wdb's forever targa

This will be a thread about my 2002 996 targa. I'm making plans for a long term relationship. I thought I should document it. I had been hunting for a Porsche for several years. I wanted to find out for myself what all the fuss was about, why they have such a fanatical following, why the values hold up despite there being 10's of thousands built each year. That kind of stuff. I thought long and hard about an air-cooled car but the prices just weren't justifiable to my way of thinking. The 996 was the next obvious place to go if one is just testing the Porsche waters. After all it is still a 911, despite the whole headlight and water-cooled hate directed at it. I really wanted a targa because of the rear hatch, which seemed hugely practical to me -- and it is! Anyway that's how I ended up with this one. I bought the car more or less by accident on Bring A Trailer in July 2021. I put in my top bid, expecting the car to go up another $4K or $5K; it didn't. I tell people "it followed me home." Here's the BaT listing: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...-911-targa-18/ Here it is arriving at my house for the first time; the seller very graciously drove the car up from VA to PA which was a godsend for me at the time. As I said, the seller's personal delivery of the car was a godsend at the time, because I was dealing with a nonagenarian parent in the hospital. I was there every day for a month. So naturally that is where I took this shot. I'll just clif note the rest of the introductory portion of this tale and say that I absolutely fell in love with the car. I adore the size, nimbleness, and eagerness of the car. And it is ridiculously practical! In addition I have recently retired, and so I decided to make a project of it. Mileage is on the high side but I think it has pretty good bones; plenty of documentation, clean CarFax, evidence of regular maintenance throughout its life. Even so it's a bit tired and in need of some refreshing, which I am getting to now during its winter slumber. I intend to use it as my fair weather daily driver, plus I'm outfitting it for longer trips as well. I'm fixing the absolute must-needs first, then doing a full suspension refresh. Longer term plans include an engine rebuild; I'll spend more on that than I paid for the whole car! But I intend to keep it a long time, and drive it a lot, and it will be worth it to me to take bore scoring and IMS stuff completely off the table. More to come.

First up is the infamous "foam rubber blowing out of the vents" fix. I did the big flap from the heater core entry. I would say that the biggest PITA for me was not realizing that there was a giant Bose wart in the passenger footwell making it impossible to reach the bottom pivot; I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring that out, and another inordinate amount of time finding the rear screw. The good news is that it will go back in stuffed with polyfill, hopefully fixing the awful boominess that makes the sub all but useless. The foam backing was still mostly there so the functionality was still pretty good. It's like an archeological dig... I used Armaflex. Mold resistance baby! Recoated Reinstalled

I wasn't impressed with the shifting of the car so I spent some money on fixing it. I didn't want rifle bolt action, just less slop, less plasticky feel, and (hopefully) more precise shifts. Job is still in progress because Numeric forgot to include their handy wrench in my package, so I'll post finished product stuff later. Numeric Racing cables. Where's my wrench? Function-First bits.

Quotes source post: 17955811

Nice. I installed both the Numeric shifter and cables. In the end, the shifter was enough for me and made the most difference by far. The cables were too noisy for my taste, with not much of a difference in feel so I removed them. Maybe I�m just weird because a lot of people report night and day difference with the cables. Maybe I didn�t install enough insulation, but it was very loud in my car.

I remember this car. Can't be many Polar Silver Targas out there. Pretty car. Enjoy it!

The interior teardown all started because I felt like I was sitting in a hole when in the driver's seat. I took that out to see what was up. Turned out to be a torn mesh support strap, that in turn ripped the seat cushion fabric and broke a crossbrace that runs under that part of the seat. The whole bottom of the seat needed to come apart to access the web mesh thingie. This is still in progress too, waiting on parts to arrive. The mesh understrap that broke and caused the whole mess. Seat cushion ripped on both sides. Crossbrace took a hit when everything fell down on it. JB Weld to the rescue. It's almost like new in terms of strength.

That seat repair is actually pretty common. I had the exact same broken parts on my black car. The plastic frame is not expensive so I elected to get a new one. Putting that mesh on it, boy that was a workout!

Quotes source posts: 17955822, 17956388

Oh wow, this is the first I'm hearing anyone mention the Numeric cables bringing noise into the cabin. I hope yours was an unusual situation... I can imagine it might be a bit tight. I didn't research it to see if there was past history of seat breakage. It seemed like an unusual thing to have happen so I sort of assumed someone put knees in the seat instead of butt cheeks, or something similar to that. (Don't kneel in your Z4 seat, you'll break the seatbelt warning system!) More parts are supposed to arrive on Tuesday. Maybe I should spend tomorrow ordering suspension bits...

Quotes source post: 17955749

Beautiful setting. I never liked the silhouette of the targa, till the 993. Driving one in an electrical/lightning storm is a trip. The hatch is a great asset when you have fixed back seats. And vacuuming.😎 Polar Silver

Quotes source post: 17956474

Thank you! My wife thanks you as well; we worked hard to get a look that fit the property. It's my first ever garage, too small of course. I'll bet. Which reminds me, the sun shade really doesn't help enough on truly hot days. I see that Suncoast sells an upgrade. Does anyone have experience with it? Looks like it might be a 997 part. https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/99756240500.html

Quotes source post: 17956455

Its a fairly common complaint. I have the silicon hose they use to dampen the vibs. I didnt feel they increased noise on my car but i was careful to make sure the cables did not touch anything under the car.

Crazy. I remember this car. Cool that it made its way here. From one Polar Silver Targa owner to another....welcome! I just did a similar seat fix, replacing the lower seat foam due to failed seat heater. Also, I filled the Bose box with this: Amazon Amazon It helped quite a bit, though the system is still pretty lacking overall.

Shifter is in! Function-First Shift Right Solution + Numeric Racing cables installed The shifter is much more precise now; however like many others have noted the cables bring a lot of noise into the cabin. I spent some time with sound deadening materials and it got better. Just not better enough. It's not in keeping with my goal for the car, and so I'm looking for alternatives. I see some folks have gone with GT3 cables but I am having trouble finding much detail on whether or not they are a direct replacement or whether I need more bits to make them work. Also, again, I don't want a bunch of extra noise coming through. I very well may end up just going with new stock cables. I also see F-F has a new cable end product but have found much customer use information about those either.

As can be seen in my last post I took the passenger seat out too, because it was hard to adjust. I lubed up the manual front/rear and height adjusting mechanisms, wow! what a difference that made. (I lubed up the driver seat too.) While I had both seats out I gave them the full Leatherique treatment. I love that stuff. I cut a square of leather to send to Leatherique for a dye match in the event I decide to re-dye the worn bolsters on the driver seat. On the one hand I want to do it to make the car look better. But the leather treatment has gone a long way towards rejuvenating the feel and suppleness of the hides, so I don't feel as much inclination to do it to "save" the seat. "Patina", "it's only original once", stuff like that. I'm pondering that one for the time being. New strap installed on seat base, all ready for the new cushion and leather cover. Leatheriqued driver seat. The bottom cushion is just laying there loose which is why it looks funny. Driver seat bolster shows some dye loss but looks refreshed otherwise. Lubed up, spiffed-up passenger seat.

Did my first oil change. I pulled the sump cover too because it was leaking. I found a nice present in the oil pickup screen... 0W-40 seems thin, at least per the owner's manual. The piece of gasket goo I pulled from the oil pickup screen.

Oh -- almost forgot to mention -- I am officially on the list for a Flat Six engine refresh in 2023!

On the cables do u have their silicon hose wrap? I have the cables zip tied together tight under the car and make sure they dont touch the sheet metal. My cables dont make any noticable noise.

Quotes source post: 17971116

I reinstalled the foam piece from the stock cables, in pretty nearly the same location it was on the stockers. No silicone hose wrap although I did see in their parts list. My cables are not touching the car anywhere either. Did you wrap them in silicone individually and then zip tie them? is the silicone wrapped end-to-end, under car only, or under car and in car separately? I can't really picture getting the cables through the stock body grommet with anything wrapped around them...

Quotes source post: 17956501

The most recent review under 'keviha' is mine...and what I noted back in 2016 stands today. If you live in a hot climate swapping out the sunshade for tighter woven version is a must. Cuts way down on the green house effect. I'm enjoying your updates...and congrats making the 2023 Flax Six list!

Quotes source post: 17971671

Awesome news, thank you! I'm in SE PA so not exactly "hot climate" all the time, in fact there was 4" of snow today in parts of my yard. But August is another beast entirely. I am putting together a list for Suncoast and will include the sunshade. Did you do your own installation? Thanks and thanks. I still can't quite explain it, I've been a front engine guy my entire life. But this little car speaks my language. Certainly part of it is the absence of most of the modern nannies. It's got ABS, that's it. But there's something else too.

Quotes source post: 17956501

I have never so much as seen a 996 Targa in person, let alone owned one, but my Benz had a glass sunroof and I always left the shade open even in summer, and I had Saratoga tops for my '77 Vette and my 944, and I never once had an issue with too much heat or light coming in through the top. The common link with all of these cars is that the top glass was heavily tinted (nearly black or bronze from the outside), so if the 996 Targa glass isn't already tinted like this maybe a tint could solve your problem. Although, thinking as I type this, that may make it literally impossible to see out the rear window with the top back and maybe that is why Porsche did not do it. The shifters and seats are looking good! And congrats on getting an engine slot! From what Jake has said in other threads the 2023 slots might be the last for a while!

Quotes source post: 17971716

I didn't do the installation but my indy said it was a straight forward / OEM job. Now that I think of it there may be a thread on the forum from someone who did as a DIY.

Quotes source post: 17971719

These are really panorama roofs...large in relation to the size of the car. So they really do heat up when the temperatures rise. The glass is lightly tinted which is awesome to get the light into the cabin. I enjoy opening sun shade on cloudy / overcast days to brighten everything up. Also great on sunny days...just not when it's 100+. Lol. I know some have added dark tint instead of going with different sunshade. To each their own, I suppose.

You will love the flat six engine when you get the car back. In have 2 996 with flat six engines, mine is a 02 C4n cab within a 3.8 Stage I and my wife’s is a 03 C2 with a 4.0 Stage II. Both are outstanding and were well worth the wait.

Quotes source post: 17971638

u need one length, cut in half is enough for both cables. U just do the length under the car. Spiral cut the tube open and wrap both cables individually. Then zip tie together. They dampen the vibration, at least it did for me.

Quotes source posts: 17971719, 17971742

Thanks! Leatherique really is amazing stuff. And given Jake's recent comments I definitely feel fortunate. I'm hoping his situation eases as he distances himself further from his COVID episode. I know another guy who had long COVID and it isn't fun but in his case it did come to an end. I chopped off your sunshade comments, see below for my reply on that topic. I have a MB S212 with a gargantuan glass panel in the roof and I keep that sunshade in place all summer. Some like it hot? In fact they are pretty much simply a giant sliding glass panel where the roof goes. Plus there is the glass hatch behind it. As I mentioned, I have an S212 with a panoramic sunroof, and in terms of how much glass is on the top surfaces the targa puts it to shame. Granted, the Merc has tan MB-Tex upholstery and the targa has Metropol Blue leather, so that makes a difference. (Never let anyone tell you that the exterior color is what makes a car interior hot or not hot in summer.) I think the glass on the targa roof is pretty heavily tinted as well. In addition my car has had the rear and side windows film tinted. It is still a sauna on an August day. EDIT: As for seeing through the back when the targa top is open -- fuggedabodit. It's a cave of blackness back there. Car headlights make it through at night, barely, but daytime becomes side mirrors only for rear views. I'm used to it though. My Z4MC has virtually no rear visibility through the central mirror, even without an extra layer of tinted glass.

I have a 2003 Seal Grey Metallic Targa with a 4.0 FSI in it. You will enjoy it!

Quotes source post: 17971773

I only did the length inside the car when I did mine and it was intolerable. I don't think that it specified how to use the insulation in the instructions. That might have been nice to know. Well, they are sitting in my garage. Maybe one day I'll try again to reinstall them.

Quotes source posts: 17971773, 17972431

Thanks for the details. I'm on the fence about trying it, but at $30 for the tubing versus $330 for new stock shift cables it might be worth a try. I have the cable sections in the cabin wrapped with a dynamat type of product. It helped but it's still not great. I also dynamatted the cover that snaps over the cable ends at the shifter. It made some difference but not enough for my goals.

On to suspension. I am going to do a thorough refresh front and rear, that is not in question. Several vendors sell kits and I am going to take advantage of that plus add hardware as appropriate. Here's the rub. I'm on stock US 2002 Porsche 996 suspension. In my limited experience with the car it felt in need of freshening, but then there was The Other Thing. The front end. At lower speeds it is okay if, once again, in need of a refresh; At higher speeds, well, that nose just starts lifting up and sniffing like a bloodhound. Things get light out there. Not acceptable. So, what to do. My first thought was RoW M030. I'm still leaning heavily in that direction. In researching the topic however it appears as though there is a fair argument for proper coilovers instead; given the costs involved one can do something like PSS9's and break even, if not come out ahead, of a RoW M030 kit. Especially when one tosses in all the other bits that need replacing on a 21 year old car. So, what to do. I want to reiterate my ultimate goals for this car. It will be a road car first and foremost. It will be a daily driver in a state with winter (read: potholes). It will also be a GT car, and will carry myself and my spouse hither and yon on adventures of varying lengths. It will also be expected to comport itself well over Deals Gap, and every now and then see a racetrack. Are coilovers, with their complexity and setup needs and adjustments and all the rest of it, really the way to go? Or do I trust Porsche engineering expertise, go with M030 (plus all the other worn out bits), and live with their decision? I am a fussy -- no that's not it -- I am a focused person when it comes to ride and handling. I want those qualities to match the way I use the vehicle. In this case my preference would be for a drop-dead capable road car, one that might give away a bit at the track in return for decent ride quality on long days behind the wheel over regular roads. So. What to do.

Quotes source post: 17973814

I was in your boat at one time. New tires and coilovers cleared up any floatiness at speed. My coilovers are more road compliant than my stock suspension was. I have to go over some pretty rough roads or bumps to even feel anything remotely harsh. You will be reminded you have coilovers if you are driving over rubble or some of those thin speed bumps in rapid succession. It's nothing terrible, though. I feel as though the stock suspension would have been similarly harsh over that stuff, anyways. Get some decent coilovers, not springs and shocks. don't think about it one more minute. I also changed every suspension arm and bushing except the ones in the subframe and added Eibach sway bars with adjustable drop links. That made a big difference too.

Which coilovers?

Quotes source post: 17974231

Feal 441

@wdb I missed this when it was first posted but I smiled when I read "forever" Targa. It's exciting to have a new member that is as enthusiastic about the platform as you are. Enjoy it in most excellent health, and looking forward to reading your progress.

I'm giving up on the NR cables. (Keep an eye on the classifieds...) I don't think they are going to get any quieter than they are now after my most recent modification. I cut down 4 rubber fender washers with 3/4" ID's and placed them on both sides of the NR cables where they bolt to the shifter box inside the car. This was a bit more involved than that sentence makes it sound. They definitely helped, more than anything I've done so far. They prevented the shifter assembly from being a resonator. But. BUT. I still hear every application on/off the throttle. The whine is way down, but there are still other noises coming in. Granted some of this could be attributed to my 103K mile gearbox. I'm pondering that particular item in fact. But the reality is that the NR cables are designed very well, and work very well, a side effect of which is they transmit vibrations very well. The following items are on their way from Suncoast as I write this. - shift cables - both attachment doodads at the lever end - an upgraded sunshade (I'm pretty sure this is simply the 997 part) - a few other odd bits I'm still not convinced that coilovers are worth the aggro to me. I'm visiting a local Porsche shop next week and will pick their brain. In the meantime I'm assembling a list of stuff to refresh the rest of the suspension. It's great that several of the suppliers put kits together, not so great that they don't include one-time use hardware while they're at it. Or at least make it an option!

Quotes source post: 17980482

there is no single use hardware in our suspensions that i can think of?

Porsche says to replace the locknuts each time. Personally if they hold torque I wouldn't bother and AC43.13 agrees . I do keep a few of each on hand just in case.

Quotes source post: 17980482

Get the coilovers. You�re talking yourself out of the right answer.

Quotes source post: 17983052

I have to agree with this. I have never driven or installed coilovers on a 996. But I have had coilovers on a couple cars, and I have helped buddies install them on their JDMs, Beamers, and VWs, and I don't know anyone that has ever regretted putting high quality, proper fitting coilovers on their car, even if they never touch the adjustments after initial install. They usually aren't that bad to install and set up, and this seems especially true for the 996. Also, you mention wanting to keep this car forever and having those adjustments is great. They will make it way easier to get the car to sit and handle exactly as you want, no changing springs, revalving shocks, or cutting coils, just simple adjustments. Additionally, you said this is your "forever" car, so if down the road you decide you want a different stance or a softer ride, its again just simple adjustments. A final thought you seem very particular, which isn't bad, but I think in the end you are probably going to spend more time and money getting a stock style suspension dialed in to your liking than a set of coilovers.

As you are going whole hog on a super engine. You should back it up in suspension. That is more than the coilover vs spring shock, but your other old components, multi link suspension arms, tie rods, bushings and finding the right tyres and alignment.

Quotes source post: 17983190

Thanks for all of the followups on suspension refresh. A full suspension refresh is definitely on the agenda. Tires are fairly new, rears just last year in fact. Yep, I'm going big on the engine, but maybe not for the reasons most folks do. I'm doing it first and foremost so I can drive the car without worry. Power wise I am happy with the 100K mile engine now, and I'm sure a Flat Six Stage 1 would make me even happier. However, the Stage 2 engine is not a lot more than a Stage 1 when all is said and done; keeping in mind that there are quite a few costs involved besides the engine rebuild, and those are the same no matter which engine is chosen. Plus "the 4.0" has cachet among Porsche folk. So it made sense to me to get it.

My order from Suncoast Porsche got delivered earlier this week. Not pictured: targa roof sunshade upgrade. I'll document that more when I get around to putting it in. I also had them send one of the plastic undertray pieces that had been busted up on my car. Not exactly a sexy piece but I like stuff to work the way it is designed to work, and the particular part I replaced helps to direct air up into the transmission tunnel. Porsche OEM shift cable assembly and lever-end connectors. The cables arrived in a nice, sturdy tube. New shift lever connectors. Fits perfectly! I have one for the Z4MC; custom fit is definitely the way to go.

