Shark #2 Has Arrived

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by dghii

you were connecting a 'pre-amp' (Low voltage tiny power) wire to the speaker. The RCA connection does not have the capacity to drive a speaker directly.

Didn't know that, thank you. Makes sense now why it didn't work. Was reluctant to use the new radio in case I cross-wired something and blew it out. Shouldn't happen but not interested in ruining a $500 radio when I've got a cheapo sitting on a pile.

Got my front speakers figured out, now just looking for a place to set the amp. Final step will be looking for or providing hot wires to the console and putting the radio in. More details to come but feels like progress.

[husker boxster]

I mentioned in my last post that I found 2 pairs of wires under the pass seat area I thought were for the pass door (2 speakers per door), so I connected some speaker wire to them and attached them to the radio.



1st wire pair activated the big speaker in the door. Figured the 2nd pair would be the 2nd speaker. Then I'd have to find the driver side wires. Except when I connected the wire to the radio, the big speaker on the driver's door activated. Hmmmm... Have no idea where the tweeter wires are for both sides and I have no compunction to take the door panels off to track them down. So I wired the speakers in ea door in parrallel. Probably not the right thing to do for max sound, but it works and now I have single front wires for the amp.

Decided on Sun to advertise the old stereo equip on CL and FB. Mon someone from Chicago wanted to buy the radio. Got it packed and shipped. Tue someone wanted both amps and he was going to meet me at the local sheriff's office. All I have left is the sub woofer and box. If I can get that sold, I will have basically paid for my new radio and amp.

Now I need to decide where to put the crossovers and amp. Initially I was going to mount them in the trunk area, but don't want them getting in the way if I throw a set of golf clubs in the back. So I kept thinking and came up with the idea of putting them in the spare tire area. It didn't come with a spare, but neither did my Box or Cayman, so why not? Only thing I have to be careful of is allowing the battery door to swing open enough to gain access to the battery.

I looked at the area and it looks like everything will fit IF I stack the amp on top of the crossovers. Began by cutting some cardboard half moon template that I transferred onto some balsa wood. Adding 2 2" walls should give the crossovers enough room to then support the amp. And it appears everything will just fit..

Here's the beginning of the half moon floor and the 1st wall installed.



Here's the 2nd wall added and test fitting a crossover between them. Added some vent holes in the walls to allow heat to escape.



Then test fit the amp and it fits fine. Love it when a plan comes together.



Now I need to be sure the test fitting in the trunk is still good. So I dropped it into the well and tested the battery door. No problemo. Test fitting the crossovers.



Plopping the amp on top. No problem there either.



Have to solder the crossover wires and run some perm wires to the trunk for the front speakers.

But I think I'm supposed to take the shark in on Mon for the timing belt and other jobs. So tomorrow I'll charge up the battery and clean out the int in prep for Mon.

[dghii]

One trick when you are trying to identify what speaker a wire pair goes to is to use a 9v battery and touch (DON'T HOLD!!) the wire to the battery contacts. You will hear a pop or click from the speaker the wire is connected to.

Speakers hate DC voltage....hence don't hold the wires to battery contacts. You only get a sound when you touch the contacts.

[husker boxster]

It's been a while again since I've posted. We had a cold March and I don't know if I'm getting old or if my new stent hasn't replenished my circulation, but I'm not a fan of the cold anymore. Haven't wanted to work on the shark and have been waiting for my mechanic friend to clear his schedule for my timing belt project. Didn't want to have the shark disabled and have him call to say to bring it down. After a couple more delays on his part, I was able to take it to his shop last Thu morning. It didn't take him long to tear it apart (I got a call from him on Thu afternoon and he had all the old stuff off) and a Fri afternoon call saying it was done but they wanted to keep it to see if there were any leaks. Tue afternoon I got a text saying it was ready. Couldn't find anyone that late to help me pick her up, so made arrangements to get her Wed morning. We had never talked money, but I was expecting the charge to be around $2000-2600. It was $1400. Very pleased with that, so patience is a virtue. I asked if he worked on AC and he said yes. I need the system converted to R134, so that'll be next on my "I can't do" list.

