Running Report 1 - November 2001

History

As a boy aged seven, I saw a car stop and allow myself and my mother to cross a Zebra crossing. The car was something so spectacularly visually it was breathtaking.
I asked my mother what that car was and she replied, “it’s a Porsche” from that day my life revolved around Porsche cars.

I wrote a letter to the local dealer in Leicestershire requesting a brochure, that letter took hours to write as my handwriting was too school boyish to be plausible.

One evening returning home from school my mother said to me “today we had a knock at the door” I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure if this would be another complaining neighbour about my go carting antics across their front gardens. “And do you know who its was” mother loudly continued, “it was a well dressed young man suggesting that whilst he was in the area that perhaps Mr Dolman would like a test drive of the new Porsche 911, and I said Mr Dolman isn’t here at the moment, he’s at school. The salesman laughed and continued on his way, but I did get loads of sales brochures out of it, Result.

My first Porsche

So this was the start of something special. I purchased my first Porsche 911 SC 3.0 at the age of 28, A relative was looking to sell his 911, so I called him and suggested I take a look, I looked, went for a test drive, got out the car shaking and said “yep I’ll have that thanks” so I sold the Saab to my sister and raised the remaining cash to buy the SC.

My First 964

At the age of 31 it was time to move up to something quicker. My local dealer at the time was Arlington Porsche in Northampton so I drove over one night to see what was on offer, the showroom was closed but on the forecourt was a black C2 coupe and a very green C4 both in fantastic condition but with no prices displayed, the next day I telephoned Arlington Porsche to ask the prices, the Green C4 at £34k and the black C2 at £33k, I promptly replied before he could offer a test drive, thanks very much goodbye.

But after dreaming and some thinking the “I want one” was kicking in big time so I went back, talked with the sales guys and walked away the owner of a 93 black C2 with OPC history, 50k on the clock and I was happy.

I’ve owned the C2 for two years and with nearly 98k on the clock its still a fantastic car to drive, its totally similar to the old SC but with more power a little more refinement also the back end doesn’t seem to drift quite as easily as the SC, and the heating works too.

Whilst awaiting delivery of my 964 I asked Arlington’s to ensure the distributor drive belt modification had been done, they said they wouldn’t let the car leave without it, 3 days later the belt broke, so I stopped at the next lay-by and rang Arlington’s. They suggested if the car still ran then to drive to the garage so they could check the car over. I suggested to them that it maybe the drive belt and they suggested it wouldn’t be, it was the drive belt. No damage caused they fixed it and everything was fine thereafter.

A close friend purchased a black 968 cab from Arlington’s, he had handling problems from the start with this car and it went to and froe from Arlington’s with no faults found, so he took it a another friend who is a tyre specialist, verdict all the tyres where faulty the internal rigidity of the tyres had broken down, verdict, very dangerous and all need replacing.

I’m living in Cambridgeshire now and found Lancaster Porsche to be fantastic. The servicing side of things is expensive but at least the cars being looked after and things are done properly when they service it for me.

Modifications

What else can you do to a 964 to make it any better. I think half the time we get used to the power and want more then more and more still where does it stop.

Look at the picture below, that’s my 964 behind the RX7 which belongs to my friend Dave.

That’s a twin rotary wankel jobby 651cc per rotor or 1,300cc with twin turbos. Once Dave followed me home from a classic car meeting and I thought tonight would be a good night to blow that jap crap into touch. At 160mph and still climbing the Rx7 was flashing to get past.

I don’t really want to change the car too much, I like the smooth lines, I sometimes think the after market spoilers tend to look a little cheap and “stuck on”, but each to their own. After buying the C2 I had to replace the D90’s as soon as possible, I purchased cup1’s from specialist cars of Malton all for about £900, that improved the appearance of the car dramatically, and recently I've replaced the steering wheel for a RS style wheel.

The Air box has been removed and replaced with a cone filter and the rear back box under the rear wing’s been replaced by a G pipe which sounds better too.

At this moment I'm still waiting for my larger throttle body and chip from 930 Motorsport. I will fit the throttle body first to see what improvement that gives and the chip later as I'm not convinced the chip will give an increase in performance.

