Long time no hear...car update (relatively long)
03-08-2007, 09:09 AM
#1
Race Car
Thread Starter
Long time no hear...car update (relatively long)
I guess I haven't posted much for the last 6 months, there have been a lot of changes in both personal and professional life - and mostly for the better 
Essentially, the opposite is true when we are talking about the 964 - it has had very serious problems indeed and is currently on life-support at best
Some of you may remember that the car has been in Denmark for some time (at least on and off) - and also on the beach of course - how much fun was that?
So, just to recap - the car had developed an oil leak in September last year - I came back to Denmark to find a sizeable pool of oil on the garage floor - probably about half a litre, maybe a bit more. I didn't drive the car beyond starting it and the idle was unstable - it wouldn't hold it. On a Motec car this is pretty rare. So I had the car shipped to Aarhus and told them about the mods and the oil leak. They had the car for 3 weeks, diagnosed the oil leak as a hose leak (phew!) but also spent a lot of time replacing parts like the battery etc (without my consent) and then declared the car 'ready' after handing me a bill for around £1K. As I was going to India at the end of Oct 2006, I wanted to drive the car home urgently (this being mid Oct) so I spoke to the Porsche Dealer in Aarhus and told them I wanted to drive it home to the UK - was the idle ok etc. and they said its a lot better and it should be fine.
I arrived on the Saturday morning and was told that the engine was pretty much screwed, in fact when they started it there was alot of white smoke. I asked why no one had advised this earlier - to which there was no real reply of substance. I KNOW I should have refused the car there and then (even though I am sure they would not be able to fix it, or agree to anhy liability - I had shipped it there after all) but I had flown out to collect on a one-way ticket and the whole weekend was arranged. I considered turning the car down but I asked about driving home to the UK and they said it should be fine - take it easy.
As I started driving the car, I noticed that performance seemed pretty normal but there would be a sizeable puff of white smoke every time I went from trailing throttle to applying some throttle....on the Autobahn this did actually prompt a German motorist to pull me over and tell me excitedly that I really needed to get the car fixed and that oil was actually appearing on his windscreen behind me....I told him I knew the car was having problems but there wasn't really much I could do about it.....I think on the whole that was a 'nicht nicht' with him but accchhh ja vat can ve do you know?
Anyway, the journey back was uneventful apart from the James Bond-like smokescreen appaearing every few minutes, the engine felt strong (even though taking it easy) and we did not break down. However, towards the end of the journey, I had a reduction in oil pressure and I didn't know whether this was due to low oil level or a more serious problem....
Once the car was home, I spoke to my insurance company who refused to transport it to 9M even though I said that warranty work (
)could only be carried out there - so Melvin helped me out by getting it up there at a competitive rate - thanks agaion Mel!
I left the car there over Xmas etc. and due to changes in work I have only recently spoken to Colin after they stripped the engine down to find out what the situation is. It seems that my pistons and cylinders are totally screwed, partially melted and one head has met with the piston rather forcefully and is also damaged. The crank is fine as are the Carillo con rods. Basically a complete top-end rebuild is necessary, probably new big-end bearings as a precaution whilst we are there. The probable cause: bad fuel.
Due to using Motec, I do not have knock sensors so beyond the safety margin built in to the mapping there is no allowance for sub-par fuel. My guess is that either someone else has mistakenly filled up with 95 RON (or lower - you can get 92 on the continent) or maybe the fuel in the tank had degraded to a point over the 2.5 months or so of not driving pre-october.....either way...I guess thats a harsh lesson.
The current situation is that I need to source new pistons and cylinders - the 3.8 Cup items I have are shagged. I also need to make a decision as to the head situation. One head only is damaged, but all the heads are ported and machined so I either need to find one head and have 9M duplicate the work or maybe i should go for the new 9M billet heads although this would probably increase the total cost by 50-60%. The new head design may not yield a great deal of benefit on their own but if I wanted to do something intake-wise in the future, I believe the heads are the way to go. Its 'make-your-mind-up' time....
I guess another concern is also the future. I don't really want to be doing this every 2 or 3 years as I might as well buy a Gallardo. The Motec ECU has a 'knock-link' facility that allows warning lights to be fitted inside the car to warn the driver of knock and I believe this is the way to go if you have a Motec tuned car. This option does not cost more than a few hundred pounds, a cheap insurance policy against an engine failure! Don't be caught out by bad fuel!
I guess the cool thing about this is that at least we may be able to see more photos of a flat 6 being stripped and rebuilt....I will provide updates in due course on here.
Good to be back, have fun for me!
Essentially, the opposite is true when we are talking about the 964 - it has had very serious problems indeed and is currently on life-support at best
Some of you may remember that the car has been in Denmark for some time (at least on and off) - and also on the beach of course - how much fun was that?
So, just to recap - the car had developed an oil leak in September last year - I came back to Denmark to find a sizeable pool of oil on the garage floor - probably about half a litre, maybe a bit more. I didn't drive the car beyond starting it and the idle was unstable - it wouldn't hold it. On a Motec car this is pretty rare. So I had the car shipped to Aarhus and told them about the mods and the oil leak. They had the car for 3 weeks, diagnosed the oil leak as a hose leak (phew!) but also spent a lot of time replacing parts like the battery etc (without my consent) and then declared the car 'ready' after handing me a bill for around £1K. As I was going to India at the end of Oct 2006, I wanted to drive the car home urgently (this being mid Oct) so I spoke to the Porsche Dealer in Aarhus and told them I wanted to drive it home to the UK - was the idle ok etc. and they said its a lot better and it should be fine.
