Nice attention to detail. Is it the flat (dry look) carbon film or the glossy kind on the center console?

Cheers!
Carl

 

The black portions in the weave are kind of glossy and the grey portions are kind of matte. It's probably considered matte as it's much less glossy than the real CF pieces I have in my 997.

 

Damn, nice...that's a lot of CF!

 

Thanks a lot.

There's a lot less of it in the 928 than in my 997 and the stuff in the 997 is real, not a vinyl wrap. I like CF with black interiors as it gives a subtle visual pattern to what would otherwise be a very monochrome intereior, but it's still black, so goes well. I've actually CF wrapped the badges that will be on the exterior of the car too, which will say "928 Spyder", carrying the theme to the outside and making the badges stand out more than just plain black ones would. There will be a Spyder badge on the stainless running boards when you open the doors too.

 

Today I finished the replacement of the steering shaft bearings and the new hatch motor install. On my original airbag steering column, the upper bearing was destroyed when I tried to remove it. After ordering a new one, it turns out Porsche has the part numbers messed up, as well as bearing dimensions, so what I ended up receiving was a middle bearing. That Porsche sells as an upper bearing...go figure. So....armed with another steering column with a "good" upper bearing, I decided to re-lube that bearing and not wait for Porsche to figure out where they went wrong. It turns out there is a small gap between the outer race and the seal for the inner race. In other words, these upper bearings are not sealed at all which probably explains why they dry out and become noisy. By the way, the upper bearing on non-airbag steering columns, while a different part and shape, shares this quality. So they should be able to be re-lubed as easily as this part.

I used an epoxy syringe from West Marine loaded with some high quality synthetic grease. Care needs to be taken to not crack the plastic (and now fragile) seal between the races. After 10 minutes of working the grease in, spinning the bearing, injecting more grease etc, the bearing is now whisper quiet and very smooth. It actually feels like a new bearing. Time will tell how long it will last.

While in there I also re-painted the black parts on the column, installed a new rubber vibration damper in the lower steering column, and put everything back together.

Next on the list was getting rid of the really dumb hatch motor, and I followed Alan's (think Colin also did this) PDF on how to do it. Part number is 1H5 959 781 and is a VW rear hatch release motor. Found on Ebay for $19.00. After the somewhat fidgety install, and numerous trials and errors, the hatch now pops open reliably, quickly, even from the key FOB that comes with the Infinitybox multiplexing electrical system.

Small victories, but it's getting closer

Cheers!
Carl

 

We have been enjoying some very hot weather the last week, with temperatures at the house hovering around 98-100 degrees, so the garage has been too hot to get a lot of stuff done, but I managed to get the rear quarter windows installed. It was made fairly easy by following (watching) Dean Fuller's excellent install video (great job, thanks!). The video can be found here:
Basically, install the seal onto the glass, then install all the trim pieces. Then insert some cord into the seal slot all around the perimeter of the seal and let the end pieces meet at the bottom, hanging out a few inches so you can grab them. Place the window in the frame opening and while pressing from the outside at the same time you pull the cord "out" from the seal, the seal lip will be pulled inward and over the frame edge. Takes 5 minutes per side max.

I also got the ignition switch and turn/wiper stalk installed and wired up (mostly). The hookup to the Infinitybox system is very simple. The ignition switch only needs 3 connections (accessory, ignition and starter). The stock ignition switch and connector has the terminals embossed on the plastic, so the connections are as follows. Remember, the system is low-side switched so what normally is a "30" terminal (positive) now becomes the ground for this system.

30 --> chassis ground (because system is low-side switched)
X --> accessory input on Infinitybox system
15 --> ignition input on Infinitybox system
50 --> starter input on infinity box system

So basically, only 3 wires are needed on the ignition switch. However the switch has two "30" terminals, two "15" terminals, so I got lazy and instead of figuring out which one to use, I used both and ran a 2-into-1 connection to the Mastercell input. The first picture of the ignition switch shows the factory wires, the second picture of the switch installed shows the 22 AWG wires installed instead of the larger gauge factory wiring. Only milli-amps flow through the switch. The ground wires were kept at 18 AWG.

Turn signals are as follows:
49a --> chassis ground
L --> left turn signal input on Infinitybox system
R --> right turn signal input on Infinitybox system

High-beams are as follows:
56 --> chassis ground
56a --> high beam, and auxiliary high beam input on Infinitybox system

This works but only allows high beams when stalk is pushed forward. It won't activate the pull stalk to flash high beams, so I have to do some more re-tracing on that part. The wiper side of the stalk is next on the to-do list.

The infinity box has some neat diagnostic functions, so after things were wired, I put it in diagnostic mode to verify that the respective input gets activated when the various switches are pulled. Diagnostic mode is reached by holding down the two rightmost buttons for one second. Screen shots follow. It also shows the "uptime", how long the system has been powered, measured in Days:Hours:Minutes:Seconds. Pretty cool.

Cheers!
Carl

 

The shine on that car is absolutely amazing. Well done.

