It's been a mo + since I last checked in. Been doing work on the shark and Punkin (she needed a transaxle flush, brake flush, plugs & coils, new air filter, and power steering checked). I cheered after changing the front wheel bearings, thinking the shimmy was gone. It was, but there's still some shake in the wheel at 70mph. Figure the tie rods need replacing and maybe they were bad and wore out the wheel bearings. Ordered a pair up from 928sRus and waited for the opportune time to change them.
I was waiting because my mechanic friend was getting ready to do the AC fix. He was ready on July 5 so I dropped off the shark. I was hoping she'd be fixed in time to take her on a club tour to Valentine, NE - a 5 hr drive from OMA on July 15 & 16. Thru a series of tests, he determined 2 things - the compressor needed replacing and the compressor wasn't getting any spark from the center console unit (CCU). He was able to replace all the o-rings and components to the system, but wanted me to address the CCU. Upon doing some research on rennlist, it is common for a relay in the CCU to fail. There is a DIY fix using a Radio Shack relay (NLA) for < $100, or you could buy a used CCU for $400-500 and cross your fingers it was good, you could buy a refurbished CCU for $600-700, or buy a new one for $1300. That's why my friend wanted me to determine the solution. More to come...
Unfortunately, the replacement compressor took longer to order than it should have, plus with the CCU being shot the AC wouldn't have worked anyway, so I ended up taking Punkin to Valentine. She ran great. I've never been to that part of Nebraska before (north central Neb), but it's extremely beautiful. It's the east end of the Sandhills region - lots of high hills, small mountains, waterfalls, and winding, curving, hilly roads. This part of the state is becoming famous for their links style golf courses. I stopped by one just south of Valentine and took a few pics. There's also a famous course 60 mi south in Mullen, NE. A lot of smoke in the air from Canadian fires.
Now that I had the shark back, I decided to tackle the tie rods. It didn't look too tough but the key was to make the tie rod going on be the same length as the 1 coming off. The old ones didn't want to come loose but I got them loose after a big tug of war. I also needed to buy a 1 1/4" wrench, so it's an official project since I had to buy a new tool. Once I got them off, I set them to the proper length and put them back on. Getting the rubber boot on was the biggest issue. Here are a few pics.
You can see the new AC compressor just below the boot in this pic.
When putting the new tie rods on, I had an issue with the bolt on the end spinning in the socket. This had me stymied Sat night, but a quick internet search Sun morning said to run a jack underneath the socket to put some pressure on it, which I did. Then hit the nut with an impact wrench and the it tightened now rather than spinning. So much DIY info avail on the internet.
Got the tie rods done Sun night but the battery was down, so I waited until today to test my work. When I left the house the steering wheel was off center - kind of a 10-4 slant. I pulled into a grocery store parking lot and set the wheel straight across. The right wheel looked a little toed out but the left wheel was way toed out. Guess it wasn't OK to just put the new rods at the same length as the old ones and assume they were good. Went back home and eyeballed the tie rod end adjustments by hand. And while I had her up on the QuickJack, I tested the latteral movement in the front tires and there wasn't any. Fingers crossed it would resolve the 70mph shake. So I headed out a 2nd time. Steering wheel was now 8.5-2.5. Seemed the steering wheel shake had gone away, but did come back a time or two. Hmmm...
I also did some research on the CCU. There's a 2.5v relay that tends to fail, as the compressor can sometimes draw 3.5 volts and blows out the relay (what was Porsche thinking?). So chances are the relay is toast and is what's preventing the spark to go to the compressor. There's also a nice DIY write-up but it's a bit above my skills - intricate soldering and soldering vacuuming. I was able to locate a replacement 10v relay vs the No Longer Available Radio Shack version and it's in stock so I ordered it - $22. I plan to print the DIY instructions and see if a cell phone repair shop can do it. My guess is they should as it's not rocket science (Hi Jaeger!). Should be able to get the CCU repaired for under $100. Then I can take it back to my mechanic and he'll finish up testing my AC system.
In the meantime I'm going to shift back to the stereo. Stay tuned for more updates, they should be fun.