944 89 Engine, gearbox transplant...

[51rider]

See, Karma's a Bit*h! You shouldn't have made the comment about sending me your wishbones to remove the bushings
Still now you need to shop for new tools - or at least a new spanner so all is not lost. At least Partworks do replacement OE spec drop links at sensible money unlike Porsche
I have spare bush clamps if you need to replace yours - could do with a clean up & paint though.

[Waylander]

It’s always good to start another job before you have sorted the first
Getting the spring plate bolts undone on the 968 required lowering the car on to the breaker bar, using the weight of the car to undo them, it’s amazing how tight these things can be

Oh well onwards and upwards, the drop links from Porsche are eye watering expensive, so are the eccentric cams, the arb bushes are cheap in comparison but still a shocker

If it’s made of rubber and comes from Porsche, be prepared

The four rubber mounts for the rear beam and banana arms are now over £1000.00

[Crank Case]

See, Karma's a Bit*h! You shouldn't have made the comment about sending me your wishbones to remove the bushings
Still now you need to shop for new tools - or at least a new spanner so all is not lost. At least Partworks do replacement OE spec drop links at sensible money unlike Porsche
I have spare bush clamps if you need to replace yours - could do with a clean up & paint though.

Funny that - in anticipation of buggering at least one clamp up, I ordered two from partworks.de. ...and then, both came off without damage! So two brand new one's are coming in the post and I don't really need them. Thanks for the offer anyway.

Oh well onwards and upwards, the drop links from Porsche are eye watering expensive, so are the eccentric cams, the arb bushes are cheap in comparison but still a shocker

I have the drop links from partworks. They came last week - it was plain to see that the one's on the car well past their sell by date.
They are fully adjustable. I think i'll copy the distance to roll bar by simply matching to the old one's. They look well put together.

If it’s made of rubber and comes from Porsche, be prepared

The four rubber mounts for the rear beam and banana arms are now over £1000.00

That's silly money.

Talking of which; I spent most of today cleaning the 'bananas' up. It was a tedious exercise doing them in situ but well worth it. I even put the dizzy on the drive shafts and other bits and pieces. I stuck a tyre lever in all the other bushings and there was sod all play - thank fook. Had there been, I would have resigned myself to dropping the transaxle and all that involves.
Next will be using the Alu cleaner on them plus a bit of enameling, re-mounting all the sensor brackets, fuel, brake lines etc. Despite not dropping the transaxle, I think it will look 100 times better.

'Shut up shop' at 4, went for a very long shower and then hoovered and washed the 997.

[Crank Case]

It’s always good to start another job before you have sorted the first

This ^.

Anyway:

[Waylander]

You do of course realise that they are just plain old rod end bearings, that are not expensive at all

About £5 each, are they sealed ones? I would buy some dust covers for those they will rust like mad and fill with rubbish, I made a set up to calm my wayward rear end in fast bends, didn’t really help, but a lot more noise transmission, put the old ones back, changed the rear ARB bushes for powerflex, that fixed it

Now got the SRS airbag light on in the SLK, pain in the ass, £220 for a sensor
Dam it

[Crank Case]

You do of course realise that they are just plain old rod end bearings, that are not expensive at all

About £5 each,

Well yes.

I had a look on Fleabay and I can't differentiate between the decent quality one's and the junk.
If you go on the Bearing Boys website (those guys are excellent BTW), they are a good deal more. They are PTFE lined. I wonder how PTFE would stand up over time.
Their non PTFE lined one's start at £10 odd, per rod end:
https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/Fluro-Rod ... d-157489-p

So, I paid £23.95 for the 'kit' incl. postage, which is not too bad and I don't have to work out the spacers, add some locknuts, the washers and the bolts.

[Waylander]

Best quality are Hiem or is it Heim joints, for £23 they must be the cheap nylon lined ones

[Crank Case]

Best quality are Hiem or is it Heim joints, for £23 they must be the cheap nylon lined ones

I'll see how they hold up and in the event they don't, i'll make a set up and i'll have the spacer widths at my disposal. At least they won't go 31 years without attention.

