Little Ocean Blue

Hello All, I'm thrilled to introduce myself and my new weekender. In September I purchased what I feel is the most elegant form of modern classic motoring. I don't know of another car that is aging as well, designed with the purist in mind. I plan to own this for a long time. As someone who loves driving, it makes sense to own something older and analog as electrification & autonomy go mainstream in the coming years. Since I was a little boy I was always attracted to not just fast cars, but those of a particular condition & presentation. MY00 C2 Ocean Blue 3AY/3AZ Graphite Gray Turbo Twist style 18s in original finish 41k miles All books 2 remote keys + valet key Original virgin paint, 4.5mils throughout PPF saving the front end from serious high nicks (bikini cut covered lower 40% of hood & fenders) Clean DME Service log dating to 2013, showing recently replaced MAF, annual oil changes, window regular replacement, LM IMS, various other things Records (on their way to me) Crystal clear headlights No tint No modifications No smoking, odors, stains, yellow headlights, or questionable repairs from what I can find Interior shows very well for a 40k+ mile car, and exceptionally for nearly 25 years old. Leather is supple and very presentable with essentially no scratches. Interior plastics are immaculate. If you told me the door cards, e-brake and airbag cover were just replaced I would believe you. Mechanically in great shape with some items needing to be addressed fortunately related to age, not abuse. Overall treated very well by its previous four owners. The photos I have of the car so far: Steering wheel after a careful cleaning Began speaking to the seller in early June this year, but could not come to agreement on price until after summer. Arranged for House Automotive to do a PPI in Encino. Discovered leaking front struts, AoS in need of replacement, worn drive belt, worn sway bar links, and in need of a brake fluid flush and a cracked gasoline cap. All easy enough, but one issue with the car was that it was sitting on tires dated 2003, and the seller was unwilling to do anything to address this before purchase. So I bought the car and left it with family while I arranged for new rubber to be fitted. Dried out tires + 405 freeway junctions had the steering wheel going in every direction. Drove it home from Southern CA two days later to Las Vegas after fitment of Michelin Pilot Sports in factory specifications. So far thrilled with their performance, did not think I would be impressed with the Porsche Classic recommendation of Pirellis. I'm admittedly fussy when it comes to paint, and I am a big believer in keeping factory paint as untouched as possible if you plan to keep a car for the long term. IMO, a car is only painted new once, and never have I seen a body shop lay down paint as well as the factory (although I have seen some come very close). Initially was expecting a single step 'enhancement' would brighten up the exterior and let the beautiful blue metallic paint shine properly again based on the photos I saw online. However after close inspection of the paint, it was clear it would need more to return to it's proper state. Last week my dear friend Jace Price, owner of The Last Detail out of Buckeye, AZ was kind enough to drive to Las Vegas and restore the paint to its former glory. I didn't trust anyone in NV to safely restore the original paint without compromising too much thickness. First however, would be the lovely job of removing the original PPF, which after being in the sunbelt for 25 years had the same consistency of our CDR-220 radio *****. I spent two and a half days chipping away at the yellowing, gelatinous film. A quarter inch at a time with plastic razor blades & goo gone was not getting it done. I phoned my talented friend and told him I gave up, and I would let the expert take a crack at it when he arrived (he graciously accepted the task). The state of the car upon drop off for paint restoration Those gas station photos are after removal of PPF, 27 hours of two-step paint correction, installation of replacement PPF and CS-II Glass Coating for some extra protection on this very soft paint. With the original PPF we also removed the frunk badge for cleaning around that neglected area, and fitted it over the new PPF with a new rubber grommet 7L5-853-611-B. Done this way, there was no need to do a cutout on the new film, and looks that much better. You can see two videos of the restoration before, during and after here and here . With the paint sorted, I noticed how bad the faded front grill and lower bumper trims were looking. Ordered 3AZ touch up paint & trim replacements at my local Classic Center. Was also considering replacing the L&R air inlets but after a spray of 303 Aerospace they now look much better. 996-505-553-04 996-505-525-00 996-505-526-00 Also ordered replacement torx screws and clips as I plan to pull the bumper to replace these trims and clean out the radiators. Then picked up this little number: I've spent the past week adding 300 miles to the car to uncover any other issues that need attention. I absolutely love the car. - Found the remote is fussy about locking/unlocking, unsure if that's a battery issue or a failing responder. - Hear a rubbing noise from the front when steering at low speed. I expect it's related to the spent sway bar links. - Clicking sound coming from steering wheel. Sounds like it might be related to the clock spring. Today I dropped the car with my friend Dustin Dapkus, service manager at Vegas Auto Gallery. Hopefully we don't uncover any other issues! Will do an alignment once everything is complete, then should be ready to really enjoy. Next looking at a Porsche Charge-O-Mat & the Porsche PCCM+, however some of the complications I'm reading about on here with the unit & pre-MOST 996 have me a bit concerned.. -OB PS I'm grateful the market hasn't caught on how fantastic these early 996 are.

