Books that cover major marques like Porsche – and
even major models within those marques like the 911SC – tend to fall into two
categories. Most common is the glossy coffee table approach, where plenty of
large colour pics are supplemented with minimal text and mostly uninformative
captions. Much less common are technical books devoted to the development of the
model, with pages of cutaway diagrams and a detailed insight into the
development of the car. But rarest of all – in fact, we’ve never seen another –
are books like the Porsche 911SC – The Essential Companion, which is
aimed specifically at the owner enthusiast. In fact, it’s startling to open the
glossy cover and find just small B&W pics, a dreadfully boring layout, and
page after page of shorthand notes....
Published by Veloce, the book is authored by
Adrian Streather but his role appears to have been more an editing one – dozens
of contributors (many of them 911SC owners) are acknowledged. Perhaps because of
the very large number of contributors, the text appears amateurish in parts: a
good editor would have got rid of cringe-making paras like: The following
advice is based purely on the author’s personal experience and knowledge gained
from others who were able to provide honest and truthful information. (In
this context, what’s the difference between ‘honest’ and ‘truthful’? Is the
advice based ‘purely’ on the author’s experience or the views of others? Without
this statement, should we have expected the information would be dishonest? )
And... When it comes to the question, “What is this 911SC worth?” it is the
same as asking “How long is a piece of string?” ...is a gem of
uselessness.
The layout consists of two columns on each page:
on the left are B&W photos all the same size, and on the right are
paragraphs of notes. Often, half pages contain nothing but white space. This
layout style requires a certain number of photos to match the text, and in many
cases the photos have been placed simply to fill the spot – they add nothing to
the book. (Picture of a sunset. Caption: “Sunrise in Daytona Florida. Here you
need air conditioning form early in the morning to late in the evening.” WTF?)
It’s therefore a slightly odd book to read: there’s no narrative text but
instead lots of bullet points, photo captions and tables.
This approach might seem to be packed full of
information, but there are also glaring omissions. The first chapter, which
covers the different 911SC models, gives such esoteric information as the price
of each 1979 option (“sports seats $330, metallic paint $490”) but there’s no
table of comparative specifications for the cars. Instead, finding this
information is a case of scouring the text and even then it’s not terribly
clear.
The chapter on engines has no opening explanation
of the basic design – instead, you’re straightaway into sentences like “The
engines used for the 911SC series were a development of the ROW 1976-77 Carrera
3.0 litre 930/02 engine”. It would be useful to first read a technical
description of the engine design: how many valves per cylinder, what type of
valve actuation, the materials used, and cooling approach and fuel injection,
complete with detailed specs like camshaft lift and duration.
The Buyer’s Guide is slow to get started but once
you get into the chapter, there is plenty of useful information. Chassis codes,
VIN codes, engine types, specific visual checks to be made on different models,
comparing option codes with the actual equipment, what to look for when driving
– all are covered. Basic servicing and maintenance includes aspects such as oil
and filter changes, and brake fluid level checking (not as obvious as you might
first think). This is a good chapter, full of nitty-gritty information for those
buying and owning one of these cars.
But the next chapter – 911SC Engine Systems – is
poor. Take the fuel supply system description. Surely, amongst the most
important details are the fuel flow figures for the pumps at their rated
pressures? This information is not included, and as to pressures: “Fuel pump
pressure can be tested with specialised pressure testing equipment” (Huh? A
pressure gauge?) and “The testing procedures for the fuel delivery system can be
found in the Porsche workshop manual”. (And then, oddly enough, many pages later
there is the electrical jumper procedure for operating the fuel pump
continuously to test its operation – but apparently only the fact that it runs!)
The fuel injection system – the Bosch CIS design –
is illustrated by diagrams so small they’re near-impossible to read. The
description of the oxygen sensor control loop is fine but the overall approach
is very ‘bitty’ – it would be hard for a reader not already familiar with Bosch
fuel injection systems to get a good feel for how the system works.
Faultfinding is covered in a separate chapter.
This content is fine as far as it goes: the detail is largely limited to tables
describing symptoms and then things to check. That’s far better than nothing at
all, but given the age of the vehicles and the way in which the book is aimed at
owner enthusiasts, I think that this (along with the chapter covering buying and
servicing) is one of the most important in the book. It deserved to be two or
three times as long.
And so it goes on. In the suspension chapter
there’s no overall description of the suspension, no listing of spring rates
(let alone damping rates!) – but plenty on measuring ride height. However, the
brakes section does list extensive specs for the brakes that have been fitted to
the cars, and the sections on different wheels and tyres that can be fitted is
useful.
About one-third of the book is devoted to
do-it-yourself and modification. However, as you’d by now expect, the quality is
variable. Changing the engine to a 1992 3.6 litre is well covered, but the
engine top-end rebuild section (“This section contains a brief overview of how
an engine may be dealt with by an engine repair facility”) is far less useful
than any workshop manual. Home cleaning of injectors is good, but replacing the
brake pads is much the same as in any car.
The section called Boost Engine Output is
extremely poor. There are lines about replacement airfilters like “The choice of
which
[airfilter]
system to use lies with the owner and their belief in the
manufacturers
[sic]
claims for improved power output” - an amazing statement in
a book which is supposed to be full of good advice on what works and what
doesn’t! The pages on turbochargers, camshafts and cat converters provide the
reader with little information; no specific performance build-ups are covered;
there are no dyno graphs or performance times showing the effects of
modifications; and the advice given is often so general as to be useless.
It appears that rather than establishing chapter
headings and then deciding what should be included to comprehensively cover that
heading, the material has first been assembled from the contributors and then
sorted into chapters. The result lacks cohesion and depth. Even the index is
poor – incredibly, ‘camshafts’ are not listed!
But despite all its faults, Porsche 911SC – The
Essential Companion is still a worthwhile purchase for those who own or are
buying a 911SC. Of the 400-odd pages, there are perhaps 100 with excellent,
useable information that would be hard to obtain elsewhere – and that’s probably
sufficient. But don’t expect to buy the book and use its content to service,
maintain and modify your 911SC. The blurb may say it “contains absolutely
everything a 911SC owner needs to know” but that’s a long way from the
reality...
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Porsche
911SC – The Essential Companion, Adrian Streather, Veloce Publishing, ISBN
1-84584-002-X, www.veloce.co.uk
Review
copy provided gratis by the publisher
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