As the title says, I am thinking of going to the dark side.
This would be my first 911
Car is local and seems a good price.
911 is a 1980 sc
Please what can you tell me about it and what to look for?
John

Good doner car.

Thats what the seller is running into,
The buyers are wanting him to part it out.

It looks nice, runs great only a drop of oil after sitting all day.

Headstuds, headstuds, headstuds...

Pay and get a PPI, if the headstuds are good proceed, if they are not, deduct 2500... Just like anything, buy the nicest you can find. Not many of the rust issues, but if it was driven in salt, I would keep looking. With CIS it will let you know if it's not happy, drive it warm, shut if off, make sure it restarts east, idles right ect.

I love my 75, I've driven quite few SC's. Little bit of a learning curve driving one all out... I still don't have the confidence I did in my 914-6.


Ferg

This a targa 3.0
Should I still be worried about head studs?

Do 911's have the same door stickers in the door jam as a 914?
What about other stickers and numbers to look for'

I have a 1983 911SC and it's a great car. The 80-83 are " small port " engines which means they make good torque. Mine is a stock engine internals with 46mm PMO carbs,SSI heat exchangers with a M&K 2 in 2 out muffler. I have full suspension makeover and she autocrosses very well. The stock injection system is CIS. If setup well it is a reliable system if somewhat ugly to look at. Car is galvanized metal so major rust should not be a problem. Check the front and rear floors as the front windshield and rear window are somewhat prone to leaks. Check the oil cooler lines on the passenger side of the car, they run from the engine to the cooler in the front passenger side wheelwell. Stupid owners and mechanics tend to put jacks/lifts on the lines by mistake and partially crush them. They are very solid cars and in my opinion the last of the " raw " 911s.
P.S. have a independent PPI done including compression and leakdown. You want to make sure no broken head studs. Good luck.

This car is being sold by a dealership mechanic, and friends we know that work there say he is very through on his cars.

What is meant by last of the raw 911's
Does that mean it rides more like a 914?

Ask the mechanic if he has retorqued or tried to retorque the head barrel nuts or if he found any laying in the rocker boxes while doing a valve adjust.

No CW cup holder like Ferg likes.

The 911SC was built from 78-83. In 1984 they went to the Carrera and with it more creature comforts and more weight. Still an excellent car but not the same as a SC in my opinion. I like the way my 911 " feels ". Good road feedback and not too soft.

How dependable is it?
Is this a bad year?

You really need to go to www.pelicanparts.com and join in the fray on the 911 board. You'll find out all you want to know and maybe more than you want to know $$$$$.

Targa? Definitely check the pan under the back seats for rust. As previously mentioned, the SC's are galvanized so they aren't as bad as earlier 911's, rustwise.

If it has the original CIS, it should have a popoff valve installed in the airbox, otherwise the airbox tends to crack should the engine backfire.

Should have a 915 transmission... mine came out of an SC.

Keep in mind you are looking at a 30 year old high performance machine. As a general rule SC's are very dependable. Mine has never let me down other than I had a hot start issue due to a tired starter solenoid. That's it and I've owned it for many years and she has 116,000 miles plus. The targas tend to leak, I had a 74 that was an aquarium in heavy rains.

First year of the "good" 911SCs. Targas are NOISY. Targas LEAK. Targas are nearly impossible to get the door windows to seal, and the top seals are really expensive. I could never own one that I planned to keep. As was mentioned above, you need to see if it has an aftermarket airbox backfire pressure relief valve installed. If not, budget a bunch of money to replace the airbox and install the valve. You'll want to replace the thermostat o-ring and oil pressure switch when you're in there. Replace the injector o-rings. A clutch job is 2 grand, easy, if you're paying someone to do it. If you want to have a working A/C, consider the available upgrades, and they really ARE "upgrades". The gearboxes in '80-'82 had a problem with blowing up 2nd gear, and the fix came along in '83. When you do a gearbox, you have to have the diff section sleeved, because the bearing races get loose in there. They're not hard on top ends, other than the stud issue, and the chain tensioners last a long time, as they're the "end of the line" for the old style design. I know of 300K mile (and up) engines that have never been apart. Leaking oil lines to the thermostat are a common and major PITA job, involving a cut-off wheel and a fine touch ...............

The Cap'n

Ac works but interminterant short

PP board is a good place to ask some of these questions. This months Excellence price/buyers guide covers 911 of that era so they go over the high points about that car. Generally the 3.0 SC engine is one of the better engines.

I think the cap'n hit most of the points about an SC.

