Finally, the Pics I have promised

Here are the pics of my car with the BBS RS-GT Diamond Black wheels and the MASHAW replica Carerra wing. The pics don't show it very well, but the wing is great in person because it pics up all of the lines of the car from many different angles. I guess that is one of the benefits of a factory designed wing. Sorry for the lousy photography. My car looks much better in person than in these pictures, which seem to distort the proportions a little. I have also included pictures of the GT2 front tire delete mod I did so that I could just pull the tray out when I track my car. I made a carpeted lid with a hinge so that I could still use the little storage compartment despite having a solid floor on top of the foam tire delete tray. It works very, very well. I also included pictures of my full CF interior (including CF Bose speaker covers, thicker leather wheel with leather airbag cover, bluetooth hands free in the ashtray, hardwired XM satellite, and BK fire extinguisher bracket. I have also lowered the car significantly by installing PSS9s and GT3 adjustable sway bars. Today I installed the GT3 RS brake ducts for use at Watkins Glen over the next two weekends. I will let you know if they make a noticeable improvement. Enjoy.

very nice TD

Nice TD..very nice

Nice pics TD. The wheels look real good (I like your interior also). What size wheel did you get for the rears? 18X10 or 18x11? What is the offset for the rear wheels? Regarding the GT2 tray in the trunk, can you still get a suitcase in there??

Beautiful and very tastefully done. The targa is still one of my favtorites, sometimes I regret selling it especially after seeing pictures such as these.

TD - Nice mods and good pics. You car is looking GREAT! Thanks for sharing! I am not a real big fan of wings ('cuz I like smooth, naked butts) but I really do like that one. Its design is not as "contrived" as some others and, therefore, is consistent with the design of the rest of the car. Is that the sock front bumper cover? Are you going to have any issues with "unbalanced" up-lift/down-force on the front versus the rear now that you have the wing installed? I certainly am not very knowledgeable on the subject, but everything that I have read on the forum indicates that, if you are going to add aero kits, you should do both the front and the rear at the same time to keep the aerodynamic flow consistent. As near as I can tell, you have installed most of the C/F mods available. Now all you really need to complete the set is a C/F key fob!

TD...Nice looking car... are you in the Washington DC area? I live in Alexandria. Any particular place that you take your car for service or mods installments? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks. Miko

Nice mods! You car looks great! I have one more mod for you...I ordered two orange cap samples from Niagara Plastics and totally forgot about them. I just installed one on mine and it does sound better at 4,000+ RPM. Let's try to get a NoVA meet going (or if you PM me I can mail it to you).

Great choice on the wing, TD. Carrera wing is kinda rare too. Looks great!

TD, Where did you get those aluminum rings? They look like one solid piece... me want! Rob

VERY NICE TD!!!!!!!! Now that you have a rear wing, you thinking about doing a new front bumper?

Thanks DP Blessing, Siberian, 03-turbo911, and Kevin H! I wonder what she would look like concourse clean! Thanks. I used the stock wheel sizes and offsets (it looks a little different because I have a pretty aggressive track/street alignment (e.g., -2 rear camber). The GT2 tray in the trunk is very nice because, although you lose a little height (which is less important), you gain a lot of depth (which is very important). Even with the GT2 tray and the custom lid I made I can put a litigation bag at the very front of the trunk and close the hood. It works well. Riad, I think I got the rings from Gert at Carnewal. They look great. The secret is to polish them with steel wool before installation, and use 3M double stick tape. I can remove them at any time I choose. Programmatore. That sounds great! I actually think I saw you driving around NoVA the other day while I was going to RPM for my 944. I am going to Watkins Glen for the next two weeks, , so why don't we get together in mid July? mikosaldana, yes, I live in Georgetown. We are blessed in that there are many, many great shops in the area. You might want to consider RPM since you live in Alexandria. Give me a better idea about the types of mods, and I can help out. Thanks gota911 and Itzkirb! One of the reasons I went with the Porsche designed Carerra wing was so that I did not have to replace the stock front bumper. Since I use my car as a daily driver in a very brutal environment (DC roads suck) and it is lowered significantly, I did not want to install the Cup II bumper (from the GT3s) because I did not want to exascerbate clearance issues. With the Carerra wing, nothing in the front is necessary for the 99-01 cars. With 02 and above cars like mine, you have to install a little "lip" spoiler under the front of the car, which I did. I have attached pics to illustrate. The "lip" spoiler still has the part sticker on it. I was very worried about aerodynamics, so I followed Porsche recommendations. Yes, I have just about all of the C/F mods. I just didn't like too much black plastic

Looking good, TD!!!! I can't believe how much better the Carbon Fiber looks with black interior than it does w/graphite!!!! I held a bunch of it up next to my graphite, and dedided to go alumilook instead. Georgetown is a great place to live!!!!! Where I live, the Italian restaurants are no better than THE OLIVE GARDEN, so we have to either travel, or import and cook ourselves.

