Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

So I've just picked it up. There's a problem I didn't pick up on the test drive whereby it's hesitant on full boost (occasionally). Either it's a vacuum problem causing the overboost to kick in, or the fuel mixture is too lean. Either way it's going to RGA in Vauxhall on Tuesday to have it fixed. Other than that it's lots of fun to drive and goes like stink! Very pleased with my first Porsche.

I also pulled the heater resistor and it looks to be a different model to all the others - is this the correct part?

Also, the calipers are red. They should be black, so either they've been painted or swapped out.

I think they've just been repainted (also decal lettering style not squarer version Porsche used originally) - good news as whoever painted them may have tackled calliper plate lift issues at same time.

Also good they are later calipers - earlier ones used scraper ring dust boots that are now very hard to find. Later calipers use same seals, boots and pistons as current brembos so plenty of choice if refurbished required.

Great news - thanks. I was worried about parts.

That's based on how the photo looks to me - decal placed on flat calipers, not Porsche lettering raised and picked out with paint. I've zoomed in on caliper and that's what I see, but you can be more certain!

Car looks very nice.................good to see one with "proper" mirrors for a change

I did exactly that. Soaked in vinegar overnight, then washed, dried, used some WD40 to drive out any remaining moisture and left to dry for a day. Now works perfectly. As a FYI to anyone I have the later resistor (as my photo above), not the one in the earlier link - so this method clearly works on both.

There was a time when most Porsche with the Brembo callipers just needed the slider plates rebuilding periodically to maintain excellent performance.

However, in the last few years I have encountered more and more customers cars where even with good slider plates the performance is less than perfect, braking more dull, less feedback and overall less confidence inspiring.

Also squealing on some, especially the larger callipers has become an issue and it took a while to track down the major causes.

Now for any of my own cars (not many customers are willing to pay the price) I strip down the callipers to the bare bones, have them stripped chemically, the bores measured, have them re-anodised (important step), then powder coated and rebuilt with all new pistons, seals and dust boots.. In addition, as a side line I also machine out the standard bleed nipple and link tube bores and have some specially made stainless steel inserts fitted with new seats for the bleed nipples.

The main thing is the seals on the pistons become hard with age, which is only more noticeable now that two to three decades have passed on the average car, which still allow them to seal, but to allow the pistons to bind a little.. The bores have often also lost their original finish, which again causes the pistons to bind. This all results in the pistons to be slower at not only responding to flow and pressure of brake fluid but also slower at responding to contact with the disk (even if it is running true, all 4 pistons need to float (probably the wrong word) to distribute even pressure across both pads.

Not cheap, and not something I even begin to offer to customers as standard, but for a true enthusiast, the difference in performance is night and day, it brings back the joy of how these brakes used to feel in the 80's and 90's.

I still maintain that a 944 with good condition Brembo's is one of the most amazing cars for braking ability... In particular, the 86 Turbo's (even though the disks and calipers are smaller) as ABS is for girls

Hi Jon, good to see you back. Thanks for the message I'll get back to you.

OP - looks great but then its identical to mine! For 150 I'd buy a new expansion tank, it'll make a world of difference to your engine bay. I've just had to change mine and its white. Who'd have thought.
The seats are quite prone to discolouration from jeans/suits etc (as I suppose are any cream leather seats). I've taken to using a similar colour seat cover to protect them as I use mine for work quite a lot.
Otherwise just drive it!
David

The front pads on my car were squealers, copperslip only worked for a few while and then the noise came back. Don't know what make they were as they were on the car when I bought it years ago, Textar pads and new discs cured that issue.

hi Jon

I do love reading your praise of the '86' ....she is the best of the best..IMHO of course.... Mind you I have taken note in recent classic rags when talking 951 stating that the '86' is the one to have and then valuing it the highest, so we've not alone. I took a look recently at the number of 86's left here in the UK, IIRC there's 6 on the road and 14 SORN. We have 2, Phil Kent has 1 and I've seen another on the A41 near Bushey, very few of these beauties left. I like what you do to your brakes...I wish that I could do the same but I need to be more careful these days on how much I spend on the old girl, she's in very good condition though, both mechanically and cosmetically. She still turns heads every day without fail, these days she's usually heard before seen with the lovely burble from her straight through 3" exhaust on overrun....as for hard acceleration?..... she spits fire when pushed, followed by nice crisp bangs as she moves up through the gears, not that I push her hard and as of yet still haven't gone past 84% throttle.....

Pete

This is very interesting about complete rebuild of the calipers.

I didn't go to those lengths, but I did replace all the slider plates, all seals and dust boots. The pistons and bores all looked remarkably good - like new really - but I did clean them before replacing. As I did everything at same time (as well as repainting calipers and of course new bleeders) it's hard to say what was the most significant measure, but my experience matches Jon's - to push out pistons so I could replace rubber I used my compressor. It was notable how hard it was to make some of the pistons move at first, but after fitting new seals, dust boots and adding smear of red brake grease they would all move silkily and uniformly with just a puff from the air line. I can easily see how this would translate to the excellent brake feel I now have - and braking power like a mighty hand gripping the car - even though this is short of Jon's complete treatment with re-anodising. The original seals were over 25 years old, and there's not much rubber I would be happy leaving on my car at that age so makes good sense that they should be replaced regardless of mileage. The piston seal is such a simple square cut thing, but it is crucial to the piston action.

