The Zen of 911 maintenance

[Jack Olsen]

I took the afternoon yesterday to do a little work on the car. The interior trim piece that goes on the top of each door had the vinyl losing its adhesion in places, which was an easy fix with some 3M weatherstrip adhesive. At the same time, I had a new window track felt to put in. Since my car is a pre-74, the old track is metal-backed and glued in. I ended up removing the entire upper frame in order to pry the old felt out and install the slip-fit newer style felt.

Since I'd also noticed that the passenger-side rear-view mirror was getting pushed back at speeds over 120 (it was happening at Willow Springs a couple of weeks ago), I took advantage of the door being apart to remove the mirror and tighten the spring that controls tension on it.

Then, since I was on a roll, I put in a new heater box cable to replace one that had snapped, and even repainted the transmission tunnel cover and added an improved fire extinguisher mount down there. Much easier to reach, now.

Why mention all this? Because with the parts from Pelican, and the search function on this board, I was able -- in spite of being the only non-engineer in my family -- to do all of this quickly and easily. There was either a tech article, or a well-written post, about each of the jobs I needed to do.

This board is a great resource. Here's a happy 911:

[Chuck Moreland]

Yes, but have you waxed it yet? That hood says yes.

[speeder]

GRRRRRRRREAT photo, Jack. Maybe the best one of it I've seen yet, IMNSHO, of course. Maintenance on our older cars is an ongoing thing, so good thing we enjoy it.

[Rick Lee]

Hey Jack, Dan Morrisette and I did a similar job yesterday. A 4" section of my driver's side window liner had ripped out and it made a horrible whisp when driving fast with the windows up. I bought the whole replacement weather strip (from our host) and planned to install it yesterday while I had the door apart to do my door stay reinforcement kit (also bought from our host). Door stay was a breeze, but I was in no mood for further disassembly and taking my window out. So what I did was cut a 4" piece from my new weather strip and glued it (3M of course) in place. It's a perfect fit, took less than 5 minutes, looks almost new and makes no noise at all. It was a LOT easier than totally disassembling the whole door and window guts. Now I have the rest of the weather strip to use for other patches. I also replaced my O2 sensor and rear decklid shocks yesterday. It was a VERY productive day. Unfortunately, I didn't have the plug adapter I needed to put my H4's in, but I'll get it done soon. The Dulles/Potomac swap meet yesterday just offered more DIY projects than I could handle.

[CJFusco]

Speaking of ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE, did you know that a Porsche is the only car mentioned in the book by name? There is a passage in the book, during comparatively happier times, when the narrator and his son play with a friendly blue 911 while riding their bike through a mountain road.

[cellison]

Glad to see some folks had a productive P-car maintenace day yesterday. I had planned to also, but woke up and found out I had an emergency wax ring install to do on one of my bathroom toilets. Now that's what I call fun. Didn't get the ring from Pelican however.

Charles
88 Cab

[724doorE]

Same here, was plannig valve adjust, MSD install, and a trip out to G-man but darn the honey do list told me I was suppose to refinish the dining room floor, so I spent all evening Friday and part of Saturday with a drum sander and edger.... funny how later in the day my back and knees quit huring after I opened a funny shaped square bottle from Tennesseeeeee.

I did, however, get the 911 "cleaned" out on the way to return the sanders, third gear and 4500-5000 for a few miles will do that for you.

The guy was a little surprised by my choice of delivery vehicles, and told me he once had a customer "in an older Porsch with a hatchback who put a two man post hole driller in back..." I just told him you do what you got to do.

[Rick Lee]

P-car maint. is a total luxury and hobby for me. House stuff comes first. I just had some rotted wood replaced and painted in the front of my house. The contractor wanted another $160 to come out and fix the gutter that caused the damage. So Sat., in order to save money I wanted to spend on H4's at the Potomac Swap Meet on Sun., I took my trusty pick-up truck to rent a 28' ladder for a whopping $15, bought $6 worth of parts at Home Depot and had the gutter job done in under 30 min. That made my P-car maint. a little more affordable.

[old_skul]

I had the rare opportunity of bump-starting my car when the battery decided it was out of warranty. :\ Oh well. Nice new Bosch battery. Man, the battery area of my car is rusty

But I bled the brakes, and put oil in it too....happy happy. Now my car is rather stinky. I think I spilled a couple of drops of oil on the heat exchangers...

[Kemo]

Well, since we are talking of successful quick maintenance...
I removed my shifter and replaced the round shaft guide and the plastic ball cup thingy at the end of the shifter. While i was at it, i removed the shifter and cleaned all the moving parts and slathered them all with white lithium grease. Fortunately, I had Wayne's 101 projects to use as a guide. I had intended to change the bushings at the shifter coupler but the book said i would need to have a shop "press" out the inner pin in order to make the swap. Ill look into that later. Another interesting find, that was not in the book(unless i overlooked it) was the hex bolt on the front of the shifter. By tightening this bolt, i was able to reduce the amount of "play" in the shifter.

as always, Jack, your car looks awesome.

