Porsch-Uh Oh Build (AKA The Poorest Man's Porsche)

I've got a couple sets of fob+immobilizer+DME that should get your car running. Do you want to borrow one for a month or two? I'd want it back eventually because parts hoarder, but I'd be happy to let you store it in your car for a while.

AAZCD said:

I've got a couple sets of fob+immobilizer+DME that should get your car running. Do you want to borrow one for a month or two? I'd want it back eventually because parts hoarder, but I'd be happy to let you store it in your car for a while.

That's a very nice offer. I think at this point I'm committed enough on the new key route that I'll be able to get programming done around the same time frame as it would take to ship and swap the fob, immobilizer, and DME. I'll keep it in mind if I hit another roadblock regarding getting the car started.

I do have a list of odds and ends that I will eventually need to put this car back together. I've been holding off ordering anything until I confirm it runs, but would you be open to me sending you a list and seeing if there is anything you'd like to sell? 

enginenerd said:

I do have a list of odds and ends that I will eventually need to put this car back together. I've been holding off ordering anything until I confirm it runs, but would you be open to me sending you a list and seeing if there is anything you'd like to sell? 

Sure, whenever you want, send me a list of what you need and I'll see what I have available.

It's alive!

The shop I had called had an opening for today so I hauled the car down. $100 later and the key fob was programmed to the car. They didn't try starting the car because I left a note telling them I had no idea if it ran and also because of this marvel of engineering:

As you can see, I looped the RH radiator (which was cracked) so it wouldn't dump coolant all over their shop. 

I arrived and tried the key. The ignition switch / steering wheel lock definitely has some issues I'll need to diagnose further. After fiddling a while, I got the key in and the car started right up. It ran smooth and had what sounded like a little lifter tick on startup but it went away after a moment of running. The noise was completely gone the second time I started the car to get it off the trailer. 

So, what's the plan? Now that I know it runs, I'll begin parts collecting. I really need to get it up in the air and have a look around. However, this week I need to prep the race car so we'll see what happens!

That's very good news.

Excellent!!!

enginenerd said:

It's alive!

I arrived and tried the key. The ignition switch / steering wheel lock definitely has some issues I'll need to diagnose further. After fiddling a while, I got the key in and the car started right up. It ran smooth and had what sounded like a little lifter tick on startup but it went away after a moment of running.

My '99 Boxster 2.5 was always a bit noisy on start up, If memory serves correctly, I think the consensus at the time was the timing chains rattling a bit until the oil got flowing.

The chain tensions are hydraulic and it takes a second for them to pump up. Cold starts on mine are a little clattery for a half second or so. I guess Porsche has done a few updates to the tensioner over the years to try and eliminate that with limited success. 

Glad it runs! 

In reply to spandak :

Yeah, mine has it.

edit; Enginerd, watching you knock out each problem is admirable.And encouraging!

I'm spread a bit thin on the vehicular front this week but did manage to snoop around the Porsche a bit yesterday evening. Though it makes almost no sense as it will sit outside for a time, I washed the car. Something about starting with a clean(ish) car gets me more excited to work on it. I think it's actually going to clean up pretty nice once I repair & repaint the front bumper. 

It's amazing what a few minutes of effort do to wheels:

After a quick wash I drove it around the block and pulled it into the garage

I had a look around and didn't see too many issues. All the bushings look pretty good. The suspension appears to be in pretty decent shape despite the best efforts of the salvage yard guys. The brakes and tires are older but have some decent life left. I did see evidence of one oil leak on the RH side of the engine. I'm not sure if this is coming from the valve cover seal, spark plug tubes, or something above them so I will have to investigate further:

Pretty nasty but likely fixable. 

I did find the engine stamp:

The interwebs are full of confusion about which cars have the dual row vs. single row IMS bearings. Looking at the IMS housing part numbers in the Porsche parts catalog, this engine should fall in the dual row range. However, according to forums even this isn't a sure thing and the only thing to do is pull the transmission and look. I'm not that committed to this project yet so I figured I'd have a look at the oil filter and cam deviation angles first. 

I pulled the filter and cut it open:

There were a few very tiny globs of sealant but no sign of bearing material or a significant amount of ferrous material. This was what was on a magnet after sweeping all the folds of the filter:

It certainly doesn't look like filters of the cars experiencing an IMS failure so that's good. 

I replaced the filter and filled up the oil (9 quarts for a 2.7L...holy crap!) 

So in summary, I spent way too long doing a glorified oil change but my buyer's remorse level is steadily declining. 

Usual culprit for an oil leak in that area is the spark plug tubes. Though that looks like it could also be coming from the cam sensor or whatever that thing next to the coil is.

Ha! Talk about buyer’s remorse. I bet you spent less on your basket case than I did on mine (at least relative to the value of the car). Although mine (it’s an Audi)runs I, I’m not as lucky with metal in the oil. Luckily, replacement engines for my heap are $1500. But the slope of my buyer’s remorse curve is going in the opposite direction of yours.

In reply to FatMongo :

Been there before! A friend's B6 S4 showed me enough about Audis to never own one. Ironic that Porsche pulls from the same parts bin but so far it has been easy enough to work on. 

Ok, here's a question for you Porsche experts. I have no idea how I didn't notice this before but now I'll never be able to unsee it. The amber part of the headlamp lenses are entirely different shades. As I'm looking for a replacement RH headlamp, I'd like to figure out how to make them match. Any ideas what is going on here?

