Diary of a 1999 high mileage Boxster

[randy_k]

Uny, Glad you had a great 4th buddy and enjoyed a nice ride and Ice cream. Yes it's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. After a year and a half. Just hope it's not an oncoming train. Car cover should be here in a few days. Then off with the hood. Get the dent out. DA sand fill small dings and prime. Then Gas filler door cover coming off to take to the local paint store and have it matched. Prime, sand, prime, sand and paint. I'll post pic's of that progress as it occurs.
Still have a couple more things to do to it. Interior lights do not come on, unless the key is in the ignition and in the on position. Immobelizer is whacked out is my guess. Brake booster needs to be replaced. As I'm pretty sure it has moisture in it and the brakes don't work very well, they stick, when the temps are below 25 degrees or so. I have a good one of those here already.
Randy

[randy_k]

Just wanted to add a link to a buddy of mine thread. That is going about the same road I've been down with mine. I'm calling it. Diary of someone else's Boxster. Hope all this consolidated info. Minus a few things like IMS issues. Helps people in the future. We've been down allot of the same roads together. So between the two threads. It should answer most starting problems and some other issues. Thanks Keith for the info buddy.
Randy
Starts, Fires Up, Dies...

[randy_k]

Next part of the puzzle purchased. I bought a pneumatic sander at the local Harbor Freight. Love that place. 24 bucks. Look out hood. Here I come. You can see how the clear coat is disappearing from the hood in the picture. The fun starts on Saturday! I'll also show what is underneath that bra. It's not pretty. Beware. If you are looking at one with a bra on it. Take it off and inspect. Chances are good. They're hiding something..
Randy

[randy_k]

Well the hood came off a day early. Car covered and in the driveway without it. The hood with help, took about 15 minutes to remove. You can see by the pic's why this was necessary. This thing is trashed. If buying a car of any type that has a bra on it. Take it off and inspect what is underneath it. I kinda knew this was garbage. But didn't realize how much. The leading edge has an easy 1/16 of paint on it. Probably more.The repaint job that someone did is horrilbe. I could do better with a roller and house paint. Don't matter. It's all coming off. Hood in the shop and ready for sanding, primer and paint. If you have one with paint chips in the leading edge of the hood. Remember. Water runs down hill. If it sits in the bra? It's going to rust. The Porsche emblem is good shape however. (-; Now I just have to remove it without screwing it up. Yeah!!!
Randy

[randy_k]

Well. Life is full of firsts. The first time I ever had to use a hammer and chisel to remove putty/body filler on a car. It's like this thing was done by a 17 year old kid. I started sanding it and saw it was going to take hours just to get through the body filler.It was so thick! Said screw this. Hammer and chisel to lift it up and move on. Sander I bought at Harbor Freight gave up the ghost already as well. So out came my belt sander. I made a little progress today. But I think the really crap part is over. I just cannot believe someone would put this much filler on a hood that seems straight to me. Guess I'll find out when I fit it to the body after all this crap is gone. Man the previous owner of this thing was a freaking moron. And that is being polite!!! I'm not a rocket scientist at body work. But geeeez. This is ridiculous. Off to get another sander in tn the morning and continue on. Or I may put the bra back on? LOL. This car will not beat me. I've come to far...
Randy

[randy_k]

Got the tough part of the body work done and out of the way. After some forensic previous body work investigation that was done. First thing that came out. Was at some point the leading edge of the hood had been pried up. For what ever reason and who ever did the repair? Just folded it back down and filled with putty. Rather than turning it upside down and beating it out the right way. Front of hood on a wood surface and starting at the edges of the dent and working in from there. Second thing. and this is a guess. That because of the bra and the effort it took to close the hood. They pressed a low spot a few inches back of the leading edge to close it. Pretty much sanded it down to the original tan primer from there and got the high spots out. It has 1/20th of the body filler in it than it had when I started. The first pic is pretty early on in the process and doesn't show all the paint that was removed. It was also taken after the filler was applied that was necessary, sanded, primed, sanded, primed etc. Put two coats of a kinda heavy of primer on it from there. To fill the low spots. Still need to hit it with 180 grit and the d/a sander down to the top of the high spots and then take it one step at a time from there. Sand prime and sand. Probably a couple of light coats of primer from here and it should be ready for final paint. The previous owner had this thing repainted by a complete moron. The paint underneath the repaint appeared to be sanded with a light grit of paper and no primer was used. There was no teeth in the paint for the repaint to stick to. Because of that. Turns out it was all single stage paint. Which is fine. Anyway, getting closer to the final results. After a year and a half. Another week or two doesn't matter much.
Randy

