Birth of a Rally Car: Tech9 Ruf SCR

[pht9]

Over the coming months, I intend to document our build of a tarmac rally car that will be presented for FIA/HTP papers, as a 3062 homologation 911SC

 

A bit of background to start.

 

My Company, Tech 9 Motorsport has been actively involved in Motorsport since 1993, solely circuit racing, and primarily with Porsche, although we have had a few different championships and marques prepared over the years, our experience was generally with Porsche models from 964 all varaiants, through to 993 Cup/RSR/GT2, 996 GT3 and turbo and latterly 997 in all its racing forms. The downturn in the economic climate was a factor in my decision to halt circuit racing, and concentrate on our core business which is tuning, modifying and servicing Porsche from our workshops in Liverpool.

I stopped racing personally at a competitive level in 2005, and concentrated on the running of what became a rather large race team, we would quite often run 4 cars at an FIAGT meeting, and the staff and logistics involved in this were quite something !, anyway, as the race team is not operating, I feel that this is a chance for me to get back behind the wheel, as the roots of Tech 9 were based around my racing activities, and here was the chance to return. I thought long and hard about what to prepare and what to enter, I wanted to build a car, and considered all forms of 964 or 993, but didn’t feel that there was a championship that I felt motivated to enter, I then considered ‘historic’ events, and pondered over a ’74 3.0 RS, or even a 2.0 ’65 car for a brief moment, but I did not like the idea of being mid-field in events, or a class winner, so my attention turned to historic tarmac rallying. Here is a discipline where a well driven Porsche can win outright, and I feel it would be a good environment to showcase our technical ability and the standards that we operate to build a ‘new’ historic 911. The car will also act as a showcase for products and services that we will be able to offer to our clients, especially some of the ‘period remanufacture’ parts that will be used.

 

So, having decided upon the discipline, a suitable car and specification had to be finalised. I really like the look of a ’74 3.0RS or RSR, but felt that a wide body car would not be as agile or nimble as a narrow body. I had in my mind the mechanical specification that I wanted to build, a 3.0 MFI engine was at the heart, so decided upon the 3062 homologation pre ’81 911 SC

 

Next step, find a car !. I looked at a few cars, needed to be an SC, I wanted LHD wasn’t really bothered about the mechanical state, but wanted a good standard chassis with very little rust. This is helped I suppose by the fact that post ’76 the chassis became galvanized, so as long as the car had been generally looked after, then my search should not have been to difficult.

 

Anyway, after a couple of months searching, The perfect donor was presented, courtesy of the classified section of this site ! – A 1978 911 SC, that was converted by RUF in the eighties to ‘SCR’ specification.

 

RUF SCR

 

I did ponder about the fact that this car was relatively rare, and that should I be stripping such a car. Taking a view on the actual car, it was very tired mechanically, the engine had serious cylinder leakage, the gearbox needed rebuilding, the bodywork was rather scruffy, in that it had been painted badly during its life, and had lots of areas of corrosion in the bolt-on panels, but structurally (must have been all the engine oil sprayed on the underside !) the chassis looked fine, and some period parts could be re-used in the build, such as 930 brakes, ZF LSD and I was quite surprised to find OE spec manual window operation !. To restore this car to its former glory, would not have been economically viable, so the bullet was bitten, and the build began – or rather the strip began !

 

Here is a picture of the SCR

 

 

 

A few more pictures

 

 

[pht9]

a few days in the workshop, the car is fully dismantled and off to be acid dipped to remove the years of paint and bodyfiller and expose what is hiding beneath !

 

It was obvious that there were a number of body repairs that had been carried out over the years, but essentially, the chassis looked to be in very good condition, especially as it is post 76 so the chassis would have been galvanized from the factory, plus I'm sure the amount of oil on the underside from the engine and gearbox, certainly helped its preservation !

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Phill]

Sounds very interesting but it would be good to be able to see the pics!

[longman]

Sounds very interesting but it would be good to be able to see the pics!

I can see em

[Dr Rock]

I can see em

+ 1

[GrantA]

+ 1

+1 Me too.....

[Mapo]

I can see photos too: interesting.

[hukent]

I've been following this build over on DDK, looks to be a cracking project.

[MrPerkles]

awesome

[BillyB]

I remember this car from a Tried and Tested article in P&911World. I have always been intruiged by it and had seen the advert here. I have to admit being a bit gutted that it has been stripped but I am sure it moves on to bigger and better things. Good luck with the build.

Edited April 22, 2011 by BillyB

[pht9]

chassis returns from the dipping process, pretty impressive the condition, considering she is 33 years old !

 

Only real areas of corrosion were the top and bottom of the door lock posts, plus some unsightly repairs to the left rear quarter. The great thing about dipping is that it uncovers everything, it was obvious that the left rear had been repaired, but I was surprised at the amount of filler that must have been used !

 

We now have a perfect surface to commence the chassis strengthening, and modifications that will be required for its future punishment...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Phill]

Why can't I see the pics? I can see all the ones on the other threads? I'm clearly missing out here, someone help please.

[pht9]

Looking good Phil, nice to see SPL keep up their record of damage to shells, judging by that rear light anyway. I`ll be out giving you a hard time on the stages soon.:-))

 

mmm, the lower light retainers and the reflector panel seem to make good handles !, but easily rectified...

[pht9]

I remember this car from a Tried and Tested article in P&911World. I have always been intruiged by it and had seen the advert here. I have to admit being a bit gutted that it has been stripped but I am sure it moves on to bigger and better things. Good luck with the build.

