Too many Boxsters?

[78F350]

I haven't had much time to play with Boxsters, but did make it to the final race day of the season with North Texas Rallycross. The Frog held together well. My best time was 4th out of 28 drivers, but I had a few runs where I didn't keep the car on the best line and finished 7th overall. The Frog felt good and held together well.







In the off season I plan to get a better setup for the muffler and check over the suspension and alignment to see where I can improve it.

[78F350]

In less than two weeks I'll be joining some friends for the 2025 Texas Carnado. Along with a trailer hitch, new off-road lights, and other changes, I decided to add a snorkel. I won't intentionally cross water deeper than about half way up the door, but unintentional happens. The fender was still dented from when the car rolled over in September and running the snorkel from the side duct up through a dented area kept it clear of anything structural and allows easy motion of the top and clamshell. It looks awkward in it's current form, but I'm going to let my mind adjust to it for a few days before making changes.

[78F350]

The snorkel worked well.



Going fast through the water was a little too much stress on the front lip though and it departed. Someone was kind enough to wade in and grab it for me, but it's not going back on the car.



The front bumper works as-is. I'll take a look through my scrap collection in the week ahead and figure out a better design for a dual purpose 'bow-splitter'.



It was very rough terrain. The Xbox did great and I don't think anything broke, just a few new dents and scrapes.

[78F350]

I haven't had much time to play lately and decided to sell the white '01 rather than deal with the lengthening list of maintenance issues that were gathering. The glass rear window had come out out the convertible top, spoiler was stuck, fuel spiting back out when refueling, door latch-window drop problem with the driver's door, peeling paint and clear coat, speakers shot, and probably more that I'm not remembering. All of it was stuff that I could fix, but not worth my time when I have no time; especially on a car that already has a 'rebuilt' title.
I swapped a top with a plastic window onto it and replaced the Litronics with a pair of slightly burned halogen light with quickly improvised corners to replace the missing amber ones.


One evening I listed it on Facebook Marketplace for $4,000 clearly stating the problems it had. Almost immediately I had more messages from 'buyers' than I wanted to deal with. Someone came the next morning, handed me cash and drove it away.
I've noticed that the buyer 'flips' cars and trucks and immediately relisted it for $6,500. Hopefully both he and any new buyer know the saying about a cheap Porsche.

[BruceH]

Originally Posted by 78F350

I haven't had much time to play lately and decided to sell the white '01 rather than deal with the lengthening list of maintenance issues that were gathering. The glass rear window had come out out the convertible top, spoiler was stuck, fuel spiting back out when refueling, door latch-window drop problem with the driver's door, peeling paint and clear coat, speakers shot, and probably more that I'm not remembering. All of it was stuff that I could fix, but not worth my time when I have no time; especially on a car that already has a 'rebuilt' title.
I swapped a top with a plastic window onto it and replaced the Litronics with a pair of slightly burned halogen light with quickly improvised corners to replace the missing amber ones.


One evening I listed it on Facebook Marketplace for $4,000 clearly stating the problems it had. Almost immediately I had more messages from 'buyers' than I wanted to deal with. Someone came the next morning, handed me cash and drove it away.
I've noticed that the buyer 'flips' cars and trucks and immediately relisted it for $6,500. Hopefully both he and any new buyer know the saying about a cheap Porsche.

Hopefully a potential new owner takes the time to have a PPI done.

[78F350]

As mentioned earlier, I want to put a top on a car so can bring it to the glass shop and have the rear window put back in. I have a black '01 that I took the top from to put in the white car that I sold. It cranks and runs on starter fluid, but otherwise won't run.
With no fuel pressure I drained the tank and found that the pump was corroded and the hose to the sender cracked.


Then I found that the fuel filter needed to be replaced. Fuel from the filter:


There is now pressure at the fuel rail and fuel passes through to the return line, but it still doesn't run. Today I'm going to try swapping out the fuel rail and injectors with the engine in the car. It looks like it will be a tight space to work in, but doable. I'll soon know how much trouble it's going to be.

