DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Sometimes you just can't shake a feeling.




Reading up on this they usually fail in the 'other direction', as in they fail 'hot' and don't enrich cold starts so you have to pump the throttle yourself like an eighties peasant. Overfuelling making hot starts harder? Not impossible, just unlikely. I wheech it out.




Somewhere I find the resistance values over the temperature range it's expected to see, and grab both my IR thermometer and a multimeter and head to the gas hob for testing. The curve looks pretty much exactly how I expected it to look, but the real test would be leaving it on the heat for a couple of hours to see how the values looked then, to see if it was breaking down in the heat. I cannot be bothered, and instead head south to Haarlem.





The new sensor 'requires' cutting the original harness and crimping on a new multiplug. I have a chronic aversion to that sort of thing. I cut the old sensor wire and crimp the new multiplug on to that instead.

My hot idle is perfect now. Hot starting? We'll see.

We're in 2023 now, and life has gotten ridiculously difficult. I'm not going in to it here, but although there were some things I had to figuratively napalm I came out the other side of it properly humbled by the support I had from friends old and new. I also ended up with a few thousand sat in my PayPal account from the napalming. I desperately needed some joy. I'm not overstating this - 2023 was bleak. I put in a big order with DP Motorsport.










That's a small part of it. Still to fit the rest.

Went to Techno Classica. Want these seats. Can't afford them.

At around this time, Design911 opened a warehouse in the Netherlands. For the first month or so, they were offering a decent chunk off for European customers. And 10% off your first order. Plus 5% off for signing up for their email newsletter. And free shipping over some ridiculously low amount. Better make this count, then.










Starter motor not pictured.

Those Cup 1s needed tyres. The tyres on my Cup 2s were pretty new. I drop by the tyre place I've used previously and been impressed by, and ask if they'd swap tyres between rims? Yep, 20€ a pop including valves and balancing. Good. However, I can't get all the current wheels off in situ, and I can't get all the new wheels in the 964. I text my new pal.

"Got any rollers?"

He does, and invites me round to pick them up. I'm imagining a set of scrappy Design 90s or Boxster twists. Nope.










Sploooooosh.

This was a couple of weeks before Le Mans Classic. The previous year I'd found the return journey hard work - the combination of non-functional aircon, heat, and the monotony of northern France was not a great one. I spoke to a local Porsche 'specialist' about reviving the aircon. He reckoned on 500€ to convert it to R134a and about a day. Sold.

It took him a week and he wanted more than double in the end. I should have gone to the local aircon place, or just done it myself. He's since gone bust. Lesson learned, but I'm still salty about it.







Still, I had aircon now, for a journey.





Best plate ever.



My Porsche? At Porsche Curves? Yes.

Problems? The damper for the ISV split while it was at the 'specialist'. Alpo didn't have it in stock, so it got repaired with an old inner tube and replaced when I got back. And my reverse lights stopped working. Oh, and the fuse for my RHS taillight disappeared. I'm not casting aspersions, though. Le Mans Classic was class.











































Looking back on the pictures, it was utterly amazing, but my head wasn't in the right space for it at all. I had whisky pal with me, and ironically enough forgot to bring the whisky. He also hadn't booked a return flight, so spent a lot of our free moments on Skyscanner.

"Can you drop me at CDG?"

No, it's in the same type of environmental zone that didn't let us go through Rouen.

"Bruxelles?"

Possibly. Depends on timings.

"1400"

No.

"Schiphol, for a 1900 flight?"

Yes. The French environmental zones are a pain - anything over 30 and not French-registered can't enter them. The German sticker my car wears isn't valid. This was fine on the journey down, as we just peeled off the Autoroute by Amiens and took country roads all the way to Le Mans. No time pressure. The way back? Potentially hitting traffic at Antwerp and Bruxelles, plus the border at Hazeldonk is always horrible.




He made it with minutes to spare.

