my low budget dream car build

[chrisbalich]

In other news, Bryan is taking pre-orders for new variants of Achtungkraft GT/k mufflers.
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1148621-achtung-kraft-gtk-active-muffler-testing-developkment-2.html#post12142580

[shoooo32]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

I honestly think there is no one perfect car for me.
I think I need a small collection to suit my needs at the time.
If I don't start collecting a couple/few specific examples, I'm going to never escape this merry-go-round of buy new car, build car, drive car, sell car, buy new car, build car, sell car, buy new car...

Trying to make one car do everything is a fools errand. Life is so much easier with a few vehicles to satisfy the half dozen use cases we petrolheads generally have.

track time
road rally
commuting
errands
date night
camping/trips

It's hard to make even two cars do all of those things well. And shoutout to Bryan - stoked about my new GTK muffler situation for next year. They just keep getting better.

[fanaudical]

That cart looks great with paint - awesome job on that.

I figure that a Cayman with PDK is in my future when I'm a little old man that can't drive a manual transmission anymore; my Targa only keeps going up in value so maybe it will eventually be an even trade.

Jack Olsen may have one car to do it all, but I don't. My fleet currently spans from a 911 Targa to a Q3 to my Dodge 1500 4WD quad-cab. That pretty much covers anything I need to do. And honestly any one of the three covers 90% of what I do (it's just a matter of which 90%...).

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by shoooo32

Trying to make one car do everything is a fools errand. Life is so much easier with a few vehicles to satisfy the half dozen use cases we petrolheads generally have.

track time
road rally
commuting
errands
date night
camping/trips

It's hard to make even two cars do all of those things well. And shoutout to Bryan - stoked about my new GTK muffler situation for next year. They just keep getting better.

IDK that it's a fool's errand as much as it requires a super special, and easily adjustable, car. Camping is the only one on that list that can't easily be done with a properly built sports car. But a Jeep/T4R/whatever would be a very reasonable stablemate for a well-suited sports car.
The real question is whether or not you can do it all with one for less than what you do those tasks with different tools.
Tractive suspension, an appropriately built motor, valved exhaust, supportive seats, and a well-appointed interior will get you through the majority of that list. But the first two on my list cost as much, or more, than a Cayman.

Originally Posted by fanaudical

That cart looks great with paint - awesome job on that.

I figure that a Cayman with PDK is in my future when I'm a little old man that can't drive a manual transmission anymore; my Targa only keeps going up in value so maybe it will eventually be an even trade.

Jack Olsen may have one car to do it all, but I don't. My fleet currently spans from a 911 Targa to a Q3 to my Dodge 1500 4WD quad-cab. That pretty much covers anything I need to do. And honestly any one of the three covers 90% of what I do (it's just a matter of which 90%...).

Thank you. I'm looking forward to getting it put together this weekend and moving to the next projects.
I'll never be little, but I will likely get old at some point.
What it really boils down to is that I (feel I) need a toy to play with while I completely redo the LBDC. The plans I still have for it pretty rapidly escalate beyond weekend or even winter projects.
I badly want to build a YJ Wrangler for offroading and winter use. That plan is pretty well formulated, I just need to buy one to start on and then start piling parts. That's what all the garage overhauling is building up to...well that and/or the 914s. Both projects will require bananas amounts of fabrication...in addition to the lunatic plans I have for the LBDC.


Maybe the real solution is to start building cars for other people. That will scratch my itch to build things without bankrupting Kelly and me as well as give me multiple looks at multiple platforms. Who wants a hotrod 911 or Jeep or 914? I have ideas and tools. Hell, I have a 914 and some wide fuchs just sitting here...

[Libeck]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

I honestly think there is no one perfect car for me.
I think I need a small collection to suit my needs at the time.
If I don't start collecting a couple/few specific examples, I'm going to never escape this merry-go-round of buy new car, build car, drive car, sell car, buy new car, build car, sell car, buy new car...

Chris, please don't speak of this to your partner or mine, but I'm smiling and nodding in spite of no mad fab skills or budget. I was lucky enough (buying at the right time 10+ years ago) to have an '83 911 with '88 3.2 swap (commute/autox/track day) and a 2000 M5 (commute/vacation/wife actually likes), but wanted more 911 oomph.

