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Ace, Duce and now Trey

Preface

I always get a kick out of reading other peoples car stories so I decided to put mine on paper, (er pixels). 

Chapter 1 - The Background

About 20 years ago, I was in the process of rebuilding a 68 Camero.  I had several criteria that I wanted to meet with this car. It had to be fast, get good gas mileage, handle great, be unique. After working on the car for a couple of years. I determined that my 68 with the fiberglass hood and fenders was not turning out the way I liked. The fiberglass was cracking in certain places. The suspension wasn't really that good for handling. The 6 cylinder engine that I was planning on turbo charging was having problems. It was becoming increasing hard to spend money on the car, ( was recently married). Needless to say, I hated to sell it, but I did.  The guy loaded up a pickup truck with parts and drove the car away for $1500. He apparently didn't do anything with it either.  About 4 years later, I received a call from a guy that said he just bought my old Camero.  It was still in my name! Warning. ALWAYS fill out the transfer of ownership paper that you can get from DMV.  Get your name off the car.  

The next toy was a Porsche 914 that came with my new wife. I still have her.  (The wife, not the car). The car served it's purposes until California started moving to every 2 year smog control.  I saw the writing on the wall and sold the Webber equipped 914 before it was too late. It'd be nice to have now with the pre 1973 vehicles being exempt from smog laws. This and baby on the way made looking for a 4 seater top importance. 

The next 15 years are a blur, I settled for a VW Dasher with mags, A Buick Rivera, a Jeep Cherokee (woody), and finally a 87 Nissan SE 5sp with adjustable shocks.  The SE gave me a sense of being a "rebel without a cars".

Chapter 2 - The Criteria

I started looking for a car change about 3 or 4 years ago when I got tired of my aging Nissan SE sports sedan. I went the whole gamut. I narrowed it down to 4 or 5 cars that held my interest. My criteria was the following:

I wasn't asking much (I thought).  There were only a few left in that category.  

I began my study of the 951 (944 turbo) about 3 years ago.  I monitored the RennList 944 discussion list on the car for about 2 years, learning everything I could so that there wouldn't be any surprises.  So when it came time to actually purchase one, I was ready.  I began test driving every 944 I could find.  There weren't many to choose from. 

Chapter 3 - The Search

In January 00, I began my search in earnest.  I scanned the entire United States via the internet. Noticing that all the great deals were seemly on the east coast. I looked at a few on the west coast but couldn't find anything with less than 85k miles on it that was in my price range.  I picked the 85k mileage number because I thought I could get one that had the major 60k service work done, maybe even a clutch job.  The cars normally go for over 150k before needing major engine work. I found  a good deal on an 87 with only 40k miles on it.  The owner was asking $12k. It was even Black (my first choice in colors). However, after talking to him and trying to arrange a day to view the car (he was 150miles away), he decided to do some work on it and raise the price to $15k.  It was still a sweet car, just out of my price range. A few others came and went.  When one came along with a good price, it was almost always sold before I called.

I kept looking for the next few months.  Pouring over the Internet and California newspaper classifieds each night in search for the quick deal that was surely to pop up.  I toyed with the idea of getting an out of state car.  I was getting tired of spending 1-2 hours a night going over adds in some 30+ web sites that I was monitoring. I prayed that God would end my search soon so that I could get back to a normal life. 

Chapter 4 - The Find

About a week later, I was sitting at the table eating breakfast.  I almost had given up looking in the local paper for a 944 Turbo. I had only seen 2 others in the past 2 years. But, I looked.  There was a listing for an 1984 944 Turbo with only 5,900 miles on it. The price said $8,500.  I figured it was a misprint.  But I didn't know where the error was.  Porsche didn't make the Turbo in 84. So if it was indeed an 84 it had to be something like a Caloway aftermarket turbo. Also, it couldn't have 5900 miles.  It would be worth much more in that case.  Either way, I had to know.  I called the lady.  She thought it was an 84,  and definitely it was a factory Turbo.  I explained that it couldn't be an 84 in that case. The car was only 15 minutes away, so I scheduled a time later that day to view the car.  It was a Guards Red 86 Turbo with 59k miles on it.  It was pretty. Completely stock except for Momo Rims and a CD player.  I didn't want a Red car because I thought I would get lots of tickets with it.  But, I bought it anyway. I had a cashers check with me when I went to look at the car for the first time.  If it did have 5,900 miles, I wasn't going to let it slip away.  Even with 59k miles I couldn't pass it up.  

