Porsche Classic Restoration Challenge 2022

One of the other cool things that I was fortunate enough to be a part of during my time with Porsche Naples was the Classic Restoration challenge. My big entry was in 2022 as the only tech working on the car - needing to finish within 6 months.

The car chosen for the project belonged to a good customer of Porsche Naples, a 1990 911 964 C2. A perfect and prime car for the job…somewhat. I’m biased towards the 964. I lean towards the 80s and 90s era of Porsche, and the 964 is damn near the peak of the air-cooled experience with some modern touches. The car had been brought to us in a poor running condition with mold and mildew growing on the interior. Likely from a heavy rain or a flood in South Florida. The car was not in terrible shape, however. It just needed a really thorough freshening up. Over 100k later (yep you read that right), the car was show quality and basically brand new. The challenge rules required you to spend something like 10k with Porsche Classic and to follow some quality guidelines. We surpassed the 10k easily due to our customer’s nature. I was not upset about that for the car at all. I will begin at the start of the project when we received the 911 and detail the condition it came to us in.

That’s not too bad, right? The smell was pretty bad with the fresh flood water sitting in the carpet, there was interior hardware rusted and corroded, the engine was leaking out of any flange or crevice you could think of, and the suspension was just crusty and ready for a bouncy ride. But overall, not the worst condition out there.

The next batch of pictures will be the teardown and inspection process. It is truly a great feeling when you get to opportunity to tear a car apart knowing it’s going back together with brand new, factory (and some aftermarket) parts. It is not often one gets to experience a “new” 964 911.

You will notice the corrosion along wires and within the relay/fuse board. Yikes. Don’t worry though, everything that needs to be replaced was replaced. Like I said, the customer spent a pretty penny on this restoration. a “no expense spared” sort of situation. New fuel tank to come, new bushings in every corner of the suspension, fresh carpet, new seats and dashboard. Alot of new or restored parts. You will notice the “spicing” up of the whole car as we continue on. The next grouping of pictures you will find more teardown before we can get to the “spiciness”. More detail of the worn-out suspension and what all came off of the car (everything). You will notice the rat’s nest within the engine as well. Those rats had good taste in engine bays.

Now we start getting to the point to where things have been getting sent off and returning. Things that needed powder coating, dry ice blasting, vapor blasting, etc. And we also start to get to the point of where new parts are arriving. Every time new car parts arrive it feels like Christmas. Teardown has been complete, car has gone to paint, parts are being test fitted, engine is being re-sealed and there are still no breaks in work in order to make the August 2022 deadline.

With the engine re-seal underway and nearing completion, the car getting back from paint and all new/aftermarket parts are test fitted, it is time to list what is being installed onto the car that is not factory. The customer had given some freedom to the dealership to do what we want to a certain extent. He wanted specific wheels on the car and some KW V3 coil overs to match the wheels. The rest of the aftermarket was on us. We decided to give the car a “RS” inspired look. This however was not exactly what Porsche North America had in the rules. The car had to be restored to factory spec. Since then, I believe Porsche has opened up another category for “expressing yourself” or something like that…but anyways, what we went for on this “RS” look was the brake ducts in the front bumper, Recaro Pole Position Seats customized to a RS leather finish (very spicy), Carbone “hound’s tooth” carpet kit in the frunk and the interior, Carbone RS door cards with strap door pull, rear seat delete from Carbone and the tachometer finished in a grey to match the seats. Nothing overly crazy in my opinion. It keeps a good Porsche look and gives a large nod to the actual 964 RS model. A dream car in my eyes. You will see this all below during the Porsche Naples unveiling of the car for the public.

As you can see, the engine has definitely been spiced up visually. Bone stock otherwise. The car was received very well, and the owner has his first time seeing it since it came into our possession. The car was very photogenic. The wheels stood out quite a bit as they looked similar to the OE option. They were increase by 1 inch in diameter and sat much wider front and rear. The Carbone frunk carpet kit just simple but just striking enough to stand out. The upholstery on the interior carpet and seats was immaculate. The car was coming together nicely. Up next you will see the final product. Judging did not go our way entirely at the Headquarters in Atlanta, but we did get ALOT of compliments on the C2. People seemed to like it. One problem I had upon first moving the car was a brake caliper lock-up. On all 4 wheels. This turned out to be the rebuilt master cylinder with pin dimensions slightly too long. I swapped it out with a good-but used master and the car rolled perfectly. Funny how that goes sometimes. The first drive after alignment was a good one. The KW coil overs were set to the softest settings and were meant to be adjusted from there. Almost no adjustment was needed though. It rode beautifully. Steering was perfect, ride was comfortable and the seats hugged you just right. New engine and transmission mounts provided smooth but notchy shifting. The wider wheels proved to be a big benefit when chucking the thing into a corner. Brakes were braking. All was good. That was as close to a brand new 964 I have ever driven and worked on. That was a special treat thanks to Porsche Naples, Dan Kao, Tyler (parts manager), Vince (service manager) and most of all, the customer. Hope you enjoyed the restoration summary!

This grille badge was given to the folks who entered into the challenge