964 reinvented
Rs-werks’ latest creation brings a refreshing new twist to the world of 964-based restomod projects
Exploring the stunning new build by Rs-werks, which has reinvented the 964 restomod rule book
Travel. Remember that? The world hasn’t stopped though, and Rs-werks has kept itself busy completing this 964 R build through what’s been one of the world’s most difficult years. We’d love to say we jumped on a plane to meet them, but Zoom it is, for now at least, to discuss what promises to be one of the most interesting takes on the 964 this year. Even through a screen the infectious enthusiasm of the team is obvious. Scott Mckeown, Nick Dunlop and Bob Craig are all here, Mckeown the lead builder, Craig’s the man with the camera skills, and Dunlop keeps the business wheels turning, all adding to a staff headcount of about 12 at Pennsylvania-based Rs-werks.
The team met while driving, which is something core to the Rs-werks philosophy, and why Rs-werks provides technical assistance to the Texas Hill Country Rallye – an annual event for air-cooled 194989 Porsches. They met the owner of the 964 R that’s just nearing completion when out driving, that owner having never owned a Porsche previously. He wanted a Porsche that’s unique to him, as Mckeown explains: “The customer came to us after we met at cars and coffee. He wanted to experience a Porsche. First thing we did was work out what he wanted – find out the mission of the car, his driving habits – and we try to tailor the car around that need. He wanted to do long road trips and take his wife, so we decided on a nice GT car; but the customer gets new ideas during the build, so we all worked together and developed the car as you now see it.”
Perhaps the biggest compliment you can give the 964 R is that it’s not like any other 964 we’ve seen here at Total 911. Not a car that’s easy to categorise, it’s certainly not a backdate – even if there are some reverential nods to earlier models – nor outlaw, it’s more hot rod in its specification. Craig and Mckeown’s hot rod background is highlighted perfectly when Craig discusses the ‘Frenched’ licence plate at the rear. Craig sent hundreds of pictures of the car during the various stages of the build for us to pore over prior to our conversation, the images not just highlighting the artistry and obsession for detail during the entire build process, but also Craig’s skill with a camera – no surprise here, given a background of photojournalism.
All state that the owner commissioned the car for driving, and driving regularly, something everyone at Rs-werks gets behind. Mckeown explains: “It’s very mild mannered until you put your foot in it: the suspension, the brakes, the response, it’s no different to getting in a modern car and getting a cup of coffee, and then when you hit the backroads, shift down, the exhaust valves start to open up, you start to get the noise and then you feel the kick in your pants and you’re holding on.” Mckeown describes the owner as a ‘serious guy’, which is underlined in his day job as a senior pilot, with a military aviation background. It stands to reason that for someone who test flies planes that their 911, even their first one, needed to be a little bit special.
Visually it’s an intriguing mix of different elements. The colour, Dolphin grey, was picked because the owner had seen it and liked it on a 356, likewise the green leather inside, the owner liking the look and feel of the older cars. Dunlop explains the interior: “The customer leaned on our knowledge of the older look and feel for the cockpit, the painted instrument surround and dash as well as some of the neat things like the old-style trim, simple door cards and colour-matched dyed switches and steering wheel cowl.” To get the modern, heated, Recaro seats in, Mckeown had to extensively modify the inner rocker (sill) panels to allow the manual adjustments on the seats to work, though laughs saying: “We can melt metal, so it’s all good.”
With the owner being over 6ft, fit was important, Mckeown cleaning up the area between the seats
“Everywhere you look there are subtle custom touches, the combination of which create a very appealing whole”
by removing the handbrake, instead installing an entirely custom e-brake that allows a smooth centre console and a leather pad for the driver. Mckeown says, as a car the owner wants to use, “Comfort was a big part of this as well as performance and it’s very difficult to get both in such an analogue car, but everyone’s happy with how it’s turned out.” There’s USB connectivity for power too, a Classic Retrofit electric air conditioning system, while the rear seats make way for a storage area that’s the perfect fit for the owner’s briefcase.
The way the interior mixes cues from old and new translates to the exterior. “To most it looks like a 964, until you park it alongside a 964,” Dunlop says. The most obvious visual change is the rear lights, and the loss of the red reflector between them. It’s this that’s given rise to the 964 R name, that shift in style very much in keeping with the revered, original 911R. All those changes are in metal, the panel where the rear reflector would once have been situated being finished with neat, ghosted Porsche lettering between the four taillights, and a ‘4.0’ also tantalisingly appearing on the engine cover.
In total, Mckeown reckons there’s over 800 hours of work in the body alone. That’s not surprising given not just that unique rear, but add in the bespoke hand hammered flared arches, tucked bumpers fitted closer to the body, the filling of the dash holes in metal – not to mention deleting the sunroof – smoothing the rear parcel shelf and engine bay and all the additional work required to allow the fitting of things like those modern Recaro seats, as well as metalwork modifications under the front to allow the fitment of a larger oil cooler.
Everywhere you look there are subtle custom touches, the combination of which create a very appealing whole. Even so, that obsessive touch around how it looks inside and out doesn’t necessarily define the car, that instead being its mechanical specification. As Mckeown and the team at Rs-werks are keen to often point out, it’s about the driving, Mckeown determined that the 964 R gets driven, and driven regularly.
