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04-01-2025, 07:28 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 404
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Time for a brain dump.
I’ve been tinkering on the Avocado here/there which has been made easier via moving it from Garage Gruppe back to my house. That was an ordeal by itself because of the slope of our driveway and positioning of our garage.    In the last post, I mentioned that I had ordered a bunch of stuff. Well, some of it worked out, some of it didn’t but in any event, the fuel system is complete. Neither of the Staubli quick disconnect connectors worked, this setup was a PMNA specific piece that ended up being ordered from 311RS. With that out of the way and a few incorrect fittings ordered/reordered I mapped out the hose routing. This setup will use both the original style fuel filter and return line with a single outlet to the returnless setup that the cup engine uses.   With this wrapped up, I knocked out a few other random things: replaced an oil pressure fitting that had broken in the accident, replaced o-rings in the oiling system, cleaned and reinstalled oil supply hard lines, and attempted to replace the oil pressure return spring guide tube. I say attempted because once I unscrewed the fitting, the original spring, spacer, and bent guide tube weren’t in there. I scoured my garage and have yet to find the damn things. Those parts are dealer only, Pelican had to order from Germany so I ended up ordering direct from a dealer instead. Still waiting on them, we’ll see if they ever arrive. The other, more major problem that has been lingering has to do with the crank sensor. The problem is two-fold:
So when an opportunity presented itself to pick up another 3.6, I decided to go for it. A month or so ago, a 1995 993 engine with ~133k miles showed up on a pallet at my house.  In my infinite wisdom, I sold all the oil lines, oil coolers, thermostat, oil tank, and throttle shaft/cable when I sold the 964 engine. I waffled on doing that but ultimately told myself I’d committed to the cup engine and all I’d be doing is storing stuff I don’t need… While I’ve been knocking things out on the cup engine, I’ve also been cleaning up the 993 engine and replacing seals/rubber to get it ready for installation. With the engine/trans coming out anyways, it makes sense to get the 993 engine installed since that’s a recipe I’m familiar with and I can hopefully just enjoy the car for the summer and at the very least, hope to feel the love again. The only major change I’m planning to make between the 964 setup to 993 is to adjust the plan for oil cooling. The 993 case can use a 3.2 engine-mounted oil cooler in lieu of the oil filter housing with the 3.2 fan shroud (all of which I randomly still have). And I picked up a CSF passenger side mount oil cooler. I’m hoping this is enough cooling compared to the dual side mounts I had before. I’d also love to use the GT3 muffler, but making that mount to 993 heat exchangers doesn’t seem to have been done. I’d also really like to have HVAC in this iteration, which I have only had fully working with the OG hot rod 3.2 I had in here years ago. To at least get this mounted up/driving, I found a local selling a 993 fabspeed header/muffler setup. Unfortunately, it’s sans heat exchangers so if using this long-term, I need to find a different solution for heat.  This brings us up to speed as to where we’re at as of today. The 993 engine is on the stand and getting torn down. If I can make progress this weekend I’d like all seals/cleanup to be done by EOD Sunday and I can proceed with removing the cup engine and getting this one slapped in next weekend. Fingers crossed. 
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06-13-2025, 06:38 AM
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Always look forward to your updates. The scope of challenges you decide to tackle make the projects on my car look simple by comparison. This thread is a great reminder of what is possible if you can dedicate the time.
Look forward to reading about the Avocado being on the the road again. Cordially, Roger |
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06-13-2025, 08:44 PM
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Always look forward to your updates. The scope of challenges you decide to tackle make the projects on my car look simple by comparison. This thread is a great reminder of what is possible if you can dedicate the time.
Look forward to reading about the Avocado being on the the road again. Cordially, Roger |
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06-13-2025, 09:09 PM
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DIY wrencher
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Vienna
Posts: 228
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Well Gabe, that sure is a big turn of events again! But fitting a 993 lump back in there will be a project of a few weekends instead of months, and the good thing is you will always be able to sell it very easily down the road, when you have figured the intricacies of the Cup engine. I have a 7 month old at home myself and know that free time is a rare commodity that needs to be spent very wisely... ��
If you want to go with heat and AC to make the Avocado even more of an enjoyable driver, the upcoming Classic Retrofit AC + heat should be a sweet setup that is much lighter and neater than the factory systems, and it will work with your headers. Alternatively, M&K makes a nice muffler that bolts onto the Bischoff version (not the Gillets) of the 993 heat exchangers. Those are fairly cheap and flow well, even comparable to 41mm big bore SSIs at 3-4x the cost.
