News 2000

12/28/2000

The new bushings for the pedal cluster are installed.

The horn seems to have fixed itself and now bleats.

12/26/2000

I've been working more on my project convert the WEB site to static HTML. A few problems were found in the implementation and there are probably more, I'll continue to test but I'm moving the changes to the production server today.

12/21/2000

Jumping Gear Shift

It is common in 912s for the gear shift to 'jump' when going over a bump. It sometimes is so bad that it will jump out of gear. This has been a problem with my car, but it has changed a lot as we have maintained the car. It was not a problem when we got the car.

But the shifting was extremely vague so all the plastic bushings in the shift linkage were replaced. I noticed a large crack in one of the front motor mounts, so they were both replaced. Now the jumping gear shift was very active. I'd hold on to the shift knob when driving down some streets near our house. Certain irregularities in the road combined with the suspension dynamics to cause the engine-transmission to oscillate against the motor mounts in such a way to cause violent movements in the gear shift linkage.

I was considering changing the motor mounts to the 911 version, a common solution.

Driving over speed bumps had to be done very slowly during all these early months because if any speed was carried at all, it seemed as if the car would become airborne, leaping off the bump back to the pavement. So I adjusted all 4 Koni shocks to their softest position. This fixed the speed bump problem.

I also found the bushings that isolate the rear torsion bars to the body were deformed enough that the suspension was resting on the carrier plates. The old rubber bushings were replaced with plastic ones. Now the rear suspension stopped making noise and seems more compliant, a definite improvement in ride.

I was thinking about all this while driving home last night from work because the jumping gear shift problem is almost gone. It still occurs once and a while, but I do not grab the shift knob on certain streets any more. It is an interesting study in the interaction of components.

12/18/2000

Gabe from Strasse said, "Oh, you need the pedal bushing kit. We have those in stock.", in answer to my question about the pedal cluster - see below. Factory plastic bushings are replaced with brass ones that don't wear out and disappear into dust.

12/16/2000

I looked at my pedal cluster to understand why the brake pedal was sticky and found that there are some missing bushings.

Notice: I am transitioning the internal construction of the site away from Java servlets with data stored in a database. Presently HTML pages are created dynamically, but content is static. The new methodology will create static HTML pages. What does this mean to you? Because the page URLs are changing, it would be best not to book mark any page except the home page:

http://www.hillmanimages.com/912/

12/10/2000

There is some stickiness in the brake pedal bearing.

12/03/2000

I adjusted the heater gate valves today and wrote a bit on it. As you would expect, it puts out a lot more hot air now than before. Of course, I'm still glad I live in California and not upstate New York where it is currently 10 deg F (-13 deg C) at my brother's house in Ithaca.

11/25/2000

After a bit of graphite was squirted into the door locks the key turns much easier. The graphite dispenser is from any car parts store and is a plastic squeeze container with a long thin hollow metal needle that can be inserted into the key hole.

The following modification is for the altitude impaired (I am 5' 8"). I found some square steel tubing at the hardware store ($9 for 48 in.) that I put under the seat rails to raise the drivers seat by an inch. The tubing was cut to 14 in. and two holes drilled 11 3/4 in. apart to match the existing mounting holes. I used some 2 in. bolts to mount the whole assembly to the the seat. If you want to do the same with the stock seats, the only problem would be getting proper length longer metric cap screws. Since the seat rails on the 944 seats in my car are narrower than stock, I put the tubing between the seat rails and the adapter mounting plates as shown in the picture.

11/20/2000

It is frosty this morning. I wonder if the heater can be adjusted to put out more heat -- the answer has to be 'yes'.

We worked inside all week-end. The little car was not touched. Guests from France and Reunion Island are coming for Christmas.

11/16/2000

My WEB server seems to have stopped communicating with the Internet from 09:21 PST 15 Nov. until I re-booted it at 19:18 PST on 16 Nov. Sorry for that if anyone tried to access it during those 35 hours It was communicating on my intranet just fine, so I did not realize there was a problem until I tried to check the site from work today.

11/15/2000

Off-topic: I have changed to a digital camera for the WEB and wrote a few paragraphs on how images are produced for the WEB.

11/13/2000

The new bushings have made the rear end squeak noises go away, but the handling has not improved. I still can think of some more work to do on the suspension, then it will need to to have the alignment checked again.

11/11/2000

I replaced the 4 rear spring plate bushings today.

11/07/2000

Over the weekend, I adjusted the valves, replaced one of the rubber seals around the rear tail light and did an inspection of the spring plate bushings and added a picture of a side view of the car. I have ordered a set of plastic bushings for the rear suspension from Strasse.

