Mike's Porsche Boxster Diary
(In reverse chronological order)
2019
June 11: 94,096 miles on the odometer. The water pump went bad again.
Had it replaced, along with the timing belt again.
2016
Oct 19: 77,103 miles on the odometer. Replaced serpentine belt.
Oct XX: Autocros. Rebecca drove too, Miranda rode along and everyone had
a great time.
March 31: 72,218 miles on the odometer. $523.59 spent at Import Specialists
to not fix a leak leading to a check engine light. The cel
still comes on from time-to-time, so the saga goes on.
March 17: 72,086 miles on the odometer. $4048.75 spent at Import
Specialists to replace the IMS bearing, clutch, and change the oil.
February: Changed driver side rear O2 sensor as check engine light was
coming on occasionally. Did not solve the problem.
2015
May 25 to June 1: Trip to Smoky Mountains.
Camping and hiking with Miranda.
May 25: 65,200 miles on the odometer leaving Springield.
June 1: 67,345 miles on the odometer arriving at home.
Trip details and photos.
2014
Dec. 11-18: Trip to Florida.
Just Mike, getting away for a vacation to a new place.
Dec. 11: 57,600 miles on the odometer leaving Springield.
Day 1: Driving from Springfield, MO to Marianna, FL.
Day 2: 58,385 miles on the odometer. Driving to Sanibel, FL.
Day 3: in Sanibel, relaxing.
Day 4: 59,265 miles on the odometer. Drove from Sanibel to Key Largo.
Day 5: in the Keys, relaxing.
Day 6: 59,600 miles on the odometer. Drove from Key Largo to Daytona
Beach.
Day 7: 60,490 miles on the odometer. Drove from Daytona Beach to
Paducah, KY.
Day 8: Finished the drive home. 60,739 miles on the odometer.
Sept. 4: 54,000 miles on the odometer.
Club day at Hallett. Buzz arranged to rent the track for the day.
Sept. 1: 54,300 miles on the odometer.
Oil change (with filter). Put the Pagid pads back on and the V12 tires
for the Hallett club day.
August 8: 52,000 miles on the odometer.
Drive-in movie in Aurora. It was supposed to be a club event, but it
turns out only Miranda and I went. Miranda's first drive-in movie.
It was good fun- a double feature.
July 19-20: 51,500 miles on the odometer.
DE at Motorsports Park Hastings, in Nebraska. Great track, good fun,
small run groups. Organized by the Great Plains Region PCA. Pulled
the tire trailer up and changed tires there and using the Pagid yellows
front and black on the rear. Best time was 1:51.09 with 12 laps under 1:52.
Times for 79 laps, but on the first day, I (accidentally) had TrackMaster set
to turn off after 10 minutes of driving.
May 4, 2014: 49,500 miles on the odometer.
Mayfast! Sunday only for me (Miranda had Saturday soccer in Kansas City).
New asphalt, which I guess makes the track slower for a while. No braking
numbers on the track, either. First time at Hallett with Pagid pads and the
new Hankook V12 tires.
Fastest time: 1:39.6. Two seconds slower than my fastest time of the
previous year.
Late April
Miranda and I made a track tire trailer.
Bought a small Harbor Freight trailer, toolbox, some wood, and posts. See
the results for yourself! Attached a Will Wood hitch (expensive!) to
the car. Pulled great! Spent too much, but glad I did it.
2013
November 22: 46,517 miles on the odometer.
After chasing a cel fault for a month, we finally
changed out the airmass (mass airflow) sensor.
Another $300.
September 13: 44,600 miles on the odometer.
Fast Friday at Mid-American Motorplex.
Our club convoyed up on Thursday evening and arrived at the track early
on Friday- about 10 cars strong! By the end of the day, and about 100 laps,
and more than two
tanks of gas(!), my tires were used up.
My fastest time of the day was 1:55.2.
Unfortunately, after a great day of driving, my car had a coolant problem
on the way home. Thankfully Mike and Nick Scott rescued me on Saturday and
trailored the car home for me.
The shop says it's a water pump. Replacement, plus changing the timing belt
(while they're in there) and flushing the coolant: about $1,300. Ouch!
