It's a learning curve

coolngroovy · 08-25-2006, 03:49 PM

I recently bought a 74 targa with 86000k's. It is my first foreign car & my first porsche. I bought it at a reasonable price, but it has been sitting for a long time. I'me pretty handy with the spanners so i thought getting it running would be a breeze. Wrong!
Firstly, throw in 40ltrs of fresh premium & a fresh battery. Check oil level & top up with 7ltrs of oil. 7 bloody litres! Where is the oil going? Just registering on the dipstick! How much do these things hold?
The moment of truth! Hit the starter..... wind, wind,wind, no fire! No spark. Damn! Took over an hour to sort that. Try again, wind, wind,wind. No fuel! Bloody fuel pump has retired! Finally located that, removed it, cleaned it out & got the motor working. Re install fuel pump, try again. Same result. Fuel tank full of crud!
Removed the tank & had it steam cleaned. Over 1/2 bucket of crud in the tank! 6 times they had to clean it.
Getting cranky crawling around under the car so i hired a hoist for the day. Add towing costs & this is starting to become costly!
Put car on hoist, blow all fuel lines out with air to remove foreign objects, find out fuel pump wont pump! Need new one.
Modify a GM pump just to hear the car run for the first time. Forget to put the regulator on & flood the engine with fuel! Install regulator & hit the starter again. Bloody flat battery!
Go to nearest auto store & purchase new battery. Put battery in car, bloody flat! Not a good day! Hook up jumper leads & try again. Wind,wind,wind, FIRE, cough,FIRE FIRE RUN!!!! Yehah! It runs. Why is all this oil flooding into the air box?
Consult workshop manual. AAHH! That's why! Stupid me!
Today i drain the oil, fit new filter & try again.
Bloody difficult when the nearest porsche mechanic is 1000k's away & the local mechanics cant even spell porsche! Even if it doesn't work, i've got the best piece of eye candy in the street!

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Determined bugger, aren't you?

Congrats on getting it running. Keep it up & you'll be on the road in no time.

And now that you found Pelican, this bunch can save you from many mis-adventures.

Ian

coolngroovy · 08-25-2006, 04:18 PM

Cheers ian, i am so pleased i found this forum.It is always good to have some backup, especially when i know very little about porsches! If you could have seen my face go from elation when it started, to dismal despare when the oil flooded out, you would be laughing too!

Grady Clay · 08-25-2006, 04:36 PM

Coolngroovy,

Welcome to the Forum.

You will find lots of help here.

That said, you probably should have posted sooner. Like before the purchase. No offence but your fellow Aussies could have offered you some wise advice. Many post here.

What to do now?

Apparently you have a fuel issue. Get that solved asap. You have a full bunch of experts here to help you. Ask the right questions and you will get the best answers in the world.

There may be more issues than fuel. Be patient. All will be eventually reviled. We are here to help you.

Best,
Grady
Denver, Colorado, USA

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Here's a good place to start: Dr. Pate's 101 Tips for 911 Owners

Ian

coolngroovy · 08-25-2006, 07:19 PM

The only fuel issue left is where do i get a fuel pump from? I just read the 101 tips, hard to type when laughing! When i found this forum, there was a '25 things i have learned from this forum'. I put my head in my hands & thought ' What the bloody hell have i bought?". But still funnier than clown soup! Thanks all!

Evans, Marv · 08-25-2006, 08:37 PM

Coolngroovy,
Sounds like you're already having fun. There are some really great guys from down under on this board, and they probably can advise you on how & where to source parts. You should buy Wayne's 101 Projects book and maybe his engine rebuild book. Both are good investments. Another thing. Be careful trying to put your car in gear after it's running. I don't know about your '74, but I had a '67 (912) that sat stored for some long periods of time. The clutch (friction disk) would become frozen to the flywheel. When I started the engine & tried to put it in gear, the gears would attempt to grind because the transmission would be still in gear. I had to put the back of the car up on blocks/stands with the back wheels off the ground, start the engine with the tranny in neutral, give it a little gas & step on the brakes (or apply the emergency brake if it's in good adjustment). That would cause the disk to free up from the flywheel (with a twang). Good luck.