11/03/2000

Added some pictures of the Momo steering wheel installation.

10/31/2000

I redid the menus, deleting 'Maintenance' and substituting 'Faq'. The information in 'Maintenance' overlaps 'News', so these were combined. I split the 'News' into two sections.

The transmission is leaking oil. Sigh. At least the engine is now dry.

10/29/2000

It is raining in sunny California this week-end. Glad the garage has a roof. Week-end maintenance:

• Replaced the forward rubber bushings on the front suspension with Porsche PN 914.341.422.00. We are looking for inexpensive pieces to change to improve the slight tendency to wander at freeway speeds. Here is a picture of the old bushing taken when the front pan was repaired. No improvement, still wondering why we wander.
• There is an 'under shield' covering the steering gear assembly which was removed while changing the rubber bushings. While it was off the I removed some light surface rust and painted it with Rust-Oleum Rusty Metal Primer and under-coating.
• Painted the windshield wiper arms black to match the new blades. I used a spray can with glossy paint and may wish I had used semi-gloss.
• Rebuilt the fuel pump which had been leaking a bit of gas.
• Added diagram of the front suspension to the manual pages.

10/26/2000

Preliminary report on the new Momo steering wheel: Smaller in diameter makes small hand movements translate into quicker steering; the car seems more responsive. The larger thickness is much more natural to hands that are conditioned by the modern Boxster and Disco designs. I like the appearance and will take a picture so you can judge for yourself. That part is good. However, the smaller wheel diameter also obscures the top right quadrant of the speedometer. You have to peek around it to see the pointer at freeway speeds. The mounting hub puts the steering wheel closer to the driver so turn signals are further away than before. My fingers have waved empty air instead of signaling a couple of times. These negatives will cause comfortable transition to be a bit longer than I expected. The hub design makes the wheel collapsible in a collision. It may be safer than the old one.

The day after changing the wiper blades, it started to rain and again today so the 912 stayed home in the garage. I have never heard that new blades causes rain.

The current issue Classic & Sports Cars magazine has an article on cavity waxes. These materials do not seem to be discussed much in the U.S, but are designed to be placed in hard to reach areas such as fender wells and door bottoms to prevent rust from forming. Any pre-existing rust should be first converted from ferrous oxide with an acid wash. Their recommended product brand is Dinitrol, an English product that may not be available here. The magazine considers the materials required for old daily driver cars.

10/24/2000

New parts arrived today!

I installed the new Momo steering wheel and changed the wiper blades. Interesting that the horn still does not work even though there is now a working horn button.

10/22/2000

I have started on a FAQ that I expect to expand and integrate it into the menus.

Added a gas mileage summary to the expenses page.

10/16/2000

A car hit a power pole near the house tonight and knocked the power out for a few hours which took the site down. Everything seems to be working again.

We are working on a new parts order including a Momo steering wheel.

Silver painted wiper blades and arms that rest in front of the passenger like mine are out of distribution. Later ones (1968+) are black and rest on the drivers side. A common solution (seen on several concours entries - wonder if points are lost) seems to be to repaint the arms black and use the new Bosch black blades.

10/15/2000

Added Gas and changed the oil but mostly just driving the little car, and it is running great. I did discover that the fuel pump is leaking a bit of gasoline. I need to replace some seals.

Rick and I went to the Blackhawk Museum On Saturday. If you like old cars, particularly the classic period beginning in the late '20s, and you don't know about this place it is a must see. It was the first time for both of us. I have no idea what the value of these are but it must be significantly more than $100 million.

10/10/2000

Added pictures of Sundays Concours and Swap Meet at Parts Heaven, a page about my new speaker installation and a picture of my 944 seats.

Very little oil is now dripping from the engine. Most of that problem was fixed with the replacement of the oil pressure switch. The top surfaces of the engine are again clean and stay that way.

A suggestion was made at the swap meet on Sunday that the wandering problem might be front shocks. The rears are easy to remove and check. The fronts are not. Time to poke the parts chain?

10/7/2000

There is still may be something going on with the suspension that the laser alignment did not find. I think the slight wandering above 65 MPH is better, but the car still does not track at these speeds as well as I think it should. It does not seem dangerous, just not perfect. Of course the Boxster is rock solid at 120+ MPH. Am I just spoiled?

