“Oh John, it’s not a real one”, called 911 rally mechanic Adam as I ran off for the Cayenne on a recent Tuthill Porsche shoot. I needed something to stand on and, in the absence of a stepladder, an SUV roof would do.
More than ten years after the Cayenne’s debut, Adam’s teasing is typical of many Porsche fans, but for sure this car is a real Porsche. It might share a platform with the Volkswagen Touareg, but then most modern cars are built using shared platforms.
Is a Golf less Volkswagen for sharing platforms with Audi and Skoda? Cheaper cars share more components than Touareg and Cayenne, but no one gives the Golf a hard time, or knocks the A3 for costing three to five grand more. Bits shared between Volks and Porsche on the big SUV platform are inconsequential. Air con ducts, ABS sensors, some airbags, seat belts, door latches. Who cares about this stuff? The heart and soul of this Big Pig is what matters, and V8 Cayenne has got it going on.
I recently picked up a copy of the book “Porsche Cayenne” by Clauspeter Becker and Stefan Warter. Dating back to 2002, it’s a glorified brochure, telling the story of Cayenne development using previously unseen pictures from the Porsche library. Some of the text reads straight from press release, but the pictures are really excellent: well worth my £8 on Amazon versus £45 on eBay.
The book zooms in on Porsche engineering and pre-release testing for the shared platform, of which there was plenty. Engine development gets its very own chapter. The Cayenne V8 was developed from scratch by Porsche to suit SUV purposes, so it’s compact – less than 600mm long for a 4.5-litre V8 – and powerful, with a mega-flat torque curve running maximum torque of 420 Nm all the way from 2,200 rpm to 5,500 rpm.
Count me impressed by the three-pump oil system, which is designed to work on inclines of 100 percent. Sit the car on the tailgate and the engine will keep running: try that in lesser machines. The closed-deck engine block features additional cast iron bottom-end bearing seats as developed for the 928, which also make the engine smoother and quieter. Lots of quiet engineering in this car.
The Cayenne’s cylinder heads follow classic 911 design. The heads are two-part: lower is the water-cooled combustion chamber and intake/exhaust ports, while the top houses the camshaft and tappet guides. The camshafts run with variable timing: hydraulic controllers shift the inlet cams by up to 50 degrees versus crankshaft rotation.
Timing chain diagrams are pretty amazing: a huge duplex chain running four overhead cams, with a second single-row chain driving those three oil pumps. It would be interesting to see timing chain ramp wear after 150,000 miles or so. I’ll be watching for that opportunity, but have already driven a 250,000-mile Cayenne with a silent V8 engine, so not holding my breath.
The Cayenne V8 engines are built in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen before shipping to Leipzig for installation. Cayenne not a real Porsche? Makes me laugh!
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Finally managed to synchronise my amigos in sunny California, and had my project 1976 Porsche 912E roller moved to its new home for the next few months at Porsche specialists, The Stable in San Francisco.
Formerly owned by Alan Klingen, The Stable is now managed by our good friends and long-time Porsche technicians, George and Brian. The guys have widened the range of Porsche servicing to include Boxster and 996 as well as the 356 and all classic air-cooled 911, which The Stable at 1700 Pine Street has long been renowned for.
The Stable offers Porsche owners in this glorious city by the bay a wide range of services, one of which is storage. My 912 is downstairs amongst very good company: I couldn’t be happier that the boys have it tucked away safe and sound.
Obviously this project is a LONG way off, but the idea is to capitalise on the 912E’s slimline rear quarters and build something longhood. Currently liking the idea of a black standard body early car, or a Conda Green ST using EB Motorsport Porsche 911 backdate parts and body panels. Engine will be a 3.6, and a friend of mine just told me he has one of those for sale…
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Life as a Cayenne driver continues. Still loads of people asking what they are like to own, so time for another Porsche Cayenne running report.
I’m about 2,500 miles or so in now and fuel economy is bearable versus my Subarus: roughly 18-20 mpg over a mix of jobs and terrains. It’s about £107 to fill up on 95 RON, then you will get roughly 320-360 miles from a tank, which is just over 20 mpg at best. If you know a Cayenne tank is 90 litres then my maths includes leaving 10 litres in there as a constant.
