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I will attempt to log the build and travels of my 2005 CTT with E81 Power Kit in this thread. My first Porsche. Bought to supplement the existing camping car which is a 1985 Toyota Hilux with an 8000rpm N/A Supra motor under the hood that i built. Needless to say it's a polar opposite driving experience. The Hilux is a weapon off road but tiring to drive any distance. Being from Australia we have a lot of distance to cover in between destinations.
Already racked up nearly 5000km in the Cayenne in about 5 weeks and have loved every minute of it. It's an impressive bit of kit. I love the chassis dynamics, the AWD grip, the brakes, all the little extra nerdy features Porsche added in and oh my god the torque. So much torque. I normally don't like turbos, even with 4.5lt of V8 there is more lag than i would like, but it really puts a smile on your face when it pegs the boost gauge at 0.8 bar!
My plans are to keep it as standard as possible in the name of reliability but of course it needs a few basics to be setup for adventure time. Pre Covid, we would go away at least once a month, as far from civilization as possible. Just myself, the girlfriend and the dog. Hopefully we can get back to it soon. Just did a week long trip through north Western Victoria including the Grampians, Little Desert, Mildura, Mungo (in NSW) and Nyah before legging it home. Around 2000km in 5 days in the heat of Aussie summer, kept in beautiful air conditioned and leather wrapped comfort the whole time.
Didn't get any serious off-roading done this trip, but lots of sandy tracks and high speed gravel work. We did engage Low range and CDL for one technical obstacle which the pig walked through on 3 wheels without hiccup. I am keen to explore the off road potential a bit more once i have tyres and winch sorted. Loving the adjustable suspension!
get some 19" wheels from a Cayenne and put some big off road tires on. You'll have to keep the suspension up if you get big enough tires so you don't rub on the fender liners. You can put 19" over those brakes.
Also keep in mind, those wheels are location specific. Rear on rear only. You'll damage both the wheel and the front calipers if you try to put the rears on the front. Like one of the turd previous owners did on mine.
Choosing the right tyres for this thing is proving to be a pain. I've even made a spreadsheet of about 40 different sizes with notes on fitment, tyre choice etc. Looking for a 31-32" OD with an aggressive A/T or mild M/T tread pattern, no spacers.
Cayenne 19s are an option, and I have a lead on a set locally for a good price. But there is almost no 19" off road tyres available in Oz. The only size I can get is 255/65/19 which is borderline for fit and only available in a Q rated (100mph) Wrangler Duratrac.
20" gives lots more options but hardly any sidewall and still the only real choice are Q rated Duratracs at ~$600/corner.
I am contemplating downgrading to 268mm brakes so I can run the tried and true 265/65/18 but I really don't want to do it.
I did note the staggered sizing on the Sport Techno 20's. If anything I would rather ditch the 10" rears and run 9" wide on the back as well for some sidewall bulge to minimise the risk of popping a bead when aired down. Seems like you need to keep the width under 265 when going over 31" OD to miss the ball joint and fender liner.
Nice truck and dog.
Dog hauling tip: if you fold down the rear seat, the cargo net can attach to the ceiling behind the front seats. That way they can still hang out the window - but kept out of the front seats/stealing water bottles from the cupholder.
Originally Posted by jeff spahn
get some 19" wheels
18" OEM/etc wheels fit over Turbo brakes (19" required for Turbo S), offer more tire options, and the choice setup for offroad builds at the moment (Eurowise/#vagoffroad folks).
Thanks. Unfortunately I didn't get a cargo net. It came with a cargo blind but I removed it to free up trunk space for gear.
The dog loves riding in the Cayenne. It's summer here and her face is never more than 2" from the center console vents, ice cold. We're all enjoying the 4 zone climate control and powerful A/C.
This has the 380mm Turbo S brakes so 18s won't fit. The only suitable 19" tyre option I found is currently nil stock Australia with no eta
I think I am going to try 275 55 r20. 32" OD. From my measurements it should *just* clear with some minor trimming of the fender liner and intercooler duct. My biggest concern is the ball joint nut.
Well after lots of careful measuring and all the guys at the tyre shop saying they wouldn't fit, i managed to squeeze in 275/55/20 on the Pig. They are bang on 32" OD which is slightly taller and wider than the typical 265/65/18.
Rears cleared with no modification at all. Fronts needed minor trimming of the fender liners, the plastic intercooler ducts, and a small section of the duct mount on the intercoolers themselves. The ball joint got all the threads past the nut trimmed off, and a minor chamfer added to the nut itself. There is only millimetres of clearance in a few spots but if it fits, it ships. Plenty of clearance to the 4 zone climate control plumbing.
There is no scrubbing at all anywhere at loading height, can go full lock each side without issue. No spacers. Pretty happy with the fitment and the ground clearance looks pretty good with the suspension wound up.
Shown at loading height and special terrain height.
