The Parts are Rolling In

It looks like the pressure I put on ElectroAuto is paying off.  In the past week I received three emails and four boxes of parts.  I'm still going up to their seminar on Saturday because I want to talk with them face to face and explain the difficulties involved in being their customer.  And it's not just about me, but about all of the other customers waiting for parts.  This is what I got:

Motor Controller:

Heavy cable:

Front shocks and rear struts:

and the rear springs.  Here you see the old and new side by side.  It's interesting that the car already had aftermarket KYB struts which are being replaced by a very similar model KYB model.  The car had been autocrossed and I noticed that the front brakes have already been upgraded to BMW 3-series discs and calipers.  I'm sure the new struts are spec'd for the heavier load.

In this closeup, you can see the new spring is a significantly heavier gauge steel.  I looked for a load marking but couldn't see anything.  It was surprisingly easy to remove the old units.  Just remember to loosen the top nut before removing the huge bolt in the bottom.

Now off to Gary's so he can use his spring compressor to remove the top plate from the old strut and build the new one up.

According to EA, I'm due to receive the contactor, DC/DC converter, charger, torsion bars, control arm bushings this week or early next week.  This would only leave the wire crimper, engine loom, terminal blocks, battery box weather stripping and hood pins.

Bumpers and Interior Removal, Brakes and Suspension Check

Yesterday I removed the front and rear bumpers.  Very straightforward, no surprises.

Today I worked on pulling the interior.   Some easy, some tricky...

First I pulled the two seats, with four bolts each.  Then I worked on pulling up all of the carpeting.  First I removed the defroster light fixture, then loosened the small setscrews holding the shift knob on, then pulled up the center hump carpet.  Then it got tricky because the steering wheel shaft goes through a hole in the carpet, so I had to unbolt the U-joint just above the carpet hole.  This was tough as the shafts that come into each side of the joint are quite long.  I ended up unbolting both sides, then prying apart the upper fitting until I was able to slide it up far enough so it came off the lower shaft.  After that the carpeting pieces came up nicely.  Then I removed the seat back panel and the aftermarket 3-point racing harness seatbelts.  All of this work led up to the gutted interior.  I found a dollar bill and about another dollar in change, so the car is trying to offset the cost of this project!

Next I moved on to the steering wheel.  I recently bought the required 27mm socket.  I quickly realized that the nut was on very, very tight and I had trouble trying to hold the wheel and undo the nut.  I finally stuck a 2x4 through the wheel spokes and jammed it down into the passenger wheel well.  When it finally let go, it was easy to get off.  Then I removed the indicator and windshield wiper controls.

With this pulled, I can see the source of two problems I was having.  First, the copper strips that conduct the signal for the horn switch are actually worn through.  So those have to be replaced.  Second, I found that the auto-return mechanism for the indicator is broken.  There were a couple of broken pieces of plastic in the area, so I'll have to see how that can be fixed.

Next I thought you'd like to view the heart of the device that is insanity that is the spare-tire-pressure-driven-windshield-washer-system.

If you zoom in on the picture, you'll see a little black tab that goes into the in-and-out fluid connectors.  When you pull on the windshield stalk, this black tab is pressed into the fluid connector, allowing the fluid to flow.  Unfortunately, it's bat-shit crazy engineering.  I have a couple of choices - I can just leave this alone or remove it and mount a push button switch on the dashboard, or I can track down a 924 windshield control stalk that has an electric switch to drive the washer pump I bought.  I'll make the decision later.

Next I checked the springs and struts.  They don't look original so I may be in luck here.  The springs are .388" thick, so I'll be able to find out what load they can handle.

I'll confirm both of these upgrades with my contact at Strasse Porsche in San Luis Obispo on Monday.