Porsche 911 (964)

The Porsche 964 is a model of the Porsche 911 sports car manufactured and sold between 1989 and 1994. Designed by Benjamin Dimson through January 1986, it featured significant styling revisions over previous 911 models, most prominently the more integrated bumpers. It was the first car to be offered with Porsche's Tiptronic automatic transmission and all-wheel drive as options.

Name

Type 964 ("nine-sixty-four", or "nine-six-four") is Porsche's internal code name for the 911 Carrera 2 and 911 Carrera 4 models, which were badged simply as "Carrera 2" and "Carrera 4". "964" is used by automotive publications and enthusiasts to distinguish them from other generations of the Carrera.

Carrera 2 and 4

thumb|Porsche 964 Carrera

thumb|Porsche 964 Carrera 4 cabriolet

The 964 was considered to be 85% new as compared to its predecessor, the Carrera 3.2. The first 964s available in 1989 were all wheel drive equipped "Carrera 4" models; Porsche added the rear-wheel drive Carrera 2 variant to the range in 1990. Both variants were available as a coupé, targa or cabriolet. The 964 Carrera was the last generation sold with the traditional removable Targa roof until the 2011 991 (993, 996, and 997 versions used instead a complex glass-roof "greenhouse" system). The exterior bumpers and fog lamps became flush with the car for better aerodynamics. A new electric rear spoiler raised at speeds above and lowered down flush with the rear engine lid at lower speeds.

A new naturally aspirated engine called the M64 was used for 964 models, with a flat-6 displacement of 3.6 litres. Porsche substantially revised the suspension, replacing torsion bars with coil springs and shock absorbers. Power steering and ABS brakes were added to the 911 for the first time; both were standard.

A revised interior featured standard dual airbags beginning in late 1989 for all North American production 1990 MY cars. A new automatic climate control system provided improved heating and cooling. Revised instrumentation housed a large set of warning lights that were tied into the car's central warning system, alerting the driver to a possible problem or malfunction.

Engine

Engine design: Air/oil-cooled, horizontally-opposed, dry-sump lubricated, rear-mounted

Engine displacement: 3,600 cc (220 cu in)

Cylinders: Six

Bore and stroke: 100 × 76.4 mm (3.94 × 3.01 in)

Compression ratio: 11.3 : 1

Fuel/ignition: Electronic fuel injection, DME controller, with twin-spark with knock regulation

Crankshaft: Forged, seven main bearings

Block and heads: aluminum alloy

Valve Train: Single Overhead cam (SOHC) – one per bank, double chain drive

Power: at 6,100 rpm

Torque: at 4,800 rpm

Engine speed limitation: 6,700 rpm

Chassis

The suspension was redesigned using coil springs instead of torsion bars, the first major engineering changes since the original 911. The front suspension used MacPherson struts, a system that has continued for all subsequent versions, but the rear suspension retained semi-trailing arms.

Performance

Top speed: , (Tiptronic)

0–60 mph: 5.5 s (manual transmission), 6.2 s (Tiptronic)

1/4 mile: 13.6 s (C2), 14.0 s (Tiptronic), 14.1 s (C4)

Coefficient of drag: 0.32

Fuel consumption approx 24 mpg

Selected dimensions/capacities

Curb weight (to DIN 70020): 3,031 lb/1,375 kg (C2); 3,100 lb/1,406 kg (Tiptronic), 3,252 lb (1,475 kg) (C4)

Wheelbase:

Overall Length:

Width

Height:

Front Track:

Rear Track:

Ground Clearance: 4.7 in (US)

Fuel Tank: 20.3 gal (US)

Engine Oil: 11.5 L (12.1 qt US), oil change volume: 9 L (9.5 qt US)

Transmission Fluid: 3.6 L (3.8 qt US) (C2), 9 L (9.5 qt US (Tiptronic), 3.8 L (4.0 qt US) (C4)

Carrera RS variants

thumb|Porsche 964 Carrera 3.8 RS

In 1992, Porsche produced a super-lightweight, rear-wheel-drive only version of the 964 dubbed Carrera RS for the European market. It was based on Porsche's 911 "Carrera Cup" race car and harked back to the 2.7 and 3.0 RS and RSR models. It featured a revised version of the standard engine, titled M64/03 internally, with a marginally increased power output of and a lightweight flywheel coupled to the G50/10 transmission with closer ratios, asymmetrical limited-slip differential, and steel synchromesh. A track-oriented suspension system with lower ride height, stiffer springs, shocks and adjustable stabilizer bars without power steering (RHD UK cars did have power steering).

