Thanks for advice (C4S acquired)

Quick thanks to this forum for answering various questions I have had over the months I have been looking for a 996. Last week I brought home a manual arctic silver/graphite grey C4S , with a sunroof delete. I'm pleased as punch with it! I had a PPI and bore scope done at Brookspeed (Hampshire), which found only a few issues. Mainly they were bits of corrosion to keep an eye on or take care of proactively. The scope came up clean with only some minor marks on cylinders 2 and 6. I managed to get hold of a 95K example that had had the following work done in the last couple of years: clutch, IMS/RMS (9e), front sus refresh (shocks, rods etc), rads, ac condensers, protector bumper grill, all brake lines replaced, all discs/pads, battery. I still have much to be getting on with though, including: Top Gear exhaust (want to go and listen to mild vs sport one) Fit a carplay double din head unit. Bose MOST will make this trickier Fit a low temp thermostat Fix the squeaky spoiler deployment. Refurbish headlight glass Replace interiors bulbs with LEDs Possibly upgrade front lights with LEDs Source original graphite grey porsche mats Refurbish interior (dye carpets back to factory grey) Refurbish seats (fill cracks and re-dye seats back to factory grey) Maybe add some interior aluminium bits Maybe get centre console re-sprayed Looking forward to the summer

Nice one- sounds like you've done well - Welcome to the wide-body club! :thumb: Headlight lenses are a good project. Don't skimp on good quality sanding pads and clean/change them frequently. Why do you need to dye the carpets... are they stained/faded?

Yeah, they're faded in places. I will give a really thorough clean/detail first and see how they end up. But having looked at some vids of folks re-dying carpets, I think it can tidy up an aged interior significantly. I was on the fence about this car because I only wanted a black (or metropole) interior, but in the end the car was such a good example (and price) I just went for it. So now I'm embracing the graphite grey, and intending to bring the interior back to its original colour and condition. With maybe a bit of aluminium for contrast.

I had a graphite interior in my first 4S... I liked it actually. More airy than the darker colours, came up beautifully with a deep clean of the leather, especially the steering wheel. It was enhanced by painting the centre console body colour, and I fitted carbon gearknob and handbrake (before Porsche put the price up to ££££) With a grey interior, a light charcoal alcantara gearknob and wheel would look good...

Congrats, the C4S is one of the best 911s in recent years. The first 911 I bought and the one that got away. Enjoy, you've got a beast of a car.

Well done. Picked up my black C4S on Saturday and well pleased. 40k miles, IMS done, poly bush suspension and just generally excellent. First big drive out Sunday too get to know it, and came back even happier. Thinking about car lay too, but like the stock look double head unit. Enjoy the experience !

"IMS done" means very little, it's just a sales trick new buyers fall for. :hand: The squeaky rear spoiler can be sorted in seconds with a can of WD40 or spray grease on the pivot points.

Thanks Alex, I'll give the WD40 a go. Regarding the IMS – I wasn't so interested in it being done (since they're often done when they don't need to be) but rather I was more concerned it was done properly if it had been done. This one was done at 9e; I looked up the invoice and I spoke to Ken about it on the phone. That put my mind at ease that it was done properly at least.

Right oh, list of planned jobs sounds good, keep us updated and preferably with lots of pics (before and after). Enjoy in good health! :thumb:

The only way to do it properly is during an engine rebuild. Which if it has - you have a top car there :thumbs:

Welcome to the 4S club - I'm biased but an excellent choice! Your list of improvements looks similar to my own which I've been working through. I've already tackled the Car Play installation; I also have Bose and MOST and found that it's a bit more complicated and expensive but not impossible. It's a worthwhile upgrade over the standard PCM2 unit which is very dated and if you choose the right unit it still looks OEM. Good luck!

Have you got more details on the car play upgrade / what was involved ? Definitely on my list to do

I chose to fit a Pioneer SPH-DA120 as I felt it had the features I wanted and integrated nicely in to the 996 interior retaining the OEM look. In addition to the head unit you need a fascia fitting kit to physically fit it into the dash board and three wiring adapters. I used the following parts which I purchased online from Dynamic Sounds: Connects2 CT23P002 Porsche 911 (TYP996) Double Din Stereo Fascia Fitting Panel Kit Connects2 CTSPO003.2 Steering and Fibre Optic Amplifier Adapter (Porsche 996) CT27AA17 Fakra to DIN Aerial adaptor GPS aerial adaptor (bought this off eBay – I can't remember the exact one) https://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/ The fascia kit above allows the cup holders to be retained and the plastic finish matches the rest of the centre console very well. The CTSPO003.2 interface was originally intended to enable steering wheel controls to work in a Cayenne but you can use just the fibre optic adapter part to interface between the Pioneer head unit and Bose Amp which means that you can keep the original Bose amp and speakers. If I remember correctly I had to modify the wiring slightly to provide a switched ignition live which I took directly from the fuse box although I think that others have taken it from the AC controls. I also earthed the handbrake wire so that the head unit allows the keyboard to be used without the handbrake being on; my car is a Tip so I never apply the handbrake!

Looks a great job @Steve B It actually looks more up to date than a 997 with pcm! I have a single din Kenwood headunit which only works with ignition on... did you manage to wire yours up so that the stereo can be used when the key is in the acc setting, rather than only with ignition on? I'm sure my old car with the OE allowed me to use the stereo without the key at all if I turned it on, though it would switch off when the key was removed.