I'm just back from a quick jaunt through france into Switzerland to take in a couple of alpine passes and back.
We drove some really great roads so if I get a few minutes I might create a quick blog with the route/accommodation details etc and some photos. If I do I will post a link on here in case anyone's interested.
In the meantime I thought I would just create a quick post to say that the odometer in our old 1994 993 cabrio clicked over the 120k milestone during the trip and despite my nervousness beforehand about being so far from home the 993 performed brilliantly.
So after 1,800 miles and five days driving I thought of a couple of minor things to mention.
Heat - by God it was hot, even hotter than here, so I wish I had paid some attention to fixing the air con or at least trying to. We've owned the car for nearly 3 years and the air con has never really worked properly but because the temperature isn't that high in UK usually, even in the summer, and whole point of the cab is having the roof open I never bothered to try and fix it or even re-gas it to see where the problem lies. Having now experienced 40° heat in the car I might just see if the air con can be repaired.
Any tips on where to start with this gratefully received. I thought a simple regass to start with?
Becker satnav - the car has a decent Becker Indy pro fitted and I've always used the radio/phone/Bluetooth/iPod/tune2air functionality and been very pleased with those. But I've never much bothered with the satnav because frankly it's not very intuitive which makes it difficult to use unless you can be bothered to read the instructions. However my Garmin cheap satnav only has UK maps and as the Becker came with a complete set of European discs I decided to persevere and give it a go. It worked really well and at least now I know how to use it. It's a bit annoying sometimes trying to use a satnav where you can't see a map but hey Ho at least it's always in the car.
Cab roof - in the years we've owned the car I've always been mystified by how the electric roof works but also terrified that it looks and sounds so Heath Robinson that I expect it to break at any time. Anyway sods law decreed that whilst it has always worked perfectly across three years in the UK - it ground to a halt, half open, with a nasty snapping sound on the second day of our trip! Luckily I had read about the quick fix in loosening the drive bolts on either side and operating the roof manually so we just did that for the rest of the trip. Anyway I've just spent a less than glamorous but vaguely interesting weekend stripping the whole thing down and fixing the electric mechanism. Thanks to a number of contributors on Rennlist and applying my limited mechanical capabilities I'm delighted to have fixed the roof and might create a separate thread on here for cab owners that combines my limited knowledge with some of the links that I found useful.
All in all a great car to drive on some amazing roads. But I guess you all knew that already!
On the fourth day I mentioned to the wife that we hadn't seen a single other air cooled 911. 5 mins later we saw another 993 cab going in the opposite direction on the Furka pass and then another (again a cab) 10 mins after that - like London buses!!!
Mandatory Reims pit photo and typical French D road below..............
We drove some really great roads so if I get a few minutes I might create a quick blog with the route/accommodation details etc and some photos. If I do I will post a link on here in case anyone's interested.
In the meantime I thought I would just create a quick post to say that the odometer in our old 1994 993 cabrio clicked over the 120k milestone during the trip and despite my nervousness beforehand about being so far from home the 993 performed brilliantly.
So after 1,800 miles and five days driving I thought of a couple of minor things to mention.
Heat - by God it was hot, even hotter than here, so I wish I had paid some attention to fixing the air con or at least trying to. We've owned the car for nearly 3 years and the air con has never really worked properly but because the temperature isn't that high in UK usually, even in the summer, and whole point of the cab is having the roof open I never bothered to try and fix it or even re-gas it to see where the problem lies. Having now experienced 40° heat in the car I might just see if the air con can be repaired.
Any tips on where to start with this gratefully received. I thought a simple regass to start with?
Becker satnav - the car has a decent Becker Indy pro fitted and I've always used the radio/phone/Bluetooth/iPod/tune2air functionality and been very pleased with those. But I've never much bothered with the satnav because frankly it's not very intuitive which makes it difficult to use unless you can be bothered to read the instructions. However my Garmin cheap satnav only has UK maps and as the Becker came with a complete set of European discs I decided to persevere and give it a go. It worked really well and at least now I know how to use it. It's a bit annoying sometimes trying to use a satnav where you can't see a map but hey Ho at least it's always in the car.
Cab roof - in the years we've owned the car I've always been mystified by how the electric roof works but also terrified that it looks and sounds so Heath Robinson that I expect it to break at any time. Anyway sods law decreed that whilst it has always worked perfectly across three years in the UK - it ground to a halt, half open, with a nasty snapping sound on the second day of our trip! Luckily I had read about the quick fix in loosening the drive bolts on either side and operating the roof manually so we just did that for the rest of the trip. Anyway I've just spent a less than glamorous but vaguely interesting weekend stripping the whole thing down and fixing the electric mechanism. Thanks to a number of contributors on Rennlist and applying my limited mechanical capabilities I'm delighted to have fixed the roof and might create a separate thread on here for cab owners that combines my limited knowledge with some of the links that I found useful.
All in all a great car to drive on some amazing roads. But I guess you all knew that already!
On the fourth day I mentioned to the wife that we hadn't seen a single other air cooled 911. 5 mins later we saw another 993 cab going in the opposite direction on the Furka pass and then another (again a cab) 10 mins after that - like London buses!!!
Mandatory Reims pit photo and typical French D road below..............
