The “Previous Owner Bodged-Up Job” Thread

[Dave80GTSi]

Considering the age of the 986 series, it’s a pretty safe bet that the vast majority of the folks who patronize this website bought their cars used.

And as we’ve gone thru the process of fettling our cars, I’d also bet that every now and then you’ve come across a bodged makeshift repair of some sort performed by the Previous Owner (P.O.) – the sort of thing that makes you scratch your head and say “Huh? Just WHAT were they thinking?”.

So I thought that it might be fun to document these buggered repair and screwed-up maintenance works performed by our P.O.’s here in this thread, for the amusement of the rest of us.

I’ll start.

When one works on or around the engine underbody plastic shroud, one will soon discover that a portion of it is held to the chassis of the car via a pair of brackets, one located just in front of each of the rear tires.

And so, the Question: What do you do if one side’s bracket does not seem to quite line up at all with the bolt holes in the chassis and the plastic shroud?

Answer 1): Easy – You just simply cut away the parts of the bracket which hit the chassis parts and which interfere with the fit. The fact that one portion of the shroud is then left flapping and unsecured was seemingly not much of a concern, apparently, to my P.O.

Or else, Answer 2): You buy the correct part (as I’ve just done) and turn it the right way around. Notice the front pointing directional arrow stamped into the part, which my P.O. must have thought just did not apply to them.

The bit which boggles my mind is that the owner’s history of my car shows that almost all of the past maintenance work ever done on the car was performed at their local Porsche dealer’s service department. I appear to be the first owner of the car who does their own DIY work. Now, wouldn’t you think that a ‘factory trained’ mechanic, as employed by an authorized dealer, could have figured this one out?

Anyone else have any similar stories (and pictures are always helpful)?

Cheers - DM

[piper6909]

HAHA! Great idea! I don't have anything to add yet, as I haven't dug into mine very deeply yet. But I am anxiously waiting to see what others will add! I think it'll be a great thread!

[PaulE]

"factory trained' can't compete by being payed flat rate for doing the job. I guess I'm one of the few left here who bought their car new. MY car came with directional Michelin tires. I once had to return to the dealer because the rear tires were on backwards, rotating in the wrong direction.

[elgyqc]

The ad for the blue 2000 5-speed that I bought a couple of years ago said that there was an overheating problem, ever since the water pump was changed. Because of the overheating the car hadn't been driven in about 2 years.I got it to start and then saw that the coolant reservoir was empty. I put in about 6 liters of ionized water to fill it. No leaks visible. ??? Decided to take a chance and bought the car at a couple of thousand dollars under the going price. After the short drive home, where the temperature stayed right in the middle of the gauge, I checked the reservoir again and had to add another couple of liters of water! I figure the guy filled the reservoir after changing the water pump and drove it without bleeding or refilling not realizing that all those pipes to the front radiators and back again had to fill up with coolant.
The car is still running fine.

[Homeoboxter]

This thread is a good idea, I wonder if pictures of my current project car will ever end up here


This is how one of the bearing shells looked like when I cracked the main bearing carrier open. I can`t see how the missing piece could have escaped without scoring the bearing or the carrier, so I assume this was built in the car as is in the first place. In the assembly line in 1999, by the Porsche-trained engine builder...

[mikesz]

Lets see! First I live in RI and bought the car in NJ in Feb when first major snow storm was coming up the coast. Driving it home check engine light went on. When snow melted started working on the car found the air cleaner was VERY old and self destructing. Replaced air filter after vacuuming the air box for debris no cel! Everything pointed to O2 sensors but they looked brand new. Also, car started to fry fuses the row with the coolant fans and fuel pump. Took it to the dealer and they replaced the fuse block. They thought it might be the fuel pump but the MACHINE couldn't identify the issue. At one point the right front coolant fan fuse fried. Replaced it and found DIY to test on Pedros page removing the relays and using a jumper. My right front coolant fan was binding! Replaced the fan and haven't had a problem since.

[A 986 S]

My P.O.'s aftermarket stereo install was a bodge job all the way through. Not only did the cheap head unit look out of place but it was installed so poorly that it just looked wrong. The worst part was that the OEM speaker connector was cut out and the aftermarket amp's output wires spliced in. Who would do such a thing?




How I replaced that bad boy here; https://rx19jones.wixsite.com/projectboxster/projectboxster-3

[maytag]

this thread will ensure that I NEVER sell one of my cars to someone on this forum.

I can see y'all now discussing how straight my pinstripes aren't, or how my oil-pan drain-plug had a crush washer with signs of frequent reuse.


