My new '99 C2 Coupe Track Car

So I was slowly turning my 99 C2 daily driver into a track car. It was time to add all of the safety stuff but I couldnt help but feel that as soon as I added a roll bar, it would lose a lot of its DD appeal. From there the next step was stiffer suspension, aero kit, lighter weight etc. But I would be out a ton of money and didn't even know if I would like it once it was done. So when I saw this car on RL classifieds, I jumped on it. Well then I changed my mind, backed out, jumped back in... but regardless, it's now mine. So my 12yo son and I drove out to Princeton Jct, New Jersey to pick it up. It was a long drive but we had a lot of fun. So here it is! Highlights include Full roll cage, Evo seats, 2017 harnesses, Fire suppression Moton club sport 2-way remotes Eibach springs 800#F/1000#R GT3 sways, LCAs, adjustable drop links, toe links, dogbones TRG camber plates MKII aero kit Vinyl striping CDS data system with Amb transponder Momo quick release hub and wheel B&M SSK New engine dealer installed in '06 with 8k track miles on it X51 oiling kit and baffle Fabspeed performance system (intake, muffler bypass, cat delete, headers) Under drive puller with AC delete Quaife LSD I believe it also has a tune as there is no CEL from the cat delete Purchase price $30k And some pics!

Sweet! You def got a track car. Good buy, I don't think you could've replicated it for the amount you paid. You should get the Elephant Racing X brace for it.

what a steal of a deal...congrats!

Awesome machine. The exterior art is kind of cool for a track specific build imho. enjoy! love this shot

wow - #2 i see an addiction happening

Thanks guys! @Alpine, did you really just make the first mod suggestion? You are evil, but of course I'll check it out!

And a 12-pack cooler in the frunk for after-track festivities!

Very cool..!! Have a good, fast time!!

Very nice and congrats- Enjoy that thing!

Wow! Very cool. Let's see some track vid's. It just needs the Rennline tow hook up front for a perfect look.

Awesome injou and have fun.

Ya the Rennline tow hooks are definitely the best looking.... First Autocross on Saturday then off to Hallet the following Friday. Will post some video after that. Dropped the pan to make sure it really had an X51 baffle and see what all was in there. Some specs of metal but no flakes or plastic bits. Will get a UOA as well. I need to post the DME when I get a chance. Sadly by far the worst I've seen but I'm guessing it has to do with the tune and changing the rev limiter. Wost case scenario I already have a rebuild scheduled for next year but this one seems to be the better of the two engines.

Is that a KrazyK special oil baffle? Is that really what the X51 looks like? Looks like something cobbled together from HomeDepot!

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Them's fightin words! Like nuclear weapons of choice fightin words. No, that's what it looks like. And my understanding is most of the deep sump kits use the same baffle. Here is the original baffle out of my other one. I was surprised it was so beefy but apparently it's more of a design flaw issue.

Fantastic car! That racing decal is very late 90s, almost too good to remove.

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Yeah I'd seen the normal one before as well as the deep sump retrofits, that's the first X51 I've seen though. Still say it looks cobbled together

Nice car Slakker...good luck with her. Do you plan to do SP996 racing and/or TT or just AX and DE? Also, give us your impressions of the car once you get some seat time. I've toyed with the idea of SP 996 but I don't really have the spare time.

Just DE and AX for now. It has a log book and is ready to go for H class. But I think running SP 996 one day would be really cool.

I'm jealous! Nice new toy!

Oh, great. First Vandersmith loading his "track" car to the hilt and now you. LOL. J/K. I'm jealous is all. BTW, two small flaps are the only real thing that separates the X51 from the stock. One maybe able to argue the hinged door aspect too but I personally don't think that's as a critical difference than the two additional flaps of the x51 baffle.

Ya, I used to think Vandersmith's thread was awesome. Now I think it should have some kind of warning stating that modding and tracking has proven to be addictive and potentially fatal to your budget. But damn it's fun!

Sweet! Which 996 variant will you pick up next? Seems like you need a C4 to use as your winter DD...

Great car for track. Would be nearly impossible to register it here due to smog issues. Happy polluting!!!

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Oklahoma has become incredibly progressive over the last 20 years. But the fact that we require NO inspection or emissions testing is one of the most bassackwards redneck things I can think of when it comes to cars. FWIW, I believe the license plate I put on it is the first it has seen since 2006.

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Not surprising considering most of your redneck peeps in office probably are muscle car enthusiast themselves. They're the ones that probably passed the no inspection/emmission rule.

The DME. This was the one negative this car had. But it was a dedicated track car so not unexpected. I know you hear of GT3s with 0 range 1s but those are the guys more concerned with protecting their investment than lap times. I'm assuming that the tune upped the rev limiter and that's the root of the mechanicals. If they were "money shifts" I don't think it would still be running.

Now I see why I couldn't get the guy to bargain much on these. They are like new! I don't really want the weight but the Fabspeed Super Cups will allow me to drive to AutoX without too much attention. I can always pull them back off at some point if I'm trying to shave 10ths.

Congrats on the new car! It looks like there is more room for modification in the future too. So that should keep you busy.

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I agree. Money shifts scare the hell out of me. One reason I love PDK.

Slakker, Congrats on the new track toy. It looks like fun! If you ever get to Ohio let me know, Mid-Ohio, Nelsons, Pitt Race are my home tracks.

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Thanks! While I'd love to say this is the last mod for awhile, I think I've figured out I enjoy tinkering on them as much if not more than tracking them. Going to drop in an IPD plenum while replacing the AOS next week. Will do! Mid-Ohio is on my short list of tracks to go to.

Slakker, nice buy! Welcome to the Never-ending-track-mods Club but you have a great start! I also use my track car for AX and DEs only. Doing a complete suspension upgrade now.

slakker...Since we have the same wheels, may I ask your tire size? I need to get rid of my 265 Rears soon and want atleast 285's

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Ok so actually have 5 sets of wheels, lol. My daily drivers are pilot super sports in standard 225f/265r which I absolutely love. For track, I have NT01s 245F/315R that work amazing. This car came with a set of hankook z214s in 245F/275R that the PO swears will blow away the NT01s in a 315. Spec 996 runs 275 in the rear as well. Since I'm trailering to the track next Friday, my plan is to take the z214s and nt01s and see which ones feel better. 315 gives you more contact patch but I think 275 may have a little better balance.

I'm late to your party, congrats on your new track car. Can't wait to see how the car is set up for you, and handles with different brand tires. Hope you'll do some videos of your driving as well.

Nice! Congrats! Looks like a beast! Q: do you have your drop links mounted to the pinch bolts? Or do you have the longer tarett type drop links? The reason I ask is you have a lot of front wheel lift, which an be a symptom of short drop links. I had that on my old 996 and we corrected it with longer drops. -td

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I'm assuming with the Motons, they are mounted to the shock body. Slakker, is my guess right?

Looks like pinch bolt. What's the other way to do it?

The tarett extended drop links

These are their own kind of challenge trying to put back on. Even if I pull the exhaust back off on down the road these will probably get to stay. Decided to lower the engine to get more room but thanks to this little guy you have to partially drop the sway bar to do it. Hmmmm. I hope he's really doing some good.

My tips are looking a little sad by comparison.

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FWIW, the short drop links result in bad suspension geometry. When you are in hard turns, the drop links are bound up and actually tend to lift the inside wheel. At first I though my old car had such a stiff suspension that it was just badassness going on. Come to find out from the spec boxster folks that it was just a setup error. 4 wheels on the ground is generally better. -td

So are you just extending them out and running the sway bar closer to the LCA? Are you worried about pre loading at all or just length?

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That's the preferred way. All track cars should technically have the end links mounted to the shock bodies. All of Porsche Cup/GT3 cars are setup this way. Same for BMW's as well. As for preloading, the more your car is lowered, the longer you have to extend your end links to prevent any kind of pre-load. You basically wanna make sure your sway bar sits flat like stock and that there is no load on the end links(easy way is to be able to move the bolt out of the hole easily by hand). Slakker, are you sure your Moton's are mounted correctly to the spindle? It seems to be mounted further up than what I remember seeing the last time I saw one. I could be wrong since it's been awhile though.

OK, that makes senses. I'll adjust them out and check the loading for now and then look to upgrade drop links on down the line.... Nothing stood out on the install but I'll double check when I'm replacing the front rotors this weekend.

Why would the end links pre load the suspension? Slakker the end links are adjustable to take any pre load out during corner balancing. If you made each one equal length longer nothing really changes. Provided there is clearance the entire sway bar rotates, shouldn't flex. If you change the length on only one than there will be some load on one side and slack on the other. I could see how a major change (like doubling the length by moving the mounting point) effects wheel rate but I'd try it just like it is. Probably paid for alignment and corner balance already when the PO installed it. If there's a problem than address it after driving it. My .02

It came with the alignment and corner balance readings. Didn't think about messing that up. Coilover looks installed properly, going to rock what I got.

Challenging first day at AutoX today. Ours is at a sheriff training course so it's more like a mini track than a parking lot cone course. Since I couldn't get the NT01s to work I had to use the Hankooc z214s. They did better than expected but on a 2 min course with 20 mins between laps they always felt better at the end of the run than the beginning. I definitely prefer the Nt01 for that setup. Struggled with the B&M SSK today and missed getting it into gear several times. The numeric is so precise it has spoiled me and will need to get swapped over to this car. That or I just need to slow down and learn this one better. Throttle pedal came loose on the one timed run we were doing and only partially worked so that was annoying. With missed gears I and pedal issues I was about 12 secs off the leader (modded 991 TTS) All that being said, the car was awesome. The extra ~25 rwhp and LSD was really noticeable accelerating out of turns. The stiffness of the suspension and chassis made it feel rock solid and super responsive. Braking was good and without issue. If the tires would have been just a little more predictable I could have pushed it a bit harder. But all in all, it was a great start to learning the car. Next up is Hallet on Friday. It should be a much better gauge for how we are going to get along.

It was a good night. Got a new AOS installed, IPD Plenum, and the coolant drained. First time I did the AOS on the silver car it took about 20 hours including the water pump and motor mounts. This time it took 6. It would've taken less but the back manifold bolt got me this time trying to get it back in. Next up, front rotors, adjustable thrust arm bushings, break fluid flush, and an alignment.

I couldn't be more jealous if I tried

Lol. I'm not sure it's worth that but I am certainly getting to live my dream. I had no idea I'd ever get a chance to do any of this.

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A little bit of trivia for you that I spotted on the DME readout. See that 65535 Range1's?...65535 happens to be (2^16)-1...what that means is that Bosch uses a 16bit binary counter to store this value, and your DME is maxed at the limit, it can't count any higher. Not suggesting this should give you heart ache!, just thought it was an interesting observation. I suspect you will never see that value change again.

Wow. That's a really good catch. Now that you say that, that number is ingrained into my head. I think it's an old hard drive setup value back from the DOS days but I can't remember for sure.

A brief recap of items completed and new issues that have been introduced and need sorting out. Since purchase I have: -Replaced the AOS -Replaced the Water Pump -Changed coolant -Magnetic drain plug -Spin on filter adapter -Checked oil pan for debris (nothing significant) -Switched to JG XP9 -Installed IPD Plenum (frivolous, but will be interested to pull a dyno on it) -Installed Fabspeed super cup mufflers (previously muffler bypass, added 30lbs -Replaced throttle cable -Replaced front rotors w/ sebro slotted -installed front adjustable thrust arm bushing to decrease caster and make room for my NT01s. While trying to change the wheel carrier last minute due to a worn wheel bearing, I introduced the following issues that may have impacted the handling of the car: -ABS hooked up incorrectly -switched to non GT3 LCA on right rear (original was seized in wheel carrier) -Rear driver wheel was out of alignment -In addition, I did not bed in the new rotors So now adding to the to the above list: -replace LR sub frame Parts are ordered and looking forward to getting everything back together correctly. Will be driving the silver car at AutoX and track until this one is sorted, tested, and feeling totally awesome again.

Ya sure been a busy beaver with that car!

It definitely seems like it but it's been fun. One more round and hopefully I can button it up for awhile.

Might want to add brake lines to the list. In your other pics they look OE. I'd be inclined to change brake lines on a 15y/o street car, on a track car every 2yrs.

Good catch. Ya, I was surprised that they are original. I hadn't considered that they were a maintenance item though. I have a set of ECS stainless on my shelf from two failed attempts on my silver car (need to find a GOOD flare wrench.) I'll add that to the list and get them swapped.

