by John Glynn | Jul 20, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
“What’s that smell, dad?” asked youngest daughter as our Porsche Cayenne stormed away from a t-junction on a recent morning school run. The odour seemed familiar, but took a few hours to recall out what it was.
At first I thought the acrid, slightly burnt aroma was from the car in front, but when I heard the heater fan seizing up as I arrived in a car park later that morning, I remembered the smell when my 911 blower fan failed in the south of France on the 2010 R Gruppe Bergmeister Tour. Same thing.
The Porsche Cayenne is known for blower fan failure. These cars are big inside, with only one fan controlling the climate, so of course the fan is going to need replacement at some stage. I’d known it was getting weak for a while, but not been too anxious to change the fan as it’s a Porsche-only item and suitably priced. Now it was time to sort it out.
Some people spend hours repairing the heater fans (with unknown reliability), but that’s messing around I haven’t got time for. Chris at JZM recommended changing the heater blower resistor at the same time as, having been under increased current draw for such a long time, these usually fail soon after the blower fan is replaced. There speaks the voice of experience.
Once the parts were in stock, I set a Saturday morning aside to fit the new fan. Fitting the fan was easy: take out the glovebox, undo the wiring and seven hex screws, swap the fan over and put it all back together. The resistor is two screws and right in front of you when the glovebox is out: it’s a Volkswagen part, of course.
With the new fan fitted, the Cayenne is now cool & composed inside. Total cost was something like £300, but I’ve yet to see the parts bill. It’s a small price to pay for the pleasure and comfort with outside temps topping thirty degrees C ambient this year.
My next problem is a water leak: small but enough to annoy me at circa 750mls in 5k miles. The coolant pipes have already been done, so my first port of call will be checking the water pump. The Cayenne is due an oil change anyway, so we’ll have a look when that gets done.
by John Glynn | Jul 20, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
If I ever recover from our last family holiday in the Cayenne (to Ireland last Easter) enough to want another one, and we take Ted the Jack Russell Terrier, he will get half the boot space. With four women ready to fill up the other half, I’ve been looking for a roof box as a just-in-case measure.
New Porsche roof boxes are silly money, so a used box is the obvious solution. eBay is usually the best place to find used Porsche accessories, and I’ve had a saved search for Porsche roof boxes running for a while. A quick flick on the search one lunchtime last week found a black Porsche roofbox out in Suffolk. Looking at the seller’s other items, he also had a set of 19″ Cayenne wheels with winter tyres.
eBay Porsche Wheels and Tyres
Having finally killed off the part-worn winters from last year, I needed replacement winter tyres and I wanted a roofbox, so one quick email offer later, both items were mine. I arranged collection for the following morning and duly set off after dropping the kids to school. It’s a 200-mile round trip from here to Suffolk on the east coast of England. Sat nav said a couple of hours with a few country short cuts, some of which turned out to be excellent roads. Noted for future 911 drives.
One great thing about Porsche ownership is the variety of interesting people who run around in these cars. Having met undertakers, dentists, truck drivers and more through buying and selling Porsches and parts, this latest deal was with Sean: an obviously talented property developer.
Sean’s place (above) was an amazing manor house. Seemingly 150 years old, it turned out to be a new build using carefully chosen materials. As someone who is still buying reclaimed building supplies for an ongoing Victorian house rebuild, the house appeared to have stood since the 1850s or earlier. It was absolutely beautiful: the pics are from the architect’s website.
We fitted the roof box on its Porsche roof rails and threw the wheels in the Cayenne. Ted approved of the boot space (below): now all we need is a boot divider for him. And some space to store this massive bit of luggage. Shouldn’t be a problem when the garage is built.
Modern Cayenne not as Well Built as Original
Sean was selling the roof box, as he had recently bought his third Cayenne, but the new Porsche Cayenne doesn’t come with the roof channels required to fit these boxes. A previous owner of a V8 like mine, a Turbo and now a new Turbodiesel, he felt that newer Cayennes had been lessened by removing items found on early cars, to make new cars easier to manufacture. This included the roof channel system and raised windscreen edges: the lack of which allowed water to run straight in through open front windows. Wet shirt sleeves are not appreciated when you’ve shelled out sixty grand or more on a car.
A similar thing happened to early BMW Minis. BMW couldn’t make money retaining the substantial build quality of the first production examples, so the cars got cheaper to build over time. It’s also said that lowering production costs was one motivation for the transition from air-cooled to water-cooled 911s, but let’s not go there.
Porsche Roof Box is a Thule Product
Having since spent an hour refining the fit, sliding it forward a bit to clear the DAB aerial and allow the boot to open fully, the roofbox – which is a Thule product, painted in black and rebadged as Porsche – fits the Cayenne really well.
Screwed to the genuine roof rails/cross bars using custom fittings, it opens from both sides and is rattle-free over bumps. There’s a bit of wind noise at 90mph and a minor impact on fuel economy, but no more than 10% lost. I’ve run with it for five days now and been impressed. A good buy for £200!
by John Glynn | Jul 17, 2014 | Project Cars
One big problem with the Porsche Boxster is caused by its defining feature: that convertible roof. The soft top needs regular maintenance, just like the rest of the car.