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06-16-2025, 02:13 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Minneapolis
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I started drafting this update in July and got really sidetracked with dad-mode, working on my car, and enjoying the summer. Nonetheless, I just completed the Overcrest rally in Appalachia and feel like it’s time to pause and bring everyone up to date. Getting the 993 engine installed in June was seriously wishful thinking for a handful of reasons and parts delays. I would make progress and then something unrealized, unknown, or forgotten would pop up and ruin my day (not really, it's just a car, but still...) :
What I initially felt should have been simple turned out to have a lot more complexity. To date, the list of new parts is fairly insane: all oil lines are new, new CSF oil cooler, new oil tank, new vent lines, new voltage regulator, new ignition control module, patrick motorsports throttle cable conversion, wiring/DME harness conversion, power steering, SAI block off plugs, and engine oil feed (replaces pipe that 3.2 oil cooler would be), replaced front/rear mains, valve cover gaskets, triangle of death seals, cam housing gaskets, fuel line conversion/fittings, new Bosch starter, j-west short shifter, fabspeed 993 cup air filter cover, new brackets, clamps, bolts, screws. Overall, it was thousands in parts with spares in case things went wrong while thousands of miles from home. I wanted to avoid a repeat of what happened at overcrest last year. With all this work, the car runs and drives but I had a shipload of anxiety about driving it on a 3k mile road trip and driving the wheels off it while at the rally destination. Last year’s experience really challenged my psyche. I truly believe these are really simple to operate vehicles and if you have spares you should be in ok shape but if something major happens, you could easily be stranded. That’s where the importance of community and friends really shines with the rally events. Everyone works together to right any wrongs but you still need to deal with whatever complexity gets thrown at you, and that can be really tough. Overcrest rally updates soon... 
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10-21-2025, 12:51 PM
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Location: Northwestern Ontario
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Good Luck with the Rally, car still looks great from the back!
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10-21-2025, 05:29 PM
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Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 404
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Overcrest Rally 2025!
As I write this, I’ve been home from Overcrest for about a week and I’m still not sure if I’m caught up on sleep (but that could also be from chasing a toddler around + regular work/life duties).
The only casualty of the trip (for the Avocado) was the brand new Bosch starter deciding to give up the morning of Day #2, the Avocado otherwise ripped and was a blast to drive. To start where I left off… Those with a keen eye may have noticed the wheels in the last picture are not GOLD. Nokian is a major sponsor of the Overcrest rally and gave the first ten folks that reached out a set of free tires. I was lucky enough to pick up a set of their Surpass AS01 in 215/45/17 and 245/40/17 for the set of BBS LMs I’ve had sitting in the garage for the last three years. As you’d imagine, moving from a set of R-compounds to a 550 treadwear all season was a bit of a change, but not as much as I expected. The only sections of the rally I was considerably slower were the high speed sweepers on the first day where I wasn’t too familiar with the grip level yet. They performed admirably otherwise, including during an insane rain storm on the way home.  On Monday night of the week of the rally, I got all packed up, including my tent/air mattress for Saturday night. The Avocado was fairly loaded down.  I left early Wednesday morning and got on the road from Minneapolis with two friends, Brent and Amy. Our destination was Indianapolis to spend the night with ⅗ of the full send society. We caught up with Julian along the way and then met up with Chris and Kelly for Mexican food and hangs. This was the night before Chris sold the 991, I'm glad we got a chance to see it before it left the fleet!   First rest-stop in Black River Falls, WI. Up until this point, the twin cities hadn't had much change in leaf color yet. Once we got into Wisconsin that clearly wasn't the case there. Had to snap a shot with this big, beautiful Maple.  We set our alarms at 5am to get on the road at 6am. I was parked deepest into the driveway and when Brent and Julian pulled out, my car didn’t start, not even a click. Chris gave me a push start (and a spare starter from his air-cooled hoard), and we were on our way. Next stop Buc-ees in Kentucky.  At Bucc-ees we met up with Tony, Jessie, and Andy. A few friends got to Overcrest early and hit up Tail of the Dragon. I had no idea how close it was but Tony said it was only a 15 minute detour so we set our sites on it. On our way up, we got stuck behind a Kia SUV doing 20 mph. The mountain road manners were really lacking on this trip, despite there being plenty of turn-offs. Regardless, it was awesome to finally get out on the Dragon after years of hearing about it.   We made it to Night #1 at Deer Lodge. Incredible surf and turf were had by all and once it got dark, we headed to our Airbnb in Helen, GA.   Too many pics to share for one post, to be continued!
