Video Review of DSC Sport Controller

March 12, 2020 / Jeff / Leave a comment

I love almost everything about my 2011 Turbo but I knew going into it that the suspension wasn’t going to be as good as my more modern 2016 991 series Targa was. After some seat time in and around Seattle, I have to agree. Even in normal mode, the 997 series is harsh on the crappy Seattle roads and sport mode is unusable on anything other than perfectly smooth asphalt. While my car is equipped with the Porsche Adaptive Suspension Management (PASM), the software that controls it is almost a decade old.

In comes the DSC Sport Controller. I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money and didn’t want to screw with the shocks or springs. Given I can barely get out of my garage without scraping the front spoiler, I certainly didn’t want to lower the car at all. I had read nothing but great reviews of the DSC Sport Controller and liked the idea of a simple controller/software swap to jump to 2020 software technology. The controller more intelligently manages the adjustable shocks and also improves the software for the dynamic engine mounts on the car resulting in a more compliant ride on bad roads as well as improved high speed handling and cornering. At least that’s the sales pitch and I decided to try it out myself.

I ran some test before the swap, plugged I the new DSC controller and drove the same streets back to back. To me, it was an immediate and obvious difference. In normal mode my 997 feels just like my 991 did and feels like it handles rough roads so much better. I was even able to put it in sport suspension mode and leave it there for most of the day. It too felt like my 991 in sport mode…much firmer but I’m not taking kidney shots with every bump. The limited high speed cornering I have been able to do tells me that it is working just fine at speed as well but I’m far from being a pro and I’m not taking my car close to the limit. My verdict is that this inexpensive and easy DIY upgrade made an immediate difference for the problem I was trying to solve. I love the car even more now.

I decided to try my hand at making a review video, mostly so I can play around with some fun camera tech. I’m no videographer and likely belong behind the camera but it was fun to do:

Some fun photos I took while out and about doing the testing and filming the video:

Shop Class #2 – Lifting a G Wagon

February 27, 2020February 27, 2020 / Jeff / Leave a comment

Tonight was my second shop class at the car club we belong to, The Shop. We are still on suspensions but this time we installed a lift kit (new shocks and springs), on a Mercedes G-Wagon. You know…the Jeep Wrangler for people that want to spend $100K. I kid, I kid…I’m biased as a Wrangler owner. I may not be a G Wagon fanboy but it was really fun to work on. With the lift and the big wheels/low profile tires, I’m not sure this will be the best ride, but it will sure look cool!

What happens when you install the springs but haven’t done the shocks yet…super bouncy!

As usual, I also found the time to wander around and take some fun photos of other cools cars there.

Leave work early so you can take the long way home

February 26, 2020February 26, 2020 / Jeff / Leave a comment

It was a rare dry Seattle day in February and the sun was even poking out a bit at times. I was able to head out of the office a few minutes early which gave me just enough time to take the scenic way home and grab a few photos. It’s time for me to step up from my iPhone and learn how to use a real camera / tripod, but that will have to be for another day when I have more time.

I may have blocked traffic for a second to get this…but nobody in Seattle honks at a crazy person in the middle of the road!

Ski day turned into a car day!

February 23, 2020February 23, 2020 / Jeff / 1 Comment

The alarm went off at 5:30 am so that my youngest son, Shep, and I could hit the road early for first tracks at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. A quick breakfast at Starbucks and then a two hour drive to get to the resort…we’ve done it a few times now and it all works out. The forecast called for a clear day with new snow falling overnight. That didn’t happen. By the time we got to Crystal, the snow was coming down like crazy. We managed to get a few good runs in but the concrete like snow and very low visibility was making it hard for a couple of newbies. The snot icicles weren’t helping either…it was cold and we called it a day after a few hours.

On the way home we had some time to explore in the Jeep. The Jeep loves fresh snow and forest roads almost as Shep loves chicken nuggets!

The way home takes us right through Enumclaw and I recently found out there is a small but really cool car museum that we’ve driven by a ton of times and didn’t even know it. We had the time so we stopped in to see the nice folks at the Thunder Dome Car Museum. Mostly classic American muscle cars but the draw for me is their Ford GT40 collection. Next to a 911, the GT40 is one of my all time favorite cars and I just love the story behind it (Ford vs. Ferrari tells it well but there are plenty of good documentaries).

The museum did not disappoint and here are some of my favorites (Shep was a trooper given how tired he was!):

One of Shep’s favorites because they let him use the siren!

