Driving a 1969 Porsche 911 from UK to China!
Discussion
Hi guys,
i'd like to introduce myself on this board: a buddy and me am going to drive a 1969 Porsche 911T from UK to China starting December 1st! The trip is going to take us 6 months, and will lead us through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, and China. You can see all our details, travel reports, diaries, car prep, etc...on our website http://www.Carreratochina.com
We are actually from Belgium, but we've had so much intrest from the UK, that we are acually going to start the adventure from there, probably on the 29th of November this year. The start will most probably be held at the headquarters of Paintshield ( http://www.paintshield.co.uk ), in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
The reason herefor is that Paintshield has made a big effort to support our adventure by covering the whole car with protective film (thank you Tom!)! It's a truly fantastic job they did ( you can't see it's on there!), and this will be a big test on how the film will withstand temperatures from -15°c to +40°c and above, and endure hail, snow, salt, sand, dirt, gravel, mud, etc...
so without further ado, here's a picture (i hope) to show you guys the yellow little sportscar!
i will update when i have more news!!
cheers,
Jan
http://www.Carreratochina.com
i'd like to introduce myself on this board: a buddy and me am going to drive a 1969 Porsche 911T from UK to China starting December 1st! The trip is going to take us 6 months, and will lead us through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, and China. You can see all our details, travel reports, diaries, car prep, etc...on our website http://www.Carreratochina.com
We are actually from Belgium, but we've had so much intrest from the UK, that we are acually going to start the adventure from there, probably on the 29th of November this year. The start will most probably be held at the headquarters of Paintshield ( http://www.paintshield.co.uk ), in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
The reason herefor is that Paintshield has made a big effort to support our adventure by covering the whole car with protective film (thank you Tom!)! It's a truly fantastic job they did ( you can't see it's on there!), and this will be a big test on how the film will withstand temperatures from -15°c to +40°c and above, and endure hail, snow, salt, sand, dirt, gravel, mud, etc...
so without further ado, here's a picture (i hope) to show you guys the yellow little sportscar!
i will update when i have more news!!
cheers,
Jan
http://www.Carreratochina.com
thanks for the nice replies fellas!
the desire to start the adventure is getting bigger and bigger! We're prepping for 2 years now, it's time to leave!!
Still to do: complete rewiring of the electrics, as they are pretty unreliable right now. Also one last drop of the engine and gearbox to change a bearing or two and a couple of seals.
will keep you updated!
cheers, jan
Ps watch out for the november issue of 'Total 911' magazine
!!
the desire to start the adventure is getting bigger and bigger! We're prepping for 2 years now, it's time to leave!!
Still to do: complete rewiring of the electrics, as they are pretty unreliable right now. Also one last drop of the engine and gearbox to change a bearing or two and a couple of seals.
will keep you updated!
cheers, jan
Ps watch out for the november issue of 'Total 911' magazine
!!As i experienced a little fire under the dashboard in England, i thought it might be time to take a closer look at the wiring of our beloved yellow sportscar.
I set out to redo the whole front wiring loom, including the fusebox, and inspect the wiring in and under the dashboard, and replace everything that looks suspicious.
As it goes with moost of our projects, i started with a little side-project to kick off the electrical repairs: i decided to give our VDO clock a closer look. Our clock worked only intermittently, and in the never-ending pursuit of a complete working car, i thought it would be nice if this beautiful little 60's clock would work again.
An article in the Pelican Parts technical knowledge base pointed me in the right direction: in 40 years time, a lot of crud and dust crawled it's way into the tiny guts of the clock, and jams it...i opened up the clock, and played with the gears a bit to understand the way it works. Every couple of minutes, the clock gets a shot of current from the battery, which loads one of the gears, which then gradually ticks back to zero, untill another shot of current gets things going again. I watched the cycle a couple of times, and noticed that the mechanism jammed up about halfway through the cycle. I sprayed the whole thing generously with electrical cleaner/contact spray, and saw a lot of filth dripping out of the guts. I blew everything dry, and started the mechanism again, and yepp, this time the clock would run through it's entire cycle. Easy fix!
A second little project was the install of our repaired CDI unit in the engine compartment. On my trip to England, i met up with Tim Bennet, who has a lot of experience in repairing these CDI boxes, and he was so kind to test our unit and change the faulty thrystor in it. Tim was so kind to do this FOC for us, and we will test the new type of thrystor for him. Thanks Tim!!!
I hooked up the CDI, together with an appropriate coil - designed to work with a CDI - and cleaned up all the wires in the engine compartment. It's very tidy back there again, and more so, the car started right up, and ran a lot smoother than before on the old-school kettering ignition. No testdrive just yet, because i had other fish to fry first.
