Introduction: 1985 Iris Blue M491 911

[oh snap]

Here is my first Porsche. I flew from Victoria, BC to Long Beach, California to pick up the car and drive back to Victoria. It didnt entirely go as planned as there was a screw up with my bank making my money available to me in California. This cost us some time and some money and is yet to be resolved. However, the car is now mine and aside from the hang up, the trip was great and it was an excellent drive to make with a 911. Special thanks to pelican member Roby466 who gave me a great summary on the importation process.

The car is an 85 911 with m491 option, sunroof, 930s steering wheel, H4s, Steve Wong chip, sport drivers seat and LSD. Turned 90k miles on the trip back











Its not a perfect car, but I wasnt in the market for a perfect car. The mechanicals are good though. The list of problems:

The power seat would not lower. When I got home, (after driving 2000 miles with my head against the roof) I took apart the power seat switch and scrubbed the contacts with an emery board. Thank you Pelican Forums. Wish Id spent the hour to get it figured out at the start of the trip....

The wiper spray does not spray and the high-beam pull does not work. I believe the contacts on the stalks need to be refreshed. High-beams work when the stalk is pushed.

Aftermarket stereo doesnt work. It makes a static/popping sound. Maybe a loose wire somewhere?

Aftermarket alarm can be finicky. Pretty sure I am going to pull it, they are almost always more trouble than they are worth.

No heat: heater blower was removed but included in sale. Once I get the Bently/101 projects from our host I will test it and get it back in the car.

No AC: installed but disconnected. It leaks according to the prev owner. I dont need AC where I live so I may just delete it all together.

Car stumbles a bit when its cold. I was told by Jeff at Aase when it had the PPI done that it was running very rich at idle. He adjusted it but mentioned that there was an aftermarket airflow meter that could be throwing the mix off.

Clutch Squeaks on release

Paint chips up front, some peels in clear coat. Headliner worn around sunroof, dash bent up slightly in the middle. Creaks and rattles of a 26 year old car. Patina . Doesnt bother me for now, in time it will all be refreshed.


The car has Kumho Ecsta XS 265/45/16 and 225/50/16 going on it on Monday. Afterwords I'll need to have it corner balanced and aligned. Fresh oil/filter and air filter coming from Jeff Alton sometime next week and it should be set for a while.

[oh snap]

As i mentioned, the PPI was done at Aase in Fullerton, CA. Before we left town I took the car to back to them because the seller said he changed a CV Boot on it but couldn’t tighten the clamp properly without the special tool. The guys at Aase put it up on the lift and tightened it up. I told them I was planning to drive it to Canada and they checked the front wheel bearings for me, and then topped up the oil. I went to square up with Jeff, the owner and he said "just give me $20 for the quart of oil." I was expecting a full bill and didn’t have any small bills on me, so I offered Visa. He said "Dont worry about it, well get it next time. Have a safe trip" Stand up guys there. If you have a Porsche in SoCal it is the place to go. I went up to the AM/PM up the road to fill up and bought a case of Heineken to drop back off for the crew. Really can’t say enough good things about my experience with them. Awesome crew with lots of really cool projects in their shop.




Various cars. Mostly race projects in the shop though they do street cars as well





Their engine building room.

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Annnnnnd back on the road. This was a nice stretch cutting over from the I5 towards Selinas where we were visiting some friends.



Anyway, as it turned out, my friends house was literally 2 miles away from Laguna Seca. I had no idea. I was hoping I could drive around it once but I guess you have to be part of a group or something. We drove over and they let us into paddock area so we could walk around. Lots of awesome cars out. Various M3s, s2ks, vettes, WRXs and a couple Ferraris, Lambos, even an Aston Martin.






We drove up to Ukiah because some more family friends own a winery there, but there was a miscommunication and they were in their office near SF when we passed through. Oh well. I got tired of the 101 and took some forest road over to Fort Bragg. This road was amazing. Nice windy roads for 40 miles or so.



great strech of road.

North Coast of Cali is gorgeous. As is the South Coast of Oregon. Well worth the time over taking the I5. Around Eureka is where driving a car without a working heater started feeling really cold. We bought gloves and hats at an outlet and wore layers.





Still cold. Only another 700 or so miles to go.


