New to Porsche and 911s: 997.1 4S content

[MaxA]

Koti Autotalli looks like a nice place, but there's got to be some backstory as I can't help noticing that it means 'home garage' in Finnish.

Yeah, I read that somewhere but will ask them next time I stop by. I believe the owners had something to do with Caffeine and Machine at the beginning...

Well that makes sense, as the Finns do drink a great deal of coffee, and they're pretty good at engineering too. Sano terve (= send my regards).

 

[spinnaker]

from: https://kotiautotalli.com/pages/journal

As our name suggests, the garage is at the heart of our home. The workshop is not tucked away without view or access. Instead it's part of our experience. Functioning day to day, the workshop will see the preparation of MUTT Motorcycles for their lucky new owners along with ongoing care for the MUTT community. Side by side with our own KOTI Autotalli custom builds.


HOME Hangout

Come and spend some good quality time with us, whether you've come to chill out, relax or just take a break from the road. We'll be here in our HQ to host you!

Throughout the year, we'll be hosting events, builds and collaborations with the industry for all to be a part of. We are here to engage with you, the community, and embrace all things with a motor. 2 wheels or 4 wheels.


HOME Café

Welcomed with a smile to the KOTI home. Enjoy a crafted cup of coffee, a toe warming brew or a hands down game changer of a hot chocolate and soak KOTI in. Meet people, watch the garage creations unfold, brows the retail goodies and tuck into a handmade sugar kick!

 

[ianwC4S]

Hi Rich,

We met at Center Gravity on a Saturday afternoon, you were there for the day having some work done and geometry set-up and I arrived on the afternoon for my 997.2 C4S health check (you've posted the photo of the 2 cars earlier in the thread).

Your car is looking fabulous, I've been watching your thread as we seem to be looking to complete similar work. Suspension refresh & geometry set-up completed at CG following my health check and looking to get the front end of mine resprayed in the new year as it's done 116k and has the stone chips to prove it, then looking to get it detailed along with a ceramic coating...what made you decide to go with GTechniq?

Ian

 

[Flyingelburro]

Hi Rich,

We met at Center Gravity on a Saturday afternoon, you were there for the day having some work done and geometry set-up and I arrived on the afternoon for my 997.2 C4S health check (you've posted the photo of the 2 cars earlier in the thread).

Your car is looking fabulous, I've been watching your thread as we seem to be looking to complete similar work. Suspension refresh & geometry set-up completed at CG following my health check and looking to get the front end of mine resprayed in the new year as it's done 116k and has the stone chips to prove it, then looking to get it detailed along with a ceramic coating...what made you decide to go with GTechniq?

Ian

Hi Ian, Great to see you on here. Thanks for the kind words, I'm over the moon with my car, it now both goes and looks great! GTechniq seems to be highly regarded and Greg who did it is a proper car geek, he suggested that it was the best option so I just went with it.

What did yours need doing to it at CG in the end? I remember you being pretty local, do you have any favourite spots to aim for as I'm always on the look out for new cafes or places to walk the dog as excuse to go driving

 

[spinnaker]

My car was ceramic coated by Gtechniq by the previous owner a few years ago and I have been really impressed with the difference it makes in keeping the car clean. I have gradually picked up some of their other maintenance products and they have all been really good at their unique applications.

It is all the sweeter that the previous owner failed to mention that it had been ceramic coated anywhere in his AT ad and something I stumbled upon when I found the Gtechniq warranty sticker on the windscreen during the first wash under my ownership!

 

[Flyingelburro]

So, a lot has happened since my last update, I got a new job and we're now living in Sweden!

Obviously I wasn't going to leave the 911 behind, even though I've gone to work for an EV battery company. Backpeddling to last autumn and with the prospect of moving to Scandinavia in winter I started getting the car ready for serious cold.

First off was a set of winter tyres. I wanted to get a dedicated set of wheels/tyres for winter so I got a set of Carrera 3 wheels second hand. The wheels are freshly refurbished and are in great nick. It was reeeaaalllyyy difficult to find winter tyres for the wheel size but having bit the bullet and really liking the wheels I persevered and eventually ended up with a set of Pirelli Sotto Zeros, new fronts and part worn rears. I had ordered new rears but they didn't arrive in time and in the 3 or 4 weeks in the run up to leaving the UK no-one could tell me where they physically were or when they might arrive. The part worn rears are passed 6 years old but they are legal and have plenty of tread - I managed to get them fitted the day before we were due to leave the UK.

