The V8 Bike Bus
Discussion
Alright, I'll add a few things to bring it up to where I am with it now...
It was empty when I collected it so I quickly sought out some Optimax and assumed the position that I seem to be in fairly often with this thing.
I went for this particular one because it had relatively low miles (69k), FSH and a very good spec, highlights being things like - alcantara trimmed headlining, pillars etc, extended leather including dashboard, Bose sound, 21" Sport wheels, heated front and rear seats, sports memory seats, Sport body trim (arch extensions etc), dynamic headlights, PDCC (active body control etc.) Mainly though I wanted black with a black interior. Ideally I wanted one with the GTS blackout pack for the chrome but they seem very rare and I also wanted a factory towbar. This hasn't got the towbar, but it did have 'Preparation for detachable trailer coupling' which means the wiring for towbar wiring is in place from the front fuse box to the boot area where it's terminated. Hopefully making retrofit easier.
The previous owner had updated the media by fitting an aftermarket Pioneer Carplay system. I'm not really into aftermarket looking stereos but actually this really brings the user experience of the car up-to-date. I use Waze and Spotify seamlessly with it. It also has an integrated reversing cam.
The stereo with Bose upgrade seems good. In the boot under the incredibly neat tools and compressor (which is for the suspension but also has an outlet to use tools or inflate tyres) there's a sub neatly stashed which seems to integrate well.
Obviously the main event is the 4.8l twin turbo V8. It allegedly makes ~500hp / 700NM.
Traction is impressive as you'd imagine with huge tyres and 4wd and according to the figures at the time 0-60 is ~4.7s and the limiter is set at 171mph. As you're aware of how much mass is being hauled along and that growing sense of inertia building, it feels genuinely quick when you stand on the throttle from standstill.
It was empty when I collected it so I quickly sought out some Optimax and assumed the position that I seem to be in fairly often with this thing.
I went for this particular one because it had relatively low miles (69k), FSH and a very good spec, highlights being things like - alcantara trimmed headlining, pillars etc, extended leather including dashboard, Bose sound, 21" Sport wheels, heated front and rear seats, sports memory seats, Sport body trim (arch extensions etc), dynamic headlights, PDCC (active body control etc.) Mainly though I wanted black with a black interior. Ideally I wanted one with the GTS blackout pack for the chrome but they seem very rare and I also wanted a factory towbar. This hasn't got the towbar, but it did have 'Preparation for detachable trailer coupling' which means the wiring for towbar wiring is in place from the front fuse box to the boot area where it's terminated. Hopefully making retrofit easier.
The previous owner had updated the media by fitting an aftermarket Pioneer Carplay system. I'm not really into aftermarket looking stereos but actually this really brings the user experience of the car up-to-date. I use Waze and Spotify seamlessly with it. It also has an integrated reversing cam.
The stereo with Bose upgrade seems good. In the boot under the incredibly neat tools and compressor (which is for the suspension but also has an outlet to use tools or inflate tyres) there's a sub neatly stashed which seems to integrate well.
Obviously the main event is the 4.8l twin turbo V8. It allegedly makes ~500hp / 700NM.
Traction is impressive as you'd imagine with huge tyres and 4wd and according to the figures at the time 0-60 is ~4.7s and the limiter is set at 171mph. As you're aware of how much mass is being hauled along and that growing sense of inertia building, it feels genuinely quick when you stand on the throttle from standstill.
It had a few minor issues with it. For some reason the OSR exhaust trim piece was missing and it also had a 'headlight fault' warning on the dash. I was assured that this was because it had recently had a new headlight control unit (it has one per side) and this hadn't been coded to the car. I was happy to believe this or deal with it if it turned out to be more involved, especially after negotiating the price down.
I ordered the exhaust trim...
...and clicked it into place.
And then got on with the actual important stuff; Making it sit properly. So as a starter I fitted lowering links. These are a simple adjustable link, fitted in place of a fixed length one, to fit to the level sensor at each wheel that trick the car into thinking it's higher than it is. It then self-levels itself to a lower height. The longer you make the link, the lower that corner of the car ends up.
