Nick is one of the 911 & Porsche World Running Reports contributors.  His reports for them are reproduced here.

Nick's Running Reports

Running Report 1 - November 2001

Introduction

As this is my first running report perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm a teacher in North Norfolk and the car in the picture is my third 911 and she is a 1990 Carrera 4 with just under 74000 miles on the clock. My earlier 911s were a 1978 SC and a 1984 3.2 Carrera. This is the best 911 I have therefore owned, by quite a margin.

I bought the car in October 1999 without even an inspection or a test drive but I did know a lot about her and that she had been well looked after with a full OPC service history. Thankfully, it turned out to be the good buy that I was expecting it to be. The first job was to have her serviced and this was performed by Brian Daniels of Blakeney Garage ( 01263 741456 ). This establishment is about as far as one can get from an OPC but Brian's credentials are impeccable. He was workshop foreman at Lancaster's in Norwich and when they ceased to be Porsche main agents Brian set up with partner Dave and took over Blakeney Garage. The fact that it is half a mile from my house is a real bonus.

The service went well and so that was that for about 5 months when I decided to change the brake fluid. This is a straightforward job, one I have done many times on other cars that I have owned but things are never that easy. Basically the bleed nipples on the front callipers had seized. One sheared off and so the only solution was to remove both front callipers and send them off for the offending bleed nipples to be drilled out. Fortunately JZ Machtech managed this as it was a job I didn't really want to do myself. New nipples were fitted ( £9 from an OPC and 99p from a local motor factor by the way ) meant that the brake fluid could now be changed.

Bits & Pieces

About this time I answered an ad in 911 and Porsche World and so became the owner of a set of 17 inch turbo replica rims. These really improve the looks of the car and also give the steering a marked improvement in feel. Really getting into the idea of doing bit and pieces to the car saw the installation of a K and N filter and after a look at the pelican parts web site I also drilled the air box, which is now showing lots of holes and not much plastic on its outer cover. Full throttle at 4000 revs makes an awesome sound but part throttle cruising is no louder than before. Well worth the effort and highly recommended.

The final job during the summer of 2000 was a complete oil change for the gearbox and front differential. Fortunately, at the school where I teach we have a hoist and so it didn't take long to get the front and rear undertrays off, drain out the old oil and refill with new, semi-synthetic oil. The gear change is now much smoother and this is another job that I would recommend. At the same time it also enabled me to give the underneath a good clean and a thorough engine inspection revealed no oil leaks ( phew ! ) so after a good going over with a wax spray all is now protected down under.

Wear & Tear

Although my car is a second car I do like to keep her active and even in winter do not like leaving her more than two weeks without a bit of exercise. The main problem in this neck of the woods is that the roads in winter are absolutely filthy, with run off from the fields, farm traffic dropping massive quantities of mud everywhere etc. Call me stupid if you will but I hate having this stuff coating everything and so the underneath of the car gets a regular cleaning. Whilst doing this earlier this year and with the MOT due I took the opportunity to have a good look at the brake hoses. The rears were ok but both the front hoses had identical large bulges in the rubber just where the rubber entered the metal crimped part at its outer end. This was serious and looks like a bit of a design fault as the hose turns through quite an angle here and after 10 years of suspension motion the rubber had obviously weakened. Anyone reading this with a similar age of car on its original brake hoses is advised to have a good look at them.

Undoing brake lines is never easy but I was lucky in that I found some connections that could be undone and with some gentle hack sawing freed the old hoses without any damage to the original lines. Needless to say all the bits went back together with copper ease but it would be nice if these parts were assembled with copper ease in the first place.

And that just about brings me up to date. The car is going exceptionally well and I have just replaced the distributor drive belt, but more about that next time, plus what happened when my brother and I decided to change the sparkplugs which as you know is a simple job involving the removal of the exhaust system. In the meantime, if anyone out there wants to send me an email on anything Porsche 964 related, then please do so.

