Fixing minor cosmetic items

I did a little work on the car since my last post. I'm still up in the air about the car. In the meantime, I decided to clear up a few minor imperfections. One of the P.O. replaced the drivers side headlight with a H4, but did not replace the passenger side. I ordered a new H4 from Pelican Parts and replaced it. This went fairly well, but I was glad to have the help of my cousin Lew. He noticed that the painted cover hooks onto the fender at the top. Without that, I might have lost the cover at the first corner.

I also replaced the engine bay light bulb. Dumb, but it was driving me nuts. Every time I checked the oil in the dark, I could never see what was going on. With the new bulb, the light works fine. Now I can see under the deck lid - yea!

I then tackled the shield on the front hood. I had to go out and get a 8mm deep well socket at Sears (thanks Steve!). After I had the right tool, I started cranking on it. And cranking on it. And cranking on it. Nothing seemed to be happening. I took a look with a flashlight, speed nut is there, no movement downwards however. I took another look in the book - no help or hints. I finally decided to just pry up a little on the shield as I cranked with the socket. POP, up it came. The new one popped in fairly well, but the posts are not exactly aligned with the holes in the hood. It took a little force to drop the shield into place. Otherwise uneventful install.

Speaking of oil, I don't seem to be losing or burning any at all. I have none on the ground and the dip stick is still reading the same - yes I have the engine up to temperature and running - I learn. Slowly sometimes, but still I can be taught new tricks. Only sign I have of the broken head stud is gas mileage being low. No "odd" noises in the engine. Weird.

I washed the car, inside and out. I removed a bunch of dust that was annoying me and I fed the seats and other leather bits some "hide food" from Mothers. Mostly neets foot oil and lanolin. I was amazed at how much the seats soaked up. Many of the little scratches and discoloration disappeared after applying the lotion. I'm sure they are back now, but it was encouraging.

I threw a birthday party for myself on Friday. I think a great time was had by all. Just wanted to say "Hey, I'm 40 now" with a bunch of friends. I put together some beer, pizza and chicken tenders for the group.

Previous Owners

Hey - if any of the previous owners of the car are reading the blog, please contact me. I would love to hear more about the history of the car, modifications you have done, etcetera. The S/N is 9119200401. The car was sold to Stoddard sometime last year.

2nd & 3rd PCA Event

I got out to another PCA event - the new member party. This actually was a few weeks ago, right after the photography event. Duff and I had a great time at the event. We attended with some trepidation, as we did not know anyone and we are shy people at the best of times. Everyone there made a real effort to be nice to us. They came up, introduced themselves, talked about their cars and generally were very friendly. I met a number of other SC owners. Most had taken a carburated approach to improving performance. Listening to them chat, I was very glad that I joined the group and am looking forward to other events. I gathered information on a garage tour, the DE events, the autocross events and a winery tour. The group seems to have a very good time together.

The 3rd event was a turbo retrospective at North Olmsted Porsche. They put on a very nice event - having morning breakfast pastery out, a number of turbo cars and techs on hand to talk about the vehicles. One tech, Chris Young, seemed very knowledgeable about the older models. He had a few SC's in his work area - one a original slant nose that was in the process of a turbo upgrade. Again, great event. I only hope I can get my car out of the shop in time for a few events later this year.

Recent developments

I got an interesting email from Chris Young, the mechanic who did the post purchase inspection. He is suggesting purchasing a 2nd 911 SC with a good motor, swapping the engine and then selling the 2nd 911. My cost would be 1) the carrying cost of a 2nd 911, 2) his labor and 3) any difference between the purchase price and the sale price of the 2nd 911 SC. I guess it all depends on the price of the other 911 . . . This way leads to madness.

Well, I got the news today, oh BOY!

I finally took the 911 in for it's inspection today. Got some seriously bad news. The engine has a number of broken headstuds. This is not a small dollar repair. I am surprised that Stoddard did not let me know about this - it is fairly obvious once the car is up on a lift. You would think they would tell me, once the car was sold and they had the cash. I had always heard good things about them.

So, do I sell the car as a broken head stud car? Do I fix the car and sell it? Or do I fix the car and keep it? If I am keeping it, do I just rebuild it as a 3.0 $$, have the 3.2 upgrade kit installed $$$, or go whole hog and replace the motor with a 3.6 from a 996 $$$$? I am very upset right now, so please - don't say "I told you so" or "you should have had a PPI" or even "that is what you get for buying off eBay". I'll say it now - you are right, I am an idiot.

The honest truth is that I know the "right" thing to do is fix it and sell it. I'll take a loss, or break even - depending on the cost of the repair. I can get another 911 later, and "once bitten, twice shy" so I will do it right the next time.

I just don't know. Likely I will go with a combination approach. Try to sell it unfixed, fix it and try to sell it, then end up keeping it as no one else wants my mistake.

1st PCA event

I went to my first PCA event last week. I actually went to three events, all last week. The 1st was a photography class on how to shoot motorsports photos. The presenter was very interetesting, and his photos were great. I don't know that I learned a lot, but I was overwhelmed by his photos. It seems that to get the shot you pretty much need to be ready in advance of the photo. He emphisised manual control of the camera, selecting the correct exposure, and being prepaired. I hope to have a chance to take some photos at one of the drivers education or autocross events. I'll post any I take here.