Twenty Two Cylinders - Porsche 996 and others
Discussion
With COVID rules having denied me access to dry storage I made the decision to sell my Mercedes W115 last autumn after owning the thing for most of a decade.
With the Mercedes gone I hit the PH classifieds in search of something a little more rust resistant and compatible with outdoor parking. Having owned a couple of transaxle Porsches previously I had been eyeing Boxsters and 911s for some time but had been a bit put off by disappointing test drives in tired examples of 986s.
And then I stumbled upon this leggy old thing:
It's a 1998 911 Carrera 2 with 156,000 miles on the clock. Importantly it's an early 3.4 with LSD, cable throttle and has spent the last 10+ years of its life on the Hartech maintenance plan. The previous owner had kept the car for 13 years and looked after it well. It has a complete service history (and some!) and came with summer (18" Carrera 2's with Michelin PS2s) and winter wheels (17" twists with Continentals), a CTEK trickle charger and various other useful bits. Lots of expensive jobs have been done, in some cases more than once including the RMS, clutch, AOS, rear brake pipes (an engine out job) to name a few.
I have put about 1,000 miles on the car and it has coped extremely well with daily (ab)use considering its 22 years of experience. Despite the mileage the drive seems fairly tight, the car tracks straight and there are no untoward noises from the suspension. Improvement work I have completed so far includes a basic service, installing a new Continental TR stereo with bluetooth, new discs and pads all round, new captive mounting plates for the roof bars (for carrying bikes) and a thorough clean inside and out and painting of various bits in the engine bay and underneath. I'll include a few more details in subsequent posts.
Other cars in my current fleet include:
2018 Skoda Octavia vRS 245 2.0 TSI. Has a clever diff. Carries things and people relatively quickly. Does work stuff:
1990 Range Rover Vogue SE 3.9 V8. 203,000 miles and counting. Thirsty, leggy, crusty and generally brilliant. Currently in need of reconstruction following pre-COVID rust surgery:
1971 VW Beetle 1302. Completed a partial rebuild on this during the first lockdown whilst working reduced hours including building a tuned 1600 engine for it from scratch:
For a little context, here is some of the back catalogue from my first decade of motoring, warts and all:
1970 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow*
1990 Eunos Roadster (track prepared with ITBs)*
2009 Fiat Panda 100HP*
1984 Volkswagen Golf GTI*
1991 Volkswagen Golf GTI*
1977 Porsche 924*
1977 BMW E21*
1983 Mercedes S123 230TE
1991 Mercedes S124 220TE*
1972 Dastun B110 1200 Estate
1970 Volkswagen 1300 'Beetle'*
1972 Volkswagen 1300 'Beetle'
1973 Volkswagen 1300 'Beetle'
1969 Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus Deluxe
1982 Porsche 924
1982 Volkswagen Golf Mk1
1990 Volkswagen Golf GLi
1990 Audi 80
1989 Volkswagen Golf
2015 Skoda Octavia Scout 4x4
2002 Volkswagen Golf GT TDI
A lot of these were projects - I'll try and write up a few posts about some of the more interesting ones!
(*Asterisks denote cars I would have kept if I had access to a big enough hanger. It's probably a good thing that I don't.
)
With the Mercedes gone I hit the PH classifieds in search of something a little more rust resistant and compatible with outdoor parking. Having owned a couple of transaxle Porsches previously I had been eyeing Boxsters and 911s for some time but had been a bit put off by disappointing test drives in tired examples of 986s.
And then I stumbled upon this leggy old thing:
It's a 1998 911 Carrera 2 with 156,000 miles on the clock. Importantly it's an early 3.4 with LSD, cable throttle and has spent the last 10+ years of its life on the Hartech maintenance plan. The previous owner had kept the car for 13 years and looked after it well. It has a complete service history (and some!) and came with summer (18" Carrera 2's with Michelin PS2s) and winter wheels (17" twists with Continentals), a CTEK trickle charger and various other useful bits. Lots of expensive jobs have been done, in some cases more than once including the RMS, clutch, AOS, rear brake pipes (an engine out job) to name a few.
I have put about 1,000 miles on the car and it has coped extremely well with daily (ab)use considering its 22 years of experience. Despite the mileage the drive seems fairly tight, the car tracks straight and there are no untoward noises from the suspension. Improvement work I have completed so far includes a basic service, installing a new Continental TR stereo with bluetooth, new discs and pads all round, new captive mounting plates for the roof bars (for carrying bikes) and a thorough clean inside and out and painting of various bits in the engine bay and underneath. I'll include a few more details in subsequent posts.