There's an element of trial and error with these but on this car the suspension travel is so much that I could raise it to an off-road height and access the links and pop them on and off for adjustment without even needing to jack the car up.
The added complexity on this car is that it also adjusts its own rideheight dynamically with speed. Exceed 80 mph or select 'Sport' dynamic mode and it lowers the suspension. I needed to account for that to maintain sufficient ride height and bump clearance.
This was an initial stab which was too low.
I ordered the exhaust trim...
...and clicked it into place.
And then got on with the actual important stuff; Making it sit properly. So as a starter I fitted lowering links. These are a simple adjustable link, fitted in place of a fixed length one, to fit to the level sensor at each wheel that trick the car into thinking it's higher than it is. It then self-levels itself to a lower height. The longer you make the link, the lower that corner of the car ends up.
There's an element of trial and error with these but on this car the suspension travel is so much that I could raise it to an off-road height and access the links and pop them on and off for adjustment without even needing to jack the car up.
The added complexity on this car is that it also adjusts its own rideheight dynamically with speed. Exceed 80 mph or select 'Sport' dynamic mode and it lowers the suspension. I needed to account for that to maintain sufficient ride height and bump clearance.
This was an initial stab which was too low.
Next, spacers. I did lots of measuring and decided on a 25mm front 27mm rear. Interestingly Porsche sold 14mm rear spacers for these as an option. I was interested in filling those big arches properly and giving the car a more purposeful stance. This is largely for aesthetics but obviously has dynamic consequences. In theory you reduce the effective spring rate of the roadspring (air in this case), increase track and also change numerous things to do with bump / scrub etc that most of you here understand more than most people who bolt spacers to cars just for aesthetics. I want this to drive well so I'm after a balance between standard, making changes I can for aesthetic reasons and balancing them with functionality.
Spacers fitted and the suspension height iterated for about the 5th time I was starting to finally feel the look was how I wanted it.
Spacers fitted and the suspension height iterated for about the 5th time I was starting to finally feel the look was how I wanted it.
573 said:
Next, spacers. I did lots of measuring and decided on a 25mm front 27mm rear. Interestingly Porsche sold 14mm rear spacers for these as an option. I was interested in filling those big arches properly and giving the car a more purposeful stance. This is largely for aesthetics but obviously has dynamic consequences. In theory you reduce the effective spring rate of the roadspring (air in this case), increase track and also change numerous things to do with bump / scrub etc that most of you here understand more than most people who bolt spacers to cars just for aesthetics. I want this to drive well so I'm after a balance between standard, making changes I can for aesthetic reasons and balancing them with functionality.
Spacers fitted and the suspension height iterated for about the 5th time I was starting to finally feel the look was how I wanted it.
None of your images are showing as you do not have a valid SSL certificate on your private hosting.Spacers fitted and the suspension height iterated for about the 5th time I was starting to finally feel the look was how I wanted it.
Next drive out a weird noise turned into a very loud clunk. I stopped and saw this.
I got it in the garage and started to investigate.
This was what I found.
Most parts were either completely missing, presumably smashed up and ejected out the hole or completely mangled.
The handbrake shoe was twisted out of shape and the friction material was completely missing.
I had a worry that the spacers had caused this so I measured the new studs vs the OEM ones and established that they protruded no further into the hub. In fact there was loads of clearance in that area. So I stripped the other side down to see if that would give me any clues.
The friction material was very tired and seemed to be breaking up.
...and in fact was hardly attached and could easily lift.
This allowed the broken piece of friction material to slide over the rest of the shoe and jam the disc. I have no way of knowing if this is actually what happened but it felt plausible. With the handbrake jammed and 700NM turning it all I imagine it would start to fail quite quickly. Any pieces that broke up would end up inside the 'handbrake drum' of the disc bell and start to collide and jam with more parts causing a catastrophic failure. I imagine if I hadn't have stopped fairly quickly the disc would have completely failed and caused further damage to the caliper and other things in a chain reaction.
I got away with just needing to replace the broken and missing parts and fit new discs, pads and of course, handbrake shoes.
