Saturday, April 28, 2012

Friday, April 6, 2012

Preparing for SPEC TECH





First off, that is an iPhone screen grab image - I was too lazy to go out and snap a photo(which I thought I did in the first place).

But, there is always doing on a race car. And I needed to add a cover to all the electrical switch cut-off wires. Now, that is racy. it is the bottom of an baby-wipe bottle.

Then, I needed to add an external pull cord so I could race with PCA. NASA does not require this, but the ol' club does. So, I gathered one up, thanks crew at Vintage Racing Services, and I was able to put it in in about an hour. Now, I just need to get the sticker to put right next to it and I should be good.

We'll see as I take the car to tech on Monday.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Only Viper I Want



Blame it on Gran Tourismo. But I always enjoyed sliding the Viper around the pixel tracks.

So, when I spotted this racer getting unloaded on Hudson street, I got a little misty.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Cayenne S Brakes Get Freshened






My Cayenne S, 2004 vintage, has proven to me at least a reliable and rugged vehicle.

I've now amassed about 10,000 miles on it in the past year. And, it was high time I had to do some work on it. And the warning sign 'Brake Pad Workshop' keyed me into the fact that it was due for pads.

A quick inspection showed huge lips on the rotors all around. So, it was time to replace pads, rotors and of course sensors.

I picked up my parts for Pelican and Vertex. I shopped a bit for best price. Decided to go with the Hawk blue pads as well because I do some towing with the truck and like their performance for less than the cost of OEM.

I also did get new hardware for each corner. Well needed as the old pins and clips were a bit roughed up by the removal process.

This job has been covered in several places online. So, I won't give a step by step, but will add a few tips to the DIY knowledge.

1 - When the light comes on, you might have 500 miles left before you hit metal on metal. You can't ignore this job. You can see the fronts how thin they are in the above snap.

2 - It helps to have a friend, or a Dad, who can help at a couple of points. Most notably when pressing in the pins, you can see in the above how he compressed the clip so pin insertion was easier. But, this applies to any disc brake car, not just Porsche.

3 - Make sure to remove the brake line from the clip at the rear rotor before trying to remove the top caliper bolt. Otherwise, you have a chance of screwing up the thread dragging the screw out crooked.

4 - The cheap, cheapest XZN set on amazon was totally fine for this job. (needed to remove rear caliper bolts and e-brake adjuster cover) Don't spend more money on this than needed.

That is all. Will be sure to update on wear and dust in the future. But, now that I take the train, I might put 10 miles a week on the truck.