[Crank Case]

Not much to report today.

Spent a few hours underneath the back end. Had to drill out two grommet mount bolts. The other 2 came out ok. Enameled them all.
Managed to procure (yet another) wire wheel set and set about doing a bit more sorting. I'm hoping that the new consignment of Alu cleaner will reach the parts that other dizzy's can't reach.

On a completely different tack... decided to strip the 997 of all sealant, colour wax etc. Washed it with detergent and very hot water twice.
Used an application pad and T Cut rapid scratch remover (with a bit of water) to get rid of a few swirls.
The car ended up an even matt black. Washed all the 'effluent' off. Swirls gone.
Used my jolly good Kent microfibre towel and dried it all off. Got half way around re-applying the sealant and then, the sun popped out. It's a black car... boy that was hard work. I use the Fusso99 gloss - it's normally the most benign stuff you could put on a car... but not in that direct sunlight. I'm knackered.
Car does look good though!

Still waiting on clutch bits...

[Waylander]

Machine waxed the A4 today, easy as with a das pro

Black hexlogic pad and some Autofinesse Tripple, does a little clean, a little cut, fill and wax all in one, and polished off easy as

[Crank Case]

Hmm... My problem was direct sunlight. I would have parked it in the garage but there some other lump in there, bits everywhere.

What machine polisher do you have?

I bought some BH Cleanser polish. We shall see and my local car parts place has run out of most things, so i've ordered the Autoglym bodywork shampoo conditioner. Apparently, it will leave my sealant intact.

When I do a Fusso99 - every 4 months. The initial beading is superb but it slowly ebbs. Probably down to the shampoo (I think the weather up here is a big factor). I'm hoping that the Autoglym does what it's claimed to do.

I love their leather cleaner and vinyl and rubber care.
Talking of which, I soaked the 4 rubber bungs/dampers from my 944 air cleaner intake mounts (they felt a bit brittle) in the Autoglym Vinyl and rubber care overnight for the hell of it, fully expecting to have to replace. It revived them and cleaned them up!

[Waylander]

The rubber care is good stuff, I do all my door seals and roof, tail gate with Gummi Fledge, its all about getting the plasticiser back in the rubber

The paste wax will slowly wear off with every wash regardless of the shampoo, the only thing that lasts a bit longer is something like tough coat or any other non wax coating, or you can go a yard further and ceramic coat

If you want to go that far then paint prep is everything

[Crank Case]

I'd hate to miss something and then put a Ceramic coating on top.

Looking forward to the BH.

[Crank Case]

Not a lot done today on account of lack of parts turning up.
partworks.de got my seal kit for the power steering pump quicker than the design911 clutch sleeve bearing ordered on the same day.

Pressed new needle roller bearings into the clutch fork. In with a socket and out with a socket.

...and then to the PSP.



The trickiest bit was removal of the spindle circlip. The circlip does not have 2 convenient holes for extraction with circlip pliers, so I used 2 small slotted screwdrivers and managed not to ping it across the garage. Clever (lucky) me.

I guess being covered in oil, this meant none of the bolts were seized!

I did drop the vanes but after the initial sharp intake of breath, it was quite simple to out them back in.
If you ever do this job, take the vane wheel and vanes out so that you can clean underneath. It was a worthwhile accident.
The vanes themselves consist of 4 faces. 1 is tangibly smooth, the opposite side is slightly smooth and the other two opposing faces are square and the edges are 'sharp'. The smooth face faces outwards.



End seal was a pig to remove. Mine wasn't leaking but it got changed for peace pf mind.
Another thing to note; the banjos do not come with new crushable seals. I have a huge set, so these got changed too.



Ta da:

[Waylander]

When it all goes back follow the bleed procedure, and just remember everything on the pressure side is 120bar 1700 psi, if it leaks you get oily