Shifter before/after videos. I'm satisfied with the result. A bit shorter shift throw might be nice but for now I'm done playing with shiftiness. I'm also an idiot for not doing a video with the Numeric Racing cables installed. They definitely improved the 'clickiness' of the action, and the ends of travel were much more sharply defined. But the noise... Before: You Tube After: You Tube

One more update: I visited the shop that will be pulling the engine for the Flat Six refresh. Nice shop, family run, long history. They do their own engine rebuilds on site and they've worked with Jake Raby for years as well. There was a Flat Six engine in the shop when I visited. They were showing a Speedster to a prospective customer when I arrived. Beautiful restoration that they had done for a customer. I don't mind giving them a plug. https://specialtycarsservicecenter.com/ Nick's IROC recreation. This is what he did while all his buddies went to college. Beautiful, show winning job. https://specialtycarsservicecenter.c...sr-recreation/ This is the Speedster they were showing to prospective buyer. https://specialtycarsservicecenter.c...r-restoration/

Thanks for sharing the before and after videos! That's a huge difference! I think I might have to do this sooner than I was originally planning.

Not sure if you have decided on that yet. Ohlins are good but pricey. My car has hr springs with konis and it really handles like a go cart. I may soften the ride a bit by going with a 285/35, I�m currently running 285/30 on the back. Awesome thread, keep it up.

Quotes source post: 18003767

Thanks for the compliment. I placed an order for a RoW M030 kit; springs, shocks, sways. I imagine I'll catch some grief for that decision but after discussions with those who've had it I think it is right for me. headlight surgery is currently underway. more soon.

Quotes source post: 18004852

I don't get it. There was no advantage to going M030. None.

Quotes source post: 18005460

Advantages -- maybe not I guess? I list the following benefits, perhaps you would not consider any of them to be advantages: replaces 100K mile components eliminates soft, floaty qualities of stock US suspension improves handling qualities without huge penalty in ride quality genuine Porsche = chosen by Porsche engineers no guesswork in trying to match springs/shocks/coilover selections works correctly right out of the box - no setup or adjustment needed should last longer than my time with the car

Quotes source post: 18006330

I don't think Barban meant there is no advantage over a 20 year old worn suspension. I think he meant no advantage over coilovers, which for the most part I would have to agree with. You already made this decision and I don't think any suspension refresh with quality parts is a bad idea and am not trying to give you flack for making the decision you felt was best, but M030 has a decently harsh ride, certainly harsher at the performance level than a comparable coilover. For reference my car was factory equipped with the M030 sport suspension and the PO replaced the B8s with Koni Special Actives, and even with the Koni Special Actives the car is quite harsh on bad roads, and the PO said the switch to Konis made a huge difference. I hope the M030 gives you what you are looking for and I will keep watching for progress!

Quotes source post: 18006330

I guess I�m just annoyed, because I live with coilovers every day and it�s great. All this stuff you�re saying is irrelevant, but you believe it to be true for some odd reason. Ride quality? My car rides very smoothly and compliantly and handles great. Genuine Porsche? Not an advantage. Guesswork on springs? You don�t have to think about spring matching on any of the popular options. Just use what comes with it. Works correctly out of the box? My coilovers worked correctly out of the box after alignment and ride height setting by the alignment shop� and you will have to get an alignment regardless. You will pay slightly more for them to adjust ride height and balanced, but that is a one time small expense.

Headlights are done, sorta. They work but the lenses are crazed and the wiring inside is a patchwork. I'm on the hunt for some kind of refreshment for them. I had the car out last night to be sure nothing was going to fall off in the first few miles; all was well except for them being wildly misaimed. I adjusted them this morning and will go for another run tonight to gauge how I did. I'll do a fuller writeup on the RetrofitKit install later. I also unearthed the Z4MC today from its long winter slumber. The targa had been distracting me from it for the last 7 months to be honest. We had a nice long gentle romp through the little roads that abound out here. I had been thinking maybe I'd sell it, after all the targa has the same power and makes nice noises too plus it's a targa. But after today's drive I'm back in love again. Not a pic I took today! But I like it.

I decided to post the headlight retrofit story in the thread dedicated to that topic. Find it here. Next up: replacing the targa sunshade. And now that the weather is improving, maybe even driving the darned thing.

Saw this targa today at the concourse de elegance show. Anyway long story short the guy bought the car in November from Jake has a 4.0, that apparently Jake was building for his wife. Yes that�s my 18 going to be 19 year old chihuahua rat terrier. Brothers next to each other. I would put a 4.0 sticker on it, the engine has like 2,000 miles. Awesome 😎 cool show.

I don’t grok why you coupe folks aren’t screaming at Porsche to hinge the rear glass. I mean, really. Targa = perfect. Thanks for sharing. I need to get to some meets soon.

Quotes source post: 17996538

Such a great shop! They�ve done all the work on my 996. Starting with the IMS Solution pre-qualification to making sure all maintenance is up to date.

Quotes source post: 18013143

Lights are looking good! I am glad things are coming along. The Z4 is looker too! It's funny you say that, I was just thinking about this the other day. The hinged rear glass really does add a lot of practicality/extra storage. You can fit a lot in the back of a coupe, but unless you remove a seat, good luck squeezing it between the seatback and door jamb.

Targa sunshade replacement complete! The original shade is utterly inadequate, which Porsche must have recognized pretty quickly because the replacement part is OEM Porsche. The new one looks like it will do a much better job of reducing solar heating of the interior in the summertime. It's not a bad job, a bit fiddly, plenty of stops and starts; I could do it in probably half the time if I did it again. The pictures are taken from inside the car, looking up at the garage ceiling. Before After

Nicely done on the sunshade install! You're really knocking out the projects.

Quotes source post: 18004852

Stirring the suspension pot a little more. I cancelled the RoW M030 kit order. The kit was going to take an age to get from Suncoast, so I decided to see about alternative sources. Which got me chatting with Gert at Carnewal. Great fellow who spent a lot of time going back and forth with me and answering my questions. I settled on RoW M030 springs with Koni Active shocks (plus full refresh of the rest of the bits). Gert was of the opinion that RoW M030 would decrease ride quality more than I would find desirable. He has a ton of experience with these cars plus he'd happily sell me any setup I chose, so I decided to go with his recommendation. Saved me a tidy sum also. So, still not coilovers. Sorry folks.

I finally cleaned the dynamat gunk off the Numeric Racing shift cables. They're up for sale. https://rennlist.com/forums/for-sale...ft-cables.html

A package arrived from overseas yesterday. RoW M030 springs, Koni Sport shocks, and a bunch of stuff to refresh the rest. Carnewal was very informative, helpful, and responsive. Shipping was remarkably quick too, 4 days door to door. I would not hesitate to order from them again. Suspension refresh bits, part A. Still need the locating bits. Contents. "Koni Active" was the original order but they are caught in the supply chain maelstrom so I went with Sports.

I assume your springs are specific to the Targa/Cabriolet? I know rear springs and maybe the front too, are different than a coupe.

Quotes source post: 18052094

Yes they are targa/cab springs. The bump stops are specific to RoW M030 as well I believe. I've spent the morning cross referencing the part numbers in fact. The only one I'm having a problem with is the number for the pair of front springs; they look correct based on the paint markings, but I can't find a reference to the part number on the packaging.

My last big box o' suspension bits arrived today, w00t! I was working on yard equipment all day and now I'm beat, but perhaps tomorrow I'll lay it all out into some kind of nifty eye candy image.

This is what happens when a person has a nifty idea but does not quite have the skillz to pull it off. You Tube

I'm getting into the dirty part of the job, finally. In all my years of wrenching I never had a ball joint splitter, now I do. Also anyone with clever hints on how to do a proper job of attaching the inner tie rods to the end of the steering rack is welcome to respond. So far the rest seems reasonably straightforward, although I've noticed that quite a few of the bolts are green/blue in color. Did Porsche simply spray them down with threadlocker? That's my first guess anyway.

Oh yeah. I have yet to pull a bolt out that had the same feel as the ubiquitous BMW "one time use" bolts, which are designed to stretch during torquing and are therefore expendable. The Porsche bolts feel like ordinary hardened bolts. That's probably why they don't all call for being replaced.

The greenish tint is the anti-corrosion coating that Porsche used. It seems to hold up well. There are some one-time TTY bolts in the car, the only ones in the suspension that come to mind are the brake caliper mounting bolts. I have reused them even though Porsche says not to.

Quotes source post: 18089282

BMW folk reuse them too. Yes they stretch but how many times. Two, maybe three, is the call on that side. At some point it comes down to $ vs sense.

Wow, LCAs sure have changed a lot in 20 years. slimmer in the hips slimmer ihn the cross-section much much simpler casting -- better material? weighs just a tad less difference could be all the crud on the old one And apparently my spring compressors have become useless. Ah me. these won't do

Okay, holiday is over and I am back at the suspension work. The Autozone spring compressor 'rental' was a great success. The way it works is you essentially pay them for the tool; you use the tool; you take the tool back; they refund your money. This beastie was overkill for my little job. Huge spring compressor, tiny spring POWAH Old and new boot/bump stop Stock US standard front spring vs. RoW M030 Assembly complete

This happened too. 20 years' worth of parts changes and redesigns resulted in me needing different bolts for the 'lateral arms' as Porsche calls them. I have some ordered, hopefully they are correct. I'll know in about a week. If you are doing this work take a look at your front and rear "lateral arms" (the ones that go forward from the LCA) and see if they are fat or thin at the LCA end. Then order the new bolts if needed along with the rest of the bits. Old vs. new Bolt works... ...bolt doesn't work

Is that arm a factory part? The aftermarket ones r just like the original part and there is no need for new hardware.

I went with OEM Porsche for all the stuff with rubber in it, except what I was able to source from an OE vendor such as TRW. (Some of the TRW parts I got have Porsche part numbers.) I went this way on the advice of a local restorer who says that the Porsche branded stuff holds up much longer. So that is the part that superseded the original part, according to Porsche.

Pretty cool comparison of the OEM and M030. Wonder what the 997 forged LCAs are going to look like in regards to older two piece units.

Quotes source post: 18096456

The LCAs pictured earlier actually have 991 part numbers. I think you make sense when you say they're forged, that would explain why they can be so much smaller in cross-section compared to the original 2002 996 parts. Cast vs. forged might also explain the difference in the lateral arms, but in that case the forged ones would be the old ones. I only saw drawings of the two-piece GT3-style LCAs, I have no idea what they look like in the flesh and even less idea whether or not the design changed over the years.

Can anyone provide further insight on these CA differences? Wondering if the simpler design is just as strong as the older ones (if not stronger) and if they are infact a better material AlSi1MgZr Aluminum, silicon, magnesium, zirconium?

https://www.makeitfrom.com/material-...96182-Aluminum 6182 (AlSi1MgZr, A96182) Aluminum "6182 aluminum is a 6000-series aluminum alloy: there is significant alloying with both magnesium and silicon, and the alloy is formulated for primary forming into wrought products. 6182 is the Aluminum Association (AA) designation for this material. In European standards, it will be given as EN AW-6182. AlSi1MgZr is the EN chemical designation. And A96182 is the UNS number. It received its standard designation in 2005, making it a fairly young material."

I'm a bit frustrated just now. The Porsche parts house I'm working with came up with a new number for the too-short bolts and sent me 4 of them. They're exactly as long as the old ones. So I dug into the 997 parts catalog, since the suspension arms in question carry 997 part numbers, and lo and behold I found bolts that are 20mm longer. Perfect! They're getting some for me and I'll have them by the end of the week. I won't be here however; I'm taking the Z4MC to the NC/TN boondocks to do some romping with the Schuh Syndikat. They're Z3C folks but they let me tag along as long as I promise to behave myself, and also not embarrass them too badly; the Z4 handles much better, especially when one considers that the Z3 has an E30 rear suspension! There's no denying they win in the looks department though. I just love following them through the twisties. Such a sexay bootay. Frustration #2 is a frozen rear axle. It won't agree to exit the hub. I have beaten/begged/beaten/pleaded/beaten/heated/beaten/pressed/beaten, and still it resists. (Not huge heat or pressure to be honest; I still have options there.) At least I managed to extricate the mess from the car and strip it of extraneous stuff. Next week I'll explore options. This is one of them. https://smile.amazon.com/8milelake-H...dp/B077RT569N/ hub puller *** axle press with a hydraulic press in the middle Here's the offending axle. EVERY OTHER BOLT AND NUT I have had to extract in order to do this job has not only come out relatively easily, it has also looked pretty clean considering the 20 years and 100K miles it's seen. This darn axle is my only sticky thing and of course it is one complicated MF to work on. If there's a silver lining it is that I might just go a step further and replace the damned axles and repack the bearings while it's this far apart. The labor is already paid for after all. Meanwhile I redid the rear shocks and springs. Here's a comparison of US stock targa/cab versus RoW M030. I see about 1-1/4", which is 35-ish mm

I had an axle stuck in a rear hub just like that. It's still stuck. That dinky puller won't do squat. I have a Lisle axle puller that weighs 10 pounds and uses a slugging wrench to tighten it. (Aside. A slugging wrench is a wrench that is designed to be hit with a sledgehammer.) I beat on that thing with a 4 pound hammer. I heated that sucker until the grease in the bearing caught fire. I used a 20 ton press. Impossible to get the axle out. I ended up buying a used wheel carrier and axle. Good luck separating it!

Quotes source post: 18108178

Aw. Thanks. I feel better.

I have wheel carriers if u need them from my 2000 c2 if u need it. Good luck.

Quotes source post: 18108016

Oh man, that looks mean. I tried to look back to see why you are tackling it but couldn't find the reference. Am I going to have to do this at some point? What would possess me to do such a thing.?

If a picture is worth 1000 words, in this case about 995 of them were expletives. But it's out! Time + penetrating oil + heat + impact. Now I can move ahead with finishing the rear suspension.

No pics this time, just a few updates. - I'm still waiting for a few last-minute parts to arrive, such as the rear sway bar bushings. What a PITA those were! The parts catalogs show bunches of different numbers. I thought I had selected the correct ones, and maybe I actually had, because the targas supposedly have a slightly larger rear sway bar than the coupes. Only not my car! It has the same sway bar as a coupe. So those are on their way. - I am very close to proclaiming myself to be a 996 parking brake master technician. I had to disconnect the handbrake cable to pull the hub, and I basically completely disassembled the parking brake to do it. I reassembled one side, which was a bit of bear to be honest; my drum brake skillz are very, very deeply buried in the past I guess. When I was done I compared it to the 'before' pictures and, lo and behold, I had put the actuating lever assembly (the thingie that attaches to the cable) in upside down. Arrggghhhh. This was discovered after I had been at it for most of the day, so I decided to pack it in and pick it up the next day. Overnight I was laying in bed with my mind running back over what I was facing, and it dawned on me that maybe I could just pry the brake shoes apart a little bit and slip the actuating lever out, without ripping the whole works apart again. Et voila! Doing it that way makes the job of detaching the handbrake cable sssooooooo much easier. - Generally speaking I'm very impressed with the car's mechanicals. The suspension parts are almost all aluminum castings or forgings. The rear wheel bearings are beefy enough for a delivery van. Stuff like that. Very nice. (Except perhaps the shift linkage...) - Generally speaking I'm much less impressed with the car's body parts. They're okay, I'm not complaining, but let's just say that Porsche allows for a lot of 'wiggle room' so that everything can fit together, and it's a good thing too. For example the larger plastic shield in the rear fenderwell fits nicely on the driver's side, but the passenger side not so much. I tried using the 'wiggle room' Porsche makes available, and got it to look a little better. Again it's not a big deal but it is striking when compared with the precision and attention to detail found in the suspension. - Next up: learning how to do an alignment that gets things close enough to make the car driveable.

Quotes source post: 18110722

Just seeing this, apologies for tardy reply. I'm replacing all of the rubber bushings and ball joints and whatnot in the suspension. The rear LCA outer attachment point is under the axle and pretty hard to get apart without removing the axle. The next time I do this (hahaha!) I'll leave the axle in place in the hub though.

For the alignment fcpeuro as a very good string aligment youtube video. For about $75 in tools/supplies u can get it pretty good.

[Image-only post; no author-written text. Original image references:] https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlist.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/f0e49a0c_7eaa_4611_b1b6_9772b6db066f_e0fe17c3446eb9d00762f10cbd663400673966fc.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlist.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/b40414f5_0c27_4f80_81f3_19221ac52cba_1ee1b47999fbdbeb2f5d41ddd2d9a800c24b102c.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlist.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/21c264f9_a064_4a8c_88fd_d6e3a6bd30ad_9d13442caafd96dde2d9b1fecb7b508ad599b665.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlist.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/babda6ec_33be_4f0b_9953_5a217d524e2d_40381e3921922c1553bc361ed40390786264080c.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlist.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/851d61b2_2745_4157_80ee_9b35c80ffe96_e9493677129dc665f25c67942b3b785920fc05f9.jpeg

that's a lot of leaves!

Quotes source post: 18137110

Yep! Whole ones too, how does that happen. I only saw radiator cleaning once in the service records post-warranty, at 60K or so miles if I remember. It looks to me to be something to do annually.

Quotes source post: 18137791

I had a ton of smaller one's in mine before I installed the mesh... some don't recommend it but oh well.

Out with the old... ... and in with the new. (Rear center caps are off so I can attack the axle nuts with a breaker bar and 6-foot pipe.) The car has a new stance now, thanks to RoW M030 springs. I've only driven it a few miles to settle the suspension before I do a string alignment, which it definitely needs before any serious miles can be considered. But I like the way it looks, and even on my short drive I could feel the difference in the suspension. It's crisp, whereas before it was a bit floaty and tired feeling. It was a ton of work and took a good bite out of the wallet, but I think I will be pleased with it. I certainly am happy with the new ride height! It was stock US suspension prior to this work, which I really didn't like. This is a great visiual improvement.

wdb - Which sways are you running? Looks happier and peppier with the new components.

Quotes source post: 18140092

Stock sway bars -- with new bushings. I'm building a long distance car, yeah I want it to handle well but it already did that, and I'm not going to track the bejeezus out of it although I do hope to do the occasional hot lap. Not sure I need to fuss over sway bars. But we shall see!

Damn dude thats great!