Anonymous is fun....
But let's remember too that to some of y'all (I think 10/10ths is this way, along with some others) this car is a work of perfection and nothing but the best parts, tools and methods should be used (I'm this way with my Ferrari, so I can relate).
But to some of us, this car is a cheap beater. "good-'nuff" is the name of the game with my Boxster. you are going to find mix-n-matched hardware from where I broke-off exhaust-clamp bolts, or re-purposed hoses of various colors and materials, or wires that are a different color than the OEM. You'll find tek-screws holding a solenoid to the heat-shrouds around the motor / trans, you'll find heat-shrink holding-together an electrical connector with a broken tab. There's lots of "pit-lane-engineering" on my car.

I guess if y'all wanna air it all here.... do it. But let's not alienate guys who look at these cars differently than you do, or who might be just learning DIY (in which case we should be cheering their effort, not picking at the results). :dance:

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by maytag

this thread will ensure that I NEVER sell one of my cars to someone on this forum.

I can see y'all now discussing how straight my pinstripes aren't, or how my oil-pan drain-plug had a crush washer with signs of frequent reuse.


Anonymous is fun....
But let's remember too that to some of y'all (I think 10/10ths is this way, along with some others) this car is a work of perfection and nothing but the best parts, tools and methods should be used (I'm this way with my Ferrari, so I can relate).
But to some of us, this car is a cheap beater. "good-'nuff" is the name of the game with my Boxster. you are going to find mix-n-matched hardware from where I broke-off exhaust-clamp bolts, or re-purposed hoses of various colors and materials, or wires that are a different color than the OEM. You'll find tek-screws holding a solenoid to the heat-shrouds around the motor / trans, you'll find heat-shrink holding-together an electrical connector with a broken tab. There's lots of "pit-lane-engineering" on my car.

I guess if y'all wanna air it all here.... do it. But let's not alienate guys who look at these cars differently than you do, or who might be just learning DIY (in which case we should be cheering their effort, not picking at the results). :dance:

Agree!

(I'll bet you've used some zip-ties in your day too, eh?)

[Dave80GTSi]

This thread was never about making fun of another individual.

As a child I learned that 'any job worth doing is worth doing right'. Anyone who pokes around an old car (or an old house, to use another example) is almost certain to come across work done by a previous owner which was done to a standard which you yourself would never have done. That's the intent of this thread.

Speaking for myself, I receive a certain amount of self-satisfaction whenever I encounter and repair such an example, for I then know that the work has been done "right" (and the definition of that vague word can vary significantly from person to person). For me, it is like righting a wrong.

This street runs both ways. I have a keen admiration for custom improvised work whenever such work was done with forethought and a high level of craftsmanship.

And yes, the use of zip-ties is perfectly acceptable whenever these are appropriate for the job at hand. But I would never use them, let's say, to hold up a muffler. That sort of a use would meet my criteria for a 'bodge'.

DM

[elgyqc]

Originally Posted by maytag

... to some of y'all (I think 10/10ths is this way, along with some others) this car is a work of perfection and nothing but the best parts, tools and methods should be used (I'm this way with my Ferrari, so I can relate).
But to some of us, this car is a cheap beater. "good-'nuff" is the name of the game with my Boxster...

I agree with you mostly... it's just that my Boxster is my Ferrari, so I try to keep it original.
On my 928, which has been butchered by previous owners I am less difficult, although I like to use only metric fasteners for example, just so tool selection is easier.

Originally Posted by maytag

... let's not alienate guys who look at these cars differently than you do, or who might be just learning DIY (in which case we should be cheering their effort, not picking at the results)...

Agreed for those that are trying, but when someone just cut bundles of wires and left them hanging... Again referring to my 928, a previous owner cut the wiring for the mirrors and the wiring for the radio and some other wires that I don't know what they used to do. The radio has been rewired with all sorts of wires that run beside the original wires. sigh

[maytag]

Originally Posted by Dave80GTSi

As a child I learned that 'any job worth doing is worth doing right'.

I get that.
As a product of a house full of uncompleted projects, I grew-up learning that if you wait to do it "right", it may never get done.

I think it's fair to say that each of us draws the line in a different place when it comes to our tolerance for "right" vs "done". Many things factor-in to wherever that line is. I'm just saying I will do my level best to never be the guy judging where someone else's line is. Unless ..... starts throwing stones at people again; in which case I'ma judge him all. day. long. (name removed to preserve the peace)

[-tWv-]

This one is definitely a head scratcher...

The previous owner (2 owners past) installed a nice short shifter and then proceeded to absolutely ruin it with this botched shift knob. They clearly were dead set on making it work even though it was not meant to be. What boggles my mind even more is the car was driven well over 30k miles with this POS since then and the next 2 owners just... didn’t care?

