.:.GENERAL RIDE INFO .:.
1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa - Air and Oil Cooled
This is my baby. She's triple black w/ full leather inside (one of only about 1800 made in the USA that year). All original with the exception of mods listed here.
I found and purchased her in the fall of '03, after review of CARFAX and inspection by Porsche dealer. I'm the 3rd owner and she showed 115k miles at the time of purchase. She's now 24 years old and under NJ Insurance laws meets the classification for a Classic Car. I haven't pursued that classification only due to the insurance driving restrictions, but another year and she'll be a true antique; THAT I might go for.
The 2nd owner had her for years but drove her only on weekends. So, she sat sadly in a garage - that's no place for a Porsche! She needed to be turned on and made hot - driven hard and put away clean - daily. So, when I came across her, I immediately made her mine.
Like all Porsches her age, she had the usual, slight oil and trans fluid leaks and, of course, the Targa top leaked a bit of water (just a small drop on the passenger rear side), but ran phenomenally. She also had some 1st gear synchro issues (more on that later) but was full on solid and nearly mint both in and out. Not a bit of rust or even a dent in the exterior, and the inside was perfect as well; no rips in the seats, no cracks or bowing of the dash, all the gauges were perfect including the analog dash clock - it even smelled new!
The first day I had her she went right into the p-tech for a good going over, a much overdue tune-up and a new alternator (which was found to have low output). After that I thought she looked a bit dated with the stock rims, so I purchased some Mille Miglia Cup 3 (turbo twist) rims and new Bridgestone Potenza tires and she was ready for the road. Here's some before and after pix of the rim switch:
BEFORE & AFTER RIM SWAP
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After the rim swap it was time to take care of the tranny's synchro problems and some other fun...
.:.PERFORMANCE MODS .:.
The first gear synchro was pretty bad upon purchase (could not put her in 1st while rolling unless you bumped it into 3rd to synch and then into 1st). Over the first 1000 miles this worsened to the point where 1st was gone completely (would not even stay in gear).
So, off to the p-tech she went, this time to drop the motor, pull the tranny and replace some synchros (at least, that's what I thought!).
Once she was there I decided I'd also slap a new Dansk stainless, dual exhaust on her, get a valve job, put in a Weltmeister performance chip and maybe call it a day.
Up top you see the motor completely out the bottom of the car, what a sight! Nice!
Here she is on the floor waiting to be worked over...
Off came the tranny.... Then split 'er!
Once it was all apart and we took a look at the gears it was clear that more cash was about to be spent! Most of the gears were bit a bit chewed up and 1st was totally done. So, in addition to all the synchros being replaced, I added all new gears to the bill.
Here you can see some of the nicks on the gears.
Hard to see, I know. Anyway, I figured - while it's apart... gotta do it. So, my wallet got much lighter, but my baby got what she needed... badly.
Oh, the Danske Sport exhaust was killer too, all stainless and beautiful the day we replaced the stocker.
STOCK PORSCHE and NEW DANSK EXHAUST
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The new exhaust is single inlet/dual out and added about 11 Horsepower. It's 84MM 304 Stainless Steel and has a really nice throaty tone to it. Not too loud, but enough to know your sporting some power! She cost me about $800 USD from Porsche Performance Products. Here's a link:
Dansk 911 Sport Muffler
The Weltmeister powerchip cost me another $300.00 USD. It claims to add an average 20hp and 15 lb-ft increase for a normally aspirated Carrera (like mine) and, although I didn't do a dyno test before and after, I can tell you there is a noticable improvement (see below).
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I bought this from Porsche Performance Products as well: Weltmeister 911 PowerChip
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After a couple weeks on the lift, a full tranny rebuild, the other assorted sundries listed above, and about $7000.00 combined to the P-tech, Dansk and Weltmeister. I finally had my baby back.
The rebuild on the tranny made her butter smooth and the new SuperChip and better breathing exhaust definitely added a bit more bark to the low end and few more horses.
She pulled better all through the Rs. And, if you know 911s then you know the 3k RPM sweet spot (like a 2 stroke powerband) is when it hits and then pulls hard right though to 6500.
Now it was hitting at 2300 and the Rev limiter didn't kick in until 7k. So nice!
Next, I wanted to replace the stock steering wheel. So, I bought a MOMO JetPilot (3 spoke carbon fiber and leather) and slapped her in along with a leather MOMO shifter knob and I was all set.
Here's the stock leather versus the Momo JetPilot wheel.
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The MOMO looks sweet in the car and has a very comfortable grip. It does block vision of the speedo a bit, but who needs a speedo anyway!? I can see the Tach and oil gauges perfectly.
The MOMO wheel cost me about $300.00. The JetPilot model has since been replaced by the "Millenium" which is almost the exact same and can still be purchased from Performance Products (where I got mine): MOMO Millenium Wheel
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With my baby running great, shifting great and looking great, the last thing I really needed to do was get my audio up to snuff...
But, before I did that, I seemed to have burnt the tires off (how'd that happen??! LOL). So, I replaced them with some Sumitomos from TireRack and they've performed without a hitch, have better hook-up than the Bridgestones, handle wet conditions MUCH better and seem to be lasting longer too!
.:.AUDIO MODS .:.
The stock, original Blaupunkt system was long gone when I bought her and had been replaced by a Sony head unit with a Kenwood 300 watt amp. Speakers consisted of component 2 way Kenwoods in the doors w/ separate tweeters, and the back deck had 3 way Kenwoods. They were all pretty shot; 2 speakers were blown, one of the back speakers had a loose wire and 1 of the front tweeter wires was broken off.
