My love of difficult (i.e., German) cars

If the idea of new springs is to get it low be careful; I installed lowering springs on mine and it contacted the ground alllll the time. They don't look all that low but lowering them very much looks awesome drives like poo

   My first 928, years ago, the alternator got hit, it is one of the low points.

     The alternator mounting got broken, wasn't a easy or good repair.  

   If driven on the street, wouldn't go any lower.  It's not just how the car looks, it's also how much ground clearance there really is.

Ride height is fine as is, but I want slightly stiffer springs. My only real option is cutting the stock ones. Swapping to the adjustable fronts would help because then I could raise it enough to keep it safe on the street, but I'd be starting with an even softer spring. I'm definitely familiar with how low they are, trying to crawl beneath the car to work on it is a nightmare.

Figured out what was wrong with the hood latch. When The Wife rear ended someone, even though it was at like 3mph it moved the hood latch receiver and bent it down. That made it tight enough that I couldn't pull the latch to open it. So I just bent it back enough that it works again.

A few small things. I got a cargo area liner from aliexpress. It's actually pretty decent, but the way it "fastens" to the vehicle with adhesive-backed velcro completely sucks, so I'll probably find a better way to attach it. But this will help keep all the dog hair down.

In doing that, I removed the small compact subwoofer I had installed. It never sounded that great and wasn't nearly loud enough to be heard in a large vehicle over the loud exhaust, but it's in perfect shape so I'm wondering what to do with it. 

I think it's an 8" subwoofer in there. 

The Wife has a Kia Sorento in good shape with 100K on the clock that's been stuck in title limbo since the co-signer from the previous owner died. Long story, but it's finally getting taken care of, which means we'll have a (boring appliance) non-enthusiast, reliable car with plenty of room and decent gas mileage to use as a daily driver. So, my Cayenne is going to be relegated to more of a fun vehicle, because I need more of those. I'm still a little back and forth on it at times, but it's a good tow vehicle so The Wife has convinced me to save it.

So, we had a talk today and The Wife wants to LeMons race her Fiat 500. it's a good car, which is a funny thing to say about a Fiat. 175K miles but well maintained. After meeting her I upgraded the wheels, suspension, and a few things because it made her so happy. Then the car got hit in a drive-by so the insurance company totalled it. The buyback cost was like $475, I'll have to check. We walked up to a local bar and had a talk about it today. We'll check some things that are budget-free in lemons and 2K challenge, like fuel lines and brakes, make a few adjustments, see if we can see anything off the car for a few extra bucks to make any required mods, then when next spring rolls around I want us to start autocrossing both that and the 928 both for fun and to learn the cars. Maybe take the Fiat to a track day at Nelson Ledges so she can learn more road racing. As things go well we'll have a rollcage built and start preparing the car for LeMons. Even if we only get halfway there I think we'll have a blast.

Edit: because we don't have enough projects around here, we both now want a cool old minitruck. Standard cab, short bed, manual transmission. I think an 80s Toyota could be awesome. She found a Datsun from the 70s that looks so cool.

Our car plans change all the time, partially because of outside factors. The Wife might be selling her Fiat to a friend in need of a simple daily driver. We're hoping that'll happen because it'll free up space for something else. Speaking of which, tomorrow we're driving down two hours to go check out a 1972 MGB. It's pretty much her dream car. Honestly, after reading about how simple it is, I'm questioning my love of German cars. I feel like I own some of the most ridiculously over-complicated cars out there.

My German car problems are now becoming British car problems! Picked up a 1972 MGB for The Wife yesterday. Got it for a steal, with so many spare parts we're going to have to get a uhaul trailer to go back and get them all. Trying to get The Wife to join the forum so she can post about her car.

'

Buuuuut this thread is about German cars.

So, the Cayenne is a wonderful tow vehicle. After reading several threads about gas, I made the decision to run regular unleaded in the Cayenne. Yes it has 13:1 compression, but it also has a knock sensor, and while the manual recommends 91 octane, it's sold in countries where 91 octane isn't even available. So, I've been running 87 octane in it for almost a year and I've never once had it ping. I'm sure the car is compensating by retarding the timing a bit, so I'm probably missing out on 20 horsepower or so, but that's fine with the cost of gas these days. 

