The sound wasn't nearly as bad with the car running *outside* the garage. Just idle:
It's assembled and ready to start working on the cosmetics and the hundreds of little things I want to improve. A short drive around the block really made me want to hit a rallycross course and open it up.
I played around with the red '01 yesterday and today. Swapped out the top, replaced a cracked radiator, found out that the misfire on #1 was because the coil was just hanging from the wire, and more...
WTF are these headers and why do they rub on the diagonal brace? Hopefully the bolts all come out easily when get rid of them.
And now I'm off Boxsters and on to Prii. My son in law's car has a HV battery fault that looks like a bad #6 cell with Dr Prius. Saturday we are going to pull apart the battery from the Green '05 and attempt to replace weak cells in his car and in my red one.
The battery block swap on the Prius wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. It's a long process, but easy steps with simple tools. Taking our time and using a video to carry us through the process we were done in about 3-1/2 hours except for bolting a couple trim pieces back in (saved for another day). My son in law's car was still driveable, but very slow to accelerate and showed the red triangle with a battery fault codes. Dr Prius verified that block #6 was not charging. While he got ready to remove the battery from his car, I disassembled the battery from the green car that we were using for replacement cells.
With the batteries stripped down, I numbered the pairs, then checked voltages. One side of the #6 pair was in the 5 volt range where all the others were around 8 volts (freshly removed from the car and still warm from driving). That bad battery was bulging noticeably when we removed it. The battery cells from the green car were mostly between 7.4V and 7.6V except for three that were in the 6V range. We put a 7.6V cell in to replace the bad one and reversed the process to put it all back together. The only assembly problem we had was that we initially had the clamp-bars on backwards at first. ...go slow and double check everything.
When we had it together the car would not go into (D). I'm still not sure what the problem was or exactly how we fixed it. Dr Prius didn't show a fault. I disconnected the 12V battery a couple times. I went to the car's diagnostics screen by jumping the OBD2 port pin 13 to 5. Looked through the various screen selections. Pushed a few buttons. Boom - everything started working as it should.
Weekly update... Happy Easter. The red '01 has been fun to run around town in - a Beater Boxster. I've got a pen and a list tucked in the driver's door pocket of things to address.
Right side radiator fan blew the fuse. AC needs to be leak checked, evacuated and charged. Exhaust headers pulled off and modified or replaced. Buy one Kenda KR20A rear tire or put another pair of rear tires on. ...etc.
The poorly done body repair to the front is not a hazard, but along with the cheap, low prep paint job says 'do not spend a lot of money restoring this car'. At worst, this car is a spare engine that I can drive around until one of the other cars needs it.
The terrible '99 went in the garage today. I hope to focus on pulling the engine this week. The Arena Red '99 has sat long enough and I really want to get it back together and on the road. The engine will probably go into it by mid-May. Unlike the Orient Red '01 it is a nice car and worth putting some money and effort into.
A week of day shift starts on Wednesday. My formerly good knee is starting to give me trouble (self-diagnosed Baker's Cyst). Pain is annoying and slowing me down. Sitting with ice on it as I write this and hoping to put off medical care until the end of April when my formerly bad knee gets a follow up stem cell injection. A trip to the VA doc kills at least a half day.
If you read a couple pages of this thread, you may notice I repeat myself in cycles. *It's all a song and that's the chorus.*
I thought I'd have the engine out of 'Terrible' by now. It's ready to disconnect the mounts and drop, but the 12 hour day shifts aren't leaving me enough time and energy to complete the process. I'm looking forward to Wednesday (off).
Looking at Rallycross schedules, I don't think there's any events I can get to until May 12th with the SCCA. Hopefully I can find a good spot locally to test put the Frog before then. It is not streetable.
Orient Red is my daily today. I don't think it looks bad even dirty and with the black bumper. Those poorly crafted headers do make a nice sound, so I think I'll keep them after making them clear the diagonal supports.
Given the poorly repaired front (I'll get detailed pics posted eventually) I am considering shortening the front a few inches and grafting some 914 styling onto it. 996 windows will fit the doors and could be aligned with a Targa style top. Here's one designer's rendering.
My final concept would be more like the HotWheels Safari 914 and I wouldn't dive into big work on it until after I have the Black 914 running and roadworthy as a proper 914.
