986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

husker boxster · 05-17-2020, 09:08 PM

Steering Wheel
I ordered the leather for the steering wheel a while back. A good week went by after ordering and I hadn’t received it yet, so I called the guy. He remembered I had ordered the gray-green leather. He said it was about ready to send. OK. Another good week goes by and I still haven’t gotten anything. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve just flushed $100 down the crapper? Call him again. He apologizes and says he’s been extremely busy. Says he’ll ship it out in an hr and get the tracking number to me. A couple hrs go by and no email. The next morning there’s an email from him with a tracking #. Thank goodness. The leather actually arrives a day early and it appears to be a perfect match. The kit comes with 2 curved needles, silver thread and instructions. Besides the wheel sections, there’s also pieces that will need to be glued onto the base of the wheel. While I haven’t had a haircut in 2 mo, I’m not going to attempt sewing and gluing the leather onto the wheel even w/o a haircut occurring. I’m going to see if my leather dying guy will do the sewing. I want it to look nice now that I have the proper leather.

Spark Plug Wires
I purchased a set of wires a while back and set them aside for the proper time. There were various colors available but I chose red. When it was finally time to do the plug wires, I found that set to be not a very good replacement. They were too long and looked sloppy. The guru in Dallas had a set of wires that were an exact match to the factory wires and even came with the plastic clips that hold the wires in formation. So I bit the bullet and bought a 2nd set of expensive of plug wires. They arrived and looked perfect. The red set is going to ebay.

This particular iteration of the 928 engine has 2 distributors – one on each cylinder bank. Here’s the engine with the spark plug wires removed.

You would think the wires for the 4 cylinders of right bank would go to the right distributor and the 4 cylinder wires of the left bank to the left distributor. But that would be wrong. Porsche decided to route the wires from the 2 center cylinders of ea bank to the opposite side’s distributor. So cylinder wires for 2 & 3 of the right bank go to the left distributor and cylinder wires for 6 & 7 on the left bank go to the right distributor. To keep the wires organized as they cross over the front of the engine, Porsche created a fence that’s bolted onto the front of the engine. The left hand wires go behind the fence and the right wires go in front of it. Took several attempts (like 5) to get everything spaced properly and ensure they’re sequenced properly (7 above 6 and 3 above 2), but once it was all aligned properly it looked factory.

I also took advantage of having access to the last fuel line I needed to replace while the plugs wires were removed and the radiator hoses unhooked. Here’s a pic of the new line on the left and the old line on the right.

The old line connected to a regulator on the left side of the engine, went under the thermostat housing, snaked its way into the intake valley, then over the right cam cover and connected to the incoming fuel line (the actual fuel flows the opposite direction but easier to describe it this way). The old line on the right has a small section that is rubber and this is the problem area. As the rubber gets old, it can crack, causing fuel to spray on a hot engine. Not good unless you like 928 BBQ. The new line just goes in an arc and eliminates all the snaking around. Once I had the spark plug wires all connected, I put the new fuel line on.

Here are the results.

And here’s the finished product with the radiator hoses reattached.

I filled up the radiator overflow tank and was ready to test fire. She started right up and ran well. I check for any fuel leaks with the new line. There were a few tiny drops around the fitting at the regulator. I figure I can give the nut a small turn with the wrench to tighten it up. As soon as I touch the nut, it squirts gas. Poof! The center of the engine starts on fire! Crap!

Normally I’m prepared with a garden hose and I have Punkin out in the driveway out of harm’s way. I have neither, as I was in a bit of a hurry. I rush to shut the engine off (I have to open the door since the windows don’t go up and down). The flames are still going. I had a bucket of water handy that I’d been using to clean something. Luckily there was enough water in the bucket to dowse the flames and I didn’t need to crack open the fire extinguisher. I figured I’d have all kinds of problems with burned wires to now track down. Amazingly, there appeared to be 0 damage. Wow! I tightened the nut, backed Punkin out of the garage, and got the garden hose ready. She fired right up (in a good way). No issues with running and no more pesky droplets.

