Olsen Spec Projects

[danski0224]

One of the issues in our space in our industry is people taking the time to make the car pretty, but just where you can see it.

Not limited to your field. That shoddy mentality is everywhere...

Don't look too deep past the paint on multi million dollar homes.

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Not limited to your field. That shoddy mentality is everywhere...

Don't look too deep past the paint on multi million dollar homes.

Well aware. Had the exterior of my home competently re done. Windows and everything. Now I pay my union friend to come by and fix it every now and then. Paid a ton of money to get it all done. Of course the business is out of Biz now so I’m stuck holding the bag. It’s everywhere.

Sometimes we struggle in our business and there are times when it’s not that easy. Those days I wonder WTF are we doing wrong staying accountable when others profit and get away with it.

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Pretty cool project today. Old school 60’s Magnesium case car we look after. Needed some love - replaced pistons and cylinders. Got cam timing set and covers all on. I love these old engines, and as long as you know what you are doing with Mag they can be rock solid.

All these old cylinders are always out of round, we stock pistons and cylinders - don't even bother measuring the old ones we just replace them. (Learned our lesson the hard way trying to “save” old car parts) Got the pistons and cylinders fitted had some fun playing around with circlips (said no one EVER)



Not sure what you guys do with your mag stuff - we treat it with ACF-50 and have had good Results - Key is to apply it and then bake the case halves at 300 degrees for a half hour - let air dry then apply again - then wipe down. How do you treat it? Love me some Dow 9 but its too unhealthy for me to let in the building, and no one can turn it quickly



Cam timing set -



You can fight for hours getting the “perfect match” but makes zero difference in performance, just wasting time. this is well within spec and within .05. Going to call that close enough.



Rockers in, lash set - everything fitted and torqued, sealant applied to gaskets and time to button it up for the day. Hand it on to the next station to dress and make it pretty.



This wasn’t a FULL restoration engine - just clean it and do some basic zinc etc - but still will look great and be dead reliable for years.

Thanks for following along!

 

[Mr.zippy]

I really like this thread! Thanks for the updates, great photos too!

 

[Scuderia-F1]

Pretty cool project today. Old school 60’s Magnesium case car we look after. Needed some love - replaced pistons and cylinders. Got cam timing set and covers all on. I love these old engines, and as long as you know what you are doing with Mag they can be rock solid.

All these old cylinders are always out of round, we stock pistons and cylinders - don't even bother measuring the old ones we just replace them. (Learned our lesson the hard way trying to “save” old car parts) Got the pistons and cylinders fitted had some fun playing around with circlips (said no one EVER)



Not sure what you guys do with your mag stuff - we treat it with ACF-50 and have had good Results - Key is to apply it and then bake the case halves at 300 degrees for a half hour - let air dry then apply again - then wipe down. How do you treat it? Love me some Dow 9 but its too unhealthy for me to let in the building, and no one can turn it quickly



Cam timing set -



You can fight for hours getting the “perfect match” but makes zero difference in performance, just wasting time. this is well within spec and within .05. Going to call that close enough.



Rockers in, lash set - everything fitted and torqued, sealant applied to gaskets and time to button it up for the day. Hand it on to the next station to dress and make it pretty.



This wasn’t a FULL restoration engine - just clean it and do some basic zinc etc - but still will look great and be dead reliable for years.

Thanks for following along!

ACF-50 is great, Dow 9 is not possible to get hold of around here. Boeshield (by Boeing) is pretty good too, might be slightly better than ACF-50 (which is the Lear alternative to Boeshield), but not as available.

 

[olsenmotorsports]

I really like this thread! Thanks for the updates, great photos too!

Thank you for the kind words!

ACF-50 is great, Dow 9 is not possible to get hold of around here. Boeshield (by Boeing) is pretty good too, might be slightly better than ACF-50 (which is the Lear alternative to Boeshield), but not as available.

I am going to order some samples thank you for the recommendation! I tell my staff constantly that there is always a better product, solution, or process out there that is better than what/how you are doing it today. It is information like this that is vital to growth and improvement so I greatly value that and appreciate it!

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Friday has arrived (or S### Show friday as it sometimes is lol). Friday is Chaotic at our store due to deadlines. We work 4 day work weeks so everything has to be planned and forecasted for Tuesday to go well. Friday is also media deadline review to schedule for over the weekend (we run media 7 days a week) Cars need to be sorted with their weekly schedules and QC, consumable inventory run etc. It is complete chaos.

Targa deadline for the front bumper is today to have it roughed out. All that is left is the lower splitter. Started on that profile this morning.




Started by bending up some 18 gauge in the break. Then on to the power hammer



One of the custom linear stretch dies we made for this job - it works to a point but as the radius closes up you need to use a second linear stretch die on the top turned sideways. Gives you that extra support and clearance to get that reverse curve perfect.



Just gotta keep the curve going down the line. 6” at a time



Shape is matched to the other side but needs to be flattened with the planisher.



Planishing out the last little bit to get it perfect. This whole project took 2 hours start to finish. Notice the Go Pro on the head. Media is always filming!

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Update on the 930. Paint is cured fully (been 4 weeks) so time to get the clear bra on it so final exterior trim assembly can happen.









Still love the way this 930 looks. All metal work, design, rendor, and color mixing all done in house.



Another look at the front bumper. We designed a hydraulic lift for the front shock absorbers to get the nose up over concrete aprons on the driveways. Can’t wait to see that in action on a 1983 car!



Vacuum pump came in for the RS America. This is vital as that car has ITB’s, thus doesn’t make the vacuum volume we need to run the brakes.