10/5/2000

The laser alignment found nearly 2 degrees of toe out which could cause the 'wandering' on the highway that I have been concerned with. This maintenance was mostly for piece of mind. Evidently the car is not twisted, and unless something traumatic happens to it, we will not have to have these measurements done again. I have no capability to know if the other components of the suspension are aligned or not. As it turns out, they were fine. The measurements included toe-in, caster, and camber of both the front and rear wheels. The only easy adjustment on these old cars is front wheel toe-in, which was adjusted. The other measurements showed the suspension to be within factory tolerances. Later cars have the ability to move the top of the front shocks around which can change caster and camber of the front suspension.

The oil pressure switch had been leaking oil. We installed a new one that is dry at the end of the day. Problem may be fixed.

10/4/2000

Added a manual entry on the quarter window rubber molding replacement.

Took the car to check and align the suspension. This shop has a full four wheel laser alignment jig. It should be done tomorrow.

09/24/2000

Here is a status report summarizing the last four months with my 912.

Worked some more on the driver's door by adjusting the striker. Enlarged the holes in order to move the top of the striker plate closer to the center line and the bottom to the outside. It gets better with each try. Added some of the left over sound damping material to the inside of the doors. Fixed a rattle inside the drivers door.

09/22/2000

The right rear window started to rattle. The window seal was old, hard, brittle and broken. Inspection showed that pieces of the seal had fallen out and others were loose an rattling. I had replaced the rubber on the other side in June. The after market seal is really not the correct version. The original has a rib that fits snugly into the slot around the window. The new one has to be glued on with 3M Trim Adhesive. We were surprised at the improvement in the noise level this fix made. Engine noise at highway speeds is finally to an acceptable level. This is good news.

09/21/2000

I just noticed this:

BENNINGTON, Vt., July 21, 2000 /PRNewswire/ -- Hemmings Motor News, ``the bible of the old car hobby, has announced its 13th annual ``top ten picks of ``sleeper cars overlooked collector cars which will appear in the November issue of Special Interest Autos, its bi-monthly collector-car magazine.

(9) Porsche 912, 1966-69

Perhaps the greatest sports car ever built was Porsches 911. The ultimate drivers car, it offered exceptional handling, fantastic brakes and a high- revving flat-six air-cooled engine that was as powerful as it was reliable, all in a cozy fastback body. With the 911s price tag too steep for what some enthusiasts can afford, Porsches entry level 912 makes a perfect alternative sports car for those willing to accept a reduction in power. With either a 90 or a 102 horsepower flat-four instead of Porsches distinctive six, the 912 rewarded its drivers with slightly better handling than the faster 911 due to the 912s lower weight and better balance. The 912s maintenance costs are notably less than the 911 too, since parts for the four-cylinder engine are cheaper and fewer. Everything else on the 912 is nearly identical to its more powerful sibling which means just about every body panel, trim piece and mechanical component is available, along with a huge after market offering of performance parts. Weak and rusted floor pans can be problem on northern climate rust belt cars so watch out. Judging by the ads in Hemmings Motor News, about $6,000 will get you a 912 in really good condition.

Hmmm. Our car is approaching ``really good condition''. But it still takes time and money to get and keep it there. I was lucky to get an example with a good engine. The rest of the car is the same cost to maintain as a 911.

Replaced the front right turn signal lens. We got the part in early July, but never took the time to do the work. Replacement lamp assemblies are very expensive and not that easy to find. Used ones do not look good. You can get either Euro or US lenses. This is an easy job! It took me about 30 minutes.

Cleaned and used naval jelly in the rusted area under the passenger door. The purpose is to slow down the rust until it can be properly repaired. Otherwise it could spread very quickly - and it may in spite of this effort because it is impossible to get to all affected surfaces.

09/20/2000

Added pictures of the Lodi Concours.

Added pictures of the front pan and fuel tank restoration.

09/18/2000

I've been working on reducing the interior car noise over the last couple of days. The car stereo installers use sound dampening material from Dynamat to reduce noise. The material is available in kits which may have three grades of material, Original, Premium and Xtreme. Each of these are a sound deadening material with an adhesive back. The kits are expensive, but the noise was loud. I bought the trunk kit and then an additional 4 square feet of the Xtreme material. I have added dampening material to the inside of the door panels, on the flat panel under the rear window and inside the engine compartment. The most time has been spent in the engine compartment. I used the Xtreme material to cover the rear fender areas and the firewall. It seems to work. Asha commented yesterday that the car is quieter than before. However, the high frequency sounds from the generator and fan come through pretty well.

Today I added the insulation blanket over the top of the Xtreme material, which seems to attenuate the high frequencies by a couple of DB. Sorry, but although I have a DB meter, I can not quantify the improvements because I have not been taking measurements under any standard conditions as the project has proceeded. The picture shows my technique for applying pressure on the top of the engine compartment.

