Friday, November 23, 2012

Hibernation Time

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It's that time of year again, actually well past that time. The 911 has been put away for almost a month but I had to visit it tonight to make sure the heaters were shut off (they weren't) - important on air cooled cars because the heater boxes can allow four-legged things to get into your car. Not good.

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 Anyway she's tucked up tight now and should be good until Spring, or until I get a garage of my own to move her to, whichever comes first. And we're looking at garages again (well, garages with houses attached) tomorrow. Fingers crossed ;-)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Porsche Club of America Meeting, 5 September

The first Wednesday of each month is the regular meeting night for the Red River chapter of the Porsche Club of America, of which I am a member. We meet at a local restaurant and have a meal, then repair outside to ogle each others' cars. This is followed by a brisk drive over to some local cafe for a coffee or ice cream.

There was a pretty good turnout this week so I tried to get some pictures of the cars to post here. Above is my own car, in front of two Targas, both "911SC" models of the 1978-83 period. The SC is fairly renowned as an excellent, reliable car, powered by the 3-litre version of the venerable Porsche flat-six. My own car is the next generation from the SC - the Carrera 3.2. The ducktail is non-stock, of course ;-)
  
The new Boxster is quite handsome, yes? It's a much more muscular looking car than the 986 it replaces, and has a real "presence".

To me the new headlights are reminiscent of the Carrera GT...?

A new member showed up driving a 2013 911 Carrera S ("991"). As you can see it drew quite a crowd.

I'm not sure about the chrome "Porsche" script from an aesthetic perspective but it's a design choice Porsche has evidently made on all of its models. I guess maybe I miss the full-width reflector that last appeared on the 993 model, the last of the air-cooled 911s.

The 991's interior is quite luxurious. Notable is the seven-speed manual transmission, a first in a production car. Lots of gears to shift, and the owner said his left leg was getting quite a workout.

Two Boxsters of newer and older varieties, with 944 and 996.

 Rear three-quarter view of the 991 is gorgeous, and is the car's best angle, according to its stylist.

After hanging for a bit at the restaurant lot we decamped for a local gelato joint. 996 cabrio in the foreground.

991 leads the lineup.

928, Boxster, 996, then it gets too dark ;-)


Fun to hang out with some cool cars and have a gelato and a chat. It was a nice night but got pretty cool as it got darker... I guess that's the way things are going now. I miss summer :-(

Saturday, September 1, 2012

GSX-R1100 go/no go

It seems like forever, but it's *only* been a couple years now since my Dad and I bought a moderately decrepit 1986 Suzuki GSX-R1100G as a restoration project. I always liked the brutal simplicity of the original "slab-side" GSX-R, and it has historical significance as the bike that brought the low-mass revolution (and the whole racer-replica genre) to the street.

I figured it would just bne a cosmetic refresh, since the bike seemed to run well enough when I test rode it. A bit of a rumble from the bottom end, but just typical Suzuki cam-chain adjustment, right?... wrong. Mega-buck rebuild and two years later, we got our decal set from the UK, dropped off panels with the painter and set back to work.

Newly powder-coated wheels look nice, eh? $$$

Fast friends. Once the one on the left is running properly it will be MUCH faster than the red one...

Wheeled out into the light for a couple photos. This summer I resolved to head in to Brandon and help Dad get the machine running, or get it ready to sell. I had a brand-new MAC exhaust to install that we wrestled mightily with, but it turned out not to be fit-able. So back on went the stock header sans rusty canister. And still the bloody thing wouldn't run right or idle without the choke.

So here is a dilemma. Once you have so much money invested in a project, can you sell it on without bringing it to fruition? This was the "go/no go" decision point. We thought long and hard about it, let me tell you. But the answer is no, for simple economic reasons. Nobody in their right mind pays any kind of decent money for a half-completed non-running project bike. So we just have to belly up and finish it. I think that when it's running well we'll be glad we stuck with this one. Or at least we'll be in a much better position to get a decent buck for it.

So the carb rack has been sent off to Oklahoma for rebuilding by a recommended marque expert, and a second exhaust system obtained from eBay and picked up in Pembina, ND today. Once the carbs are back we can bolt them up and fit up the exhaust, and (fingers crossed) have a runner. Then it's just a matter of wiring the signals back up and bolting on the panels... right???

Monday, August 27, 2012

World's Trickest Engine Lid Prop???

After putting a fibreglass ducktail engine lid on my Carrera 3.2, I found that the lid wouldn't sit right. This was caused by the tension in the stock shock absorber that holds the lid open. The lightweight ducktail is too light to fully compress the shock and is weak in torsion, too, so the shock twists the lid, preventing it from sitting correctly. Problem!!

Solution: Seine Systems "Ulitimate Strut" - a carbon fibre prop rod. All hardware is supplied for hassle-free installation, no drilling* (in most applications, read on).