Since I was towing I filled it up with premium though, just to be safe. I found a Meijer gas station with 93 for $3.55/gallon. Score. Towed with the car in sport mode, just to make sure it never bogged down, after reading that bogging down an engine is super bad for it. I could barely feel the trailer behind me. The car accellerated, drove, and braked just fine. I struggled to keep the speed below 70, so we finally got off the highway and drove on smaller roads. Going 55-60, I averaged 14.8mpg, which is pretty amazing for a big SUV with a hi-po motor, 4.11 gears, and towing about 4K pounds. Very happy with the car right now.

Also, once I save my pennies and eventually get headers for the Cayenne, I'll also be getting a tune and running premium from then on out. That should be a big bump in power, too.

Got some decent work done today. It's never enough, but it's more than none. Started on the MG, made some progress, then told myself I was going to get this steel adjustable ball end on the shifter ball thingy. First, I'm just going to reiterate that it's a terrible design. There are some aftermarket options that essentially eliminate the entire front linkage and that sounds awesome, but you have to remove the torque tube to do that. Well, keep reading.

So here's the issue. Stock ball socket has a plastic bushing that squishes a tiny bit so you screw the end into the shift linkage bar, then squeeze it onto the ball. Easy. Pictured next to the new adjustable all-steel one.

I believe I've mentioned it before in here. The problem is that the piece that you screw in to tighten the socket is also the piece that screws into the shift linkage rod. So the only real way to do it is screw it in way too far, slip the socket over the ball, and then carefully unscrew it from the linkage rod until it tightens against the ball, then crank down the big nut on there. Easier said than done, since there's practically no room up there. To get some more room, I decided to just bite the bullet and remove the torque tube. I figured it would be a good way to learn more about the car anyway.

That's my clutch cover. The second bolt I touched, the head sheared right off. At this time, I re-tightened the other bolt, got out from beneath the car, and went inside to cool off. I actually pulled up the stock plastic replacement bushing and was going to just order that and go back to stock, but after some deep breaths I decided to try it one last time. I pulled the linkage rod over to the driver's side, which has a tiny bit more room, and screwed the new socket cup in alllllll the way using my two finger tips, one on each hand. Then, I moved the linkage around, got the socket on the ball, and began loosening that threaded rod, which thus tightened the socket. Again, using my pointer fingertips, turning about 1/16 of a rotation at a time, then twisting the tightening nut the other way to keep it out of the way. Tiny bit at a time. But, I finally managed to get it. It's on! I still need to torque down that nut, but then I went back inside to reinstall the terrible factory shifter (I have a nice short throw shifter coming in the mail but the guy is waiting on bushings from Germany. I have emailed him, asking for an updated timeline). Well, as it turns out yeah I got the socket on there but the adjustment is slightly off, so my shift lever leans back some now. At this point, I don't care. It's on, the shifts feel solid, I'm done. Everything works.

Now, I need to lower the car from the jack stands and move it forward some so make a little room in the driveway. However, the car currently has the entire exhaust system removed. There isn't a huge point in upgrading stuff until I get headers or 85/86 manifolds, but since this is going to be a track car I'm really tempted to modify the stock Y pipe, removing the cat and making something a bit freer flowing. Probably replacing it with a resonator. I also need to finish removing the air pump system, which doesn't work and is only halfway there. 

Also, I'm hearing a pretty notable "clunk" from the passenger front wheel of the Cayenne when we go over bumps. I'm wondering if it's the ball joint. It just got pretty bad yesterday, so I need to figure out what it is and fix it.

