map

7 hours ago, ½cwt said:

A few guys on here have gone it.  @Menoporsche @map ??  

Not me. All standard hardware aside from fluid, flexibles, cooling and pads. 

14 minutes ago, 999mch said:

Totally agree, although some people have done it even with the variable speed knob, but not sure why you would !

Because the variable speed knob has stopped working?

Have exactly this problem in my car and ought to fix it.

If the VW relay is materially cheaper than a fix for the existing function I’ll go with the relay. 

2 hours ago, 999mch said:

Just made the fastest improvement ever. Swapped the old intermittent wiper relay for a VW programmable one. Took me at least 2 minutes to swap over ! Not sure the new coolant header tank I need to fit tomorrow will be that quick !!

Sounds interesting - can you share the VW part number please?

Appreciate the update.

Does the knocking you mention coincide with a particular input from you? For example: applying throttle, braking, trailing throttle or anything of that sort?

If so it maybe that an engine/transmission mount has got a little too tired. 

3 hours ago, David__H said:

but the unsprung weight needs as little damping as possible to allow the suspension to work properly and keep the tyre in good contact with the road

Lower unsprung weight is a positive for handling and ride.

Damping in both directions (compression and rebound) is trying to control the rate of change in the relationship between the wheel’s response to the road and the chassis’s slightly delayed and typically opposite response to the same input.  So the lower the unsprung mass the lower the effort needed from the damping overall. The reverse applies.

A lighter unsprung wheel assembly needs less damping control to stop it leaving the ground when it hits a bump. My favourite setup on my 986 are my lightest 18s with Toyo R888R tyres in OE sizes. The ride is almost plush whilst the handling becomes exceptionally responsive and linear. The same sized (heavier) OE wheels with Michelin PS2 is great but it isn’t quite as good. The only differences between the two configurations is lower unsprung mass and stiffer sidewalls.

With the sort of care you’re describing plus time, maybe some smart, inexpensive mechanical tweaks and an open mind you’ll end up with a 986 that’s anything but a blancmange. 

Long Post Warning

@David__H

I also have adjustable coilovers and have spent quite a bit of time getting them to the point they work well for me on all but the bumpiest roads.

Remember that the vast majority of off the shelf coilovers will have a damping range aimed at the circuit user which is to say that even at their most compliant they will still be pretty stiff compared to OE damping.

In terms of approach - I would start with all the dampers wound back to their softest setting as you’ve suggested. Then I’d drive a known, repeatable route that has all the roads types you’re likely to most enjoy. In my case that’s predominantly B roads. Drive the car over that route regularly trying to put time between runs. For example drive it Friday night then again Saturday morning. If possible drive the same route in cars with a good chassis setup so that you have further datum points.

Over time make single click adjustments (keep a note of “click” changes actual + net).  It is important to keep left and right matched on a road car. Front to rear less so. In fact my rear axle damping is a couple of clicks “harder” than the front.

The hardest part for me was to resist the urge to wind the damping up to be more “race car” - not only is it uncomfortable and slower it can also be borderline dangerous if the damping creates unwanted chassis reactions - you’ll know those if you experience them.

Sounds obvious but front and rear axles do different things and manage different loads (tyre widths for example) so the damping requirements are different.

Whilst you can do all of this my recommendation is to get the geometry setup by someone who really knows what they’re doing. Coilovers allow you to tweak ride height, rake and corner weights - none of this is possible with an OE style chassis. In my opinion the vast majority of Porsche Specialists should stay away from anything other than tracking checks against the car’s custom “spec” on Coilover chassis.

My own car is lower than factory sport suspension. Has noticeably more rake (front to rear heights - lower at the front) and has been corner weighted with half a tank of fuel and ballast on the driver’s seat to replicate a driver's weight, mine.  Despite using standard suspension arms/links this setup gives me a really sharp turn in and the damping absolutely supports the car’s performance down the road.