Shep would like one for Christmas if anyone is interested 🙂

A day at The Shop

February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 / Jeff / Leave a comment

After a few nice road trips, my black car (what was I thinking) was looking pretty dirty. Plus, I have been looking for an excuse to use the wash bays and lift bays at The Shop for the first time.

The Shop has all of the expensive equipment so I don’t need to buy it, I just need to bring in some of the consumables for the finer detail that they don’t have. When I’m feeling lazy, they also have full detail services but this time I wanted to do it all myself.

I also wanted to put the car on the lift, mostly so I could learn how to properly use the lift, but also because I wanted to verify some exhaust components. I managed (with some help) to get the car on the lift without breaking anything and confirmed that my car has the Speedtech 3″ x-pipe muffler delete exhaust but still has the stock Porsche catalytic converters.

Some other fun cars that I was able to check out while I was there…I’m always exploring that place and finding new ones!

Weekend Getaways: Bainbridge & Chuckanut

February 18, 2020February 18, 2020 / Jeff / 2 Comments

Vacations are wonderful, but even a very short break away from normal life can feed the soul. This long weekend I had the chance to spend a lot of time with my amazing wife, Meghan, enjoying each other’s company and some beautiful drives. I’m very lucky to have a partner that appreciates the journey as much as the destination.

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with a surprise getaway to Bainbridge Island. Dinner at Hitchcock, an overnight at the Inn at Pleasant Beach, breakfast at the Good Egg and a driving tour around the island…partly because I got lost trying to find the restaurant 🙂

Monday we found ourselves with both kids in camp from 9 to 6 and with the day unbooked. We could have done laundry or other chores that we neglected earlier in the weekend but there will always be more laundry. Instead, we charted a course to great coffee, amazing tacos and a fun twisty road, Chuckanut Drive.

After dropping the kids off at Flying Circus Camp, we fueled up at one of favorite breakfast spots in Seattle, The Wandering Goose. Our next destination was the entry point to Chuckanut Drive, one of the most scenic twisty roads we have in the area. After carving our way up the road, we made it to Bellingham for some coffee and a bio break at The Black Drop Coffeehouse. The coffee was great and it was fun to be surrounded by college students overdosing on caffeine while cramming for an art history exam. Then back down Chuckanut Drive where we had just enough time to walk to the beach at Larrabee State Park and stop at a few scenic overlooks on our way to lunch.

Our lunch spot was really the inspiration for the whole trip. I was looking for a good day drive option in the winter and googled “restaurants worth driving to from Seattle”. Mariposa Taqueria was high on that list and we found out why. Amazing food, fresh made tortillas and a fun vibe made this place the highlight of the trip. After lunch we had to drive fast and get through bad Seattle traffic in time to pick up the kids but this is a day drip we could easily turn into a long weekend of exploring when we have more time.

Shop Class @ The Shop

February 13, 2020 / Jeff / 2 Comments

I joined The Shop for many reasons. I love all things cars, I wanted to meet other car people, I love the beautiful exotics that are stored there and their onsite restaurant, Derby, has some truly kick ass bacon…so many reasons. I’ve also always wanted to do more work on my own cars but have lacked the skills, the tools, the patience and the courage to really jump into it. The Shop has the tools, the lifts, the wash bays all ready for me. Even better, they have professional mechanics available to do complete jobs, assist with DIY jobs and they also offer classes. No more excuses.

I just got back from my first shop class at The Shop and it was so much fun. We swapped out the factory suspension on an older BMW for a new set of Bilstein shocks and H&R springs. This is a project I never would have attempted myself but with the right tools and some help, was really easy.

The donor vehicle belongs to a high school kid that wanted to upgrade their suspension.

Getting the rear shocks out required some dexterity

The process of removing the old shocks/struts was simple enough. The tricky part is getting the assembly apart with the spring under load without losing all your teeth! You can see what happens when you over torque a nut during reassembly.

The slightly more dangerous way to release the tension from the spring!

While I was there, I thought I should share some of the other ongoing projects since my other photos have always been of the exotic cars that are in storage there. This is the more functional side of the shop.

I’m looking forward to the whole series of classes and eventually taking the welding course…then I can really cause some trouble!

Brunch at Derby (The Shop)

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020 / Jeff / Leave a comment

Gabe and I were out doing chores and I let him pick where we would have lunch. He wanted to go to Derby, a restaurant that is part of the car club (The Shop) that we belong to. He likes to hang out in the lounge and check out the cool cars and I certainly wasn’t going to argue with him!

After a nice brunch, we had time to walk around and pretend that all of these stunning cars are ours 🙂