I spent about 4 years researching and shopping for a used 911 and pretty much break the cars down as such;
65-68 - classic looking, Expensive to buy, some parts are hard (impossible) to come by

69-73 - classic looking, Expensive to buy, parts are easy to come by (mostly)

74-77 - Cheap cars and a good deal IF the engine was already rebuilt properly, otherwise AVOID. (Many of these cars suffered as 914s did as they were unloved by the cogniscenti)

78-83 - Great values, very reliable (for their age), most of the later 911 feel for cheap prices

84-89 - First of the "carrera"s, and the last of the 911s that you could work on. Great solid and reliable cars. Starting to be very expensive, especially the 88-89

90(89)-94 - (964) Things get complicated but much faster. Carrera 4s have sensors that cost over $1k each. Great bargains on these cars (as they seem to be at the bottom of the depreciation curve) and a great driving car.

95-98 - (993) - Still command a premium, even over later 996 cars, complicated and VERY fast. New rear suspension makes the car very forgiving. 96-98 have clogging of air injector ports casuing ODBII issues. 993 C4 is superior to 964 C4 in many ways, and yet simpler.

So, I was tempted by each one of these cars (series) and finally saved my money and bought a 95 993 C4.

Send me a PM if you want more info.

Yes! I bought a 1981 3.0 (motor only) with around 150k miles and it had atleast 6 broken head studs...you dont want to have even one.

great thread! I've often thought about a late 70s/early 80s(78+) 911 for a Daily driver. very good info so far.

get a good PPI from a mechanic you know, or at least one that doesn't know this guy... objective opinion ftw.

that goes for any car tho, really...

I have an '81 SC as a DD. Currently it has ~140,000 miles on it . I bought it with 108,000, Here is my history:


Purchase $11,500 in 2000

Rebuilt tranny @ 118,000 miles. Sent it to Garry Fairbanks and he said he had never seen anything like it. 2nd gear had just come apart and destroyed other parts of the tranny. ~1800 for the rebuild. Did a clutch while the tranny was out.

135,000 miles Shocks tie rods wheel bearings. All looked original to me. No wrench marks on any of the fastners. New elephant lines to front cooler and new cooler. Replace WUR in CIS. All in ~1500 in parts plus my labor.

136,000 replace original spark wires ~$200

Thats about it for major repairs. It burns about a quart per 750 miles so the top end will need doing at some point. I figure 5K by the time the while your in there is done plus upgrading to 964 cams etc. The two annoying things about using it as a DD is weak AC and leaky sunroof. Keep the drains clear and all is well with the sun roof. Every July Auguist here in DC I start thinking about a major AC up grade.

As for cost I think its cheaper to run than a regular car. Say all in I have 20K in the car. If I had bought a civic for 20 K it would be worth 5K now. I bet I could find a buyer for the SC ~10K, so I look at it as I'm ahead. PLus I would rather drive it than a civic. So far it has never stranded me. Starts every time from the hotest day to the coldest and in the winter the instant heat is great.

Nick

911SC is probably the most trouble-free 911 ever produced. We have had our 911SC for 20 years. In 1989, we paid for a PPI on 3 SCs we were looking at. We bought a GP white '79 coupe with 63K miles on it for $18,000. Today that 911SC has 323K miles on it. The engine has never been apart, it still has its original starter. It passed its CA smog test 3 weeks ago easily. Its on its 3rd altenator, 3rd clutch, 2nd transmission(2nd gear blew), 3rd set of shocks, 3rd Catalytic, etc. Maintanence costs for the past 20 years have totalled $34,600, or $1,730/year.

Known 911SC problems:
rubber center clutch disk (probably long gone in car wth 160K miles)
airbox explosions (cure with flapper valve)
chain tensioners (cure with pressure fed tensioners)
head studs sometimes break (fairly rare)

If it passes PPI,
has spring center clutch,
has flapper valve,
has Carrera pressure fed chain tensioners,
no broken head studs,
A/C blows cold air

and you like the car, buy it. As 911s go, 911SCs are dumbfoundingly reliable.

I agree with almost everything written so far, EXCEPT for the comment on the Carrera tensioners. The earlier style work fine and last a long time. 20 bucks for a pair of tensioner guards is far better than doing a several hundred dollar modification, and you avoid leaky pipes and hoses as well. The old style tensioners can easily be rebuilt, too. Oh, and the comment that Gary Fairbanks had never seen the famous exploding 2nd gear synchro. Porsche knows about it, they did a redesign, and I've seen 3 or 4, and we don't do all that many trannies. Every established shop I know of around here has seen it, too.

The Cap'n

About the 2nd gear comment from Gary I could be mis remembering since it was 7 years plus ago, but as I rember it he did not say that the synchro had failed he said the gear had failed and come off the shaft or loose on the shaft. I don't really remember, but in any event a very relaibale car for ~30 years old

Nick

I have an SC cabriolet. The 915 grenaded after the 3.6 upgrade. I put in a bearing retainer and a sleeve as mentioned above. Great ride....

Nothing wrong with a thong after you get used to it.