Essex porsche specialists?

[MarkJ]

Anyone recommend P-specialists in Essex to work on our cars? I've largely given up on Kent places due to the lack of them and underwhelming efforts previously. I'd really like to take the car back to Steve at Jaz (and still may do) but its a bit of a mission, so just wondering if anyone closer to home worth a punt with. As my engine isn't exactly stock with motec etc  i'd rather not use a run of the mill garage.

[Phill]

The Phirm have a good rep but they are the other way in Camberley, Surrey so no need to cross the water. They are VW customisers but apparently like 911s. Chap I bought a dashboard from has a supercharged VR6 (320hp ) converted by them and he couldn't rate them highly enough. When I spoke to them on the phone they came across as helpful and easy going. 2 year waiting list for an engine conversion though! I'm taking the golf there on Friday to test the waters. I'll report back soonest.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Phill

[longman]

52 minutes ago, MarkJ said:

Anyone recommend P-specialists in Essex to work on our cars? I've largely given up on Kent places due to the lack of them and underwhelming efforts previously. I'd really like to take the car back to Steve at Jaz (and still may do) but its a bit of a mission, so just wondering if anyone closer to home worth a punt with. As my engine isn't exactly stock with motec etc  i'd rather not use a run of the mill garage.

Harvey at Colwood Motorsport in Hornchurch is good , ex Porsche tech of the year .

 Used to work at Autostrasse in Coggeshall , then bought a normal garage/mot station in Hornchurch and took a load of his customers with him.

 Its where all my MOT's got done on the 911 , even though its a 40 min drive from me..

[MarkJ]

cheers Longers, Hornchurch is a lot more sociable to get to and from , will look him up thanks 👍  only issue with a garage that size, is does Harvey work on the car or just one of his grease monkeys? Had similar issue with Project 9 in Kent where Cliff has a great reputation, also recommended by Charlie, but he employs some herberts that don't look after peoples pride and joy in the same way he actually would. He just runs the place.

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by MarkJ

[longman]

Phone him and ask , it’s a pretty small garage 

[Lesworth]

I would always travel further for a really good specialist. I use a guy in the Cambridgeshire Fens for work on the 924 given his reputation and knowledge etc. Its an hour drive so a mission involving the missus following me etc. but well worth it in my opinion. You might scoff but I have had work done on my 911 twice by two different OPC's (because the indies couldn't accommodate what i needed done at short notice). I was impressed both times by knowledge and quality of the work done. Don't discount them.

I just used Rallytec in Chelmsford to do some investigation and tuning on the 924. Not a Porsche specialist but an old school car mechanic with 50 years experience and works on all sorts of cars from our era, form a mark 1 Astra GTE that I saw in the workshop to Audi Quattro etc. One man band on an industrial estate with a fairly poor website, which are all plusses from my perspective.

[Beaky]

3 hours ago, Lesworth said:

I would always travel further for a really good specialist.

I'd take it back to Steve 👍

[Phill]

As mentioned above I visited The Phirm yesterday. Can't rate them highly enough based on the two hours I spent there. Work ethic seems great and they certainly have some nice VW and Audi stuff there. Although certainly not Porsche experts as far as I could tell I would be happy for them to work on mine.

[MarkJ]

thanks for suggestions all, think i'll just have to bite the bullet and book it back at Jaz. I'd rather someone who knows his way around tuned pork and Steve is quite motorsport orientated so will understand the gist of the mods better. Bit of a mission to get home with 3 trains via London and cabs but hey ho

[Beaky]

5 hours ago, MarkJ said:

 Bit of a mission to get home with 3 trains via London and cabs but hey ho

Have you looked into hiring a Zip car, not sure on cost, but maybe worth considering to cut down the hassle and journey time

[Phill]

21 minutes ago, Beaky said:

Have you looked into hiring a Zip car, not sure on cost, but maybe worth considering to cut down the hassle and journey time

Very good idea!

[Lesworth]

Or just get the missus to follow you and drive you home - that's what I do. Happens seldom enough that's its not an issue. And we stop for lunch / coffee etc on the way back.

Have you thought about trying to tackle the jobs yourself?

[Chris T]

3 trains plus cabs? You can get a bike in a 911 (just) by taking the wheels out. Use that to get back to your mainline station of choice, bikes accepted out of rush hour but do check 😉

[MarkJ]

On 18/05/2021 at 09:34, Lesworth said:

Or just get the missus to follow you and drive you home - that's what I do. Happens seldom enough that's its not an issue. And we stop for lunch / coffee etc on the way back.

Have you thought about trying to tackle the jobs yourself?

to be fair she has done that before and i can dangle the carrot of visiting St Albans as  a distraction, just sometimes its easier to do 'car stuff' on your tod and weekdays aren't really an option for her being a teacher. I can probably do the return trip in half a day, just a bit planes,trains and automobiles to do it.

Jobs wise, its been 2-3yrs since I had it serviced properly and there are a few other 'bugger-jobs' to sort, so i'd rather hand it over to the experts and let their knuckles bleed instead of mine 

[Lesworth]

29 minutes ago, MarkJ said:

 weekdays aren't really an option for her being a teacher.

Yeah, that's my issue too except for Fridays. Last time she couldn't take me so I put my bike in the back of the 924 and cycled home (via the pub). It was 20 miles so not too bad.