ca993twin

I think your car will be amazing... the best of both worlds: the power of the Andial 3.8 and the great looks of the Ruf. I have one more idea for spending more of your money... remove the rain gutters for a cleaner, freasher look. I wish I had done that in one of the many trips to the body shop that I did with Rufus.

I'm unfamiliar with any "side" Ruf body kit parts.

Best luck and keep us posted.

adamvandenbos

That said any car of this level of performance with 40000 miles of enthusiastic use with be in need of some maintenance and “freshening up”. This email is to document the overall mechanical condition of your Andial Porsche and to highlight some of the issues we want to take care of before it goes to do battle on the Autobahn.

First of all let me say the vehicle is in over all very good mechanical condition. I have not test driven it yet (6” of fresh snow has to dry off first before that happens in THIS car!) and that has to happen before I can formally “sign off” on the condition report. The drive train is completely dry of oil leaks which is actually slightly unusual for these cars at this mileage and a good omen for how well it has been taken care of. Here are some pictures of the length of the drive train starting with the front differential and proceeding back to the rear of the engine.

This is the front differential and various power steering hoses etc. All clean and dry. We will want to change all the fluids in the car to ensure not only proper performance but long life for the seals etc. Many of the components on this car are considered not serviceable by Porsche and would need to be replaced if wear or damage were to occur. The front differential being one of those items. The seals are the only items that are readily available. Bearings, ring and pinion shaft etc are all unavailable as parts thus the whole diff would need to be replaced it there were any issues with the insides so keeping them it top condition through often fluid changes with high quality fluid is essential. Same goes with the power steering system. Known for hoses and seal leaks leading to pump and rack failures, regular fluid changes with the proper fluid is important to keeping over all repair costs under control.



Next is the front of the transmission. The accordion rubber cover in the middle encloses the shifter shaft seal. This is such a common leaking part I keep these in stock. Yours is completely dry! We want to keep it that way so special trans fluid will go in the transaxle for both lubricity of the seals etc as well as the demands extended high speed running will place of the bearings and gear faces.


This is your rear differential. Again nice and dry. No shift fork access plate seepage, no seal leakage, in fact none of the usual maladies I see in these cars at this mileage. NICE! We will want to remove the axle shafts, disassemble the joints and check of wear, repack with special grease and swap them from side to side so they are riding on unworn bearing surfaces.



The main portion of the underside of the engine. Nice and dry!



The leak down test of the cylinders was EXCELLENT! Proof again that Andial is one of the very best when it comes to building Porsche air-cooled engines. For reference, a freshly built and properly broken in air-cooled Porsche engine will have a leak down figure around 3-5%. A worn but still good engine will be between 6-10%. 11-20% is worn and probable be burning some oil but is still serviceable and useable. Above 20-25% is considered worn out and will run rough, definitely be down on power and will smoke while running. These figures are about double what you would see in a liquid cooled engine but an air cooled engine has to be “looser” to deal with the varied thermal demands air cooling puts on an engine. All the cylinders of your engine tested around 3%. That is EXCELLENT especially for a turbo engine with about 40000 miles on it from being built and making about 50% more power from stock!

Now it the few issues I did find. Here are a couple of pictures of both of the turbos. As you can see there is oil leaking from the center cartridge of both of them. You can smell the oil burning as the engine runs. This SHOULD be a fairly standard rebuild to replace seals etc but you can never tell until they are disassembled and inspected. BTW this oil is NOT leaking from the drain located in the lower center of the picture. I checked that.





While the turbos are out getting rebuilt by a leading turbo specialist rebuilder local to us here in Detroit we will have a couple of loose screws checked and properly tightened I found during my inspection.



The next issue of concern is the volume of oil in the right side intake. There is always a bit of oil floating around the inside of a turbo engine. This is expected and OK but there is definitely an excessive amount in the right side. Here are a couple of pictures I took. At this point the car had been started and pulled off the delivery truck and driven into the shop. Started a couple of times to get it on the rack then inspected. This volume should NOT be here.





This is definitely not all the oil that was located here just what I could get out by separating the intake pipe. I have seen this several times before were it was specific to the right side and in both cases the oil filter that is located on the engine block (there are 2 oil filters) was over tightened causing a pressure relief valve located in the oil filter to be damaged. This is an easy mistake to make and the solution is equally easy. Replace the oil filter. I have done so but the weather has been so abominable that I haven’t been able to drive the car enough to determine if I have solved the problem or not. I will have to report on that condition once the weather co-operates a bit more. If the problem is not solved further diagnosis will have to ensue to find and fix this issue as engine and catalytic converter damage will occur with this volume of internal oil leakage.

