & I wanted to make some kind of skid block to protect the bottom of it from driveway scrapes and the like. We then removed the front mounted oil cooler (only half of it was getting airflow anyway) and replaced it with a standard oil cooler in the front wheel well. That meant that the air dam didn't have much "meat" in the middle. This all meant that the air dam could be strengthened by filling in the old oil cooler hole and the skid block idea became a full splitter, going back under the car a little way - combination of both meant a better-protected air dam and (in my opinion at least) a better look. Whilst that was being done, took the opportunity to add in a "Porsche smile" that had to be made as the original part couldn't sit down behind the bumper properly due to supporting bars there for the air dam. Some before and after pics - really happy with how it turned out - the work done by Mike Tankard.

Looking good. I notice your RHS mirror is for a RHD car and as such would me mounted further down the front guard, levelling it up - you maybe able to find an alternative mirror and use the existing holes or you'll need to get Mike to patch and paint the door and mount a new mirror to straighten it up.

Thanks Hugh, yeah I definitely want to change the mirrors - RHS one has been over-tightened at some point and bent the door skin a bit so that it sags slightly. Replacing the mirrors is a project to come but spotted a style of mirror that I liked (on a Workshop 5001 car) and bought a set from them. Have them ready for when "mirror time" rocks around - will take some fiddling around to get them mounted up right so expecting it to be a Mike job.

Part 2 of the exterior updates was to replace the factory rear bumper with a narrowed "IROC style" bumper, With the factory rear bumper, it felt to me that the front with the air dam and the standard rear weren't quite "balanced" visually - personal taste I know. So Mike Tankard provided and modified and IROC fibreglass rear bumper, did all the work to fit it up, etc and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. Photos of original bumper, replacement and side view.

beautiful!

Sooooo much better mate 👍

Completely agree with your "balanced" comment and the new rear bumper presents a much better look in that side profile.

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Thanks pal - getting there for sure - so good to have the legend Mike Tankard (who I've known for quite some time) to do the work - really happy with how the old girl is going. Thanks buddy - yeah, it looks much more "right" now to me and glad it does to others as well!

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As most know, I am NO fan of the IB overriders, as it spoils the lines of a 911

So, decided to do something a little different. Removed the radio as part of the interior work (more to come on that) so didn't need the radio aerial any more. On a spur of the moment, used graphics as a bit of a homage to the "gills" on the famous RHD 2.8 RSR still residing in Oz. It is the only 1973 2.8 RSR built Right Hand Drive by the factory and the only one to have the gills fitted by the factory - making it truly a one of a kind. It was built for Ray Thackwell - he used it here in Australia to compete in Sports Sedan racing in WA I believe. The car is still here and has passed through a few hands since, even went to the UK for a while. It was seeing (& hearing) that same car being accelerated hard & then backed off with the heavy overrun snarl that got me pretty much hooked on 911s. The other connection to the blue car is that Ray Thackwell (original owner) was the father of Mike Thackwell, for a long time the youngest person to start a Formula 1 race (it was only Max Verstappen that lowered the age). I knew Mike (not well, but did know him) in the UK - he had driven for the Ralt factory team before I worked there and we’d see him around, he did some F3 races (including Macau) and a bunch of us hung out together - seriously good racer. The third connection I feel to that car is that the trimmer who did my interior worked on the RSR back in the day and did quite a bit of trimming work on it  - like me he absolutely loves that car. So, I feel a very real connection to the blue car and have the “gills” on mine as a connection!

So now to the interior. Right from the start, I knew that I'd need to alter the existing seats or replace them (head against the roof on test drive). The original plan to alter them turned into something that was very hard to do, so replacement seats or at least one seat was needed. Weighed up race seats of one kind or another but ended up going with a pair of GTS classics seats from the US. Stefan is a clever guy and the seats fit 911s well, the style I went for suit the age of the car, the seat runners actually sit up into the frame of the seat to maximise headroom too. Stefan from GTS agreed to send the seats in component form so that we could trim them here. I'd decided to go with the family tartan (Shetland ancestry) as part of a full interior makeover - more on that to come. End result was 8cm more head room! Few pics of the seat frames and bits before building them up. One shot shows the difference between new seats and those in the car when I bought it - plus photo showing how close to the bottom of the car the seat base is- measured by hand (literally LOL).

