Scratch that...

 Not done much over the last couple of weeks - popped out for a few drives to keep everything lubricated and so far very grateful to not detect any leaks into the car, what with the torrential rain we've been having.

I did take the car to a scratch repair place and they said those scratches are in the primer and won't just buff out - £800 to repaint both wings. Yeah, that's not happening for a while...

Typically, just as I buy a convertible, we have the wettest month probably on record. I'm also getting every darn weekend taken up with university visits for my daughter but we just had the last one, so hopefully, I can finally get out at weekends. I've found a good, local Facebook group who get out a lot (I annoyingly missed an excellent looking meet up at Biggin Hill this weekend) and they have meets on both upcoming weekends, so I'll hopefully get to those. The only problem is, they are sticklers for only allowing Boxsters to join in (they even refused a Cayman owner!) and I wanted to include my son in these meets. Have to see how it goes...

The non-working 12v socket was just a blown fuse, easily fixed and I did get my camera working ok (annoyingly, I forgot to wipe the SD card so I only got 5 minutes of me lost in a housing estate). It will need some padding to stop it rattling but should be good for future trips.

My roof did have a bit of a freak out and refused to open once. I sprayed some WD40 into the roof lock mechanism and that cured it but not sure how long for. The switches do go and are about £60 to replace, so not too serious, hopefully.

The mechanic who I was talking to found a 2nd hand drivesahft on eBay for £100, which he says he bought and paid for, although he seems to have gone silent at the moment. No rush but I'll hopefully get that changed soon...

YOLO

 The quote came back from the Porsche specialist and it's even worse than I thought - a new driveshaft is not a mere £500 - oh no - it's £1,200....!!! (I saw one advertised for £500 but out of stock - must have been a site just wanting attention).

I was writing the Auto Trader ad when some comments on a forum made me re-think - I don't have to use brand new parts; second-hand will do and are much cheaper (the labour isn't actually that bad - around £200). I've also found a local-ish guy who has set himself up after many years of Porsche tinkering and reckons he can do it for under £500 (just the driveshaft) fitted, which is bordering on affordable. Admittedly, he has to find a 2nd hand driveshaft of reasonable condition, might be tricky?

I had a great weekend in Zedster2 - took the wife to the coast with the dog and it went really well (apart from me scaring her when some bloke in a Seat dared to overtake me - must grow up). Interestingly, the dog loved it and happily sat on the wife's lap all the way (he is normally very restless in cars - I think he likes the roof down).

Combined with the find of a reasonable mechanic, I'm feeling happier and really want to keep Zedster2 - I still marvel at the smoothness and banshee wail of that flat six - wonderful. As the yoof say, YOLO (You Only Live Once)...

This is what the leaking driveshaft looks like (that green goo is the leak):

I would also like to get the gearbox mounts replaced - £528 from the specialist but I think he is quoting for the mount plus the supporting bracket - you can buy the mounts alone for £200 and just re-use the old brackets (according to a YT video) - I'll see if Paul (the mechanic - link to the right) can do that.

Other items on the to-do list:

1. Brake lines/fixings.
2. Panel scratches on both rear wings. I tried some scratch remover this weekend and it did nothing (maybe I should have rubbed for MUCH longer? Dunno).
3. Reversing camera - very difficult to reverse due to the low seat/high rear combination.
4. 12v socket in centre armrest doesn't seem to be working - maybe just a fuse...I wanted to set up a camera to film a few drives and my cheap (non-GoPro) camera eats through a battery in 30 minutes, so I prefer to have a permanent power feed.
5. Drivers side window switch a bit sticky - WD40 may be enough?
6. A decent clean - there is algae growing in the rear boot gutters.

Reality strikes

 So Zedster2 (my kit car was Zedster) passed the MOT with a couple of advisories; the usual dirty headlights and a leaking CV boot. In my naivety, I thought, OK, £150 to replace the CV boot....oh no, no, no....

The MOT place only has limited options to write so they put "rubber boot leaking" - in reality, what is leaking is a metal part of the driveshaft, a common problem as the cars get older and corrosion sets in. The problem is, the fix is to replace the entire driveshaft, at around £500 just for the part!! And the other one isn't much better.

I knew that old cars (not just Porsches) need work and I knew that a premium car like a Porsche would need more expensive parts but you always hope it won't happen to you...well, it has...and it will probably get worse.

