[William Miller]

Originally Posted by david riley

The books differ; I’ve seen many that list the early ones at 180 too. I’m told and seen in Anderson’s book that the big difference is in the cam timing. Early SCs are timed a couple degrees different than later ones. Not dizzy timed but cam timed. Likely why they seem to pull harder at higher RPMS. I’ve also read that the early SCs have bigger ports or runners or something? Supposedly all 2.7, SC and 3.2s have the same cam profiles. Though timed different in some cases and let’s not forget the 3 vs. 4 journals. Again Anderson said the 3.2s split the difference in cam timing. 964 cams are suppose to be a good upgrade on the earlier engines but no one seems to do just that, so actual numbers seem sketchy at best.

Might be interesting to get a base line on DAS COUP with the SSIs and Ben muffler. They really seemed to help the low and mid range. Then retime cams to early specs. Lots of work for 3-5 top end HP but interesting just the same.


It would also be nice to find the real differences between the later Euro SCs (204) and US (180) ones. I wouldn’t think the half point in compression would make the 24 hp differences. Might be the combination of the CR, early CIS and cam timing but I have never seen anything concrete and haven’t the patience’s to go line by line in the PET. Most original Euros I’ve seen had air pumps and cats so what’s up with that?

Something I know about.
My 83 ROW was one with a gas pipe in the right door. I knew the left door was replaced because it had the US door beam in it.

It depends on what you want the car for. I loved that car for all the things they didn't do to it to make it comply. Besides the engine, it was somewhat lighter than the US version. (Although mine was a heavier Cab it would have been lighter than a US Cab (If you can find one.)

To say the least the 83 ROW engine was neat.
The later ones had the Carerra Case without the sump plate.
They maintained the simpler CIS system (Without lambda control) which also had the same (larger intake runners as the late 70's SC's. The air box had the internal manifold for the cold start valve which reduced the chance of explosion. It had 9.8:1 compression and the cam timing was retarded which
I believe made it a better track car.

Unfortunately, before I bought my car the PO was talked into swoping his engine when it came time to rebuild it. (I truely think he was swindled by someone who knew the benifits of the original ROW engine.) The long block was replaced with the 930/16 instead of the 930/10.
The main differences are the compression ratio 9.3 compaired to 9.8 and the cam timing.
The most interesting thing I found was that the intake runners were actually bigger in diameter than the intake ports where the two meet. One time I looked up the part numbers for the heads and they share the same part number. It really didn't make any sense to me that Porsche would have designed it that way. Bassically the hole in the head was several mm smaller than than the runner. I solved this problem when I rebuilt the engine by opening up the head to match the larger diameter of the runner. In the process, I also re-timed the engine to the ROW specs.

Now that I'm driving the US 81, I can tell you that there is a big difference in how the 2 engines feel. The 81 has low end torque the 83 with the larger intakes, larger ports (I also has SSI's on it) would pull harder and harder and harder all the way up to red line.

That's the basics, but there were also some other improvements in the K-basic CIS system used in Europe untill the quit production in 83.
The only down side of an ROW car is finding the exact parts to match.
I think you could almost replicate what I had by using a 81-83 us long block, reset the timing and open up the heads and slap on a 79 CIS system. The good thing about that is that the parts are easier to get.

In your search you might also consider get a car that will fit the Historic guidelines. I am very happy I did this. In Maryland this means no safety inspection, no emissions tests. There are some limitations on what you are supposed to use it for, but no mileage restrictions unless you make that agreement with your insurance company to get lower rates. You can drive yor car to events and to get it fixed among other limited use. I'm always fixing something

Hope you find a good car!