by John Glynn | Apr 6, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
Now that the Cayenne is home with its gearbox problems sorted, I took a few hours off yesterday morning to get the DAB digital radio install finished. I use the car on a twenty-mile countryside school run every morning and only the 6 Music breakfast show will do for that task.
I’ve tried a few glass mount antennas for DAB since buying my Kenwood 4210 head unit. I’m in a patchy DAB area at the best of times but glass mount was totally useless. No signal anywhere! I had a look at the DAB on Wheels recommendations and bought the Kinetic DRA-6001 amplified roof mount aerial with a 5m extension lead.
I will probably use a roof platform on my car now and then, so no way was this going in the middle. The fitting instructions say mount at least 25 cms from the roof edge for best performance. I was not putting it above the front, so had to be in the rear. I decided to drop the headlining to get a better view of the rear roof section.
Dropping the Cayenne’s roof lining is right fun and games, as it looks like it’s the first part to go in. I’d stripped some of this before so knew the form. Took a while but I got it down enough to see what was what. The roof has a huge amount of stiffening, especially at the rear where the massive tailgate is hung. I could go in front of that and still look sensible: a bit ‘bee sting’ but whatever, long as the DAB works. I marked a centre point 20 cm in from the rear edge and drilled a pilot hole: no changing my mind now.
The Kinetic needs a 14mm mounting hole, which I drilled with a cone cutter. I primed the roof and test fitted the antenna. The supplied base gasket is an O-ring which kept the aerial base a good 7mm or so off the roof and meant I could not get the bottom nut on. After a bit of experimentation, I modifed the gasket arrangement to drop the aerial closer to the roof. Not easy but it worked and would keep the water out.
Now the nut would just go on. Refitting the base over a lot of grease as specified, I tightened it to where I was happy but the leading edge was still slightly proud of the roof. It needed a little more tightening. I gave it one tiny squeeze and the brass nut slipped on the cast threads. The base was not going to sit flush on the roof. Fitting the aerial mast, that would not tighten in the base either. The whole thing was a let down.
I was pretty cross so took a break and came back to it later. It looked a bit rough outside but I managed to get it tight, so why not give it a try. I rigged up a 12v supply and took the antenna lead to the head unit: instant success. The DAB reception was perfect.
I’ve put it all back together, but am 99% sure I will swap this for the Hirschmann Auta DAB antenna in a few weeks time, when I take the roof out again to sort the reverse camera. If you’ve bought and are fitting this one, my advice is to bin the base gasket and just use Sikaflex to seal it up and get it tight to the roof. If you’ve not bought it yet, save your money and buy the budget Hirschmann.
by John Glynn | Apr 4, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Been doing a lot of Porsche inspections lately. I only look at impact bumper 911s and don’t advertise my services, so it shows just how much interest there is around these Porsches right now. I can’t share any inspection pics, but I can share this: a cabriolet hack job built on a 1965 Porsche 911 SWB, recently dragged out of the Tuthill Porsche barn.
The complete article is stunningly irreverent, reminding us that people didn’t always care about tired early SWB Porsche 911s, out of step with the supercar times. This homemade Porsche convertible was much more in keeping with whatever swamp of despair it crawled from: side strakes, front fog lamps, chopped door glass frames and bits of angle iron welded to the rear quarters to hold a soft top frame on. A b-grade Miami Vice stunt car, maybe.
Note the press studs screwed to the top of the windscreen frame and the filled horn grille apertures. Classy.
by John Glynn | Mar 26, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Our mate Justin in Australia just shared some pictures of his 1968 Porsche 911 L approaching the final days of restoration.
Porsche 911 Restoration Australia
A body overhaul has been completed and the 911L has been repainted in Dark Green Metallic. Dark Green is a colour that’s hard to capture on camera, as light affects it tremendously. A dark green metallic 911 in UK light can look muddy, whereas Dark Green in California sparkles and shines.
JR’s car is looking hot in fresh paint. “I’m really pleased with how it’s going, and how it’s turned out,” says the owner. “The car is at Pro Stitch at present, then back to Zags, and then to Grants (Autohaus Hamilton) for reassembly. With luck I will have it back mid-April.”
by John Glynn | Mar 24, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
Spent a very interesting lunch hour today with the gearbox technician currently rebuilding the Aisin Warner 09D transmission from my 2004 Porsche Cayenne S (V8 model with 6-speed Tiptronic/automatic).
I got the call at 11.30 that the transmission was out and coming apart. Ninety minutes later I was there with my camera. It was educational to say the least! Even had a demo of the valve body in action: quite fascinating.
The strip revealed no jammed clutch plates as was first suspected. One clutch pack has completely melted with some damage obvious on another. Other than that, it looks lovely in bits and I have every confidence that it will be mega to drive once repaired.
The technician reported that it would not change from first on his test drive. I didn’t have that problem when I drove it around the car park before the recovery truck arrived: it was flicking through 1,2 and 3 fine. My issue was all in the high gears: no drive in 4, 5 or 6.
No matter now as it is in pieces and will be fully rebuilt. The torque converter has gone off to be reconditioned and that is unlikely to be back until Friday. So it will be next week for a pickup. I don’t mind, as we are taking the M3 on our annual pilgrimage to Essen. Cayenne back next week – awesome.
by John Glynn | Mar 17, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
I’ve bowed to defeat in the Porsche Cayenne transmission failure saga and am sending the car for a gearbox rebuild. What should have been a simple Cayenne valve body rebuild and refit is now a transmission-out overhaul costing thousands of pounds.
The last straw came on Saturday, when I spent all day checking through the metres of copper linking my Cayenne ECUs with the gearbox internals. All I found was a soaking wet floor, courtesy of the leaky rear washer jet pipe that pours screenwash into the car when it works its way loose. The leaking water then floods wiring looms and everything else it can find, including the Cayenne’s main ECU. Some of the damage it does:
Pulling all the transmission wiring back into the Cayenne, I could find no broken cables and no obvious problems. I’ve already double checked everything the boys have done on installing a genuine Porsche valve body/valve block costing over £1,000. The automatic transmission shop will run a diagnostic on the transmission when it gets to them tomorrow, but there is some form for these Porsche Cayenne Aisin gearboxes to jam their clutch packs, so I’m not mega optimistic.
As an experiment in running a Porche Cayenne daily driver, the last six months have taught me not to recommend these cars. I enjoy driving my Cayenne V8 and it is just about affordable on LPG, so I will stick with it as a means to recoup some of the money I’ve poured into it, but I would not advise others to follow my lead. I’m not saying don’t buy a Cayenne, just don’t ask me to tell you it makes sense.
I almost bought a Volvo XC90, but ended up in the Cayenne. Even as a Porsche enthusiast, it’s a difficult decision to defend when you look at the full cost of ownership over my six months to date compared to something more reliable. The recent bills are a bit raw at the minute: some fresh V8 burble will ease that pain.
by John Glynn | Mar 12, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Had a very quick stopoff to check some Porsche 911 restorations at Rob Campbell’s Racing Restorations in Pershore yesterday evening. I also looked at a Mercedes E55 estate he is selling (nice) and to drop off some carpets for my 924 Turbo, which is still there waiting for me to screw it back together.
Rob and the guys have three Porsche 911 restorations in progress at the minute, and a Fiat 500 Abarth replica build. Loads of other stuff moving from fabrication to finishing workshop next door, so the fab shop is pretty tight until two classic Mercedes rust repair projects get finished and go to the paint shop.
Here’s how he solved the floorspace drought. I want a Fiat 500 Lampshade!
