A Touareg and a Build-a-Boxster kit.

It doesn't make sense. My friends and family don't understand. I think that my last two days will be somewhat conceivable here and only here on the GRM forum.

There was a "Spec Boxster Project" car for sale on the 986Forum for the last couple months. Not really much Spec, but a lot of project. A 1998 with the interior stripped out and the engine and transmission included, but in unknown condition. It included a nice "Hanks Hotrods" weld in cage - still in the box ready to assemble (about $1,800 before shipping). 

Nobody would buy it. The seller dropped the price to $2,250. It's in Houston, about an 8 hour drive for me. I just sold 3 cars... I was going to share the ad here as NMNA. Then stopped before clicking 'Post'. I called the seller and bought it.

That was Tuesday night at work. I got off Wednesday morning. ...need to get the car from Houston. I still haven't done the overdue timing belt in the Sequoia. My daughter has the Cayenne. Oh right, there's a TDI Touareg that I saw last week on FB Market... Still for sale...

Mrs AAZCD says Yes. I can get both. ...but I have to call Roy, our contractor, and get the front porch screened in and paint the staircase hallway. Fair trade. Then she says, we are getting the paint before you get the car.

She chose "Royal Garnet". Good name. I would have called it "Crime scene Red".

We got the Touareg just before the dealer closed. A 2012 Dieselgate car that came back from Purgatory a year ago and had been a dealer car ever since. I have 3 years and 46,000 miles left on the new VW drivetrain warranty. My only disappointment about the car is that it was from NY and has minor rust on the exposed undercarriage parts.

Cool story bro.  Let's hear the rest!

So... I bought a car to go get yet another (non-running) Boxster. That made me happy. I've had a crush on the TDIs for a while.

The trailer needed service. I greased and tightened all for wheels, replaced the broken 8k winch with a 2.5k Harbor Freight winch, and fixed a bad ground for a light. Ready for 1,000 miles down and back.

Lilo knows I'm going. She lays in front of the Touareg and tries to jump in any time the door is opened. She follows me everywhere on my hip as I get ready.

I left home a little after 7 this morning - the earliest I could do after coming off a week of 12 hour night shifts. The drive went really well. I avoided Dallas. I'm not used to heavy urban traffic and my Google Maps always tries to suddenly reroute me in the middle of a big city. I made it to Chad's house a little after 4 pm. Loading the car went so smoothly I didn't even have time to take pics before we were on our way to the Porsche shop, Einar's, to pick up the engine, transmission, and cage.

It all just barely fit on my trailer. We took the rear bumper off to have an extra inch or two.

At first I had strapped and duct taped a tarp over the interior in case I hit rain. That didn't work too well. I pulled it off before I got 20 miles down the highway.

I'm a couple hours down the road now and ready for sleep. The motel is a bit shabby, but clean. I'm washing my hands a lot and masking up most places. Tomorrow I have a little over 5 hours of driving to get home. I have no clear plan for what to do with this car. Build it? Part it? Put it back on the street? I wanted the cage. Which car does the cage go in..?

Good night.

Good morning.

Last night at about 2 am I woke up to a loud crash of thunder. It took me a moment to orient to where I was. I'm really glad that I took a moment to tape the tarp back on the Boxster before I went to sleep.

The tarp is coming off before I drive.

Morning thoughts:

I should just part the car out. I can make plenty of money on it.

Even if I do put it together, then what? I have too many Boxsters already.

What's wrong with the engine? It looks decent, but the rear main seal is out. The shop did that. I should fix the engine...

I like the blue. I should fix the car and keep it. It matches the Touareg.

Coffee. I need to get a cup of coffee.

Good morning.

Good morning. Watching.

Everyone loves an AAZCD story. This one is going to be good. 

Coffee, Motrin for my back, and some protein. Almost ready for the road.

The Touareg is great. Not a Porsche, but 90% a Cayenne for 50% of what I would have paid. Near 20 mpg towing with the TDI, good braking with no trailer brakes, and not a huge brodozer truck.

We are keeping the Sequoia. We are selling the '77 hearse. This is the best time of year to sell a hearse. Something always has to go when I get another. Otherwise I'd have to admit to hoarding.

Weather is gray overcast and cool(ish), but not raining. Time to get on the road.

I literally read this thread out loud to my wife to try and explain to her my affliction. Yesterday spent 7 hours in my TDI touareg and have a car being delivered to the house I'm not at today. Wife's just don't understand. There really should be a foundation for us.

Aw man.  Now I want a cheap beater Boxster track car.

I'm in for whatever this turns out to be.

Nofive_0 said:

 There really should be a foundation for us.

