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My 2005 Cayenne Turbo Project


galumay
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I have been looking for months, put in offers that were accepted and then rejected by sellers with too much attachment to their Cayennes, and finally my silver 2005 Cayenne Turbo is on a truck from Perth to Darwin. It will spend a week or so in Darwin and I will be fitting a set of 18" wheels I bought and wrapping them in BFG Mud Terrains before driving down to Katherine on the Stuart Highway and then taking the Cayenne on the 700kms of gravel track to Nhulunbuy in North East Arnhem land where it will find its new home as a serious 4WD SUV!

I think it will prove to be an extremely competent and comfortable vehicle for the purpose and may well surprise many Toyota owners with its off road ability. I own a heavily modified Toyota Troopy and am very familiar with the local off road challenges, but the in cabin experience leaves a lot to be desired - something that wont be an issue with the Cayenne.

I will post photos of the trip home, and also the off road challenges we face!

I realise it wont have much interest for the Porsche purists, but maybe there is another nutter out there like me who is interested in using a Cayenne as a long range unsealed road cruiser and a serious off road part timer.

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4 hours ago, galumay said:

I have been looking for months, put in offers that were accepted and then rejected by sellers with too much attachment to their Cayennes, and finally my silver 2005 Cayenne Turbo is on a truck from Perth to Darwin. It will spend a week or so in Darwin and I will be fitting a set of 18" wheels I bought and wrapping them in BFG Mud Terrains before driving down to Katherine on the Stuart Highway and then taking the Cayenne on the 700kms of gravel track to Nhulunbuy in North East Arnhem land where it will find its new home as a serious 4WD SUV!

I think it will prove to be an extremely competent and comfortable vehicle for the purpose and may well surprise many Toyota owners with its off road ability. I own a heavily modified Toyota Troopy and am very familiar with the local off road challenges, but the in cabin experience leaves a lot to be desired - something that wont be an issue with the Cayenne.

I will post photos of the trip home, and also the off road challenges we face!

I realise it wont have much interest for the Porsche purists, but maybe there is another nutter out there like me who is interested in using a Cayenne as a long range unsealed road cruiser and a serious off road part timer.

I would do the coolant pipes first if not already done. 

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I’ve driven that track a few times many years ago (talking 80s & 90s). I hope the Goyder River isn’t the crossing it used to be.

We had to check the river bed on foot before driving across in case new holes had opened over the wet season. Had to take an axe for the crocs as well. 😬

The Turbo should be magic in the dunes and beaches. 

Looking forward to the pics. 

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1 hour ago, reggiegums said:

I would do the coolant pipes first if not already done. 

Done already. Thanks

 

1 hour ago, BJM said:

I’ve driven that track a few times many years ago (talking 80s & 90s). I hope the Goyder River isn’t the crossing it used to be.

Sadly, its a bridge now, lets far too many tourists in! I have been there nearly 30 years, so I remember what the track used to be like, its a super-highway by comparison to your memories, trust me!!

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We've got a Cayenne as a family hauler but I've always looked at the diff locks, clearance on lp road tyres and general size/structure of components and thought that its potential talents were entirely wasted on road.  Would love to see some pics when available.

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@itsujack and I were only discussing this topic on Sunday at a c&c meet. I’m sort of in the market for a suv that can be used to manage a big Reno and ferry shit from builders yards, Bunnings and nursery. I have a 2006 face lift turbo in my sights. I just think @ circa $25k for a good low km one they are such good value, awesome bang for buck and super competent, and for me a much more pleasant drive than a SR5 or Ranger.  
The topic on Sunday quickly moved to mods and yes safari styling, lift kits roof cage were all mentioned. 
I will follow this thread with interest.

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2 hours ago, Tips said:

@itsujack and I were only discussing this topic on Sunday at a c&c meet. I’m sort of in the market for a suv that can be used to manage a big Reno and ferry shit from builders yards, Bunnings and nursery. I have a 2006 face lift turbo in my sights. I just think @ circa $25k for a good low km one they are such good value, awesome bang for buck and super competent, and for me a much more pleasant drive than a SR5 or Ranger.  
The topic on Sunday quickly moved to mods and yes safari styling, lift kits roof cage were all mentioned. 
I will follow this thread with interest.

you know you want to 😉 .... or a gemballa kit 😀

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On 31/10/2019 at 21:35, Tips said:

@itsujack and I were only discussing this topic on Sunday at a c&c meet...I have a 2006 face lift turbo in my sights....

Hey @Tips, saw you and the pooch there and was going to say hi. Then when next I saw you, you were rolling out in the black beauty (sounded v. noice btw as you prowled past us 😎). Anyway, funny thing is I was there thinking, "man I really need to get me a Cayenne on A/T tyres, rock sliders etc." It'd be a nice point of difference at one of those meets.