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Just to verify, the SuperCups were over 15# per side?

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No,that number includes having to add back on the muffler brackets, tips and the sleeve fittings from cat to muffler. The bypass just had a u-bolt clamp. The super cups were 9# per side and then the brackets 4# and the sleeves added another 1# per side. The tips accounted for the rest but I think they were about equal to the bypass system. So it may have been 28# total.

Gotcha, just wanted to make sure as that number caught me off guard. Someone really should market a lightweight muffler brackets, especially those that have lighter aftermarket mufflers. It just seems total overkill for lighter applications IMO.

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But.... if it's thick enough to stop a .38 slug you can use the ever popular "bulletproof" when describing your 996

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I agree. I thought I saw a quick release bracket somewhere that might have been lighter but I couldn't find it when I went to look for it again. May have been my imagination though. Bulletproof, nothing to lose, fire away fire away.

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My cars lines were seized when I bought it. It took heat and I had to replace all the short hardlines between the calipers and flex lines. They are cheap but special order IIRC.

Hmmm.... I don't think the adhesion strength of superglue is going to be enough for this one.

Definitely more of a JB weld situation. Sorry man. I'm sure you source a used subframe cheap.

$93 with 37k miles on it.

Wow, did you just discover that or did you feel/hear a bump or a knock?

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I did it going off track. When I came back, it was really obvious something was wrong. When turning to the right, you could hear and feel that wheel separating from the body. When I saw what I did, I assumed it was a one piece frame and that I was looking at 6-8k repair bill. Turned out to be a really cheap lesson about getting my car well sorted before taking it to the track.

Good time to get rid of the rubber bushings. Just did mine. Not a big deal but you do need a press.

Nice work! Going to save bushings for a winter project when I can do them all.

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What happened?

Still not sure but I've got ABS fixed (also had brake pad sensor warning so it wasn't tough), Gt3 LCA back on with new ball joint section, alignment scheduled for Wed, and I will bed the crap out of the new front rotors. It's shotgun troubleshooting but my gut says the alignment combined with the braking issues were why the car felt so loose and wouldn't stop. The only other variable was running the NT01s instead of z214s with 25 heat cycles on them but that should have been about a wash.

Does that car have factory traction control? The reason I ask is mine does and I've had abs issues in all the ways I've tried to disable it. So far the only way the brakes have felt right are with the abs power completely disconnected (but than no abs) or leaving the traction control systems connected (but than it still kicks in even if the switch is off).

No traction control on either of mine so luckily I haven't had to fight that issue. The ABS usually feels pretty good except when I have the brake pad wear sensor plugged into it. I try and stay just on the verge of it kicking in but when it does I can't tell any loss in the rate of deceleration.

track day, Track Day, TRACK DAY!

have fun, Have Fun, HAVE FUN! be safe, Be Safe, BE SAFE!

Will do! Since I went out after 1 lap last time my goal is to make it two laps today! 6 - 30min sessions on a 3.1mile track. Should be able to get all I want and then some today.

6 30 min sessions? Sounds like a blast! Have fun! Keep the shiny side up.

It was a lot of fun. Finished up wishing there was just one more session. Lol. Car felt really really good. I was super careful first session then just slowly added a little more throttle and brake each time out. By the last session I was starting to really get a feel for it and slide it around a little better. It's crazy how different it feels from my silver one. In my head I thought it would feel the same but with more grip. But it's a totally different car. I ran both the NT01s and the worn out Hankook z214s (about 30 heat cycles) and the z214s definitely felt better. They lacked the audible feedback of the NT01s but they gripped well and were very predictable once I was used to them. The two times they tried to get out from underneath me I just squeezed the throttle down, as recommended, and the car straightened right back up. My goal is to now turn this car into a SPEC996 and be racing it by next spring. I got to see one built by Innovation Motorsports while I was down there yesterday. It was awesome but very intimidating. Mentally I was thinking swap the suspension and wing, put it on a diet, and I'd be good to go. What I underestimated is how big of a diet is required to get there. There is a lot of work to be done and they did a beautiful job on it. I have no idea if I can pull it off but I'm going to give it a shot.

Sounds like fun, both the driving and the conversion to Spec. Wish I was closer, it could be a fun project.

Wow you have been busy, car looks great especially with the British Airways Livery!!!

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Brilliant!

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You should seek some sponsorship from them.

Even more Brilliant! It's current sponsor is all of the upgrades on the silver car. Lol. Did you know a bolt in roll cage isn't really a roll cage and shouldn't be used for racing? Or at least that's what I've basically been told by multiple trusted sources. That a welded cage is much safer and offers much better rigidity and performance. Well crap it's always something. So here's the plan. Innovative Autosports does a beautiful job on full SP996 conversions so I'm going to have them build the cage. They have to pull the roof and front and back glass to do it right so they I'm going to have them replace the roof with a Spec compliant sunroof delete and the back glass with lexan. I wasn't wanting to let them have all the fun so they've given me detailed instructions on how strip the rest of the interior prior to bringing it to them. I will do all of the AC delete, door and radio wiring removal all the way back to the connector, and strip the tar sound proofing. I'll still let them relocate the alarm module to under neath the dash and spot weld drill out a few extra pieces from the back seat. And oh, by the way, if I can have it all done and down to them by Tuesday, they can finish it before Labor Day. Otherwise, I will have to wait until after race season. Guess I'm not going to be spending much time in the office the rest of this week.

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Just be sure you get the rear shocks off the silver car first!!

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Different sanctioning bodies will have different rules. Ultimately weld-in is the best but not everyone can, nor wants to remove their roofs to do it right. Some elect to do the hybrid and use bolt-in, then weld the necessary points afterwards. Would a CF roof panel be withing the spec996 rules? If you're going to be removing the roof anyways, this could be an option assuming it is still rules compliant.

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It's specifically excluded or I'd probably do it. I don't know the exact weight but I think the Gt3 skins are pretty light as well. Innovative's builds have been coming in around 2600-2650 lbs. Class weight is 2850 with driver so the big advantage is your ballast (up to 100lbs) can be in the floorboard lowering the the center of gravity. If I can get to 2650 with full cage I'll be ecstatic.

I should be down at Hallet in September for a BMW CCA DE, all makes are usually welcome. There's a PCA DE at RPM in August that I might do too. -Jason

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Dang it. I've got a big pasture roping I'm in that weekend in Arkansas or I'd meet you out there. I don't team rope much anymore but this is a commitment I made last year. Let me know where you are going after that. Where are are you located?

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I'm located in Kansas City, MO. A bunch of us go to RPM in Iowa for their open track days on Friday's where there is no session's, $120.00 from 9am till 6pm. A group us met up there last Friday and ended up with 1 Cayman, 2 997's and 6 M3's and 1 e30. The track GM came over and thanked us. Lol Maybe you can make the DE at Hallet in September? -Jason

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I can definitely attest that a roll cage does not need to be welded to work, the regulations when I was rallying in the UK was for "foot plates to be welded and cages bolted through these. We had one huge "off" using a pile of logs as a launch ramp which you will see. We both survived, car not so much but it did still drive. Here is a video of me (co driving) and the little Peugeot getting broken. Swansea Bay 08 - YouTube A welded cage will stiffen the shell more effectively but as with all things in life its about the detailing and how the cage interfaces with the cars structure.

That's crazy! Glad everyone lived! I think the bolt in would be fine but I want to build this out the right way and not cut any corners, especially on safety. The guy doing it does amazing work and the nice thing about SP996 is it's not an endless pit. Even if I never race, at least I have some limits now to how far I take it. And if I ever sell it, the fact that it's built right and to a standard should have value to some people. Or at least that's my justification for the day.

I guess Concord should be built right!!

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Haha! Silly blokes. I took off some of the stripes to tone it down a little which has it looking even more British Air. Ugh, lol, ugh. Now then about the diet, here's where we begin. Pulling the mufflers, brackets and getting a lightweight battery should be an easy 60-70 lbs. I'll have to work a little harder for the rest of it.

I think the stripes would work if you added more race car type decals. -Jason

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Custom weld in allows the cage to built around the drivers seating position and also adds more structural rigidity vs bolt in. Only reason to do bolt in IMO is for ease of reversing it. Obviously that's not gonna happen on this car. Exhaust, AC, radio and speakers, interior and sound proofing, lexan, SR delete, battery and passenger seat should get you pretty damn close to the weight you want. Sounds like a fun project.

Ya, we are definitely moving past the point of no return. Great info as always. Here is the starting point:

Is that your rear wiper motor I see? There's a few pounds you can remove! -Jason

I was wondering what that was. I just knew it didn't look like it belonged any longer.

Every pound adds up! -Jason

Yep!.... RPM doesn't look like to bad of a drive from OKC. I might try and make it up there this fall. Is it a pretty fun track?

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A lot of the seasoned racers turn their nose up to it, but I like it. It must be fun as I can't stop going there! Lol It has a decent straight and a few challenging turns that I'm still working on. It also has good run off so if you want to work on your late braking etc... there is very low risk of hurting you or your car. -Jason

Marching orders - Was given a list of all 54 wires going into the fuse panel. Keep the 9 yellow highlighted wires. WTF? OMFG! HFS! NWIFH! Newb safety tip, reconnect battery evey 5 wires and make sure it still starts.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Don't worry, everything is going to be fine. You're going to like the new you.... Making progess and amazingly it still starts.

Looks like it's coming along well!!!

Awesome job! You should save all the wiring and connectors just to see how much weight you shave from the harness.

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I like it . Just need to start humming this every time you get in it. British Airways Flower Duet Lakme Commercial - YouTube

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On it!

A little more progress tonight. Got everything unwrapped and pulled seat controls, window switches, and passenger door wires. Have to be done and have it to the shop in Dallas on Tues for the roll cage install.

That wiring looks like a mess to decipher! Very curious to see how much weight you can pull out of it.

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Me too. It's organized chaos though. I'm using red tape on the connectors that need to be deleted and green tape on the ones to keep. It's working well so far. After the connectors are done, I'll start working from the relay and fuse box out to see if I missed anything. I'm sure there is an easier way to do it but I'm just tugging and tracing one wire at a time.

Wow, scary picture. I heard there is about 17 lbs of non-essential wiring in our cars. What are you using to re-wrap the remaining wires? I will eventually do this project but probably an off season project.

Damn if you're going that far, might as well remove everything on the chassis and acid dip that sucker.

Slakker!!! Are you okay?! Someone **** you off??? Hahaha You're a wild man on a mission. Ha!

You know you want to, your halfway

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I don't know about acid wash but they at going to repaint the interior when they do the roll cage and roof. Might as well since it's already stripped down. That is a beautiful car. How do you like your traqmate system?

Traqmate is a good midlevel system when you use the Traqdash. It dose lap analysis well and controls the start stop of the cameras. Its biggest drawback is data input from the car, there is no can input and only 4 analog channels that are not user friendly to configure. If you want to log car data use an Aim system, but it is 3 times the price of the Traqmate.

Doesn't look like traqdash is available anymore, strange. The car came with a CDS system that quit working before I got a chance to really use it. They want $1250 to upgrade it and I'm just not sure it's worth it. Truth is Harry's does pretty much everything I want. Shift light, +/- gap display using fastest lap as reference, video overlay, throttle and corner speeds. If I could hardwire the system to improve its reliability I wouldn't even be looking.

Didn't get as far as I wanted but probably got farther than I thought it could. Now off to Innovative Auto Sports for roll cage, lexan, roof and painting. They have to remove the glass and roof to do the cage so made sense to have them do those upgrades as well. I was hoping to get the doors done but ran out of time so they will do them as well. 18lbs lighter and more importantly, no extra wires and connectors in the way. Simplicity is king. And no B3, this was out of love not anger. Although the silver car is watching, petrified it's next. Actually this is the project that saved it from continuing down the mod rabbit hole to undrivability. Had a blast doing this project and learned a lot. They've promised to have it back by Labor Day but we all no how race shops and deadlines go. So crossing me fingers but not getting my hopes up.

Don't know if I'm that brave yet on removing extra wire, my luck car wouldn't start. -Jason

Nice gut job. Looks like a really big project. How did you decide what to eliminate and what not to? I still have the air bag/crash sensor box and the immobilizer box in the car. Can you ditch those? My CEL is always ON because the air bags are pulled. Have you done anything to prevent this?

