Hey there 75swb
Thanks for bringing the thread back. I can’t believe that it’s been almost 3 months since I last posted.
I must confess, I’ve been busy working on cars when I can, but due to work and unreliable Porsche people, I have unconsciously been avoiding the 912.
Last year, my boss decided that the department I work in reached a size where it needed a new manager. I got a bit hacked off not being asked if I was interested in applying (I think I’ve been doing okay over the past 14 years), so said during a 1 on 1 that I would like to throw my hat in for a go at the job.
Long story short, he said he had been waiting for me to apply, and not long after - boom, new title.
Downside is that my day now starts at 5am talking to the EU part of the company, work through the normal 9-5 US local time and then spend my evenings (up to 8pm) talking to the Japanese side. All for a poxy few $k extra a year (be careful what you wish for).
Not long after my last post, I drove my old Subaru something like a 2.5hr each way trip, to pick up the blue bonnet I saw on line.
The guy had the bonnet in the flat bed of his truck covered, and as I was trying to fill my car with petrol at the same time, pestered me for the cash and off he went.
Only he managed to hide what was immediately obvious after he took off, the bonnet was junk.
To top it off, I was left to put it in the back of my Suby on my own, only to find it won’t fit.
Lucky for me, because the Suby was running on a wing and a prayer, I had thermal boots with me, with long laces, so I could tie the tailgate down and drive home in the barely 0C with the lid partially open and the windows open to draw the exhaust gas out, rather than in.
After that hurdle, I knew the Suby had to go (as it had 167k on the clock and petrol getting into the block among other maladies) so bought a shiny new Jeep.
And after just 8 days, that broke down (around 1k miles from new). Then a week later it was fixed and broke down again less than 5 days after that!
I had seen a set of used rear bumpers for sale for the 912 on Pelican parts, so sent off $$$ for one of them (April 3rd) to another forum member, who still as of today, is spinning me tales as to why he hasn’t shipped it to me yet.
When I was last in the UK, I bought a Caterham to ship to the US as a classic. The idea being, it is a less punishing version of my atom (I’ve owned for 8 years) and swapping that out when the Caterham arrived, would make sense.
Well the Caterham turned up, and shipping wasn’t good to it, rattling parts apart, causing airlocks in the system as well as other challenges of a car that hadn’t been used since before Covid.
Everything just about fitted in the garage…
Until, my son said, he was interested in a father son project for his 13th birthday. He wanted either a TT (electrical nightmare!!!!] or a pop up headlight MX5.
A friend was just breaking an ex race car MX5, so one day, this followed me home for $2k…
So now I had a barely running MX5, a broken Jeep (with hire car), an Atom I didn’t want to sell until I could get the Caterham running, and a 912 I wasn’t only disgusted with, but peed off with the Porsche community, that was now joining in the misery, by refusing to start!
I focused on getting the Caterham running - the most significant problem being the carb manifold rattling free enough during transport to suck air in, which was masked by another issue related to the accelerator cable, which must have been snagged somewhere during shipping. That sorted (and not yet knowing about the overheating), I set to on the Atom and my ‘honey do’ list to get it sale ready. A weekend later and that was all buttoned up.
I lucked out as a guy at work was interested, and a week later, it went to its new home.
This is from that last Saturday morning…
Driving the Caterham for just 3 miles, found the overheating issue (now hopefully fixed) and brakes that need seeing to (not yet fixed).
The Jeep is back and mostly behaving, so my son and I spent a weekend getting the MX5 running and fixing some small stuff.
We got it running on the Saturday (just needed service parts) and then replaced the broken rear lights with some ‘Lexus lights’. Remember those? (That more importantly weren’t broken, my son likes and we’re the right price - free!):
And then started some ‘front garden spray job’ improvements…
It’s been great spending time with my 13 year old on it, and he is building up ‘sweat equity’ in the project. I have also driven him to the local high school car park, and he has started his first steps in learning to drive a manual or ‘stick’ as they call it here. Something most millennials will never do!
This weekend, I’m hoping to get back to the 912, and hopefully (if nothing else) get it running again… Oh and getting a steering wheel on the MX5 with an airbag, as the quick release job in there at the moment, isn’t to kid / accident friendly!
Putting this all down here, I don’t feel quite so lazy. There was also a trip to Spain (Barcelona) in there somewhere along with the mandatory week of the Covid.
So thanks again for pinging the thread. I’ve been pretty lax and a little disillusioned with the 912, but time is a great healer (until I start swearing at it again this weekend!)
We're older and less dumb than reputation would have you believe!
We're older and less dumb than reputation would have you believe!
