A new Porsche 928 book has been published
06-08-2008, 08:12 PM
#49
Rennlist Member
I just came back from vacation in Milwaukee. I decided to forego the festivities at SITM this year and save on gas, so Lynn and I decided to take the 928 to Milwaukee instead. I had an idea to stop and see Carl on the way back to Iowa, but like so many vacation plans, it never came to be.
Peak 928 was waiting for me when I arrived home on Thursday, what an awesome book. I have read thru half of it so far and I would like to say that Carl is an amazing author/storyteller. The book is very interesting and i had a hard time putting it down. Carl, I especially liked your account of the hair raising incident on I80 on the way out to Colorado Springs.
Peak 928 was waiting for me when I arrived home on Thursday, what an awesome book. I have read thru half of it so far and I would like to say that Carl is an amazing author/storyteller. The book is very interesting and i had a hard time putting it down. Carl, I especially liked your account of the hair raising incident on I80 on the way out to Colorado Springs.
06-08-2008, 09:59 PM
#50
I just came back from vacation in Milwaukee. I decided to forego the festivities at SITM this year and save on gas, so Lynn and I decided to take the 928 to Milwaukee instead. I had an idea to stop and see Carl on the way back to Iowa, but like so many vacation plans, it never came to be.
Peak 928 was waiting for me when I arrived home on Thursday, what an awesome book. I have read thru half of it so far and I would like to say that Carl is an amazing author/storyteller. The book is very interesting and i had a hard time putting it down. Carl, I especially liked your account of the hair raising incident on I80 on the way out to Colorado Springs.
Peak 928 was waiting for me when I arrived home on Thursday, what an awesome book. I have read thru half of it so far and I would like to say that Carl is an amazing author/storyteller. The book is very interesting and i had a hard time putting it down. Carl, I especially liked your account of the hair raising incident on I80 on the way out to Colorado Springs.
06-08-2008, 10:37 PM
#51
Developer
Thread Starter
Carl, I especially liked your account of the hair raising incident on I80 on the way out to Colorado Springs.
1 story that made the book, and two that didnt:
On race day, we were waiting for our turn, which we were told was going to be between 9 and 10 AM. When you get to your assigned pit area at 4 AM, thats a long wait. We studied, double and triple-checked stuff, but eventually there is just nothing to do. Because we had an alternator failure earlier in the week, and we were operating a borrowed used alternator from a 928 donor from Colorado Springs, Ryan had the idea to throw throw the jumper cables onto the 928 from the Chevy Tahoe and charge the Optima Red in the 928 "just in case". Later, when (during the ascent up the moutnain) the alternator quit, we thought about this charge he put in it and whether it would be enough. It was.
2 that didn't make the book:
we had just finished a long and careful engine assembly and put the motor in the car. Connected all the leads and hoses, and were spinning it over with the starter to get some oil in the passageways before attaching the coil wire. We noticed the supercharger crankshaft pulley had a wobble in it! It did not have a wobble in it when we had taken the motor out of the car, but now it does - and this was the same crank pulley set we had removed.
We replaced the supercharger pulley and had the same result - still a wobble.
Now I'm sweating it - I fear the crankshaft has a bent nose and I cannot figure out who dropped it or how it happened. We removed all the pulleys and the harmonic balancer and put a dial indicator on the crank itself and spun the motor over. The crank was straight and true! What the F! Now we are chewing into what was a short break-in and tune period before leaving for Colorado so we were really sweating it.
I found the proiblem in the harmonic balancer - the two sides of the balancer were no longer square with each other! In 1978, the first harmonic balancers were aluminum. I liked these balancers because they are lighter, of course. But the on, off, on, off life of my balancer had taken its toll, and the aluminum had become hobbed out. I installed a 1979 harmonic balancer (steel) and the supercharger pulley was straight and true. But finding this problem chewed up about 4 days right when we didn't have any of them to spare!
Another one that did not make the book: after I bought the new enclosed trailer for the trip to Coilorado - we had to change the ball on my trailer hitch up to a 2 5/16" ball from the 2" ball I had. The store had one of those Converta-a-ball trailer ball things, and it had only a 5/8" shank but provided a steel sleeve so that the shank would drop into the 1" hole and fill it out. I bought it, but did not install it. It just bugged me to have a 5/8" bolt shank in reality on a 10,000 GVWR rig. I could not bring myself to install it.
I finally found a true 2 5/16" ball with a true 1" soild bolt shank and installed that one, even tho the trip to return the Convert-a-ball was quite a ways away and far from convenient.
Later, when we jack-knifed the trailer on the Interstate at speed, we had enough force to bend the Class 2 hitch and a little bit of the frame on the Tahoe. But it did not break. And we also remembered the convert-a-ball hitch and figured the small shank in it would have snapped clean off....
Thank you all so much for your comments and support.
06-08-2008, 10:57 PM
#52
I found it amazing you guys took the chance and pulled it all with the Tahoe. Going from 6800lbs towing cap to the 16K+ was ballsy. It was like reading a suspense novel. I was nervous towing 8k with my pick up, I don't know how you guys lived through it.
06-08-2008, 11:24 PM
#53
Developer
Thread Starter
Going from 6800lbs towing cap to the 16K+ was ballsy.
We have sold the Tahoe and bought a 2003 long-wheelbase, 3/4 ton Suburban with towing package, HD transmission, load leveling, and 8.1 Liter motor. She's a towing machine.
Shame the haul to Pikes Peak won't be nearly as exciting as last year!
06-08-2008, 11:29 PM
#54
Rennlist Member
Carl..............we have the '03 Duramax Diesel 3/4 ton 4x4 that we use for a farm truck and other towing apps............1000km/tank and enough power to satisfy, just be careful on tyre selection.
06-10-2008, 03:21 PM
#56
I received mine last Wed., right before leaving to SITM. I've read about 1/3 or so in the last 24 hrs. Very interesting what you went thru to get the car how you needed it to be. Great pics too. Seeing the quality of your build work is very impressive.
06-21-2008, 05:56 PM
#60
Rennlist Member
What a STUD
. I got the book one day last week and didnt open the box until this morning. Once I opened it, I couldnt put it down. I had to change rooms a couple of times (noise) just to stay with you. What an intimate look at a fantastic experience. And to have your boys there also.
WOW You have my admiration and respect.
. I got the book one day last week and didnt open the box until this morning. Once I opened it, I couldnt put it down. I had to change rooms a couple of times (noise) just to stay with you. What an intimate look at a fantastic experience. And to have your boys there also.WOW You have my admiration and respect.