Other cars in my current fleet include:
2018 Skoda Octavia vRS 245 2.0 TSI. Has a clever diff. Carries things and people relatively quickly. Does work stuff:
1990 Range Rover Vogue SE 3.9 V8. 203,000 miles and counting. Thirsty, leggy, crusty and generally brilliant. Currently in need of reconstruction following pre-COVID rust surgery:
1971 VW Beetle 1302. Completed a partial rebuild on this during the first lockdown whilst working reduced hours including building a tuned 1600 engine for it from scratch:
For a little context, here is some of the back catalogue from my first decade of motoring, warts and all:
1970 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow*
1990 Eunos Roadster (track prepared with ITBs)*
2009 Fiat Panda 100HP*
1984 Volkswagen Golf GTI*
1991 Volkswagen Golf GTI*
1977 Porsche 924*
1977 BMW E21*
1983 Mercedes S123 230TE
1991 Mercedes S124 220TE*
1972 Dastun B110 1200 Estate
1970 Volkswagen 1300 'Beetle'*
1972 Volkswagen 1300 'Beetle'
1973 Volkswagen 1300 'Beetle'
1969 Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus Deluxe
1982 Porsche 924
1982 Volkswagen Golf Mk1
1990 Volkswagen Golf GLi
1990 Audi 80
1989 Volkswagen Golf
2015 Skoda Octavia Scout 4x4
2002 Volkswagen Golf GT TDI
A lot of these were projects - I'll try and write up a few posts about some of the more interesting ones!
(*Asterisks denote cars I would have kept if I had access to a big enough hanger. It's probably a good thing that I don't.
)Edited by Twentyfourcylinders on Tuesday 9th March 01:01
OpulentBob said:
Some beauties in there. Looking forward to the updates, esp the leggy 996. Mine, at 146k, is just behind yours, has had similar work (all except engine rebuild) but looks tired so will be a bit of inspiration to see what/how you've done it.
Love the microbus more than I should too.
Cheers! My 996 still has its original engine (and IMS bearing) too and I'm hoping it stays that way for now - fingers crossed.Love the microbus more than I should too.
The Microbus was quite an adventure. I bought it unseen for $1900 dollars from a bloke in the Nevada desert and had it shipped to Thamesport via the Panama Canal. I was a penniless student at the time so was risking pretty much everything I had.
The risk paid off. It started out looking fairly dreadful but lurking under the nasty grey primer was original paint and a mostly rust free and totally unwelded body. On arrival I found the engine in the rear load area both heavily corrded and full of sand. I think it had spent a long time sitting outside in the desert. Despite this I managed to get it fitted and running again - testament to the robustness and simplicty of air cooled Volkswagen engineering!
Before:
Lots of wet and dry paper later:
Sadly I never really got on with the way it drove and sold it on for a tidy profit before it was fully finished.
Scooobydont said:
Love the beetles!
I am on the lookout for another, I had a 72 cal looker that I should never have sold. I cant seem to find them anywhere.
Keep searching! Facebook marketplace is a good place to look these days but as with everything old and interesting prices definitely seem to be on the up. Objectively they are slow, noisy and uncomfortable cars but very little can beat them for fun factor. I had three as my first car(s!) about ten years ago and got the itch to revisit my air cooled roots last year - enter the Marina Blue 1302 'Project Lockdown'...I am on the lookout for another, I had a 72 cal looker that I should never have sold. I cant seem to find them anywhere.
It has come a long way, from this:
To this:
I completed loads of cosmetic work early doors including stone chipping and painting the inner arches, painting the mismatched rear wing and decklid and lots of other localised body repairs. The interior received a deep clean, new original style rubber mats and a period Raid Steering wheel from my old BMW. I also painted the dash grilles and glove box in body colour.
A few before and afters:
Sills stripped, treated, stone chipped and painted in body colour, running boards painted:
Floor pans still need a fresh coat of black.
Very amateur attempts at bodywork using synthetic enamel matched to the original paint by Jawel:
Next up came a pair of Cibie Oscars for the front end (I custom fabricated brackets for these and painted the bumper irons and inners whilst I was there. The brakes were given a once over and the drums adjusted and painted, new track rods, ends and anti roll bar bushes fitted. Wider (5.5j) steel wheels were sourced and fitted to the rear. New TUV approved front springs were also fitted to replace the rather sketchy cut yellow ones found on the car when I bought it.
Much to my family's horror I then convinced myself it would be fun to have a crack at building a new engine (with no prior experience of doing so). The build was extremely rewarding if a little challenging. Did I mention I don't have a garage?