I was in a hurry prior because I wanted to take her out on a test run in the neighborhood. So now I’m wondering if that’s a good idea. Still no fuel leaks. I decide to take a 5 gallon bucket half full of water, along with a gallon jug of water and the fire extinguisher on my test drive. Decide to venture out of the neighborhood and into rush hr traffic to go to the local gas station for a dab of fuel. Everything went well other than she died a block from the return trip home, but instantly restarted and got me back.

Sorry, no video of the fire but here's a boring video of the test drive adventure, if you’re interested in watching.

Sunroof
Yesterday I worked on the sunroof. I cleaned the opening, which was very dirty. The tracks were grimy so I sprayed some carb cleaner on them to clean them. There were a couple of spots on the track rails that had their paint worn off. I assumed this was where there was extra rubbing, so took a hammer and 2x4 and knocked them down a bit. The sunroof moved better manually but still not free enough for the motor to do the job. I’ll need to do more research as the article I have on removing the sunroof must be for a different model yr as nothing he’s saying is matching up. There’s only 1 video on YT but it’s for an 83 and it’s different. Back to the Internet.

Title
I found out the inspection site is open for business, but the DMV is closed. You have to put your paperwork in an envelope and drop it in a box. The DMV folks will then handle your paperwork and mail the newly issued title to you. Things never go well at the DMV under “normal” conditions and I can see LOTs of potential problems with this system, so I need everyone’s positive energy on this as I get the nerve up to give up possession of the title, bill of sale, and the power of attorney from the seller into a drop box. What could go wrong? Thanks in advance for positive thoughts.

But my friend dropped his 09 Cayman S off this afternoon. I need to clean the interior, take some pics, and write the ad, so the shark is on the sidelines for a few days as I prepared to sell his CS for him.

