MGLEHEW

Just got my new 98 C4S home (nice 6 hour drive from Ernie's house). Needs some alignment and adjustments to the Billstein PSS9 Adjustable Coilover Suspension. Who would you recommend in the Pittsburgh area?

tdg

John Raysich in Bridgeville is excellent! He has been working on Porsches for ages. No afflilation, etc...

Ray Calvo

Raysich is excellent. So is C&G Performance off Big Sewickley Creek Road. Have used both of them.

East of town is Richlin Imports in Harrison City (east of Murrysville). Used them to adjust the height of my newly installed PSS9 setup and do an alignment. Not quite the same knowledge as Raysich or C&G but still good; PSS9 adjustment/alignment feels fine, no strange tire wear.

tsjoel

John Raysich is a great guy. I am taking mine to him on Tuesday. If you come by at about 4:00 you can grab a cold german beer from his fully stocked beer cooler. I am not sure about his experience with pss9's.
Glad to see another 993 migrate to the burg. I drove mine from St Louis.

SS 951

I can HIGHLY give a 2 thumbs up for C & G Performance!!!! Last month I purchased my first 951 (and first Porsche). I found the 951 on the internet N. of Pittsburg which is 10 hours away from me. The PO gave me a couple recommendations to have a PPO done before driving there. PO had very good things to say about the shop. C &G had done several mods to this car & knew the car well, but I was initially reluctant to use them due to a potential conflict of interest. After talking to Champ, the owner, he assured me his reputation was more important than protecting the PO. So, I had the owner take it to C & G Performance. They faxed me the PPO information, then called me about what they had found out about the car, and told me what they liked and didn't like about it. The PO said he'd have the car at C & G so I could ask them anything or have them go over the car w/me. One thing in contention about the car that was discovered during the compression test &leak down test while doing the PPO was possibly carbon holding a valve open. The comp test on that cyl was low, but after directly injecting carbon cleaner into the intake, adding Sea Foam into the gas tank and driving the car, another comp test for the cyl rose 30psi. Car sounded like a sorted 951 so I set out for the 20 roundtrip with car hauler in tow. After checking out the car and a test drive, they even let me put the car on a lift so I could check out the underside. When I got there, engine ran good, but at idle still seemed not as smooth as should be (not bad motor mounts), and mechanic pulled injector wire from cyl without much rpm change. Possibility the 2 cans of Sea Foam in the fuel tank MIGHT cure the possible carbon problem driving the car around- worst case scenario was discussed (pull head and the expense involved). Ended up, I cut a lower price deal with PO, and was almost ready to load car up on trailer and drive 10 hrs home with intention of driving the full tank of gas & two cans of Sea Foam out in the hopes of curing problem.
Since I had no prior European car ownership, and no knowledge of a reputable shop near me, and based on the raving review from the PO and these guys at C & G used to race 951's in the 80s, I asked Champ if they could pull the head if I stayed in the area. He asked Pete & Allen (mechanics) if they would stay late a couple nights to fix it, which they did. To not drag this post too lengthy, they pulled the head that night only to find a valve cracked (badly), the stem was very slightly bent & the head was cracked near the stem nearly to drop into the cyl at any moment!!!!! The guys at C & G worked their butts off getting a new valve job, (had new H2O pump & belts done too) were VERY accommodating every time I stopped by, they pushed my car ahead of some other work, and had me heading back home in 1 1/2 day. Before we loaded the car on the trailer, Pete even took the time away from another car he was working on (they knew this was my 1st Porsche) to go over every switch, sunroof operation, oil & filter recommendations, etc etc like a car salesman, and it wasn't their car they were trying to sell off. They all knew I lived near St. Louis, Mo and they would never see me again, but ALWAYS went out of their way for me to my questions etc.
A month after getting home, Champ called saying he was going over some paper work and wanted to know how my trip home went, and asked how the car was doing for me. Talk about service!!!! Anyway-2 THUMBS UP for C & G Performance, Sewickley, PA 724-266-1646/414-741-7900. If anyone ever goes there, ask to see the valve that almost dropped it's head nearly ruining the engine. They said they've worked on engines that dropped valves before, but had NEVER run across a valve in the stage it was so they asked to keep it.

Scott

MGLEHEW

Thanks to all. I live in the Wexford area so it sounds like C&G is the place to be since it is minutes away.