 

I inittially had the same feelings about stripping the car, but a lack of verification history from RUF (although it is more than obvious the work was carried out) plus the cosmetic and mechanical condition of the car, meant that it wasn't really financially viable to restore, and the investment in the car would never have been realised, especially given the lack of early history

 

The above said, I will try and incorporate some kind of RUF reference when the car is completed, maybe some 'Irish Green' detail

 

I`ll be out giving you a hard time on the stages soon.:-))

 

what are you building Dom ?

[Northy]

Looks like an exciting project. In some ways it is a bit of a shame not to put it back together as it was, but you have to be realistic about these things don't you and besides it's your car, do with it as you want.

 

With the dipping and e-coating process, how are you going to get around ensuring the seams are sealed properly? I had a pair of front wings done by SPL and a few seams have bubbled slightly after a couple of years - which is bloody dissappointing. Especially as they finger pointed to the painters, despite them doing the re-dipping and e-coating after the metal work was complete. I'm just interested to see if there is any change in the process now?

 

Keep the reports/photos coming though, we all love a good build thread!

[pht9]

Looks like an exciting project. In some ways it is a bit of a shame not to put it back together as it was, but you have to be realistic about these things don't you and besides it's your car, do with it as you want.

 

With the dipping and e-coating process, how are you going to get around ensuring the seams are sealed properly? I had a pair of front wings done by SPL and a few seams have bubbled slightly after a couple of years - which is bloody dissappointing. Especially as they finger pointed to the painters, despite them doing the re-dipping and e-coating after the metal work was complete. I'm just interested to see if there is any change in the process now?

 

Keep the reports/photos coming though, we all love a good build thread!

 

I dont think its possible to coat the inside of the seams with any process, unless they are unpicked and treated, the dip and e-coat process would not be able to penetrate a welded seam. They can access the various box sections within the chassis with strategically placed access holes.

 

I considered other methods of shell preparation, like media blasting, or the good old scraper and heat gun, but I felt the acid dip, gives the best surface preparation for the necessary chassis strengthening and cage installation. Interesting that you had a re-dip and e-coat after your works were completed, do you have any areas of the chassis corroding ?, how soon after the e-coat process was the chassis primed/painted ?

 

SPL now have a new e-coat process, as the old facility is no more, but I suppose as with all of these projects, you only find out how successful the process was after a few years...

[pht9]

some further updates

 

it is vitally important to ensure that 33 years of service has not affected the factory dimensions of the chassis, as any further work from this point will be wasted if there are any variances on the suspension mounting points

 

the chassis was placed onto a celette chassis jig, and fortunately it sat perfectly with no deviation in any of the points.

 

the jig also acts as a very stable platform to then conduct the strengthening and other modifications that are made to the chassis for its future motorsport use

 

all seams have been welded, to improve the structural strength and torsional rigidity. The surface preparation with the acid dip has given us the perfect surface to enable correct weld penetration, here are some pictures that show the process involved.

 

 

 

[pht9]

that sounds like a great spec going on there !, which series will it run ?

 

I suppose that I wanted to make my car future proof, hence the build to 3062 homologation. I have found in the past that building cars can be very frustrating if regs or series change, and you are left with an ineligible car, that is either impossible to sell or very expensive to rectify

 

I am also enjoying sourcing some original historic parts that will provide nice detail features, and am mindful that a lot of the stuff will become even more difficult to source in the future.

 

what stage are you at ?, do you have a build thread running ?

[johndglynn]

I am closing this for a while, not sure how it fits in the 'no trade ads' policy.

 

Might have been an idea to ask me first, especially as we have swapped plenty of emails on other stuff.

 

Will think about it.

[johndglynn]

In the anti corner: trade user with a low post count and a ton of watermarked pics.

 

In the pro corner: interesting car we have known for a long time, good project to follow, well written and plenty of dialogue over the top. It is not being blogged on the Tech9 website and doesn't belong on DDK. Plus I also watermark my pics.

 

I think it must continue and wish the build well

[Richard Bernau]

felt that a wide body car would not be as agile or nimble as a narrow body.

 

Interesting. That assumption would IMHO be wrong though The reason why most wide cars feel less nimble is because most of them carry more weight. Get the weights equivalent and the extra front track and wider front tyres give you a more "nimble" feeling car. For tarmac rally, the last thing you want is understeer and the extra turn in and mid corner grip that the wide front gives you is (again IMHO) a big plus. I would guess there is good reason why the Almeras etc all went with wide body cars and I suspect this is a large part of it.

 

Anyhow, great project to follow.

[Al_W]

I think it must continue and wish the build well

Great, I look forward to following this

[Richard Bernau]

What a shame, I was really enjoying following this.

 

Which is why JG is letting it continue

[World Citizen]

Good decision JG as this should be interesting.

 

I queston about the acid dipping, I hope you can answer

 

As you will be adding some torsional stiffness to the car with a roll cage and seam welding did your acid dip take off more than just the 33 years of paint, underseal and gunk or did you take the opportunity to remove some steel to save weight?

 

There's a lot of square meter's of area on a car inside and out, 0.1mm of steel removed off each side of a 1m square steel panel is 1.5kgs saved.

 

As long as your car is strengthened in the right areas I would be suprised if this would cause any problems but as I've never used an acid dipped lightened shell in anger then I only a guess!

Edited April 27, 2011 by World Citizen

[hukent]

Good decision JG as this should be interesting.

I queston about the acid dipping, I hope you can answer

As you will be adding some torsional stiffness to the car with a roll cage and seam welding did your acid dip take off more than just the 33 years of paint, underseal and gunk or did you take the opportunity to remove some steel to save weight?

There's a lot of square meter's of area on a car inside and out, 0.1mm of steel removed off each side of a 1m square steel panel is 1.5kgs saved.

As long as your car is strengthened in the right areas I would be suprised if this would cause any problems but as I've never used an acid dipped lightened shell anger then I only a guess!

 

I was thinking exactly the same thing!!!