05-17-2020, 09:08 PM	#59
husker boxster Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Omaha Posts: 2,912	Steering Wheel I ordered the leather for the steering wheel a while back. A good week went by after ordering and I hadn’t received it yet, so I called the guy. He remembered I had ordered the gray-green leather. He said it was about ready to send. OK. Another good week goes by and I still haven’t gotten anything. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve just flushed $100 down the crapper? Call him again. He apologizes and says he’s been extremely busy. Says he’ll ship it out in an hr and get the tracking number to me. A couple hrs go by and no email. The next morning there’s an email from him with a tracking #. Thank goodness. The leather actually arrives a day early and it appears to be a perfect match. The kit comes with 2 curved needles, silver thread and instructions. Besides the wheel sections, there’s also pieces that will need to be glued onto the base of the wheel. While I haven’t had a haircut in 2 mo, I’m not going to attempt sewing and gluing the leather onto the wheel even w/o a haircut occurring. I’m going to see if my leather dying guy will do the sewing. I want it to look nice now that I have the proper leather. Spark Plug Wires I purchased a set of wires a while back and set them aside for the proper time. There were various colors available but I chose red. When it was finally time to do the plug wires, I found that set to be not a very good replacement. They were too long and looked sloppy. The guru in Dallas had a set of wires that were an exact match to the factory wires and even came with the plastic clips that hold the wires in formation. So I bit the bullet and bought a 2nd set of expensive of plug wires. They arrived and looked perfect. The red set is going to ebay. This particular iteration of the 928 engine has 2 distributors – one on each cylinder bank. Here’s the engine with the spark plug wires removed. You would think the wires for the 4 cylinders of right bank would go to the right distributor and the 4 cylinder wires of the left bank to the left distributor. But that would be wrong. Porsche decided to route the wires from the 2 center cylinders of ea bank to the opposite side’s distributor. So cylinder wires for 2 & 3 of the right bank go to the left distributor and cylinder wires for 6 & 7 on the left bank go to the right distributor. To keep the wires organized as they cross over the front of the engine, Porsche created a fence that’s bolted onto the front of the engine. The left hand wires go behind the fence and the right wires go in front of it. Took several attempts (like 5) to get everything spaced properly and ensure they’re sequenced properly (7 above 6 and 3 above 2), but once it was all aligned properly it looked factory. I also took advantage of having access to the last fuel line I needed to replace while the plugs wires were removed and the radiator hoses unhooked. Here’s a pic of the new line on the left and the old line on the right. The old line connected to a regulator on the left side of the engine, went under the thermostat housing, snaked its way into the intake valley, then over the right cam cover and connected to the incoming fuel line (the actual fuel flows the opposite direction but easier to describe it this way). The old line on the right has a small section that is rubber and this is the problem area. As the rubber gets old, it can crack, causing fuel to spray on a hot engine. Not good unless you like 928 BBQ. The new line just goes in an arc and eliminates all the snaking around. Once I had the spark plug wires all connected, I put the new fuel line on. Here are the results. And here’s the finished product with the radiator hoses reattached. I filled up the radiator overflow tank and was ready to test fire. She started right up and ran well. I check for any fuel leaks with the new line. There were a few tiny drops around the fitting at the regulator. I figure I can give the nut a small turn with the wrench to tighten it up. As soon as I touch the nut, it squirts gas. Poof! The center of the engine starts on fire! Crap! Normally I’m prepared with a garden hose and I have Punkin out in the driveway out of harm’s way. I have neither, as I was in a bit of a hurry. I rush to shut the engine off (I have to open the door since the windows don’t go up and down). The flames are still going. I had a bucket of water handy that I’d been using to clean something. Luckily there was enough water in the bucket to dowse the flames and I didn’t need to crack open the fire extinguisher. I figured I’d have all kinds of problems with burned wires to now track down. Amazingly, there appeared to be 0 damage. Wow! I tightened the nut, backed Punkin out of the garage, and got the garden hose ready. She fired right up (in a good way). No issues with running and no more pesky droplets. I was in a hurry prior because I wanted to take her out on a test run in the neighborhood. So now I’m wondering if that’s a good idea. Still no fuel leaks. I decide to take a 5 gallon bucket half full of water, along with a gallon jug of water and the fire extinguisher on my test drive. Decide to venture out of the neighborhood and into rush hr traffic to go to the local gas station for a dab of fuel. Everything went well other than she died a block from the return trip home, but instantly restarted and got me back. Sorry, no video of the fire but here's a boring video of the test drive adventure, if you’re interested in watching. Sunroof Yesterday I worked on the sunroof. I cleaned the opening, which was very dirty. The tracks were grimy so I sprayed some carb cleaner on them to clean them. There were a couple of spots on the track rails that had their paint worn off. I assumed this was where there was extra rubbing, so took a hammer and 2x4 and knocked them down a bit. The sunroof moved better manually but still not free enough for the motor to do the job. I’ll need to do more research as the article I have on removing the sunroof must be for a different model yr as nothing he’s saying is matching up. There’s only 1 video on YT but it’s for an 83 and it’s different. Back to the Internet. Title I found out the inspection site is open for business, but the DMV is closed. You have to put your paperwork in an envelope and drop it in a box. The DMV folks will then handle your paperwork and mail the newly issued title to you. Things never go well at the DMV under “normal” conditions and I can see LOTs of potential problems with this system, so I need everyone’s positive energy on this as I get the nerve up to give up possession of the title, bill of sale, and the power of attorney from the seller into a drop box. What could go wrong? Thanks in advance for positive thoughts. But my friend dropped his 09 Cayman S off this afternoon. I need to clean the interior, take some pics, and write the ad, so the shark is on the sidelines for a few days as I prepared to sell his CS for him. __________________ GPRPCA Chief Driving Instructor 2008 Boxster S Limited Edition #005 2008 Cayman S Sport - Signal Green 1989 928 S4 5 spd - black Last edited by husker boxster; 05-18-2020 at 04:37 AM.