Babalouie's 911 - start on p7

[Cal]

I'd go so far as to say that if you were in an old 911, on a winding road and a well-driven MX5 looms in the mirrors...you should get out of the way Let alone anything like an STi...

I've rounded up enough of them on the track to know that.

[Uncle]

Black and white FTW!

[Babalouie]

That black on black one is pure sex.

That's a Carrera 4 Anniversary. Non turbo engine (no whale-tail), AWD chassis and turbo-spec wide wheelarches. Made to celebrate 30yrs of the 911, only 911 made, and cost somewhat more than a regular 964.

There's one for sale @ $110k on carsales.

[Cal]

^that's fucking gay. I'd have yours over that any day.

[Boxer]

Thats pretty harsh, if it wasn't a C4 it'd be a nice bit of kit I'd say,

But the white/black look is still better

[exwrxex]

That is what is known as an 'eclectic garage'. Well done on both cars.

My cool 911 stories:

- barrister relative bought a prussian blue (blau?) SC new in 84 and used it as his daily driver until his death a few years ago. Very generous in taking kids for a drive in it and at the time I always thought it went better than the on paper specs would suggest.

- workmate bought silver 964. Exhaust and airbox mods done. Will never forget my first ride in it when he applied full throttle half way through a corner and the sideways action combined with the boxer wail will remain with me for a long time. The engineering integrity is really something you admire every time you jump in one.

[Babalouie]

- barrister relative bought a prussian blue (blau?) SC new in 84 and used it as his daily driver until his death a few years ago. Very generous in taking kids for a drive in it and at the time I always thought it went better than the on paper specs would suggest.

I can see why so many ppl use these things as dailies, it's certainly very easy to drive. Compact size means it's easy to park and slim pillars make it easy to see out of.

Used it for the school sports run on Saturday morning, and as usual we were running late and had to circle the oval a few times looking for a parking spot that wasn't next to a Prado with lots of dings on the door. No problem at all, it's quite practical.

[Cal]

Thats pretty harsh, if it wasn't a C4 it'd be a nice bit of kit I'd say

No Carrera 4's are as gay as verts.

[dirty_sandwich]

Saw a milf loading her groceries and kids into a 911 vert at the supermarket yesterday when I was out Mt Crosby way. Couldn't believe she was parking next to a daewoo and a 4wd!

I'm enjoying hearing about what these are like to drive and the engine bay tour. Good thread.

[Babalouie]

Thats pretty harsh, if it wasn't a C4 it'd be a nice bit of kit I'd say,

964 C4s are something like 100kg heavier than the rwd versions. They use an ATTESSA-ish wet clutch system with a 36/64 torque split, and are said to be a little on the pushy side.

The 993 C4s went to a simpler, conventional viscous coupling with a 5/95 torque split, and the weight penalty is much smaller.

But the white/black look is still better

I am thinking that the orange Carrera script and orange wheels is a bit over the top, but if you picture that same car with blue wheels and sticker...

[Boxer]

Yeah I know - but its a UK import!

C4 - as I said above IF it wasn't a C4 it'd be nice. Agreed the 964 C4 system is not desirable and TBH any 911 this side of a turbo should be RWD I reckon

[itsnotagsr]

No Carrera 4's are as gay as verts.

So much hate. Especially from an MX5 owner!

[floody]

you seem to see them a fair bit on porka's though?

I thought the same. Spec sheet on workwheelsusa says 4x98-5x120.65 though. Would not be first time they had 'restricted' available specs in their version of the specs sheet though.

[Babalouie]

One week into 911 ownership and so far things have been great....except for one thing (which I will get to in due course).

I've been using it for the daily drive, and it's lapped it up. It's very easy to drive, easy to see out of, and its relatively tiny size means it's very easy to park.


And for the past two weekends, I've managed to sneak out of the house for early morning drives on country roads...which have been great.