As often happens, with the new seats to go in, one thing leads to another..... Decided to completely re-trim the interior, using nappa leather, genuine lightweight carpet, alcantara and of course, the family tartan. Lot of work in this so I'll spread over a few posts. The work was all done by the legendary Dave Hosking at Carrera Trimming (also the original Australian Car Covers ). Dave has done some fantastic cars over the years with great results & loves Porsches - including his own 912 which is just a LOVELY thing! We talked at great length & I was keen to have some tartan highlighting through the cabin - liked the dash strip and top door strip approach to match up with the seats. To do this, the dash essentially had to be back-dated and everything re-aligned. We didn't want to go "all new" as I also wanted to retain links to the car itself and its past - kinda feels more real to me that way. Some raw material shots and start of the process shots in this post,

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Is the tartan a heavy weight wool? Or a Poly visco?

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Hi Adam - used the heavy weight wool. Actually bought the wool AND the synthetic as wasn't sure which would suit needs best. When we looked at everything though, the wool is better and seems to be what others use too.

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I have a synthetic in my car and it is definitely not the greatest.  A heavier weight wool would be a much better option.

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Awesome this validates my choice in the heavy weight wool for my car. My tartan patern

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Very Niiiiizze!

The work to turn the GTS Classics seat frames into the finished article was all done by Dave Hosking at Carrera Trimming. Different densities of foam used depending on the part of the seat (some from GTS Classics, some provided by Dave). Clan Gunn tartan in the centre, with double row stitching to position and retain shape and continuing over the top of the frame structure for a smoother and more workable look, seat heating elements and adjustable lumbar support also fitted. The sides, rear and headrests all trimmed in hand-sewn nappa leather. Not only am I much lower in the car, better located and more comfortable but they also look fantastic I reckon. Dave also re-trimmed the steering wheel in alcantara by hand, changed the Momo logo and yellow positioning stripe to red and red leather to match the car's exterior - just quality work all round.

Next section to show / tell is the dash. Wanted to run a strip of tartan along the face of the dash and add an alcantara pad to the top to dress it up a bit and protect the old darling's original dash top from the ravages of our Sun down under. As always, ended up being a bigger job than planned, as to fit the front strip (used the Rennline front extrusion) we needed to essentially backdate the dash, including fitting the older style ventilation controls, which I obtained from David Jenej. I was really keep to keep the little side vents as to me they are part of what the car is and Dave had a lot of fiddly work to do with the strip to get that all happening. Obtained a bare glovebox lid from Mike Tankard and to finish off the front fascia, everything above the tartan strip was re-trimmed in alcantara as well, including the instrument binnacle - it's subtle but SO bloody nice! Finished it off with a full set of billet knobs / switches from Rennline (still a couple to finish when the photos were taken).

Nice work mate 👍

Looks great, what clan tartan is that or was it case of “I like the look of that tartan “ Eject button, classic. 😁

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Thanks Lee - Dave Hosking at Carrera Trimming did all the work, can't claim credit for it - I'm merely the "patron" (& of course visionary, driver etc LOL) 😁 Hi Sjm, that's Clan Gunn modern - my family is part of Clan Gunn but the tartan really suits the car as it happens. Yeah, love the eject button - got to have some fun! 😂

Hi Sjm, that's Clan Gunn modern - my family is part of Clan Gunn but the tartan really suits the car as it happens. Yeah, love the eject button - got to have some fun! 😂 Nice, I'm a Glaswegian, not an expert by any means of Tartans, but looks cool anyhow.

That's a couple of air cooled Tartened up now

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Shetland Islander here - if you want to check out the vast array of different tartans, I bought mine from The Scotland Shop - online setup for tartan sales, so many of them.

