BigMikeATL

It was an epic trip. I flew down to West Palm Beach and Ken from Pedigree Motors met me at the airport. It is a good thing that he picked me up in his Caddy because a guy dinged the crap out of his car when he opened the door and the wind caught it.

We drove to the warehouse where the 964 was kept and I inspected it and took it for a drive. Then I followed him to his office where we did all of the paperwork and finished the deal. After 3 hours total, I was on the road heading up I-95 to a buddy's house in Oviedo (outside Orlando).

The car is very tight and tracks dead straight down the road. Oil pressure and operating temperature are exactly where they should be. I was averaging about 75-80 mph on the ~3 hour trip and got about 23mpg.

The next morning I drove the back roads to Wilber By The Sea, FL (S. Daytona/Port Orange) a little over an hour a way to see my cousin. Stayed there for the day and hit the road the next morning (Sunday). I had about a 7 hour drive home which went flawlessly. The only downside of the trip was I hit rain off and on 3 hours from home. The car needs to be detailed today anyway so it isn't a big deal. It won't be the last time the car sees rain.

Things to address on the car:
Cruise Control doesn't work but I already knew that before buying it. I tried the pedal trick but it didn't work. I'll dig into the this weekend and hope the switches just need adjusted.

The radio is okay at best, an Eclipse unit with iPod controller and Sirius. I added the Sirius radio to my account the 2nd day and coverage is spotty. I need to find a new place for the antenna. Right now its in the corner of the dash on the passenger side. There is an amp in the trunk and two subs under the passenger seats. I plan to pull everything out that the original owner installed and put in a new head unit, get rid of the subs, and rewire everything just so I know it's done right and there won't be any issues. I have to figure out how to cover the holes in the back but I don't anticipate any problems. I may buy one 8" or 10" sub (these are 12's I think) and use one of the holes.

There is a remote radar detector that I have no idea of the brand or the capabilities. I have no use for these devices and it is coming out since it's probably obsolete. When it is turned on, a faint beeping can be heard and it flashes the oil light. So I assume that when radar is found, it flashes the oil light. The switch is between the lighter and fog light and it looks like another defroster switch.

I want to change the oil and filter because I have no idea what is in there. I've emailed with the 2nd owner so I might ask him but he had it serviced at the Porsche dealer. Maybe I can call them too. What is the best weight oil to use in Atlanta?

That's it for now, I'll post some pictures when I get it cleaned up.



At my buddies house in Oviedo

LastMezger

964s are fun. I miss mine.

Is your buddy's Diablo a kit car?

BigMikeATL

Yes, a full size replica. It has an '86 Fiero under it with the frame lengthened. The interior is exact to a real Diablo. He has room in the back for a V8 which is will happen down the road. I was surprised how fast it was with the Fiero V6.

BigMikeATL

I just called Wyoming Valley Motors where the car was always service. He said that the last oil change they used Castrol 10W-30 non-synthetic.

Cheeksyboy

Enjoy the car......looks like it's still in original spec?

ChaseN

That sounds like a good oil for your buddy's fiero V6...NOT a 964. Does that shop claim to specialize in air cooled Porsches? Even in the heat of Florida 30 weight is WAY too thin.

Use a good Xw50 weight for your 964 with high ZDDP. I use Brad Penn 20w50 racing oil; you'll hear lots of different opinions on what to use, but general consensus is you don't want to use most of the off the shelf 'modern' oils. The blends that make them 'good' for the environment make them bad for durability in our cars.

sml

hopefully this means the oil level was in the red & below empty position for pretty much 99% of the trip!

boxsey911

Looks great Mike and it sounds like you had a ball collecting it and showing it off to your buddies.

blake

Porsche says to use Mobil 1 Synthetic 0W-40 - but you guys already know this! (I like to fuel the fire)

To the OP - the oil wars are alive and well regarding older 911s on Rennlist. ChaseN falls into the old-school crowd that beleives newer versions of synthetics don't have enough ZDDP to protect the engine. Porsche on the other hand has recommended that earlier 911s use the "new" and lighter weight synthetics.

To be honest, I am with ChaseN and run Brad Penn in my 964. It can't hurt to use the oil spec'd for the car when it was new in the early 90s...

Do your own research (via search) - it is quite interesting...

Enjoy your new ride!

My $0.02,
-B

ChaseN

Heh, yep...no sense in re-hashing it in this thread. Regardless of where you fall, when reading on the topic, I suggest lending an ear towards the experts (Steve Weiner being one of the foremost to post on this particular sub-forum). I trust their opinion over Porsche's, who really has no vested interest in our cars anymore...

Kahdmus

Great write-up thanks. car looks great!

BigMikeATL

Thanks everyone!

The shop that serviced the car is a Porsche dealer in PA. It was serviced in August of '11 about 1800 miles ago. I plan to get whats in there out.

Do any of you guys use a bottle of ZDDP additive when changing the oil? I use it in my '65 Ford FE because it's a flat tappet engine.

Since Atlanta gets like the surface of the sun in the summer, I'll probably use 20W-50. I'll try to find the Brad Penn stuff online.

EDIT: Found it online at Amazon.com. $7/qt, free 2nd day air (Prime member).

ChaseN

Nice find!

I used to use GM EOS in an old Corvette, but haven't messed with it in the Porsche.

August West

+1 on Brad Penn. I bought a case online before looking up the Brad Penn dealer page only to find out that there's a dealer two miles from my house...which is crazy because I live in a town of about 1400 people. It happened to be the local diesel/petrochemical depot that's down the road from my house and they had a shipping container with stacks of cases in there.

Winning!