It would be easy to trailer the car to the glass shop and have the window installed, but I've had this car sitting since I bought it in September and it's time to get it running.

[78F350]

I opened the engine access behind the seats to disconnect some wiring. Add AC compressor clutch to the list of things to do if I get this car running. I do have a couple compressors on the shelf.

[78F350]

I took a break, had a nice lunch with my daughter, and I'm back at it now. The fuel rail and injectors can be removed with the engine in place, but I don't recommend it. I hope that putting the replacement parts in is a little easier. I will probably detail what I did later.
Here it is almost ready to remove:

[78F350]

Now I'm figuring out which rail and injectors I want to use. Probably the set from a 2.7L and not the 3.2L. Is there an advantage to the S model injectors? ...probably not on a base model engine.
Meanwhile here's the Tech article on Pelican: https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/25-FUEL-Injectors/25-FUEL-Injectors.htm?srsltid=AfmBOoqsf5WTIT6276l0s4mPqZxk E1ab6YvjctBQ1rOpPa1EP3oAolJJ Note that the instructions are with the engine in the car, but NOT the pictures.

Base vs S:

[78F350]

I wasted a lot of time working on the cooling system (heater loop). The metal tubes from the engine to the heater core both had some ugly welds on them that I thought were leaking.


I have some good tubes on hand and though it would be simple to swap them. It all went well until I had what I thought was everything disconnected and found that it was jammed between the gas tank and body. The gas tank has to be lowered at least partially to get the tubes out. Some day I'll do that, but this was not the time. I cut the 'bad' sections out of the tubes and joined them back together with some rubber heater hose.

I ran the engine for a while to warm it up and check for leaks. I found the leak. Not the tubes to the heater core, but the heater core itself. Coolant was flowing from the HVAC drain located near the front end of the heater tubing. I bought a new heater core that should arrive Monday. In the mean time I'm going to loop the heater system back to itself, bypassing the core.

Other things done:

• Put on some barely used Continental ECS tires JustanOkie gave to me along with some other smaller parts and a few tools. The tires are about five years old and I'll do my best to put some wear on them before the age out.
• Installed a headlight tray on the driver's side along with the plastic support trim behind the bumper and right fender.
• Fixed the cables for the frunk release and found that the cable for the trunk release was missing. I rigged some wire to the rear fender well to have a functional release.
• Bolted a seat in.
• Got the insurance, title and registration done.
• Installed the driver's door from an '04 on to replace the door which has bad paint and no door handles. It's a different black, but works for now. The car is metallic black and the door is plain black. I may have my son in law do some repainting for me because I really like the Basalt Black Metallic and most of the paint on the car is good.

Tomorrow or Friday, I'll drive it to the glass shop and have them fix the rear window.

[BRAN]

Omg, I thought those were carvings at first sight.

[78F350]

I got that black 2000 model running and not leaking coolant, then lost interest in working on the many other things wrong with it.

I started getting the Frog ready for Rallycross in July. The 'mufflers' needed to be attached better, then I drove it around the neighborhood to give it a good check. Police didn't drive by until after it was parked for about 15 minutes. I'll do some alignment work and mount some newer rear tires before the next race.



I decided to have the fender, bumper, and aerokit side skirts painted for the arena red '99. I've been wanting to work on that car, but never find time enough to commit to make serious progress. Having the parts painted will cost over $1,500, but a good professional job is worth it. The engine is still in my garage needing a full refresh.

I got the windows working on the Xbox. I had hacked into the wire harness too casually over the years - deleting HVAC, installing and removing the nitrous system, off-road lighting, CB radio, manual fan switch, etc. I pulled out the ugly mess of tangled wires and ran the accessories to a switch & fuse from the battery and reconnected the broken 12V wire to the window switches. All good now.




I'll probably install a modified passenger seat for my new co-driver, Brad (Pit).

[Homeoboxter]

The black tractor is looking wild Must be a blast to drive it. How's the acceleration with the much larger tires?

[78F350]

Originally Posted by Homeoboxter

The black tractor is looking wild Must be a blast to drive it. How's the acceleration with the much larger tires?