This will get fitted into the frunk along with the canister. Should be enough brakes for days!



Engine bay is ready for fitting up of the A/C lines. This will be started and hopefully driving next week on shakedown.

Lots more happening but that is the cool cliff notes!

 

[zmotorsports]

Awesome. Love the updates on the various project cars/builds. I'm not necessarily a Porshe fan, but I sure do appreciate fine craftsmanship and you and your crew demonstrate that at the highest level.

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Awesome. Love the updates on the various project cars/builds. I'm not necessarily a Porshe fan, but I sure do appreciate fine craftsmanship and you and your crew demonstrate that at the highest level.

Thank you, and that is very kind of you to say that. It’s all just nuts and bolts and fluid flow right? Doesn’t matter the brand of car it’s all the same.

In all honesty I just grab pictures of what I think people want to see. But honestly there is so much I need some direction.

For instance today there was fab stuff, two different engine builds doing on - pre purchase inspections - 2 cayennes getting major services - shocks getting rebuilt - wiring harness’s being made - clear bra getting done - diag on some intermittent can bus com’s, Media getting filmed - running a sales team - marketing content planning and meetings It’s absolute chaos.

We also have machinery and tooling galore. Just let me know and I can document it!

 

[richfinn]

What's really striking to me about all the engine rebuild pics is the lack of plastic parts compared to the modern European car engines I have to deal with, but still these beautiful old Porsches only weigh about 70% of what a modern car does!!!!

People are basically paying lots of money to do without all the creature comforts/safety gadgets of modern vehicles and have a more traditional analog driving experience.

I love that "less is more", the modern world makes no sense to me anymore. I've got a theory that cars "peaked" at some point in the early 1990s (about the same time I did).

 

[jake28]

@olsenmotorsports so glad you jumped in the deep end with this thread in addition to everything else you have going on. Color me inspired: I’m so tempted to crate up and send you my very leaky 3.2, but I fear it’s well below your usual standard.

A question which you seem better positioned and qualified to answer than most: why has the price of Porsche parts and labor seemed to increase 2x-3x in the last 10-15 years? I’m very much a latecomer to the air-cooled world, and got my 911 mid-pandemic (along with many other 30-somethings.) is It as simple as increased demand and diminishing supply?

 

[olsenmotorsports]

What's really striking to me about all the engine rebuild pics is the lack of plastic parts compared to the modern European car engines I have to deal with, but still these beautiful old Porsches only weigh about 70% of what a modern car does!!!!

People are basically paying lots of money to do without all the creature comforts/safety gadgets of modern vehicles and have a more traditional analog driving experience.

I love that "less is more", the modern world makes no sense to me anymore. I've got a theory that cars "peaked" at some point in the early 1990s (about the same time I did).

I would agree with that to a certain extent about the peak. Once CAN bus was integrated to its capability in 2013 that is when things really changed. Another change was the tail end of OBD II when they composite really became a thing, those early years of composite stuff on engines etc was a real mess. The technology was there, but the selection of plastics etc and where to use them was what it felt like drawn up in a napkin at a bar lol. To be honest I blame the “degradation of cars” if you want to call it that on the political scene. SO much mandate on fuel mileage and the weight that things have to be to achieve that has really driven quality down. I mean you can achieve it with high end composite that lasts a lifetime, but then who’s going to pay $300k for a Kia then?

We feel your pain though. We go to war every day with Cayennes, and Macan’s. Plastic timing covers with steel inserts and aluminum bolts in a corrosive environment is brilliant right? See them and repair them all the time. Those things are going to be a mega problem as they are not aging well.

@olsenmotorsports so glad you jumped in the deep end with this thread in addition to everything else you have going on. Color me inspired: I’m so tempted to crate up and send you my very leaky 3.2, but I fear it’s well below your usual standard.

A question which you seem better positioned and qualified to answer than most: why has the price of Porsche parts and labor seemed to increase 2x-3x in the last 10-15 years? I’m very much a latecomer to the air-cooled world, and got my 911 mid-pandemic (along with many other 30-somethings.) is It as simple as increased demand and diminishing supply?

Nothing is below our standard and that thing looks great for its age! Let’s do a Garage Journal Collaboration on that! Would be awesome. We can turn that engine around for you in a few weeks (depending on how far you want to go with it) and our team would be honored to have the opportunity to do that for you.

As far as parts and labor increasing 2-3x I am not sure that that is 100% the case, but I do know why. It’s all available. Name one manufacture that has everything in stock all the way down to dashboard brackets for a car they produced in the 70’s!! Think about it. All those parts are hard to produce and manufacture plus the carry cost. Someone has to pay for it? But that is why we only work on Porsche. It’s an easy business to do from a throughput standpoint as everything is in stock, plus the support to back it up. PCNA comes to our store once a year to visit with us and see what we need, it’s truly unbelievable. We do about 250k a year in Porsche parts with our local dealer and most stuff comes next day (mind you for a car from the 70-90’s we are talking about). I think that is what drives up the value, and the cult following at scale that these cars demand.

On the labor side, Our fixed costs have soared since 2019. Our biggest expense is labor. Used to be you could get a qualified mechanic (im talking a real professional NO BS attitude A guy for $38.75 (union scale). Now that same guy costs me at a minimum $60 an hour, plus bonuses thats 150k for a top level tech. And they are worth it. Service writers costs the same, even C techs are making $35 an hour. Insurance (if you’re fully insured) costs 120k a year the list goes on and on. That has driven our labor rate to $285 an hour (25% less than the dealer). Now there are many who pay much lest and also roll the dice with insurance, and also think harbor freight is the best thing ever for a scan tool, and amazon spark plugs are the way to go. Those places charge much less. But look at their garages and their quality and how long it takes them to get stuff done.

My point is there are price points for parts and labor that fit everyone’s budget. That’s why Rolex and Timex are still in business. Both tell time and get the job done, just at different price points.

 

[Boosted1]

Thanks for sharing details about your business like that. Very interesting. I am sure many out there may already know that, but just as many and likely more do not.
As for me, I knew labor rate would be high, but I did not estimate that high.
It's great that PCNA and your local dealer supports so well.
I like your points to about price point and service.
I have always strived to do things myself and have done quite a bit in my home garage.
However, there are times recently where I have just stepped back and decided this particular job is worth paying the professional shop to do.
My recent example was rear axle seals on a 3rd gen 4Runner. I knew I "could" do it, but I also knew what was involved. So I paid and was happy not to have to tackle it myself.
On the other hand when I was quoted 1200 for replacing a Master cylinder, I chose to do myself and was very happy I did.
Side benefit of doing it myself is it almost always leads to opportunity to clean & inspect things. Most shops don't spend any time cleaning.
In fact the rear axle job led to me pulling the rear brake drums back off because I could still smell the gear oil from the original leak that they did not clean out.
Like others following this thread, I am not a Porsche guy although I do admire the cars and love seeing the work you post.

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Thanks for sharing details about your business like that. Very interesting. I am sure many out there may already know that, but just as many and likely more do not.
As for me, I knew labor rate would be high, but I did not estimate that high.
It's great that PCNA and your local dealer supports so well.
I like your points to about price point and service.
I have always strived to do things myself and have done quite a bit in my home garage.
However, there are times recently where I have just stepped back and decided this particular job is worth paying the professional shop to do.
My recent example was rear axle seals on a 3rd gen 4Runner. I knew I "could" do it, but I also knew what was involved. So I paid and was happy not to have to tackle it myself.
On the other hand when I was quoted 1200 for replacing a Master cylinder, I chose to do myself and was very happy I did.
Side benefit of doing it myself is it almost always leads to opportunity to clean & inspect things. Most shops don't spend any time cleaning.
In fact the rear axle job led to me pulling the rear brake drums back off because I could still smell the gear oil from the original leak that they did not clean out.
Like others following this thread, I am not a Porsche guy although I do admire the cars and love seeing the work you post.

Appreciate the words. A lot of businessman do not approve of the DIY guy, as it takes money out of their pocket. I am actually the opposite and I commend the DIY guy. Sometimes it is difficult even for me to do jobs and I literally have EVERYTHING one could possibly dream of at my disposal. I cant even imagine the ingenuity it takes to do it on your back in the garage on stands or without having all the special stuff to make the job easy. Good on you.

We actually do quite a bit of DIY support. Have a few guys local to us that pay us to diag their issues. Then they take it home with a job list and do it themselves. It’s good quick easy money for us and saves them from throwing the parts cannon at it until something sticks. Everyone wins!

Thanks for following along!

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Family stuff this weekend. My youngest stepson bought his first home. Super proud moment for me. He is also my Director Of OPS at Olsen. No kids of my own but blessed to have a small part in two awesome young men’s lives. (I have been in their lives since they were 8 and 10). Giving them the opportunities that I never even dreamed of at their ages really has been the crowning achievement of my life and super humbling. Their Dad lives close by but it breaks my heart that he isn’t involved or cares to be.

I am not sure if anyone follows our media (and this is NOT a plug to get you to) but IG has been entertaining this weekend. The comments HERE (this post is gold must read) that our media generate are hilarious, but have to be taken with a grain of salt lol. Internet is full of tough guys and that fuels my team to push forward as it shows that it is actually working. We are on a mission to hit 100k followers by 12/31 but will probably fall a bit short of that goal.

I am going to go play with some tool grid in a bit. Will show that!

 

[Xti04]

I like that you dont advocate against DIY or smaller shops! As a 1 man operation doing lots ofmaintenance and repair from my home shop its cool to see you diag and send customers out to attempt repairs. When I was in the shop we always said " wrenching isnt a hobby" and I saw some peoples attempts at home repairs that really scared me for their safety and mine. However with the internet and all the info we have access to at our fingertips if you have some mechanical ability so much is out there that you can work step by step to a video and complete most tasks. The big difference comes when a problem arises and the real tools have to come out to get something apart or fab or repair a broken part.

Thanks for posting all the stuff you have so far. The metal fab work is awesome, as well as the engine builds. Takes me back to watching guys do timing setups on the air cooled stuff at the dealer. My old dealer opened a resto shop for older air cooled stuff and I have a buddy working there. He is miserable doing it. I think he just wants to go back to being on the line as a mechanic and diag cars, not rebuild air cooled cars all day long.

 

[Chris F]

Sometimes we struggle in our business and there are times when it’s not that easy. Those days I wonder WTF are we doing wrong staying accountable when others profit and get away with it.

I believe this is a result of being an ethical business person/person, treating others fairly and respectfully. But fear not modern society seems to have found a cure for this.

 

[Scuderia-F1]

Family stuff this weekend. My youngest stepson bought his first home. Super proud moment for me. He is also my Director Of OPS at Olsen. No kids of my own but blessed to have a small part in two awesome young men’s lives. (I have been in their lives since they were 8 and 10). Giving them the opportunities that I never even dreamed of at their ages really has been the crowning achievement of my life and super humbling. Their Dad lives close by but it breaks my heart that he isn’t involved or cares to be.

I am not sure if anyone follows our media (and this is NOT a plug to get you to) but IG has been entertaining this weekend. The comments HERE (this post is gold must read) that our media generate are hilarious, but have to be taken with a grain of salt lol. Internet is full of tough guys and that fuels my team to push forward as it shows that it is actually working. We are on a mission to hit 100k followers by 12/31 but will probably fall a bit short of that goal.

I am going to go play with some tool grid in a bit. Will show that!

GREAT news about your (step)son! I follow on all platforms since the very early days (now that sounds kinda stalkerish). I stopped reading the comments a long time ago, they just makes my head in. People are literarily bragging about how cheap and or retarded they are.

That silk thread trick is old tricks from the aero aviation industry (did my service in that field MANY years ago), yet so many thinks its odd, that says EVERYTHING about them. Then we have the keyboard experts telling what it should cost. Well I lack a bit in the field of empathy, so I try to stay away from it.

Tim, such a great decision to start this thread. Me myself and I believe many with me want to see all of the stuff, the geekier the better.
It's such a great feeling when you pick up another trick, to improve your game, isn't it!?

Just some ramblings from a fellow air-cooled P car tech on the other side of the globe....

 

[olsenmotorsports]

I like that you dont advocate against DIY or smaller shops! As a 1 man operation doing lots ofmaintenance and repair from my home shop its cool to see you diag and send customers out to attempt repairs. When I was in the shop we always said " wrenching isnt a hobby" and I saw some peoples attempts at home repairs that really scared me for their safety and mine. However with the internet and all the info we have access to at our fingertips if you have some mechanical ability so much is out there that you can work step by step to a video and complete most tasks. The big difference comes when a problem arises and the real tools have to come out to get something apart or fab or repair a broken part.

Thanks for posting all the stuff you have so far. The metal fab work is awesome, as well as the engine builds. Takes me back to watching guys do timing setups on the air cooled stuff at the dealer. My old dealer opened a resto shop for older air cooled stuff and I have a buddy working there. He is miserable doing it. I think he just wants to go back to being on the line as a mechanic and diag cars, not rebuild air cooled cars all day long.

Wrenching is a hobby for sure, as long as you have the willingness to do it right. I agree there is some scary stuff out there that makes you scratch your head! FML some of the stuff we see is unreal!

I believe this is a result of being an ethical business person/person, treating others fairly and respectfully. But fear not modern society seems to have found a cure for this.

Biz ownership comes with extreme accountability. No idea how some people sleep at night. I can say that we have not always got it right, but we have always made it right. 100% of the time that is a hard conversation to have, but you gotta do it.

GREAT news about your (step)son! I follow on all platforms since the very early days (now that sounds kinda stalkerish). I stopped reading the comments a long time ago, they just makes my head in. People are literarily bragging about how cheap and or retarded they are.

That silk thread trick is old tricks from the aero aviation industry (did my service in that field MANY years ago), yet so many thinks its odd, that says EVERYTHING about them. Then we have the keyboard experts telling what it should cost. Well I lack a bit in the field of empathy, so I try to stay away from it.

Tim, such a great decision to start this thread. Me myself and I believe many with me want to see all of the stuff, the geekier the better.
It's such a great feeling when you pick up another trick, to improve your game, isn't it!?

Just some ramblings from a fellow air-cooled P car tech on the other side of the globe....

Really appreciate that long support over the years. Crazy to see how far we have come with our media. How a dumb homeless kid with a GED can accomplish all this by talking for 90 seconds is mind boggling to me. 100% of that credit goes to my director of marketing (who happens to be my amazing wife). What a woman! She goes to battle every single day with the algorithm and though trial and error (story of my life) she figured out the perfect recipe that people wanted. She’s amazing and has a great team. 100% of our marketing is done in house and we built our way there didn’t spend any money on buying it. I believe in spending money on people not taking the easy route. I think it’s a better overall result.

I will never forget when we had like 4k followers a few years ago and were reaching like 5 people a month lol. I go I want to reach a million people a month. We had no idea how to do that. Now we run that number every single month. It’s crazy. It’s a recipe, how you post, when you post, the consistency, more importantly the diversity and when you use it. (Like our EV post last week was a temporary spike to introduce the sealant video from Friday) I would never EV a car lol trust me. My point is that kind of content, along with the plants, and the crazy outfits they have me wear is all what it takes. (I wouldn’t be caught dead pumping gas in some of those outfits LOL) You gotta find what the people want (and it’s never what you want) and do it at a high level. You must have a thick skin though and realize that the internet tough guys are vital and your ticket to success. Got to have a thick skin.

You got to admit though that some of the stuff people say is GOLD!

I have been doing sealant that way on split cases for years. It really is a better way to do it, regardless of what the public thinks. I learned that from research on how aircraft’s are built. Made sense to me so I just started incorporating it. Works awesome.

Define geeky lol and I will share it!

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

I have a question about how the stages of treating the aluminum parts from the start to finish.
Are you able to get them that clean from the washer, or do you have other processes, like soda blast, walnut shells or chem etch.
It can be hard to get the aluminum to look right, I have been using soda blasting on aluminum.
Thank you for starting this thread!

 

[Scuderia-F1]

Wrenching is a hobby for sure, as long as you have the willingness to do it right. I agree there is some scary stuff out there that makes you scratch your head! FML some of the stuff we see is unreal!


Biz ownership comes with extreme accountability. No idea how some people sleep at night. I can say that we have not always got it right, but we have always made it right. 100% of the time that is a hard conversation to have, but you gotta do it.


Really appreciate that long support over the years. Crazy to see how far we have come with our media. How a dumb homeless kid with a GED can accomplish all this by talking for 90 seconds is mind boggling to me. 100% of that credit goes to my director of marketing (who happens to be my amazing wife). What a woman! She goes to battle every single day with the algorithm and though trial and error (story of my life) she figured out the perfect recipe that people wanted. She’s amazing and has a great team. 100% of our marketing is done in house and we built our way there didn’t spend any money on buying it. I believe in spending money on people not taking the easy route. I think it’s a better overall result.

I will never forget when we had like 4k followers a few years ago and were reaching like 5 people a month lol. I go I want to reach a million people a month. We had no idea how to do that. Now we run that number every single month. It’s crazy. It’s a recipe, how you post, when you post, the consistency, more importantly the diversity and when you use it. (Like our EV post last week was a temporary spike to introduce the sealant video from Friday) I would never EV a car lol trust me. My point is that kind of content, along with the plants, and the crazy outfits they have me wear is all what it takes. (I wouldn’t be caught dead pumping gas in some of those outfits LOL) You gotta find what the people want (and it’s never what you want) and do it at a high level. You must have a thick skin though and realize that the internet tough guys are vital and your ticket to success. Got to have a thick skin.

You got to admit though that some of the stuff people say is GOLD!

I have been doing sealant that way on split cases for years. It really is a better way to do it, regardless of what the public thinks. I learned that from research on how aircraft’s are built. Made sense to me so I just started incorporating it. Works awesome.

Define geeky lol and I will share it!

Dude it is indeed gold, it just hurts a bit too much to learn about exactly HOW retarded some are.

Using silk line is the best way, period.

Geeky, I think you know very well what I mean. You just don't want to risk making me look like a newbie. lol
I'm the kinda guy that set my alarm, to talk hose clamps with my mate in Austin Texas, or discussing the best flange sealant or hardware or...

You get it, Ive seen part 1 and 2 of your MrBig tour more times than most people has seen The Godfather.
So I wanna see the content of those Wurth Orsy racks, the drawer content in your engine building room. The measurement kit, EVERYTHING and in high res.... ;-)

You and your entire team deserves tonnes of cred, your wife's media strategy has sure proven to be successful.

If I could find an employer as OCD and **** I would IMMEDIATELY close my place and go work there. Because I don't like the business part of it, I just want to go full send on the game.

 

[TimeWarpF100]

Figured I would start a discussion around the projects, tools, business experiences, techniques etc that have given me lots of enjoyment and a head full of grey hair! We have a little workshop (7.5k working space and 3k storage) in the near western suburbs of Chicago. Specialize in Porsche. Have a staff of twelve. Sales team, mechanics (4) helpers, and marketing. We do 100% of our marketing in house, from SEO to media and video editing. Somehow I attempt at holding it all together but you are only as good as the people you have around you . Super blessed to have a lot of people working for me a hell of a lot smarter than me. On top of all of that, I am a stepdad to two of the greatest kids ever, devoted husband to an amazing wife and a full time Florida resident who owns a business in Chicago. To say my life is complete chaos is a complete understatement.

Cliff notes on what we do. Restoration, lots of it. Jam out repaints (outsourced), 5-6 engines a month, 10-15 sets of shocks a month (JRZ Techincal partner) and 2 fully custom bespoke cars a year. On top of that we do quite a bit of service. 85% of our business is out of state, and all of our revenue comes from Instagram/Youtube.

Let me know what you guys want to see and I will do my best. This will just be myself on here, as my media team is flat out with their own projects. I have been wanting to do this for a while now!

For now, here is a brief shop tour.

Great shop tour! First time to this thread. Good stuff!

 

[olsenmotorsports]

I have a question about how the stages of treating the aluminum parts from the start to finish.
Are you able to get them that clean from the washer, or do you have other processes, like soda blast, walnut shells or chem etch.
It can be hard to get the aluminum to look right, I have been using soda blasting on aluminum.
Thank you for starting this thread!

Great question. Soda blast is a great option and much better than sand (peens it too much and makes it dull). We use a 4 step process.

1. Clean/degrease obviously. We do that by hand so that the oils do not get into our cleaning machines. No fun way to accomplish this, just gotta roll up the sleeves and get after it. We use a commercially available aqueous solvent tank for this.
2. We have a Magido HP30 that is the second stage. It has 1150 PSI on the gun, and the solution is heated to 160 degrees. That is the safety Kleen aluminum cleaner in that one.
3. We also have a Pro Ultra Sonic 3624. It is a 60 gallon ultra sonic cleaner with 7k watts of power. That really is the finishing touch for getting it spotless and perfectly clean and ready for final stage. That one we use the Pro 300 solution in, also heated to 160 degrees.
4. Fourth stage is vapor blasting with our Vixen 1216 vapor blaster. That one is fitted with #2 glass beads and a special solution we concocted for the final Lustre.
6. Final stage is ceramic coating the aluminum to seal it and make it easier to maintain the cleanliness after drives. This is of course optional for the customer if he wants to spend the money on that, most do. I spent a lot of time studying the yachting industry who excel in keeping things clean. Sourced my ceramic from that space.

Here are some links to what we use!

Pro Ultra Sonic 3624
Magido HP30
Vixen 1215
Starke Aluminum Coating

Dude it is indeed gold, it just hurts a bit too much to learn about exactly HOW retarded some are.

Using silk line is the best way, period.

Geeky, I think you know very well what I mean. You just don't want to risk making me look like a newbie. lol
I'm the kinda guy that set my alarm, to talk hose clamps with my mate in Austin Texas, or discussing the best flange sealant or hardware or...

You get it, Ive seen part 1 and 2 of your MrBig tour more times than most people has seen The Godfather.
So I wanna see the content of those Wurth Orsy racks, the drawer content in your engine building room. The measurement kit, EVERYTHING and in high res.... ;-)

You and your entire team deserves tonnes of cred, your wife's media strategy has sure proven to be successful.

If I could find an employer as OCD and **** I would IMMEDIATELY close my place and go work there. Because I don't like the business part of it, I just want to go full send on the game.

HA I love it! I have a serious obsession with perfection so I totally get your drift. I spend hours a week researching hardware, machines, tooling, consumables etc. Always on the hunt for what is better, and always trying to improve both efficiency and the final product. If you’re not trying to improve your competition is!

I will snag some stuff and get it up here.

Great shop tour! First time to this thread. Good stuff!

Thanks for following along!

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Who loves mounting tires?? My least favorite job. Luckily I have people for that but today I was working on the Explorer. Needed some new snow’s as the set that was fitted was three seasons old. Figured I would document how we do tires. I know boring right? But we do have a specific procedure and this is garage journal and we are all nuts anyways!

I got this to carry the dog around back and forth to Florida for the winter. (I am a ford fanatic and it is nice to have a vehicle that if something happens to it isn’t the end of the world) But I have a thing for pulling up to the stoplight next to someone with the exact same car. We tore it down as soon as I got it to the workshop from the dealer.





First up was window tint (olsen spec is 5% all around, and 20% on the windshield. Then we did Xpel satin clear bra on the body paint, and regular Xpel on the roof, a pillars, and b pillars. We wanted the platinum as it had the comfiest interior, but hated all the chrome. So I bought everything from an ST and installed it (door handles, roof rails, side skirts, front grill, rear bits etc. Also fitted it with a Roof box for the wife’s luggage. Dr Beasley ceramic on everything. And ceramic the trim and the entire interior as well.








That was a rush to get done in a week as we had to leave for FL. Never got around to finishing. Last week I decided to do the rest of it as I needed new tires anyways and a new windscreen.



I got the front and rear valance off and had the paint shop finish it in satin black. I also had the wheels re done in Olsen Black (have my own mix lol) and then covered in Casper Clear. That’s a great clear, has a buttery smooth rich look and feel to it. Use that a ton on a lot of different stuff. I also had the center caps painted black.

Now on to some snow tires. I only run the Michelin Artic’s. I know they dont last for S*** but don’t really care TBH. The ride is amazing, no noise, and the grip on snow is amazing.





First part of our procedure is clean the tires with Acetone. This gets them perfect and all the stuff off so you have a clean slate to start with. Then dressed with Obsessed Garage Tire Dressing. I absolutely hate tire shine. This stuff is amazing and doesn’t leave any residue. We do this on every set of tires we mount at our store. Really makes a difference in the overall look. We also will de nib the tires if someone wants, but thats an extra charge.

Continued on in next post as you can only add ten photos!

 

[olsenmotorsports]

We do New TPMS every time we do tires so I got those fitted up and torqued to 35.

Next up mounting. We use the Snap on touchless machine. Isn’t any better or worse than the hunter. Just behaves a little different. But it’s a great machine.


Balancer is also Snap-on. Once again does the job. In our experience balancing is all in the fixturing. Makes a difference for sure.



HHS on the lugs and stub axles (it is the rust belt here) and then of course it’s a Ford, so new lug nuts. (Whoever designed those two Piece lugs should be shot and left to suffer)





I’m glad to have the rest of it blacked out. Think it all turned out good. This is the dog’s ride so had to snag a photo with him! Truck has 50k on it and still looks, feels, and smells brand new. It is getting a bad ball joint, so need to order all the bits for it before it heads to FL so it’s safe. Well maintained cars dont leave you stranded!

Thanks for following along!

 

[richfinn]

We do New TPMS every time we do tires so I got those fitted up and torqued to 35.

Next up mounting. We use the Snap on touchless machine. Isn’t any better or worse than the hunter. Just behaves a little different. But it’s a great machine.


Balancer is also Snap-on. Once again does the job. In our experience balancing is all in the fixturing. Makes a difference for sure.



HHS on the lugs and stub axles (it is the rust belt here) and then of course it’s a Ford, so new lug nuts. (Whoever designed those two Piece lugs should be shot and left to suffer)





I’m glad to have the rest of it blacked out. Think it all turned out good. This is the dog’s ride so had to snag a photo with him! Truck has 50k on it and still looks, feels, and smells brand new. It is getting a bad ball joint, so need to order all the bits for it before it heads to FL so it’s safe. Well maintained cars dont leave you stranded!

Thanks for following along!

Although he doesn't look very happy, he does seem proud of it

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Although he doesn't look very happy, he does seem proud of it

LOL love it. Winter is approaching here in the Midwest. Our yard is a mess with squirrels getting ready burying their nuts and stripping the trees. I’m sure that face was his “come on dad there are squirrels to chase and you’re making me take ANOTHER picture??”

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Took advantage of some “Me Time” and did some more tool gridding. First up the roll cart. Only did one of the wrench drawers in that as I prefer to try it out first before I go all in (in case I dont like it.

Here is a before. It’s been like this for years, and didn’t bother me, just didn’t look dialed in. I am mega OCD with everything in life so it was time to change it up.



This epic roll around only has the 4” drawers, at the top there is the s wrench setup and the drawer is too shallow to stand them up. So I left them in the case. In the bigger box I have the exact same wrench set but having the deeper drawer allowed me to stand them up. This box is my mobile setup for in case I have a project on the other side of the shop. S wrenches aren’t a quick grab item for me, really only use them on turbo’s to gain access to the nuts, but seeing as Ive got multiple sets I left them in here. I wasn’t happy with the result until I put the stickers on to identify the wrenches. What a mind numbing process that is trying to get those little decals straight! Had to re do a few of them along the way. Overall not too shabby.



Here is before in one of the wrench drawers in the bigger box. This one has always been a mess.



Finished product. That’s a lot of chrome. I wish I could have grouped things more together but that is the best I could do for layout to get it all in. Didn’t have any room that made sense for distributor wrenches so those got thrown in another drawer. Seems to be the story of my life with organization. If it doesn’t look pretty throw it in the next drawer and deal with it I was able to get the other set of S wrenches stood up In this drawer at is was deeper. Looks a lot better. At the top of the drawer are those old school T handle obstruction ratchet wrenches. Those are long retired and I never use them anymore. Should probably sell them, but then again better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it! I also moved the crow foot line wrenches to another drawer - gotta figure out what to do with those.




LOL if that picture doesn’t make your head spin nothing will! Can’t wait till all these labels are done. Longest part of the job!

 

[ScepterToad]

Ooof. What a great thread! Thanks for posting up and I hope that you continue on! Love the attention to detail you're doing on the cars. Great work!

 

[Wiz02]

We do New TPMS every time we do tires so I got those fitted up and torqued to 35.

Next up mounting. We use the Snap on touchless machine. Isn’t any better or worse than the hunter. Just behaves a little different. But it’s a great machine.


Balancer is also Snap-on. Once again does the job. In our experience balancing is all in the fixturing. Makes a difference for sure.



HHS on the lugs and stub axles (it is the rust belt here) and then of course it’s a Ford, so new lug nuts. (Whoever designed those two Piece lugs should be shot and left to suffer)





I’m glad to have the rest of it blacked out. Think it all turned out good. This is the dog’s ride so had to snag a photo with him! Truck has 50k on it and still looks, feels, and smells brand new. It is getting a bad ball joint, so need to order all the bits for it before it heads to FL so it’s safe. Well maintained cars dont leave you stranded!

Thanks for following along!

Since this very cool ride is for your pup, shouldn't it have tan accents ?

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Ooof. What a great thread! Thanks for posting up and I hope that you continue on! Love the attention to detail you're doing on the cars. Great work!

Thank you for the kind words!

Since this very cool ride is for your pup, shouldn't it have tan accents ?

Freakin hilarious! For sure that would be different I love it!

 

[olsenmotorsports]

We are slammed in the workshop and things are piling up so I jumped in to help. Needed to get an engine out of a ‘12 Turbo for maintenance. Offered to pull it for the guys today.

Out and back in pays 16.8 to the tech, but if you all the right bits to get the job done it’s about a 3.5 pull to get it out. Sometimes you win on flat rate, sometimes you lose, this is one of those winner jobs thankfully!



Took a bath in some coolant which made for hilarious media as the camera was literally pointed right at me lol. Comment section will be blowing up on that one. There was a lot of “I remember my first time” coming from the rest of the guys. Every chance they get to bust my balls they take it



Engine table all set to lower it down, then gain access to the slave. I was super excited to use my new ratchet which I made specifically for this job.



Remember a. Couple pages ago I made this ratchet out of the flex head and fixed head? Look at that head profile it is so tiny. Worked out perfect on the 15mm low profile and made a frustrating job a breeze



That is where the bolts for the slave are, behind the accumulator and buried. The front one is easy and you can get it with a 24” long 3/8 15mm swivel on an impact gun. Front one not so much.



So happy I took the time to make this ratchet up! I have a drawer full of tools like this I have made over the years!




Alex go the lower profile made for the splitter on the Targa. Also got it welded in by lunch time.



This lower step we are going to fit with Jabrock. I think that will be a nice touch what do you guys think? Will also help protect against scraping on the metal if the client hits something.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

Incredible shop and awesome work.

What maintenance requires the turbo engine to come out? Is it regularly scheduled maintenance that is simply easier out of the car or is something else going on?

I have a 718 Cayman and thankfully have not had to dig into it too much yet, but I am sure it will happen some day.

 

[WoodsTruck]

Incredible shop and awesome work.

What maintenance requires the turbo engine to come out? Is it regularly scheduled maintenance that is simply easier out of the car or is something else going on?

I have a 718 Cayman and thankfully have not had to dig into it too much yet, but I am sure it will happen some day.

Flushing the coolant!

I did see some one-off tools in the organizing photos that could use some more explaining.

 

[Scuderia-F1]

We are slammed in the workshop and things are piling up so I jumped in to help. Needed to get an engine out of a ‘12 Turbo for maintenance. Offered to pull it for the guys today.

Out and back in pays 16.8 to the tech, but if you all the right bits to get the job done it’s about a 3.5 pull to get it out. Sometimes you win on flat rate, sometimes you lose, this is one of those winner jobs thankfully!



Took a bath in some coolant which made for hilarious media as the camera was literally pointed right at me lol. Comment section will be blowing up on that one. There was a lot of “I remember my first time” coming from the rest of the guys. Every chance they get to bust my balls they take it



Engine table all set to lower it down, then gain access to the slave. I was super excited to use my new ratchet which I made specifically for this job.