Even in the UK’s water-dominated climate, a Boxster’s convertible roof sees regular use and is exposed to plenty of stress. Controlled by a series of cables, over time these cables can slip out of adjustment: the tell-tale being a rattling sound behind the driver. If the roof cables are left unadjusted, the mechanism invariably starts to malfunction.
This would not be such a serious issue, except that if the roof is left without attention for a prolonged length of time, the drain tubes for the hood box that the roof folds into can get blocked by dirt and debris. The roof box then fills with water, which usually enters the car directly overhead electrical control boxes situated in the left rear floor.
The Boxster above had a lucky escape. When the car started leaking water, the owner brought it in for a look. The water had entered the car due to blocked roof drains, but only on the right side, missing the expensive control boxes (phew). The roof box was checked and the problem was found. A pop-on ball connector for a hood cable had fractured and – as the perfect size and shape – dropped into a drain tube and blocked it.
This was the first such hood box blockage I have seen, where the ball connector caused the problem, but where there’s one failure, there are many more like it waiting to happen! When servicing your Boxster, have that hood adjusted and lubricated, and make sure the garage checks the drain tubes. It could save a fortune in the long run.
![Kremer ST Replica: Porsche 911 Desert Drive]()
by John Glynn | Jul 14, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods
I caught up with my Arizona Porsche driver friend and fellow 911 Carrera 3.0 fan, Gib Bosworth, over the weekend. Gib sent me these wonderful photos of his Kremer Porsche 911 ST replica on the famous Apache Trail – what a route to drive!
“The Kremer ST rep is a special sports purpose car, not intended for Sunday cruises,” says Gib. “It’s a blast to drive with strong acceleration and great sounds inside and out. It has a very vintage feel, which is what I was after. I’ve got a 1990 964 for comfortable cruising, with good air conditioning!
“The ST is based on a Euro ’72 T, just like the original car. It has a 2.5-litre twin plug MFI engine, and runs 9 x 15″ Fuchs front with 11 x 15″ Fuchs rear. The project took about two and a half years: I enjoyed the learning experience when researching the details of what the Kremer Racing team did with this private entry in Europe’s GT class events. The original car won the European GT competition in 1972, and also took the Porsche Cup.”
The product of Gib’s fascination with the classic 911, it must be an incredible car to see on the road in the proper wild west of America. That said, it’s highly fitting that this unique machine should race through such a unique landscape, where the early pioneers pushed into unknown territory, just like the Kremer brothers back in the day.
The peak seen here is Superstition Mountain, king of the Superstitions and topped by Flatiron Peak: a well-known Pheonix hiking favourite. Climbing to the top is doable as long as you have stamina, plenty of water and a strong head for heights. The last part of the ascent is a 12-foot vertical climb, guaranteed to test your staying power.
Back in the Gold Rush times of the 1890s, nearby Goldfield was a booming mining town with a population of five thousand. More than fifty working gold mines once graced the area, but the original town eventually disappeared and a tourist attraction cowboy site now stands in its place.
Arizona is a beautiful state and towns including Tombstone, Bisbee, Jerome (once named wickedest town in the west) & Vulture Mine are all on my list of places to go in a Porsche. I don’t believe in a previous life, but if I had one it was something do with gold mining. You know when you just get a feeling?
by John Glynn | Jul 13, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods
This Kremer Porsche 962 was a recent visitor to a friend’s service workshop. Despite my spending at least one day a week there, I missed it, but am working on future visiting rights.
Everyone knows about the Porsche 962: super successful Group C racer that claimed abundant silverware for owners with the nuts to drive them properly. However, a number of customers were unhappy with Porsche’s version of the 962 and decided to do things their own way.
Formula One of the time was breaking new ground with composite tubs, but Porsche stuck to single-skin aluminium monocoque. When Kremer drivers Manfred Winkelhock and Jo Gartner were both killed in 962s – Mosport 1985 and Le Mans 1986 respectively – Kremer contacted John Thompson in the UK and had him build a stronger aluminium honeycomb tub with composite inserts and bodywork.
Scratch-built Kremer 962s using Thompson’s much stiffer tubs were badged as 962 CK6s, and Thompson went on to build full composite 962 chassis’ for Brun Racing. Despite 962 variants running well into the 1990s, Jo Gartner was the last man to be killed at Le Mans until Allan Simonsen’s death last year.
Flying slightly blind here, I’m half guessing at this being Kremer 962 CK6 09, one of the last Kremer 962s built, although it could be chassis 05. Shown on the JZM Hunter chassis alignment ramp, it’s fitted with Volk Racing centrelock wheels, which were chosen by many 962 teams. CK6-09 enjoyed an interesting career. Built specifically for the Le Mans 24-Hours, it raced in 1991, ’92 and ’93, with a highest placed finish of 11th overall.
Manuel Reuter’s name can be seen on the door. While not a household word outside of Germany, Manuel enjoyed sportscar success, twice winning Le Mans and racing 962s for much of his career. The 1992 Interserie Division 1 champion in a Kremer K7, he also raced DTM for Opel and was a DTM TV commentator too.
How many Porsche 962s were built? Depends who you read and how you add up the numbers. Counting later derivatives, it is certainly more than three figures.
