101 Projects: Your opinions please
 

Hello everyone, here is the situation...

Just picked up the 69 from the doctors, and was given a 'lengthy' list of stuff that needs to be addressed on the car. Listed are many projects I feel we should be able to do in our garage such as front/rear wheel bearings, spring plate bushings, CV boots need replacing, struts need replacing, and a few minor things in which we have already completed.

In a quest to keep as much money in our pockets as possible, we would like to do the work ourselves, and while I am not a newbie with suspension on newer cars, I would like the extra advice for when we tackle these projects.

My question is... What are your thoughts on our host book 101 Projects given the (major) projects I have stated. Does the book cover those projects? Perhaps there is another book in print you guys would recommend?

Thank you all for your help thus far.

Andrew

P.S. - I plan on buying the book anyway, just trying to get everything planned before we jump in.

101 Projects
 

The 101 Projects book has some good history on 911s and will give you enough info to get started but it isn't intended as a repair manual. I made the mistake of taking on projects in the 101 book and found out that it doesn't really describe all the steps to do the work.

Bentley may be a better source but the best source is probably the actual Porsche factory workshop manuals. You can also get a lot of help here on Pelican by just searching on the project you're about to undertake.

You're looking at a large outlay of cash and time. The 101 Projects book will be a small fraction of your total cost and should be you first stop!

Wayne's book is great, a must have, but you should have a Bently and haynes to go along. The people here are an awsome resouce as well.

I completely agree this forum board alone is enough to get us through the projects ahead, only problem is the wifi signal is terrible (detached garage/house) and it sucks running back and forth trying to figure something out.

We have the haynes, but it sounds like the bently will be on the list to buy this week.

Andrew,

Welcome to be worlds best Prosche BBS on earth. You will find lots of help here.

Sadly, there is no Bentley for the pre '78 cars. For my '73, I have been making do with 101 Projects, Haynes and help from this board. I am too cheap to buy the Factiory Manuals which I have borrowed from time to time.

The good news is that that if you have any mechanical aptitude, the cars are pretty easy to work on.

Of the projects you list, the only one I would pawn off to my pro is the rear wheel bearing as they are very difficult to get off and require tools I would rather not own (there is a thread here about doing htis job).

Also, you should group your projects so you do not end up repeating work. This is especially important in suspenstion related work where every time you tear into it, you will need to realign and possibly reset ride heights and corner balances.

How about a picture of your baby?

Here's mine in action:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1130383659.jpg

Hey Harry, thank you for the welcome, and the words of wisdom. I was looking on Bently's website and came across their Owner's Repair Manual, but seeing as how it is only 1XX pages, and the Service manual for our 83 is over 7XX pages, I doubt it will have the information I am looking for.

I noticed our host sells the tool for the rear wheel bearings, and the price alone of that tool could lead me to believe that job will be for his doctor to do. Anyway, here is a pic of her, she still has a way to go, but far from how it was when we picked it up back in June of 08.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1232518273.jpg

Forgot that Bentley doesn't go back that far
 

I forgot that Bentley doesn't have an earlier version than for SCs. Haynes is pretty lame IMHO. Still you should have it for cross reference and it's cheap. The factory shop manuals come up on the forums and eBay every so often for around $200 if you're patient. Worth every penny. I have a friend with all the manuals and service bulletins so I haven't bought them but should he not be able to lend them to me in the future I'm sure I'd buy them as soon as I found a deal.

There's a thread on Pelican, I believe, that shows how to fabricate a simple rear wheel bearing press to remove the wheel bearings that seemed to work well. I think they actually used household plumbing supplies. Worth looking into.

Nice looking car. What color is it?

rbuswell: Yea, the Haynes we have is pretty weak. I am going to do a search and see what I can find on the home made tool you speak of, heck, I think we will try anything to save a few hundies.

Harry: the color is supposed to be Bahama Yellow, but the PO did not do a very good job getting the colors together, and it is just a question of $$ until we are able to get a correct paint job for her. We are shooting for next year, but we will see. Saving grace on this car is we have found VERY little rust, and it was not in any major spot at all (pass. side turn signal frame 1" wide)

Here it is
 

The wheel bearing thread:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=179300&highlight=rear+wheel+beari ngs

BTW, read the entire thread ... it gets better.

I shouldn't think you'd have any problem doing the work you specify. I have the factory manual, and if, as you go along, you can tell me what information you need, I'll be happy to lend you the proper pages of the manual. Might end up with a fair amount of New York/California back-and-forth mailing, but that's not a big deal.

Andrew,

Lovely looking car you have there.

I picked up 101 Projects last week (along with a replacement 2.2 engine window decal). If anything I see it as a means of prioritizing what I may want or need to do to my car. I can see it's a well-organized book but, in all fairness to our host, it can't be constantly updated. That's why it's great that we have this board as a living body of knowledge.

Owning a '70 a Bentley is out the window and I'm having a hard time seeing the value in a Haynes. I joined PCA primarily for access to information, i.e., for access to the "Up-Fixin' der Porsche" series which seems to be held in good regard. So for now I will keep my eyes peeled for a set of factory manuals and use the search function here exhaustively.

Good luck,
Ed

You can't have too much reference material.

On some of the older cars, the Haynes has pretty decent wiring schematics that are easily read, but for the "newer" cars as in the 80's, the Haynes does start to get fairly lame, but it does have some good information in it. A Bentley Manual for the early models would be great, but... maybe, at some time in the future they will put one out for them. It was just fairly recent, that the 83' manual came out. Before then it was the Bentley Manual for 84' up available. The 101, is another source. Get everything you can find, as you can never have too much reference material on any of our favorite vehicles.

If you come across something that you can't find in the manuals that you do have, jump on here and ask, it will probably be just a short while till you get the information that you need. Welcome to the group, very nice looking early model!! Tony.

Thank you guys for all your help and advice. We are going to be placing an order most likely at the beginning of February and will let you guys know when we jump head first. I read thru most of the thread for the rear bearings, but I came down with a pretty nasty illness, so alot of it when in the eyes and out the ears.

Haynes is not weak. For the money, it's good side kick to 101 Projects. AFA Haynes goes, there's enough info in there to rebuild your 901 tranny. Ain't that tough enough?

Last winter I did my 88 911 suspension with polybronze bushings, Chuck Mooreland is very helpful. Bilstein HD shock inserts, rear trailing arm bushings, but they looked OK compared the the control arm and spring plate bushings which are bad by def after so many years.Not sure if a 69 has the same suspension. Trailing arm in hand I had the mechanic press out the rear wheel bearings and reinsert new ones. I think your year is different possibly. Check ball joint and tie rod ends. Buy the more expensive ones as the rubber rotted in 6mo on the cheaper ones, making me realign again. When its all over then you will need to corner balance and align. Read alot about ride height. I posted with my questions so do a search for my results. I ended up corner balancing with the mechanic after paying for it to tweak the ride height the way I wanted it. Read for days. Good luck.

Milt: I must admit, the Haynes is not weak, it has actually guided us though a few different projects. I would just not say it is as detailed as the Bentley we have for the 83.

Glenn: I plan on reading TONS! Also on the list where ball joints, and tie rod ends (the mech suggested we upgrade to the turbo tie rod). I know our list is quite extensive, but patience is the key here. We plan on the alignment and corner balance deal when we get everything said and done.

With all that in mind, I suppose I shouldn't dismiss the Haynes outright.