Wills 98 Ocean Blue C2 3.4 Ownership thread..

Hey all! Great to be back on a forum that has a bit of activity. Met a lot of good friends from forums over the years, especially from the earlier days of the VW forums.. Anyway, here is my 98 996.1 3.4 C2 Tiptronic - bought the car in November 2020 , and it's been my daily driver ever since. It's an early 98 so amber lights, cable throttle, and an ECU that doesn't seem too worried about anything emissions-wise! Truth be told, I was not looking for a 996 originally - I really wanted an 911SC. I missed the boat before prices started to skyrocket, and after a quick mail to Jon @ Classic Carreras (Porsche restoration company here in Ireland, who had recently carried out some work on my uncle's 356) confirming that I probably would not find an air-cooled coupe in my price range, decided to look at the water-cooled offerings. In reference to the £32k 996 thread, I paid €23k for the car.. But, everything is far far more expensive for motoring here. Tax on the car is over €1800 a year, insurance €1200, expensive fuel etc etc.. Also, the Vehicle Registration Tax to register an imported 996 is supposedly around ~€15-20k at the moment, so importing a reasonably specced/priced car from the UK is a no go! The previous owner had taken great care of the car, and had a huge amount of work carried out including a full crank up engine rebuild, gearbox rebuild, along with a whole host of other essential maintenance. Like most people, I was looking for a manual, but the sheer volume of work carried out on this car was too hard to ignore..

I'm a [retired?] mechanic, so naturally enough couldn't wait to get stuck into the car, make a few mods and sort a few issues I had spotted. First up on the list, was a intake resonator delete pipe. I had actually ordered this before doing the deal on the car, such was my confidence in buying it after viewing it for the first time! This made a huge difference to the sound, especially over 4k RPM. Next was the spoiler apron. Pretty easy job, tidied things up no end (yes, this is the old one..)

After a few days driving, I noticed a bit of a "moo-ing" noise particularly at idle, and taking off. I traced this to a fuel vent valve, connected to the throttle body. It was stuck - I could free it up, and it would work ok for a few days, and then stick again. Time to replace it.. This part is unnecessarily expensive from Porsche, and as I was working on it, I thought that it looked very similar to a VW one that I had been working on recently. I happened on a thread on rennlist that confirmed this; and was able to purchase a genuine Bosch valve for a few hundred euro less than originally quoted. I did have to replace a pipe to have it fit correctly - I don't have the pictures to hand, so will update this a little later on with the correct details!

Next up was to chase the intermittent hunting at idle, and a little bit of hesitation at high RPM. Started with the basics of coils and plugs; the car had a few Meat & Doria coils fitted, a brand that I am not a fan of. Also, the previous owner had been invoiced 12months ago for 6x OEM coils.. anyway, they were swopped out for OEM 997 Beru coilpacks, and NGK plugs (I run NGK copper cores in all of my cars. Sure, they don't last as long, but copper still gives the best conductivity - and if a cylinder leans out badly it should melt the plug before melting the piston..) Old VS New.. The 997 coils are considerably meatier! Took the opportunity to swap the engine mounts out for RS type mounts, and fitted a Powerflex gearbox mount insert. Tightened everything up no end, although there is a bit more gearbox whine around 80k km/h. Fairly used to it now after 15k KMs all the same!

Obligatory cold winter pic. I drove the car through the all the snow and ice we had, and was exceptionally impressed with how the car dealt with it.. Around about this time, the idle and hesitation issues were still not found. Some data logging eventually showed that the MAF was reading too high, and the car was overfuelling. A genuine Bosch MAF sorted this side of things, and the hesitation was cured. The lumpy idle however, proved a little more invasive - I have one dead Variocam solenoid, and one that is not too far behind. These require the rocker covers to be removed to replace, and at ~€1k per solenoid was not a job I was looking forward to at all.. I don't care what anyone says, €1k for a basic solenoid is insane money - especially when they could be bought genuine for less than €300 5 years ago. Thankfully, more research on the solenoids, more VAG parts to the rescue! :thumb: They are the same as a late 90s Audi A4 1.8 20v - just with a slight different connector. €400 later, and I had a pair of these solenoids and conversion looms ready to go: Now.. I haven't actually fitted these yet. I have a slight exhaust leak at the manifold on Bank 1, and figure that while I have the manifolds removed, I may aswell replace them with some nice shiny tubular ones! So waiting for those to arrive, before I dig into this..

Then, we had some bad news. Some #*%*#% reversed into the front of the car while it was parked, and drove off. I ran down the street and papped his reg, but the cops or insurance company weren't interested.. Number plate and plinth goosed, front bumper paint badly cracked. Bumper moved around a bit, chipped some paint on the RHF wing and put a slight crack in a headlight washer cover. Fairly annoyed about this still.. I have a new plate and plinth to put back on it, but to be honest I'm loving the look of the plateless front, so have left it off. I will see about making up some sort of magnetic mount or something in the future, after I repaint the bumper and maybe add a lip..

