Our boys had some adventures with hand tools when they decided to swap the Black Plague’s traditional-style rear deck for the Turbo-type rear wing that originally came with the M491 Turbo Look.
We’re just switching things up with the way the car looks. And there’s some science involved with the wing that we’ll talk about later.
But imagine our boys' disappointment at the end of the transplant when they couldn’t get the rear deck to open. When they pulled the T-handle for the release cable that’s located on the B-pillar, the lid would pop ajar, but the latch hung up and the lid wouldn’t open.
This is why it’s good to have the Porsche Zenmaster on speed dial.
As Lee Rice at Rice’s Performance Porsches quickly reassured us, this sort of thing happens all the time with an old 911. The latch’s locating pin gets misaligned from abuse over time, and the weight of the wing just made the situation worse for our car.
Rice released the tension on the cable at the T-handle, then crawled under the rear bumper and used a flashlight and a pick to jimmy open the latch pin. (We had tried much the same thing, but without success.) The rear deck wouldn’t stay open, so clearly one of the hydraulic struts had gone bad. Rice found the bad strut, then replaced it with a used one that was swimming around in his toolbox. And while he was at it, he re-shimmed the lid on its locating struts so it fit better (which was part of the problem to begin with).
Rice says, “Want a perfect fit? I’ve watched restoration guys do it. You get two guys holding one side of the wing and two guys on the other, and they hold the wing in place without touching the paint. And then another guy shims the fit and fastens the bolts. It’s a little more than you and a neighbor can handle.”
Properly aligning the latch isn’t the work of a moment, either. The alignment sleeve for the locking pin itself is just zinc-plated pot metal, so it gets torn up over time and makes the alignment process more critical than you’d think. First you position the latch with the locating bolts, then you adjust the reach of the latch pin to ensure a tight closure, and finally you make sure the spring has the proper tension so the lid will pop loose when you pull the cable release.
As you might guess, the number of variables here means you have to do this a couple three times plus hold your mouth just right in order for everything to come together.
As Rice says, “When you do bodywork on an old American car, all the clearances are large. Nothing fits very well but you can put it together really fast, which is how they can build them so cheap. The bigger the hammer you use, the better. That’s why people who work on cheap cars think bodywork is easy. When you’re fiddling with the bodywork on a Porsche, all the clearances are tight. It gives you good quality, but it can take forever to get things just right.
“When you work on an old American car, you feel like a tractor mechanic. When you work on an old Porsche, you feel like a watchmaker.”
When we were looking at the worn alignment sleeve on the latch pin, we thought about just replacing the whole latch assembly. After all, how expensive could it be? But a call to PartsHeaven, Rice’s preferred Porsche dismantling operation, which ships nationally from its location in Hayward, California, revealed that a used one is $163.07.
So we spent $128.49, not including breakfast beforehand where Rice told us the long, long story of spoilers and wings at Porsche. It was a reminder that these things didn’t find their way to 911s by accident. As Rice told us, “Back when my car didn’t have a spoiler or wing, I used to drive up the freeway in the rain and you could get wheelspin at 100 mph.”
About which, more later.
Michael Jordan, Executive Editor, Edmunds.com @ 119,078 miles
stovt001 says:
02:45 PM, 09/14/11
Wow this guy is amazing. To know everything from the mechanical details to the historical context and how it all fits together puts Mr Rice on entirely different level.
ed124c says:
03:09 PM, 09/14/11
If you hired Rice as an Edmunds editor, you might save money over the long run.
bodyblue says:
03:39 PM, 09/14/11
You need a Jedi Master to work on the 911......it seems nothing is easy or cheap to fix. How German.
hybris says:
05:46 PM, 09/14/11
Yoda VO/ Learn the ways of the force alignment you must. To ignore such a important part no matter how small it maybe in the large picture will lead to the dark side. Misalignment leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to a large body shop bill. /VO
teampenske3 says:
05:49 PM, 09/14/11
@ BB
No you don't. You just have to work a bit harder. But I'd say the satisfaction is worth it.
Also, props to Mr. Rice, the guy sounds a lot like James May. Very pedantic, but in a likeable kind of way.
9krpm says:
07:31 PM, 09/14/11
“Back when my car didn’t have a spoiler or wing, I used to drive up the freeway in the rain and you could get wheelspin at 100 mph.”
Ok, so you're driving in the rain at 100 mph in a car infamous for doing everything in its power to put the rear wheels in front of the driver, so....you decide to see if you can light them up???? I'm merely asking for reference.
makakio says:
08:07 PM, 09/14/11
@ 9k: HECK YEAH!
eddie_vedder says:
11:41 PM, 09/14/11
That spoiler (which was never intended for the model you are driving?) looks absurd. Ruins the looks of the car (and apparently your trunk's ability to function as well). Plus, didn't you say the spoiler needed some restoration? Abandon that hunk of junk! What, is your car going to take flight without it? Embarrassing. Have some class.
arm51 says:
06:06 AM, 09/15/11
Wow, that was more work that I thought it would have been. Props to Mr. Rice for the complete knowledge and interesting stories. There is definitely a lot you can learn from someone like him!
viss1 says:
07:45 AM, 09/15/11
The spring and struts are identical for the tail and no-tail versions of the hood? Very surprised.
bodyblue says:
08:26 AM, 09/15/11
"“When you work on an old American car, you feel like a tractor mechanic. When you work on an old Porsche, you feel like a watchmaker.”"
Yeah a watchmaker that has to fix something every week as opposed to fixing things once a year. Why do you think the Germans only produced around 1300 Tiger tanks and we produced over 50,000 M4s and the Russians about the same amount of T34s during WW2? Tigers and especially Panther tanks were amazing machines, when they were not broken down, that is. The German rep for great engineering is true.....but in different ways. I guess I am in the other camp. I would rather have a simpler, more reliable machine, than a more sophisticated one.
A finely crafted instrument is great but when it needs service it is a pain in the ass. It is an age old argument.
fordson1 says:
08:30 AM, 09/15/11
"Properly aligning the latch isn’t the work of a moment, either. The alignment sleeve for the locking pin itself is just zinc-plated pot metal, so it gets torn up over time and makes the alignment process more critical than you’d think. First you position the latch with the locating bolts, then you adjust the reach of the latch pin to ensure a tight closure, and finally you make sure the spring has the proper tension so the lid will pop loose when you pull the cable release."
Oh, stop. Every other European car had that same type of latch back then. My '87 GTI had that same kind of latch, only it was MORE complicated because it had the safety catch incorporated into the assembly. Everyone who has ever worked on a European car of that vintage has seen that kind of latch, and they all adjust the same way.
I just looked up that top and bottom latch for an '87 GTI - like $28 for the whole thing, new. For the '85 turbo-look? $259 for the bottom and $174 for the top, new.
What is the point of paying "only" $16k for the car, if a it's going to cost you - for example - $435 new or $163 used for a cheap, stamped-steel and pot metal hood latch? And then you have to have your watchmaker install it or adjust it for you, because in the course of the hood swap you misaligned the panel and failed to change the spring preload to compensate for the increased weight.
Get rid of that thing - its sell-by date is long gone and it's starting to smell funny.
teampenske3 says:
02:24 PM, 09/15/11
@ BB
Yeah, I get your point. It's like Adrian Newey vs Gordon Murray in F1. Newey's Williams cars had tons of new tech (flappy paddle gearbox, adjustable suspension) but were prone to failing. Murray's McLarens were more reliable, but not necessarily as fast (Senna's mad skillz notwithstanding). It's an age-old argument. I personally wouldn't mind working on the 911, cause I'd like to be like James May and daily drive one. That'd be really cool.