Finished my little Porsche/GM hybrid a couple of years ago,and now I have lost the use of my left foot to the point I can't use a stick shift tranny any more.

What I did was, had a GM LT-1 powerplant professionally tucked into my Porsche 944. Did it right, too...Porsche turbo tranny fully restored, large custom radiator, new custom-programmed OBD-1, tuned ceramic-coated headers, cam, high comp ratio heads, larger torsion bars, 300-lb heavier-rated front springs, tied the struts together, and on and on for another $20-grand or so of stuff.

Because basic car was 25 years old +, it is registered as a "collector's car" and doesn't have to pass emissions tests.

So what I have now is a car that goes like stink, and corners better than any stock Porsche to boot.

AND now I can't drive it because of my danged foot!!!

Damn! Wish I was a female so I'd have two sets of lips to P&M with.........

Pictures?

swap transaxle automatic out of a late model Corvette maybe? Stick the paddle shifters on the wheel and giddyup!

Rich

Real bad......get hand controls.
Rick.......can't remember his last name.......anyway, had his license to race at Riverside before it closed.

Sorry, I can't post pics at this time. The only parts I have left of my 12+ year old computer after our recent move from OR to AZ are the tower, the keyboard, and the monitor.

If I survive the major surgery they are talking about for my left foot/leg with the ability to at least walk, which they won't let me do now (tentatively scheduled for March-April) I'll be getting a new computer and hi-speed internet connection. Until then I am still on a computer which was built during the Crusades of Richard Couer de Leon and a dial-up connection, with no scan or other photo facility.

Rich...that might work pretty well, but I am really not wanting to spend another 12-Large on it, or turn it into a "rest of my life" project.

Before that, I think I'd possibly just resign myself to trading it in on some kind of useable econo-box that maybe I could go to the range with. When we moved last August, I sold my favorite vehicle...a 1980 4x4 Toy PU which I bought new in Dec. 1979 and still had just at only 100,000 miles on it. It had Porsche bucket seats, and a spare 50 gal fuel tank installed by the dealer before sale, was re-sprung as a 1-ton, and had a 22-R .060" overbore, RV cam, head shaved .090", Weber carbureted engine dropped into it just for the bit more torque

I now live just about 4-5 miles east of Black Canyon Range (O.K. Ben Avery Range now....) And as I had the 800, 900, and 1,000 yard firng points built there in late 1982 so I could sponsor a season of monthly Palma matches, I'd like to be ble to visit the old haunt again. An econo box would be right handy....

Try this thread for some ideas:

http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?t=66061





If I were to have this issue, and still have limited mobility but just lack strength I'd engineer an assist pedal that would fit in front of your existing clutch pedal that would go to a cylinder that worked on engine vacuum so pressing the first pedal would take up all but a couple pounds of pedal pressure. Visualize how a savage accutrigger is set up is how I'd set up the assist.

Thanks for the ideas, Senor moderator.

The problem isn't lack of strength, it is the bones sticking out through the bottom of my foot, and the huge aluminum boot i have to wear over my foot and leg clear up to the knee to protect what remains. There is no room to even ggt that rig into my Porsche.

Am having foot surgery again the first Thursday in March (today they set the date for the sawcuts). Maybe, with any luck, that will fix things if and when it heals.

Good Luck, Id offer to drive you but... I only drive trucks and sometimes dont see pavement very often.

Sorry to hear your news but how about fitting an auto box or even better, a pre select box with paddles on the steering wheel?

A different tranny is not an option at this time.

With the bones protruding from the bottom of my foot I have to wear an aluminum boot from my toes to my knee. That device won't even fit into the litle Porsche compartment with me; there simply isn't room. Will be undergoing reconstructive surgery the first Thurs of March, IF I can pass the pre-surg physical on
Feb 25. Hopefully, that may solve the problem if & when it ever heals after surgery.

Al,

That is a tough break!

Hope things improve as quickly as possible ... so you can think abt how to play again!

Thank you for the good wish Mr. Starling. Appreciate it very much.

UPDATE: Thanks to a pair of surgeons heading the podiatry unit at the local VA hospital (Phoenix, AZ), my foot is very usable again after four years of fighting just to keep from losing it by amputation!

