Kev Ush

A mate of mine has asked me to take a look at his Boxster after it failed it’s MOT for running to lean. I’ve plugged it into my scanner and it does come up with P1128 and P1130 so running lean on both banks.  The engine is still running perfect and sounds good.

I don’t have a lot of time at the moment so haven’t even popped the engine cover off to have a look for any vacuum leaks.

Can anyone suggest some likely culprits to have a look for just to save me a bit of time…I barely have time to work on my own car anymore so I have even less time to spend on someone else’s car.

Thanks in advance.

Dropped my Boxster off at the OPC for a full suspension set up after fitting the B12 kit and new suspension arms…

…I loved this car so much before but I love it even more now❤️ Handling is amazing!! And now all the suspension rattles have gone I can start honing in on all the other rattles😂
 

Picked up my Porsche classic badge while I was there. No idea what I’m going to do with it. Might end up just sticking it to my toolbox.

The head liner is just from a later model boxster…from a 2001 model. It took some work to get it to fit as the hood frames are a bit different. The older model hood frames don’t have the correct mounts for the head liner at all.

it doesn’t effect the operation of the hood at all but you could only install one if your new roof didn’t have the bit that slides into the rear upper hoop of the frame. My hood is a BAS and didn’t have this so I was able to use that slot to hold the head liner up. I then had to drill 4 holes in the bar that’s below the window to clip in the tails that run down from the head liner.

Today’s job…new soft top with glass window. Easy enough job just takes a bit of patience.

while I was mucking about fitting the new roof I decided to fit a head lining to the interior as my car is an early 2.7 it didn’t come with one and I never liked looking at the mechanism.

just makes it a nicer place to be when the roof is up.

7 hours ago, ½cwt said:

@Kev Ush that's impressive work in a day.  Not too many seized bolts and drop links I take it or at least you went straight in with heat or heavy tools as soon as there was a level of resistance.

Sits nicely, hope the ride is not too firm or jiggly.

Luckily I had changed all my drop links out previously when I fitted replacement arb’s (I had to cut 2 of them when I did that). The front didn’t put up much of a fight as someone had fitted a pair of coffin arms before I bought it and had greased up all the bolts.

The OS rear came apart fairly easily….the NS rear was a bastard. I struggled but managed to get the track control arm bolt out but when I got to the coffin arm bolt I just broke out the rip saw…didn’t even bother fighting it.

I hope it isn’t to jiggly either. Eibach springs generally aren’t compared with others. I’ve run them on a couple of M3s I had in the past and they seem to keep the ride quality civilised.

I finished up fitting all this lot today…

Bilstien B12 kit and new suspension arms. It was all pretty straight forward. I only had to cut 1 bolt on the rear suspension.

It’s probably only sitting about 10mm to 15mm lower than before but this is maybe because it needs a bit more time to settle (it’s only just come off the ramp in the pics) or because my old springs were a bit shagged to start with. I haven’t been out on the road with it yet as I need to find somewhere decent to get the suspension set up but it definitely feels a hell of a lot firmer just doing a bounce test on her.

Before: 

After:

It doesn’t look much of a drop and I’ll be quite happy if it doesn’t drop any more than what it has…but I’ll also be happy if it does drop another 10mm over time😂

I recently did a smoke vacuum leak test on my engine after getting P1128 & P1130 fault codes coming up repeatedly. It did show up a leak from the top of my resonance intake tube...after checking the price of a new one and discounting buying a used one I thought I’d have a go at sorting the one I’ve got.

I removed it from the car and stripped it down (easy enough, just 4 screws to get it apart)

Then I plucked the old seals out to measure them (they’re 8mm x 14mm x 4mm if anyone ever need to do the same) and ordered up some viton seals. The original seals are nitrile rubber rotary shaft oil seals but after 20 years they are rock solid and brittle. My top one crumbled when I removed it. The new seals have springs to help seal around the shaft

pressed the new ones in...don’t really need a press but I’ve got one so I used it.

then reassembled it and gave it another smoke test (DIY method this time using a vape pen) and no leaks😀

I’m not 100% sure if it was this causing the fault codes but so far after a good blast they haven’t come back. 

a lot cheaper than buying a complete new part. Think it came to around £10 in total.

7 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Another shout for Spyder Performance, I've had 4 coffin arms, 2 front tuning forks and two rear toe links from them, all sound and a good fit. If you are stripping all these things out remember top mounts can contribute quite a lot to improving steering feel and getting rid of creaks and bump stops don't last for ever, fronts are usually perished.

You can pick up OE top mounts by Sachs for about £60 a pair, Porsche branded version of the identical part is £150 each, other aftermarket suppliers do top mounts with bearings, but originals are usually OK after a full clean and regrease.

