European trip (PN Alpine Run)

[V8KSN]

Morning all

I am booked on the PN Alpine run http://www.petrolheadnirvana.com/driving-tours/alp... in June and I am looking for some advice on preparation of my car before the trip.

I have a 997.1 Carrera S and the car has been faultless since I got it, I am preparing to do the following:

Full service with fresh oil and fluids
New Michelin Pilot Super Sports to be fitted next week, (I know they are not N rated but thats ok as I don't have an OPC warranty)
The car had brand new pads and discs all round before I picked it up in Feb so they are OK
I really want to do the geometry too, has anyone any experience of using JZM for geo setup?

What else should I check or take with me on the trip?

Thanks

[SpeedYellow]

Having done lots of PN tours first thing to say is you'll have a fantastic time!

Prep wise I'd recommend going with regular pilot sports, run these on my RUF on one of the Alpine tours. The roads are as you'd expect varying quality and if it does rain in the mountains, likely once on the trip, then the standing water is too much for summer tyres, you'll have more fun and safety with more normal tyres. Also makes having a few controlled slides much easier and more fun.

Only other thing is to make sure the brakes are perfect as they'll get a real hard time, fresh fluid is a good idea.

And don't forget all the euro stuff like two vests in the car not the boot etc as you're likely to hav a chat with some police at some point... The Swiss like to pull fast cars just to chat and remind you not to be silly, if you've got all your bits sorted it's friendly and easy.

Enjoy!!!

[V8KSN]

Thanks for your reply Speed Yellow.

I have already bought the Michelin Super Sports and they will be fitted on Saturday, according to reviews they are better than the Pilot Sports too so fingers crossed I should be ok.

Regarding my earlier question, has anyone used JZM for geo setup? I just want a fast road setup as I don't go on track days at all.

[Ian_UK1]

V8KSN said:

Morning all

I am booked on the PN Alpine run http://www.petrolheadnirvana.com/driving-tours/alp... in June and I am looking for some advice on preparation of my car before the trip.

I have a 997.1 Carrera S and the car has been faultless since I got it, I am preparing to do the following:

Full service with fresh oil and fluids
New Michelin Pilot Super Sports to be fitted next week, (I know they are not N rated but thats ok as I don't have an OPC warranty)
The car had brand new pads and discs all round before I picked it up in Feb so they are OK
I really want to do the geometry too, has anyone any experience of using JZM for geo setup?

What else should I check or take with me on the trip?

Thanks

Odd things that went wrong with my 997S when on PN Tour in 2009 (in other words, things to maybe think about before you go).

1) Water pump bearings and seal - needed new pump
2) Alternator Bearings - needed alternator overhaul
3) All dash lights lit-up like an xmas tree - needed a new main cable from the back of the alternator
4) Corroded heat shield (near ignition coils) split and partially fell-off
5) Oil consumption went through the roof - needed a minimum of 1 litre per day, so take plenty! (Went totally back to normal afterwards, so was just due the the car being mercilessly hammered)!
6) Gear selector cable snapped a week after getting back - VERY lucky as it would have been a trailer job back home had it gone in France. Check the condition at the back of the cables near the 'box

I would fully endorse the recommendation above to change brake fluid. It will get errrrm, warm!
Have the condition of your plugs and ignition coils checked thoroughly

Lastly, PN's tours are amazing. You'll have a great time, but best of all, you'll get to enjoy using your car for it's proper purpose.

[V8KSN]

Ian_UK1 said:

Odd things that went wrong with my 997S when on PN Tour in 2009 (in other words, things to maybe think about before you go).

1) Water pump bearings and seal - needed new pump
2) Alternator Bearings - needed alternator overhaul
3) All dash lights lit-up like an xmas tree - needed a new main cable from the back of the alternator
4) Corroded heat shield (near ignition coils) split and partially fell-off
5) Oil consumption went through the roof - needed a minimum of 1 litre per day, so take plenty! (Went totally back to normal afterwards, so was just due the the car being mercilessly hammered)!
6) Gear selector cable snapped a week after getting back - VERY lucky as it would have been a trailer job back home had it gone in France. Check the condition at the back of the cables near the 'box

I would fully endorse the recommendation above to change brake fluid. It will get errrrm, warm!
Have the condition of your plugs and ignition coils checked thoroughly

Lastly, PN's tours are amazing. You'll have a great time, but best of all, you'll get to enjoy using your car for it's proper purpose.

