New Guy Questions

I am but a newbie to the rarefied world of Porsche, and I have a host of questions. I come from the world of a car (1993 Mazda RX-7) that took lots of work to unleash all its potential, while my newly purchased '99 C2 may be near perfect out the door. I am not looking to modify for the sake of modification, nor am I particularly interested in more power. As it is, I sold my RX-7 with about 380 hp that could easily stay with GT3s and 993 Turbos. Never had the pleasure of running on the track with a newer Turbo. Questions: 1. Can one do their own maintenance on the car? If so, what manuals are needed? I see them selling for $700. Is that right??? Source for the manuals? I already printed out Loren's instructions from the RennTech website. 2. Should one use only Porsche-sourced parts (filters, plugs)? Sources? 3. Mineral oil or synthetic? Weight? I have plenty of both on the shelf. 4. What basic mods can be done to make the car more durable? On the RX-7, the "reliability" mods were such as freer flowing intake, downpipe and cat-back. I already have a TechArt header (manifold extractor) and muffler system. Should I put a K&N filter in the air box? Or should I not do anything? 5. Is there a database of information, or is it that the quality of the car precludes a need for that? 6. I was looking for a second set of wheels as the rears on the car have some curb rash. I found and bought a set of Kinesis K20s with Yokohama AVS Sports from Speedware Motorsports up in Redmond because the price was SO good. They are 9" fronts, 11" rears, 235/45 fronts, 315/35 rears. They purportedly came off a 996. After (of course) I bought them, I read more on tire sizes, and these seem to be outside the recommended width. Did I make a mistake? (They are within the 4% range for the ABS.) 7. I have Paternie's Red Book, and have ordered Anderson's 911 Performance Handbook and Elford's Porsche High-Performance Driving Handbook. Anything else I should get on my shelf? 8. Maybe a silly question, but two Saturday's ago went to the R&T Sports Car Invitational Races at Laguna Seca. Met some Porsche folks, and when I introduced myself to them noting that I had just (the day before) bought a "Porsh," one guy immediately corrected me that it's "Porsha." Are folks really that sensitive about that? Don't want to get off on the wrong foot. 9. Finally, any advice on what to be careful about as I transition into driving the 996 compared to driving the RX-7? I should think there will be some differences due to the weight distribution. Thanks. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

ltcjmramos I have nothing educated to say in terms of mods but i would like to say welcome to the group! Dude I am about 50/50 on Porsh vs Porsha! I say if people are that sensetive...F*#K them! I would also not say that is representative of the porsche folks I have met so far so hang in there.

Just had a great evening with "Porsha" folks. Wrenching, racving, autoxing good guys and gals. They say "Porsha," but it sounds so natural coming from them rather than the affectation that other guy had. GLAD to be here!!

Maybe it sounds ****, but I correct my 8 yr old - it's PorschA!!!

And that's what it'll be!!

Personally, I only use Porsche parts, but I'm still under warranty. Imagine I'll continue to do that after warranty as well. Excellence magazine had an article a few months back that basically said the 996 doesn't lend itself readily to performance gains through simple changes such as chips, exhaust, K&N type applications, etc. Some folks in here agree with this, others don't. I'm stock in this regard. The car comes from the factory with Mobil One synthetic and I see no reason to change. Mine uses 0- 40 but the '99 may differ. "Porsha" is the German pronunciation. Ferry Porsche reportedly said his name was pronounced "Porsha" but he didn't object if the car was called a "porsch". Elford's book is very good. While the 996 has been engineered to minimize handling traits inherent to a car with 60% weight on the rear wheels, the car will still oversteer if you really hang it out so you need to understand and be able to deal with that condition.

Check out renntech.org for technical info.

Welcome to the club, Itcjmramos! I'm not **** about it to the point of correcting others, but I always say "Porsha" because that's the proper pronunciation. To me, that's just a simple matter of paying respect to other cultures and languages. After all, I wouldn't expect anyone to pronounce hors d'oeuvres as "horse doovers," or Chevrolet as "Chevro-let" instead of "Chevro-lay." I used to own a '93 RX-7 myself, and to me the 996 is more civil and easier to handle. I've never taken mine to its limit, but it's definitely more reassuring than the RX-7 in virtually every respect.

Hey, welcome to the our world. I first got started on this forum before I ordered my first porsche. before my car could be delivered much of the ranting and raving on this forum had me almost disliking the cars. I realized that people are quicker to bitch that praise, so try to not focus on those of us who moan. There's good info here and plenty of people who want to help if you need it. I think how you word your initial question will determine if people even look at it or reply, so kinda learn the ropes for better/more responses. I change my own oil and use what porsche recommends (mobil1 0-40 and porsche filter). i won't do my own brakes cause i'm into being a porsche driver, not a porsche mechanic...but i appreciate and admire people that do their own work. i used to work on my cars when i was broke and just didn't enjoy it. i say porsch"a" because that's the name. it's a matter of respect just like how each of us wants our name pronounced correctly. good luck and enjoy your car. drive, drive, drive!