Oh no, another...

[78F350]

I had a week off and now I'm back on for seven days of 12 hour shifts. Still continuing, but at a slow pace. I was going to pull the rest of the interior out next, but curiosity about the engine was still nagging me. I decided to pull the coils and spark plugs to see how they looked. In hind sight, I should have done that before I ever turned the key. (Would have done it on my PPI, but honestly at the $2000 price, there was no way I was not buying that car.)

I started with the #4 cylinder. It had misfired and was easy to reach.

When I got the screws out, the coil practically fell out and came with a surprise: The spark plug tube came right out with it. A quick look at the inside end of the tube showed that it had melted and deformed from the engine overheat.

What kind of temperature will cause that? What other components will be damaged at that temperature? Could some of the black material in the oil filter have come from the spark plug tubes? This took my optimism about the engine down a notch. If I was keeping it, I'd probably replace the coils, tubes, and spark plugs, run it again and see if it improved much. I am not keeping it. I decided that there was no point in me looking at the rest of the coils. It's best for me to cease and desist from engine work - no more trial engine runs - and focus on getting the rest of the car ready for Rick.
That's about it for now. Oh, and here's a pic of the diaphragm from the AOS:

[78F350]

Well, my work week went by quickly with alternating dead calm and high-speed adventure. I took Saturday off to have a birthday party at the lake for two of my grandkids (4 and 5 years old), and visit with family.
Also, a big scare: My son in law works highway bridge construction. He was hit by a truck, and thrown back about 15 feet to where he hit his shoulder hard enough to fracture his scapula. His hardhat was badly dented and has tire marks on it. Lots of bruising and sore from his head to his shins, but he's going to be okay. The corner of the box-truck that hit him was dented. He could have easily been killed, or crippled for life. Please drive with extra caution in construction zones.
Not much was done on the car, but now I'm off again and back at it. I stripped out the doors and airbags, swapped the bumper covers, and stripped the trunk.

A few notes:
-I have plenty of experience replacing window regulators, so the doors were easy for me. Again, Pelican Parts tech articles and the 101 Projects book were a great resource the first time I did it.
-Be sure to remove the screw marked by the green arrow. It attaches a foil-thin metal sheet to the airbag frame. The foil has been ripped on over half the doors I've seen, caused by people neglecting this screw:

-The trunk looked fairly dry, but the board under the mat was saturated. It started to crumble as I pulled it out. Moisture really hides in these cars.
-There's been plenty of discussion about cleaning out radiators. It's worth doing at least once a year if you drive regularly:


Bumper cover assignments:

-THAT got the rear cover with the painted bumperettes.
-Der Box gets the front (996) bumper cover.
-Rick is getting the original front bumper cover that came with my 2000 S. - Some minor damage and scraping on the bottom, but not too bad.


Not really much left for me to do on this car since Rick is going to take over. Lots of parts to sort through, store or sell. Lots of things to do to my other cars to maintain and improve.

I lined up all six in the driveway and took a few pictures before the front bumper came off:
I love the look of all the different wheels.

[itsnotanova]

Sorry to hear about your son in law. I hope he comes out of it feeling 100%. Of all your boxsters, do any of them have the 3.2? Seems like a good excuse to get a seventh one to the wife if you don't have one.