Introduction of me and my new 1995 Carrera 2
12-26-2012, 09:11 PM
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Introduction of me and my new 1995 Carrera 2
This is a somewhat belated introduction. I have been busy lurking on the forum and working on my car since I bought it a couple of months ago.
I am the third owner of this lovely 1995 C2. I have had air-cooled vehicles since I turned 16 and got my driver's license. My first car was a 1959 beetle. In the late 1970's and early 1980's I bought several early convertible and sunroof beetles, including a 1955 convertible with semaphores, a 1965 convertible, a second owner 1966 beetle convertible and a second owner 1967 sunroof model with original paint. I've also had many BMW Airhead motorcycles. I am currently riding a 1984 R80G/S with the Paris Dakar kit. I have owned my 1965 356C Cabriolet since 1985.
I have lusted after Porsche 911s, beginning with the 911SC and culminating with the 993, but never felt like it was the right time for me to buy one. At various time my excuses have been that it isn't practical since you can't haul kids, dogs, surfboards, manure, etc., or that I already have a Porsche (my 356) and how can I justify having two (I see that many of you guys are way past that issue). I am pretty handy and enjoy DIY stuff. Except for a clutch in my BMW 328IS and warranty work on my Eurovan MV Weekender (We also have a 2002 Ford Think, Neighborhood Electric Vehicle), I am the only one to have wrenched on our vehicles in about 200,000 miles.
Several months ago while picking up my eleven-year-old daughter from a tennis lesson, I initiated a conversation in a parking lot with a nice man about his Porsche Metallic Black, 6-speed, 993 C2 with 46K miles. I was mostly interested in his owner's impressions, reliability, etc. He was generous with his time and at the end of our discussion, he offered to sell me the car. I blushed and told him that I wasn't really looking and that if I was, I would be looking for a silver one... I took his phone number to pass on to a friend who claimed to be looking for a 993 to replace his 911SC. From that day on, I began to watch 993 prices and read all I could find on the Internet about the model. While on a business trip in October, I was rummaging through my datebook looking for a note on something and I found the scrap of paper with the note on the Metallic Black C2 from the tennis club and I got tom thinking about it some more. So, I called my lovely wife of 20 years (We were just a couple of weeks shy of our 20th anniversary) and "proposed" that "we" consider buying a "new" car a little early, as this 993 would be a great investment. Our older daughter will be inheriting our 1996 328IS (In great shape, current blue book value ~ $3K) in about a year when she turns 16, and we would need to buy a new car in a year anyway... My economic justification was that we can buy the 993 for the price of a new Honda Accord and the 993 will likely not depreciate. We would never have bought a Honda Accord, but that is beside the point. My wife said OK with no qualms. I made the call. The owner said "Let me cogitate on it and give you a call back in few days". After cogitating, the owner said he was willing to sell. We made arrangements to meet. I drove the car (Noted that the A/C was not working), inspected the records and we agreed to terms, subject to a PPI and the owner getting the car smogged. The car was mine a couple of days later. It has a black supple leather interior and LSD/ABD. It is bone stock, except for the stereo system (No new holes or mods).
I love the car. It is a joy to drive and to behold. The engine sound is like music. I plan to keep it forever.
This is what I have done so far:
• Had the car aligned and the A/C system charged following the PPI
• Replaced rear hood struts (Not fun)
• Replaced rear blower resistor (Very satisfying)
• Replaced cracked rubber fan shroud air duct (Fun)
• Replaced A/C blower resistor (Really not fun)
• Replaced oil cooler blower resistor (Not fun)
• Replaced A/C fan relay (Very satisfying)
• Replaced fan on back of CCU (Not fun)
• Replaced sticky driver's window switch (Fun)
• Replaced belts (Car already had pulley update and engine wiring update)
• Installed vented brake reservoir cap update (Fun)
• Power bled brake system and clutch slave cylinder and filled with Castrol GTLMA (Clutch slave was not fun, but overall very satisfying)
• Drained and filled transmission with Mobil 1 75/90 LS (Car has LSD/ABD Option) (Fun)
• Replaced pollen and engine air filters (Not so fun)
• Replaced rear 4" x 6" speakers in rear deck with Alpine SPS 404 and new "Audiobahn" speaker grills from Amazon (Fun)
• Replaced missing stone guard on one rear fender (A new challenge)
• Replaced factory center console cassette tape holder with cup holder (As Jerry Seinfeld said, "Not that there is anything wrong with that!")
