1979 Porsche 930 (...and 78's too!)

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What other “Porsche” website can you post about turbo badges and cbox cassette holders? Perception is beginning to change for these iconic cars and we should thank our host, FerrariChat for this great 930 forum.

 

Agree that you really need the original speedo to document the car and many late-79 930’s had their 85 mph speedos replaced. My car has a 180 mph speedometer installed but I was fortunate that the original 85 mph speedo was in the trunk when I bought my car along with the maintenance record documenting the speedo swap.

I have read that early 930’s do suffer from paint problems due to the paint’s reaction to galvanized metal. Owners may overreact to this issue and decide to repaint even though it’s not rust or a serious issue but just surface paint rippling.

 

at what VIN did they start putting in 85 mph speedos in the 79?

 

9309800817 (USA, continue 1979 series, 1980 ROW model year to August 1980).

 

PelicanParts.com

 

U.S. ’79 930, chassis number 9309800028 left for dead:

http://www.salvage-cars-for-sale.info/salvage/for-sale-porsche-930-1979-MjcxNzEwNTE

Picked clean; front clip for sell on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1979-PORSCHE-911-930-TURBO-FRONT-CLIP-WITH-SALVAGE-TITLE-/251189570986?pt=Salvage_Parts_Cars&hash=item3a7c10adaa&vxp=mtr

 

'79 930 in light blue metallic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/willtel/4415010693/sizes/o/in/photostream/

’79 930 in Gulf blue:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/willtel/2893129571/sizes/l/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/willtel/2893119375/sizes/l/in/photostream/

 

Not sure about the manual, but my build date is 9/77

 

Not necessarily as much a reaction to galvanized meta as it is lack of clear coat. This is especially so with the metallic colors. Porsche, like many other manufacturers in the 70's through mid 80's used a single stage paint. If it wasn't garaged and well taken care of it faded, crazed, and peeled. The bodies also had a number of leaded joints that sometimes cuased issues.

 

Porsche clear coated all their metallic paints starting at least in the early 1970s. Only flat colors were single stage, and I'm not sure when they went to clear for flat.

 

The warranty/maintenance manual for 9308700012 has an inked delivery of 6/7/77 so the build would have been before this date.

http://www.art-restoration.eu/galerie/voitures/930-33-turbo/29.jpg

It’s interesting that your 930’s build of 9/77 is quite a few months after the same ROW chassis number.

Andreas Gabriel’s new book, “Porsche 911 Turbo – Air Cooled Years 1975 - 1998” starts the VIN sequence of ’75-79 930’s at 0001. This will further cloud the mystery of the early/preproduction cars as I thought for sure that Michael Cotton’s 911 Turbo book was correct starting the production chassis numbers at 0011.

 

'78 930, silver with light red interior.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katrox/4622224010/sizes/l/in/photostream/

 

this looks like a nice car for the money.

ttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1979-Porsche-930-Turbo-/130815230638?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1e7532

 

Unusual color (paint to sample?) but I find it odd that they didn't post any photos of the engine. Looks like a variable boost knob added in the center console. Also, we don't know if it has the original 85mph speedo installed.

 

I would still have to disagree with that based on the number of 911 based cars I've owned in both metallic and flat colors. I'm not sure but I think I even recall seeing a service bulletin related to the topic when I worked for Porsche/Audi.

Also, in through the 70's if a European car manufacturer used a base coat clear coat system on thier vehicles it was typically a laquer base with laquer clear, and I know Porsce didn't use this. The only manufactuer that I know of that did was Rolls Royce... bossibly Ferrari or some other high-end maker.

 

I have my book put away somewhere for safe keeping.. and it is interesting the number of months between production. However, we are talking the late 70's here.. Porsche was not the large volume producer they are now, and we have no idea what may have been going on in Germany at that time to affect production... material availability, worker strikes etc..

I have several books that as you state, make reference to chassis #'s starting with 0011, so I'm not so inclined go with Andreas Gabriel's "new" book.

As a matter of fact, upon a re-read of your comment regarding his book (Air Cooled Years 1975 - 1998” starts the VIN sequence of ’75-79 930’s at 0001) I would have to say that he is wrong as he is looping a number of years together and I know they are not sequential from 75-98. And the break out of 930's has been written about a numerous times and I don't believe I've ever heard that they were sequental from 75 on, nor do they appear to be with regard to a number of cars I've looked at over the years and/or have access to now.

