Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

This is the thread….

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/to ... &t=2015662

That immediately made me twitch because a single axle trailer was *probably* overloaded with a Boxster on it.

[mik]

I fancy a fun project and I’m really impressed by how well it fits in the engine bay of a Boxster.

This is the thread….

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/to ... &t=2015662

Looks like a lot of fun and would be the wife’s convertible.

Dave!

Normally I’d be sniffy about the idea of dropping cylinder count, but you already have the (basic) powerplant, and you can’t argue with the numbers.

I’ve only skim-read that thread, but it fits perfectly and the fact it mates to the OEM ‘box is great. Bloke seems to really know his onions - some fascinating comments around boost control etc in there.

And he could also qualify for Marv’s small wheel appreciation society.

If you go for this, please start a separate thread for updates

[Beany]

Is the 400bhp VAG the new LS ?

"just drop a 400bhp VAG in there"

I mean, "VAG Turbo it" has been a thing pretty much since the engine came out. Remember David Browns VAG Turbo Exige?

[Swervin_Mervin]

I think we need new pads:

[Sundayjumper]

It's suspension problems a go-go this weekend

Today I had the Bentley up in the air to re-fit the engine undertray that I'd not put back on after doing the oil change a few weeks ago. That went OK but when I tried driving it later on I almost immediately got a red "STOP! VEHICLE TOO LOW" warning on the dash and the undertray was scraping on the ground

Looks like the nsf air spring has sprung a leak. It's not surprising that the rubber eventually perishes. I guess it was on its last legs and today's being lifted in the air was the final straw. Cheapie replacements are £165/pair. God bless those exploited Chinese peasants.

On the bright side, the car looks wikkid wen its totally slammed. Bruh.

[Jobbo]

I fancy a fun project and I’m really impressed by how well it fits in the engine bay of a Boxster.

This is the thread….

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/to ... &t=2015662

Looks like a lot of fun and would be the wife’s convertible.

Dave!

Normally I’d be sniffy about the idea of dropping cylinder count, but you already have the (basic) powerplant, and you can’t argue with the numbers.

I’ve only skim-read that thread, but it fits perfectly and the fact it mates to the OEM ‘box is great. Bloke seems to really know his onions - some fascinating comments around boost control etc in there.

And he could also qualify for Marv’s small wheel appreciation society.

If you go for this, please start a separate thread for updates

I’ve only skimmed that thread but he didn’t actually have an engine problem with the flat-6 did he? I don’t understand why he did it. Having the engine is not an excuse to buy a cheap Boxster and do it

[V8Granite]

It's suspension problems a go-go this weekend

Today I had the Bentley up in the air to re-fit the engine undertray that I'd not put back on after doing the oil change a few weeks ago. That went OK but when I tried driving it later on I almost immediately got a red "STOP! VEHICLE TOO LOW" warning on the dash and the undertray was scraping on the ground

Looks like the nsf air spring has sprung a leak. It's not surprising that the rubber eventually perishes. I guess it was on its last legs and today's being lifted in the air was the final straw. Cheapie replacements are £165/pair. God bless those exploited Chinese peasants.

On the bright side, the car looks wikkid wen its totally slammed. Bruh.

Read up as much as you can on the air springs, on the GL and ML platform they have a high chance of exploding and dumping the car on the floor at speed.

I got Arnotts which are the OEM for Merc. In a lemonade from Lemons way though Spirt mode became a bit more supple and we now use it more.

Dave!

[V8Granite]

I fancy a fun project and I’m really impressed by how well it fits in the engine bay of a Boxster.

This is the thread….

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/to ... &t=2015662

Looks like a lot of fun and would be the wife’s convertible.

Dave!

Normally I’d be sniffy about the idea of dropping cylinder count, but you already have the (basic) powerplant, and you can’t argue with the numbers.

I’ve only skim-read that thread, but it fits perfectly and the fact it mates to the OEM ‘box is great. Bloke seems to really know his onions - some fascinating comments around boost control etc in there.

And he could also qualify for Marv’s small wheel appreciation society.

