Karl Wilen, Owner: I started out in the Porsche business as the lead tech and shop manager for Imagine Auto here in Kansas City. While there, we built, modified, and maintained every Porsche from mild to wild. 930′s to 997TT’s and everything in between. Track cars to street cars, we didn’t discriminate. We built some crazy machines over the years that rivaled the best in the nation. Need 700hp out of your twin turbo? We can do that. Supercharge that 996 or 997? No problem. Suspension work? Corner Balancing? Yup, all easy. I left Imagine Auto shortly before they closed, being disappointed with the industry, I hung up my tools. That lasted about 2 months, and all of a sudden people came knocking on the door wanting me to do work for them. I found out people hadn’t gone to IA to have their car serviced, they had gone to IA to have me service their cars. That was a good feeling. Doc Wilen Racing was born. That quickly grew into a side business that was hard to keep contained out of my two stall garage. It really has become a hobby blown out of proportion. While not necessarily planning on being in the business permanently, a reputation was created, and it was in my blood with no known cure. My neighbors always were excited to see what cool Porsche would show up at the house next, there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t tackle. With having to get back into a larger shop setting always on the back of my mind, it finally has come to happen. Partnering up with another well known shop owner here in town, Wes McCullough, we want to see where this will take us. When we aren’t at the shop, it is likely one of us is at the track maintaining customer cars, or getting out for a few laps ourselves. It isn’t just a job for us, we are enthusiasts who love working with Porsches….and we have been known to even dabble with daily driver business 
You can also find me on the various Porsche forums online by the handle of PorscheDoc (Rennlist, GermanAutoForums,Reutterwerk, Planet-9), IAPorscheDoc (6speedonline) or karl2bdc (KCWS, Pelican Parts).
Wes McCullough, Owner: Wes began his life in the shop at a young age, following dad around as he meticulously restored a ’57 Bel Air, an old Chris Craft, tweaked a 1962 Corvette, or developed one of a many gearhead dream projects. His grandfathers electronics lab was the stuff of science fiction. Thanks to him Wes became comfortable with the oscilloscopes and meters that make life with the British cars and bikes he loves possible today. Wes’ first position in a shop was at a small independent shop, formal training at a local college soon followed. Since then he has worked at shops servicing everything from motorcycles to semi tractors. After building several high horsepower sports cars and never being happy with the handling Wes bought his first 911 and was hooked on Porsche from the first drive. For the last 5 years he operated a garage with a focus on building, restoring, and maintaining European autos. He builds, drives, and races these cars and looks forward to caring for yours.
THE BLOG!
I started the blog 3 years ago, because I wanted people to be able to follow along in their car’s journey through surgery. Because fewer and fewer people these days work on their cars, that general mechanical knowledge is kind of a dying breed. I kept hearing people talk about taking their car to a shop and saying “oh they fixed something with the A/C.” What did they fix? “Oh, well I’m not really sure.” I wasn’t happy with that response, and I didn’t want my customers to walk away with that feeling. Over 90% of people are visual learners, that is, you can explain something to them over and over again, but until they actually see it, it might not click. Then the blog came to me. We had toyed with the blogging format a few years ago at IA, but nothing to this extent. Nothing on a daily basis. Now you can log on and see exactly what was replaced, where it was located, what it looks like, and a description of the problem (or maybe look up a problem you might be experiencing 1000 miles away in another state). Many people have been following the Doc Wilen Racing Blog for the last 3 years, and I have watched the traffic to the blog grow further than I ever imagined. We averaged about 150 views a day fairly consistently, and over 3 years had 68,000 views. Considering the first 6 months took a while to build steam, that isn’t too shabby! The blog is linked to worldwide, across many different car forums on the internet (or interwebs as I like to call them), and addresses many of the issues we come across on a daily basis. Of course, we incorporated all of that into the new website, and it looks like it has transferred over fairly seamlessly. We will continue regular posting as if nothing has changed, it will just be here at the new site, versus the old wordpress site. –Karl
We definitely couldn’t be doing this without the awesome support of the local community!
