I am enjoying the opportunity to share this here. I wouldn't have bought this, or probably any of my Boxsters without the influence of the people on this forum. It's informative, entertaining write-ups of your experiences that make this forum great and ownership of these cars special. There are so many I have enjoyed reading, often without leaving a comment: John(s), Jon, James, Fred, Charles, Alex, Rick, Tim, Vlad, Ben, Neil, and many more. Seriously, thanks!
It's a hot day today. I have a window air conditioner in my garage, but it starts to struggle in the afternoon. Today, I didn't turn it on in the morning and when I went to the garage mid-day, the battle was already lost. Still, I want to continue with some progress. Yesterday I had left my notepad on the carpet. When I picked it up, it felt a little damp. I had already checked to make sure that the immobilizer box and floor under the seat were dry, but the carpet was a little damp.
Now, I slid the seat forward and pulled up the carpet behind it. The padding was a saturated sponge.
Today's goal:
>Remove the seats and treat the leather.
>Raise the carpet and start drying out the floor.
Seat removal:
Public Service Announcement: Be careful what you leave in your car. I have purchased about a dozen salvage auction vehicles. When you are in a bad wreck and being hauled off to the hospital, there is often no chance to go and clean up those personal items you left under the seat or stashed in the trim. I have found full tax returns and banking documents, medications, 'home-made cigarettes', and some potentially incriminating video on a memory stick that I wish I could un-see. Keep your personal stuff personal.This car wasn't too bad.
I thought that I remembered how to get the seats out, but when it came time to disconnect the wire harness, I was stumped. This DIY on Rennlist came in handy:
Rennlist Member Gallery :: DIY GT3 Seats Install
The seats came out easily and I took them inside, to work in air conditioned comfort. There was a pretty good stash of coins down there. The car now owes me about $10 less. After I get a better handle on my plans for this car, I'm probably going to sell off a few items such as the rear speakers to get a little money back. At this point I'm pretty certain that I'm going to rebuild it rather than part it out. Even if that means putting another engine in.
My initial treatment for the leather? Mink Oil Paste. Caesar had other ideas:
Carpet:
The foam padding under the carpet was saturated. If you are reading this and aren't sure about your own carpet, go and check it now: Slide the seat forward and pull up the carpet from the back. You may be surprised.
I remembered a quote from Woody:
Quote:
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...You might ask "Does the foam really weigh that much?" Yes and no. If it's completely dry, then it probably doesn't weigh that much. But that foam soaks in moisture and it's nearly impossible to get out. I've tried vacuuming wet carpet with a very powerful shop vac and couldn't get it out. Once you get your carpet really wet, about the only way to get it out is to drive over it with a steam roller. My box got wet in May and sat the whole dry/hot Texas summer protected from getting wet again. It still had some water I could squeeze out of the foam. ...
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I have a technique that worked on my flood salvage Boxster, but took a few days. First, pull up the carpet and block it with a piece of 2x4 or 2x6. Then I use a 'Boot Dryer' and fan to circulate air under it for a few days. The temperature in my garage is over 100 today, so that will help.
Maybe tomorrow I'll get to work closing up all the vacuum leaks.
