901 Series Porsches are all the rage in the collector car market. In the past five years, they have gone from “parts cars” to the most cherished cars in the 911 lineage. A late 1960s 911-S can go for as much as $250K — or higher — based on the type of options original to the car. This has opened the door to enthusiasts and investors alike. In the past several years, thanks to high profile auctions including Russo and Steele, RM Sotheby’s, Gooding and Barrett-Jackson, many collectible cars have seen quadruple-digit appreciation.

At Losee’s Eurotech Performance in Riverside, California, Porsche expert and master mechanic, Bill Losee has seen numerous 901’s come through the garage door. Currently, he is just finishing a full restoration of a 1971 911-S, expected to be auctioned in January during auction week. A major component, particularly when receiving a “straight” car, meaning rust free and mostly original, is the mechanical aspect of “renewing the motor. By the time this car leaves Losee’s, it will be a “factory new” Porsche 911-S.

“The motor that came with the car was not numbers matching in that it was a 2.0-liter 1967 911 engine — nor was it event the same spec,” explained Losee. We miraculously found an original 2.2 liter motor in Germany that was literally two short block numbers off from this particular car—which means that the motor and the car were likely built on the same day in Stuttgart in 1970.”

“Most of this engine is completely original,” says Losee, “It came to us very rough. It had a lot of miles on it, but after doing crack checks we realized it was in good enough shape for the rebuild.”

We put brand new cylinders, rods and pistons — all original Mahle,” Losee describes. “We did all new bearings and an intermediate shaft, as we wanted to make sure it did not have too much free play. We had the crankshaft tested, which came out really well and I had it polished. The clearances are two and a half thousandths on the rods and mains, so it is well within specs. The cams are not re-ground cams. These are original 911 “old-new-stock” cams. We also sourced those out of Germany when we got the engine.”

“The engine that we pulled out and sold was a carbureted 1967 2.0 Liter,” remembers Losee. “So naturally we did not have the Mechanical Fuel Injection system (MFI) which runs off the camshaft. We sourced a MFI and had it completely refurbished, including the stacks and throttle bodies. When these things are new and adjusted properly, they are just phenomenal because the horsepower you get from the MFI is so much more than the carbureted systems.”

Once all snapped back together, the 1971 Porsche 911-S will make 185 Horsepower, just like it left the factory. The originality of the car is what makes it valuable. But over the years with racers — and recently with guys like Magnus Walker — have taken these motors to 2.9 Liters, replacing the cams, put a higher stroke crankshaft and rebuild the camshafts in the MFI and make huge horsepower gains.

“This is essentially the same block that went into the 906s and 911s race cars,” explains Losee. “Guys like Walker and Singer are many times adding Electronic Fuel Injection as they are easier to program for the higher horsepower engines.

Tune in again as we will look to see how this rebuild and restoration fare at Scottsdale.