Like the bodywork, then, the chassis and engine have been extensively overhauled, with nothing left stock. The suspension sees the fitment of a remote reservoir, double adjustable damper setup both front and rear by Motion Control Suspension. There are adjustable RS anti-roll bars, with factory front bushings at the front, and monoball adjustable strut mounts, adjustable camber plates and a racing bump steer kit from Stomski Racing. The steering rack is lifted from an RS, losing power steering as a result. Mckeown has it set up with progressive springs so it’s relatively mild mannered in its ride but there’s a fairly aggressive alignment on it, saying: “It’s not a full-on track alignment, but more like a track-day sort of alignment.” Rs-werks did explore an electrically adjustable suspension setup, but Mckeown wasn’t convinced in relation to their reliability long-term, adding: “Sometimes living in an analogue world is the best way.” Amen to that.
Hanging off that suspension is a set of Fikse Fuchs Replica (FFR) in RSR finish in 7.5x17-inch front and 9x17-inches on the rear with 225/45 ZR17 and 255/40 ZR17 Michelin Pilot Sport tyres respectively. Behind those is the braking system lifted from a 993 Turbo which retains the ABS, with a 993 also donating the centre brake light above the rear window – that rear glass being thin Porsche factory specification.
The engine started out, like all standard 964s, as a 3.6-litre unit, but Mckeown’s been busy with it. Starting from the bottom up, the crank is a billet one from Pauter, likewise the connecting rods are Pauter items, with Cp-carrillo supplying a set of custom lightweight pistons. There’s a GT3 oil pump
in it – it’s basically a 3.8-litre by bore, but a 4.0-litre by stroke, Mckeown says, preferring this approach because boring out a 3.6 to 4.0 litres is detrimental to the engine’s longevity. “You tend to get a little bit more torque when you start stoking the engine,” says Mckeown, which is beneficial for a car that’s going to be predominantly street driven.
The heads were also made by Pauter, the 964 R featuring bigger valves, CNC porting with a deported exhaust, and custom cams with lightweight rockers. The cam is aggressive, says Mckeown, so much so there’s a bit of overlap which has necessitated the fitting of a vacuum pump to operate the resonance flap in the exhaust valves. The fuel injection is some Jenvey throttle bodies with a GT3 intake plenum with everything unnecessary shaved off.
There’s still a bit of tuning to be done to the 964 R as it’s finishing its build, but Mckeown has had it on the dyno and it’s running around 350hp to the wheel, though admits his dyno is somewhat conservative. Chasing maximum horsepower has never been a goal with this car, instead the goal being driveability and longevity. Mckeown says: “I could easily tune it to 400hp, but I want it to live for the guy, and the more horsepower, the less time it’ll run.” That’s true of its maximum revs, too, Mckeown adding it wouldn’t be any trouble to run up to 8,000rpm, but 7,200rpm is enough for their intentions with it. With only 2,650lbs (1,200kgs) to shift, too, there’s not really any need to liberate more power from it, either.
The clutch is a mix of a GT3 unit and a 964 one, that being critical because it’s required to handle so much more power, but not be switch-like in its operation. Mckeown reckons they’ve got the balance just right here, with it being very driveable, but very responsive too, thanks to a single mass lightweight flywheel. “I wish you could hear it,” says Mckeown. Us too, because he’s talking about it sounding a little bit more exotic in its note, if not quite Italian, but not quite as German in its sound as you might expect in the back of a 911. That’s down to metallurgy in the exhaust system, it a completely bespoke stainless steel system which is completely constructed in house at Rs-werks. The sound it makes is down to how they’ve put the baffles in, the system switchable from muffled to fully open at higher revs, the back pressure of it being muffled at lower revs helping with the torque curve and driveability, and also allowing the owner to leave their house in the morning without waking the neighbours. Managing all that are electronic switches and vacuum reservoirs that open as you come out of the peak torque curve to allow for a better peak horsepower output.
That combined GT3/964 clutch is mated to a five-speed gearbox with stock ratios in it, driving the rear wheels via a Kaaz limited slip differential. The gearbox is shifted via a custom shifter fabricated in house, it shortened and fully adjustable allowing a shift in the movement fore and aft if required, while all the engine and transmission is mounted on Stomski mounts. It’s a build that has taken a long time, the process starting three years ago, but in that time the company has moved premises, bringing all the different build elements of the company under one roof. That’s been beneficial to the overall build process on this car and other builds in the shop – Mckeown and his team’s attention to the minutiae is easier to manage if there’s not a pause between something being done and then actually being able to see it.
Indeed, the 964 R is demonstrative of the expansion of the company’s abilities, having undertaken countless builds previously, plus custom work, but not quite to the extent that’s visible in this car. Rs-werks carves its own niche, not following any pre-determined path or churning out the same car with every build. That’s clearly important to them, with their next car being completely different, and on the evidence of the 964 R, we’re already interested to see what’s coming – just as we are to ditch the Zoom call, start travelling, and find out how the 964 R drives for ourselves.