String alignment is underway. I was grievously delayed by Friday the 13th gremlins which seemed to pop out of nowhere. At least I now own an angle grinder! More on that later. Here's my home brewed rig. I made it fit on the lift so I could move it up and get under the car.

I require more pics of the garage pls...

Quotes source post: 18142696

Okay, just remember you asked. This is the first garage I ever had. There was a tiny one at a house I rented a million years ago, but from then until now I did my wrenching on a gravel driveway. I'm fortunate to be able to finally have a proper workspace. I'll spare you the myriad construction images; let's just say that I have pictures of a boulder the size of a large pickup truck being reduced to chunks that could be lifted onto a dump truck. (They don't call this Rockland Township for nothing!) 3 bays, square footage limited by township restrictions primarily, space limitations secondarily. Here's the finished product, taken in 2019 just after the paving was completed, which we did immediately after the garage was up. Pardon Mr. Big's photobombing The first major project I undertook was replacing the clutch and drivetrain soft bits on the 4MC. I did this job with the car on jackstands. Never again; my body just won't take it anymore. The lift went in during the early days of the pandemic, June 2020. It's a 9K lb. unit, a little bit of overkill but the outfit I worked with said it was the first one they thought was genuinely sturdy. The bay with the lift has a vaulted ceiling, and the garage door was installed to be as close as possible to the ceiling when raised. You can sort of see those features in this picture, taken in 2021 just after the targa arrived. The lift is equipped with two 4500 lb. trolley jacks, which allows me to do stuff like the suspension job. The garage space remains a work-in-progress. For example I recently replaced my ancient Craftsman bottom toolbox with something bigger. I have more to do in terms of maximizing the utility of the back wall. There's a loft above the two non-vaulted bays. The builder wanted to put fixed stairs in but they would have eaten floor space. I found these folding stairs online, pointed him to the site, and in they went. They can carry almost 600 lbs! Which I thought was great until it dawned on me that I'd still have to haul the damned stuff up and down with my muscles. Doh. So I added a little assistant. You Tube

That's an awesome space.

I finished up the alignment and went for a longer drive yesterday. I know the phrase gets overused, but the car is transformed. There is a greater immediacy and connectedness between the driver and everything the wheels are doing. It's not harsher or sharper-edged, just more communicative. There is less suspension travel over familiar bumps and dips than there was before but, again, it does not feel harsher. Stuff just happens more quickly than before; the motion stops sooner. And I'd swear the tires got 1" wider at each end of the car too! That is a very noticeable change and one I did not anticipate. Pretty neat. Maybe this is the way the car felt when it was new, I don't know. It's still 20 years old, and it's a targa, so it creaks a bit while all this new goodness is happening. It creaked before too, nothing new there. I find the creakiness kind of endearing. After all I creak too. Looks-wise all I keep hearing in my head is a line from Billy Crystal; "You. Look. MARVELOUS, darling. Simply MARVELOUS." I took before/after measurements and the front dropped about 1/2" while the rear dropped 1/4". Not much loss of ground clearance, a dramatic difference in how the car hits my eye. At this point I need to give a big shout out to @Gert , who steered me in the direction of this setup. Thank you! It is perfectly in line with my wishes for the car. Maybe I should have waited for the Koni Actives to be back in stock, but with the pandemic and supply line disruptions I didn't want to take the risk of them not being available for an indeterminate period. I'm very happy with the Yellows. Thank you again for your patience and expertise. Billy Crystal also said, "It is better to LOOK good than to FEEL good." IMESHO I got both in this setup. Take that, Billy.

Quotes source post: 18144634

I may need more details on your garage. I just bought a .4 acre lot here in Homosassa Florida in front of my brothers two waterfront houses. I�ll be meeting with a builder tomorrow and my wife is flying in next week. How expensive was the lift.??? I probably wouldn�t work too much on the cars but since I�m keeping the 99 coupe I want the lift so I can park the 03 turbo and the 99 as you showed the bmw and the targa. My truck in the lot looking at my brothers houses. Big and nice. This is my brothers guest house backyard. I definitely need a bar and also fridge in the garage.

Quotes source post: 18144699

So something that really helped the light in my garage was a set of LED strips from Garagedoorlighting.com, I didn't know I needed them until I installed them and man it's a game changer. They were particularly helpful when I was doing the paint correction and helped me find the fine scratches my local demon Peacocks put in my paint. Bro I wish I could do a four post but I wouldn't have space on the sides to get between the wall and the lift to do any work as my garage isn't very big at 19x19. The Touareg hides her size but she's a big girl. The garage door kit comes with: Brackets Cabling transformer LED strips(about 20ft wide per strip) Door and frame sensor(makes contact when the door is open thus turning on the LEDS)

Quotes source post: 18148068

Maybe I should retitle this "wdb's forever targa and the garage it lives in" Ideally you want a 2-post lift for actually working on cars, but I wanted to use it for storage as well as maintenance and was willing to put up with the compromises a 4-post brings. Mine is a Challenger 9-ton 4-post lift, with 230V motor (faster raising) and 2 4500 lb. rolling jacks. About $9K all in. You can do it for a lot less if you go with a lighter model and skip the jacks. I've seen a lot of pictures of garages with 4-post lifts and NO vaulted ceiling; just don't take the lift all the way up, scrunch a little getting in/out of the car underneath, and presto. Just keep in mind that you need space for the overhead door.

Quotes source post: 18148175

That's a really pretty space, and the driveway ain't too shabby either. Those lights are pretty cool! But probably not for me. I have pretty good lighting in the garage; if there is a lighting issue it is under the car when it is on the lift. I've seen people put lights on the side walls, and I've even seen lights strung on the underside of the lift itself. I'm still contemplating a solution for that issue. Plus if I kept my door open all the time the place would be completely filled with flying insects. It's very buggy around here.

Quotes source post: 18148212

thanks to you and chunk. His lighting really looks great. I probably going to go for a three car garage, but only use two sides for cars, have plenty of land and I�m leaving the old trees so I can always park the f150 there. In the garage the two p cars with the lift and the wife darth Vader mb 21 suv. The other side of the garage smoker, tools, bar, beer cooler, hell I may set up a keg tap, cheaper when you buy volume 😂

Quotes source post: 18148224

Ah, a man cave. A buddy of mine did that, his garage is deep enough that he could put a table and chairs at the end of one of the bays. He has one of those old soda coolers for beverages, a TV... ...pretty nice.

Quotes source posts: 18148224, 18148216

An attached set up like that is amazing. I get you but it's something to consider if you ever needed it. Kinda have the same problem with bugs, Not only am I in S. FL... I'm 2mi from the marina.

I learned something new today. I was poking at keys and wound up at Porsche's official targa history web site. According to them, there is one model of targa with 2WD and a rear window that opens. The 996. 993 targas had the sliding glass roof, but no rear window on hinges. 997s had the flip open window but you had to go AWD to get one. That is very interesting. https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2020...ory-21010.html

I'm on my way from PA to TX in the targa. Taking 'interesting roads' as much as I can manage without taking an age to get there and back. I am breaking it up into 10-hour days, using Google Maps to find twisty looking stuff, plus some other sites that gather info on good driving/motorcycling routes. Today the good stuff was US220 and US219 in WVA and VA, also WV259. There were others too but those are the ones I remember. Honestly it's kind of hard to go wrong in that part of the world so long as you stay off the I-roads. The targa comported itself quite well despite the gloomy, drizzly, 50-degree weather we suffered during the entire drive. I might play with the shock settings, or I might not; the only time I felt anything out of sorts today was on a high speed dip; I would have liked the nose to settle a bit more quickly. It's still miles better than the old 100K mile stuff, and still completely comfortable. My overnight is just a few minutes from Tazewell VA, the northern end of The Back of the Dragon . Neat road, I did it in the zed last year, but not on my list this time through. Hazard switch phone mount works for taking pictures while in motion! My evening abode, the only B&B on the itinerary, in Bluefield WVA.

Day 2 done. Not as many miles of fun roads today but I kind of expected that; as I get out of the mountain regions and into the flatter states things are going to straighten out. I did have a few good runs with local folks who knew where and how much they could push the loud pedal, plus I detoured a bit just to see a few curves. I also paid less than $5/gallon for 93 octane! It's closer to $6 around home. Hit some pretty good rainstorms. The car was surefooted throughout. Wipers squeak at the top of the swipe though, ugh. Crossed two pretty bridges like this in western KY lake district. Day 2 destination. It gives the joint some class if you ask me.

Quotes source post: 18161779

I can't help but comment that 219 is an integral part of our frequent pilgrimage to the Tail of the Dragon. This a video from my first trip: The Ballad of the Gap

Yesterday began in rain and ended in warm sunshine. It was the longest day, and felt even longer due to the boring, poorly paved roads. I may have to rethink my vow to totally avoid I-roads. I started out following the Mississippi River south through Memphis TN. Just south of there I rolled over a low rise and the land just went pancake flat in every direction. Like someone had taken a rolling pin to the entire place. "Welcome to MS." Crossed the Big Muddy into Arkansas just west of Lula MS. I don't know how they build roads in that part of the world but they are masochistic. Some of them felt like they had built 100 miles of rumble strips and then paved over them. On other sections it seemed as though the paving stones used in the asphalt were the size of ping pong *****. I resorted to using the audio system to distract me from the boredom and constant road noise. I knew the roads would straighten out in this region so I put a few jigs in the route to explore what looked like curvy bits. AR48 to Carthage, and AR229 south from there, were "twisty" I suppose; they go through a huge pine forest where just about the only thing you see is logging trucks. I was in 5th gear most of the time, which was exciting and also a little unnerving. The roads were fun but only if you were going really fast. I like the twisties more in lower gear ranges. My parents had traveled a lot and I remembered them talking about Texarkana, a town where TX AR and KS all meet. I made a point to include it on my journey. Meh. I should have skipped it. At least now I'm in TX and ready for the final leg to San Antonio. Welcome to AR, home of the worst paving in the USA. A lot of this view out the windshield. Reminded me of Alligator Alley in FL, only here they paved over the gators. You can see the constant undulations of the road surface. Targa basking in TX sunshine

Wdb, great thread. Great to see the attention and care you are putting into the targa. You got yourself an awesome 996!

Yesterday was the last leg. I drove through an enormous wind farm spread over thousands of acres near Hubbard TX. Found some fun twisty bits on Farm to Market 119 outside Lampasas. Then it was south on US281, which is not a lot of fun. I got tired of it after a while and wandered west into the ranchlands for a while. The roads there are narrow, barely paved paths through open ranches; signs everywhere warn of arroyos and free ranging cattle -- and goats! Lots of goats. It was nifty but ultimately wasn't getting me any closer to my destination. Reluctantly I went back to US281 and wrapped up the southern run. Now I spend a few days here visiting and celebrating. Next week the return journey begins. Woke up to fine the targa with strange bedfellows... Hubbard TX windfarm. Local ranchers and farmers allow them on their land so they are spread over a huge area. Actually curvy road, hurrah! Finding shade at our destination in San Antonio. The tale of the tape.

Kind of a delayed response due to how busy I was in San Antonio and how dead I am at the end of a driving day. I'm 3 days into my 4 day return journey; tomorrow is the home leg. I'll give a quick summary now, and add details once I'm home and dry. - San Antonio was great! We had a really good time. - Day 1 of the return was pretty much a repeat of Day 4, minus the godawful US281 in TX. Not much in the way of fun roads. - Day 2 was EPIC. Ozarks, AR roads, MO roads, just wow. Even in the wet it was awesome. I'll add details later but for now I'll just say that one section reminded me of the Tail of the Dragon only with a lot more up/down action and 3rd gear instead of 2nd. - Day 3 was a bit disappointing. I got on some good roads but didn't have much traffic-free time. - I'm ready to be home. HS graduation Texas style. That's the Alamodome. We did this on Memorial Day, good fun! Cleaning up the targa and my son's FRS. More strange bedfellows on the drive home. Ozarks in the wet, oh my. Beautiful, undulating, empty, fast MO 2 lane. Crossed back over the Mississippi River this morning from MO into IL. I think I've seen enough roads like this to last a lifetime.

Final journal entry for the Texas trip. I actually got home last Saturday but I've been catching up on chores and otherwise being too busy to sit down and document the trip. Adding some details of Day 2, the AR/MO section of the drive; the roads there were absolutely spectacular. It was literally HOURS of smile inducing 2-lane bliss. This was by far the best driving I experienced on the trip. I need to get back there sometime. Day 3 was pretty much forgettable. I ran through the Ohio River floodplain for quite a few miles, and there was a short section of that stretch that was fun; that's about it. The 4th day of the return trip featured some more good roads. OH124 east from Hillsboro OH was really sweet and a very nice way to start the day. US50 east from Grafton WV was absolutely spectacular, although there were a lot of patches on the roadway; I was glad for the new suspension. It was also Saturday and had some locals doing their shopping runs plus a few tourist types. I did a lot of stopping to wait for them to get far enough ahead to let me rip for a while before catching up. Totally worthwhile though. I finished the journey the same way it began, on the PA Turnpike to get back near home. Statistics: total miles: 4060 avg daily miles: 508 total gas dollars: $998 avg daily gas dollars: $125 avg mpg: 24.3 Great roads: US219, US220, WVA84, WVA92, WVA259 in VA and WVA KY15, US58 and US119 in VA and KY AR48 and AR229 Farm to Market 119 in TX TX 29 from Llano to Burnet AR7 and AR123 through the Ozarks, and US412/62 in AR OH124 east from Hillsboro OH US50 east from Grafton WV It was a great trip all told. I drove through 11 states. I crossed the Ohio River in Kentucky and the Colorado River in Texas. I met a lot of great people. I only had one road rage incident. I'm pretty sure I exposed a few folks to their first ever Porsche 911. The string of 10-hour days at the wheel did wear on me, but it was really only an issue when the roads were boring; good roads refreshed my mood and spirit and made the hours vanish. I would do it again. The targa performed brilliantly. The next time I do a trip like this I will take a bit more time planning the route. I will seek out more fun roads and add in some I-roads to shorten the days and get from one fun road to the next. And I will have a new cellular data plan too -- I ran out of cell data on Day 2 of the return trip and had no road music for 1-1/2 days! US50 is a fabulous driving road Return trip totals The targa gets a well deserved bath back at home

Quotes source post: 18178928

Haha, I can almost feel this!

Really fun writeup. Thanks for sharing the adventure with us.

Thanks for sharing. I'm embarrassed to say that after five years of ownership, I still haven't had a true roadtrip in the 996.

I had to fix the !@#$%^&*()_+! Challenger lift again today. I think this time it was due to incorrect assembly, but I can't quite figure out how it managed to work in the interim (about 3 years). I had to drop the cables and their pulleys on one end to get to the adjusters for the catch pawls. What a hassle, just to turn a few 10mm nuts less than an inch. Grumble.

That sucks but man that garage is nice.

Quotes source post: 18199047

Needs more wall stuff. Pictures, tires, something.

I took advantage of the "Father's Day Free Pass" and worked on the targa instead of doing some yard work or other chore. The shifting has been bothering me, as followers of the thread will know. When I did the Numeric cables I followed their adjustment procedure, which seemed to work well. When new stock parts went back in, I just winged it when it came to adjusting things. My thought process was, well never mind what it was because as it turns out it was flawed. Still not all that ecstatic about the shifting, I finally coughed up the twenty bucks for the shift alignment thingamabob a week or so ago; if you decide you need one, everybody appears to have them on backorder except Pelican -- yet another reason I don't mind sending them business on occasion. Today I wrangled the console out of the way and put the alignment tool to work. Wow. I was WAY off with my seat-of-the-pants method. Before: left cable was at 10 'clicks' (the little ridges in the cable end), right cable was at 11 clicks. After: 3 clicks left, 5 clicks right. Result: shifting is much more predictable and natural feeling. I can still tell it's a cable setup, and it is still a far cry from 'rifle bolt' action like my Z4MC with its Autosolutions jewel of a short shift kit. But I think less about the act of shifting now, and more importantly I don't wonder if I'm selecting 3rd or 5th anymore. All that said, I've been chatting elsewhere about detent springs and pins, which may be my next foray into making this sports car shift like (I think) one should shift. I'm not completely happy yet. Still exercising my free pass, I went for a nice long drive on this absolutely perfect day. I included a stop at Shenkel Church, where my mother and dad were recently interred. It is a quiet, lovely, slightly magical place. Rumor has it that at one time back in colonial days the area was known as Happy Valley. I concur, that name still fits today. Twenty something bucks, really? But it does its job 'After' shot showing where they ended up Test drive included a stop to visit dad and mom in Happy Valley

I don't know if I mentioned it here but my litronic lights stopped doing 'the dip' on startup, after the suspension refresh. I connected my code reader, which apparently does not talk to the litronic module because it found no faults. So I decided to break down and buy a Durametric, after checking with the company to ensure their gizmo talked to that module. I got it, installed software, connected it, and found no faults! I used the Durametric's activation functions to exercise the light motors and, wonder of wonders, 'the dip' is back. In short there was nothing wrong, and now it's fixed. Nice tool, but it claims there is a targa top module but isn't able to communicate with it. Everything else looked okay. No ignitions in range 2 but from what I've read that's pretty much the norm. Over 3,000 hours on the motor!

Nice! Question for you.....Did you end up going with the "Enthusiast" version? I'd like to pick one up but I'm not sure of the value in going with Professional version vs Enthusiast version for our 996's. I understand Professional allow for coding...but as it applies to 996....is there really much to 'code'?

I went with enthusiast version.

I met up with @MountainCruise this morning to compare suspensions. We also got to see the difference between Arctic and Polar Silver. I was surprised at how easy it was to tell them apart. (Keen-eyed Pennsylvanians might recognize the locally famous establishment whose parking lot we borrowed.)

Wow, that is neat to see the two silvers side by side. I never would have imagined they would be that distinguishable. The car is looking great, how do you like the new suspension?

Quotes source post: 18290112

Still loving the suspension, moreso after being reminded what a 20-year old, 90K mile suspension feels like; not necessarily bad, just a bit tired. @MountainCruise is looking to refresh his suspension as well which is why we met. He's got different fish to fry than I did so he might go with coilovers.