September 10: 44,400 miles on the odometer.
Changing the front drums to slotted ones, the brake pads to the Pagids, and
changing the brake fluid in preparation for MAM on Friday!
August 31: 44,100 miles on the odometer.
Changed the oil and filter. Installed a magnetic filter plug too, though I imagine this is a bit of a waste. Put in Mobil 1 15-50 oil.
August 24: 43,900 miles on the odometer.
A nice morning drive with the PCA. Breakfast at the Buzz Cafe until lunch
at.... another nice restaurant.
August 10: 43,400 miles on the odometer.
Changed brake pads again. Am now going to Textar for everyday use
and Pagid Yellows for track days. Also ordering new front disks.
July 25-28: 42,400 miles on the odometer.
Driving to Omaha to drive at the Mid-America Motorplex for another DE event.
Three of us are going up. I'm excited to drive another race track.
Pictures and lap movies.
Wore out front brake pads, again!
June 1: 41,000 miles on the odometer.
Ozarks Lakes PCA club drive to Indian Point with dinner at the Altenhof
Inn. The food was great!
May 29: 40,950 miles on the odometer.
Changed the front brake pads again. Well,
Miranda did it really. I just watched. This time I put on
Axxis XBG (formerly Metal Master) pads, although the brakewarehouse.com invoice
reads NUG 45-0737EM. Dick Moist sent me the link to these pads, so I guess
he likes them.
I also bought a bluetooth OBDII reader for my car and installed
Torque on my Android phone and tablet. Just another toy to play with.
June 15
Cars-N-Coffee
at Premier Motorsports in Springfield.
May 11: 40,400 miles on the odometer.
Autocross with the Ozarks Lakes PCA at the fairgrounds.
Some pictures.
May 8: 40,300 miles on the odometer.
Spirited drive and dinner meeting in Branson. Dinner at the
Black Oak Grill at Branson Landing. Great ribs!
May 4/5: 40,000 miles on the odometer.
Mayfast at Hallett Raceway.
Some rain,
but then it cleared and I had my fastest lap yet: 1:37.7. I also hit my
highest top speed: 102.9 mph. Chris showed me a new line through corners
4/5 which trimmed about 2 seconds off my time! I can't wait until next year!
The PBR pads felt good at Hallett, but they completely wore out! So
I had to put the Textar's back in the front.
April 24: 39,560 miles on the odometer.
Brake bleeding party at the Moist's house. In preparation for Mayfast at
Hallett. Only two cars this year (mine
and Scott's), which was different. Last year, they were lined up! Miranda
helped. She'll be a Porsche mechanic yet!
April 6: 38,900 miles on the odometer.
Another spirited drive with the Ozark Lakes PCA to Rock Bridge Trout
Farm. A beautiful day again!
March 30: 38,800 miles on the odometer.
Changed the brake pads from Textar to PBR. I wasn't overly
happy with the feel of
the Textar pads; they just didn't feel 'grippy' enough to me. So I asked
the club what their recommendations were and PBR came up (as did Pagid). I
was surprised that the PBR's were less expensive than the Textars, and so
far, I quite like them. We'll see how I feel after our club drive on April
6 and Mayfast. Those will be the real test as to how I like the feel of them.
March 9, 2013: 38,300 miles on the odometer.
A spirited drive with the club. What a blast! It was nice to get the
car back on the road to do some real driving and let her stretch
her legs. Breakfast was good too.
2012
November 9th and 10th.
Porsche-a-palooza. Called a PCA Escape this year, but it's the same event
that we went to last year in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. A huge collection
of Porsches.. Miranda won a couple of door
prizes to boot! It was fun, but Marina had to leave early because of illness,
which made us sad.
October 7: 35,540 miles on the odometer.
Oil change! Miranda helped. Pretty soon she will be a real mechanic!
September 6: 34,600 miles on the odometer.
Club day at Hallett! Thanks to Buzz Masters who organized a track day just for
Ozark Lakes PCA members. Eleven cars, lots of driving!
New lap movies here.
My best time was 1:40.7, which I think is pretty good for my base Boxster.