[arcsine]

My state of Zen will be happening in about two weeks. I am gearing up to install Carrera tensioners, change oil, adjust valves and maybe backdate the heater system. I would not even think about any of these (OK, except the oil change) without information on this board and subsequent parts from Pelican.
House/child/dog/racing opportunities have kept me from diving into it already but I cannot wait to put on the overalls and dig in.

[island911]

Originally posted by Chuck Moreland
Yes, but have you waxed it yet? That hood says yes.

Why wax, when you can repaint.
Try to keep up Chuck; he moves quickly

[Superman]

Mark, clean the poop out of that battery tray with steel brush and baking soda. Then kill the remainign rust with that acid stuff ("metal prep" at the auto paint store), and spray with something like POR-15. Then get a plastic battery tray. It's a bit of trouble to go through, but the penalty for ignoring it is severe.

[pwd72s]

Jim, er Super? I believe that acid stuff is known as Rust Mort... Hood looking good Jack! You have a good painter down there. Household tip...gutter work. Gutter nails pulled out on me, wouldn't stay in the enlarged holes. Solution: Coat a golf tee with wood glue. After glue cures, cut tee off flush. Presto, "new wood" for nails or screws to hold in.

[bigchillcar]

Hmmm,

I got to practice my "Zen" in a steady rain yesterday afternoon. Although I generally agree with the statement, the words coming up from my gut and through my throat and eventually leaving my mouth probably could not have been construed as 'chant' or 'mantra'...if anyone was around to hear or stare with curiosity. Some folks get a real kick out of seeing a Porsche on the ground with a set of tools.

No garage guys and battery temporarily out on charger for those wondering why I couldn'y have found a car wash bay...

Sign me 'soaked in Arkansas' and the alternator light is still on...hopefully my 'backed-up a week' wrench will give a look by Wednesday...

Happy monday guys!

Ryan

[wit61]

There is nothing like the beginning stages of a Fuchs refinishing project..... The process of transforming a wheel from an unloved state to a smooth sanded art piece transcends the pain of wrists, forearms, and fingers. Tangible progress and the promise of a brighter future....items seldom seen during my work week.

[JavaBrewer]

I just got done saving some money. Our house had an option to enclose the dining room (23' ceiling) with a loft. The original buyer said no. Well I had two estimates to have it done ranging from $5200 to $6750. That's without official permit which would probably add another ~$750. Heck with that, its just knocking down a railing and adding a floor to 3 existing walls and an upstairs walkway. Tools I already have so I spent $350 on lumber and hardware. Saturday and Sunday I finished the framing, flooring, and electrical. Now I have to spend ~$300 to for professional tape/texture (sheetrock I hung last night with help of neighbor) and another ~$300 for carpeting. I visit construction sites to see how things are done as a hobby. I love putting things together.

I will post a before/after picture tomorrow. This is way OT I know but here comes the Porsche part-

I'm pretty handy around homes but cars scare me. I'm going to attempt the oil return tubes in a week or two. Two are leaking but I want to replace all 4 since the other two are probably watching and waiting. I lie in bed at night worrying about doing this correctly. Maybe its the cramped work space and oil but I never get away without smashing some body part (car or mine). I would like to do the O2 sensor at the same time but worry that the car will never start again and I won't know if the new tubes are somehow in personal conflict with the new sensor. Do they make "anti-rejection" medication for cars like they do for organ transplant recipients?

[73.5blackT]

Hello,
I read your pst and saw the picture of your 73.5 car and noticed that it has a passenger side mirror. Did the car come that way or did you add it? If you added it where did you buy if from??
Thank you,
Steve
sdowell@pacificnet.net

[rvanderpyl]

>>Saturday and Sunday I finished the framing, flooring, and electrical<<

THis is probably going to get kicked to off-topic if I ask to many questions here, but $350.00 seems an awfull little to put in joists, floorboards, drywall and electrical. So just in the name of safety, what was the span, what depth of joists did you use, what thickness of plywood, how did you tie in your electrical to make sure that you didn't exceed code on number of outlets?

I'm not questioning your skills, but I've heard of to many disasters that started with 'saving' money.

[Jack Olsen]

I have the 74-style square chrome mirror, which is slightly larger than the 73 version (which I'm pretty sure didn't come in a passenger version). The 74-style ones are pretty commonly available for both sides, I think.

Before getting the one you see in the picture, I bought an aftermarket duplicate of the 73 mirror made for the passenger side. I thought it was too small to be really useful, though. (If you're interested in buying it, I'm sure I've got it around here somewhere.)