I started with a very dead donor engine:
Lots of work later I had a rebuilt bottom end with all new bearings and an upgraded (Scat C25) camshaft:
New heads sourced and fitted with uprated valve springs, collets and retainers:
Bottom end buttoned up, new lightened flywheel fitted and end float set:
Clothes pegs are there to stop the lifters from falling out of their bores when closing the engine case up.
New 1600 heads, barrels, pistons all fitted up. Distributor (rebuilt original Bosch) and oil cooler installed:
Refurbed exhaust fitted with stainless studs and copper nuts, second hand original tinware sourced, painted in textured black paint and fitted:
Wheezy old 1300 engine out:
New 1600 ready to go in:
New clutch release bearing and engine bay seal fitted, bell housing cleaned:
Time to roll out the 'high tech engine fitting tool':
Up we go:
Engine in and twin 40mm Solex carbs fitted (I had to rebuild these too and re-bush the throttle bodies):
And we have life!
https://i.imgur.com/MhJ8Jtsl.mp4
A big improvement over this:
The eventual end goal is a replica of the Theo Decker inspired '1302 Rallye' in the VW Autostadt collection:
https://www.autostadt.de/-/volkswagen-1302-rallye
Getting the new engine set up properly on a rolling road, fitting new bushes to the front suspension and getting the chassis painted are next on the agenda once the current lockdown ends.
Edited by Twentyfourcylinders on Tuesday 9th March 01:08
So back to the 996...
Last weekend's challenge was brake replacement.
The discs and pads were only four years old and not particularly worn but the inner faces of the discs were heavily pitted on all four corners.
I fitted new Meyle Platinum coated discs and Pagid pads all round. Luckily all the bolts and pins came apart nicely thanks to anti-seize applied by the last person to do the job. I cleaned the hubs, removed and painted the rear brake backing plates and coil pack heat shields whilst I was there. Last job was to adjust the handbrake and lubricate the mechanism - now it works properly for the first time since I bought the car!
This evening I spent an hour scrambling round in the dark investigating the rusty rear anti roll bar I spotted whilst doing the rear brakes:
Easy peasy to remove, just undo the four 13mm bolts from the clamps which hold the roll bar bushes in place (someone had helpfully applied anti-seize to these too) and remove the lower drop link nuts. The whole bar then simply drops out of the car:
Yep, bushes are shot. Bar needs de-rusting, cleaning and painting - a job for this weekend.
Before I go, here's a photo of the car on it's 'summer' 18" Carrera wheels. I think I prefer the 17s?
Last weekend's challenge was brake replacement.
The discs and pads were only four years old and not particularly worn but the inner faces of the discs were heavily pitted on all four corners.
I fitted new Meyle Platinum coated discs and Pagid pads all round. Luckily all the bolts and pins came apart nicely thanks to anti-seize applied by the last person to do the job. I cleaned the hubs, removed and painted the rear brake backing plates and coil pack heat shields whilst I was there. Last job was to adjust the handbrake and lubricate the mechanism - now it works properly for the first time since I bought the car!
This evening I spent an hour scrambling round in the dark investigating the rusty rear anti roll bar I spotted whilst doing the rear brakes:
Easy peasy to remove, just undo the four 13mm bolts from the clamps which hold the roll bar bushes in place (someone had helpfully applied anti-seize to these too) and remove the lower drop link nuts. The whole bar then simply drops out of the car:
Yep, bushes are shot. Bar needs de-rusting, cleaning and painting - a job for this weekend.
Before I go, here's a photo of the car on it's 'summer' 18" Carrera wheels. I think I prefer the 17s?
996’s seem to be flooding this place alately! Clearly their time has arrived as I knew it would, sadly had to sell mine for a house purchase.
Has it had a rebuilt hartech engine then or just been on the plan?
Wish I had skill like yourself to maintain these lovely old-ish cars. The 996 is perfect for that as it’s modern enough to have decent reliability and comfort but also has that lovely old school special feeling.
Has it had a rebuilt hartech engine then or just been on the plan?
Wish I had skill like yourself to maintain these lovely old-ish cars. The 996 is perfect for that as it’s modern enough to have decent reliability and comfort but also has that lovely old school special feeling.
Scooobydont said:
Cool - like the unusual colour! Standard engine? lewisf182 said:
996’s seem to be flooding this place alately! Clearly their time has arrived as I knew it would, sadly had to sell mine for a house purchase.
Has it had a rebuilt hartech engine then or just been on the plan?
