Anker BS

10 hours ago, bally4563 said:

Do you think you would get enough height with them to drop a gearbox out?

Definitely. It comes with rubber blocks that can be stacked. I would get an extra 3: if I used both sets stacked. I'm pretty sure the transmission would fit under the car without a problem.

On 12/16/2018 at 3:30 PM, Araf said:

Where are your bumperettes?  

I my spare parts box. The prior to previous owner removed them. Like the look! 

Used my new QuickJack for the first time. SOOOOO much easier than a floor jack and jack stands. And safer to boot. An added bonus is that it works in a narrow garage where a floor jack just wouldn't work. CHanged the oil in wife's Boxster and discovered that the postcat heat shield fasteners are so rusted that I could just pull the heat shields off. Ordered new clips and bolts from Pelican. Almost $100 for 6 clips and 6 bolts. Porsche tax for you!

19 hours ago, DannyGregsy said:

Had the rear anti roll bar bushes replaced, made a massive difference 👍

How? What changed?

Interested!

Got the center console assemble on FUNTOY after changing the shifter bushings,

Got FUNBOX almost ready for hibernation. Drove her until she was nice and warm, added Stabil and then filled the tank and put her in the garage and on the battery maintainer. Need to mouse proof her and change the oil, and filter, change the air filter, check all fluids and add some more air to the tires.

Also did a whole afternoon of tire changing. All season tires off FUNBOX, then on to FUNTOY, Bridgestone RE-71Rs from FUNTOY into winter storage, Sumitomos on to FUNBOX, Summer tires off wife's Chevyy Volt and snow tires on,

Now FUNTOY is ready to go on a lift and have exhaust changed, install technoBrace, check transmission end shifter cable connections and loof for source of tingle from right rear wheel.

A good day!

Did you take the opportunity to mount screens in the cooling intakes in the bumper cover? You can make them yourself or pay big bucks for ones already made.

A really productive day. With temperatures in the 60's I decided to tackle four different jobs in the same area: clean the radiators, replace the frunk latch and actuator, reroute the emergency release cable to the tow hook position, and install screens in the radiator inlets.

Getting the bumper cover off wasn't difficult. The plastic rivets holding the right side wheel liner were a pain in the butt. They were the kinds where you have to insert a screw driver to pull the lock pin out. I fortunately have better rivets in stock and will use them when I put the liners back in.

The condensers and radiators had a fair bit of gunk and leaves in them and most of it was easily removable with a soft brush.

The latch replacement was a little bit tricky. I had a used replacement from Woody, but it was from an earlier model. I didn't realize that the 2004 S has an actuator that prevents you from opening the latch, apparently part of the anti-theft system. The replacement latch didn't have the fitting for that, so I just removed the cable for the anti-theft actuator. Also, the height of the front lid is adjustable by moving the latch up and down. I was lucky and got it in the right position right away. Hopefully this has fixed the problem where I couldn't open the frunk when the car got really hot on the track or autocross. While I was at it I rerouted the emergency cable to the tow hook location.

The final task was to install screens in the grilles. I had bought black gutter screens at Home Depot and cut them to size and attached them with small black tie wraps. Looks great.

I'm going to finish putting everything together tomorrow and detail the car if I have the energy.

 A few days later: After finishing the above project I discovered that the right side radiator fan wasn't running when the AC is on. After swapping fuses and relays with no result I decided to take a chance and assume that it was the fan that was bad. I am doing an autocross tomorrow and a DE a week from Monday and was not comfortable with doing either with a dead fan. Ordered one from Pelican with two day delivery and read up on replacement in the Bentley and 101 Projects books. Looked complicated and it really was. Not helped by corroded clips, brittle plastic and cross-threaded screws. Assembly was infinitely harder than disassembly. The fan shroud is especially difficult to be placed right and the radiator bracket only goes on one way, which is not described in either manual.

Cart passed DE inspection with no problems.

A really productive day. With temperatures in the 60's I decided to tackle four different jobs in the same area: clean the radiators, replace the frunk latch and actuator, reroute the emergency release cable to the tow hook position, and install screens in the radiator inlets.

Getting the bumper cover off wasn't difficult. The plastic rivets holding the right side wheel liner were a pain in the butt. They were the kinds where you have to insert a screw driver to pull the lock pin out. I fortunately have better rivets in stock and will use them when I put the liners back in.

The condensers and radiators had a fair bit of gunk and leaves in them and most of it was easily removable with a soft brush.