Just thinking it will be a fun project if I can stop buying more cars and stay focused on what I've already got.
For TowPig, maybe Friday.
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
That looks familiar! I just flashed mine Monday night.
I haven't put that many miles on since I've done the flash. It's definitely noticeable, the car just gets up to speed more quickly. When you really lay into the throttle is when you feel it the most.
Docwyte, Thanks for posting about the Malone tunes in the first place. TowPig is done now with stage 1 plus dynamic EGR. Flashing it was simple enough.
I didn't have much to complain about with the stock tune, but more power and less wear on emission components now that I'm out of warranty sounds good.
I took what I wanted from the terrible '99 and am giving the rolling shell to a friend. I hope he has enough sense to make some money parting it out, but he may do an engine swap and get it back on the road. Either way, it's one less parts car for me to look at.
I left him enough car that he can make something ugly for cheap if he so chooses.
I have used the TOPDON AD600S more and I like it a lot. A great tool for under $200. Looks like it can read Porsche Camshaft deviation, which most inexpensive tools can't.
This afternoon I'll spend some time cleaning up the garage, then pick up my three year old grandson for an hour or so of reading books and playing with Hotwheels.
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
that sounds like a nice afternoon.
AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:I thought I'd have the engine out of 'Terrible' by now. It's ready to disconnect the mounts and drop, but the 12 hour day shifts aren't leaving me enough time and energy to complete the process. I'm looking forward to Wednesday (off).
Looking at Rallycross schedules, I don't think there's any events I can get to until May 12th with the SCCA. Hopefully I can find a good spot locally to test put the Frog before then. It is not streetable.
Orient Red is my daily today. I don't think it looks bad even dirty and with the black bumper. Those poorly crafted headers do make a nice sound, so I think I'll keep them after making them clear the diagonal supports.
Given the poorly repaired front (I'll get detailed pics posted eventually) I am considering shortening the front a few inches and grafting some 914 styling onto it. 996 windows will fit the doors and could be aligned with a Targa style top. Here's one designer's rendering.
My final concept would be more like the HotWheels Safari 914 and I wouldn't dive into big work on it until after I have the Black 914 running and roadworthy as a proper 914.
Just thinking it will be a fun project if I can stop buying more cars and stay focused on what I've already got.
I really want to see a 914 targa roof on a Boxter. There should be a kit for this.
Drove a couple hours early this morning to catch up with SWAR Gambler 500. Apparently I didn't get the memo about 4WD.
"Remember Jon, you have to drive it home."
The Xbox did great on the trails and the drive home. It has some new scrapes and dents adding to the character, but no work to do other than replacing the brake pads and rotors.
I'm going to look at a Porsche 924 in an hour. Not that I want another car, but we talked a little about it at my granddaughter's birthday party on Sunday. My daughter in law's grandfather owned it and since he passed, the family is sorting seven storage units and 'a few' old Porsches.
Somehow going to look at a deck lid and vents from a 914 to see if I want them has turned into, "Hey, you're the Porsche guy. You're going to want the 924." *The 356s have sold for good money and removed the urgency from liquidating everything.
I've always liked the lines of the 924 more than 944. I don't know year or sub-model yet, but it has 114k miles and "It looks like it only has 14k miles."
No, I'm not getting another car. Does anyone want it?
It's a nice looking 1984 Turbo. It's outside right now, but has been stored inside most of the time. No rust, a few minor dents. Repainted black at some point from light blue metallic.
It was said to have a power steering problem, but was otherwise in good shape when purchased and put in storage. Enging looks complete and unmolested. We didn't try to crank it, but Jason plans to get it running in a couple weeks.
Any interest, let me know. They are probably going to ask near market value (I have no idea what that is.)
I went to AAZCD Daughter-2's house to grab the rear wheels off the PartsCar Porsche to use on '01 Red. Grandson Grayson saw me and it was time to play. I realized that where they live, there's not much need for tags and title - PartCar Porsche is just a big 4-wheeler. Started right up with a jump and off we went.
The Terrible '99 was towed away yesterday. We did an easy trailer to trailer cross-load and it was on it's way. It may get a Honda drivetrain or maybe get parted out.