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10-28-2025, 03:22 PM
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Morning of Day #1 was another 5am wake up call but I ended up wide awake at 4:40am.
With a bathroom break and some coffee brewed, I went out to jack up the car and see what was going on with the starter. All the wiring connections were solid and we had checked the connection at the 14-pin connector at Bucc-ees so that pointed to the starter being dead. My friend John and I beat on it with a ½” ratchet and after some choice words, it did start to fire up again. That probably lasted only 5 starts before it stopped working again and eventually it would only start while hitting it and turning the key at the same time. That wasn’t a reasonable solution so we ended up push starting it the remainder of the trip. Thank you to all my friends that assisted with that! It takes a village. The start this morning was at the top of Brasstown Bald Visitor Center/Jacks Knob Trailhead. It’s always an experience to be on the tail end of a trail of vintage sports cars head up the mountains in the dark. This morning was no exception. It was still dark while we parked and we were able to watch the sun rise from the top of the mountain and start to expand it’s reach on the other side. Was a breathtaking site.    Coffee was top of mind and fortunately three guys brought their mobile setups and were doling out the caffeine. I’d like to be better prepared for that myself the next time around. Both with coffee and “real” breakfasts, or at least greek yogurt parfaits or some pre-made breakfast burritos.  On our way down the mountain and onto the day’s route, we went through several foggy small towns before coming across an insane overlook:    After the insane overlook, there was one of the most idyllic roads I’ve ever been on. The curvy road navigated a creek, with beautiful fall colors, and several fly fisherman whipping their poles in search of fish.   From there Cherohala Skyway with its long, beautiful sweepers and valley views. A few things to note at this point:
After Cherohala skyway, we briefly got service rolling through a few small towns as I was trying to refresh the BAT auction without much success. As luck would have it, we were also about to go through Tail of the Dragon again. At the bottom of the Dragon, we stopped at one of the merch stops for a break, finally got wifi, and I saw that the truck didn’t hit it’s $23k reserve. At least I got a TOD sticker. With any auction, you know most of it is out of your hands but my hopes were up and I felt pretty crushed. Also running with minimal energy, I just felt like I wanted to be done for the day. I felt like the debbie-downer of my crew. At some point, I realized I hadn’t really had much to eat besides the aforementioned mcchicken, snacks, and coffee (on top of the last two days of driving to Helen, GA's lack of normal nutrition). I scrounged an apple and a clementine from the crew and a Snickers at a gas station and it picked me right back up. Instead of wanting to take the “straight” route to our airbnb, I carried on and am glad I did. It's also apparent that my lack of energy at this point resulted in a lack of pics... We accidentally took a turn off the Overcrest route and it ended up being another banger of a road while also cutting some time off the regular route. Minimal cars, afternoon sun, and mountain roads. Chefs kiss.  The Airbnb we had on Friday night in Waynesville, NC was a great spot with a huge great room and a hot tub. We ordered a gaggle of pizzas and wings, enjoyed a few beers, hopped into the hot tub, and did my best to catch some ZZZs while being in a room with twin bunk beds and three other middle-aged men, who happened to snore… Unfortunately, I was the last to fall asleep. Oh well. Another night with less than <5 hours of sleep and another 5am wake-up. Onto day #2!
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11-01-2025, 06:26 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 404
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Overcrest Day #2
Day #2 began with another push start in the dark and an early meetup at Ghost Town Village.
