Customer Rating: 
Summary: Porsche 911 Restoration
Comment: Highly detailed with many photographs, this British-centered
manual mostly needs updating and a lot of fresh editing. For example:
1. Photos nowadays must be in color - why not?? Much detail is omitted in B&W, and that's why one employs photos.
2. Editing example: the caption mentioning the placement of the rear torsion bar cover is accompanied by a photo where this placement does not show; it was trimmed off.
3. Dismissive text: the chapter on Engines and Transmission does cover the engine, but dismisses transmissions with one line: leave that to the professional. I am a rank amateur, but having restored I know that there is much about a transmission that should at least be told to amateurs, capable of doing the work or not. There are too many instances of such short cuts.
4. UK centered. That's OK, but about 50% of all Porsches extant roll in the US, with the Continent holding a large balance. One might provide at least some lateral references. "Exclusive" in this case is not a compliment.
Customer Rating:
Summary: not enough
Comment: i bought the book when i bought the car, a 73 targa , and although the book covers some things , it's just not enough
it tells you a couple of things about buying one, enough to start thinking about it, but it isn't enough to be your main source of porsche knowledge, it's to average, and the pictures are just to dark and undetailed
the engine revision part is next to useless as it barely covers engine teardown , and doesn't cover the world of differences in types and models of 911 engines
for DIY , 101 projects for your 911 , for engine DIY , How to rebuild your 911 engine , both from Wayne Dempsey are more valuable, and indeed a must have...this one just isn't
and no , i'm not a kid, i'm just lazy and didn't feel like filling in forms and stuff
Customer Rating:
Summary: Worth having, but not comprehensive
Comment: This book is a good basic introduction to early/medium era 911s up to the 911 SC of the early 1980s. There's a reasonably good section on troublesome areas to watch out for before you buy one, and a very brief history of the model. These sections are finished off with a series of random 911 photographs with some of the stupidest captions ever written. This is a British book, and it shows; the mechanical aspects of the car always come second to the dreaded rust and where to find it (answer = everywhere on early 911s).
The main part of the text is taken up with a very comprehensive chapter on body restoration - if welding up old cars is your idea of a great week-end, you'll love it! There really is a huge amount of information here, and the authors really seem to know what they are talking about. They even cover jobs such as head-liner replacement, and the dreaded windscreen replacement.
Its followed by a shorter chapter on rebuilding the engine, which has some helpful photographs and some good information. Its really more of an over-view though, as the 911 engine isn't something you can rebuild in a couple of afternoons, nor explain in less than 100 pages.
The remainder of the book is devoted to random jobs, such as fixing the electrically operated mirrors.
Anyone who has an old 911 is likely to find this a useful and informative book, but unfortunately there's an awful lot of missing information, for example minor components such as the transmission and differential barely get a mention.