Unlike the photos on the Seine Systems website, which show left-side installation, Carrera 3.2's with air conditioning (like mine) require right-side installation. All you need to do is identify the appropriate hole (ahem) on the hinge, *radius it a bit with a drill, and fit the attached hardware.

Cut the rod to length with a hand saw and slip on the supplied "foot", then slip the sleeve over the join and heat it up with a hairdryer or heat gun to shrink it to fit. The foot slips into a bolt head as shown, when in use. The kit comes with a replacement bolt with a recessed head, which you use to replace the appropriate bolt in the engine compartment.

Seine Systems supplies a rubber sleeve to tuck the rod away when not required. This attaches to the ducktail lid and the rod just nestles in there nicely.

Despite what my friend Andy says, this is probably not the world's most expensive 2x4. At about $40 I think it is a useful and elegant solution to a real problem and let's face it, who doesn't love carbon fibre???

The Seine Systems Ultimate Strut is available to fit 911, 912 and 964 applications front and rear, and 993 rear. If you want to buy one, go here.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

"Euro" Bike Night at Mona Lisa Ristorante

Last Thursday the Mona Lisa Ristorante on Corydon hosted a "Bike Night" (formerly "European Bike Night", but this year everyone was invited ;-)

There were some pretty cool machines there, so I took some pictures.

Ducati PS1000 "Paul Smart Replica". Built on the late lamented Sport Classic platform with 1000DS twin-spark air-cooled v-twin engine, the PS1000 commemorated the famous victory in the 1972 Imola 200 race by English rider Paul Smart on a Ducati 750SS. (The silver paint and green frame of the PS echoes that of the original SS). The PS was a limited edition whose value sagged a bit in the first years after intro, but along with the rest of the SportClassic range, its value has been on the upswing of late.

Neat little DKW two-stroke single. This bike still carried "Auto Union" branding with Audi's famous four rings logo. Nerds like me can tell you the four rings represented the four brands that came together in the Auto Union - Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer.
 
Very cool 1980 Ducati 900SD "Darmah". A pretty original bike still carrying its California licence plate ;-)


This is the Daddy... Vincent Rapide. Liter-size v-twin engine, Girdraulic front forks and engine as stressed chassis member. Low, black and intimidating as Hell. It took the rider about eight kicks to start the thing and when he finally succeeded, the crowd broke out in spontaneous applause...



Aprilia Mille R and about 20 other modern sportbikes showed up. I like Mille's but this one showed that it had been ridden hard and put away wet... many times.


 Ducati 1098S race bike displayed by the event sponsor.

My pal Kerry's VERY trick Ducati Monster. Nice paint!

Super-cool BMW R100 cafe racer. It would have some stiff competition in the "cool custom Beemer" category by the end of the evening.



Laverda 750SF. The "SF" stands for super freni (super brakes). Check out that massive drum... impressive in the day, I'm sure, but downright marginal by today's standards.


Representing the J-crowd, a nifty 250... NSR250 Honda from the early '90s. Clearly a Japanese import as it had J-writing stickers all over it. No licence plate or temporary tag either...


One of my favorites... 1983 BMW R100 all cafe'd up. This one had a tail from a Harley Davidson XLCR but I personally prefer the tail on the other BMW cafe bike above, it looks more "BMW". This machine also had a cool digital instrument unit with integrated speedo, tach, and warning lights. Really cleaned up the look of the bike, kudos. It's also for sale, asking price is $8,500 which is about double what I'd pay. A nice stock example can be had for $3-5K at most and while slick looking, this one doesn't have $5K in upgrades.

So that was Bike Night! Hope you enjoyed the pics. I just noticed that my bike isn't in any of the pics but that's OK, I know what it looks like ;-)

Friday, August 24, 2012

Inspiration



In trying to come up with a name for this blog the phrase "things that go" stuck in my mind, but I wasn't sure where it came from. So I Googled that phrase and came up with this... I used to love Richard Scarry books when I was a wee lad and I imagine that this just stuck with me.

Scarry was born in Boston, Mass. in 1919. Funny because I had always thought he was British. Anyway he wrote and illustrated over 300 books, many featuring "Busytown", a city populated by various anthropomorphic animals (including the infamous Lowly Worm!) who were always... busy. He married a woman called Patricia Murphy, herself a writer, which is funny because I seem to remember a character in his books called "Murphy".

Scarry moved to Gstaad, Switzerland in 1972 and lived and worked there until his death in 1994. Just typing that made me feel a bit sad because I loved his books so much, but as some other famous writer once said, "so it goes." His son Richard Jr. or "Huck" is also an illustrator and lives in Vienna. Huck's daughters are referred to as "socialites". I hope they are keeping as busy as their grandfather did when he was writing.