Well, my cats being bad finally caught up to me and roasted my downstream O2 sensors. Yesterday when we turned the car on it was running very rough and throwing codes. I mean, it's always throwing a CEL because the cats are bad, but this time it was worse. I checked and it had 8 different error codes that all seemed to rotate around bad O2 sensors. Those should be here today or tomorrow and I'll put them in. Ultimately, my fix is either replacing the main cats with better ones, which is expensive, or finally bucking up and getting those long tube supersprint headers made and installed. I'd prefer the headers for obvious reasons, although I wouldn't be running cats at all with those. I'd need a tune that allowed me to run no cats with no CEL. The turbo guys do it all the time, so I just need to do some research. 

Also, new control arms came in the mail today. Once I'm done hitting my daily word count on my current book I need to go install that stuff, and get the 928 back into driving status.

Edit: went outside and bolted the heat shields back onto the 928, then got the y pipe mounted. This stuff always takes a lot longer than anticipated. I'm not worried about making everything perfect right now, I just want it drivable. I still need to get the back half of the exhaust on, but that'll be tomorrow. 

On the Cayenne, the OEM after CATS could be slightly clogged up.  Might have to replace all 4 CATS.

My secondary cats are gone, I replaced them with some cat delete pipes. It's a great mod, really lets that V8 sing.

Ordered all new coil packs, spark plugs, so I'll install those along with the new downstream O2 sensors and spacers once they arrive. That should take care of the misfire. Also looking into aftermarket front bumpers for the Cayenne, since I need to replace it. Might try to upgrade. We'll see.

So, this post is going to be a great one to explain the title of this thread. I had a misfire in two cylinders, so I bought all new OE coil packs and plugs. That should be a really easy fix, right? Right?

Well, at least it started easily enough. Had to loosen and remove the bolts holding the coil cover thingy.

The front bolts are kind of a pain because the huge clunky airboxes are in the way. Another reason for me to get around to installing the improved aftermarket air intake. But we'll get to that later. Those bolts came out just fine, revealing the coil packs! Yay! All is well in the world. The packs are held on by a single bolt.

So I removed the bolts, noting that these are not OE coil packs. Most are NGK. Some are just blank. Well, this engine bank has no misfires, so there's clearly no problem. Right? Removal is easy. Just grab and pull, and they pop right off. Heh.

If you're wondering what that picture is, I'll explain. When I pulled the coil pack off, the last part of it decided to stay on the spark plug. Basically a stiff rubber boot that goes around the plug. And a spring. A little magnet got the spring out, but then I needed to remove the rubber boot thing. That proved to be a problem, as it's way down at the base of the plug, where the socket would go. And it's really on there. This is/was my only running car so I walked down to the local hardware store, maybe 0.5-0.75 mile away, looking for something to help. They don't have any of those super long reach needle nose pliers, the ones with two joints. But, they had medical forceps. So I bought those and a pair of regular needle noses, as I couldn't find mine. Walked back to the car.

The forceps had the reach, but they couldn't grip it tightly enough. They just slid right off. I tried using the needle nose pliers and they kinda came off. In pieces.

So, I pulled at it for a while, breaking off pieces, hoping I could eventually get it out. But then it was down to the top of the spark plug, meaning there wasn't room to get the pliers in there. So once again I walked back to the hardware store and made it just in time before they closed. This time I got smart and bought a small pick. Once I got back home I took the 90 degree pick and whacked it with a hammer, bending it back so it was more like a fishhook barb, and I sharpened it with a file. The only issue is that the pick was about 5-6 inches long. If I pushed it all the way down the tube to the very bottom to try to pull the rubber piece free, the top of the pick was even with the valve cover.

I wound up pushing the pick all the way down the tube, to the bottom, on all sides of the rubber piece, both outside and inside. Hoping I could unstick it. And after removing many parts, I finally did!

At this point it was the next morning, I should mention. I paused last night to take my son trick or treating, which went really well. So, I got the one tube out and replaced the coil pack with a new OE one. I was pretty sick of this car and realizing that if I only have one working car and it's a daily driver that my wife also uses and my son rides in, it should be newer and more reliable. So I started talking with The Wife about replacing it with a newer one. I also decided to just replace the coil packs and spark plugs for cylinders 5-6, where the misfire was. So, I unbolted everything on the other engine bank and pulled out the coil pack for the next cylinder.