What to do? I rolled the dice and picked up a flood salvage titled '06 Cayman S. 295hp/6 speed/ac and power steering for $12.5k. Gamble returned best outcome, just needed a couple bosch body modules, a switch or two, and some love. I couldn't get the 911 to 295hp for that. Lucky is good.

Which of the 3 interesting to me cars did I cull after adding the 987.1 in 2018? I'm still trying to decide. Which is my favorite? The one I'm driving. Or just drove. Or anticipating driving next.

Good luck and I'll be watching your thread of course!

[lateapex911]

Originally Posted by Libeck

Chris, please don't speak of this to your partner or mine, but I'm smiling and nodding in spite of no mad fab skills or budget. I was lucky enough (buying at the right time 10+ years ago) to have an '83 911 with '88 3.2 swap (commute/autox/track day) and a 2000 M5 (commute/vacation/wife actually likes), but wanted more 911 oomph.

What to do? I rolled the dice and picked up a flood salvage titled '06 Cayman S. 295hp/6 speed/ac and power steering for $12.5k. Gamble returned best outcome, just needed a couple bosch body modules, a switch or two, and some love. I couldn't get the 911 to 295hp for that. Lucky is good.

Which of the 3 interesting to me cars did I cull after adding the 987.1 in 2018? I'm still trying to decide. Which is my favorite? The one I'm driving. Or just drove. Or anticipating driving next.

Good luck and I'll be watching your thread of course!

Is that one of the bore scoring years? Friend is looking at Caymans, he's ...conflicted LOL

[Evan Fullerton]

‘06 was the first year for Caymans. Every one I knew blew up……. But then every m96/m97 car I was around that was tracked also eventually chucked a connecting rod. Porsche should have a record on if it has the original engine. A very high percentage of the ‘06 cars got warranted engine replacements.

As a street car, they are ok, if you are going to track it or drive it super hard, you don’t want anything pre 2009 unless you plan on motor swapping it if it blows. There are a few with Ford Coyote V8s……. That’s a car I’d like to drive.

Turned a lot of them into race cars and they are fast…… just a lot more parts and not as easy to work on as an aircooled 911 I feel. Once you strip out all the extra stuff…… hard to get a much simpler car than an aircooled 911 to work on.

[Libeck]

Yeah folks, it's a 987.1. Lots of 'em lost engines. Lots of 'em didn't. I'm familiar with the well known issues. Bottom line, I'd be concerned if my buy price were higher.

See you at the track eh? Cheers

[Wifessopissed]

That headliner is awesome

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by Libeck

Chris, please don't speak of this to your partner or mine, but I'm smiling and nodding in spite of no mad fab skills or budget. I was lucky enough (buying at the right time 10+ years ago) to have an '83 911 with '88 3.2 swap (commute/autox/track day) and a 2000 M5 (commute/vacation/wife actually likes), but wanted more 911 oomph.

What to do? I rolled the dice and picked up a flood salvage titled '06 Cayman S. 295hp/6 speed/ac and power steering for $12.5k. Gamble returned best outcome, just needed a couple bosch body modules, a switch or two, and some love. I couldn't get the 911 to 295hp for that. Lucky is good.

Which of the 3 interesting to me cars did I cull after adding the 987.1 in 2018? I'm still trying to decide. Which is my favorite? The one I'm driving. Or just drove. Or anticipating driving next.

Good luck and I'll be watching your thread of course!

2018 huh? And I thought I take my time making decisions.
I've considered a flood car. It's certainly a gamble, but if it pays off, it would be a fantastic deal. If it goes pear-shaped, oh buddy. Kelly will have me sleeping in the garage.
I'm not a huge e39 fan. I love the way they look, but I feel they drive like big cars...and I like small cars. Excellent collection you've got going there. I bet that e39 is amazing on road trips.

Originally Posted by lateapex911

Is that one of the bore scoring years? Friend is looking at Caymans, he's ...conflicted LOL

Yep

Originally Posted by Evan Fullerton

‘06 was the first year for Caymans. Every one I knew blew up……. But then every m96/m97 car I was around that was tracked also eventually chucked a connecting rod. Porsche should have a record on if it has the original engine. A very high percentage of the ‘06 cars got warranted engine replacements.

