Orient Express

In which of the 5 holes do you put the locking wheel bolt.  The one closest to the valve stem??

Jeff:

The locking stud goes in the 5th hole. One some wheels that is the same side as the valve stem, in others it is opposite.

As far as cleanliness in the wheel well, here is what the orient express looks like after 30,000 miles.

That is OK, I will only take a quarter point off. :D BTW I found that Testors Model Paint Red #1103 is an exact match for Porsche caliper Red. I use it for touchup from rock chips on the calipers.

Good luck on getting the balance tube off without scratching up the nuts.

Gundo:

Not to rain on your parade, but you have installed at least one of those calipers upside down!

The bleed valves must be pointing UP! to properly get all of the air out. The calipers are set up for left and right use. The key is that the bleed valves are up. If you can't make that happen on all 4 wheels, then your vendor has sent you a wrong caliper.

this one is upside down:

chances are the one on the other side is upside down as well.

I am fan of Speed Lingerie Bras and Mirror Booties.

I have had a set on my 996 cab for over 2 years with great results. Their bras are hand made to order and are available in the color of your car.

Here are some pictures of the car and Bra

You can also see some pictures in the Garage.

Sure using a bra is more work in keeping it clean, and they need to be removed as soon as possible after driving in the rain, but a well designed bra is superior to the "Stoneguard" films that are available. A bra will take the impact of a stone or debris without leaving any marks on the body. A well designed bra will not rub the paint or damage it in any way. A good bra will also take the impact of scraping the lower bumper lip without any damage to the paint or bumper. I leave my bra on most of the time, and have never had any problems. After a long drive or trip, I take it off, clean it out, and put it back on.

On the other hand, while not trying to bash Stone Guard films, I have yet to see any film application that does not look ratty after a year or 2. Especially if the car has been driven a lot. All of the films get dirt and dust under the edges of the film, and end up getting a grey shadow around the edges. This is especially noticeable on light color cars, and you cannot get it out. On dark cars, it is wax shadow that they get. Plus as the film takes rock impacts it can tear, and big impacts will hurt the finish regardless.

So that is my 2¢ worth. Use a quality bra if you really want to protect the front of your car and don't mind a little work, or use film if you want to protect the front of your car, and don't mind that it will look dirty all of the time. Cost wise, both solutions cost about the same.

Yes, this is the one I saw as well, the only problem is that this mute function only works when there is a "Traffic Program" station transmitting. Unfortunately, there do not seem to be any here in Silicon Valley. Any other ideas?

I am trying to figure out if there is a button or combination of buttons that allows the radio or CD function to be muted (in the radio's case) or paused (in the CDs case) on a Traffic Pro system. I have been unable to figure this out, even with the manual. Any clues would be appreciated. On the CDR-220, a push of the volume control will mute or pause, but on the TP, that activates the Navigation Info function.

Thank you, thank yew very much :clapping:

The painted area on the upper inside of the front air intakes covers the bumper bar under the front cover. I would paint that area black to keep the shape of the intake.

I agree with Loren. 32/36 cold works best for me, and as a side benefit it cuts down on some of the tire and road noise. I live about 10 miles north of Loren and the weather is about the same.

I'm looking for a DIY on removing the rear bumper cover. TIA

The Halogen bulb is for flashing your lights. Xenon systems take to long to power up so the conventional halogen bulb takes its place.

Where are you going to plug in the toaster oven, or the kitchen sink? :D

Harbor Freight and Kragen both sell the same "racing" jack. I have the harbor freight version, and am very happy with it. I believe that it was $169. Griots sells the same jack and wants $500 for it.

One last thing is for the jack stands, I have dipped the "business" ends in something called Plasti Dip. This stuff is a rubber coating that protects the car from being damaged by the jack stand. You just dip the end in this stuff the same way you coat a candy apple. you dip, let it set up for a minute or 2, then dip again, etc, until you have the thickness you want. I bought these cans at Harbor Freight, but I am sure you can get it at hardware or hobby stores.

:clapping:

I had a lot of hesitation about using the engine to lift the car up for the back stands, until I talked to several Porsche factory mechanics, and a few racers. They all use the same place on the engine to lift the car for placing the stands, and have never had any problems. As long as you do not leave the car in that position without jack stands on the rear jack points, there is not a problem. If you have a jack with a long arm, you can also use the lower engine carrier cross member as a jack point. The key point is to place the jack on the crankcase seam, and not the sump cover.

I put my cab up on 4 jack stands all of the time to take all 4 wheels off.

I have one of the Harbor Freight Aluminum "racing" Jacks, and 4 Sears Craftsman jack stands. BTW the Harbor Freight jack is made in mainland China, and is a damm good jack. The same jack is also available from Griots (for $300 more) or Kragen Auto Supply (for $30 more).

The process I use to get the car up in the air is:

1. Jack car up on one side using rear jack point. Get car up hight enough to place jack stand 1 on front jack point. set the jack stand so that it points port/starboard.

2. Do the same for the other side. Now you have the front in the air.

3. Place the jack in the center of the rear of the engine where the 2 halves of the crank case come together. NOT on the sump cover. here is a picture of the bottom of the engine where you can see where the halves join

4. Jack the car up from there slowly until you can place the other 2 jack stands on the other jack points. These stands point forward/aft.

5. I stick a long wood clamp between the brake pedal and the seat to lock the front brakes so I can loosen the wheel bolts. You could also loosen them before you jack the car up.

6. The last thing I recommend if you are really anal about the condition of the inside of your rims is to place a towel over the rotor and caliper so that when you take the wheel off, you don't bang the inside of the wheel on the brakes or suspension.

Taking the car down is the reverse of the above. Please note that after you take the rear jacks stands off, and then the first of the front stands off, the car will still stay in the air with both front wheels off the ground. When you jack up the other side to take the last stand off you are also pushing the car down on the other side first before the car goes up in the air on the side you have the jack and jack stand. :D

the tips will turn a little gold/brown/yellow over time. but a quick application of Mother's or Meguires metal polish will bring them back

I got mine at Performance Products as well. I found that the shade of silver that they come in did not quite match the rest of the aluminum pieces in my 996, so I sprayed them with Dupli-color DSGM 501 "Galaxy Silver" which gave me a good match. I also fastened them on with RTV silicon which can be easlily removed with alcohol.

Another way of polishing the tips is to use a buffing wheel on your bench grinder and polishing rouge. You can get a stick of rouge at any hardware store in the section that they have the bench grinder accessories (that is where you get the buffing wheel as well.) After I have used the wheel, I clean up the metal with Meguires metal polish.