£5 says you will need to cut some of the drop links and some if not all of the rear eccentric bolts to get the shocks out so budget for these too. I got away with only one front drop link that didn't need cutting as a previous owner had or done about 4 years previously. Bolts best come from Porsche for about £39 for all 4, eccentric washers will go again after cleaning but you may want nuts unless you are happy to reuse.

Above all if you are rebuilding it yourself get some aluminium based assembly.compoint to put on the bits that seize.

Cheers for the info. Yep I’ve already had to cut one of the front drop links and get my impact driver on it when I changed it so I’ll pass on that bet😂

1 hour ago, ATM said:

Here is my pic showing the difference in Bush size.

1 hour ago, ATM said:

OP

I believe its a common mod now to use 9x7 arms which work on a 9x6 if you're changing the tuning fork too. I'd be tempted as the bigger bush looks massively tougher. 

Interesting 🤔 I’m doing a full refresh, I will be swapping everything out in one go so I could easily go for 9x7 bits. Are all the lengths the same? Can this be done front and rear?

So I’ve decided I’ll do a full suspension overhaul when I fit my Bilstein B12 kit. I’ve been looking at suspension arms etc on Autodoc and the prices run from dirt cheap to quite expensive. I’m always a bit sceptical of really cheap bits with a brand name I’ve never heard of so I won’t be going for their £30 suspension arms.

Does anyone know who made the suspension parts for Porsche originally?

I remember with my old E46 M3 you could buy Lemforder arms for it quite cheaply but they were basically original BMW parts (with the BMW logo and part number on them)

That’s my suspension kit just arrived. Took 9 days to arrive but can confirm that there were no further duties to be paid.

3 hours ago, RoryD said:

If you could post the link Kev, that would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers

Rory

https://m.autodoc.co.uk/eibach/1931285

its even cheaper now £901.19. The discount has gone up to 40%

that’s probably the cheapest it will get with them. Monday’s usually have the biggest discount then it reduces through the week.

2 hours ago, red rocket said:

But customs charges could presumably be added on arrival in the UK and before delivery.

I emailed them to check on that before ordering. Their response....

”Please, be kindly informed that when placing a new order, you'll have to pay VAT on our website, however, you will not be charged for any additional fees upon arrival of the package.”

I also checked on a Facebook group I’m on with other folk who have ordered from them and they confirmed that there will be no other charges to pay

Oh well that’s the B12 kit just been ordered...£930.18 with today’s discount on Autodoc 

13 hours ago, ziggy said:

Tried Autodoc ?

Good shout!! £950.93 inc VAT delivered for the B12 kit!! 👍

I’ve been looking up suspension kits for my boxster. Not looking for anything adjustable...just want something that is fit and forget.

I was looking on Design911 and the B12 suspension kit is £1183.20 inc VAT (with a 5% discount added).

I was wondering what a B12 kit consists off? Is it just B8 shocks and -30mm H&R springs?? 

...the reason I ask is when I just add a set of B8 dampers and H&R springs to the basket the total is only £1097.56 inc VAT (with 5% discount added) so almost £90 cheaper buying the bits individually than in a kit which is a bit odd.

Does anyone have a cheaper source Bilstein suspension kits? I had a quick google but design911 seems to be the cheapest.

I think it’s this connection that might be leaking...

https://www.amazon.fr/photos/share/Q5IkERG8MtfVM7HLIL5CiBAkg9Hw5ZF6uEHGa0IfTb0

That looks like it’s coming from where the pipe that runs from AOS to that cylinder head connects the the cylinder head. The connection between number 6 & 4 in this picture in the link....

https://www.amazon.fr/photos/share/oLJEZTZ4B9iIQgqO2o6QBh1lLw1LnoKgWKYtjdbZep1

It doesn’t look like Porsche lists a replacement o ring for that connection.

I have seen a leak coming from number 6 itself in that drawing on a scrap engine I’ve got so maybe it could just be that. They aren’t expensive. About £6 from Porsche if I remember correctly.

if it’s the hose that’s split I think you need to remove the inlet manifold on the other bank to replace it and the hose is quite expensive.

another possible leak point is the oil pressure sensor but that’s further under that manifold and it doesn’t look like the leak is coming from there.

When I had my Elise I use to use a product called Duralac on anything where steel and alloy were touching. It’s just a corrosion inhibitor to stop the reaction between dissimilar metals. When I ever do any work on my suspension where bolts go into alloy parts I’ll probably use it again. It’s not expensive and a little goes a long way.

http://www.llewellyn-ryland.co.uk/duralac.html

Anyone ever used one of these IMS kits?

http://shop.guldenbergracing.nl/996/ims-lager/guldenberg-hydrostatic-ims-bearing
 

Same idea as the IMS solution but half the price.