1990 964 C4 Melbourne

[KGB]

Looking good!

 

[poli84]

Flags are back on, thanks to @Midnight 911 for his soldering help!

Dropped off this morning at Auto Coupe for installation of the longer wheel studs and 7mm and 15mm spacers plus an alignment and front CV joint.

[poli84]

Picked up the car last Friday after having a few things done. I'd have liked to have done these jobs myself but some fortunate client additions has meant that I am working later and time available to work on the car myself has dwindled to the small weekend tasks only.

So I left the car in the capable hands of Auto Coupe and had the following done:

• Longer studs for front and rear spacers
• 15mm rear and 7mm front spacers
• Sebro cross drilled rear discs with Bendix pads (will do the front's soon but the OEM discs only have 19k kms on them)
• C.V joint boot front RHS (inner and outer)
• Front lower control arm bushes
• Wheel alignment

You can see the new cross-drilled discs in this shot, I think they look great behind the D90's

My favourite shot from the Cars & Coffee Sunday, very happy with how the car is sitting now on the D90's with spacers. I'd like to push the front out a few more mm but satisfied for now. I don't think I will be reverting back to Cup I's as soon as I initially thought...

Next on the list is to fix a stalling rear blower motor, (might need Fraz's help with that one) and I just picked up a new fan belt sensor and hand brake contact sensor from Porsche Doncaster so will get them installed over the weekend which will remove one light on the dash while also facilitating the correct operation of another (after a long Saturday morning drive in the hills!)

[Mike D'Silva]

that's cool. In fact so cool I am going to put my D90's back on when I get my engine back in.

Thanks for doing this and posting pics. 

[poli84]

that's cool. In fact so cool I am going to put my D90's back on when I get my engine back in.

Thanks for doing this and posting pics. 

Nice move Mike, glad i could be of service. If I could have my time again, i may have played around with spacer sizes a little more rather than using what others have done on the internet. I heard 18mm rear induces rubbing but perhaps that is only if you are too low. I'd like to look into 10mm front's, again, not if you are too low. I think my ride height would be suitable for a 10mm front. 

[Mike D'Silva]

i have some eibach 23mm spacers.. reckon they would be too much then...

 

[poli84]

i have some eibach 23mm spacers.. reckon they would be too much then...

 

Yeah I would say so mate, remembering that your C2 is lowered. Will look bloody good but I think you will rub! But give it a shot, would love to see you make it work (especially if you already have them). 

[poli84]

Bought an FVD Cup Pipe from the 964 For Sale Facebook page and it arrived this morning. 

I'll pull off the G-pipe I currently have installed and replace the primary muffler with this Cup pipe. 

[Mike D'Silva]

That's interesting... I have a cup pipe also, but it is a solid 1 piece.. 

[poli84]

That's interesting... I have a cup pipe also, but it is a solid 1 piece.. 

What brand is yours? I checked the FVD site and theirs is a two piece, that circular clasp you see in the picture tightens the two pieces together.

[Mike D'Silva]

Yeah I would say so mate, remembering that your C2 is lowered. Will look bloody good but I think you will rub! But give it a shot, would love to see you make it work (especially if you already have them). 

Here is a photo of the 23mm spacers on mine.... today

[poli84]

Looks great @Mike D'Silva, how does it drive? Are you at standard ride height? I think the scrubbing comes about when the car is lowered.

Do you think you will keep them on?

[Mike D'Silva]

I am running Bilstein HD struts... and have the height a little lower than stock. The road that leads to where the photo was taken, is quite bouncy and I did not have any rubbing problems. So I will leave them on for the time being (I have since fitted the fronts).

 

What size spacer can I safely go on the front, utilizing the stock studs?

Mike.

[poli84]

I am running Bilstein HD struts... and have the height a little lower than stock. The road that leads to where the photo was taken, is quite bouncy and I did not have any rubbing problems. So I will leave them on for the time being (I have since fitted the fronts).

 

What size spacer can I safely go on the front, utilizing the stock studs?

Mike.

That's great to know Mike. I was advised going against even 18mm due to rubbing, wish I went a little larger!

My research tells me that 5mm is the biggest you can go without changing studs. I went 7mm and changed the studs. It's not enough. I'll either pick up a set of 16x7 D90's and keep the 7mm spacer or go a larger spacer, maybe 10mm. Ideally I will get a set of 16x7's refurbished. 

[poli84]

Few minor updates and setbacks in the never ending story.

The front sway bar drop link bushings were shot. It's very difficult to replace just the bushings so I had to replace the entire drop link which includes new bushes. As I seem to do with all my parts these days, I purchased from Sean at Porsche Doncaster, price was $470 for the pair. C4 part number is shown in the image below, make sure you order the correct ones for a C4.