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That was a huge concern. When working with the relays, fuse panel and alarm I reconnected the battery and tried to start it every 5 wires. The rest of the time I would crank it over periodically just to make sure Thankfully it started every time but if it didn't I would at least have an idea of where I went wrong. Ya, this mod has your name written all over it. Lol. I got pictures of the fuse and relay panel from Charlie at Innovative along with the alarm list below. You only need to keep the yellow wires. I did ask his permission before sharing. I asked where he go it and he said we went through the wiring diagrams and just marked every wire that wasn't necessary. Apperently in the 13 month Audi school they devote 8 weeks to taking a car and tracing out every single wire and what it's purpose is. I thought that was kind of cool. I'm not sure what to do about the airbag light other than ignore it. Meeting Charlie was really cool. I can see by everyone speaks so highly of him in this region. He's a younger guy, probably 30's, extremely knowledgable about SP996 and SPBs and known for building (and driving) the fastest cars around. He highly recommended accusumps and liked using the Motorsport AOS's. He even has the brackets for mounting on the 996.1. Some other interesting things was he developed a special tow hook that weighs less than 2lbs but allows you to delete over 20lbs of bumper reinforcements used to support the traditional tow hooks. Other items of interest are his approach to using lightweight bike brake handles for doors (see below) and he told me where to buy Aesco LWFWs for $636. I haven't bought one yet but it is part of the spec so when I do (for my track car only) I hope Jake will still talk to me.

Do you have a link for threads/documentation for converting to a mechanical door handle like that? I would be interested in making some small billet mechanisms that utilize a nylon strap like the RS door pulls. It would be a lot more elegant than a brake handle.

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Remove the bulb from the back.

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Now that is brilliant! Come to think of it though, I'm pretty sure I no longer have a wire going to that indicator any more.

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Slakker, thanks for the info! So only keep the yellow highlighted wires, it makes sense when you look at the descriptions. Thanks for the tip on turning over the car over while you are going through this process too. This project is at least a year out for me. Immediate need for me is a windshield replacement before next weekend's track event. It is a PIA job but doing it myself again and going with the polycarbonate this time. Hopefully they will last longer.

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This is my current stage in life. Awesome couple of builds you have going. Subbed for more.

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If the wiring for the airbag still exists, you can install a resistor inline to mimic the resistance of the airbag - folks who want a racing wheel but want the passenger SRS to remain intact use this trick. I don't think this applies to Slakker's car at this point.

I made it by to visit last week. It looked pretty sad. It's supposed to be done a week from Wed which includes completing the roll cage, installing the GT3 roof, painting the interior and new roof, installation of Lexan front and rear window with bracing, and cutting the dash to fit. I've got two shelves full of parts just waiting for it to come home.

Are you going to run it in PCA club racing? If you are the only class that rear Lexan glass is legal is Spec 996. If running in H leave the stock glass in.

I'm going to be mostly running it in a local association where I'll be classed a loose SCCA GT2 and racing against 996 cup cars and some insane M3's. So I'm building in compliance with PCA GTB1 to get it as quick as I can within reason. For PCA events, that puts me in that same run group as the SP996s (which are more prevalent than H in this region) and let's me stick with the Moton clubsports that came with the car for now. GTB1 also lets me cut an additional 200lbs over SP996 and 400lbs over H. If I decide to get heavily into PCA I'll probably back it off to SP996 if I can't hang with the Caymans.

Gettin' serious! I might come down to Hallett sometime in November for one of their open track days. -Jason

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Thank god I'm not this far down the slippery slope! Can't wait to see the finished product.

996,s are not competitive in GTB1, I have not seen a 996 in gtb1 the last 2 years. You are also looking at serious weight reduction to get it to 2650. Carbon doors fenders and hood are a must. As an example my 996 running in H is about as striped as you can get it and it weighs in at 2800 dry. That puts me at 3080 with fuel, driver and cool suit . To get it to Sp996 weight I would loose the passenger seat, install a lightweight battery, rear Lexan glass and remove the rear bumper support. This would put it at 2950 with fuel and driver so I would have to get creative to lose the extra 100 pounds weight. To loose another 200 pounds to get it to gtb1 weight at 2650 with driver would be a monumental task and very expensive. As far as being competitive in gtb1, the fastest Caymans are running 2:25 second laps at Road America. The fastest Sp996's are running 2:31 and the H cars are running 2:33's Prepping a 996 to Gtb1 might get it below 2:30 but it would be as expensive as building a Cayman.

Truthfully my main goal is to maximize this cars performance, within reason. I have to pay attention to PCA for resale value and because I eventually would like to run in a few events. But I have GT4's GT3s and Lamborghini's to take down in a private track group I'm in and will have plenty of fun running in the local association for now. But I have to think a GTB1 prepped 996 will gain more than a second on an SP996. Compared to the H, the SP996 has better aero, underprice pulley, and 200lbs. H has better shocks, better tires, solid bushings, and more aggressive alignment. GTB1 has all of the above, plus racing slicks, 200 lbs lighter, electric steering pump, and bigger brakes. As far as weight, I started at 3000lbs with a 130lbs of bolt in roll cage (including reinforcement) and only the carpet, back seats and door panels removed. I think I'll be able to get it under 2500lbs by the time it's all said and done. My SP996 compliant lightening includes muffler bypass, lighter roll cage, removing remaining interior, removing front and rear bumper supports, all heat and air components, completely gutting the doors to just shells, and the roof and Lexan mentioned above. I'm spending an additional $1100 on an FRP hood (11lbs compared to 9.5lbs CF), headlight delete, 3.5lbs battery, and the front Lexan. All of which should be easily reversible for SP996 when the time comes. I weigh 170lbs and don't use a cool suit (at this time) so I should be pretty close to the 2650 mark. Of course, the proof will be in the pudding.

I was wondering about your build. It looks like it is taking longer than you thought...like all track car projects. Thanks for the update.

It was supposed to be done at the shop by 9/1 so we are only running about 5 weeks overdue. grrrr. But if all goes well I'll get it back next week. Truthfully, this is why I learned to work on my pcar because nobody else seems to have the same sense of urgency for it that I do. Lol. But the guy that has it has spent hours talking to me through how to do different things, given me access to his templates for building an SP996, and gotten me some really good deals on parts. That has helped my patience and demeanor quite a bit. I would still highly recommend him at this point.

Life is good!!!!! Lots of work to do and can't wait to get cracking on it.

Lovin' the progress! -Jason

Looking good!

Nice job on the interior. Quite a lot of roll cage fabrication involved in that build. You must be excited.

14 weeks worth . They did an awesome job though. So cage, roof replaced with GT3 skin, Lexan front and rear window completed by Innovative. Going to continue with putting it back together and diet today.

Just put it up on jack stands for first time with welded cage. Front right, front left, same as usual. Lifted rear from the right side of cross bar (by sway connection) which usually means I have to lift an inch or two above right jack stand to fit left jack stand under. Even with bolt in cage. Nope, not any more. There was less than a "1/4 difference between to two sides. Talking about rigidity, holy crud.

Not sure why, but everytime I read this thread, Slakker, this comes to mind: You Tube

That's a cool video. Had never even heard about that one. The first test run was pretty accurate as I made all of 1 lap first time I took it to the track. 2nd time went much better though.

Dropping the fuel tank just to remove the heater pipes is a crazy amount of work for such little gain. But it beats having them dangling there I guess.

Great progress Slakker. Bet you can't wait to go for a test flight!!

After having it in a shop for 14 weeks I'm just happy to be working on it again. It really is my favorite part. But yes, I will be very very eager to get it back out next Friday.

I am jelly. This looks like a fun project!

Retractable tow hook, looking good! Some weight saving stats: Replace - Battery Tender Li-Iron - 40 lbs Remove: - heater hoses and estimated fluid - 9 lbs - Fast suit (like cool suit) - 10 lbs - windshield wipers - 7.5 lbs (they didn't work or would have left them) - Front bumper support 13.5lbs (add back 2lbs for retractable tow hook) - condensers and hoses - 7 lbs - Headlights - 15 lbs - Horn - 2 lbs More to come!

I bet that giant front trunk gasket would offset the tow hook weight.

Or more! Good catch. Going to keep just enough of it to cushion the new hood.

What are the weight savings of changing to lexan windows in the rear, doors, and sides versus glass? I'm not going to change my front out.... Any idea?

IIRC it's 10 lbs each front and back and like 5 lbs for quarter windows. I went Lexan front mainly because I didn't want to deal with cracked windshields.

Nose back together minus about 40 lbs. had leave the headlights as I didn't realize that the covers required a frame to be built behind it. That one will have to wait until winter along with venting the center radiator out the top of the bumper. photo222.jpg

Oh ya. photo973.jpg Replace Wing - added 2 lbs net Stock engine mounts with Wevo Semi - 2 lbs Remove Rear bumper support - 19 lbs Muffler heat shields - 5 lbs

How did you attach the bumpers without the supports behind it? -Jason

The bumper supports have no actual bumper attachment points and are just collision support. In the rear, I realized I needed the heat shield frames and just removed the shielding from them. photo839.jpg photo415.jpg

Hood took less time than I figured, aero catches took way longer. Definitely a learning curve to those little bastards. Stock hold - 31 lbs Frunk gasket - 3 lbs Fiber glass hood + 11 lbs Net savings 21 lbs FYI, for an extra 560 I could have upgraded to carbon fiber and saved another 1.5 lbs. Ha! photo668.jpg

My e36 m3 has aluminum metal bumpers behind the plastic cover. I was trying to figure out on how to delete them. I need to get my car on a diet. -Jason

Did you manage to get out on track today Slakker?

Next weekend. Test and tune on Friday and races Saturday as Sunday. I'm behind schedule so the scope keeps narrowing, but nothing major yet. Got the report back on the 10 year old Motons, The oil was black and chunky. Sounds like the rebuild will be money well spent. Should have them back Monday.

Count down to blast off then. Looks like its going to be really great fun.

There are better cars, that cost less, and perform better than a 996, but none of them have that "cool" factor. I dig it, nice job. I'm looking forward to your first updated track report

Like what? Lol. These are my favorite car in the world. For 50k, a SP996 will blow a showroom GT3 off the track. This one should be a little quicker than that, just severely hindered by lack of driver talent. Thx man! Will definitely post some video.

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The flavor of 911 is what sells the car... you can get lots of calories in a big mac meal deal for a lot less $$ than a steak dinner at a high end restaurant - but which tastes better

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+1 I've never had a car that gets thumbs up like my little black 99 C2 tracker. And it's faaast...

Especially the way you drive it! Cut aluminum plates to cover all of the holes created from stripping the interior. I'm no machinist but hopefully these will work. There are four total openings that needed covering. photo205.jpg

Immobilizer moved up under the dash, where Porsche should have located it in the first place. Ended up only having to extend 1 wire and move the ground to a different spot. I used the orange cable out of some cat5 just to keep the color consistent on the wire I extended. Attachment 1100756

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Why do you have to cover those openings Slakker? Must be hard to contain your enthusiasm for another entire week before you can go out to the track!

Mainly because that was what was recommended to me. And to keep the water out. Which his a little humorous since I have no side windows. Truthfully, I'm too nervous to be excited right now. I have changed SO much that one little mistake or loose nut can ruin the whole thing. I'm just working through my list, triple checking my work, redoing it where required, making good notes on potential issues along the way, and then final step will be to torque and paint every bolt. Once it's actually finished and I get a session or two on it without any major issues, then I think I'll relax enough to be all smiles.

Got the rear bumper cut cut for the tow hook and attached. Originally was going to use aero catch latches for the engine cover but have abandoned that idea. Not ecstatic about using the emergency release cable and having it flap around back there but it will have to do for now. Used the jacket from some #10 thhn and cut up a butt connector to make the loop. photo661.jpg photo386.jpg

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I'm not sure about that. Driver for driver and both cars on the same tire compound I think a 996gt3 should be faster. Slap the same cup wing on I'll bet my left arm it's faster. But good luck finding a gt3 for 50k anymore. It saddens me to think you could buy one for 40k all day just a few years ago.

Not quite what I was saying. The '15 year end champion SP996 can be bought for about 50k. I'll have some where around that in my build as well. At Hallet, there is '15 GT3 on PS Cup 2s that runs 1:27s. Aggressive driver, been to Porsche race school a few times and can push the car around pretty decent. The SP996s are running 1:21's. So my point was for a 1/4 of the cost, you can get a 911 that's as fast or faster than a brand new GT3 off the showroom floor.

