It’s back.
After a month or so of me mucking about and trying to decide what I wanted to achieve and where I wanted to go the ever-patient Stuart has transformed the 10Khop from a cheap and cheery entrée to Porsche ownership to a pocket rocket that is raw, visceral and downright grin-inducing! Here’s what’s new…
• VERY healthy 3.4 911 motor with Gemballa exhaust
• New clutch
• New IMS bearing
• New short-shift kit
• Completely new full adjustable coil-over suspension
• New brakes with competition pads
• Refurbished 17×8 and 17×9 deep-dished Fuchs
• Bolt on flares
The photos tell a bit of the story.
I seem to recall that my last missive suggested we were considering something different. I may have mentioned IROC. I had intended to have the car wrapped in a BRIGHT orange, but I might pause for a bit and see how I feel.
It has a lot more attitude than when we started but the fluro orange may be a step too far. I’m still up for it – I’d be happy to hear everyone’s opinion!!
So far I haven’t had the opportunity of getting it on the track (Phillip Island here we come) but the driving experience bears little resemblance to the former car. It’s a bit rowdy, the suspenders are quite firm and everything is tight and tidy.
I haven’t yet found a corner that poses any sort of challenge, although I have become far more aware of speed bumps and curbs! It certainly communicates each imperfection of the road’s surface, but the beauty of the new suspension is that, whilst you’re aware of what’s going on, it’s never uncomfortable and seldom jarring. The occasional “jiggling” sensation is a very small price to pay for the planted-ness!
A set of black wheels for the track will bring it back to 2017.
It now sounds like a “proper” Porsche (perhaps a bit too much … Mrs Robbo claims she can hear me double declutching two streets away from home, a full two minutes before I arrive!) At full noise it sounds sensational. It pops and crackles on the over-run and down shift and wails past 5,000. Trouble is, at freeway speeds the Gemballa does have a tendency to drone. There’s a specific rev range where it pounds away at the skull and blurs the vision! May have to look into that. It’d be a pain all the way to the Island or Winton or Broadford.
And guess what? It’s still warm and water tight. It’s still air conditioned. It still starts with the first twist of the key. I still don’t care where I park it. It has big enough boot(s) to carry the shopping. It’s cheaper to insure than my wife’s Lexus. And the roof comes off – I know that I have said that I am not a fan of soft tops, but I must admit that a blat up Mountain Highway to the Sky-High restaurant (or whatever it’s called) on a 14* day, with the roof off and the heater blasting warm air out through the dash vents was a hoot!
The down side…? It’s a bit rattly on corrugated dirt roads – but then again so are most cars with 170,000ks on the clock, let alone soft tops. There’s no rear window demister. Dark blue is a bugger to keep clean and hot in warm weather (for some reason 4 out of 7 cars we presently own are white, 2 silver, 1 dark blue).
And it hasn’t cost me a bomb.
Job done.
The next step is a proper competition seat, steering wheel and harness.
And maybe a wrap…
By Robbo (Ian Roberts)