Lokks great. I think all the CF mods are worth as much as my entire car. The wing is like Goldilocks sais " just right ". I just got a Bluetooth phone; I think you posted pics of the install, am I correct ?

The CF components look awesome. Great, now that I just installed my alum. bezel, I see yours. Damn, wish I had waited. Used sealant to attach mine, maybe I'll still switch.

RS-GTs don't come wide enough and big enough. 19s would look much better. You need the GT3 aerokit. I love the interior. Gorgeous.

Thanks Neighbor, StanSoph and RLandis! I like Georgetown, except for the roads. I track my car. For the track, 18s are far better than 19s for handling, not to mention the fact that they are lighter. The BBS wheels are perfect for combination street/track use. Also, the 19s don't stand up as well on the rough roads in G-Town. I would never put the GT3 aerokit on a Targa. I just don't think it would look right. I think that the rear wing would look too big and it would also make the hatchback, which is one of the features of the Targa that I really like, less useable.

You're not winning $s because of your car or your racing talent. Sure 18s are better, for 19s are it for the streets. No aerokit looks like just another plain jane 911 on the road. What are the specs on the BBS RS-GTs?

Outstanding TD. Great smart mods!!! Car looks great!

Wow..that's agreat looking 996. One of the nicest I've seen ever. Fantastic work, nice taste!

Thanks Fast 40th! That's what makes Porsche great. Everyone can tailor their car to their tastes, and I like seeing the diversity. Neither the aerokit (which is great for others) nor 19s (which are great for others) will work for my application, and I really do not miss either. I had the aerokit on my Boxster S and it looked great, but the Boxster was not lowered. My car is significantly lowered, and the aerokit would create unnecessary trouble, and I don't want such an aggressive look on a Targa, which, in my personal opinion, looks better if it looks more elegant. I didn't even want to get a wing for aesthetic purposes, but I wanted more stability in the triple digits on the track. I have to admit, I like the way it looks now. In a couple more years, you can buy my car and install the aerokit and 19s The Diamond Black BBS RS-GTs are the stock sizes.

Benjamin, Just because we don't win money doesn't mean we want to sacrifice performance. Apart from subjective appeal, there is not much that 19s offer the 996. In fact in a recent issue of Excellence, the tuner 9ff gives pretty logical reasons for why they do not recomend 19s on the 996 platform. Also, as Todd says, the streets of DC are brutal. Even some bling guys pass on 19s with thin sidewalls in this area. The objective benefits of 18s outweigh the subjective advantages of 19s to some of us. Ain't nothing wrong with that. -KJ

From Onew Targa Owner To Another - That Is Sweet - Nice..... Enjoy,,,I know you will

Nice, I esp like the CF interior.

Very nice shots TD...

Very nice..makes me miss my Targa...have you thought of putting the Turbo bumper on ?

Thanks Coyote99, RJMDAD996, carbon_00, JimPDX, neil.schneider and KJ! Yes I did briefly, only because it came as a stock option on the 40ths. However, I decided not to for two reasons. First, it was not a factory or tequipment option for the Targa, and I sorta like the idea of keeping the P-Car consistent with the factory available options (e.g., all of my CF came straight from the factory). Second, there does not seem to be a factory rear wing available for the 40th, and I wanted to improve triple digit aerodynamics more than change the look. So, I decided to go with the factory rear wing, which was matched with the stock front bumper with lip spoiler. The turbo nose is nice looking though . . .

Since I get to rub shoulders with TD at the track, I must say the pictures don't do the car justice. Very much effort put into making the car unique, without sacraficing any functionality, in fact mostly adding to it...

TD, That is the best Targa I've ever seen and one of the nicest 911s ever. Congratulations.

Thanks Siberian and donkeyman! Eli, I aspire to having a collection of P-cars like yours someday. I'm sorry I wasn't able to go see the garage this weekend . . . we had unexpected guests so my time was extremely limited. I am still interested. TD

No problem, just shoot me a PM when you got some free time....

TD, I love the way the Wing looks on the Targa. I have my Wing coming this Wednesday. I will also take pictures and update all. Good luck amigo, she does look great. Question - Did you do the Wing install or did a shop perform that task ?

Although the install is very easy (it just replaces the stock rear deck and deletes the motor since it is fixed), you might as well have the bodyshop that preps and paints the wing install (both the OEM and the MASHAW replica come unpainted). At least on Arctic Silver, the good shops will install the wing to prep, and then remove it to paint. If they are going to go through all that trouble to begin with, they might as well install. Thanks for the compliments!

Man, those wheels are so freakin nice. Actually, that whole 996 is so freakin nice. Great job!

The Wing I ordered from Vividracing.com is painted Black A3 already, they charged me another $300.00 to have it painted, so now the install should be a snap.