Diary of a "While you're in there..." addict
 

Those who know me, know I:

1. Have issues with "while you're in there"
2. Am obsessive compulsive
3. Am insane

So, what follows should be of no surprise to anyone. Basically, last year, I always had problems getting my front wheel bearings tight. Matt DeMaria looked over the car and told me "your spindles are shot", and a micrometer proved he was right. Seeing as I track the car on a regular basis, this is something I wanted to fix. So I decided to get new strut assemblies. What follows is the everything, so far, that has built on top of that.

So I decided to get new struts. Well, new struts come with new inserts. Might as well get them revalved. Since I'm getting the fronts revalved, might as well do the rear, right? Well, can't really get my shocks revalved while running "too-small-for-track" 21/28mm tbars. So, time to get new bars. Oh... here's a deal on adjustable sways... as long as I'm in there, might as well do that, too, right? Hmm.. that fuel pump has been making noise for a while... probably should replace before it strands me... I wonder what the fuel lines look line?

And on, and on. The result? I'm currently in the middle of what would be considered 6 major DIY projects, which I have, naturally, decided to do all at once (and in the middle of track season :roll:) :

1. Full suspension redo: New struts assemblies, new revalved Bilsteins on all four corners, WeVo CamberKing (monoballs/camber plates/strut brace), ER bump steer kit, trailing arm monoballs, Wrightwood racing adjustable sway bars, 22/30mm torsion bars. Already did ER bushings in 2004.

2. Fuel System Redo: New rubber fuel lines, new fuel pump, injectors cleaned, rebuilt and flowed.

3. Interior Redo: New rollbar/case, RS door panels, rear window reinstall

4. Weight loss program: New rear spoiler (ducktail), heater backdate, blower fan removal, soundproofing removal, battery downsize and relocation, euro crushtube install

5. Brake Upgrade: Kind of fell ass-backward into this, but what the hell? Putting on 951/964 4 piston brembo calipers machined for a 911 with 930 rotors in the rear and '86 951 rotors up front. New 993 brake scoops and 930 master cylinder.

6. Alignment and corner balance: Yeah, I'm going to try to do this myself. Stay tuned for how this one turns out.

Many of us have talked about how Dorki is a DIY BBS first and foremost, and as such we try to post info about our DIY experiences as much as possible. I thought about doing that in this case, but honestly, I'm doing way too much too fast to be bothered taking lots of pictures and documenting it all. So, I thought I'd try another approach - a running diary of what I'm going through to get ALL of the above done before my next track event - Summit Point in July with Potomac. Should be fun :roll:

So, one thing has led to another, and as a result, here is my car right now:

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LOL, I seem to be having flashbacks to 2004 when you did the suspension in the middle of track season!

I agree with assessment #3 .... may The Force be with you. ;)

So, in the spirit of the running diary, let me start off with where I am now. This isn't one of those bad reality shows on Discovery where they get 3 days and $5.67 to completely restore a car. This project has been in the planning and ordering stages for several months now, so I'm not at the point where I'm trying to figure out what I want, need, where to order, etc. Mostly, I'm in the "git-r-done" phase, with a few notable exceptions.

Suspension: I have all of the parts I need with the exception of a few minor odds and ends. For strut assys, I'm going with Bilstein RSRs w/o the coil overs. Tbars are SwayAway 22/30s and sway bars are Wrightwood Racing "charlie bars". All of this stuff is in, except I need to get new heim joints for the sway bars as the old ones are shot. A McMaster order is going in soon. The Wevo parts are here, too. I had my ER rear monoballs, but gave them to Dr K to install this week since he needs them for the Shenandoah DE and I don't. I should have replacements by Friday, so no worries there.

All of the suspension except the steering rack is out. The rear trailing arms have been de-bushinged and cleaned within an inch of their lives while waiting for the monoballs. This weekend I pulled the fuel tank to install the front sway bar, but have yet to do more there. The front hubs have also been cleaned are are waiting for new bearings.

