rstites

Hello,

Verbose first post to follow!

Obviously, I'm new around here. However, I've owned my '87 951 since 1993. It was my daily driver from 1993 through 2000, during nice weather (lived in Iowa and Minnesota, so real winters). I was active in the PCA, a regular on the old porschephiles email list, etc. In 2000, I had my first kid, life got complicated, and the car has managed an average of 500 miles a year since. Now, 14 years later, that kid is all into cars and got me to start driving the car on a regular basis again, rejoin the PCA, and I want to get the car all sorted out as a daily driver for next spring. (I'm in Kansas now, so still real winters, but much less of them.)

After years of trouble free running, everything caught up with me at once. Right now, it's in getting a new head gasket, valve work, new power steering rack, oil cooler and lines, fuel pump and lines. I got the clutch done a couple of years back. I'm here now hoping to get back into doing much of this myself to keep cost of ownership in check. I did that in the '90's, but got away from it over time. As I've aged, I lost patience with laying on a concrete floor 4" from the bottom of the car. I'll have to find a way to get it lifted a bit more now. 20 years has been harder on me than the car!

I'm hoping it's all good to go for basic mechanicals for a while. I'll have to get the AC fixed in the spring. In the meantime, I'm hoping to sort through a myriad of electric gremlins this winter: fan control, heat (yeah, not electric), sun roof, rear hatch, and finally replace the aftermarket radio-cassette deck that's been in since I bought it. After it's all sorted, I want to finally do some simple upgrades to it next spring. It's 100% stock still.

Anyhow, looking around here, I'm sure most of this is covered, but wanted to introduce myself before starting with a load of well covered, pretty basic questions. I'll document things as I move along here.

I'll get pictures of the car up, when I get it back from the shop!

Thanks,

Ross

Brentb1

I recently posted a thread very similar to yours and one of the best replies I received was to visit http://www.clarks-garage.com. I have spent numerous hours reading and researching things I will be/have been doing to the car. I also started working on the 951 in big part because of my son who is also 14 and interested in building a fast street car. We have spent many hours pulling the head and looking everything over which has been good bonding time. Good luck with your car and if you have any questions this is the best site I have been on "very knowledgeable people".

refresh951

Welcome Ross! This is a great place to learn!

rstites

Thanks for the welcomes. I've never work on anything in the engine, so pulling the head is definitely beyond my experience. Hopefully, after the head goes back on my car I have a couple of years before that comes up. I have done lots of ancillary work: suspension, brakes, alternators, etc. I've just been lucky overall there.

However, my son is 100% into it and wants to really rip into things, so we'll see what happens.

Yeah, I've already been to www.clarks-garage and Shawn's site is where I first linked to this list, though it's been mentioned at the local PCA meetups too.

For now, I'll just hang out and wait for my car to get back home - another week I believe.

Brentb1

I seen on your first post you are going to do some simple upgrades, I would assume putting in a mbc, chips, etc. The reason I mention it, is you might want to upgrade to a Cometic head gasket if you are planning on running higher boost levels. The head gasket is a common failure point so since you have the head off anyway now would be the time to do it. Another bit of advice is unless you have deep pockets I would get the manual or download it and do most of the work yourself. I have never been in the motor either, but it is very straight forward, just label everything and take a lot of pictures and make sure to use the correct torque specs. With the cars age it is amazing how much money you will save not to mention have a complete understanding of the inner workings of the motor. That knowledge will also help when trouble shooting any problems. Just curious, what are your plans as far as upgrades are concerned?

rstites

In the spring, my plan is to first put a freer flowing exhaust on it. I'm eyeing the Fabspeed one for a combination of performance and nice looks. Then I'll most likely put in the manual boost control and a chip of some sort. I'm really not sure who to go to for that. That's the limit of what I currently plan. It's certainly the limit of my current budget I'm setting aside for next year.

I do have the factory manuals. I picked them up when I first got the car. I've replaced power steering rack, suspension components, brakes, back then. I just didn't have to dig into the engine. I didn't run into the electronic gremlins until I stopped driving the car all the time.

