997.1 GT3 Manual - Mods ? - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

New owner of one of these GT3s. Love it so far. Where do I start, looks, Steering feel , suspension, Size, 8400rpm…yes that engine. Anyway, it is an old car now so there must be a choice of worthwhile mods out there. Keen to hear them. Thank you in advance.

Lovely. I'd get comfortable with it first then decide what aspect of it you'd like yo improve. The possibilities are endless. Many track dray drivers upsize the front tyres to Cup 2 245 35 19 tyres for better turn in In the unlikely event you blow up your engine you can go upgrade to 3.8 but makes barely any difference to fun levels unless you're racing them. TracTive coil overs popular and make you faster as do passive coil overs but TracTive do rob you of a little front end feel on initial turn in. Use it and get lots of trackdays in then decide as parts wear out.

Yes good advice. 9e enhanced a Turbo S I owned when in the UK. These included Exhaust & Gear shifter improvements amongst others. The GT3 even as standard sounds excellent but we can’t help ourselves looking on YouTube these days I see Dundon do an exhaust and power upgrade package. Maybe Kline which i still have on the Turbo.

1. Take it to CofG for full suspension assessment - if OK, have them geo it. If not, replace parts as required and then geo. Can transform the car. 2. Check diff and if plates worn (likely) upgrade to cup spec if tracking. If just for road, renew standard ones. 3. If tracking consider upgrading front discs and pads eg Alcon / PFC. Leave rears standard. 4. Leave exhaust alone. 5. Drive as much as you can.

Good advice above. I’d go updated pads, fluid, hoses and a geo. Then drive the wheels off it…

Discombobulate said: 1. Take it to CofG for full suspension assessment - if OK, have them geo it. If not, replace parts as required and then geo. Can transform the car. 2. Check diff and if plates worn (likely) upgrade to cup spec if tracking. If just for road, renew standard ones. 3. If tracking consider upgrading front discs and pads eg Alcon / PFC. Leave rears standard. 4. Leave exhaust alone. 5. Drive as much as you can. 3. Does this still apply if you go two piece/giro or should you do front and back? Mine is on Ohlins R&T, I've never driven a stock GT3 so no comparison but it's very planted.

shantybeater said: 3. Does this still apply if you go two piece/giro or should you do front and back? Mine is on Ohlins R&T, I've never driven a stock GT3 so no comparison but it's very planted. I would say yes, it still applies, but others may comment. I also ran a well tracked 996.2 GT3 for few years and everyone who worked on it - from Neil Garner and CoG to Fearnsport - said leave the rears standard. I did upgrade fronts to PFC (very dusty they were too). Suspension was KWv3. And diff had cup plates. Never once felt I needed better rear brakes. More talent? Yes.

I'd de-wing it

Not in the market now but hopefully in the future... A potential preventative modification - Do the coolant pipes need attention on these? Wouldn't fancy a failure on track, potentially damaging the engine and causing chaos in my wake. I followed a 997.1 Turbo that blew it's coolant pipes off through Tiergarten which is essentially the same Mezger engine?

Owning a stock 7.2 GT3, the only thing - beyond adjusting geo - I'd contemplate in earnest is replacing PASM suspensions with passive KW Clubsport items.

As it's your first GT3 and you're in Australia, I'd be doing absolutely nothing to it. Any mods will have minimal benefit and be hugely expensive, as well as probably hurting the value of what is an extremely expensive car in Oz. They are amazingly good out of the box. Take it on as many track days as you can, get tuition and you'll spend a long time indeed trying to unlock its potential. Driving mod 1 - use 2nd gear for overtaking on country roads. It's good for about 130kph. 3rd gear will feel a little lacklustre until 100kph+ Driving mod 2 - learn how to trail brake if you're not already familiar. Otherwise the car will feel understeery and underwhelming. Enjoy!

The neat thing about the car is there's a rather wide range of mods depending on how much you're tempted to chuck at the car and just what kind of difference you're looking to make..... Would say new diff ramps and cup plates are the thing I'd do first, particularly if any kind of use (even light) on track is being considered. After that, probably suspension (take your pick based on cost) but you'll want to have someone who is familiar with that side of things to get a good combination for your use. Then probably upgraded brakes (2 piece racing is good, ST even better but a tad pricey), lighter rims, side muffler deletes (saves rather a lot of weight and doesn't cook your rear tyres) all the way up to shorter ratios (with longer 6th) and engine capacity increase (Manthey will do you a 4.2 should sir so wish.....).....

Thanks for the great replies. It came with new disks and yellow pads, possibly GT2.. Any particular exhaust that works well or not worth the change from standard? Driveline I find noticeably clunky particularly when cold…maybe connected to comment on Diff mods? Maybe that’s part of that machine like feel which gives it its character. The use I plan is mainly spirited Country road driving, occasional track day / short Hillclimbs. But who knows, I guess with a GT3 it could be very tempting. What a car so far. First drive was approx 11hrs back from Sydney to Queensland, 1100kms in 1 stint.

Minor coolant leak so while manifold and other bits stripped I am pinning coolant lines and replacing rubbers,pipes,seals etc. Anything else worth doing while we are in the midst?