The other issue I have run across is with the front brakes. Quite apart from the fact that the brake rotors are worn out and need to be replaced, the front brake rotors have been replaced with aftermarket larger diameter floating rotors (a good move with the speed this car can generate) but the combination of the rotors, brake pads and caliper spacers to get the original brake calipers to fit over the larger diameter rotors are not working together as a coordinated and safe whole. The inner edge of the pads is rubbing against the out edge of the rotor hat causing a very dangerous condition. It looks to be a very light touch but we don’t want ANYTHING to be less than perfect on a car that is planning to go 200MPH. My proposal is since Brembo is the original equipment supplier and they certainly know everything there is to know about brakes on 200MPH cars, that we use a Brembo conversion kit for the brake pads, caliper spacers and rotors to work correctly with your original equipment calipers for flawless brake performance. I will check with them to see if a rear rotor conversion is suggested as well.

I am reviewing all the paperwork that came with the car to check for service records etc to co-ordinate our service here to ensure you get everything needed completed.

I order to get the top sustainable speed you want (200MPH) we will be changing 5th and 6th gears in your transmission. In order to know which gears to put in it, I will need to know the tire sizing and diameters you will be using. Please keep in mind that going up in size increases weight and can have other detriment effects as well. I would like to co-ordinate your wheel and tire selections so you get safe and reliable parts as well as ones which will help rather than hind your quest for your desired performance goals.

Photo's will follow later

adamvandenbos

I have finished the examination of your Porsche and test driven it to check for issues. What a pussycat! Andial has a VERY deserved reputation. I regularly drive 600hp cars and this one is certainly all of that but the complete smoothness and linear control of the power is fantastic. If you didn’t push it you would never know it was the beast that it is! Not that it isn’t fast mind you. Remember this is an all wheel drive car when I tell you that on a DRY (dirty and cold) road I was getting wheel spin in 3rd gear at HALF THROTTLE!

As you may recall (I think I informed you of this previously) there are 2 oil leak issues to deal with. One is the leakage from the center sections of the turbos. This is a seal issue and will need to be addressed through a rebuild of the turbos. They will be removed and taken to our inside industry professional turbo rebuilders for examination and evaluation. I don’t foresee any problems with rebuilding them but to find out what the final cost will be they will have to be disassembled and examined to determine their parts needs etc to fix a final cost to this portion of the operation.

The other issue was oil in the intake tube of the right hand turbo. This was potentially troubling because it could have indicated a problem with the engine etc. I have seen this issue before though and in all three cases it turned out to be an over tightened engine oil supply filter. There is an anti drain back valve inside the filter that can get distorted if the filter is over tightened and cause oil to pump only into the right side of the intake track. To check out whether this was the case I changed this filter out for a new one and properly torqued it on then test drove the car long enough to determine if there was any further oil leakage in the intake pipe. There was none so at this point I think we have solved this particular problem for you.

To prep the car for your attack of the Autobahn we need to start with 4 items.

1- Fix the oil leaks on the turbos. This is both a fire hazard for you and the car (German TUV may not let you drive the car until it is taken car of. They are very strict about condition and inspect regularly) and a durability issue for the internals of the turbos potentially causing accelerated wear and even failure of the turbos with the potential of considerable collateral damage.
2- Fix the front brakes. Even thought the vehicle has had GT2 calipers and oversized rotors installed front and rear, the rotors them selves are worn out and there is a very troubling contact between the front brake pads and rotor hats. I will need to disassemble the brakes to find out what pads are on there, replace the rotors and get the correct pads to both fit the rotors and provide you with the stopping power you will need at 200MPH. The pads that are in there now are fine around town but terrible at any serious speed.
3- The suspension alignment is not appropriate for high speed work. It is set up for quick reactions like street driving in an aggressive manor, light track day work or even light auto crossing but is much to darty and reactive to provide the safe stability you need at very high speed.
4- Change 5th and 6th gears to give you what you need to reach the speeds you want. While we are in the transmission we will want to freshen up any syncros etc that are showing any signs of wear. A clutch freshening and seals replacement would be warranted as well while we are in the area. In order to know what gears to put in the transmission to give you 200+ I will need to know the final circumference of the wheel and tire combo you wish to use. I have researched the brand you asked me about and I have to say I have little to no confidence to the products offered by them at this time. They are not a motorsports manufacturer and have NO experience with their products at sustained speeds approaching 200mph. The person who started this company also started 360 Forged a couple of years ago and the wheels produced by that company while beautiful had many serious quality complaints against them with quite a few people not being able to resolve the issues. He has explanations for what happened and I can certainly understand the issues at hand but the bottom line is people had wheels which seem to be defective and they were not taken care of. What you will be doing with the car REQUIRES the safest components to be found for your safety, indeed your life as well as those sharing the road with you. I suggest looking to those wheel manufacturers that product wheels for motorsports. Once you find some that you like talk to a representative about what you are going to do with the car a get assurances that the wheel you are interested in will do what you want to do with it. Tires are the single most important component on your car. Let snot forget to factor in correct speed rated tires for the power, load and speed you will be traveling at.