I did some more adjustment to the drivers door striker plate. There was a bit of interference between the outer edge of the plate and the door cam. I added another thickness of gasket material and solved that. The plate was not able to move close enough the center line of the car. A dremel tool was used to enlarge the top mounting hole. Finally I improved the alignment of the window by adjusting the bottom socket head bold on the door. The door now closes more tightly and with less force required than before. It also sounds much more solid due to the sound dampening material.

Added a new battery hold-down strap as recommended by Don at Dels Autobody.

09/14/2000

We have an appointment to get a 4 wheel alignment done on the car on October 4th at CT Automotive. This can be done now that the front suspension is firmly tied to the car after the front body pan restoration. They suggested the toe-in might not be sufficient causing light straight ahead steering and wandering on the highway. I added a bit more toe-in until it can be measured and adjusted properly. It is an improvement.

How great it is to push the car not worrying about the front suspension. There are no more strange clicks, creaks and groans coming from the front as there were. The engine is strong, there are no rattles, now if I could only figure out how to get the drivers door to close tightly without having to slam it.

Changed the oil and cleaned the oil strainer on the bottom of the engine. I was curious to see what the strainer might be. Well, it is a circular magnet held off the plate by stand-offs and captured between two large washers. The magnet is in the oil supply, so has been collecting metal particles from engine wear. It was pretty clean - no obvious filings captured. Good!

I tightened up the oil pressure sensor. It has been leaking. This may solve the problem or there may be a gasket or O-ring that has to be changed. Try something and wait. The little car demands constant attention. Kind of like a mechanical pet.

09/11/2000

Hurray! The short version is that I'm driving the car again.

The long version involves a lot of driving and a bit of trauma. I was over booked for last Saturday; invited to a Wedding, had a golf tournament and needed to pick up the gas tank in Oroville, about 200 miles from San Jose. The body pans were welded in place on the 7th, but the gas tank took just as long to restore and got a later start by a couple of days. My brother had agreed to drive up to Oroville to get the gas tank, but on Friday he crashed his motorcycle and I didn't get him back from the hospital ER until midnight. He is bummed out, the bike is damaged and I drove to Oroville. Tee time for the tournament was 1:00. I got to the course at 1:10, missed the first hole, disqualified from the tournament, but was glad I played 17 and had the tank in the back of the Disco.

The tank had a lot of crud in it. The lesson seems to be if you are storing a car for extended times, at least keep a full tank of fuel in the car. Best case is a full tank of gas plus a stabilizer to prevent the gasoline from breaking down over time. The POR15 folks have both a stabilizer and a tank sealer. If you don't have a full tank temperature changes will cause the air in the tank to expand and contract, bringing outside air into the tank. If the air is humid, these same temperature changes will cause the damp air to produce some liquid water which will sink to the bottom of the tank and form rust. I had been seeing rusty crud in the fuel filter - forcing regular (every couple of weeks) changes of the filter. When we shook the tank after removal it rattled! There was so much junk in it that I was worried about rusting through. The cleanup process involved soaking in acid (weak phosphoric, no doubt) and neutralizing a couple of times, then sealing the tank. They even cut a hole in the bottom of the tank in order to get clear access to the spare tire dome, then welded a flush plug to seal the hole.

On return, the tank seems solid, is nice and shiny gray inside and after a couple of hours on Sunday, the outside was clean, free of rust and any peeling of the factory covering was cut back to the point it adhered to the surface.

On Monday I took the tank back to Dels, asked them to put POR15 on the outside bare metal portions of the tank and apologized for not being able to clean the threads enough to re-install the fuel level sensor and the new tank filter. No problem for them. I re-purchased the car and drove it home on Monday. Cost of restoration was $1728, not including my time or transportation cost for two trips to Oroville. The latter a function of impatience rather than necessity. UPS does deliver to Oroville, you know. Well worth it to me. A major problem and worry is fixed.

09/08/2000

Added pictures taken at the Monterey Historics.

09/05/2000

The new fuel tank filter ordered from Strasse last week arrived today.

08/31/2000

The fuel tank is being reconditioned by Ron Zeitner of Vintage Auto in Oroville CA (530) 534-1163. His shop was recommended by the people who make POR 15. The cost is reasonable and Ron does a lot of this kind of work, although his main business is building custom street rods.

+ 08/28/2000 + The car was delivered to Del's Autobody for restoration work on the front pan.

