Sep 24 2012 porschedoc BMW 3 Comments

Had this little BMW Z3 come in on the hook the other day as steam was rolling out the hood! Typical BMW cooling system failure, and this one took out pretty much everything it could! BMW cooling systems are their weak link, and IMHO, they should be gone through every 60-70k miles. Up and ready to go. The cause of this issue was a failed water pump bearing. But wait…..it took out more than just the water pump. New pump …

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Awhile back we installed the Borla exhaust on this Boxster. At the same time the customer ordered some headers, but they were incorrect when they came in. So, vacation came around and we got the car for 10 days 🙂 The header install on the 2000 and later boxsters is a little tricky with the aftermarket headers that don’t have cats on them. The later Boxster has catalytic converters on both the headers (primaries), and then on the rear exhaust …

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Had this nice little 924s in the shop this week for a timing belt job. Pretty straight forward job, but once I got the car in the air, it was apparent that we needed to replace the front engine seals as well. This car was bought new by the only owner from Art Bunker in 1987 🙂 A few pesky leaks. A And a few more with the timing and balance shaft belts off. Ugly. Yes that is RTV you …

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Had this 997 come in today for a little TSB update. Occasionally after driving, the car wouldn’t start, which was an issue with the early 997’s. Porsche issued a TSB on the problem, which calls for replacing the starter/alternator cable on the engine. No small task unfortunately. The job requires pulling the alternator to get the cable off it, removing the cable from the starter, then unsnaking the cable from the top of the motor to the side of the …

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Had this 2011 Cayenne Turbo in for an Escort 9500ci integrated Radar detector with laser shifters. It is a pretty complex install on a Cayenne to do it without hacking up the interior. Love the new interiors in the Cayenne’s! All the components laid out. A lot of stuff to install and wires to run. First started off in the rear and ran the wire up through the plastic latch housing and behind the interior door panel. The plastic trim …

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Had a good weekend of tinkering over labor day. Was able to knock out some minor odds and ends in preparation for some bigger work. We hit the brake ducts with some overspray, so I pulled them and got them black again. Mounted all the brake calipers back on the car. I will need to fab up lines down to the front calipers. Val helped me mount the dual master cylinder setup for the brakes. One will run the front …

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Pulled this car out of storage this last week and we started getting ready for the upcoming HPDE event at Hallett. We weighed at last event and still need to get out about 70lbs of weight to be around the class minimum, so we got started 🙂 70lbs is pretty easy when there is still a heater core, some sound deadening, carpet, etc in the car. Out comes the dash and rest of the carpet, etc. And then the blower …

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This has been sitting at the house for some time now, finally brought it to the shop and put it to work 🙂 Gone are the days of wasting cut off wheels and grinding 🙂 Instead, we just plasma cut. Back in the old days, crude metal work cutting was done with an acetylene torch, and is a little hard to cut through more delicate areas. While torches are still used on really heavy stuff today, when a little more …

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Had this Boxster come in last week for a weird instrument cluster issue and to install/activate the cluster’s on board computer, allowing the driver to see miles to empty, average mpg, temperature, and speed limit. While all cars had this function in the DME, some did not come with the control stalk or with it activated, so while it was there, you couldn’t see it or use it. So we took care of that 🙂 The cluster had quit working …

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Gosh, I have got so many pictures of projects to blog about and no time 🙁 Hopefully I can get caught up soon. The last month or so we have been slammed with a few races and a lot of maintenance projects. A few long term projects are heading out the door to make way for future winter projects that take a little time. Have a cool 928GTS coming in next week for some big mods, so be ready for …

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