Using posi-taps to tap into to the oil temp and throttle position sensors off of the DME. The post taps are kind of expensive but perfect for this kind of connection where you really don't want to screw it up. To trace them out, i had to take apart the DME connector which looked a lot more menacing than it really was. Just 1 screw and the carefully pry it out of the bottom of the housing. photo732.jpg

Finally got got the data and video systems done. They took forever (30+ hours). Lots of decisions, troubleshooting, fabricating (which I suck at) and dressing in. One issue included soldering the binder connectors for connecting the AIM analog inputs to the DME on the wrong pins. I quadruple checked the diagram but apparently was misreading it. Funny things happen you insert 5VDC onto DME connections. Luckily no damage was done. I also managed to bend a pin on one the cameras s video type (I think it's a proprietary version) connections and thought I was screwed. Surprisingly though is was able to bend it back excruciatingly slowly without it breaking. I got the shocks reinstalled and alignment done yesterday. All that's left is fire suppression, seats/harnesses and rear view mirror. I did not want to be finishing up on the very last day but at least the end is in sight. photo887.jpg

Decided to recharge the fire system just in case 10 years is too old. Here's pulling the lever on the bottle You Tube

Empty bottle and ruptured disc. One of the PO's failed to mention they had popped the system at some point. photo724.jpg

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Looking good. If its any consolation (I know its not) whenever we used to get cars ready for rallying when I was back in the UK, it almost always turned into a last minute/late night the day of the event panic to get cars ready. It's come a long way, you must be super excited. Good luck on the shakedown tomorrow.

Thanks! I am starting to get really excited now. Got the Fire System done and it's downhill from here. A little more dress out, then seats and mirror. I'll do a final torquing of all the suspension and should actually get some sleep tonight.

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Have to admit I'm a bit jealous...looks like a ton of work and must feel good to be nearing the finish line.

Finished. Lol.

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Looks awesome!

So nice to read a thread without hearing about IMS failures and scored cylinder walls and the best way to fix it. Thanks Slakker, now can you get us some video?

Uploading some day 1 video but it's glitchy. Which was the theme of the day. Driver seat broke, moved over passenger seat and it was losing bolts. Video system was glitching, stripped a lug nut, rear Lexan came unglued and was held on by the straps, messed up a top mount, car won't start unless data system is on (very strange.). But, none the less, today was awesome! Made all 7 sessions, was running with the racers which meant open passing (learning to be passed is a skill I didn't know I needed so badly), and the car was amazing. Crazy responsive and very balanced. Still not fully comfortable with it and I have already shaved 6.5 seconds off the silver car. I'm running about 5 seconds behind the top guys in my class and think I can close the gap a little more, especially with the Pirelli DH slicks (usedracingtires.com) going on tomorrow. You Tube

Gained 2 seconds first practice session on the used Pirelli DHs. Getting close to being in the hunt. All glitches repaired last night all systems working properly right now, knock on wood.

Fantastic. Car sounds great. Good lines too.

Pretty Cool.

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It's officially a race car! photo812.jpg

You stuffed it, great work. Exploring those limits. Now you get to have tape just like the F1 cars for added aero benefit.

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The tape makes it look cool - battle scars.

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Into a tire barrier? -Jason

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What happened?

Yep, tire barrier. Got on the throttle a little early and without unwinding. I didn't think it was a big deal but the grass was like ice. I told them they need to get grass with better grip. Also money shifted but caught it before full release. Rev 2s went from 690 (those came at no extra cost when I bought it) to 825. Finished the race without a hitch and no metal in the filter. I may have gotten lucky. Went off in lap 10 of the final race after moving into 4th and ended up 6th out a group of 13. I'll post a video of it after while. Racing definitely brings out a win at all costs mentality. I don't think it's healthy but at least it's legal!

Well at least you didn't damage it too bad. I think I did my last track day on Saturday for the year, we'll need to meet up sometime. -Jason

I was just going to ask if Iowa is still doing Friday's? I'm already starting to go through withdrawals and I don't like it.

Their last day was on Saturday for this year. That place has such cheap open tracks days for $120 for a full day. The Saturday thing was called the Boo Bash, $60.00 for a full day. It's a little party to end the year. There was even a few SCCA Runoff cars there. A few months back on a Friday some Continental series cars were there with their semi truck and full team. It was fun being on the track with those guys, I was faster then some. -Jason

I see Hallett has some more track days in November, but I'm out of tires. I ended up cording my tires on Saturday. -Jason

What size do you run? Is it 5x130 bolt pattern?

My car is 5 x 120, but I can buy some new tires if you have something planned and I'm not busy. There's a private open track day this Tuesday at Hallett if you're interested. I can't go though. -Jason

Ok, PM sent on track day.... was just asking because I have a set of NT01 that refuse to die and would be perfect for one last day of the season. But they are on Porsche rims.

Got a chance to weigh the car tonight. 2530 with an 1/8 of tank of gas. Total weight loss from Phase 1, 470lbs!

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Wowzers that's light, I think I'm still around 3000. -Jason

Wow! What's phase 2 entail?

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Congrats, that is awesome! I would love to get down close to 2500. I have some ideas but need the time to do them.

- LWFW (don't tell Jake) - Headlight Delete - Grind and cut all extra metal and brackets - Lexan quarters - Cup Shifter Cables - trunk latch pins - top vent center radiator through bumper - install brake pressure sensor - integrate VBox video with AIM system or add an analog module to it to tap existing sensors for RPM, throttle and brake - lower to 996 cup height - add shims to LCAs to get to -4.5 camber in the front and -4.0 in the rear - corner balance Additional wish list items are: - move front calipers to rear and install front BBK - upgrade quiafe LSD to OS Giken - go back to DMFW and put the FSI engine in this car instead of my daily But right now I'm just enjoying the crud out of it as is. Back out to Hallet tomorrow thanks to Jason. The group is full but they have the track for 10 hours for 30 people and said I can jump in when people start dropping out. Gotta feed the need.

X-post from racing forum. https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...to-racing.html

Just some food for thought, buy perhaps start looking into an electric steering pump? You might be at the point where you'll be getting more weight savings and performance for your dollar. Just a thought - love the progress so far!

Great point. I've researched it some but had forgotten about it. The piece of that equation I haven't solved yet is a serpentine belt for underdrive pulley, AC compressor delete, and power steering pump delete. I don't really like the idea of gutting the PS pump and leaving the shell for the belt.

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That's incredible Slakker! By chance did you weigh your track car on the same scale before you started your Porsche on Jenney Craig?

Yep, the Casion, OK grain coop let's you weigh for free so both before and after were done there. Starting weight was 3,000 even.

Tire wall ripped up the bumper and damaged one of the headlights. The SMART Fast 50 did a good job of getting it back together on the backside and of repairing the broken tabs. I used their plastic repair on the front and then sanded it to get a smooth finish. It came with some really cool mixer nozzles but you have to have all of the surfaces ready to go. Especially with the Fast 50 which I ended up hand mixing most of the time in batches. photo705.jpg photo189.jpg I used 3M Panel Bond Adhesive to install the headlight caps. I created a channel for it underneath using metal ducting tape. The panel bond is $55 a tube and takes 24 hours to set but it is some awesome stuff. photo378.jpg photo582.jpg Next up is a corner balance tomorrow and getting the front bumper wrapped on Wed.

How much weight did you drop with the headlights and the trays?

15lbs with with the headlights and 2lbs with the wiring harnesses.

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I wouldn't run cup car height with stock c2 uprights.

Awesome. Keep up the good work. When are you next out with the "GT2"

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He isn't trying to pass off his 911 as a GT2....GT2 is the class he's running in...

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I did not think this was the case, just ironic. Que Alanis Morissette jokes.

Ya the GT2 confused me too the first time I saw a 996 cup with a GT2 sticker. I was shocked that they had totally stripped a "GT2" and turned it into a track car. Lol. Maybe I'll get a C2 badge for it. Next track day is Monday at the Motorsports Ranch 3.1. It's a really fun track with lots of elevation change and forgiving runoffs. Interesting point on the uprights. Cup car spec is 3.07" front and 3.93" rear. I'm currently at 5" front and 5.25" rear which is how the car came. I definitely think it needs more rake but I don't think dropping 2 more inches in the front will be practical. So I think the answer is somewhere in between. I'll ask Charlie his recommendation since he knows the setup on these cars as well as anyone. I'm still getting a lot of outside wear on my tires at -3.7F/-3.0R camber I'll probably get more aggressive with it as well.

There's another track day at Hallett. https://hallettracing.configio.com/S...bwbngcart.aspx

Next year if you do a PCA DE at MSR let me know. I usually run in the "white" group and we can play together. I am usually one of the slower cars with my 17" street tires, but it will still be fun.

I'm signed up for both days. Sure you don't want to come down? Will do! I'd be there this weekend except I'm not qualified for Solo with PCA yet. Lol.

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Getting signed off is simple and free instruction along the way!

You called it. Any lower than x74 on the front inverts the angle of the LCA. Going with X74 (117mm F/133R) Every time I've been freed up to go it's int/adv only.

Got the bumper tidied up a bit. photo906.jpg

Wow. Looking good!

Looks like a real race car now! great work!

Pretty cool, no more Concorde jokes.

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mk2 wheels on the race car look great. Paint too. You are tenacious!

I almost chickened out on doing it after ripping off my bumper but the company had already printed it. It's pretty loud but I thought they did a good job and I like how it turned out.

I like it's new colors! I can't make Hallett this month, we'll have to meet up in spring 2017. -Jason

Any word on your buddies lotus?

Slakker: Are you an old Parnell Jones fan or what? The car looks AWESOME!

This is awesome!!

Lol. It's actually a cheesy reference to it's 2/98 build date. 99 was way too common in PCA to use.... Thanks!

Magnaflow 14158 cans +8lbs ( ). Car got declared too loud for the lap times I was running at Hallet. Was told I was required to run in the teens if it was going to be that loud. So it was easier to buy the cans off Amazon and have a local custom exhaust shop weld them on than it was to drop 5 seconds. Lol. Car has a deeper growl and isn't nearly as obnoxiously loud now. photo23.jpg

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Nice colors and design. Looks proper.

Frankenduct! One radiator duct was damaged from the tire wall and the other was demolished. eBay salvage yard didn't get the replacements to me as promised so piecing these back together the best I can. photo549.jpg photo821.jpg CV joint boot blew out on rear axle. Luckily, the car randomly came with 2 spare rear axles so it wasn't a big deal. photo174.jpg

Great use of tape in this thread. Keep up the good work.

90 mph duct tape!

That's a good point. They really should put a speed rating on duct tape. All materials used were found in the Lowe's air handling section so I figured i was using the right stuff. And as to an earlier comment, I can't say I miss the British Air look.

I'm fairly certain I messed the toe up when replacing the axle so here's my first attempt at "stringin it." photo168.jpg

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One of the cams broke in 3 pieces, OUCH. He's hoping it didn't damage the pistons and/or valves. He just had that whole engine rebuilt too like 3 months ago. -Jason

Slak: We used this and other types of duct tape on my sprint car to hold various non-essential things like sun shields and body parts to keep them from flapping in the wind. Highly under-rated product!

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BUMMER!!!!! I won't ask what body parts. Here's an 8 minute video clip from yesterday. Because of the ABS issue I was braking a little earlier and then using downshifts and turn in to try and scrub speed. I ended up off track 3 times yesterday but I learned alot from the experience. You Tube

Slak: After watching this video it appears that you were not the only one removing "excess" tire rubber coming out of that corner! Lots of unusual tire marks on the pavement.

Ya I noticed that too. There was a PCA club race there the two days before. I know a Boxster and 944 had a pretty ugly collision. Wouldn't surprise me if it was I that corner. And in the "I must have lost my freakin mind" category, my FSI slot is going toward the track car. The current engine is crazy strong so they are going to check it out and then if there are no issues, put it into the C4 roller I bought. The roller engine will be used as the donor for the FSI build which Jake is changing since it will be a race instead of DE car. I certainly didn't want to get any deeper into the track car, but it didn't make sense to put the FSI in my DD. With all of the track time I'm getting, I now drive like an old man on the street. Plus, it's going to be freakin awesome. Last two DE days this weekend then I'll deliver it to GA after Thanksgiving weekend.

A FSI 4.0 in you car is going to be like mine, pure magic! Make sure you get the ecu massaged as well.