 

I agree with Itoolio the shine on the car is amazing but I still have my doubts having a dark colored car in a hot climate like Florida. Hope the Crystalline tint will do a good job preventing the sun from heating up the inside of the car to an unbearable level when you are out driving. Judging from experience of my cars the aircondition is not up to the task keeping the inside temperature down on a very sunny day in the middle of the summer and you are well aware of the difference in climate we have in our two countries. Keeping the car garaged all the time when not driving is a good idea if you like to preserve the nice shining paint many years from now. That is what I always do and the paint on the red car is still very nice shining after 15 years.
What kind of wing do you intend to put on the rear of the car? A Strosek wing would look nice but I do not think those are available anymore (also see my avatar picture).
I notice you have a red key sitting in rear hatch lock. According to my knowledge only older cars before 1987 had red keys and your car is of a later model.
Ċke

 

Thanks Gentlemen,

Hope you had a great mid-summer evening Ċke!

The wing is the "standard" GTS rear wing, although it is a fiberglass reproduction. My Audi seen in the picture is a very dark blue, and it stays cool very well, usually only needing a fan speed of 2-4 (out 12 max) to keep the set temperature. The 928 has an upgraded (stronger) fan blower, and the controller will be changed to a PWM controller for better fan speed control. The car also has a more efficient parallel flow condenser and a new evaporator, so I am gambling on this car having slightly better cooling than stock.

In addition to the hardware upgrades, the insulation has also been significantly upgraded, especially in the roof area. Roof panel has one layer of Damplifier Pro, followed by 12mm closed cell foam, which should keep that area cooler. With the window tint I think it will be very comfy inside

The red key is a "spare", the regular black key is in the ignition lock at the moment
The rear hatch lock was replaced with a non-alarm version several years ago, and came with a red key. At some point I will have the rear lock and ignition lock re-keyed for a single, new key.

The Strosek 928 looks great, is it single stage paint or did you put a clear coat on it?

Cheers!
Carl

 

Hi Carl,

Have thought about adding keyless go, I believe that to be an option with the ISIS system that you have. It would mean adding an electronic lock to the column where you key mechanism meets the column.

 

Hi,

If you are referring to a pushbutton start so to not have an ignition key, yes that is an option. The Honda 2000 start button/switch is a popular switch that a bunch of guys have used. I decided against it, as for some reason I prefer the physical key. It is also less complicated as I don't have to replace the mechanical steering lock with an electric version. Of course a third option is to remove the physical steering lock all together, which I was contemplating, but for now I will keep it as is.

Cheers!
Carl

 

Midsummer Eve rained away which is not uncommon in this country not being affected by the Global Warming that has been promised to us by all politicians. The first part of the so called summer has been nothing but cold and rainy and I hate driving the cars when the roads are wet.
The red car has a single stage paint Indisch Rot (indian red) and several layers of clearcoat put on it. I did the car full restauration in 2000-2001 for a German customer. When he moved on to a Ferrari a few years later I bought the car for my wife as a compensation for all the flowers I had forgotten to give her over the years.
From being garaged all the time the paint is after 15 years still in very good condition but it is impossible to avoid damages from stone chips in the paint especially at the lower sides of the doors and in front of the rear wheels which is a drawback having a wide body car.
Note the small rear window which will minimize solar radiation into the car. I have raised the wing for better rear visibility.
Ċke

 

Finished the wiring of the windshield wiper section, so it now interfaces with the Infinitybox system. Also had time to start wiring the digital cluster, so just I had to attach a picture of the insane spaghetti...and the wiring started to look so neat until today

Anyway, the wiring for the wiper and windshield/headlight pump is as follows below. Only one ground point is needed, terminal 53a:

Interval wiper position
53a --> chassis ground
J --> Interval input on Mastercell

Single wipe position (uses same terminal as low speed wipe)
53a --> Chassis ground
53 --> Low speed input on Mastercell

Low speed wipe position
53a --> Chassis ground
53 --> Low speed input on Mastercell

Medium speed wipe position
53a --> Chassis ground
53b --> Medium speed on Mastercell

High speed wipe position
53a --> Chassis ground
53i --> High speed input on Mastercell

Headlight Washer position
53a --> Chassis ground
SR --> Headlight washer input on Mastercell

Windshield washer position
53a --> Chassis ground
53c --> Windshield washer input on Mastercell


Finally I narrowed down the selection for my HVAC controller, and as can be seen in the picture I went through a few different options. From left to right, we have a 2000 Nissan Sentra controller, a 2008 Mazda Miata MX-5 controller, a 2011 Nissan Sentra controller, a 1998 Audi A4/S4 Quattro automatic controller, and finally a 2011 Kia Optima controller. All of them except the Kia controller (too wide) fits very well in the center console widthwise. They are all manual except the Audi controller, but after realizing the complexity of that control head I decided on a manual HVAC system for now. The final choice is the 2008 Miata controller, as it will match my interior ideas the best, and it also comes in an automatic version of the exact same size and appearance, so if the install goes well I may upgrade at a later stage. Both versions have "infinite" fan settings, as I do not like only 4 choices for fan speeds. Usually my choice is in-between what is available...
Now I just need to get the wiring harness procured, then integrated and then the door actuators, and then....hmm, this never ends does it?

Cheers!
Carl

 

I think it is an excellent choice to use a rotary HVAC control panel and not the stock control panel.

 

Fascinating, can't wait for the next installment !