Peter Wilson
Adelaide, Australia @peterwilson_oz
Model 930 3.3 Year 1980 Acquired 2011
Ironically, since the 930 has been cured of its fuel pump voltage woes, I haven’t had a single chance to get out and drive her. The predicament has been due to us selling the family house and the insane amount of work associated with clearing out 27 years of family life, ‘dressing’ the house for sale and then preparing it for each open inspection whilst living there in parallel. Fortunately, the house sold very quickly, so we only had to maintain the preparation regime for a couple of weeks.
Which brings me to the main Porscherelated aspect of the saga – garaging. Our old house had a usefully large (6 metres wide x 8 metres deep) double garage that I built about 25 years ago. This enabled two cars to be parked, with plenty of room in front for a workbench and projects, including the 930 engine removal and rebuild three years ago.
However, its main benefit, which is height, only became obvious about ten years ago when I purchased the 930. Because of the roof framing I was able to install a hoist/lift/ramp (pick the applicable noun based on your country of residence) and park my daily drive underneath the 930, effectively creating a three-car garage. The hoist also made working on cars fun again! I was able to set it at the perfect height for engine, underside or brake/suspension work, wheel up my toolbox and work in absolute comfort. No more grovelling around on my back with hot engine fluids running down my arms!
Our new house also has a fine garage, but it is smaller at 6 x 6 metres so I will need to be much more creative with storage solutions and the workbench, which will run down one side of the garage. The real hiccup however is the ceiling, which is flat and only 2.4 metres high. The 930 is 1.3 metres high and allowing for the ramp height I should still be able to lift it about a metre – enough for brake work but certainly not enough to park a car or work under it, although I will try out a low stool with castors and see if that is viable.
The drastic solution if the current ceiling height turns out to be unworkable will be to rebuild the roof with portal frames instead of trusses to create a pitched ceiling. This should get me back to the same height that we had at the old place, although at considerable expense and disruption.
The house move, plus dismantling and reassembling the hoist has left me without any garaging for a couple of weeks. My good friend John Veale has been kind enough to let me park the
930 in his new garage for the duration, but this has led to some serious garage envy! John’s magnificent construction has four huge bays, measures 13 metres by 9 metres and has plenty of height for the two hoists he intends to install. To top it all off, John built the shed over his emptied swimming pool, creating a huge underground storage space, complete with shiny blue mosaic tile floor and walls. You can see the ladder in the picture, which will soon be replaced with permanent steps.
It’s great that my car is safe and sound for the time being, but I now feel very under-garaged!