It's been a long time coming but today was finally pick up day for Scarlett. All the major mechanical work is done and it was time for me to rack up the miles to break in the engine and transmission and also surface any issues associated with a complete car rebuild. My wife and I drove up there in the GTi since that's getting some work done next but it's pretty funny seeing the two cars side by side. You can really see the scale of how small a 911SC is compared to a modern "small hot hatch".
Chili and Scarlett - 5-15-2020
Finally time to go out and drive - 5-15-2020
Starting Odometer Reading: 164,304 miles
Making sure to pick up my 911 at 9:11am
We couldn't have asked for a better day. It was 85 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny. My goal was to put the car through its paces by running through all the gears and the rev range (up to around 4.5-5K max since we're still breaking the engine in), run the AC (which turned out to still be ice cold) and just press every button, use every switch and just make sure everything was working as expected. More importantly, my goal was to rack up the miles and get this break-in period over with as quickly as possible. I also wanted to run through all the fuel, making sure the fuel gauge was working as expected. The car was running fantastically well and I was really enjoying every minute of it.
Scarlett - Photo by: Tomomi
My office for the day
Get out and drive!
Almost 200 miles into our drive and things were still going really well but it was time to start heading home. We took one final stop to stretch our legs and get some air.
Scarlett - Photo by: Tomomi
As I reached the 222 mile mark, it was time to refuel so we pulled into a rest stop and all of a sudden the most perfect day went downhill fast. I got to the parking spot then the car stalled all of a sudden. I thought I just hadn't clutched in so I tried to start the car again but it wouldn't. Starter was cranking but the engine wouldn't turn over. As unfortunate as this situation was, this isn't my first rodeo and anytime you go this far into a build something can happen. I called up the shop and they quickly came to my rescue, first sending someone to hand me a loaner vehicle while their trailer arrived shortly after to take the car back to the shop (that's some VIP customer service right there).
We suspect right now it's a fueling issue. Perhaps the fuel pump is starting to fail or is clogged up because I let the fuel run all the way down below 1/4 tank. It's one critical piece that I failed to ask them to replace so it wouldn't shock me if it turned out to be that. There werer no leaks and as far as I could see, no mechanical failures were visible. I'm sure it'll be figured out fairly quickly either way. However, this incident did make me rethink my strategy for trying to get this car done by June including paint. Almost any shop I talk to is going to take up to 3-weeks to complete the body work and frankly that means 3 more weeks of not driving the car. That seems pretty silly especially since I should really focus my efforts on making sure the car is running without fault by just piling the miles on.
Fun while it lasted - Hawk's Nest - 5-15-2020
I actually had so much fun driving the car, even the patina stopped bothering me. It's kinda nice having a car that has a bunch of rock chips and faded paint already. You just don't care if a few more get added on. I think I'm going to wait at least until the end of Fall to attempt a paint job. In the meantime, when I get the car back, the ducktail is going off and the stock decklid back on so it'll look less cartoonish. I'll put the new wheels on though to make sure I don't have any clearance issues...plus the tires mounted on them are newer and far better.
I know once we get the gremlins sorted out, this car will run as reliably as my S2000 for many more years and miles to come. I have zero regrets though, this car is the epitome of a pure driver's car and is a realization of something that brings real joy every time you get behind the wheel. It's quite awesome how each car in the current Steguis Motorsports fleet really offers a completely different driving experience from each other. There's no "better" or "worse", only "different" and at the end of the day, if you're going to have a bunch of different fun cars, that's what it's all about.
