ZSA Motorsport

dont get me wrong, like all of us, i would just LOVE to get in that puppy, turn her on, warm her up and just go RIP it up. cops, rocks, mud, nastiness, miles, undo harm....if i'm gonna tell the wife and myself that i'm buying these expensive beasts as an investment of sorts (hopefully just dont depreciate though no great expectation of appreciation or gain once you factor in storage, insurance, maintenance) but the challenge and interest of taking this particular 634 mile gem is the disclipline required to maintain it with low miles. so acrylic resin sounds good but i've got a small gnome on my lawn and one is enough.

i need like the 10 magical steps to maintaining a car in perfect condition with minimal miles and minimal efforts. lots of great tips up here, so far i really love the one about pullin the DME and then cranking to ensure oil levels are right. anyone else use that?

MarkD

I don't think that there are any "magical steps" to preserving these cars. There are some things you can do (as others have mentioned) to minimize issues but you just can't get around the fact that they are built to be driven. Long term stting is simply not good for them.
I understand what you are trying to do... heck of a pickle.
Good luck to you!

Monty

I agree with Mark - it's meant to be driven. A real problem for you - I would tend towards a 20 mile run in the dry every month and try to keep it in a dry atmosphere. Don't heat the garage in winter and if it stands on a concrete floor ensure the floor is sealed as concrete can release corrosive gas I have heard that can accumulate in box sections.

Fluids should be changed as per time schedules and an eye kept on tyres for flat spots - presumably still on it's original tyres. They age and may not be safe at speed now. The list is endless really.

Just my 6d

Rick Lee

Best way to preserve it is to drive it like you stole it....early and often. My 993 is about as clean as they come and I drive it as hard as I can every chance I get. Why save the miles for someone else? Underdriven cars tend to get their revenge on you. These cars don't like to sit. Exorcise the demons!

Kolbjorn S

Steve,
one question would be if you need to drive it at all... or simply preserve it. I once asked a tech from Porsche Germany how often the car should be driven - in my red-hot climate where the termostat opens after a few km only he recommended 10 km once a week as a minimum. If that can't be done, I personally have concluded full preservation is the only alternative.
There are certain types of preservation engine oils which are popular for storing various machinery certainly within aviation; a friend of mine has had an aircraft stored for 10 years using this, and he starts it only once a year or every other year. He basically drains all oil and fills it with the preservation oil, and also puts also oil straight into each cylinder (by removing fuel injectors I believe). The engine can not be started with this oil; it needs to be properly drained and replaced with normal engine oil first. Several compaines make such oil, Shell among others. My biggest fear of leaving normal engine oil for so long time would be corrosion, since the oil degrades over time.
I really wonder if this process would work on an air-cooled 911-type engine. Serious car-collectors should know more about this.

For paint protection I am very pleased with Zaino.
For leather care I think Soffener from Colorplus is best.
You also need to think of all rubber seals for which there are numerous products. For your time perspective I would not use any products containing silicon.
The wheels would be the last consern; after 10+ years you need new rubber anyway. If you want to keep the original set of tires the car was delivered with, you can either take them off, or overinflate them, or lift the car off the ground. In the latter case you must make sure no suspension parts hangs unsupported so to speak.

A "bubble" is absolutely essential to keep it sealed & dust free (and non-accessible by rodents etc), and preferably it should be temp and humid controlable. If not you need to deal with humidity - a simple way is using de-humidifying containers.

geolab

I think this might be of interest. Pay attention for the radio CODE advice.

TCallas

I agree with the Flying Finn and others on all of the above comments. I would also use a fuel stabilizer like Stabil or Por 15. Change all your brake fluid once a year including the Gearbox and Engine oils due to their nature to get acidic. I like your idea of Priming the engine oiling system before a start-up, we do this after any substantial engine work. Don't forget to pressurize your tires to 60 or so lbs and reset before driving for this will reduce the chance of flat spotting. I would definitely drive your car at least 30 minutes and when at operating temperature push it to redline under full throttle a few times. Make sure you leave it with a full tank of fuel when it's parked to reduce the chance of corrosion. And last but not least it's a good idea to move the car at least a couple of inches every month or so to help the wheel bearings. Your main issue is going to be start-up wear so I like the idea of removing the DME relay to build oil pressure. It might be a good idea to remove and charge the battery out of the car due to corrosion and ventilation issues.

ca993twin

If preserving the original tires is important to you, what would you think about storing them off the car in sealed bags? You could have a set of 996 Turbo2 wheels (very cheap these days, and very attractive and light) as your "beaters".

