It begins....

sharkey wrote:more like the last 10% takes 90% of the time

LOL! That’s actually pretty accurate. The first 90% of the work was “show me pieces”, major components that show obvious headway, Then you spend 2 weeks getting that damn left brake light working which is inevitably when the boss comes by and asks , “what the heck have you been doing?”

So supposedly the welding shop will have the end tank and all pipes done today. Hopefully I can pick up the car not this coming Friday but the following one...

So quick question. You are running a ford booster with the Porsche master? And you are no longer going to need to use the proportioning valve now? Do you think I will still need it "proportioning valve) if I'm running the Wilwoods? They are obviously larger than the big blacks, but not by to much. What are your thoughts?

Nope, I still need a proportioning valve. I thought about putting the Porsche 928 GTS one in, but decided to stick with the Tilton I already have. Because, well, I already have it and it's already installed...

Doc, do you think the GTS valve would work well with the big blacks or should I run the 944 one? Not sure what to use as my car did not have one from factory.

The GTS prop valve is the one recommended if you run Big Red/Blacks in the front and Turbo S calipers in the back.

I've never run it before tho, I've always had the Tilton in my car...

Thanks for the info Doc. Much appreciated.

Holy Crap, the car is running again!

Heard from the shop owner today, he got the radiator back from the welder and it's back in the car. System is filled, car is idling at 190-200F and when driving its 180F. He suspects there's air in the system somewhere and will be burping it some more.

Still, I'm pretty happy with those temps, particularly it being able to hold a stable 190-200F at extended idle. This is on my Autometer gauge which reads 10F higher than if I plug into my OBD2 port and read what the PCM says.

He's got the bumper back on but is doing final fitment of it, checking wiring of various things, etc, etc.

Pretty excited though! Barring Murphy stirring the pot it sure looks like I'll be getting the car back next Friday.

Excellent. Track season is already here in the South, actually, it was here all winter!

Yup, first event is next month. Hoping to get it back early enough to start putting miles on it and make sure everything is working the way I want it to...

Good to see things moving forward for you again! You're so close to driving, and I haven't even pulled the OE engine, or opened up my swap engine to begin to freshen it up. I'm still ordering parts, lol.

But it is encouraging to know you should be able to start enjoying your car soon.

Talked to the shop owner today. The system did burp more, he had to add another 1/2 gallon of coolant.

Temps at extended idle are 180-190, fan pops on at 190, temps rise to 200, then the fan has gained enough energy to drop temps back to 180. Pretty happy with that, temps are stable now and the car will idle in stopped traffic without an issue.

Bad news is the petcock on the Ron Davis radiator is leaking. He's not sure if there's an O ring that's gone bad or not. So all the coolant needs to come out so that can be addressed. If it's an O ring it'll be replaced, otherwise I'm more than willing to lose the petcock and just replace it with a drain plug.

Unfortunately that means another drain, fill, burp of the cooling system though.

Last thing is the fuse for my 914 drivers side headlight motor keeps popping. Not sure if that old eBay sourced motor has packed it in or what. Shop will investigate. Plan is that they're working on the car all day tomorrow with the hopes of me picking it up Friday....

Shop had the car on a pressure tester all day yesterday, no leaks. Got my 914 drivers side headlight working again, it'd been blowing the fuse for them. I'll keep an eye on it, may need to replace it. After all it is 46 years old...

Shop will be putting a bunch of miles on the car today and shaking it out. I'm going to get it tomorrow!

Nice!

Headed up to the shop today with my trailer.  Got there and they were still doing a few things, like rewiring my oil temp sender, mounting my splitter and draining the over filled oil.  

However I got the car back today!  I took some pics of the auxiliary radiator and oil cooler.  I need to replace my brake duct hoses and wash the car, that's about it.

Here's the aux radiator from the back, it's from a 2004-2007 Audi S4 with a custom end tank
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Here it is from the front
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Here's the oil cooler from the front
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My tow rig, 2006 Cayenne Turbo S
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Nice! Looking forward to the start of the season myself - 1 week!

I've got a euro rear bumper I'd like to put on as well as swapping in my rennline battery mount with an odyssey battery. Between that and pulling off my no longer needed tow hitch I figure that'll drop at least 75 lbs out of the car.

Gotta put new hoses on the brake ducts, get some new race tires and then play.

What does everyone think of the Toyo RR's?

Thanks for sharing the pics, good luck this season!

Pulled the tow hitch off the other day, that was a solid 10 lbs.

Had a chance to drive the car late this afternoon. Outside ambient temps were pretty cool, maybe 40 degrees out.

Even with that, both water and oil temps were very good! Water temps were 160-170, oil temps would drop to 155 once the car was moving. I think that's a great indicator of how things are going to be once summer hits. Looks like I've got the temperatures under control now! Sweet!

Well an era has ended. I helped deliver the car to its new owner last night. He's local to me and has owned several 944's in the past, including an S2 currently. He's excited to have it.

I'm somewhat melancholy about it but it was time to move on after 6 years.

I've already picked up a car as the track rat to replace it and am starting to look for a high mileage (but well kept!) 996 Turbo to fill in the street car duties.

The new track rat is a '98 M3 that's been very well track prepped already. It's had all the weld in reinforcements, welded oil pump nut, welded oil pan baffles, suspension, intake, exhaust, OEM lightweight rear wing, front splitter, etc, etc.

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Congrats on the new track toy! Good choice, but I'm biased because I've had my 99 since 2002 I've driven it a few times on the track with just pilot super sport tires and it's just such a well balanced, easy car to drive. I know some say it's underpowered, etc. but I still have a blast with it. It has been incredibly reliable and relatively inexpensive to maintain as well. Have fun with it this season.

Matt

It's underpowered as a street car with todays Camry coming with over 300hp. On the track it punches far above its weight tho.

I've owned one before but not as track prepped as this one. I'm looking forward to having it...

So when will you be throwing in the LS motor?

Just making sure I read your post correctly -- did you get rid of the 944 V8?

Congrats on the E36! I'm currently going through the PPI for an E46 M3 for the wifey as her track toy -- great minds!

Wow! Just saw this.  Can't say I blame you, I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my car.  Good luck with the E36 M3, that was my first real sports car.  Liked it more than my E46M3.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]