by John Glynn | Jan 15, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
I keep in touch with Steve Bennett at 911 & Porsche World magazine, and we’ve been talking about the Cayenne since I bought it. I’ve run gas-powered Subarus for years, and soon fitted gas to the Cayenne, so Steve was interested in my Cayenne LPG experience.
Steve ran a Citröen Xantia on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) a few years ago, and is familiar with the upsides of a car on gas. I just wrote a quick piece for him on buying the Cayenne and fitting the gas conversion. I took a few pics of the main Cayenne LPG components and they seemed worth sharing here, too. See more of the story in Porsche World next month.
Above is the engine bay showing the injector relays (blue) and the evaporator (silver thing on the left hand side of the engine bay). The install is not super pretty, but who cares when you’re doing the equivalent of 35 mpg on petrol. My November fuel bill was £360, December was £163 on LPG with roughly similar mileage.
This is the dash switch: the red light on top is a gas level gauge, telling me to top up sometime (got 60 or 70 miles left at this), the green light on the bottom shows we’re running on gas. The light on the bottom right would come on if I was on petrol.
This shot shows the gas tank. I had a 50-litre toroidal tank fitted, which filled the wheel well and is level with the boot floor, but will ultimately sit lower in the boot. I’ll drop the floor panel back in (I use a load liner at the minute) and then fit a cylinder tank behind the seat, which should give me a total gas range of almost 400 miles: 750 when you add in the petrol. I get 50 miles more per tank of fuel than a certain track fiend friend of mine does! He strenuously denies this is possible: it always makes me laugh.
The floor of the actual bodyshell will be quite cut about to accomplish this tank drop: easy to sort as best mate Rob Campbell at Racing Restorations is an expert metal fabricator, historic race car builder and Porsche rust repair guy. Most normal owners just use a cylinder tank behind the rear seats and have done with it but, when you’ve got a pet metal guy, you put him to work.
The last pic shows the automatic transmission fluid being changed the other day. That is a whole other story.
by John Glynn | Dec 30, 2013 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
I put a few hours aside over Christmas to get stuck into a Porsche Cayenne brake change on my Cayenne daily driver. Starting at the front, I had the wheel off, disassembled the pad retaining arrangements, clamped the brake flexi hose, pulled the caliper off (lovely lightweight 6-pot calipers) and removed the front disc.
I then found I had ordered the wrong front disc – 330mm instead of 350mm on the 18″ brakes – so had to put the rotten old disc back on with nice new pads. Talk about disgusted! I’ve sorted out replacements and will do the slightly pikey thing of fitting new discs and these new pads, assuming they are not too grooved from the old discs. Otherwise will buy new pads.
Rears are yet to be tackled. A job for the weekend. I’ve done 150 miles on the new front pads and they are bedding in nicely. I’m feeling a tiny bit less bite than the Pagids (badged Brembo/stamped Pagid), but I think that will improve when the new discs are on. Hope so, anyway.
While at a workshop today, I got the guys to stick the Cayenne on the ramp and help me check for this annoying front end squeak on steering. Was easy to find it: the split balljoint boot that’s been an advisory on the last two MOTs has finally capitulated, and the corroding old balljoint is creaking.
Balljoints can’t be bought separately, so the solution is changing the complete front lower control arm, which start at about £100 a side for pattern parts. The job means a suspension alignment afterwards, so I’m tempted to strip the complete front suspension both sides, change top and bottom wishbones with bushes and check the strut top mounts at the same time. Future proof the lot in one hit.
Option two is change the one lower arm, do the alignment and set a few days aside this summer to do both sides completely. Or maybe I’ll just take option three: let it creak a while longer and then refresh the lot in time for the MOT. Sounds a bit more like it. Oh, got a split in the NSF outer driveshaft gaiter too. A previous owner’s attempt at glueing it has given up the ghost. Easy job for someone!
by John Glynn | Dec 19, 2013 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
It’s been a rough few months for cashflow, with the end of a loft conversion, end of a tax year and Christmas all at once. The brake pad warning light came on while I was driving to have the Porsche Cayenne LPG Conversion fitted, so I knew the brakes were getting low. I started researching my options for a complete Porsche Cayenne brake replacement without costing myself a fortune.
