Are you Bored enough to watch… Project DS911

Some of you may have been watching the guy on YouTube who bought a flood wrecked Maclaren P1 and is restoring it and improving it as he goes (search tavarish p1). This is me doing almost the opposite to a really nice 911 997.1 Carrera 4S as I turn it into a Citroen.

This might turn into quite a long term set of updates as I recorded the Teaser in February and Just release Part 1 now in November. Please bear with me as I am doing this all on my own at the moment and other than the car I sold to buy the donor, this is all being funded from the paintings and sculptures I sell, or in fact anything I sell, as I promised my long suffering wife that I wouldn’t blow a load of money on something quite so stupid.

Here is the Teaser for anyone who missed it : https://youtu.be/PlGSR6w2_hI

Here is Part 1 released just before I posted this : https://youtu.be/Q_RImHd5mQI

If you pay attention you will notice that the plan has changed quite a bit between conception and being hit by reality.

I like your plan. I’m a Saab guy and I’ve seen AI renderings of a 900/911 mash up that made me go hmmmm. Pretty sure yours will look awesome

Subscribed. See if you can complete faster than the binky lads!

I have no idea what you’re up to but hell yeah I’m going to watch this

I watched the first one with my son… he weirdly lost interest when he realised it wasn’t a toy car you were planning to modify 🤷🏽‍♂️

Following with interest. (However, a friendly word of advice from someone ex-telly: try not to fill the bits between words with err, argh or um, it’s varying degrees of annoying – I’m looking at you Adam Boulton! 😉)

Thanks Watty – I think what you really mean is ‘learn how to edit videos’ 🙂

Crazy idea but I’ve liked and subscribed😀

Yeah, sort of, but a bit more ‘think before you speak’. 😃

I think I’ll wait a while then binge a few.

Vaguely related, I saw a Porsche 914 restomod yesterday, all £350000 of it, even in squirty poo brown it looked good.

I saw a Porsche 914 restomod yesterday, all £350000 of it, even in squirty poo brown it looked good.

Well mine is being funded by my art sales (NicksArtStuff.com Commissions considered) so at £150 – £1,500 per painting my destructo-Mod might cost a bit less.

Will there be blood and gore later in the series

Will there be blood and gore later in the series – Quite probably. I get the angle grinder out when I manage to find some scrap wings to use.

Liked, Subscribed, Rang the Bell

But the donor car is way too nice to be butchered!

On behalf of Porsche aficionados everywhere…

I’m still going to watch it though.

may i ask why you aren’t using a less nice porsche? you could sell the good one, buy a less good one and use the money leftover to find part of the work

Yes, I agree that the Porsche I bought is way too nice to butcher as I originally planned.

The original idea was to buy a scrappy 996 with about 100,000 miles on it for about £12K and use that. Unfortunately each one like that I saw had some fairly major bills due such as full engine rebuilds, collapsed suspension, flood damage etc. These were all £5K-£15K expenses that needed doing before I could start on the cosmetic work. I decided that it would be cheaper to buy a mechanically better car for perhaps £5K more than try and spend that money recovering a wreck.

This was one of the reasons for the 6 month delay to starting anything as I needed to find £5K and while I am sure it is nothing to the millionaires of this forum, it is a significant chunk of money for me, especially on a silly project. THis time was spent researching the different models in the 996 range and the occasional glance at the 997s. Both of these models suffer from bore score which requires an engine rebuild (£10K-£15K) but it is hit and miss as to which cars will get it and when. Some get it at 30,000 miles others at 100,000 but a lot of them get it.

One thing the research also revealed was that if you do have bore score, whilst there is nothing you can do other than a rebuild, it is not an immediate disaster. People have run there cars for 10-15,000 miles with bore score without issue, perhaps more. It will gradually get worse and you will use more oil but you can manage it.

As this is not a main car for me and 15,000 miles might well be 5 years I figured it might be worth a punt on a car with very early signs of bore score. I had planned to upgrade the engine within 5 years anyway so I had, sort of, budgeted for that expense. This one came up with carbon ceramic brakes, full leather pack, BOSE sound upgrade and just 51,000 miles. It is basically a £30K car that I got for £18K because of the engine. Speaking to the garage that had serviced it for the previous 8 years, they explained there was no issue at 48K miles and only the first signs at 51K miles picked up when the owner at the time wanted to sell it. He sold it for £25K to the guy who I bought it from 6 months later. The fear and misunderstanding of ‘bore score’ caused the panic sales and I believe got me a bargain.

So, after that long explanation of why the car was cheap enough to afford yet still looks good, did you actually listen to the video? I did explain that I had changed my original plans and the car was remaining stock from the tail up to the front wings. It was only the front wings, bonnet and bumper I now plan to change. The original parts will be removed and stored while I use some scrappers to make moulds for DS911.