Oh, and i fitted an Android head unit a while ago with reverse camera and digital radio module. I added an override switch in the blank spot next to the seat heater button so i can run the radio with ignition/accessories off for camping. I chose this unit because it gave a full sized screen and rotary volume control. It sits a little further out of the dash than i would have liked, but i got used to it pretty quickly.
Last edited by Andrew_955; 03-06-2022 at 07:21 AM.
Still absolutely loving this thing. Racked up over 10,000km already in 6 months. I just did my first oil change on it, so far the car has been running great with no issues (touch wood). I haven't had a wrench on it except for the stereo and tyre upgrades.
I have noticed it running warmer than I would like if at low speeds for an extended period so I will be investigating the cooling fans next.
Anyway a pic dump of our recent adventures in the Cayenne
On tow duty at Lake Eildon
Easter camping at Licola
Queen's birthday weekend camping and firewood collecting at Yackandandah
And this was a day the Cayenne really shined. A day trip out to Toolangi, a 4wd Mecca just out of Melbourne. There are some real gnarly tracks in there but we just stuck to the easy stuff.
I love the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this car. We cruised out slowly through the suburbs in pristine comfort, with that nice Bose stereo wound up and the most buttery smooth, easy drive navigating through traffic. Then out onto the open highway with 700nm of overtaking prowess available in 5th gear at 100kmh, again in blissful quiet comfort. Then drive it like a rally car on the gravel roads out into the forest, even getting it a little sideways for the first time. Deep in the forest we engaged low range and CDL for the more technical sections, all of which the Cayenne walked through without fuss. Back on the highway and got a good run through the Black Spur on the way home, a beautiful ~30km long section of high speed twisty road with some lovely 3rd gear corners and tight hairpins. Nice short straights in between for exercising those turbos and enormous brakes.
Can't think of many other vehicles on the market that are so well suited to so many different situations. Well done Porsche. 10/10
Coming up on a year of ownership and still absolutely love this thing. Other than the running slightly warm issue it's still problem free with no CEL's or warnings on startup. Happy days (until you need to fill the fuel tank!)
A while ago I built a lithium battery setup for it using LiFePO4 cells and after a couple of tweaks I finally have it running just how I'd hoped.
Due to the Android radio upgrade I was able to free up a lot of space under the seat by removing the navigation DVD and telephone module, *just* enough to fit 4 x 100ah cells and all the requisite hardware. I designed and built a battery box to hold the cells etc in the seat cradle and modified the telephone module bracket to hold the charger.
The 4 blue rectangles are the cells, the silver thing on top is the Battery Management System, the small thing with the blue light is the Bluetooth module and the bank of capacitors under that is for active cell balancing.
I needed something to run the fridge, radio and device charging for a few nights while camping. I like that the Cayenne comes factory with 6 power outlets throughout the car and am trying to keep it looking stock inside so didn't want a separate power outlet panel added in the trunk. Plus that would still leave me with the issue of running the stereo off the main battery, plus all the interior lights, fuel pump priming etc.
We know that the Pig consumes a lot of power while parked and that it should be kept on a battery maintainer where possible. So my solution is that the lithium battery acts as a trickle charger for the main battery. I run the fridge, radio etc all off the main battery as normal, however the state of charge never drops below 100% because it is constantly being topped up by the lithium. Once the lithium gets down to 10% capacity it disconnects itself to protect the cells and you are still left with a 100% full main battery.
Charging is handled by a Victron 30 amp Orion Smart DC-DC charger. Initially I was relying on the higher voltage pressure of the Li pack to discharge into the AGM main battery which worked ok but didn't allow for full discharge of the Li before tapping into the main battery. I'd also chosen a Victron Smart Battery Protect to isolate the Li during charging and undervoltage conditions which unfortunately didn't work very well.
So onto version 2 and now the Orion Smart charger handles charging both batteries. I used an Arduino and a couple of 60 amp changeover relays. When the engine is running, the main battery is connected to the charger input and the Li to the output so we can charge the Li for "free" off the alternator. When the engine switches off, the inputs and outputs are reversed so the Li starts charging the main battery. The Arduino is there mostly to introduce delays in the changeover process so as to not confuse or damage the charger. I have tweaked the charge settings in the Victron to be a good compromise between the 2 different chemistries which seems to work well.
Initially (pre-Arduino) I needed an engine on signal to activate the charger. I couldn't find an easy way to do this so I set about using an oil pressure trigger. No luck piggybacking off the stock sensor signal but there was a spare port right next to it in the housing so I removed the blanking plug, machined up an adapter to take a basic GM pressure switch and ran a wire into the cabin. Now I have the Arduino I could have probably skipped all this and just sensed injector PWM or something to determine if the engine is running. Oh well.
I used a spare fuse slot near the main battery for that OEM look and ran 6ga cable over the trans tunnel/under the center console.
I also have a dedicated solar input under the seat to keep the lithium topped up during extended stays. Have a 125w folding portable panel with MPPT reg but don't bother bringing it on short trips. There's 90 usable amp hours in the lithium, plus an additional 50 in the main battery if necessary while still leaving plenty of reserve for starting.
