Final Practice before NJ ProSolo 2019

We're less than a week away now from the NJ ProSolo so despite the forecast for lots rain and cool temperatures, many of us braved the elements to get our final practice in. In order to try and get people dry runs, we split up two heats running twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. This turned out to work out quite well because the rain eventually passed towards the end of the morning session and the winds helped dry most of the lot.

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 4-28-2019

This meant that everyone got a chance to run in the dry for the afternoon runs so the morning times were thrown out (treated as a TnT) and afternoon counted as points. This sadly didn't matter to me because I was the only one in STU but I was mostly just in it for seat time. It's been almost a month now since my last autocross. I can't say I was too happy with my driving. I still keep hitting cones on the right side but looking at the video I'm getting really close on the left so I'm working on cutting distance at least. I also lowered the front compression one click since she seemed a bit pushy and that helped massively with making the front work better (note to self: front compression is now set to 9).

NNJR SCCA - 4-28-2019

Since it doesn't look like STU is making a full class for the ProSolo that means we're going to be moved into bump class (probably up against the karts). Between that and the car just not wanting to be launched and wheel hopping when I try, I think I'm not even going to try and launch the car to preserve the drivetrain.

Alcantara GT2 Seat Inserts

I really love the carbon GT2 seats in Kay but my biggest gripe with them is that it's all black leather. It makes it easy to clean but boy do they get hot in the sun. When I bought them a few months ago I contacted Heritage Upholstery in California. They specialize in restoring classic car interiors but as most of these shops do, they also do some bespoke work for cars like Porsches.

Alcantara GT Seat Inserts - 4-13-2019

Compared against all leather seats

I specifically wanted Stone Grey Alcantara inserts to match the rest of the interior. Unfortunately, these have become very hard to come by as a global shortage in Alcantara means suppliers only sell to OEM manufacturers. After a month or so of looking, they were able to source the material for me from Europe and about 3 months later in total, they're finally here and I think it adds a really nice detail to the interior.

Black leather left, Stone Grey Alcantara Right

Black leather left, Stone Grey Alcantara Right

One of the reasons I picked Heritage Upholstery is that they actually source factory molded cushions so I know I'm going to get OEM fitment and quality. Buying a new set of cushions was a great choice because it's obviously nice when everything is new but also because I can store the original ones if I decide to sell the seats later.

GT2 factory moulded cushion pads from Heritage Upholstery & Trim.

This completes the interior now to my satisfaction.

Alcantara GT Seat Inserts - 4-13-2019

Modified Keyfob

I'm going to start off by saying that this is a very common mod for 987.1 and even 997.1 owners. The problem is that the OEM keyfob is overly sensitive and sometimes just the act of putting it in your pocket unlocks and opens either the trunk or the frunk. At the very least this is annoying and at worst it could mean walking away from the car with one of those open, leaving the light on and draining your battery. This is why you'll see many owners hold their keys until they're far away from their car. I've personally gotten used to only putting it in my bag or in my looser jacket pockets but never in my jeans.

Ready to start the keyfob migration process - 4-5-2019

Replacement keyfobs are cheap and easily found on Ebay or Amazon. They're also a bit beefier and have the shell used in the 987.2/997.2. The first step is pretty easy, simply open up both keys, release the latch for the actual key and transfer it over and then transfer over the battery and battery terminals as well as the button circuitry.

Moving the guts over - 4-5-2019

The scariest part of this process is that you have to transfer over the transponder used by the immobilizer from the OEM key to the new key. The transponder is glued onto the OEM key shell so you really don't have a choice but to completely destroy the old key shell to get the transponder out. Doing this carefully, it took me almost all of watching the latest episode of the Grand Tour to get that done. Note: If you buy an actual new Porsche key from the dealer it includes a new transponder and you then need to reprogram it to the car. That costs a few hundred dollars in total. This method costs about $20 but is a one way process. 

Transponder extracted and ready to move over - 4-5-2019

You then just combine the two halfs of the shell being careful not to pinch the contacts so the buttons engage properly (this took me a dozen tries since it's a snug fit) and you end up with a sweet new keyfob that both looks better and is no longer the sensitive mess the original ones are.

Old keyfob (top), New keyfob (bottom)

Old keyfob (bottom), New keyfob (top)

I bought two of these new shells so I could convert both keys but I think I'm going to just hang onto it and keep one of them original just in case I ever have a problem. 

CEL Fixed

The car's actually been driving really well but ever since we did all the power adders in December of last year, I've sporadically been getting a CEL with codes p2098 and p2096 at idle which is the code for the pre-cat sensor being stuck too rich on either bank 1 or bank 2. The usual cause for this is the primary o2 sensor going bad so I ordered two new ones but Lee at Hybrid Motors took a look at the car in February and noticed that the fuel trim was off at idle and affecting both banks so he felt it was unlikely that both o2 sensors were having issues at the same time especially with the car generally running fine. I agreed to drop the car off to get it properly diagnosed at a future date but between being busy, out of town and having back to back events, I had to keep putting it off.

Finally getting the CEL fixed - 4/3/2019

First thing this morning I finally dropped her off to get this taken care off once and for all. Lee found that at idle, there wasn't enough vacuum going to the fuel pressure regulator causing the fuel pressure to be high (and remain high) when it was idling. He rerouted the vacuum lines and that finally fixed it. Fuel trims at idle and under load are all looking normal. I can distinctly hear a smoother idle and the exhaust note also changed a bit. I think we're finally sorted. The last thing I want is to have to keep dealing with is a random check engine light.

Dropping the car off at Hybrid Motors - 4/3/2019

While the car was there I also had them put in the LED license plate lights I bought a few months ago but have been too lazy to install. They're original Porsche OEM lights so they're a direct fit and easy replacement. They also don't cause any error codes that you sometimes get when you just swap the bulbs out.

New OEM LED license plate lights - 4/3/2019

New OEM LED license plate lights - 4/3/2019

New OEM LED license plate lights installed - 4/3/2019

I've already changed out every other bulb in the car to LEDs so this was the last ones that needed to be swapped out. I think they look pretty good.