Shark #2 Has Arrived

[husker boxster]

Since Ant-hole has moved to the top of the heap, thought I'd give an update on my electrical issue to knock him off the top.

I mentioned in the last post I disconnected the neg cable to ensure the battery wouldn't be down for my next day's show. When I went to connect the cable in the morning, I found it was already connected. OK... Would she start? Yes! Previously the battery would've been down just enough to prevent it from starting, but would only need 30 min on the charger to start. So that was progress since the battery had plenty of charge.

Now it's a matter of seeing how far I can go? I went 2 days between starts. She started. This week I went 4 days between starts. Fired right off, no battery issues. What's the limit? I'll try for a wk and see what happens. The last time I accidentally went a wk the battery was so dead I thought I'd killed it. My charger wouldn't bring it back to life. Took it back to Interstate thinking I'd have to replace it but they were able to resurrect it with their deep cycle charger and it's been fine since.

It's satisfying to have tracked this down, esp since I'm not an electrical genius. Makes me more willing to take on more of these types of jobs.

Went to a car show yesterday. Hard to keep a black car clean when parked on grass.



There was also this black car.



Reminded me I need to get my 1924 Model T Touring out and about. Esp since she's 100 yrs old.

Next up for the shark, in no particular order:
track down the electrical issue with the AC
hole in the dash - repair or replace
trunk liner - build or buy carpet

I might start with the last one first. I'm thinking of repurposing the cover they used over the stereo equipment. Might fill in the holes and recover in alcantera and use it as the trunk liner.

[husker boxster]

Ant-hole and his friends are bombing us again, so time to do an update to the shark.

Between staining the deck and getting everything ready for our next HPDE, I've been building a trunk liner for the shark.

You will recall my shark came with a trunk full of stereo equip.



Spent a lot of time removing and replacing it with a single amp. She lost approx 100 lbs and tons of wires in the process. However, the trunk looked very bare.



From the factory, she came with a couple of floor covers - 1 plastic, 1 fiberboard - that were covered by 1 piece of carpet. Those items were long gone with the 1st owner's foray into mega stereo, so I had a blank slate. I could've found a fellow shark owner who had those parts in addition to buying a new carpet ($119), but I decided to build my own. After replacing the headliner in my Cayman last yr, I thought I could build a trunk liner and cover it with the alcantara material I used on the Cayman headliner.

Initially I thought I could repurpose the stereo cover that came with the car by filling in the holes. But after removing the vinyl cover, I gave up on that idea when I found I'd have to pull at least 200 staples used to keep the vinyl in place. So I bought a 1/2" piece of plywood and started with the orig cover as a template and cut it down a bit to fit on the floor. I cut a hole over the amp area so any heat would be released and added some strengthening braces to the underside.





Next up was gluing the alcantara on. Glued the flat part first, then worked on the sides / overlap. Did 1 side at a time, using flat bars and C clamps to ensure it held tight. The final step was to add a grille over the hole, so I bought a black gutter cover and cut a piece to fit. Secured it with a cpl flat bars.





Very happy with the results, although I may have outthought myself with the alcantara. It can grab and hold fuzz or whatever better than carpet. But it looks good. I may find someone with a staple gun and add some extra protection on my glued ear tabs, but wanted to get it finished between all my other activities.







Another item checked off the shark To-Do list. Also, I've gone 8 days between starts and no dead battery. Yay!

[husker boxster]

Since we're being bombarded w/ fake ID threads (where are the admins?), thought I'd post a pic of my latest purchase.

A perfect black dash.





My current dash was perfect (hard to find on a shark) EXCEPT for a hole the orig owner cut in it to mount his 6x6x6 GPS screen.



It left a nasty hole when I removed it.



Will pick up the new dash after Christmas. Will make a nice winter project replacing it. Good chance to work on the AC electrical issue too.

[husker boxster]

The new dash has arrived.



I bought it from a shark rennlister who lives in Edmond, OK. Since I was celebrating Christmas in suburban Dallas, Edmond was on my route home. The only issue would be if it would fit in my Cayman. We had to try several positions but got it in and able to close the hatch.