OldTennisShoes – I agree it is too nice so it will be a reversable change
Doomanic – You betcha, I am really looking forward to the Simply Porsche meets at Beaulieu
LAT – There isn’t a big enough price difference between a less good one and the one I got to fund the repairs, let alone any of the foolishness I have planned.

So your going to make front wings , source some suitable headlights (yellow of course) , some sort of chrome bumper , set of steel wheels with enough off set , big enough to deal with the calipers, then fit them without cutting the 911. .tough gig
So you need donor front wings and an angle grinder, big pack of fibre glass , a ton of filler to make a template that can be copied neatly.
And you really need to borrow a DS, there’s one by the Thomas Lord rotting away in a garden btw.
Blimey . Good Luck

thanks for the explanation. makes a lot of sense. i’ve not watched the video yet, but i intend to. i’m intrigued to know what the plan is and how it’s going to be reversible.

i used to live next door to a guy who had a DS, in lymington as it happens. he may well be equally concerned about this project, but from the opposite side. that’s assuming that you are using an actual DS for the project. as i said, i’ve not watched the vid!

I do have a friend with a DS but I won’t be slapping mlds of that as every panel is the wrong proportions. I will be sculpting the mold from foam myself. How hard can it be?

Sourcing suitable headlights and manufacturing a bumper will be ‘fun’ I agree, especially as I won’t be able to use the standard DS ones. I might make my own from Porsche donor units to keep all the electronics compatible but cut out and put into my own headlamp bowls.

Wheels will stay stock ‘lobster claw’ Porsche, initially at least.
The molds will be part steel from the scrap panels and partly foam with a thin skin of glass over them for stiffness and then filler for smoothness. Glass fibre molds off of that and then the actual panels are all going to be carbon fibre, just for the challenge. I am currently making my first ever carbon fibre parts for the Porsche. This is just skinning the existing scruffy side skirts so subscribe as see when the video showing those land.

i’ve watched the videos. i’m not sure what to say, don’t do it/good luck!

are you familiar with car breeding on instagram? your project is a real life version.

A quick (maybe) question? What is “bore score” and why do the engines suffer from it at different intervals? 

I’ll be interested to see how you get on. I like the idea, but I can imagine it being rather tougher than you expect. Fair play for giving it a shot.

I’d love to design an alternative boot-lid for my 6 series so hoping I can pick up some tips.

@WorldClassAccident The Wheeler Dealers did a Porsche with bore score and went to a non-franchised chap who did some secret squirrel work for the engine rebuild. May be worth looking at if you need something worked for a bargain.

Will watch part one after Mrs S relinquishes control of the remote control later.

Bore Score – The pistons scratch the hardened coating off the cylinder bores. Without the hardened coating the scratches get deeper, oil seeps round so you burn oil (the clue is a dirty left exhaust*), the pistons also can wobble as they are not tight in the bore so you get piston slap (the clue is the ticking noise)

Why it happens and why the time before it varies so much is the subject of a gazillion YouTube videos and Forum fights. Here is my theory based on nothing more than what I have read and tried to deduce myself. I shall try split the two sources.

Read : The M96/97 Crankcases use ‘Lokasil’ Cylinder liners.

Deduced : Porsche tried a new surface treatment on the cylinder bores that wasn’t as good as what they had before and what came after the 996/997 generation. Once this lining was worn through the pistons were basically just rubbing against untreated metal that wears away quite quickly.

Read : Due to the layout of the open deck crankcase on 996/997 models, the cylinder banks are not rigidly supported. The oil spray and cooling flow faces the lower side of the cylinders which means the piston thrust on the right side cylinder runs slightly hotter than the left side. This results in the sixth cylinder becoming oval in shape when thermal and mechanical stresses are applied across the two banks of cylinders.

Deduced : Basically a bad design makes the hot spots and mis-shaped cylinder more likely.

Read : In addition, lubrication of the cylinders can also be compromised if the oil is changed at two year intervals. When fuel and moisture contaminate the oil (due to low mileage short journeys), the oil becomes diluted which results friction between the piston and the cylinder bore wall and can cause overheating.

Deduced : A lot or Porsches don’t get used much and when they do they are for shorter journeys and often not allowed to warm up properly first.

Deduced / Noticed : The main radiators are at the front of the car and have the aircon radiator directly in front with about a 1cm gap. There is no way to clean these radiators and remove the trapped leaves without removing the wheels, wheel arch liners, car undertray parts and the front bumper to gain access.

Summary of my deductions and findings : Porsche cocked up the engine design and made it liable to hot spots and oval bores. To make matters worse, their new wonder coating (Lokisil) wasn’t all that wonderful. This means there was a high risk of excess engine wear. Designing the cooling system so it is difficult to see it needs cleaning and more difficult still to clean means these engines sometimes don’t get the best cooling. Add in the fact that Porsche drivers are not always fastidious about warming their engines thoroughly before revving them and often do short journeys and the issue becomes far more common. The more short journeys and high revs on a cold engine then the quicker this happens so a well used car may last 100,000 miles without issue whilst one only driven 2 miles to the golf course and back at max attack from cold will struggle to hit 30,000 miles.

