Summer Spruce

I've been really having a blast in the 993 this year. The bilsteins have upped the enjoyability factor and suspension-wise the car now is very close to how I always intended it. I haven't been fiddling much or cleaning or upgrading, just driving the thing.

Another year has passed though and it is time to attend to a few things. Seeing car is due an annual oil change (it had the biggest service of its life last year so no it doesn't want for much at the moment) I felt it was a good oppurtunity to get it up on stands and take care of a few issues and a few cosmetic changes that I have been planning.

First of all I have given the front windscreen surround a good inspection after removing the main seal. As I suspected I do have some rust developing under there. The scuttle was repainted some years back before I owned the car and for some reason the teflon tape was not reapplied around the edge of the frame and I am not convinced the job was done properly. In fact I remember seeing rust deep into the corners when I first got the car.

On the offsidecorner you can see some quite heavy bubbling.

The nearside lower corner the rust is obvious.

And in the centre things don't look any better and although none of this is visible with the seal on its getting to the point where its starting to creep beyond the seal.

The seal itself with lots of debris on its felt edge.

So this windscreen will have to come out and the rust will need to be removed and the scuttle and frame repainted. This needs to happen soon to stop it getting any worse.

This is a very common 993 problem and I have covered it elsewhere on my site in the buyers guide. Now this doesn't bother me that much simply because the car is getting to the point where it needs a full repaint in any case. My RS wings aren't the greatest match, the front and rear PU don't match that great, the trailing inner edges of the front arches have paint peeling away, the inner trailing edge of the rear PU is peppered and unpainted in places, the horizontal grooves that runs across the sills have black paint edges in them from a previously poor paintjob and just generally over the car there are various knocks, scratches, bumper creases etc.. A part of me is itching to get the whole car done in the same paint and with a nice lacquer as well because apart from anything else, its a hotchpotch of different paints from different eras, some singel stage, some with clearcoat etc..

My only question is do I cough the money up now for a full repaint and get the windscreen done at the same time or do I leave it for maybe 2012/2013 and just get a quick fix on the windscreen for now. We shall see very soon I guess so watch this space.

The car does need a good clean though and since its last major detail 2 years ago I decided to start by giving it a good clay.

Im not a huge fan of this bilt hamber stuff. Its ok but I actually prefer the basic Meguires clay you get from Halfords.

The headlight bowls have held up fairly well. The wax I applied there is still in place and there isn't much rust to speak of.

A poor iphone picture im afraid but it does show that all my layers of FK1000p in teh arches and on the calipers have paid dividends. A simple brush after some snow foam and everything is nice and clean again. The tar just doesn't seem to stick.

Back to OEM square amber side repeaters. These were £2 each from eurocarparts, far cheaper than the £10+vat each from porsche. They are basically the same as mkii Golf items. Here is the link if you are interested.

Now for the oil change fully documented elsewhere on this site if you're interested. 10L of 10w/40 magnatec from ebay. I think I paid just unedr £60 for the 10 litres and shipping.

Luckily the RS side skirts have a small convenient access panel. Two screws and then you have full access to the drain plug.

Don't forget new sealing rings on both plugs. Tighten to 40lb/ft.

I use a nice funnel and I temporraily cable tie it to the boot lid. Makes refilling a lot easier.

to be continued ....