Right then, so I enjoyed being back in a 911 for last summer, even though I only had a few decent drives out in it for Sunday lunches etc.
It didn't and still doesn't excite me that much visually, but I know it will once I'm done, so that's ok for now.
Driving wise it's every bit a 911 and to be honest for the price the driving experience is just fantastic.
Again it will be even better eventually.
Ok, so obviously with any used car once you start using them you get a feel or an ear for any little niggles.
I had the car booked in with my mate/Indy Jamie Nelson, Nelson Porsche in October, to carry out annual maintenance and whatever else, so I made a note of everything I wanted doing. Jamie was going to go right through the car too to no doubt find even more, so we could plan everything I wanted for the following spring (which is now fast approaching).
All the following issues were found/treated/reported last October, but I'll maybe put them into little bite size posts as and when I have time.
The worst thing on my car was that by the end of summer there was an almighty creaking from the drivers side front corner.
It was fine whenever I set off but would come on over 15 or 20 miles.
It was a seized bush in the coffin arm that heated up with use, then expanded, which in turn made it heat up and expand even more, until the creaking was really loud.
Rather embarrassing when driving past people.
The remedy was of course 2 new lower coffin arms which were given to me free by Craig.
I've covered these before on various coffin arm threads so feel free to skim through it if you're familiar with them but I'll repeat it for anyone thinking of doing it.
Power flex adjustable camber bushes.
Long story short Craig's car had nearly new front arms and he went for an alignment. For some reason he could barely get any negative camber on one side so decided to re-bush the arms with the black series outer bushes and adjustable inner bushes.
On returning for another alignment expecting to adjust the bushes with the C spanner as required, he quickly realised you cannot budge them once fitted.
3 spanners later and lots of swearing Craig bit the bullet and purchased a pair of Elephant Racing rose jointed adjustable arms. Job jobbed.
So when my creaking started Craig gave me the arms and between me, Craig and Jamie we decided the best way to fit them would be with the bushes in the maximum camber position. Then when I went for alignment we could dial some back out using the top mounts.
So these were fitted. Notice the 3 spanners. Powerflex were very helpful to be fair and kept sending out new ones as they bent and even revised the spanner design, but just be aware that the bushes cannot be adjusted on the car as claimed.
So as I pass my local alignment place on the way back from Jamie's (which is 50 miles away) I popped in for an alignment.
I just had them set the front to -2 degrees and the rear to -1.5 and went with that.
I want to renew everything next winter so setup isn't critical for this year. Although it's perfectly fine anyway and drives great now.
Jamie had reported my rear bushes were staring to show signs of perishing and also my anti roll bar and bushes were looking a bit weathered. All to be sorted in due course.
Another issue, that I'd found when poking around the offside front suspension, was that some bozo in the past had been whacking the front hub with a mallet in an effort to split the ball joint from it.
This had caused a sharp feathered edge that they didn't bother dressing off, so it was now digging into the rubber ball joint cover on the new track rod end.
This had in turn oval'd the steel cup up inside the hub. Jamie had a used one in his spares cave, so fitted that.
He dressed the feathered edge off and built it back up.
While working under the front of the car he inspected the steering rack and found the PAS hose crimp to be corroded and on its last legs. This was replaced with a new jubilee clip. Well worth checking as a few lads in here have had failures.
More to follow. Cheers.