Treated the Carrera 3s to some Poorboy's wheel wax, it's meant to make it easier to keep them clean (jury is still out on that as I've not washed the car properly yet).

Next up was a replacement windscreen as the original had stone chips in that I was worried would grow after some freeze thaw cycles. Autoglass had one in stock and did a great job on my driveway within a week of first calling my Insurance company.

Next up was more preventative maintenance. I booked the car in with Rich at PCT Select for an early engine oil and filter change, general inspection, replacement of corroded exhaust manifold bolts/nuts/gaskets and low temperature thermostat. After this the car went around the corner (literally) to Mike at The Classic Car Works who removed all the underbody panels the steam cleaned the underside and applied dinitrol underbody wax and injected dinitrol cavity wax. Mike sent me a ton of photos but here is one of the underside after.

I didn't think it was fair on the summer wheels/tyres just be left to fend for themselves so I got a dolley from Machine Mart and OEM coats from Design 911. This photo really annoys me, in future I will make sure they are always right side up and aligned:

So, after several weeks (and major winter wheel / tyre stress & faff) we were ready to go to Sweden (via France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany).

 

[Flyingelburro]

Late January we left the midlands and headed south to get the Eurotunnel then aimed at Rostock in Germany to get the overnight ferry to southern Sweden.

The car was awesome all the way to our new home, super comfy and very good at gt duties. As we got further north we got more and more admiring glances - I guess they don't see many 911s in full winter with a roofbox and big "UK" stickers on the back.

 

[Flyingelburro]

Late January we left the midlands and headed south to get the Eurotunnel then aimed at Rostock in Germany to get the overnight ferry to southern Sweden.

The car was awesome all the way to our new home, super comfy and very good at gt duties. As we got further north we got more and more admiring glances - I guess they don't see many 911s in full winter with a roofbox and big "UK" stickers on the back.

 

[Flyingelburro]

The local road to our house is less well maintained in snow than the major ones. After snowfall and a couple of days it ends up compacted in sheet ice, it's hard to walk on so it's surprising how much grip decent winter tyres get.

Particularly if you're still thinking about buying a 911, don't let anyone tell you that they are not practical, the pile of stuff is what fitted inside the car and roofbox, to last us in our new house until our furniture arrived, including two large duffel bags, 2 camp chairs etc.

 

[Flyingelburro]

Last weekend we drove from home in the outskirts of Stockholm to Vaxholm which is not far away but is the gateway to the Stockholm archipelago, we took the long way back. Sweden is not short of castles and awesome forest roads, looking forward to much more exploring 8)

 

[Moko]

It's great to see a 997 being used in difficult conditions and not just wrapped up for the winter.

Just wondering which roof bar system you are using as I've never seen an all black set up?

 

[tob_today]

Great story & adventures - looks like good choice with the 4wd.

Also good everyone knows you are from UK with that subtle sticker

 

[tom_nieto]

Awesome work! Not sure my 2S convertible would fare quite so well for winter touring duties (mostly the lack of a roof box!). Winter tyres seem to have been worth it, I presume are they a legal requirement in Sweden?

 

[Flyingelburro]

It's great to see a 997 being used in difficult conditions and not just wrapped up for the winter.

Just wondering which roof bar system you are using as I've never seen an all black set up?

Thanks, I know it's not the most sensible thing to do but sensible is boring and at least the underside is covered in dinitrol and the top in Gtechniq.

The roof bar system is Thule Wingbar Edge, they do an option with bits of silver or all black which I thought would look best on my car.

 

[Flyingelburro]

Great story & adventures - looks like good choice with the 4wd.

Also good everyone knows you are from UK with that subtle sticker

Yes no mistaking that it's a UK car! In the next week or two I'll need to kick off re-registering it in Sweden so in a couple of months it'll have Swedish plates.