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Update on the car, after about a year of ownership. Really have enjoyed it. Have driven it just under 1000 miles in the year.
Recently I ditched the aftermarket headers and replaced with probably the last set of almost new Porsche headers that I purchased from E-man here in ATL. They look great on the car. I might be imagining it, but I do believe I notice a little more low end pull before the car boosts. Also replaced a couple more cooling system components (a hard pipe, few hoses, heater control valve).
And -- new engine mounts. My AC compressor was making a vibrating noise -- and it was rubbing on the front sway bar. Guess the mounts collapse. One of you guys completely called this awhile back... makes sense that my front cooling hoses were leaking. I've been driving the heck out of it.
But what I'm most excited about is that I treated the car to a detail. Paint Correction, Wheels off, suspension, etc. Took about 4 weeks of attention by Detailed Designs in Atlanta (A+++ work, they did another car of mine awhile back). Here's a bunch of pics with notes and thoughts. Check out the e500 Hammer that I believe was on the way to Pebble Beach for a Petrolicious event. 49K miles. Gorgeous.
And here are a ton of pics from picking up the car.
We confirmed that the paint on the car is all the single stage original Alpine White paint. The front right fender has had some not perfect paintwork on the fender lip, and the paint is relatively thin from a ton of polishing over the last 31 years. They measured every panel, as we were worried about the paint, and the paint really came up in depth, gloss and overall appearance.
We did choose to leave on the original guards just in front of the rear wheels. Worried about paint damage. I know folks stay to steam them, etc, but removing the ones aft of the rear wheels caused damage (by me) last year, so, leaving as is. Preservation, I guess.
Although the old Turbo logo looked fine, it had been polished and was shiny. I didn't realize 1) it was supposed to be matte and 2) made of plastic, not aluminum. We added a new one. Took the utmost in care to get it positioned exactly and it looks super on the car. Worth the 80 bucks at the local Porsche dealer.
Once the logo was on, time to take it out of the shop. Note the careful retorquing of the lug nuts. Learned a great trick - a cheap one too - use a plastic bag over the wrench to minimize any marring of the black aluminum lug nuts.
And -- they document everything. I'm in the video business by trade as well, so I enjoyed the shooting/documentation.
Haven't updated this in forever. Moved to San Francisco and sold all the cars except a daily driver and the 944 Turbo. Just under 41K miles now from new !
It was trucked across the country last year, and sadly it's only been driven a few times due to work commitments and general life. Eventually it's going back to Nashville for garaging where I'll get to drive it a couple times a year.
Haven't had to do much to the car in the past couple years (sort of defeating the "951's are expensive to maintain":
-- Oil changes annually (Royal Purple Synthetic)
-- Windshield washers were clogged so replaced the tubing, check valves, clamps and a nozzle.
-- Finally bought the 2 fuel supply lines from Porsche. Were NLA now remaking them. Interestingly they put a silver heat shield on the new lines instead of the black protective hose-looking sleeve. But when I tried to replace, realized that you need to get the rear axle out of the way. Trying to keep all bone stock, but I slapped a LR black fuel supply line underhood on so I wouldn't worry about fire danger.
-- Replaced fuel filter and one of the rubber lines under the car.
-- Treated all leather w/ leatherique a few times to keep it nice. I wear driving gloves every time to keep the steering wheel and shift **** new-looking.
Next up:
-- Noticed a bit of CV joint clacking from LR axle - guessing low miles, grease is dried up. This happened 2 years ago and totally went away. Now it's back. Will address and try to just regrease instead of replace axles.
-- Suspension has definitely gone soft, I noticed a bit of floatiness. Guess I need new shocks/struts all around. Really interesting that it was super tight when I bought it a few years ago, and even without being driven, the shocks have likely given up due to age.
-- About 1.5 years since last detail/wax. Need to wax.
-- TPS isn't clicking each time it returns to idle. Noticed a high idle a few times and some too long cranking on hot starts (guessing this is it).
Last week, a friend forwarded me the white (Pearl) 86 that sold on BaT for 74K (!!!!!!) albeit with 5k miles, and it motivated me to get the cover off and take her out. This weekend I rearranged the garage, got the car out and cruised all over Marin, Sonoma and had a blast without a hiccup.
03-16-2017, 10:30 PM