Essentially, they glued a faux wood knob onto a cylindrical faux carbon fiber shaft. The short shifter shaft is the same shape as stock. Obviously there’s a mismatch here, so in order to get the cylindrical shaft to stay they tapped in a screw into the metal shaft and topped it off with a hefty serving of electrical tape.

When I bought the car, I immediately noticed a ton of play in the shifter assembly and figured I would have to replace the whole thing. Nope... just got a knob that actually fits and feels 10x better.






New knob:

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by -tWv-

This one is definitely a head scratcher...

The previous owner (2 owners past) installed a nice short shifter and then proceeded to absolutely ruin it with this botched shift knob. They clearly were dead set on making it work even though it was not meant to be. What boggles my mind even more is the car was driven well over 30k miles with this POS since then and the next 2 owners just... didn’t care?

Essentially, they glued a faux wood knob onto a cylindrical faux carbon fiber shaft. The short shifter shaft is the same shape as stock. Obviously there’s a mismatch here, so in order to get the cylindrical shaft to stay they tapped in a screw into the metal shaft and topped it off with a hefty serving of electrical tape.

When I bought the car, I immediately noticed a ton of play in the shifter assembly and figured I would have to replace the whole thing. Nope... just got a knob that actually fits and feels 10x better.

Apparently that's like a style thing. I got a short shifter on my other car and a fellow enthusiast told me the handle was too short. The style is to change the length of the throw and then offset that with a longer shifter. IMPO this move negates the short throw and turns it into a clown shifter.



My PO decided $2 for the Ebay radio keys was asking too much. SO he ripped out the bottom two storage compartments to get the radio out.

[-tWv-]

Originally Posted by Qingdao

Apparently that's like a style thing. I got a short shifter on my other car and a fellow enthusiast told me the handle was too short. The style is to change the length of the throw and then offset that with a longer shifter. IMPO this move negates the short throw and turns it into a clown shifter.



My PO decided $2 for the Ebay radio keys was asking too much. SO he ripped out the bottom two storage compartments to get the radio out.

Agreed, definitely a clown shifter for sure.

[Dave80GTSi]

Originally Posted by -tWv-

Agreed, definitely a clown shifter for sure.

Wow!

A perfect illustration of the original intent of the thread.

Thanks - DM

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by maytag

I get that.
As a product of a house full of uncompleted projects, I grew-up learning that if you wait to do it "right", it may never get done.

I think it's fair to say that each of us draws the line in a different place when it comes to our tolerance for "right" vs "done". Many things factor-in to wherever that line is. I'm just saying I will do my level best to never be the guy judging where someone else's line is. Unless ..... starts throwing stones at people again; in which case I'ma judge him all. day. long. (name removed to preserve the peace)

LOL I didn't see this post earlier. That's the exact philosophy I take when it comes to body work. I keep at it till I'm just DONE fairing; then it gets base and clear. that's my "line"

[MrBen]

I can relate to the house reference. As a licensed builder that has flipped 20 something houses it never ceases to amaze me the handy work some home owners come up with especially when they are short on funds. On the car side I'm probably guilty as I have reused a crush washer or 2 myself

[Finnegan]

A buddy in HS bought an old Chevy Malibu and thrashed the hell out of it. When something broke, or started to break, he 'fixed' it with epoxy.

[maytag]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

A buddy in HS bought an old Chevy Malibu and thrashed the hell out of it. When something broke, or started to break, he 'fixed' it with epoxy.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

When I was first married and putting my wife through the most expensive college in the state, I was swinging a hammer for a living. that meant my daily-driver needed to be, well, driven daily, and able to haul my tools back-n-forth to and from projects.

I had a 1982 Datsun B2000 pickup truck for this duty. One day coming home it tossed a rod through the block. I could not afford a motor for the truck, but I couldn't afford for it to not run. So what'd I do? I pulled the motor and laid it on its side in the driveway. I cut two 6"x6" square plates from some 1/4" steel I harvested from a jobsite. I put one plate on each side of the hole in the block and then put a bolt through it, effectively sandwiching the block between them. Then lots of RTV to seal it up. Then I cut the rocker-arms on the cylinder now missing a rod (the piston was good-n-wedged into the cylinder but I added some jb weld to keep it from being able to slip down into the reciprocating assembly). And then I drove it that way.

Craziest part? I drove it that way for almost 6 months! (I lived on a hill that the truck would no longer climb, so I had to enter from above. ) Eventually we scraped-together some cash and I bought an $800 IH Scout ii that was mostly gone from rust, but had a solid powertrain. (Gas was like $0.85/gal at the time....)