If you go for this, please start a separate thread for updates

I’ve only skimmed that thread but he didn’t actually have an engine problem with the flat-6 did he? I don’t understand why he did it. Having the engine is not an excuse to buy a cheap Boxster and do it

You f course it is, it’s a fun project and I was all for doing a cheap 996 till prices went up 50% and the same poorly looked after cars were for sale. It’s a 300pkus hp Boxster with turbo whoosh noises. If anything I’d want some lag and a bit of drama.

I wouldn’t be for it if he wasn’t the person who did the Palmer Motorsport cars with the same engines. I would be copying his exact same spec as he clearly knows how to build an engine properly.

Dave!

[scotta]

It's suspension problems a go-go this weekend

Today I had the Bentley up in the air to re-fit the engine undertray that I'd not put back on after doing the oil change a few weeks ago. That went OK but when I tried driving it later on I almost immediately got a red "STOP! VEHICLE TOO LOW" warning on the dash and the undertray was scraping on the ground

Looks like the nsf air spring has sprung a leak. It's not surprising that the rubber eventually perishes. I guess it was on its last legs and today's being lifted in the air was the final straw. Cheapie replacements are £165/pair. God bless those exploited Chinese peasants.

On the bright side, the car looks wikkid wen its totally slammed. Bruh.

Read up as much as you can on the air springs, on the GL and ML platform they have a high chance of exploding and dumping the car on the floor at speed.

I got Arnotts which are the OEM for Merc. In a lemonade from Lemons way though Spirt mode became a bit more supple and we now use it more.

Dave!

I’ve seen an E-class do this whilst parked. It literally dumped the whole car onto the bump stops with a bang! . Alarm unsurprisingly went off.

[Sundayjumper]

On the bright side, the car looks wikkid when its totally slammed. Bruh.

IMG_0899.jpeg (174.88 KiB) Viewed 261 times

[jamcg]

On the bright side, the car looks wikkid when its totally slammed. Bruh.

IMG_0899.jpeg

Needs black wheels and dark tints innit

[Mito Man]

There’s someone in my flat who has a Continental set up like that complete with 24” chrome Kahn wheels. It looks crap.

[DeskJockey]

There’s someone in my flat who has a Continental set up like that complete with 24” chrome Kahn wheels. It looks crap.

Would that be you?

[Mito Man]

Well I said I would never work on the Model 3 after the last shit show but I never listen to myself.

So ordered a wheel hub from America, it’s only £60 and the car needed a set of pads. Hey for £60 it’s worth it as Tesla wanted £200 plus VAT to diagnose the noise beyond recommending a new set of tyres.

Working on the mechanical side of Tesla’s is quite nice, all the detailed workshop manuals are free and available online
https://service.tesla.com/docs/Model3/ ... D50B6.html
And unlike every other manufacturer you don’t need a laptop with a special software, the on board computer does all the diagnostics.

The EPB service mode releases the handbrake for 90 minutes and completely retracts the caliper piston for easy servicing. Foreshadowing that it may take me more than 90 minutes to beat the ever living crap out of the hub I loosely rested the old pads inside the caliper so it didn’t retract all the way. I tried to pull the electrical harness off the handbrake but it wouldn’t budge and I didn’t want to break it.

After over an hour of beating the ever living shit out of the hub it eventually comes off. I also have a lunch break and at some point the caliper piston partially retracts against the pads. Little did I know how much this would fuck me.

Bearings in the old hub felt pretty perfect, so I was a bit disheartened at this point that is was the other side making the noise.

Smash new hub in, torque it down, brake disc back on. Get to the caliper and I need to fully retract the piston. But the electric handbrake is resisting. Split caliper in half during this process so I could use a rewind tool or clamp on it but it wasn’t budging.
So my thinking is the car is in park again probably, as the 90 mins has long elapsed. I’ll just go in, put it in drive or activate the service mode again and it’ll retract. Nope.
It went fucking mental just as I sat in the seat and starting pumping the abs for about 5 mins straight. Luckily had a bottle of brake fluid on hand so I get out and I’m slowly filling the reservoir as it’s pumping it out through the piston, which it has pretty much pooped out, and cycled through 500 ml of brake fluid.

