[grilled]

So my landlord works rents 3 places out and lives ehre too. He has a car lift and ****loads of tools, repairs mercedes and builds harleys from stolen parts... um yeah. He recently got a black 1977 porsche 911s and it has just sat there for like a month or so doing nothing. The exterior looks almost perfect shape. Interior looks to be pretty damn good condition too. The problem with it, is it had an electrical problem and the guage clusters and part of the steering wheel caught fire and melted.

I gota find out how many miles on this thing, and what he potentially is asking for it. ANyways, if i'm semi serious about buying it, I will check the vin out and see if its been in any accidents etc... My question to you guys is are these engines anygood? Any potential for aftermarket turbo action?
All I really know, is that he got it cheap, and its just sat there for awhile amongst the 6 mercedes he is currently working on, damn fine looking car. I wonder how it would run.. and how long.

 

[3liter914-6]

Re: advice on potential 1977 porsche 911s buy (grilled)

The 2.7L engine as found in the potential 911S you're looking at is a dog. They had a lot of engine problems related to heat and tend not to last long at all. Unless it's been rebuilt and had the typical upgrades performed, I certainly wouldn't turbocharge it. There are turbo kits avail, and if you wanted to go this route it should be relatively minor to drop a 3.0SC engine into the back of the '77, and from that base upgrade. The 3.0's and 3.2's are regarded to be the best of the breed as far as reliability. If you poke around you should be able to find one in reasonable shape for $4k ish. If I could get a '77 cheap enough, I'd probably hit it. What kind of bargain basement price do you think we're talking about here?

 

[vwlarry]

Re: advice on potential 1977 porsche 911s buy (3liter914-6)

I concur. The '77 is not one of the 911's best years. Between airbox-blowups, camshaft chain-tensioners taking a sh*t and crashing the valves, and rust (the 77s tend to dissolve, inexplicably, somewhat faster than other late seventies 911s), they aren't the best. When the 911SC replaced the 2.7 911s they were greeted v. warmly, and quite rightly.

 

[grilled]

Re: advice on potential 1977 porsche 911s buy (vwlarry)

Thanks for the quick replies fellas. I went out and checked the OD, 82k miles. About how much could one of the SC's be found for? I'm going to ask him how much next time I see him. He'll prolly ask too much.

 

[3liter914-6]

Re: advice on potential 1977 porsche 911s buy (grilled)

If you're asking about an SC engine, a decent one could be found for 3500-4500bux. An entire SC car, sort of depends upon where you're located. A decent one can be had from 8000(if you luck out) up to 20000. There's really a wide range of what people think these cars are worth. Keep your eyes peeled for Excellence magazine, every issue they do a value report on a specific Porsche model, I don't know when they last did the SC's (I think they get lumped with the Carreras). Average asking price is probably low to mid teens. Porsche hunting is a slippery slope, I always start out looking at SC's because they're fairly cheap. Then you realize for a little more money you could be pimping 964, next thing you know you're only considering 993 C4S's... It sure is fun to dream.

 

[robx007]

Re: advice on potential 1977 porsche 911s buy (grilled)

buy the one with the "TURBO" emblem on the back

 

[Chris V]

Re: advice on potential 1977 porsche 911s buy (vwlarry)

Most 2.7s of that vintage have already had the carrera chain tensioner upgrade, and airbox blow-off valve installed. The '75-77 2.7s had 5 bladed fans, vs the 11 blade of the previous (and later) air cooled engines, but many have had it replaced with the 11 blade version. The '75-77s also had heat problems relating to the emissions system. The '74s didn't have that problem. It wasn't that the 2.7 was a dog, but that the added BS for those 3 years tended to kill them. My '74 was very strong at 150k miles, because it had the chain tensioner upgrades done as well as the airbox fix long before I bought it, and it didn't have cats or thermal reactors on it stock, so the heat issue wasn't there.
And the cars had started being galvanized about that time, so the '77s shouldn't have any more rust issue than the SCs... I know my '74 didn't have any.
But as was mentioned, you can swap in a 3.0 or 3.2 from a later SC or Carrera. The 3.0's tend to run $2700-3200, with the 3.2s available for under $4000 if you shop around.
The wiring on that one is a nightmare, however. Fixing everything that's melted could be very costly, depending on what's affected.

 

[xruntx1989x]

i have a 1977 911s wondering bout parts? engine?

ok so my grandpa gave me his 1977 911s for being first grandchild to go to college. it had been sitting for a hell of a long time before i got it however my grandpa said he some of the enigne rebuilt right before he stopped driving it due to it being too small and back problems. when i first got the car i got a few things fixed to make it runable with intnetions to make it my daily driver i fixed lot of the hoses and leakes and the gear box few others i cant remember off hand, however i ran out of money to continue, the next two things were the ignition key column ( i have to turn the key like 4 5 times to get it to catch and roll over ) and some part the shop bipassed so that the car could run but if the car was cold and i come to a stop it dies and continues to unless i rev or the engine was warm,. curious to ppls info if they have a good location for parts for this year car, or if it would b wise as i read above that if i looked for the SC engine and just swapped them out would that be the better route to get my childhood dream car running. please PM with any help much appreciated

 

[Kaneda]

Blast from the past!

 

[Obin Robinson]

The OP was contemplating buying a '77 911S that previously caught fire? Have fun with that one. If you aren't already a master automotive electrician with hundreds of dollars invested in special tools you will be by the time that problem is properly fixed.

I'd love to see where this car is now.

obin :beer: