Live Updates: What happens when we drive a broken Porsche across the country?

5 gears?! Now that's just showing off...

Super excited to follow along! That said, the radar detector seems a little unnecessary? ;)

This is great.  Good luck. 

I've been itching to do a fly-and-drive recently.  I know the car I want to hunt down.  Just need various things to align...

John Welsh said:

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Our man, AAZCD-Jon in Oklahoma has a ton of Boxter spares and a ton of Boxter knowledge!

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/a-gambler-500-cr-v-and-whatever-else-shows-up/187124/page8/#post3730553

I've got a spare 986 S transmission still in the car. When I saw this topic come up this morning,  I checked with a friend that has a 6 speed 987 transmission.  Pretty sure the 981s are not compatible.

Now I need to work out a relay to get the wheels and Hoosiers home. 

G Box here in the Denver area can also rebuild the transmission for you.  I have a guards diff in my 996 and it's great.  If you end up staying in Ft Collins, drop me a line, I'm just down the road in Denver

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

The 01E was long gone by 2014. Replaced by 01X around 2006, which was itself replaced around 2010.

Epic road trip! Have fun, see some sights. We live in a beautiful country!!!

Tom Suddard said:

And it's also perfectly drivable in fourth gear--it turns about 3800 rpm at 70 mph. 

That's not too far off of the rpm my Honda Fit turns at highway speeds. Definitely doable, but not ideal in my case.

Also interested in more info on the audi crossover. Particularly if there's a way to interchange ring and pinions to a different final drive ratio.

FWIW that indicated 69(nice) mph is probably 67 in the real world. So a true 70mph is probably more like 4000rpm. You might not pass a ton of gas stations but assuming it still has the stock exhaust it should be pretty tolerable to drive.

Should NC be on the itinerary, help is here

Playing tourist and pretending I'm not about to drive a broken car to Florida....

In reply to Tom Suddard :

It's not broken.  It is gear challenged.

Pro Tip: Earplugs! Even if you're playing the radio and talking. You'll like them and after multiple hours, you'll love them.

Echoing DocWyte but further north - if you're stuck in Fort Collins, I'm down in Longmont and happy to host you both.

Next stop: Amazon Spheres 

Colin Wood said:

Tom Suddard said:

And it's also perfectly drivable in fourth gear--it turns about 3800 rpm at 70 mph. 

That's not too far off of the rpm my Honda Fit turns at highway speeds. Definitely doable, but not ideal in my case.

Just like driving a Miata.........Miatas are reliable though.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

The 01E was long gone by 2014. Replaced by 01X around 2006, which was itself replaced around 2010.

Did Porsche get the same changes?  

I will admit that at the price my brain went to older models.  I know the Boxsters and 968s had 01Es, 944s had 016s.  Similar transmissions inside.  At least for the front engine cars, same internally as the Audi front and all wheel drive transmissions aside from the input shaft.  Same goofy failure prone shift mechanism, too.  

Now to do some digging, because I am curious.  I know the post-01X Audi transmissions put the differential very far forward in the case to get the engine back, the clutch is actually behind the diff.  Are the later Boxsters and Caymans (Caymen?) like that?

Nicole and I had a meeting to discuss our route home:

And of course a photo op in front of the logo:

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

Would you happen to have a Boxster with a bad transmission that could be opened up?

You know....for science. 

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Normal layout. Ebay is good for providing photos:

In reply to dps214 :

Definitely not an 01X or 02X.  I wonder if Porsche decided to just start rolling their own.

Edit:  unless that thing on the rear case is not a shift arm, and only exists as a weight for shift feel.  Which is truly weird if true, but space constraints make for strange engineering solutions.

My memory is foggy but I believe that is just a weird mass damper-y type thing.

Off the wall idea.... what about just installing taller tires on the rear to lower the rpms for the trip?

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

The 01E was long gone by 2014. Replaced by 01X around 2006, which was itself replaced around 2010.

Did Porsche get the same changes?  

I will admit that at the price my brain went to older models.

Now to do some digging, because I am curious.  I know the post-01X Audi transmissions put the differential very far forward in the case to get the engine back, the clutch is actually behind the diff.  Are the later Boxsters and Caymans (Caymen?) like that?

And I apologize for my potentially incorrect response, because when I saw "01E" my brain went to Audi and I completely forgot this is a Porsche thread. Maybe Brand P did not dump the 01E when Audi did. 

In reply to dps214 and Pete. :

bell and diff look very similar to 01X, trans case is a bit different. 

What part of town are you staying in, Tom? How long will you be in Seattle? The weather is going to be a lot nicer starting on Wednesday.

I live just north of Ballard. A great thing to see is the Ballard locks, and the Chinook salmon are running right now. You can see them going up the fish ladder and there is a viewing room so you can get a really good look at the fish. There are also seals and sea lions hunting the salmon, and boats going through the locks. It's a cool and very Seattle experience.