08/27/2000

Replaced the rear brake clips with new ones from Porsche. While the rear wheels were off, pulled the shocks and adjusted them to their softest setting per the recommendation from Up-Fixin der Porsche.

In preparation for the car going to the 'Body Hospital' tomorrow morning, I also replaced the left front hood shock strut with a new one that was provided with the car by the previous owner. This should the prevent the intermittent tendency for the hood not to stay open.

08/25/2000

Replaced the broken return spring in the turn signals with a part obtained through the local Porsche parts department. Ever since I've had the car, the turn signals would not cancel. The problem was a broken spring as was correctly pointed out in the Up-Fixin der Porsche series from the PCA.

08/17/2000

The $5.00 radio did not check out. The tape mechanism was faulty including the switch that switches between tape playing and the radio. So I broke down and purchased a Sony CD receiver and had it installed. This is a departure from authenticity toward modern technology. But let's not get philosophic about it. I now have tunes in the car. And the CD gives me control of what tunes I hear. Life is good.

+ 08/15/2000 +

New value estimate:

Model Year	Condition	1999	2000
1966	poor	5970	5946
	good	6788	6760
	excellent	9088	9050

I can stand this much depreciation! Particularly as our car's condition moves to wards excellent.

Added a copy of the wiring diagram for the 912.

Fixed the license plate lights by installing parts from the used harness purchased at the Carlson Swap meet.

08/14/2000

The brakes were squealing at low speeds. The problem appears to have been wear on the rear brake pads leaving a ridge on the pad which would rub against the edge of the rotor. The ridge was removed with a file and the squeal has gone. The retaining clips are different on the back than the front. They were installed in a way that served no purpose. I rotated 90 deg. and now they load up the cross pins in the same way as those in the fronts. These clips are different parts than the front.

While re-installing the pads to find the brake squeal, the front wheel bearings were cleaned and re-packed.

08/10/2000

• Fixed problem that prevented expenses from being displayed on the WEB site.
• Added a description of what I've done to the ignition system.

07/30/2000

I found an oil leak at the back of the engine today.

07/24/2000

On Sunday Asha and I drove her Boxster to the Monterey Region concours in Monterey. Enjoyed the trip, people, BBQ, meeting Ken Brown and taking pictures of his very nice '65/66 912.

The new Bosch H4 headlamps arrived. It only takes 20 minutes to install them both, and this time I didn't drop anything.

The car is running very well right now. One major expense on the horizon which is the front body pan restoration.

07/20/2000

• Installed the left head light gasket and in the process dropped the assembly, breaking the front class cover. Sigh. Called Strasse to investigate replacement.
• Finished major redo of the site as a prototype for data driven WEB delivery. Now all pages except the top are servlet supplied with much content loaded database tables. Uses a template engine in order to separate business rules and data access from the view. I'm pleased with the technology. Look and feel is controled by including common template files. Change the template and the whole site can change appearance. Way cool!

07/18/2000

Recieved the Valve cover gaskets, New rubber gaskets for the head light rim to fender, Carburetor synchronizer, and Front body pan replacement kit.

07/17/2000

Gased car. Now up to 18 mpg. I don't think there were any leaks fixed during this tank, so I can expect the milage to stabilize here for the kind of driving I'm doing now. It is only 3-4 miles to work and that does not help the milage.

Gabe at Strasse called to say my parts shipped today (valve cover gaskets, head light seal, carb synchronizer and front body pan replacement parts).

07/15/2000

Adjusted valves back to factory specs after a trip to my Mom's house with Asha. Her comment after the ride was "Click, click, click". Guess the valves were too noisy. Also changed oil and cleaned out the fuel pump filter which had collected some rust.

Stopped to visit Del's Autobody in San Jose. This is the Porsche body shop that has worked on a number of concours cars in the area. I'm planning for him fix the front body pan rust problem. It will be at least 20 hours of work for him to fix the problem.

07/13/2000

Added a WEB page on toe-in adjustment and started another on repairing the front body pan.

07/12/2000

Added a WEB page on carburetor adjustment.

Right front suspension is squeaking. It can be reproduced by bouncing the right side fender. I wonder how good are these 34 year old Konis?

The car does not track well enough at highway speeds. It probably wonders +/- 2-3 in. side to side at 70 mph. Why? Possibilities include worn suspension bushings at the torsion bar ends, either front or back; the rusty front body pan may be flexing causing variable toe-in; or the car may not be tracking well enough and needs a 4 wheel alignment. CT Automotive has been recommended to do the latter.

