Out Of The Blue – 911 Porsche World







OUT OF THE BLUE

Richard Coffin (yes, that’s his real name) is tall, handsome, and as committed an enthusiast for anything with wheels as you’ll find. A couple of his friends told us “even if it doesn’t have a motor, and only two wheels, Rich goes all in. He’s a serious mountain biker, so of course his bikes are custom built.” Coffin is in the software and technology business, living, logically enough, near the Silicon Valley area of central, coastal California. Coffin is the second owner of this dazzling blue 1973.5 911 hot rod, having owned it nearly 25 years (paying just $10,500 at the time). He’s put around 170,000 miles on it “and it’s lived many lives with me,” he adds. “It was my original autocrosser, and then I built it up with a Carrera 3.2 engine. It was getting a little tired, and I’d been thinking about freshening it, and amping it up a notch with the addition of a full Elephant Racing suspension system.”

He identified a crack in the front chassis area, and visited San Rafael, California’s S CAR GO Racing to get it repaired. “And then one thing led to another, and of course it got all out of hand.” It wasn’t long before Coffin and S CAR GO majordomo Rob King were dreaming up Coffin’s ideal fantasy build, and then of course tearing the 911 down to the nubbins, and gathering parts for it.

He liked the ethos of the 911s “Restored and Reimagined” by Singer Vehicle Design, but wanted to do the build with his own car, not beginning with an anonymous 964. The ’73 was stripped to the absolute barest of shells and rustproofed and prepped for the build that would give it a new heart, more muscular extremities, and a new life in every other way possible.

The centrepiece is a fully built engine beginning with a used 993 motor rendered from the boneyard, then punched and drilled by S CAR GO to 4.1-litres. This was accomplished via J & E pistons and LN Engineering’s Nickies cylinders, all equalling a 78.4mm stroke over a 105mm bore. Naturally the rods, rings and many other bits are bespoke, as are the custom ground WebCam bumpsticks. Back to the rods and they are the work of Brian Pauter at Pauter Machine. Brian also did extensive work to the 993 cylinder heads. Up top the stock 993 induction system was binned in favour of a PMO carb set up; it’s all lighted afire by a fully programmable Electromotive ignition and coil system, tuned and fettled for this application by S CAR GO.

The sculpture-like stainless headers were also custom fabbed in house, as is the rest of the polished stainless muffler and exhaust; the muffler set up and configuration a joint thought and design pursuit between King, Coffin, and S CAR GO’s fabrication boffin, Mark Robles. The welding is NASA space programme immaculate, and the system tucks up nicely in the 911’s tail.

Power? The engine was still breaking in during our visit and drive, but given the way this car hits so hard in the mid-range, and revs to the moon, our fairly well calibrated butt-dyno tells us it’s cranking every penny of 400bhp to the rear wheels. Or maybe a couple more. Indeed, post drive and the figure just in is 418bhp at the crank.

Of course power is nothing without control, and Coffin wanted his car to handle like a race car yet ride like a street car and put every possible pony to the ground. Thus this owner finally got the Elephant Racing underpinnings he originally set off in search of. That means a full Elephant GT3 subframe with forged trellis A-Arms and the attendant coilover shocks kit with “Stage Two level calibration” up front. The steering rack is courtesy of a 930 Turbo, the front end is further fortified with an Elephant Racing blade style anti roll-bar, camber plates, and a 935 Xstyle brace kit. The Elephantine moves continue aft with a racing coilover kit plus 100lb booster springs, and a “quick change” hollow tube 27mm torsion bar, the same blade anti-roll piece, and heavy duty CV joints. All very top shelf stuff, and infinitely adjustable.

There’s bespoke upgraded or racing bits and subsystems everywhere else you look, plus immaculate assembly. S CAR GO fabbed up an expanded rear oil tank, and this, plus the large front cooler, amps oil capacity up to 14 quarts. Elephant also provided its trademark “finned” oil cooler pipes that run the length of the car, tucked up tight on the passenger side, and a passle of additional oil system bits – this engine will be well oiled and well cooled no matter how hard it’s run. The transmission is an innovative mix of parts that likely make it as close to the performance and robustness of a G50 ’box without being one; the case is an aluminium 915 fully built and blueprinted by S CAR GO. It runs 930 synchros, a Wevo gate shift kit and gear shaft end plate upgrades, Patrick Motorsports custom clutch and ultralight flywheel, Stomski Racing shift linkage coupler ball, and a Quaife helical gear LSD.

True Blue relies on Porsche “greatest hits” components for its high spec braking system, with Brembo “big red” Turbo calipers up front, paired with 993 Turbo drilled rotors that required a bit of shaving on a lathe in order to work with the 16in wheels. The aft stoppers are 993 rear brake calipers and more drilled and vented 993 Turbo rotors. The aforementioned wheels are 8x16in 944 Turbo S fronts and 9x16in 930 Turbo units in the rear, handsomely refinished by Wiedman in an RSR style that matches polished lips with satin sand finished spokes. Period looking in a modern way, but a bit of work to keep clean. The tyres are wide, sticky Toyo Proxes RA1s.