After lunch I put in a bottle of techron, a full tank of gas, and went on a 90 mi drive. I think (hope) I have a fuel injector that's clogged and hopeful a bit of driving gets it open. Was temped several times before I took her in for the TB change to do a drive, but thought about how mad I'd be if the belt snapped while I did my drive, so I resisted.

And now the weather has turned warm. I'm more motivated to work so hopefully progress comes quicker. Only thing is my PCA activities and golf leagues are also coming out of hybernation, so I have a busy calendar.





I was thinking about taking her on a fun run we had scheduled for this Sat, even tho the int is still torn out, but the weather for Sat is cold & rainy so we cancelled the event. Guess that'll give me a few more hrs to work on her.

[dghii]

Keep at it at your pace! Patience!

[husker boxster]

I mentioned there was a bit of a misfire I wanted to chase but had been resisting until the timing belt was changed. It could be a clogged fuel injector, a bad plug or wires, or worst case a cyl down on compression.

Implementing Occam's razor, I decided to try the simplest thing first - a dirty fuel injector. A bottle of techron and a full tank of gas. Have done 3 trips since. First trip was 90 mi. Was going to drive the shark up to my home town on Sun morning, which is 100 mi one way, but the battery was down. Took that as a sign to take Punkin but charged the battery and drove 60 mi Sun afternoon. She felt much snappier from the start, so I think the techron is working. Was going to drive again this afternoon but the battery was dead again. Charged it up and drove another 40 mi tonight. Much improved and seems to be going in the right direction. Without having to worry about snapping an old timing belt, I can do a semi-Italian tuneup by running at higher rpms to get the fuel flowing.

I have a set of plug wires and plugs that I plan to swap and I'll probably order a new fuel filter, but I think I've dodged a bullet with it being a cyl down on compression.

Looks like I'll need a new battery. Date on this one is Feb 2020, so it should be good but appears to be troublesome. Hopefully there isn't a drain on the system. There shouldn't be since I pulled all those wires but maybe there was something before that was draining it to death. Or it was dead for so long it doesn't want to hold a charge for very long. We'll see...

Might also have a pair of front wheel bearings that need replacing or a cpl of control arms. Get an intermittent wobble around 70mph. Jacked up the front wheels and there's some play side to side on both fronts. Will need to investigate further to determine the exact problem. Old car problems.

[husker boxster]

Took the shark to lunch with a friend last wk. Threw it on the charger for an hr before I left. Had lunch and the battery was dead when I came out. I'd thrown in cables just for these situations but couldn't get it to jump from my friend's Jeep. Luckily only 1.5 mi from home, so she gave me a ride home. Was kind of a hassle getting an Interstate battery, but got it installed and had a friend drive me over to bring her home.

I forgot to mention on one of my test drives I tried the cruise control. It worked, which is a good thing as many on RL say their's doesn't work.

Trying to get on my mechanic friend's list to get my AC converted to R134 and charged. He's ordering parts. Hoping to take her on a 2-day Porsche club trip to Valentine, NE in July. Will defn need AC for that trip in a black car with black int in the middle of July. I've left the int out since I got her back from the TB fix because there are AC lines under the passenger seat that go to the rear AC unit. Those may need new O-rings and testing for leaks, so better to have access to them.

So in the meantime, I decided to change the plugs, wires, and 3 fuel lines I had. I'd ordered all these parts back at Thanksgiving. There's a 4th fuel line that was on back order but I paid for it with the promise to send it when the next batch arrived from Germany. It's supposed to be in next wk. Right...

I bought the plugs and wires assumming they needed replacing. Upon closer inspection, the old wires looked brand new and the plugs were spotless except for 1, which was a tad dirty. I decided to leave the wires alone and just clean and gap the old plugs. Will keep an eye on #6 cyl plug and see if it stays clean. In a cpl yrs when I'm ready to sell, I'll replace plugs and wires.

So on to the fuel lines. 2 of them were relatively easy to replace. The old ones didn't fight much and the new ones went on fine. The 3rd not so much. It fought me hard coming off and the new one wasn't an exact copy so I had to figure out how to route it so it would work. On about the 5th try I got it figured out. But by this time I had a LOT of items removed or loosened to make it work. A lot of checking and loose fitting went on before I could button it up. Did a test fire and nothing leaked fuel at the fittings. Going out for a test drive this morning. If that goes well, she gets a bath and gets to go on a fun run tomorrow.