Congrats on the new car and looks like you're taking care of it wonderfully already! Looking forward to following along with the saga

Wow, congratulations on acquiring a pristine 996! Those gas station photos really show off the beauty of your car. Regarding the service history of your car, can you tell us when the cooling system was last dealt with? Anything related to coolant, water pump, thermostat, etc.

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Beautiful car, congrats! BTDT with my old Cayenne and it's why I would never buy another car with any kind of PPF or wrap on it. I'm kind of surprised that after you were lucky enough to get yours off without any paint damage, you actually paid money to put some back on. You're braver than me.

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Thank you. Have about 17 years of experience with PPF. Age, quality of film and installation make all the difference. I've removed 9 year old high quality film off an entire front clip in about 30 minutes, all without fuss. The PPF on this car should have been removed 15 years ago and replaced properly, then this removal job would have been a breeze instead of the nightmare that it was. Fortunately the nasty removal is in the past.

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Thank you for the kind words. Appreciate it. Not a lot to show regarding the cooling system ASAIK. I'll see this week how things look.

Looks like you found a very nice example, Congrats !! I agree with 996Love, replace the water pump "proactively" on this car , The Y2K Syndrome is a real thing that is easily avoided..

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Thank you, I�ve added the pump to my list. Expansion tank was done a few years ago too.

Does your expansion tank have a blue cap on it? I understand that it�s an updated version that holds pressure better. I recommend you replace the thermostat with a low-temperature version by LN Engineering. https://lnengineering.com/160f-low-t...e-install.html And lastly, I also recommend you perform a mod to your radiator fans. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ml#post2458030 The link above recommends you connect the �grounding activation� pin of both your high-speed fan relays to a toggle switch (the other end of the switch is connected to the body ground), but I did a different method with a somewhat similar result. I connected the ground activation pin from the low-speed relay to the ground activation pin of the high-speed relay. I then did the same for the other fan (the other two relays). This results in my high-speed fans activating each time I turn on the AC button. I monitor my coolant temp gauge and activate my AC when I feel that the temps are getting too high. However, I want to warn you that I am very unsure whether this will turn on the high-speed fans automatically� One day, I tried to see if my high-speed fans would turn on at the temperature which the low-speed fans activate. The temps climbed to approximately 98C, but the fans hadn�t self-activated yet. I was very hesitant to let the experiment continue, so I turned my AC on to kick the fans on. And lastly, I was driving my car tonight in a low-speed twisty section, with ambient temps of approximately 60 deg F. There were many turns, I was hard on the brakes and the speed never surpassed 50 mph. I was a bit shocked to see my coolant temps climb to 91C after only 5 minutes, so I activated the AC to bring the coolant temperature down. Manually activating the high-speed fans is one of the best ways to cool your coolant temperatures, which pays dividends in improving your engine�s lifespan.

To follow up on the radiator cap. Take a look at the part number on the top of the cap. If it doesn't end in 04, replace it. Also, it might help to know if the LN IMS bearing was registered so you can know when to replace it and if it passed inspection before the installation. You can check here: LN Engineering IMS Retrofit and IMS Solution Registration Database Looks great.

Congrats! One thing that you should consider is proactively replacing the fuel injectors. Some people believe that old leaking injectors are one of the main sources of bore scoring. Use only new oe not rebuilt injectors.

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Yes mine has the blue cap, but seems there is a new version now. Looking at both of these, thanks. Thanks, tank is # 996-106-147-56 replaced in 2017. I'll look into this while the car is in the shop. LM IMS is not registered, wish it was. Records show RMS + IMS completed in Summer 2013. I expect within the next 15k miles I'll be doing a clutch, will likely address these again at that time. Thanks for the insight, did not know that.

Question, Was told the coolant expansion tank that ends in 04 is the latest model, but on LM Engineering's site I see that is for 01-08 (assuming they meant 02-08+). Tank ending in 56 is supposedly for 99-01. I have read that the 996.2 tank will fit but takes a bit of effort. Also noticed the ridiculous price difference. Even locally Gaudin charges $690. Which is the proper tank to buy? Thank You, Bradley

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56 is the correct tank for your model year...and yes, they are ridiculously expensive compared to the later models. Is you tank currently leaking? Some owners have gone with the Behr model, but I don't think they are manufacturing them anymore. You might get lucky and find a vendor with stock. URO makes one as well, but varous owners report early failures...YMMV.