And check out that cabin! The roll bar was custom fabbed by S CAR GO with hefty cross bracing and is tied in at the pillars – combined with the X-brace up front and other stiffening mods ensures there will be no chassis wiggling here. The seats are Corbeaus with a Scottish wool tartan – trimmed by Don Franzini at Franzino Bros – that looks like 1973 all over again, but with its own level of panache, also comfortable and serving as a startling offset to the brilliant original colour Oxford blue exterior paint. Everything else in the interior has been completely refreshed, including lots of Rennline flooring, dash and door bits. The dash is done in non-reflective, lux-to-thetouch Alcantara suede-like fabric which looks and feels a treat. Rich spent considerable time and effort researching seating and pedal position, and also steering wheel selection. After sampling at least a dozen different wheels, he settled on a Momo racing dished Prototipo style wheel – Coffin stands about 6’6” tall, so knee clearance was an issue with most nondished wheels.

The car’s effect in the metal is staggering; it looks the business, shouting a smart combination of period resto and modern hot rod. The Carrera 2.7 style ducktail also adds a measure of “RS-ness” to the look. Enough parts talk; time to twist the key. We all agree that the owner should drive first and show us his car, and what he had in mind for it. The roads between S CAR GO’s San Rafael shop and Nick’s Cove in Pacific coastal Marshall, California are fabulous, tight and fast, then not so tight and even faster, generally smooth, but bumpy in a few places. Once fully warmed, Coffin aims to complete the engine’s break-in aggressively, and he puts the car hard and fast through its paces. We’ll tell you, this guy can pedal. His racing and autocross experience shines through as he flogs the car hard on every straight and through every bend; it’s a stirring ride, hitting 100mph on more than a few occasions. We can tell from the passenger seat that the suspension really works, biting hard and sticking tight at both ends as no stock suspended early 911 could hope to do, no matter how well it’s set up. King is driving just ahead in his 800bhp 993 Turbo and isn’t running away from us!

Besides all the grip and stick, this big motor hits really hard. There’s power all over the tach, with a righteous mid-range and no lack of high rpm horsepower, or a willingness to rev. For such a large engine, you’d think it to be more of a torque monster and not so happy to spin the tach, but it’s not the case here. You can wind the tach all the way round, but the robust mid-range means you don’t have to. “Downshift to power out of that corner, sir? Of course, but only if you wish to.” Massage the pedal and the big blue car just powers out with authority. And it sounds positively symphonic, between the mad air sucking sounds of the PMO carbs to the bespoke exhaust; it could be the Ford Curves at Le Mans, or just a place in classic 911 heaven.

Now it’s our turn: It’s easy to get comfy in these specially reconfigured seats, visibility is perfect, and the dished Momo falls right to hand. The engine idles smoothly, with the slightest cammy edge to it, underpinned by the basso soundtrack from the pipes. Clutch effort is light and progressive, and takeoff is easy. First gear comes and goes in an instant, then it’s up through second and into that massively wide third, ready for any mid or high speed corner. Besides all the crazy horsepower and magnificent motor tunes, what really impresses is the feelsome lightness of the steering; now of course everyone waxes poetic about early 911 steering, but this one, given all the custom suspension and steering bits, retains worthy two-way communication, but is so much lighter than you’d expect from a car with wide wheels and tyres; the steering in my own Carrera 3.2 feels twice as heavy at most speeds, and the wheel feel of Rich’s car is tactily phenomenal; certainly having the steering wheel dished a bit closer to the chest helps the driver with a bit more mechanical leverage, but most of the steering magic happens underneath. King adds that the mix of “greatest hits” steering parts, the Elephant Racing suspension and precisely calculated and executed wheel alignment make it possible.

Given all the work that went into the transmission and shifter, it didn’t overwhelm us. The shift action is quick and direct, but a little clonkier than expected. You’ll never miss a gear, but you wouldn’t define this set up as “snick-snick”, although the ratios feel perfectly matched to the 4.1’s powerband.

It’s our educated estimation that Coffin invested something like a quarter of a million bucks in this very bespoke build, and it’s not hard to see the money. We asked him if the car is what he wanted and expected, and if he would change anything he’d done. He is so far loving the result, and the only change he’s on the cusp of is swapping out the excellent and responsive PMO carbs for an AT Power fuel injection system – not because the PMOs don’t run well or perform, but primarily in the name of more instant hot starting, and the potential of more power. And maybe clearcoating or satin clear painting the wheel spokes to make them easier to clean.

Not much of a gripes list. And Rich is a guy who likes his horsepower – the other Porsche in his garage is a GT2. He speaks quite highly of the process and result of his experience with S CAR GO. He enjoyed working with King and his talented team, and absolutely got the Super 911 that he wanted.

911 & Porsche World