Mercedes-Benz Museum Visit

Patent Motorwagen
 The day after our visit to the Porsche Museum we were up early and into the car again, to drive to the other side of town to Unterturkheim and the Mercedes-Benz Museum. If the Porsche Museum was architecturally impressive and physically imposing, the M-B Museum takes this to another order of magnitude. Nine storeys high and comprising 16,500 square meters of display space, the Museum has a presence and size that befits its sponsor, the oldest automotive manufacturer in the world. We sprung for the guided tour in English, which was led by a very knowledgeable and personable female guide.

The tour begins with an elevator ride to the top of the Museum and works its way down from there. The Museum galleries are in the shape of a double-helix, the DNA of the company, as it were. At the top, the tour starts with the first motorcars ever built – the Daimler Motor Carriage and Benz Patent Motorwagen, both ’86 models (that’s 1886!). Galleries are filled with immaculately presented vehicles – air- and water-going, as well as land-based. As the tour works downwards, the history of Daimler and Benz (and eventually, the combined company) is told, with large galleries presenting significant cars from each major era of motoring. The early part of the 20th century is represented by some outstanding cars, including the 1902 Mercedes-Simplex 40-hp sports model – the first car named after the daughter of the racer and French Mercedes concessionaire, Emil Jellinek.    
40-hp roadster

"Prinzess"

Sublime SSK

Uhlenhaut coupe

Has there been a better-looking Mercedes - ever??

SL

Popemobile



"How'm I supposed to steer this thing??"

F1 Safety Car

Our guide with the Carrera Panamericana SL

Porsche connection: 3,000hp T-80 Rekordwagen designed by Dr. P.

The history of this proud company, in the form of its most significant products, unfolds as you work your way down the inner structure of the Museum. The 1920s and ‘30s saw the production of some of the most beautiful Mercedes sports cars of all time, including the sublime SSKL. The Museum’s example sits alongside a baroque masterpiece known as the “Princess”. The display had a more sinister side, as well, housing an imposing black “Grosser Mercedes” sedan of the sort favoured by high-ranking Party officials of the Third Reich.

The Museum displays many Mercedes cars and trucks in themed rooms devoted to “Carriers” (buses and the like), “Helpers” (fire and emergency vehicles) and even cars belonging to famous individuals such as politicians and movie stars (the Pope, Konrad Adenauer, Emperor Hirohito, Princess Diana, etc.). One of the outstanding unusual vehicles in these collections was a reproduction of the 1950s Mercedes “Rennabteilung” high-speed streamlined race car transport truck, which carried the famed Silver Arrows Grand Prix cars on its flat bed.

Mercedes Grand Prix cars are featured in a banked display taking up an entire wall. Unlike the Porsche museum, which does not feature any of the Porsche-designed pre-war Auto Union GP cars, the Mercedes museum proudly displays its pre-war racing heritage. Race cars from the 1920s to present (including Stirling Moss’s Targa Florio SLR and Lewis Hamilton’s F1 Championship-winning McLaren-Mercedes) jockey for space in the display. Periodically, the lights dim and one car is illuminated. Stereo speakers in the walls and ceiling reverberate with the sound of the car’s own engine, racing towards the viewer and fading into the distance, then approaching again in a virtual “lap” of the hall. A very impressive trick! 

The featured display at the Museum on our visit celebrated 60 years of the Mercedes SL, featuring beautiful examples of the model’s various generations, from the beautiful 1952 prototype and the Carrera Panamericana coup with its distinctive “buzzard bars” over the windscreen, to Uhlenhaut’s potent 300SLR coupe, to the elegant Pagoda-roofed models of the 1960s and ‘70s, through the luxurious ‘80s and ‘90s all the way to the present. A few dead-ends are displayed too, like the bizarre “twin-joystick” steering system that replaced the steering wheel in one prototype!

Aside from the cars, the Museum incorporates a few other neat gimmicks, such as the half-cutaway McLaren Mercedes F1 car that visitors can sit in for pictures. The Museum also houses a “driving simulator” – an enclosed cockpit mounted on hydraulic rams with a wide screen inside, that takes a visitor on a nausea-inducing thrill ride in Mercedes racing cars, including a very bumpy ride in a rallying SL.

A visit to the Museum is highly recommended, especially if you can arrange an English tour; our guide was excellent and very knowledgeable. Of course the Museum includes a comprehensive gift shop and conveniently adjoins a Mercedes dealership!


Rekordwagen

C111

Me in Mika's car

High-speed Rennabteilung transporter - so cool

FIA Medical Car

SL rally car

The Ur-SL



Hamilton's F1 ride

Hakkinen's

Silver Arrows abounded



Hermann Lang's driving gear

heh

Maybach sans Kardashians

Clean SL for sale





After leaving the Museum, we toured Burg Hohenzollern, a wonderful old castle, and took a walk around the picturesque medieval university town of Tubingen. The next day we took the autobahn to our next stop, the ancient city of Trier. More on that next time, along with a report on our trip to (and laps of) the Nurburgring Nordschliefe! 

(a version of this story will appear in "Red River Ramblings", the local Porsche Club of America newsletter)