I have a new DME relay in the glove box and new OEM front rotors, pads and sensors waiting in the garage for the pad sensor light to come on soon. I plan to do plugs, distributor caps and rotors and the fuel filter at 55,000 miles. I am also considering doing the distributor drive belt at that time as well.
Before you all get started about the SUV ride height - I think that I have to leave the ride height stock to get the car into my garage. I have to creep in and out for it to not scrape on both ends (And I may haul some manure in it now and then.)
Finally, I have a couple of questions:
1. How can you tell if you have the stock Monroe shock absorbers? They look green in the photos on the Internet. My shocks are just metallic in color.
2. Is there anyway to turn off the light in the front hood if the hood is unlatched? I am thinking of connecting a trickle charger, but the light is drawing power.
Thanks for maintaining such a great forum. The DIY information I have gleaned so far has been invaluable. Although I am not usually a "Joiner", I made an exception in this case. I joined Rennlist and paid via PayPal a couple of weeks ago. I believe that I am in good standing.
I am the third owner of this lovely 1995 C2. I have had air-cooled vehicles since I turned 16 and got my driver's license. My first car was a 1959 beetle. In the late 1970's and early 1980's I bought several early convertible and sunroof beetles, including a 1955 convertible with semaphores, a 1965 convertible, a second owner 1966 beetle convertible and a second owner 1967 sunroof model with original paint. I've also had many BMW Airhead motorcycles. I am currently riding a 1984 R80G/S with the Paris Dakar kit. I have owned my 1965 356C Cabriolet since 1985.
I have lusted after Porsche 911s, beginning with the 911SC and culminating with the 993, but never felt like it was the right time for me to buy one. At various time my excuses have been that it isn't practical since you can't haul kids, dogs, surfboards, manure, etc., or that I already have a Porsche (my 356) and how can I justify having two (I see that many of you guys are way past that issue). I am pretty handy and enjoy DIY stuff. Except for a clutch in my BMW 328IS and warranty work on my Eurovan MV Weekender (We also have a 2002 Ford Think, Neighborhood Electric Vehicle), I am the only one to have wrenched on our vehicles in about 200,000 miles.
Several months ago while picking up my eleven-year-old daughter from a tennis lesson, I initiated a conversation in a parking lot with a nice man about his Porsche Metallic Black, 6-speed, 993 C2 with 46K miles. I was mostly interested in his owner's impressions, reliability, etc. He was generous with his time and at the end of our discussion, he offered to sell me the car. I blushed and told him that I wasn't really looking and that if I was, I would be looking for a silver one... I took his phone number to pass on to a friend who claimed to be looking for a 993 to replace his 911SC. From that day on, I began to watch 993 prices and read all I could find on the Internet about the model. While on a business trip in October, I was rummaging through my datebook looking for a note on something and I found the scrap of paper with the note on the Metallic Black C2 from the tennis club and I got tom thinking about it some more. So, I called my lovely wife of 20 years (We were just a couple of weeks shy of our 20th anniversary) and "proposed" that "we" consider buying a "new" car a little early, as this 993 would be a great investment. Our older daughter will be inheriting our 1996 328IS (In great shape, current blue book value ~ $3K) in about a year when she turns 16, and we would need to buy a new car in a year anyway... My economic justification was that we can buy the 993 for the price of a new Honda Accord and the 993 will likely not depreciate. We would never have bought a Honda Accord, but that is beside the point. My wife said OK with no qualms. I made the call. The owner said "Let me cogitate on it and give you a call back in few days". After cogitating, the owner said he was willing to sell. We made arrangements to meet. I drove the car (Noted that the A/C was not working), inspected the records and we agreed to terms, subject to a PPI and the owner getting the car smogged. The car was mine a couple of days later. It has a black supple leather interior and LSD/ABD. It is bone stock, except for the stereo system (No new holes or mods).