07/10/2000

Added a WEB page on valve adjustment. Added a bit to the ignition page describing the procedure for static timing.

07/06/2000

Took the car to HCP Research for a tune up. Valves were too tight. Both intake and exhaust were set to .007 which is a little loose on the exhaust. Carbs are working fine in all their adjustments and were resynchronized. The gas tank is rusty as evidenced by the crud collecting in the fuel filter. The filter was replaced. Need to be sure to carry an extra fuel filter. If the flow is reduced enough vapor locks will occur.

Harry said, "Valves were very tight! Reset a little loose, so you may notice more valve noise than before. This is good. Fuel filter had lots of crud inside, and new one even has noticeable crud already. Obvious source is gas tank. Fan belt was worn and loose - replaced it. Oil down a quart. I put some in. Overall, this is a very nice 912."

07/04/2000

Reworked the WEB site.

07/03/2000

Installed the trunk carpet set. The kit is made from domestic Perlon rather than the the German cross check material that was original. A clear concession to cost over originality. This kit was $110, the other $250.

Installed rubber deck lid bumpers on the engine lid.

06/29/2000

Received car cover, air filters, trunk carpet set, rear deck T handle, engine lid body seal and 10 light bulbs from Strasse today.

Installed the new air filters and the T handle. While the air cleaners were off, checked the shock towers for tightness and motion when bouncing on the rear of the car. The left shock has a bit of sound and movement. This may be the culprit of the rumbling sound when going over bumps at low speed. The rubber pieces at the top of the shock look just fine although they may be compressed out of shape.

06/26/2000

Got some Blaupunkt speakers. Fry's did not have any of the connectors for the radio so connecting it all together is problematic. I'm tempted to get another radio with CD player and put it in the glove box using this one for looks. The speakers are 4 in. diameter and should fit nicely under the dash firing down towards the floor.

There is a rumble sound in the rear of the car that needs to be diagnosed. It occurs when on rough surfaces. Might be CV joints, motor mounts or shocks. The half shafts slide in and out easily. Does this suggest worn CV joints?

Ordered air filters, rubber stoppers for each lid, the rear deck rubber seal, and a trunk carpet kit from Strasse.

Installed the cover for the generator to keep out moisture and dirt.

06/25/2000

Went to the Palo Alto concours with my brother Rick. Unfortunately my camera's battery died after about 2 shots. There were two nice '67 912s. One was the Guards Red one that triggered a thought of getting one when Asha and I went to the concours a couple of years ago. This is a fully restored car. Gorgeous.

Some missing and the tachometer was bouncing around on the trip back from Palo Alto. One of the crimp connections to the distributor was loose which could cause this problem. Tightened the connection.

Found a loose screw and nut in the engine compartment yesterday while re-gluing the insulation. On right turns I was again smelling gasoline. With the aide of a mirror, pieced the two problems together. The screw came out of the carburetor just below the gas inlet on the side.

06/24/2000

Mounted the radio. Havent hooked it up yet. The hole in the dash had to be enlarged. Only butchered the right side. Sigh.

Checked the air cleaners. Yuck. Removed them until new ones can be purchased.

Re-glued the engine insulation which had fallen free. I really dont have the technique. This time I read the instructions very carefully. Maintained pressure on the top surface over night.

06/23/2000

Changed oil and filter. Used Mahle OX79 from Strasse which comes with the top gasket. Took 4 1/2 quarts, including filling the filter housing.

Cleaned up some minor rust around the right hand jack point.

Added gas. Got 17 mi/gal on the last tank. This is better than the 14 on the previous tank, but should be getting above 20. Carbs may be too rich and their may still be some leaks, although have not tracked them down. Strange. Did not expect to be chasing gasoline leaks.

06/21/2000

Got the final bushing for the shift linkage. The first attempt at driving indicated that the rotational alignment was not correct. Shifting from first to second would nick reverse. The answer seemed to be to rotate the transmission side all the way against the stop away from reverse, then to put the handle against the gate on the right and tighten.

Installed the 944 seats. 911 seats also would have worked. Had to get longer socket screws from Orchard supply, plus the bolts to mount the seats to the plate. The tracks on these later model seats are narrower. Adaptor plates are used to reduce the mounting distance. This is a major improvement in seating comfort. Highly recommended for daily drivers. Now I need a way to store the old seats which would be required if the car is ever prepared as a show car.

The seats do not slide back and forth as easily as they should. This is a combination of the dirt and old lubrication in the tracks and the alignment of the rails in the car. They should be installed with the rails parallel so there is no side loading on the tracks as the seat moves from front to back.

