Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Can The Antigravity Batteries XP-1 Jump Start A Dead Porsche? Yes!

Check out the Antigravity Batteries XP-1 Micro-Start jump starting a 981 Porsche Cayman S with a disconnected battery (to simulate a dead battery situation)!


The XP-1 was able to start the Cayman on the first try with no problems at all. We even started it several more times in a row with zero issues.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Schnell Autosports Is Now An Authorized Dealer For Antigravity Batteries!



Every car needs to keep an emergency jump starter in the trunk.

Sure, having plain old jumper cables might seem like all you need, but they have a huge weakness: they operate on the assumption that there's going to be someone, anyone around to be able to give you a jump.

Murphy's law being what it is, you could easily find yourself in this situation:

You stayed a few extra hours at work to finish a project, long after everyone else has left. Once you're done burning that midnight oil, you head out into the parking lot towards your car, ready to just go home and relax on the couch. You press the button on your key fob to unlock your car. That's odd, the remote doesn't seem to be working. Nevermind that, you just open the door with your key, old-fashioned style. The back of your mind only faintly registers that the interior lights didn't come on when you opened the door, but you ignore it, and go to start your car to make that drive home. You turn the key, and are met with only silence. That's odd... you jiggle the steering wheel left and right to see if it's locked or not, you check that your car is in park. You turn the key to start the car. Silence. A slight wave of panic sets over you, you look around to see if something, anything is wrong. That's when you notice it: your headlight switch is in a position that isn't "off".

You left your headlights on this morning. Your car battery is dead. You aren't going anywhere.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Upgrading Your 1965-1989 911 Headlights From Stock H5 To European H4


Today we had a customer come in with his much-beloved and well driven 88' 911 Targa to have some work done. Asides from having us replace his catalytic converter and change his oil (a mechanic at a different shop used an oil with a high zinc content, which is incorrect for the year of his car, which in turn destroyed his original catalytic converter), he had us upgrade his stock H5 headlights to Bosch Euro H4 headlights.

These headlights have seen better days.
Water and dirt were entering through this hole.
His headlights were a little worse for wear. Dirty, scratched, cloudy, cracking, and on the driver's side headlight, a rock kicked up from another car had hit the light, creating a hole, which would allow dirt and water to enter into the housing. On top of that, the amount of light that the H5 bulbs were outputting left a little to be desired.

He wanted a solution for his poorly performing stock lights, and our Bosch European H4 headlights were the answer. The H5 headlight as found on US-market 911's is a sealed unit, with a plastic housing that was prone to melting and damage. The European H4 headlight has a metal housing, and can be disassembled if you need to replace just the lens. The Euro H4 headlight assembly also has superior light output due to it's lens construction.
Bosch European H4 Headlight Assemblies are the popular upgrade from stock USDM H5 lights. 

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Changing The Brake Pads On Our Rotora Big Brake Kit



For those of you who have had to change the brake pads on newer model stock Porsche calipers, you know how much of a pain it can be. For those that don't, the brake calipers on newer Porsches have a "feature" where the two halves of the caliper are joined at the top by a permanently attached bridge.

Taking your brake pads out from the top like a sane person isn't an option here.
While they say this design it to create a stiffer caliper that has more resistance against potential flexing during hard braking circumstances, what this means for the end user is that to replace the pads, you have to remove them from the bottom of the caliper, which ultimate means that you have to remove the entire caliper (and rotor) to gain the clearance needed to remove and replace the pads. On top of that process, the bolts used to secure the caliper to the hub can be easily damaged during reinstallation.

Rotora's Big Brake kit, while asides from providing superior braking performance compared to stock, eschews Porsche's caliper design for one of a more familiar layout; you only have to remove a single pin that holds down a retainer plate, and once the plate is removed, the pads can simply be pulled out from the top of the caliper. After compressing the caliper pistons, the new pads can then be slid into place, and once the retaining plate and pin are reinstalled, you're done.

Just removing that center pin will give you access to the brake pads. Simple!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Removing The Headlights From Your 981 Cayman/Boxster

We've had a few customers with 981 Boxsters/Caymans that wanted to know how to remove their headlights, whether it's for changing a blown bulb, or for the installation of paint protection film, or for any variety of reasons. The first question often asked is "how difficult is it?", and to which we simply reply "not very". It will probably take you longer to read this blog entry and look at the pictures than it would be to actually remove the headlights.


Monday, December 1, 2014

Schnell Autosports 981 Bilstein Cyber Monday Sale!

We're putting the Bilstein adjustable coilover suspension kits for the 981 Boxster/Cayman on a Cyber Monday super sale! Today only (12/1/14)!



Bilstein 981 PSS10 adjustable coilover suspension kit (for vehicles WITHOUT PASM) - $2600

Bilstein 981 DampTronic adjustable coilover suspension kit (for vehicles WITH PASM) - $2859

Check out our install of the 981 DampTronic kit on the Schnell Autosports 981 Cayman S - http://blog.schnellautosports.com/2014/03/installing-bilsteins-damptronic.html

This sale is phone order only, and not listed on our website. If you are interested, please call us toll-free at 1-888-978-9899.

Sale prices do not include shipping and tax.
Please note: due to the size and weight of these coilover kits, there is an additional oversized shipping fee.