Really, when I drove it daily I had very little issue with it. The only big one was having the DME let go when I was several hundred miles from home. We had to have it flatbadded to the local dealer (another 100+ miles the wrong direction from home), and then it had to wait 6 weeks to get one shipped from Germany! That's become a common issue and one dealt with easier since.

Darwantae951

He has no need for a cometic.

Brentb1

. I was told that if you are going to increase the boost and you already have the head off you should upgrade. If I misinformed, my bad. I myself am purchasing a cometic HG for this reason. I am just wondering is there a downside to putting on the cometic in this application?

Thom

Welcome to the board.
It's both amazing and humbling to hear of people who have owned their 951 nearly since new, congrats for sticking to it for that long

Considering the light mods you are looking at, I would stick to a stock headgasket.

While you have the turbo/exhaust off you may want to check your AOS seals and replace them, as it's more than likely that they have completely dried up with age. Lots on this topic in older threads.

As for a basic chipset you won't go wrong with main suppliers such as Lindsey Racing or Pelican Parts, to name a few. In the process make sure to shim the wastegate, fit colder spark plugs (NGK BPR7ES for instance), a 3.0 bar fuel pressure regulator and a manual boost controller to bypass the cycling valve. An external boost gauge will come handy to correctly adjust the peak level of boost (I would personally not run more than 18 psi), as the stock boost gauge in the dash is not easy to work with.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

rstites

Thanks for advice. I just got the car back tonight, head reworked and ready to go.

First thing that's happening is that I'm teaching my son to drive a manual. Seriously, how spoiled is it to drive a Porsche for your first manual...I started with an F-100!

I'll keep this thread going as I start messing with it.

rlm328

You have something better than a lift, and that is a son who likes to tinker. Let him lay on the floor and you offer him advice and encouragement. I did that with my son about 10 years ago when he was 15, he has turned into one heck of a gear head who is not afraid to take on anything.

When putting your car back together go back with as much stock as possible initially. This way when you start your "light" mods you know what your starting point is instead of guessing when something does not work if it is your mod or another gremlin in search for repair.

rlm328

You will know when you are in need of a cometic. They are useful for irregular head surfaces, if you have decked your block too many times and need more clearance, etc.

The head is more of a limiting factor on boost than the gasket. How much boost are you planning on using? I have had an OEM gasket to 18 psi with no problems.

rstites

Well, drove the car 200+ miles yesterday to my inlaws for Thanksgiving. (My son's idea: he and I in it and my wife and daughter in the other car...needed the hatch to haul some stuff....it's a truck! ) Ran great.

Right now it's 100% stock. Before anything mechanical, I want to chase down the little things inside because it's going to be my daily driver come spring.

On the head gasket: from what I've read, I don't think I'm doing anything that will necessitate beefing that up. In fact I've always thought of it being a bit like a fuse in a circuit. If you keep blowing either, then you really need to be 100% certain of everything else going on before up-rating. Go ahead and tell me why I'm wrong here.

Anyhow, we're gone through the weekend. Next week, it's just getting into the little electric gremlins. Nothing major until January.

Other question: the lift isn't happening. However, I thought about investing in some of those jack stands with the built-in rubber tops (rather than the steal ones) to save the underside a bit. Any experience with those? I used to pile up newspapers/cardboard as makeshift padding.

Cyberpunky

Welcome Ross.
I think you are spot on about head gasket. I'd rather replace HG than risk doing more serious damage, and I don't think you need Cometic with your current plans

Love to see pics

Brentb1

Ok so it seems that I was given the wrong advice about the head gasket. I never said do it I said you might want to while head is off. From what I was told, a cometic is basically an upgrade to the stock which helps with HG failure when turning up the boost. I did not intentionally misguide I thought it would be worth looking into since head was off and upgrades were planned. I had intended on using the cometic myself but had not researched it which I obviously should have before mentioning it. So it is quite obvious the new guy "me" doesn't know what he is talking about. Lesson learned on posting a suggestion. Good luck on with your car I hope ur boy learns alot