ZSA Motorsport

i'm psyched. i think i'm now armed with a boatload of good knowledge. these boards, the advise this gang brings to the table is invalueable. give me time, i'll be valueable. i'm a good team player. i'm just a bit green. coach will get me in the game soon enuff.
thx to all,
steve

ZSA Motorsport

i'm gonna say that the cost, and potential to makes goofs and blunders in trying to store tires, scratching rims, etc. outweighs value of "stock" tires. they are replaceables. i think you're better doing less to the car, not messing with unblemished rims and just get new treads every several years.

ca993twin

Ummmm. OK, but the 1998 tire types may not be available even today, let alone in another 10 years. I have every confidence that even a doofus such as myself could pack and store wheels and tires without any possibility of damage. You are probably aware that genuine 993TT "S" wheels are very, very hard to come by. But this advice is coming from a guy with 106k miles on his Ruf Turbo R, so preserving is not exactly my thing. PM me for info on a zenith blue 993TT S with 28k miles if interested.

Porssche4563

I have a carcapsule and it works well for storage. Being used a as weekly car it is too hard to take off and put back on. Works great for extended storage....interested in selling mine....Paid over $400 for it..

David

ZSA Motorsport

1. when would you suggest as optimal time to change fluids; now pre-winter before "storage"; spring "post storage";
2. to make sure i understand the priming via removed DME, we're talking about simply taking out the DME relay (i bot an extra and put one in each of the car as per otehrs' recommendations). you're talking about popping that , and then "turning over" the car. without DME the fuel pump wont go, no ignition and oil is primed into engine. do i have that right?

hope everyone is having a good weekend. windy as heck around here.
-steve

anguilla1980

I used to own a 1991 Ponitac Formula Firehawk, it was car #003 ever made. She had 1,240 miles on here when she was delivered to me. This was in 2003 so she was being driven about 100 miles a year. Being that she didn't have less than 200 miles total, which to me would constitute preservation only, I was fine with putting 100 miles a year on her to keep her driving ready so to speak. Anything with over 500 miles is already high mileage when we are talking about collector cars that have been preserved since new anyway. Heck it not uncommon to see car with less than 60 miles let alone 634 or whatever you said your had.

So lets go from a point of view as to simply keep her in the best shape possible while in a drivable state, not permanent preservation.

The carcoon idea is a good one, I have friend who use them and they are great. You cannot fill them with something such as nitrogen as was mentioned because they have a fan/filter system to keep pressure and fresh air circulating. Here is a rundown of what I did for winter storage:

1) Jack up car and suspend using a jack stands on each of the 4 suspension points so that the suspension was fully loaded, never leave the car off the ground with the suspension not loaded.

2) Remove the wheels/tires and coat the tires with a NON-Petrol based grease, full synthetics do nicely. Never, EVER, use ANYTHING petrol based because it will soak in and soften anything rubber. This will deform seals and ruin tires. Take the pressure down to about 5 psi in each tire and wrap each wheel/tire in a sealed plastic bag. This is also of course presuming that the tires are fill with nitrogen and not air. I also don't mean by some slap-dick place like Costco who does NOT properly extract all humidity from the tires when filling, IMO Costco should be sued hardcore for their B.S. nitrogen crap but that's another thread. An actual race shop will be able to do this as that is the basis for all reasons for having nitrogen filled tires is that there is no moisture inside the tire. Of course all this is presuming also you have the actual original tires, otherwise who the heck gives a crap, lol.