My brake lights apparently have not been working, according to the friendly folks who performed my state inspection. So they popped a new switch in and off I went. Except the cruise control no longer worked. I hooked up my fancy OBD dongle to see what might be the matter. It seemed confused. So I decided to use my other 'code reader' a.k.a. my brain. Let's see, I just got a new brake light switch. Could that be part of the cruise control circuit? <digdigdig> Why yes. Yes it could. I pulled it, looked at it, bench tested it, didn't like how it was working, took it apart. Lost the little spring. (I mean, how is that even possible?!? My garage has a freaking concrete floor!! I should be able to find it!!!) So I ordered a new switch, gen-you-wine Porsche, paid extra for quick shipping. In the meantime I went down to my local Ace Hardware store, which is The Very Best Hardware Store in America in my ever-so humble opinion. Went to the hardware section. Found the 22 drawers full of springs of every size, diameter and type imaginable. Picked out a couple I thought I could "grind to fit, file to suit." Went home and did some grinding and filing and, lo and behold, achieved potentially satisfactory results. I also learned a very, Very, VERY interesting thing about my particular brake light switch and perhaps others, namely that that plunger is adjustable. Yank on it and it will extend; install it and let the brake pedal set the final depth. I'll bet the friendly folks who installed it didn't know that. I installed it. About 12 times. Until I got the whole spring/depth/installation angle stuff sorted. Yay! Brake lights are doing their thing! But is the cruise control fixed? I hooked up my fancy OBD tool. It seemed confused. Time for a road test. Rolled out of the driveway and something didn't feel right. Flat tire? I turned around immediately and went back in. Yep. Flat tire. Dug this thingie out of my PS4S Fixed that, went for a drive -- FINALLY -- and the cruise is once again working. Now my dilemma is, do I swap this switch, with all of its sweat equity, for the Gen-you-wine Porsche part or not. I guess we'll see.

Keep the gen-u-wine part as a spare, probably never use it.

Quotes source post: 18323168

The Porsche labeled switch was plainly better made, and it worked correctly right out of the box. I'll keep the bargain bit in the bin for whoever inherits this car when I'm dead. Meanwhile, the forever targa (no worries, it stays) is about to have a new stablemate. IMESHO I got a bargain. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/ca...super-seven-2/

That�s a great buy lots of fun but in it you�ll realize how small next to modern traffic enjoy

Quotes source post: 18336134

Oh I am quite aware of its dimensions. I have no plans to attempt rush hour traffic. Nor the need.

That’s the reason I sold my 72 240Z I felt like I was sitting on a skateboard lol so I bought a 911 and I moved up to scooter level 😂

Quotes source post: 18336086

Looks like you got a great 7 at a great price! Enjoy it and if it isn't too off-topic definitely share with us how it drives and how you like it!

Bro that�s awesome!!!

Congrats! There�s an orange one that shows up to the local c&c. Looks like it�s a blast to drive on the backroads.

Quotes source post: 18338077

Let me know where. I can park next to it and clash colors muahaha.

Not much to add lately, I'm just driving and enjoying the car. About to make my second installment payment to FSI. I installed the @Coopduc oil temperature gauge kit today, which required disconnecting the battery. After which PSE started acting completely wonky. The car would start in open mode and the switch would not flip it to quiet mode. I ran an errand and when I got back in the car it was the opposite -- quiet mode all the time. I figured I'd hook up the Durametric when I got back home, but instead the Porsche ether did its special magic and everything began working normally again. All by itself. Right in the middle of a drive. Uhhh okay, I'll take it.

I should probably drop a note here about the targa's latest garage mate. My stepson passed away in early 2020 after losing his battle with COVID. A protracted and utterly needless legal dance with his widow ensued, but now his estate is finally settling. He had this insane car, which he loved, and which nobody wanted after he was gone. So I raised my hand. And now it's here. 2015 S65 AMG coupe. An utterly ridiculous example of excess just for the hell of it. Mercedes already had a perfectly fine E63 AMG, but apparently 577HP and 590 lb-ft of torque was not enough. So they built this. 621 HP, 738 lb-ft of torque. Madness. All of it wrapped in the utmost luxury and refinement of course. I'm not sure what we're going to do with it, but I just had to experience the thing.

I spent the day yesterday attempting to locate and cure the dashboard-area squeaks that recently began cropping up in the targa. They drive me slightly batty; all it takes is the least bit of bumpiness in the road surface for them to occur. Unfortunately nothing I did worked, and the car is still squeaking. A frustrating day.

Extreme powerhouse wrapped in luxury sorry for your loss but drive it with gusto and remembrance

Quotes source post: 18474284

Since I posted that I have spent several more days creak-hunting, to no avail. Being in the windshield/dashboard area, it is quite difficult to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. Especially with my ancient hearing aided ears. I inspected all of the things people say have caused creaky dashboard noises in their cars: windshield seal/gasket, horseshoe, cowl cover (twice!), speakers/grills, passenger airbag cover, defroster exit covers. Many many hours have passed with me prying stuff free, going for a spin, and still hearing the creak. I spent hours upon hours carefully prying stuff apart and putting it back together. Today, finally, I found the source of the creaking noise. I feel triumphant, and a bit silly. It was the glass targa roof. I was out for a drive with the defroster vents pried loose and the dashboard speakers back on the workbench, still hearing the creak. Something made me push the targa open switch and boom! No more creaking. I went back, applied some lubricant to the seals and glass edges, reassembled the dashboard, went back out. Still no creak. Hallelujah! I was actually avoiding driving the car, that's how much the noise bothered me. With the windows down it wasn't bad but with our weather turning cold that's not an option anymore. Now that the creak is gone I am looking forward to a nice long drive to get reaquainted with my forever targa.

What lubricant did you use and where?

Quotes source post: 18490462

I sprayed silicone lubricant onto a cloth and applied it to the seals around the edges of the roof opening, and to the rubber seal along the leading edge of the roof glass.

Quotes source posts: 18491137, 18490462

Aaannnndddddd that lasted about 2 days before the creaks came back. So I upped my game. Got some Krytox GPL 205, which folks use on their BMW "origami" metal folding roofs to keep the seals fresh and the joints moving; I've also seen it mentioned in 996 creaky dash threads. It's expensive but a little bit goes a LONG way. This morning I went around the whole glass roof assembly once again, using the Krytox. This time I think I may have gotten it quiet. It's raining here so it's hard to be 100% sure but I'm certain it is better at the very least. I want to give it a more thorough test before declaring victory this time though. If it seems to be a more permanent solution I'll do a detailed writeup in a separate thread. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00MWLDA...roduct_details

Quotes source post: 18502009

Krytox has been my go to as well. Recently, I found two products that I think would work well for our Targa roofs: VW/Audi Special Lubricant for sunroofs and Special Lubricant Grease. The former came as a recommendation for other sunroofs so I think it's a good candidate. I believe the Lubricant Grease is just re-badged Krytox. Both were available in stock at my local Audi dealer. I recently did a big clean and re-grease with these so we will see how they hold up long term. I used the Special Lubricant for the rails and the Lubricant Grease for all the rubber bits.

In my search I learned that Krytox is a brand covering a great many lubricants. The GPL 205 is of a consistency and compound that they recommend for use on O-rings in gnarly chemical environments. It might be a wee bit overkill but it certainly seems to have done it for me. I agree that the Audi product is probably a rebadge of GPL 205. I used SuperLube aerosol grease for the slides; it's a PTFE product, goes on easily, and lasts a long time in my experience.

Quotes source post: 18502009

I went for a nice long run yesterday, ostensibly doing errands but taking the long way everywhere I went. I was in the car for several hours, driving over a wide variety of road surfaces and speeds. The experience of being in the car is utterly different now that the creaks are gone. And gone they are! It's a little silly in retrospect but I had been ascribing the occasional creaky noise to the car's age and mileage. Now that they're gone it is almost like a different car. Amazing. Here's the writeup. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-solution.html

I think I'm going to get some of the GPL205 for the Panoramic roof of my Cayenne. I have not dared to operate the roof yet as they are known to be, well, a bit finicky.

The garage dodged a bullet overnight last night. There is a lacy leaf maple under there which may not have been as lucky.

Whew! I have a huge oak tree next to my garage that I worry about falling during a hurricane. I keep it well trimmed so it catches less wind, but...

Quotes source post: 18519737

If it is close to the building it may not be as much of a risk. The real danger is when they have a chance to build up speed as they fall. I had a coworker whose house was hit by a falling tree, but since it was right beside the house all it did was bend the rain gutter.

Oh man. I have a random question. Was that expected? Being from the south, I have two 27� Royal Palms in my back yard that have survived 4 hurricanes and 2 tropical storms� I still get anxious during storms.

Quotes source post: 18519798

Completely out of the blue as far as I can tell. It's a birch tree, perhaps it was reaching the end of its life, I dunno. The roots look alive and strong and yet it broke off right at the bottom.

Quotes source post: 18519980

Jeez, now that I know this stuff happens� I can�t unsee it and all trees are suspect in my eyes.

Being through many hurricanes and storms worrying, I had two tall trees cut down and removed. Brand new roof ($$$) also made me re-think about them. Now just low landscaping.

We're in the grip of the big freeze that is affecting much of the country. Temp will not get out of single digits today. On top of that our power went out yesterday afternoon and is still out today. Power company has resorted to a blanket power restoration time for all of the dozens of outages in the area: " We expect to restore power to the majority of affected customers by Dec 26 2022, 11:00 PM". Joy to the world! With that in mind, here is my favorite machine at the moment. Not a current picture - there's snow and ice on it today

Nice! Here’s mine, the little brother to your 24kW: Glad it’s on duty in case of hurricane or winter storm induced outages.

Winter storms?? In Texas? Come to Albany NY single digits and winter storms are the norm here!!

Quotes source post: 18533603

It got below freezing here for over 24 hours straight. Most years we get about 10 hours of below freezing temperatures all winter long down here near the coast. (Usually only a couple of hours at a time in the middle of the night) 24 hours straight is almost unheard of. Normal winter temps are in the 50s. (I wonder why snowbird like to come south for the winter, ha!) It was in the 20s and 30s for a lot of yesterday. I'm still hoping to see 40s later today before it drops below freezing again. I've lived down here for 22 years now so I'm no longer used to cold temperatures. I grew up in North West Texas, where below 0F happened each year. I don't miss cold temps! No precipitation this week, so driving(non-summer tires) is not a problem. When the front came through a couple of days ago we had some power issues, but nothing extended.

Power's back! 23 hours almost to the minute. HUGE GIGANTIC ENORMOUS THANK YOU to the hard working folks who made that happen and who are still out there making it happen for others. We live on a hill in the woods. The power line stops about 5 houses up the hill from ours. We've had a TON of electrical outages since we moved here. We originally just roughed it -- we have a wood stove and a spring and a propane cooktop, so we were in decent shape in terms of essentials. After Isabel came through in 2003, and we were out of power for 10 days, we decided to get a generator. We went with a gasoline unit that we plugged into the house circuit when needed. It didn't run everything, but we had heat and hot water and lights and the food didn't spoil. It suited us well. After we added the garage however, that solution was no longer really adequate; I'd have to turn off the entire garage circuit if I didn't want the lights dimming erratically in the house. So we got the whole house unit. It finally showed up in October and everything was hooked up by the beginning of November. We've used it 4 times since then! Which brings me to the other reason we decided to go this route. As I mentioned, we live in the woods. Many of the trees in the woods around here are ash trees. A year or so ago a little fella called the emerald ash borer visited the area and killed nearly every one of them. So now every time the wind blows the power blinks off and on, or goes out altogether. Because the ash trees are falling. They're going to be falling for the next few years. In that light the whole house generator made a lot more financial sense to us. Anyway thanks for reading and commiserating. Happy Holidays!

Just read this entire thread! Really enjoyed the suspension refresh! Gummi Pflege is what I used to get rid of creaks on my cab top! It would creak a lot where the roof and windshield frame came together drove me crazy! Merry Christmas everyone! Wish I had my garage back.. divorce lost it all now I'm a driveway mechanic at my GF's house oh well! Taking the turbo to my exes house to spend the morning with at least 3 of my kids and zoom with the ones in Germany and Wisconsin!

Dropped off the targa at Specialty Cars on a dreary, rainy morning. They'll pull the engine and send it to Georgia. The adventure begins! Specialty Cars is also going to give the old girl a thorough going over and let me know what else they recommend doing. Time to get the wallet warmed up... Looking a bit forlorn all alone in the parking lot

I opted for manual transaxle service, y-cable replacement, new starter, all new upper-end plastic for AOS.

Quotes source post: 18569434

I did some of those through FSI. The transaxle is staying in PA and I've already asked for a new trans mount. We'll see what else they come back with.

I recently picked up a 2002 Targa, the sunscreen for the roof sags when I try to roll it back. Any tricks to get it rolled back once? I'll just leave it rolled back and enjoy the glass roof

Quotes source post: 18569398

Was going to say that your Targa is in good hands but you probably already know that! I remember dropping my 996 off for the first time in 2021 for the IMS Solution on a sunnier day. They�ve worked on it exclusively since then.

Quotes source post: 18572759

The targa sunscreen is kept taut by a coil spring as it rolls back. If yours is sagging it could be that the spring is broken or became detached somehow. There is also a bow that keeps the sunscreen up against the glass; it moves back with the screen when it is retracted, and slides back out to about the halfway point when the screen is redeployed. If that bow is missing you might get some sag. https://www.porschepartsdepot.com/v-...and-components #5 is the bow, #6 is the roller shade.

Quotes source post: 18573204

Thanks, I have the bow and it slides, I'll look into the spring

Back home and engineless. We got lucky in that there is no snow or ice on the ground because the building is at the top of a steep grade; the driver said he probably would not have attempted it in those conditions. Can't say I blame him. It will be here until the engine is done, supposed to be some time in June. Kind of ironic that the first person in the new LN/FSI engine program will get their motor before I will. I now get to solve the puzzle of opening the frunk with a disconnected battery, yay! There are some things I might do to the car while it's in hibernation. Clean the engine compartment for example. It also could use a fresh set of tires. I want to do the brakes too but not sure if I want to do them badly enough to haul everything needed for the job out to the remote site. In any case it will wait until warmer weather as there is no heat out there.

I must have missed it, but what's wrong with your engine?

Quotes source post: 18578669

It's (finally) heading to Georgia to be subjected to FSI's Stage 2 treatment. I get blue smoke on startup occasionally, so I think there is a bit of bore scoring. Plus it has 112K miles on it, plus it's a M96, so a refresh seems prudent. I started this whole process over a year ago and should have it wrapped up in time for summer fun.

Not precisely targa related but pretty close, at least in my sphere of existence. I parted ways with the 2007 Z4MC earlier today, after a whirlwind couple of weeks in which a fellow said he was looking, I said I might be thinking, and zoom -- it happened. I never even advertised it for sale. The Z4MC is a truly remarkable piece of machinery and deserves much higher attention in the enthusiast car realm, especially considering how rare they are. 1815 total cars made for North America. Legendary S54 engine, E46 M3 underpinnings with less weight and without the rear suspension woes, M3 CSL brakes and quicker steering rack; the M engineers really got to load these up with goodies. A minimalist interior that lets the driver focus on the drive. Splendid responses. Glorious noises. A masterpiece, to my mind. If it's so great why did I sell it? Two reasons, really. First my garage space is completely full. I needed to sell something to get a little breathing room. Second, here is where we come back to the targa. They both operate in the same performance sphere. Very different personalities etc. but very similar power and performance. And the targa is a forever car for me. Third, I know myself and my wandering eye -- some other bauble will capture my attention. Ooops that's three reasons. Now that it's gone, and I have cash burning a hole in my pocket, maybe the targa will get a treat. More on that later. The Z4MC meets its eventual hangar mate Last time out of the driveway

This arrived today. Now all I need is an engine to hang it on...

Having bought a '03 C2 Targa Tiptronic last November, I really enjoyed reading all of your episodes about your Targa. Thank you for taking the time to write and photograph everything. Ours has 54,000 miles and is in excellent condition, but since we do not know what has been done to it., we decided to do everything. Over the winter, we replaced the engine mounts and are having the IMS, RMS, AOS, water pump, coolant flushed, coolant reservoir, oil filler tube, transmission mounts, brake rotors and pads, shocks and springs replaced. An inspection of the cylinders shows normal wear, no bore scoring. Ideally, we will have a trouble free 996 for many years. I appreciate your advice about the Koni Sports Yellows. We are using Eibach springs. Thanks for leading the way!

Quotes source post: 18688554

Welcome fellow 2003 Targa Tiptronic owner! May you be blessed with many miles and a roof with a long life.

Thanks, so far it has been a great running car, making me wonder why we are tearing it apart. This preventive maintenance will make it an almost new 911.

I should recount the many joys and happinesses getting the frunk open so I could connect a battery tender. Thanks Porsche for that very special bit of engineering... First I tried connecting power to the spots in the fusebox, no go. Then I found some posts about connecting 12V to various to points in the engine compartment; I came up empty there too. I tried my jump box as a power source, and I tried my 10 amp charger. Nothing I did would supply power to pop the frunk open. The only recourse left was to get the car up in the air and access the release cable that purportedly lurked somewhere in the P/S wheel well. Jacking the car up was an adventure all by itself. I had to raise the car, put blocks under the tires, lower it, move the jack, lift it again, then place the jackstand. One side at a time in front because there is no central jacking point. The whole episode took the better part of an hour, including trips back/forth to my main garage to fetch tools, wood blocks and whatnot. At long last I had the car securely on stands, got the wheels off, and could attack the fender liner. Luckily the release cable was accessible and, lo and behold, the frunk popped open! It felt like a major victory. Once it was opened I discovered that the shop had disconnected both battery cables. I'm wondering if that's why I wasn't able to use any of the alternative tricks for powering the latch release. I would have thought that applying power to points in the engine compartment still would have done the trick, but alas no. At any rate I am now an accredited expert in the arcane world of frunkery.

I hope after all that you routed the emergency release cable to a place that�s easily accessible? It�s a good idea to do the rear one as well (usually just under the drivers side taillight�👍

Quotes source post: 18689353

Good point! The rear cable was under the D/S taillight which is where I expected to find it. I'll reroute the front cable to the tow bolt area when I have the bumper off. Or can I do that now?

Dupe

Awesome thread. Just went through the whole thing. I also accidently won a BaT auction, that site is dangerous.

Quotes source post: 18701030

I've actually accidentally won TWO BaT auctions. Both times I was certain the car would go several $K higher.