What you're looking at is the coil pack without the rubber boot. Once again, it was stuck down around the spark plug. I cursed pretty loudly at that. I've never heard of this happening to others, and a quick google search showed me nothing. At least now I was experienced and knew the best way to get the stupid rubber pieces out.

Managed to get that one out in one piece. I think the next one came out in two pieces. But, I replaced the coil packs and plugs, and also noted a big difference in the plugs. Here's the old ones versus the new OE ones.

Different type and everything. 

With my luck, I was hesitant to put my tools away once I installed all the new parts. But, I went ahead and did it and turned the key, and it runs fine now. Still running rich due to bad O2 sensors. I'm just waiting on the sensor spacers to come in the mail so I can hopefully clear that CEL. One last picture, here's all the rubber parts for the three boots I removed.

So, it's back together and runs, and I made sure to turn it on, hit the sport button, and rev it a few times. Then I went inside and had to check on my wife to make sure the growling V8 exhaust note hadn't impregnated her. It's pretty impressive.

But once I had calmed down, all of this really got me thinking. I do really, really like this Cayenne, and I think the GTS is a special vehicle. It does everything and looks good doing it. It sounds amazing. It's fast. But, mine is old and worn out, that's the reality. I'm saving up to buy $6000 headers for a car with 178K miles. That's probably not the best idea. I still firmly believe in the 957 GTS as a good modding platform—yeah, parts are harder to come by. But, I think lowering this another inch, getting those headers installed and maybe a custom X pipe, a cat-free tune (but probably still run 100-cell cats) and finally install my intake and I'd be sitting around 450 horsepower. Plus that would drop another 20 pounds or so off the car, probably another 40-50 pounds if I did a Fabspeed exhaust. The factory muffler is a boat anchor. This thing would be a blast. But, it's high mileage and stuff is wearing out. Doing that to one with 80K miles makes more sense.

On the other hand, if I just trade it in and buy a 2017 Cayenne GTS, I'll be starting with 440 horsepower and 443 tq. Those are nice numbers. And it's a twin turbo V6, so downpipes and a tune and you're at 500. Also the facelifted 958 looks a bit soft to me, kinda milquetoast, but the GTS fixes that. It looks great. And I already have spare wheels with snow tires. And it weighs like 400 pounds less because Porsche ditched the gear reduction box. I'd get a car with a quarter the miles, much better gas mileage, reduced maintenance, better infotainment, pretty much better all around. 

But, and this is silly, it's a V6. Yeah, a twin turbo V6, but I'm so used to the roar of the V8 that the thought of going to a raspy little V6 just makes me frown. I know it's a little thing and I'm trying to be a grownup about it, but ugh, that engine sounds terrible. Of course I could get a 958 twin turbo and keep the roar of the V8, but then I'm back to crappy gas mileage. And also, I don't like the look of the turbo. The GTS gets special front bumper treatments and it looks the best.

My wife has brought up the option of a used Macan. I checked out some Macan GTSs around here and it looks like for $8K less than the Cayenne, I could have a faster, peppier car. The downsides are that the Macan isn't rated to tow much and the fastback sloping roof kinda ruins the rear cargo area. Sometimes we throw the dogs in the back, so the Cayenne wins there. Also from what I've read, I feel like the Cayenne is more reliable, at least the years I'm looking (roughly 2016-2017).

So, I do think fixing mine up and trading it in on a 2016-2017 Cayenne GTS is the smart, mature thing to do. I'll have a newer, faster, more comfortable, more reliable vehicle. It'll be better in every way, it just won't sound as good. And while I would always miss the roar of the V8, I try to remember that this is more of a daily driver, so I should focus on comfort (and having 500+ horsepower), if I need a fast car that's why I'm building the 928 as a track car.

Also, Clove the puppy is growing up. She watched me the whole time.

Solid plan. Enjoy the V8 noises from the 928!

