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 )

Where we are today...

We have come a long way baby! In just 5 months I've taken a giant jigsaw puzzle and turned it into a [mostly] functioning automobile.

I still have no top which means she stays tucked into the garage on days that there is any chance of turning her into a bathtub.

Just in the last week I made some adjustments and repairs that reduced the time of my startup procedure from 15 minutes to 30 seconds and made driving overall much better. Go Me :D

I've also been able to install several items collected for the most part from my previous post under the heading of others' generosity. Some of these made the car run better (fuel pump). Some made it look just a little closer to being a "complete" car (trim bits).

....I'm a constant reader of internet forums, I've mentioned this before. One small thing I find myself thinking this week is that predominately on Pelican Forums and Rennlist the cars posted there are "Cover Girls", pristine, just as the factory set them out, or painstakingly modified/improved. My own 911 is FAAAR from pristine, it's a factor of what I can afford more than anything else, I'd have certainly sought out a car that had everything working, hell, existing & in great shape if I had twice as much cash for the purchase but I'm not that guy.

I'd love to hear from others like myself that are probably not publicizing their "flawed" 911's, a constant work in progress. I started to post a thread as such but for whatever reason I chickened out. That makes me think there are many like me with these 25-40 year old cars that AREN'T perfect, and that still get heaped on love and enjoyment. I still show her off proudly, using my best pictures, but don't study too hard or you will easily find my huge list of missing parts :)

I've only had this old car for 5 months but I think it's eclipsed my previous 2 favorites out of my 20 or so cars for sheer coolness and attachment. Hopefully we have a long long time together and a year or 2 from now I can report she's almost a complete car, letting people oogle all her closeup shots.

The Generosity of Others

I've discovered recently that the Porsche community, much to the contrary picture many might generate, can be quite benevolent and generous. There is a perception I've witnessed first hand, in both our modern 2010 Boxster and my classic 35 year old 911 that drivers of this type of automobile are summarily a bunch of snobs (or worse). What's odd is I'm far from this, as is my lovely bride so there must be a lurking contingent of genuinely nice folks that happen to appreciate fine sports cars that may have started life quite expensively.

Glenda now sports several bits and pieces offered up for little more than shipping costs, a couple of these I'd have paid several hundred dollars for. Pelican Parts and Rennlist both have some of the nicest car guys I've come across, people that with something taking up space on a shelf choose to offer it up to a fellow obsessed instead of making an extra buck.

We aren't "broke" but are far from "well off" either and these acts of kindness that continue to increase my own joy in my toy are so very appreciated. So Thank You! :) Hopefully I get to pass on this good will in time.

Shifting Improvements

So last week I went from having a vague, somewhat challenging shift action, to having not much rhyme or reason as to where I might find 3rd, 4th, or 5th gears. The day this got seriously bad I had to be super careful not to engage 1st when I wanted 3rd (or 5th). This, an enjoyable drive, did not make!

Past experience and some internet searches added shift bushings to my weekend to-do list. When I opened up the rear access panel (to get to the shift coupling) I found this! Needless to say I felt pretty sure the lion's share of my problems centered around it.








About 2 pleasant hours later I had the whole assembly from knob to coupler cleaned, re-greased, re-bushed and functioning as the good Dr. ordered. The pin for the coupler was a minor stumbling block that wanted to argue with me, but nothing to the magnitude of my past experience with the pedal cluster.

Now it changes gears with a nice slick and solid engagement, I've had a couple of other cars with nicer shift action but it now feels like a proper sports car.