r buchanan

Jesse, After driving a 964 C4 for two years and now a Boxster, I picked up a very clean '86 911 back in June. The really cool part regarding the '84 to '89's is just how really easy it is to work on them. An average garage mechanic can do 90% of everything. I would caution you regarding high speed DE events. The late seventies up to the 964 911's all needed some spoiler to keep them planted at high speeds. For autoX or road tracks this mostly not an issue. DO CHECK the brakes. After a major tuneup I have been able to get a shade over 130 out of mine. (She'll go more..but not on the street) I do have the spoiler package and can feel her wanting to get light above 120. So, if you are wanting to get the maximum..add some downforce...and a Steve Wong chip. Go ahead and drop the suspension to the ROW ride heights. Very easy..esp. the fronts. Buy the Bentley manual. Bilstein Sports (sometimes called heavy Duty) are a good investment for street/DE events...although a tad rough for me in the real world IMHO. I am here in Houston with a lot of construction..and lots of uneven pavement, potholes, and plain shoddy street work. Do you need a Dansk Sport Muffler...new in the box? Have an extra for cheap. Robert

First, I have had better luck with a 17 mm hex wrench than the socket. Besides the hex wrench is only ten bucks. They are sharper on the corners and 'bite' better than the socket bit. Here is an old trick on frozen cap screws or plugs. Yes they tend to be in there very tight. First, use a good quality penetrating oil such as Liquid Wrench. Wear safety glasses and spray a healthy amount on the plug. Be sure to clean around the plug first so the oil is actually getting into the threads. Spray oil twice a day for two days. Go find something else to do for a couple of days. Let the solvent work. GENTLY try to back out the plug with a long breaker bar. Use firm steady force. Do not hammer on the bar. Next you can try to warm the trans housing around the plug with a small butane torch. Use extreme caution and care and warm around the outside of the plug. Once the case is hot to touch..try again. Don't overheat anything. You may also be able to gentle tap the plug with a hammer to loosen it up a bit. experience here is important. Don't peen the opening of the cap...however this may be an advantage to you at this point. I have also made a glob of JB weld and "fixed" a rounded out cap screw. Making sure it is clean inside the cap (really clean and grease free) mix up a peanut size portion of stick it up into the cap. Just as you do this, coat the 17 mm socket with vaseline or PAM (from the kitchen) and insert it into the cap. Make a prop or use a small jack to hold the socket in the plug overnight. You may have success the next morning. Make sure that NO epoxy gets into the threads...any epoxy will just come right off the socket. After all of this fails...go to a machine shop that has the correct extractor..and buy yourself a new bottom plug. Robert Buchanan