Mark Harris

Run Forrest Run! I have opportunities to quote business that I may not be interested in, but I handle it professionally. All of our industries/markets are too small to behave in this manner. It's a small world and his just got smaller. If we go thorough a 2001 down turn again he may need this type of work much more than he thinks.

Try somewhere else, and put the several hundred bucks you save in a Panerai fund. (You don't need anymore Rollies!)

Steve 96C4S

Good advice guys. Ok, so I'm definitely not going back to this indie ever again. Another one bites the dust, and I'm stuck without an indie, again. The dealer is starting to look better and better every year! Nahhh. Not really. I'll find someone eventually - they just might not be near me anymore.

As for this DIY shifter and emerg brake deal, I'm sorry guys but I'm not doing it ... myself.

I tried to simply get the shifter boot off, twice, for about 10 minutes one day 2 months ago, but after yanking and yanking on it with no luck, I gave up frustrated as usual. I'm just not wired to be able to fix stuff. Make fun if you want, but that's just the way it is.

Thx for the generous offers from Tennessee and California for helf . Wish I lived closer to YOU guys!!!

And Mark, yes, I do need another Rollie... I'm saving up to buy one for my wife so the saved money will come in handy.

Steve R

Wreck Me Otter

Greg - Of course, but setup is subjective, this is a relatively simple install. While I agree that the mechanic shouldn't respond, but I don't fully blame him in this case. Suppose you go to your mechanic with a printout of instruction on how to do a 993 alignment (not necessarily your settings). In your case, he'd probably get a laugh out of it then toss in it in the garbage.

Also, when I read posts like this I'd like to hear the other side of the story. I'll bet the mechanic has a very different interpretation of how this was approached.

Phil

Kim,
Good to see you back. I hope we you will stick around.

ZAMIRZ

Please do not take this the wrong way, but you've been a member for just about 5 years and have 1700+ posts and are incapable of changing your shift **** and e-brake handle? "Not wired to fix this stuff"? You're not rebuilding an engine or corner-balancing the suspension, a shift-**** / e-brake handle replacement is about as straight-forward as changing a light bulb or tightening a door handle around the house.

I don't think anybody is making fun, this community is built to help you with these kinds of things, giving up after trying once for 10 minutes isn't going to get you anywhere at anything. It begs the question...after all this time, what exactly have you learned from being on rennlist if you can't even change a shift **** or e-brake handle?

Just some food for thought...

scott watkins

Hey Steve, I'll be in Falls Church, Va. in a couple of weeks to drive my son-in-law's new Cayman S. I've done the install on my c4s and would be glad to help with yours while in the area.
Scott.

Garth S

There you go - an excellent offer!
I've also done this on an identical car - the shifter boot takes ~5 min, and swapping the E-brake lever into the existing bracket will take ~30 min ... as you sit in the seat the guy wanted to remove. The only fiddly part is slowly rethreading on the cable adjuster nut ...1/16 turn per stroke

Peter R.

If he's been a Porsche mechanic for 30 years it's probably his hobby. He's likely been a professional rip-off artist for an equally long time.

Peter R.

Lawrence_P

C'mon. Do it yourself. You have an offer from Falls Church so wait a couple of weeks and break out the Craftsman wrenches. Or make it a road trip to NYC and I'll do it with you.

Think of the grin you'll have every time you wrap your hand around the ****. (Er, wait a minute. That doesn't sound quite right...)

cabrio993

Steve,

I just did this and it took 30 minutes if not less to do both. What a ripoff of a mechanic!

Ed Burdell

Now now, we are trained to consider these cars amazing machines, costly machines, pretty machines, and the thought of messing them up mechanically or aesthetically through a hamfisted attempt at a DIY strikes terror in the heart of many of us. It definitely took a paradigm shift for me to even do the HID install on my car. Once I did, I lost the fear of tinkering with it, but at the same time, it brought the car down to earth a little for me. Maybe this is healthy at the end of the day, but it is a process to get to this mindset.

I agree, though, this would be the perfect project to break through the inhibition on tinkering with your car. Quite an empowering moment, frankly.

Good luck!

Steve 96C4S

To Scott Watkins... Thanks, and I will definitely take you up on that offer. I'll PM you for more details on where and when it's convenient for you to meet in Falls Church.

Zamirz: Tightening a door handle around the house? I've done that, and this job at hand is alot more complicated than that. I talked with a guy recently and he said he tried that emergency brake and failed and had his independent do it for him.

Ok, I get frustrated easily and give up "just before the miracle happens" that I actually fix something, get to the place I was trying to find, etc, many times in life. Maybe I'll try it again myself. Fixing stuff on this car is intimidating to me as I don't want to screw it up and have it cost alot more to fix my screw up.

Plus, when I try to fix something, it usually doesn't happen easily or at all for me which is why I pay someone else to do it. I get so utterly frustrated, reading and rereading 10 times the instructions - it seems self defeating. It's not like I have a Porsche owning friend or neighbor close by to stop over at their house and say "is THIS where I'm supposed to yank or is that where I'm supposed to yank to get that piece off". I don't follow directions well when travelling or fixing things as my brain doesn't transmit the info correctly to my hands. Sue me .

Call it what you will (I'm really not an imbecile, just not good at fixing stuff). I just posted here to find out if that amount of money seemed like too much, as it surely did to me. Glad to hear it's a MUCH simpler job and the guy is charging wayyy too much to do it.

Now that some of you made me feel like a total dork for not doing it myself, that it's as easy as changing a door ****, I'll give it one last try in the next few days. I dread it but I'll try it. If I'm successful, I'm sure I'll dance a jig, yell "yeeeehahhh" really loud, play some air guitar around my garage where my wife can't see me while I'm cranking up the Grateful Dead's "Truckin", post here that I actually did it, and just generally walk around with a big, huge smile for a week or so. Plus, with each shift, with every engagement of that emergency brake, I'll smirk and smile once again.

Damn, that's alot of encouragement to at least try it one more time.

Steve R

Greg Fishman

Kim,
Good point. There always is another side isn't there, most of the time people aren't jerks for no reason.

viperbob

Yes Steve, never go back to this guy. 30 minutes at most to do this. VERY simple job, especially for a theoretic professional. The place out by Dulles is not the old Autothority, is it? If so, then run even faster.

If you try it on your own, you can always give me a buzz and I can help you through it...

Steve 96C4S

Ok, I am now here defending my position.

The other side of this? The mechanic's point of view?

Ok, I called the guy 2 months ago. I said I got this shifter and emerg brake and could I pay him to install them. We set up a time to do that. I walked in, I told him I had a print out from the internet if it would help him with this install. I wasn't being a jerk. I wasn't acting weird, immature, boastful, demanding, etc. I didn't have an attitude about it. I simply was there to have them put in. He said some rude things about the internet and other things in general. He took a look at the emergency brake and declared that it would take the better part of a day and I'd have to leave the car with him another day as he didn't realize it was so involved.

That was it. Other side of this? What other side... a guy treating a paying customer like he's an ignorant shmuck?

I usually joke around this guy, ask him about his family, and am generally kind.

Fuming,
Steve R