Poverty Pork - '00 986

[Rosewood Red]

So, the thread has been a little quiet recently. Mainly because all has been well and secondly, because the Boxster hasn't been used as much recently. Not so much because of the weather, but because I was on holiday last month.

Since 2015, the Algarve has been an annual ritual for me during Autumn. Sun, sea and skydiving.

This is perhaps the slowest car I have ever driven. On the drive back to the airport, the accelerator was floored for practically the whole journey. The speed varied between 130 and 170 kmh depending on the incline. 90 kilos of Russian passenger riding shotgun and 70 kilos of luggage in the back probably didn't help:

DSC_1256 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

There was a nice 991 Carrera S at the hotel.

DSC_1260 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

And a modified 987.1 C on German plates was a regular at the DZ car park. Belonged to a skydiver.

DSC_1316 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

DSC_1315 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr


And some skydiving stuff:

Landed on the beach, cracked open a cider. Loving life.

DSC_1293 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Got my 400th jump in on the last day:

G0044370 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

DSC_1336 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr


Eight days and 39 skydives. Amazingly, the weather held up for the entire trip. Look forward to next year.

Anyway, on my return, I came back to this:

DSC_1375 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

I understand it wasn't as bad as some places though.

Shortly before heading out to Portugal, I had issues with a tyre losing pressure. This was resealed. Upon checking the pressures after being away, they were all spot on, so that was a result.

Also started up first time with no issues. Did have an issue with the handbrake being seized on. Rolling it backwards and then forwards allowed it to free up. These cars don't like being sat about in the elements and not used.

Tucked away for winter - still using it for the 70 mile round commute some days of the week.

DSC_1396 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Earlier today, I made some progress with one of the niggly non-mechanical issues - fubared ashtray. Mine never stayed closed.

27033923239_b016819897_b.jpgDSC_1401 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

A common issue is the latching mechanism breaks:

DSC_1401 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

A boxa.net kindly sent me over another ashtray that he had lying around that wasn't in the greatest cosmetic shape, but worked:

DSC_1409 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Interestingly, it seems the 'normal' finish isn't that durable compared to the ones with the painted centre console.

Below is a picture of the latching mechanism from the working one vs my old one:

DSC_1405 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Swapped over and job jobbed

DSC_1407 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

DSC_1410 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

I'm off to India again on Christmas Eve for a few weeks. I'll still be using it once a week or so for the commute, but don't think there'll be any further news for the rest of the year. I really need to sort out the AC condensers when I get back and ideally, swap the carpets out.

[Spitfires]

Thanks for the update, really enjoying your thread and am also hoping to get into a 986 at some point, so it's very informative.

Same to all the other folk who take the time to post their trials and tribulations, keep it up!

Edited for poor grammar.

[Rosewood Red]

Thanks Spitfires - they're nice cars and can be picked up for reasonable amounts. However, as this goes to show, they can often suffer from neglect. Boxa.net is a good resource, as is the Poverty Pork thread in the Porsche section. Buy on condition, not miles from an enthusiast and it'll be one of the best bang per buck cars you can drive.

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

Following. Keep up the updates!

I'm shopping for a 3.2S at the moment. Budget: As close to £4k as I'm prepared to risk...

[Rosewood Red]

Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:

Following. Keep up the updates!

I'm shopping for a 3.2S at the moment. Budget: As close to £4k as I'm prepared to risk...

Thanks for the comments - I should have some updates after the weekend. I did try to send you an email, but you haven't allowed members to contact you on your profile.

There's a higher mileage, but well looked after 3.2 for sale in Leicestershire for £4.4k that belongs to an enthusiast on boxa.net. You may need to sign up to view: http://www.boxa.net/forum/topic/76815-2000-w-arcti...

[Rosewood Red]

So, there's been a lack of updates for a while. I spent three weeks abroad over Christmas and new year. I knew the Polo would start up fine and squeezed both cars onto the drive before flying out, nose to nose, just so I could jump start the 986 if needed. That proved to be unnecessary as it fired to life on the first turn of the key when I returned.

Combined with the recent bad weather, I've barely done 1500 miles since November. I hope to remedy that soon.