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That’s absolutely awesome, very nice 👍

Next up is doors. Mine already had smooth, kinda "RS" style door cards (with speakers) but we wanted to run a strip of tartan along the top of the doors to line up exactly with the dash strip and tie the interior together nicely. Have seen a number of cars done like this but neither Dave nor I felt that they got the join between the tartan and the rest of the door quite right. He came up with the idea of using an aluminium extrusion to match the extrusion on the dash and have a clean split between tartan and the planned nappa leather remainder of the trim. He made up completely new door cards, fitted them with Carbone surrounds for the window switches, Rennline lock knobs & buttons, re-trimmed the handle on each door in alcantara and the pull strap in leather. We also took the opportunity to use black vinyl wrap around the door edges - Porsche normally paint the cars that way but when it was resprayed it was done red - can no longer see the red paint around the edges of the door trim - nice. The door cappings are the original cappings - they line up with the original dash top strip to once again, tie the interior together and keep the car linked to its past.

I love the touch of the aluminium trim. Very nice.

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Thanks Jeff - yes, I'm really pleased with it too - touch of genius from Dave Hosking to come up with that idea, really makes a difference!

Did you spray any protective onto the wool? Or left as is?

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Hi Adam - have left as is but I'll definitely be treating it, just need to work out the best product.

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Please let me know what you go with, thanks

The carpet in my car had been there for at least 20 years & was showing its age, plus had a fair bit of impregnation of one thing and another. So Dave Hosking sourced proper lightweight carpet, trimmed the car up with it, including numerous detail changes to various pieces to sit and fit better, trimmed all the edges in nappa leather, embrodered "Carrera 3.0" into the carpet on the rear parcel shelf and in the front footwells and finally made up some classic style footwell pockets for small items - love what he's done and the carpet really makes such a difference to the experience of driving the car - so good. First 3 pics of what was there and what came out, rest of the new work.

One of the really good things about a top-shelf trimmer is the attention to detail that happens - Dave Hosking is just soooo good and as he's a keen on Porsches generally, he goes to town - so details like wrapping the seat mounts in nappa leather, the handbrake, alcantara a pillars, nappa leather b pillars, carpet shaped around the Rennshifter, even tartan seat belt lock buttons (& alcantara on the back so that they don't mark the seat lather) all come with the job - brilliant! We then decided to replace the old, kinda worn out engine bay pad with a custom quilted pad, done by Dave at Carrera Trimming - looks great I reckon!

Love it!!

I've mentioned Dave Hosking and the awesome trimming job that he's done on my car, with more to come. At times I've referred to him as "legendary" and these photos tell a small part of why he deserves that reference. The first photo is a younger Dave, in the engine bay of a 356 at Spyder Automobiles' workshop in South Yarra - circa 1988, where he was doing some trimming work for John Gregory. The second photo is Dave a few weeks ago, in the engine bay of my 911 at Spyder Automobiles' workshop in Warragul, where he was doing some trimming work for me and for John Gregory's son-in-law, Mike Jacobson. Legends all and great to have two of them so involved in the car.

I kinda "glossed over" the awesome engine in this car that Mike D'Silva built - it deserves more attention. The car had gone through a few different engines & no longer had it's original engine when Mike bought it. He sourced a genuine Carrera 3.0 engine in parts (31 units older than the original engine in the car, according to the engine numbers). He then proceeded to build it up, not as a stock engine, but as a hot rod, with guidance and inspiration from William Knight in the US. With 10.2:1 Carillo pistons, Web cams, RHD ITBs from Sydney, Rasant Products wiring and engine kit and AEM ECU, - all puffing out through a 997 GT3 muffler - the engine just zzzings - way more power than stock (more at the hubs than a stock motor has at the flywheel) and it is just SO responsive with strong power and torque right across the rev range - Mike has build a brilliant engine, I'm really lucky to have it!

This is coming together very nicely - a lot of good choices being made.

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Cheers mate, coming along nicely now - feeling pretty good about how it is progressing.