The results of these two changes are the greatest incremental improvement in drive-ability yet.

06/20/2000

Have finished replacing the left side tie rod and lower ball joint. Whole job for both sides took about 10 hours. Biggest problem was taking it all apart. The bolts were hard to remove. Used the impact wrench for the second side which helped a lot. The tie rod ends on both sides were frozen on the tie rod. Finally broke them free using a pipe wrench on the tie rod.

Ordered 3 out of the 4 bushings for the shift linkage. Discovered the need for the fourth after taking it all apart. The rear ones are replaced by cutting the old ones out. Then drive the pin out with a punch on the top and the other end of the pin held off the table by a long socket.

Have cleaned the exterior paint using the Mothers Clay product followed with Blitz wax. The clay works well on this finish.

Rust treatment on interior metal under spare tire.

06/11/2000

Brought home some things from Parts Heaven swap meet including jack, 944 seats, Porsche radio and a sun shade.

Replaced the right side tie rod and lower ball joint. Took a half a day. The tie rod was frozen on the tie rod. Both parts removed were worn. The tie rod end was particularly in bad shape. No lubrication left in the socket at all.

06/09/2000

Fixed the oil filler cap rattle by buying a Stant 11623 Fuel Cap from Kragen. The catches are bent on the old cap and the internal spring is broken. It was rusted from condensation that accumulates at the top of the oil filler body.

Here is the engine compartment insulation when we got the car showing how badly it had deteriorated. The rear of the engine compartment had big sheets of this that had fallen off. The surface of the sides was powdery. A real mess.

Installed the main engine insulation on the back firewall. Getting 3M Trim Adhesive to stick is a problem for me. Obviously I don't know the technique. I finally figured out a way to push up on the overhead insulation long enough for it to secure itself (we hope). I put a board against the insulation and then held it in place with a hammer handle on the top of the engine. The hammer has a 5 pound head so it presses the board up with enough force to hold the insulation firmly against the top of the engine compartment.

06/04/2000

Changed the two motor mounts at the transmission. Inspected the others which are OK.

Changed the rear right brake lining. Acceptable access can be gained to the fittings when the motor mounts are removed. The left hand fittings are so tight that my 11 mm wrench opens up causing the wrench to slip which will round the corners of the fitting.

Adjusted parking brake. Out of travel in the slack adjustment at the wheels. Still too much travel for the handle.

06/03/2000

Wheel Works installed new Michelin XZX tires and a cheap spare.

Changed the transmission fluid. Sebco 201 from Strasse.

06/02/2000

Bought gas today. 14.1 mpg. Found and fixed another gas leak. The gas line fitting on the left hand carburetor was loose enough to drip making the carburetor wet with gas. Tightened it and the leak stopped.

06/01/2000

Added new wires and plugs. Car is running much better.

Replaced rubber fuel lines between fuel supply on the left side of the engine compartment to the fuel filter and then to and from the fuel pump. It was leaking, causing gasoline smell and obvious excess gasoline consumption. This should fix both problems.

Checked and tightened front wheel bearings, but don't believe they were loose.

05/30/2000

Installed new Bosch mechanical advance 050 distributor and electronic points from Strasse. Tried to get electronic points for the 022 distributor, but they do not fit properly. Bought a timing light and found the mark on the engine pulley for TDC. Number 1 cylinder was adjusted to fire at about 5 degrees before top dead center at idle. Runs much better. When new ignition wires and plugs arrive, I'll take a bit more care on timing.

Used a chrome cleaner to clean off several areas of rusted chrome. It works pretty well. The pits are still there, but this can postpone the need to buy new chrome parts until other items are finished.

05/26/2000

Installed new three point seat belts. The floor mounting bolts were the old style, elongated and coated with black plastic. These must be replaced with new circular ones.

Installed the new 'blue' Bosch coil. The old coil is a larger diameter so the clamp was too large. I solved the clearance mismatch by shimming with gasket material.

Need new ignition wires and plugs.

05/25/2000

Replaced the front two brake lines, flushed and bled the brake system.

Received seat belts, new coil and distributor today.

05/23/2000

The electronic points require a more modern distributor than the 022 that came with the car. Evidently the 022 works off the cam and the newer ones need an additional pin. Will know more when the parts arrive. Have added a Bosch 050 to the order. This unit should be correct on the advance curve according to Gabe at Strasse. Will keep the 022 as an original part for the engine.

Added some more pictures to the site including front views.

05/22/2000

Ordered seat belts, electronic distributor points and Bosch blue coil from Strasse.