Sooooooooooo... Just did a quick online appraisal of my Cayenne from Carmax. It's an old luxury SUV with minor front end damage and a ton of miles. In other words, it's basically worthless. Trading it in doesn't make as much sense to us—it's worth more than $2K to us. It's a good car, just a bit old. 

So, we're looking at upgrading and getting a newer Cayenne GTS in the near future. Probably a 958.2. As for my current Cayenne? It might wind up just being a project car or becoming our beater. Or....

hear me out....

overlander?

In reply to infinitenexus :

Making your daily driver overlander is stupid.  Making your beater backup cayenne into overlander? Hell yes. 

I always put anti-seize lube on spark plug threads, and dielectric grease on the boots.  The grease keeps the boot from getting stuck on the plug.  Just need a thin coat of grease on the inside of the boot.

   Yes this seems to be a normal plug change on a Cayenne.   

    I gave up on getting the backup lights to work and brought mine to a shop, you don't want to know the repair cost for that.  The part was $450  and the labor cost to sort it all out was a lot more than the part.

    The Cayenne is great for towing, also great for longer trips, but it's an older expensive car.  Sometimes it will cost something to keep it going.  There is a lot of electronics' but that is true of most cars now.  What I don't like is having to code a replacement part, had that issue with a MINI cooper, so that can happen with almost any car now.  On the MINI, when the ABS unit failed, it was pointless to attempt to fix it.

In reply to TED_fiestaHP :

grease on the boots, that's a good idea. Now I know.

Yeah, you pretty much summed it up. The 957 is a great car, but it's an old car. Getting a 958.2 as a daily driver would be a better all-around vehicle (and then going mud bogging in an overland 957)

   Most cars now have a bulb out warning system, the way that works, something measures the circuit load.  If the load is too high or too low, it will trigger an error.  So when something like the back up lights don't work, on the Cayenne there are 3 modules between the trans switch and the lights, or there could just be a broken wire.  Of course once the bad module is replaced, it must be coded to the car.   My Cayenne has been fairly good until somewhat recently, then several things went wrong.  I took care of a few things, but the back up lights, I gave up and brought it to a shop.  After I left, it leaked coolant, well of course.

    Cost of repair is expensive, but cost of replacement is far more.

    I prefer working on the 928.   Did you see the exhaust pictures I posted, wasn't expensive, but a lot of welding.  I made a new Y pipe.  Nice stainless 3 inch parts.

     My recent progress; replaced the vent fan motor.  Volvo 850 motor is an almost exact replacement.  Also the wiper motor now works.  Heater hoses replaced.  Now to sort out the 3 washer pumps and hoses.

     The MG might have some electrical issues, but they will be fairly simple to sort out.

In reply to TED_fiestaHP :

I did! I want to do a similar exhaust setup, I'm just trying to decide if I want to buy headers or not first. 

  I made it in 3 sections, with V-band clamps connecting it together.  That way if I do something like different manifolds or headers, later on, I can remove the Y pipe section and modify just that part.  Stainless is more work to fabricate with, but the end result is much better.  I did all of it with a cheap MIG welder.  It did help that I found some flanges that matched the exhaust manifolds, cutting a flange out of stainless would be a lot of work.  I have a TIG welder, but really the MIG was fine to do this.  When I did a stainless exhaust for a Mini Cooper, I did most of that with the TIG, but this one had far more pipe welding, and the MIG is much faster and easier. 

When I removed the factory exhaust I told myself I was going to go ahead and start building a new one, but with so many projects going on right now I got smart and put it back on. I still need to weld a pipe at the rear since I hacked off the rear muffler, but I'm going to leave it there until I get headers or 85-86 manifolds. Trying to pick and choose my battles for now.

Welp, just bought a 2018 Cayenne GTS. Metallic grey with the red and black leather interior. 

Still wondering what to do with the 2008. I love the car, even though it pisses me off. I'm not 100% sure I want to overland it, although that does seem awesome. It might just become a project car, I don't know. We'll have to see.

That escalated quickly