There's the Singer again!

Popped in to see Greg (previously of Tognola Engineering) today at his new, yet temporary, workshop in Iver. The workshop's called Heritage AutoWerks and it's already full with some special machines, including a rare Singer. In fact, Greg is the official UK Singer service and maintenance engineer and tasked with exclusively looking after this one, which happens to be the only one in the country. They really are exceptional things. Greg has my car for week - he'll be fitting my new cat (Carnewal's high flow sport cats with 200 cells for a bit more sound and a bit more horse power and torque) plus he'll be restoring my calipers, changing the brake fluid and seeing to my seized handbrake. Just getting the last few bits done in preparation for my annual trip to Le Mans. And this year is particularly special with Porsche's epic return to the top-tier LMP1 prototype category and I'll be driving down in my very own 911 this time. [Grin]. 

RS set up

I've always liked the idea of keeping my C2 totally original but there's one 'mod' that I couldn't resist and that's a full suspension upgrade, and in particular a 993 RS set up. So having done a bit of research I pushed the button on a set of Bilstein B6 [XT] shocks and H&R springs from Gert Carnewal. And I turned to my local Porsche specialists Tognola to carry out the work. They have a tonne of experience with setting up 993s (Peter personally owns two: an RS and an S) and they use some pretty nifty kit to do the geo: Beissbarth computerised wheel alignment system on a dedicated alignment ramp. Greg, Peter's right hand man, did the work and I hung about for the day to see how it's all done. Greg's great by the way - told me all about his project cars, past and present, and his recent trip to the legendary Singer workshop in California where he was advising on their next creation.

Here are the instructions from Gert, not that Greg needed them, but it saved me from documenting every step.

Below are some of the pics and 10 hrs later I'm super chuffed with the new RS look and feel - just need to head out for a long drive now on some country roads to see how it handles. Can't wait...

Left; Peter. Right; Greg. 

Greg setting up the shock, spring and top mount assemblies. 

Rear assembly.

Greg fine tuning the toe.

The dedicated alignment ramp.

Et voila! The new RS look. :-) 

993 Turbo engine...

...sat at Ray's, looking for a new home. 408 BHP waiting to be unleashed. If only.

Rear end. Done.

All the necessary bits changed to freshen up the rear end. Toying with the idea of a pair of 'big ovals' tailpipes but at £500 I'll have to sleep on it. Next stop...Tognola's for a suspension upgrade!

New part

At Northways again. Popped out the rear grill to replace it with a fresh new one. 

A few new bits

New rear wiper arm. Old one formed a crack and it was only a matter of time before it snapped off so wanted to avoid that happening, especially on the move - just thinking about my paintwork! A quick and easy job though - that's if you know what you're doing. Sometimes the rear glass panel can crack so I asked Ray Northway to lend a hand.

New rear reflector. Old one had faded and water was getting in, causing some unsightly condensation inside the unit. Another quick and easy job. Simply unscrew the tail lights, unscrew rear reflector, and unplug the single connector. Then, plug in new reflector and reinstate screws. Not a cheap part, at 323.22 + VAT from Porsche, but it makes a huge difference to the rear end of the car - it really freshens it up.

Next on the list, C2S split grill kit, colour coded in schwartz black. There's something about the standard black plastic grill that doesn't look quite right to me.

New eyes!

After nearly two decades the headlights tend to look faded but thanks to Porsche they made it easy and relatively inexpensive to make the headlights look brand new - by simply replacing the lenses. All you have to do is release the catches from inside the bonnet and out slide the headlight assemblies. Then unclip the old lenses and replace with the new ones (240 pounds for the pair - not cheap but considerably cheaper than changing the entire assemblies). And if need be replace the gaskets but mine were fine so I left them as they were. One tip though, courtesy of Paul at Northway, it's worth having some lubricant handy as the new rubber seals form quite a tight fit and could have you messing around for some time. With a bit of vaseline the assemblies just popped straight back in. Then simply flick the catches back in position and test the lights to make sure the electrical plugs aligned and properly connected. I highly recommend doing this as it really freshens up the front end.