Two versions were available; the standard RS and Clubsport.

The standard RS or heavier "Touring" variant included more creature comforts when compared with the Clubsport (thin carpets, some sound deadening, leather lined bucket seats, undercarriage protection with options such as a radio, power windows, and air conditioning).

The Clubsport package (option code M003) included a fully stripped-out interior devoid of power windows, seats, rear seats, air conditioning, cruise control, stereo system, sound deadening and carpeting. It was equipped with a roll cage and full racing-bucket front seats. The bonnet was aluminum and the chassis was seam welded. Wheels were magnesium and the glass was thinner in the doors and rear window. At , the Carrera RS is approximately lighter than the US-market RS America. The first was custom manufactured for the New York Auto Show, the other three were custom "color to sample". There was also a very small number of other color to sample cars, but the $2498 cost to order was high for 1993. The RS America featured a distinctive "whale tail" spoiler, a partially stripped interior with flat door panels, with fabric door pulls, (from the European RS) and carpeting along with a luggage shelf with storage underneath (1993 model only) replacing the rear seats. Cloth covered sports seats, 17 inch wheels and M030 Sports Suspension were fitted as standard. Lightweight fabric trunk mats were included. The logo "RS America" was placed on the rear deck lid along with an "RS" logo in front of the rear wheels. Deleted to save weight were power steering, cruise control, powered side mirrors, air conditioning, sunroof and radio, although the air conditioning, sunroof and radio as well as a limited-slip differential could be ordered as options. The RS America was listed by Porsche as weighing , lighter than the weight listed for a stock Carrera 2. as the successor to the 930. However, they did not have the time necessary to develop a turbocharged version of the 3.6-litre M64 engine, and chose to re-use the 3.3-litre engine from the 930, with several minor revisions that made the engine smoother, less prone to turbo lag and more powerful, with a total output of at 5,750 rpm. A total of 3,660 964 Turbos were built.

In 1992, the 3.3-litre Turbo S Leichtbau (light build) was introduced. Some 25–50 units were planned, though this was later increased to 80. The standard Turbo model was modified to produce with bigger injectors, more boost, more aggressive camshafts, and a lightweight interior with limited "creature comforts", making the Turbo S one of the fastest cars on the road. With suspensions lowered by 40 mm, a front strut brace and manual steering, the Turbo S was geared towards performance. The Leichtbau requirement was achieved by deleting the under-body protection, soundproofing, air conditioning, power steering and rear seats, while further savings came from thinner glass, aluminium doors, a carbon-fibre luggage compartment and thinner carpets, the result being a reduction of 180 kg over the standard Turbo. Production of the Turbo S Leichtbau began in July 1992 for the 1993 model year. Some sources state that Porsche ended up building six more cars than the 80 planned.

Turbo 3.6

thumb|left|Porsche 964 TurboPorsche released the 964 Turbo 3.6 in January 1993,

At the end of 964 production in 1994, the Porsche factory had some 90 Turbo chassis left. These were all transferred to Porsche Exclusiv and built as the very special Turbo 3.6 S, available either with the traditional 964 Turbo 3.6 body or with the exclusive flachbau 'slant nose' option.

