01Dec2009
Curse the black cars…..
For some reason, black cars, in particular black 951’s have been known to put up a fight with me. Not just one black 951, but multiple black 951’s, lol. Oh well. It was a project that just kept growing and growing as we got deeper into it. IMHO, the root of everything was for years the car was running 15.5:1 AFR’s under boost after an upgraded turbo and MAF, but still using stock injectors (not my install). We fixed the …
20Nov2009
Update: Black 951
Well it was a slow week in regards to the black car. Sitting waiting, waiting, waiting. Yesterday afternoon though I got a call that the turbo was rebuilt and ready to be picked up. So I ran across town and got it, and came home and got it installed and out of the way. Now I am just waiting on another head to be rebuilt before putting it all back together. The previous head was unusable due to the exhaust …
06Nov2009
Updates…….
Been banging away at the cars in my spare time. Our 968 braking issue turned out to indeed be front warped rotors even though they only had 2000 miles on them. Lesson learned here is that when common sense and experience tell you something is broken, don’t look past it just because that item has been replaced recently……new parts fail, rebuilt parts fail, new rotors warp, stuff happens. The calipers had been rebuilt recently thinking it was an issue with …
30Oct2009
997GT3RS
Call came in this morning of a friend in dire need of a rear brake pad change. We met up over lunch, and got the rear pads knocked out quickly so he could get back on his way. The PCCB’s on the 997GT3RS now require you to remove the entire caliper to replace the pads. A little more work than just popping a pin out and swapping pads, but still a pretty quick job.
25Oct2009
89 944TS
With the 88 out of the garage, I had a good friend make his way down from South Dakota to fix some oil leaks on his Alpine White 89 Turbo S. We tackled the belts and front engine seals on this trip, hung out with some good friends and just had a fantastic weekend. Yup, that is an engine Jones…… Removing the cam gear. Steve N. holding the car up, lol Back together after the front end seal and belt …
25Oct2009
88 944TS
Had a rare black 88 Turbo S (one of 60ish 88’s in black) in the garage for some maintenance this past week. We repaired a non operational sunroof, camtower leak, oil cooler leak, lower balance shaft housing leak, along with a new timing and balance shaft belt and few other misc. items. The car was leaving a pretty good puddle of oil under the car after being driven, so it was time to get a few of the more major …
04Sep2009
996TT Fuel Leak
Our big turbo project car came back in after a strong fuel smell popped up recently. My initial thought was that maybe the fuel pressure regulator o-ring was pinched when we installed the bigger 5 bar regulator, causing a small leak. I was a bit surprised when that was not it at all, but rather a completely unrelated issue…….the metal fuel filter had sprung a pin hole leak, and was spraying gasoline out at a pretty darn good rate! Needless …
04Sep2009
Boxster/996 window issues?
I have seen a lot of window issues in boxsters and 996’s lately. The general operation of the door glass is simple in the 2 cars. Basically, when you pull the the door handle (inner or outer), the window glass will drop about a 1/2″ to allow for smooth opening of the door. When the door shuts, the window will raise back into place. The same goes for the convertible tops. When the front release handle is triggered, the windows …
Most people’s initial reaction when they see white smoke coming out of their exhaust, is to assume the worse…..blown headgasket, slipped cylinder lining, catastrophic engine failure. While on rare occasion that is the case, many times it is nothing more than a bad Oil Air Separator (OAS, AOS, Air Oil Separator, etc). 996, 997’s, and Boxsters use an oil air separator which basically reduces oil vapor that recirculates in the engine. Unfortunately, they use a rubber diaphragm that is prone …
24Aug2009
Sticky Boxster/996 A/C control unit?
Here is a easy little fix for you guys out there with A/C and heater control units that have sticky buttons on the control panel. Why do they stick? Well, driving around with coffee, pop, etc in the car, eventually something is bound to get spilled…….. First start by removing the side trim on each side: There are clips on the forward most side, just get your fingers behind the trim piece and lightly pull out. Next, remove the trim …