The background on the car was that her previous husband bought the car new, he babied it for years, putting few miles on it.  Several years ago he became cancer stricken and died a couple of years ago.  He left the car to his 8 year old son. The family decide to sell the car and put the money away where it would do some good, instead of paying for keeping a car stored.

When I go home and got back on the computer, I looked up the 86 944 turbo in the www.cars.com web site. It has the listing for my local paper.   I couldn't find it.  (That meant that no one else could either).  I expanded my search to include 1984.  Bang, there it was.  It had been there for several days. No one had called on the car. It boggles my mind that this was dropped in my lap.  The answer to my prayer.  I'm not sure why God chose to bring me this car. Maybe, just so I could tell this story...

Chapter 6 - The Disaster

Well the story doesn't end there.  I've had the car for about 6 weeks now. I drive this car annoying slow for a machine of this caliber.  The other night coming home I was doing my best to travel the speed limit and not attract attention to my ticket machine, when I approached an intersection. The cross street had a stop sign. There was a big truck parked between me and the lady sitting at the stop.  She pulled out without taking a second look when she cleared the truck. I locked up the 10 plus year old tires and slid stopping just in front of her approaching bumper. She never appeared to slow down. Crunch. It still hurts my ears when I think about it.  I never been in an accident where I was driving the car.  So this was especially painful, it could have easily been the Nissan that I spent the last 10+years putting over 100k miles on the car.  Oh, well.  God has some other plan for me and this car. 

The body man has the car now.  He and the Insurance man will determine the fate of the old beauty. Here are my pictures of the twisted wreck.   With new parts the Insurance Man say's it's totaled.  We'll see if used parts get it down to a rebuildable quote.

Chapter 7 - The Dance

The Body Man (BM) had the car for 2 weeks.  He wasn't feeling that great and spend some time at the doctor. The Insurance Man was at a class for the first full week after the wreck.  BM was suppose to get a quote together and see if he could rebuild the car using used parts (except for the suspension). After several visits to the Hospital (and back), the BM found time to work on the 951.  It wasn't until this time that he noticed the A piller was TwIsTeD.  He wasn't at all interested in fixing the car after that.  I was in shock.  All this time it seemed to be fixable.  Now plans were changing again. 

I spoke to the insurance man.  He had good numbers for me, (very good).  But, he thought since the car was worth so much, that we should be able to fix it.  So we dance again. Anyway, the BM and the IM talked and determined that the best thing to do was to total the car (and buy another).  The IM called to tell me the news.  He had a check ready.  The buyback was low.  My head was swimming with possibilities.  (Send me an email if you're interested in $$ details).  

Chapter 8 - The Search - (The Sequel)

With check in hand, I immediately went on the Internet to see if there were any good buys out there. I was amazed to find 4 possible cars in only 2 days searching.  The last time I searched for 4 months before finding  that many cars. Since I hate to jinks a deal in progress, so I'll wait for the rest of the story until the final papers are signed. 

There is a very nice LOW mileage Black 951 on Rennlist classifieds. Check it out! I would have been my first choice. 

Another Black 87 car in Arizona.  If it's still there. I found it on www.Stoneage.com 

Then there was a hopped up 87.  It had all the goodies I was going to put in mine. But it was much more money and 30k more miles.  www.autotrader.com 

My find is a much more subtle car. If a red car can be subtle. Pretty much stock except for the sport seats and the Chips. The chips give it away. It was probably driven hard at times.  (But aren't all Turbos?)  The price was right.  (same that I paid for the first car). Someone tell me I'm not nuts.  These cars do go for 10k and more? I'm paying less than high blue book for them. Granted,  this one needs some help in the way of clutch or driveline work.  But, I figured on doing that anyway, even with the Ace.

Chapter 9 - Driving the Duce

I'm Back.  I did purchase the Duce.  Since it looks so much like the first car, we had to name them.  It was just too confusing.  So the first car is the Ace and the 2nd car is the Duce.  We got the Duce home on Weds and spent Thurs and Friday rushing around to get the insurance and registration done.  The next logical thing to do was.... GO AUTOCROSSING! Sunday afternoon we went to our first PCA autocross.  The car was great, aside from some serious street tire traction problems.  It made for a fun ride. The next weekend we hit the SCCA for another autocross. This time Andrew was able to ride along.  He say's he's hooked.  Then back this last weekend for our 3rd.  The last one was great. I got some real track time in.  Over 22 minutes slipping and sliding around the concrete sheriffs training course.  Again, I'll blame it on the tires.  When I get some Kumos.  Well, actually, everyone beat me. Except maybe one of the 914s.  But I did knock 6 seconds off my first time. So I was learning.  Actually some of the driving courses setup their cars for these kind of conditions (slipping and sliding).  So maybe the Kumo shortage is doing me a favor.