Thank you gbarron. Tank looks clear and strong. No cracking and I see no leaking.

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I would be inclined to leave the tank alone at this point and concentrate on a new WP, T-Stat, & coolant flush. If the tank starts leaking then you could pursue replacment parts. AIC is a well-known brand in Germany that also manufactures replacement tanks, they could potentially be an option as well when needed.

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That is the plan. Snagged an LM Anodized fuel cap to replace my cracked original from a vendor here. Will probably order the LM water pump package that includes their thermostat.

It�s �LN��

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haha you are correct. Can you tell I have BBS LMs on the mind.

Crossed 42,600 miles today. In Las Vegas it's finally beginning to fee like fall- didn't even have the AC on today with 76 degree weather. While waiting on service items to arrive I did a proper wash. Nothing fancy, must be extremely careful with such soft and old paint. Gave my old man a ride and he was thoroughly impressed with the car. Him having a cobalt blue 996TT in '04-09 was likely influence on me ending up with it.

In good company.

Welcome to the club! Congrats on a great find. Your new-to-you C2S looks fantastic, and you’re on the right track re maintenance. John

Awww dude.... really pretty car. Enjoy, love that color.

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Thank you both. I'm partial to the color as well. Did the radiator clean-out this week at a friend's house. Happy to say they were not horrible .. Cleaned all the plastic inlets properly and fitted the new bumper trims as well. Final result with bumper plugs installed.

Took advantage of LN's Black Friday Sales.

Little Ocean Blue received a solid service this past week. Spark Plug change Brake fluid flush/change Coolant flush/change Gearbox oil change Engine lid shock replaced Reverse light switch replaced Clutch pedal lubricated to alleviate squeak LN water pump package w/ LN low temperature thermostat LN billet fuel cap LN billet expansion tank cap LN billet oil cap Post gearbox oil change I'm stunned how good the throws feel. Very fluid and no longer notchy. Doubt it had ever been changed. After a cleaning of the throttle body and new spark plugs, the idle is seriously smooth (wasn't bad at all before but did notice a small bit of reverberation upon startup). Water pump looked good with all flanges in tact. Plugs had even burn on all ends. Must say I love this car. Big thanks to my friends at Vegas Auto Gallery and Stephan their M96 era specialist. Great to know my car is in the good hands of fellow P-car enthusiasts. Planned to stop by and grab the exhaust and various metal bits while they were off for service to give them a good cleaning. Ended up skiing in Mammoth the weekend they began service work, so will have to do that another time. Was surprised to hear not a single exhaust bolt broke when the exhaust came off (seems very common even on low mileage cars). Next service I'll probably replace the exhaust bolts and fasteners anyway. Bonus picture, service manager's modest A to B driver.

Love the 996.1 in Ocean Blue! Especially how it changes colors depending on the angle and lighting. But I may be biased.

Beautiful, what is your suspension setup?

Bilstein PSS9. have had them on the car for 15+ years and still going strong.

Been doing lots of housekeeping on the underside. Lots more to tend to but I enjoy the process. Clean parts work better. 😅 Happy New Year!

Today I ordered Bilstein B8s F&R Eibach Pro Kit springs Lemfoerder strut mounts F x2 Porsche strut mounts R x2 Porsche spring seats x2 Hamburg-Technic strut bearing x2 Porsche transmission mount Porsche transmission mount stop x2 Rein engine mount x2 TRW sway bar droplinks x4 URO rear bump Stops x2 Big thanks to Kenny in sales @ Pelican Parts. Bilstein is not clear about which bump stops are needed on the B8s. Found the front stops are integrated, the rears are separate. I've had a pretty unpleasant grinding noise when I turn the wheel at low speeds. I expect the combination of struts, sway bar links and top mounts to alleviate that. Had a fun night & drive with friends with the Red Rock Motor Club. Nice get-together with fellow European enthusiasts once a month for a great bite & chat about our special cars 😄

That should be a nice suspension upgrade

Warning, picture heavy This weekend the suspension was put in. What a difference. Original components pretty much disintegrated as we pulled everything out. Strut bearings were completely split. A friend that works in the european auto restoration world gave me a big hand with the install. Thrilled to say I spent most of my time cleaning all the parts that needed tending to, and then spent a lot of time crunched in the rear seat with the 18mm impact wrench Having access to a two post lift made everything much easier (thank you to another friend for that). Weather cooperated with no wind & a perfect 71 degrees in the high desert. End result This is a different car with properly sorted suspension. Noticed a few control arms are not at their best, so those will need to be sorted. Still need to throw in the new engine and transmission mounts. Super content with this car, how it performs, and how it looks with the modest drop. If you're on the fence about upgrading your struts and lowering springs, and you're not the type to adjust your ride height constantly, the B8s are a no brainer.