There is. It's called Grassroots Motorsports Forum!

It seems like VW has been shipping their New York TDI cars all over the country; the Passat I recently bought was from there too. It looked like the unibody was solid, but I don't envy the guy who had to replace the stuck rear calipers under warranty.

I hadn't realized that the market for hearses was seasonal, but with Halloween coming up, I suppose that makes sense.

Good luck with the project. When I first saw the thread title, I wondered if you were putting the TDI Toureg motor in the Boxster.

TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:

Aw man.  Now I want a cheap beater Boxster track car.

I want this cage and engine for sure, but could arrange to sell the basic 'roller chassis' if anyone wants to build a track car. I'm open to offers. I'd rather watch someone do a build on a blue Boxster than part this out and scrap it. Most of my garage time for the next few months is probably going to be devoted to the 914 build.

There is no title. Just an envelope with a bill of sale and some documents from an 'abandoned car' title search from the state of Georgia. If I do put it back together, I'll want a title before I put much money into it. Unless maybe RallyCross car..?

The interior is stripped out and I didn't ask for any of it. I have a couple black interiors if I want to re-interior it.

Basically, I have everything on hand to make this a complete car once the engine is good. Step #1 after unloading and storing stuff will be check out the engine.

Lilo was waiting for me at the gate and jumped in the Touareg while I was opening it.

We do not plan on having the Touareg be a dog car. The Element was made for dogs.

I had said earlier that I got 20 mpg towing. That wasn't right. That was combined with some non-towing driving. Pure towing at 65 - 75 mph was a solid 17 mpg which is still pretty good. Also note in the pic that the TPMS light is on. It has been that way since before I bought it. The dealer had the pressures way too low and I thought the correct pressures would fix it. I need to look at resyncing and troubleshooting. I expect it's a typical problem with these.

Now I need to figure out where to put all this stuff. Maybe it's time to cut up the other blue 986 parts car. I'm thinking that a lot of the metal can be recycled into 914 repairs, but it may be better to buy the real repair panels. I'm probably going to experiment a bit on my rusted out yellow 914 and see how it does.

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

No, I definitely don't need a project car.  I am already up to my chin with car projects, and out of space.  Dedicated track car will have to wait!

Part it and walk away with your free cage

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

This seems like the obvious answer for the Boxster to me:

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Sounds good Pete. I'll trailer it half way down to meet you and you can put a Tuuurbo DSM engine it! (Sorry, too soon?)

Patrick is right. I need to keep what I wanted from it and part out the rest.  I have a project waiting list. I have parts. I have Boxsters. I do not need a(nother) Boxster project right now.

My current project is the Black 914. Then last years Challenge car: V8 swap and cage - seriously thinking of RallyCross for that one (Check out this build thread on the 986 Forum). Then Scirocco. Trying to make a project out of this blue one just doesn't make sense. Grab the spare parts I want to keep along with the cage, and sell/scrap the rest.

Here's a link to the cage I got: http://www.hhrproducts.com/porsche-986-boxster-roll-cage/  Plus roof diagonal bar and 'NASCAR' door bar on the driver's side. I have a pro welder friend that will help me tack it together and install it when I'm ready.

Here's what I found looking over the engine as I unloaded it. The bottom Air Oil Separator (AOS) hose is blown out. That is a simple failure that could be easy to fix IF the engine was shut down before oil starvation. Picture a big oil leak directly over the right exhaust - the rear bumper has a little burn spot local to where that would have occurred.

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Oh I've thought about stuffing this 4g63t into the Miata sitting next to it more than once!

When I read "A Touareg and a build a boxster kit" and then saw that the Boxster engine was suspect, my first thought was that you were putting a Touareg 4.2L V8 into a Boxster.  I think buying a Touareg just so you can go pick up a Boxster might be just as awesome.

AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:

Mrs AAZCD says Yes. I can get both. ...but I have to call Roy, our contractor, and get the front porch screened in and paint the staircase hallway. Fair trade. Then she says, we are getting the paint before you get the car.

 

 Typical SWMBO dictator making hostage demands before real progress can be Made... 

this morning mine said I could buy new suspension if I took her to Disneyland...

Is the trans out of a 986 a decent swap into a 914?  Would net you an overdrive...

I love our Cayenne diesel.

docwyte said:

I love our Cayenne diesel.

I love your Cayenne diesel. That's what inspired me to look at the diesel cars instead of the gas V8s. I prefer the Cayenne, but for my needs and budget 'settled' for the VW. The other choice would have been a ~10 year old Cayenne GTS but there just weren't any locally at any price.

I'm just going to leave this here.