Topless in Temecula

I have won! Victory is mine. After finally trying to dremel off the heads and off and on again trying Bobby T's chisel and hammer suggestion - both the stripped bolts came out. Removed seat, plugged motronincs box into cable (my main problem - unable to reaffix cable with set in the car) - tried to start car per Steve W.'s instructions - and everything worked. Bolted down the motronics box, replaced seat bolts with steel one's from HD, cleaned up and went for a ride!

Thanks to everyone for suggestions on removing seats. This DIY should definately be noted witha big warning re difficulty in removing seats - those bolts from Porsche are crappy. Getting seats out and back in took three times as long as all the rest of the DIY. I'm saving one nearly completely dremeled bolt to remind myself why I do not do DIY's - never, ever - . If I can't pay to go down the slippery slope then I'm not going!

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Hi Peter:

Nicely done, Sir. My compliments to the "Chef",....

DIY projects are learning experiences that challenge one to be resourceful. Its good mental exercise that offers a rewarding experience to those with the right attitude. After all, if it was easy then ANYONE could do it,...

Don't give up on yourself about DIY projects;....anything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger in every way.

VNTGSPD

What a shame to spend so much time to install such a useless mod. Haven't you read that the chips are useless?

Seriously though, congrats on completing the DIY. Enjoy your new found power.

rcwelch

VNTGSPD...I hope that you were only joking about your comment that it is a useless mod...I have the same chip and am very pleased.

VNTGSPD

Sorry, forgot the smiley. Yes, only kidding. I too am a chip user and pleased with the results. Can't wait to mix in some 100 octane. Woohoo!

godxilla

I plan on installing a chip next week, i am hoping to NOT have to take off the seat. Why did you need to take it off?

slider

you can't access the motronix box unless you remove the drivers seat

RallyJon

You can remove the box without removing the seat if the security panel is off.

slider

guess my hands weren't small enough to get after the bolts holding the box, and my security panel was off. Removing the seat was a pain, but I can't imagine not going this direction.

BEATSPX

My mechanic, who is highly competent (at least relative to me) and left that sinking ship known as "Performance Imports" here in Atlanta, installed my Rennsport Systems chip - without removing the seat - in less than 20 minutes.

I know this for a fact as I watched him do it and kept thinking, "This guy is a dead man if he screws up my chip. Weiner's instructions are straight-forward, he's not following them, and he is going to mess up some portion of the chip and it will break."

He isn't a dead man, I was DEAD WRONG! I'm pretty confident my mechanic, Don Cross of Crosswerks in Conyers, GA, (404) 202-6910, will help me put together a DIY on the process sans seat removal. Perhaps it's a tool he has that others don't have readily available.

Don's just a nice guy passionate about Porsches. If you want to give him a call to get insight on how he did it, I'm certain he wouldn't mind.

VNTGSPD

Not to take anything away from your ace wrench, I think it must have something to do with the different ways that Porsche attached the box.

I was able to remove my box and open it to gain access to the chip and then put it back (without changing the chip) in about 15 minutes at night in my garage. The next day I did some before testing, swapped the chip at the test site in about 15 minutes, and then resume testing. Fortunately for me, there were only two 10mm hex nuts on studs and two 10mm hex bolts that were easily accessed with a 1/4" drive socket.

Lucky me I guess.

RallyJon

I tried that with my mechanic. Turns out explaining to him beforehand under what circumstances he's a dead man and then watching him closely while he does the work really does get better service. Great idea--who knew?

BEATSPX

Pretty insightful motivational tool, I must admit.

I learned about organizational behavior and theory in b-school, but they never really covered the implementation part. So, I had to improvise. Giving people the opportunity to live to see another day - provided they follows explicit instructions - is a great motivational tool. They call that "positive reinforcement."

In hindsight, it may have made him a little nervous, though, which would explain was he was 5 minutes slower what appears to be a more realistic amount of time to complete the task.

Oh well, at least he didn't f'up my chip and it was properly installed, so mission accomplished!