I love the car. It is a joy to drive and to behold. The engine sound is like music. I plan to keep it forever.
This is what I have done so far:
• Had the car aligned and the A/C system charged following the PPI
• Replaced rear hood struts (Not fun)
• Replaced rear blower resistor (Very satisfying)
• Replaced cracked rubber fan shroud air duct (Fun)
• Replaced A/C blower resistor (Really not fun)
• Replaced oil cooler blower resistor (Not fun)
• Replaced A/C fan relay (Very satisfying)
• Replaced fan on back of CCU (Not fun)
• Replaced sticky driver's window switch (Fun)
• Replaced belts (Car already had pulley update and engine wiring update)
• Installed vented brake reservoir cap update (Fun)
• Power bled brake system and clutch slave cylinder and filled with Castrol GTLMA (Clutch slave was not fun, but overall very satisfying)
• Drained and filled transmission with Mobil 1 75/90 LS (Car has LSD/ABD Option) (Fun)
• Replaced pollen and engine air filters (Not so fun)
• Replaced rear 4" x 6" speakers in rear deck with Alpine SPS 404 and new "Audiobahn" speaker grills from Amazon (Fun)
• Replaced missing stone guard on one rear fender (A new challenge)
• Replaced factory center console cassette tape holder with cup holder (As Jerry Seinfeld said, "Not that there is anything wrong with that!")
I have a new DME relay in the glove box and new OEM front rotors, pads and sensors waiting in the garage for the pad sensor light to come on soon. I plan to do plugs, distributor caps and rotors and the fuel filter at 55,000 miles. I am also considering doing the distributor drive belt at that time as well.
Before you all get started about the SUV ride height - I think that I have to leave the ride height stock to get the car into my garage. I have to creep in and out for it to not scrape on both ends (And I may haul some manure in it now and then.)
Finally, I have a couple of questions:
1. How can you tell if you have the stock Monroe shock absorbers? They look green in the photos on the Internet. My shocks are just metallic in color.
2. Is there anyway to turn off the light in the front hood if the hood is unlatched? I am thinking of connecting a trickle charger, but the light is drawing power.
Thanks for maintaining such a great forum. The DIY information I have gleaned so far has been invaluable. Although I am not usually a "Joiner", I made an exception in this case. I joined Rennlist and paid via PayPal a couple of weeks ago. I believe that I am in good standing.
12-26-2012, 09:27 PM
#3
Looks great! Love the black metallic. To answer your questions:
1. Yes. OEM shocks are green. Photos of yours may help to identify them.
2. Yes, you can turn off the light in the "frunk". Press the latch closed with your thumb. You can then let the hood down gently for a trickle charger. Just don't forget to release the latch before closing the hood for driving.
Enjoy the new ride!
1. Yes. OEM shocks are green. Photos of yours may help to identify them.
2. Yes, you can turn off the light in the "frunk". Press the latch closed with your thumb. You can then let the hood down gently for a trickle charger. Just don't forget to release the latch before closing the hood for driving.
Enjoy the new ride!
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Mine is an 1986. Along with my 1990 R100 GS, the air cooled GSes are the best of the bunch. Not biased towards air cooled as I own an R1150 GS Adventure as well. Great bike, just not the same.
12-26-2012, 11:02 PM
#9
Rennlist Member
He should note that if you open the driver's door, the hood light will go on again even if the hood latch is in the "latched closed" position...just so that he doesn't try to figure out what is wrong. It'll go out after about 20 seconds once the door is closed.
12-27-2012, 01:09 AM
#10
Rennlist Member
Great story, congrats a beautiful black 95! Sounds like you have been a very busy guy getting it all up to date. I wish I was capable of doing the same. Enjoy.
12-28-2012, 10:18 AM
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The car came with new (Nexen) tires in the correct sizes and ratings. I will keep the current wheels at least through this set of tires. When I search for tires in the original sizes for the 16" wheels, I can only find the Nexen tires as a matched set for front and back. If I have trouble sourcing tires when this set wears out, I will probably upgrade to 17" Cup II wheels.