The acceleration is still good. With a Tiptronic transmission first gear is very low. For casual street driving these transmissions often start in second gear rather than first. As a tractor it's a great tool for moving things around in the yard.



In Other news, the '04 Special Edition had a low coolant indication while driving home from work. The drips looked like they were coming from the left front, but when I removed the front belly panel, I saw that the coolant was coming from the HVAC drain. I replaced the heater core a while ago with one that I had from a parts car. Since then I've learned that it's best to buy a New one. It's a lot of labor to replace - removing the front cowl, windshield wiper assembly, and battery.

[Homeoboxter]

Originally Posted by 78F350

The acceleration is still good. With a Tiptronic transmission first gear is very low. For casual street driving these transmissions often start in second gear rather than first. As a tractor it's a great tool for moving things around in the yard.



In Other news, the '04 Special Edition had a low coolant indication while driving home from work. The drips looked like they were coming from the left front, but when I removed the front belly panel, I saw that the coolant was coming from the HVAC drain. I replaced the heater core a while ago with one that I had from a parts car. Since then I've learned that it's best to buy a New one. It's a lot of labor to replace - removing the front cowl, windshield wiper assembly, and battery.

What's the story of the VW you are towing? (Not that the rest is less interesting )

[78F350]

Originally Posted by Homeoboxter

What's the story of the VW you are towing? (Not that the rest is less interesting )

1981 Scirocco. I just brought it to my son in law's place for him to clean the minor surface rust and prime it. He is starting up a collision repair/paint business.

Yesterday I picked up a 1971 411. I'm most likely going to keep the engine and part out the rest. The body isn't terrible, but from what I've seen from the interior floor and channels it's not worth rebuilding.

[Homeoboxter]

Originally Posted by 78F350

1981 Scirocco. I just brought it to my son in law's place for him to clean the minor surface rust and prime it. He is starting up a collision repair/paint business.

Yesterday I picked up a 1971 411. I'm most likely going to keep the engine and part out the rest. The body isn't terrible, but from what I've seen from the interior floor and channels it's not worth rebuilding.

Seen better days but looks salvageable. What about the log? Let me guess: a tree had grown through the chassis behind the bumber and then at some point the rest was cut out?

[78F350]

Work has been keeping me busy and when I've done car stuff it's been with a Prius so that Brad Pit and I could camp in back (a 2nd Generation Prius makes a great stealth camper).


I got back to working on 986s when the '04 Special Edition had a check engine light for Major Vacuum leak in the evap system and the registration and insurance renewal came due for the black 2000.

The evap leak turned out to be a brand new fuel cap that wasn't sealing. Another case of why I should have bought a good brand part instead of the cheapest on Amazon or RockAuto.

The Black 2000 has a very long list of issues. I got it running back in April, then let it sit un-driven all summer. When the renewal came due I decided that if I'm paying for insurance, I might as well drive it. With a new battery, it cranked, but wouldn't start. It turned out that the fuel pump was bad. Replacing it was a little messy, but not too hard. The windows didn't work and fuse C3 was blown. That turned out to be a pinched wire at the roof latch shorting out.


The passenger headlight didn't work and that turned out to be a broken fastener that holds the headlight wire connector firmly in the tray - the headlight would slide into place, but not connect to the wire harness. Next on the list is figuring out why the parking brake doesn't work. The cable looks good, so I'll have to pull the brakes off and see what's happening. In the dark, the car doesn't look terrible.


No work done on the 411 yet other than finding that the entire wire harness has been chewed. I'm seriously considering putting the body on an '02 Suzuki Vitara that I picked up. Here's a Type 3 on a Miata chassis: https://dannix.net/index.php/lib/frankenwagon/finished How hard could it be..?

[Homeoboxter]

Originally Posted by 78F350

That turned out to be a pinched wire at the roof latch shorting out.

I see you also had issues with that thread that holds the bolt for that latch thing and is able to withstand a singe tightening on the assembly line. Such an annoying design.