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That's awesome. I think I'm still scheduled for a 3.8 but I'll have to ask. What octane gas is yours set up for?

That looks like fun.

I run 102 unleaded.

Rumor has it yours isn't a normal engine upgrade though. Something about a 3.6 conversion prior to upgrading to a 4.0? What does 102 cost you?

The 102 has been 6.95 for the last few years. Jake will build them to run off pump fuel as well. I think this one is built off a M97 block. There wasn't much left from my last kerblammo. That one was a X51 upgrade on a 3.6 upgraded to 3.8 by Jake after the original crank broke in half. I do run a 5,2,2 ECU with a variocam plus engine. RPM window switches power the solenoids for Vcam full on or off.

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Is GT2 your PCA class or do you race COMMA at Hallett? I raced a BMW M3 there several years ago, won GT2 class. I sold the car but it still races there. Also curious if you bought your silver 996 locally.

Yes, GT2 in COMMA. If it's a white 70 something M3 driven by a kid named Ryan then it won the class again this year. Currently, for PCA, my car is classed as GTB1 but once it gets the 3.8 it will no longer qualify. I'm pretty much committing to COMMA or NASA at that point. Unless I swap engines with my daily just to run PCA for a year. Yes, I got the silver one from a guy in Norman named Marty. He had owned it for a year. Last HST of the year at Hallet this weekend. You should come join us!

Sounds like a monster! Oddly enough I can get 110 for about the same as 101 around here, just over $7.

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No, mine was a red/black 98 M3. Ryan is a great driver but he's been at that track for at least 10 years. The year I beat him he had a few DNFs from mechanicals I think. I had a silver 996 identical to yours that I sold 3 years ago and really regret it. Wondering if yours is the same car. Does it have 6sp, grey interior, and aftermarket HIDs from https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...and-986-a.html Love your new track car! Envious

Me too but its leaded. Not a big problem, because I don't run no stinkin' cats. It will also show up in your UOA if you do them.

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You can always run GT3 in PCA. I am usually out gunned there but I get stickers because not that many cars run it and there is always someone to race just not in the same class.

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I run at 3000 with driver, cool suit, and a half tank of fuel. So you did a righteous job of weight loss!

That is awesome information. Thanks!!!!

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Not quite related to this thread, can you point me to a site that explains what each of these acronyms mean? To say I'm new to PCA, or competitive track racing is generous.

Clubs: COMMA - Competition Motorsporta Association (local racing association in Oklahoma) NASA - National Auto Sport Association PCA - Porsche Club of America SCCA - Sports Car Club of America Driving HST - High Speed Touring - it's the same as DE (drivers education) where you can take street cars on the track for laps Racing Classifications: GTB1 - PCA class GT2 - SCCA class Each organization has a classification system based on your vehicle ranging from specific to very specific. Here is a link to the PCA racing rules which contains each of the PCA classes. You can look up SP996, GTB1, or GT3 to see what's required for each of them. https://www.pca.org/sites/default/fi...ng%20Rules.pdf

Had a good final weekend at the track. Ended up with 21 days on track including two racing schools, two days with a personal coach and 4 races. Saturday I was with my coach and the front pads were shot by after lunch. I went to put my spare pads on that I had purchased from a Rennlister and they were way to big. I own the fact that I should have verified they were the right size. So that day was done and I showed up with my original set of EBC Ref Stuff. My initial impression was they weren't very good for the track but it was on my very first track day so hopefully I was wrong. JayG loves them so I was crossing my fingers. Well, they were crap. I was trying to shove my foot through the floor and they still didn't have enough bite to get to the ABS with slicks on. However, it was one of the best things that's happened to me. Without ABS the weekend before, I had learned if you aren't stopping, turn in anyway. And just try and manage the rear end the best you can. So first session I took it easy to try and bed them in and then second session I went for it. I moved my braking points back quite a bit but was still coming into the corners really hot. So I just kept the brake pedal mashed to the floor through the turn until it was time to get on the throttle. The first full lap of doing this dropped over a second off my personal best time. I was able to reproduce it a few other times during the day, mainly when chasing a C6 Z06. So it gives me something to look forward to next year and puts me only 3 seconds off pace with the class leaders. I think the FSI upgrade will get me another second and that dialing in the setup and improving my driving will put me in a good position to compete next year.

So, less brake more gas?

Lol, I actually thought of you and that line when it happened.

I'm not sure having insufficient brakes is the best way to sneak up on the limit but any port in a storm. Sometimes the fastest way through a corner is to brake sooner but softer so the car is more balanced. With great brakes it can be really hard to find that gentle sweeping of the brakes that achieves that. My car's brakes are so severe it can be a real challenge to do it, yours is probably the same.

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I agree. I still generally think of braking as a straight line and trail braking as a way to get some rotation at turn in. This basically extended my brake zone to and through mid corner and it didn't feel smooth. I would love to be able to recreate it with full brakes and smooth inputs. But I don't know why it worked. Maybe I wasn't using all of the grip my tires had early and mid corner and the added braking was using some of it (ala friction circle). Or possibly since my car is SOOO light in the front (33%F, 66%R), that huge amounts of trail braking are required to get the front end loaded enough to really turn. Since ProCoach is a Vbox expert, I'm going to see if I could engage him just to review the data and help find out the answer. Here's some video from the last day. I missed the advance group due to a shock coming loose from the mount. So I got it fixed and went out with the intermediate group promising the grid Marshall I would play nice. Little did I know that there were a couple of C6 Z06s hiding out in there because there were less people. When I gave one the point by I figured I would follow for a lap and then over take him. Ha! Or not. But it wasn't due to lack of effort. The other one was right behind me but couldn't get close enough to earn the point by. It was a lot of fun and got me an invite to their private track days that they hold 4x a year. You Tube

Posting because you're getting the gnat treatment and I want to see what you said because this stuff interests me way more than people's feelings being hurt by gretch who is awesome. edit: which corner(s) are you talking about? You shouldn't *have* to trailbrake to get weight on the front of the car; just lifting moves weight forward, and Newton tells us that once something is somewhere, a force has to make it move away from there. Your suspension and gravity will start the process of moving weight back to the rear of the car but it isn't an on/off switch in either direction; unless you use the loud pedal to move it abruptly. Peter will absolutely find you time. That's the single best money you could spend.

2 and 8 being the slowest corners are where it was the most pronounced followed by 6 and 10. Edit: FYI, I had put PFC-08 back on the rears in the above video which gave me a little bit of the braking back. Initially I had put the EBC on both front and rear to not mess with the bias.

Gnat post

I was posting from the RL app on my iPad. I'll download GT for it as well and see if that fixes the problem.

Yeah I had a friend run some EBC red's that he bought from me for a track day and he hated them and went the thru the whole front pads in one day. I told him not to buy them, but one of his friends swore by them. He ended up buying some Hawks from me. -Jason

Slak: DAMN!!! Great driving even with the dicey brake pad deal! The Vette had you on HP and that was all I could see. The FSI deal will even that up! "They" may uninvite you to their private playground after that! You were outdriving that guy...period!

Can you explain the lap time vs loudness you mentioned above? Also you should consider coming up to BIR this summer where you can really air that thing out!

Lol. Just that if you are going to be loud and annoying, you'd better be fast. I asked how fast I would need to be with my current setup and he told me teens. It's just part of the fun of a rural family owned track. It really was pretty ridiculous though. It's still loud with the mufflers but tolerable for others. I'm still scared of tracks with walls at this point. I did spend some time with my coach analyzing video of him catching a spin vs me not catching spins. Basically I was intentionally trying to catch them slowly as to not further upset the car and this was flat wrong. By reacting quicker I've been able to catch the rear end and didn't spin once on Sunday. If I can do this consistently then it will be time to start making some road trips. Brainerd would be a fun one.

Jake bent over backwards today to work with me on a plan that allows me to upgrade my track car to the FSI 3.8 and not miss any of the racing season. The completion date didn't change as that was set in stone but he was willing to work with me on the logistics of it all. I am a very grateful customer.

I think I've come up with my winter plan. Everything possible was purchased used or refurbished with the exception of the lift, LSD and bushings and a few other bits. Garage upgrades: - Danmar Max Jax - Longacre scales - Longacre Caster/camber gauge - Smart String toe alignment kit Track Car: - solid rear sub frame bushings - monoball inserts for GT3 LCAs - Cup Shifter Cables - OS Gikken LSD - braided steel brake lines - 997GT3 Master Cylinder - GT3 Cup suspension upgrade (I never would have planned this if I hadn't run across a couple of insane deals on uprights and dampers) - JRZ 3-way with remotes - GT3 Cup uprights - 996TT Calipers - Rotors (still to be determined) - Cup car ride height - 3.0"F/ 3.9"R - Corner Balance - GT3 front top hats (if required)

Well I was hoping my lift would be here by now but I'm not going to let first world problems get me down. Time to get started with phase 3. First up was servicing the TT front calipers I bought off RL. I permanently removed the dust boots since this is a track only car and used my air compressor and a series of wooden blocks to get the pistons out. There were a few pad dampeners that had rusted into the piston. So I drilled the screw out which left a flat surface. But mainly I just cleaned everything up and lubed the pistons. Next up is to begin dismantling the brakes. Whoever posted about using vice grips on your flare wrench to clamp down on the nut better was a genius. While I'm at it, it's time to install the braided steel lines that I bought in May but never got around to messing with. photo531.jpg

Kids are back in school and loaded down with homework. So it was time to start back up in the garage. Next on the list was dropping the tranny to send off to Gbox for an OS Gikken LSD. But I'm going to have a really small window after the first race of the season to pull the engine and deliver the car to FSI. So I thought I'd go ahead and do a practice run while pulling the tranny. Because I don't have an AC, it was a much easier project than I anticipated. Definitely less challenging than replacing the AOS. Heck I might just pull the engine again the next time I need to change the AOS. Having the lift to do it under was a huge plus. photo648.jpg

Nice and having a lift is definitely great.The tranny and engine look deceptively small in the photo.

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Nice thread! I cannot believe what some of you are able to accomplish in your home. A seminal track event happened when I literally forgot to brake for a corner, the start of a tight S no less. I said screw it and cranked it left and quickly right (it was on a motorcycle) and I couldn't believe I made it. Then I realized how f*cking slow I was going before.

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I've heard a similar story, a guy went through a corner with no brakes and the instructor said "no brakes?" and the driver said "nope." Instructor was a little unsettled the student had decided to suddenly make the leap from braking there to not braking, but was proud of him. Soon after the student coasted to a stop. The student was less proud; when he said "nope" he meant that the car didn't have brakes any more, which is why he didn't use them. Related: one of the instructor tricks for braking is to have people (with NO traffic behind them, obviously!) come to a complete stop when braking at their usual braking point. Usually the car stops about 100 feet short of the apex, sometimes more. If you can get the car to stop, you can probably brake a little later.

Are you making fun of my 3.4l? JK. The engine is actually set back a few yards which does create an interesting perspective. Great stories. Like you always say DT, less brake more gas.

enjoyed watching your video. 1:teens at that track would be incredibly fast

Nice video Slakker - great driving. Just noticed you are from OKC - sorry about the loss last night

Tough loss against a good team. Truthfully though, this year's team is so much more fun to watch even though they aren't as talented. The iso Durant, iso Westbrook every play just got boring after awhile.

I'm fairly confident that the car will be capable of it after all of the upgrades are complete. Whether or not my skill level ever will be is an entirely different matter.

Nice first job for the MaxJax Slakker! I have yet to pull the tranny and engine yet but I know it will be easier with it.

Wow, you're officially my hero. Just got caught up with the entire thread and am impressed with the progress over the last 6 months.

Thx Miata, looking forward to see what you project you come up with. Moving on to suspension and brakes. I'm completely redoing both this winter even though I'm not a 100% sure I'll be able to tell the difference. For the record, the stock brakes on the C2 are really really good with the right pads. But I do think they are too heavily biased to the front. But it all starts with taking apart the old. photo217.jpg

Looking good, hopefully this year we can do a couple track days together. -Jason

I'm going to be focused mostly on Hallet this year Jason so let me know when you are headed down. Otherwise maybe we can meet up at Heartland.... The outer tie rods were getting a little worn and had some rough spots around the outer edges. The inner tie rods were in a little better shape but I figured I'd replace both while it was easy. photo414.jpg One thing I considered was replacing the thrust arms with adjustable monoballs. But at $1200 for all 4 I just couldn't pull the trigger. What I didn't realize though is that the stock thrust arms appear to be monoball under the rubber boot. Since my primary goal is to eliminate all rubber bushings (except sway bar) and connection points, replacing these is no longer a priority.