Oh man, Yea since I won that last one I have been much more deliberate when I bid. Still trying to sort out the mess from the last one haha

This has been an interesting week. Very interesting. I learned a few things about my car's engine. First of all, it is a replacement engine. M96/03AT66565663, which according to my research translates to a 2005 build year. My car is a 2002. The CarFax says nothing about a replacement engine! However the car was serviced at a Porsche dealership exclusively throughout the first owner's tenure, which lasted through 2007. The last engine service was 8/8/2006, 40,799 miles. According to FSI it was not unusual for engines to be replaced without even telling the owner, for example if the RMS leaked due to manufacturing defects. Also of course it's possible that the IMSB failed. There are paint markings on the engine, which also hint at it being a replacement motor; again according to FSI those markings indicate internal tolerances, perhaps other things. Engine number Paint markings, green and yellow Secondly, the shop that put the IMSB replacement in the car in 2019 (which it probably didn't need!) did a complete hack job, damaging the IM shaft and ruining the engine case. I'll be getting replacements for those items. A word to the wise: stay away from "tunerS" IMSB replacements, particularly those performed at a certain shop in VA. At this point it's been over 4 months since I last drove the targa. I'm starting to get itchy.

Well, that's some news for sure. Do you know what actual damage to the engine case was caused? I think everyone should go and check their engine serial number since it's right there and so easy so you can avoid such surprises. My understanding is that any number that includes AT means that you have a remanufactured motor by Porsche. What I'd like to understand better is back in the day, when Porsche did have a crap ton of M96 motors sitting around and could swap it in if needed, did those essentially new motors also have the AT designation, if they were newly produced motors or does this apply to ONLY remanufactured motors.

Quotes source post: 18749328

I can answer some of those questions. The replacement motor had the larger IMS bearing, which requires the case to be split in order to replace it. Instead the shop made the hole bigger and pulled the bearing out without splitting the case. As noted earlier they also damaged the intermediate shaft itself in the process. I don't know enough about engine numbers to know if "AT" designates new or rebuilt engines. It designates a replacement engine -- "Austauschmotor". It stands to reason that Porsche would rebuild viable candidates and put them back into service.

I could be wrong. I don't think Porsche ever rebuilt M96 engines. They did not have a rebuild program. They only provided replacement engines with the AT in the engine number.

It could be down to the semantics but I've heard the terms "replacement" and "remanufactured" used interchangeably. To me, replacement means a newly built motor straight from factory with new fresh parts and castings of everything. Remanufactured sounds like some parts were reused and refurbished and then provided as a replacement unit. Probably nothing wrong with either but was just curious if there was an actual difference or if all the same in how they went about it.

Quotes source post: 18749328

This i�m not certain about but its what i heard. Prior To the factory fire engines were real good. I dint have an at number on my engine but to be honest, I also dont know if someone has rebuilt it. The story I�d that porsche saved a lot of blocks and cases from the fire , cleaned them etc and re used them. I honestly don�t know. At a m�nimum with my car i think the chain guides were done. Anyway I only have the last 12000 miles with my car.

Just a little update about what I've been up to while my targa rests in the garage. First, I pulled the engine on the Caterham so I could fix a bunch of leaks and swap the oil sump to a more rugged version with internal baffles. I managed to fix most of the leaks, still have a couple of toughies to go. Engine on the stand. Transmission on workbench in background. Everything back together. "Just dropped in"... Next up is the S65 AMG Coupe. It's a real beast of a car wrapped in a velvet glove. We've decided it just isn't our cuppa and it needs to go to a more appropriate new owner. I got some price ideas from CarMax and Carvana, then pitched it to Bring a Trailer and they accepted it. I've spent the past week cleaning it up for the photo shoot, which a friend of mine helped out with. We also shot some video footage. I'll post a link when the auction goes live, which hopefully should be within the next few weeks. Chris is handy with a lens Pretty car in a pretty place

It's getting near to the time when my engine comes back, and I need to get tires on the car before trucking it over to Specialty Cars. I went to tirerack.com intending to pick up a set of PS4's, and they didn't come up in the list! PS2's in Porsche spec were there, and Sport Cups were there too; I'd be tempted by the latter if I didn't already eat rear tires as fast as I do. I might need to manually select PS4's, or possibly Tire Rack is out of stock?!? I sure hope that's not the case. I'm not sure what my second choice would be. PS2's seem like a step backwards in time. I've had Conti's on other cars and preferred Michelins. Dunlop, Bridgestone... ugh. I wasn't expecting to have to make a choice. Screw it. I'll just get the Hoosiers.

Shop by size instead of by vehicle. Discount Tire chooses the wrong sizes and TireRack doesn’t show you all that are available. I run the 2003 GT3 sizing instead of Carrera too, so the preselected sizing doesn’t work for me anyway.

Quotes source post: 18838873

With Hoosiers you will never have to worry about the back end coming loose around town... You may have to go 285x35x18 to find what you are looking for.

Last I checked PS4 was not available in the stock rear size, which in my opinion is OK 'cause the 285/35 is a better fit anyway.

Hmm, Tex. I added a 2004 GT3 to my list of cars on TireRack and up popped a full set of PS4S's. 235/40-18 front, 295/30-18 rear, each being one step higher in section width than stock sizes. I don't feel as though that would overwhelm the stock rims. But I also see two recommendations for 285/35-18 for the rear. What would you mate that with on the fronts? Stock rims -- I have rims on my 'someday' list but today is not the day.

225/40, 286/35 worked well for me.

PS4S doesn't have size 225/40-18.

Quotes source post: 18838949

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...omCompare1=yes Keep trying to link you to them and it keeps not working... Tire Rack.

Wow you're right! It's not in their list of specs yet. Comes in a Toyota GR Yaris formulation too. Thanks! EDIT: And before I could finish placing the order they went "out of stock". Sigh. I'm waiting until I can speak with someone tomorrow.

Quotes source post: 18838986

Look again, there should be a non-Yaris variant, thats the one in the pic I added. Try this...EDIT. Nevermind - Tirerack has no interest in having their products linked to even after I signed out... Good luck - they show in stock. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?

They showed as being in stock for me too, until I started checking out. Then suddenly they weren't. I need a human. Tire Rack is pretty good in that regard in my experience.

Discount Tire bought Tire Rack two years ago. All brands and sizes should be available at whichever vendor you choose, if they are in stock.

Depending where your at, The company does business under the trade name Discount Tire in most of the U.S., America's Tire in parts of California, and Discount Tire Direct for direct online sales .

I've been running 235/40 and 295/40 with 3 different tires and on my MY02 and Apex wheels with zero issues. I'd highly recommend the size. PS4S has had my favorite tire shape on the wheels thus far.

Thanks everyone for the support. I went with @zbomb recommendation 225/40-18 and 285/35-18. Still encountered the "shipped when availble" glitch. Chatted with "Al" on the Tire Rack chat who said he would personally keep an eye on the order. And he did! I just got off the phone with him after he reviewed the situation. It appears as though "in stock" can mean "we expect them any minute", which in this case might mean I get the front tires 1 day later. I can easilty live with that. I suppose I'm still a little jumpy from the bad old "supply chain issues" days. First rate, personalized service from Tire Rack -- or whatever you want to call them -- tell your friends.

Hmm, never updated with the tire outcome. Everything arrived in time for installation, and the tires are on the car. Better still -- The Day Has Finally Arrived! The targa is on its way back to Specialty Cars for engine installation. I'm stoked.

Quotes source post: 18840504

295 40? and i thought 285-35 was big.

Quotes source post: 18895455

Sorry, that's a typo on my end. I've been running 295/30 in the rear.

That looks like a real good size to me. I think 315- 30 would work but the 295 will be plenty and will be quicker. Are you running a spacer?

Quotes source post: 18897013

I think 315 would be a complete overkill. I've had zero issues running 295/30 on my MY02 and Apex SM-10 wheels and no spacers were needed. I did add about 10mm in the rear for a more flush look but there were no issues without them. This was with General GMax RS, MPS4S and MPSS tires.

The engine is in! We're still waiting on some parts, plus they are out of the shop until Thursday. Must continue to be patient...

Quotes source post: 18899274

I�m a little late to this discussion but I have 285/30/18 Michelin PS2s which tend to have a more square shoulder and I can easily fit a 295 and still not rub on my M030 spec. My OZs in the rear are a 18x11 +63 if that helps. My TEs on the other hand are 18x11 +60 and be closer to the fender by 3mm� should clear with a 295.

Quotes source post: 18908514

I can imagine the excitement you must be feeling!

Teaser pics. Mostly teasing me! The car is together and being driven. They're doing the FSI-mandated heat cycles to the engine, after which it finally comes home. Today or Monday, w00t! I realized earlier this week that I have not driven the car since 2022. That's a long time. FSI X-pipe was an easy install and good fit per the folks at Specialty Cars Lots of empty space

Enjoying living vicariously through you on the build and install! I'm really looking forward to your driving impressions during and after break-in.

Quotes source post: 18931737

Thanks! You can follow @TexSquirrel as well; he got his car back a few months ago and has been documenting his experience with the new engine.

Quotes source post: 18931446

Today. It needs to happen today. Go offer to help make it TODAY. You NEED this car! Are you sure the heat cycles are mandatory or are they just joyriding? Tell them you can joy ride with them, under their instructions even.

Confession time. The car is back. It's been back since Monday. I've put about 600 miles on it already. I've been holding off on posting because I'm still breaking the engine in, and so I can't give a full and fair impression of the car yet. But what the heck, why not tell what I know so far. And so far it is pretty damned glorious. There's much more power, noticeable above 3K and especially above 4K. It feels thicker, if that makes any sense; the original motor had a lightness to it as it ran up the tach, where the 4.0 just oozes strength all the way to my current 5K rev limit. The smoothness is really something as well (FSI balances the internals). If it weren't for the FSI X-pipe bubbling away you could almost think it wasn't running when it's at idle. There's almost no 'burble' as it runs up the revs too -- just a deep, satisfying flat six roar. I think it will become a howl when I can take it redline! I found the sound of the car to be intoxicating when I first got it but now I just can't help myself. I think I may be addicted. I'm going to hate the cold weather when I have to put the windows up! Downside -- not really I guess but I'm still not thrilled -- is that even though I replaced virtually everything besides the transmission itself, the car still does not shift to my satisfaction. The folks at Specialty Cars, with their decades of experience, tell me my car shifts really well. They find nothing wrong with how it feels. I guess my Z4MC spoiled me for shift action. Ah well. Part of the Porsche experience I guess. That's about it for now. After 8 months away I'm falling back in love with this 996 targa all over again. Still looks exactly the same!

Quotes source post: 18947145

Awesome! The X pipe is a total transformation. It is truly amazing what the changes to the cross section at the merge point can do for the tone and sound wave control of the exhaust note. When Jake was testing the prototypes and various revisions I could tell a huge difference while the cars were on the dyno, since the office I use is just over the dyno cell. The volume of the exhaust never really changed, just the tone and the "pace" of the pulses. It isn't obnoxious or unpleasant at all, just very crisp, and clean sounding. The big difference that the FSI engines have are their ability to make more power at every RPM point, yet they don't need 7K RPM to make peak power. When I first started working between FSI and LN I expected that FSI engines would have the RPM elevated to make their power. What I learned was exactly opposite from that. Driving the cars with this radically different RPM range and power concentration reminds me of driving a V8, but it still sounds like a well refined Flat Six. Smoothness delivered by FSI in- house dynamic is unparalleled! When Jake would do the final inspections of cars he'd open the driver's side door all the way and pay his finger tips at the corner of the door where the door skin met the outer window seal. He would let the car change from cold start fast idle to normal idle speed and feel the differences. He explained this as functioning like a tuning fork, helping him feel the balance of the engine, and it had to be right- else the car didn't leave. The things I have seen, and learned here are nothing short of amazing. Don't go crazy with the shifter. The best shifter I have experienced is the OE turbo shifter. Every aftermarket shifter I have experienced has been notchy and had a less than pleasant throw. Also stay away from the numeric cables, we hate how they transmit drivetrain noises into the cockpit.

Quotes source post: 18947145

BMWs dont have the 'crutch' of cables running to a transmission. A Benefit of the FR setup VS a MR or RR setup that Porsches have... and also a FF setup. At the Targa 805 rally I was at a few months ago, I jumped in my buddies Z3 (which was the car I accidently bought on BaT and sold to him) and the shifter was the only thing I was jealous of. That was with my worn 996 setup, I currently have a regular 997 setup and its great. Still not on the BMW level IMO but a lot better. If you have all stock 996 stuff, even refreshed it might not be that good. The 997 feels like a nice upgrade without the notchiness that most SSK have. I like it. I might upgrade the plastic stuff to metal down the road, but it works well now.

Congrats on getting the car back. I have the same complaints about the 996 shifter. You would think with the money spent on this car that you could get a shift feel at least on par with a NA MIata 5-speed, but it still eludes me here. Not bad, but not great. How long on the break-in till you get to really run it?

Quotes source post: 18947875

Yep! It's not quiet, but it's not loud either. And the tone is just sublime. I have a youtube of it but I think I'm going to wait until I have a few more RPM's available and re-record then. On second thought: ah what the heck. You Tube

Quotes source posts: 18947875, 18948466, 18948525

No worries on the Numeric cables. Been there, done that, unfortunately. The whine might be okay in a dedicated race or track car, but it's maddening for anything resembling normal road use. I keep hearing about the 997 shifter. I did the Shift Right kit on my 996 lever and it took all of the plasticky play out; it is a definite improvement over my 100K mile original mechanism. My problem is that if I get a 997 unit I'll want to do the Shift Right kit on it too! For now I think I'll just live with it for a while longer. I know right? Hondas have cable shifters and they have some of the best shift feel and action on the planet. The S2000 I drove was a delight. Even my Fit shifted pretty darned well. Then again those cables don't have as long a run as the P-cars. I still have a few hundred miles to go before it gets another oil change and I hopefully get clearance for takeoff. I'm making up excuses to drive places so it shouldn't be long.

Quotes source post: 18948727

Sounds great! Jake decided to revive the FSI headers that he built for "The Substitute" back in the day. These were the headers fitted to the 996 when his wife set the land speed records with it. You might get on the list for those :-) Don't further to post that video on the FSI Owner's Lounge (if you are a member there?) You might try just replacing the shifter cables to see if that makes a difference with the shifting before you change shifters. Replacing a couple of the plastic pieces under the shifter as well as the cables should change things a good bit.

Quotes source post: 18950182

Yep I'm on the Facebook page. I think there are some other sound clips there already. I'll check it out. I put new OEM cables and shifter-side cable ends on the car after the Numeric debacle. There's literally no play at the shifter end of things anymore. Still shifts like... ...a 911.

Now that I have the car back it's time to get to some of the projects that have taken a back burner to the Super 7 and other stuff. Interior upgrades: let's face it, the 996 interior is plasticky. And in my case it's basically all one color. I want to brighten it up and give it a bit more upscale feel. My brainstorm is to cover the center console in leather. I've nibbled around the edges of the idea for a while, but now I have a donor console to hack away on. Moah powah: not that I even know how much I have yet, but I've had a yen for a 997 3.8 airbox for quite a while, and now I have a darned good reason to get one. So I did. Airbox will be going on soon; the console is a longer term project. I also FINALLY got around to polishing the headlights. They've bugged me since day one, but the PO said they had been ceramic coated and I foolishly thought that explained why they were just a wee bit yellowed. I decided to just go for it and clean them. Didn't take much. A round of 800 grit, followed up by 3000 grit to bring them back to smooth. Then a final workover with Chemical Guys headlight polish/protectant. I figure I'll give them a refresher every year or so with that stuff. I'm pleased with the result. Before After Before and after

Quotes source post: 18947145

Congrats on getting your Targa back! Not long after I got my �99 C2, I replaced the 24 year old shifter with a new 997 unit and the Function First kit. It�s definitely an improvement and I�m happy with the feel and throw now. With the old worn out plastic my 996 was reminiscent of my old �96 Corolla haha. I probably would have gone with the Numeric if I was looking for a short shifter. A new 997 shifter and Function First kit cost almost as much as the Numeric. I�ve never driven a Z4MC but I did own an �05 S2000 AP2 for several years. IMO the 996 will never shift like an S2000. If that�s what you�re looking for, the 996 may never shift to your satisfaction.

I had a very nice 'short' shifter in the Z4MC. It was built by a guy who custom makes them to the spec desired. I wanted more precision, not really shorter throws. The result was truly "rifle bolt" action; snickety-snick with a kick. Effort was a bit heavier than stock but oh so satisfying. In the targa I find excuses to run up the revs, so I can hear the exhaust; In the Z4MC I found excuses to change gears. It was that nice. I had a Cobb shift kit in my 2005 STi that was close to that too. Compared to an S2000 both were a lot heavier feeling but also more positive feeling. No question, ever, as to whether the gear has been engaged. I don't expect the 996 to feel like those cars, or an S2000 either. I would just like it to feel more reassuring. There's a vagueness to it that I don't find to be confidence inspiring.

Perhaps the Numeric is what you�re looking for? Several of the reviews I�ve read on here describe it as having the �rifle bolt� action that you�re looking for.

Enough about the shifter. I think the best thing to do may be to hide it under some leather! I got all the rubberized gunk off the donor console and sanded it to a rough finish, enough to remove the grainy texture. My thought was to paint it, but the more I worked on it and looked at and thought about it the more I wanted it to feel, well, more expensive. More upscale. So I poked around and found someone who had covered theirs in leather. Okay, it's doable! I went to a Tandy Leather store about an hour from here and spoke to them about it; they were enthusiastic and thought it was definitely doable. So I bought some tools and ordered a hide. At this point I am, as they say, the pig at breakfast. Committed. I also disassembled and cleaned the 3.8 airbox. Had to repair one of the screw stanchions; it wasn't quite broken off but it wasn't really attached anymore either. Some plastic epoxy took care of that. I want to take some measurements but I believe that the 3.8 airbox is capable of flowing a greater volume of air than the 996 airbox, even though it uses the same air filter element. I'm waiting for a relocation bracket for the secondary air pump, then I will get that on the car. I'll take some measurements when I have the airboxes side by side. I've also ordered all the foo to do an oil change -- the folks at Specialty Cars were pretty booked up and I wanted to get it done so I was good to go for a trip I have planned in a week or so. Hopefully I'll have the airbox in by then too. Full revs + 3.8 airbox = more fun! That's the plan. More as it happens. In the meantime the car was perfectly happy running errands today; dropping off a battery at the recyclers, buying groceries, all done via the fun roads and "back ways". It was good at that stuff the very first day I owned it, and it still is. That's part of the reason it's a forever car for me.

