Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT The 12-Gauge Garage

[Jack Olsen]

Awesome! I look forward to reading your impressions of the Steve Wong chip.

The single pulley is an easy enough DIY. When I bought mine the parts were around $100 but that was four or five years ago. Sunset Porsche in Portland is where I ordered them. If you drive in traffic a lot this is not a good mod, but for the track it makes sense.

Even in traffic, the single pulley probably makes sense for me, since my shorter gearing means higher revs and the dual pulley was to turn the alternator pulley faster in low-rev circumstances. Cruising at 80 in my car means 4000 rpm in 5th gear (and there is no 6th).

The Steve Wong chip is awesome. I've never needed two cranks to start the car; idle is always great, cold or hot, and when I'm shifting gently or quickly, the problem of the idle dipping too low when the accelerator is suddenly released (which I used to get sometimes with my 964 motor) is gone. It's like driving a very modern car -- except that it's inside (in my case) a 38-year-old chassis.

I asked Steve about your situation, since I spent the day with him at the dyno. He explained that he got to see Porsche programming for the 993 models that came with lightened flywheels (I forget the specific race model designation right now), and that he got to see -- and adapt for street car use -- the way Porsche's engineers changed the programming for the lower-mass flywheels.

He spent the day with me optimizing the programming for my car based on air/fuel results as we dyno'd the car about 20 times. Maybe not surprisingly, the programming we ended up with was almost identical to his off-the-shelf 993 chip, which is based on (among other things) all of the 993's he's dyno'd and tested.

A stock 993 should dyno at about 230 at the wheels, based on the commonly-accepted (although no doubt inaccurate) theory of ~15% drivetrain loss. Porsche's figures are conservative though, and I've heard most 993s will dyno around 245 at the wheels. With Steve's chip, my best run was 264 at the wheels, which is not bad at all.

More importantly, my air-fuel numbers were flat as a board, from low revs to high. The factory chip line goes from too-lean down low to too-rich up high. But the factory has to make their chip function as a one-size-fits-all item for all 993 engines in every possible set of driving circumstances. Steve can target your car's particular setup and use.

I was so happy with the chip that I asked for a decal. Here I am at Willow Springs yesterday morning:

(Forgive my ugly home-made bolt-on wing and front splitter. But Willow Springs is a fast enough track that the aero stuff helps. You can see I also take off my headlights to feed more air to my oil coolers.)

 

[JMURiz]

Hey, home-made wings are cool...a guy near me does a lot of DIY mods on his cars and they are way cooler than stuff people just buy from shops.

I've also heard Steve does great work on chip-tuning...looks like I was told correctly.

 

[Mr Long Hood]

Hey Jack -- your windshield banner is interesting, though open to interpretation. 911 California Highway Patrol - maybe add some white doors emblazoned with "Hoghway Patrol" (sp intended) or was CHIPS just a TV Show -I'm not from your state so wouldn't know? BTW pls join our new "Social Site + the Porsche Gang"

 

[1Garageman]

That's her. I didn't see that she was in the picture until I was sizing it down to upload.



This one shows some of the speeds. Same track, but a little bit faster.

WOW

How in the hell do you not slide across the track taking those turns that fast? You are going over 100 going into them it looks like. I am very novice when it comes to racing so forgive me. That is just awesome to watch.

 

[993James993]

Hey Jack, thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Steve Wong chip. I'm putting one on my wish list of mods to do when I have my garage completed. I'm glad to see you enjoy your car so much. Are you an R Gruppe member?

 

[Jack Olsen]

Yes. R Gruppe since 2001.

 

[993James993]

Yes. R Gruppe since 2001.

Thats really cool! Back in May of 2006 I was driving north on I-5 headed toward Portland and and saw two dozen or more R Gruppe cars driving south toward a reunion that I believe was in Sonoma. Just imagine 25 early 911 race cars driving together. What a sight!

 

[Jack Olsen]

Agreed. When they get a bunch of the early cars together, it can cause quite a stir. (And at least once, I can say, it's led to a 7-cars-at-once arrest by multiple police helicopters.)

 

[Jack Olsen]

WOW

How in the hell do you not slide across the track taking those turns that fast? You are going over 100 going into them it looks like. I am very novice when it comes to racing so forgive me. That is just awesome to watch.