So many error codes too. I knew I could get the caliper back together but the error codes worried me, the car is so complex that I didn’t know if it would resolve itself.

At this point it’s easier for me to just remove the entire caliper. Remove piston, the nut inside had unthreaded itself. Put that back, bodge together a pair of wires with some clips to connect to parking brake motor, connect the other side to a 12v battery to retract mechanism and test it.


Reassemble everything on car, bleed rear brakes, connect up parking brake harness whilst praying. Enter car, pump brakes, the error messages start erasing one by one. Finally something good.
Take it for a drive. Silence. It was the correct bearing.

Still need to change out the front brake pads as they’re pretty much on the wear tabs and then I’m never working on the Model 3 again.

[V8Granite]

Yeah I trust all those electronics when cars are 20 years old.

(Shakes fist at cloud)

Dave!

[Jobbo]

You f course it is, it’s a fun project and I was all for doing a cheap 996 till prices went up 50% and the same poorly looked after cars were for sale. It’s a 300pkus hp Boxster with turbo whoosh noises. If anything I’d want some lag and a bit of drama.

I wouldn’t be for it if he wasn’t the person who did the Palmer Motorsport cars with the same engines. I would be copying his exact same spec as he clearly knows how to build an engine properly.

Dave!

If you want a 300+bhp Boxster, you can have one with a flat 6 for £13950: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 4078391578

What are the chances you'll have anything like as good a car if you built your own 986 with a 1.8T tuned to 300bhp, and would it even be significantly cheaper?

[Rich B]

You f course it is, it’s a fun project and I was all for doing a cheap 996 till prices went up 50% and the same poorly looked after cars were for sale. It’s a 300pkus hp Boxster with turbo whoosh noises. If anything I’d want some lag and a bit of drama.

I wouldn’t be for it if he wasn’t the person who did the Palmer Motorsport cars with the same engines. I would be copying his exact same spec as he clearly knows how to build an engine properly.

Dave!

If you want a 300+bhp Boxster, you can have one with a flat 6 for £13950: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 4078391578

What are the chances you'll have anything like as good a car if you built your own 986 with a 1.8T tuned to 300bhp, and would it even be significantly cheaper?

100% this. Unless you already have a highly tuned 1.8T looking for a new home or are specifically looking for a project to fiddle with, it seems like a waste of time.

[Sundayjumper]

...it seems like a waste of time.

Unless a small and hugely boosted VAG engine proves more reliable than the original Porsche unit.

[V8Granite]

You f course it is, it’s a fun project and I was all for doing a cheap 996 till prices went up 50% and the same poorly looked after cars were for sale. It’s a 300pkus hp Boxster with turbo whoosh noises. If anything I’d want some lag and a bit of drama.

I wouldn’t be for it if he wasn’t the person who did the Palmer Motorsport cars with the same engines. I would be copying his exact same spec as he clearly knows how to build an engine properly.

Dave!

If you want a 300+bhp Boxster, you can have one with a flat 6 for £13950: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 4078391578

What are the chances you'll have anything like as good a car if you built your own 986 with a 1.8T tuned to 300bhp, and would it even be significantly cheaper?

Cheaper running costs, less Porsche engine issues, faster, lighter, cheaper.

The only thing better on the 3.4 is the residuals but as the shortest time I’ve kept a car is 5 years then I’m not bothered.

Also I enjoy building stuff and am limited by garage space and affordability.

Dave!

[Rich B]

...it seems like a waste of time.

Unless a small and hugely boosted VAG engine proves more reliable than the original Porsche unit.

I'll revise it to "unless you've got a highly tuned 1.8T or a boxster with a knackered engine lying about, it seems like a waste of time".

If you're buying a knackered boxster AND spending a load of money tuning a very high mileage standard engine you already have in a working car, it seems like a waste of time when you can buy a newer model with a nice engine for only a little more than the hopeful budget.

If I was looking to do something hugely involved/expensive like engine swaps and the like, it would be to get something exceptional (and massively better than what I could just buy).