[craigawoodman]

The way I look at it is, there is 60lbs of excessive living large on the driver that I could shed. So does it make sense to be chasing kilo's of weight reduction, when the most cost effective solution would simply be for me to diet and exercise. The other issue is where the weight is located (high up or low down) and what class of racing you want to participate in (i.e. is it power to weight and if so, what is your target, can you get more power, etc). Besides chasing weight reduction for the sake of it - we also should chase balance in the car (corner weighting).

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[Rap]

Oh Craig how I disagree. Now mind you I look in the mirror everyday and as I seat here on my lazy ass in the early morning instead of going to the gym, which I'm packed to do, shedding excess weight in your car would be easier by taking things off your car! And more efficient too. The results would be instant. Now if you had said something along the lines of killing two birds with one stone or how humanity would be better served by having a svelte version of you, well that would be another matter. Lol

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[tamathumper]

On the plus side, If you take 20 pounds off your car, at least you don't have to worry that it will gradually come back.

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[rl968]

DE only, mid level run group

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[Rap]

Rl do you live in Pa or NJ?

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='rl968' timestamp='1343127947' post='129880']

DE only, mid level run group

[/quote]

Yeah, that's about where I'm at, too. At least back in the dark ages, when I first began tearing my car apart; we will have probably colonized Mars by the time I get the dern thing finished!

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='Monstrous4Banger' timestamp='1343078108' post='129830']

Cloud: although I havent done it yet on my car, I have looked into what it entails. Just swap out the old latches, and lock plates with OEM ones for the older model 944's before they came with electric roofs.

http://944online.com/cgi-bin/ASI_Store.c...+body-9441

Ian has them new, I think pelican does too. Im sure you could pick them up on ebay for pretty cheap, and clean.

[/quote]

Thanks! I will definitely have to look into this - I'd love nothing more that to rip the motor and the rest of the components of the power sunroof out by the roots, and then set fire to it all. I've spent 20+ hours troubleshooting the system, meticulously following Clark's Garag's excellent write-up, testing every component's function, but have never gotten it to work consistently. A manual conversion sounds like just the ticket. The kit these guys sell is pretty pricey, though - I think I'll check around on eBay as your suggest, since it's primarily a track car, after all.

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[flash]

lol - this process is exactly why i gave up on the idea. having tried and failed and long since abandoned the concept of a dual purpose car, realizing that it is continuously frustrating, as the car is never truly "right" for either use, and is always a compromise in both, i opted instead to go without a track car until i can dedicate a car to that duty again. i'm even selling my trailer since i will not be taking this car to the track.



in the meantime, it is far less expensive to rent an already fully prepared full race car for DE stuff. the car shows up there ready to go, with no trailering pain, no preparation, and no last minute wrenching.

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[tamathumper]

You can DO that?! Tell me more,...

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[flash]

oh heck yeah. just call the track. i'm sure they'll put you in touch with a bunch of sources for that. pretty much every track out here has them, and has for a very long time. they may not be the particular car you want to drive, but there are rentals.



at most tracks there are also lists of guys who rent out their own cars. i used to rent out a couple myself back when i was running at sears point.



when it's just for a DE or something low key like that, it's pretty easy. it gets tougher if you are going to race. still, there are guys who do that too.

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[Cloud9...68]

Sigh, I hear you about the dual-purpose thing. But I was in a bit of a bind. About a year and a half ago, I wasn't driving my 968 much, except that I was having an absolute blast with it on the track, where my meager skills had finally caught up with the car's even more meager capabilities. My plan was to sell it, and use the proceeds to buy a dedicated track car. But the 968 had 115K miles on it, and a <acronym title='pre purchase inspection'>PPI</acronym> revealed about $7K worth of "needed" repairs, meaning the car's net market value would barely cover the cost of a set of wheels and tires on the track car. I didn't feel much like doing all the work the <acronym title='pre purchase inspection'>PPI</acronym> found for the purpose of trying to increase the value of the car enough to make it worth my while, nor was I interested in parting it out, so I decided to go ahead and convert the 968 to a mostly-track car.



Did I make the right decision? Who knows - the staggering amount of time it's taken, along with the expense, has given me plenty of angst, that's for sure. I hadn't considered (or even knew the possibility existed) the rental option Flash just brought up - maybe that would have been a better choice, but I'm way too far down this path to change course now. Assuming nothing goes boom! when I turn it over, I really should have a very fun and capable vehicle with which to learn the craft of racing at the local driving academy, which should keep me occupied for several years. Then, I'll have to make another decision like the one rl968 is currently grappling with as far as whether to go all the way down the slippery slope, or do something different. You all will be the first to know.



By the way, this makes me wonder about starting a new thread with a poll question - as our cars age, many of us will soon be faced with the decision of what to do - keep it and perform major and expensive repairs/restoration work, use it as a platform for a major modification project (e.g. custom turbo or V8 swap), sell it as is for peanuts, fix it up to sell it, part it out, or turn it into a track car like I'm doing. Might be interesting...

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[flash]

i am nobody to look to for advice here. i'm quickly closing in on $150k spent on the blue car, and it still isn't "finished".



i am without a track car for the same reasons everybody else is (space, cost, time, yada yada).



at least you're doing something, and not just saying "i wish i had a ..........". that drives me nuts. either do something about it or shut the hell up.

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[Cloud9...68]

Thanks, Flash, I appreciate the words of encouragement, as I have second-guessed myself more times than I can count on this project, especially recently. Hopefully it will put as big a smile on mine face when I finally get it on the track as I'm imagining it should.

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[Rap]

Geez rent eh. Here I am looking for a another car so I don't trash the 968 and I can rent! But of course it would be nice to drive the same car to develop ones driving skills. Off thread here but I'm looking at early 80's 911sc or early 2000 911. Anyone care to weigh in?

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[Cloud9...68]

Those old 911s make great track cars, and they definitely have tons of support. A very different driving style is needed for them compared to the 968, though.

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[tamathumper]

1983 SC, they had finally worked the kinks out.

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[Rap]

Yes but do I want a 30 yr old car

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[tamathumper]

No, you don't. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.png" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[craigawoodman]

Cloud - even if the only competion is with yourself - driving the doors off something is still a lot of fun. For those of us who don't have mega $$ to be able to buy power and performance - it is all about honing our skills (and sometimes upsetting the apple cart).



The only time I was not happy with the 968 was on circuits with long straights - anything twisty and the 968 punches well above it's weight. You are normally better off having a cheaper car and the best tyres than the other way around.



If all else fails, $5k for a supercharger is peanuts.

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[tamathumper]

[quote name='craigawoodman' timestamp='1343222217' post='129955']If all else fails, $5k for a supercharger is peanuts.[/quote]



Spoken like a true racer. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.png" class="smilie" alt="" /> I always thought you could make a small fortune in racing... if you started with a large one. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.png" class="smilie" alt="" />

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