As a street car, they are ok, if you are going to track it or drive it super hard, you don’t want anything pre 2009 unless you plan on motor swapping it if it blows. There are a few with Ford Coyote V8s……. That’s a car I’d like to drive.

Turned a lot of them into race cars and they are fast…… just a lot more parts and not as easy to work on as an aircooled 911 I feel. Once you strip out all the extra stuff…… hard to get a much simpler car than an aircooled 911 to work on.

If I went with a .1, I'd be prepared to rebuild the motor when the bores score. Now, whether I find a 3.8 to rebuild or rebuild the 3.4 would depend on what's available at the time. But I'd be on the lookout for a core 3.8 longblock to rebuild as soon as I collected a .1.
I'm not keen to swap a Cayman. Part of the allure of a Cayman is that it's decently well-sorted right out of the box. I want one sports car that doesn't require a laptop.

Originally Posted by Libeck

Yeah folks, it's a 987.1. Lots of 'em lost engines. Lots of 'em didn't. I'm familiar with the well known issues. Bottom line, I'd be concerned if my buy price were higher.

See you at the track eh? Cheers

Saving a ton of money sure makes potential problems more tenable...like motor rebuilds/builds.

Originally Posted by Wifessopissed

That headliner is awesome

Thank you. I really like it too.

[chrisbalich]

Halooo, Monday.

I worked on the garage again this weekend after working on my Dad's Volvo.

I put the cart together and it's wonderful. Be jealous. It's even better than I hoped.







10 pic limit per post means the meat to go with these potatoes will be in an upcoming post.

[chrisbalich]

It's still MONDAY and I still don't know wtf I'm doing.

With the cart done, it was time to move forward with the next project: The Table.

Here you see the table, cleaned off and flopped over on its side.


I used a hole saw to cut some holes in the face of the table support. (5/16 thick angle is tough as a thing. Goodness)


Saturday was finished by me spending hours turning one of the two circular holes into a square hole. Fork me dead, that was awful. (I used all the wrong tools...hand files mostly. I'm still sore.)


Square peg in a square hole.


Sunday, after getting some feedback from Ethan, I squared up the second hole in 30 minutes instead of 3-4 hours.


Here is some foreshadowing of details yet to be divulged. (Also, this is as good as my welds get. Not a brag, just an honest assessment.)


Welding cart action shot. (It's so forking nice. Now I'm bragging.)


I ran out of time, cleaned up, and pushed the table back in its hole. This will work for the week until I get back into it next weekend. I'm hoping to have this project ready for paint next weekend. Then, the next project begins so I can eventually work on the car in the garage.

[lateapex911]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

In other news, Bryan is taking pre-orders for new variants of Achtungkraft GT/k mufflers.
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1148621-achtung-kraft-gtk-active-muffler-testing-developkment-2.html#post12142580

So, the other day I clicked on that and got some weird new tab...and today, same thing.

lateapex911, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

nope, just wanted to read it..
Anybody else getting the same response?

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by lateapex911

So, the other day I clicked on that and got some weird new tab...and today, same thing.



nope, just wanted to read it..
Anybody else getting the same response?

Pelican black-holed the whole thread because Bryan isn’t a paying advertiser.
I would have expected them to delete a post or make Bryan edit a post. Nope. Just deleted the entire thread and told him after.

I have a link to the GTK option interest form.
DM me on IG, or send me your email here and I can send it to you.
I don’t want this thread locked.

[Old H2S]

Preheat,preheat,preheat,every time.
Make a holder on the left side for your push button propane torch that your left hand finds automatically. (If your right handed)
Cut 1/4" off the MIG gun gas nozzle.
For simple jobs like this run Lincoln L-56 wire, a little lower tensile but very smooth puddle.

[MFX]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

Absolutely pile on Jeff. His content is fantastic. Jeff's YT presence is like a polished-up, live-action version of what this thread is about.

Thanks guys, but I agree Chris should make videos. I was not comfortable on camera when I started. I eventually got to the stage where I don't care how stupid I look which makes it much easier.