Thankfully, what’s left has lasted a few weeks of school runs. With the discs just about past it and the pads on their way out, I figured I’d change the lot. My replacements arrived today, so I figured I’d show you the size of these things. The PCM 2 navigation CD shows scale and, believe me, these are HEAVY.
Most Cayenne S models come with the 18″ brake setup, same as the standard Turbo. Turbo S is a whole other ball game: Porsche-only parts. The brakes are just incredible – one of my favourite things about the Big Pig. So I didn’t want to fit ultimate-cheapo aftermarket stuff.
Porsche Cayenne Brake Replacement
Cayennes allegedly possess expensive appetites for brakes and tyres, but I’ve not found that to be the case. The discs were getting low on mine when I got it, but I’ve logged about 6k miles now and they are still going strong. It’s almost 900 miles since the pad light came on and no sound of grinding as yet.
Tyres – well yes, they might like a bit of summer rubber. But if you’re OK with playing around on tyre choice, then you can do OK on spend. I’ve got a set of part-worn Pirelli winters on at the minute that only cost me £30: a new set would be circa £650 for a mid range brand. They’ve done about 1500 miles now and no sign of huge wear so should see me out of winter. After that, I plan to stay on 18s for the much better ride, and will experiment with summer tyre brands.
Back to brakes. I had a look around eBay for the best price on OEM Pagids. Discs are about £110 an axle and pads maybe £75-80, so call it £350 for discs and pads all round. I’ve always had Mintex on my Subarus and find them pretty good when worked hard, so I bought a full set of Mintex discs and pads for the Cayenne from Premier Factors on eBay, costing £196 delivered. Add £10 for the warning looms front and rear from a local guy in Milton Keynes totals a shade over £205. I’ll change the brake fluid when doing this job: should cost me less than £225 in bits.
Is £225 a lot of money for full brake consumable refresh? I don’t think so. OPCs charge £90-100 just for the fluid change and they keep the brake change prices POA. Perhaps the “Cayennes are pricey on brakes”reputation comes from people who lean hard on the brakes rather than keeping some flow in their driving, and then have them changed at Porsche dealers. Yes, doing things that way would be properly expensive. I’ll share some pics of this job when it happens over Christmas.
by John Glynn | Dec 9, 2013 | Project Cars, Porsche Cayenne
The Big Pig (Cayenne S) continues to rack up the miles. Except now it’s doing it fuelled by Liquid Petroleum Gas/LPG, which is proving rather cheaper than petrol. I also just put a new battery on it: made no difference to anything, but it’s another maintenance item off the list for winter. Seen here with good old Northants dirt, winter tyres on 18s and 11 year-old Ciara in the front seat.
I’ve run LPG cars for a few years and been really pleased with the ownership experience. Cayenne creates a few problems when run on LPG, but it’s nothing to do with the fuel. My current issues are all to do with the design of the chassis – specifically the shallow rear floor – and the amount of power the V8 shoves out.
Porsche World might run a story on the conversion, so I’ll save some details until that’s been in print. The basic plot is I was intimately familiar with the kit I’ve been running for the last few years, so had my own views on what might work best for the Cayenne. I emailed a bunch of LPG places to get what the experts felt, had a few crazy quotes back to convert it and did some more research.
In the end, I went for a 59-litre tank in the wheel well and the same OMVL system as used in my Subaru Outback up front. It runs a treat at speed – had 120 out of it thus far and no problems – but it doesn’t much like screaming out of roundabouts or really quick throttle openings in M3/M4 to overtake, so flicks seamlessly straight back to petrol when I do that. Which is fine apart from the LPG alarm beeping.
It’s either a pickup issue (which I doubt, as it happens on an almost-full tank) or just the evaporator can’t handle the sudden demand for all gaseous horses to report to the intake manifold. The installer said the system would handle this motor at full tilt so it is probably just an adjustment issue. I’ll give him some time to sort it out.
The only other issue is a max fill of 43 litres at the minute. I’m getting 18 mpg with air con on and not driving flat-out everywhere, but that’s still only 160 miles. I would love another 160 per tank so the only solution to maintain the boot space would be to cut the boot floor about and squeeze in a 100-litre tank.
Luckily, I know a man – Mr Rob Campbell at Racing Restorations – who can do that fabrication stuff. He loves a challenge and has already promised to make the Big Pig louder, so what’s a little boot floor between friends when the exhaust is being chopped?!