 

Andreas’ new book does include an outstanding overall 930 production rundown and I was impressed with the detail on the number of options ordered by year starting at 1980 ROW production (# of 930's ordered with right side mirror, sunroof, sport seats, etc). Something else I learned was that air conditioning was an option on ROW 930’s from 1980 to 1984 and this would explain why A/C is not included on many of these cars. This is probably true for ROW ’75-79 930’s as well (i.e., not “air conditioning delete” but "non-optioned air conditioning").

For '75-79 930's, I'm inclined to go with Michael Cotton’s 911 Turbo book that starts the chassis numbers at “0011” vs. "0001". His numbers were confirmed in the September 2012 Excellence Magazine article on ’76 U.S. Turbo Carrera, 9306800011. The article has a photo of the Porsche AG letter with records showing 9306800011 was indeed the very first 911 Turbo built for the U.S. market. The June 2012 Excellence Magazine article on ’79 930, 9309801086 also mentions that Porsche AG confirmed by letter that only 1,190, 1979 U.S.-spec Turbos were made.

 

A big thumbs up to F-Chat and all of the knowledgeable posters on this forum. As an avid Rennlister, I was linked to this forum and have read every post. The posts really helped me understand what I have.

I have a 52k mile 1978 Black/Black non California car. Recently acquired, it sat largely unused for the last 12 years except for a monthly start and short run every month. Dusty around the edges and I am in the process of cleaning it up.

The interesting thing to me is the engine number is 109 while the chassis number is 240. I was a little surprised at the disparity after matching numbers up on some of my previous restorations.

Driving it is interesting, it feels solid and new but the turbo lag is a bit crazy. After the linear power delivery of my other cars it requires a bit of an adjustment.

 

Don't let the engine number throw you off. You say you have a non California car, so as long as you have a 930/61 engine you could well be in the ballpark. There were 2 different 930 engines produced for the USA in 1978, a 49 state version 930/61 and a California version 930/63. The 930/61 was a one year only USA version which was replaced by the 930/64 in 1979 for the USA 930s. The 930 (California only) 930/63 engine was produced for the USA cars in both 1978 and 1979. Even though your USA chassis is 240 there could have been 110 California 930s produced concurrently (110 + 109 = 219 USA 930 engines). So (if that's the case) at engine number 109 your in the money. It's all part of what makes the '78-'79 3.3 series interesting. Transmissions numbers are another story.

The only way you can try to find out if your chassis and engine match is to obtain a CA from Porsche.

Try not to wipe the silly grin off your face when the boost kicks you in the a**!

 

Speaking of '78/79 930 engine numbers, there's some detaled information on the breakout between 49-State and California engine numbers in Andreas Gabriel's new 911 Turbo book:

'78 930
930/61 (49-State) - 305
930/63 (California) - 187
Total = 492

'79 930
930/61 (49-State) - 850
930/63 (California) - 347
Total = 1197

In the numbers section in the back of the book, Nobert Franz mentions that for the U.S.'79 930, the number of engines built were not sufficent for all the chassis numbers. However, if you consider that the chassis numbers for U.S. '79 930's started at "0011", then 1197 engines would have been more than enough for 1190 cars (vs. 1200). This section also mentions that vehicle identification numbers are mentioned for the first time in the model year 1980 (perhaps referring to the "93A" VIN vs. 930 chassis number?).

 

Interesting, the 1978 numbers could indicate almost 10% out of spec engines (41 units over total of 451) while 1979 is possibably less than 1% (only 7 over total of 1190).

Also, is there an error in the book? There were no 930/61 engines in 1979. All US '79 930 49 state engines were 930/64.








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Perhaps '78 engine overproduction was for prototype/test/preproduction 3.3 liter 930's?

Good catch as the "930/61" should be "930/64" for '79 930's (book typo or error?).

The book's 930 production numbers and options data are very detailed for 1980-1989 model years. It almost seems like the '75-79 Porsche factory records were not as detailed. According to the book's 3.3 liter production numbers, more '86-89 930's were produced than '78-85 930's.

 

You may well be correct in assuming the extra '78 engine production numbers were the result of "prototype/test/preproduction 3.3 liter 930's". They just seem high. Does the book say where the nunbers came from?

 

It is a 930/61 engine. I never considered that they were taking them from two stacks of engines. Makes sense.