22Mar2011
996TT Work
Last night we knocked out some work on a 996TT. The car had sat for a few months on a trickle charger, but when the owner went to start it, the battery was dead. He tried jumping it, then eventually replaced the battery. Once he got it going though, his radio had no power. First we got it up on the lift and knocked out the 6 month oil change on it. Pretty straight forward. Since the radio had no …
21Mar2011
Cayman Mirror Con’t
Came home from the office this afternoon and our mirror bracket assembly was waiting for me. I got it assembled, and will run out and get the rest of it installed on the car asap. New bracket. Note: These come primer’d black which is standard on most cars. Some cars are optioned with the mirror trim painted body color, so if you have one of those, you will have to get it painted before assembly. Slid together. Take your time …
21Mar2011
Sunday Call
The doctor never sleeps. Sunday I got a call from a new patient that was stranded in the garage with a dead battery. The Cayman had sat for about a month this winter, and was dead dead. My assumption that it was probably an original Moll battery which are pretty horrible. Put the battery charger on it quick to see what the condition of the battery was, and sure enough, the needle started bouncing around 0% charge. Usually when the …
18Mar2011
Floor time
Well after 3 years of some pretty serious abuse, I was able to secure a few days to refinish the garage floor. The epoxy coating was starting to peel pretty badly after abuse from jack stands, engine stands, jacks, etc being drug around on the floor. So this afternoon, I started sanding with my 4.5″ angle grinder. 6 hours later, I had the floor de-epoxy’d. The 24 grit discs chewed through the epoxy pretty well until they heat up and …
14Mar2011
944 S2 Clutch
Saturday I headed over to the headquarters of the infamous KCWS and helped some good friends do a clutch job on a 944 S2 Cab. The car had died abruptly with no power getting to the rear wheels, so I figured the clutch center had blown out. The car has about 90k ish miles on it. Up in the air and ready to go. Everything behind the engine block needs to come out. Transaxle, torque tube (slide back), bellhousing, and …
13Mar2011
GT3 Brake Flush and GMG Header Install
My buddy Dan brought by his ’11 GT3 today so we could flush the brake fluid for an upcoming DE event, and install a set of low mileage GMG headers! Up in the air and ready to start. First we started with the brake fluid flush. Pretty standard really…..reservoir filled up with new fluid, and then I use the vacuum bleeder to pull it through the system. Taking a picture of Dan…..taking a picture, lol. Stock headers ready to come …
11Mar2011
Oil Change Day
First thing I knocked out an 86 911 Targa for it’s 6 months oil change. It has likely sat most of the winter, but with 60 degree weather on the way, it was time to get it ready for the season. Up in the air and ready to go. First thing I noticed was oil buildup around the oil cooler and bellhousing. This is typically due to a bad oil thermostat o ring and/or the breather plate gasket. I cleaned …
10Mar2011
997/Cayman Mirror Repair
This procedure is the same whether you are updating to carbon fiber mirrors, or say if you backed out of the garage and caught the mirror on the edge of the garage door and bent it in a direction it wasn’t meant to bend 😉 I ran out to Fairway to check out the mirror off a Cayman today. Figured I knew what was wrong, but wanted to confirm in person. Figured it out pretty quickly after removing the mirror …
10Mar2011
996 Buyer’s Guide
I wrote this article a few years ago and posted it over at the old Porsche Forums/German Auto Forums, and I still get a lot of emails every week about it. Essentially, the same questions were popping up over and over, so I compiled some information related to my experiences working on 996’s. Pre Purchase Inspection: I can not recommend a PPI enough, unless you are a professional Porsche mechanic. Typically they run from $150-500, and is money well spent. …
06Mar2011
A Short Break: KC Auto Show
Every year auto dealers and manufacturers present their shiny new wares to the public at the Kansas City Auto Show. We headed down again this year to see what was new! I still cringe to think of the number of people, kids, etc that climb through these cars, many with no respect for the car, lol. Feel bad for the people buying these examples! Most of the cars there were…well….appliances IMHO. There are a lot of cool technology packages and …