I got it in the garage and started to investigate.
This was what I found.
Most parts were either completely missing, presumably smashed up and ejected out the hole or completely mangled.
The handbrake shoe was twisted out of shape and the friction material was completely missing.
I had a worry that the spacers had caused this so I measured the new studs vs the OEM ones and established that they protruded no further into the hub. In fact there was loads of clearance in that area. So I stripped the other side down to see if that would give me any clues.
The friction material was very tired and seemed to be breaking up.
...and in fact was hardly attached and could easily lift.
This allowed the broken piece of friction material to slide over the rest of the shoe and jam the disc. I have no way of knowing if this is actually what happened but it felt plausible. With the handbrake jammed and 700NM turning it all I imagine it would start to fail quite quickly. Any pieces that broke up would end up inside the 'handbrake drum' of the disc bell and start to collide and jam with more parts causing a catastrophic failure. I imagine if I hadn't have stopped fairly quickly the disc would have completely failed and caused further damage to the caliper and other things in a chain reaction.
I got away with just needing to replace the broken and missing parts and fit new discs, pads and of course, handbrake shoes.
I really needed this to have a towbar and it didn't have one. I did a bit of research and found that the factory detachable one is a Westfalia. I found that you could buy the exact kit the factory fits and also buy a Westfalia loom that in theory should connect very easily with the prep Porsche had already done when building the car. The intention was to do everything with the parts it would have had from the factory to make it indistinguishable from a car that had the towbar fitted by Porsche during build.
The main issue that this was during 1st lockdown when the world and his wife had decided cycling was a great thing. All bicycles and all cycling accessories were sold out and this extended to bike carriers and towbars. I had to really search about to find the proper wiring kit and eventually struggled so hard to find the actual towbar kit that I ended up speaking to Westfalia themselves who said they were making them as fast as they could. Once they had one I managed to secure it and get it sent to the UK.
Both the wiring kit and towbar kit came with fantastic, detailed instructions and both parts were fairly straightforward to fit. As per all modern cars though there was just a long list of external and internal parts to remove, in sequence in order to do a proper job of the installation.
Main mechanical change was obviously to swap the aluminium bumper bar to a steel one with a towbar receiver.
Everything I came across was in good order but I still took the opportunity to Bilt Hamber 'Electrox', zinc everything relevant and get loads of Dynax into cavities and finally cover anything susceptible with ACF-50.
The only bit the instructions didn't cover was the cut out in the bumper to allow access for the towbar. I tried to find as many pics as I could to inform me and work out where I needed to cut but it was really hard to find anything of use. I ordered a flap from Porsche that I assumed fitted in after the hole was cut but this turned out to be for a completely different bumper, maybe a non-turbo. So I made some educated assumptions, cut a big hole in the bumper and fitted it.
Luckily it turned out to be perfect.
With the towbar removed everything is completely hidden as intended.
Once the trim was removed, the wiring was as straightforward as hoped. There was even a space for the relay block ready in a space in a rack of other electrical boxes in the side of the boot.
And the removable towbar fitted perfectly into the space designed for it.
Finally I could stick the bike carrier on and throw a bike on the back.
The main issue that this was during 1st lockdown when the world and his wife had decided cycling was a great thing. All bicycles and all cycling accessories were sold out and this extended to bike carriers and towbars. I had to really search about to find the proper wiring kit and eventually struggled so hard to find the actual towbar kit that I ended up speaking to Westfalia themselves who said they were making them as fast as they could. Once they had one I managed to secure it and get it sent to the UK.
Both the wiring kit and towbar kit came with fantastic, detailed instructions and both parts were fairly straightforward to fit. As per all modern cars though there was just a long list of external and internal parts to remove, in sequence in order to do a proper job of the installation.
Main mechanical change was obviously to swap the aluminium bumper bar to a steel one with a towbar receiver.
Everything I came across was in good order but I still took the opportunity to Bilt Hamber 'Electrox', zinc everything relevant and get loads of Dynax into cavities and finally cover anything susceptible with ACF-50.
