Porsche 951 Upgrades RennsportKC

Towed this puppy over to the shop earlier this week to reconstruct it. It came as a roller along with a pile of parts in boxes 🙂 I even got almost all the parts needed on the first run. Due to time constraints, it just wasn’t getting put back together by my good friend Scott. Not even a KCWS wrenching session could save it! It was time to either put a bullet in it, or get it running 🙂 Now that I think back on it, I am shaking my head. I was really trying to have my car finished before he had his finished. I thought no way in hell could I lose that bet! Then he decides to give me his car to finish, which of course puts mine further back in the queue. Well played sir, well played.

So I introduce to you…..The Sherminator!

Ok, maybe it isn’t the Sherminator, but rather the General Sherman, named after the very famous Union General. He doesn’t look happy about being in this picture…..he looks like he wants to burn something. He looks like the Honey Badger….like he just doesn’t give a sh$#

It’s a long story about how the General Sherman came to be. Let see, where do we start. Years ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was a nice black 951 named the General Lee. hmmmm come to think of it, I don’t think I ever saw that car run even once……. Nope not this General Lee, cause that would be pretty cool….

But a car named after this General Lee. See, he looks much happier. More like your grandpa…..who just got his ass kicked by General Grant.

The nice 951 met it’s fate one day at the hands of an electrical fire. I like to imagine the destruction similar to that of Atlanta as General Sherman drove his troops through. You know….ugly. The General Lee’s replacement was better example, which was promptly named the General Sherman. I guess the union was blue…..the car is blue….only makes sense to call it the General Sherman after the fall of the General Lee.

Again, the car came to me under extreme duress!

Unfortunately, it’s cries for help have gone unheard for the last couple years. Maybe it’s only been a year and a half…I dunno….it’s been a long time since it has been on the road. It is just a shell of what was once a car….

As it arrived…..a torn apart engine bay. It was torn down to install a Speed Force Racing Exhaust, headers, crossover pipe, and downpipe. To do that, the turbo had to come off. The car already sports a Vitesse Racing stage II turbo and MAF. Since Speed Force Racing’s stuff fits like socks on a rooster (as old man Kaspar would say), the project just kind of got raised up on the lift and forgotten. I do remember at that last wrenching session that the front oil cooler was installed. People must be foolish to think I know how to put this stuff back together 😉

Scott had gotten the headers installed, but I noticed the coolant crossover pipe was pushing against the headers (remember how I said this stuff doesn’t fit for crap?). Once a highly revered company in the 951 market, SFR’s stuff has gone downhill badly….but we’ll make it work. A spacer washer between the pipe and the cam tower, and a little bend to the pipe, and I think I have a little clearance there.

A little investigating here and there, putting things back together. Crossover pipe was next.

This is a 3 piece design which allows you to drop out the center section with 2 V-band clamps so you can remove the oil pan, or bellhousing for jobs that require them to come off.

A slight modification of the caster block mount on the body to clear the 3″ cat bypass pipe.

After I was happy with the crossover pipe, I buttoned some things up under the intake, and got it and the CEP fuel rail bolted back on the car.

Magnecor wires installed for the Vitesse Wasted Spark system that I will be installing.

I just randomly pull parts out of the boxes and install them. I think these are Rennbay sway bar support braces. A few minutes and they were on. I figure eventually I will run out of parts in boxes. Stay tuned as we hopefully breath some life back into this car so it can burn up the streets!

More from the Blog

7 Comments

Leave a comment
Lin

January 15, 2013 at 10:43 PM

…abandoned, neglected, unregistered and unwashed…and all because of a Mini!

Jim

January 16, 2013 at 8:24 AM

That’s a lot of progress for just one day. Can’t imagine what was taking the owner so long. Any more words of wisdom from “old man Kaspar”?

Steve

January 16, 2013 at 9:01 AM

They say more people have walked on the moon than have seen the General Sherman on the road.

Jeff Whealen

January 16, 2013 at 9:54 AM

This is awesome. Hopefully it starts up and runs without issue.

Cheryl Burney

January 16, 2013 at 4:49 PM

Does it still have the flame thrower option:)

David L

January 16, 2013 at 10:44 PM

[img]http://66.147.244.110/~fivfouf7/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/sherman_flamethrower.jpg[/img]

Steve N.

January 21, 2013 at 5:46 PM

“The Sherminator” – Great movie reference!

Glad to hear there is some progress. Might the Sherman make a Renntreffen appearance this year?

Leave a Reply to Jim Cancel reply