Looking back, this day was chaotic but it was also the most action packed and incredible of days. None of this is meant to be critical of the Overcrest Productions crew, the fact that they’re able to essentially produce a brand new event annually is nothing short of incredible. I’m glad I’ve been invited to go to ½ the rallies that they’ve put on. Any large scale event like this is bound to have hiccups. I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished and hope they’re able to continue sharing their curated experiences with the rest of us. Hagerty hosted Coffee for this morning, but the coffee shop somehow missed the memo on how many people would be here. They had one tank of coffee and one person serving coffee to 200 people. I’d imagine that since most of us have the knowledge to drive/maintain 40+ year old cars, we can serve ourselves out of an insulated beverage dispenser. I digress… I’m sure any of us business owners would be happy to host coffee on one of the rally days in the future, myself included.   Today’s route had some insane variety and also probably some of the sketchiest roads that resulted in some mishaps that you may have seen on Julian’s thread (aka Showdown). Coming out of town, we hit some dense fog, which made for some cautious driving up the mountain roads. I don’t currently have heat in my car which means no defrost, I was battling a windshield that was fogging up on the outside and even with new wipers, was annoying. At one point, as we were coming down the hill, I turned the corner into bright sunlight, it lit up the windshield, and I couldn’t see. I was essentially driving blind down a curvy road until we hit shade a few seconds later. That was scary AF. After this first morning session there were a few small towns that we cruised through prior to getting back to some of the curves. On our way up a super fun road, we ended up behind a pickup towing a hay-baler. At no point in time did they pull over and let anyone by despite multiple pull-offs. Several of us were able to pass as the road opened up into a passing lane but man, the number of inconsiderate and unaware drivers we came across while on this rally was alarming. I realize we are guests in their towns but are also in vintage sports cars, not driving insanely fast, enjoying the curves, doing our best to be considerate. I’ve driven throughout the US and on many mountain roads and this has been the worst I’ve experienced. Unfortunately, this meant that many of the roads we were on meant driving 20-25 mph when 40-50 would have been more appropriate. At the time, it felt like a waste not knowing what was coming next…  Have you ever been on https://roadcurvature.com/ ? It’s an amazing site that heat maps roads based on curviness. If you look at the entirety of the US, Appalachia has the most dense quantity of curvy roads in the United States. As early morning turned to late morning and we got around the pickup truck, our route took us from Trust, NC through Hot Springs, NC, through Foster Creek, NC, into Mars Hill, NC, and then to Burnsville, NC for lunch. Those roads are the brightest of bright pink on that website. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so worn out from driving before. I’d love to know how many turns we made throughout the rally. This was also the section that caused some mishaps. There was a 180-degree turn going down in elevation that was so unlike all the previous turns, the outside of the corner was also the edge of a slope. It was incredibly sketchy and it was the first time on the rally that I puckered up, hard on the brakes, skidding towards a cliff, hoping this wasn’t the end either via car in the other lane (I never cross the double yellow around blind turns) or heading over the side of a mountain. The comedown after that shot of adrenaline was serious. I just wanted lunch and a break but the roads and my crew continued until Pigs and Grits in Burnsville. I was so out of it that at some point I missed a turn, as one of the roads came to a Tee I ended up behind regular traffic and as this year’s route guidance was by route book only and I didn’t see where everyone turned. My friend Kyle (Mr Millrace) had to chase me down. See my previous thoughts on packing better breakfasts and not just snacks (protein bars, almonds, pretzels, beef jerky, and water), lol. Lunch at Pigs and Grits was delicious and I was starting to gain some energy back.  The afternoon’s drives were a little less intense until another rogue turn almost caused a multi car pile up. This turn (which was on the Tarmac route, there were both Tarmac and Gravel routes in the route book) eventually put us on a gravel road. The avocado was fairly clean up until that point but after this, the car, engine bay, and interior were covered in gravel dust. There are reasons we were avoiding those routes. Despite a snails pace on the gravel route, one of the 924S (John Rausch/Gain Stage Garage, my dude!) that were with us seemed to be having some suspension issues afterwards. We took a bit of a break at a laundromat with a nice parking lot to poke around. With that break, it was fairly clear that we wouldn’t make it to that day’s destination on time if we followed the regular route (again). The finish line for today… Fairgrounds Raceway in Boone, NC. We were told to get to the raceway between 5-6pm so we took an alternate/shorter route to get there. That route put us on Blue Ridge Parkway during peak leaf peeping season. There were so many people out making memories and taking pictures of the incredible views… and at the same time, more cameras were focused on us than the trees which was pretty memorable for me. I was the caboose and there were so many people rubbernecking. Also, like I mentioned, absolutely incredible views!   