Here are the old fuel lines. They don't look too bad but can't take the chance on a Car-B-Q.



The line that fought me the hardest was in the back of the engine. It connects to one of the 2 fuel dampers and then goes to an AC cooler line that cools the gas. Not a lot of room there and my arms have the bruises to prove it (I bruise easily since I'm on blood thinners for a yr from my heart attack). I also filled the swear jar with this hose alone.

Here's a pic of the old line. It goes from the AC cooler (the foam area) then routes under the damper (the bronze item with the vacuum hose), does a 180 deg turn and connects to the back of the damper. It's the middle hose in my above pic of old lines.



The new line was totally different in configuration - it was a straight piece of hose with 90 deg metal connectors on ea end. Hmmm... how does it fit? Well it connects to the damper at the rear, then loops by the intake manifold, goes under a heater hose and the damper, and then connects to the AC cooler. Luckily there's a gap in the air cleaner that allows room for the hose. Clear as mud figuring that out.



When the 4th hose arrives, I'll have to tear most of the stuff off the back of the engine to get to it. It's a horse shoe shaped hose. The good news is I removed this line while trying to find the proper routing for the 3rd line, so it shouldn't be a fight to get it out to replace it. Putting the new line in, who knows?

[husker boxster]

Since I last checked in, I've been busy with the following:

1. Our club's club race & DE, which is our biggest event of the yr. VERY busy as registrar but 3 great days of driving on the track after all the work is done.
2. My brother from KC was coming up over Memorial w/e to see if we could get his 1926 Model T running that's in my basement garage. Spent 5 days cleaning the house as I thought his wife was coming too, but at the last min (after 95% done cleaning) she decided not to come. We got the T started but the trans was stuck in 1st gear so we could only start it on jack stands and not drive it. Hopefully we get that solved next time and can take it out for a spin.
3. Had to get all 3 cars shined up for various shows & events on the w/e of June 9 & 10. Punkin was invited to be on display at Porsche of Omaha's 75th celebration, so she needed a lot of attn.

Now that all of that is in the rearview mirror, I could focus back on the shark. But first, I bought a new tool for the garage.







The last few yrs I've been getting tired of jacking cars up with a jack & jack stands. Decided to pull the trigger on a set of these. Got the 5K lb. version thru Costco. Took a bit of work to get them put together and these dogs are heavy but hopefully they make life easier.

What better job to break them in on than to change the front wheel bearings on the shark. Since I got her back from the TB replacement, I've been driving her around more and could hear the grumble from the front of what could be wheel bearings. I also had an intermittent shimmy in the front when I drove 70mph. I raised the front wheels and had quite a bit of latteral movement side to side. The bearings themselves were < $50 / side from Pelican and there was an informative 3-part video series on YT from an '88 944 Turbo S (same hub assembly as an S4) on how to do the job. It didn't look too tough so I decided to tackle it. The last time I'd done a wheel bearing job was in the mid-70s on my 1st car - a 1970 Mach 1, so it's been a minute, huh Mav?

Didn't take me long to get the hubs off. Thankfully the caliper bolts didn't give me a fight. Everything else was pretty easy.



The next day I worked on getting the rear seal, inside bearing, and both races out. Took some heat, but got both races out without too much of a fight. Cleaned up the hubs and called it a day.



Thought it would be downhill from there, but I was wrong. In part 2 of the video series, the guy was able to heat up the hub and push the new races in with a bearing driver kit. I rented the kit from O'Reilly's. The outside races both went in w/o too much trouble but the inside wouldn't go in far enough. I called a friend who has a press and he was available, so I went to his place. We used 10K lbs of force and got them set in properly. But after a day of heavy hammering, I was done so I watched golf for the rest of the afternoon & evening.

Sun I got the bearings packed. Bought a bearing packing tool that made life easier, so now this is an official project since I had to buy a new tool. May never use it again, although Punkin has 84K mi & Sydney is 77K, so there may be some bearing work somewhere in their future. But the inside bearings went in and so did the seal. They were ready to put back on.