Installation should have been a lot easier than it was. I jacked up one side at a time which was the wrong way to go about things as it meant there was tension in the sway bar, once I removed the bolts from the old unit, the sway bar shot away and I couldn't line up the holes. Eventually was able to pry the sway into a position where the holes would line up. For the RHS side (which I did on a different day), I lifted the entire front of the car and it was a 10 minute job. Top tip, ensure the entire front is off the ground to make your life a lot easier.

I was hoping this would fix the knocking I am getting from the front when turning to the left, but it hasn't.  After getting myself worked up thinking it might be the planetary gears, it seems the noise is coming from the front diff position rather than where the planetary gears are mounted (end of transmission). 

Symptoms:
Knocking "knock knock knock" when performing low speed left hand turns in forward and reverse gear.
You can feel a clunk coming through the pedals and the centre console where the front diff is mounted.
Feels worse (harder) in reverse gear.

I've checked all suspension bolts, bushings, etc, all seem to be good. 

Car does not clunk or knock in a straight line, only when the wheel is turned to the left. 

I feel this problem has come about after I 'tested' the centre diff switch in a moment of "I know i shouldn't play with this but I want to". Is it possible that the front diff is not quite disengaged? All i did was engage, drive straight for about 3 metres, and then turn it off. 
The yellow light in the console does not work.
Other than that car drives great, no clunks and knocks at speed (even turning). 

Plugged in to the Hammer Saturday morning and no errors (even though my PDAS light is on).
The PDAS light is a seperate issue i think, it's only been on 2 weeks and I've had the front diff clunk about 2 months. Still trying to diagnose this, will bridge the R34 relay tonight, exchanged an ABS/PDAS control unit Saturday too and that didn't resolve so at least I have eliminated that as a problem. 

Something to occupy my free time!

The next issue that came about was the recirculation button falling out of the CCU. Unfortunately, this requires a whole new button which is grouped with the defrost button. I found a new one on ebay for USD$100 and am having it shipped to a friend in LA who is back for Christmas. Much cheaper than $250 locally. Enquired with Pawell from Carbone to have it repaired and that was going to be $100USD plus shipping back and forth. 

Installation requires dismantling of the whole CCU so will take the opportunity to replace the internal temp fan which often becomes stuck and makes a hissing noise. Thanks to the clever people on RL, it was discovered that many Denso fans from the era can be made to fit into the 964 CCU so I have ordered a new fan from a Disco series 2 for about $60 delivered. 

And for a bit of fun because I like design and cheekiness to it, I threw on a couple of Porkasus decals and I think my 964 is looking fine!

[FAP911]

Stunning Car ( Not a fan of the stickers ) but LUVVVVVVV the colour

What colour is it - Wheels look fantastic as well

Congrats!

[poli84]

Stunning Car ( Not a fan of the stickers ) but LUVVVVVVV the colour

What colour is it - Wheels look fantastic as well

Congrats!

Thanks FAP, understand the stickers are a personal taste thing, but appreciate the compliments on the car. It is Marine Blue Metalic, bit of a chameleon colour, it's very different depending on the light. Although the Linen Grey interior is a pain for upkeep, it certainly compliments the exterior. 

[poli84]

We've been having some issues the last month which has taken all my attention away from other projects on the car.

I went to start the car after not driving it for about 10 days and I had the PDAS and brake warning light on. After trying many things to resolve this issue such as ensuring brake fluid is correctly topped up, etc, i thought i would check whether the ABS relay was not the culprit given the ABS and and PDAS are closely linked. So i bridged the ABS relay following instructions I found on RL, still had the warning lights so I put the relay back in and moved on. Next time I went to start the car, I had no instrument cluster, checked number 18 fuse and it was blown. Replaced blow, replaced blow so i had a short somewhere resulting in no gauges what so ever and no warning lights.

Rang Steve Varasso, couldn't get in until Feb 13 (this was back beginning of December). Fraz passed on the details of a guy named Detlef who runs Autohaus 911 in Rowville. Took it out to him on Monday where he confirmed the relays and fuse box were OK, and then unplugged the central informer - p/n: 964 641 330 00. This box sits next to the steering column and controls all the warning lights in the car including the centre console lights. This appeared to be the problem, tracked down a replacement part from All Sports Porsche Parts, installed this morning and we are back in business with full functional gauges and warning lights - complete with the same pesky PDAS and brake warning lights. Strong recommendation for Detlef, that guy is a Porsche electrical guru. Coincidently, he also completed the conversion on my dad's Californian 924 back in the 90's. 

