Well thanks to you guys my car ('87 911 Turbo) seems to be running fine. The fuel pump relay problem seems to have gone away with the replacement of them, alternator is charging, turbo stopped smoking, etc. But, now it seems that the area around the right rear fender is quite hot. After I have run the car for awhile and park it I can't even put my hand on the lower part of the rear fender it is so hot. Even the turn signal light is so hot it is difficult to put my hand on it. I had the cat and muffler out of course when I replaced the turbo, but when I replaced them, I put all of the associated heat sheilds and rear apron back as well. The one thing that I did do that may or may not be related to the problem is that I removed the air conditioning pump and the condenser in the rear wing, thinking that it might actually help with allowing more air into the engine compartment. (I am in the SF Bay Area and rarely need A/C anyway, and besides do these things actually cool?) I am wondering if this might have something to do with the heat problem by changing the volume and route of air through this area. Or am I imagining things and is this area generally this hot because of the catalyric converter under all of this stuff? Could the cat be plugged or filled with carbon that would cause it to overheat? During my extended down time even though I couldn't/didn't drive the car I would start it regulary to keep the juices flowing. I wonder if this is related to the heat issue.

 

I don't think your cats are plugged - this would impact you exhaust flow. I also don't think removal of the AC has anything to do with it.

If you are sure there are no exhaust leaks and your engine is at normal operating temperature, check the flow of air through your heat exchangers. It is odd that the right rear fender is so hot.

 

I hadn't thought about it, but would a hot oil tank make the fender warm/hot? I know everything in the back of my car gets hot at the track.

 

Everything in the back of my car gets pretty warm too if I've done any kind of "spirited" driving. Are you sure you got all of the oil lines, exhaust, and other hardware, installed correctly and something isn't touching/radiating to the fender? The left hand side you know gets warm because of the turbo, but the right hand isn't one that I'd not been concerned about.

 

Yeah, after a subsequent check, it seems that it is not quite so hot, but still hot nonetheless. Seems that from sitting while idling after a short run things got real hot. All of the plumbing is correct, no exhaust leaks, and the car seems to run fine. Blew out a little smoke when I got on it and took her to full boost at one point. I figured it was probably all of the crap that was built up in various places from sitting for so long and mostily idling in the driveway. I am due for a smog check to get the thing re-registered in the next few days. We might get a more definitive answer with a little closer look at the exhaust chemistry. BTW another thing I noticed was that the "tin" on the lower inside of the right rear seems to have had the paint cooked off of it and has a little rust. I will take a picture if I get a chance and send it along. Don't know if that is any kind of significant indicator of heat or not.