The BG Goodrich tires were okay. They squeeled more than the Pirelli's and
for some reason I just don't want them to be as 'grippy' as the Pirelli's,
but I think they did okay.
August 22: 33,800 miles on the odometer.
New tires. BF Goodrich g-force Comp2 tires replacing the Pirelli pZero Rossis.
We'll see how they go at Hallett!
July 16 - August 4: 27,784 to 33,578 miles on the odometer.
The Great 2012 Porsche Trip (in chronological order).
Trip map
- Days 1 and 2: 27,784 miles on the odometer. Travelled from
Springfield, Missouri to Broomfield, Colorado where we stayed with the
Wolfs. We visited Estes National Park
in the Rocky Mountains.
- Days 2 and 3: 28,585 miles on the odometer. Travelled from Broomfield to
Moab, Utah. Visited Arches National Park.
- Days 4 and 5: 29,137 miles on the odometer. Travelled from Moab to
Lake Hebgen, Montana. We visied
Yellowstone.
- Days 6 and 7: 30,0040 miles on the odometer. Travelled from Lake Hebgen
to East Glacier. Visited Glacier
National Park.
- Days 8 and 9: 30,600 miles on the odometer. Travelled from East Glacier
to Edmonds, Washington.
Stayed with my sister, Roseann and her family.
Played in her boat on Lake Stevens.
- Days 10, 11, and 12: Porsche stayed at Roseann's, but we went camping
on the Icicle River
in the Cascade Mountains.
- Days 13, 14, and 15: Back at Roseann's house.
More fun on the water.
- Days 16 and 17: 31,265 miles on the odometer. Travelled from Edmonds
to Jerome, Idaho. Visited Craters
of the Moon National Monument.
- Days 18 and 19. Drove home! (stopping in Kearney, Nebraska.)
June 23, 2012: 27,100 miles on the odometer.
A fun drive with the Porsche Club to Forsythe, Missouri and back.
May 5, 2012: 25,000 miles on the odomter.
Mayfast at Hallett Raceway. Driving on a
race track- what a blast! My first time, but it won't be my last. The event is
a PCA-sponsored driver education (DE) event, which is meant to train drivers
to handle their cars at high speeds.
May 2, 2012: 24,500 miles on the odometer.
Brake bleeding party at the Moist's house.
April 22, 2012: 24,400 miles on the odometer.
Ozark Lakes PCA autocross. What a blast! Driving as fast as I can, albeit on
a short, tight course. Movie 1 and
Movie 2. With my cell phone attached to my front
window. Not a great view, but okay.
The
line-up of Boxsters.
March 2012: The redesigned Boxster comes out. Looks more like an MR2 Spyder
to me. (Same door bezels.) But it's growing on me!
2011
November 2011: 21,500 miles on the odometer.
Took a 'spirited' drive with some Ozark Lakes PCA members to Branson Landing.
What a blast! Of course I could only watch as the 911s pulled away from my
Boxster.
Busy month! I attended
PCA Palooza in Eureka Springs,
with Greg Davison. Over 200 Porsches! It was awesome! However, this
is also the week of the first breakage: the passenger window stops dropping
when the handle is pulled to clear the convertible top. Into the shop
(at the dealer) and with an oil change, the bill comes to $860, ouch!!
September 2011: Finally, the time is right, financing is in place and I
find a Porsche. A beautiful 2001 yellow Boxster with only 18,000 miles
on it. I flew out to Utah and drove it home.
June 2011: I test drive two Boxsters while at a conference in Boulder,
CO. These I like better. I'm convinced to get a Boxster. Very nearly
get a 2002 S, but financing not in time.
May 2011: On our way to Moab, UT, Miranda and I test drive two Boxsters
(one S and one base) and a Toyota MR2 Spyder. We are largely not impressed,
though we were tired from driving already.
April 2011: Began looking for a Boxster or a Toyota MR2 Spyder. Originally,
while Toyota was making them, I wanted to buy a new MR2 Spyder as a poor-man's
Boxster knock-off. But now I see there are many reasonable used Boxsters.
There are none in the Springfield,
MO area, so this meant an on-line search. I found autotrader.com to be
the best, though ebay was okay too.
Trip map
The
line-up of Boxsters.