Thanks! You bring your speeds through each corner up gradually, and you have to be very careful about driving a particular line through each corner so you can optimize grip -- but the basic idea is to go just fast enough so that you don't slide off the edge. (Although I do sometimes slide off the edge.)



And I know it's all relative -- 270 hp isn't that much power by modern standards* -- but here's footage from the first day back at the track, where I guess 270 was enough, because no one passed me all day.

Click to see the video:




*A Honda Odyssey minivan now comes with an available 271-hp engine.

 

[Mr Long Hood]

Jack: Great video. picture in picture is cool.

 

[Burgerkong]

WOW

How in the hell do you not slide across the track taking those turns that fast? You are going over 100 going into them it looks like. I am very novice when it comes to racing so forgive me. That is just awesome to watch.

Magic of downforce and proper suspension setup

 

[Swiftmotoring]

Nice video, #11 looks like a circle track car!! Your engine/exhaust tone has a decidedly different, deeper note, sounds good. Nice job with the engine swap. What camera set-up do you use at the track?

 

[TONE]

Nice bit of driving ya had there Jack. Car pulls strong!!!!!

 

[Sammgb]

Awesome. Definitely stuffed 10lbs into a 5lbs sack with that garage.

I feel like a total slacker for not doing an MG engine rebuild that's I've been "planning" for the past 3 years . You've given me a bit of inspiration with your motor swap to actually get off my lazy ****.

Awesome garage setup.

 

[Kemo]

Jack,

Love the color scheme and the well planned layout of the garage. In particular, I really like how you offset the grinding station. This way, you can have the metal, grease or paint fly into a trash can instead of imbedding into the wood.



Steve

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, guys. I've been racing that car for over a decade now and instructing driving for almost as long. There are MUCH faster cars and drivers out there than me. But on this particular day I was the fast guy.

 

[type550]

Great video jack - shows great skill!

 

[Hutch]

I've been reading this thread on and off for a while now, and really appreciate it as an inspiration for my small 2 car garage. It actually took me a while to realize that your garage is a 2 car too! While we all build our garages to suit our needs, your layout, planning and finish have provided me with some great ideas on melding form and function - Thanks Jack!

 

[Jack Olsen]

I did a small job in the garage today. I recently got some new screwdrivers, but there are 16 of them all together. I Googled screwdriver racks and didn't find anything I liked. And I didn't like the idea of keeping some on the pegboard and some in a tool drawer -- or eating up all kinds of pegboard space to hang them all with conventional one-at-a-time hooks. So I took two scrap pieces of 1x2 and cut some grooves with a circular-type miter saw.

There's nothing earth-shaking here, but with some green paint, they ended up looking like they at least belong on the pegboard.

That was pretty small. But I've got a bigger project in the works for this weekend. Here's a teaser of some second-hand beauties. How long do you think that blue paint is going to stay blue?

 

[Vettman]

Looks really nice Jack! A place for everything, and everything in it's place. I'm considering a tile garage floor after looking at yours. I bought a nice tile saw for a bathroom project last year and I haven't used it much since.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I finished the new piece tonight after getting back from a date with the wife. Couldn't wait to see it with the handles back on.

Here's the old 'kitchen island' in the middle of the garage. There was nothing wrong with it, really. It was cabinets with shelves. It also had room for cans in the doors:

So, since it was working perfectly fine... I had to mess with it. I sourced a pair of these used Stanley Vidmar cabinets in glaring blue:

One issue that was immediately clear was that the new cabinets (which are heavy duty drawers with dividers) was that they were only 30" high. The table needs to be at 37" to match the other work surfaces in the garage.

But this also meant an opportunity. With a 1-1/2" top, I had 5-1/2" of space to fill. I could prop the cabinets up on 4-1/4" of wood below to create a 60" long storage area underneath the benches. I could use it for long pieces of wood and steel stock -- which I'm currently storing up above the garage door.

This picture shows the 2x4 and 1x2 I sandwiched to create the gap:

This is a look right into the space below:

I put a piece of trim wood along one side that's hinged so it can swing open. I don't have a picture of it in the open position, but if you look at the black masking tape in this picture you can see how it swings out. (I painted it while it was out in the open position.)

