Minor Fixes

Some other small items that have been dealt with which really don't warrant their own page but could be handy to someone.

Shift Knob

The old knob was kinda gross. The new one was not cheap, but looks great. Just use the finest (sharpest) awl or tiny screw driver to pop off the cap (with the shift pattern in it) and below that is a hex key holding the knob on. Easey Peasey.

The old knob was pretty tired. This is after popping off the cap, just remove that hex head bolt. You can use a plastic trim tool, a mini screwdriver or other similar thing to remove the cap carefully.

All fixed! 100% nicer looking.

Footwell Blower

My defrost and heat worked, but I would get fog on the driver's side of the windshield. I didn't feel much air coming out of the drivers side defrost vent. So I did a bit of reading on line and the footwell blower comes up a lot. Sometimes it needs lube or cleaning (or both!), sometimes it needs a fuse and sometimes you need to replace the blower. I will take it out at some point and clean it out and oil it. But it seems fine at the moment.

Porsche added an in-line fuse late in the run, this car is an '88. I was lucky, I just had a blown fuse. The blower uses a standard 10A fuse. There are 3 screws to remove the kick panel and then you can see all this stuff. Use an awl to locate the screw holes through the carpet when you're done. Getting the screws back in is the hardest part of this operation.

Interior Dome light

Sometimes the light goes on, sometimes no. Annoying at night. What I noticed was the rubber switch covers that go in the door jambs were dry rotted and shredded. It does not take much to stop that switch from moving properly. I replaced them both and it is not perfect, but is more reliable. I did buy replacement switches as well, just in case.

Old one mostly removed; I used a dental pick to get that last bit off. The switch needs to be protected from water etc. but can't be impeded from pushing out to turn the lights on. It just has a little spring to do this. Be careful if you remove the switch, it can fall into the cavity in the body there.

There is the new cover from Pelican Parts. Fit perfectly, maybe a little tight.

Phone Mount

I have to give props where they are due; Rennline really nailed this thing. It is easy to install, works great and requires no modification to the car. The stereo I put in has bluetooth so I can stream music and also have a handsfree phone in the car. This mount keeps my phone up and out of the way.

Simply pop out the clock; I used a screwdriver covered in blue painters tape to get it loose

and there we are. Turn by turn directions, music, phone calls. I mounted the mic just below the cruise control diagram (you can see it in this pic) Not why I bought a 911, but there are times you need these things.

Exterior Lenses

It is funny which things make a car look old. Lenses can be almost magical, and are usually pretty affordable vs buying a whole light housing. I replaced the front parking light lenses as well as the rear light housing lenses. In the rear I went with the ROW lens which has yellow rather than red turn signals. I just like the look.

Old lens on the car, new lens about to go on. You don't notice how cloudy and scratched up they are until you see a new one.

Here is the ROW rear lens installed. 5 minutes and a coupe of phillips head screws.

Engine Compartment Lamp

I didn't quite understand how this worked at first, and even after replacing the bulb I could not get the old one to do anything - well, I did blow the fuse a few times. That's annoying because it is on the same circuit with the rear lights. I took it out, and forgot about it for a while. Recently I had some time to goof around so I polished all of the brass contacts and tried to get it to pass current. Using a DMM, I quickly realized that the old lamp housing was FUBAR in at least 3 different ways. I bought a new one, and made sure it was wired properly (backwards blows fuses) and it's all happy now.

• Brown lead is ground. (right, in the pic below)

• The other lead goes to side with "switch" (rotating contact)

• lamp should operate when cover is rolled open and parking lights are on

Eternally optimistic, I thought I could fix up the old one with q-tips and some Noxon. The right side here is grounded, the left terminal is isolated so it gets the brown wire. Just remember the Brown wire goes to the side with the switch (rotating brass piece)

Detail of the 'switch'. This terminal is isolated from the body of the housing, and that contact completes the circuit when you rotate the chromed lamp cover. Hard to believe something so simple could go bad, but there you go.

The new housing in place. It's not much light, but it is what it is.

Driver's seat

One day I the leather on the driver's seat bottom just split out of nowhere. I use leather care stuff on the seats to keep the leather in good shape, but I guess sometimes things just "go". I looked into new covers and that can get pricey, so I looked for an auto leather/interior shop. Thankfully they still exist and they were able to replace just the seat bottom for a very reasonable fee with black leather that has matching perforations. The only difference is it is not as shiny as the OEM because it hasn't been polished by the driver's butt (yet!). I pulled the seat out and dropped it off to facilitate the process.

"Before", a split that kept growing. I used a seat cover, but it kept getting worse.

"After". Finding a craftperson to do this kind of work is so rewarding. Seats and dashboards both scare me, and I can't sew worth a darn so this was money well spent.