Won't be able to tear into it this wk as I need to do prep work on my snow blower and get a 2nd snow blower ready to sell. And then have to determine which shark project to take on 1st - the dash or the AC. My initial thought is to take the center console out and chase the AC problem (no juice when button pushed), then tackle the dash. I know from experience when you change a dash, you do the whole project at once so you remember where everything goes.

[husker boxster]

Time to track down the AC issue. It's been elusive chasing this problem. So far I've done the following:

7/23 - took the shark to my mechanic. He converted the system to R134. He could get the compressor to kick in if he hotwired it but it would't start w/ the button on the console. (post #51)

8/23 - I find a really good thread on Rennlist where someone documents the steps trouble shooting electrical issues w/ the AC. It discusses a relay that's in the Central Control Unit (CCU) - the HVAC unit in the console. I replace the orig relay with a replacement relay. (post #52)

9/23 - 11/23 - take it back to my mechanic but still no juice at the button. I get her back and order a new AC button. Still no juice.

Decided to pick up the trail now to see if I can locate the issue. I reread the debug thread again.

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-forum/609038-hvac-compressor-relay-repair-procedure-w-pics.html

Start at the freeze switch, which is the first place the author starts. Using a test light, I have no juice coming into the freeze switch from what is supposed to be the hot wire. Check the switch for continuity and it checks out, so the switch is good.

Go inside and check the fuses and relays associated w/ the AC. They check good. I check the wires on the relay I replaced. They look like they track to the proper places. At this pt I started a thread on RL asking for help, but I've stumped the band.

I find a schematic and follow it but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.



I tear the CCU apart and poke the 15 tabs with my test light. Tabs 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 15 were hot. When I turned the AC button off, 7 & 8 lost power. #6 wasn't hot and that was the problem. After more research I find the definitions of the tabs. 7 sends juice into the CCU for the AC clutch and 6 needs to send it out to clutch. The first stop is the freeze switch. Obviously not happening.

I send a PM to one of the shark gurus asking for ideas. He points me to a shark electrical guru who I PM. We email back and forth a bit and after thinking everything over, he suggests I recheck wire 6 from the CCU to the replacement relay. I track the wire from the motherboard to the relay and unscrew it. It looks like a 6 but it's very small. I unscrew the one next to it - it could be a 5 but hard to tell since it's so small. I grab the small magnifying glass I have but it's still hard to tell. Time to pull out the big gun - the magnifying glass my dad used when repairing vacuum tube radios and TVs.



It lit up when I plugged it in and hit the on button. Probably been at least 40 yrs since it been used as dad's been gone 37 yrs. But now I could see the post I thought was 6 was actually a 5. I put the wires in their proper slots and put the CCU back together. Plugged it in along with the AC button. Hooked up the battery, turned the ignition to ON, punched the AC button on. Then checked my test light at the freeze switch.



Success!

The clutch wasn't running, but I figure it won't unless the engine is running. I have the dash all torn apart - partly to chase down the AC issue and partly for the dash replacement. More on that to come...

[husker boxster]

While I was chasing the AC issue, I tore the center console and instrument pod off. I was basically only 4 bolts away from removing the dash, so I did.



Once I had juice to the AC, I could start putting the int back together, hopefully for the last time (I've had the pod off at least 3 times for various reasons). The new dash went on with very little fanfare. It looks so much better than the old one with the hole in it. Next up was the instruments and pod. Did some adjusting so it fit better on the right side than in previous installations. Center console was next, except it needed some prep work.



The edges on both side had curled up. The guy I bought the dash from in OKC said you could hit them with a heat gun and then glue them back down, so that was the plan.





Put the console back in and screwed the HVAC unit and AC button in. Then secured the radio to the cubby hole.



Popped the radio / cubby hole into the console and finished off the side panels. Had some trouble with the glove box fitting correctly. This seemed to be the only issue the replacement dash - the glove box door wouldn't latch and when I finally got it to, there was a huge gap. Took it back out and hammered the attaching tabs on the dash down a bit. Got it to look 50% better but I'm not totally happy with it. She'll do for now but I may work on it this summer when the weather's warmer.

Finished product:





Huge check mark off the To Do list.

I'm going to keep the old dash. May try fixing it this summer and if that doesn't work I can try covering it with leather. You never know when I might need another black dash - maybe for my next shark.