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Yeah, I didn't replace the thrust arms either when replacing my suspension. I asked Tarrett about them and they did not think I needed them for my weekend track car. Suspension parts are big $$ for our cars. I have already spent crazy money on it and have an engine X51 upgrade/rebuild to do.

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There's a couple PCA events at Heartland this year, also a NASA event in May that I most likely will do. -Jason

Despite the amount of research I did, it was still pretty shocking to see it all fit together.... 996 Cup Upright JRZ 996 Cup 3-way remotes Eibach 900F/1000R springs with helpers Tarret Camber Plates 996TT Front Caliper and bolts '05 Cayenne 330mm rotor (notice no screw hole) I was able to reuse wheel sensor, axle stub, hard brake line from C2 front caliper. Also upgraded to monoballs on the GT3 LCA. All front components are now solid except for sway bushings. photo875.jpg photo81.jpg photo115.jpg

Very cool to see it all coming together! I've read on other threads where we can upgrade our front rotors to 330mm girodiscs with c2 calipers. The cayenne rotors look like a cheaper alternative. They should fit with a stock C2 caliper, no? Your statement about the thrust arm is correct. The only advantage you would get from changing that to a heim joint style is caster adjustment. What are your plans for the rear?

Solid subframe bushings, cup uprights, and monoball cup LCA's. For brakes I'm going to try moving the front C2 brakes to the rear. If that doesn't work or gives too much rear bias, I will drop down to 996TT rear calipers. They both use the exact same pads but the C2 fronts have larger pistons than the TT rears.

Spoke too soon. Cayenne rotor is off by about a mm. Just enough keep it from getting centered on the carrier. Going to move to caliper spacers and 350mm rotors as they are much easier to source than 330mm 996.1 Cup rotors. At this point, my budget for the project has long since been blown and I just need to do what it takes to get see it through to the end.

Great thread - cool to see this much time and effort invested in a 996. I actually looked at buying that car. I'm just starting the weight loss program for the 99 SP996 I did purchase. Door glass and door guts came out this weekend, sunroof and related apparatus came out a few weeks ago. Interior is pretty well stripped and will have the roof replaced with a metal skin shortly . Will replace the quarter and rear windows with lexan. Probably won't tackle the dash and wiring until next winter (looks messy). How hard is it to remove the heater core and associated plumbing? BTW we need some more SP996 folks in the northeast. Glass out, sawzall plugged in ready to carve out weight. Sunroof crap - I'll have the total weight loss figure for a sunroof to skin conversion soon. Gutting doors of motors, regulator and glass saved about 15 lbs.

Looks great! If you want to get more aggressive with the door there is even more savings to be had. photo569.jpg Heater core and heat/air plumbing took some work but it was big gains. The worst part though is getting the heater pipes from behind the gas tank. If you cut them off at both ends going in there isn't even a lbs up in there. But you can't leave them rattling around so you have to drop the fuel tank to get them out. It was probably the most annoying 4 hours of the project. You're going to love the feel of your car post diet. It turns these into absolute beasts!

Kind of an interesting shot. photo818.jpg I think the subframe bushing are going to be a nice mod. I don't have a press or any clue how to get the existing ones out so I'm taking them to the machine shop in the morning to have them done. The weather is supposed to be decent this weekend so they are testing a few cars at the track and I got invited. Lol. If UPS does their job and I don't hit any more snags, then I'm going to try and get her back together in time to go. It's kind of a long shot though.

You can pick up a 10-12 ton press for under $200 new. It would be a great addition to your shop! A 5ish ton arbor press would also be a good tool to have for pressing out smaller bearings/bushings. You can get a used, us made arbor press for cheap on e-bay.

A press would be nice. I assume I would also need some kind of adapter kit? It just seems like I could screw a lot of things up with 12 tons of force but I'm sure it's just a learning curve like anything else.

I have a 12 ton HF press. Also have a large number of different size sockets that I use for pressing....as large as 2" diameter. why are your pictures blue?

LED shop light.

The GT3 350mm fits great and solves that issue. Unfortunately it's cross-drilled instead of slotted and weighs 6lbs more than the C2 rotor per a side. Ouch! I'll be able get the weight back down with a 2-piece rotor later on if I like this setup. photo958.jpg The Agency Power spacers looked fine and everything lined up well when I mocked it up. Except for the fact that the diameter on the included caliper bolt was too small. Good thing I had given up on getting to the track today already as this would have been a show stopper. photo904.jpg photo322.jpg

997 GT3 Master Cylinder. I had been told it would and it wouldn't fit. The woulds were correct. This mod is all about trying to improve feel, especially with the larger brakes. Other than having better feel for modulation, I don't expect any of the brake upgrades to effect lap times. photo405.jpg

Got the tranny back from Gbox in Colorado. Not only were they the cheapest, but I can't say enough about how good they were to work with. Stan is crazy knowledgeable about all aspects of tracking 996s. I thought I was upgrading my LSD but since my old one was free spinning and doing nothing, I'll actually be getting an LSD for the first time. They also replaced the pinion bearing, 1st gear synchro, mount and sent the original LSD to Quaife to get rebuilt prior to shipping to a fellow RL'er. photo364.jpg

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Cool. I have a feeling that my LSD is in the same non-functional condition.

Mind sharing the cost for the gear box/lsd updates?

If Slakker has learned wife cost translator-ese "I dunno, not much, $50? Something like that. But, it's basically safety gear. Gotta stay safe."

$2080 for the Gikken installed and about $1700 for everything else. Luckily wife has quit asking costs. It's really best for the both of us. Speaking of cost, I'm abandoning the Cup suspension upgrade. The costs are spiraling and I just don't think there is enough benefit on a C2 to justify. I think it would make more sense on a C4 or Turbo.

Yowser... so will you go back to installing the Motons you have?

Yep. Motons and C2 brakes and wheel carriers reinstalled. Went to bleed the systems and brake fluid started coming out of the bell housing. Ugh.

Unlucky.

Just add to the list of learning experiences. I shipped it with the clutch release lever on and came back with it off. Since I didn't even know what it was I didn't catch that it was sitting in the bottom of the shipping container instead of on the transmission.

GMG adjustable thrust arms and bump steer for front and rear courtesy of an RL classifieds smoking good deal. photo139.jpg

Time to try out the Longacre scales and laser level system. I got the leveling pads and laser level off of eBay. The scales came from Longacre's outlet site for about what you'd find them used. photo465.jpg I got the laser level simply because it was recommended but I had no idea how to use them. Let me say, it was worth every frickin penny and then some. Not only did it make leveling the scales a breeze, but it is also used to measure ride height while on the pads. photo768.jpg I've had several comments about the amount of rake I had. A lot of the TX SP996 guys run around 1/2" but there's some solid RLer's that swear an 1" is perfect. So when I had the shop corner balance, I thought that's what it was supposed to be set at. Or so I thought. Turns out I had 2 1/2" of rake and the cross weights were way off! I know what happened, one of the tires was jamming against the lift when they set it down and it screwed up all of the measurements. We didn't figure it out until adjusting the toe and nobody thought to double check the corner balance. Before cross weights: photo631.jpg After cross weights with 180lbs of dumbbells in the drivers seat. Total weight, with ballast, was just a hair over 2700lbs. Next up is the alignment. photo196.jpg

Nice! That's an awesome setup. Will be aligning the 996 when the current set of suspension bits are installed. Any recommendations for a dual purpose car?

I probably wouldn't go over -1.5camber 0mm toe front. And -2.0 camber and 2mm toe in (total) rear. That should help at the track without wearing too fast on the street. Edit: whoops, rear should be toe in, not out.

Nice setup!

Nice job! Corner balancing is such a pain. So are you using in spacers in your LCAs? I had to remove mine due to wheel well interference issues. Also what is your height measurements? I run 110 mm front and 123 mm rear. That is working well for me. I do have a minor inside LR rub squeak in hard right turns at speed that I need to address.

I'm running 110mm F and 135mn R. Jrgordonsr and onefastviking swear by 25mm's of rake. Interestingly enough, the 60mm of rake I've been unintentionally running actually felt pretty decent. The nose dive in break zones was annoying (hence the motivation behind upgrading to a Gikken LSD) but the turn in was amazing. Lol. The adjustable thrust arms I just picked up solved my rubbing problem. I have the LCA's, with 15mm of shims and monoballs, pushed as far back as they'll go without binding. With a little trimming on the side rocker, this gives me full turning radius with about 5mm clearance front and back. I have an extra pair of adjustable thrust arms if anyone is interested. Set camber using longacre digital level and toe using a used Smart String I picked up on eBay. Both work very well. An old Indian trick I read somewhere is using 4 glossy magazine pages between the tire and scale. This reduces friction enough that you can adjust without a turning plate. photo222.jpg photo23.jpg

Torqued and painted all nuts and bolts in the suspension and the axle. With everything I've had apart, it would be too easy to miss one. Now I can verify everything is tight just by looking. Hopefully I picked a color of nail polish that my wife wasn't planning on using. photo645.jpg

Actually increasing my ride height in the back to 135 mm will definitely get rid of the occasional LR chirp. I don't think it will affect braking much and my car is really braking well right now. Good time to try it out. With 14mm spacers installed, I had to modify my radiator bracket (as shown below) for the outside clearance but could not dial in the clearance for the inside. I might be interested in your second set of thrust arms since I can see how that could increase the clearance inside. PM me and let me know what you have and how much you want for them. Thanks.

I did the same thing to my ducts behind the radiator. It's my redneck GT3 venting. FYI, I'm not running any spacers with my 245 fronts (or rear for that matter right now.)

First time at COTA today. The car feels amazing! I'm actually really glad the ride height and corner balance were so jacked up so I could appreciate how it feels when it's right. Between that and switching to all solid bushings, the car feels very predictable and responsive. photo402.jpg

Nice! Looking forward to the video.

^^^Yes...Video...!!

Great weekend right up until the very end. My brakes were squealing really bad the session before so I pulled the wheels off after it cooled and checked everything out thoroughly. Pads still had life so I went ahead and bled the brakes as I had many times before. My favorite flare wrench that fits the best is a little wide and so I have to double check each bleeder valve when I tighten them to make sure it is secure, and not just the wrench hanging between the bleeder and the caliper. All I can figure is I forgot to check and one didn't get tight enough. It was the 9th lap of the session. I had been tentative at first because it was lightly raining. But the track had lots of grip and there was a 996 Cup car that was wanting to play. He was near but took a few laps to catch. So I gave him a point by and then stuck to his bumper. He started getting squirrelly with me in his mirror and so he gave me the pass after about a lap. I couldn't shake him and he was back on me aggressively so I gave him back the lead. This time he was on his game and we were flying. It was a blast. I was coming out of turn 10 which is a high speed left onto a downhill straight passing a Camaro. I hit 114 according to my AIM and then went to brake hard and there was nothing. My first thought was to pump the pedal and I tried it 4 or 5 times and still no brakes. In the time it took to pump the pedal I had blown through the brake zone and just had a patch of gravel between the barrier and I. I turned sideways to try and scrub off speed and spread out the impact zone on the car. The data said I was going 40 when I hit the barrier. It was a pretty good jolt but with the cage, halo seat, harness, Hans and helmet I didn't have a scratch. It took the wrecker about 20 mins to get me off the track and then they just dumped it, with considerable effort, in front of my trailer. The left front wheel connections were toast. It broke the tie rod, thrust arm (both I had newly upgraded) and the LCA was hanging by a thread. I managed to get the tie rod back together enough to back it up onto the trailer and head for the house. Charlie Lacy recommended a shop in Sherman, TX, Heritage Collision Center, that understands how to do "race quality" body work. He called and arranged for me to drop it off on the way home. Shiloh, the owner, was a super cool kid (34). He told me he would get me a list of parts he needed so that I could save markup on anything I could source myself and have shipped to him. That's my kind of guy. Initial estimate including the parts I need to source is around $5-6k. Definitely a kick in the pants but pretty darn good considering the circumstances. Here are some pics of the car. I'll post some video from the sessions a little bit later. The video system went out 4 turns before the crash so video of it. That's probably the part I'm most ticked about. Lol. photo210.jpg photo756.jpg photo496.jpg photo450.jpg photo967.jpg

Ouch! Sorry to see that...The upside is that you walked away unscathed physically. Good luck and godspeed getting it patched up and put back together.