PS FYI. I have about $700.00 in the body kit, filler, paint, etc at this point. Another $150.00 to $200.00 to finish this part of the project car up. I hope!!! Hey, The $150 to $200.00 is cheaper than a fuel pump. Always have to look at the bright side. (-;

[randy_k]

Also got the wire mesh for the bumper openings. I'll use truck bed liner paint in a rattle can to paint the mesh black
Randy

[randy_k]

Got the third coat of primer on yesterday after some sanding. Built up the low spots in the hood a little heavier. Then put a thin coat on over the rest of the hood. Then did some more sanding to expose the high spots. So I know where the low spots are. Another light coat of primer goes on tonight. Really kind of surprised that the high spots that are coming through are in the factory primer filler. That is the tan stuff you see coming through. Should have the last coat of primer on Monday. When you do this kind of work. It's like an exploratory mission. The pencil marks are were the low spots still remain.

Randy

[randy_k]

If you don't do the prep work right. The final paint work will show it.

[randy_k]

Second to last coat of primer applied last night. Went after the low spots in the previous picures a tad heavy. But not to much. Sand this with a broader sand pattern. Broad circles. Then the last coat goes on Monday with a paint gun the has a larger fan pattern. Then off to get the paint matched. Getting closer and more excited to see it done.
Randy

[randy_k]

Final coat of primer applied and gas filler door removed to have the paint matched at the local Dupont paint store. Of course the hinge broke on in. As I thought it would. Compared to the rest of the things I have been through with this car. That is childs play. Ordered the new hinge today and it will be here before I need it. I'm probably going to use Nasson paint for the color.
Next up. Get the paint. 400 grit sand paper. Let it cure for a few days. And blow paint. I hope this is the last of the prep work. I need to see the finished car. Also need to take the factory bumper off and take it to the dump. Unless someone on here lives in ABQ and wants it for free and save me the trip.

Randy

[randy_k]

I won't bore you with all the work it has taken to this point. Beyond the pic's I have posted. But I have a bunch of shiney siler parts now. More work to do to get the screens in the openings in and other details. But for now. I'll sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Randy

[tomk]

Hi
Parts look nice, did you do anything to reduce dust in the paint or perhaps you wet sanded the final paint? i alway struggle with dust on small home paint projects.

thanks
tomk

[randy_k]

Originally Posted by tomk

Hi
Parts look nice, did you do anything to reduce dust in the paint or perhaps you wet sanded the final paint? i alway struggle with dust on small home paint projects.

thanks
tomk

The paint has not been touched as it just went on between 8:30 am and 2 PM today. I have a pretty good air filter in the shop since I used to paint larger R/C Scale models out here. I let the filter run over night and pull most of the dust/dirt out of the air in here. Opened the garage door and let it rip. Luckily there was like a vacum that was sucking everything out the door. There is about 5 spots I can find that need to be hit with 1500 grit, in a week or so. But that should do it.
Randy

[randy_k]

Never put a bra on your car. The old bumper is trashed with rock chips. But look how the paint had bubbled on the bumper due to the bra.
Randy
PS, I you want a bra for your Boxster. I have one in the trash can.

[UNYboater]

Originally Posted by randy_k

I won't bore you with all the work it has taken to this point. Beyond the pic's I have posted. But I have a bunch of shiney siler parts now. More work to do to get the screens in the openings in and other details. But for now. I'll sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Randy

Looking great !!!

[randy_k]

Originally Posted by UNYboater

Looking great !!!

Thank you Uny. It is pretty nice for a garage job. My buddy is an excellent painter. The problem I see is. Those parts are nicer than the rest of the car. But I am pretty much done with this diary. Had enough fun. Going to take my IMS and go home per say. I have to go out of town a week+ from now on Monday and not sure I'll have it put together by then. I need to test fit the new bumper and side skirts. Then get the appropriate hardware. Get the radiator screens in. Paint the bottom of the bumper with truck bed liner paint, ETC. The new bumper should let those breath better. Judging by the size of the openings. And a good time to clean those out.
Thanks for checking in and hope all is good in your world.
Randy

[bar10dah]

Originally Posted by randy_k

But I am pretty much done with this diary.

Say it ain't so! You can't close the book on this diary! We all enjoy reading it!!

[Bfan]

Originally Posted by bar10dah

Say it ain't so! You can't close the book on this diary! We all enjoy reading it!!

I agree with bar10dah, don´t close it. We enjoy your stories and admire your work.

Gunnlaugur Reykjavik

[bar10dah]

Hey, I was in Keflavik in the early 80s! Can't say I remember much of it.