Option X83 (Japan), X84 (non-US) and X85 (US), the Turbo S Flachbau, was available in the US as a US$60,179 option on top of the base price US$99,000 Turbo 3.6. The flachbau option was available when ordering the no charge '36S' option '1994 Turbo "S" Model' at a price of $60,179. In addition to the slantnose fenders, it also included the 'X88' option which included the 'Turbo S' motor, the 'X92' Exclusive front spoiler, 'X93' Exclusive rear spoiler and 'X99' Exclusive rear fender air intakes based on the Porsche 959. The flachbau option was designed around the model 968 front end, and the 930 style Turbo S front end for Japan (right down to the sill covers on the fenders). 39 Models were made for US markets, 27 for international market and 10 for Japan, all in Polar Silver (http://flachbau.com). An additional 17 X85 models were commissioned by Porsche Exclusiv for the US, known as the "Package cars," replacing the slantnose front end with the original 964-style front end.

Specifications

{| class="wikitable"

! Data/Variant !! 3.3 !! 3.3 S !! 3.6 !! 3.6 S

| Bore and stroke || style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | || style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" |

| Displacement || style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | || style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" |

| Compression ratio || style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | 7.0:1 || style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | 7.5:1

| Power output || at 5,750 rpm || at 5,750 rpm || at 5,500 rpm || at 5,750 rpm

| Torque || at 4,500 rpm || at 5,000 rpm / at 4,800 rpm || at 4,200 rpm || at 5,000 rpm

ZF Clutch type limited slip 20% lock under acceleration 100% lock under deceleration

30th Anniversary C4

thumb|30th anniversary model

thumb|30th anniversary interior

In 1993 Porsche introduced the 30th Anniversary C4 to commemorate 30 years since the 911 launch in 1963. Its based on the wider turbo body and wheels with 4 wheel drive, but with a normally aspirated engine and standard small lifting wing. 911 units were produced, and the car was only offered in Viola, Polar Silver or Amethyst. This version was the start of a line that continued with the 993 C4S and 996 C4S.

Turbo S LM-GT

Also in 1993 Porsche developed a highly tuned 964 Turbo S prototype for use in international motorsport. This car, known as the Turbo S Le Mans GT (or simply Turbo S LM-GT), was based on the standard road-legal Turbo S, but stripped down and modified for circuit use. A deep chin spoiler was added to the front, while two air inlets were added just above the rear wheel arches. An adjustable racing rear wing was added on top of the standard Turbo's wing. Wider wheel arches were used to house wide racing slicks. The interior was completely stripped, a rollcage added, and the windows replaced with plastic. The engine used was not the standard road-car unit, but a smaller twin-turbocharged 3.2-litre unit which produced 475 hp.

The Turbo S LM-GT made its debut at the 1993 12 Hours of Sebring where the car finished seventh overall and first in its class with the Brumos Porsche racing team (Röhrl–Stuck–Haywood). From there, the car was entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, running under the guise of the Porsche factory team. The car would however fail to finish after the engine was damaged early in the race. For 1994, the Turbo S LM-GT would be moved to the hands of Larbre Compétition, where a new 3.6-litre engine based on the 993 unit would be used in place of the 3.2-litre engine. The team opened the year with a second-place finish at the 24 Hours of Daytona, before moving on to select rounds of the BPR Global GT Series. The car would win all four races in which it competed, including the 1000 km Suzuka. The Turbo S LM-GT would be sold at the end of the year to a Monaco resident where it is located since then.

The development work from the Turbo S LM-GT helped Porsche in creating the 993-generation 911 GT2 in 1995, which would be mass-produced and sold to racing customers. Some teams, unable to buy new 911 GT2s, developed their own twin-turbo racing versions of the 964 Turbo to mimic the Turbo S LM-GT, but lacked the success of the factory project.

964 Speedster

thumb|left|Porsche 964 Speedster

thumb|Porsche 964 Speedster

There were two distinct incarnations of the air-cooled 911 Speedster. The first was the 1989 model year Speedster. Shown at the 1988 Frankfurt Motor Show beside the upcoming Carrera 4, the 1989 Speedster actually shared more in common with the 930 turbo than with the upcoming 964 generation 911s, causing it to be looked upon, in retrospect, as a much inferior "driver's car" to the later 1994 Speedster. More than three quarters (641) of the 800 built had the "Turbo look" wide-body option.