Next on the list was the complete dismantling of the front wiring loom, together with the main fusebox. As you can clearly tell, the whole thing looked aweful, and was actually very dangerous too...i don't want our car to burn out!!
I carefully took all the wiring out of the fusebox, and made notes of what went where. The sight of a bundle 30 loose wires is a bit frightning at first, but i guess you get used to it. I compared everything with the 1969 electrical diagram, and to my surprise 99% of the wiring was still stock!
The front headlight loom showed it's age the most: insultion melted, wires corroded, bad connections, some stripped cables, etc...i decided to rebuild it. I kept the original round connector blocks, and connected a brand new self-made loom to it. Not the original colors, OK, but these are very hard to find, and i will just draw an updated diagram using my colors. I am very happy with The finished product (see picture): all the connections are neatly soldered and crimped, and protected with heatshrink. I even tested the resistance on all the wires before continuing.
With this project out of the way, i tackled the fusebox-problem: at first i wanted to convert it to more modern push-type fuses, but i wasn't really happy with the quality of the fuseboxes i bought, so i looked out for another solution. I found the perfect solution in the mounting of a mid-year 911 style fusebox. This box is much better protected, and looks so much tidier than the 2 old little birds' nests hanging from the chassis wall in the early cars...A big thank you goes out to Filip from FG Porsche (one of our biggest sponsors) who promptly gave me a midyear-box for free! Thanks Filip!
I cut all the original wires a couple of cms short, untill i found nice 'n' shiny copper, pre-soldered them, and hooked them up to the new fusebox. I put in an extra relay as well for the soon to be mounted Hella Fog lights. I also added one extra circuit for all our gadgets in the car (satnav, laptop, mobile phones, etc...).
In the meantime i also changed the worn battery cable with a brand new one, together with two brand new battery pole connectors. I will also look out for a more durable solution for the protection of the positive poles from shorting out against the chassis: a piece of bicycle inner tube with some duct tape over it doesn't look very safe to be honest ;-)
I was expecting some fuses to blow, or maybe a little bit of a burning smell here and there :-) , but when i tried to start the car, everything went perfectly as planned, and the car fired right up, and all the electrics were working!
More to come in part 2 of the electrical works!
I set out to redo the whole front wiring loom, including the fusebox, and inspect the wiring in and under the dashboard, and replace everything that looks suspicious.
As it goes with moost of our projects, i started with a little side-project to kick off the electrical repairs: i decided to give our VDO clock a closer look. Our clock worked only intermittently, and in the never-ending pursuit of a complete working car, i thought it would be nice if this beautiful little 60's clock would work again.
An article in the Pelican Parts technical knowledge base pointed me in the right direction: in 40 years time, a lot of crud and dust crawled it's way into the tiny guts of the clock, and jams it...i opened up the clock, and played with the gears a bit to understand the way it works. Every couple of minutes, the clock gets a shot of current from the battery, which loads one of the gears, which then gradually ticks back to zero, untill another shot of current gets things going again. I watched the cycle a couple of times, and noticed that the mechanism jammed up about halfway through the cycle. I sprayed the whole thing generously with electrical cleaner/contact spray, and saw a lot of filth dripping out of the guts. I blew everything dry, and started the mechanism again, and yepp, this time the clock would run through it's entire cycle. Easy fix!
A second little project was the install of our repaired CDI unit in the engine compartment. On my trip to England, i met up with Tim Bennet, who has a lot of experience in repairing these CDI boxes, and he was so kind to test our unit and change the faulty thrystor in it. Tim was so kind to do this FOC for us, and we will test the new type of thrystor for him. Thanks Tim!!!
I hooked up the CDI, together with an appropriate coil - designed to work with a CDI - and cleaned up all the wires in the engine compartment. It's very tidy back there again, and more so, the car started right up, and ran a lot smoother than before on the old-school kettering ignition. No testdrive just yet, because i had other fish to fry first.
Next on the list was the complete dismantling of the front wiring loom, together with the main fusebox. As you can clearly tell, the whole thing looked aweful, and was actually very dangerous too...i don't want our car to burn out!!
I carefully took all the wiring out of the fusebox, and made notes of what went where. The sight of a bundle 30 loose wires is a bit frightning at first, but i guess you get used to it. I compared everything with the 1969 electrical diagram, and to my surprise 99% of the wiring was still stock!