We made it to the Raceway almost right at 5:00pm and those that arrived there early were able to park in the fenced in area of the race grounds. I was the last car that didn’t make it in. Turned out that was a blessing in disguise so my car wasn’t stuck (and considering I still had to push start it, parking it on a hill was a good idea). None of us really had any idea what this night would entail but we could see the race track was a dirt oval so only time could tell. We were also able to camp at the race track tonight, which didn’t seem super wise of us considering we had a 1,100 mile ride home the next day, but what’s more fun than friends, cars, camping, and bonfires? Being that we got there at 5pm, we were hoping we could setup camp in the daylight but no one was really clear on where we were supposed to camp. At least not in any manner that made sense. There was an area that was staked off that someone said we weren’t supposed to park in because it was an active airstrip. From what I overheard, it was called the “Moat”. Later on, we found out that was an “airstrip” but it was for RC planes. Jeff thought that was where we could camp but no one had setup camp there yet so I was leery. A little while later, I ran into Kris and Jake and by this time it was dark. The funniest conversation of the weekend ensued as I tried to put together everything I’d heard about camping so far, second-hand. Turned out the “Moat” was the “Mowed” area that was fenced off and that we WEREN’T supposed to camp there. Pretty much anywhere but there. It also turned out that there were some campsites along a creek that ran alongside the property. I had to pull up google maps to see where the creek was but by that time it was dark and the event was about over with. Turns out, there is a new addition to the Overcrest crew, Stephanie, that I will be directing all future questions to! As for setting up camp in the dark, have no fear! I brought a set of bistro lights and a yeti goal zero to power them that I lugged with this entire trip. With tents setup and beers flowing, we enjoyed conversation, a burbling creek, and went to bed around midnight for another 5am wake up, this time to drive home.  But yes, the event at the racetrack was unreal! We had another delicious BBQ dinner, smoked pork bbq sammies, cole slaw, and banana pudding. SO GOOD. And the pièce de résistance, ACTUAL DIRT TRACK RACING. I’ve never been to a dirt track race nor would I normally find myself in an area/environment that I probably would. BUT, I’m glad that I was able to experience it. The sights, the sounds, the dirt getting thrown into your face (if you are standing in the right spot) made for such an incredible night.   I’m feeling truly thankful for both the crew I drove with and what the crew at Overcrest has continually allowed us to experience.  Tomorrow (Sunday of rally weekend), we have a 1,100 mile trek home and there is supposedly a massive rain storm rolling through most of our route. After 4 straight days of 5am wake up calls, the idea of not having to wake up on Monday morning to get in my car and drive was making me consider driving all the way from Boone, NC to Minneapolis, MN rather than splitting the drive up… The adventures continue in the next post.
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Instagram @everythingcrafted Day Job - Crafted Wealth www.craftedwealthmanagement.com Last edited by Gabe.; 11-04-2025 at 08:08 AM.. |
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11-02-2025, 12:09 PM
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Loving the write up. Thanks for sharing your Ruschlos experience. Looks like a great time.
Also, thanks for calling out the road curvature site. That will come in handy when planning the next adventure. Roger |
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11-02-2025, 01:14 PM
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here's just something I learned from my 3.6/3.8 t/p adventures a 993 n-vram fits best compared to 964 or 993 vram, because the intake is shorter If you buy some Sheridan f/g for the 3.6 into 911 conversion and use 3.2 engine mount console and 911 crossbar the engine fits much better than when trying to use the aluminum 3.6 console and cross bar. In fact it sits exactly the same as the original 3.0 or 3.2. You do need a single sheave crank pulley. The exhaust will also fit as it would for a 3.0 or 3.2 I love the Fabspeed muffler I have, It looks as if you have the same one, My Fabspeed headers have heat but it's not real effective but neither was the heat on the B&Bs I used to use. Here's a pic of the parts and dressed engine     
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Bill Verburg '76 Carrera 3.6RS(nee C3/hotrod), '95 993RS/CS(clone) | Pelican Home |Rennlist Wheels |Rennlist Brakes | |
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11-02-2025, 01:38 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 404
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Overcrest - Let's go home
Sunday…
