Late G50 3.2 Wanted

[Guest]

It seems that everyone says that air-con in a 3.2 is not very good.

Well, driving around the south of France in summer, and sitting in traffic, meant that at no time was I anything more than just warm (ie comfortable). It is noisy at settings 2/3, but so is the engine (not at settings 2/3, of course, just when moving !). Mine is set to a vent tempeature of 6 C., which is what it should be, I am told by my very good air-con fixing place.

Also, it is very good at demisting the screen in winter (mine is on all year round, normally on low - I don' t feel the cold).

I have the standard compressor (didn' t know there was an update, although I believe that I have seen an update kit in Demon Tweeks, but that could just be for USA), and it does take HP, but you can always turn it off (it has it' s own electrically operated clutch, so isn' t on all the time).

Still, mine has more than enough grunt to cope (the supercharger takes 40 bhp alone).

 

[Guest]

Jon

I think the answer to your question about why 18K is to go and have a look around - you' ll see a wide variety of conditions of car both in bodywork and how well they' ve been cared for generally - even minor(?) things like rubber trim / carpets can be horrendously expensive and a cheap car quickly becomes an expensive one.

I would certainly be looking at around that level for mine and am confident that if someone had seen others and then saw mine I' d get it but if you look at the spec it' s a fairly ordinary car (!) with 100K on it so I couldn' t really advertise it successfully! - (would I be believed if I said it had been described by a specialist dealer as the best he' d seen for years?)

As to Optimax - I read a test in EVO which showed combustion chamber deposits with Optimax and without - that convinced me the premium was worth it - teh car will happily run on 95.

I should add that I' m still happy with it so the above is supposition!

Roy

 

[Guest]

Just to add my 2p worth.

LSD: almost entirely unnecessary in a road car - it actually makes the car less pleasant to drive as it promotes slow speed understeer and can make slides less easy to control. If you plan to do club racing or hillclimbing you can buy a Quaiffe torque sensing diff for around £1000 - but this is hardly the first modification you would do. Even if you plan to do a lot of track days I would say an LSD is unnecessary for two reasons. First, with modern tyres our 230hp cars simply don' t have enough power to get lots of inside rear wheel spin (if any - see second reason). Secondly, 911s squat very evenly at the rear under power, so they don' t tend to pick up the inside rear wheel anyway.

Aircon: nice to have but not essential (with a couple of caveats). If you plan on summer trips to French Riviera and 30+ degree temps then make sure you get it. I think mid 20s are bearable without and I have survived low 30s. There are little tricks to getting enough air in. I find that the fresh air that flows in (regardless of fan speed - which is pitiful and noisy) is just about adequate at 85-90mph and that having the sunroof open an inch or so to promote circulation is one trick. This will allow a comfortable cruise at 100mph without too much wind noise. When it is really sunny I tend to keep the roof mainly closed as the sun shining in just makes things hotter but YMMV. If it gets really hot you have to resort to windows down and adjust the cruise speed to something tolerable by you and your missus. I find having one down about half and the other about a third gives a good circulating flow. Beach towels over the black leather seats also helps as do frequent ice cream stops. You may also have to pay a small fortune for a top resort/hotel in order to bribe the wife into agreeing to take the Pcar rather than the aircon Merc - or is that just me[].

R

 

[Guest]

Aircon

Having my sunroof open at anything over 50 mph produces a very loud roaring noise - no fun at all. Same, to an extent, with the windows. Even on a mild English day, having the cool/cold air circulating in the car makes for a much more relaxed (ie safer) drive.

So, DO get it if you really can.

 

[Guest]

John

Any chance of you posting some pics of the aircon installation - location of components path of pipes etc?

My car is a ' keeper' so I may consider retrofitting if it is indeed possible

Roy

 

[Guest]

Having my sunroof open at anything over 50 mph produces a very loud roaring noise - no fun at all.

Is the air deflector popping up? Up to about 75mph the extra noise is negligible in mine - sometimes it almost seems quieter!

R

 

[Guest]

Richard

Yes, the air deflector pops up, this is what is causing the noise ! If I hold it down (whilst driving ? the man must be mad !), the noise goes away, but it sure get draughty (a good thing ?), and everthing just blows around inside. So I close it, and turn the air-con on - quiet and cool.

 

[Guest]

I' ve found that there is an optimum position for the deflector where noise reduces markedly and buffetting doesn' t occur but driving with one hand on it (the deflector) is not the quickest way from A to B (or anywhere else you want to go)

Roy

 

[Guest]

Well, I' ve now got a car []

In the end I got a silver ' 87 Sport, 63K miles, with the proper sports interior and is in very good condition with a dry engine (unlike all the other cars I saw). I had a PPI with JZM, and they gave it a clean bill of health, though did point out some things that will need attention in the medium term. Nothing that I wouldn' t put down to general upkeep on a 15 year old car.

A few of things I noted, in no particular order:

I took a digital camera along when I viewed cars, and took loads of pictures. It must be something about looking at a 2D screen, but I find you see things you just don' t see at the time (similar to trees growing out of peoples' heads!). This was very useful, and I think the flash really shows up things on the underside. I recommend this to anyone looking at cars.

Some people have a very different idea of immaculate to me.

I saw 4 cars in total, 2 ' 87s and 2 ' 89s. All were Sports, but only 2 had the deep bucket seats that I assume to be the proper sports seats. These are 4 way electric adjustable. The other seats were still very comfortable, and were 8-way electrically operated, and there was no correlation with age, as I saw both types on both ages of car.

The radio is rubbish. Is it the radio (Blaukpunt) or is it the aerial? If it' s the latter then does a more modern radio cope better?

It' s a very physical drive, but all the cars I drove felt the same, so I assume the weighting up of the steering with load is normal.

The manual seems very insistent on 98 RON, but JZM and Steve Bull both say they are OK on 95RON. I guess I' ll put in Optimax, but won' t worry if I can' t find it (usually in Wales []).

No doubt I' ll be along with a whole raft of quezzies, but for now I' m just enjoying my new toy.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Guest]

I' m really pleased for you.

I' ve had my toy for 4 months now and still grin just at the thought of the fun I' ve had so far.

All I can wish for you is, that you have as much fun as I' m having !!

 

[Guest]

The deep bucket sports seats are a real necessity, as the normal ones are just too flat.

The aerial in the screen (if that is what you refer to) was not good on my car, so had a seperate, electric aerial fitted in the wing - no rust after 9 years. The in-screen aerial may have a bad connection (a tag on the glass, like the heated rear screen).

Yes, the steering does weight up nicely under load (or spirited driving, as I call it !) - just a feature, and very useful for telling what the front end is doing.

Finally, even after 9 years, I still get a buzz driving it.

 

[Guest]

Jon

Glad you got yourself sorted - could be the best thing you ever did!

I use optimax where possible but have used 95 with no ill effects and have discussed it with many people who always say 95 will be ok.

My radio works fine with the screen aerial but I don' t use it much!

Enjoy your purchase!

Roy