FROM MY REVIEWS IN EXCELLENCE MAGAZINE:

Porsche 911 Guide to Purchase & D.I.Y. Restoration  by Porter and Morgan is an English effort.  Therein lie two problems.  The first is the title.  The Guide to Purchase part isn’t too bad.  But the Guide to  D.I.Y. Restoration should not be taken literally.  You have about a much chance of successfully restoring an abused/rusty/wrecked 911 using this manual as you have of performing do it yourself brain surgery.  Second, many of the relative prices are inappropriate for the United States.  Continuously we are told stainless steel heater boxes are extremely expensive -- on the order of 2 to 2.5 times more than the the factory galvanized steel or mild steel (Far East Copies).  At least in the United States, the spectacularly beautiful and well made SSI replacement parts are less that the factory parts.  I should be very surprised if this were not also true in England.  Anyone selling mild steel Japanese copies, with a life expectancy expressed in months, at the same price as the Porsche original, should be prosecuted for fraud

    The Specifications Chapter in the back of the book is useless and contradicts the correct information in the Production Modifications Chapter.  Serial number information defining at least the starting point of a series is given.  Bruce Anderson’s Porsche 911 Performance Handbook is a significantly better and much less expensive book.

    Though I have happily bashed the book (as the English would say), I do think that it fills a useful gap and you should consider buying it.  The majority of the book is composed of “story photographs” showing how something is fixed.  Now you would need the simplicity of turnip greens to actually try to repair your 911 using this book.  but suppose you are looking at an early 911 with rust in the sills and lock posts -- a fairly likely possibility.  After looking at pages 95 to 101, you might quickly realize that you are facing fairly hefty charges.  Not like a friend who was told a little Bond would fix the early targa he was shown -- not to mention the Chevy coil springs slipped over the rear shock absorbers, since the rear torsion bar tubes has rusted out.  Looking at the pictures will quickly you a feeling for the problem, including what has to be cut away.  Worth its $29,95 price alone is the ability to understand what the problem is and the ability to speak to mechanic/bodyman and really make sense.  If you are a mechanic / body man, this is the singular use of the book:   you can show a customer just what fixing a problem entails.  If you don’t have Bruce Anderson’s Porsche 911 Performance Guide get it.  If you have it or want Porsche 911 Guide to Purchase & D.I.Y. Restoration Guide also, fine.  but get Bruce’s book first.

FROM MY REVIEWS IN EXCELLENCE MAGAZINE:

From Great Britain, yet arguably the best of the Porsche 924/944 books is the newest entry by Peter Morgan, whom you may remember as the co-author of Porsche 911:  Guide to Purchase and Restoration.  It lacks photographs of the prototypes but otherwise is very complete.

Figuring the the 924 and 944 are recent enough, only a 40 page general history is given, followed by a section on “Selection.” wherein he picks the best values.  924s improved up to 1982, bur then technical improvements ceased.  Second series 924 Turbos are much more reliable than first first series -- and you didn’t even know there were two distinct series.  Other considerations are give -- read the book!

The next section is devoted to “looking’ at the prospective car.  No cosmic secrets, but good illustrative photographs and useful model specific information.  The “General Care” section is one of the best written; keyed to the sort of thing a new buyer of a used car would want to know (“body lifting points,” removing head lamps).

Sections on engines, fuel systems, ignition systems, clutch, transmission, brakes and wheels follow.  Each section does a very good job on theory (CIS injection on the 924 and Motronic on the 924 Turbos and 944s) and what goes wrong, and what you should fix and what you try to live with.  It also references the pertinent Haynes mini-shop manuals for jobs beyond the scope of the nook.  Neat idea.  I just wish I were more sanguine about using the Haynes shop manuals.  Technical specifications are reasonably complete.  Not only are serial numbers listed, but the chassis and engine numbering systems are explained -- so now you can tell a U.S. market model from a grey market car.

A neat book, of 174 pages with many black and white photographs and technical drawings (mainly drawn from Porsche Archives) and a section of color plates.