The weather was brutally cold this wk. It took a good hr to heat the garage and even then it was a bit nipply. I took my time and would quit after making some progress but then would run into an issue that stymied me. Would think about it overnight and figure out a way around the problem and would be off to the next step.

I learned patience from dad. When I was in my teens and twenties, we'd buy wrecked cars and rebuild them. When we'd run into a problem, dad would always figure out a soln, sometimes a day or two later. Once he told me his problem solving technique - he was a postman and walked a route every day. He told me it was a boring job but gave him a chance to think and he'd use that time to figure out the solutions to our problems. That method's worked for me many times.

The new dash looks a whole lot better than with the hole in it. Car shows will be more enjoyable this summer.

[husker boxster]

Had some record breaking temps today, so I took advantage of them to do some diagnostic work on the AC system. Started by checking the switch that keeps the compressor from kicking in if there isn't enough freon in the system. Continuity test was good, so switch should be working.

While I had the plug off the switch, I started the car and clicked on the AC button. Then hotwired the plug, which sends juice from 1 wire to the other. This is what would happen if the system had enough freon in it - the switch would send juice from 1 wire to the other.



The compressor kicked on. Pulled the jumper wire out and plugged it back into the switch. Shut the AC button off and back on. Compressor didn't start. Hotwired, started. That tells me the system doesn't have enough freon. It was last filled 2 yrs ago.

Upon looking at the condensor, there is a grease spot on it, like there's freon leaking out of it.



Guess that's a good news - bad news situation. Chances are there's a leak in the condensor and it would solve my final AC issue. But condensors aren't cheap and I'm having an expensive mo w/ property taxes due at mo end. Might have to wait until next mo, but I felt like I made progress today.

[husker boxster]

Look what arrived yesterday...



Had an expensive mo in Mar with house taxes and house ins due. Figured I could wait until Apr to buy the condenser. Then I started spending money in Apr like a drunken sailor on Sydney (see my post in the Cayman section). So had to push the shark condenser purchase off until May.

But I started doing research on prices in Apr. There was an aftermkt seller on ebay that had 1 for my yr / trans for $350. Made in CA and 1 yr warranty. A cpl Porsche dealers (ATL & Cleveland) had it for $600. And my local dealer wanted $900. Put a thread out on the 928 forum asking if anyone had used the ebay seller. Several had, all with good results. OK, target acquired, just have to wait for my credit card to cool down.

So in early May I decide to pull the trigger on the ebay part. Except now he wants $600 for it. Crap. Can't be tariffs if it's a US product. Maybe prices are seasonal and he jacks them up when AC season comes around. But his ad lists a Best Offer option, so I offer $350 and say that's what it cost last mo. He comes back with $550. Now I have to decide if I want to chance an aftermkt part that claims to be a perfect match or buy one from Porsche, assuming they haven't jacked their prices up. The bad news is it's going to cost me an addl $250. I let it simmer for 2 wks.

Finally time to decide, so I start my research again. The aftermkt ad is listed so I click on it for some reason. Price is now $350. I beat feet to the Order Now button and get it sent. Checked it carefully to my original and it looks exactly as it should. Now setting up an apt w/ my mechanic to have it installed.

Fingers crossed it won't be long before cold air is coursing thru the shark. Would also like to say while my Cayman was having all its work done, I was driving the shark on a semi-daily basis and she was performing great.

[husker boxster]

Just got the shark back this morning. We have COLD AC !!!



Mechanic said it held vacuum for over an hr, so he too thinks the condenser was the issue. We have some hot weather coming our way this wk, so great time to test it out. Also have a driving tour coming in Aug and I'm sure I'll need AC with a black car & black int.

Now what's left are little things - the trunk releases aren't working, the dash lights are dark at night, etc. But those are tiny compared to what I've done so far. And now a polish and wax are on the top of my To Do list. Don't know if I mentioned this before, but she has all original paint, even on both bumpers.

Normally I'd be getting ready to sell her now. But she's so nice I plan to keep her a bit longer. I don't need a 5-spd and would be happy with an auto but I'm not ready to part ways yet. If 5-spd prices head back to pandemic ranges, I'd certainly sell her but we're a ways from there. As she sits now, I have a lot of money in her but I still could make some good money based on her cond and miles.

We'll see...