Since my last post, I've had the orange 'bands' painted across the front & rear of the car - colour is Porsche's 'Continental Orange'.
Unfortunately during one of the car's maiden trips a faulty voltage regulator failed to limit the output of the alternator resulting in an excessive voltage which proceeded to first 'cook' the lightweight Odyssey battery & then 'burn out' the 2 MSD ignition boxes ...
This necessitated purchasing a new voltage regulator, 2 new MSD boxes & a replacement battery. I also took the precaution of removing the fan assembly, separating the alternator & taking it to an auto-electrical specialist for testing - luckily it was pronounced healthy & found to be working perfectly.
In the interim period since I'd bought my original MSD (6AL) ignition boxes, that particular model had been superceded by the digital version which had a completely different (superior) wiring harness arrangement so this meant that it wasn't just a straightforward substitution job...
After fitting everything back together & taking the car for a few exploratory drives where everything now seemed to be working correctly, it was time to get the car ready for the forthcoming DDK Euro Trip to Germany.
As you may remember, the car was currently fitted with 6 & 7 in steel wheels equipped with Avon CR6ZZ tyres - 185/70 (F) & 215/60 (R). In the past the fronts had only been available in an HR speed rating whereas the rears are VR-rated, but Avon had recently invested in some new moulds for the 185/70 tyre - widening it in the process - & increased the speed rating to VR.
I remember reading a comment by Bert indicating that it was an offence in Germany to run a car with mis-matched tyre speed ratings so I purchased some new VR-rated Avons.
As stated above, these are wider than the previous (HR-rated) 185/70 version so I took the precaution of switching my front wheels to slightly narrower 5.5in steels at the same time (clearance with the 6in wheels was already tight).
For those who haven't read the 'live blog' account of the recent 'POB' (place of birth) excursion, it was a fantastic (1500 miles for me) round trip through the Netherlands into Germany & down to Stuttgart/Zuffenhausen in the company of ~25 other early Porsches.
This was essentially a 'shake-down' trip for the car as I'd only covered ~ 200 miles prior to leaving & hadn't managed anything more than 75 miles in one go.
The car ran great apart from some minor 'hiccups' (including losing all gears on the autobahn when a grubscrew locating a UJ on the gearshift rod by the gearbox vibrated loose & dropped out), the main problem being heat transfer to the cockpit when stuck at traffic lights or travelling very slowly (but the ambient temperatures were very hot !).
The car was a blast to drive though & created a great deal of interest wherever we went - aided no doubt by the wonderful noise it emits (I changed the 'street exhaust' over to megaphones the day before the trip) ...
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos but here are a few of the car taken by others on the trip:
