Steve 96C4S

Mark in Bal'more: THANKS!!! That's all I need is to mess up my paint in this process. I'll stick to my "Holy Grail" search for the 3M product and forget using the Goof Off. Maybe Home Depot for the 3M stuff? Wallmart isn't anywhere close to my house.

Psyched for our "Washington Metro Area Leap Year Winter Madness Meet and Drive!" on Feb 29th. I would be happy to host this again, unless you'd like to?

Steve

Chris C.

Steve

You are on the right (and righteous) path. Even with 3M AR and plastic putty knives, razors, etc.--this is a sticky tedious job. You will have several blisters from rolling the glue up with your fingers (can't use gloves for that part).

Mine was a bitty too...took about 2 hours per side to remove glue, 10 minutes to affix new ones. I used touch up paint to fix small scrapes caused by using a razor. I don't think anyone else found this any easier...although DIYers ability to endure pain in the quest to improve their beauties is a highly relative thing!

Steve 96C4S

Chris C - Thanks for the vote of confidence! So, your righteous path included using a sharp, metal razor to remove the adhesive strips - and it STILL took you 2 hours per side? Dang! I guess I'm doing OK! I'm afraid to use a razor on my car. Just can't do it to the old lady. I'll stick with my lame-a$$ plastic putty knife for now. And it's nice to know I'm not an idiot, and that blisters are par for the course with this endeavor.

I'm sure I'll be proud as a peacock when this is done, if it ever get's done. I'm feeling really lazy about removing the weatherstripping to get the new sills in place, then having to reglue the weatherstripping. Did you do it this way?

Steve

Mark in Baltimore

Steve - try a local auto parts store like Pep Boys, Salvo, Trak Auto for the 3M stuff. It's good to have on hand anyway to help remove any road tar or bug juice. I've never had a problem finding it at one of these stores.

I'm looking forward to a drive, too. I don't mind coordinating it. It would be cool to find some twisty roads at a halfway point between DC/Baltimore; unfortunately, I don't know that area too well. Maybe I can post here on Rennlist or the local PCA's and get some help.

Sorry you're not having a good time with the DIY. Don't feel too bad; all of your thoughts go through my head whenever I screw something up or if I get stuck on a project. When I spent three evenings polishing up my exhaust tips and Supercups, I thought, "Hell, I could have paid someone $150 to do all this." But it was satisfying to do it all myself.

Steve 96C4S

Thanks Mark for the vote of confidence. I'll hit the auto store later today for the #m Adhesive remover.

Looking forward to your plan for a Leap Year Meet and Drive, then!

Guess we're getting a "wintry mix" on Sunday... Better drive my car today!

Steve

tchanson

Steve,

My experience was about the same as Chris C's. Easily a couple of hours per side to remove the adhesive strip residue. As noted previously, the key is patience, and numerous, repeated applications/soakings of the 3M Adhesive remover. (Well, that and proper ventilation. Frustration and excessive inhaling of chemicals didn't help my cause, initially...)Each subsequent pass with the plastic scraper (anyone who can use a razor blade is far braver than me) removes a little more of the stuff.

I don't know of any product that would work any better than the 3M Adhesive Remover. Its great stuff, and I use it for all kinds of jobs. If you can't find it easily locally, call Larry Reynolds at Car Care Specialities, (877) 796-8300 and he can have some to you as quickly as you need it.

You still need to pull out the bottom edge of the weatherstripping to set the sill plates correctly, IMO, but, any flaking or crumbling adhesive in there comes out of that channel pretty easily by comparison to the sill plate mess. Squirt some Permatex or 3M weatherstrip adhesive in the channel, re-seat the weatherstripping, and you're done.

Good luck, and post photos when you're done.

Tim

mike cap

Steve,

You don't have to remove the door seal from it's channel. All you have to do is leave it glued in place, but pull it out of the way a little bit to get the new sill in place.

Get a roll of good duct tape. Cut a 6" piece and kind of slide it between the metal sill plate and the underneath of the door seal. Press the duct tape in place to make it stick and then wrap the tape up and over the door seal and stick it to that black plastic trim piece. Do this all along the door seal where the replacement sill is to go and the door seal will be out of the way enough for you to position the sill without the door seal in the way.