I’ve been looking at later Cayennes: maybe 2008 GTS. Later cars have slightly different trim and are said to be more sorted (debatable) but the downside is probably £12-13k current cost to change. Really don’t want to spend that while there is no roof on the house (builders are in), and all I am really missing right now is heated seats, so will keep my 2004 for a while. Reliability is looking good, although this starter issue I have had since buying it is bugging me now, so I am going to change that part.
Keeping it means I really want to fit my fuel of choice: LPG (propane). A conversion is circa £1600 using proper gear, tank fits in the wheel well and gives quite a nice price advantage at around 52p a litre plus VAT, but it would take me 18 months at current mileage (1200 monthly) to earn the cost back. Not sure I will keep this for two years so up in the air at the minute. If I get another client further away and my miles climb past 1500 monthly, then I will start thinking about it seriously.
DIY jobs are ongoing. I took it to Rob Campbell at Racing Restorations in Pershore last weekend to work on my 924 Turbo rebuild, but of course we started messing with the Cayenne. The car is Cat D salvage: accident repaired following a tap on the front right corner, so we had a look at the panel gaps on that and adjusted the front wing and bonnet. Turned out my NSF headlamp was rattling around so that was fixed (I could write a feature on how these are fitted to the car). We also straightened the driver’s door, which was slightly twisted. Rob is great at this sort of stuff so took less than an hour.
The wing is still a bit bent where it was repaired, and I could be fussy about the paint, so I may fit a new one. I know if I get into that then I have grown attached and LPG will be next. I’ve also fitted a replacement towbar with Rob’s help and bought some winter wheels and tyres. These were CHEAP so I am chuffed. In fact, everything so far has been very affordable.
Running costs to date on Porsche Cayenne S:
Pollen Filter £8
2 x sets wheel Centre Caps (originals nicked) £14 (ebay)
Wireless DVD headphones new foam £3 (ebay)
Used Detachable Towbar plus Ball inc carriage £60 (ebay)
New footbrake return damper £23 (Porsche Silverstone)
Set 18″ wheels for Winter £102 (ebay)
Set part-worn winter tyres £30 (ebay)
Total spent to date: £240
The wheels and tyres were excellent bargains. Tyres have enough for this winter and I will buy another set with more of a mud profile, so good for thick snow. Don’t give me any grief about buying part worns – I’ve run good part worns on my own cars for most of my driving career and never had a problem on them. New tyres for the Cayenne are £800 to £1000 a set and no way am I paying that with nine other cars in the fleet. Your own car is on part-worns right now: check and inspect them properly and err on the side of safety is my philosophy. That said, I put new tyres on the wife’s CRV, as I don’t get to check it that often.
Anyway, I can see my Big Pig is enjoying its tyres, so am already watching out for good road rubber. Brakes are cheap enough, with Mintex discs and pads costing about £120 for front axle set, £110 for the rear. This starter will cost about £100 to be reconditioned, plus the cost to pull the manifold off and back on. Apart from that, it will be due a service soon to get ready for winter. I plan to change the brake fluid, drop the coolant and make sure that rear screen washer system is all tip top. Last thing I want is a floor full of screenwash in the middle of winter.
Just re-reading what I am writing, I think we know I am eventually doing LPG on this car. Must start tracking down the history.
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I’ve had this irritating wiring problem with the gearshift on the Cayenne since I bought it. The manual shift on the Tiptronic shifter/gear lever doesn’t work, but the steering wheel buttons are fine. After a few miles driving, the gear display in the gauge cluster will default to ‘D’ and no gear is shown when using manual shift.
You want to see the gears and shift a Cayenne manually, as driving along in D is the least rewarding way to go. Porsche Tiptronic is all about performance with convenience and when it’s working, it does well with the V8 engine. Shifting on the buttons or the stick as you exit a corner or approach an ascent is the way to keep these things cooking: waiting for the ECU to decide to shift down or kicking down and burning needless fuel is hopeless.
I found this thread on Rennlist where two pointers were raised: magnets on the shift cover or water in the footwell. I stripped the entire centre console out and had a look. Turned out my problem was neither: the wiring to the shifter was chewed up, for some reason. I spliced in some new stuff, heatshrunk over it and put it all back together, giving the centre console gubbins a good clean at the same time.