Hugh R · 08-25-2006, 08:45 PM

Cooln

I like your posts, if you haven't posted pics do so immediately, especially of yourself. And come back and post often. By the way, you said it was your first "foreign" car. Enlighten me, what domestic car does Australia produce.

HarryD · 08-25-2006, 10:34 PM

coolngroovy,

Welcome to the Board. Like you already noted, it's just a car.

One of the best parts is that no matter what you do, someone here has already done the same thing and you can compare stories.

If you can, get a few mantenance manuals. For my car, I have the Haynes and Waynes 101 projects. Between those books, most of the basic stuff is covered. A factory manual would be nice but iis very expensive.

How about a pictureor two?

Does your car have the CIS Fuel injection or has it been changed to carburators?

RFR · 08-25-2006, 10:49 PM

When i found this forum, there was a '25 things i have learned from this forum'. I put my head in my hands & thought ' What the bloody hell have i bought?"

Since I am the one who wrote that and helped scare you, I feel I should actually wlecome you as well!

I have found the Porsche to be like a woman, She sometimes aggravates the hell out of you but you love her anyway.

cheers, mate!

Roman in Los Angeles
78 Targa

oldE · 08-26-2006, 02:16 AM

" Enlighten me, what domestic car does Australia produce."

Hugh,

Australia has branches of both Ford and GM. A popular car in Australia is the Holden (GM) Murano. They sold a version to GM North America. It's called the Pontiac GTO.

Australia has been the land true to the V8 rwd sleeper. Lots of power to get across the open spaces, don't ya know. Their Ford Falcon is NOT the Falcon we remember.

I'm sure C&G and his Mates will chime in with a lot more info.

Welcome Coolngroovy! I too am out of reach of any immediate help around here. If it wasn't for this board, I would not be able to work on the old E (a '69). These guys are great and you can be sure whatever dumb-arse mistake you think you've made, one of us has been there and done that.
Les

StayGold808 · 08-26-2006, 03:01 AM

its actually monaro, not murano, but don't worry... i don't know about your leaf spring OHV v8 cars either. lol

i'm not trying to aggravate anything, just joking!

Peter Bull · Peter Bull's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by coolngroovy
Check oil level & top up with 7ltrs of oil. 7 bloody litres! Where is the oil going? Just registering on the dipstick! How much do these things hold?

Welcome to the board!

I don't know if you have found out already, but there is a special procedure to measure the oil level in 911's. The car should be parked on level ground, and the engine should be idling at operating temperature.

It looked like you tried to measure the oil level on a cold engine which was not running. If that was the case it sure explains why you could not see anything on the dipstick.

/Peter

coolngroovy · 08-30-2006, 03:35 AM

Thanks all. In the land of OZ we worship 2 'local' manufacturers of fine automobiles. There is the US sporned Ford, or the local product Holden.
As i said, all of my cars have been locally produced, but i still & always will call myself a Holden [ GM ] supporter. I dont know if the other side or the world has heard of a Holden Torana SLR 5000 or A9X, but they are the stuff of boyhood chubbies! Around the same era there was the Ford Hardtop or coupe. Mad Max stuff.
Mount panorama, Bathurst, NSW is our race!. The rivalry between the camps is fierce; bordering on insanity! Monaro is aboriginal, meaning 'high place'.
I always hoped for a lottery win so i could take a SLR 5000 around the world for a look. Hope some of you check it out!
Having said that, I ordered the sticker for the rear screen which reads " No more domestic arguements!" Holden/ford, not interested thankyou very much! LOOL
Frozen clutch is all good. I bought a workshop manual a couple of weeks ago & i am still looking through it. The fuel pump goes in on the weekend & i will try & fire it up again. I've had it running for about 30 seconds so far & it's cost me 80 bucks in fuel. To think i wanted this as a replacement for my V8 SS! I will post pics when i know how.
Thanks again for the welcome & the advise!