Starting still temperamental. I'd been assured the starter was fine when the clutch was done. It looked manky in pictures and I really wanted it done while the engine was out. It wasn't. But fine. It did spin up fine when it spun up. I really hate scrambling around on a cold concrete garage floor. Time for behind the dash contortion.







Hey, remember when there were two Germanies? My old ignition switch does. Did. It's been binned since.


To be fair, the old one did feel kinda shoogly compared to the new one. Sometimes the 'easy' fixes gamble pays off.

I swapped out the battery earth strap for a fresh one as well, of course.

2023 was the year from hell. 2024 was the mental recovery year. Anything that was likely to make my stress levels peak just got ignored. This particular camel had too much straw on his back. I repair a starburst, it flew through the APK and is still road legal for another eighteen months.







Seeing this beauty in rural Czech gives me the kick I needed to get mine out, and when I get home I take it to the DTM and park up on Zandvoort boulevard.













Tinnies? Yes. I swap the old M030 shocks and springs for a crate of Alfa Pils. I still don't use it as much as I should. Trauma is exhausting.

So, 2024, is that going to be the year where I manage to take the 964 to two motorsport events? I'm meeting up with the DDK guys again and convoying down to Spa for the Six Hours. The accommodation from 2022 honour my rescheduled booking, and I figure I should finally just bite the bullet and replace that damn starter motor. Taking pics to ensure I don't mess up with reconnecting it, I spot something nasty.




Someone knew about this. Someone knew that this thing has had hot start issues since forever. Someone who was asked to fling a new starter motor in, in an attempt to get to the bottom of them. Someone knew this, ignored this, and didn't say anything or even attempt to repair it. So I do.



Solder is a no-no - I want a proper crimped and heatshrunk joint. I have limited space but I cut back the starter positive to good shiny cable and cut one end off an old earth lead. I replace the starter, obviously, and repair the cable. When I go for a start I'm shocked at how much better, faster, and more eager this thing is to start. I take it a run and get it properly hot, come home, and turn it off. It restarts without hesitation. I leave it ten minutes to heatsoak. It restarts without hesitation. Fantastic. I pop it back up in the air to refit the undertray and see that the cable's moved and is making contact with the trailing arm. Bolloçks to it.






I get on to Rose Passion and buy the last remaining RHD 993RS starter loom in the world. It requires 964RS bits up in the front. It'll lose me my alarm. I don't have the mental capacity.



I take the GTI to Spa.

One Sunday afternoon I set a good three hours aside - I'm going to finally fit my RS engine mounts. Yes, I know I haven't dealt with the starter cable properly. I need a win away from that to spur me on...










Three hours! It took me 45 minutes.

Early December I get back under that back corner.













I've had a decent length of starter cable made up and run it into the passenger compartment. There's a perfect spot for joining it to the original cable in the rear footwell between two cable clips, so that's what I do. Crimped and heatshrunk. I don't actually get to test it until a week or two ago.

First run out of the year, and it's a test for both that cable and the RS mounts. Both are brilliant.








I stall it reversing up onto the drive. It restarts immediately. Feeling good about things, I figure I'll change the oil. So I do.











2027! That doesn't look like a real date!



Nice and clean, no Christmas trees on either drain plug. Oh, and it restarts just fine.

That more or less brings us up to date. It feels like most of the 'serious' issues are sorted so now I can concentrate on all the little improvements and keeping on top of maintenance. I've always hated the spare key, as it was just pure Timpson's. Got a new 917 style one.










I've got a big service to do in the next few months - as although I've 'evidence' that the valve clearances have been done in the last 24k miles, I've also got 'evidence' that it had new air filters, new caps and rotor arms, and whatever else that hadn't actually been done, so salt, pinch, take, et cetera. There's a lot needing removed to get to the cam covers, and by that point it's only a few more bolts for a partial engine drop...

...and at that point? Might as well fit my carbon fibre tinware.

Great write up Al … and great to see how the car has got more and more sorted as the years progressed

Thanks James. Going to try and get it out at least once a month this year. We'll see how that goes.