Woah!!! Thanks Ian, thats exactly the sort of info I was looking for, i'm going to add a few of those things to my checklist at service time next week. Did you fix the car on tour and manage to carry on?

As a side note - 1L of oil almost daily??? Surely that can't be normal....

[Ian_UK1]

V8KSN said:

Woah!!! Thanks Ian, thats exactly the sort of info I was looking for, i'm going to add a few of those things to my checklist at service time next week. Did you fix the car on tour and manage to carry on?

As a side note - 1L of oil almost daily??? Surely that can't be normal....

Hi again - the water pump and alternator survived until we got back, but were making a hell of a racket by then! The heat shield was discarded in a car park somewhere in France and a new one installed when we got back. The alternator cable/dash lights problem was annoying, but intermittent and again the car survived it until we got back.

You're absolutely right about that oil consumption - not normal at all. But nor was the way the car was being used. Going up a mountain road, the car gets sustained full throttle work in the lower gears for lengthy periods of time. This is a viscious combination of maximum heating effect on the engine and minimum cooling (as you're not going forwards so very fast in first and second). Trust me, you'll soon have a whole new outlook on how high oil temps can go! The oil consumption returned to normal in normal use with no long term effect whatsoever on the engine (except that it always ticked-over unbelievably, perfectly smoothly after that tour whereas it never had previously).

The indy that serviced the car (and did the rest of the repairs) when we got back did comment that they'd never seen synthetic oil in such a state as the stuff they removed from my sump. And this had been brand-new fresh oil, 3000 miles earlier before we left! It was apparently black, carbonised and smelt (as they put it) 'burnt'! Yet even after this kind of ordeal, the 'chocolate' M97 engine (as the doom-mongers on here would have you believe) ran as sweetly as ever. This proved to me that they really can take some proper punishment if they're well looked after.

[zeb]

I've done one of these trips too in a 996 turbo. Ran faultlessly but brakes were suffering towards the end with the relentless abuse.

Enjoy ! It really is the trip of a lifetime

[V8KSN]

Thanks again Ian, which oil were you using?

My indie recommends Mobil 0W-40 and that is all I have ever put in, were you using the same or something else?

Sorry for all the questions

[markiii]

I run Silkolene 5w40 Pro S (now rebranded as Fuchs) in my Targa 4S

and even that had its moment when blasting through the mountains in Germany, oil pressure dropped on teh hottest day and gave me a scare. Reading some of teh US forums this seems normal at higher temps,

and redlining it consistently uphill certainly generates those.

I definately wouldn;t run a 0 weight for a trip like that

[JAGS]

Make sure you put a sticker on your plate explaining that the car isn't actually a V8...

[V8KSN]

JAGS said:

Make sure you put a sticker on your plate explaining that the car isn't actually a V8...

LOL, you mean like this one Jags....

[JAGS]

Perfect!

Get it put on the car!

[V8KSN]

Just spoke to the guys at Hartech, they recommend Millers 10W-40 for the trip so i'll put that in!

Great guys at Hartech, gave me all the time in the world and all I have ever bought from them is a low temp thermostat!

Top blokes!

[GrahamSaunders]

V8KSN said:

Morning all

I really want to do the geometry too, has anyone any experience of using JZM for geo setup?

I had JZM do the geo on my 997.1 GT3. I went for midway between road and track set-up and am very happy with the result. I tried a car with a full track set-up and found it to sensitive to camber and ruts on the road. The guys at JZM were happy to customise the set-up based on how I was going to use the car. Thumbs up from me.

[Ian_UK1]

V8KSN said:

Thanks again Ian, which oil were you using?

