I sometimes think that my personal quest for more power somehow gets transferred to my friends when they stand too close to me.

Mike Stenko and I had been looking for a tub to build him a track car for about two years. At last years PCA Metro Pocono event, Mike showed up with a 1981 911, non-sunroof coupe. “Hmmm…” I thought, “What was he looking for?” This car already had a wide-body conversion; it looked very much like a turbo. I think Mike might have sensed that my wheels were turning as soon as I saw it. I distinctly remember Linda Annicelli commenting to Mike that this was the perfect car to cut up and turn into a track car. That November, the car was handed over to me and the project began.

I had already acquired a 3.6 I was modifying it to be my next Turbo race engine so, that left my 3.3 Turbo engine looking for a place to live and I knew Mike would give it a good home.

Mike didn’t want to go too crazy with the engine so he decided to have me de-tune my trust worthy 3.3 a bit. The long-block had all the tricks. The case has been knife edged and dowel pinned. From the center out, it has a center-drilled crankshaft running in modified main bearings. Attached to the crank is a set of Carrillo Connecting rods. The pistons and cylinders are stock 97mm Turbo units. The cylinder heads have Nirist rings and they have also been ported to 41mm on both the intake and the exhaust ports. The engine “Long block” was all you could ask for.

The intake system is so important when building a high horsepower turbo engine. You need to supply the engine with as much fuel as it requires or piston failure will result. Porsche Turbo cars from the earlier 1975 through the later 1989 cars and even up to and including the rare 1994 3.6 liter turbo use the K-Jetronic fuel system. This fuel system cannot supply enough fuel to make constant power over 450 horsepower without resulting serious engine damage. Peaks of 500 can be attained with the K-Jet system, however, user beware! In order to produce high horsepower, in these cars, you need to run some type of electronic fuel system. Let’s not forget that everything else in the system has to be up to the task.

We removed the multiple throttle bodies with the twin injectors I had been using and replaced them with a Carrera type intake manifold that would house a single injector per cylinder. This engine would be easier to tune but it would not be capable of the higher horsepower numbers that could be achieved by using the multiple throttle set-up with twin injectors. In Mike’s engine we chose to use a Haltech fuel management system with 82 lb. per hr. MSD fuel injectors. Two original 930-type fuel pumps feed the fuel. Since the engine has twin plugs we used a tried and true Electromotive ignition system with Magnacore ignition wires. The intake is plumbed into a custom intercooler to keep the charge air temperature down. The exhaust starts with a custom sized B&B S/S header that holds a K29 turbocharger. The camshaft choice was the SC Sport grinds for their smooth power curve.

As the engine came together we started to realize that the rest of the car wouldn’t be able to handle the power. The 915-type gearbox certainly wouldn’t be up to the task. Mike decided wisely to have us install a “race-geared” 930-type transmission. To do this, the torque tube had to be partially cut away. The car also had to be completely re-sprung. Bilstein threaded body RSR struts and shocks were installed and coil over type springs were used. Eibach 600 lb. Coils were used in the front with 800lb hyper coils in the rear. “Charlie” type sway bars all around finished off the suspension mods. The Fikse wheels that Mike used on his 944 were resized to hold the bigger sneakers this car would need. The 17-inch Fikses allowed us to use a “Big Red” brake kit up front. The kit we chose uses true 13-inch Alcon racing rotors for little more stopping power over the standard “Big Red” kit. The rear brakes are 928 S4 calipers with 993tt rotors. Last, but not least, a few extra gauges were installed so we could monitor some of the engines running parameters.

It took just a few Dyno pulls to realize this was a monster. The initial pulls registered just under 400 engine horsepower. Mid-morning runs gave us 478hp at .8 bar of boost. With the engine in this configuration top horsepower of 585 was achieved at 1.1 bar.

On the track, Mike’s new car seemed to top out allot faster than my old 3.3 liter engine did with the same transmission gearing. I guess starting the 81 SC’s platform; with the cars total weight 2,400 lbs, made the difference. I knew that this car, just like any Turbo 911, would be more than just a handful to drive. This new car was sprung very stiff and had gobs of power. On our initial outing at Pocono, I was very surprised at how well Mike drove his “new” ride. He realized what he had and didn’t get too crazy. He did let the tail hang out when he could, and got back on the throttle when he should. The best part of it all was the smile on Mikes face after his first session. “Worth a million dollar’s” I thought I heard Mike say.