Here is the route I took. Id love to do it again one day. The smaller section from Ukiah to Fort Brag and then into Leggett was some of the most fun Ive ever had. Id love to do it on good tires without a rear seat full of bags and spare parts.



Long Beach, CA, USA to Victoria, BC - Google Maps

[MH911]

Welcome aboard. Very nice car. Love that color. I'm sure you will enjoy making her perfect again.

[oh snap]

Thank you. Its my favourite 80s 911 colour so I was glad a car was available. There are only 3 or 4 m491's with this colour on the registry, so its quite rare. Im looking forward to brining it back into shape over the next few years

[grahamkissack]

Great pics...we need more of these cars on the island!

[Macroni]

Love fat fenders! good luck w/ your car. Got to love the quantity of great shops in S. CA

[drcoastline]

Congratulations and good luck with her. I like your shoes but they are not very good for heel n toe.

[Helios59]

Congratulations! Thanks for all the great photos.

I grew up in Reno and am very familiar w/all those Northern Cali towns...every summer we'd vacation at Oregon Caves Nat'l Monument north of Grant's Pass.

Is that a Euro car? I'm wondering because IIRC the U-S M491s didn't come with the "Carrera" script on the back.

Is it complicated importing a U-S car into Canada? From what I hear, it's not so easy to bring a Canadian car Stateside.

Here's my '86. Enjoy your new old car!

[ivangene]

great great great story, write up AND car !!

welcome - next time you drive thru Seattle without stopping though - there will be trouble



Welcome !!

[Oh Haha]

Suh-weet!!!!Welcome to Pelican.

Any info on the funky green 911 in the shop photo?

[Oh Haha]

[oh snap]

Originally Posted by Macroni

Love fat fenders! good luck w/ your car. Got to love the quantity of great shops in S. CA

Thanks! Yes lots of great shops to choose from there. Very reassuring when you have someone with a shop like Aase looking over your car.

Originally Posted by drcoastline

Congratulations and good luck with her. I like your shoes but they are not very good for heel n toe.

They were a tight fit for me but they look great on my girlfriend

Originally Posted by Helios59

Congratulations! Thanks for all the great photos.

I grew up in Reno and am very familiar w/all those Northern Cali towns...every summer we'd vacation at Oregon Caves Nat'l Monument north of Grant's Pass.

Is that a Euro car? I'm wondering because IIRC the U-S M491s didn't come with the "Carrera" script on the back.

Is it complicated importing a U-S car into Canada? From what I hear, it's not so easy to bring a Canadian car Stateside.

Here's my '86. Enjoy your new old car!

Nice cab! Mine is a California optioned car. About the script Im not sure.

The process for importing a car older than 15 years is not too hard. Just make sure to fax the border office your papers 3 days in advance and then pay the tax at the border. After I get the tires on I will need a provincial inspection and then I can register it here and finally start to drive it again. I'm going through withdrawal big time.

Originally Posted by ivangene

great great great story, write up AND car !!

welcome - next time you drive thru Seattle without stopping though - there will be trouble



Welcome !!

Thanks! We were going to try to make it to a drive in Seattle, but we ended up rushing the end of our trip due to the hiccups of the first week. We come to Seattle a few times a year though, so next time I will meet up with the Pelicans there

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

Suh-weet!!!!Welcome to Pelican.

Any info on the funky green 911 in the shop photo?

I cant recall. I feel like it might have been a 74/75 Carrera but I didnt ask. Great colour though. It was high on the rear side so I assume the engine was being rebuilt there.



Thanks for all the comments

[wolf76]

Beautiful car and welcome aboard. I have always loved the wide body option on these cars. Nothing like a road trip to get acquainted with your new ride.



Chris

[mpetry]

wonderful trip-tick, some of the best Porsche roads on the planet. Glad the car ran well and thank you for posting...

[Por_sha911]

Dear Lord! That is a gorgeous car! Congrats.

[jimbauman]

That must have been a fun trip!

Note to Oh Haha - that's a 1976 911 you have circled there in the pic...

JB

[AZAirCooled]

What a great road trip!

[Gustyones]

Wow! Nice introduction and awesome Car. Way to break it in!

[jwetering]

Nice work Canuck. Car looks great.