That was 2 weeks and 3 days ago.  Time is flying.  Our city Golf Tournament is next weekend.  The car gets a rest. I have to work....

Update: I finished 1 stroke out of the money.  Oh well, next year.

Chapter 10 - The Mods

Suspension - Ok,  it needed work.  The shocks and springs are factory original and very weak. I found (thru 2 different parties) used M030 shocks and springs. That's adjustable Koni yellow front and rear.  Turbo S springs front (165#) were an upgrade from the stock 86 Turbo 150# and 25.5 torsion bars will be an eventual upgrade from the stock 23.5 86 Turbo torsion bars.  Honestly the front springs feel stronger than that. But the combination of shocks and springs really made a big difference.  (Anyone feel free to correct me on these stats).

Tires - I tried both sets of tires (and wheels).  They both were like riding on Fred Flintstones rock mobile.  Slipping and sliding were the norm. After a short search, I came up with a pair of Goodyear R1 245x45x16 that someone from the SCCA gave to me. Those will go into hiding for the time being.  Because I found a deal on some closeout Yokohama A008RS tires at www.TireRack.com. These will be 225x50x16 for all 4 corners. These tires are designed for Autocross and Drivers Education events. Just what Dan had in mind :^)

Chapter 11 - The Summer of 00

Wow, what a summer for the 951, I had fun too. I ended up at 3 PCA autocrosses and 3 SCCA autocrosses plus a Drivers Education event at Thunder Hill raceway. My son loves the SCCA autocrosses because he is allowed to ride in the car.  He says it looks a lot faster from inside.  With the 'R' tires and Koni shocks, the car handles good.  Not great,  it still pushes a bit.  (it's probably the driver).  I haven't changed out the torsion bars yet.  In the meantime, I'm having a blast.

SCCA is an interesting mix of cars and people.  From old timers (whose times are very hard to even get close to), to young people with very different tastes. It's great to see all the different types of cars at an SCCA autocross.  

Autocrosses in my area are rare.  But a couple of PCA events at Dublin were very close and fun.  The one I attended at Mather field in Sacramento, Ca was exiting. It had a back stretch that almost had me shifting into 3rd gear.  That's close to 70mph.  Of course I had to loop it once trying to brake and turn at the same time.  What a day that was, 11 runs at about 2 minutes each. My neck was so sore (2) days later, that I went out and bought a whiplash thingy for the helmet.  The PCA days have fewer cars, that means more seat time for Dan :) and none for Andrew :(.

The Drivers Ed event won't be my last.  I bought a Sony video camera just before and got lots of great in-car and out side footage of the Porsche Club race. Once I get the mpg formats right, I'll upload them.  

I only did one day of DE, it was the Friday after the Parade in Sacramento. Andrew and I stayed at my Sisters in Sac the night before, then the 3 of us left early along with a Porsche full of STUFF.  There was no room for anything else. We arrived about 15 minutes before we were suppose to get there, so I did my drivers thing and had the pit crew empty the car and change the remaining 2 tires from street to race while I went and handled the paperwork. I was assigned an instructor from back east. She drove a 944na and by indications, she did it very well. She had a speaker microphone setup that made it easier for me to hear what she was saying without her having to yell. Our first run was taking it pretty easy, just learning the lines and being good.  Well, actually most of the time was like that.  Thinking about it later, I wish I had pushed it harder to get it closer to the limits.  Only 2 times did I even feel the tires let go.  But, the track was great,  when I felt I knew the track better, I managed to get up to 100mph in 4 different places on the track, and managed to get to 120mph on the front stretch.  I was very leery about how deep I could go into the end of the front stretch before braking so, I broke way early there and most other places.  I wish now I had taken advantage of the 3 days of DE. My sister and son ended up working (I did more watching) in the timing trailer. Andrew had a blast listening to the headphones and hearing the (sometimes) off color comments from the other workers.  Overall, the weekend was a success.  I didn't crash at 120mph, the car didn't break (after being severely overloaded), and my sister and son are still talking about the weekend. Oh BTW, my wife wants to wait until I'm good before she goes with us...

Note: I'm getting better. I set the lowest time for the 944 bunch at a recent PCA AX. They had my class wrong, but that is getting corrected.  This whole thing about rules is interesting. I say just put me in whatever class you want and let me race..