I left a gap in the footing boards on the opposite side so that some light would get in and the very back part of the storage space wouldn't be always shrouded in darkness:

And I still had 1-1/4" to spare, so I also created a similar space underneath the butcher block itself. You can see the two side supports and one small center support in this picture:

The space under the butcher block is accessed from the opposite side, where there's simply an open space just under the butcher block. You'd never know it's there unless you got down on the floor and looked up.

Here are two views of the cabinet and top after the second coat of paint was on.

I scuffed the old paint with an orbital sander, wiped it down with acetone, and then put on the new coats with a roller. It's not a new-car finish by a long shot, but hey -- it's a garage.

Now I've got to come up with a new place to store those upright cans I use frequently. I had thought it would be possible to attach one of those old swing-out cabinet doors from the old island to one side of the new cabinets, but I tried it and didn't like the way it looked. I've got some ideas, though.

One more little project.

 

[type550]

Jack - what sort of paint do you use? (acrylic - enamel?) I have just wasted 5 cans of white enamel on my cabinet and it still looks patchy - probably another can will do the trick but rolling it sounds better seeing that I have rolled pretty much the whole garage!

 

[kgmunro]

Yes.....those cabinets look awesome. The finish looks great in the pictures. I really like the counter tops too.

 

[4StarCstms]

Looking great Jack. Great job, alot of us would be proud to have a space like that to work in!!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Looks good Jack.
(Still have a lot of green, huh? LOL.)

Do you intend to store the most/all the same things that were in the old cabinet or did you make the change to allow storing something different? If the same stuff; a couple thoughts for those cans:

- A shallow sliding drawer-within-a-drawer/rack for your rattle cans.
- A full length drawer on full extension drawer slides in the under cabinet space
- Something like those soda can racks for refrigerators

As usual, a nice touch to your garage.

 

[28HopUp]

Jack, nice modification to your space. Your little custom touches really sets it off.

 

[kerryt1]

You must have a drum of that green paint. Nice work as always.

 

[MN4x4]

Great ideas and motivation. Please keep posting and I'll keep reading!

 

[993James993]

I love those vidmar cabinets.

I'm interest in how you painted them. Does rolling them leave a smooth finish, or can you see marks from the roller? Have to sprayed this type of surface before? If so any pros/cons to either technique?

As always your garage looks great!

 

[DIC]

Jack I'll take those old cabinets .....If you was going to set um out by the street.........

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks very much guys. I just finished cleaning it back up and loading up the car for a track day tomorrow.

Jack - what sort of paint do you use? (acrylic - enamel?) I have just wasted 5 cans of white enamel on my cabinet and it still looks patchy - probably another can will do the trick but rolling it sounds better seeing that I have rolled pretty much the whole garage!

It's plain old latex exterior house paint -- a semigloss. It's cheap paint, but at 10 feet it looks just fine.

Looks good Jack.
(Still have a lot of green, huh? LOL.)

Do you intend to store the most/all the same things that were in the old cabinet or did you make the change to allow storing something different? If the same stuff; a couple thoughts for those cans:

- A shallow sliding drawer-within-a-drawer/rack for your rattle cans.
- A full length drawer on full extension drawer slides in the under cabinet space
- Something like those soda can racks for refrigerators

As usual, a nice touch to your garage.

Those are good ideas. I'm storing some of the same stuff, with some stuff shifting over from the Harbor Freight box. I've got more options now in terms of drawer sizes.

I love those vidmar cabinets.

I'm interest in how you painted them. Does rolling them leave a smooth finish, or can you see marks from the roller? Have to sprayed this type of surface before? If so any pros/cons to either technique?

As always your garage looks great!

It's not a glassy surface, like gloss paint from a sprayer. It's more like a semigloss on smooth wood. I'll attach some more pictures, which might give you a better idea of how it looks.

Jack I'll take those old cabinets .....If you was going to set um out by the street.........

It's yours if you're willing to come pick it up. I'd guess it's about 200 pounds?

Here's a final set of pictures. The first shows the storage area underneath. It's perfect for things like pipe clamps, which I used to store up above the garage door. Here's the first one going in.

This angle shows that I've moved the holders for big C-clamps over from the old cabinet. These are pieces of 3/4" plywood with L-brackets as hooks:

One more, since digital photos are cheap:

And here it is with the car parked back in the garage.

 

[DIC]

Just joking I know you will find a place for them. ..Nice job on the new ones,I like that under storage ..........

