First drive after tune-up/maint, still need some things done Options

[scruz914]

After one year of ownership and commuting an average of 2x per week over CA Hwy 17 (Santa Cruz to San Jose) I had the 914 tuned-up along with some other maintenance.

Other than the usual (valve adj, plugs, points, timing, etc.) I had the rear raised 1.5 inches to match the front height that the PO adjusted higher. The PPO had the car extremely low which was just not practical for daily driving. I should have had the change made right after I bought the car. The ride smoothed out considerably.

I was also experiencing the battery being drained after drives home with the headlights on. My thought was that this was due to poor grounding. Turned out the alt. was loose and not getting full tension. Volt meter reads a nice 13-14 volts now. I do have a gounding problem with my gauges in the center console. With the headlights on and the rheostat turned to bright the volt meter drops about 4 volts. Same thing happens when I turn on the fresh air fan. I thought that this was related to my battery drain problem but my mechanic thinks the gauges need to be independently grounded. Anyone else experience this?

Mechanic also found that the front right shock is pretty much dead. Other three are OK. Does it make sense to replace only the fronts? Or should shocks be completely replaced as a set? This is a street car so AX or racing performace is not an issue. Safety and spirited driving is important.

All in all for one year of driving approx. 7k miles, $800 for the service/maint. plus mid-year oil change makes me, and the wife, pretty darn happy. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

-Jeff