Once we have addressed these issues I will have a much better feel for what if anything else we will need to address before you take your Porsche into the crucible of the Autobahn.

Spartan

Agreed with all of the above. I changed the color on my car and I personally took the better part of the winter stripping it down to the bar shell for paint in my garage. My cost was reasonable having done all the leg work but I would think that $8k would only cover the disassembly and no prep or paint work at all! If you want it done right (ie ZERO traces of the old color) then your car will be a bar shell and taken down to the metal. Not for the faint of heart but fun when it all comes together

TB993tt

Adam, thanks for sharing your mechanics reports I enjoyed reading them.

I would like to comment on your wheel/tyre size choice.

Because you are hoping to go fast you should be sticking to a Porsche factory tested combination so ideally stock sizes ie 10"X18 rear with 285/30 and 8"X18 front with 225/40.
You could easily put on 996tt sizes ie rears 11"X18 with 295/30 and fronts 8.5"X18 with 235/40 (or were these also 225 ? can't remember ?)

Standard sizes will give youlowest drag and rolling resistance. Don't forget tyre pressures, you want them at maximum factory recommended when cold - this is very important in fact RS Tuning always said high pressures in their 500+hp cars so maybe 48PSI rear and 38PSI front.
Don't mess around with cheap tyres, use the best, Michelin, Continetalor Pirelli. N rated.

First time you get up to 160mph (genuine so about 170 on the clock) you will crap yourself and wonder how the hell you are going to be able to drive the thing any quicker since it will be wandering about so much but the trick is to find a good straight stretch to practice on (and there are a good few on the Autobahn which stretches south from Wurzburg down to the Stuttgart -Munich Autobahn) and gradually get your confidence but make sure there is no wind forecast, 993s do not do well in cross winds at high speed.....

Keep us posted

Texas993

This is going to be expensive...

Why didn't you have this assessment and work done at RUF Dallas where the car has been serviced for quite some time?

I had some of the transmission work described, but none of the other issues.

Thanks for the updates and please continue.

slavik

subscribed for more...

J.B.H.

parsonii

adam thanks for sharing all that with us. sounds like on the whole you should be very pleased with the car. your mechanic or service adviser writes well and definitely has a flair for the dramatic "crucible of the Autobahn". adam did you get a ppi done before you bought the car from rac? im sure they would have picked up on the leaking turbos and brake issue. i personally would be resistant on pouring money into the car till i drove it and see what ails it.

budge96

Whew! I had to put that down go out for dinner and catch my breath!
I've driven the german autobonne and I didn't see any "crucibles" ?
In my opinion your tech advisor while a bit on the dramatic side as posted previously,'autobon attack
and all' is preparing you for a "crucible of a bill"...Bert

TB993tt

Guys, yes the mechanic is being dramatic and is definately enjoying the sound of his own pen but.......

The Autobahn and Porsche 993 turbos are something very special, using 4th 5th 6th gear and being able to wring each one out as often as you like is so totally different to the use any 993 turbo gets anywhere else, totally different and massively stressful on a not 100% correctly functioning car - these cars will do 187mph in stock form, that is 200 on the clock and you can push it up there every day !!!

adamvandenbos

I wanted the RUF body kit.

Also I had received better commutation with RUF US, they where quick to reply to my emails and had interest in my project with answering all my questions.

Texas993

Oh, that's right. I will am curious to see what they come up with for the body kit.

And RAC would never do a write up like that you received from RUF US - they must have a communications specialist on the payroll!

General consensus is to be careful, it sounds like a lot of $$. And it may not be necessary.

adamvandenbos

PPI was done by RAC; I forward eval of the Andial to RAC. I never received a reply.

I wrote them this "I thought I pass this along. I believe things like this should be know when buying a car. Not that this is your fault, but I sure the owner knew if the Andial condition. I still believe I got great deal on this Porsche and look forward to doing business with RAC in the future."

adamvandenbos

I've only talked RUF sales rep and tech that would be working on the Andial.

Pricing is as follows (this could go up or down a bit depending on the breaks). The turbo removal, reinstallation and rebuild will be approximately 5000$ Brakes will be approximately 2000$. Full corner weight, ride height and alignment adjustment will be about 1100$. The gearing change (depending on what else I find in the transmission that requires attention) plus some other work in the area will be approximately 8000$. We will need approximately half down (8000$) to get parts rolling and to get the turbos out and to the facility for evaluation. As soon as you know what wheels or at least the tires you want to run (tires being the most important component of what I need to get the gearing worked out) I can get the gears coming in.

If you have ANY questions about anything I will be more than glad to work with you. If you want any further assistance with wheel and tire selection I am at your service. I really want you to make safe choices on these items but I want you to be happy with want you get as well and anything I can do to help I will do to the best of my ability.