Almost time for a drive!
 

From Northern Il...
Daylight savings this weekend... 50+ degrees is near! It's time to prep the Boxster for my first spring drive!!!! CANT WAIT!
What I love about winter... I get that new car feeling every year!

Lucky you. I still have 1 1/2' of snow blocking the back garage. It will be a couple of weeks yet. Ed

1.5' blocking...I have to laugh, me and the shepherd went past a bank over six feet high yesterday, that's on my street!

I need a clutch job, I wanted to do it myself but that's not physically possible. I am going to start shopping prices soon, I hope my regular mechanic's son can do it, I'm looking to stay under $1,500 if possible.

No sign of spring here yet. Frigid temperatures, howling winds, deep snow drifts... and when I go outside it's even worse!

I'm also in northern Illinois; it will be two months before the Box leaves the garage. We're getting a lot of rain today, but it's snowing 30 miles north in Wisconsin!

I am chomping at the bit to get my box out of the garage.
I have to keep telling myself to wait until the street sweepers come through. LOTS of sand on the sides of the roads.

Mine is still sitting in my mechanic's garage, couldn't drive it back yet due to weather.

You can definitely do clutch work for under $1500 if you don't need to replace the flywheel.
Just replaced mine last week. Here is the parts cost break down:
clutch kit is $626
These parts are not needed if you don't have any leaks but they are cheap and you are already there anyway:
RMS $20
IMS seal $6
trans input seal $12.50
total parts $664.50

The mechanic charged me $780 for labor (including LN IMS upgrade), I think it should be 1-2 hrs less if you don't do anything to your IMS.

Going out today
 

Wife's birthday so we are taking the Boxcar out for a drive as part of the celebration. Roads are clear here in the Hudson Valley and the past rain has cleared most of the sand & salt off the roads. Still a bit chilly as it is only 30.5 degrees F as I type this message. Supposed to rain big time tonight and that will further clear the decks for action. Will let you know how we make out.

AKL :cheers:

Went for a drive last Sunday. The roads were wet in spots from melting snow at the side of the road. We did not put the top down as it was only 40F.

The side roads have some sand on them but the main highways were clear.

Since Sunday we have had 5" of snow but the roads are clear now.

Nice thing is when it snows we can ski, when it doesn't we can drive. Life is good. ;)

Can't wait either! Yesterday 1 - 2 ft of snow, today 50's...... crazy spring storms in Utah!

I have been keeping track of the snow here since December 23. So far 151". We live at 8000 ft. and have been able to take a sports car out almost every week. The scenery is not too bad either. ;)

A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called Asssspen.

It's the most expensive town in America, according to a recent article in the WSJ & your f-car pic reinforces that.

Nice F355 Spider!

Follow up, great trip no pools of water to drive through. Very little if any salt & sand left. Permagrin was sagging a bit over the winter but just re-appeared with a vengeance. Almost forgot what fun it is to drive these cars. :cheers:

Actually a 360 Spider. But I did have an F355 F1 GTS some years ago. ;)

The WSJ article you referred to said something to the effect: like being in a small Manhattan in the mountains. Everything except the crime. LOL

Life is good.

Phil did you get the extended warranty on that beast!? :D

No. I assume you mean the 360. A real trophy winner. LOL

Too many engine parts not covered on the Boxster so I passed.

Ya the 360, was just messin with you...nice trophy...now you have to post pics of babes leaning on either car.

Well, you asked for it. ;)

Nice . . . car.

You guys have missed some perfect opportunities for driving your Boxster and having fun.

A couple of weeks ago (about 2 I think) I had just finished swapping out the engine in my car and all of the associated problems that occurred afterward. It took the car out to fill it up with gas and get a replacement license plate bulb. As I left, it started raining. By the time I was filling it up at the gas station it had turned to freezing rain. When I came out of the auto parts store, it was really big snowflakes. The roads were slippery as hell. Going home I went to make a left hand turn and gave it too much gas and just strarted spinning. I turned it into a 180 (on purpose) and went back the way I came. From there home, every deserted intersection became a chance to do some donuts. In the one closest to my house, there were two kids walking on the sidewalk. I did two donuts in the intersection. They cheered. It was fun!

After skiing till 2 PM, I took the Boxster S out for a spin today. It was about 50F, sunny and no wind. So I put the top down. Really great listening to the Sports Exhaust with the top down.

Just before I got on my favorite fast stretch a county cop pulled out right in front of me and started pursuing the cars ahead. Talk about lucky!

A perfect day. And tomorrow looks like more of the same.

Life is good.