It is worth the effort - last week I was able to compare a 991.2 Carrera2 to my own car along the same piece of fairly testing (bumpy/frost damaged) road.  The owner of the 991 was surprised that my car was more compliant and felt quicker than his. When we switched off “Sports” suspension on his car it was faster than before but he still felt mine was quicker.  To be clear this road is the sort where the 60mph limit is reinforced by the road’s route and surface so it’s great for benchmarking.

If you’ve got this far it would be great to know what kit is fitted to your car.  Am sure there are a few forum members who’d been keen to follow your progress with this - me included.

Let us know how you get on. 

6 minutes ago, charlie gardner said:

Hello mate thanks for that.

It's actually the auto engineer i am using who has suggest I get this diagram 

That's fine - this forum has a pretty good track record of diagnosing and helping to fix problems.  So by all means post the info and there will be folk along who may well help save you and your auto engineer some time.

👍

2 minutes ago, ATM said:

👏

One of my favourite forum cars. 

37 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

You've got different sized badges

Two designs, badge and key ring in each. 

38 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

Did they give a reason as to why they weren't keen on doing the 111 point check? If that's part of the classic membership then they're obliged to book you in. 

Suspect it’s more to do with Service Dept thing rather than Parts who I was dealing with. There’s no 111 point check element to the membership.

Just had a thought about badge location - what about on the front of the rear view mirror? A bit of glue/sticky stuff ( @Patt?) to hold it in place. Job done. 

As part of a 260mile potter yesterday I dropped into the OPC and collected my swag:

Also ordered a replacement key - the discount made that palatable - and enquired about some other stuff.

Where to put the badge though? On the front bumper grills? Somewhere else? Or not at all?

They weren’t over keen to do a 111 point check 🤔 - I’ll wait for them to do an open day or sneak it in under the cover of a Porsche Club open day thingy. 

3 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

I meant to get the car cleaning habit formed - it's a training method!  It's what you do with dogs, children, or to assist with the development of positive routines. Just being light hearted, I didn't mean to offend.

I am so far from offended - I think it's really funny.

In all honesty mrs_map would be delighted to see proven training hints and tips..... which is why I'm not showing her this thread.  

Just imagine - regular car cleaning!

Where does that end?  

Me vacuuming the house, cutting the grass or even filling the empty crockery cupboard?

SHUDDER..... 🤔 😂

(I've changed my reaction emoji - I was trying to be ironic in response to your post and I am sorry that it didn't work - so the new smiley is a much better option)

17 minutes ago, RBD914 v2 said:

Ding, ding....

Git

😂

5 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

The shrink will probably suggest something like this: Mrs_map has to reward you. Then immediately give you something else to clean. Then a reward, and so on. Once ingrained, she can gradually taper off the rewards.  It worked for me  😂

Er...... she (mrs_map) is not seeing this 😐

3 minutes ago, RBD914 v2 said:

Works on dogs...should work a treat on Matt...

My Pavlovian reaction to this comment is to look for food 🤣

My heartfelt thanks to all those who have been troubled by today's news that I washed my car. Feel free to "fact check" this.....

In all seriousness I think it's around two years since it last saw a sponge.

Of course I've now got the fun bit - making it filthy again!

Just now, RBD914 v2 said:

You might want to sit down for an hour by yourself in a dark room, and contemplate what you have done!

Indeed - mrs_map has already got me booked in for an emergency neurological assessment.

1 minute ago, Photogirl said:

Would that be 100kg of dirt off the car ....... or sweat off Map?  

Off the car..... Thank you 😂 

2 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

Given that the Porsche classic register offers a couple of free washes, I wonder if Map did us proud and took it to his OPC to sort out.  😄

Going to wander in there tomorrow - collect the plate holders (they're going to a friend) and the grill badge - might keep that.

Need another key so will sort that and might enquire about the 111 point check 🤔

Hadn't thought about getting them to wash it - reckon I'd have used up all this year's washes on this occasion.

12 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

😆

You might want to see a doctor.

Funnily enough you aren’t the first to say that on hearing the “news”….. 🤷‍♂️.