When done, pull off the duct tape and clean up and tape residue with a little solvent.

I replaced my LH and RH door seals last year and that is a real pain. So don't pull the door seal out of the channel. Getting iit pulled away from the adhesive is difficult w/o ripping the seal (then you know what you'll have to do).

Jon 'Bama

yeah Steve you read me right you just want the adhesive strip to soak up the 3M until it softens, you use the paper towels (or cotton rags if you prefer) to keep the 3m remover from running all over the place.

If you can't get to wallmart, I have bought 3M products (Finnese-IT, Perfect-IT II and Imperial hand Glaze all great products) at Autozone and Pep Boys, even some Napa's carry them. Or if it is easier to get to almost all Harley Stores carry great detailing supplies, in fact I buy my P21S cleaners* at a Harley Shop and many will also sell 3M

As someone else posted you may want to call larry reynolds at car care specialties, he would hook you up with everything and tell you the best way to use it. In fact for others here is how to's on detailing are a great resource carcareonline.com


Jon

Harley Shops typically carry the S100 brand of products it is the exact same as P21S but "branded" S100 for motorcycles

Steve 96C4S

Thanks again, guys. Now I wish I never undertook this disaster but I am getting there. I located some 3M Adhesive Remover (it's a different can than the one on the P-Car's site, but it's the same product) at my local Auto Store and bought two new plastic putty knives today at Lowes (should have gotten 4 - heck, they were only 32 cents each!).

I reluctantly attacked the door sills again today & the putty knife was SO much better than the one I used yesterday. Well, at least for while, till it started getting a little beat up. I'd get a 1/4 inch of that darn adhesive off and then rip it off with my fingers, then a 1/4 inch more... My hands are killing me! AND, I figured out that I should be wearing leather gloves to do this so the putty knife didn't cut into my hands so much - duh! I first tried taping my hand with an adhesive bandage, but the leather gloves were MUCH more protecting of my fingers and hands.

After an hour or more, I finally got most of that horrible adhesive off the sills. The problem is: there's still some thick adhesive left on the inner most part of the door sill, closest to the door hinge. How do you get your putty knife in there enough to get THAT part off? I think I need a couple of new, fresh putty knives for the final home stretch. These knives tend to dull after 30 minutes of HARD use. I asked the guy at Lowes for the MOST expensive, best 2" plastic putty knives they had, and these 32 cent ones were the ones he showed me. Apparantly they are the Cadillac of putty knives, even though they seem to lose their edge after 30 minutes blasting away at this sticky stuff.

I got the 3M adhesive remover out and tried it on the leftover sticky stuff that remained. I put some on and waited 30 minutes to remove the remaining sticky stuff. No go. Didn't remove a darn thing... By this time, depression is setting in pretty hard...

Then I reapplied the 3M stuff and tried scraping with a putty knife IMMEDIATELY after applying it. This time I was able to scrape off the sticky stuff and got down to... bare metal! It came off in a rubber cement type consistency. I was so happy I almost cried for joy, though I still regret getting into this mess to begin with. I can't see how the final result would possible be worth all this time, angst and pain, but you never know.

I'm now faced with 2-3 inches of white adhesive on each sill near the door hinge that just won't come off. I slathered on the 3M stuff, but it's not budging. I'm about tempted to just say "f*** it" and just lay the new sills over this white crap, but being the perfectionist I am, I'm sure I'll spend a whole day or two figuring how to get off this last layer of adhesive off.

Call me lame. Call me a woos. At least I'm sticking with it - pun intended . I don't drink, but I'll tell you - after this thing is over, if it ever is, I'm going to do SOMETHING to help me relax and toast the eventual success. Maybe I'll just sit out in the frozen tundra of my garage, open up the car doors, get out my lawn chair, crack open some Martinelli Sparking Cider, put on my '74 Winterland Grateful Dead CD, and stare at my new C4S sills.

Steve

24FPS

o'douls & sharps works too!

please post the pictures of the new sills when done!


i'll drink to your success... hell, i'm exhausted....cheers!

Steve 96C4S

Thanks 24FPS - Unfortunately I broke my digital camera and need a new one! I'm waiting till after the holidays for the supersales.

