The Continuing Porsche Saga:  Putting It On The Road
(Written Oct 2004)

Toyo T1-S

Meanwhile, the car went up on jack stands in my 1 car garage for the fixes.  It is tight, but manageable.  A Bentley & Wayne Dempsey's 101 Projects in hand, I began.  I installed the rotors & pads.  The 1st rotor took a day with numerous Pelican searches along the way: "What the hell do I do with this?  How do I get this damn thing off?"  The 2nd took 3 hours, the rears were an hour each.  I was getting better . . .

The hard part here is getting the dust caps off the front wheels.  I have read many funny methods people have used to accomplish this task.  I whacked at it, wrenched it etc etc & nothing worked until I found 'The Method' in a Pelican post.  2 claw hammers (or one claw & a mallet).  Working from the top, put the claw part on the cap seam.  Tap the head with the other hammer.  Work your way around the cap.  Pretty simple, wasn't it?  I wasted most of a day on this one.

I skipped the bump steer kit for the time being.  Maybe in the spring, once I settle on a ride height.  The front chin spoiler was an easy & satisfying install.  I used Wayne's suggestions & various Pelican posts as a guide.  The bar that protects the front AC condenser was my own mild problem but it came off & went back on to facilitate the install.  Now the car is  spoiler 'correct'.

Just to explain, I have not really worked on a car in 30 years, so I was going to relearn it all along the way.  Kind of like riding a bicycle, you know, you never forget.  This was going 1/2 the fun of owning the car.
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The safety failed because the window washer was non-functional, as was the defroster.  Hmmmm.  I guess they never drove it in the rain.  And in Florida - its last address - they never needed the defroster.  The PPI wrench missed these.  And I never checked them.  The rear sway brackets were also broken (maybe in transit as it bounced up to Canada?).  The front wheel bearings were suspect.  Of course, I had no idea how much to tighten the bearings after the outer ones came off (unexpectedly) as I was doing the rotor work.  But I only drove it around the block & to the wrench.  Another Hmmmm.
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The Continuing Porsche Saga:  Putting It On The Road Part 2

The window washers were harder because it took me a day just to figure out the system & run some tests.  German ingenuity run amuck.  Of course, nothing compared to the heating system.  But I digress.  The washer fluid pickup tube was off inside the reservoir & the L check valve on the passenger side was clogged.  The valve was easy (I did the T too), but the pickup tube had to be fabbed.  On my car,  the reservoir (below) is impossible to remove without taking off the front valence.  The bolt on the strap is buried & inaccessible.  So I tie-wrapped a pickup tube I fashioned to get the washer working.  It attaches to the inside of the reservoir cap 
(C below). I'll leave a real replacement until another time.  If you read this & need help deciphering the system, email me. Hahahah.  Good luck - you'll probably need it.
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Another surprise was the number of light bulbs that were dead.  The interior trunk light wires must have been disconnected when the lid was resprayed & I decided not to touch that at this point.  Yes, as I looked around, it was becoming evident that this car needed some love.  The car was at a turning point.  Fix or decay.  I am going to rescue it.  Never concourse (I am no where near that anal) but really, really nice.
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BTW my apologies to the German people.  I really didn't mean all of those mean & nasty things things I said while working on this superb but often initially puzzling piece of German engineering.

And on a non-mechanical note: surprise, surprise, idiot me went to get a temporary permit to drive it around & I realized that the woman's husband (the original owner) was still on the title.  I missed this biggie in the shipping/customs shuffle.  The Ministry balked & said I needed his signature or documents saying she was his executor if he was dead.  I suspected dead but she had never volunteered this info.  I thought as a last resort, I would forge his signature.  He was dead, right?  A couple of frantic phone calls & the title was off to New York.  He was very much alive & quite agreeable to sign.  He gave the car to her to use at their (now her) Florida condo.  They are amicably divorced.  Breathe major sigh of relief here.
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The Continuing Porsche Saga:  Putting It On The Road Part 3

Now it was off to the local P-car friendly garage again for the rear sway brackets, front bearing adjust & the final safety check.  
# 1 below is the bracket.  It has been updated by Porsche with a reinforced version because of common breakage.  It must be welded to the underbody.
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Well, this turned into a little money pit.  $1100 & a day late I picked it up with fixed rear sway & new front wheel bearings.  Yes, the bearings were toasted.  And they were a bitch to get off (so says the wrench as he hands me a big ass bill).  Now I know why I decided to do as much of the service as possible.  Well, no one said they were cheap cars . . .
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But, I did have the safety & I did have the smog certificate & I did now have the title.  So, I registered it, paid the taxman & it's legal!

It is now legal.