Running Report 2 - February 2002

First of all, a thank you to everyone who has emailed me regarding the last running report. From Texas and Toronto to all over the UK, all your emails are most welcome.

At the end of my last report I said that I would give you details of how I went about changing the drive belt for the dual distributors that are found on the engines in these cars. Although the belt on my distributors was intact I though it would be a good idea to change it and also fit a breather kit to hopefully keep it in good condition. The first thing that I did was ask for advice using the Pelican Parts bulletin board ( www.pelicanparts.com ) and was very happy to have a couple of replies directing me to a web site where there are appropriate instructions. Having read these instructions several times I decided to give the job a go and ordered the drive belt and the breather kit from Pelican Parts. Although the web site gave quite detailed instructions there were one or two bits that I had to figure out for myself but the real point of no return came when I drilled out the pin that holds the drive gear onto the primary shaft. The job took me all day and putting everything back together again with the twin rotor arms correctly aligned ( both to each other and to the engine ) certainly added to my collection of grey hairs.

At the same time I replaced both distributor caps and rotor arms as they were showing signs of wear. When the time came to start the engine it was with considerable relief that it started on the button and had a smooth idle so it was out for a test drive which revealed no problems, so it was home for a well deserved beer. If anyone reading this decides to try this job then please feel free to send me an email as I might be able to give you a few hints.

My next piece of routine maintenance was to change the spark plugs. When I bought the car I was told by the previous owner that these had recently been changed and so when I had the car serviced by Brian Daniels at Blakeney Garage ( 01263 741456 ) he basically did everything except the plugs. As many of you will be aware, to change the top set of plugs in these engines is relatively simple and requires only the hot air blower and air filter to be removed. To change the bottom set of plugs requires most of the exhaust system to be removed which is somewhat more demanding. Fortunately, at the school where I teach we have a car hoist and so one day in my last summer holidays this was used and with the rear of the car on axle stands I was able to remove the catalytic converter and the final exhaust box. This revealed all the heat shields which were removed and cleaned. It was then very straightforward to replace the plugs and put everything back together. The drive home from school was very revealing as a simple change of plugs had made a significant difference to the performance of the car. Throttle response was much better and the way in which the engine now responds is awesome.

Some people suggest that the 964 model 911s are to be avoided and that you should spend some extra money on a 993 or save some money buying a 3.2 Carrera. My response to that is that if you drive a 3.2 Carrera and then drive a good 964 you will come away very impressed indeed. A good 964 with its engine running properly is a really impressive piece of kit. There are good 964s out there and when you find one you will not be disappointed. They are also ten to fifteen grand cheaper than a 993.

With my C4 now running superbly and with my birthday rapidly approaching, I indulged myself and bought the factory parts picture book for the 964 range. This was supplied ( with a few extra goodies, thank you Andrew ) ) by Gmund Books ( 01924 264936 ) and consists of many exploded diagrams of these cars. This is a worthwhile investment for anyone contemplating some of their own maintenance and at under £60 very good value.

The final job of my summer holidays was to get the air conditioning properly sorted. This has always been relatively weak in its performance and the main reason that I had neglected it was due to conflicting advice regarding a change of gas. The old gas ( R12 ) is now banned and the new gas ( R134a ) is not fully compatible with the components in these earlier cars. A phone call to Motor Climate Services ( 0121 766 5006 ) finally gave me some clear and unambiguous advice and even better, there was a local agent only 15 miles away who could perform the conversion. The result of this is that the air con system was purged of its old gas, pressure tested, converted to run with the new gas and a new condenser fitted for just over £250. This is a lot cheaper than has been suggested by others and all being well a recharge every other year should keep things running correctly.

My 964 continues to give excellent service. True, I have spent money on it this year but this has mainly been either routine or preventative maintenance plus the air con. Is it worth it you might ask when my annual mileage is only 1500miles ? The answer to that question simply requires a good firm prod on the throttle in third gear with about 3000 revs showing. The way she goes and the sound she makes never fails to bring a smile to my face and almost makes me forget about the expenditure.