 The summer ended in me getting a new job after 12 years with the last one. Hopefully this won't put a damper on the weekend activities.  The Yokohama A008R tires still look great, more than 2/3rds left on them. ( I need to get a tread depth gauge).

So far the car has performed great. One minor problem with NO oil pressure when I went to start the car in the garage after sitting for 2 days (boy was my butt sore  :).  After swapping the Oil Pressure relief valve and changing the oil and filter, (and priming the oil pump, it worked. Cross you  fingers..

Fall plans include, "Slush" series autocrosses with the SCCA.  Some closing PCA AX events, and possibly another DE at Thunder Hill in October.  Oh ya,  and golf...

Chapter 12 - Stage I

After thinking about it for what seems like years, I went and purchased a Huntley MAF Stage I kit for the car.  Actually this was in the plans since before I bought the first car.  I figured that it would be cheaper to purchase a 'non S' model and bump up the engine and suspension than to pay a premium for an S that I would modify anyway.  We'll see if it really makes the world of difference that everyone says.  Time stands still for this project. See Chapter 14

Chapter 14 - The Tripartite  (1 : divided into or composed of three parts)

NOTE: I've finally settled on a name.  Trey.  Thanks to a suggestion from a friend.  It must have been too obvious.

Now things are starting to get interesting.  I found a parts car in LA.  With a semi-working drive train and decent body.  The plan would be to strip the Ace down to nothing.  Move all the best parts to the TRI and sell off the leftovers. 

Road trip - Left at 12:30am on Friday night.  Arrived in LA at 7:30am.  Stared at the car for about 20 minutes, then bought it.  After adding a couple of suspension parts  and front wheels, we rolled in onto the trailer and drove home.  With the help of a good friend and my son to keep us from driving off the road, the trip was uneventful.  We arrived home around 3pm.  The only problem is, where do I put 3 86 Red Turbos?  The wife has allowed me a couple of weeks to get her car back in the garage. I have work to do...

The MAF is on hold. First I have to get rid of the 'extra' car.   Friends and I went together on a GTechPro.   So, once I get back on that track, I'll do some testing to see what kind of difference it makes.

I spend the last 3 weeks extracting every last removable part from the wreck. Tomorrow it gets hauled away to the wrecking yard to be crushed. I have no emotional attachment for that car anymore, after all, most of it is in the back shed. :^) 

Anyway, The next step will be to replace as many of the older (but still good) parts from TREY as I can to make it once again a 60k mile car. (It has 110k on it). 

Well for the time being, I'm out of hot water, Becky can now park her car in the garage again.

Next:  A MAF installation!

Chapter 15 - MAF install

Finally, I found time to do the MAF install.  I made some GTechPro runs prior to the install, so I had at least a fuzzy baseline to go on.  

The install went fairly smooth,  I just had questions about running the wires.  A call to Huntley and the answer was quickly had.  Even on the weekend, a quick email to John and Derek I received a call back shortly for my additional questions.  After fiddling with the ARC2 for a while to adjust the fuel setting, I broke down and called John again.  He had me drive the car with him on the cel phone adjusting the Low Mid High and Accel. After about 10 minutes he had it running fine. 

Before:

GTechPro HP = 235 rwhp @15psi  (that's about 282hp @ 20% driveline loss)

0-60 = 6.37 

After:

GTechPro HP = 247 rwhp @15psi (about 296hp @ 20% driveline loss)

0-60 = 6.17

1/4 mile = 13.57 @ 108mph  @15psi

Ok, whether you believe these figures or not, (they sound high to me too) there was an improvement of 14hp at the same boost levels.  An increase of boost with the new setup would yield slightly better results than the old system. A  reduction of back pressure (cat) would help even more.  I suspect that the 318 crank hp that Huntley advertises is possible.  Their tests show a cat bypass and 18psi boost.

Seat of the pants impression is that there wasn't a huge difference.  The sound with the open exhaust was pretty noisy before, a little more intake noise now.  There is a fluttering sound when letting off the gas.  It does seem to spool a bit quicker. Reducing the Cat restriction or adding some boost might help the situation.  But for now,  I'm just going to enjoy driving.  108 in the quarter!  Wow!

I did some checking on speed and quarter mile times.  It seems like most of the 108 trap speeds were just under 12.5 in the quarter. So it sounds like I'm loosing about a sec in the launch.  No surprise there with the gearing these cars have. Using an online HP calculator and the 13.57 and 108 mph it came up with the following HP numbers.

Using the ET method, I come up with 261 horsepower
Using the Speed method, I come up with 324 horsepower

Somewhere in between should be about right...  Try the HP calculator!