Best Porsche(s) Ever!

Gone Cabby Gone

Thats right, as of 8/10/08 i am no longer the owner of the 1987 Cabriolet Wolfsburg! The car was placed on ebay and auctioned off to the highest bidder. In this case the winning bidder was a somewhat local and promptly picked the car up. The new owner has intentions of making the car into a straight 96Volt electric car. He said using an adapter plate to the transmission you can bolt upto standard DC motor housings. These combonations have been shown to get around 80-110 miles before requiring to recharge. Pretty cool stuff!

Time to focus on other projects now that there is a little brething room in the driveway!

4th Autox - Mr. Ed's Debut!!!

Comments to follow...

Results: http://www.phillyscca.com/solo2/results/2008/SO071308.shtml

Ghia Collage

First Rallyx

On June 22nd I had my first rally-cross exposure and after playing around in the dirt and gravel all day I can never look at my SX4 the same way again. This event was my first real exposure to organized off road racing, and the experience was unforgettable. Originally I had intended on raising the coilovers on the hatchback and going to town. However days turned into weeks and the car was not ready prior to the event. With the hatchback out of the picture and this being the only scheduled rally event of 2008 another vehicle would have to stand in. Enter the SX4!!

That’s right I rally raced my then 4 week old 08 Suzuki! Some of my peers & competitors thought I was crazy for racing such a new car, but I was up for the challenge. The learning curve for the event was rather steep for me. The SX4 has a number of different features that needed to be tweaked or disabled to really take advantage of the car. First of which was the traction control system. In the preliminary runs I did not realize that the traction control was engaged, and due to the offroad circumstances the car was constantly in TC mode. The traction control works by cutting the throttle when it detects any of the wheels slipping. The system was engaged so frequently that I actually stalled due to lack of throttle coming around a turn-around section. Despite these electronic hardships in the AM sessions, I came out strong in the PM session! The afternoon course was much more open and less confusing (And I was becoming more comfortable behind the wheel)! Overall the day was a complete success and quite possibly one of the best automotive experiences I have ever had!

See this link for some additional pics: http://www.tristatetuners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58131

Results: http://www.phillyscca.com/courserally/results/2008/CR062208.xls

Can’t You Just Drive It?

The simple answer is no… The daily driver, which I swore I would leave alone, continues to receive little upgrades here and there. The most recent round of upgrades has come all the way from Japan and the Philippines.

The first item is none other than a genuine Suzuki Sport Shift knob in White Duracon Plastic. After waiting weeks for this item to be stocked in Japan, packaged and shipped to PA, it arrived. I was thrilled to see the knob show up at my door, but utterly disappointed to realize that the knob isn’t threaded and relies on a setscrew for mounting. Having installed many set-screw-style shift knobs in the past, I knew I was destined for disappointment with this knob. Not surprisingly the knob was installed and came loose by the third shift. Good thing I: a) Paid a premium for genuine part b) Paid a premium to have it shipped half way around the world c) Waited for weeks on end for it to arrive…The lesson learned here is to go with what you know! I knew from day one that I should have ordered the cheaper greddy knob, I knew the thread size and pattern for Suzuki, and finally I knew I would get burned! An update w/ replacement knob to follow !!

The state of affairs

Over the past week or so the sx4 has received a number of oem upgrades. The first of which is a Suzuki Works Techno carbon dash kit. These pieces were of excellent quality and fit perfect! Additionally I installed oem carbon dash sills for that extra touch when you open the doors. (Excuse the artsy night pic...)

More sx4 parts to come!

Got a new grill for the hatchback :P Undersized cooling system no more! I have decided to use the moroso can as a coolant reservoir rather than a oil catch can. The hunt for the oil catch can continues.

And finally some pics of the mess that is workshop. Drastic changes are pending. Before long all these parts will either be sold or installed, only to be replaced by new parts of a different flavor.

Farewell Whitey

So today is the day, whitey is sold. Since Winter 2007 it has been an excellent daily driver. Never leaving me stranded once, it was super reliable and provided a great introduction into the sport of autox. It was parted out (and still is being parted out). With a 190k on the clock, it still runs very well and it should serve its new owner very well. Rumor has it that something german this way comes, shhh....

It's Alive!!

It’s alive! After being out of commission for many weeks the hatchback runs again. With the driverside wire tuck out of the way, I installed some new gaskets to alleviate some of the fluid leaks. I tightened some of the loose couplers, filled the oil, connected the battery and held m breath. Sure enough Mr. Ed didn’t disappoint and fired right up! I proceeded to drive it on the street for the remainder of the weekend and flogged it every opportunity. Overall the car runs well, however there are a couple flat spots where the ignition timing needs to be addressed. They will be addressed further when the car is tuned.

Also this weekend I stripped the interior to more of a race spec. Who needs carpet & consoles anyway? I would like to eventually remove the rest of the sound deadening tar from the floorboards, all in due time. For now the focus is getting the car to run safely, and prepping it for an incident free upcoming rallyx!

I also did something very uncharacteristic for me.... WASHED THE CARS :P

A True Barn Find

My future brother-in-law called this weekend to tell me about a car that I might be interested in. He said the car has been in a barn for the past 15 years and wasn’t sure of the condition. Sure enough I drove over to take a look. To my surprise the car was a Monterey Blue 1967 Karmann Ghia Hardtop! Judging by the reg. & inspection stickers the car hasn’t been driven on the street since 1975!

Overall the body is rough, as most VW’s of this vintage are. The rust is present at the typical spots for these cars (Lower rocker panels, headlight bezels, front nose). It appears to have been repaired on one side. Otherwise the car is in great shape all things considered. The bumpers are dirty chrome but should clean up nicely. The interior is complete and in great shape. The engine bay looks to be in good condition also, no major rust or oil stains.

We are still ironing out the details and price, but this could be a once in a lifetime chance!