Wish I had skill like yourself to maintain these lovely old-ish cars. The 996 is perfect for that as it’s modern enough to have decent reliability and comfort but also has that lovely old school special feeling.
It would seem so. They just offer such a good balance between 'analogue' feel and modern car practicality. No new engine, it's just been on the Hartech lifetime service plan from what I can tell. Hopefully all that expensive Millers nanodrive oil has done its job! Has it had a rebuilt hartech engine then or just been on the plan?
Wish I had skill like yourself to maintain these lovely old-ish cars. The 996 is perfect for that as it’s modern enough to have decent reliability and comfort but also has that lovely old school special feeling.
It's never to late to pick up a spanner! Building the Beetle engine last year gave me a massive confidence boost as it's been a few years since I've attempted anything even close to that involved. It's amazing what you can achieve with a decent set of basic tools and a little help from the internet - there is so much useful information on forums and Youtube if you have time to do research each job. I don't have any formal mechanical training so have learnt by trial and (lots of) error, but having a knackered Beetle as a first car made learning some basic skills a necessity.
The 996's rear anti roll bar cleaned up nicely after a tickle with a grinder and flap disc.
The battery powered grinder is great, so much easier and safer to use than my old mains powered one.
Brackets cleaned, bar painted with etch primer two coats of satin black and refitted. Drop links appeared to be in good order with no excess play. I have ordered new bushes and will swap them over when they arrive (probably sometime next year as they are coming from Design911
):
The bottoms of the rear shocks are not looking pretty - inspection and repainting/replacement is a job for another day.
Whilst the car was up in the air I took the opportunity to clean the winter grime from inside of one of the front arches and apply some Bilt Hamber Dynax UC underbody wax, taking particular care to apply a good coating of protection to the brake lines and power steering pipes - I don't want to have to drop the rack anytime soon if I can avoid it!
Edited by Twentyfourcylinders on Sunday 14th March 18:49
A few more updates on the 996:
The front number plate plinth was broken when I bought the car and had been bothering me for ages:
All the screws and fixings were heavily corroded so I swapped them out for some nice zinc-nickel plated hardware from my tin of spare bits.
Pretty much as soon as I got the car I swapped out the old Porsche/Becker CDR head unit (complete with nice sticky degrading buttons) for a new Continental head unit purchased from a commercial vehicle parts supplier in Germany. This has bluetooth connectivity, USB and AUX inputs and is a plug and play replacement for the original unit. The black and orange backlit display matches the OEM instrumentation too.
Next little job was to replace the old bonnet struts. I was getting tired of getting knocked on the head!
This is an easy job, just prize off the steel retaining clips from each ball joint, remove the old struts and 'pop' the new ones on.
Cabin air filter replacement is another easy job. Remove the battery and left hand scuttle panel cover and the filter pops in/out of the its housing:
996 GT3 brake air ducts are a cheap and easy upgrade at around £7 for a pair. Stock Carrera items top, GT3 bottom:
Left hand side front arch showing new brake duct fitted. Cleaned the arches, liners, brake lines and touched in a few areas of flaking paint on the front struts with stone chip whilst I was there. Then all the brake lines, hoses and fixings all got a good coating of Bilt Hamber Dynax UC protective wax. The car is wearing it's miles well. Hopefully this should help keep it that way!
The front number plate plinth was broken when I bought the car and had been bothering me for ages:
All the screws and fixings were heavily corroded so I swapped them out for some nice zinc-nickel plated hardware from my tin of spare bits.
Pretty much as soon as I got the car I swapped out the old Porsche/Becker CDR head unit (complete with nice sticky degrading buttons) for a new Continental head unit purchased from a commercial vehicle parts supplier in Germany. This has bluetooth connectivity, USB and AUX inputs and is a plug and play replacement for the original unit. The black and orange backlit display matches the OEM instrumentation too.
Next little job was to replace the old bonnet struts. I was getting tired of getting knocked on the head!
This is an easy job, just prize off the steel retaining clips from each ball joint, remove the old struts and 'pop' the new ones on.
Cabin air filter replacement is another easy job. Remove the battery and left hand scuttle panel cover and the filter pops in/out of the its housing:
996 GT3 brake air ducts are a cheap and easy upgrade at around £7 for a pair. Stock Carrera items top, GT3 bottom:
Left hand side front arch showing new brake duct fitted. Cleaned the arches, liners, brake lines and touched in a few areas of flaking paint on the front struts with stone chip whilst I was there. Then all the brake lines, hoses and fixings all got a good coating of Bilt Hamber Dynax UC protective wax. The car is wearing it's miles well. Hopefully this should help keep it that way!
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