Problems

Maintenance

Servicing by Lancaster Porsche Cambs

Some things I like to do myself, recently I replaced all the brake disks, pads, wear indicators and shims all for just over £300. All OPC parts.

The metal oil pipe under the rear wheel arch, notice the pipe is copper and not steel.

At this time Mr Porsche as the wife calls it isn’t doing much other than standing in the new garage. The house we’ve recently bought is taking all of my time but I will be back soon to let you all know how I've got on with the throttle body and chip upgrade.

Running Report 2 - May 2002

Well folks, not too much to say this time around. Mr Porsche has spent most of the winter in his garage with the occasional day trip should the weather be kind enough to allow such events. I made the mistake of cruising the internet looking for another toy to play with, my first thought was to get another Porsche but I decided against that on the basis that I've already got one, but I've always fancied a 928 and the prices are reasonable its just finding a good one at a sub five grand. Anyway I did find a 1972 Mercedes Benz 280 CE, it was cheap £700 and needed little to get it running, but a career change means I have to part with it and get a van!! Preferably an A35 van which I've found and is currently being painted.

My last report I was still waiting for my chip and larger throttle body, well they arrived. The new chip had 3.6 RS written on it, so I assume the chip is to RS spec, the throttle body is much larger, standard 964 RS bored out an extra 4mm

I fitted the chip first as I wanted to see the benefits of each upgrade. The ECU itself as you are all aware sits under the passenger seat, once removed the ECU then needs to be opened and that’s the hard part but I took my time and looked at everything to understand how it comes apart and after about an hour the car was ready for the test drive first impressions, a lot more torque low down in the rev range very easy to light up the rears through first and second gear on a damp road.

As for the throttle body well that’s a real pain limited access to work, small bolts to get out etc, takes about an hour, the use of foul language on a regular basis helps and be prepared to lose some blood. After fitting the throttle body the first thing I noticed was the lightness of the accelerator pedal and how quickly the engine revs, on the test drive I managed to wheel spin most of the way up the high street. The accelerator is either On or OFF that’s how it feels once the new body is fitted.

I would recommend the chip and throttle body change. Colin at 930 Motorsport thinks I need to upgrade to the Motek engine management and larger green injectors, mega bucks creeping in here, I said I would have to sell the wife first and he recommended sending in a picture as a px deal might work.

The only major thing that needs to be done is rust, at some point in Mr Porsches life a Muppet decided to remove the screen with cheese wire, with time and the elements its rusting so I think a repaint of the roof and windscreen shelf are required possibly the summer time.

Recently I noticed the exhaust was blowing from the cat to the rear silencer so I thought five minute job but actually took half a day, but it brought back the roar from the g-pipe mod and the car feels quicker too.

One thing I would like to do quite soon is the suspension, reduce the ride height and stiffen it up little, many thanks to those that have supplied pictures of their 964’s. After a suspension change some of them look great and others just look too low, but most of you seem to rate the Eibach and H&R springs. A friend on mine used to own a suspension manufacturing company and sole distributor for Eibach, I might need to speak to him to see what he can get his hands on, then fit them myself and get Lancaster to set it up for me.

Urgent things to do are sunroof seal and the horn which sounds constantly the sunroof is going to be a pig and the horn I think is just the replay, I hope.

Running Report 3 - November 2002

Career

Well things really have taken a change this year, I moved out of IT and became a Ceramic wall and floor tiler, don’t ask me why the change it just seemed a good idea at the time. After 12 years in IT I wanted a career change, its hard work but I enjoy it. A customer in the village wanted me to lay tiles on the kitchen floor, he saw my 964 when I quoted and mentioned his brother had just bought a 993 Carrera S, I managed to see it in more detail whilst I was working and spoke to the owner Nick Johnson who is a member of the titanic 993 register.

Porsche 964 C2

As for Mr Porsche, well nothing too drastic has happened in the last 6 months, I’ve just had the service done at Lancaster OPC in Cambridge, which was reasonable, and the car feels much better too, Martin at Lancaster said the C2 was looking in great shape for its age and mileage. One criticism of Lancaster Porsche, they always valet the car after a service and too be honest it always looks like a child washed it, so next time I will tell them not to wash the car.