Last night I got fed up with waiting for the new radiator to show up and decided to "fix" the old one. I spent some time and plastic welded & epoxied the cracked end tank back together and reinstalled it. I decided now was as good a time as any for a coolant flush so I made this mess.

I filled coolant back up, ran the car a bit, and the radiator "fix" promptly failed and leaked more coolant all over the garage. Oh well. 

FYI, I don't know how you feel about spray painting stuff on the Porsche BUT I've used Tamiya clear amber paint for model cars to match lenses pretty well.

Crankwalk is on target with this. Those lenses were all the same dark amber when the car was new. Some fade faster than others for a number of reasons. If you can open them up I would paint the inside of the faded lens, but be careful, the glue may be stronger than the lens. Paint won't fix it anymore if you break it during disassembly

In reply to crankwalk :

Cool! Was looking for something like this. I'm thinking a couple layers of this until it matches the other side and then a coat of automotive clear over the entire lens. 

In reply to enginenerd :

Use Tamiya clear only over the Tamiya color. Many "automotive" clear coats wil cause the Tamiya to wrinkle. Also some clear will craze the lens, the Tamiya will not.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

Good tip. My only worry is how it will hold up to UV over time

In reply to enginenerd :

Better than the original plastic, not that that is a great endorsement.

Mine are painted, but if I could do it again I'd stick with wrapping the indicator area with coloured vinyl.

I've been on a Porsche hiatus but a bunch of parts showed up so it's time to get rolling again. Apart from the obvious front end crunchiness, there are two problems that annoy me about this car:

1) Convertible top doesn't function

2) Car sometimes stays in accessory mode and steering wheel doesn't lock when key is removed

When I push the button for the convertible top, nothing happens. I'd expect a relay to click, motor to actuate, or some other minor sign of life. The relevant fuses are fine. After a few minutes of poking around, I realized this:

I'm pretty sure the double relay for the convertible top is missing. May have been stolen along with the key at the yard. I think tracking one of these down is my starting point; unfortunately, I haven't had much luck finding a used one yet. 

So, on to the next problem. The car has a brand new battery which I'm assuming was replaced because the PO didn't realize the key issue was draining the battery. On this particular car, sometimes when you remove the key the car still thinks it's inserted. Here's an image of the offending assembly:

First I tried the easy button and replaced the ignition switch (electrical portion seen above). That didn't seem to make much of a difference. I then removed the lock cylinder:

The lock cylinder seems to rotate freely and appears free from damage. That leaves the housing/steering wheel lock assembly -- aptly named the "pistol" on some forums. The thing is, using a screwdriver to actuate it, the pistol seems to function fine. It rotates freely, and when turned to the key off postion, I can hear the steering wheel lock clunk into place as it should. 

So, I'm a bit confused. It seems like the individual parts are working, but as an assembly...not so much. 

Not an entirely exciting post but do any of the 986 crowd on here have ideas? 

I didn't have a lot of time last night but I did get to unbox and install the new radiator! Here's the new one:

Transferring the fan and fan housing over is a simple matter of removing two clips:

And installed:

I then bled the cooling system following the procedure found here.

Everything seems to be working properly. The supply and return hoses to both radiators were hot and each fan did cycle. I let it idle for a while without any overheating issues. I need to reinstall some of the emissions equipment including the charcoal canister but I believe the car is just about driveable! 

The past week or so has been somewhat chaotic. My ITA car got crashed into pretty good at the last race so I've been evaluating how to best repair that for next season. However, a big box of RockAuto parts (including some for this terrible BMW I've been poking around at) showed up along with a care package from resident 986 guru AAZCD. 

Also, I finally got a proper test drive last night (sans front bumper cover.) The car is surprisingly good, especially when an equivalently priced Miata is considered. This car doesn't have the best tires, the dampers are fairly worn, and it desperately needs an alignment but it was still quite fun to drive. 

Anyway, onto the gritty details and some pictures:

The first order of business was to replace any of the bent suspension components. Their geometry was rearranged by the overly enthusiastic forklift operator at the auction yard. Here's a look at the old vs. new end links:

And installed:

I was a bit rushed for time and didn't get pictures of the control arms.

The serpentine belt was hanging on with a hope and a prayer. Luckily it's only about a 5-10 minute job despite being a mid engine car. Pull back the carpeting and remove the access plate. Take a look at that cracking:

Simply relieve tension on the belt and slip it off. Reinstall the new belt the same way. All better!

I even found a bonus earring. Automotive archaology is always weird/fascinating:

I had mentioned that the convertible top was inoperable and it appeared the related relay was missing from the car when I bought it. I plugged the replacement relay in and whaddyaknow both motors work fine. I reattached the linkages and replaced these cables that were cut:

Everything works great! Interestingly the top has a glass rear window with a defroster which I don't think was original. Lacking a boring video but here's the top in both positions:

I also started working on the headlamp replacement. The driver side headlight is relatively clear and may have been replaced at one point. The replacement headlamp had some yellowing so I spent some time sanding and polishing the lens to see if it improved. It did help but I have some more work to do. After a lot of fiddling around with the headlamp tray for alignment, I got things secured in place:

I think the headlights match each other reasonably well. I can continue polishing to get the passenger headlamp lens a bit more clear. I think the next big project is working on the damaged front bumper cover but the car is shaping up to be quite nice. 

In reply to enginenerd :

Great progress! 

How are you polishing the headlight? I’m playing with the idea to grinding down the amber until I have a clear headlight.