Remember a. Couple pages ago I made this ratchet out of the flex head and fixed head? Look at that head profile it is so tiny. Worked out perfect on the 15mm low profile and made a frustrating job a breeze



That is where the bolts for the slave are, behind the accumulator and buried. The front one is easy and you can get it with a 24” long 3/8 15mm swivel on an impact gun. Front one not so much.



So happy I took the time to make this ratchet up! I have a drawer full of tools like this I have made over the years!




Alex go the lower profile made for the splitter on the Targa. Also got it welded in by lunch time.



This lower step we are going to fit with Jabrock. I think that will be a nice touch what do you guys think? Will also help protect against scraping on the metal if the client hits something.

Jabroc will be the icing on the cake for sure, a true "if you know you know" touch. I'll deffo steal that ratchet design for you, can deffo see some use for that on the 993, especially the GT.

 

[olsenmotorsports]

Incredible shop and awesome work.

What maintenance requires the turbo engine to come out? Is it regularly scheduled maintenance that is simply easier out of the car or is something else going on?

I have a 718 Cayman and thankfully have not had to dig into it too much yet, but I am sure it will happen some day.

This one got shipped in from Ohio and needed a starter. Porsche had the brilliant idea to package the starter under the intake. Still held in with two bolts like always just now you have to take half the car apart to get to it

The 718’s are great. No real issues. Oil changes are the hardest thing (seriously lol). They packaged the oil filter up against the firewall and facing horizontal instead of the previous vertical change. (At the top of the engine of course too). If thats the biggest issue with that car then it’s a keeper though! Love them. My wife had a chalk 718 GTS and she absolutely loved that car.

Flushing the coolant!

I did see some one-off tools in the organizing photos that could use some more explaining.

Let me know what those were! This one here is a must have if you are a lube tech. It is a Snap-On 18mm torque adapter (3/8 Drive). Cut it and extended it with a piece of bar stock. IT is for 996/997 rear alignments. The toe eccentric lock nut is buried inside the rear subframe. This makes gaining access to that a breeze.

Jabroc will be the icing on the cake for sure, a true "if you know you know" touch. I'll deffo steal that ratchet design for you, can deffo see some use for that on the 993, especially the GT.

For sure! I spent most of my professional career in IMSA as a crew chief on the Porsche RSR. Most of it with the 997 chassis. That’s where my hardware/consumable addiction is inspired from. We did a lot of good those years and I have some incredible memories from it. Last week we were discussing what to do in that area and when I brought up the jabroc I was the only person that knew what it was I felt old lol.

For sure I am going to use the F out of that ratchet. I feel like the 993 (especially the turbo) takes the entire tool box to take apart. No easy quick job on those engines. (Come on #6 spark plug on a turbo??? Are you kidding me????)

Speaking of 993 we have two 3.2 engines in the que we have to get done by next week then its a 993 with clogged secondary air ports that has to get a quick turnaround. Another disaster of a design.

 

[Scuderia-F1]

This one got shipped in from Ohio and needed a starter. Porsche had the brilliant idea to package the starter under the intake. Still held in with two bolts like always just now you have to take half the car apart to get to it

The 718’s are great. No real issues. Oil changes are the hardest thing (seriously lol). They packaged the oil filter up against the firewall and facing horizontal instead of the previous vertical change. (At the top of the engine of course too). If thats the biggest issue with that car then it’s a keeper though! Love them. My wife had a chalk 718 GTS and she absolutely loved that car.



Let me know what those were! This one here is a must have if you are a lube tech. It is a Snap-On 18mm torque adapter (3/8 Drive). Cut it and extended it with a piece of bar stock. IT is for 996/997 rear alignments. The toe eccentric lock nut is buried inside the rear subframe. This makes gaining access to that a breeze.





For sure! I spent most of my professional career in IMSA as a crew chief on the Porsche RSR. Most of it with the 997 chassis. That’s where my hardware/consumable addiction is inspired from. We did a lot of good those years and I have some incredible memories from it. Last week we were discussing what to do in that area and when I brought up the jabroc I was the only person that knew what it was I felt old lol.

For sure I am going to use the F out of that ratchet. I feel like the 993 (especially the turbo) takes the entire tool box to take apart. No easy quick job on those engines. (Come on #6 spark plug on a turbo??? Are you kidding me????)

Speaking of 993 we have two 3.2 engines in the que we have to get done by next week then its a 993 with clogged secondary air ports that has to get a quick turnaround. Another disaster of a design.

You're singing my song. I was on the teams back in the 964/993 (RSR, Cup, Supercup, GT2) days. After that I've been quite involved in Historic F1 (Alfa Romeo V12 1260 and V8 890 turbo powered cars, Alfa Romeo and Osella mostly). So we can probably consider us as real hardware snobs.

 

[olsenmotorsports]

You're singing my song. I was on the teams back in the 964/993 (RSR, Cup, Supercup, GT2) days. After that I've been quite involved in Historic F1 (Alfa Romeo V12 1260 and V8 890 turbo powered cars, Alfa Romeo and Osella mostly). So we can probably consider us as real hardware snobs.

Awesome! I was after you. I was with The Racers Group on the 66 car in the glory days. Then the lizards for a stint, Paul miller racing with the 997 RSR.

Then I started my biz doing vintage stuff, 962’s 935’s RS Spyders etc. all the high dollar stuff. Then transitioned into maintenance and resto/building as the money was a lot more scalable.

 

[slowtwitch73]

So what is the easiest to work on, best sorted vintage Porsche vs performance?