As for the Cayman. I briefly had a 987.1 Cayman S. I loved it but it had scored bores and I quickly moved it on.
As much as you would love even a newer 981 Cayman GTS, with it's comfortable interior etc, I think you would quickly get bored with it.
As much as your old 911 annoys you, the projects to get it better are half the fun, even if they suck sometimes

[Evan Fullerton]

Originally Posted by MFX

As much as you would love even a newer 981 Cayman GTS, with its comfortable interior etc, I think you would quickly get bored with it.

Seconded. I almost bought a Boxster race car back when building race cars was my job and I had sponsorship to drive. I couldn’t afford it and keep my 911 and ultimately I couldn’t do it. They are amazing for what they are but that ultimately makes them forgettably. Too easy to drive makes it just a tool, not a vehicle you build a relationship with.

[lateapex911]

Originally Posted by Evan Fullerton

Seconded. I almost bought a Boxster race car back when building race cars was my job and I had sponsorship to drive. I couldn’t afford it and keep my 911 and ultimately I couldn’t do it. They are amazing for what they are but that ultimately makes them forgettably. Too easy to drive makes it just a tool, not a vehicle you build a relationship with.

I've been given aMiata to race in SCCA. (Not SM, IT).
It's netted some lap records with the owner driving.
It's really capable, and responds to setup changes, and a fun car in the rain.
THe owner And I are within less than 2/10ths of each other at all the tracks we've gone to (Watkins Glen, Lime Rock, etc)
It's a bit stressful racing it because it's not mine...
But in the end, it's a tool, and I always want it to be better...sharper, faster.

I was sad when my 1st gen RX-7 racecar rolled out of my driveway on the new owners trailer, had 10+ years with the car, built it from a lowly used car, tons of wins and great hard races, 9 lap records, led the Nationals, and I'd pretty much done most that you could do with it....
But I got over the sadness in a week or so.....it was a great tool for sure, but in the end it was there to beat the other cars and if it had to suffer for the cause, so be it.

When it's time to part with my 911 (owned and tracked and driven up the PCH and Angeles Crest and all through the country and New England since the 90s, I'm going to cry hard LOL.
The 911 is such a great car because you can drive it most days, go to work in it, put golf clubs in it, but it borders on an exotic. It's alive in your hands, constantly reminding you that it's a character in a dance with you...and, can you figure it out? Many can't.

That has created a odd bond between a human and a hunk of moving (and rusting a teeny bit? lol) metal, and just sitting in makes me smile.

[PeteKz]

Well said. After owning mine for 30 years, there isn't a part on the car that my hands haven't touched. Selling it would be like selling a piece of my life.

[chrisbalich]

In an effort to bridge the gap between what I want and what I have, I plan to convert my rear suspension to coilovers (utilizing the Von Shocks) and 935 spring plates.

I try to support small businesses whenever I can.

I was going to buy the plates from a Pelican who's made some at his machine shop.
I messaged him yesterday and then posted in his thread that I'd messaged.
Today, he logged in for some time and then logged out without returning my message.

I planned to order the C/O conversion bits from a known Porsche suspension company. I placed a call yesterday and spoke with the owner. He advised he'd put together an estimate and email it to me.
This morning, I called back to add another part to my [future?] estimate. The person on the phone had no idea what I was talking about and advised they'd tell the owner. I'm still waiting.

I don't understand why it's so forking hard to buy parts, much less how difficult it can be to get them after you order and pay for them. I work at a small business. There are 3.5 of us here. I get back to people in minutes in most cases...a couple hours if you reach out while we're at lunch or over night. If it's going to be longer, I send an email advising that I didn't forget and am waiting on info/parts/whatever from an outside source.

And the Porsche community just takes it. It's worn like some sick badge of honor that we have to jump through such hoops to kneel at the altars of people we'll never meet to get parts they sell to keep their businesses open. There are shops that make some of the best parts and do the best work that I won't use because of how they treat their customers. I can think of three quickly that people fall all over themselves to laud for their incredible products or service or both that summarily behave like we owe them our business. It's enough to make me want to go back to BMW. Even dealing with the likes of Turner and ECS and Bimmerworld (the huge megacorp that they've become) is easier than dealing with all the little boutique brands that hold hostage their wares until they're GD good and ready to sell them to you...probably.

LIVID AND READY TO JUST SELL THE WHOLE GD CAR,

~CB