Martin mentioned the timing chain covers where leaking oil but not badly. As the cars done 103,000 miles it will have to be done when and if the engine needs a rebuild.
I treated myself to the OP Car care kit which comes in a very cheap Aluminium sided case, It has all the cleaning products you’d expect, but it doesn’t come with Alloy wheel cleaner of tyre cleaner. The results are very good, the shampoo that’s added to the water does a better job that Auto Glym, Then the pre wax cleanser is used to remove un-washable dirt, this in itself leaves the paint looking brilliant, and then the hard wax is added. It’s very easy to use and easy to remove.


The weekend after the service Liz and I drove to see friends in Coleford near Bath, 190 miles each way and it was nice to take the Porsche for a decent drive. On the return journey home it rained heavily. The car became damp and misty inside, on further investigation I found the main power connection to the fan not connected. Thanks to Andy Roe for his help on that one.

Since I last reported I mentioned the problem with the horn sounding continually, the problem was the horn switch in the middle of the wheel itself so it wasn’t a major problem to fix. It’s a replacement item RS jobby but the plastic mould for the centre piece was back to front so I used my hand grinder to remove excess plastic and it works fine.

The sunroof on the other hand still needs to be done and I was going to ask Martin to deal with this on the service but I forgot, so it maybe something I have to do.

Whilst the C2 was at Lancaster I asked Martin to give me some ideas on suspension kits for the C2, the only option available through the OPC was the RS kit £1100.00 plus £380.00 to fit, I promptly decided against it, personally I think the Eibach springs maybe the way forward and I might go as far as to fit them myself then get Lancaster OPC to do the geometry setup. If I do this then I will document the procedure and take suitable photos.

I don’t drive the 964 as much as I would like, the only times really are when I go out to quote on tiling jobs, My other half thinks the Porsche puts the wrong impression across but I usually get 9 out of 10 quotes so I don’t see it as a problem.

Another job that’s been hanging around for a while is what to do with the callipers. I’ve noticed the lacquer had started to peel so I decided to do something about it. Here’s what to do. Remove the wheel for better access, properly clean the calliper, I used WD40 on a cloth and T-Cut to remove the stubborn brake dust. The T-Cut leaves the callipers looking pretty good at this point. I used the Black paint touch up to paint flaky areas and once dry I then paint the clear lacquer on most of the Calliper. The paint and the lacquer both dry and leave a good smooth finish.
 

Future Things to Do

More pictures on http://www.carrera2.co.uk/mycarrera2.htm

Until next time take care.
Giles

Running Report 4 - May 2003

Hello all

Well I’m not sure what to say really, nothing much has happened in the last few months. I proposed to my partner in Dec 2002 on her birthday and since then it’s been full steam with the wedding plans. The main prioity before the wedding is to finished the garden as the Marquee will be in it and for the last 18 months the garden has been mud only.

As for Mr Porsche well he’s fine and well, all the things ive wanted to do haven’t happened and that’s to be expected due to the wedding but by the end of June Liz and I should have more time to relax and do the things we want to do.

The recent modification to the C2 has been and cup bypass. Made by Dansk and purchased from Bert at Berlyn Services, Its made a little difference to the car and it sounds better too, the G-Pipe has more volume but always sounds like an Escort popular plus with a drain pipe whereas the Cup Pipe gives a more pleasing sound as the revs increase.

The Austin A35 hasn’t changed at all, but the plan is to finish the car by autumn, wife permitting. I recently spent the day with my parents in Leicestershire and after seeing my fathers latest purchase, a new sit on tractor mower, I asked him what his plan was with the VW Bettle1303 S rotting in the corner of the barn. Anyway long story cut short I’m hoping to get my hands on it by the end of the year and next year start stripping and rebuilding the chassis, so eventually I can build a 550 Spider or 718 RSK replica……. Yes, Yes I hear you all shouting and spitting it’s a Replica and not a proper Porsche, but lets face it I cant just go out there and buy a 550 or 718 because I haven’t got a million dollars just lying around, and besides its built on a Beetle chassis so that must count for something.

As for Mr Porsche. Well this year not much will happen to it, the handling isn’t up to much at the moment and my next purchase will have to be the Coils springs and Shocks. The package will be the Eibach Pro kit with adjustable everything, ride height and damper setting. I will fit the package myself and then get OPC to do the alignment afterwards. 

Until next time drive safe.

Giles