Wheeler Dealers used Hartech. They are the main people in the UK for this work. Lots of other people do it but it costs much the same price and Hartech Rebuild on the paperwork adds more value than anyone else.

*Right cylinders get affected first so start smoking and vent out of the left exhaust

BRace yourselves guys and don’t break YouTube in your rush to watch it.

Episode 2 has been released : https://youtu.be/KuoUyDiK55M

One thing I did learn is that my garage is too cold so there might be a short delay before the next episode while I add some insulation to the garage so like and subscribe now to make sure you don’t miss the next release.

Prequel : https://youtu.be/PlGSR6w2_hI
Episode 1 : https://youtu.be/Q_RImHd5mQI

I’m very intrigued to see how this turns out WCA, nice job on the sills. 👍

I’ve got to be honest….i don’t understand what you’re trying to do. Are you:
1. Trying to make a car that looks like a citreon DS but drives like a porsche?
2. Trying to make a porsche that looks like a DS from the front?

If 1, why don’t you get a DS (a beautiful car IMHO) and stick a bigger engine in it?
If 2,…er why?!

Top tip.
Don’t post YouTube video share URLs as links.

If you want them to appear in the thread, just paste them in the reply box as they are, which means the video box appears and can be played here instead of people having to click through to YouTube. 👍

👇

Thanks Kayak, I will try that next time. It is much better than the links.

I’ve got to be honest….i don’t understand what you’re trying to do. Are you:
1. Trying to make a car that looks like a citreon DS but drives like a porsche?
2. Trying to make a porsche that looks like a DS from the front?

I think the answer is 2, your second option.

I did try to explain the point of this in the prequel but here we go.

Like with the rest of life, there is no point to it.

or the longer version

I really like the looks of the DS, have looked over many and have driven a couple. They were amazingly comfortable and ahead of their time – but that was over 60 years ago. I now have an E class mercedes which is more comfortable, smoother, more powerful and a lot more reliable. I don’t have a family so don’t need a saloon car and my wife isn’t particularly into cars so is happy just to waft in the Merc.

This would mean that if I bought a real DS I would have a car that isn’t great to drive, has a pre-WW2 engine and serves no real purpose beyond parking up at car shows which is not really all I want to do. Sticking a bigger engine in will just show up the other dynamic weaknesses.

If I use a Porsche as a base for a sort of DS look-alike then I still have a sports car to drive and I get something interesting to show.

Tavarish P1 has been intersting.

I love Binky (but am concerned they’ll never finish it or Les Cargo before we all die)
Retro Power was a great distraction in lockdown, and their work is amazing.

Phil Morrison at Driftworks has an amazing car collection and is ‘fastidious’ with his standards for his builds.

Hackshop garage is two two likable aussies learning stuff.
Diffauto is drifting on the cheap with an old E30 and an LS

So, yes, I think I have room for another car channel.

No, I don’t think I am bored enough, if I’m honest. I’d watch if you want to restore a DS or even get a broken 911 and restore that. But while obviously each to their own; butchering a 911 to make a replica DS – two cars that owe nothing to each other, don’t look the same, don’t have the same purpose, or share any commonality makes no sense to me. 

But, y’know, still probably cheaper than a coke habit, so if it makes you happy…

My Car channels on YouTube are M539 restorations, Binky, and Soup Classic. More than enough I think. 

I only really watch Mighty Car Mods these days, just because they’re sound lads. I’ve sacked everything else off.

I basically can’t afford to be into cars on any level and realised that watching other people have all the fun just makes me miserable.

The Wheeler Dealers did a Porsche with bore score and went to a non-franchised chap who did some secret squirrel work for the engine rebuild. May be worth looking at if you need something worked for a bargain.

Still cost a fortune despite Elvis doing most of the work himself.

The Wheeler Dealers did a Porsche with bore score and went to a non-franchised chap who did some secret squirrel work for the engine rebuild. May be worth looking at if you need something worked for a bargain.

Still cost a fortune despite Elvis doing most of the work himself.

£10K + vat for the basic rebuild, £8.7+vat if you remove the and deliver the engine and they just do that bit.
£13.7+vat if you get the engine upped to 4.1 from 3.8

Nickc – I totally agree with your thinking and understand your dis-interest. If it appealed to everyone then someone else on the planet would have done it already.

Could you just post a picture of the model/vision so I can judge whether I like the idea?

Here yoiu go Cab. It was originally going to be something like a blend of these two Paintshop images

Now, I will probably only be doing the front for reasons explained in Episode 1

Forgot to add M539 and Soup to my list.
Both strangely soothing, I ‘ll watch yours later WCA.

That bike needs a good clean !

That bike needs a good clean ! – I was riding it on Wednesday so it needs a REALLY good clean now.