Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Spotless 1958 Bentley spotted in Battersea park today, love the wheels and the chrome rear bumper penguins :)

Does anyone want to play "find a decent petrol estate that's more reliable than a Megane for around £1k"?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201904237227408?advertising-location=at_cars&year-from=2002&price-to=1500&postcode=EC3A%207BD&body-type=Estate&page=4&fuel-type=Petrol&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New

Or

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202002287822825?advertising-location=at_cars&year-from=2002&price-to=1500&postcode=EC3A%207BD&body-type=Estate&page=1&fuel-type=Petrol&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New

Or actually this looks like a pretty solid little car as long as you don't need loads of space

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202002217565672?advertising-location=at_cars&year-from=2002&price-to=1500&postcode=EC3A%207BD&body-type=Estate&sort=price-desc&page=7&fuel-type=Petrol&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Volkswagen-Passat-2-0-Highline-5dr/143517117136?hash=item216a496ad0:g:b9kAAOSw18NeM9hU

Or that ^ if you need serious space.

A little update on the 911 engine project. We've been making a lot of use of CAD and 3-D printing to make test parts, allowing us to fit E46 M3 ITB's to the M96 engine. We're going with dual DBW actuators, one for each bank of ITB's, each bank fed from the GT3-RS plenum with dual resonance flaps, itself fed from the cup airbox. This will require fairly sophisticated engine management as there will be 6 throttle butterflies and two variable length intake butterflies to be controlled at each rev/load/speed condition.

We're sticking with VarioCam (two stage timing change), rather than VarioCam+ (infinitely variable timing and variable lift on the intake cam), and using much more lift and duration than Porsche intended (hence the rather lovely box of valves that just arrived, as we need more lift from a smaller base-circle). We've gone for larger valves at the same time as longer valve stems, more for port geometry reasons than increased diameter.

Which of course means that we have to update the tappet chest geometry:

But it's a mix of early and late systems, and tuning everything to get the most from it and so everything plays well together is going to be key. We'll be running a Syvecs S8 system.

We also need it to hold together, so we're addressing the same issues that Porsche had to with the X51 powerkit, again adding complexity (but hopefully mitigating risk).

Will it work? Who knows! I'm hoping that even if we only end up with the output of a 996.1 GT3 we'll gain in throttle response and tractability, combining as we are VarioCam and VarioRam (as it were).

How am in older than you?

This is f*cking awesome. How long do you think before it will be completed? What are you using for engine management?

I watched my 996 drive away this week. Such a lovely car to drive, sounds amazing, let down by tip being shit and generally poorly designed engine (although as mine never broke down it wasn't an issue...).

I think I'll get another one. Just manual next time.

I’m a bit wary of setting dates now as we have blown past all of them.

We need Cosworth to come back to us with a meeting date to finalise piston specifications, then once we have that we can finalise con-rod spec. Big question is if we offset the pin for both left and right banks.

The cam designer has been posted some assembled valves and springs so he can weigh them and finalise his design, leaving the horn-to-collector geometry for the intake, and the ID and packaging for the exhaust manifold on the “to be started” list.

This has all been rather more complex, expensive and time consuming than originally anticipated. Who knew?!

Taller does not equate older

No. True. Else my children.

Thanks for those.

I hadn't seen one of those Mazdas but I quite like it.

Thankfully it sounds like the repair on mine is only going to be £180 so I'm going to stick with it for a bit. Despite the fact that it's been a big pain in the arse I do like it.

With the greatest of respect.. Why have you spent so much time and money on a ropey 996? Why not just buy a 996 GT3 or a lightly used 991 s? Genuine question..

There's a post a couple years (?) ago answering that question. No one's interested in hearing it again.

What day,,?

Where’s the fun in that?

996 was the last analogue 911, they’ve got faster but more remote since then.

And they never made a convertible GT3, so I am.

When I was looking the Mazda 6 seemed to be really well reviewed and iirc is meant to be reliable according to honest John reviews.

Part of me still wishes we'd bought one, happy with what we've got but you've gotta love all that leather on the Touring version...

My OH has already ruined the passenger seat in the Suby with all her drinks and snacks... 🙄

What day

Hmm, possibly Friday at about 14:30 on epping road... Sydney

Just as a heads-up, you can frequently get away with removing all the text after the '?' in a URL, as it's often just a bunch of query parameters passed to the site. Especially if there's some sort of ID-looking thing just prior to it. This is most commonly the case when all the text after the '?' relates to the parameters that were used in the search, or when it contains info about where you were directed from (e.g. email marketing links, affiliate links etc.)

e.g.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201904237227408
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/­advert/202002287822825
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/­advert/202002217565672

The 996 dimensions are spot on. It's a totally different car to a 991. It is wonderfully analogue.

Get the GT3 comment, but who has the guts to heavily modify one? People do, but I'd want to keep it stock. RPM technic are doing some interesting 996s but the prices are eye-watering.

I was at RPM Technic this morning for the 996 meet, they are doing a lot, but they leave the engines alone (largely). They are about to release equal length manifolds, which if they're the right ID is interesting.

I think that one big advantage of the 996 Carerra is how cheap they are - relative to (say) the 964.

You can buy one and then do what you want to it, whereas you lose tens of thousands of pounds if you did that with a 964.

I meant the birthday. I just had one and turned 40. thought we could commiserate

My god just listen to them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t862_Z6qxmI

it is with the heaviest of hearts that le fuquetruque is up for sells.

strong chance i'm moving outa town so shit's gotta go, yo.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202003017881106?postcode=SE266QL&advertising-location=at_cars?redcta&utm_source=Consumer_Marketing_POLA&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=First_Time_Live&m_i=tQduGHQhINyHu_m0v1g52ryyGrBm0FOqt9SCmqL8nKOA_xfrGnu7BYz_f3drKDzjhlsG8gLCqOx885hce4JCWW9N%2BI77s84vay6tto

Thanks.. My question was motivated by the notion that 996 gt3 ownership would seem to be free from depreciation... Do you think you could get your money back or is it just the clear labour of love it appears? Where you get to spec as you wish..