993 restoration

[Ferry Man]

This is a detail shot showing the resistor. That crack is not good. It looks bad.

[Ferry Man]

And that's what you'll discover when you remove it....

[Ferry Man]

I bought a new resistor, I'll show a photo of it when it's installed.
They are now supplied with a little metal heat soak disc to help cool them but take care to affix it soundly to the aluminium base plate, everything will help to dissipate the heat and prevent premature failure.

[Ferry Man]

One thing I wanted to do was delete the headlamp washer jets. Simply because they spoil the styling. Especially on a light coloured car.
You can see here the nozzle just in front of the headlamp aperture.
You can also see the water pipe supplying the nozzle.
The complete washer system will be removed and the holes welded up.

[Ferry Man]

The 993 has a water reservoir in the passenger side wing. It's fed by a filler next to the petrol filler (under the petrol flap).
It has a large capacity (5 litres?).
Interestingly the water pipes that feed the windscreen washer jets are small diameter. The headlamp washers are fed with a much larger pipe. I'm guessing most of your water get sprayed on the lights.

I will discard the water tank inside the wing and switch to an 'RS' style lightweight bottle mounted to the inner wing inside the bonnet.
I'll modify the wiring loom to power the pump (now in the bonnet and not under the wing) and only retain the single washer pump. The standard system has two pumps (with a bigger one for the lights wash).
Pictured below is the new tank.

[Ferry Man]

The new tank has a much smaller capacity. 1 litre.

[Ferry Man]

This is me marking out the position for the bracket. That'll be welded on before paint.

[smallspeed]

Nice details
For the resistors, if you can still get to them it might be worth putting some decent thermal paste (used between processors and heat sinks in computers) between the resistor and the heat sink/clamp to help dissipate the heat more?

[yoda]

Nice build Paul and must be great fun to strip the car and discover how everything is put together. I know you aren't building a lightweight 993 but will be interesting to see how much your final car weighs after removing things you don't need. A friend lightened a 993 by about 150kg and it was amazing the difference it made.

I am sure you'll see which parts are heavy in the strip down process (like the seats).

Great thread!

[Ferry Man]

Nice build Paul and must be great fun to strip the car and discover how everything is put together.

Thanks, it is great discovering how well these cars were built. I started such a comprehensive restoration with some trepidation as I'm no car restorer, it's just a hobby to keep me out of the house and enjoying myself in the man-cave. Would I be able to pull it apart and - more importantly - could I get it all back together?
But of course, humans built the car originally, so surely I could work it out. And I've found that everything screws or bolts on. Not many components have the later, modular, click into place construction of modern cars. A set of spanners is really all you need.
I've also delighting in ensuring everything I put back on the car is restored and as good as new. As we will see as the thread progresses.

I am sure you'll see which parts are heavy in the strip down process.

Yep, there's more equipment & technology on a 993 than an early 911.
So, 1,370 kilos was the quoted weight for a standard C2 coupe, against 1,075 kilos for my '74 Carrera.

[Ferry Man]

Picture the scene:
It’s Weissach in the late seventies. Porsche’s engineers are idly lounging around on Recaro’s nicked off the production line.
Those without seats have appropriated some winning laurel wreaths from the race team and they are resting on them.
Suddenly one guy speaks of his contemplation “do you know what, if we don’t keep busy we could be out of a job”.
The others are perplexed, “but we have achieved so much, the RS we developed in 1973 was superb. We then went on to improve it the following year with better seats, steering wheel and more attractive bumpers. Surely the ’74 Carrera will be declared ‘iconic’ by future generations?”.
But no, says the teams spokesman "we must add to that excellence otherwise we’ll appear lazy and our employers will question the expensive wage bill”.
And then the realisation dawned, they’d had a good living out of the 911 for a decade and more.
But could they make the party last even longer? And what could they do?
Well here’s what the engineers did for the next 20 years.
They designed under trays.

[Ferry Man]

All that clutter on the lawn came off my 993.
There’s an undertray for the engine, an undertray for the gearbox, an undertray for the transmission, an undertray for the front steering rack, an undertray for the centre tunnel, an undertray for the fuel pump, sill covers both sides, wheel arch liners (2 parts for each corner) and many & various other plates, seals and covers. Some of it is fashioned from steel, some fibreglass, mostly polypropylene. It’s pretty lightweight but added together it’s noticeable.

[Gary71]

Rust prevention, noise suppression and of course aerodynamics!

[Ferry Man]

Rust prevention, noise suppression and of course aerodynamics!

And Gary - as ever - is spot on with his observation. They didn't add that for no good reason.
The benefits for rust prevention are huge, my shell evidenced that.
And the noise is markedly less too, crumbs you could even get on a track-day at Castle Coombe with a 993.
Plus aero. Which brings great improvements in road holding, wind noise, fuel consumption, etc, etc.
Remarkably all that lot is still fitted on the RS version. Porsche made a lightweight, Renn Sport 993 and yet kept all that hardware in place.
So, you can be sure it's essential.

[inaglasshouse]

The bung or plug is effective but not very elegant.
The screen replacement is pricey but is the correct thing to do.

You then have two other options:
1. Genuine Porsche RS rear screen (lightweight, thin glass, no heating elements)
2. Genuine Porsche Turbo rear screen (standard thickness and with heated screen)
Most turbos had the wiper but you could specify a car without rear wiper. Hence the availability of that glass.
I've gone for the standard glass with integral heating. And no hole.

Me too. Good choice.


993s are very good, as you know, but standard, schmandard.
PSS10s really are better than the standard dampers, it looks better without a wiper, and it needs to be lower than factory.
Not sure I'd make it 300kg lighter though. Bit of sound proofing makes a nice change. Keep it comfy-ish for the run to the south of France, I say.
But you know that, you have a proper hardcore 993 and presumably don't need another one...

Enjoying this thread already.

Cheers, Richard.