ar38070

Thanks AR.  Sorry, I'm a little electrically challenged... :(

I'm trying to add an additional 12v "socket" so that I can utilize a standard 12v auto adapter for a Sirius receiver.  So, if I'm reading and interpreting your response correctly, all I need to do is to tap any of the existing switched fuses or plug into one of the unused switch terminals?

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If what you are trying to do is to use two 12 volt adapters at the same time there are commercially available "Y" adapters that plug into the existing lighter socket.

Or you can do what Duster did.

Most of the circuits are 12 volts (amps does not determine voltage). That is not your problem. Your problem is how much current you are planning to pull and whether or not the circuit you use can provide it. There are some unused terminals in the fuse block. You best bet is to tap one of those.

The offset on the rear is probably too large. The wheel will be sticking outside of the fender.

Akkurat is no longer in business. You might ask either of these guys to see if they know:

http://www.sharkwerks.com/main.php

http://www.969motorsports.com/

Might be a wheel bearing. Find a deserted parking lot. Accelerate the car to 25mph, engage the clutch then gently swerve the car back and forth. As each side of the car weights and unweights does the noise come and go? If yes then it is a wheel bearing.

You do not need a lift to do a wheel bearing. You can do it off of blocks or jack stands. You also need the ball joint tool if you do not already have it. You can get it at Harborfreight for $89. A lot of people have done it without the tool but you risk damaging the seals. You can also get at least one of the Bend-Paks lifts from Harborfreight.

Now whether or not you should invest in a lift is a completely different question. Can you use a 48" lift in your garage i.e. if you raise the car all the way up is it going to run in to anything? I would also check the height of the lift points. Do they fit under the car or will you have to drive onto boards to get the car high enough so that the lift points will fit? If in the future you lower the car will the lift still fit?

Check the power requirements, voltage and current.

Any lift is a compromise unless you are willing to spend big bucks. Sometimes you want to lift by the frame, sometimes by the wheels, sometimes you want to lift by a different part of the frame, etc. A friend of mine recently built stands (he has one of these small lifts) so that after the car is up we can drop the car on its wheels onto the stands. This way we can do alignments but it also now allows complete unimpeded access to anywhere on the bottom of the car.

As far as I know you cannot get the internal seals for a rebuild. You have to buy a new caliper. The internal seals seem to hold up really well. I have got 75 track days on mine and not had any problems. I have had to replace the dust shields.

I always drape the floor mat on the door sill to keep from scratching the door sill.

Offset works the opposite of what you would think. A larger number moves a wheel in. A smaller number pushes it out. Technically it the the distance from the wheel pad (the surface of the wheel that contacts the hub) to the centerline of the wheel.

What looks good is in the eye of the beholder.

You are fine but go buy yourself a torque wrench and a deep 19mm socket for the future. If you are really worried you can approximate the 96 ft-lbs that you need depending on how much you weigh. The emergency tool handle is about a foot long. If you weigh 150# then put your hand about 2/3s of the way out and put all of your weight on it. You can do the math depending on how much you weigh.

These wheels will work. Since you have the wheels the thing to do is to mount tires and try it. If you use 265s the worse case scenario is that you will need 5-7mm spacers for the rear. For that large of a spacer you will need new wheel bolts.

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a 10mm spacer for a Porsche. Due to the hub-centric nature of the design you have to skip from about 7mm all the way up to 14mm. (The problems are the flanges that the wheel mates to on the hub.)

The "ideal" offset for a 10" wheel is about 40 i.e. such that the wheel/tire is flush with the outer edge of the wheel well. Attached is a pic of an 18x10 et40 wheel with a 265 tire.

Up to 285s can fit but you may have to play with different sized spacers. (I have had 285s on my 18x10 et40 wheels ) Also the sides of the car are not necessarily exactly the same. What works on one side may not work on the other. Up to 275 is usually not as critical. 265s are easiest and there is more tire choice.

You can usually find 3,4 and 6 mm spacers on ebay. Do a search for "porsche wheel spacer". 5mm and bolts you can get from the dealer. 7mm and bolts can be had from H&R and others.

IMHO the price delta between the B&M and the Porsche piece is not worth buying the Porsche piece, especially since the shifter housing can be had at the parts counter for under $35 (COGS to Porsche on this piece is $4).  What you are paying for in the Porsche piece is the overhead involved in repackaging the B&M shifter as a Porsche product.

Take the B&M shifter and use the money you save on something else you want.

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Where can you get the housing for $35? The price quote that I got from Sunset for part number 986-424-010-03 is $178.

In a related question my understanding is that when you install a B&M that you have to break something (bushing?) during the install. If you wanted to reverse the install and put the stock shifter back can you get the parts to do so or do you have to buy another complete housing?

I would not think so. I would worry about dimensional stability from heat and pressure, also other environmental. While you could you use high grade plastics and fillers I cannot see them being all that much cheaper if done right. They could be lighter but the difference would be small unless you were talking large 1-3" spacers.

Try rocking the steering wheel back and forth while jiggling the key.

For a Torque wrench try the Huskey brand available at Home Depot. The price is reasonable ($89 I think) and supposedly the "lifetime" warranty is for real. Most of the other moderately priced ($100) torque wrenches come with limited warranties.

You will have to use your old harness. Usually you do not get the harness anyway with the new motor. What you probably want to do is to put the two motors side by side. Then transfer whatever you need from the old motor to the new one. At that time you can check to see that the old harness connects up to the new motor in the same way.

The only thing that I can think of that would be different is that the AT version uses or does not use some sensor that the manual does not or does use. So if you have the two motors side by side you should be able to tell if there are any differences.

If the HP was upped you would think the sales literature would make note of that which it does not.

Also if you order a replacement engine out of the Porsche catalog (at least according to PET) they are the same part number. The only note is that the tiptronic does not come with a fly wheel and the manual does not come with the compressor.

The ECUs are different.

I know someone who had a problem with the brake light switch. It is located above the brake pedal. I believe it is removed by rotating it 90 degrees. It is not the easiet thing to remove as you are upside down underneath the steering wheel but it can be done. You could try cleaning it and/or replacing it.

It also has a weird operating method if I remember correctly. When you put it back in, you have to extend it completely which "resets" it then depress the brake pedal which then "sets" the stroke. This is from memory and may be completely wrong.

His symptoms were that the brake lights would briefly flicker dimly when he pushed down the pedal. You had to watch really carefully to see the flicker.

There is no difference between an engine with a manual transmission or an automatic.

Assuming you are talking about a CEL then you can go to Kragens, Autozone, etc. and they can hook up an OBDII reader to your car and see what codes are causing the CEL. The fact that the CEL keeps reappearing means that you have some kind of problem that needs to be addressed.

Audi also uses the same power steering fluid.

It may have something to due with the variocam plus. As the tappets switch over there may be a blip in the oil pressure.

The oil separator that most people are talking about is at the top of the motor and is connected to the throttle body. There is only one of these.

Since you are going to have to replace the cable it does not matter how you hack off the sleeve. Try large wire cutters or a hack saw blade.

Well if you were able to disconnect the cable then you should be able to trim off an inch of the plastic sleeve to expose the drive cable. Once you have done that you can use an electric drill to spin the cable and open that half of the clam shell.