You had the Autosoutions? It definitely was an improvement on my Z4M, but 2nd gear on those gearboxes is always iffy and took some of the fun out of it. I prefer the 5 speed ZF box in my E36 M3 over the Z4M. On my 911 the I installed the 964 RS engine/transmission mounts from FVD on my car and that made a massive improvement in shift quality. I'm sure FSI would frown on those mounts that but they are still rubber. I have the Function First Shift Right kit and metal cable ends sitting in a box waiting to be installed.

Quotes source post: 18964878

Yep, AutoSolutions. Fantastic product. I used Vibra-Technic motor mounts on that car too. I stayed with stock trans mounts but replaced them with new. Yeah second gear was still not perfect, but it was a heck of a lot better. One thing I never understood about that platform is that the Z4 3.0si uses the same gearbox and shifts just fine. I had one of those too. FSI doesn't like "tough guy" motor mounts on the 996 because they have seen them add vibrations into the drivetrain which cause the ECU to think there is pre-ignition and pull timing. Yours might not do that, I have no idea. But FSI's reasoning is hard to argue with.

The 3.8 airbox is installed. I bought an air pump relocation bracket so I could use the 3.8 snorkel, because that's the way the folks at Porsche designed it. I did not however use the 997 "bellows" that attaches to the engine cover because the 996 part works absolutely perfectly. I made up a little bracket for the dislocated wire loom thingie and, last but not least, correctly identified what the airbox connects to. Before pic just to remind me how much better it looks later Later Relocated air pump + 997 snorkel Wire guide/holder relocation 996 bellows work just fine -- this is a shot with the spoiler up, shooting under it to show the parts with the engine lid closed Yeah baby yeah! I also cut open the oil filter from the 1K mile service. I didn't expect to find anything and thankfully that proved true. This was my first time cutting a spin-on filter open so I got a giant tubing cutt --- err, oil filter opening tool from Amazon to help with the job. First time examining a spin-on oil filter

where did you get the SAI pump relocation bracket?

Quotes source post: 18980437

Gee, not even a �how does it sound�. EVO Motorsport. $105 shipped, ow, but anything I might have tried would have looked like a hack in comparison.

Quotes source post: 18980483

Airflow should be better. Do you feel a difference? I bet it sounds great! But you already had the X-pipe which sounds amazing. Do people do the resonator delete on the 997 airbox? That should add to the tone.

Quotes source post: 18981099

I haven't found any evidence of the 997.1 3.8 airbox improving performance. I have read "so and so said such and such" but that's it. FSI tells me it makes a difference, and I like the look WAY better than the 996 airbox. Sound wise I believe it has more oomph at higher revs. (I did not do anything to the helmholz generator, so the valve is always open.) The helmholz resonator on the 997 airbox is really hefty and appears to be ultrasonic welded in place, so I did not try to remove it. I can't say I feel any big difference between the two airboxes in terms of performance, but then again I'm still staying away from redline and "so and so said" that the 3.8 airbox improves top end.

Quotes source post: 18981219

Hey it sounds great.

Pictures x 1000 = words.

Quotes source post: 19000122

Yep, I know this well. I had to cut these off when removing the mufflers on my Targa. What a PITA they are!

I highly recommend using some silver anti-seize on all that hardware. Having done it a while ago, all my exhaust hardware came apart very easily.

I'd love to hear where you got the SAI relocation bracket...

Quotes source post: 19001134

Evo Motorsports. https://www.evoms.com/ The part is not listed on their site. I contacted them via email: http://www.evoms.com/category_s/1831.htm

I know that Jake has been doing some additional tweaks to the 997.1 3.6/ 3.8 airbag that will further compliment his upper intake plenums for 996.1/996.2 Last I heard we would be offering these modified airbuses separately from the entire plenum kit. This is for the guys who don't wish to buy the full RX3900 induction system which is an improvement on the 997.1 X51 factory system. Keep a watch out in the FSI Owner's Lounge, he's close to being done with the airbox mod kit. I think he just needs to finish his current R40 before he can finish it up.

Quotes source post: 19001307

Interesting that if this part is necessary for the airbox conversion, that it wouldn't be more widely advertised... -Matt

Quotes source post: 19001602

They sell their own intake/airbox. Poke around their site a bit and you'll find it. I think the bracket is part of that package.

I have been remiss in keeping this thread up to date. Forgive me! I have excuses of course but they aren't really excuses. Anyway. Moving on. I'll make a few posts to get back on track. This is the first. After I got the 1K mile oil change done I took the targa to Watkins Glen New York. I was invited by Bring A Trailer to attend the vintage races there; BaT had commandeered the entire infield at Turn 1 and wanted to fill it with cool stuff that had sold on their site. Yes yes yes prices are silly on BaT etcetera and so on. But this is the second gathering I've attended that they've put on and both have been brilliant. They're good people. The day was gloomy but the rain mostly stayed away, and so we had a great gathering and watched some really good racing. Proof that we were there. The targa garnered some attention due to its color and, well, it's a targa. But on the cool scale it was pretty far down the list. Other P cars were there too. The paddock was right next to us and filled with all sorts of wonderfulness. This is one of my favorites.

As hard as it may be for some to fathom I actually have cars that aren't Porsches. One of them is our little yellow Caterham, which I took out to a Cars&Coffee event at a place called Steel Stacks. It's the remnants of the Bethlehem Steel plant right in the heart of Bethlehem PA. Pretty cool backdrop for hosting a bunch of shiny vehicles. Hundreds and hundreds of cars show up at this event. To my surprise and delight they shuttled me over to "the cobbles" with all of the really cool cars! It's a strange feeling to back in next to a gazillion dollars worth of hardware. Our little canary among all the cool cats. This wild thang actually drove in with me. I was surprised that it wasn't a trailer queen. Has to be the wildest Corvair I've ever seen. I know the replicas are pretty good these days but this was metal, so, maybe... Why they call it Steel Stacks. Those are the blast furnaces.

Last but not least, an update on the targa. I've started the process of getting the car tuned by the wizards at FSI. The stock map is safely tucked away and Version 1 of the updated tune is on the car now. I was out over the weekend doing some data collection runs with the Durametric. Those went off to FSI and they'll use them to bring the tune more in line with this car's specific traits. One thing that jumped out immediately was that the ridiculous dead spot at initial throttle tip-in is GONE! (Those of you with drive-by-wire throttle know what I mean.) For someone who double clutches as much as I do that alone is a godsend. The next big item is that the "VarioCam just kicked in, yo" effect at 4K-ish RPMs is greatly reduced. In its place is a much smoother and more linear power delivery curve. I'm really looking forward to Version 2!

Another update. I'm really enjoying the tune and the car in general, however the feeling does not seem to be reciprocal. The car doesn't seem to like me very much this month! First off the windshield trim came apart and the rubber strip flaps in the breeze; gorilla tape is holding it down for now until I find a windshield shop. The trim is a two-piece affair and one of them gets glued in with the windshield. Uhm, WTF Porsche. I'm thinking I'll replace the windshield while all of this is going on; nothing is horrible about it but 100K miles and 21+ years inevitably have left marks. Secondly it just started leaking oil. I noticed a few drips on the garage floor yesterday, looked around a bit, and found 3 more spots. Aaaarrrgggghhhhhhh! I spent a damn fortune in that engine compartment. Anyway, I could use some help diagnosing the source of the leak. As best I can tell it is starting somewhere under the AC compressor. See pics. Thanks for any help. Right rear passenger side, where the oil drips to the ground It looks wet above that hose as well AC compressor area is oily. You can see where I wiped a streak in the coating of oil.

Elbow on the aos crossover or the pipe itself? Not much up there but i would test the aos just in case. I have seen power steering low pressure hose leaks at the resi and drain there too. It just doesnt look like ps fluid.

I went out and dug a little deeper. I'm 99% sure it's a galley plug under the AC compressor. It's wet and there's a pool of oil below it. Pics from my car: Orientation shot. Galley plug is just above the red mark. Galley plug Pool of motor oil Here is a picture of an engine with most of the doodads out of the way. Arrow points to the plug. Galley plug location (thanks to Pelican Parts for the pic)

Sounds reasonable and thats deff engjne oil.

That's a long bolt that holds the crank carrier to the case, has an O-ring on it in a groove near the end/head...

Well, gee. I posted in the general Pennsylvania thread but I thought I might get some responses here as well. Short version: I'm looking for a shop in my area (Berks County PA) to fix the oil leak described earlier. All suggestions welcome. Long version: I took a swipe at getting at the area myself, but I can't see a way to move the AC compressor without either evacuating the system and disconnecting the AC lines -- which I am not equipped to do -- or lifting the air intake runners on that side, which I don't think I want to try on my own. Besides, the lift is tied up with my newly broken Super Seven and is likely to remain so for quite some time. So I'd rather just have the leak professionally done by folks who know the water cooled cars. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Sorry to hear you're dealing with this. Can't help but ask...have you reached out to FSI and the shop you worked with on getting the engine installed? Seems like an issue they should be helping you solve.

Quotes source post: 19148310

I agree. I�m waiting for �The Rest of The Story�😉

Damn dude sorry to see this. Hope it�s an easy fix.

Quotes source post: 18024362

How hard was it to do this? I just got my Targa last month and yes the stock is bad, especially in Az....

Quotes source post: 19152330

It's not particularly hard. It's a bit fiddly though. Knowing when to "pull the pin" on the new shade would have saved me from having to roll it back up again! And you want to be really careful with the plastic parts because they could be brittle.

Quotes source posts: 19111218, 19148362, 19151222

So, wow, was I ever wrong. As in, wrong end of the engine! It may or may not have been the oil level sensor leaking, but it definitely was the oil cooler seals. There was oil puddled all over the top of the bank 2 cylinder head. I noticed it when it finally made its way to the back and onto the ground. We're doing a new oil cooler and level sensor. I'm hearing rumors of undersized oil cooler seals; that may be what bit me here.

Good news! fwiw. 997 oil cooler is bigger, stronger and fits according to many. I'll be doing the same.

Quotes source post: 19152510

Lol yeah, I know. I bought a 997 oil cooler a few months back when FSI was dumping excess inventory. Figured that some day I'd put it on the car. Well, today is that day! I'll report back with how it went. Interestingly enough, I also bought an oil level sensor and seal at the same time. The shop is going to use those too. AND they called me up and said "since we're doing the oil cooler we want to do an oil change, do you have the FSI approved stuff?" to which I said "yes, I'll bring it over". Pretty cool of them to do that. I imagine there are shops that don't balk at using customer supplied parts but it hasn't been my recent experience.

Looking fwd to hearing about it.

997 oil cooler fits, woohoo! IMESHO this should be a no-brainer upgrade for anyone who's replacing it or doing "while you're in there" stuff.

Quotes source post: 19154111

Heh. I've been holding back a bit, waiting for the whole story to play out. I got the car back from the shop and found a small puddle, just a few drops, under it the morning; this time it was pink instead of gold in color. After I was finished tearing at the walls I ordered myself a borescope and a manometer. When they came in I got the Caterham off the lift -- it doesn't run, so that was a bit of an adventure -- and put the targa up in the air. For the life of me, I could not find a leak. And yet there was wetness on the bell housing and pink coolant on the crossmember. I called the shop, they warranty their work, they said get it back here and we'll have a look. They couldn't find a leak either. We finally surmised that it may have been leftovers from when the old oil cooler was removed and coolant spewed out onto stuff. I agreed to take the car, drive it, and keep an eye on it. Wonder of wonders, two days and two longish drives later it is DRY underneath. So it really was just remnants of the repair. I am more relieved than I can say. Glenn's European Auto Repair (GEAR) in Spring City PA: two very very enthusiastic thumbs up. There is another chapter to this saga. The shop that did the FSI-related work and quite a bit more that I requested at the time, is called Specialty Cars, located in Allentown PA. That was the first shop I called when I discovered the oil leak. They finally called me back over two weeks later. "We're just so busy" they said. Then they gave me a date I could bring my car to them. IN JULY. I tried my best to be nice when telling them what they could do with that date. It honestly is a great shop for certain types of work, and they probably are as busy as they claim, but they have no sense of customer support whatsoever. I'm satisfied with the work they did for me earlier, but I cannot recommend them to anyone who wants anything less than a restoration or engine rebuild, or to anyone who actually drives their Porsche more than just to car shows. And I would strongly caution even then that, once the job is done, you will either have to be happy waiting 7 months to get the car back in there or else find yourself another shop. Specialty Cars in Allentown PA: two very very disappointed thumbs down.

I've been busy in the garage of late, doing some maintenance to the targa as well as some modifications. I kind of screwed the pooch on the mods though. I'm posting this in the hopes that someone else won't make the same error I did. It was time for the annual radiator cleanout. Which went fine, in fact there wasn't really much in there. (It's actually been TWO years but the car sat engineless for a good part of the time.) Bumper scuffed Radiator cruft I've been researching and discussing and meandering on and on about venting the radiators into the wheel wells and, since I was about halfway there already... I cut a triangular chunk out of the radiator shroud Here are the two pieces together Next of course is the fender liner. I wasn't crazy about the idea of just cutting slots in it, because I'm thinking of all the dreck the wheel is going to toss in there. The 40AE, 997, etc. that vent into the wheel well use louvers to direct the air outwards and also to keep a lot of the wheel-flung stuff from flying in at the rads and fans. So, thinks I, why not cut louvers instead of slots? So I did. Some of you may know what happened next. I re-installed the liners, put the wheels back on the car, and... ...the tires hit the outward-bent louver flaps. There's not a lot of clearance! Looking again at the other applications, sure enough, the louvers are bent inwards towards the radiators. So back out they came, and off came the louvers, and now I have slots. Temporarily, until the new fender liners arrive and I can start over. I put a piece of screen over the vents but I don't see it holding up very well. Should have used metal screen instead of plastic, doh!

In other news, the garage has a new decoration. Supposedly it's art, but I just think it's fun.

I finally got around to finishing the RoW M030 suspension upgrade. When I originally did the job I somehow completely glossed over the sway bars, which are larger on the M030. It's been bugging me ever since, so last week(!!) I bit the bullet and placed an order with Rose Passion. Two sway bars, two pairs of bushings. They shipped it Friday -- it arrived here Monday! From France!! Meanwhile AutoAtlanta is still jerking around with the wheel well liners over a week after I ordered those. No ship date yet. What a difference. Yes I'll pay import duty but even so the price is competitive, and the rapid order fulfillment is just phenomenal. I did not find any published figures for the front bar diameters, either original or M030. To the best of my ability to measure the new bar is 24mm, about 0.5mm larger than the original. I estimate that to be about 10% to 15% stiffer. The rear bars' bushings have diameters listed in PET; 19.80mm for the orginal bar, 20.90mm for the M030 unit. That should add about 20% to 25% more stiffness. All of which is academic at the moment, because I'm not taking the car out on the salt-laden roads anyway. We're supposed to get a few days of warming weather and rain, so hopefully I will be able to get out by the weekend. Final bits of the RoW M030 suspension Front bars look almost identical but carry different paint markings. Different bushings too. New rear bar has no paint mark but looks larger.

Quotes source post: 17980482

H&R springs with the 1.25� drop, sway bars and bilstein struts are a great combo if you don�t wanna drop the money on coils. Sounds like everyone here likes the $3k coils.

Quotes source post: 19229108

Looks like you are in a state that is not Az, is this over kill or? ...I am in Az and we reach 110 for 1 to 2 months daily in the summer and sometimes 120 for a couple of days....and I am not looking forward to driving my 996 in this

Quotes source post: 19238012

The vents are not intended to help with cooling; they're intended to redirect radiator exhaust air out to the wheel wells instead of underneath the car. The objective is to reduce front end lift. The 40AE 996's and 997's have vents in the wheel wells. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...to-reduce.html If you are looking for increased cooling capacity there are several methods; larger capacity radiators, a third center radiator, stuff like that. A bit of searching will surely find lots of threads.

Wheel well vents V.2. I bought a new pair of liners -- why yes, I *am* a glutton for punishment -- and went at it again, this time bending the tabs inwards. The result is much more to my liking functionally and visually. When the car was hot and the fans were running I felt around and there was definitely air coming through. There was more air coming out the bottom, which is where I'm going to focus next. I'm going to wait for genuinely warm weather for that phase though. The temps are up a bit, the snow has melted, and the rain has at least washed the salt off the roads if not all of the cinders. So I took the car out for a good romp with the new liners and new sway bars. I can definitely feel the increased stiffness in back, and I'd swear I feel the front one too. No doubt part of what I'm feeling is new steel versus 20 year old steel that's been flexed several bazillion times, but the rear end is definitely stiffer, and the whole car feels more solid and planted. It hooks up faster. Me likey. I also tried a very brief high speed run and the front end did not get that floaty feel. It wasn't a definitive test but I'm encouraged. I laid out the design on the inside of the liner Head-on shot of the installed liner showing how the angled tabs (hopefully) keep crap from flying off the wheel straight into the fan Tabs are angled to direct air out of the wheel well

I've been a bit tardy in updating this thread with the latest exploit -- I drove the car to Georgia, in February, on summer tires. (Cue the "they're ruined!" chorus.) I took two days getting there and getting back, so I could have some fun in the Appalachian twisties. While in Georgia I was thrilled to take part in an FSI engine owner's class and learn more about how they're made, how to maintain them, and most importantly, meet some of the people and experience firsthand the commitment and ethos behind the creation of an FSI engine. Snow was forecast as a 20% chance on the morning I left but fortunately (or so I thought!) it held off and I left under dark, cold, but dry skies. By the time I got to Catoctin Mountain however, it didn't matter anymore because it was actively snowing. Fortunately the roads remained just wet, not snowy or icy, and we soldiered through. Spent the night in Roanoke, VA. "Before" picture. I can't sleep the night before a road trip so the hour was early. Miserable failure at trying to capture snowfall on Catoctin Mountain. Warm Springs Inn was CLOSED, boo-hoo. No nice lunch for me. Car wears a layer of road crud. Cleaned up and resting for the next day's adventure.

