Porsche Projects

Welcome to December! Only one more month of 2020 thank goodness! Here at NMS-North we're kicking off the winter with some maintenance on the Porsche Cayman. As an 11 year old car, it seems to be running great, and is a blast to drive every time it leaves the garage. Regular maintenance is at the top of our list of keeping cars running in good shape, and with just over 40,000 miles, this car is likely due some TLC. We have pretty good records from the previous two owners, but if there is any doubt on keeping maintenance on track, we'll plan to just go ahead and take care of business

Things to do this month. 

Not the same as my Christmas list!

At this point, let me say thanks for books and videos that show us home mechanics how to do stuff! I'll bet that pretty much any car repair you need to know about is in a video somewhere on line, even for Porsches! Of course changing an air filter is pretty easy, but with a new to me car with the engine in the middle, I wouldn't have known where the engine air filter and cabin filters were without looking it up. HINT: the engine isn't up front!

Inside the rear hatch, the outer engine cover is carpeted
It just pops open if you pry around the edges

This isn't a step-by-step manual, since as I mentioned you can find way better sources on how to do this all over the Internet already. So, this is just the highlights for anyone interested in how in the world they fit all this stuff behind the driver in a car!

 

Now without the carpeted cover, there's this metal cover. 
It's just held in place with 5 Torx bolts. 
Time to grab your Torx tool socket or screwdriver. 

What I liked about this step was the chance to actually use a Torx bit, since I bought them a few years ago but probably have never used them! While it was disappointing that I didn't have to go buy a new tool, at least I remembered that I had them in my toolbox! Who knows what other mysteries are hiding in there that I've forgotten?

Socket wrench with Torx bits

Worth a photo, so I can brag about one of my few Snap-On tools, the ratchet. 

Now that the metal cover is off, you can find the air filter inside
the black cover on the far left. It comes off with two regular screws. 
It's a little dusty in there, so I cleaned that up a little bit too. 

OK, tough question time:
Which filter is the old one, and which is the new one?
The dirty one on the bottom still has the black plastic adapter, which
transfers to the new filter on top. 

 

New filter with black adapter on. It just
pops on those white prongs on top of the photo. 
At the bottom of the black piece is a hole for the screw that holds this
and the filter in place back in the car.