No good weather insight here . :mad:

It was sunny and 61F in Basalt (19 miles down valley from Aspen, elv. 6200 ft.) so the wife put the top down and had a wonderful lunch at Cuvee' Bistro and then went for a drive to Reudi Reservior (which is the headwaters of the Frying Pan River...home of the best Gold Medal trout fishing in Colorado). Picture was taken in fall. It is frozen over now.

We did see a herd of Rocky Mountain Big Horn sheep (about 20). Life is good.

Big Horn sheep on the way to Reudi on a previous trip. :cool:

Life is short!!!
 

Just remember this: Any one of us could fail to open our eyes tomorrow.

:cheers:

To illustrate: My dad's wife, a 43 year-old in fine health, non-drinker, non-smoker,
non-anything if ya ask me, gets the flu. The flu sets her up for pneumonia.
Now the woman is a nurse, mind you, so as it happens, she is exposed to some antibiotic resistant crud. No prob right? There's all kinds of great antibiotics today, and if all else fails, there's always penicillin.

Nooot.

The modern antibiotics were useless, she was allergic to penicillin,
and my 12 year-old sister is an orphan. True story, as of last week.

Therefore I encourage you, so long as you can safely do so:

DRIVE IT.

Except when it's been too icy or there's too much fresh snow, I've driven mine all winter here in the mid-atlantic. It's been a mild winter, but that's not the point.

Have you seen "Benjamin Button"?

"Ya never know what's comin' for ya."

Exactly.

We stopped at a stoplight and a woman hit us doing 50 mph. Knocked us into the intersection. Totaled Ruby. We could have been killed instead of minor injuries.

Moral to the story: Life is short. EVERYTHING can change in an instant. Really.

Ruby. I miss her. Drive it.

Yup...I had stage 3 cancer in 00-01', surgery, 3 months chemo. 10 years later I still have the same saying "Every day is a good day even the bad ones".

Phil, stop showing pictures of Ruby, I want those rims!! :)

I am sure some lucky Porsche enthusiast got those rims. And I am sure the car was parted out. Everything in front of the rear trunk looked like new.

Please note I went for 18" Cayman S II wheels. Thought they would be more chuckhole proof than 19" so I passed on the 19" Turbo wheels. Plus the Caymans go nicely with the new side mirror design IMVHO.

Please note: Picture of Ruby not included in this post. :cool:

Glad you are well my friend.

On top of that, there really is no good reason to not drive the Boxster in the winter. The car handles snow better than most cars if you put winter tires on it. It's galvanized, so it doesn't really rust. The only precautions I would take would be to hit all of the exposed screws and bolts on the underside of the car (mostly the undertray bolts) with some Boeshield to keep them from rusting. Everything else is protected well. Then, in spring, remove the undertrays and rinse the underside thoroughly. The car is a blast in the snow. If it gets wrecked, it's not like it cannot be replaced. Drive it!

Sorry but there is one caveat, in NY, they have gone to a new system of road salt application. It's a brine-like solution mixed with some sort of maple syrup byproduct that is used to help it adhere to ice. Thing is, it adheres to lines and car parts more than the road. My truck is on it's second transmission line set, brake lines had to be replaced and now the rear differential housing is rusting out. I don't care how galvanized your metal is, drive in upstate NY during the winter and expect to ruin your car, it's that simple.

PS even if you avoid the rust, all the fasteners and parts seize far more after a salt season, making even simple repairs likely fastener snapping cuss festivals. Convertibles aren't too warm when it's -10 either. Closing in on 200" of snow, ground clearance on the Box would have stranded you multiple times this year.

I took the Boxster out yesterday just to clear my mind. My mom has been in the hospital for 2 weeks and it's been kinda stressful.

After about 10min on the open road I looked down and was doing 105 ! Thank God the road was almost deserted.

Oh, and setting the tires pressures has made the vibration disappear.

Glad the tire pressure solved your problem.

Hope your mother gets well soon.

I wonder if car manufacturers developed that stuff. Sounds nasty.

That's why I recommended using Boeshield on them. It's a wax based spray that coats what you spray it on to protect it from corrosion. Boeing (hence the "boe" in the name) developed it for aircraft.

The Boxster isn't that low. I've driven in snow deep enough that my car left a clear "track" from the bottom of the chassis. I was on summer tires at the time too. Driving carefully is all it takes.

I've done that in a Mountaineer, several times this year, that spray wax sounds like it would be great for the Fiat to keep it rust free.

Wow Mike, that's surprising, what summer tires? I couldn't get out of my drive in 1" of snow on PSII's ! (slight uphill)

My insurance kicks back in April 6th, so pumped! Have to fix the convertible top and some scratches but I'm so excited to be driving my baby on the road again! I hate Canadian winters but all the snow is just about gone. :)