Been contemplating and researching it for a while now. I'll be going for an 07-10 S. That's facelift model, the 957. It is by most accounts the one to get with many of the bugs being ironed out and the developments over the 955.

You guys no doubt know about Rennlist. There's a massive amount of info the in the Cayenne forums there.

Looking forward to seeing the pics @galumay👍

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37 minutes ago, Typ9xx said:

saw you and the pooch there and was going to say hi.

Bugger, it was a quick trip as we had a family lunch at Newport, next time. I was told my07 and up was the best model so thanks for confirmation. Mrs and I saw a couple at PCNSw concourse and she gave it the nod as she also misses the Macan, loves her P cars.  Hope to get some inspiration here

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, sorry I have been a bit tardy in adding to the thread, its been a reasonably busy time for us in Darwin since the car arrived. We are staying in Darwin for a month because my wife heas been having radiotherapy for breast cancer, so as well as getting the new car sorted for the long trip home, I have had a few other things to do!

Everything has gone well though, radiation is complete, we are spending this weekend watching our son captain our local team in the U17 Rugby Union 7's  tournament in Darwin, the Hottest 7's which is the richest 7's tournament in the southern hemisphere. Then my wife flies home on Monday morning and my son and I will drive the Cayenne down to Katherine, spend the night and then do the 700km unsealed road home to Nhulunbuy!

There have been a couple of small issues with the car, and I am just thankful we had it to drive around in Darwin for a couple of weeks to iron them out. First up was a brake booster alarm, it turned out to be what I think is relatively common, a split in the plastic pipe part of the vacuum line. I have repaired it and ordered a new one.

Next up it suddenly developed a small coolant leak and to my horror it was clearly coming out the bottom of the bell housing, and I began to wonder if I had been lied to about the alloy coolant pipes, but once the inlet manifold was off, it became apparent it was just the small plastic tee that had failed and the main pipes were the alloy ones.

Driving the car I also noticed that under acceleration the midget with a sledgehammer was at work under the floor pan, my previous reading and research had prepared me for the discovery that the cardan shaft bearing support had failed, that research also meant I had already discovered the "Jimi-hack" for this issue and so the repair took me about an hour and cost about $10 for a bit of heater hose! If you dont know about this fix, here is an article, https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-955-957-2003-2010/956892-cardan-shaft-jimi-fix-with-pics.html

I think the only other issue is a rear brake pads warning, but when I got the new wheels and tyres fitted I checked, and as the previous owner said the front pads were brand new, but the rear are pretty worn, hence the alarm. Enough to get home ok, and I have bought new pads and ordered the sensors.

Tyres look great on it, the tyre noise on the sealed road is loud, but you cant have aggressive off road tyes like BFG Mud Terrains and no road noise!

 

IMG_5353.jpg

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On 17/11/2019 at 09:07, galumay said:

...Next up it suddenly developed a small coolant leak and to my horror it was clearly coming out the bottom of the bell housing, and I began to wonder if I had been lied to about the alloy coolant pipes, but once the inlet manifold was off, it became apparent it was just the small plastic tee that had failed and the main pipes were the alloy ones.

Driving the car I also noticed that under acceleration the midget with a sledgehammer was at work under the floor pan, my previous reading and research had prepared me for the discovery that the cardan shaft bearing support had failed, that research also meant I had already discovered the "Jimi-hack" for this issue and so the repair took me about an hour and cost about $10 for a bit of heater hose! If you dont know about this fix, here is an article, https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-955-957-2003-2010/956892-cardan-shaft-jimi-fix-with-pics.html...

 

There's a metal replacement T from memory. Did you go with this out of interest? Even if you didn't the plastic replacement would have years in it given it took this long to fail.

That's the first locally documented Jimmy fix I've read about! 😎

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Left Katherine at 6am this morning,

 

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The start of the Central Arnhem H'way

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Under the bridge over the Goyder river

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Cycad palms, emerald green after the fires and then start of the rains.

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Speedo is a little out with the tyres, total distance is about 725km, about 5% out.

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in the driveway ready to be washed!

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The dirty end!

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All in all the most comfortable trip I have ever done on the track, damn those seats are good! No problems at all on the way, just ran the suspension in comfort mode and drove to the conditions.

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15 minutes ago, Jason A said:

Looks like you need a bigger boat 😂 

He needs a bigger fuel tank.  Average speed is solid but not too quick and fuel use was still a shade over 16l per 100 km!

 

Good to see these cars on something other than city roads

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