Hopefully being on trickle charge basically all the time will also extend the life of the main battery. Time will tell.
Andrew - Very impressive work! That Pepper is the business. Looks like it’s very happy in the dirt. And the tires are probably quite good snake squashers.
Thanks hatchet! Plenty more to come over the next few months as I get everything ready for a big trip next year. Just have to find time to squeeze it all in!
We mostly travel solo and the lack of self recovery options has had me feeling nervous when we go off-road in this thing so it was time to add a winch. Settled on the Runva 11XP Premium.
A lot of winch installs on these cars block way too much of the radiator for my liking so I set about mounting it as low as possible with minimal cutting of the bumper. I also wanted to have some proper tow points on the front for kinetic recoveries. Our factory tow eyes are typically well engineered but not up to heavy off-road recoveries or side loaded pulls IMO.
Wasn't organised enough to get plate laser cut & folded so I started with a big C section and whittled away the bits I didn't want in the mill. Took forever and came out a bit heavier than I would have liked but oh well. Needed some beef in the front end for potential kangaroo strikes anyway. Those guys are erratic and suicidal!
Test fit to check the height before welding out.
7/8" holes for shackle pins. Pilot holes are for girls!
Coming together, nice and low.
Solenoid, wireless receiver, wired plug and isolator switch all fit under the beauty covers. Made a simple mount that picks up a strut bolt so no new holes drilled in the body.
Took some meat out of the lock panel with a die grinder to pass cables through.
Quick aluminium panel underneath to reseal the air duct and maintain good airflow into the radiator.
Nearly there.
While the car was off the road for a couple of weeks I gave the headlights to a friend who works in a paint shop to be sanded/clearcoated/polished. I ordered new xenon globes too but of course they didn't turn up in time.
I'm going to try running a soft shackle instead of a winch hook this time so I turned up a little delrin pin to hold the line when not in use. Also keeps with the stealth theme rather than having a giant hook on display out the front.
Main reason I chose this particular winch was the option for air operated free spool clutch. Pretty cool, especially when my lever is buried in behind the grill. Next job is to hook this up to the suspension air lines with a wireless remote and a 12v solenoid so I can switch it on/off from wherever.
Had a little spare time the last few days so ticked a couple small jobs off the list.
Temporary sagged headlining repair. Didn't come out quite as nice as I'd hoped but is better than it was. At least I can see the rear parking sensor display now. I had no idea the roofline got higher past the back seat until now.
One day I'd like to fix this properly. It's the only part of the interior that looked crappy when I bought the car.
I used a bunch of short pins, installed just off horizontal and biting into the insulation above.
I also changed my light bar wiring. Previously, activating the rear fogs turned the light bar on but I found it slow to fumble for the headlight switch to turn it on/off. Also to be legal here a light bar must only operate when high beams are on. So I stole a trigger from the headlight wiring which I used to trigger the light bar relay coil negative. The high beam trigger is positive so I used another relay inline to reverse the polarity.
I only tested it briefly but it didn't throw any errors or codes.
I used the thick orange wire on the left of the white plug in the foreground.
Looks like these wires have the biodegradable insulation too, it's all cracked and not far from flaking off. I thought that was just inside the headlights? I hope they didn't use the same stuff everywhere or these cars are gonna be real fun to keep on the road as they get older....
Had some spare time last week so dropped into the P dealer where this car was sold and serviced most of its life. I got a stamped service book with the car, but no details of what was actually done when. I wanted a better idea of what common problems have already been addressed and which ones I should take care of proactively.
The service advisor was kind enough to help as far back as 2014 which is as far back as his computer goes.
2014 - new cardan shaft and brakes2015 - new coolant expansion tank, new front air struts and UCA's (apparently this one was expensive)
2018 - brake booster hose
Plus of course all the usual minor service stuff.
No mention of fuel pumps or ignition coils at any point.
Seems like it's well due for all the cooling system parts I have waiting to go on. I nearly ordered the booster hose at the same time, lucky I didn't.
We will be on the road all of April this year, visiting some very remote and inhospitable parts of Australia so I am trying to address as many common failure points as possible before we go.
Will try to get the same info from the Indy who serviced it since 2018 and then make a plan on what to do. I'm thinking that if it's never had fuel pumps they should probably be high on my list.
Anything else I should be looking at that would be a show stopper? Cam/crank sensors? Coils?
Be sure to park it over something like clean cardboard, or something where you will see everything that drips, even better without the lower engine guards on. I’m on my third coolant leak. One catastrophic from the nipple (you don’t have this on a 955), one slow from the water pump, one from the passenger side water distributor still not resolved (also unique to 957).
FWIW, my partial list so far on a 957: belts and pulleys, brakes and brake fluid, all the various running gear fluids, plugs and coils (very easy DIY), oxygen and MAF sensors (optional but recommended/not code related), power steering pump and water pump… reference the 80K service list PDF…
I offer co-pilot services in exchange for beer. Sounds like a fun trek!
01-12-2022, 09:08 AM
E81 Adventure Wagon