Got everything put back together but before I put the wheels on, I took the opportunity to clean the fender wells. Then put the wheels back on. There was still some wiggle in them, but was at least 50% better. Hope that was enough improvement but I still had a cpl of items to check before I put her on the ground for a test drive. And I'd had enough for the day so those jobs would wait until today.

Job 1 was to check what the leak was in the engine bay (that spot you see in the 1st hub pic). Turns out it's a coolant leak at the thermostat that we're planning to fix (my mechanic friend). Job 2 was to change the fuel filter and a rubber hose from the tank to the fuel filter. I squirted some Aeroqroil on the filter nuts but they wouldn't come loose. Decided to squirt some more on them and let them soak before trying again on a later date.

Time to drop her to the ground and go for a test drive. As I left the neighborhood, the growling / grumbling noise was gone. Out on the highway I drove causiously at first but then got up to 70 for the big test. No more shimmy. Success!

Now I need to poke my mechanic about getting the AC fixed. I initially talked to him in Apr about it and he said he'd order parts. I pinged him in May and I got the impression he had forgotten but was going to get back on it. Guess I have to see if he wants the job or if I should take it elsewhere.

In the meantime, I'm probably going to get back on the stereo project. I have better motivation now that it's warmer. I still have something running the battery down, so that's added to the To Do list. But the list is reasonable and getting shorter.

I like my shark.

[PaulE]

You/ve been busy. I think you're going to love that QuickJack! Thanks for the update!

[alynch]

The QuickJack is wonderful but heavy. You might want to add wheels or rollers to help with the weight. YT has several examples, and there's even someone selling a kit (a bit expensive for my taste).

[husker boxster]

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.

[husker boxster]

The replacement relay for the central control unit arrived on Mon. Tue afternoon I stopped by a cell phone repair shop and showed them what I had and needed done. Their repairman thought it would take approx 30 min and their min charge was $70 (plus $5 for tax). He had an opening and I could get it done immediately. I was thinking of getting a second est at a computer repair shop but it would've taken 15 min to drive there and even if it was going to cost $10 less (doubtfull), they prob would have to put it in the queue, so I decided to just have the cellphone guy do the job. In less than an hr, I had it back.

Here's what it looked like.
The top side of the unit. The relay is soldered on the other side where the 8 solder spots are (lower left).


Here's the work the cell repairman did. He unsoldered the relay and replaced it with 6 18 guage wires (2 are not needed for the new relay).


Here's the old relay, new relay, and plug in socket for the new relay, from top to bottom.


Wires connected to the socket and the relay plugged into the socket. The new relay is too large for it to be housed in the CCU, so it lives outside. There's plenty of room in the console area for the external socket and relay.




Now for the big test. I put the CCU back in. Fired up the engine, pushed the AC button, and checked the engine bay. The compressor didn't kick on. Shoot. I was so hopefull this was going to work and only spent $100 for parts & labor. I could see the relay lit up, so it's getting electricity.

I'm not good with electricity, so I sent an email to my mechanic explaining the situation and asking if he wants to chase the issue. I linked a good thread from RL that goes thru all the steps to track down the lack of juice. Waiting for his response.

Down, but hopefully not out.

[dghii]

A few cheap things to try....
Take your old relay and check the coil connections for resistance....you want some! If relay coil is open, it was most likely bad. You can also connect the relay to a 12 volt source to see if it clicks and you have continuity across the relay contacts.
Need to make sure new relay is actually outputting a 12 volt signal when energized. Turn on AC and look for 12 volts at the relay contacts (meter between the contact and ground).

Need to check continuity from your CCU (relay output) to the compressor.
Also, compressor will not turn on if freon is low.

[husker boxster]

I'm putting the AC to the side for right now...

After changinig the tie rods, the steering was way off (even tho I made sure the new rod was the same length as the old one). Tried to eyeball it square and it was better, but still off. Did some research and found a redneck way to do a front wheel alignment - run a string around the car with the string passing thru the center of each wheel. Then measure the difference between the front and back of the front tires and adjusting the tie rods until you get 1/16th of an inch more on the front of the tire vs the rear (equals the proper toe-in you want on front tires).