A few meters away it looks OK - but as you get closer the “laughter lines” become more and more apparent. 

I washed it.

A few will understand just how worrying/momentous that is. 

21 minutes ago, el 3.2S said:

Since I had the used tyres on the turbo twist alloys and new tyres on the classics, the nerd in me decided to do some weight checks, as I had heard the classics referred to as “lightweight”. 

These are the lightest OE 18" wheel for the 986.

3.1kg and 3.3kg is static weight - the reduced weight in terms of rotating weight is greater.  For me it's most noticeable through the steering (more responsive, less effort needed) and then improved ride comfort (springs and dampers having less work to do controlling unsprung mass). 

Just now, Lennym1984 said:

Did you get any recommendations as to where to have them rebuilt?

The people doing the work on my car would do it themselves - SVP Motorsport.

I looked at new driveshafts for my 986 following the power bump - advice was to buy used and have them rebuilt.  The metal parts have all been (a sort of) work hardened/de-stressed and rebuilt they make for better/stronger shafts.

It would be worth considering this approach.

Haven't done it myself as there maybe some transmission silliness in the pipeline.

@Ian Gunney I recognise your user name from another Porsche forum - Welcome to BoXa.net - just as much help and advice to be found here albeit it unsurprisingly Boxster focused. 

6 hours ago, Triops said:

Apparently one of my variocam adjusters is not working properly on bank 1 May be bank 2 as well. Not ideal but they have both been disconnected = even tick over. I can’t pick up a performance loss but I’ve only had the car 10 months and it’s probably always been an issue. If I drop the engine at any time I will fix this. My independent Porsch guys talked big money (to fix). Engine drop plus dealing with rusty manifold bolts etc. i am going to see what happens. Maybe done 200 miles since with no apparent issues. 

 

My understanding of a deactivated variocam system is that it sticks in the low rev range which gives a smooth idle and low engine speed pickup. The downside is that this is at the cost of performance further up the  rev range.

The advice I heard around deactivated variocam was to check cam deviation - think you need the Porsche or Durametric diagnostics for this. 

38 minutes ago, el 3.2S said:

Haha, yes things do move a bit glacially at times on the car front - at least the rims were only sitting about 3 years in my garage 😉.

Thanks for the review, not sure the PS5 looks a giant step forward from the PS4? Not many have reviewed the newer one yet though. Alarmingly I see it has excellent wear characteristics🤣 - this is something I most definitely do not care about, along with wet weather performance. My 8 & 10 year old tyres on the car now all look like new tread wise!

Will give them a try anyway.

Reading between the lines I wonder if you’d be better off with a trackday type tyre 🤔

13 hours ago, Toddie said:

@Daboy3000 I know that Rally Boxster driven by Ian Jemmison of York, it is not 4 wheel drive , it is deffo 2 wheel drive but has a 911 engine in it. Ian Jemmison runs an excellent alloy wheel repair/refurbishment company in Bishopthorpe on outside of York. 

It’s been campaigned for a good while now - hopefully that’s a recent photo and it’s still going strong.

There was a really good write up on it ages ago - it was also part of the motivation towards the tweaks to my own car. Albeit a less focused build than Ian Jemmison’s.

@Toddie - might give them a call about some we have some wheels that need refurbing. They’re relatively close to us.

9 minutes ago, dpg123 said:

My question is, if one of these bikes fell over and injured a child (or worse as they're very heavy), is LIME simply able to say they've zero liability? It's their bike at the end of the day, and if it falls over then it's nobody else's fault but theirs.

This, in principle is no different to the liability a business has for making sure that folk can't get into their skips and hurt themselves.  Even when the business is closed.  We had exactly this scenario years ago and the Police were clear - essentially: "yes it's on private land, yes it's stupid to climb into a skip with broken glass in it but it is your job to keep people safe" (not a verbatim quote).

Reading back through the comments I think the idea of going after the licensing authority's support is probably worthwhile.