Originally sketched out by Rod Emory way back in 2012, the 356 RSR Outlaw has been a project that he’s wanted to build for quite a while. When Henrique Cisneros, owner of Momo, spotted the sketch in Rod’s archives, he knew that it had to be built. From the word go, Henrique and Rod have been collaborating on this wild monster of a hot rod 356. The plan is to have the car ready for full display at Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI next summer, but they wanted to show off a bit of the work that’s been done already. As it sits right now, the car is essentially a bare tub with the engine and transmission mocked up and mounted in the chassis. This is going to be a mega car, and we can’t wait to see the finished product. We sat down with Rod and his father Gary at SEMA last week, and this is what we’ve learned about the car.
1. The Chassis of Rod Emory’s 356 RSR Outlaw
Merging an early 1990s 911 with a 356 is never an easy task. This 356 started life as a 1959-built B T5 Coupe for the 1960 model year. It doesn’t appear to have been anything particularly special, and judging by the condition of some of the panels it was going to need a lot of work, regardless. Relax purists, this isn’t a car to mourn the loss of. Instead, celebrate that it has risen from the ashes on its way to becoming something far better thanks to Rod’s help. If you look closely at some of the photos, you can see where the 356 ends and 964 begins. The tunnel, rear seat area, suspension pickup points, and engine compartment rails are lifted straight from the 1990s. However, the floor pans, front trunk compartment, and obviously the bodywork, are pure 1950s. Interestingly, the wheelbase of this 356 has actually been stretched about an inch and a half with the front moving slightly forward and the rear moving slightly back. Further, the engine frame has been shortened a bit from 964 configuration, as it no longer has to fit six full cylinders (more on that in point 2 below).
The Emory team merged the two Porsches – 356 and 964 – digitally before making any cuts. This is actually the second 356 hat that Emory has built to fit a 964 chassis (the first being their now-legendary Carrera 4-based 356C4S project), so they’re probably getting pretty good at it by now. The intent there was to make the merge points as close as possible without needing any additional filler metal. “There were certain areas where we had to bridge the metal, but the goal was to use as much of the factory either 964 or 356 metal“, says Rod.
2. The 356 RSR Outlaw’s Engine
By now we’ve all heard of Dean Polopolus and his infamous four-cylinder 911-based engines. They’re lightweight, they’re simple to source parts for, they pack a punch, and they’re quite expensive. Rod has stepped things up a bit with this Porsche, the case, crank, and cams are all custom for a 964-based four-cylinder engine. Moreover, this engine will use custom pistons and cylinders, which in six-cylinder format would total up to 4.0 liters. As a four cylinder, this engine will run somewhere around 2.65 liters.
While the engine was displayed at SEMA with individual throttle bodies and trumpet intake stacks, the production version will actually feature a twin-turbocharged, twin-intercooled forced induction setup. Pulling air through ducts in the rear quarter panels, custom amber ducts will direct that intake through intercoolers on each side of the engine at the back before being spun up by a set of small turbos and shoved into a custom intake plenum. In total, Rod says the aim is to create around 350 horsepower from the 1/3rds reduced aircooled beast.
3. The 356 RSR’s Transmission
By using the 964 platform, the original goal was to use a G64 style manual transmission. Once the project started to unfold, however, it was determined that a proper motorsport-based sequential manual would be better suited, and the old standard Quaife 61G gearbox was drafted in for use. While at SEMA, however, an empty G50 case was used for mock-up purposes. Can you just imagine banging gears with a sequential while listening to the turbos whistle behind you? This is going to be one spectacular Porsche when complete.
4. The Wheels
Working with Momo, Rod & Gary pulled a number of vintage centerlock designs from the 1980s and 1990s out of their archives to provide inspiration for the wheels on this car. These are custom 935-inspired 5-spoke wheels that fall right in line with Momo’s Heritage line of wheels. In fact, they were displaying a set of similar 6-spoke wheels at their booth (photo below) which fits a Porsche 5X130 bolt pattern. By using 993 RSR uprights front and rear, the center-lock hubs insert into a large bearing that is the same on all four corners. According to Rod, a 5-spoke wheel will be available from Momo soon, and we think they would look absolutely bonkers on your 964 or 993.
5. The Bodywork of the 356 RSR
While the greenhouse, doors, and front trunk area are easily recognizable as pure 356 right now, this Porsche will be completely transformed once the full silhouette-racer bodywork is installed. Judging by the sketches, this car will feature a lot of 935-inspired design work, with vents, inlets, louvers, and flares everywhere you look. For ease of use, the front and rear bodywork will be one-piece aluminum lift-off affairs with quick disconnect mounting points. Melding 356 and 935 and 964 into one monster doesn’t sound like much of a good idea, until it’s been implemented by the visionary mind of Rod Emory. There’s a fine line between insane and genius, and this car (as well as its builder) toe that line every day.