Does this actually exist? pizza and beer usually would get it done here in No cal.

[yelcab1]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

America. … Doing an engine drop may require more than one garage spot. People use garage as storage, and real estate is huge money in metro suburbia. Working on a car in public sight is akin to littering. ....

Hah, this happened in my driveway this Saturday.

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

^^ LOL, no.
There is no invite.

The point is there is zero 911 DIY culture in my area.
Which is why I find the whole premise to be fantastical.
**** pizza. "Engine drop. Free Lambo" and you'll still get crickets.

Mayne this will help.

A free Lambo to drop your engine? I'm in, where, when? I'll do it myself while you watch, I'll bring the pizza, beer, and the tools. You can eat the pizza and drink the beer.

[timchar]

Sugar, this in fact does happen. Maybe you need to pop the bubble you live in. I know it’s hard for you to imagine anyone would “waste” 8-10 hours of their precious time helping “internet people”.
There is something special you get back from giving! Ever hear the saying the universe gives back what you put into it?
In the last 2 1/2 months I’ve had lumbar spinal fusion surgery and rotator cuff surgery. Rawknee and Bob Kontak both offered to fly across country to Nor Cal to put my new motor in. I know, they must be batchit crazy.
I will get it done with one arm and with the help of some Nor Cal Pelicans.

It’s a pretty special place here.
Tim

[shadowjack1]

well I can't fly to your location. I did PM you this am to give me a call.. I'll try to help you trouble shoot your blower motor problems. The process is not hard just way to much to type.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by timmy2

Lol, throwing a gunson gas tester in the exhaust pipe and turning a hex key to adjust the mixture is not a rare skill. Takes 20 minutes, and that is mostly just waiting for the meter to calibrate.
I’ve never thought about it as a “free service”, I had them do it so they learn how. I have learned everything I know from others, and I know what goes around comes around. Not addicted to the almighty buck, sometimes the reward is in sharing. Heck, this place wouldn’t exist if people wouldn’t share their knowledge.

It must be different at Portland C&C than your area, as it is mostly old cars and lots of air cooled. Lots of DIY guys. Maybe it is the lack of the ridiculous CA smog laws here?
Maybe that’s why so many people from CA are moving here!

LOL, if it's not a rare skill, why did they drive an hour to your house to get it done?
Changing a light bulb is an example of not a rare skill.
That is why people don't drive 1 hour to change someone's light bulb.
People do drive an house to get their CIS troubleshot. Ergo, it's a rare skill.

Interesting statement about learning from others, in person.
Everything I've learned about 911 has been through forums, books, and trial&error.
I've also learned a ton from YouTube for my other cars, but that does not exist for 911.
In the modern digital age, I have learned 0% of my limited wrenching skills from a live person.
This is a very very slow way to learn, but auto DIY is an inherently solitary task, in my world.

In 5 years of reading this forum, almost daily, I have never heard of an "engine drop party" within any reasonable distance.
If I did, I would gladly have gone just to observe. It simply does not exist.
There may have been one in DC a few years back, but it did not occur to me to go fly there to watch.

Yea, there are very few old 911s with (engine drop caliber) DIY owners around my parts.
I go to one large C&C event in the neighboring state, but there is minimal superficial interaction at these events.
Almost no one is talking to others. Like a concert. Lots of people, but people tend to talk to the people they went with.
One reason is that for a large event, owners are not near their cars, like you see at the Betty Boop diner cruise night with folding chairs.
But, over the years, if I've met air cooled owners, if I've run into 9/10 of them did not do meaningful DIY anyway.
No one has the time, skill, or experience. Everyone has bought into the mythology that cars are too complex to work on.

That said, if I had a WRX, it may be more viable to trade an engine swap for a slice of pizza.
WRX kids who are young and child-free tend to have a lot more time.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by timchar

Sugar, this in fact does happen. Maybe you need to pop the bubble you live in. I know it’s hard for you to imagine anyone would “waste” 8-10 hours of their precious time helping “internet people”.
There is something special you get back from giving! Ever hear the saying the universe gives back what you put into it?
In the last 2 1/2 months I’ve had lumbar spinal fusion surgery and rotator cuff surgery. Rawknee and Bob Kontak both offered to fly across country to Nor Cal to put my new motor in. I know, they must be batchit crazy.
I will get it done with one arm and with the help of some Nor Cal Pelicans.

It’s a pretty special place here.
Tim

To summarize,
Air cooled cars are rare. Very rare. Most are never driven.
In 5 years, I have only ever seen ONE other one while driving in traffic.
Then it drove past me, and that was that.