Anyway, I was in London just last week for a friend's stag do, which was quite civilised all things considering. Found this beauty parked in Bayswater near my hotel:

DSC_0158 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Decided to take a closer look later:

DSC_0155 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Very well specced 986.1 3.2 S - litronics, 18" Sport Design wheels, hood upgraded to a glass screen version. Looked immaculate and very well cared for. Parked in a residents only bay, likely to be a daily driver. There's something I find charming about cars like these parked on the road and used as intended rather than locked up in a garage.

Anyway, fast forward to today. Being a four day bank holiday weekend, there was the typical good weather associated with that. The weather gods don't seem to like letting skydivers enjoy long weekends:

DSC_0203 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

I drove over to Rob's (a fellow member on boxa.net) to try and salvage something out of the weekend.

Twins:

DSC_0191 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Off with the front bumper - relatively straightforward if somewhat fiddly, being the first attempt:

DSC_0200 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

DSC_0194 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Rob helping out (read: doing pretty much all of the work):

DSC_0197 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

I think the reason my air conditioning wasn't working is obvious. The other side was just as bad:
DSC_0195 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Years of rotting leaves and other debris cause the condensers to corrode and eventually fail. The markings on the existing condensers confirmed they were OE items, quite possibly the original condensers fitted to the car. All the crud was cleaned off. There was a little surface corrosion on the radiators which was again tidied up and protected with waxoyl.

Replacement pattern parts are readily available on eBay for less than three figures for a pair. New vs old:
DSC_0198 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

These were fitted with new OE seals:
DSC_0202 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

DSC_0201 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Decided to also replace the drier with a Hella item using new OE seals, but didn't take any pics of this.

Ducts refitted:
DSC_0204 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Starting to look like a car again:
DSC_0205 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Done:
DSC_0213 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Before replacing the bumper, in a nod to our JDM yo! friends, I used some steel mesh from B&Q and some cable ties to prevent debris from clogging the condensers and radiators in the future. Zunsport make some grilles that bolt on, but these are only for pre-facelift cars. And they cost three figures. This cost less than £8. They're quite unobtrusive (even with the yellow cable ties - I used what was at hand. Like the A-Team ) and only noticeable close up:
DSC_0206 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr


In this case, the saying 'just needs a regas...' should hold true.

I was intending to do the rear brakes and some other odd jobs too, but we ran out of time.

I'll post another update when those are tackled.

Edited for typos.

Edited by Rosewood Red on Monday 2nd April 13:57

[Rosewood Red]

Rosewood Red said:

In this case, the saying 'just needs a regas...' should hold true.

So yeah, I lied.

DSC_0239 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

I am a patient man, but a little part of me wants to sell up. There's only so much one can put up with...

[ATM]

Rosewood Red said:

Rosewood Red said:

In this case, the saying 'just needs a regas...' should hold true.

So yeah, I lied.

DSC_0239 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

I am a patient man, but a little part of me wants to sell up. There's only so much one can put up with...

But then what would you replace it with. There are not many decent cars to choose from. Decide if you enjoy the car working then figure out if you can live with these occasional hiccups. Is this your only car or do you have another?

[Rosewood Red]

ATM said:

But then what would you replace it with. There are not many decent cars to choose from. Decide if you enjoy the car working then figure out if you can live with these occasional hiccups. Is this your only car or do you have another?

I have my trusty Polo as the main car. It's going to Cath next week for a slightly earlier than necessary service. The cracked A/C pipe will be attended to at the same time.

I think I just need to wait for it to warm up and sun to come out. It'll be used most days on my 70 mile round trip to work when the weather is at least semi decent. I've not even done 2000 miles in it since December.

Thus far, including the purchase price in October 2016, I've ploughed over £9k into it. Perhaps I should have just saved all of that up and bought a lower mileage 986 for circa £7k that had all the problem areas attended to. The benefit of hindsight. Then again, Murphy's law would have come round and bit me in the ass. It feels like you can't win sometimes.

Once it's fixed and I start using it as a semi-daily driver, I'll re evaluate my longer term relationship with the car.

[markirl]

Seems like an awful pity to sell now after you've fixed all the niggles. I recently bought a '98 Boxster, I'm only at the start of my journey though...

[ATM]

Rosewood Red said:

ATM said:

But then what would you replace it with. There are not many decent cars to choose from. Decide if you enjoy the car working then figure out if you can live with these occasional hiccups. Is this your only car or do you have another?

I have my trusty Polo as the main car. It's going to Cath next week for a slightly earlier than necessary service. The cracked A/C pipe will be attended to at the same time.