Fuel System: Fuel tank is out, and I'm debating on getting it cleaned. You know, WYIT :D. All new fuel lines are ordered, but they are out of stock in the US and have to come from the Fatherland - probably be here next week. Yesterday I pulled the injectors and today took them to Ivan at IMA for cleaning/rebuilding/flowing. I read a post on Pelican about a local guy (Dorki?) getting the main engine fuel line redone at a hydraulic shop in Baltimore - I'll probably check them out later.

Interior: This is my "when there's nothing else to do" project. Seats and my loaner rollbar are out, and my intended rollbar solution fell through, so I'm still trying to figure that one out. It's down to a Piper custom or a Safety Devices cage. Neither are quick options and I may have to make some temp arrangements for the July and Aug DEs. One door panel is off, and I have some plans in my head of DIYing a set of RS panels from old stock panels. We'll see how well that works out.

Weight Loss: This is going well, esp since I can quit at almost any point and be "done". The biggest change was going from a Carrera tail (45lbs) to a duck tail (15lbs). I sold the Carrera tail at the beginning of May and got a ducktail from VaSteve at Hershey, so I'm covered there. The tail is currently with PaintRacer getting a lovely coat of PastelBeige to match the rest of the car (OCD, remember? no flat black for me). I scored a set of Euro crushtubes I'm going to put in on the rear bumper from Noah, so have the rear bumper removed for that part of the process. Up front, a new WestCo Miata battery is on order (25lbs vs stock 50lbs), and now that the fuel tank is out, I'm going to reroute the electrical to the smuggler's box to get some more weight on the right of the car. Josh gave me a heater backdate part to remove the engine blower fan (huge thanks, dude!) and the fan and everything else has been removed. Still need to get the footwell blowers out (debating this, actually). The new door panels will be speakerless, which will save 10lbs per door. Losing the stereo, but I have plans to replace it with something "removable" for the track. Before this project, car weight w/o driver & 2/3 of a tank was 2575. I'm shooting for sub 2500lbs.

Brake Upgrade: This is the most unintentional project of all. It started when I got a particularly good deal on a set of 951 rear calipers (machined for a 911) and 930 rotors at Hershey. I got a set of front calipers and decided to go for the upgrade. I took off and sold all my old brake parts (most of which were almost BRAND F**KING NEW :XX) to fund this and sent the front calipers to VCI for machining. They should be back by the end of the week, in fact. I got a new set of 86 951 rotors ($63 each :shock:) ready to go on. Pari gave me a HUGE deal on a new 930 m/c that he ended up not using, so once the calipers get back everything is ready to go.

The alignment and CB will come last. It'll be a new adventure in DIY for me, but I have a couple people who've done this before that I plan on annoying for help when the time comes :D.

So, that's where I am right now. Yeah, long winded, but I'm doing a lot of shit. From here on out I plan to just post little updates and pictures as the process moves along. Stay tuned to see if I actually get it done or if I simply lose my shit and go nuts trying to get everything done by July 14th.

Yeah, me too :lol: The (big) difference is most of this was planned out months ago and I know WTF I'm doing (for the most part). In 2004, I'd read the Bently and PPBBS for 3 hours a night before I turned a bolt for fear I was going to f**k something up. This time, I let me 10yr old take the suspension apart :D.

BTW, here a pic of the OTHER side of the garage. It's amazing how many little pieces there are to a 911 when you take them all off at once:

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Damn, you are really hitting it hard! Guess my damn Targa's gonna be lagging behind everyone again :-( :-)

I hope everyone else notices how CLEAN your car is, even the wheel wells. It looks even cleaner in person. I want to borrow your daughter to clean out my wheel wells, Chris. Oops, too late, suspension going back on, so at least one of us can go to SP in a week and 3 days.

Peter

Very ambitious, and looking nice. Now, wyit, if you could just address those bumper bellows.

Now that's funny...and sadly I can relate. For 90% of the stuff I need to do now, I can launch right in without abandon but used to follow that procedure to the letter.

Dear god. That's more than very ambitious. Best of luck!

Well, I'm really curious to see how you put the 993 brake scoops on. I got a set and I'm scratching my head.