Bought tool to remove door striker. 8mm 12 point square internal wrench bit. Other end is 1/2 in hex drive. Lisle 60770. Made first try at adjusting the drivers door. It is harder to do than I expected. The door doesn't close as it should. The book suggests elongating the hole that the striker plate mounts on. The driver's side is particularly bad and does not close flush with the body. According to the manual, there are some design changes on the door latching mechanism and they suggest and document converting to the new style. I have the old style. The latch plate is supposed to be vertical. On mine it is parallel with the body. The 8mm special wrench is also used on the seat-belts. Part of the problem is the window rail which is too low at the back edge of the door. Need to dissemble the door to fix.

05/21/2000

Fixed the brake light. The wiring diagram shows the brake light voltage comes into the left side lamp socket and back out through the engine compartment to the right lamp. Since the left light was working it was easy to localize the problem using an ohm meter which showed that the wire was good and the problem was in the socket.

Rick and I went to the Fresno Greater Valley Concours. Met and talked to several 912 owners from the local area. They recommend going to the swap meet at PartsHeaven on June 11th. Found many tidbits which allow me to expand my 'to do' list.

05/20/2000

Changed oil. Castrol GTX. The Boxster uses Mobil 1. I used Mobil 1 on the 944. Strategy will be to use a standard brand, change often and inspect the oil. If it stays clean for a couple of thousand miles, change to the synthetic. My neighbor has a Corvette and changed to Mobil 1. Now his engine leaks. Does Mobil 1 attack old seals?

Did a couple hours of cleaning in the trunk, engine compartment and interior. Right tail light is connected to the left. Understanding why it does not work should be easy particularly if I could find my meter.

There is an oil change sticker in the door: Service date 3/26/81, mileage 93086. The speedometer only has 5 digits, so I'm assuming that the current mileage is 105K. That makes 93K in first 15 years and 12K miles in last 19 years. The car was stored for at least the last 15 years, so these numbers may add up. The carburetors were redone over a year ago. (Don said "About 200 miles ago". I asked how many years that was and he said, "A couple"). I suspect that for several of the previous years, the car would not run.

New battery ground cable

05/19/2000

Signed up for insurance today. Bought what materials that can be gotten from Kragen or PepBoys such as oil, tail lights, battery ground cable etc. The battery ground is good.

05/18/2000

We drove it home today and took the first few pictures. Its time to start making a list of problems to be fixed and improvements to be made. I can think of dozens of things.

05/17/2000

An interesting ad in the paper. "PORSCHE '66 912 xlnt cond. Dave call 408 867-xxxx". He lost my phone number! Back in business. Took Asha over to see the car. She likes the Boxster just fine, thank you very much. She has a point, you know...

05/14/2000

Don didn't call. After 34 years, how bad does he want to sell the car? It has to be hard to part with.

05/13/2000

I offered to buy the manuals for $250 and suggested he should be able to get more from someone who was doing a complete restoration. The manuals from My Porsche should be fine for me. Of course, my $250 might be OK if he does not want the hassle to market the manuals...

He'll phone tomorrow. Another looker called to see the car.

05/10/2000

The 356C was rejected today because of rust at the rear torsion bar. We have been told that problem is very expensive to repair.

After giving my Boxster to my wife, I've found a 912 to buy from an ad in the San Jose Mercury. "Porsche '66 912 xlnt cond orig owner $8k 408 867-xxxx". Hmmm. The owner, Don, said he had picked the car up new in Germany. It has the original owners manual, bill of sale, shipping documents, shop manual and engine manual. My brother, Rick, and I drove the car. Seems solid. Will make a good daily driver. Let's see, Bruce Anderson suggests the following values in the October 1999 issue of Excellence Magazine:

Model Yr	Condition	1998	1999
1966	low	5741	5880
	good	6527	6686
	excellent	8738	8950

I offered Don a compromise amount for the car. He countered, agreeing to the price less the shop manuals. Well, that's interesting.

After some research, workshop repair manuals are available from My Porsche, $187.01 for the 911 1965-71 Vol I and II. The 912 engine manual is listed at $57.35. These should do for me just fine.

05/07/2000

I'm looking for an old Porsche. I've been driving my seventh for the last couple of years, a 1997 Boxster that we got in February, 1998. Asha turned in her beloved 1996 BMW Z3 1.9 in May. We now talk about Asha's Boxster.

I found a pretty guards red '65 356C. A previous owner spent $26K on restoration.

My first Porsche was a 1997 912, purchased used in Portland, Oregon at the Porsche dealer.

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