The latch replacement was a little bit tricky. I had a used replacement from Woody, but it was from an earlier model. I didn't realize that the 2004 S has an actuator that prevents you from opening the latch, apparently part of the anti-theft system. The replacement latch didn't have the fitting for that, so I just removed the cable for the anti-theft actuator. Also, the height of the front lid is adjustable by moving the latch up and down. I was lucky and got it in the right position right away. Hopefully this has fixed the problem where I couldn't open the frunk when the car got really hot on the track or autocross. While I was at it I rerouted the emergency cable to the tow hook location.

The final task was to install screens in the grilles. I had bought black gutter screens at Home Depot and cut them to size and attached them with small black tie wraps. Looks great.

I'm going to finish putting everything together tomorrow and detail the car if I have the energy.

Brake flushing was a piece of cake. Power bleeders make the job easy and all the nipples cooperated.

Brake flush day today in preparation for the first DE of the season. Tech inspection next Friday.

4 hours ago, PaulQ said:

225/45 work well on the front, though your contis are fairly new, so yes just replace the rears

 

As a bonus, the 225/45s in front will reduce understeering!

It was winter Monday, spring yesterday and summer today in Massachusetts, 91 degrees F.

I installed a 4' by 8' shelf in the garage and then my wife and I took the S to Kimball Farms fort an ice cream. Top down and AC running!

Took our latest Boxster purchase, a 2002 2.7l on a longish trip. Very happy with it. Engine feels very good, the shifter is crisp and everything works. DIdn't realize I'd like a 2.7 this much after having owned a S for a year and a half.

Tomorrow I'll be picking up the street rims and tires and mounting them on the S. The track and AX rims with Bridgestone RE-71Rs are waiting for the 2018 events to get going. Still have a long list of work to be done on the S. The critical one is to replace the frunk latch, clean the radiators and work on the shifter. I have new metal bushings. Will see if they make it work smoother. Otherwise I'll have to get to work on the cables.

The way the AOS works is that there is a diaphragm that is fine enough that it will capture oil fumes. On one side of the diaphragm is a vacuum line from the intake, on the other side is the vent from the crank case. The vacuum pulls the blowby in the crank case into the intake. Oil captured by the diaphragm is returned by gravity to the crank case.

In a failed AOS the diaphragm has split and the resistance of the diaphragm is lost and the vacuum line pulls the crank case down to the point where the fill cap is impossible to remove. Another effect is that the oil fumes will go into the intake and pool. At some point a big glob of oil sloshes into one of the cylinders and creates a hydraulic lock. Bye, bye engine.

The raw oil fumes pulled into the intake will also cause smoke in the exhaust.

2 hours ago, bally4563 said:

Condesation or definetly Smokey? If oil filler cap is easy to remove with engine running would suggest AOS, the same for the dipstick tube also common for fracturing, quote me if I am wrong but you should be pulling good, Vacumn to scavenge any oil back to the sump, or possible egr valve faulty. On tick over is the Rev counter steady or hunting?

 

Noooooooo!!!! If the oil cap is hard to remove when idling the AOS is bad!!!!! The correct crank case vacuum is fairly low and the cap will unscrew.

Gave it a good wash after starting from Stow, Massachusetts in a snow storm and arriving in Islamorada, Florida. Lord, I hate winter and love warm weather,

Picture says it all!

Packed the car for the 3 day Thompson HPDE starting tomorrow.

Getting ready for Autocross tomorrow. Replaced the left tracking arm yesterday and now the suspension sounds and feels like new. Getting the advantage of the previous owner's attempts at removing the rattle by replacing suspension parts but never suspecting the trailing arms. Now I can do it in just over an hour. Only problem is that a couple of squeajs have become noticeable. Sounds like they are from the doors or the top.

After the AX I need to get ready for the DE the following weekend. I'll be replacing both front disks and also replacing the right front caliper. Today I checked whether I could get the caliper screws out (the little ones next to the lugs) and the bolts holding the caliper. Of course I didn't have the correct size torx bit and had to swing by Sears to get one. Ended up spending $65 on that and other stuff.

After the DE it will be time to change the AOS in preparation for our road trip to Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island. It isn't critical, just a bit of smoke if the car has sat for several days, but better safe than sorry.

I am really pleased with my ability to work on this car. Not as easy as the Fiat 600 I worked on almost 50 years ago, but easier than I had suspected. Every time I have finished a job the car is in better shape than before and no new issues are showing up. I was especially pleased when I was able to figure out why the cruise control worked sporadically.

Temp was 60, so my better half and I went on a country road drive with the top down.

The cruise control now works all the time and the fog light DRL hack from 986Forum works like a charm. Feel a lot safer with lights on all the time without needing to manually turn them on.

Sweeeeeet!