That bottom pic is a six-foot sofa in the back of it last Sunday. Yes, the tailgate closed – who said Cayennes were too small?
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by John Glynn | Nov 26, 2013 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
A quick look on eBay last night at recent Cayenne listings threw up these oddball things: a pair of headrest DVD screens and a crazy leather-trimmed player, with a Buy It Now of £50. The seller was unsure whether they were factory, but that stitching looked 100% Cayenne to me, so I had a Google and found the answer on Rennlist (of course).
The system definitely is factory, and doesn’t sound like it was all that special. The DVD player sits on the centre rear seat when in use. “That design was a last-minute absolute POS. I’m not sure how many sold, probably less than were scrapped.” says one Rennlister. “The newer ones (self-contained in rear seat) are a bit better, but rear seat video was not part of the original MOST design spec for the system.”
I’ve found a few pics of it now, and it really does look like a last-minute afterthought. As if the Cayenne externals weren’t challenging enough, they went and screwed this to the back of the seats! Sometimes I just can’t get my head around Porsche thinking. That said, when Cayenne becomes a classic, it’s the weirdo dealer options that will really draw the crowds in.
There’s a roof-mounted Sony DVD screen in my Cayenne, but then no sunroof or conservatory windows to worry about. I guess Porsche had a gap for dealer fit DVD screens that did not need a roof to screw into, and this is the best the product crew could do.
Gawky afterthought it may be, but it’s already got some bids on eBay, even without headphones or remote controls. The Buy It Now must have been switched to get things going and now it’s all kicked off, so I missed a chance to nab them. All in a day’s work, but count me not too bothered.
My Cayenne is off for its LPG conversion this weekend – that is pretty cool. The converter is Avon Autogas in Bristol.
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by John Glynn | Nov 17, 2013 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
It was the US Grand Prix this weekend from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The time difference meant practice/quali sessions and the race started late in the day for UKers, giving a few hours to escape the computer and get my hands dirty.
I spent the daylight on Saturday rebuilding a door lock and window regulator on the stopgap Skoda TDI, bought to use while setting the wife’s recent insurance write-off (Skoda is actually an excellent drive), but today was all about Porsche Cayenne winter tyres.
I’ve had the winters on standby for a while. In keeping with my budget rock ‘n’ roll Porsche lifestyle, they were a proper screaming bargain. Part-worn 255 55 18 Pirelli M&S Scorpions, over 18″ Cayenne Turbo wheels. I bought the wheels on eBay for £100 during the summer, tyres were a ludicrous £30 (eBay) plus maybe £30 travel to get them. So a full set of winters in perfect condition for £160, plus a few quid to fit: call it £200.
The mild October and early November has allowed me to eke the last few miles out of the 19″ P-Zeros the Big Pig wore at purchase. The tyres weren’t new when I had it, but I’ve had about 5k miles of spirited driving on what was left: it’s about what I was expecting and I’m happy at that. The 265 50 19 Pirellis are not quite down to the wear bars, but they’ve likely done enough, as they’ve become increasingly squirrely towards the end of their life. We’ll seek out new ones for next year.
For now, I’ll run these ice driving bargains towards the stops and report back on grip. I’ve just bought another set of 18″ Cayenne rims and am planning to fit some new but cheapish SUV winters from a name not commonly seen on Porsche. I’m all about maxing the value for money on this Big Pig, and Youtube videos of the tyres in question on crazy Polish snowchargers look good.
Two things of note can be seen in these pics. One is the best tool in the standard tool kit: the locating pin for tyre changes. Everyone should get one of these, no matter what the car! Makes changing ten-ton Cayenne wheels a lot easier. The other just visible on top of the house is the dormer of the loft conversion: the reason I’ve been slaving and not blogging all year! Almost done now and it’s really wicked. You can also see the rusty roof of the lean-to garage that’s coming down next year: I plan to tie it to the Cayenne and shove the car in drive.
Cayenne continues to be wicked (of course) and a welcoming seat at the end of a long day’s work. I know a few blog fans are thinking of trying one, and to all I say “do it!” It makes sense to retain access to something small and diesel for long-haul solo boring jobs, but the Cayenne makes bigger work easy, and I’m slowly working through the allegedly costly maintenance items. Plugs and coils done: battery, starter and brake discs next.
Roll on next Spring’s Essen TechnoClassica road trip – the Cayenne will be four up, at least.