I'd never thought of changing the expansion tank, but I'd spend money on having the seats re-conolised to get the drivers seat back to perfect condition first. My only experience of having seats discolour from jeans is when the A/C is broken and you sweat alot - so I'm also going to get the A/C fixed soon. But I need to sort out my overboost and braking issues first.

Is the pricing of your rebuilds comparable to these guys? http://www.brakecaliperspecialists.uk/b ... /#4pistons

One thing I have learned in the last couple of years in my journey as a Porsche specialist, is to limit what we do to what works well for us, both as a business, but also for focus and stress.

Mail order calliper rebuilds is not part of our business.

If a customers car in the workshop needs work on the callipers, we have a whole arsenal of different repairs for different repairs for particular problems through to re-manufacture as with age these can suffer so many different kinds of issues, including..

Slider plate lift (and various levels of corrosion behind them)
Bleed nipple thread degradation
Bleed nipple seat degredation
Piston bore scuffing and wear
Piston seal wear, hardness and swelling

Some of these can be due to age, some due to not changing the fluid often enough, some can just be down to poor practices or even lack of use..

Let's take slider plate lift and corrosion behind them..

Some people just remove the plates, remove the build up of aluminium oxide and brake dust behind them and then put the plates back in with a bit of straightening... Some people will put some paint back there, others might do this and use some etch primer.. Others will blast the callipers, paint (with or without etch primers) and some powder coat them..

I am a bit extreme WITH MY OWN CARS, because I tend to have the callipers chemically stripped, anodised, then scuffed on the exterior and powder coated and then carefully remove the powder coating on the lettering to reveal the anodised lettering and use some laquer to provide yet more protection to the lettering, then a rebuild with genuine Brembo seals, pistons and dust boots, stainless steel inserts for the bleed nipples with new seats and stainless steel bleed nipples (with careful processes due to dissimilar metals)... Complete over kill and I would not even know how to price it to a customer, it would probably be cheaper to buy a new calliper in some cases, if available.

But then again I am the same with Fuchs wheels on my own cars, they are stripped, polished and anodised, then scuffed and painted on the centres, its the only way to have maintenance free wheels with the polished rims, but not many customers want to spend that much on their wheels, like they probably would not on their callipers.

My cars though are generally in the collection for life, very few escape once in it, despite my frequent good intentions and attempts to cut down the collection, I generally want things done once and then not have to deal with them again, even if (being optimistic as a middle aged guy) I hope to still enjoy using them in another 40 years, hopefully seeing the fruits of over the top maintenance madness performed today.

For mail order calliper rebuilds, this is not my business, I leave that to the people who want to be in the mail order calliper business.. But for customers in the workshop, their wish is my command, either through just repairing the issue at hand with our arsenal of methods for the different faults usually, but some people are blank cheque book and for them anything is possible.

Keep up the good work Pete, you are one of a rare breed around the Porsche community, who I remember from the early days of the Porsche community and the internet, such as the titanic mailing list and back a million years ago with the 944 dyno days, we are now few and far between.. We have experienced the days when a 944 turbo was worth good money, then not as much, and thankfully now have seen values shoot up again to values they have not seen for a time measured in decades!

With many models and marques, the first of a model, such as with an 86 turbo become sought after.. Personally, I like them as a package, no ABS, lighter weight, less lag, early offset wheels (completely different handling as well as aesthetics), no LSD and on the standard wheels, a good balance of where and how they loose grip... Maybe I just like the way you have to drive around the lack of ABS and limited grip, but at the same time they are forgiving when you exceed contact with the road... Or perhaps I am just slightly insane with age.

I have a couple of 86 turbos, an 88 and an 89, not mention the turbo cup car, but one of the 86 turbos is my favourite and unlikely to ever leave the collection, it is part of the family and even though values have gone up, its over the top maintenance program has probably seen it have more spent on it in any one decade than it would sell for, but that is the price you pay for it to drive still like it did in 1986.. But that is the same with all my cars and probably why I am car rich and cash poor! lol

I remember the days of fitting 968 door handles and wing mirrors on many customers 944 turbos, and then the one everyone wanted was a 90 spec car complete with a bridge spoiler, many mods and 968 cosmetics... Now many of my customers are paying to return the cars to standard.. Back then the 86 car was the poor relative in the views of some, but back then I loved the 86 modes and seemed alone in that feeling at times.. so it is good to see the media and many collectors seeing their value.

Rare beasts indeed now, a little like series one 924 turbos, which also I think one day will be worth a fortune, but even the ones which are left, many head out to other right hand drive markets every year, such as Australia and their zero import tax for pre 89 cars rule, Singapore, Japan and quite a few seem to be heading for Hong Kong, but end up in China through a back door, which is where quite a few classic Porsche are vanishing off to these days.