Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2

In the early eighties, the Porsche 911 model was said to be withdrawed. But a man decided in an another way. And the factory produced the most classic 911 : the Carrera 3.2

Dr. Fuhrmann was the director of Porsche company and its ideas were clear : 924,944 and 928 would be the future of the german sportcars manufacturer. The 911 was old and obsolete in every way : old fashionned design, rear and air-cooled engine, comfort, small habitability, old chassis... Dr. Furhmann wanted to make of it old story. But Ferry Porsche, who can be considered as the father of the 911, didn't agree with him. And he wasn't the only one : many members of the Porsche administration council agree with him and finally, Dr. Fuhrmann took an early retirement. The fate of the 911 was now in the hands of Peter Schutz, an engeener who has mainly worked on diesel engines at Caterpillar. Despite that, he was a fan of the 911 and decided to continue the production of the 911. And the 911 SC 3.0 get fitted with a more powerful engine and two projects went on studies : a 4WD 911 and a Cabriolet. Even if the Carrera 4 appeared in 1989, the SC Cabriolet get commercialized on vintage 1983 and this model was a success.

All was fine and it was time to produce a new model that will erase all the defaults of the previousones. From some marketing reasons, the new model received the name of Carrera despite the fact that it wasn't the most powerful model of the serie. Since 1984, all 911 models are called Carrera except the turbo and targa body. The major evolution of the new 911 Carrera was its engine : the block was once again enlarged to reach 3,164 cc using the 95mm bore of the SC and the 74.4mm stroke of the 930 turbo. This configuration isn't new since the factory used to sell 3.2 racing engines for private 935s producing around 700hp. Some factory 911s even received an experimental atmospheric 3.5 engine (100mmx74.4mm). This two types of engines gived real satisfaction about reliability and made it possible to enlarge the capacity of the production engine. But the real progress was the adoption of a DME-controlled fuel and ignition system called Motronic. This device show great improvements from many points of view : consumption, power, torque, pollution, cold start... On test, average consumption get down from 15.5 mpg to 17.1 mpg. And at stabilized speed, results were astonishing : 26 mpg @ 75 mph (9 l for 100 km @ 120 kph) ! The Motronic also allows the engine to operate near knock limit. As a consequence, compression ratio was raised from 9.8:1 to 10.3:1 giving a maximum power of 231 hp @ 5,900 rpm and 28.6 mkg @ 4,800 rpm (207 hp and 26.5 mkg @ 4,800 rpm for american, canadian and japanese models - engine type 930/21). The output of the 930/21 is less important because the compression ration was reduced to 9.5:1 to use unleaded fuel. These models also receive a three-way catalytic converter and an oxygen sensor.

The Motronic is a system that can select the amount of fuel injected and the point of ignition of the engine. It is linked to sensors that note air and cylinder heads temperature and atmospherical pressure. The Motronic unit compare the obtained values with those that have been programmed in its memory and selects the nearest results. So, injected fuel quantity and point of ignition are always appropriated to the present conditions. This system also limit the rev at 6,520 rpm. As an end, the problem of 911 engine chain tensioners have been definitely resolved. The cylinder that keep the chain under tension is now directly feed by the engine pressure circuit. Regarding the output of the engine (the higher obtained so far with a 911 atmospheric engine), Porsche decided to put better brake sytem on the Carrera 3.2 : it received 282x24mm front and 290x24mm discs rear (instead of 282x20.5mm and 290x20mm). Pistons of the rear brake calipers increased to 42mm (as front ones) and to prevent wheel locking under big braking (which is very frequent with same pistons' size front and rear), a pressure regulator get added to the rear brake circuit. Finally, the servobrake diameter reached 8 inches, as on the 911 turbo.

For the first year of the model, the chassis hasn't been improved. The wheels and tyres size were similar to those of the 911 SC (185/70 VR 15 on 6J15 front and 215/60 VR 15 on 8J15 rear). Modifications will come in 1986 when Porsche equiped the Carrera 3.2 with Bodge twin tube gas shock absorbers. The front sway bar diameter raised from 20mm to 22mm and the rear ones from 18mm to 21mm. As an end, rear torsion bars now have a 25mm diameter instead of 24.1mm. From the beginning, a larger engine could have been employed but the gearbox, type 915, couldn't support more than 30mkg. Moreover, an oil radiator was already used to transfer the torque of the 3.2 engine.

Regarding the age of this gearbox (the first ones have been fitted on the 2.4 models in 1972) and the latest standards of comfort and facility, Porsche decided to produce a new transmission : the type G50. This gearbox use modern Borg-Warner synchronizers for better shifting.The diameter of the clutchis enlarged from 225 mm to 240 mm and the command now use hydraulic mecanism more than previous cable one. As a result, the effort produced to operte clutch are less important and the shifting operation is more comfortable to execute. Some tests showed that a Carrera 3.2 equiped with G50 gearbox is faster in acceleration but a little bit xlower on retaking than previous models. But it is an important step in 911 transmisison evolution and even the 1996 GT1 used a modified version of the G50gearbox. The look of the Carrera 3.2 is very similar to 1981 911 SC and few details can make the difference : rear logo on the engine lid, integrated foglights in the front spoiler, new 'dial' wheels and since 1987, the integration of rear foglights into the rear headlights strip lead to the modification of the Porsche logo. Previously black and big, it gets to the color of the red rear strip. But compared to the 911 SC, the car was more powerful and the behaviour was improved. Moreover, the Carrera 3.2 is a more luxurious car with a new ventialtion system, new seats and interior modifications. It was a success like its predecessor and 76 131 exemplars have been sold in Coupé, Targa or Cabriolet body. The Carrera 3.2 is also famous by some special versions very interesting : the Turbo Look, the Club Sport and the state of the art Speedster.