Of course, I've talked to a couple at self-selected venues like DE, AX, C&C, & online forum
At these venues, when do you encounter someone with an air cooled car
10% of owners DIY
10% of those can engine drop
1% of those actually live in your state

I already said I know it CAN happen.
I myself have done a forum DIY collaboration via another car forum.
My premise is that it happens very very rarely.
Not nearly as often as the "engine drop for free pizza" phrase is blithely bandied about.


Offering to fly out do help you is beyond words.
We can agree Bob and Rawkness are in the 1% of the 1% of the 1%
and in no way represent any sort of broad reality, and are an exception to the rule.
Do you think they really would have dropped $1000 to fly to your house?

[Pazuzu]

You are right, hoping to get help working on your car is a lost cause, it's been shown over and over in your threads.


Best option is to sell that accursed thing and get a modern car, which requires no labor on your part. It's been nothing but a pain for you since you got it, why even bother anymore? Move on! Be free! Buy a lovely Camry, and you can have years of effortless living in your automotive wasteland, where people don't talk to each other or help each other.

[sugarwood]

I do have a modern car,and I love it.
No one DD's their 911.

Just to be clear, I am not asking for someone to come help me with anything. Anything over my head goes to a pro mechanic. I do not have the facility for any major work
I was responding to another thread where a guy was told to provide free pizza in order to magically have people at his doorstep to help his do an engine swap or whatever.
I started this thread b/c I wondered how often it actually happens vs how often it's typed.

[timchar]

Sugar, I would obviously pay air faire and any expenses. Tim

[NutmegCarrera]

Not to get this thread off track, but I’ll be taking my son’s rifle to my buddy’s brother’s place tomorrow to make use of his drill press and soft clamps to put sling swivel mounts in the stock.

Will be a 10 minute job. I will bring beer.

I don’t have an air cooled 911 at the moment. But if I did - I would drive it over there.

I have helped friends work on their cars, and they have helped me with mine. Sometimes there was beer and/or pizza involved. Usually - not. Just commaradarie.

Carry on.

[Canada Kev]

Air cooled cars aren't all that rare. I live in a city of almost a million souls and I see them all the time (like one or two or more a week in the summer) and we have snow on the ground six months of the year. There are 911s, 964s and 993s, even an occasional 914 or 356, all people I don't know but always wave when I'm driving mine. Hell, even the two horse town I grew up in there was at least one. The Snap-On dealer had along hood he had set up for autocross. I never saw the car on the street but only found out he had one when I was at his place and noticed it in the garage. They're out there.

Locally, if I see a couple 911s parked at a coffee shop (air cooled or water - if they're congregating it's not a business meeting), I'll stop in and hunt them down inside - for some reason they're usually not difficult to spot and are always happy to meet another enthusiast.

A couple here have brushed against the elephant in the room, but I'm gonna come right out and say it. I think a large part of what you're experiencing, is based on attitude. This hobby, like most others, has a gravity. If you allow it and are open to others and put some real effort in, you'll find your people. But right now I think they aren't your people. Maybe get out there and don't "waste" one of your Saturdays but offer your hands to someone or a group thats doing some work on any car or truck. Be generous with your time. You gotta become one of those people to be part of them and make them yours.

Unless you live in some red neck tundra (nothing against red necks, some of my best friends are and I live in oil and cattle ranching country) where the only other vehicles for hundreds of miles around are old Ford pickups, there will be other car people. They don't have to be air cooled Porsche, but it might help with familiarity. Real car guys don't care what it is as long as it's cool. And virtually any air cooled 911 is cool.

[timmy2]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

LOL, if it's not a rare skill, why did they drive an hour to your house to get it done?

Because I had the Gunson gas tester (not a lot of people do) and was willing to let them learn to use it.
So the scarcity of the tester is likely the driving force, and I'm fairly pleasant to talk to. (most of the time.... )

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by Canada Kev

A couple here have brushed against the elephant in the room, but I'm gonna come right out and say it. I think a large part of what you're experiencing, is based on attitude. This hobby, like most others, has a gravity. If you allow it and are open to others and put some real effort in, you'll find your people. But right now I think they aren't your people. Maybe get out there and don't "waste" one of your Saturdays but offer your hands to someone or a group thats doing some work on any car or truck. Be generous with your time. You gotta become one of those people to be part of them and make them yours.

