Peter Zimmermann

Steve: That's pretty cool - it takes about 20 seconds to put on the safety belt and select a gear!!

DARISC

I love ya Bro! Now gimme your fckunig beer!

Nah - I'm a looney artist who at a very young age became atuned to the sounds, smells and feel of internal combustion engines and manual trannys being operated the way they were designed and want (they ARE living things, you realize) to be operated.

The Porsche air/oil cooled flat six is special, but it's still basically just a reciprocating, gas powered engine like all the rest. All the common sense considerations apply as they do to all engines/transmissions.

Are you an engineer, showering me with such a compliment of which I am so educationally undeserving?

Cheers,

David

Mike Murphy

I studied ME in college and built a few engines; so not officially or professionally. But just like most everyone else on this forum, we have knowledge of engines that far exceed the average person, even if it's single-digit percentages of what Steve and Peter and like-kind Rennlisters.

GeneralTso

Thanks for all the input! I think I'm with Pete (and Steve and...) on this one...

dvkk

It is a well known fact that the most wear happens when an engine is cold. Driving the car makes the engine warm up faster than idling. Why would you want to maximize the wear by idling the engine?

theiceman

I usually just warm it up enough that the idle settles out , about 10 - 15 seconds , then by the time I back it out of the driveway on to the road I am ready to go .....

DARISC

Your ride looks great since you reinflated it. Did you go with helium to add lightness?

dshepp806

DARISC:


I've been lazy in fixing this issue...you were my incentive to deal with it...so I gave it a shot.

...thank you for your inspirational observation.............no helium,..just IfranView!!!!

Now I need to render another view, as the rear window wiper is LONG GONE!! Much cleaner lines.

..I must get to work with the camera...

Best,

red67

+1
i do this religiously i think petes advice is spot on from my (little) experience.
letting older cars idle to warm also soots plugs in my experience unless they are mixed incredibly lean - they are designed to be driven (hard after reaching operating temperature)

DARISC

Cool! I stupidly used a can of Irfanview once without reading the instructions. Cost me a clutch & tranny rebuild from all the hard launches I had to do to stretch her back into shape.

Uh oh! Douglas Bray's gonna reprimand me now.

rgrimm

For another take, I was at a conference where Click and Clack appeared (public radio's Car Talk).

Their take, too, was to idle the engine just long enough to get some oil circulating in the top end, then drive away, keeping the revs low.

When asked if that applied to North Dakota in the dead of winter, the reply was "we'd recommend you move." But then again, -20F isn't P-car weather, is it?

Amber Gramps

What was the original Question? oh,ya....start it, back it out of the shed and down the driveway, get out and close the gate, baby it down the street in first....yep, I agree with everyone.

BlackPearl

And finally: even though the oil pressure gauge may read a little high at cold idle, I don't think oil is getting to some of the upper-end engine components like cams, and valve-guides, etc. You've got to run the engine above idle to really squirt the oil where it needs to go. What gets built a lot on these engines? top end.

I start it, roll it out my garage at idle, close the garage door, (okay ... with the remote .... I'm lazy), fasten my seat-belt, and start out no higher than 3K RPM driving. Total time at idle: maybe 45-seconds to 1.25 minutes. I'll drive soft on the throttle and no more than 3500-rpm until 180+ degrees. At 190+ I'll drive it ... well .... like a Porsche!

Years of Volkswagens (and not just a few engine rebuilds) taught me to idle air-cooled German engines just long enough to get the oil through one complete circulation cycle ... then drive it.

just my 2-Pesos.

GothingNC

I've always followed the same procedure on all my cars.
Start up and go driving lightly until the proper Temp is reached.

Only time I would let it idle a bit longer then usual in the winter when I am scraping ice off the glass (non Porsche) with the defroster on full blast and waiting for the windshield to clear.

John

r911

"start out no higher than 3K RPM driving."

- No, that is the exact opposite of what you should do - keep it higher than ~3k and lower than ~4500 -- this will minimize lugging and stress on the valve train.