Karl,
It was a sad day when you guys closed the doors. You guys are still the best around. Are you still wrenching on 928′s hint, hint?
Thanks, Scott
Sure are
I’ll email you my contact information
nope, never heard of him.
Yo, Karl: Glad to see you are still workin on 944′s when you’re not doctoring. Like an idiot I just noticed your link when I was posting on kcws. Nice.
Wish I could make rentreffen this year, but no dice. I’m kinda afraid to drive my car very far from home knowing what you told me about T-belt replacement intervals. Thing doesn’t have more than 5 k on belt, but it has been almost 5 years.
Aric
Karl
As mentioned my 964 rear spoiler when in a down position just doesn’t look like its flush. The drive side appears to be higher then the passenger side when in the down position. I took it apart and nothing appears to be out of wack! Maybe thats to way its suppose to be? Also, my turn signal when making a right or left turn doesn’t automatically cancel after the turn. Can you fix that? If not I’ll just stop using my turn signals. Call me later this week.
Thanks
RT Behm
Can you tell me the torque spec on the 996TT for the sachs clutch and DMF?
66ft/lbs on the flywheel, 17ft/lbs on the PP.
I need your help please…. you have a post here:
http://germanautoforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2360
that links to an image here:
http://www.turbo911.com/images/IAexhaustclip_0002.wmv
which is no longer on your site.
I bought this/Steves car would love any info you can provide, videos, mag articles..
Thanks!
Jim B
561-400-4682
Hi Karl,
Long time since we spoke, but it sounds like Imagine Auto closed it’s doors. I am sorry to hear that and hope you are getting along ok. Looks like from your website you are having some fun workiing from home etcc.. …
I was wondering about a couple things I hope you can share your opinion on?
Has anyone every used Lucas oil treatment on our 951′s and or would you recommend it? I just thought it would be great to help the #2 rod bearing etc… I am using Vavoline 20w50 oil with ZDDPlus additive. I have looked around most of the forums and have never found anyone commenting on this.
I drive 4 -5 DE events at my local track and find myself having to replace my rear control arm bushing (castor block) currently it is the upgraded 968 version I am replacing and I am curious about the solid aluminum ones you can put in instead. A little more expensive but are they perminent? Also is the ride just way to harsh to enjoy street driving? Deutch nine has a nice one that enables you to put on a brace as well if ever wanted. Thnoughts?
Thank you and I enjoy your website Karl.
Regards,
Andrew S.
Nova Scotia
Doc,
Hello, I am a soon to become porsche 911 owner! I put a deposit down on a 1999 porsche 911 coupe. I specifically choose this car for 2 reasons. First even though it had 119K miles on the chassis it had a brand new M30 suspension 10K miles ago. The biggest reason though was because it had a porsche reman. engine put in it 23K miles ago. I read your article on IMS issues and the engine was put in in 05. Being that it is a new engine and put in, in 05 I shouldn’t have any issues with IMS catastrophic failure again right? Please, if there is any way I could call and ask you a couple questions it would be much appreciated. I’m really nervous over this purchase and I think it is b/c I have allowed the internet to scare me (like looking for a symptom you have when sick on Web MD or something, it will make you think your are dying). Anyway please email me if at all possible at cfiiman@hotmail.com and if you had just a couple of minutes to speak on the phone please just give me a number I could call. I really look forward to any advice you could give me, thanks so much!
Jason
Karl,
I live in NYC and I was wondering if you can recommend a very good Porsche tech like yourself?
TIA,
Diesel
Hi Diesel,
Sorry about the late reply, somehow this one slipped through the cracks. How close are you to Blauvelt, NY? Deman Motorsports is out there and is a pretty good shop.
Karl
Hi Doc, I have been reading your posts from 2009 on windows issues, I have a 97 boxster and my passenger window has stopped operating in full, when you open from inside or outside or roof lever nothing happens, any ideas??
Cheers Nick
Nick,
Not sure if I replied or not! If it doesn’t work with the switches at all (window switch), then I would look at the motor itself. If you can operate it with the window switches, just not with the door handles, I would look at your door latch assembly.
Karl