I picked up my orange 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 Coupe from its latest visit to Tuthill Porsche today. The boys dropped the worn steering rack out and swapped my Turbo tie rods over to a good used rack I supplied, fitting their re-machined rack spacers/lock stops at the same time. These allow a decent sized spanner to be used on the tie rods, rather than the teaspoons the original pieces leave room for.
The front anti-roll bar bushes were perished, so those were changed for polyurethane ones. Then the rack assembly was refitted and the tracking was set. Total cost: 4 hours labour, plus parts, plus VAT: £275.
Tuthills couldn’t road test Orange, as the front tyres are below the legal tread depth (it’s on temporary Michelin Pilot Sport Cup track tyres and the fronts are almost slick). So I got to road test it first. The road was wet, and the worn Michies do pull down on the front a bit, but how nice to have a car that went where it was pointed! Baby’s-bum Michelin R-Compound rubber is not a huge problem in the wet: these are amazing tyres. I’ll put my road wheels on over the weekend – Kumho rubber on 8×16 and 9×16 inch Fuchs as in the pic below – and see what it feels like. Pretty sure it’s gonna be good.
It’s booked for an MOT on Tuesday. Hopefully we can pass that, ready for the annual trip to the Essen Techno Classica on Wednesday. I was going to take advantage of a free crossing with Norfolk Line Ferries, but the outbound weather looks a bit grim, so I’ve just booked the Chunnel instead. Cost was £104, which I didn’t think was bad for a short notice ticket over Easter.
An early start is required to get to Essen for the afternoon preview, meaning the 400 km drive on the other side should be pretty pacey. I can hear the engine’s characteristic 4500rpm buzz already.
Fun is my middle name!
WOW thats a beautiful porsche!
Thanks Leonard – good of you to say. Cheers!