So what do I do?

My kit car is compromised and is about 70% of the car the Porsche is BUT it is 10% of the cost - the driveshafts for my kit car cost me £120 (for both) and I fitted them myself. BUT if I had to replace the driveshafts on my kit now, it might take me months to get up the energy/enthusiasm to do it (and getting that hub nut off will be a bitch). BUT my kit has only done 22k miles - it will be a while before corrosion gets as bad as the Porsche is now. BUT driving the Porsche is just as much fun as my kit was and far more civilised.

Lot of 'buts'...

The dealer (Parrs Porsche, Crawley) did a 'free' health check and also advised:

1. Brake fittings (not the pipes, the bits they go into) are corroded and could do with replacing.

2. Gearbox mount is corroded and needs replacing.

3. Some delamination of some suspension part.

No idea of cost (they said they would get back to me with quotes) but it won't be a small number. I can afford the costs (as long as it doesn't get REALLY bad) but I'm naturally a tightwad and it grates spending this much on a selfish toy. Although I don't have to do any of this work now, I could just wait until I hear the driveshaft crunching or it fails an MOT?

So is Porsche ownership worth it? I'm normally good at these sort of decisions - totally flummoxed at the moment...head says cut my losses and sell it, heart says keep the badge.

After the Beginning...

 I've always liked cars but never in the dedicated way of the show-going, polish-obsessed purists - I just always liked cars.

I was not one of those lucky people who's family owned a garage or a farm where they learnt to drive before they could walk. I passed my test at 17 (first time, 10 lessons - just saying) in 1987 and drove my mum's car for the first few years. Only after my university gap year did I have enough cash to buy my first car, a 1981 VW Polo.

I was only ever able to afford one car at a time and none were very exciting - until the car I built myself in 2015 (see the linked blog on the right).

Now, it's 2023 and as you can read in my last few blog entries for my kit car, I'm reverting to the mainstream, although something I'd hope to think is a little less dull - a Porsche Boxster.

I've always quite liked them but never thought much more about it until I realised how much I loved driving (but not fixing) my kit car - I needed a replacement with the fun of a kit car and hopefully less of the downsides (reliability and comfort).

I couldn't afford (or easily fit into) a Lotus Elise, an MX5 didn't really have the oomph and a BMW Z4 felt a bit chavvy (and I've owned the Z3 which was OK but not amazing). So Boxster it was...

This example has 88k miles, a full service history (with some rather expensive bills I hope I won't need to repeat), recent new disks and pads and a recently refurbished roof, all for a very reasonable £8,500.

I picked up the car from a private seller in Warwick after a brief inspection (I had little idea of what I was looking for), where the test drive alone sold it for me - it felt awesome!

I've had it for just over a week now and I've changed the head unit:

Before:                             After:

This unit works amazingly - I've never really tried Android Auto but it is very impressive in that it can read out text and WhatsApp messages you get as you go along in a very realistic way (not the robotic voice you might expect) and the voice recognition enables you to speak replies - very impressive and most importantly, it works at 70 mph, if needed, without taking your hands off the wheel.

I've also replaced the rear boot strut and put new car mats in - not earth-shattering changes but I've made a promise to myself to not go too mental.

The biggest job left is to repair the scratches I completely missed on my first inspection on the n/s rear wing - they look very bad but you can't feel them, which suggests the simple scratch-remover polish I've bought should improve it at least.

I've done my first road trip of 500 miles to Cornwall and back, to see family - the car was AMAZING! So darn fast and smooth, it feels like it is accelerating slowly but you suddenly realise everyone else is going backwards or the car in front suddenly approaches much quicker than you expect.

But that does show up one downside to the Boxster - the brakes are woeful. They are powerful enough, eventually, but there is so much pedal travel, you really have to start braking a fraction earlier than you'd like, just to allow for that travel. I've got the car booked in for a brake bleed and early MOT in a few days - see if that improves it. However, looking online, it's a known/common issue which I may just have to get used to.

With this car, I'm also not planning on working on it myself. I may have built a kit car but that had a nice simple 4-pot engine in the front, with no sensors, servos, power steering, ABS etc, etc, that make up modern cars. You should see the process you need to go through to get to the Boxster engine! It's in the middle and you have to remove carpet and unbolt a panel just to see the top of it.

So far, it's looking good but I may yet change my mind and keep the kit car instead....we'll  see.