1990 Porsche 911 C2, A Story

In reply to mazdeuce:

That right there is what gets most of us men in trouble. After the fact and the opportunity is lost, we may come to realize that the proper response to your wife is, "well, dear, if you would like me to get my own 911, I guess I can do that." But no, we have to say what we think right at that moment, which is some version of "But I did" varying only by the level of frustration/anger.

Decided to use the 911 as a shop truck today and haul my no longer needed Mazda2 wheels down to Winston who just bought a 2 of his own. One wheel in the trunk and three in the back seat and it was perfect. A much better way to spend a couple of hours than driving my truck. I also had Winston take the Porsche for a spin around the block. We may have ourselves another convert.
I'm also remembering how incredible the heat is in this car. Nothing quite like hot air by the time you get to the end of the driveway. It's nice.

I'm not sure which was better: getting free alloys with sticky autoX tires (plus other goodies), or getting to drive that beast of a car! I think it put some extra hair on my chest

[Bueller]"If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."[/Bueller]

Thanks, man!

P.S. I didn't see your garage rehab thread until just now, since I haven't been on the boards lately. If you need/want help with the roof or any of the other construction stuff, I'm game.

Well berkeley.

I saw this guy at a gas station and got to talking old cars with him. This doesn't really have anything to do with the 911 other than we talked 911's for a bit and this is as good an excuse as any to post the picture. Beautiful car.

Those big old cats are beautiful

mazdeuce wrote: Well berkeley.

Yep, you're screwed there.

(Sorry, had to. That really does suck!)

CGLockRacer wrote: Yep, you're screwed there. (Sorry, had to. That really does suck!)

More likely it blows.

I have plugged damage like that with good results. YMMV though.

I would be nervous about plugging that, since it's actually in the sidewall. Doesn't mean I wouldn't try it though.

sethmeister4 wrote: I would be nervous about plugging that, since it's actually in the sidewall. Doesn't mean I wouldn't try it though.

I'd take it somewhere and have them patch it from the inside if it was above the transition from radial belts to thin sidewall. I wouldn't trust a plug there. Since they aren't the most costly of tires... I might just replace it rather than have to think about it every time I load up the right front corner.

Two new ones are on the way. They're about halfway (or a little more) worn on the inside of the tire and I was just about to flip them. If I just replace one now then I'll be chasing uneven wear forever. They're not expensive and this is a car that my wife is driving in Houston downpours so I'm erring on the side of caution. They should be here today and on tomorrow and unless I get the blower motor fixed on the RX7 I'll be autocrossing on them on Sunday.
I will keep the good one in the garage for emergencies. It turns out I can't just head off buy a 255/40-17 at my local tire guy without some wait time and even then I'm paying more than Tirerack.

just read your thread....great story. ive always longed for a early 911. awesome car. ill be watching. i was really liking the reading on how you are learning to drive the rear engine/ rear drive car. im curious to learn some pointers so when i go autocross my bug this summer ill have things to work on. i also come from a fwd/ front engine car for autocross, so it will be quite the learning experience, but also a lot of fun as well.

I'm probably not the right guy to give advice, but figuring out how to keep weight on the front of the car is tricky. On the brakes coming into a corner you can turn in, but once you settle in or accelerate you lose that. It's not like FWD where you're then modulating steering angle and throttle to get the car to keep turning. The rear of the car is literally pushing the front around, which sounds logical, but is really weird feeling the first time you feel it happen.
I did get the new tires on today and drove it around and I'm so in love with this car. The seats and the smell and the visibility and the steering and everything. I love this car. Love it.

I has a sad that these are no longer an unloved cheap 911.

Damn this thread makes me want a Porsche so bad....

turtl631 wrote: I has a sad that these are no longer an unloved cheap 911.

15 years ago when I finished college I wanted to buy a mid 70's 911 in the worst way. I could probably have afforded it, but it would have been dumb. Then I got married and had kids and watched the prices on them got nuts. Over the last five years I could see it happening with the 964 too which is why I grabbed this one.
My guess for the next highly desirable Porsche? Early Caymans. It's a market I'm watching constantly.

I hope the GT3s dont get too crazy with the new PDK only 991 being out, but not counting on it.

From what I've heard, they already have. There is a surge of people who want the "last real manual transmission GT3". Whether that will stick or not I don't know, but GT3's will never be normal guy affordable anyway.

