For a much more in depth write up, please see the tech article I wrote for our local Kansas City Region PCA. It can be found at www.kcrpca.org and click on the newsletter archives and find the September-October 2012 issue, download it and go to page 6. Everything is explained in more detail. A good buddy of mine brought over his 2011 Cayenne S for a trailer brake controller install the other day. The idea of a brake controller is …
07Apr2012
Thumper Carrier Bearing Repair
Had to do some daily driver repair the other day on Thumper. With 200k miles on it, it was starting to make a very loud thumping at low speeds upon acceleration. After some investigating, I found the drives haft carrier bearing had blown apart and needed replacement. Up on top of the exhaust and heat shield is the drive shaft. With the exhaust removed, and the heat shield out of the way, you can get to the 2 piece drive …
29Mar2012
911 SC Fuel Pressure Diagnosis
We are having a very brief cold start problem in this 911SC. After the car sits for about 8 hours, it struggles to start for a few seconds. Once it has started once, it will start immediately for the next 6-7 hours like everything is normal. Once it sits overnight, it struggles again. This makes diagnosing the issue very difficult, as you can’t tweak something, check it, tweak something else, check it. Instead you get one shot, then have to …
29Mar2012
2003 Boxster IMS Upgrade
Have this 2003 boxster in the shop right now for an IMS bearing upgrade. Another 19k mile car with a pretty bad oil leak underneath the car. The later cars can be a real bear to pull the transmission on. This car has the glass rear window, which severely limits access to the top of the engine bay (even for me), and it is a tiptronic, which means disconnecting the torque converter to the flex plate has to be done …
29Mar2012
997 Maintenance
Had this very early production 05 come in the other day for a window issue, brake fluid flush, and oil change. Draining the oil and of course installing a magnetic drain plug. And bleeding the brake system. This car had the typical “window goes back up after you release the handle” which makes closing the door a real pain, so a new door latch mechanism was in order. Unfortunately, the 997 is much harder to get to than the 996 …
29Mar2012
Porsche 997 Turbo S Upgrades
Installed a bunch of upgrades on this 2010 Turbo S this week. mmmm shiny. Fabspeed X-pipe exhaust, headers, and intake. First thing we needed to get rid of though was the K40 Calibre laser shifter system. And install something that actually works 🙂 Funky angle, but the heads are mounted in the front grill. Important to get them level and even with each other. ECU was reflashed to EVOMS software for a nice bump in hp and tq. The old …
25Mar2012
LSx project slowly continues
Been trying to get on top of the body work in preparation for paint. Not a lot of fun work 😉 Reassembled and aligned the hood so I could install the hood pins. All old factory latch components have been removed. Using the headlight mounting points, I welded some pipe to a piece of flat iron with two holes for the mounts, then welded a nut to the top that the adjustable pin threads into. Since the retaining nuts on …
25Mar2012
Featherlite Season Prep
Since my last trailer went missing, I found a replacement here in KC. A 24′ featherlite open trailer should handle all my towing needs. First thing to do those, is to update all the lighting to Peterson LED lighting! They are just around the corner from the shop and make automotive lighting. I had updated the last trailer with their lights and it made a huge difference in trailer visibility at night! The old light bulbs. The previous owner of …
25Mar2012
Boxster S Maintenance
With the warm weather upon us, this little boxster rolled in for a little spring maintenance. The passenger side headlight bulb was burnt out and the owner knew the bracket was broken to the headlight, so we ordered a new bracket so we could remove the headlight assembly, change the bulb, then get it back in to where it will hold. When I got it up in the air, I realized the exhaust was flopping around more than normal….not good. …
25Mar2012
VW GTI Boost Issue
Had this GTI in this week to diagnose a weird boost leak that it was having. Got it up on the lift and checked for the obvious loose hose connections of which there were quite a few. Snugged things down, then finally found the culprit. From underneath, I noticed a hose missing from the inlet of the turbo pipe. Not good. After a bunch of searching, I found it tucked behind a few hoses, so I reattached it and put …