I found the B8�s to be fairly harsh compared to what I�ve got now (KW V3�s), but much better than the original B4�s that came on the car. I�m pretty sure the �grinding� you were getting when turning were the strut bearings - the grease dries up and they basically seize. The �coffin arms�(lower control arms) are also a common source of noise (the grease in the ball joint goes away after the boot cracks or tears). It sounds like you�re getting it sorted - good luck

Looks fantastic! The coffin arms are definitely a maintenance item on our cars so swap them all if possible. As for the engine mounts, might I suggest 964RS mounts for Rennpart. They�re a good intermediate between OEM and a Semi Solid. https://rennpart.com/product/rs-engine-mount-upgrade/ My car had semi solids and I loathed them for non track driving. Rennpart offers them as a kit with new hardware and I bought the URO version� absolutely worth it.

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Thanks Chuck, I have Rein mounts and the trans mount waiting to go in next month when my friend is free again to give me a hand. Shifting feel had deteriorated a bit right before the strut change. Throws were immediately improved after the new suspension, so much so it was the improvement I hoped the new motor mounts would deliver, ha! I�m hoping it will be even better once those go in. I have a clunking in the front that I haven�t had time to fuss with. Only present going over bumps. Turn in feels fine, and I�m not feeling any jittering in the steering that would lead me to believe it was spent tie rods. I�m thinking it�s a front coffin arm, would that be right? Would rather throw in a new set (or front and rear) before my appointment than do an alignment twice. 🤔 I see Febi/Bilstein offers them. Best to just stick with Meyle?

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A lot of people run Rein and say nothing but good things about them so you chose well. I ended up with Meyle coffin arms for the rear via FCP, my fronts are 2 piece forged 997 units so I can�t really give too much advice on that. The other indication of a bad ball joint is a horrid groaning sound coming from the front while going over uneven roads or bumps� you�ll know it when you hear it. My tie rods were good so they weren�t replaced.

Double check the sway bar links when looking for the clunck.

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Spoke to the service manager @ Porsche Classic of Las Vegas today about an alignment. Said he rarely sees tie rods fail. I'm thinking it's either a bolt not torqued properly that's making the noise or one of the coffin arms. Maybe even the top center bolt on one of the front struts- where not easy to torque without spinning the shaft. Thanks, sent off an email to Kenny @ Pelican Parts, I'll see what he recommends for coffin arms. Thanks, all four were replaced, maybe one of the fronts isn't torqued properly. Would be an easy fix if so. One more photo on the way home last night in front of the Sphere.

The guys at Pelican will take care of you and you�re making the right moves with the suspension, I�ve done a bunch of upgrades to my car and the suspension was instant gratification.

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Thanks, yes the noise was for sure the bearings. It's perfect now! I'll see what Porsche Classic says about the coffin arms during todays alignment.

Car is back, opted not to do the alignment after Porsche couldn't identify the clunk. Porsche Classic retightened everything, even managed to break a new sway bar link in the process (replaced). They were able to narrow it down to 'around the ball joint area'. Weird how I didn't notice this before now, I wonder if the newly stiffened setup is forcing the noises to make themselves known. Car is now 25 years old, it did sit for several years with minimal driving before my purchase last fall. With just under 45,000 miles, would lower control arms or tuning forks really be due at this point?

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I would and that�s what I did on my car.

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Chunk, do you recall which brand you went with? Did you have noises or you just felt it was time?

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I used Meyle for the forks and the rear LCA via FCP. I had this horrid groaning sound while going over bumps or uneven surfaces, it needed the front LCAs�. The fronts are 997 GT3 2 piece units.

Featured the 911 in a YouTube video for my new listing with a pretty garage (I'm an agent with Las Vegas Sotheby's). Made for a cool addition & so far has been a hit in the community. 😀 Porsche video starts @ 9:54.