As I began looking for new audio components I had a few things I wanted to accomplish (needed to have):
1) overall the system had to pound because:
a) I like it like that! and,
b) Targas are notorious for ALOT of cabin noise due to the removable top design catching air at speed.
2) I wanted a head unit that was XM ready, had connections for an IPOD and had MP3 capability;
3) a head unit with full DSP and subwoofer controls and at least a 10 band EQ
4) a single AMP that was 5 channel and produced at least 800 watts at 4 ohms (at least 400 watts for the speakers and a separate 400w channel for the sub [or subs])
5) separate tweeters up front (the doors were already setup for them)
6) custom enclosures for the sub(s)
I didn't really need any new wiring from the head unit to the battery since the pre-existing stereo had been all Monster wired up including the pop-off circuit. So, all I really needed to do was ensure that wiring was OK and do some research on what I wanted to install.
As it turned out the wiring was NOT OK so the entire car was re-wired for the new setup.
For the Amp, I originally went with a Jensen KA5 sub (no longer in production). It pounded, but unfortunately it also blew up after only a few months *sigh*. I was smarter when I replaced it and went with a JL Audio 500/5 amp.
Here the JL 500/5 amp:
For the head unit...
As I said above, I had some restrictions for the head, and while I really wanted to stick w/ a Clarion Pro-Audio unit, at the time, while Clarion has always had exeptional DSPs, their MP3 support was seriously lacking (no folders, to tag reading, etc.) and they had NO Ipod support at all.
I finally settled on a Pioneer DEH-9600MP which fit my configuration requirements very well:
This head features MP3/WMA/WAV Playback, Built-in DSP with 13-Band Graphic EQ, Auto-EQ and Auto Time Alignment, Burr-Brown DAC's, BMX Digital Compression, MOSFET50, XM-Ready, Supertuner IIID, Hi-Volt Preouts and IPOD ready.
For speakers I went with a full Alpine setup:
FRONT (Doors): Component Alpine Type-R SPR-17LP (250 watt peak) with 1" textile dome tweeters that swivel to 15°.
REAR (Deck): Alpine Type-R SPR-57LPs 2-ways (200 watt peak).
FRONT & REAR SPEAKERS
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Next I needed some bass.
911s are difficult to fit with sub enclosures in any stealthy manner. After researching I found only a few companies even make custom enclosures and I did not like any of them. So, I contracted a local guy to make them for me.
I had 2 separate 10" sub enclosures made to go behind the driver and passenger seats respectively (you can't tell there are subs in the car from outside at all). I also ordered original Porsche black carpet to cover them. I then purchased two Kicker CompVR 10" subs w/ dual 4 ohm voice coils (600 watts peak) to fill 'em up and wired them in parallel so they were running at 2 ohms.
The amp puts out 400 watts from the sub channel at 1ohm stable so it drives this configuration nicely and POUNDS!
Needless to say, there is no more issue with cabin noise. Even with the top off - When it's cranked it will move your hair and makes for a nice vibrating seat! LOL
Overall I spent about $2100 on the equipment for this system:
New Wiring/Pop-off: $200
Head: $400.00
AMP: $500.00
Speakers: $400.00
Subs: $200.00
Enclosures: $200.00
Misc: $100.00
.:.VEHICLE SPECS .:.
1985 Porsche 911 Carrera
Year: 1985
Make: Porsche
Model: 911 Carrera (Targa)
Engine Location: Mid
Drive Type: Rear Wheel
Production Years for Series: 1984 - 1989
Weight: 2820 lbs | 1279.2 kg
Performance
0-60 mph: 5.6 seconds
Top Speed: 245 km/h | 152.3 mph
Engine
Configuration: F
Cylinders: 6
Aspiration/Induction: Normal
Displacement: 3164.00 cc | 193.1 cu in. | 3.2 L.
Valves: 12 valves (2 valves per cylinder)
Valvetrain: SOHC
Horsepower: 230.00 BHP (169.3 KW) @ 5900.00 RPM
Torque: 200.00 Ft-Lbs (271.2 NM) @ 4800.00 RPM
HP to Weight Ratio: 12.3 LB | HP
HP / Liter: 71.9 BHP / Liter
Bore: 3.70 in | 94 mm.
Stroke: 2.90 in | 73.7 mm.
Compression Ratio: 10.30:1
Main Bearings: 8
Fuel Feed: Bosch Motronic - DME - fuel injection
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Transmission
Gears: 5
Type: Manual Shift
Dimensions
Doors: 2
Exterior Length: 168.901 in | 4290.1 mm.
Width: 65.001 in | 1651 mm.
Height: 52.001 in | 1320.8 mm.
Wheelbase: 89.301 in | 2268.2 mm.
Front Track: 54.001 in | 1371.6 mm.
Rear Track: 54.301 in | 1379.2 mm.
Ground Clearance: 4.701 in | 119.4 mm.
Suspension
Front : MacPherson struts with single lower transverse A-arms, longitudinal torsion bars and anti-roll bar
Rear : Semi-trailing arms with transverse torsion bars and anti-roll bar
Steering: Rack and Pinion
Turns lock to lock: 3.00
Tires / Wheels
Front : 205/50-17
Rear : 255/40-17
.:.IMAGE GALLERY .:.
Just a few...