I really enjoyed reading your thread mazdeuce, the trip with your son sounds like such a good experience.

The aero mirrors look great, I've never been a fan of the flag style.

Excellent tale. I enjoyed every page!!

The 911 is just running and driving. I'd say it was boring except it's awesome which is the opposite of boring. There are a still a few small things that need fixing and my wife brought one of those to the top of the list. When it's cold the front hood struts aren't strong enough to hold the hood up. Or sometimes they do, and then you reach into the trunk and the hood bops you on the back of the head. She hates that. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone I made another order to Pelican Parts and picked up a set of hood struts and gave them to her for her birthday. Installing them was another matter. This is the best picture I could get down into the depths of the car where the ball and socket end of the strut attaches. You can kind of see down there if your head is small and you use a flashlight. Of course, as soon as you insert any tool into the area you can no longer see what you're supposed to be doing. It's great fun.
In order to get the socket off the ball down in the black hell of the car you need to use a small screwdriver to pry off a clip. Of course, any screwdriver that is small enough to fit in the space is too short and any screwdriver long enough is too fat. This is why I keep crappy screwdrivers. I modify them with dremel tools into what I need when the need arises.

As with most things Porsche, a five minute job takes 45 minutes of poking around, drinking coffee, trying the wrong tool. Dropping something. Using a magnet to pick it up. Digging through tools to try to find the right tool. Not being able to find that tool. Modifying a tool that's not quite right and then finally spending five minutes getting the five minute job done.
If I ever have to do this again, it really will take five minutes.

What's been happening? For starters I fixed the phantom power drain. It turns out that 911's of this era use a pretty interesting logic. Maybe all German cars do. In this case, what was happening was the battery was draining because the dome light wasn't coming on? What? Really. When you shut off the ignition on the car, the power windows stay energized until you open the door. They know the door is opened because one of the many brains in the car senses that the dome light comes on. If you have a failure in the door switch (common) then the light doesn't come on, the brain doesn't know you ever got out, and the power slowly drains away. I didn't take any pictures, but basically I pulled the switch from the trunk light which is the same switch used in the doors and made the dome light work again. Fixed.
What next? Autocross. The Lone Star Region of the PCA is revitalizing their autocross program and last weekend was the first event of the season. I offered up my car to a friend to co-drive to help boost attendance and we showed up at 7:30 in the rain. I parked next to another friends new C7 and didn't stop drooling all day.
My co-driver and I were assigned to work the computer and handle cone calls (because we've done it before) in the first heat and were left to drive in the third heat. Between working and driving lunch arrived. That's right, the PCA brought lunch out for us. They're an incredibly classy bunch.
The waiting and eating worked out well for us because by the time it was our turn, it was dry.
We were supposed to get 8 runs but ended up with 7 because there was a bit of confusion with the guy working grid and they called in all the workers before we could complain. No problem really. Seven runs, lunch, a cushy work assignment, I love these guys.

mazdeuce wrote: As with most things Porsche, a five minute job takes 45 minutes of poking around, drinking coffee, trying the wrong tool. Dropping something. Using a magnet to pick it up. Digging through tools to try to find the right tool. Not being able to find that tool. Modifying a tool that's not quite right and then finally spending five minutes getting the five minute job done. If I ever have to do this again, it really will take five minutes.

Don't forget the hour on the internet learning how the rest of the world resolved the situation.

When I changed out my hatch struts last month, the left side seriously took 45 minutes. The metal clip that holds the socket part of the joint flew off at 1000 mph. I had to use my head as a prop, because my Hatch Stick (Patent pending) wasn't long enough to fully extend the hatch.

The right side took me 45 seconds.

That controlled, time consuming body roll looks familiar. Perhaps it's time to update the swaybars and look at damper options. The kids are smart. They will get scholarships. It's all good. google Penske ;)

The car looks great. I'm glad your wife is getting some use out of it

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

One of the reasons I invited a co-driver was to watch the car as it runs. I was a bit surprised at the body roll and the fairly slow response coming into cornerers. I had been considering another set of wheels with better tires but I think the chassis is pretty well maxed out at the current grip level. Sway bars and dampers? Oh my god. I'm used to driving cars where you're jumping up and down happy because you can get Koni yellows and one guy somewhere figured out what junkyard bar works. The options for a 964 are staggering in both scope and price.