112POR165.qxd:PW MASTER
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WE DON’T JUST WRITE ABOUT PORSCHES, WE DRIVE AND LIVE WITH THEM, TOO
and there are no obvious breaks in any of the visible cables, so it must be the stalk-type switch on the righthand side of the steering column. And so, rather bizarrely, it proved. (I’m convinced it was OK when the car was last on the road.) Luckily I still had a spare in stock from my Mark 1 Golf days (guess where Porsche sourced many of the 924’s ancillary components?), and no less fortunately that did the trick, finally eliciting an encouraging whirring sound from the pump. Still not even the tiniest droplet of water was emerging from either of the two nozzles on the bonnet, though – and that after I’d spent probably 20 minutes poking around inside them with first the timehonoured pin, and then a length of thin fuse wire. I even went as far as to unclip both jets from the panel and, albeit without disconnecting them from their heating wires, to soak them in kettle descaler for a couple of hours. That, by virtue of my disconnecting the small-bore feed hoses, proved beyond doubt that plenty of water was reaching the jets, but still not even a dribble was getting through to the outside world. In the end I did manage to get something out of the two nozzles on the driver’s side – and which I knew would probably suffice for the MoT test – but even they routinely block themselves up again within a matter of hours, and so now I’ve done what I should have in the first place, and ordered a couple of brand-new jets. Sometimes you have to know when to give up the unequal struggle. It was a similar story with the rear windscreen wiper – and that, rather insultingly, after I’d found a replacement blade to replace the long-decomposed original. Fuse OK; switch on the centre console checks out with a meter; but still not a sausage from the motor. Bloody thing… Oh, well, hardly a disaster, though. For eight years I’ve managed without the (optional-extra) rear wiper on my Italian-market, lefthand-drive 944, and even though the 924S has clearly had a rear wiper from new it’s not a requirement for the MoT test. I can always sort that
out later. Maybe. Or maybe not. Next I turned my attention to the radio – or rather the lack of one. Again I can’t even begin to remember now what might have been in the car when my step-daughter, Joëlle, was last using it, but whatever it was it had for some reason been taken out – probably to go in the car she was driving immediately after the Porsche. Needless to say, I had a couple of rather ancient but none the less working units in stock to choose from, and with DAB looming ever closer on the horizon there was certainly no point buying a new one. No great problems here, of course, although while I was fiddling around with the centre console I took the opportunity to dismantle the secondary instrument cluster (oil pressure, clock and volts) and make all the panel lights work again. Pretty inconsequential in the overall scheme of things, I know, but always very useful – and strangely satisfying, too. I even persuaded part of the heater control panel to light up like it’s supposed to. I also spent some time trying to figure out why one of the slider controls for the heating and ventilation system was suddenly refusing to move through its full travel, eventually discovering, almost by chance, that the untrimmed end of a (factory-fitted) cable tie, deep within the centre console, had slipped down and was jamming the mechanism. I couldn’t help thinking
of the airliner that crashed after a mechanic left a wrench lying around in the cockpit, and it later slipped into the rudder-pedal mechanism. What else? Oh, yes, starting to fit a new gear-lever gaiter – much like in my 944 a year or so ago – but quickly deciding that there is no way I have – or ever will have – the extraordinary talent for the task possessed by the Porscheshop’s Ian Heward. But Porsch-Apart came up trumps with a complete second-hand gear lever (around £20 plus VAT, I seem to remember), and although it’s not quite as smart as the one in the aforementioned 944 (or the new leather gaiter that I’d bought from that nice Mr Heward) it doesn’t look too much out of place. Like I say, you have to know when to call it a day. In similar vein I’ve so far done nothing at all about the painfully slow door windows – I’m hoping they’ll free up with a bit of use – and the non-functioning odometer will have to remain a mystery for a while longer, too. (The speedo, with its new cable, seems to work just fine. Anyone else experienced the same odometer issue?) Same for the leaking sunroof: almost certainly the perimeter seal, but until the weather gets really bad it’s not something I’m going to lose too much sleep over. I did, though, take the trouble to fiddle around with the two sidemounted repeater indicators so that they function reliably. I just can’t stand it when things like that don’t
Above, left to right: 996’s air-con condensers were jammed with all sorts of muck and rubbish – and even a paper towel! Comparison of old and new units shows tell-tale stain that corroborates Horton’s theory of a leak. Pipe next to right-hand front jacking point damaged – but hopefully not holed. And both of 924S’s engine mounts were completely worn out
work. The problem was badly corroded contacts in each of the two bulb holders (water had got in, past the protective rubber boots), and although by careful dismantling, cleaning and reassembly I managed to get them working after a fashion, I couldn’t help feeling that by the time I’d driven to the MoT test they’d have contrived to stop again. But Porsch-Apart supplied me with a couple of new bulb holders for about a fiver, and over the top of them I fitted a pair of after-market oval lenses from ACE that I was sent for evaluation a few years ago, and hadn’t yet found a home for. They’re not really in keeping with the style of the car (a bit too modern-looking, basically), but they fit very well, they do actually look pretty good, and in practical terms they’re a lot tidier than the originals, one of which I discovered to have been broken at some point and (more or less) stuck back together again with glue. As for the MoT test, well, that wasn’t exactly the formality it might have been for a Carrera 2.7 RS fresh out of a £50,000 restoration, but it wasn’t too much of an ordeal, either.
Back on its wheels at last, the 924S needed first some air in the tyres, and then a darned good clean. Wheels are from a 1986-on 944 – so a bit wider than the standard rims
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