It was treated by other podiatrists (not local to Phoenix) for that four years of bummer foot health, but they obviously did not know as much or have the skills (or dedication) of these two.

So, now after foot reconstructive surgery on March 3, my foot is healed, I am wearing regular shoes again, and last week I got my Arizona Driver's License.

Even took my little Porsche out for a short run last week. (Am having to re-learn both how to walk and how to use a stick-shift, but both are coming along as well as can be expected.)

The great part is that even though the pre-surgical med staff reported to the head surgeon that my recovery prognosis if I had the surgery was "very poor", he looked at the doppler arterial flow studies himself and told me..."Hell, I cure people with worse arterial flows than yours all the time! You won't have any problems." And he was right.

Six hours on the table...sent home 3 hours later, had steel pins in my foot for two weeks, took the stitches out 2 weeks after the pins came out...was told to get off my butt and start walking all I wanted a week after that....now I don't even have any visible scarring.

For the first time in my life, I'll say, "Thank God for the VA.

The really neat thing about this VA is they all tell me every visit..."You don't need to thank us; we thank YOU for your service, and only regret you became disabled protecting us."

Heck of a lot different attitude than I encountered in other facilities.

Now this weekend my nephew is coming down to the Phoenix area (Cave Creek, actually) from Calgary and we are taking the little Porsche for a spin. (Somebody trashed it while I was gone...broke the mirrors, the radio, the sun visors, slashed the leather driver's seat, broke the windshield, pried off & stole the "9" from the "944" emblem, and scratched the paint a bit, but I can fix all that. It only takes time, TLC, and a bit of money. But it's nothing like an unusably bad foot. Porsche parts ARE replaceable.)

Yahoooeeyy!!

I'll second that "God Bless the VA!"

They did my thyroid three weeks ago, and next Friday they will fix my torn labrum and frayed tendon sheath in the L shoulder.

Rich

Must admit this learning to drive the stick shift again after a long time without the use of my left foot is tougher than I thought it might be.

Took the little Porsche down the road a bit this afternoon to fill it with petrol and get it hand-washed and waxed. (At least at the local station, if you get a car wash, they give you a 20 cents per gallon discount on the price of gas.)

Anyway, when I left the car wash/gas station it was the beginning of evening rush hour, so it was a tad difficult merging into the flow of traffic.

Forgetting I wasn't driving the frau's GMC 4x4, I sorta slipped too much pedal to the metal. Porsche broke loose big time and laid about 40 feet of rubber mostly forward but partly sideways too before I got it totally straightened out. At least the traffic was not up on my butt then.

Next light was red. Got on the binders and stopped.

Light turned green and the guy next to me apparently was going to show me how real cars run. He took off like a bat from hell. Guy behind me was right on my ass too. So seeing all that, I sorta tromped it again.

Had started in second gear from the light, just to be leisurely after the breaking loose incident. BUT, tromping it broke the rear tires loose again for a few feet, so I eased off and shifted.

By then everyone was an eighth of a mile behind me. A glance at the speedo showed it was binder time again. Local S.O. doesn't like folks doing 100 or so in a 45 zone. Had forgotten my car will do 0-60 in 3 seconds or less.

So I dropped back to 45, and then all the guys I had left behind eventually came rolling by me at about 60-to-65. I stayed at 45 for the remaining mile to the gates to our community.

Learning to drive again is an adventure...and maybe even a little fun. Just hope I don't end up in jail before I get it all down pat.

I GOTTA buy something slower for a daily driver.

I'm glad you're getting things back together ,you and the Porsche.

http://jalopnik.com/5798491/in...loating-parking-spot

Here's how carefully a Porsche owner takes care of his machine !

Thank you Mete, I appreciate your kind thoughts. Good people like you make life worthwhile.

AC,

It is genuinely a GRIN that you "have to find something slower as a daily driver"!

Sounds very much like things are improving a bit ... to a MUCH better problem.

Congrats!

Thank you Mike!!

Yeh, am back to keepin' on keepin' on. I see the sun came up this morning (at 5 a.m.!), so will have to find something other than my bad foot to bitch about today....