I can't wait till this ordeal is over. I'm sure I'll be happy when the C4S sills are on. I've had this weird feeling that I'm going to wreck the car after I go through all this work and it will all be for naught .

Hopefully that won't happen!

Steve

Patentman

Wow, this whole thread is really killing me. Yesterday afternoon, December 12, I just got my new-to-me 1998 993 cabriolet, artic silver, black interior, ONLY 14K miles - mint condition, not a scratch, nick or even dust particle on it. The streets were dry and clean, so I drove it once around my block with my three year old son and put it away in the garage for now (I dont have plates for it yet, no registration, etc.). I am so excited to have a Porsche again (I wrecked a 97 cab on black ice a year ago), life is complete. New england snow/salt is bumming me out though (and a storm is exected Sunday) - one piece of advice, if your going to buy a Porsche that you dont plan to drive in the winter, try to time the purchase with springtime!

So back to the topic of this thread - guess what the car came with? You got it - brand new, brushed aluminim (or are they stainless, the are a little heavy for aluminum?), Carrera stamped, Porsche factory metal door sills - UNINSTALLED! The former owner had them and never put them on the car(imagine that! maybe he knew of the ordeal involved). I was told they cost $750 for the pair from a Porsche dealer- is this correct? They do say Manufactured by Porsche, etc. on the back. I'm not sure I would have paid that much though, maybe $200-300 max. They dont appear to be aftermarket and are very high quality, still $750, ouch????

When I stuck the deal to buy the car, I was excited to have a small simple project to do on the car during the winter. I imagines it woudl be easy to swap the sills in maybe 15 minutes or so (peel off the old, align and stick on the new). Anyway, after following this thread for the past week, I am not at all excited to undertake the installatuion of these things (and I am a DIY type). They will match the aluminum shift and brake handle nicely (it is a black interior), but having two young kids, house, etc. does not provide much free time as it seems it will require to do this (like at least 5-6 hours)? Maybe if I do 20 minutes a day for the next 3 months they will be in place and it will be springtime and I can drive the car. Man oh Man. I'm bummed about this project, but still smiling about having such a great car.

Now what mods (besides this one) should I do first - I have really been thinking about that TPC supercharger...Anyone in New england have one installed?

Steve 96C4S

Patentman... don't fret too much. My ordeal doesn't have to be your ordeal! If you are a DIY'er, your learning curve from previous work on cars and other things will make the time greatly reduced in performing this Herculean task - that's my guess. I am the last person on earth to tackle a job relating to my car, so don't guage my "time on job" as what yours will be. It took me two days of killing my hands to come to the "bright (obvious) idea" that leather gloves makes it a bit easier. It took me 20 minutes of bending over the sills and scraping away at this ridiculous adhesive tape to realize I could be sitting on my bucket (throne) and I wouldn't have to kneel the whole time, killing my knees.

The cost for these is only $299, not $750. Not that it matters as yours came gratis with your swank new ride.

Pray for a mild winter and an early spring!!!

Steve

LeeR

Yikes Steve. I'm waiting for sills which I ordered from Gert last August with some other stuff that's taking forever for Gert to get. He says the CF/leather 3 point steering wheel is holding up things. But after your ordeal I'm thinking the sills will make a nice wall decoration.

I wasn't going to install them myself anyway, but just give them to the independent shop that I go to for installation. I'll have to make sure they know what they're doing, and can do it in a reasonable amount of time. Otherwise they'll be a unique wall sculpture.

Over the years I've used the following for pieces of art in my home or office, with all parts coming from my cars: a busted mag wheel, a Holly 4 barrel carb which I painted red, white and blue, pistons from a 912. I currently have 993TT exhaust valves and guides as paperweights at home and office. Even gave one to Bill (ZCAT3). What did you do with that Bill? I also have a camshaft from my Turbo that I'm trying to figure out what to do with. It's pretty heavy.

Here's a photo of the 993 exhaust valve on my desk, next to a large valve from a B-17 Flying Fortress

chris walrod

Lee, wheww, thought that giant valve was the next upgrade that everyone's gonna do....

or, is it from Phil McGraths 'stock' 993? HEHEHE