Really for the fuel lines. The lines on the engine are difficult if not impossible to get off with the engine in the car, and the main lines are no picnic either. For all of you guys who think I'm insane (and I am, see post #1 in this thread) - this drop was seriously no big deal. IMO, it will save me time rather than having me dig around to do fuel lines around the engine.

As for the battery, I've heard the PC680s fail, and two guys on this board who've used them told me do have starting issues when its cold (like Summit and VIR this year). Basically, the advice I got was no Odyssey for a car that has to drive to the event. If you trailer, then go nuts.

Jeebus Chris, remove the glass and a bit of trim and you're ready for a respray!!! Mmmmm.... shiny beige!!:p

Update 11.Jun.2007

The weekend was productive, but not as much as I had hoped. There was family stuff but work really kept getting in the way. Anyway, I got my new fuel lines and newly cleaned injectors last week. Most of my hardware is in (the rest will be here tomorrow) so I could also get started on the sway bars, too.

In the front of the car, I removed the rest of the strut tower bushings and cleaned off all the black goo Porsche puts up there. I also removed the fresh air blower to (1) get access to the m/c (2) do something about the fan that doesn't work and (3) remove the factory alarm module before it craps out and strands me (it's tied to the DME relay). I also cleaned out the smuggler's box in prep for the new battery mount.

Attachment 5566

Nice, huh? BTW, having the feul tank out makes it really, really nice to work in the area in the rear of the luggage compartment. I stand where the fuel tank was and can access everything very easily.

Here you can see I've also removed the brake line with the p/v that goes to the rear of the car. My new brakes don't use a p/v, so I'm replacing the whole line from the the m/c to the "L" coupler that goes to the back of the car.

BTW, if you are looking for replacement brake lines locally, ask for "European" brake lines, not "metric" lines. Despite the fact that they are, in fact, metric, the "helpful" guys at the FLAPS don't seem to know this. The tubing diameter is listed as 3/16", so they think it's a std size. It's not - it's a 4.7mm line with metric threads. And then ask for an ISO bubble flaring tool - the look that they give you is priceless. :roll:

I got the front sway bar mounts drilled, aligned and POR'd. I also removed the brake wear sensor wires that I haven't used since the first set of "performance" pads I put on 3 years ago.

Attachment 5567

In the back, the engine bay is clean and I POR'd all of the areas with surface rust forming, esp the trailing arm mounts.

Attachment 5568

Up front, the steering rack, fuel pump, fuel lines and some of the hard brake lines are out. Nothing left in the steering rack tunnel except two fuel pump lines and the hard brake line to the front left wheel.

Attachment 5569

At the end of the night, the new fuel lines were in, the front sway mounts were in and many surface rusty areas were cleaned and POR'd. Next steps are electrical and brakes - I have a battery kill switch coming from OG racing tomorrow that I'll hook into my new tiny battery. I removed some hacked wiring from the fuse box and need to button that up, along with making a connector for the factory alarm bypass. For the brakes, I need to finish the new hard lines from m/c to the rear and from the front "t" to the right front wheel (the old line was a little kinked).

It's coming along...

Hurry up, so you can start working on my car. :)

Damn, that's a bare skeleton right there. :shock:
Jazz, let me know when you are planning on putting the new fuel lines in the tunnel. It's much easier with two people.

I think you should rewire it, from scratch, while you are in there. Just cut all the old crap out and start from the wiring diagram. :lol:

Update 15.June.2007

Slow week, since I had a major software release today. I actually finished up yesterday and was able to get some work done today. And by work I mean ordering random parts, research, etc. Nothing *real*, which is f**king annoying.

This week's big project was brake lines. With the new brakes going in, there are several new lines I need: hard line from the m/c to the "t" to replace the line with the p/v in it, new caliper hard lines, new crossover tube for one of the calipers, etc. Rather than buy new Porsche lines, I bought 4.75mm metric lines from NAPA and cut and flare them. I got to buy a new tool for the occasion - a metric bubble flare kit. BTW, the bubble flare is the best kept secret in the brake line world, because no one knows WTF they are. Try to buy a flaring kit locally - I dare you. Anyway, making up the brake line taught me two important lessons:

1. Making bubble flares is harder than it looks. Day 1 had a success rate of about 25%. BTW, if you think I'd learn to put the barrel nut on the line BEFORE I flared it after I forgot to do it one time, you'd be wrong :XX. It took a couple times for me to learn that lesson.

2. 4.75mm brake lines kink real easy. Real easy.

3. RSRs struts are lacking one minor detail:

Attachment 5655

There's no mounting tab for the brake line! Makes sense, clearly, since the coil over would get in the way... but goddamnit! One more thing to deal with. Matt tells me Porsche made a bolt on bracket for this, which I have been unsuccessful at finding. I thought about running a flex line straight to the caliper (using a banjo bolt), but was told by Steve Weiner to avoid this at all costs. It seems the flex line has a tenancy to get hung up in the sway bar and get yanked off :shock:. So today was spend at Home Depot and the FLAPS devising ways to build a bolt on bracket for this. I'd like to avoid welding so as not to ruin the coilover thread.

So tomorrow is fabrication day. I need to make a battery mount, a mounting plate for my kill switch, and brake line brackets. Then I get to make more brake lines. And finish cleaning up the wiring behind the blower fan and reinstall that.

For that brake line bracket on the strut, maybe you could use a heater duct clamp to secure it to the strut body. I'm going to have to tackle the same problem when I install my RSR struts, so definitely keep us posted on your solution...

Chris,

With all you have off the car already, you could have dropped another few pounds having it burned like Kurt's (of course, you'd have to repaint...)

Peter

Chris,
How about using a (1/4' to 1/2') by (length required) piece of soft steel (approx 1/16-1/8 inch thick) with regular spaced holes (like the piece that came with older aftermarket car radios for rear mounting). Wrap around strut, bolt in first hole, then use second hole for brake line. Don't know if you have enough clearance (hole projection). Good luck !