Starting the Cayenne up, the display worked and shift looked good. Manual was now appearing in the cluster and the stick was working well. I call that a win: maybe it will solve some other stuff too.
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Needed a break from writing today, so took a hour off to chase some mechanical niggles and do some DIY maintenance on my 2004 Porsche Cayenne S.
I’ve not been super impressed with the audio quality from the PCM 2.1 system so far. It’s hard to believe Porsche could ship such bad sounds. Radio reception is absolutely tragic, and playback from CD not much to write home about.
As a long-term car hi-fi geek, I’ve got a lot of quality audio components in the garage, so thought I’d strip a door card off and look at what the Cayenne packs into those massive enclosures. Getting the card off was easily done thanks to Renntech – membership there is the best money I’ve spent on this car so far. It seems like every Porsche tech question you could ask is covered on Renntech or the Rennlist Cayenne Forum: I would be stuffed without them.
I found the PDF for the door card removal and off it came. Look at that woofer! Should definitely sound better than it did. I checked all the connections and fixed a dislocated rubber speaker ring that was rattling. Then sat in the truck and played with some audition discs. Turning the loudness off was a big step up. It sounds a lot better now, though I may still do something with the front end and get more bass in the trunk.
As I’m not selling the PCM this week, I left it playing and did a few more bits. I had been warned me about the rear washer pipe which can become disconnected behind the driver’s A-pillar, so I had a look at that. Apparently that can pour water into the ECU – which has already been replaced on this Cayenne.
Taking the A-pillar trim off was easy thanks to Rennlist. Getting it back on was a pig but let’s gloss over that. I found the pipe and also a kink in the line – no doubt a cause of the thing popping off. I used a cable tie to stop the kink, and put it all back together.
Turning on the squirt was an experience, as it streamed down the width of the screen. I got one of the kids to work the switch and it was coming out from around the third brake light. Obviously a pipe was disconnected.
Rennlist told me how to get that light out – you split the spoiler from inside the tailgate. There’s a lot of gear underneath that roof spoiler! I reckon one of my aerials might be U/S so will have that checked out.
Anyway, I got the brake light out and shot some compressed air though the jet, put it all back together and it works, although there is still a bit coming from the light. I’m sure the connecting pipe has gone hard, so will get a new bend to replace it.
Got a few more jobs to do but am on some deadlines for tomorrow. Back to work!
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Ferdinand Porsche Magazine’s Project 924 Turbo restoration was finally covered in fresh paint yesterday. I might be slightly biased, but the finished product really floats my boat.
You remember I bought the silver 924 Turbo on eBay last year from a Porsche barn up in Norfolk. I had the car delivered to best mate Robert Campbell at Racing Restorations in Pershore, Worcestershire, where Rob’s guys started picking through the mechanical work.
This included some rewiring, an alternator rebuild, steering rack overhaul and other works. I still have some bits to do before it can go to MOT, but the focus recently turned to bodywork when an unexpected slot opened up in the Racing Restorations paint schedule. While vintage sportscar specialist Rob is normally booked up six months in advance, delays on an Alfa Romeo restoration meant the 924 could claim a week and slip in.
Car guys talk lots about paint and how long it takes, but painting takes next to no time: just four hours on the 924. The preparation for paint took a full five days! Thanks to a rust-free chassis and (some) good panels, bare-metalling the 924 and getting it in primer took from Monday to Wednesday. Rob primered it on Wednesday night, and left it to bake for a day.
Flatting the primer took another day, so on Saturday this weekend, we drove it into the paint booth just vacated by a custom-painted McLaren MP12-4C, then spent a couple of hours degreasing the bodywork and wiping it off with tack rags before the painter did his thing.
The 924 Turbo now has four coats of the most expensive two-pack primer I could buy. The body has three coats of paint – Porsche code L97A – and three coats of lacquer. It looks pretty good and won’t need much polishing: a quick mop, pick out a few flecks of dust and that’s it.
I’ll start putting this back together next week – should be some fun getting it done. No doubt I’ll spend much more on new body trim bits than originally intended. Let me know if you’ve got a NOS rear bumper rubber lying around!
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