Porsche Choices

The car is a 1973.5 911T. It's not stock and it'll never be stock again. First, a previous owner removed all of the CIS. I have no intention of finding a CIS system and actually installing it. Life is too short for that. The Webers work just fine and the car has a lot of low end torque. Stock restorations are just not all that important to me.

The headlights are the real deal. They're French. These aren't painted yellow, or some plastic headlights. These are real and they're illegal. I've even got a ticket to prove that.

One morning the Florida Highway Patrol pulled me over and gave me a ticket for driving with no headlights. I started to explain ( a bad move) when he quickly pointed out that headlights are clear and fog lights are yellow. Everyone knows that. Now I was just another stupid Porsche owner.

Since I was driving with only my "fog lights" on I was violating Florida law. It was obvious to him that I should have had my clear "Through the Grill" driving lights on. Those were my real headlights, not those yellow fog lights mounted to the front fenders.

I shut up real fast and took my ticket, along with the points. I learned it's best not to argue with a state trooper who was convinced that he knew the difference between Porsche headlights and fog lights. I just owned the car. What did I know?

Harvey Weidman did the wheels. He's done a bunch of wheels for me over the years. For the past several years I always seem to have a set of wheels at Harvey's. I was originally going to have an RSR finish on these wheels. A friend of mine had that done to his Fuchs wheels and after watching him trying to clean RSR wheels all the time I told Harvey to just polish mine. I'm not going for the racer/rallye look anyways. I have 6x16 on the front and 7x16 on the rear. The tires are 205/55 - 16 all the way around.

A few years back I got rid of the huge black ugly bumper guards that Porsche installed on the 1973 911s. I was originally going to replace them with body colored bumper guards then I found a chrome set that was in really nice condition. They were just too nice to paint. I love them.

The crack in the dash going to stay in place. I've heard from too many people about all of the bad dash reproductions. I don't think anyone is making a decent dash pad today. I'm not even willing to let Tony at Autobahn repair my dash. It's just too much aggravation. Besides the crack is really about adding character to the car.

This is a 917 shift knob. I love it. I think I love it because no one knows what it is. And, I seldom tell anyone what it is. People just don't need to know. It's better that way.

I guess if I can polish wheels then a polished shifter housing is no big deal. Actually a polished shifter housing is a lot easier to take care of than a set of polished Fuchs. What's strange is that I really hate bling. I guess I just don't consider this shifter to be bling. It's a cool look. Right?

These seats are going to stay. I like them and they're comfortable. I've had my share of Scheel and Recaro seats over the years and the stock seats are wonderful. I have Sparco seats in my race car and I love them. I just don't want to be in an aftermarket seat for more than an hour. Porsche seats are just fine for daily driving.

Here's the first decision. Do I replace this door panel with a stock panel, or do I install the RS door panels? I don't need the speakers since I no longer have a radio. I don't need a radio since I no longer have any sound deadner in this 911.

With a total lack of sound deadner anyplace in the car, and with no air filters on the car, you can't hear a damn thing. I love it that way.

Should I keep the armrests? Or, should I get the RS door panels? Let me know your thoughts on this. If it helps any the interior is going to get the lightweight RS perlon carpeting.

The big holdup right now is to get the Corvette track car running. That car is taking up a lot of time. It needs a lot of work to be ready for Sebring in March. Once that car is done I can put a new fuel pump in this car. How can the original fuel pump last 37 years and the replacement last less than two years? Plus, Porsche now wants over $800 for the replacement pump.

Update: I finally sent my fuel pump to Fuel Injection Corp. in California. I should have it back shortly. The interesting item is that the pump was not the original one. The pump was built in 1984. It's also a pump for a mechanical injection car - which is exactly what you want with Weber carbs.