I arrived on the Saturday morning and was told that the engine was pretty much screwed, in fact when they started it there was alot of white smoke. I asked why no one had advised this earlier - to which there was no real reply of substance. I KNOW I should have refused the car there and then (even though I am sure they would not be able to fix it, or agree to anhy liability - I had shipped it there after all) but I had flown out to collect on a one-way ticket and the whole weekend was arranged. I considered turning the car down but I asked about driving home to the UK and they said it should be fine - take it easy.
As I started driving the car, I noticed that performance seemed pretty normal but there would be a sizeable puff of white smoke every time I went from trailing throttle to applying some throttle....on the Autobahn this did actually prompt a German motorist to pull me over and tell me excitedly that I really needed to get the car fixed and that oil was actually appearing on his windscreen behind me....I told him I knew the car was having problems but there wasn't really much I could do about it.....I think on the whole that was a 'nicht nicht' with him but accchhh ja vat can ve do you know?
Anyway, the journey back was uneventful apart from the James Bond-like smokescreen appaearing every few minutes, the engine felt strong (even though taking it easy) and we did not break down. However, towards the end of the journey, I had a reduction in oil pressure and I didn't know whether this was due to low oil level or a more serious problem....
Once the car was home, I spoke to my insurance company who refused to transport it to 9M even though I said that warranty work (
)could only be carried out there - so Melvin helped me out by getting it up there at a competitive rate - thanks agaion Mel!I left the car there over Xmas etc. and due to changes in work I have only recently spoken to Colin after they stripped the engine down to find out what the situation is. It seems that my pistons and cylinders are totally screwed, partially melted and one head has met with the piston rather forcefully and is also damaged. The crank is fine as are the Carillo con rods. Basically a complete top-end rebuild is necessary, probably new big-end bearings as a precaution whilst we are there. The probable cause: bad fuel.
Due to using Motec, I do not have knock sensors so beyond the safety margin built in to the mapping there is no allowance for sub-par fuel. My guess is that either someone else has mistakenly filled up with 95 RON (or lower - you can get 92 on the continent) or maybe the fuel in the tank had degraded to a point over the 2.5 months or so of not driving pre-october.....either way...I guess thats a harsh lesson.
The current situation is that I need to source new pistons and cylinders - the 3.8 Cup items I have are shagged. I also need to make a decision as to the head situation. One head only is damaged, but all the heads are ported and machined so I either need to find one head and have 9M duplicate the work or maybe i should go for the new 9M billet heads although this would probably increase the total cost by 50-60%. The new head design may not yield a great deal of benefit on their own but if I wanted to do something intake-wise in the future, I believe the heads are the way to go. Its 'make-your-mind-up' time....
I guess another concern is also the future. I don't really want to be doing this every 2 or 3 years as I might as well buy a Gallardo. The Motec ECU has a 'knock-link' facility that allows warning lights to be fitted inside the car to warn the driver of knock and I believe this is the way to go if you have a Motec tuned car. This option does not cost more than a few hundred pounds, a cheap insurance policy against an engine failure! Don't be caught out by bad fuel!
I guess the cool thing about this is that at least we may be able to see more photos of a flat 6 being stripped and rebuilt....I will provide updates in due course on here.
Good to be back, have fun for me!
Time to add some more power!
)
03-08-2007, 11:49 AM
#5
Hmm - I clearly don't read rennlist enough these days. I could have saved myself the cost of the text this afternoon that asked "how's the car?". Oh well, lucky I don't pay the bills!
Sorry to hear the (expensive) news. I know that higher octane fuel is recommended for tuned engines but I didn't realise it was quite that critical.
Sorry to hear the (expensive) news. I know that higher octane fuel is recommended for tuned engines but I didn't realise it was quite that critical.
03-08-2007, 11:58 AM
#6
Agent Orange
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Sorry to hear 
Can fuel degrade so badly in such a short period of time? I've heard people saying that it degrades by 1 digit (in the US system) for every month that it sits. Any truth to that?
Can fuel degrade so badly in such a short period of time? I've heard people saying that it degrades by 1 digit (in the US system) for every month that it sits. Any truth to that?
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03-08-2007, 01:41 PM
#9
Originally Posted by warmfuzzies
Ouch,
Well I hope the personal/professional side of life makes up for it, do you have any timescales for the work?
Kevin
Well I hope the personal/professional side of life makes up for it, do you have any timescales for the work?
Kevin
03-09-2007, 03:43 AM
#11
Race Car
Thread Starter
Hi Guys - with regards to timescales, it would be me that is stalling here. Partly due to the decisions to be made, partly because I also need to allocate funds It's strange actually,I didn't miss the car at all up until February but now I am really starting to miss it....I can't quite remember even how it drives anymore... Lets hope I don't have any sudden ideas about getting 380rwhp......
It's strange actually,I didn't miss the car at all up until February but now I am really starting to miss it....I can't quite remember even how it drives anymore... Lets hope I don't have any sudden ideas about getting 380rwhp......