My indie recommends Mobil 0W-40 and that is all I have ever put in, were you using the same or something else?

Sorry for all the questions

Yes I'd stay with Mobil 1 - this is what the engine was designed to run on and 'my' engine (it's someone else's now) survived the hardest use it was ever going to get with this oil in the sump.

Bear in mind with multigrade oils that the lower 'W' number tells you how much the oil thickens as it gets colder, whilst the higher number tells you its viscosity (or 'thickness') at running temp. Also (and this is really important to understand) all oils are much, much thinner in consistency at running temperature than they are in the can. In theory, all 40-weight oils (i.e. somethingW-40) should be the same consistency at running temp (nominally 100 centigrade). In practice, there can be quite some variance between brands which is a good reason to stay with a manufacturer-recommended oil. A 0W-40 oil will not thicken-up anything like as much as a 10W-40 in cold weather, meaning it will get around your engine more quickly and efficiently on a cold start. Equally a 10W-40 will no thicke-up anywhere near as much as a 20W-40. Even better, the lower 'W' numbers provide this big 'plus' whilst not thinning-out any more than the high 'W' numbers at running temp. A double bonus and far better for your engine.

In practice, in a mild climate, a 10W oil shouldn't thicken to the point of causing harm and will be fine. It's when the temp really drops that 0W and 5W come in to their own. However, viscosity is only part of the equation with oils. The quality and resilience of the film they produce is equally as important as absolute viscosity in protecting the moving parts of your engine from damage. As most of us mere mortals don't have the test equipment needed to assess the the complex behaviour of engine oils, I'd again recommend sticking religiously to the manufacturer recommendations as they have done the necessary testing. Maybe there are better oils out there - the world continuously moves-on - but how would we know which really are better and which are just being hyped?

Edited by Ian_UK1 on Wednesday 30th May 08:57

[V8KSN]

Ian_UK1 said:

Yes I'd stay with Mobil 1 - this is what the engine was designed to run on and 'my' engine (it's someone else's now) survived the hardest use it was ever going to get with this oil in the sump.

Bear in mind with multigrade oils that the lower 'W' number tells you how much the oil thickens as it gets colder, whilst the higher number tells you its viscosity (or 'thickness') at running temp. Also (and this is really important to understand) all oils are much, much thinner in consistency at running temperature than they are in the can. In theory, all 40-weight oils (i.e. somethingW-40) should be the same consistency at running temp (nominally 100 centigrade). In practice, there can be quite some variance between brands which is a good reason to stay with a manufacturer-recommended oil. A 0W-40 oil will not thicken-up anything like as much as a 10W-40 in cold weather, meaning it will get around your engine more quickly and efficiently on a cold start. Equally a 10W-40 will no thicke-up anywhere near as much as a 20W-40. Even better, the lower 'W' numbers provide this big 'plus' whilst not thinning-out any more than the high 'W' numbers at running temp. A double bonus and far better for your engine.

In practice, in a mild climate, a 10W oil shouldn't thicken to the point of causing harm and will be fine. It's when the temp really drops that 0W and 5W come in to their own. However, viscosity is only part of the equation with oils. The quality and resilience of the film they produce is equally as important as absolute viscosity in protecting the moving parts of your engine from damage. As most of us mere mortals don't have the test equipment needed to assess the the complex behaviour of engine oils, I'd again recommend sticking religiously to the manufacturer recommendations as they have done the necessary testing. Maybe there are better oils out there - the world continuously moves-on - but how would we know which really are better and which are just being hyped?

Edited by Ian_UK1 on Wednesday 30th May 08:57

Thanks Ian for a great post!

I was thinking about this last night and like you say, I think it's best to be on the safe side and put in the manufacturers recommended 0W-40 grade oil. There are some very cold starts (at the top of mountains etc) where I would want the engine to be protected as much as possible as well as the high-revs high-load high-ambient temp runs on the way up!

I'll put in the Mobil 0W-40 and take two 1L top-up bottles with me.

Thank you again for the very informative post.