Thanks for sharing the pictures...tough way to end what looks like a great day at COTA. Your attitude is fantastic through this. Reminds me of something I heard on one of Ross Bentley's podcasts, for those of us who drive on the track "you're either one who has had a wreck or one who will wreck in the future". It's a fact - you just move on.

Thanks guys!

Awe man sorry to see this but it happens to the best. Good thing you trailered the car. COTA must've been fantastic up until this point. One day ill make it there, maybe do Barber on the way out or back. Good luck getting her back in shape.

Bummer - Glad to hear you are OK. Pretty clear that that the door bars in the roll cage were instrumental in keeping you intact!

Yes. That and the Halo seat. My neck hurts today but not near what it would have without the seat catching my head. AIM says impact was 3.69g's.

Did you get a invoice from COTA for the barrier damage?

Ahh man that sucks, let me know if there is anything I can do by helping you out on prices even more then I do. -Jason

Sorry to hear about your wreck Brendon. Glad to hear you are OK.

yikes. glad you're ok!

Thanks, all good. Neck hurts today but that's it. $1060 for the barrier damage. I so want to go down there and tell them "I'm here to pick up the used barriers I purchased."

Oohhh man. That absolutely sucks Brandon. Glad to hear you are doing ok. So did you actually find the leaking caliper bleeder? I would think squealing brakes would be generating alot of heat from inefficiency. One of the guys I run with who has a 997 had a pedal to the floor issue once an he contributed it to boiling brake fluid. It was at the end of a hot summer day when it happened. No accident but he was definitely done for the day. What front air brake cooling ducts are you using? Are you running heat backing plates on your pads?

No brake ducts at the moment due to new thrust arms. Yes, the RR outside bleeder was pumping out fluid when every time I hit the pedal. Simply tightening it got my brakes back. I run Castro SRF fluid, Pagid Orange front pads, and hawk DTC-70 rears. I've also upgraded to a 997gt3 master cylinder. The brakes performed flawlessly all weekend long. Well, at least until they didn't I guess.

Is your "Home Owners" policy up to date? Looks like you forgot to set your parking brake and it just rolled out of the driveway.

Glad to see you walked away!

Total bummer

photo350.jpg

Do you at least get to keep the wall sections as souvenirs? I'd gold plate the **** out those!

Yes you would! I just noticed that they listed this incident at T12. Since my incident was at T11 they obviously have mistaken me for somebody else. I'm going to contest.

bummer! sorry to see that - I know the feeling! Glad to hear you are ok and best wishes getting the car back together fast

Ok I have questions: #1: Slakker paid to drive here. He had a car failure which caused him to impact a track barrier. They want him to pay for repairs! If he was being "stupid" and drove head long into a barrier for fun...ok. He did not do that! Is this normal for tracks? #2: I agree I would definitely request the damaged barrier pieces. After all you earned them. #3: Slak, I think you should contest the report as turn 12 is a looooong way from turn 11. Unless, of course your brain got jiggled more than you thought and it was really turn 12!

They are actually pretty smart about it and charge the promoter, not the individual. Mark with MVP is a great guy and I've already paid him as he had to pay the track upon completion of the event. It's total BS but considering there were about 8 COTA workers that took around 45 min to get my car loaded, transported, and unloaded I guess it could have been worse. It was also announced at the driver meeting every morning that we were responsible for any damage done to the track including barriers and guard rails. So I knew the rules and am basically just whining at this point.

You should pick up that $6,000 custom black beauty, and swap all your stuff that that chassis

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It's pretty standard and it's disclosed in the materials you sign when you sign up. Some tracks don't enforce it strictly, but some do. For example, even if all they have to do is repaint a section of the rails at Watkins Glen, boom, bill to you. I know a guy who got a bill for $1200 for oil dry when his oil cooler blew.

Thanks Jason! I should have my order together by mid next week, including 8 new bleeder valves!

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Are you changing over to speed bleeders ?

Have you tried them? I don't know the difference.

Yes I use them, basically a bleeder with a one way valve built into them here is example: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-speed-bl...-each/sb1010s/

Ok, those look pretty cool. I use a Motive Power Bleeder which I absolutely love. I'm not sure these would offer much advantage over it though.

Glad you are in one piece, Slakker. The car can be fixed. Either way, I applaud your positive attitude and the example you set for the rest of us.

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Yeah no kidding I would still be doing "Crappie Flops" in the gravel pit!

Wow....... good luck with phase 2, time to splash out on some carbon fibre panels... Good to see you are ok and your sense of humor is still intact.

Thanks guys! Now I'm just itching to get it back. Next track day is March 11th. I know there's an extremely slim chance to have it back in order by then but one can always dream. No carbon fiber in my future. I looked into it when I replaced my hood and it was double the cost of FRP and only saved an additional 1.5lbs. It does look really cool though.

Get it back together quick for the PCA track day at Heartland Park April 22-23rd. I'm registered. -Jason

Slakker, you're starting to worry me, be safe my friend!

Thanks man! I'm on a mission to get her back together. Sold the M030 suspension on my DD to a RL'er in Austin yesterday(7 hour drive). Also, found THE salvage yard that has all of the body parts, brackets, radiators, and wheel carriers I need to fix the track car for $350 cash but won't ship body parts. The body shop in Sherman TX can start on my car today if they have the replacement door and fender. So, pulled the M030 suspension and drove to Austin last night. I'll deliver them this morning, use the shipping money to pay for diesel, then get the salvage parts and head north. Unfortunately there isn't going to be room in the pickup to swing by COTA and grab the barriers though.

Quote of the day from Woody at Woody's Salvage Yard in Bastrop TX. "I really try to bend over backwards for racers, they provide lots of repeat business."

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Whoa!! Never heard of these! How well (really) do they work??

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I use them on everything, motorcycles and cars, along with a power bleeder. if not wanting to use the power bleeder, i use the thick fiber old style wheel bearing grease around the bleed screw to keep air from getting back thru the threads, then it becomes a one man job and grease cleans off when done,

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Resorting to child labour eh? Well done!!

Desperate times call for....

You Tube

Just opened this thread up and saw those pics and had to go back a few pages to see what happened. Glad to hear you are okay though.

Getting closer! Headed out for spring break then will pick it up when I get home next weekend. Can't wait to get back to work on it. photo161.jpg

Great progress- Good luck with the continued repair and getting it producing smiles again!

A big plus to 996 track cars is that used body parts are cheep.

Agreed, huge plus! Especially the parts shared with a boxster which is most of the front end. I've been watching some of the threads on operating and repairing a Cup car and man we've got it good.

I had to put a new hood on my car after not latching the hood pins, Used boxster hood $350.00

This should be your new paint/wrap job:

Hey there!! Most impressive build!! Have you considered the Electronic Water Pumps? Removes all heat soak issues and you just dial in the temp you want and it stays there - regardless of how hard you're pushing. Plus, the pump keeps circulating coolant after switching off - this is a very good thing! EWP's are being fitted to all the new generation BMW and Mercedes engines and have been used in drag racing for many years... I'm going to fit one shortly. Also can reward up to 10kw of power! https://daviescraig.com.au/electric-water-pumps

Thanks! Interesting. Since cooling isn't an issue I probably won't go this direction anytime soon but it's good to know it's out there. And am very skeptical of manufacturer HP increase claims, especially on an M96. But something I think that is definitely worth checking out is an electronic power steering pump. Unfortunately, nobody that I've been able to find makes a serpentine belt for PS delete, AC delete and underdrive pulley.

I hear you on manufacturers claims - they're usually overstated... However, it would stand to reason that one less parasitic drive removed will introduce some power - how much is the question. I'm interested in the heat-soak removal too. I know that after some spirited track days the engine is considerably hot and when turned off the water flow stops, so I think this must be an advantage in engine protection etc... I'll go ahead with my install and report back!! Take care...

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Sounds great! It would be cool if you started a thread and did a write up on the installation and your conclusions . Not sure if before and after dynos are an option but that would be cool to see as well. Since this car is getting an FSI engine it will be on their exactly prescribed maintenance plan and the only changes to the engine itself will be their recommendations. FYI, I run distilled water and Water Wetter once the temps get above freezing and it works much better than the recommended anti-freeze mix.

Cool thread. Neat to see the 996 out on the track. Cheers! www.996-lifestyle.com

Still a lot of work to do but I'm damn happy to have it home. Major shout outs to the following for hooking me up! Heritage Collision in Sherman, TX (well worth the travel) Woody's Parts in Bastrop TX Getty Design Tarret Engineering Thx to the above, total cost for everything except paint has been $2600, of which $500 were specialty suspension pieces. Without the above vendors it could easily have been double that. photo152.jpg

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Great chronicle! Kudos to the helpful suppliers!

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wow that's great! Pretty quick turnaround also. Congrats on getting your car back

Unexpected bump in the road.... Time to decide whether to give the JRZ Cup dampers another try or not. In the meantime, time send the Moton that has 6 days since the last rebuild back to the shop. photo623.jpg

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Surely thats a bend in the road

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going to keep up with this thread since I have funded a bunch of it with all the good parts you are selling lol

Jf: You might get a good deal on the "U-bolt" shown above!

Slak: BTW still anxiously awaiting the vid download!

Good point. Send me a sticker and I will list you as a sponsor. If you only knew. Interestingly enough, replacing the shaft is only going to cost $250 surprisingly. Just waiting to see what the availability of the replacement is. Ok, going to start working on the vid.

Here's some laps followed by the grand finale. 2:30.9 was my fastest lap of the weekend so none of the laps in the video were particularly fast but the ending is interesting. There is a white 996Cup car that I passed earlier in the session and he had been slowly creeping up on me. He's behind me most of this video then gets close enough for the point by. After he passes it's interesting to watch him overdrive then point me back by. Him and I had fun playing around a couple of times over that weekend. As for the track car, it felt strong and balanced. Gt3's Gt4's and TTs were not a problem to over take. But I was pretty much track fodder for most of the Cup cars and the GT3RS's. You Tube

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Haha. Good thread I read through most of it last night glad you are able to get back out for a reasonable price! Enjoy

One thing interesting about the end of the video that I mentioned in another thread but not here is that my recollection of what happened and the story I have been telling was extremely inaccurate. Even to the point that there is a black mustang that I pass going into that same turn about 10 minutes earlier and I thought that was when I lost my brakes. Apparently, inaccurate memory is not uncommon in these types of situations but it sure seems pretty weird.

Slak: Thanks for the vid. It was fun until the end. She does sing a pretty song, glad you are bringing her back. The "blue" screen at the end was fortunate, not sure I would want to be able to see that over and over. Glad you are ok. Keep us updated with pics.

Slakker, the car sounds great!!!! I had muffler bypass pipes on mine this past summer and it sounded just like your car. Unfortunately it was way too loud for a street car with my wife.

I'm running magnaflo 14158 mufflers (Amazon) that I had a local muffler shop plumb in directly off the headers. Total cost $500. Not quiet, but much more tolerable outside the car than the straight bypasses and no performance loss.

Wow. Thanks for sharing. That's a serious "code brown". Car really seems dialed in well. Smooth driving up until the code brown too

There was definitely a nice adrenaline rush happening for sure. Mod of the Day: replaced my least favorite bolt on the entire car with an M6 stud. Porsche part# 996 062 002 02 or fastenal has them as well. Caliper bolts are next on the list of getting "studded." photo210.jpg

Still liking the red and blue stripes. +15 hp.

Some more 996 video fun, way to close a call when missing a downshift and grabbing first. You Tube

Damn, way to get the clutch back in. I was expecting to hear 9,000RPM and *BANG*. Also: Way to NOT shout "F**K F**K F**K" at the horde of oncoming cars. Pretty sure I would have screamed all a-girlishly.

Wow! Now that's what I call snap oversteer.

Seeing all those cars coming at you must have really woken you up fast!

It was my first club race weekend in the car, had a great start, and was first place in class with the second place H car (Cayman) on my bumper. As you can see in the video, the 997 cup car in front of me had been holding me up for the 3 previous laps, that's when I was swearing over the radio as there was no way I was going to pass him with the gap he pulled on the straights. You can see in the video my first attempt at a downshift to third did not go, The second attempt went in but in 1st and when I let the clutch out the rear wheels instantly locked up. I was extremely lucky one not to blow the motor and two not to have to buy cheep 996 body parts. The only expense was a new shifter and cable assembly from Numeric.