Another 5am wake-up. Deflate the air mattress, pack the tent, pack the car, get on the road while it’s dark. Lawd, give me the strength and ability to stay awake and alert to make it home in one day. The morning was pretty uneventful, lots of backroads and county highways with no interstate. Lots of nice views, zero pictures. I guess today was more about keeping an ass in a seat. We left with a crew of 7 cars, 4 of which had mentally committed to driving all the way home. John in his 924S and I were in our cars by ourselves, Dan/Hattie were in the S2000 and Kyle/Brynn in the red 924S were all the ones planning to drive the entire way back to the Twin Cities. Once getting on the road, it felt like it took forever to get to the interstate (I65) towards Lexington, in reality it was about 5 hours plus two gas stops and one Mcdonalds pitstop for a mcmuffin and a large coffee. As I mentioned in the last post, we were expecting to drive through some storms today. We had a group chat going with a few people that left earlier than we did. Julian was one of those and we were getting a play by play that would only be considered nothing more than intense. Strong winds, buckets of water, light hydroplaning, a bit of puckering. As soon as we hit the interstate, we hit those storms. The storm front was immediate and violent but relatively short-lived. I was immensely thankful for brand new all-seasons and fresh wipers. When that first bucket of water hit, the rain alone reduced visibility but it also immediately fogged the inside of my windshield, super sketch and this time at 80 MPH (compared to yesterday's 30mph but going down a curvy hill). I grabbed a clean rag from the back seat and had to wipe the windshield every minute or two. This is getting old, sigh. We planned for a lunch stop at a distillery in Lexington. By then the rain had slowed but more was incoming. Remember I mentioned ass in seat earlier? This is probably boring to read through since it was just time on a freeway with friends trying to get home.  After lunch, we stopped for fuel and then got back on the interstate headed toward Louisville before heading north toward Indianapolis and Chicago. We hit a lot more rain between Louisville and Indianapolis, made a gas stop before Indy, and then got back on the freeway prior to hitting traffic. Maury in the Audi Coupe Quattro and Kyle in the red 993 split up with us here because they had different destinations and decided on a different route to get there.  We all got a bit split up in that traffic and had several bouts of nearly 3 digit speeds to get caught up with each other prior to Chicago. The Avocado performed admirably and comfortably. Brent/Amy split up with us in Chicago. They had enough time on the road for the day and were welcoming some R&R, grub, and a hotel bed.  This left me and John, Dan/Hattie, and Kyle/Brynn. The four of us slipped through Chicago without incident or traffic. A miracle. One more fuel stop and it’s starting to get dark. What 14+ hours in a car felt like visually:  Our last fuel stop at a new Kwik Trip in Wisconsin Dells. Ethanol-free fuel, bathroom break, hot sandwiches, friends that are as loopy as I am.  Clearly had a good time this long weekend...  After more time spent on I94, we made our last rest stop outside of Menominee, WI before a group hug and ~80-90 miles back to the twin cities.  It felt pretty surreal to get back into the cities after nearly 3,000 miles in 5 days. Each of my friends peeled off I94 down a different freeway as we got back into town. John down 694, Kyle down 35E, and Dan/myself down 394. Even writing this, 2 weeks from when I got home, I feel the sense of relief that looking at these pictures provides me. It was a hard fought journey and we EFFING MADE IT. 19 hours, ~1100 miles, left at what would be 5am central, home just before midnight.  Hot shower, wind-down, head-hit-pillow. Good night.
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11-03-2025, 02:12 PM
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This most recent post reminds me how small / tight the Porsche community really is!!
Just this past week John from Gain Stage Garage helped me dial in my CIS to fix a cold start issue. Had never met him before last week - and in the same week I see him in this post in your photos Gabe! |
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11-03-2025, 04:16 PM
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I had told my GF to prep our spare room for Gabe as he had initially anticipated staying over in Chicago for the night. When he told me that he was cannonballing though to the Twin Cities without a stop, she told me that Gabe was a real man and that I in contrast was a pussy and should stop whining about the rain and long drive.
 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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-Julian 1977 911 S: Backdate, EFI/ITB, AC project in the works: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1106768-when-well-enough-cant-left-alone-backdate-efi-itb-ac-more.html |
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11-03-2025, 04:50 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 404
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I think the fan/alternator pulley was one of the hangups. If I were to try this again, I'd snag the Clewett serpentine belt conversion. Making that decision requires a decision on whether or not I want to use the OG AC system, or go down the electric conversion route. Combined with the decision of whether or not to do the Cup engine swap or to keep this car, I have a bit of decision fatigue. The shortened G50 is still longer than a 915 and that's where a big part of the fitment issues lie with the 3.6. The Cup engine/shortened G50 is a perfect fit in the engine bay. And I do feel that the 964 3.6/915 was a sweet spot in terms of cost/value/fun factor on this car. Quote:
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11-04-2025, 12:00 PM
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Jessie's e30 was absolutely plush in that rain. New 300tw tires, rain-X'd windshield, and "proper" HVAC made for a low stress experience. As much as I love Pablo on a rally, the commute to/from is a lot more work than a "modern" car. And 1100 miles through the midwest in an aircooled hotrod is insane. You win the iron butt award this year for sure, Gabe.