The friend that took it has had a couple fun Gambler cars including the Integra Kart.
Sent ya an email...
docwyte said:Sent ya an email...
Got it and replied. I should have stuff together on Wednesday.
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks! I replied to your email...
My newsfeed had an article about a house fire that burned a local garage. I don't need any more engines or cars, but I can't help but think: The engine is probably still good and the car will come up at a nearby salvage auction in a month or two. I'll be watching.
I had been planning to go to the Gambler 500 Mexico later this week. I took a full week of vacation days and had big plans. A few days ago I canceled. Lots of reasons, many of them not relevant to a public motorsports forum. Since I still have the days off -three weeks total away from work, I'm catching up on a few deferred projects.
TowPig has had a check engine light for the DEF temperature sensor. I reset it a couple times (such as when I applied the tune), but it comes back consistently. Yesterday I replaced the whole unit that is immersed in the tank. It was actually a very straightforward procedure. Here's a link to the awesome YouTube I referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDygorRJTqs
At one point I was planning to just replace the thermistor for about $10. Eventually I decided that replacing the entire unit was much smarter. On the Touareg I had to drop the whole tank for access and the unit is reasonably priced. Remove the rear exhaust - 1 clamp and 4 bolts. Heat shield - a handful of speed nuts. Disconnect harness and tube. Drop the tank - 5 nuts. Swap out parts.
While I was there, I addressed some surface rust on the subframe (former NY car) and found out that I had a cracked left rear coil spring. A new pair of rear struts will be here Thursday. Looks like it has been cracked for quite a while and still rides normally.
Part of my altered plan includes a trip to Phoenix to visit family. I plan to drive there on Sunday and Monday. North Texas Rallycross has an event on Sunday that is not too far out of the way. I just put new Frog decals on The Frog to replace the faded ones and that along with the replacement engine can use a good 'test and tune'. I may tow the Frog all the way to Phoenix and back, but I'm checking with a few friends to see if anyone local wants to get some seat time, then tow it back home for me.
Besides that I'm hauling junk from the garage and storage to the dump/scrap, some work on the red Prius, spaying and caring for feral cats, catching up on house and yard projects, and enjoying some time to focus on family.
The rear strut is installed on TowPig. Even though most online sellers show that it is the correct part, it doesn't have the right mount. FCP Euro has all the correct parts sold separately. The mount is about $350. I spent some time trying to figure out why the wrong part is listed and eventually gave up. With the mount swapped to the new strut it seemed to fit well. For now I'm not doing that to the other side.
New vs Old:
Swapping:
I took it out for a test drive and the check engine light came on. P20E8 00; reductant pressure low. Bad pump? Loose connection? Computer error? I Thought about my plans to tow a trailer w/racecar about 180 miles, then drive to Phoenix and back, starting on Sunday. While doing this work, I noticed that the headliner is starting to droop and the clear coat chips on the front bumper are getting large. I searched the local car dealers online for another TDI Toureg, Q7, or Pepper. Nothing nearby that I could have in time for my plans. Enterprise car rental at the airport seems to have trucks that can tow - I'm keeping that in mind if things don't work out.
Back to the DEF tank. Not that hard to drop [Again]. The tank is now on the garage floor. I found the problem causing the low pressure. When I replaced the in-tank unit, a rubber seal stayed with the old part. After I finished the job, I threw away the old stuff. I'm hoping that a short cut piece of 3/8 hose is going to make everything okay again.
This morning as I was getting The Frog ready, it started having no throttle response. No engine fault code. I poked all the fuses, the cleaned and reset the DME connections and it was all good again. Hopefully no hick-ups at Rallycross tomorrow.
I didn't originally intend to do a 'face-lift', but the bumper needed repair and reinforcement. A scrap of the red Prius front bumper fit the space. ...then why not make some pointy teeth?
TowPig is doing great and getting over 20mpg towing @ 65mph. I'm 2/3 of the way to the venue staying at a motel for the night. For me its a lot easier to head out in the early evening than wake up and try to get on the road quickly. All those 'one last things' leaving home add up. Now it's a good night's sleep and an easy drive in the morning.
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
The facelift & teeth look good 👍 🦎🐸
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