thumb|Last RHD 964 Speedster made

The 1994 Porsche 911 Speedster was available either in standard or lightweight trim called "clubsport." Unlike the 1989 model, the 1994 Speedster was based on the new Carrera 2 platform and was not initially available with the "Turbo look" wide-body style. The 1994 Speedster was designed to be a more focused "driver's car" and served as a hybrid between a 964 Carrera 2 Cabriolet and a 964 RS. While it featured a softer suspension set up than the 964 RS, it offered almost none of the comforts of a normal 964 Carrera 2 Cabriolet, though power windows were standard and it was available with air conditioning and a stereo. Porsche planned to build 3000 examples of the 1994 Speedsters in 1992, but only 936 examples were built and sold during the two years of production. Once again, the United States was the most important market with 427 Speedsters heading Stateside. Right-hand drive versions were exceptionally rare this time: only 27 cars compared to 139 examples in right-hand drive of the pre-964 911 Speedster. Of these RHD cars 13 were made with UK specification, 8 Australia specification, 4 Singapore specification and either 2 or 3 Hong Kong specification. Of these RHD there were 6 Speed Yellow, 7 Guards Red, 3 Grey, 4 Black, 1 Slate grey, 1 Amazon Green (the only 964 Speedster in this color), 1 Metallic Silver, 1 Grand Prix White and one Maritime Blue. In addition, 20 special examples were finished at Porsche Exclusive's workshop at Werk 1 (Factory 1) with the optional "Turbo look" wide-bodies.

America Roadster

thumb|911 (964) America Roadster, with "Turbo look" rear fenders

A turbo-bodied cabriolet version was released in 1992. This had the standard electric spoiler and turbo guards. Mechanically, it was the same as the standard model, apart from 17-inch Cup wheels and the brakes and suspension, which were to Turbo specifications. Only 250 of this variant were produced in total, for the 1992 and 1993 model years.

Porsche 969

The Porsche 969 was a concept intended to succeed the Porsche 959 and was based on the then upcoming 964 platform.

The car was conceived in 1982 as a twin-turbo 911 with four-wheel drive and a PDK gearbox. The project received the in-house code 965 and was developed along with the new, 964 generation of the 911. However, the intended engine (a 3.3-litre, flat-six) could not be used due to cooling problems. Various alternatives were considered during the car's development, including a water-cooled version of the traditional flat-six and two variants of Porsche's Indy V8 engine.

Production figures

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Porsche

!Total

!Subtotal

!Grand total

|964 C2 Coupé || 18,219 || rowspan="5" align="center" | 34,398 || rowspan="12" align="center" | 62,172

|964 C2 Cabrio || 11,013

|964 C2 Targa || align="right" | 3,534

|964 C2 Cabrio turbo-look || align="right" | 1,532

|964 C2 Speedster || align="right" | 936

|964 C4 Coupé || 13,353 || rowspan="4" align="center" | 20,395

|964 C4 Cabrio || align="right" | 4,802

|964 C4 Targa || align="right" | 1,329

|964 C4 Jubilee Coupé || align="right" | 911

|964 Turbo 3.3 || align="right" | 3,660 || rowspan="2" align="center" |5,097

|964 Turbo 3.6 || align="right" | 1,437

|964 Carrera RS 3.6 Coupé || align="right" | 2,282 || align="center" | 2,282

Acceleration test results

{| class="wikitable"

! width="20%"|Model:

! width="20%"|911 Carrera 2

! width="20%"|911 RS America

! width="20%"|911 Turbo 3.3

! width="20%"|911 Turbo 3.6

|: ||4.8 s ||4.6 s ||4.4 s ||4.0 s

|: ||11.9 s ||11.6 s ||10.7 s ||9.2 s

|: ||22.3 s ||22.8 s ||20 s || -

|: || - || - ||38.4 s || -

| 1/4 mile: ||13.3s at ||13.3s at ||12.9s at ||12.4s at

| || || || ||

| Top Speed || || || ||

Notes

References

External links

Porsche – 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupé, Cabriolet, Targa, Speedster, and 4 Coupé
Porsche – 1989 Porsche Turbo 911 Coupé, Cabriolet, and Targa