Mook Posted April 20, 2016 Report Share Posted April 20, 2016 State of his hair he's hardly a good ad for a hairdresser, is he...?! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted April 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2016 Hey eldavo - I have to say you are Mr Thorough when it comes to all things 4 wheeled. Properly impressed Is this where I admit that the majority of the time I pay somebody else to wash my company car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mook Posted April 21, 2016 Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 Sod that - it's a company car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted April 21, 2016 Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 Is this where I admit that the majority of the time I pay somebody else to wash my company car? No, I wouldn't admit that, if I were you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted April 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 No, I wouldn't admit that, if I were you I'd better not then! Anyhoo - ordered some replacement wheel bolts as I wasn't happy about how corroded the radius collars were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted May 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 The Boxster has parking sensors but MrsEldavo is used to a reversing camera and given the blind spots caused by the roof shape it seemed a good idea to fit one - especially as the Parrot Head Unit has dedicated connections for one. This nice deep lip between the number plate lights seemed ideal: So it was "spoiler up" to remove that and get to the first few fasteners: Then the lights out to reveal some more fasteners, another 8 underneath and the bumper simply slides off: The camera kit was about a tenner off eBay and came from China, it included the camera, all the cables and even a hole saw. After a quick check that it worked, I measured the centre point on the bumper and fitted the camera: The grommet for the bumper wiring was as slack as a hooker's chuff, so held it open with a screwdriver (the grommet, not the chuff) and fed the video and power cables into the boot area: Took a 12v and a ground off the rear light cluster wiring, the positive is tapped into the reverse lights so that the camera will automatically power on when reverse is selected. I'm not a fan of Scotchloks so stripped back the insulation, soldered the wires into place and reinsulated with electrical tape: A neat touch is that the video RCA cable also has a separate signal wire attached to it, I hooked this up to the positive wire that fed the camera. The other end of this signal wire connects to a cable on the back of the head unit, when it sees 12V it automatically switches the display over to the rear view camera input. Saves me running a separate wire for this purpose from the loom in the driver's footwell: Everything back together and ran the video cable around the edge of the boot floor, under the roof mechanism, into the cabin by the roll bar, then tucked under the carpet around the engine panel and then under the central transmission tunnel into the back of the unit. You select reverse, the camera powers up and the screen changes to the relevant input: Works well at night too: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted May 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 Replaced those horrible corroded wheel bolts with some nice new ones too: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted May 6, 2016 Report Share Posted May 6, 2016 You could just completely rebuild the car out of new Boxster spare parts you know... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 6, 2016 Report Share Posted May 6, 2016 He's going to sell it to Daz in a years time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted May 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2016 Haha - Nope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Posted May 6, 2016 Report Share Posted May 6, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-bmw Posted May 6, 2016 Report Share Posted May 6, 2016 The Boxster has parking sensors but MrsEldavo is used to a reversing camera and given the blind spots caused by the roof shape it seemed a good idea to fit one - especially as the Parrot Head Unit has dedicated connections for one. This nice deep lip between the number plate lights seemed ideal: So it was "spoiler up" to remove that and get to the first few fasteners: Then the lights out to reveal some more fasteners, another 8 underneath and the bumper simply slides off: The camera kit was about a tenner off eBay and came from China, it included the camera, all the cables and even a hole saw. After a quick check that it worked, I measured the centre point on the bumper and fitted the camera: The grommet for the bumper wiring was as slack as a hooker's chuff, so held it open with a screwdriver (the grommet, not the chuff) and fed the video and power cables into the boot area: Took a 12v and a ground off the rear light cluster wiring, the positive is tapped into the reverse lights so that the camera will automatically power on when reverse is selected. I'm not a fan of Scotchloks so stripped back the insulation, soldered the wires into place and reinsulated with electrical tape: A neat touch is that the video RCA cable also has a separate signal wire attached to it, I hooked this up to the positive wire that fed the camera. The other end of this signal wire connects to a cable on the back of the head unit, when it sees 12V it automatically switches the display over to the rear view camera input. Saves me running a separate wire for this purpose from the loom in the driver's footwell: Everything back together and ran the video cable around the edge of the boot floor, under the roof mechanism, into the cabin by the roll bar, then tucked under the carpet around the engine panel and then under the central transmission tunnel into the back of the unit. You select reverse, the camera powers up and the screen changes to the relevant input: Works well at night too: Look everyone. In those last 2 pictures that drill is powering a car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted June 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) One of the available options on the car from new was an extended leather package. Part of this involved the replacement of the two vinyl covered panels either side of the centre console with stitched leather ones. These are not only easy to change but make a big visual difference as they're one of the main parts of the interior you see whenever you use any of the heating/nav/etc. As luck would have it, a couple of panels popped up cheap on eBay as they were slightly damaged and also happened to be the wrong colour! The leather handbrake sleeve had some ring marks on it that I intended to repair with a kit from The Furniture Clinic so the arrival of these parts gave me a suitable test bed. I paid about £65 for the leather repair kit, including a £10 charge to have the colour matched exactly to the existing leather rather than their off-the-shelf colour. As the company is local I took the gearknob to them and they used the gaiter to colour match from. The kit is more than sufficient to do the console panels, handbrake cover and give the seat bolsters a spruce up too. First thing first was to assess the panel, it was the darker of the two interior blue colours (I needed the lighter one) and