3) Remove the battery from the vehicle and store it somewhere room temp with a trickle charger hooked up to it only about 50% of the time it's stored off and on. That is only if it's even the original battery, most factory batteries have different sticker on them from the factory than what you get from the dealership, they are called black labels. Porsche may be different, I haven't checked. If you don't have a *factory* original battery to preserve, then I suggest you get an Optima and not even worry about it, just charge it right be fore you put it back into the car.

4) Be sure that ALL fluids have been flushed, not just drained, and refilled with full synthetics, which you should be using anyway. If all of the fluids are 100% clean along with the inside of the fluids systems such as metal surfaces etc, corrosion is not a worry IMO. I use a DOT 5 synthetic brake fluid, a synthetic power steering fluid, synthetic transmission fluid/clutch fluid, synthetic gear fluid, and a synthetic engine oil like Royal Purple. Do NOT use something such as Mobil 1 because it is still petrol based. Blah blah blah, people will say "but it says synthetic", that's B.S. Unless they have changed their formula, it still had a mineral oil base which make it NOT a 100% true synthetic. Royal Purple is the only engine oil I use and have used for over 7 years in all of my cars, drivers to collectors. These car do not have a water cooling system so I won't go into preservation of that.

5) Presuming the car was detailed right before entering storage, and I mean with a clay bar to remove surface containments in the clear coat BEFORE it was polished and waxed, you will be fine. IMO anyway wax will due for protection during storage. Zaino is a real PITA IMO, I prefer Formula 113 as it leaves 0 residue during buffing which makes for easy cleanup around emblems and hard to reach places. For the interior, if it's leather use Lexol original and nothing else. If I were you I'd use use a good saddle soap to clean the leather before applying the Lexol. Yeah I know it looks clean but TRUST me, you will get a TON of nasty crud off that leather by using saddle soap. Plus you won't be trapping it in with the Lexol. For anything else not leather or glass, I use Eagle 1 Tire Gloss. This does have a petrol base so do NOT use it on tires, it is great however for just about all interior materials. It will leave no residue at all to touch, and give a VERY rich and deep shine and also keep moisture where it should be. If you know any moron who use Armor All, take them out back and beat their like the red headed step child!

6) Also be sure that you had the chassis and engine professionally steam cleaned for remove everything. Also be sure you have done a fresh chassis lube. Due to certain rubber in the engine compartment, all suspension rubber and mounts are polyurethane, I spray Eagle 1 Tire Gloss all over the place and wipe up the excess. It will keep hoses and seals moist but not too moist, and it also prevents dust and other air born containments off surface to prevent direct contact which can lead to pits or corrosion.

I think that covers the major areas of concern. There are many more little things to do but by reading the above it put things in perspective and you will quickly think of other things you can do you may otherwise not have thought of before.

As mentioned before, be sure the ground surface of the storage areas has been seals and that the area is climate controlled. I like 72 to 78 degrees year-round. Also as mentioned, if you drive the car in the spring or whenever before changing the fluids again for the next winter (YES do it once a year whether it needs it or not because it does!), be sure to start the engine and run it for at least 15 mins AFTER it has reached full operating temp. I suggest you do this at the hottest time of the year, also run your A/C during this time then run your heater right before you shut her down. The engine mist be run that long to evaporate ALL moisture in the exhaust, otherwise it will simply build up and ruin the entire exhaust system. If you are going to store the vehicle for more than 1 year, then consider removing the spark plus and squirting penetrating oil into the combustion chambers. ATF also will work quite well for this, again just be sure it's REAL synthetic. If you can find something in an aresol can, spay it into the cooing area in the center of the brake rotors, hinges, etc.

I'll add more as I think of it later. Others have already touched on subjects such as priming the engine prior to starting and using a fuel stabilizer and topping off the tank and other more common sense things.

Alex

ZSA Motorsport

that post, unless my google isnt reaching out far enough, is more detail and thoroughness than i've read any place before. i'll say thank you right now, but i'll also add that i have to re-read that about 5 times more before it all sinks in. thats how my brain works.
thx so much. wow i say.
wow