Ran a string from front to back.









The string does not touch the front tires. It's used to measure toe from the front and back parts of the wheel.



Perfect alignment is 1/16" longer measurement in the front of the tire, to produce a slight toe-in adjustment. The above pic is the left front tire, so the left measurement is slightly longer than the right.

Here's all the "tools" you'll need.



Got both wheels to 1/16" toe-in, then checked my steering wheel. I'd set it at straight across, but somehow it moved, so I had an 8-2 situation rather than 9-3. Started over again, this time making sure the stering wheel stayed in the proper place.

Took her out for a drive this morning and she drove great. Steering wheel is straight across and she doesn't pull to either side. Close enough for govt work.

[husker boxster]

I hopped back onto the stereo today. Had put that project off to the side as other things were more important.

When I last worked on it, I wasn't getting any sound when I hotwired the radio and amp. I had crossovers for both sets of rear speakers but wouldn't get sound out of any of the speakers. Got tinny sound when I went from radio to speakers, so the amp seemed suspect. Took it to a stereo shop to have them check it. Cpl days later they called back & said the amp was good. When I picked it up I asked how they had wired it. There were screws marked + and -, which I was using as my pos & neg. There was also a 3rd, middle screw that they said was for ignition. That was the key - the pos wire was for constant voltage but didn't run the amp. The ignition screw did. Too bad the manual never mentioned that (I did RTFM). So today I did the proper hotwiring thru the radio & amp and got music! Yay!



It may still look like a rat's nest but the speaker wires are now the proper length and the amp is screwed down securely. It's just a bit messy with short wires to the radio and a wire to hold the battery door open. Didn't want it falling closed and shorting my hotwires.

But progress was made. Now I need to work on getting power to the radio from the center console and wires from the radio to the amp. I'm debating how far to go since I take her back to the mechanic 2 wks from tom to have him cont working on the AC. May not need a radio in his way. But we'll see, if I make good progress on the radio installation, I may be able to take the radio back out and just leave the plugs. That's the plan for now.

[husker boxster]

Got the wires all laid from the radio to the amp, along with a couple of hot wires too back and forth. The head unit and 986 cubbie hole are in but not secured. Close enough to the done sign.

The sound didn't come out very loud on my phone vid, but it's plenty strong in the car.


Here are the wires from the amp to the speakers.


Here are the wires from the head unit to the amp.


And finally, the wires from the head unit heading to the amp and routed under the passenger seat.

[husker boxster]

I dropped the shark off at my mechanic friend's shop on Aug 28. He was going to cont tracking down the AC issue of no juice to the compressor. He seemed to work on it occassionally but tracked it down to the AC button on the dash. It supposedly has two functions when you push it on and 1 of those functions wasn't sending juice. Was the problem the button or somewhere down line? After several wks of tracking, he suggested I get a new button. I checked with a few RennList friends but no one had a button specific for an 89. I ended up ordering it from an Atlanta Porsche dealer who had the best price. But there was never an update with a tracking #. I called them and after some investigating, they had to order it from Germany and it could take 5-7 wks. Ouch. So I contacted my friend and asked him to do the 4 whl alignment I needed and then I'd take her home and wait for the part with fingers crossed. He got the alignment done and I brought her home Oct 11.

Luckily, the part arrived in late Oct. I was busy with company arriving for several days, so it wasn't until the 1st w/e of Nov before I could give it a try. Plugged it in, connected the battery, and said a quick prayer. Unfortunately, it didn't click the compressor on. More work to track it down, but I have time to try myself or take it back in late winter. On to other pressing issues.

The last fuel hose needed replacing. It's shaped like a U from the factory and sits behind and below the MAF.





You can't see it in the 2nd pic, but it's connected to the 2 gold diaphram objects on either side of the MAF. I've had the MAF off at least 3 times, so the plan was to remove the MAF to give more room to remove the fuel line. Except the MAF didn't want to come out of the hose it sits in. So with a bit of corrective angles, I was able to get the nuts loose with the MAF in place (I'd loosened & tightened the nuts last summer so I didn't have to fight them now).

