This turned about to be one of the funnest days in awhile! Pat Williams Racing finished with the transmission today, and I was able to complete the deal with the seller this afternoon. Also, the odometer stopped working when the seller since I test drove it a few weeks ago. PWR pulled the unit for repair and put in a US style temp for me.

I drove from the shop about ten miles towards downtown Memphis. I wanted to check out the river flooding. I stopped for gas at a Shell Station along the way. and learned an important lesson. I had the pump set on autofill, and a worker emptying trash can asked me about the car. Of course, this distraction meant I didn't immediately notice fuel running out onto the ground when the nozzle failed to automatically stop when full. I also need a new gas cap. The gasket on the current one is deteriorating pretty badly.

I drove on to the river and looked at it, then picked my wife up at her office. We drove across the River into Arkansas on I-55 and back into Tennessee on I-40. Water, water everywhere!

I headed back to her office so she could fetch her own car and take it home. The suspension bits really squeak and moan at low speeds - much different than the E39 BMW she's grown used to. By the time I dropped her off, she had named my car "Squeaky". At home, the couple across the street from me happened to come out as we were about to pull away. The car put huge smiles on their faces as they asked about this new four-wheeled neighbor.

We swung by the County Clerk's office to transfer the title, get a license plate, etc. then went for an extended joyride. At one point, it would have been better if I had the original speedometer in KPH were in place today. I really did not need my wife to know how fast we were going in MPH after passing someone on a two lane state route!

We stopped for dinner in the southwest part of the city for some most excellent domestic catfish at A and J's Catfish Station. One of the restaurant's owners (I'm not sure if it was A or J) came to our table to check on us during our meal, and wanted to know all about the car.

On the way home, I swung by a wine merchant to restock. Some 170 miles or so after we began the afternoon, Squeaky is now tucked away safely in my garage.

squeaky-garage.jpg

The car barely fits in there with the E39 and my daily ride. There's also a Moto Guzzi hidden in there somewhere. I'm going to have to tweek the positioning of everything a little....

I hope to take some better photos soon and put them on the picture thread.

I've got lots of questions, and it should be fun seeking some answers for the next while. Their are a few switches and such that are a mystery to me. The wipers make a bad sounding noise at the apex of their travel, and also don't seem to return as low as they should when turned off. Etc.

I hope the rest of you enjoyed your Friday as much as I did!

p.s. I can't seem to get a photo linked to a url to appear in my post as opposed to an attached file. I need to resolve that.

 

Congrats, sounds like a great day!

 

Sounds like you had a lot of fun! 170 miles in a day is a lot for me, as an around the island drive is maybe 130 miles.

What switches are you wondering about? Below the dash there are 2 rocker switches to the left of the steering wheel. If it moves front to back, that is for the sunroof. If it moves side to side, that would be the toggle to switch the power mirror controls from left to right.

 

look like Rial wheels to me

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...s-hershey.html

 

One switch must be for the nonexistent sunroof.

There's a toggle switch aft of the hand brake. I don't know what it does, if anything. Also, there was a tiny push button switch. I can't remember where I saw it. Maybe under the steering wheel.

 

Yes. These appear to be same. I'm liking them. They seem relatively unique.

 

Not a bad story at all. Do you have the build sheet from the motor rebuild? I ask because the caveat of a RoW SC is that they have nice bits for the injection and higher compression that make them pretty strong running cars. They make a good platform for a rebuild. I would hope this virtue was preserved in the build.

 

I do not have the build sheet. Pat Williams did the rebuild just prior to selling it to the guy I bought it from. The seller did say PW claimed it makes an honest 215hp at the rear wheel.

 

Love that color,.......

Being a non-sunroof car makes it a big plus, at least to me.

Get the front lip spoiler on there to balance the lift quotients otherwise high-speed handing isn't going to be good at all.

Enjoy!!!!!!

 

I agree regarding the sunroof.

The front lip spoiler is definitely high on the to do list (chin spoiler, right?).

It did feel a little bit *twitchy* during my one brief high speed burst. I don't have much of a frame of reference though. The only other 911 I drove was a few minutes in a mid-80s Carrera at city speeds some 20+ years ago.

 

Right!

Suspension squeaks are due to worn out bushings that allow the torsion bars to rub inside their housings. Swaybar bushings squeak when they require replacement, too.

Get the suspension all sorted out, install that front lip spoiler, cornerweight & align and voila', you'll have a whole new ride.

 

Hhhmm. iirc the seller volunteered that the suspension was sorted by PWR when he bought it and the bushings were polyurethane and were prone to squeak....

Seems to corner well to me, but again no frame of reference so I don't really no what normal is. The groaning and squeaking seems to be in the front end fwiw.

 

FWIW, Pat Williams is really good. I like the look of Fuchs better than those wheels. Maybe they would look better with black centers. I like the color and love the non-sunroof feature! You might consider some period aftermarket recaros.

 

Ahhhh,.....thats different.

Polyurethane bushings are indeed prone to squeak and bind up over time. Thankfully, there are now FAR better options that will significantly reduce suspension "stiction", improve ride quality and handling. Its worth ditching the urethane ones as they are old technology and one doesn't have to live with that noise any more.

 

Mine had Polyurethane when I first bought it too - it was bouncey and squeeky. Rode like a truck. both A arms were binding at different places that made it difficult to corner balance. - OK impossible to corner balance/set ride height. I immediately changed suspension bushings.