The only bit the instructions didn't cover was the cut out in the bumper to allow access for the towbar. I tried to find as many pics as I could to inform me and work out where I needed to cut but it was really hard to find anything of use. I ordered a flap from Porsche that I assumed fitted in after the hole was cut but this turned out to be for a completely different bumper, maybe a non-turbo. So I made some educated assumptions, cut a big hole in the bumper and fitted it.
Luckily it turned out to be perfect.
With the towbar removed everything is completely hidden as intended.
Once the trim was removed, the wiring was as straightforward as hoped. There was even a space for the relay block ready in a space in a rack of other electrical boxes in the side of the boot.
And the removable towbar fitted perfectly into the space designed for it.
Finally I could stick the bike carrier on and throw a bike on the back.
I really wanted the Cayenne to have the GTS trim option. That sees the window surrounds and pillar trims in satin black rather than the silver. I hate the silver trim and as you can imagine all the proper bits in black adds up to a huge amount from Porsche. I considered getting it painted but one day found myself near a local vinyl place that I knew had done some great work wrapping some racecars. I inquired and they gave me a very reasonable price to wrap all the silver bits in satin black vinyl to the correct automotive / exterior grade.
So I dropped it off, rode my bike home...
.....and returned later and collected it.
I'm very pleased with the outcome, especially for the price. I think it takes years off the car.
So I dropped it off, rode my bike home...
.....and returned later and collected it.
I'm very pleased with the outcome, especially for the price. I think it takes years off the car.
573 said:
I'll sort it, thanks. However Edge isn't really a browser is it 
. Firefox, Chrome, Safari etc all manage.
Chromium Edge is like Chrome, just faster, less resource hogging, stripped of all google tracking and apparently more secure. So yes it is a real browser and one that a lot of people are starting to use over Chrome FF etc . Firefox, Chrome, Safari etc all manage. 
Yeah it's growing. Still, 1% of the 30M users on one of the national services that I'm responsible for use it.
I'll sort the cert, but that domain is literally just for hosting images for posting on forums.
Edit: there was probably a joke in there about Chrome being deleted but it's too late now...
I'll sort the cert, but that domain is literally just for hosting images for posting on forums.
Edit: there was probably a joke in there about Chrome being deleted but it's too late now...
Edited by 573 on Wednesday 10th February 16:11
This is how it spent most of the bit of 2020 when we were actually allowed to travel to trails rather than ride from home. And it did a great job of it.
I thought this worth sharing as people often like to tell others what cars they should have. I've heard lots that nobody needs an SUV and estate cars do everything just as well. I've tried, and they really don't. Loaded up with 5 bikes they drive awfully, bordering on dangerous. The Porsche and the X5s before it with their extra mass and all round proper self-levelling suspension make light work of it and take this in their stride. The Porsche having the extra benefit of PDC and active body control, dynamically stiffening the ARBS too; It's also still able to beat most things in a TLGP when loaded up.
I thought this worth sharing as people often like to tell others what cars they should have. I've heard lots that nobody needs an SUV and estate cars do everything just as well. I've tried, and they really don't. Loaded up with 5 bikes they drive awfully, bordering on dangerous. The Porsche and the X5s before it with their extra mass and all round proper self-levelling suspension make light work of it and take this in their stride. The Porsche having the extra benefit of PDC and active body control, dynamically stiffening the ARBS too; It's also still able to beat most things in a TLGP when loaded up.
I got this into Owen Garages in Haywards Heath for Olly to undertake a service. I used all genuine Porsche parts. I also had the thermostat changed as I'd noticed it was often slow to come up to temp and as summer was turning into autumn I noticed when called on the heater took ages to get warm. While there it made sense to do the waterpump too. I'd also noticed the front pads were getting low, so lazily got Olly to do those while on his ramp. Some of the bits were reassuringly expensive; Genuine front pads are £260 +VAT for instance, although they are the size of house bricks for the 6 pots.
Then the MOT was due. I used Mr MOT in Burgess Hill as usual. The guys there are very good plus I helped them get their first website set up many years ago. The fact that Mid-Sussex Porsche main dealer also use them for MOTs is reassuring too.