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11-05-2025, 05:11 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Minneapolis
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Glad to hear the E30 experience was choice. Normal HVAC sounds like such a treat. I've never had both heat and AC working in this car at the same time but what I can recall of my 993 ownership, it worked really well. I really wonder if getting both working properly and tackling some proper, modern, OEM style sound deadening could make this car more livable and lovable.
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11-05-2025, 06:54 AM
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Location: Minneapolis
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The days after...
Waking up in my own bed on Monday morning was such a treat, although I wish I could have slept in longer… One of the reasons I wanted to get home was to get the opportunity to just live my dad-life again and take Piper to daycare in the morning.
Hopping into the Taycan that morning felt like piloting a spaceship after 5 straight days in the Avocado.  The difference between these cars is staggering but they still very much have the same DNA.  I’m so glad that I had the entire day off to recuperate. Megan and I snagged a late breakfast and caught up.  When I got back home, I cleaned up and swapped in the used starter I got from Chris on day #2 of the rally. If I’d had any extra time, swapping that on the road would have been a good idea. I also didn’t even try because my prevailing thought was that swapping a starter on a G50-equipped car while the engine was in was impossible (or at least really difficult) so it wasn’t completely on my radar. This was both from last year’s memory when I had attempted to pull the starter on the rally while diagnosing what was ultimately the broken ring gear and from a few people that have tried it agreeing with me… but apparently it was just as easy as swapping it on a 915… I just needed the right length socket and extension for the top bellhousing bolt, I have no idea what I was thinking. With that out of the way, the car was now drivable again. I’d built up some more trust with the car after driving it 19 hours straight and it did remarkably well in that time frame. Comfortable, quick, and reasonably fuel efficient (24-25 mpg). On Wednesday, I cleaned the car up, took the LMs off, and swapped the Minilites back on. I do have to say, the LMs look great on the car even if it’s not as unique. The taller/normal sized tires also really reduced the noise on the freeway. It’s still loud though. I think I’d mentioned before that a new set of Airpods Pro with the adaptive+ were a game changer. Dropped noise by 20db, I could still hear everything going on around me, and I had NAV and was listening to music/podcasts. That was quite welcome.    With a bit of trust built up, I’ve been driving the car more regularly but now that the weather is cooling, winter is coming, and another driving season is coming to an end, I continue to contemplate what’s next. I’m enormously proud of surviving the rally this year. It’s now done two Ruchlos rallies and two Overcrest rallies (I’ve personally done three of each, the other Ruchlos rally was in my 997.2 C4S which I sorely miss and Utah Overcrest rally was done in an RS3). I feel like I’ve done what I set out to do with the Avocado in this phase, just wish I could have had it drivable for more of the summer.  So what now? Complete the Cup swap? Sell it and try something new and less “hot rod”? Just leave it because it effing works for once? It could use some post rally maintenance and there are always things to make more “nice”.  I’d love to experience what it would be like to live without the constant thought of “what to do next” for the next five years. Slow down the hot rod life with something a bit more gentlemanly and divest all my aircooled parts stash (wheels, ducktail, H1 headlights, steering wheels, suspension parts, and 6 bins of parts). One thing is for sure, I love staring at it, it's a beautiful shape, size, and color. Even looking at pics of it gives me pre-nostalgia and this garage view sure is nice to walk into. 
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Instagram @everythingcrafted Day Job - Crafted Wealth www.craftedwealthmanagement.com Last edited by Gabe.; 11-05-2025 at 10:25 AM.. |
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11-05-2025, 07:29 AM
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Epic thread Gabe. I would suggest installing the Griffiths 2 condenser modern AC, getting your heat and defrost up to speed and adding heated seats and some sound insulation. This is the route I took with my 80 wide body VRAM car and now my 992 sits idle most of the time, it is boring compared to the 80. It is truly a 4 season car for me now (I live in SC, so winter is mild). I am upgrading the interior this winter for a little more luxury. With your mechanical skills the upgrades would be a piece of cake and well worth the cost.
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11-05-2025, 04:32 PM
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Gelb Elfer
1976 Porsche Carrera 3.0
1995 Porsche 993 Carrera Coupe
Pablo
1994 Porsche 968