The replacement hose didn't look U shaped and I was confused. A call to the 928sRus cleared up the issue - the hose was to be looped around the fuel lines that go into the cooler (928s route their fuel lines into an AC area to keep the fuel cool). I found a pic on his website showing the routing and got the line connected and routed correctly. Here are a cpl of pics showing the new routing.





That completed the fuel and power steering lines replacement in the engine compartment.

I put the radio back in and it didn't fire up. Did some multimeter testing and found the fuse I'd put in the perm lines had blown. New fuse and now I have radio again.

Next up is to track down a gas smell that's getting stronger by the gas tank. There's an S shaped hose that goes from the filler neck to the tank that may need replacing. Or it's the line from the fuel pump to the front. It will mean a lift on the quick jacks and a removal of the rt rear tire. But I need to get it fixed as I don't need any fireworks. I do keep the fire extinguisher from my CSS in the back seat, just in case.

Speaking of the back seat, since I got her back, I've put the 2 back seats and the passenger seat back in, hopefully for the last time. I may have a line on a good dash. I'm #2 on the list. If #1 backs out, it's mine. That will be a nice winter project.

[husker boxster]

After all my Wheeler Dealer actiities since Dec, I've finally had some time to get back to the shark. A small community north of Omaha was hosting the Blair Cruise Night this past Sat evening and I have to decide if I was going. 1st factor is the weather, but the forecast is good. So Fri afternoon I have to decide which car to take? Not the Spyder and Punkin is in storage. Sydney is dirty and I have golf on Mon and it's supposed to rain (or storm), so washing her would be a waste of time. That leaves the shark (928), except she's got a gas leak and an electrical issue. I know, I know, 4 Porsches and nothing to drive - real 1st world problems.

Put the shark up on the quickjacks. I knew from previous movements in the garage that gas was pouring out the bottom at the back of the engine, so having her up in the air would allow me to crawl under and look. I also had the air box off which is at the back so I could look at the top of the back area of the engine. I had replaced a fuel line back there in Nov but was pretty sure I'd gotten it tight on both ends. But when chasing a problem, always check at the last thing you "fixed". Start her up and a nice stream of fuel is coming out the bottom. I look at the last line I'd put in - dry as a bone. But... I notice the line I'd put in back in May had some moisture on it. That moisture was gas! Follow the line up to the end and the connector was loose. Tighten it up it up and start her up again. No leaks. Problem solved.

While I had her in the air, Sat afternoon I decide to do some cleaning on the underside of the engine. Then took her our for a test drive. No gas leaks or gas smell. On to the next issue.

I don't like electrical issues. Dad was good with electrical stuff, as he was trained on how to repair radios. But he taught me mechanical and body work stuff, not how to chase electrical gremlins. I was suspicious of a wire that had come loose and was dangling near the gas pedal. It didn't look factory and I thought it might be either the alarm or radar detector that was installed by a prev owner. One day out of frustration with it in the way of the gas pedal, I yanked on it hoping to pull it out. It didn't but it now hung even further in my way AND now 4 of the 6 guages along with the digital part of the dash weren't working. Crap! This was not going to be fun. I'd probably have to take the dash apart again and trace where the line went and see what I'd done.

But I'm a firm believer in occam's razor - check the simple things first when looking for a problem. Hoping it might be a fuse, I got the digital fuse chart up on my PC. There are 3 fuses associated with the dash. Check the 1st fuse - it's good. 2nd fuse - good. 3rd fuse - BLOWN. Pop a new 7.5a fuse in and start her up. Instruments working! Yay! One of my To Do items is chase down a parasitic drain, so in the meantime I disconnect the battery when not in use. Maybe I blew the fuse when connecting the battery back up? Regardless, now I can go to Blair.

I hustle up to Blair. We're supposed to stage in a church parking lot. I get there and it's disorganized chaos. No one directing where to go, cars parked everywhere in no semblence of order. When it's time to start, it's like leaving a football game or concert - cars are joining the line from everywhere. Once we got moving out onto the streets, I envisioned it would be like a parade with an organized route blocked off for the cars. Nope. It was liked hitting the bricks in my hometown of Wayne America in my youth on a Sat night, expect with hundreds of cars. Guess that's why they call it a cruise (was my 1st). I made it half way thru the cruise and rather than turn around and go thru more traffic jam, I turned at Hwy 75 and cruised home.