These things do go round....;0 I later discovered the rear driver side shock upper nut decided to go loose making the car a handful, a bit of a lift, and the rest of story...

These JRZ 3-way Cup shocks have been kicking my butt for months. But tonight, I finally broke down and did what I should have done in the beginning, made some spacers. The problem isn't just that they are 1 3/4" shorter in the rear than a C2/GT3 shock, but that they only have a 3 1/2" stroke. You need 2" of droop and the remaining 1" - 1 1/2" for compression. So you have a 1/2" at most to adjust their height since you are going to have to rob from droop or compression to do it. So spacers are the only way to go. I had the local metal supermarket cut me 1" slices of 5" aluminum rod stock. I then drilled 1/2" holes for the bolts and used a 2 1/2" bimetal hole saw to cut out the center. That took awhile to say the least. Add in some 70mm bolts and voila. This will put my rear ride height around 4 1/4" and I'll run the fronts at 3 7/8 for now. photo743.jpg photo286.jpg photo927.jpg

It's coming along! You should do the PCA DE at Heartland Park April 22-23rd. -Jason

I've got COMMA that weekend or I would.

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Eventually we'll meet up! There's a couple BMW CCA DE's at HPT this year and I think one more PCA too. -Jason

You should come to Hallet Mayfest! I just signed up for it. Looks like Michael got his Lotus fixed. I should see him tomorrow if he comes to play in the rain.

Awesome progress to getting the beast back on the track. And thanks for posting the vid... "code brown" is definitely an understatement. The blue battery flashes are very suspicious though. Conspiracy?

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What's going on tomorrow? -Jason

One of Bobby Jasan's Hallet days. Looks like we are going to get to play slip-n-slide.

Finally got a chance to paint it today. It went pretty smoothly and came out pretty decent. The only mishap was the drop cloth coming off and getting paint on the rotor/caliper. photo772.jpg

So...are you keeping this one along with the Ford racer? I have become confused with all the selling and buying? BTW the paint does look pretty good!

It is tentatively sold to a friend pending test drive at the track Wednesday. Blue car is going on BAT this week and the silver car is getting the FSI 3.8L track engine and will be the DD/DE beast. It's tough for me to keep straight as well.

feel free to update this thread with the spec Ford racer, those things are cool

I agree, what are the 2 cars you're selling? Pics!! -Jason

Selling: 2000 C4 with brand new Flat6 Innovations 3.4L Stocker engine. photo169.jpg And the car that I've seemingly devoted the last 6 months of my life to. The buyer has to agree to give me the option to buy it back when they go to sell it though. photo43.jpg

What you're selling your track car? What's replacing it? -Jason

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Plot twist.

Well that's cool, I assume that has the Ford Kent motor in it? -Jason

1.6L Ford Sigma based off the Fiesta.

That should be fun!

this video just made my day. And it's a good nudge to try & encourage Slakker to share the SRF footage You Tube

Wow. Bumper cars!

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Yeah at 130+ MPH. Looks like fun!

That's a great video. Our local kid in the Hallet Race Shop, Grayson Strathman, beat Denny last weekend at Hallett. It was a really big deal. https://www.scca.com/videos/2031650 Got the car out yesterday for the potential new owner to try. I finally got the refreshed transmission installed that has the OS Gikken LSD. I went ahead and ran it first session just to get the car warmed up and make sure it felt right. I noticed the difference with the LSD instantly. It was huge! My PB at Hallett is a 1:24.1 It happened when I was chasing a Corvette and running EBC Red Stuff pads. The backup pads I had bought from an RL'er were not the size they claimed and so the Red Stuff is all I had. And they absolutely suck on the track. I couldn't get enough bite to engage my ABS no matter how hard I tried. But basically not having brakes and turning in to scrub speed even though I felt I was way going way too fast turned out to be really good for my lap times. It taught me a valuable lesson. So yesterday during my warm up session, I ran a 1:24.9, which seemed crazy fast for not even pushing hard. But my SRF was waiting so I gave my friend the keys and told him to have fun. He's a really good DE driver and the organizer of the event so he was more concerned about his ability to drive it than I was. It was fun watching him from the stands as he grew more comfortable with the car and began to push it harder. After a couple of sessions and a 1:28 he was grinning from ear to ear. He also had his C6 Corvette out and towards the end of the day hit a 1:23.1 which was the fastest time of the day up until that point. But he was already hooked on the Porsche. The raw feeling of the race build with such a direct link between you and the road is in his words "visceral." I told him it would be a totally different experience from the Corvette but that I didn't know how to explain it. After driving both, his summed it up in that when you set the steering for the Corvette in a corner, even without nannies, there wasn't much else you have to do. But in the 996, you have to constantly adjust steering, throttle or brake all the way through the turn. It demands your total attention but rewards you when you get it right. We were talking about what kind of time I thought I could do in the 996 now and I told him I didn't want to spoil the surprise, that I would let him find out what it was capable of. But he wanted to me give him something to shoot for so I took it out for a final session and let it rip. We (the car and I)were flying. Gone was all fishtailing on hard braking and the grip accelerating out of the corner was unreal. I never was able to get on the gas too early so I know I wasn't near it's limit. But the times got quicker every lap and the final one when they waved the checker flag read 1:22.6. I now declare this car officially "sorted." And while I'm going to miss it dearly, I fully expect to own it again one day.

So did you run your SRF? Observation question from the Texas vid...either that is a very consistently fast track or the gear ratios/power band must be huge! It didn't appear the guy was shifting as much as expected. Any thoughts-comments?

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SRF was a blast. With no power anything and the higher G's it was physically exerting to drive. I'm upgrading to a 300mm steering wheel which will help some and having to learn to seperate my hands from my body and not use them to brace all over again. But the open cockpit, low to the ground (you feel like you are laying down, not sitting in it) raw feel is crazy. It's also way more sensitive to managing the weight transfer and balance than I would have expected. But the smoother you are, the more it can do. As for the track in the video, TWS is a big ***** track. After a day on it my nerves were totally shot. It's very fun but very fast. The number sectors that are over 100MPH are crazy.

That's exactly true - the Corvette just doesn't have any steering feel, so you set your course, ring down to the engine room for all ahead, and steam around the corner leaving a wake of tire dust and mostly-burned hydrocarbons. The throttle is 100% responsible for determining the radius of the corner.

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So kinda like a large size full-body lay-down shifter kart with suspension! That sounds awesome! Glad you are pleased. It looks like a blast. Enjoy!

TWS is a blast and I love the configuration. I have enjoyed it over many years. It is very sad to see it slowly decaying. Sewage permit not being renewed. Thus; the below have been rolled in for poop duty...

My friend couldn't pull the trigger. This car is officially for sale!

Slak: Sorry for the no sale. Someone will snap that baby up. Do I need to ask...SRF vids when available...please...

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3 hugs?

From you? Of course! I am a little bummed though. Selling it to a friend and getting to watch him progress on it was going to be really cool. The thought of selling it to a stranger and not seeing it again is not my favorite.

Problem solved...KEEP IT! Get a dual trailer and tow it and the SRF! Best of both worlds!

I'm not far from that. I've got one more person I know that's been looking that I shot an email off to. Otherwise, I'm keeping the SRF at Hallet so I could run it for the races and my 996 for DE's.

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Never have too many race/track cars! -Jason

The new look. These are the number from the passenger side. I have already stripped the wrap off it as well and have another set of numbers on order to match. I kinda like the cleaner look. photo955.jpg

Sooooo...keeping it??

I really don't feel qualified to answer that question. All I can tell you is after the blue car sells, I will still have one too many cars. But I am definitely taking it to the PCA DE next weekend.

Enjoy!

Everyday is a blessing!

Well said

Well I need to come up with some cash for the Business so the SRF is going up for sale. It will be easier to sell than this one and it doesn't have near as much sentimental value. In the meantime, I had another run in with a tire barrier as I was blazing around the track. I'm now within a second of the personal best of the quickest guy in in my class at Hallett and I know this car is capable of matching it. But that means riding the edge on every corner. My last session with my driving coach he said I needed to quiet my hands and quite "sawing" so much through the corners. While it is giving me more grip and lowering my times, I've also started spinning more as I was using the sawing to react quicker and prevent the spins. Here's a few pics of the damage from the tire wall. I'll try and get some video posted up tomorrow. photo616.jpg photo766.jpg

Damn, that sucks but at least (hopefully) you're okay and its not too bad!

Definitely not hurt and damages are going to run $75 to weld the exhaust and $50 for a salvage radiator. There is a little plastic nub that sticks out of the radiator. Every time the radiator takes the slightest hit, the nub breaks off and the radiator springs a leak. This would be the third time it's happened to me. I keep a spare set that I need to start taking to the track with me. Although my track does are getting cut back considerably until business gets back on track.

Well I hope it does for you and also because I like living the 996 racing life vicariously through your threads!

Tough break, but it looks like an easy fix compared to the earlier shunt. I like that exhaust setup. Who makes those small muffler cans? I may have a local shop fab up something similar for noise-restricted events.

Magnaflow 14158 ($260 a pair on Amazon). They are 2.5" free flow so there is no restriction but they do a nice job of knocking the noise down from crazy loud to just loud.

Slak: Good to see that you're still enjoying the car! Now quit hitting those barriers! At least this probably didn't cost you much/anything for track repair! Observation of exhaust system sound if same as in previous vids...Sound is wonderful but my guess is ear plugs are necessary while driving to keep from squinting at top rpms! While hot lapping my previously owned sprint car I forgot my ear plugs a couple of times. That mistake became painfully apparent first shot down the straight at full throttle! These days I say "huh?" a lot in conversations!

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If anybody wants to purchase these, I can match Amazon on this price. Brandon I hope your biz gets better so you can keep on racing! -Jason

Thanks Slakker - I'll get with my exhaust fabricator and see if he can use these Magnaflows just after the header flange and then direct outlets through the (cut out) license plate area of the bumper.

Here's a pic of an SP996 that did exactly that. It looks much cleaner than mine. photo314.jpg

Exactly what I am looking for Slakker - thanks for the photo!

And here's the video from the last time out at the track. I hit my PB of 1:21.6 in the warm up session which is pretty crazy since I was running 1:24's prior to the LSD upgrade. Then, at about the 12:00 mark (in the 2nd session) is where I throttle oversteer and the rear end decides it's sick of following and wants to lead for awhile. I'm blaming this one on the tires (in addition to driver error)because it really felt like I had full grip but obviously I didn't. This set of scrubs was crazy fast but they just felt different. But that's part of the deal when you spend $600 on scrubs instead of $2200 on stickers. You Tube

What fun until 12:20. I forgot how much fun it is; just you, the car and the track. What a great stress reliever. Blocks out most other things because the brain and body is so busy. Thanks for the ride!

Rennline Wheel Studs. Studs are amazing if you have to pull the wheels off and on much but the Rennline are even better. The cone tip makes it very to get the wheel on or the nuts started. I know have the rear studs swapped out and am planning on upgrading the front studs soon. I know, the cone ends seem like a small thing but they really are nice to have. photo803.jpg

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Slakker - you're using drilled rotors not slotted? I've switched to slotted for the track - was cracking through the drilled rotors in about 5 track days.

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that's really fast. Are you running COMMA GT1 or GT2? That time will win Gt2 although the BMW E21 of Ryan Schneider will be nearly as fast

Slak: NASCAR uses something similar so I sure there is a significant advantage in ease and speed. Now just glue the lug nuts to your wheel and things really get fast!

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So... what LSD setup did you install that lowered your lap times that much? Was it expensive?

OS Gikken, $2080 through GBox. They offer free installation but they are going to make money off talking you into a refresh while they have it.

Swapping out steering wheels. The suede was smooth and shiny on the old one. I picked this one up off the classifieds about 4 months ago but just getting around to installing it. photo442.jpg

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That's the wheel I have. Good call - you'll like it!

I just read through this entire thread and have one word, bravo!

Thanks Gnarb! Definitely the funnest project I've ever done and it turned out to be an absolute beast on the track. Qualified first and had the fastest lap in the race at my last race but finished 3rd. Long story but I'll get the video posted soon.

https://rennlist.com/forums/vehicle-...ce-de-car.html

Check out the front page of Rennlist! That’s this car prior to me purchasing it. In hindsite it did look pretty cool.... https://rennlist.com/

The only correct answer to the question posed is tag redline and yell YOLO!

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Cool pic!