I even think I'm getting on top of the handling and getting more confident in pushing it.


However....and I guess you knew this was coming....it hasn't been all rosy. First problem was the heater. Even with the fan turned up to its maximum, there was only a tiny feeble stream of hot air coming out of the vents (basically like a normal car on the slowest fan speed). At the time, I figured that well, maybe this is just all part of the air-cooled "charm", but when it started to blow fuses on a regular basis, I figured something was up. It was then that I discovered the previous owner's stash of spare fuses...no less than ten spare fuses in one of the door bins.

The fuse it was blowing was #1 on the main board, which is for the cabin blowers. Now, if the cabin fans were seizing or something, then this would explain both the blowing fuses and the feeble flow of air.

This is bad news, because the HVAC system is mostly jammed into this area in front of the cowl:


...remove that plastic cover to reveal the blower fans and various servos that run the system.


Here's one blower fan on the passenger side...


...and his mate on the driver's side.


In between are the various servos and amplifiers that run the HVAC system.


The bad news is that the cabin blowers are not only very inaccessible, but also rather expensive at $500 each.

I thought...well, this figures, of course these things happen to only me, so began to mentally work out how to get those blower fans out. And I was rummaging around the engine bay, when I put my hand on the heater blower fan. You might recall that this big unit sucks engine bay air, and pushes it below the car, into these canisters which encase the header primaries. The resulting heated air is ducted into the cabin. When you switch on the heater, this big fan kicks into action...but when I put my hand on it, it was clear that it wasn't running at all!


My first instict is maybe that the fuse is blown, which lives in this small fusebox in the engine bay.


The fuse turned out to be fine, but then I noticed something weird out of the corner of my eye. The relay for the heater blower (that big one with the Audi rings on it) wasn't on straight. I wiggled it, and it was loose, so I pushed it firmly home, and the moment I did...the heater blower fan kicked into life!


And now the whole thing worked as it should. The system pretty much starts to feed hot air through the vents within a minute or so of starting the engine, and with the big blower fan back in action, there was now a huge gale (well at least a normal amount) of hot air coming through the vents. It actually works really well, there's plenty of heat.

This worked fine for a whole week. And then today...after I shut off the car, I heard the big engine bay blower fan keep going. Now, this can be normal, because on a really hot day the blower fan will keep going for up to 20mins after shut down. By cycling air past the headers, it assists in preventing heat soak. But this is only meant to happen on a hot day, and today was cold. Something was wrong.

One possible culprit is the temperature sensor for the heater blower. If it senses a lot of radiated heat coming back up the air tube from the headers, then it'll kick on the fan.


But when I pulled the sensor out, it tested fine. Apparently it's dead when there is no continuity across the terminals. But I'm getting a solid resistance figure here.


The next possible cause is that relay that wasn't plugged in properly last week. When I tried to remove it, the cover popped off, and one of the terminals (#87) was burnt-looking. Uh-oh.


Very burnt-looking.




And yup...the female plug on the fuseboard is burnt-looking also.


To test it, I pull one of the relays from the front fusebox. I think it was for the a/c condensor fan, and is the same part number. Plug it in place of the heater blower relay, and the blower seems to be normal again.


I figure that maybe when the relay wasn't plugged in properly, the poor connection must have caused a lot of heat, melted the connector and damaged the relay. But while plugging in a new relay seems to make it all work again, I am thinking that melted connector is asking for trouble, isn't it?

[clutch-monkey]

I thought the same. Spec sheet on workwheelsusa says 4x98-5x120.65 though. Would not be first time they had 'restricted' available specs in their version of the specs sheet though.

yeah had a similar case with 4 stud XD9's a few months back.. picked up a set that shouldn't have been available :D

However....and I guess you knew this was coming....it hasn't been all rosy. First problem was the heater. Even with the fan turned up to its maximum

fml, on my car i can't even figure out the heater controls gonna be trouble fixing the connector?