Georgia trip volume two. The next morning I was underway well before dawn again, headed for Boone, Blowing Rock, and points south. Once again the weather had some fun with me because it had snowed the night before in the Smokies, and so I drove on salted roads with piles of snow along the sides. It was still pretty cool but not a b***s-out romp, which was probably okay because I was on summer tires (ruined!) in 25 degree temps. February in the high places... The sun and I reached NC at about the same time. Looking out across the vista just outside Blowing Rock NC. In Georgia among kindred spirits. What's that Acura doing there? The weekend was fantastic and the drive home was pretty much like the drive down, only a lot less wet or snowy. Biggest event was nearly taking Bambi out while driving through George Washington National Forest. I came over a crest and there he was, standing in the middle of the road, looking as surprised as I must have looked. The car quite literally stopped before my brain fully processed that I had hit the brake pedal. It was close, but the car comported itself admirably. I was fortunate to have been driving a fine car with excellent brakes. Total mileage was 1900+ including running around while we were in Georgia. 900 miles almost exactly getting there and getting back to PA. Gas mileage was surprisingly a good bit better than it had been before, nearly 25 MPG average. Of course the added power and torque of the 4.0 raised the whole experience to a different level compared to pre-upgrade trips. The AC conked out somewhere along the line, but I didn't need it, so the whole trip came off without any hitch of consequence. I'm already planning the next run. Back home and properly hosed.

Nice road trip! Love seeing these be a part of the car's thread. Lucky you for avoiding that deer though - that'll ruin your day! Seeing this makes me think I should start planning my road trip from Oklahoma.

Quotes source post: 19276693

Do it. There are some awesome roads in Arkansas! Check out my earlier account of the trip back from Texas. Here are a couple of the resources I use to seek out fun roads. I'm sure there are others. A tool that uses map data to calculate the "curvature" of roads: https://roadcurvature.com/ Motorcyclists' collection of fun riding roads: https://www.twistyroadfinder.com/ I was definitely lucky with the deer. Although I was moving along at a decent clip I still saw them in time to react. So many other times I've encountered deer that has not been the case and one of the other of us has ended up the worse for it. Not to mention that I was on a pretty remote road in an unpopulated area and it could have been a while until someone else passed through there. Yep, a small blessing that it was a near miss and nothing more.

Quotes source post: 19276846

Oh this is fantastic - thanks! I'll first be driving down to Dallas to see a close friend and will head back from there so will definitely check out those resources and your trip. And yeah, after my run in, I'm definitely extra careful going around any bend or hill :|

How to turn a 4-car garage into a 5-car garage, at least temporarily:

I went to a PCA event last week, "Tech Tactics". It was held at a Porsche parts warehouse/training center not far from home. I didn't know quite what to expect but it turned out to be a fairly decent mix of owner types and a very interesting group of presentations. I stayed the whole day. Plus, folks from Mainline Porsche were on hand to actually pull parts from the warehouse and fill orders! So I took advantage of that to get a new windshield cowl, which probably saved me a pretty penny on shipping. Our greeter Just part of the very large training facility Some stuff was demo'd on this Sampling from one of the topics Current Porsche lug wrench Is this actually serviceable? Sent this picture to my son -- he sent back "must be for writing those big repair checks"

I decided to upgrade my top tool chest to a larger one so that I wouldn't have to switch between metric and English wrench sizes and could keep them all handy. I found one that fit the bill and received it yesterday. Shipping weight 302 lbs., toolbox weight 199 lbs. That's a lot of protection. Good thing too, because someone bashed the pallet up pretty well but failed to make it through the layers of plastic, particleboard, cardboard, and air that surrounded the thing during shipment. To my great good fortune it was at the perfect height on the bed of the Taco to slide right over onto the bottom box. Never had to try to lift the beast. The next challenge will be remembering where everything is! Strapped to the pallet, wrapped in plastic/particleboard/cardboard/airspace. Thankfully slide right onto the bottom box. In its new home. Old Craftsman top boxes are on the right.

Just read this whole thread - wow your enthusiasm is contagious! Sweet Targa, enjoy it!

Wow, I haven't updated the thread in a while. Not much has happened with the car recently other than having a new AC compressor installed. The AC quit when I was in Georgia in February; I didn't really need it so I waited until a few weeks ago to have it done. I've been putting a lot of happy miles on the car too. Just now I'm getting ready to go *back* to Georgia, this time for the first annual FSI Owners Rally. I've been doing small things to the car to prep for the trip. One of those things was to polish the exhaust tips, again. It's somewhat discouraging how quickly they discolor. They did clean up a lot faster this time though. Before on left, after on right.

Are those aluminum or stainless steel? Either way I would coat them with some Rust-Oleum Crystal Clear Enamel. Forms a nice protective coat.

What did you use to polish them? Mine look nearly identical.

Quotes source posts: 19442485, 19442486

They're "stainless" steel. Would that coating survive exhaust temperatures? Here's my lineup. Nevr-Dull starts it off, then I go at the stuck-on chunks with the plastic razor blade, then the polish. Back and forth with those two until I'm happy. The polishing wheel is an old one from a 3M headlight restoration kit.

Quotes source post: 19442917

I�ve had great results with this stuff It�s designed for wheels, brake calipers and exhaust tips. https://ammonyc.com/products/ammo-ge...eel-metal-coat

Quotes source post: 19442917

Bro I love the fact I�m not the only person that used plastic razors!! The work came out great.

Another trip in the targa, another trip to Georgia! This time it was to meet up with a group of FSI engine owners for some fellowship and a romp in the mountains. I incorrectly gauged the remaining life in the front tires, which caused me to miss one of the days' drives, but as it turned out that wasn't all bad. I grabbed a pair of all-season tires only because they were available the same day, and they proved to be really great in the heavy rains I encountered on the way home. Other than my tire oversight the car was flawless. HVAC temps change considerably though, so it's time for me to get to that second blend door. My midway point in both directions -- Warm Springs Inn. (So much for those shiny tailpipes, sigh.) Sunrise on the lake Hangin' out and talkin' Porsche at the Ridges This is why I missed one of the driving days! Leaving for home at "zero dark thirty" Total trip miles

Camber is fun! Looked like a great trip and there is some amazing driving roads out there.

Parts have begun arriving for an upcoming brake makeover (brakeover?). I'll be honest -- I'm doing the Girodiscs for looks as much as for any other reason. I'll take comparison pictures, weigh stuff, and all that, as progress is made. I'm curious to see if the rotors are any lighter than the factory iron. Rotors, pads, soft lines, sensors, associated hardware.

Brake job is done! I took it out for a shakedown drive and the brakes feel about the same as before, however I haven't finished bedding everything in so I haven't pushed any limits. I started a separate thread on the Girodisc installation, which contains size/weight details and tips on doing that part of the job. Everything else was straightforward. So I'll just get on with the glam pics. Before pic -- front Before pic -- rear Yucky old rotor vs. shiny new one Purty! Fresh pads, hardware, and SS brake lines The old pads don't owe me anything After -- front After -- rear Et voila!

Take that, coupe owners!

Great! I did the same thing today with our Targa. Loaded all of our gear, chairs, coolers, umbrellas, etc using the rear hatch.

The targa will soon be getting a 'new' garage mate; a 1967 Lotus Elan SE. I'm acquiring it from the original owner! It has a very interesting history.

Very cool buy! Jealous!

Quotes source post: 19592162

nice! Elans are such great bargains for what you get. I'm dumb and building 'something' from scratch using a Spyder Chassis. Lots of Tony Thompson racing parts on it. Its a slow project that is happening at my parents house. There is nothing to do where they live and they have a 3-car garage with one car, so I will happily stuff an Elan Chassis in there haha

Quotes source post: 19544806

Every time I can use my hatch I know I made the right choice getting a targa

What shade of silver? It looks gray on my monitor.

Quotes source post: 19593561

The targa is Polar Silver. Blue undertones; the more common Arctic Silver has a gray tinge by comparison. The Lotus is white.

While I wait for the Lotus to arrive I decided to take a shot at installing the Rennline "Adjustable" throttle pedal I picked up at a discount a little while back. I've never been thrilled by the heel/toe (actually big toe / little toe in my case) action in the car and I had read reports about this pedal improving the situation. I blanched at the price however. So when the chance came along to pick it up at a discount, I jumped. I went with silver/black because the targa is not a race car, it's a road car, and IMO the silver adds enough flash already. Installation is a bit of a b*tch, and the instructions could be better, but I got 'er done. I just came back from a jaunt and I have to admit that the heel/toe action is definitely better! The new pedal installs about 1/2" closer to the driver than the stocker, which brings it out where the brake pedal is in my car. Also the pedal is wider due to the supplied extensions. I found myself moving the seat back a tad, which might take some getting used to. Functionally I'm satisfied with the pedals in the car. Now I need to decide whether or not to add non-functional bling, i.e. the rest of the Rennline pedal cover set...

I haven't posted here in a while, so here are some general updates. I removed the upper pedal extension on the Rennline throttle pedal; it was too close to the brake pedal to the point where I had to consciously avoid it even under normal driving. Without the extension it is perfect for me. I've really come to enjoy the smooth action, and although I still think it is a lot of money for a couple of small gains, those gains make a significant difference to my driving pleasure. So I think I will consider it something that pays for itself over time. I took another trip, this time a long weekend to Hamilton College in NY to visit my youngest granddaughter. I did my usual "avoid interstates" thing which is very easy in this part of the world due to the large number of secondary alternates. It was a good drive and a very good visit. I can't report mileage because I disconnected the battery before I recorded the total. Just before I left the driver's seat decided to throw a fit. It was not enough to stop me from going so I waited until I got back to fix it. The seatback angle adjustment and tilt functions had both quit. There is a rod running the width of the seat, connecting the pivots for the seat back and allowing adjustment to both simultaneously. That had worked its way out of the inner connection point, causing stuff to bind. While the seat was out I noticed that the wide strap under the bottom cushion was not very taut, which was a surprise since I had put a new one in back when I fixed the seat the last time. No wonder I felt as though I was sitting in a bucket again! I thought it was my imagination. Rather than repeat the same (apparently pointless) repair again I decided to rig up a cross strap, which holds a semi-rigid plastic sheet under the cushion to provide extra support underneath the factory strap. I just finished that job and took a spin, and it is much better. Rear tires are shot, again. This is the third set in the ~23K miles I've owned the car; the rears were new when I got it. All were Michelin PS4 or PS4S, so no crazy 200 tire wears or anything like that. I guess I like accelerating out of corners...!

Yikes, 3 sets in ~23k miles? So less than 8k miles per set of rear tires? I assume you had an alignment done at some point. I drive mine pretty hard too and am at 15k miles on my current set of PS4S. Fronts are fine but come spring, I'll probably get a new set for the rears.

Quotes source post: 19664165

This set has worn unevenly. The hoity-toity high-priced shop* that did the FSI engine install also took it upon themselves to do an alignment, since which time both LH tires have worn out their inner edges. If not for that the rears would still have about 35% to 40% of their life left. So, yeah, I need an alignment. Again. * It probably doesn't matter since they won't touch watercooled cars anymore. Specialty Cars in Allentown PA; respected, expensive, extremely sure that whatever they do is perfect even if it isn't.

Why won't they touch watercooled anymore?

Quotes source post: 19665724

Because they don't have to, is my best guess. I just finished up a string alignment. The car was toed out at both ends.

�.sure that whatever they do is perfect even if it isn't. i like that ^ 😎 im gonna see how long it takes me to fit that sentence into a conversation�I�m guessing about 24hs.😁 NOT IN REFERENCE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT MENTIONED IN POST ABOVE. I have no knowledge of them.😎

Quotes source post: 19666306

Lucky you! By the way I should warn you that my son's buddies in San Antonio are busy buying up lakefront properties in Minnesota; if he decides to do the same, I may wander westward... ...but meanwhile, the new rear tires are mounted up and Road Force balanced. I had them check the fronts too while they were at it. The number of wheel weights has gone down dramatically since the last time I had tires done, which leads me to want to take every wheel from every car I own over to these folks. Although given the abysmal weather (thanks Helena!) I haven't gotten it off the rack yet to give it a test, so there's still a bit of a question mark hanging over things. I sure hope all is good because I need -- well, want -- well, need -- to drive the targa to Alabama next week to meet up with my son and spend a couple of days at Barber Motorsports Park whupping on Someone Else's Porsches. More as it happens.

Quotes source post: 19664125

When I saw your post, I wondered about that, the inadvertent heel-toe. I think such a setup would be great in a dedicated track setup with proper racing shoes with narrow toe boxes and soles. But, not when you are subject to wearing different shoes every time you get into the car. I have the stock pedal covers and it's not uncommon for me accidentally clip either the gas or brake pedal when I wear certain shoes that have sorta wide soles in the front.

Quotes source post: 19669854

Shoes definitely came into play. Ordinary running-shoe styles with their wider soles were particularly tough. It's much better now that the upper extension is gone. Speaking of heel/toe, does anyone actually use their heel? I put the ball of my foot on the brake pedal and then tilt my foot to the right; it's the outside of my foot or my pinkie toe that hits the throttle, not my heel. I've been doing it that way for 40+ years across dozens of cars, so it works for me.

Quotes source post: 19670091

I have used the rennline pedals for years. They are very good and durable. Never used the extensions for the same reasons you stated. Just too much surface area to get tangled up. Add in wider shoes with thicker bottoms and you will have a mess. From a heel toe standpoint, I do use my heel so i can keep my foot on the brake pedal under heavy braking. For me it works better on the track due to the pedal forces needed to slow the 996. On the street I will mess around with varying techniques since the braking requirements are substantially less. Sometimes it's just fun to test different techniques around town in the 996. Part of the fun.

I took the car out for a test run yesterday in spite of the weather. Once I dropped some altitude (we're on a hill) conditions weren't quite so dire and I was able to drive at speed. The guys at the local shop NAILED IT with the wheel balance! The car has never been as smooth during my ownership as it is right now. I may have found myself a new go-to shop. Seat modifications/repairs feel good too. I think we're ready for a run to/from Alabama. But Helene still isn't done with me; the area around Asheville NC has been totally devastated, with literally hundreds of roads closed from mudslides, downed trees, and flooding. I'm going to have to plan my route further westward. I really feel for the folks in that area and wish them the best.

This is a quick update on the road trip. I'm in Alabama, having come down over 3 days last week. I didn't hit much Helene-related issues through eastern Tennessee; my route kept me west of I-81 and the worst flooding took place east of there. Once in Birmingham I met up with my son and we spent a day touring the city and seeing a few of its sights. Then we went over to Barber Motorsports Park and drove someone else's Porsches for two days. 992 Carrera S 992 Turbo S

Quotes source post: 19686505

Fun fun fun! And... are you going to buy one? It seems they don't make a Targa.

Quotes source post: 19686847

Ooops! The multi-colored cars are GTS's, not S's. 480HP/420TQ. Was there ever a turbo targa? I think someone made their own once. The 992 GTS's are great cars on the track, and they told me they are running stock brake pads, and the tires are Pirelli P Zeroes. It blew my mind how hard they can go in stock format. Plus I have a whole new respect for the PDK gearbox. On top of that they flog those cars several days a week, week after week, and they just keep going. Very impressive.

Quotes source post: 19687447

The current Targa is turbocharged, they just don't call it that. I call it turbo with a lower case "t" The only non-turbo charged P car you can get now that's a 911 is a GT car. It is super impressive how capable the new cars are. I'd be curious what Porsche does differently for their track fleet cars. We know they use stock pads...do they also run regular 0w-40 oil and how often is it changed? Given that they are driven hard as designed, they probably fair far better than garage queens.

Quotes source post: 19688201

Skip would be able to give you a solid answer since he ran the servicing side of the program at Barber for a number of years.

Quotes source post: 19688216

Calling @Porschetech3 enquiring minds need to know!

Quotes source post: 19688687

The cars used at Barbers Motorsport Park for the Porsche Driving Experience are "EXACTLY" as delivered to anyone....They even keep the same brand tires on the car it was delivered with. They just sticker then up with Brands and numbers like a Race Car.... If the car came with Pirelli tires it has the Pirelli Brand Sticker on it and when they are worn out the exact new Pirrelli's are installed...Michelin, Continental ect... Same with brake pads, and MObil 1 oil is used and changed at Factory recommended intervals... I argued heavily with them about reducing the oil change interval due to the extreme tracking, but the higher ups at PCNA said stay with recommended intervals, it was under Warranty and the Warranty would be honored by Porsche AG... The Instructors are all Ex Pro Racers or Pro Racers just waiting for another gig...They drove them hard but they were all brand new and traded them in for a new fleet after about two years... They had some very unusual failures since their cars were usually first off the assembly line for any new changes/models, and would have to take them out on the Track to Verify or Test the cars...

Thanks Skip! They're sponsored in part by Pirelli now so the cars all had some sort or another Pirelli tire on them. Here's a funny statistic. There were 15 GTS's being used, multiple times daily, and 5 Turbos which got used once by each student. Two of the Turbos had some sort of issue that caused them to be taken out of the rotation. (One of them happened to me.) NONE of the GTS's had any kind of glitch. They just kept putting gas in them and sending them back out.

The Dealership I retired from ( Porsche Birmingham) is only 5 miles from there.... They do the tires and brakes at the Track Shop but any other repairs are sent over to Porsche Birmingham. Since I was lead Tech I got all the "problem cars" from the Porsche Driving Experience... I had to go to the Track many times to diagnose unusual issues and sometime meet with Porsche Field Engineers there to Test the cars and fix problems....Most of the problem we found and fixed there did not happen to the multitude of cars that were used by customers...

Quotes source post: 19669642

I'm in San Antonio and just bought a silver 00 C2 with a newer engine replaced by Porsche due to IMS - still awaiting shipping from the seller. Brand new to C-cars, and have found your thread incredibly educational. I've searched and bookmarked several parts and things you've mentioned for my future reference. Next time you drive down this way it would be great to meet and see that 4.0 in person! Anyway, I am assuming I'm around your son's age, probably a little older. I have a friend here that was born and raised in Minnesota and really has no desire to go back as far as a permanent home goes. I wanted to ask why your son's friends down here are buying up land up there? Is it cheap? Retirement plan? I know the scenery is certainly nicer than San Antonio. What part of town is your son in? The picture you posted looked like a neighborhood on the NE side near me.