Mc F said: Thanks for the great replies. ... Driveline I find noticeably clunky particularly when cold…maybe connected to comment on Diff mods? Maybe that’s part of that machine like feel which gives it its character. ... Indeed, this is a feature and not a bug of 997 GT3s

The plastic bushes in the shifter are a bit of a weak point and contribute to the difficulty shifting when cold. If you’re looking for a nice mod that only takes an hour or two, upgrade the bushes in the shifter with aluminium ones from Phenix Engineering, or buy the Function First kit. They make the shifter much better even when cold, so it’s not as notchy (it’s still a little stiff when cold but more direct). Possibly the cables being removed and refitted to do this job makes as much of a difference, but it definitely all works.

Jefferson Steelflex said: The plastic bushes in the shifter are a bit of a weak point and contribute to the difficulty shifting when cold. If you’re looking for a nice mod that only takes an hour or two, upgrade the bushes in the shifter with aluminium ones from Phenix Engineering, or buy the Function First kit. They make the shifter much better even when cold, so it’s not as notchy (it’s still a little stiff when cold but more direct). Possibly the cables being removed and refitted to do this job makes as much of a difference, but it definitely all works. I'd firstly check if it's got a Short Shift ... Lift the boot around the shifter and look for the part number sticker in there... If it's a short shifter, it'll make it worse cold.

Andyoz said: I'd firstly check if it's got a Short Shift ... Lift the boot around the shifter and look for the part number sticker in there... If it's a short shifter, it'll make it worse cold. A gt3 wouldn't have the short shift kit? That was only on the other 997s I thought.

isaldiri said: Andyoz said: I'd firstly check if it's got a Short Shift ... Lift the boot around the shifter and look for the part number sticker in there... If it's a short shifter, it'll make it worse cold. A gt3 wouldn't have the short shift kit? That was only on the other 997s I thought. That's interesting. I just mentioned it from my experience of a 997 Short Shift being fitted to 996 GT3 and thought 997 GT3 might see the same mod (which I'm no fan of)

Andyoz said: That's interesting. I just mentioned it from my experience of a 997 Short Shift being fitted to 996 GT3 and thought 997 GT3 might see the same mod (which I'm no fan of) The 6gt3 as standard ime has a (far) neater shift than the 7gt3 which is a good bit more clunky. Didn't realise the 997 short shift kit could be retrofitted to the 6gt3 tbh!

isaldiri said: Andyoz said: That's interesting. I just mentioned it from my experience of a 997 Short Shift being fitted to 996 GT3 and thought 997 GT3 might see the same mod (which I'm no fan of) The 6gt3 as standard ime has a (far) neater shift than the 7gt3 which is a good bit more clunky. Didn't realise the 997 short shift kit could be retrofitted to the 6gt3 tbh! Yes, I pulled one out of my 996 GT3 and fitted a 997.2 GT3 shifter with the metal bushings. The stock 997 GT3 shifter is about 10% shorter than stock 996 GT3 shifter and lots (including me) find it just right yet still not a synchros killer

Jefferson Steelflex said: The plastic bushes in the shifter are a bit of a weak point and contribute to the difficulty shifting when cold. ... I thought I had read that one of the differences in a GT3 vs Carrera is that the gear lever bushes are metal? Mine has always made a metallic 'clink' sound when changing gear.

braddo said: I thought I had read that one of the differences in a GT3 vs Carrera is that the gear lever bushes are metal? Mine has always made a metallic 'clink' sound when changing gear. Metal in the Gen 2, albeit metal with plastic inners so still not ideal. Gen 1 was just a shorter throw but overall same components as the Carrera. Used to be common to upgrade to the Gen 2 shifter until Porsche started raising the price. Now an expensive upgrade hence aftermarket options far better. Edited by Jefferson Steelflex on Tuesday 18th July 23:08

Andyoz said: isaldiri said: Andyoz said: That's interesting. I just mentioned it from my experience of a 997 Short Shift being fitted to 996 GT3 and thought 997 GT3 might see the same mod (which I'm no fan of) The 6gt3 as standard ime has a (far) neater shift than the 7gt3 which is a good bit more clunky. Didn't realise the 997 short shift kit could be retrofitted to the 6gt3 tbh! Yes, I pulled one out of my 996 GT3 and fitted a 997.2 GT3 shifter with the metal bushings. The stock 997 GT3 shifter is about 10% shorter than stock 996 GT3 shifter and lots (including me) find it just right yet still not a synchros killer I’ve got a 7.2rs shifter in my 6gt3 which further improves the great 996 experience. Also the net effect is a better shifting experience than a 7.2rs. So not sure what it is about the 6gt3 hardware that makes shifting better.

LaSource said: So not sure what it is about the 6gt3 hardware that makes shifting better. TBF I think the 'boxes can vary a bit from car to car of the same series and generation anyway. It's like some complain of heavy clutch, but my 997.1 GT3 does not have that, either before, or now with the LWFW setup. OP, you are heading down a rabbit hole, toward a minefield. Enjoy. Do what bring you joy. Pretty much what everyone else said and make sure the diff is working correctly.

LaSource said: I’ve got a 7.2rs shifter in my 6gt3 which further improves the great 996 experience. Also the net effect is a better shifting experience than a 7.2rs. So not sure what it is about the 6gt3 hardware that makes shifting better. Same here Although with the cost of that 7.2RS shifter, which is just a stock shifter with two metal bushes, I'd go with the Function First kit (20% in Nov usually)