I'm using the car to ferry myself and partner to our wedding this Saturday so it was important I get the A/C working well. It blows bloody cold air but air flow on the passenger side vent and the centre passenger side vent were very poor (not good for the lady passenger in a wedding dress).

Pulled the centre console out and saw that the insulation foam was perished and the air was escaping before it got to the vent outlet. Some $6 sealing foam tape from Bunnings and working good as new, blowing cold air out of both vents. 

Removed the passenger far side vent and saw that it was missing the connection between the open/close toggle and the actual flap which controls the vent - resulting in the vent being always closed. A little bit of MacGyver and I now have a functioning vent which allows the cold air to flow. 

A recent sunny photo for good measure so this post isn't all boring (intentionally missing the headlight colour matched rings, has anyone got a C4 lightweight spoiler laying around  )

[vl gra]

I use Detlef and have known him for years. He definitely a genius with the Porsche marque. He actually has my engine at the moment. Only thing Porsche enthusiast's may expect more is a fancy workshop with polished floors.

[poli84]

CCU Rebuild

Yesterday i tackled my CCU which was in a sorry state. The recirculation button and the AC button had fallen off, both requiring complete new buttons to be purchased. The fan which blows cool air over the cabin air temp sensor was not working. This would result in the car blowing neutral air (not hot or cold), when the car was stationary, cool but not cold when the car was moving as it was unable to obtain a correct cabin temp reading. 

I bought 2 new switches, 1 from USA for about $140AUD and another from Doncaster Porsche for $250 after heavy discounting (not cheap). I then purchased a new fan which belongs to LR Disco, the Denso fan was a common part, the fan housing is unique to the 964/993 but there are DIY's online about swapping them over.

Pulled the CCU out and apart, brittle plastics in the inside required some super gluing. Clumsy me got super glue on the temp dial, then realised recirculation switch was for a LHD and would not slot in to my now repaired plastic casing. Disappointment and frustration ensued  but then rang my new favourite wrecker Dave and managed to pick up a great condition complete 993 CCU.

Got it home and read that the 993 unit does not fit directly into the 964 without some modifications to pins or something so I pulled it apart and used the face, fan, and recirculation/defrost buttons, put it all back together and back into the car.

Now have a (again) very cold AC that is operating as Porsche intended. Happy with the result.

Invaluable 964/993 HVAC info: http://www.bergvillfx.com/porschehvac1

DIY I followed to get the unit apart/replace the fan with cheaper alternative: http://rennlist.com/forums/964-forum/841424-another-ccu-fan-repair-and-thermistor-cleaning-diy.html

Next Up: interior update...

[DS911]

Excellent, can you do mine?

I was in at Porsche Doncaster the other day, picking up some minor parts.  I commented that some 964 parts are actually reasonably priced and some are crazy expensive.  On the crazy expensive side of the scale they comments on the cost of these buttons.  He must have been talking about your purchase!

[poli84]

Excellent, can you do mine?

I was in at Porsche Doncaster the other day, picking up some minor parts.  I commented that some 964 parts are actually reasonably priced and some are crazy expensive.  On the crazy expensive side of the scale they comments on the cost of these buttons.  He must have been talking about your purchase!

I actually think I have a pretty good grasp of removing and dissembling the CCU now, it's pretty easy as long as the plastics are not too far gone. It was actually pretty difficult getting it out of the dash because of the indicator stalk. i had to remove the face from the unit before being able to pull it out and around the stalk.

He would most definitely have been talking about my switches, I ordered them before Christmas, Jan 1 they had a mammoth price hike! 

[poli84]

Heading to the USA for work next month so just ordered up online, having it all sent to my mates place in LA so I can bring it back in the checked luggage.

• Momo Prototipo with boss
• Rennline black aluminium pedal board driver's side
• Rennline black aluminium pedal set
• Front and rear Coco Mats in blue and white
• Sebro cross drilled front rotors to match my rear Sebro cross drilled
• Function First shift knob in black with white shift pattern

 

[KGB]

The rotors should be fun at luggage check-in if you're not flying biz/1st.

And by fun I mean lotsa wonga.

I like the shifter.  Rococo mats not so sure...

Enjoy.

[poli84]

The rotors should be fun at luggage check-in if you're not flying biz/1st.

And by fun I mean lotsa wonga.

I like the shifter.  Rococo mats not so sure...

Enjoy.

I've got the Qantas bizz thing sorted, don't worry about me, plenty of luggage. 

Coco mats are a certain taste, the chosen colour is much better in person and suits my overall colour scheme. I drove around with 3 different samples for about a month. 

I'm looking forward to the interior updates!