Quotes source post: 19693518

Yes, let's do get together the next time I drive down. My son has lived in several places around the town over the years. Most recently they moved out of the north central area and back in closer to the center of town. During COVID no less! As for his friends, one of them is from Minnesota and the other came from Wisconsin, so they're accustomed to the climate there. And yes they plan to be snowbirds, keeping their TX homes to get away from northern winter. Getting back a bit closer to car-related stuff, here are my wheels after 2,155 miles to Birmingham AL and back home. 20% freeways / 70% curvy secondary roads / 10% romping in mountain twisties. The weather stayed dry the entire time so this is a true and complete compilation of all of the dust. From a distance it kind of looks like the wheels were painted a platinum shade... front wheel rear wheel cleaned off a spot for contrast

I haven't been posting in this thread for a simple reason; I haven't been doing anything to the targa besides run tanks of gas through it. I had two cars that were undriveable and needed to make them roadworthy, or at least fit enough to move on their own. First up was the Caterham, finally getting to the dry sump conversion after almost a year of procrastination. It's done, and I even managed to squeeze in a couple of drives before the weather and roads went to hell. Oil tank and catch can 2-stage Cosworth oil pump Old school FIA dry sump pan As soon as that was off the lift, the Elan went on. What I thought was going to be a moderately easy intallation of new shocks at each corner has turned into much more. There are parts involved in the suspension -- rubber parts -- that have been on the car since new (1967). They're completely rotted and need replacing, no option. They're held in with bolts that have done nothing but rust for 58 years. Let's just say it's been an adventure getting the car apart. Then I discovered that the original owner had made some performance modifications in period which needed to be reversed, which has meant not only another stack of parts from R.D. Enterprises but also a bunch more time and the assistance of a nearby Elan wizard. Long story, not relevant to this forum, but it has kept me busy. Elan on the lift Rear brake calipers safety wired from the factory Rear shock "lotocone" top mounts, or they were once upon a time The targa has been parked under the lift for a few weeks, which means it gets moved in and out of the garage every time I want to work on the Elan. It does not like being started, moved 20 feet and shut off again, over and over. Not at all. It pouts, fritzes the PSE relay, and emits clouds of oil smoke. So earlier this week I decided the roads were "clean enough" and went for a romp. Cold, clear, dry day but I could still see the color of salt on the roads. Sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do.

Love to see you�re maintaining all 3 cars!

The Elan is FINALLY back on its wheels, w00t! Next I have to dive into why it runs so poorly. I know that part of the issue is one cylinder with low compression, but that doesn't explain all of the woes. I poked around at the Webers and discovered several issues almost immediately, so they need to come off so I can deal with them. I bought a spare pair of Webers recently so I will probably just put them on and worry about rebuilding the others later. The Elan back on its wheels, finally. It makes the targa look huge. One of the issues I ran into with the Elan is that it just barely fits on my lift width-wise. It's always a challenge to center a car when driving it onto the ramps, but with the Elan it was essential. So I came up with a solution. First I bought a cheap 2-axis laser level on Amazon. (Here it is in its final location, bolted to my toolbox which never moves.) Then I aligned the vertical axis with the center of the lift. Now when I drive a car onto the lift, all I have to do is line up the center of the car with the green light. Works very well and saves a metric ton of on-off-back-forth fiddling to get things centered.

Okay, back to the targa. I've been hem-ing and haw-ing about upgrading the seats for a couple of years. Last week I stumbled across an ad for these seats and pretty much had no choice but to jump on the deal. They've been reupholstered with Hydes leather -- they supply Porsche with leather -- in Metropol Blue. That's my interior. The plastic trim around the holes are painted Polar Silver. That's a match too! The topper was that they were located less than 2 hours from my home. Kismet. I am still working out some fitment stuff but the driver's side seat is bolted in for now so I can spend some time with it.

Sweet, I'm jealous! My interior is Metropol Blue too.

Wow. I didn't realize how long it had been since I last updated this thread. There's a reason, several in fact. The first one is the biggest one so I'll start there. Last June I was on my way to a gathering of kindred spirits in Roanoke VA when I had an altercation with some gravel and a signpost. I'll let pictures tell most of the story. Here is the Corner of Doom in all of its glory. The sign next to the one with the truck on it used to have a neighbor. I cut it off clean right at the base. It doesn't show in the pictures but the turn is banked and the road is going substantially downhill. There were two tight turns in quick succession, the second one being sharper and steeper than it appeared at first. Although I wasn't really cooking, the back of the car managed to get a bit light and stepped over the white line, which put that tire in the gravel and cinders blanketing the edge of the roadway. The car slid and I contacted the signpost dead sideways. The right rear tire and suspension took the brunt of the impact. I was probably going under 20 MPH when I hit the sign, which stopped the car immediately. Amazingly, and quite luckily as it turned out, there was a car heading up the mountain in the other direction just as I slid off the road. A retired couple on their way to casinos in Ohio. They got quite a show. They were kind enough to take me to the nearest town, where I was able to find a towing company. Which was also pretty amazing considering the size of the town and the remoteness of the location. The driver told me that they do a pretty brisk business bringing bent cars off the mountain, especially in wintertime. So it makes sense economically I guess. The reason the above events are serendipitous is because all of this took place in the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) , a 13,000 square mile area in rural West Virginia where cell service is totally unavailable, along with other radio signals. After many many many phone calls I arranged to have the car flatbedded to the nearest Porsche dealership, over 100 miles away. Then after many many more calls I arranged for a rental car, the closest of which was 70 miles away. Then I waited. Nothing was going to happen right away. Everything was hopefully! going to happen the next day. So I spent the night in the miniscule town of Durbin WV, which had a single open restaurant that also happened to have rooms upstairs. (That place is a story unto itself.) Everyone in the town was as friendly and helpful as can be, which made it all a whole lot easier to deal with all of the stuff I had to get through. They also let me use their WiFi, which was in every building. Because how else are they going to get anything done. The next day a fellow from a AAA office 60 miles away picked up the car and took it 100+ miles to the Porsche dealership. Another fellow from the rental agency picked me up and drove me 70 miles, in the opposite direction from both my car and my ultimate destination, so that I could drop him back at his workplace and sign a piece of paper. Then I drove all the way to the Porsche dealership and arranged matters there. Then I went to my event, where since I was now Porsche-less I got to be a passenger in other peoples' cars. It was as good as it could be under the circumstances. The folks I was with were awesome as always. After the event I headed back to the dealership and got a better look at the damage underneath. I was thinking about having them do the mechanical work and then driving it home, but ultimately decided to have it shipped back to my garage so that I could undertake the work myself. Here it is back at the garage. I was able to (very gingerly!) drive it onto the lift which I took as a hopeful sign. Here are some pictures of the damaged bits before I took things apart. More pictures of the damaged suspension components on the bench. I didn't have a lot of trouble getting it apart since I had just replaced all of this stuff just a short while ago! Once I had it home I cleaned about 3 tons of gravel out from every imaginable crevice under the car. Then I replaced all of the obviously bent items, found a replacement wheel, and buttoned it all up. I aligned and measured and measured and aligned some more, and then I went for a short spin. It seemed fine. I measured and checked and measured again, then went for a longer drive. It seemed fine. I don't think anything else under the car is damaged; the engine sounds and runs great, the transmission feels and acts just like it did before. The wheel and suspension pieces absorbed the impact. If there is a takeaway for me personally it is that genuine Porsche parts are the way to go if one plans to smash sideways into stuff. At that point, even though I had the car back to being roadworthy, I pretty much just let it sit. One reason was that the replacement wheel wasn't very straight and the car had a wobble because of it. (I swapped sides just to make sure the wobble followed the wheel from one side to the other.) So I needed to do something about a wheel -- or wheels. Also there was obviously going to be some paintwork involved in repairing the body, and I had other items I wanted to do body-wise while that was underway. And then there was the little white roadster sitting next to it that I had just gotten sorted, and I was driving the heck out of that. Weeks became months. And, as of this writing, the bodywork is still waiting to be done. But there is more to the story! I'll continue the saga in another post.

Glad to see that you�re well and the car survived albeit very little work.

Wow! Quite the story. Sorry to see it happened but glad you�re OK. And it�s cool that you were able to get it done your self. Small communities are great. They have everything covered. Time is usually the only issue. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

Quotes source posts: 20399755, 20399814

That's an excellent point and one I should have mentioned. I was completely unhurt -- if you don't count my ego. It really was low speed so even though I was going sideways there was no neck strain or seat belt rash. I really was lucky. All of the roadsides in the area were coated with cinders and gravel from winter, and quite a few of them do not have a nice little runoff area like the one I blundered into. And, assuming the car continues to behave itself, the mechanical damage really was light. I am crossing my fingers that a decent body shop will be able to maintain the complex body lines in that area.

Sorry to hear about what happened and glad you weren't injured. Appreciate the pictures especially of the suspension arms after the accident. Sounds like you were able to replace them and dial it in without any problems. Love to hear if you were able to find TRW parts or if you went with Porsche OE and what the part numbers were. You had peaked my curiosity while ago with moving to 991 arms of which I just started the same exercise. TRW arms are tough to find today. Seems they are no longer making them.

Quotes source post: 20400150

I'll compile a list of the parts I used for the suspension refresh. The short answer is that every suspension arm was a genuine Porsche part, and was whatever has superseded the original 996 part in the PET. The "991" discussion earlier turned out to be a false lead -- I believe it was just a casting number and not a full-on 991 part. At the moment I have to rush out and take advantage of the recently de-salted roads to give a few cars a quick romp. It's supposed to snow again this afternoon, grr. Meanwhile I'll just drop this in here...

Christmas presents are great! Looks like wheels, a bumper, and something else, 3rd radiator? I got an upside down bumper for Christmas. It should be going on today!

Quotes source post: 20400192

Looking forward to hearing what you found. I may have bought the last TRW 991 coffin arm in US inventory last week from a major vendor. I have a second one on order from another one, but no confirmation that it had actually shipped. Seems that they all rely on the same Porsche warehouse for inventory. I also bought a used 996 control arm off of ebay with a wishbone for a cheap price to measure and compare 996 and 991 arms. Still gotta get a used 991 wishbone arm off of ebay. Funny thing is the local Porsche dealer can't confirm measurements between 996, 997 and 991 arms, nor can any of the major vendors that we all use. So I figured I would measure everything myself to see what we got.

Quotes source post: 20400150

This parts list is from my original rebuild in 2022. All were genuine Porsche, ordered from dealerships (online). Qty Part Number Part Name 4 996-341-053-19 Wishbone 4 997-331-047-01 Ft Lateral Arm 4 996-341-043-06 Suspension Control Arm 2 997-331-045-04 Rear Lateral Rod 1 996-343-069-04 Suspension Stabilizer Bar Link Kit 1 996-343-070-04 Suspension Stabilizer Bar Link Kit This is the list of the suspension arms I replaced as a result of the signpost infringement. 996-341-053-19 Lower Control Arm 997-331-043-02 Ft Lateral Rod 997-331-045-05 Track Rod

Quotes source post: 20400201

Two out out of three! I intend to do a third radiator but I thought I'd wait until I have other cooling system maintenance lined up. I think you got the same bumper cover? Aero 996.2 piece. I got mine from Suncoast. Considering that: a) it is still the same price as it was pre-tariff; and 2) it includes a bunch of bits including the now-outrageously-priced front lip, it seemed like a bargain. Apex EC-7 Hyper Silver, in what I call their "GT3+ spec": Front Wheel Size: 18x9” ET46 Rear Wheel Size: 18x11” ET60 Wire harnesses from @Adrian Taillights , I can't thank you enough for doing this! It's a genuine service to the entire 996 community. They look very nice. Santa Claus also brought me a new wall decoration. Aaannnddddd there's one more item that I'll cover in its own post.

This is the last item. A mini ducktail. I got it from DNS Performance out of England. The tariff situation turned into an enormous SNAFU that is still not completely resolved and required one item to be returned and another sent in its place. That's a story for another day but if anyone is interested PM me. The vendor was enormously helpful throughout. I do not hesitate to recommend them. The packaging was top notch as well. When the part arrived I did a test fit on the car so I could be confident going forward with paint. I hope to make a video of that task because there was a wee bit of trimming involved. Nothing major whatsoever but it might be helpful to others.

Ha I was going to offer you my OZ�s! The Apex wheels are fantastic and all the other goodies are going to make the car look great.

Great thread. 👍 Sorry to read about your sign run-in. Those new Apex wheels will look sharp.

Glad the targa is repairable. The roads around VA and into West VA are fantastic and not too crowded off of the parkway. Looks like you have great taste in vehicles with the 996 and an original Elan.

Sorry to hear about the mishap and glad it was fairly minor...but the inconvenience and additional cost does stink a bit. Great choice with the wheels and the Targa should look great on those. I thought it was pretty impressive that the new control arms simple bent and did not snap in half. If they did, probably additional damage might have happened. If you end up doing the center radiator, and still need them, I have a set of new hoses that connect to the center rad on each side. I purchased them and couldn't use them since the 40AE had different connectors with the Turbo rads on there. Happy to send them to a good home.

I took the car, wing, and front bumper over to the body shop yesterday. They're a dealer shop but they also do classic Porsche body restorations and the like; I kind of think they were once an independent shop that got bought by one of the big conglomerate dealerships in the area. They say they'll send pictures of the progress. I went to the Tech Tactics East event a week ago. Those are always enjoyable. They take place in the regional parts warehouse, and Main Line Porsche always has people on hand to order parts from (10% PCA discount!), so I took advantage and picked up a few things. More on that later. In the meantime here's one of the swag items they send home with attendees.

Recent purchases while I was at the Tech Tactics event. Floor mats! I have coco mats now, they came with the car. They're okay I guess but they've neve been my favorite. So I thought I'd ask if they had Metropol Blue mats with the cutout for the footwell mounted subwoofer. They did, so I jumped on them. The trim piece that fits just inside the frunk lid, surrounding the safety catch lever and swooping up next to the headlights. Mine is in sad shape. Fuel pump: I've heard quite a few stories about cars feeling like they run out of steam at high RPMs and the culprit turns out to be a fuel pump that can no longer keep up. Mine is 24 years and 128k miles old. Ignition interlock: mine has become very hard to operate. I tried changing the electrical switch but that had no effect. The little lever that tilts the seat. Mine succumbed to age. The little nubbies that attach that frunk trim piece. I had a couple missing. Speaking of frunk trim nubbies, I was forced to buy a package of 20. If you need one, reach out. Hey, how did this picture get in here...?

The targa is back from the body shop, yay! It looks good. I had them install a new windshield also, because the trim had failed on mine and that's a windshield-out repair and that windshield has seen 128K miles. There was nothing glaringly wrong with it, but omigod what a difference new glass makes. To me it was worth the cost. Now that the car is home again I can finally start installing all of this stuff I've been collecting. New windshield cowl went in first; I had removed the old one to simplify the windshield replacement work so it made sense to fill that gap. Next up was the ducktail. They did not do a perfect job of painting it but it's good enough for me -- I'm not fussy enough to take it back and complain. The car is always going to be a 20 footer anyway. Heck, I drove it for 2 years with gorilla tape holding the windshield trim in place.

I like the Decklid. I think you need some spacers for the wheels.😎

Quotes source post: 20503467

Thanks! I think I like it too although I haven't driven the car with the new piece in place yet. It might be jiggly. As for the wheels, scroll up a little bit in the thread and stay tuned...

Front bumper swap is *finally* done. I hadn't unwrapped the lip spoiler, figuring that the less exposure it had the less likely it was to be damaged. (My understanding is that they cost $stupid$ $money$.) Turns out it is finished in primer just like the bumper. I decided to hit it with some black paint myself. I figure it will get beat up down there no matter what, so my paint job will do as well as any. But that added a day to the job just for sufficient drying time. There were a couple of differences in mounting compared to the stock bumper, but nothing really big. I also cleaned the radiators while I was there, and fixed an issue with one of my homespun louvered wheel well liners. I need to get the wheels on the car but at this point I'm where I want to be body wise. Dare I call it my 2002 911 targa touring? Yeah, I do. I also took a couple of pictures showing how I re-routed the emergency frunk release. I cut a slot in the headlight drain bracket, and made another cut in the radiator shroud. It makes for a pretty straight run with no place for the cable to catch. Slot cut in the headlight drain bracket for the emergency release cable Small hole in the top corner of the radiator shroud -- there is a slice in the rubber edge material to allow the cable to reach the hole I noticed this writing on the front of the car. Wondering whether anyone has a clue about what it might mean. Looks like Q2M to me

Quotes source post: 20520360

I assume something from the factory. This pic from the last time I had my bumper off shows no writing though.

Quotes source post: 20520360

I think this is 92M. The paint code for polar silver metallic.

Quotes source post: 20520634

You're a genius! Thank you.

I had all 3 toys out of the garage at once so I could rearrange their parking spots. Normally I don't have all of them here because I have more cars than spaces at the house and keep one or the other elsewhere. But I recently sold one of them (I did have 4 toys) and so I have a bit more flexibility at the moment -- until another shiny thing catches my eye...

Nice garage too ..... .... Could you give us a Tour sometime ?

Quotes source post: 20652329

Not much to it really. I would have made it bigger but there was too much zoning and environmental foo attached and it would have added mondo $$$. Leftmost bay has a 4-post lift, rightmost bay is the domain of my better half. Here's a link to a post made a while ago describing the garage. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...m_content=post

At long last the wheels are on the car! We've been slogging away at a major home renovation project which has been sucking up my free time. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. I like the new wheels quite a bit. They maintain the light, airy look of the previous wheels. The extra width is nice too of course -- they provide better responsiveness and bring the tires out a bit in the wheel openings which helps the look. The front combination is over a pound lighter than the previous setup but I can't say I really noticed much on my first drive. The rear is about a pound heavier but that is comparing new tires to completely worn out old tires so I think it's pretty much a wash. 4 wheels in boxes plus 4 wheels with mounted tires all fit in the kombi with a bit of room to spare.

The car is looking great with the new decklid and the wheels. I had a new wheels itch for a while but haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet. There was a nice set of Fiske wheels that had me curious as well as these Apex ones. The look great on the 996!

I�m usually not a fan of aftermarket wheels but those look great!