C of G and Chipwizards road trip

[912Polo]

Bob I am there before you on the 9th but could still be there if a lot needs doing.

Mike

 

[Endoman]

Off to see Wayne on Friday, luckily he is only 30 mins way.
A bit nervous, the last time I had a car on the rolling road the crank broke but that was nearly 40 yrs ago and it was a 3 bearing MGA.

 

[912Polo]

Used to be a great rolling road back then at GRV up near Rochdale run by Jeff Goodliffe and Harry Ratcliffe. If the engine was doubtful Harry would stand up from behind the bonnet with his pipe and say I'm afraid it going to be a "sick un" son

 

[Normski298]

Another thumbs up from me for both CoG and Wayne. Visited 2018.

The level of passion and knowledge from both was fantastic. Lots of motorway miles piled on from deepest Devon, but well worth it.

 

[BobbyT]

Bob I am there before you on the 9th but could still be there if a lot needs doing.

Mike

Fingers crossed that I don't see you then, for your sake.

 

[Endoman]

Back from Chipwizards well pleased.
First run threw up a dead vram solenoid, easy enough to replace as I dont have a rear blower.
So total gain of 46bhp and 22 lbft.
Better result than I expected as it has been said that the main power difference between Vram and non vram is due to valve sizes. My results seem to disprove that as I'm now getting 306.8bhp from a '94 engine with vram and '96 ecu.
I checked out the faulty solenoid, it was just stuck. a squirt of WD40 internally and it works.

 

[Counter Of Beans]

That's a great outcome Endoman, no wonder you're chuffed. An important benefit of a session at Chipwizards is that faults are often revealed - Wayne told me that fuel pumps on 996's and 997's are almost always faulty, for example, but the owner had no idea there was a problem.

 

[912Polo]

Got in contact with Wayne and I am booking a Pre-Inspection so I know what needs doing prior to a Remap. He said he only needs a 30 minute inspection on a 993 :thumb:

 

[912Polo]

Visited Centre Gravity yesterday but haven't had chance to fully test the car yet due to the amount of traffic on the road but immediately it felt more responsive through the steering wheel and the woolliness that was there has now gone. Quite good value at £390 plus Gin and Tonic, that is until the Porsche parts required started adding up so i'm £1,200 lighter but both top mounts were replaced and they didn't charge me for a steering rack boot!.

All in all Pete was a fantastic chap who said he had never seen such an aggressive set up on a standard road car it was set up like an RS on amphetamines.

He advised that he splits the work up in to 3 categories - Must Have straight away, Future Needs and Nice to Have. Mine all came in the Must Have category as both top mounts were completely shot and one had departed company completely. Springs were standard and fairly new as were the dampers and he advised me to leave it a year before going mad on springs and dampers if I want to go down the route of running the car a little lower.

The rear arms will need replacing in the next 12 months and he has put me on the list for the Hartech refurbished ones at £180 each (they order them in batches when they get a sufficient number) as opposed to £680 each from Porsche. The rear left camber arm bush was properly knackered and the bolt was seized in the bush which had to be cut out.

Pete spent 9 hours on the car until the settings were perfect so a good day productive day and I was allowed in the workshop to see all the proceedings.

The one point of interest was that we couldn't fit the torsion brace to the steering rack as ordered as it fouled the steering rack pipes. Pete thinks this may well be the reason that Porsche advise that the early 993's cannot be fitted with the brace. The part number on the rack is 964 and he thought the very early cars came with these racks.

Few Photos first of the rack not the clearest but essentially where the hex bolt sits on the rack is in the way of the brace leaving a gap of 5mm between the bolt hole and the brace. Pete said a much better option would be a top mount brace from RUF, albeit considerably more expensive.

The car settled after test

 

[912Polo]

Bob I am there before you on the 9th but could still be there if a lot needs doing.

Mike

Fingers crossed that I don't see you then, for your sake.

How did you get on Bobby as think you were there today

 

[Endoman]

"The one point of interest was that we couldn't fit the torsion brace to the steering rack as ordered as it fouled the steering rack pipes. Pete thinks this may well be the reason that Porsche advise that the early 993's cannot be fitted with the brace. The part number on the rack is 964 and he thought the very early cars came with these racks."

Yes and no

Early cars did have a 964 rack like mine.
There are 2 types of brace. One is flat, parallel to the rack the other has a 45degree or so twist to clear the boss for the power steering pipe.

 

[912Polo]

Endoman thanks for that I did recall there were two types do you know the part numbers? I will pass this info back to CG.

 

[Endoman]

I'll need to grovel under the car as the only one I can find listed is the later one. I got mine used from Douglas Valley years ago after buying the wrong one. 993 347 131 02 seems to be the later one and 993 347 131 01 possibly the earlier I doubt it's availble from OPC. 993 347 131 03 is also listed by Paragon

 

[912Polo]

Endoman checked with CG it was the angled one they used they say if I look at the photo of mine it has banjo fittings one for the steering pump connection not directly screwed in the rack like the photo you posted. The banjo connection sits a lot prouder hence why it wouldn't fit :?:

 

[Endoman]

Looks like the braces may only be available from Rothsport:- http://www.rothsport.com/Products/Chassis/Chassis-Products-964-993-Steering-Rack-Brace.htm