Parts, tires, oil.. OH MY!

PARTS:
The 964's Euro pre-cat arrived yesterday. Ah... can't wait to get that installed and see how much weight it saves (that and.. well.. you know why they are *good* upgrades). Right now the Mercedes is in the dry dock so it's going to be some time this weekend before I get around to attempting the install. At least this FabSpeed piece looks like it's manufactured the right way. That's a bonus.

TIRES:
I do believe I coverd this before, but with the Toyo Proxes installed on the front of the 993 it fixed most of the weird little wandering and vibration the car had at highway speed. It still night need a front steering overhaul (rebuilt rack, new tierod ends, etc.) but for now it's quite pleasant to drive! Althought I'm not sure how good these tires are supposed to be. With a 280AA treadwear... how good *can* they be? I'm suspecting they will be no better than the ES-100's on the other car, and Toyo Proxes (S and R) are notrious for having very soft sidewalls. Maybe the soft sidewall makes the car seem just a tad more loose than the 964 with it's ES-100's. What might be an interesting experiment would be to swap the tires on the cars..... ah.. like I havn't already made more work for myself.

OIL:
Yikes. Well.. not really too bad to be 1/2 quart low in a system with 13 quarts of oil. I found out last night that I'd not checked the oil level properly on the 993 and it was actually low! I had a quart of 15-50 Mobil 1 handy in the boot, tossed that in and good to go. Oil tank gauge showing midline to high when warm. Good! What is really not full is the PS fluid! Ya know.. when a dealer does a PPI one would ASSUME they would check this sort of stuff! Makes me wonder if they did much of anything at all for $250.

So, the 993 is parked today until I make time to go to the parts store and get some more PS fluid. Thought I had some at home but could not find it this morning. Better to be on-time to work in the other car than futz around with trying to find a $2.00 bottle of hydro. Plus the rear tires are at 30PSI. Much lower than I want to run them. More stuff for me to do tonight..... plus the car needs a bath something fierce. Yellow really REALLY shows the dirt (maybe more than black). Plus I want to toss on a coat of Aeroshell polish. It sure did make the 964 look even better!

A better photo of the hot sisters.

After completing some work in the 90 (964) I pulled it out next to the 95 (993) that was going in the shop next to get a pair of new front tires. Snapped a quick photo of the two for now. Can't wait to get the competition suspension on the 964 and the 19" wheels I'm considering for the 993. The 18's on the 993 will become competition rims since they have quite a few blemishes on them at the moment. Power-coated black or.... red... might look good.. or might look so garish as to invoke gastrointestinal evacuations... for now though... this is enough fun-with-bank-accounts to keep me busy every night.

Yokohama ES-100 - el JUNKO!!!

I just completed the second event on the Yokohama AVS ES-100 tires. Without qualification I can honestly say with clarity of soul and purpose. THEY SUCK! Termine la materia fecal. Nicht gut!

For a street tire that seems low to perhaps moderate use. They are probably fine. But when used in a sprited fashion they show serious limitations. When used competitivly.. they are completely inadeqate and bordering on dangerous.

Following 2 70 second runs on the course, the rear tire sidewalls were rolling over. My instructor had me increase tire pressure twice, finally ending at 47 PSI, to keep the shoulders of the tires from chunking. The rear tires were getting incredibly hot. Trying to power out of a turn became impossible due to constant wheel spin. It was not really enjoyable.

In conclusion: I'll have some used ES-100's for sale to anyone with a Porsche garage queen. Any other purpose would not be suitable for these tires.

TWO THUMBS DOWN!