At least I got enjoy a nice drive in the shark w/o smelling gas and could monitor my gauges. It was fun to get her out and now that 2 of the issues holding me back are fixed, I can move her back into the rotation of items to fix and drive her around.

[husker boxster]

Occam's Razor - In philosophy, Occam's razor is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements.

When I bought my 928 in late July 2022, she didn't run. I got the LH computer rebuilt and she fired right up. But I couldn't drive her until I got new tires, which I purchased on Labor Day w/e of '22. When I took her out for her maiden voyage, there was a vibration in the steering at 65-70mph. Phooey! But I had other items of more importance (and $$$), like timing belt and water pump replacement to focus on 1st.

Spring of '23 those items are replaced and now I can look for the shimmy. I'd noticed a growl in the right front that meant the wheel bearing was bad. That could cause a shimmy at high speeds, so I replaced both left and right front wheel bearings. The growl went away but not the shakes at 65. Rats!

Next up was front tie rods. Since they were 34 yrs old, it might be time to replace them. So I did. Still had the shimmy. Double rats! But now I needed to focus on getting the AC fixed.

Summer and fall go by without finding the AC issue. Then before Thanksgiving I buy a set of tires for my Cayman from the same big tire store on 170th & Maple. My 1st chance to drive fast was on the trip to my sister's for Thanksgiving in Dallas. It shook horribly for the 10 hrs to her house. While in Dallas, I had another of these stores rebalance the tires. The tech said the tires were out of balance. The drive home was so much better.

My focus shifts to doing the maint on the Spyder, getting it ready to sell, selling an 85 911 and 70 Chevelle SS for a friend, and doing registration work for 2 DEs and a club race. With all that behind me now (the Spyder's still for sale), I had time to pay some attn to the shark.

Today I took her to the tire store on 120th & Dodge and had them rebalance the tires. Tech told me they were way out of balance. Took her for a ride along West Dodge expressway and the shimmy is gone. 65mph quickly turns to 75 since the ride is so smooth. I called them up and thanked them.

Moral of the story - never assume something simple might not be the cause of a problem. Start there first (Occam's razor). I assumed since the tires were new and just balanced that that couldn't be the issue. Going with the simple idea first can save you a lot of money vs the parts cannon approach. (The rebalance was free.)

PS. Today's tech really liked my shark. How could you not?

[husker boxster]

Over the last mo I've been chasing the battery drain and I made some progress - hopefully finding it. And I'm tired of A-hole having his blatant ads for chinese diagnostic tools at the top of the heap. So here's what I did and found:

I disconnected the ground end of the negative battery cable and hooked a multimeter to it and the ground. Set the meter to 10a. I was getting a draw.



I started pulling fuses in blocks of 5 and checking my multimeter.



Finally a change after the 5th block of 5:



Tracked it down to fuse 24. Hmmm, that's the same fuse that blew back in the spring. Part of its duty is running half of the digital dash. Took the dash pod off as there was a wire I wanted to track down, thinking maybe it was shorting something. Found the wire and it was properly grounded (at least on that end, the other goes somewhere into the console). So I put everything back together.

Did some research on RL and found a thread about fuse 24. It also runs all the int lights and there was a chance one of them was grounding onto the body. Starting with fuse 24 in, I was getting this reading:



Pulled the center int light and removed the bulb. No change in reading. Pulled the passenger door light and removed the bulb. No change. Pulled the driver's door light and removed the bulb. No change. Was a bit disappointed but remembered there's a light in the hatch. Pulled the light, removed the bulb. Bingo:



The thread also said to check the bulb in the glove box. I did but it was blown, so no chance there.

I'll do more testing on if that's solved my parasitic problem next wk by leaving the battery connected and see how many days can go by w/o a battery issue. I have a car show for tomorrow, so for now I'll keep disconnecting the neg cable as I don't want a possibly dead battery tomorrow morning.

And I'll go back and see why I'm having the issue, but for now I'm happy to have potentially found where I'm having the issue.