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One of the best parts of this whole car hobby thing is the underground support system that we all use. If it's parts, used or new, or service there is always someone that you can call for assistance. I was reminded of this fact a while back when I called a new car dealer service department with a question. It turns out that the service line at this particular dealership is to be used for only one reason and that is to make an appointment to bring your car in for service. I should mention that this is the same dealer service department that insisted that we needed a new transmission in Leigh's wagon back in March. Good thing that we didn't mention that fact to her car since it's still working just fine. The friendly person on the other end of the line tells me that service personnel are not available at any time to answer questions on the phone. Cars must be brought for proper diagnosis. Not having the car nearby ever stopped the guys on the 356 Talk line from offering suggestions and many of the vendors have a tech line for just that reason. To give you someplace to start when your car won't. The BMW Club even has service people listed in the back of the Roundel (their Pano) and the hours they are available by phone. It's a great service and really makes life easier for those of us that like to tinker with our rides. A lot of folks in our own region have a terrific working knowledge of various Porsche models and are happy to help if asked. With just a few phone calls or email you can some experts helping with the job. The network also consists of people buying and selling parts both new and used. A few weeks ago a friend called to say that a friend of his wanted to clean out his garage and needed some help with some old Porsche parts. Seems that he ran a repair garage for Porsches, both 356 and 911, that had closed years ago and had finally decided to clean out the shop. Would I be interested? Reminds me of the time that a woman called from the Cape to say that she had an old Porsche under her deck that she wanted to get rid of. It had belonged to an old boyfriend who had left it when he went to California years before. I asked her to describe the car and she said that it was a two door, looked like a bathtub, and it had a name on the back that started with the letter C. Well, I couldn't get down there fast enough. After a high speed run to Hyannis in the middle of the night, it was found that the name was only the first letter. It was a C not a Carrera. Certainly I was interested but I wasn't going to drop everything to go look. I enlisted the help of a friend who had an interest in early 911's since all those chains and cams and stuff always left me confused. Off we went on a car night (that's a Thursday when the wife works late) to survey the stash. This guy had taken the old adage to heart and never thrown out anything. He had saved used rings from engine overhauls back in the '70's. He has saved lots of 356 parts but it seemed to be the stuff that was never needed. For example, there was a box of cams, some with the gear attached some without. I've rebuilt a number of engines and I don't ever remember replacing a cam due to wear. They just don't wear out. But here was a box of at least twenty cams looking for a home. There was a box full of old used oil lines. These are the lines that go to and from the oil filter. They are actually rubber lines covered with braided steel to protect them. They are relatively cheap, or were, and because of that were just automatically replaced when rebuilding an engine. This fellow had saved all the discards. The problem with that is that the rubber in the line gets old and brittle with time. Not a problem if left in place on the engine but if removed they will immediately break when you attempt to reinstall. So here was a box with maybe fifty oil lines that had been saved carefully that should have never seen the light of day years ago. Be careful what you save. Certainly there were some useful parts but not as many as were expected. As the years have rolled along and parts have gotten scarcer some of the things that we used to throw away we would now save. But some of the things that we saved we should have thrown out. Having now gone through a couple of truckloads of junk disguised as old car parts let me pass along a few hints that might reduce some of the clutter in your garage. Used parts, the parts that you have taken off because they are worn out can probably be tossed. Old nuts and bolts can certainly be discarded. Don't laugh, every car nut that you know has coffee cans full of old greasy nuts and bolts hiding somewhere in their garage. Some day they're going to pour in a little gasoline, shake and out will come four pounds of nuts and bolts like brand new. It's never going to happen. Throw them out. Used brake pads? Sure you should always keep a spare set just in case the ones being used should explode, right? Wrong. When's the last time that you ever saw a brake pad fall apart before your very eyes? Never. Throw them out. But they're not as worn as I thought they were and I may put them back in some day? No you won't, throw 'em out. Used mufflers? Maybe it's because they're so expensive that we always think that we could save them and patch them up later. Do you know how tough it is to weld new metal to an old rusty pipe? It's almost impossible. I took a welding class last year that taught me that I will never be a welder. (I guess that means that I should sell that welding mask that's on the garage wall) It also taught me what you can and cannot do with old metal. I let a $400 Audi exhaust system stand up in the corner of the garage for four years before I took it to the dump. It was too far gone to repair but I just felt better that I had somehow gotten more use out of it over those four years. Now if it's a part that was replaced because of a performance issue or a cosmetic improvement, by all means save it. Stock hoods look great hanging from the wall while that cool louvered hood takes its place. What to do with that stainless exhaust that turned out to be too loud for your significant other? It looks better that a Monet on the wall. Save it. Some parts can actually be used as art in the garage if you just clean them up and hang them just right. A set of hubcaps, especially the version with the enameled crests look nice all lined up in a row. Besides, that prevents possible road damage and makes the car look more competitive without them. Extra tires and wheels can add to the decor if you know how to display them. A fellow Porsche nut showed me that if you stack them up on their side put the third one on the pile so that the inside of the rim is up, then take the last one (the cleanest one of course!) and place it inside the top rim in a vertical position with the shiny side out. I have a fiberglass top for the Speedster that has only been on the car once it it's life and that was on the ride to bring it home. That was 18 years ago. It looks great hanging from the ceiling over the car on a stainless steel hanger that I made for it. But don't ask me why I have it because I'm not sure that I have a good answer. Decoration? Maybe. Now if there's anything in the garage that you're going to throw out just let me know, I may come be and pick it up. KTF |
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