911 2.4E / RS - Page 1 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

First think to look at is body shell,,,911 were galvanised from '76 so this one won't be.I imagine it would have had some paint at some stage,,so check it is not like an over ripe fruit,looks good from the outside but rotten inside. Ona car like this that has been converted,there are basically 20+ years of 911 parts that may be fitted,brakes,chain tensioners..the list goes on.So hard to say what you have there. Check the body first,rear torsion bar,any period interior trim for these cars is expensive,,make sure it doesn't smoke,you can get all the gears etc...if you are happy with it,,,get it checked out by one of the many specialists. A very rough guide but these cars are expensive to put right. I was put off early cars by mpg,,,in efficient early injection systems give 12-15mpg an '80s 911 gives 20-23 for example.

12 - 15 bl**dy hell and I thought the TVR was bad. I was only buying it for a bit of fun in addition to the other two. Need to think a bit more carefully about this one I think my other option is a 1988 3.2 so that sounds a bit better on fuel and probably a bit cheaper to run in the long term. Thanks for the advice

exactly what i did i had 2 1989 3.2 cars...The early cars are classics etc...but there is genuine evolution with the 911 range and the later cars are better in most respects...Obviously now various threads on original character etc...will begin.

Early cars dance on their toes like Mohammed Ali, later cars move like Audley Harrison in comparison. But then Harrison packs a harder punch than Ali. That's the best way of summing them up that I can think of at this time. I've owned an E, an SC, a 3.2 and a 964 and they are all wonderful in their own ways and I've had a lot of fun in each of them. As for fuel consumption - get real! If it's an occasional car why let this bother you. An E "presented as a 2.7RS" as I see those who advertise in Porsche Post like to describe their cars as is OK if the price is right. The standard E engine develops 165 bhp on milder cams than the S or 2.7RS. If it's a genuine copy the owner will have had to fit RS rear flares (or more likely SC ones, the curvature is different but only really noticeable if you put an RS next to an SC). If the owner's had the entire rear wings replaced rather than just grafted on the flares, then that's a real bonus... The cars rot everywhere too, even the galvanised floorpan...and no doubt in its conversion to RS spec the car will have been repainted...which can hide a multitude of sins...valuewise I'd not pay anywhere over £10k for a good RS replica and even then would much prefer a genuine standard car. Don't think you can restore the car back to original either -it'd cost far too much to do (perhaps only worthwhile if it's an rhd "S")

In addition to the good advice already given. It's an E, but it's not an E from a collector perspective. So watch what you pay! Check that it is an E, you could post the serial # minus the last couple of digits that wiil give a lot of info about the car. Something like 911 220 xxxx There are some parts that are hard to find on the MFI cars. The 72 should have a thermostat controlled air flap just to the left of dizzy, and it should work. Also the speed switches are hard to find, but can be repaired. Having said all that, get it, you'll love it. Jeff

The main thing to look for on any early 911 is rust: boot floor, battery boxes, fuel tank support, front suspension mounts, cockpit floors (especially around the pedals and at the rear corners), sills, kidney bowls, chassis around rear torsion bar tube, below the headlamps, front and rear screen surrounds et. etc. Ant RS update will have been an opportunity to cover up most of the rust, and it WILL have rust. Look for fresh underseal. Has it has any mechanical RS upgrades? Bilstein struts, A/R bars, carrera chain tensioners. Is it L or RHD? The 72 model is unique in thet the oil filler is on the outside of the car, just in front of the OSR wheel. Does it have all the exterior trim and correct lenses and horn grills? These are expensive on early cars. Get a PPI Nick Moss

Confusingly, only the E series cars had the oil filler flap on the rear wing - the F series cars (which were also produced in 1972) reverted to the internal filler after some of our friends across the Atlantic (allegedgly) started to fill their oil tanks with petrol....

Rubtystone, There's plenty of dumb pleople this side of the pond, maybe I'm one of them, but the 72 S, E & T all had external oil fillers on rear wing. It was originally done to move the tank (weight) fw'd of the rear wheels, then there were some safety issues so it was moved back. But I expect someone diluted their oil! Jeff

Sorry Jeff, no offence meant but it is true! Porsche did move the oil tank forward of the rear wheels to try to reduce some of that weight hanging out behind them and only moved it back because people (of an unspecified race but alleged to be North American) did mistake the filler for the one for fuel. Perhaps these were just pump jockeys, who knows....

Interestingly Porsche did indeed move it back in front of the rear wheel in 1989 for the 964 and 993 models, although this time they located the filler in the engine bay and joined it to the tank with a pipe through the chassis leg, which also explains why these later cars are painfully slow to fill with oil compared to the earlier cars.

I had a 1970 911 E , 2.2. orange....lhd,.....in 1975 paid £1200 then. Changed from 1972 454 c.i. Chevrolet Corvette. Drove to Margate before motorways from South London ( Tooting) in 90 minutes to be present at daughters birth. Big change from `Vette, it lifted the nearside front wheel when pressed , cornering,like an umbrella on a wet Sunday in April( before global warming) Made a big impresion though, had two more 911` s and I`m thinking GT3 as we speak.

Rubystone No problem (I'm actually a Brit anyway) Jeff

Thinking about buying a 1972 911E that has had cosmetic rs 2.7 parts fitted any one got any advice about what to look out for on these ? Going to lok at next week Know quite a bit about TVR's but not a huge ammount about 911's Any advice most welcome.