Flares.....

[Darren65]

Hi Darren, hope you're doing well. Any updates on this impressive build?

Sorry I never replied Patrick but unfortunately there's not been much to report!

[Darren65]

Hopefully that's all about to change and the RS has now been moved to GDC Automotive for assembly....



Covered in dust and looking unloved the RS was finally pulled out of storage where it's sat for the past 18 months....



...although impossible not to fall back in love with that profile ...



...a quick wash and the truck loaded with dusty parts...



...and safely delivered to GDC Automotive for Gary and Giulio to work their magic...



...hopefully we'll have meaningful progress soon

Cheers,

[letsrollbabe]

Really looking forward to seeing this project put together. It will be the best you have done, Darren, in my opinion. I think the 3.0 Carrera RS cars are the best street cars produced by Porsche in the 70s, and your project will exceed what the factory produced back in the day.

[Darren65]

Thanks Gib, I appreciate the support and encouragement

[Darren65]

Gearbox build by one of the best in the UK, Mike Bainbridge...



Mike keeps a record of all his builds, this being 347....



...the cases haven't been stored particularly well over the years and weren't the prettiest but I wanted to use the original engine and gearbox in the car and after a good coat of wax the box will look just fine....



...

[Darren65]

....build number 347 is to 3.0 RSR specification with RSR ratios AZ, HX, NT, RP and TL, a ZF limited slip differential set for road use, an RSR spray bar oil pump kit that will be cooled with the aid of a front arch trombone oil cooler, slightly warmed with a beefier 8:35 CWP and aluminium side plate, backdated to incorporate the correct 74 mechanical speedo drive (rather than the later 77 electronic drive) and built with the usual care and attention and MBE upgrades like his own clamp plate etc that go hand in hand with decades of experience in building brilliant road and racing Porsche gearboxes....







...can't wait to get 320 odd HP going through this!

[Darren65]

As I've come to find with these projects you learn on the job and I came to realise that not all short rear trailing arms are the same.

The arms I had purchased, as with all short trailing currently available as far as I am aware, are those designed to work with coil overs as per the RSR. The arms used on the standard RS, being my original intention, have the dampers attached in a different manner....



....compared to those used on the RSR....



....as I now had the 'wrong' short arms I figured an upgrade was on the cards. I'd said before that as the car has had the strut tower modification I might upgrade to coil overs in the future so decided to go with them from the outset. My rationale being that if someone was going to upgrade their RS with an RSR spec engine in period they'd likely upgrade the suspension too - I held out little hope of finding original RSR items so went with dampers favoured by Tuthills and Singer.....although at least I had them powder coated in Bilstein Green so they'll look like they belong....



....

[Darren65]

Next the compromise - all projects have them!

The welded on brackets that hold the short arms on my car have been set slightly higher than normal.....this was introduced as standard on the subsequent 930 Turbo as it helps the car better deal with rear squat under hard acceleration and indeed racing teams modified the brackets later on to make them adjustable for their needs....

....the rear arms with torsion bars and coil overs is notoriously difficult to set up so I'm told and, taking into account my slight mod, I was recommended to use 935 type adjustable spring plates. There's a few option of these on the market and I went with Rebel Racing Products.....



....not the prettiest modification and visually not quite period correct although I'll console myself with the fact that it's an upgrade that would have certainly happened in the day.

Whilst performance driven and a definite benefit I'll need to get comfortable with this one visually.

[Darren65]

Far more satisfying is my latest purchase

Up until a few weeks ago I hadn't given any thought to the cars plumbing.....if you ever do study reference pics of old Porsche racing cars, something I do often, you'll notice that not much is original. All racing cars have lived a life and that includes the majority of all 3.0 RS and RSR's. Amongst the multitude of upgrades, modifications and obvious re-shells there are small details that reappear that give a glimpse of what the car once was. Fortunately there are also a few cars that have also been left largely original.

A friend recently suggested I contact Brad Davis to help with oil hoses and fittings. Brad is a font of all knowledge in this respect and greatly helped my understanding of exactly how the 3.0 oil hoses looked and what I needed. He had me closely looking at reference photos and the best I have is of the largely original ex-Hesketh RS #9099 from when it was refreshed many years ago....











....the hoses and fittings Brad is supplying for this project are superb and whilst the colour of the fittings is what most will notice, it's also the type of nut and material used that match them exactly to originals. He's even supplying a few original 1970's 'chunky' nuts in case I prefer them to his parts. Simply beautiful fabrication and attention to detail. Thank you Brad ....









I can't wait for these to arrive......whilst suspension choices may not be to everyone's taste, oil hoses and fittings will be period perfect

Cheers,