The front headlight loom showed it's age the most: insultion melted, wires corroded, bad connections, some stripped cables, etc...i decided to rebuild it. I kept the original round connector blocks, and connected a brand new self-made loom to it. Not the original colors, OK, but these are very hard to find, and i will just draw an updated diagram using my colors. I am very happy with The finished product (see picture): all the connections are neatly soldered and crimped, and protected with heatshrink. I even tested the resistance on all the wires before continuing.
With this project out of the way, i tackled the fusebox-problem: at first i wanted to convert it to more modern push-type fuses, but i wasn't really happy with the quality of the fuseboxes i bought, so i looked out for another solution. I found the perfect solution in the mounting of a mid-year 911 style fusebox. This box is much better protected, and looks so much tidier than the 2 old little birds' nests hanging from the chassis wall in the early cars...A big thank you goes out to Filip from FG Porsche (one of our biggest sponsors) who promptly gave me a midyear-box for free! Thanks Filip!
I cut all the original wires a couple of cms short, untill i found nice 'n' shiny copper, pre-soldered them, and hooked them up to the new fusebox. I put in an extra relay as well for the soon to be mounted Hella Fog lights. I also added one extra circuit for all our gadgets in the car (satnav, laptop, mobile phones, etc...).
In the meantime i also changed the worn battery cable with a brand new one, together with two brand new battery pole connectors. I will also look out for a more durable solution for the protection of the positive poles from shorting out against the chassis: a piece of bicycle inner tube with some duct tape over it doesn't look very safe to be honest ;-)
I was expecting some fuses to blow, or maybe a little bit of a burning smell here and there :-) , but when i tried to start the car, everything went perfectly as planned, and the car fired right up, and all the electrics were working!
More to come in part 2 of the electrical works!
Edited by carreratochina on Tuesday 14th October 19:58
carreratochina said:
Hi guys,
i'd like to introduce myself on this board: a buddy and me am going to drive a 1969 Porsche 911T from UK to China starting December 1st! The trip is going to take us 6 months, and will lead us through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, and China. You can see all our details, travel reports, diaries, car prep, etc...on our website http://www.Carreratochina.com
Drop us a line when you know you arrive in Singa (i assume you are coming here by sea / air from India as Mynmar is not passable from Bangladesh) i'd like to introduce myself on this board: a buddy and me am going to drive a 1969 Porsche 911T from UK to China starting December 1st! The trip is going to take us 6 months, and will lead us through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, and China. You can see all our details, travel reports, diaries, car prep, etc...on our website http://www.Carreratochina.com
Should be able to get a few classic aircoolers out to meet you, can also recomend a very good specialist 911 garage if needed!!!
To Rach: yes we will be driving through China with a guide. Luckily we are joined by a Dutch truck that will travel together with us, and seat the guide.
To Burriana: No,Shangai is a bit too far off our route. The trek through China is completely planned on beforehand day-by-day. This is obligatory, otherwise you simply don't get in.
cheers,
jan
To Burriana: No,Shangai is a bit too far off our route. The trek through China is completely planned on beforehand day-by-day. This is obligatory, otherwise you simply don't get in.
cheers,
jan
Edited by carreratochina on Monday 20th October 09:40
TVR Moneypit said:
Well, if you guys can do it in an old 911, then theres no reason why it couldn't be done in my on Landie 
Good luck.
Done already (although admittedly they were new then ... )Good luck.
http://www.unireps.com.au/isbn/1904955142.htm
Here is a torrent for the BBC Documentary on it, worth a go if you have some interest in this.
http://www.mininova.org/tor/951978
carreratochina said:
To Rach: yes we will be driving through China with a guide. Luckily we are joined by a Dutch truck that will travel together with us, and seat the guide.
To Burriana: No,Shangai is a bit too far off our route. The trek through China is completely planned on beforehand day-by-day. This is obligatory, otherwise you simply don't get in.
cheers,
jan
Thats brill, there's a few of us in the convoy to share the cost of a guide, its not cheap! To Burriana: No,Shangai is a bit too far off our route. The trek through China is completely planned on beforehand day-by-day. This is obligatory, otherwise you simply don't get in.
cheers,
jan
Edited by carreratochina on Monday 20th October 09:40
TVR Moneypit said:
XJSJohn said:
TVR Moneypit said:
Well, if you guys can do it in an old 911, then theres no reason why it couldn't be done in my on Landie
Good luck.
Done already (although admittedly they were new then ... )Good luck.
http://www.unireps.com.au/isbn/1904955142.htm
Here is a torrent for the BBC Documentary on it, worth a go if you have some interest in this.
http://www.mininova.org/tor/951978
ps, thanks for the links.
Edited by TVR Moneypit on Tuesday 21st October 12:34
Now drink your milk .....
Gassing Station | Events & Meetings | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff