"New" Wheels

Before:

After:

I also managed to finally take off the front hub and replace a buggered lugnut so now there are 5 holding the wheel on instead of 4 :)

Ooooo, Porsche Nirvana

Thanks to Pelicanparts I have found something I've been missing for the better part of 10 years since moving to Alabama (and building houses, and starting a family and....). I used to be very active in VW clubs once upon a time and the camaraderie and the activities (not to mention hands-on help for these old cars) is a wonderful part of the vintage car equation.

From this thread: I was invited to join the Magnolia Region PCA at an American Cancer Society charity event. This resulted in a whole host of firsts for me. I spent the last week or 2 on little fixes and detailing, I couldn't introduce Glenda to new folks at less than her, admittedly far shy of perfect, best.

I started out early on the quiet Saturday morning, a touch of fog in the cool air and a blast down the highway for about 50 miles to Ocean Springs, MS.

There, I met up with a contingent of folks ready for a good day. I was the only one without water cooling my engine, but I didn't hold that against them :). We proceeded up the highway in a 8 or 9 car high speed parade. We wound up in Carriere, MS, just a bit north of New Orleans. The event was held in the expansive yard of it's gracious host, there were about 50 cars sitting in the beautiful sunshine under the massive old Oak Trees, most of them w/ a Porsche Crest but a healthy contingent of some really cool iron (Aluminum, Carbon Fiber, Etc).

As you can see, I was in car heaven. I missed having my little man there but 2.5 hours (one way) in the noisy, open topped old car I knew would be too much for him to handle.

Observations:

My car is certainly roadworthy for more than 30 miles from home, although I highlighted several new issues (an oil leak that's getting worse & a new vibration that may or may not have come from my work on the front hub last week). I also found that I could keep up with faster cars just fine, I need to trust old Glenda a bit more :)

6 Cylinders are better than 5

Stupid Admission of the day:

I tackled my first valve adjustment on the 911 this weekend, it resulted in cursing, hacked up fingers and was not wholly the most pleasant thing I've done on this car. Half way through I was really starting to consider taking the engine out to do the job properly.

But....I got it done, refilled her with the slick stuff and started up. Took my lovely wife out to dinner in it and something was just not right. This was aggravating on several levels, the least of which was that something that should have improved what was running fairly well had somehow turned worse. I couldn't get the car to rev past 3500rpm w/o stuttering and arguing with me and even cruising at 2500 there was hesitation and stumbling.

So laying awake later that night I wondered to myself "did I mix up a plug wire"? When I got up the next morning I opened up the boot and the first thing I see is the wire for #1 laying half out of the recess....DAMMMIIIITTTT!! Re-affix that one and test the other 5 and magically my little beast is back to smoothly snarling, may be a little smoother with more torque and may be in my head from the hassle but count one more experience under my belt :)

Porsche Pics

Yes, I love the melodious symphony a few feet behind my head, but sometimes you want a little Dave Matthews to accompany a the Flat-6 Percussion Section back there.

My car came to me with nothing in the audio dept. [Obama] Let me be clear...[/obama] What I've added here isn't top of the line, it's not ground breaking, it's going to shake the car apart with some massive bass beat....(I'll stop now). But the cool part is that (1) it is solid state (so it doesn't care that my car rides inches above the pavement and transmits each pebble to your ass) (2) If you squint, it looks at first glance like an old 2-knob radio (my attempt at keeping my classic car's vintage flair) (3) It was pretty darn cheap and now I have a bit of tunes while sitting in traffic or blasting down the highway (yes, I can actually hear it over the Flowmaster).

For anyone that cares, it's a Boss 755DBI, it's got bluetooth (streams music wonderfully from my phone), usb input and has an iPod dock. I don't even have an AM/FM antenna hooked to it at the moment.

Saratoga Top Tech

I'm following up with my solutions for mounting my cool new top to my car....

This first picture shows the top with the roller-style latches it came with, sitting next to the front bar from the earlier style top with it's latches:



I quickly ditched plan A of retrofitting my older style latches (and I was still worried about separation. Taking a cue from a couple of the new fiberglass top's mounting systems I decided to mount from the front aligmnent pin locations.





So I drilled through the Lexan and now have a carriage bolt snugged up on the top threaded through the captured bolt in the fiberglass support. It's not exactly elegant (but neither is the rest of my poor franken-Porsche) and it seems to be working very well.





Mounted in the car, I'll try to find something a little nicer, like a knob


Gratuitous shots on the test run:


So far I've put about 50 miles on the car w/ the top in place, a good portion of that was on the highway between 70 and 80mph. There is no lift or gap at the front whatsoever (and I have and old, much less than perfect front seal. There is wind noise but I have no frame of reference to know if it's more or less than a good (or bad) folding top.

So, while I reserve the right to update, revise or cry, in the future I'm hoping maybe I've posed a possible solution for some to make some of these aging, cool accessories continue to be functional.

The whole little family went out for dinner in the 911 this weekend, it was a crystal clear, starry night. I'm not sure why but my wife mentioned later the same thing I was thinking, the view out the top is just plain cool! No, it's not any different than having the top off completely but in early January when it's 40° outside and she would have otherwise been left in the garage, it's an oh so cool addition.

Santa was Guuuud to Glenda

Time for a little update. I got a new job (woo hoo, thank god!) so I haven't done a whole lot more than drive the toy, but I have gotten to do that at least once a week lately which is fun.

So new additions, she now wears a shiny new pair of mirrors and a hood badge from family. I had a little bonus $ so I gave her a radio & speakers (there's a future post on it's own as I'm trying to accomplish something cool and re-do my doors). And the wonderful Mrs, she granted Glenda [da ta da daaa] TOP $$$$! Finally no more 35° mornings in the open air, or forced to leave it in the garage if there is the slightest chance of rain.

What I got was a vintage Saratoga Top, a Lexan replacement Targa top for 911s that was manufactured by the Saratoga company in the 70s and 80s. Anyone reading from the start might remember I was all excited that my car had one of these on it when I agreed to buy it, but I lost it somewhere in New Jersey. Being a glutton for punishment and just plain digging this funky accessory I was jumping out of my seat when I came across a slightly mis-labeled Craigslist ad, the seller didn't really know what this was. We struck a deal and I proceeded to wait about a month and still couldn't get him to take the time to ship it to me (he didn't yet have funds so I was perturbed, not worried). I posted for help on the 911 forum and within a day a generous fellow 911 owner had it on the way to me.

The top itself is in great shape! I got an amazing, steal of a deal. It's seals look brand new, came w/ a really cool felt lined storage bag, and even little suction cupped sun-blockers. The story is some friend had his 911 stolen in Mexico many years ago and somehow this ended up in his attic and now he wanted rid of it.

The challenge: It came off an '87 and has a Saratoga's version of roller latches, I need it to fit on my '75. I do have a front bar w/ latches from an earlier Saratoga. At this point my plan is to drill through the top Lexan, replacing the front locating pins with bolts anchored from the top, bolted under the header bar (much like the couple of new FG offerings around mount). It won't be quite as smooth and pretty but hopefully will be solid and avoid this one delaminating like they seem to want to do.

I will followup in the coming posts with 1) Saratoga Top Installation 2) Radio Install and 3) Door Panel refurbishment.

The world is full of idiots

...And I am their King.

I wanted to take my Dad for a quick drive this weekend to show off my now smooth running sports car (that he helped me drag home in a MUCH lesser state). Barely out of the neighborhood she started really acting cranky.

We make it to the grocery store and it's getting worse, turn around to go home and she stalls at a light, half way back he looks over... "Son, are you out of gas?".....Nah, can't be the needle reads 1/4 tank but the light did just started flickering pulling into the neighborhood the other day.

1/2 mile from home she coughs her last sputter, 10 minutes and a Cheshire grinning wife later (bearing a 5 gallon can of gas) she starts right back up and runs home normally.

I guess unlike today's models where they plan for people who pull this, when an old 911 shows you that little light, it's NOT KIDDING AROUND!

(Yes, I know you aren't supposed to ever let get that low for a number of reasons, just a slap in the face with bad judgement moment that I can assure you won't happen again any time soon :D )