Evolution of a Carrera RST

[Rich76_911s]

Wow Johan I'm impressed. Looks fantastic!

[Uwon]

Thanks guys for your kind words. It's been a rewarding project. Can't believe it's finished, well, almost! Just tweeking a few things now. Got about 2,500 km on it now.
Cheers,
Johan

[Uwon]

Weighed the car yesterday. 2630 lbs with 1/2 tank of gas, spare, and tools. Not bad given the added weight from the turbo, intercooler, oil coolers, 930 brakes/rotors/rims/tires and A/C paraphernalia. Weight loss was never an objective for me. The weight loss can be attributed to the deletion of the impact bumpers and lower valances, rocker panels and rear seat sound insulation.
Johan

[Uwon]

Finally relocated the heated seat switches to a location in keeping with the 911 quirky ( or shall I dare say odd) interior ergonomics. I don't mind that some may cringe at heated seats. I just want some degree of creature comfort like comfy '86 sport seats with heat.....



Trani rejuvenated after many many kilometers....


Worked with joebob on this board to get the look that I wanted for the door and bumper decals...



We are now ready for Hershey!
Cheers,
Johan

[will hung]

I'm not normally a fan of stripes on 911's, but that looks awesome. The whole car looks awesome.

[puddy]

Wow Johan, the car looks awesome! What part of Ontario are you in? Will you be doing any track events with the Porsche club at Mosport?

[Uwon]

Took a five day mini holiday to the U.S. together with our ~20th annual pilgrimage to the Hershey Swap Meet and Concours. We decided at the last moment to enter the Concours...



We were able to spend some time casing the used parts and vendors, not that I needed anything , before the rain set in. Came away with these two little goodies...



Kinda cool.
Predictably, the next morning was glorious sunshine for our trip home..

Cw

Cheers,
Johan

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Congratulations Johan! But not surprising at all. I didn't make it down this year, would have loved to have seen you both and your car. Hopefully next year.

[lpsalsaman]

Congrats Johan! I was there and saw your ride, one super clean machine. Too bad the weather did not cooperated but still was an awesome time. Until next year!

[Brian 162]

Congrats Johan, that car is gorgeous. I hope to see it at Mosport.

[Rich76_911s]

Fantastic execution Johan. No doubt you earned those two trophies.

[Uwon]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Car ran beatifylly throughout the trip which included a couple of extra days holiday and shopping. Trip did reveal a front alignment issue which I'm finally getting around to addressing. Oh, all the rain revealed a couple of rear windshield leaks-what else is new with an old Porsche!!!
Cheers,
Johan

[Uwon]

Thought that I should update (resurrect may be more appropriate) this oldish build thread.
My wife and I really enjoyed the RST last summer. A blast to drive, reliable, fast and, oh, that exhaust note.
Over the winter I addressed a number of nagging shortcomings an desired modifications. Most were minor. Two “projects” I should have known better to have undertaken. Here goes.....

#1 Clear Bra
Watched a few YouTube videos and voila! Easy, I can do that I say. Wrong!
Our cars have some very complex front fenders and in my case I have the added concave contours of the RS front valance. My repeated attempts only resulted bubbles and stretch marks. I did not know at the time that Xpel and 3M’s best products can only be stretched about 15%.
My attempts...





The result when the pros do it....




Leading edge of rear fenders....



#2 Wheel Alignment


I got allot of flack elsewhere on this forum about my home made combination laser and electronic level. So, “coerced” by at least a couple guys, I went back to the traditional string method with mixed results. Car simply did not handle that well.



So I went back to my homemade laser/electronic level method with better handling results.









Not really convinced that the RST handled as well as my old car, I decided earlier this month to have the alignment and corner balancing done by Yarko at Response Engineering. What a difference! Yep, should have left it to the experts in the first place.





.cheers,
Johan

[911T70]

You're slowly but surely tweaking that awesome machine towards perfection, Johan!

Do you have any documentation on the procedure you used to do the alignment? I noticed that my tires are not wearing evenly and I always wanted to understand how this was done. I will eventually replace the bushings in my suspension and an alignment will have to be done.

Still planning on going to Hershey? I alerted the local PCA members that your car might be there!

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by Uwon

Wow that looks great! I have to say, as well, that the gaps and alignment on the hood/fender/horn grille/seal/bumper are fantastic. Better than factory for sure!

Here's hoping you weathered the ice storm OK!

[Jonny042]

As for home brewed alignment, there is no reason you can't get a good job at home with the setup you had. However, unless you have corner balance scales, you're never going to truly nail it. Point being you were probably doing a fine job, but missing an important tool.

They would more accurately be labelled "Cross weight" scales. It's possible to get ride heights and alignment measurements 100% EXACT, but still have the cross weights off. The result is a car that's "tippy" along one diagonal axis, and turns better (or worse, depending) one way than the other, and can also be unsettled over bumps and when braking.

Adjusting weight balance for a street car isn't normally that important (or even possible) with the soft spring rates inherent with OEM design (especially considering the progressive nature of most OEM springs) but with stiffness, linear rates (like torsion bars), and adjustability, comes plenty of opportunity to get it wrong.

Johan, did you ever get your camber issues sorted?

[Uwon]

Originally Posted by 911T70

Still planning on going to Hershey? I alerted the local PCA members that your car might be there!

Michel, as we were leaving Wednesday morning and the forecast across the north NY and PA called for temperatures close to freezing, I decided to not take a chance with the RST with RE-11’s. So went in the 997S and I’m glad we did. Cold, wet, snow and salt trucks over the mountains. It’s only 8 celcius right now in Hershey as I write. What climate change!!
Johan

[911T70]

Originally Posted by Uwon

Michel, as we were leaving Wednesday morning and the forecast across the north NY and PA called for temperatures close to freezing, I decided to not take a chance with the RST with RE-11’s. So went in the 997S and I’m glad we did. Cold, wet, snow and sant trucks over the mountains. It’s only 8 celcius right now in Hershey as I write. What climate change!!
Johan

Thanks for letting me know, Johan. I'll tell the Ottawa PCA crew not to expect the RST. It's great to have a nice backup car!

[Uwon]

Originally Posted by Jonny042

Adjusting weight balance for a street car isn't normally that important (or even possible) with the soft spring rates inherent with OEM design (especially considering the progressive nature of most OEM springs) but with stiffness, linear rates (like torsion bars), and adjustability, comes plenty of opportunity to get it wrong.

Johan, did you ever get your camber issues sorted?

Jonny, I agree with you. The interesting thing about my home height setting turned out to be a respectable “corner” balance. See pic below which was our starting point.




We were able to reduce the total and left/right front/rear differential to a few pounds which understandably kept moving around a bit as the camber and toe were dealt with. Looking back, I think that the main culprit was that I had too much toe in both front and back. In the end we settled for minimal total toe in of 2.5 mm for both front and back measured at the othe axle. That is virtually no toe in. Camber was set as close to as possible to -1.4 degrees (can’t get the front under that). Caster remained at +/-6.? degrees depending how you lay the gauge on the strut.





Car handles really well and there is minimal wondering on highway. We will have to wait as see about tire wear. BTW, when I got home from the alignment, I promptly took all the measurements with my laser and electronic level for future reference.
Johan

[Uwon]

Not happy with the black paint finish that I got on my deflector,.......so I stripped it all and wet sanded, and finished it off with clear coat. The steel does have traces of an inherent grain which looks like brushed aluminum.
Johan