Random entry, had a notion to make an air freshener out of coffee-dyed leather, and filled with coffee beans. Came out pretty good, and smells delish! Also then made a phone holder for the car. There is no decent offerings out there for the 996 that I could find; I wanted the phone to be inline with the instrument cluster, and have the option of holding the phone portrait or landscape so I could use Android Auto. I used a Quadlock case, bent and dimple-die'd a scrap piece of stainless, painted it black and wrapped the base in leather. Drilled two very nerve-wracking but hidden holes under the dash binnacle, and I now have an incredibly strong phone holder, exactly where I want it! Broke my hazard switch while doing this, so had to replace that too..

Next on the list.. Suspension!! I had always felt the car was a little wandery at speed - I found some slightly worn toe arms, and then just decided to replace all the arms and be done with it. Currently I only have the fronts coffin arms done, and rear toe arms - I am in the middle of setting up my workshop at home so space is currently at a bit of a premium.. But comparing old to new, the coffin arms for sure needed to be done!

My favourite mod that I have done so far, is the paddle shift conversion. The Tiptronic gearbox is a great gearbox even today, nevermind 20years ago.. when it has been looked after. This one has had an overhaul with new clutch packs etc, and is running well. The tiptronic buttons on the wheel however, are ergonomically horrible.. Found a Merc steering wheel on ebay, with some nice discreet black paddles. Every paddle conversion online has been done on a 3spoke wheel - I wanted to do it on a 4spoke, so took a bit of a gamble on it.. With I think, great results! It has completely transformed the driving experience. The paddles are right where you want them, the action is sharp and you can keep your hands and thumbs in the correct place when the driving is a bit more.. spirited. An essential mod for any tip owner!!

So.. that kinda brings us up to where we are now, apart from one more addition.. A roofrack! I like to do a good bit of cycling and MTB when we're not locked down, so bike transport is essential. This Thule system took a fair bit of modifying to have sit just how I wanted it, and I have been rewarded with minimal wind noise - along with a sleek looking system by using black WingBars. I have a small bit of a water leak too I need to sort out: But hey, at least my doorcards are clean! Next on the list of work: Finish replacing the suspension arms Replace the variocam solenoids Replace exhaust manifolds and tips Due another service.. Replace shocks and springs (Thinking Konis and H&R..) Paint the brake calipers At that stage, the car will be mechanically perfect, with most parts either replaced or upgraded. Then, we can get onto some fun stuff! Cosmetically, its a bit of a 10footer, especially with the bumper damage etc. A detailer mate of mine is on his way to mine right now for a few days of paint correction etc, so looking forward to seeing how that turns out. Wheels need a refurb too, so hoping to tackle into all that over the next few months, with a few mods along the way.. Thanks for reading, hope that wasn't too much of an image dump in one go!!

Looks great, you've been getting stuck in! Interesting about the variocam solenoids, what parts are they, I'm considering doing the same job soonish. I think my solenoids are in good condition I'm just planning on replacing the sliders which tend to wear. But would be good to know what parts to get should I discover they're not working so well once I get them off the car. By way of preparation have just removed the exhaust manifolds and drilled out the snapped bolts and replaced with stainless. Not too bad of a job if you use the stomski jig.

:welcome: to 911uk willirl Thank you for your contribution :thumbs:

Great work Will! I especially like the custom Quadlock case and roof bars. Have been close to giving up the dream of getting my first (entry level) 911 given the craziness of the recent prices but this has inspired me to persist!

Cheers!! :thumb: I got them from these guys: https://car-design-pruefer.com/ Currently on eBay, item number 193831372968. Came quickly too! I think the sliders etc were done on mine when the engine was rebuilt, I need to check the invoices and parts list again. There is a green O Ring on the plunger that I am a little worried about, i've seen pictures of it broken down and jamming the plunger.. but I'll tackle that problem when I get there! I know one of solenoids is chuffed, I've tested the signals from the ECU and also manually powered the solenoids, and identified the bogey one pretty quickly. I know the exhaust bolts were definitely done last year when the engine was rebuilt, I have a video of every single one of them snapped :hand: I'm not happy with one however, and I think I'll need to helicoil it when I have the manifolds off. Going to change them all out to titanium studs too.. Thanks!! I'll do a mk2 version of the quadlock mount in time, but I'm happy the idea works. Having Android Auto right there in a safe line of vision (as opposed to a mount that is below the windscreen line) is great for Google maps etc. Spotify then is controlled by the buttons on the Continental headunit, so works really well. Just need some better speakers now! Absolutely, buy one! And try to buy the very best you can afford ie most amount of proper maintenance work done. Sure, prices are going up now, they may fall off in the future if we're all forced to drive electric appliances, but you can't put a value on living a dream :thumb: :thumb:

Welcome, some good work already. Car looks good and suits the Amber lights.