I think I just need to wait for it to warm up and sun to come out. It'll be used most days on my 70 mile round trip to work when the weather is at least semi decent. I've not even done 2000 miles in it since December.

Thus far, including the purchase price in October 2016, I've ploughed over £9k into it. Perhaps I should have just saved all of that up and bought a lower mileage 986 for circa £7k that had all the problem areas attended to. The benefit of hindsight. Then again, Murphy's law would have come round and bit me in the ass. It feels like you can't win sometimes.

Once it's fixed and I start using it as a semi-daily driver, I'll re evaluate my longer term relationship with the car.

Paying more for lower mileage doesn't negate these niggles. These are old cars and they're not made with longevity in mind. Pipes will corrode away in this country the same if you never drive the car or do galactic mileage. If you want Porsche fun without old car niggles you need to buy one which is a lot newer.

[LordGrover]

I feel your pain op.
Here's to a trouble free summer 🌞

[Rosewood Red]

Well the car's back now. Both A/C pipes (£150 + VAT, compared to £140 + VAT from Design 911 for the single, dearer one!!) have been replaced along with O-rings etc. Along with a regas and a 12k service, just shy of £760 which is a bit of a blow.

But, the whole car's been checked - bar some corrosion on the inner face of the rear discs (have some waiting to go on) and being advised to do the brake fluid later this year, It's got a clean bill of health.

Hope to be using it most days now for my 70 mile round commute and see how it behaves. Today's a rather miserable day to be driving a convertible, but the weather is looking promising for the rest of the week.

Let's see if that bond between man and machine can be rekindled...

[ATM]

Rosewood Red said:

the whole car's been checked - It's got a clean bill of health.

Let's see if that bond between man and machine can be rekindled...

It will I'm sure.

[Rosewood Red]

So I last drove the car on Monday and the blower motor sounded in a bit of a state, as if it was fouling on something. I wondered if perhaps the motor itself was knackered.

I had some time to investigate further this evening.

I removed the pollen filter and tried to figure out how the flaps work. With the HVAC on off, there's a flap that isolates the blower motor from the outside

DSC_0317 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

DSC_0315 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

The piece of plastic at an angle is the recirculating flap. The textured bit below this is the 'isolation flap' (I just invented that term).

If you turn the HVAC on, but lower the fan speed to zero bars, but not off, the blower motor doesn't spin, but the isolation flap opens up:

DSC_0318 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

DSC_0319 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

You can now see the blower motor (not on the picture) - I noticed some debris in there and fished it out:

DSC_0322 by ash_ashy_mo, on Flickr

Some sort of foam insulation from somewhere - probably the HVAC system itself. These cars are starting to get on a bit.

No more noisy blower fan.

[Phil-970gt]

Great thread, illuminating and terrifying in equal measure. After the money you've spent on it you have to keep it and enjoy running it for another few years.

I've been in the market for a 986 but every car I see requires 000's spent at least every two years, the reliability to me seems below par as almost every part of the car is at risk of wearing out. I've had a 350z before and will probably go back to that again, running costs are so low and the other things that go wrong are bonnet chips and a dodgy CD player.

[NelsonM3]

Phil-970gt said:

Great thread, illuminating and terrifying in equal measure. After the money you've spent on it you have to keep it and enjoy running it for another few years.

I've been in the market for a 986 but every car I see requires 000's spent at least every two years, the reliability to me seems below par as almost every part of the car is at risk of wearing out. I've had a 350z before and will probably go back to that again, running costs are so low and the other things that go wrong are bonnet chips and a dodgy CD player.

Definately buy with eyes wide open. Mine is a one owner, full Porsche history car that cost me £3150. You’d think it’d be trouble free motoring. But it already owes me £7000 and I still need to replace the front arms, front engine mount, MAF sensor and now need to get it booked in for a full service.

It’s great fun though. Mines a lowly 2.7 but I prefer it for that. You can really rev it out on the B roads ??

[agent006]

Rosewood Red said:

Perhaps I should have just saved all of that up and bought a lower mileage 986 for circa £7k that had all the problem areas attended to. The benefit of hindsight.

If it's any consolation, our 2001,owned from new, garaged every night, 50k 2.7 came back from autofarm last year (after an almost £1000 'minor' service) with a list of problems over 3 sides of A4. No showstoppers, just lots of things that needed seeing to. Probably £2-3k all in to make the list go away, plus the 64k service due next.