Unfortunately it failed.
Luckily only on tyres as one had a deep cut on an inside edge. I searched about for tyres, knowing I wanted to fit Michelin Pilot Sport 4s to it. Incredibly with the deal they had on Kwikfit were cheaper for 4 fitted than any of the mail order places could achieve to just deliver them.
I love how the Pilot Sport 4s work on road cars but they're also a really good looking tyre with a solid square sidewall. They're also a proper dark black compared to other tyres that are a dark grey (/ocd).
I then had Mobile Porsche Specialists visit to sort out the headlight module coding. They'd fitted it for the previous owner and neglected to code it so they came out to do it for free. While here I got the guy to blow his airline through all the sunroof drains too.
...and I'm rebuilding the house, hence the broken driveway. It'll get fixed soon.
Then the MOT was due. I used Mr MOT in Burgess Hill as usual. The guys there are very good plus I helped them get their first website set up many years ago. The fact that Mid-Sussex Porsche main dealer also use them for MOTs is reassuring too.
Unfortunately it failed.
Luckily only on tyres as one had a deep cut on an inside edge. I searched about for tyres, knowing I wanted to fit Michelin Pilot Sport 4s to it. Incredibly with the deal they had on Kwikfit were cheaper for 4 fitted than any of the mail order places could achieve to just deliver them.
I love how the Pilot Sport 4s work on road cars but they're also a really good looking tyre with a solid square sidewall. They're also a proper dark black compared to other tyres that are a dark grey (/ocd).
I then had Mobile Porsche Specialists visit to sort out the headlight module coding. They'd fitted it for the previous owner and neglected to code it so they came out to do it for free. While here I got the guy to blow his airline through all the sunroof drains too.
...and I'm rebuilding the house, hence the broken driveway. It'll get fixed soon.
Cosmetically the thing that let the car down most, were the wheels. They had various bits of kerb rash and paint chips. So I booked it into Wheel Works in Crawley as they've always done quality work for me before.
I'd had a massive wobble about how to refurbish the wheels since buying the car. Generally, silver wheels look best on almost every car. With the full GTS option from Porsche as new this would have been delivered with black trim but also had the option of black wheels. As the day of the refurb approached, I changed my mind back and forth between a nice fresh coat of silver and going full GTS and painting them black.
The wheel centres were tired too, so whichever colour I chose I'd need new centres to match. In the end I went to Mid-Sussex OPC and ordered new wheel centres which cemented my decision.
It was dark when I collected it, but I pulled it over the road to a garage forecourt to have a look.
I know painting them black will really divide opinion but it's given it the look I wanted. In many ways it actually seems more anonymous now, the huge wheels are less obvious. As with all black cars with black wheels they're also hard to photograph with a point-and-shoot (iphone) and look better in the metal.
As always the job done by Wheel Works is very good. The combination of filthy weather and my driveway still being a broken-up mess of a building site means the car is filthy though.
...and some quick pics from when out and about.
The weather is really grotty at the moment so it mainly looks filthy like this.
I'd had a massive wobble about how to refurbish the wheels since buying the car. Generally, silver wheels look best on almost every car. With the full GTS option from Porsche as new this would have been delivered with black trim but also had the option of black wheels. As the day of the refurb approached, I changed my mind back and forth between a nice fresh coat of silver and going full GTS and painting them black.
The wheel centres were tired too, so whichever colour I chose I'd need new centres to match. In the end I went to Mid-Sussex OPC and ordered new wheel centres which cemented my decision.
It was dark when I collected it, but I pulled it over the road to a garage forecourt to have a look.
I know painting them black will really divide opinion but it's given it the look I wanted. In many ways it actually seems more anonymous now, the huge wheels are less obvious. As with all black cars with black wheels they're also hard to photograph with a point-and-shoot (iphone) and look better in the metal.
As always the job done by Wheel Works is very good. The combination of filthy weather and my driveway still being a broken-up mess of a building site means the car is filthy though.
...and some quick pics from when out and about.
The weather is really grotty at the moment so it mainly looks filthy like this.
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