had numerous indentations in it: The first stages involved scouring the surface with a solvent and then alcohol cleaner to remove the protective coating and reveal the true state of play: With that done, it was time to set about using the flexible leather filler on the indentations: This was gently sanded back with 1200 paper and then a colour coat was sponged on to act as a base and to reveal any parts that were still uneven: A bit more work needed: So another bit of filling, sanding and sponging necessary before I was happy with it and then onto my state of the art home spray booth: Colour coat on and then a gloss finish sealant applied carefully as it is very thin so easy to get runs in it, still wet in the picture here - it's not THAT glossy, but it does show how smooth and uniform I got the surface: Based upon the leather sample I'd been given a semi-matt finish to match the OEM leather so once the glossy sealant was dry I sprayed a light coat of this and when it dried I was left with this: Off to the Garage and time to remove the vinyl-covered plastic: To be replaced by the new part (and in true Blue Peter style, the other side was "one I prepared earlier): Overall - very happy with how it came out and a nice visual upgrade to the car as well as being a relatively shallow learning curve for doing the handbrake and driver's seat bolster Edited June 1, 2016 by eldavo69 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted June 1, 2016 Report Share Posted June 1, 2016 If I buy a vintage car to restore, do you have much free time? As usual, very, very impressive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted June 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2016 If I buy a vintage car to restore, do you have much free time? As usual, very, very impressive. I have a 2,700 piece Lego Technic GT3RS to build first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted June 1, 2016 Report Share Posted June 1, 2016 I have a 2,700 piece Lego Technic GT3RS to build first And then replace half the bits and cover the rest with stickers... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted June 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) And then replace half the bits and cover the rest with stickers... I can work to 1:18th scale too (including stickers): Edited June 1, 2016 by eldavo69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm Chris Posted June 2, 2016 Report Share Posted June 2, 2016 The boot aperture finish is rubbish, all jagged and out of true. Do you own a dremel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted June 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2016 The boot aperture finish is rubbish, all jagged and out of true. Do you own a dremel? It's not actually! It's worn from where the boot lid has rubbed against it when it's been opened and closed repeatedly by a certain 8 year old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted April 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 (edited) Much overdue update - Boxster hasn’t missed a beat and was my backup car for a few Porsche Club runs and weekends away last year while the Twbo was being cut apart. I even used it as my daily driver for a couple of weeks in December after selling the Octavia vRS (that I bought off my old company when I was made redundant) before my new company car arrived in January. Since the 944 has been back, the Boxster has been kicked out of the garage and sits on the drive. I was rooting about in it last week sanding the handbrake down and respraying the leather sealant on it when I noticed the bottom of the driver’s door card was damp - below the armrest in carpet on the 997/987 cars just like the 996/986 ones. I’d removed the door card last year to fit some of the extended leather parts - pull handle and armrest lid and I must have disturbed the water membrane. As it was, I didn’t really like the leather bits so took the doorcard off tonight when I got home from work. Changed the handle and lid over and had a look at the water membrane. It’s sheet steel with a foam gasket that sits against the door and when I’d previously removed the door card I’d pulled it away slightly at the bottom. A common issue according to t’internet and an easy fix with some flexible sealant too. Door card back on, checked the tyre pressures, started her up (my god was it tappety from standing unused), roof down, a gentle trundle down the road with some heavy braking to clear the discs, up to temperature, a quick 15 minute blast round some favourite twisties and then home with her purring away quietly. Its not particularly fast (240bhp and needs some revs) but the combination of that revvy flat 6 and the 5 speed gearbox rather than the shorter 6 speed really suits the car and encourages you to let it sing. Love it! Edited April 19, 2018 by eldavo69 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted May 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 Boxster is going in for a service when the 911 is finished this week (pick one up, drop one off) and it’s bloody typical that it’s got a problem. Noticed a graunchy sound under low load that went with a dip of the clutch or a bit of throttle - thought it was the gearbox! Got under the car with it running and the sound is coming from the waterpump area, there’s also a slight coolant leak and the coolant level has dropped - pretty conclusive then! Spoke to the garage who laughed and said “they all do that eventually,” then told me they keep 5 waterpumps on the shelf at any one time it’s that common. Sounds like the cost of the service has jumped a couple of hundred quid - but apart from that it’s absolutely spot on and has needed nothing. Interestingly - having disconnected the battery for a while while doing the door card (with my head right next to the airbag), the heated seats now don’t work. Apparently if the battery is disconnected too long then they lose the coding and have to be redone via the OBD, garage will re-enable them for nowt while the car is in there but there are stories of Porsche charging up to £100 for the privilege, worth remembering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted May 7, 2018 Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 You will end up being able to sell your services back to Porsche as a resto-mod guru. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted May 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 The service intervals on a Boxster are every 2 years, alternating between major and minor. The intervals on other things are every 4 years, 6 years and 12 years. Our Boxster is 12 this year therefore we had the perfect storm of the 2, 4, 6 and 12 year service items all arriving together - add in the waterpump and a couple of “while you’re in there jobs” and you get a £1000+ bill. All things considered, given that it will only need an interim oil service in 2 years that’s not bad going - makes you question how many “cheap” Boxsters are getting maintained the way they should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted May 9, 2018 Report Share Posted May 9, 2018 On 4/19/2018 at 7:57 PM, eldavo69 said: It niggles me that the 911 is FPA, not FAP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted May 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2018 I found this for you Patently: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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