Plugging along as parts arrive for the 964 C4 project. Pulled the distributor so I could replace the belt. I noticed once I got the center pin out that someone has replaced the belt at some point, and miss drilled on the pin. The easy way to avoid this is to drill from each side, then pop the gear off once you have drilled past the gear body on both sides. Once that is off, then you can punch the …
02Oct2012
Please don’t powerwash your engine…
If you have a modern car and like a tidy engine bay, wipe it down by hand. We had this SVT Cobra return after service (plugs were changed) with a check engine light and a miss in the engine. After popping checking for a faulty coil pack, we realized something was amiss. See that glint of light at the 12 o’clock above the spark plug? That is water reflecting the light. It is very hard to shoot a picture inside …
02Oct2012
Audi A4 1.8t wiring harness repair
So this little Audi ran great, got parked for a bit, then wouldn’t start. After some looking found that the crank sensor, knock sensor and TPS were not communicating. Looking up from below you see: Looks like a mouse moved in under the intake. The Little guy really did some damage. Here’s some of the stuff removed: So after repairing all those wires he had eaten up and replacing a knock sensor and the crank sensor we are back on …
With the big race this weekend, and our local HPDE next weekend, we are busy prepping cars for the events. Had some brake and tire work to do on the C4, so I got that up in the air and ready to go. A new set of front brake pads, and some replacement rear rotors that we have laying around should get us through the weekend. Like sheep, all the tires head over to the tire machine. A well trained …
Had this Boxster come in this week with an odd problem, the electronic rear trunk release was not working. We could hear the motor operating, but the trunk wouldn’t pop, so I assumed we had a broken cable from the motor actuator. Normally, you can jack the car up, remove the driver side fender liner and pull the emergency release cable. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I pulled with the little access, I couldn’t get it to release. So off …
My buddy Nic brought in a new to him 964 C4 that he just picked up. It was bought knowing it needed a new clutch, so while the motor is out we are going to go through the major things that might need attention in order to turn this into a nice daily driver. Starting to get the motor ready for removal. And on the way out. I haven’t made that big of a mess in a long time pulling …
Had a lot of small repetitive projects recently so the blog has been slow. I finally got back to our 996 project. On the list is the brake booster. When the battery tray drains clogged, water filled up the cavity and got into the brake booster which caused it’s failure. It is a bit of a bugger to get out, but here we have it. There is a new updated system, and the old parts are not available, so I …
Had this little BMW Z3 come in on the hook the other day as steam was rolling out the hood! Typical BMW cooling system failure, and this one took out pretty much everything it could! BMW cooling systems are their weak link, and IMHO, they should be gone through every 60-70k miles. Up and ready to go. The cause of this issue was a failed water pump bearing. But wait…..it took out more than just the water pump. New pump …
Awhile back we installed the Borla exhaust on this Boxster. At the same time the customer ordered some headers, but they were incorrect when they came in. So, vacation came around and we got the car for 10 days 🙂 The header install on the 2000 and later boxsters is a little tricky with the aftermarket headers that don’t have cats on them. The later Boxster has catalytic converters on both the headers (primaries), and then on the rear exhaust …
Had this nice little 924s in the shop this week for a timing belt job. Pretty straight forward job, but once I got the car in the air, it was apparent that we needed to replace the front engine seals as well. This car was bought new by the only owner from Art Bunker in 1987 🙂 A few pesky leaks. A And a few more with the timing and balance shaft belts off. Ugly. Yes that is RTV you …