 

[abstamaria]

Very nice, Jack. Andres

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks again.

Here's a change of subject. Today I had to move two heavy objects -- and the old camera was sitting out so I did some documentation.

The first trick was moving my race car.

Why? Well, I had a good-news/bad-news day at the track yesterday. During the second lap of the day, I blew out a CV joint on one of my rear axles. This meant lining up an 87-mile tow home (thank you, AAA Premiere!), and no more laps that day in my own car.

However, I did get to take another car out, courtesy of a friend who recently purchased it. It's not easy to describe what it feels like when the boost kicks in at 5K in what is certainly -- for me -- the defining sports-prototype race car of the 1980's.

Porsche won LeMans from 1981 to 1987 -- mostly with the 956 and it's safer-and-faster successor, the 962. This is the 1987 962 I got to take out and thrash a little on the track:

Not a bad consolation prize, huh?

Still, this morning I woke up and I was no longer 'Mister Big Deal Racing a 240-mph Porsche 962,' but instead was 'Mister figure out how to get a 2500-pound disabled 911 off the street and up the driveway before it gets a $50 ticket for street cleaning.'

The emotional demotion didn't matter, though; I was still grinning too much from the previous day.

The tools. I didn't have a better anchor than a wooden fence post. So I put a big lag bolt into it.

I had a cheap 2-ton comealong for the actual work part. That made it all pretty straightforward (and slow). You crank it along five feet, chock the wheels, loosen the comealong and shorten the rope. Repeat.

As always when doing something potentially dangerous, I heard my father's voice -- "look at what's most likely to fail and find a way to make it not injure someone." It wasn't hard to imagine the lag bolt giving way, which would lead to the hook and chain coming in my direction with a lot of force. So I took the precaution of tying a line to the dangerous end of the chain so there'd be something to stop its progress if it suddenly snapped free.

Once I got it up the incline, it was easy and quick to just roll the car the rest of the way to the garage. The axle is something I'll be able to replace right where she sits.

Okay. Next heavy thing. I crated the old motor from the race car and it's ready to send off to its next owner.

The only trick is getting it to the trucking company. I made certain the box I built would fit in the back of my old Jeep. Here's a 2-minute video of me getting it off the hydraulic table (on sale cheap from Harbor Freight) and into the truck. The key to the whole thing was that I had cut up a book case that used to be in the garage. It was made of 1/2" round stock. These pieces, which you'll see right at the beginning of the video, make it very easy to move the big box -- all I have to remember is to keep feeding new rollers in as the old ones drop through the gaps in the motor's path.

Click on the link, or the image, to see the video. (I don't know why the embed function won't work for me.)

Moving the Engine

 

[type550]

The question is - how did you get it off at the other end?????

 

[qship510]

Jack, your exploits make me grin sometimes.

On the 962: oh my, that is a silver lining indeed. Where have you posted your driving impressions?

On the Rube Goldberg exercise to get BB2 to her rightful resting place; rest easy knowing that you are not alone my friend. I too would rather plod slowly and carefully through a task using my own resources than ask for help. Real men don't need "help"

So, what happened with that CV Joint? Age? Axle Length? Torque?

 

[WANTSOM]

Funny Jack, whenever my car breaks at the track no one seems to rush up to me with a LeMans Porsche and says "gee bad luck 'bout your car mate, here are the keys to mine. Take it for a burn". hehehe. Definitely a win and a great memory for you to keep. How many other guys can say they've driven a 962 at all, let alone in anger on the track. Congrats and oh, btw - the fact he offered it up obviously says something about your skill level. So quite a compliment I think.

Cheers.

 

[Mike B26]

This is the 1987 962 I got to take out and thrash a little on the track:

Some guys find a high-dollar Snap-on wrench for $1, some guys get a lathe for free, some guys win the lottery.
Those guys don't ****.

YOU ****!

I would die a happy man after a few laps in that car. That's not the defining prototype of the '80s, that's THE defining prototype. Period.

You're living a charmed life (oh, except for the CV joint...)

 

[hpw]

Some guys find a high-dollar Snap-on wrench for $1, some guys get a lathe for free, some guys win the lottery.
Those guys don't ****.

YOU ****!

After driving that car does it make you want to throw rocks at yours?

 

[droptop73]

I would die a happy man after a few laps in that car.

Or die a happy man WHILE driving that car!