Unless you live in some red neck tundra (nothing against red necks, some of my best friends are and I live in oil and cattle ranching country) where the only other vehicles for hundreds of miles around are old Ford pickups, there will be other car people. They don't have to be air cooled Porsche, but it might help with familiarity. Real car guys don't care what it is as long as it's cool. And virtually any air cooled 911 is cool.

I don't think it has much to do with me.
I have lots of friends from all walks of life.
I believe the culture barely exists.
Has there been even one engine pizza party on the east coast in the last 5 years?

As for meeting others, when I first got this car 5 years ago, I thought I'd try to find local guys to learn from.
DE, AX, PCA, C&C, etc. I don't even bother anymore. The people are few and far between,
and I have typically more DIY experience and more tools than most people I meet. And that's pretty sad!

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by Canada Kev

Air cooled cars aren't all that rare. I live in a city of almost a million souls .

Well, there ya go.
You live in a big city.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by NutmegCarrera

Not to get this thread off track, but I’ll be taking my son’s rifle to my buddy’s brother’s place tomorrow to make use of his drill press and soft clamps to put sling swivel mounts in the stock.

Will be a 10 minute job. I will bring beer.

I don’t have an air cooled 911 at the moment. But if I did - I would drive it over there.

I have helped friends work on their cars, and they have helped me with mine. Sometimes there was beer and/or pizza involved. Usually - not. Just commaradarie.

Carry on.

Wisconsin is probably an explanatory variable.
I know lots of people. Not one owns a drill press.
The culture does not exist everywhere.
I would love to borrow a drill press to push out a dented plastic bumper piece on my appliance.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

I do have a modern car,and I love it.
No one DD's their 911.

God you annoy me sometimes. You keep saying things like that, and when people virtually LINE UP in your threads to tell you that your mistaken, you sit back, dig in your heels and insist that you are correct, we are all essentially lying to you.

People DO daily drive their cars (I did 70,000 miles in 9 years in mine). People DO figure out which 27mm socket to buy on their own. People DO drop their engines on their own (I do it at least once a year as a matter of maintenance). People DO rebuild their own engines in their garages, and people DO go and spend lots of free time helping others work on their cars.

Despite this, you will fight to your dying day that none of this happens.

It's no wonder that no one offers to drive an hour to help you, and it's no wonder that you would never consider doing that for someone else.

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

I do have a modern car,and I love it.
No one DD's their 911.

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

God you annoy me sometimes. You keep saying things like that, and when people virtually LINE UP in your threads to tell you that your mistaken, you sit back, dig in your heels and insist that you are correct, we are all essentially lying to you.

People DO daily drive their cars (I did 70,000 miles in 9 years in mine). People DO figure out which 27mm socket to buy on their own. People DO drop their engines on their own (I do it at least once a year as a matter of maintenance). People DO rebuild their own engines in their garages, and people DO go and spend lots of free time helping others work on their cars.

Despite this, you will fight to your dying day that none of this happens.

It's no wonder that no one offers to drive an hour to help you, and it's no wonder that you would never consider doing that for someone else.

Mic drop...

[Coastr]

I know it’s a teling thread but what what hell.

One of the first guys I met doing 911 things did an engine drop and rebuild in his 2-car garage in a nice area. He DD’d that thing for another 12 months without AC in a hot location. And it was black.

I went around to ‘help’ but mostly that was having a cold beer and listening to him vent about POs fixes.

I took mine out on the weekend - lots of thumbs up, had one guy request permission to take a photo. I don’t see how people would think the whole thing is somehow in decline.

[pmax]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

In 5 years of reading this forum, almost daily, I have never heard of an "engine drop party" within any reasonable distance.
If I did, I would gladly have gone just to observe. It simply does not exist.

This hits the nail on the head.

From my digging into the past, the forum evolved like this in the decades of its existence ...

Early 2000's - the pioneers

Mid 2000's to early 2010's - when the forum greats thrived and most of those "old timers" here first arrived

Mid 2010's till now - the "modern" era you are in.

Different folks, different strokes.

Even (some of) the same folks from the previous era who are still here have progressed to "different strokes", pardon the overuse of the expression.

[dwelle]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

No one DD's their 911.

BS. i do, and i am but one of many.

i think you are finding what you are looking for, and receiving what you put out in this world. much of what you hold and post here as fact is quite contrary to what many/most of us experience in the big scary world outside our front doors.

look for something different, you might find it.

if you stay a contrarian whose glass is perpetually half empty, well, more of the same for you i suppose...