The car is currently back at Spyder Automobiles getting a few things done - and that will just about get me to where I want the car to be - as we all know, there'll always be bits and pieces to fiddle with but we're getting close to the car being personalised the way I want it to be. With a number of different owners over 3 continents and some different uses and changes (for example, car had AC when new, since partially removed) I have really wanted to tidy up the wiring since I bought it. A lot of that is now happening, removing the rest of the AC wiring (& switchgear, that had been taped up under the dash) and also the condenser from the smugglers box. Part of that is to replace the current ceramic fuses with blade fuses - got myself a kit for that from Adapt Motorsport in Perth (since relocated to Switzerland) and it has fitted up really well. Also took the opportunity to anchor the existing strut brace to the floor of the frunk (with a bonded supporting plate underneath that it is bolted to) to sharpen up the front end further. Some of the bushes on the Tarett adjustable ARBs were a bit tired so had some new bushes and spacers made. Also have had the stainless steel GT3 muffler ceramic coated black - looks so much better to me and smooths out the look of the rear of the car IMHO.

From the time that I test drove the car, 5th gear was noisy - whine kinda like a straight cut gear but not quite as loud. Mike D'Silva was very upfront about it, wanted to sell the car as is and we agreed on a figure all round that allowed for that. So after a few false starts, the time came to remove the engine and gearbox - allowed some of the electrical tidy up but also for the gearbox to be pulled apart. As often happens, one thing leads to another and knowing that 5th was going to be replaced for some time, I had planned to change one or two other ratios, maybe go to a lower 7:31 CWP and I was keen to get an LSD back in the car (it originally had one but the current gearbox did not). A deal came up on social media for a Brena Racing 7:31 CWP from Neat Gearboxes in Adelaide - had to go for that. Then I saw a deal for an OBX-RS Torsen LSD on Ebay for a 915 and grabbed that. When we pulled the box out and checked everything over, made the decision to lower 3rd slightly to even out the spacing - so bought replacement 3rd & 5th gears from Albins in Ballarat. New bearings, new detente springs (one was well-sagged, the other had collapsed) and an aluminium-housing HD clutch (1.5kg lighter than standard unit fitted to the car) and the box all rebuilt and setup at Spyder Automobiles by Mike Jacobson and the gearbox should be really sweet now and the lower CWP and LSD really sharpen the car up plenty on those backroad, twisty country drives!

Last step in the re-trim has now been done - it is also the last step in the mental picture of how I wanted the car when I bought it. Has taken nearly 2 years (with some Covid delays included) and whilst there will always be jobs to do & other tweaks to be made, it feels really good to have the initial wishlist done. Pics show the boot (or "froot" as I like to call it) when I bought the car, the AC compressor that we found lurking in the smuggler's box (AC removed from the car a couple of decades ago) and finally the re-trimmed end result. All work done by Dave Hosking at Carrera Trimming again - he's SO good! Has definitely all been worth it. Tartan used is my family tartan so that it matches the interior of the car, we removed the cover for the smuggler's box, cleaned it out and can now use that space for difficult shaped bags etc, cover on the spare, some tools mounted to the top of that (level off the floor nicely) and matching tool roll (with logo of course) and fuse cover opposite each other.

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She is coming up to be something special Mate 👍

Time gets away - been a couple of years since last posting. It's largely been a case of driving, enjoying and maintaining but a couple of jobs on the car were to replace the "flag" mirrors with something smaller, more Outlaw. I saw one of these mirrors in a Workshop 5001 video, sent them an email and bought a pair. They'd been sitting on a shelf at home waiting for the right moment to fit them. When the check strap on the driver's door needed repair, it was time to do the mirrors as well. Their mounts are not the same as Porsche mounts so needed sheet metal work. Really happy with the outcome - although being completely honest they are not as good a mirror as the "flags" but they are certainly good enough and I love the look. Also fitted rear shelf mounts (with supporting plate underneath) for a 4 point harness for track days & filled in the radio aerial hole in the front guard - removed the radio some time ago.

Vid on the car from Scott Brenchley (shot late in 2024). Few more things done this year - more on those to come.