Happy Easter! Had a great drive today and been a while since I updated this. Had a bit or time I could really dedicate to the car... armed with an assortment of sandpaper and I went to work clearing twenty five years of oxidation and corrosion from the exhaust, fittings, cats & manifolds. Still have some left to do, but really happy with the outcome thus far. From here should only take 30 minutes twice a year to keep it all looking nice. Honestly freshening up the underside is a never ending job. 😂 Picked up from service last week after fitting � Rein engine mounts � Transmission mount � Meyle LCA (front) � Meyle forward arms � Alignment � Oil change with Porsche Classic formulated for 996 and added Liqui Moly MoS2. Grabbed a sample of the outgoing Mobil1 the PO used religiously and will send to Blackstone for a baseline analysis. After this I plan to use Driven DT40 and plan to compare. � Original exhaust clamps, bolts and clips were showing their age, so ordered replacements from Gaudin Porsche Classic. Wet sanded and polished to match the exhaust (and quell my OCD) Rear LCAs and forward arms should be here in July, backordered. Between the newly fitted arms and mounts, this now feels like a thoroughly refreshed car. Shift throws are night & day, to the point I needed to adjust my driving for how improved and precise it now is. No wonder Porsche sold so many 911s in this generation if this is how this car felt when it was new, just brilliant. Also stunned to see how sunken the transmission mount was when they pulled it out at less than 45,000 miles. The engine mounts where in the condition I expected them to be in, sagging and tired. Was really surprised to see the motor and exhaust did not sit higher after everything was fitted, but no matter. Amazingly, I've put more miles on the car in six months than the previous owner did in a decade. A big thank you to everyone on here that has shared so much knowledge and experience (you know who you are!) The help has made troubleshooting and part selection much easier than it ever would have been, especially with how busy our lives are. Now for the not so great news... Even after replacing nearly ever suspension component in the front, still I have a very-present front clunking noise when going over speed bumps at anything faster than a crawl. The only items left that have not been replaced are inner and outer tie rods, but everyone that has inspected the suspension says all the pieces look great. I can't tell where the noise is coming from, and Porsche Classic was leaning towards LCAs when they attempted to diagnose. Any thoughts? Perhaps we made a mistake when fitting the Bilsteins and associated parts but we were very careful. Bradley

Good that you are getting lots of Smiles per Mile !!! It may sound silly but check that the spare tire is secured very very well.....It has been the cause of many a suspension components being replaced unnecessarily due to being over-looked...

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Also, fill the spare to rated 65 PSI -- if it hasn't been filled in a long time, it's probably at around 3 PSI (not sure how any tire can leak to that low a level, but the 996 spare does get that low after a few years)

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Hey, that's a great idea. Hadn't thought of that. I'm going to check mine just on principal.

Beautiful car and amazing dedication and work to perfect it! One aesthetic the to consider (or not -- it's definitely a "100% personal taste" thing) is to replace the black Carrera script on the back with silver. Some people prefer the dark of course, but the black script kind of got lost on my Ocean Blue 996.1, so changing it to silver looked much better to my eye and more balanced with the silver wheels, exhaust, etc. I'm a bit of an originality snob, but I indulged myself with changing script (still have the original black in storage, of course).

Like someone knocking politely on a semi-solid door? I chased such a thing through the front end of my 2002 coupe. Hate to say it but replacing the steering rack-- a hail Mary that went against everything my devoutly diagnostic shop holds dear -- solved the problem. In my case you could 'hear it in your fingertips', and it occurred more reliably when everything was warm. Hope I'm a unicorn, but fwiw it werked.

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Thank you Porsche Tech. Hopefully it's as simple as that. Going to do this as well, no doubt it needs at least a bit of air. Really appreciate the kind words. I know most owners of these cars enjoy making them 'theirs' through modifications. Outside of improving upon common areas (suspension being the main one for me, the original suspension was very weak) I get a lot of enjoyment out of improving/restoring within reason. I'm going to go for a drive tomorrow and record the noise if I have time. Did you hear/feel the clunk while turning or going over bumps? Really hope it's not the steering column and just the rods. I also posted on the 996 Reddit and someone suggested the same thing (or was that you?!). Bradley

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It's probably a good to go a step further to remove the spare completely as there are tools that are held in place by Styrofoam insert and if any of those aren't firmly in place, it will cause noise. There's also a lot of satisfaction in tidying that area that will never be seen by most humans for compulsive cleaners/restorers such as ourselves. Read the pressure before you refill it if you can -- it's usually a shockingly low number, unless the prior owner was diligent at keeping it full. I hear you. I'm the exact same about being an originality freak. That said, I would encourage you to indulge yourself a bit in reversible aesthetic things that can be improved from the factory (according to your aesthetic preferences, of course, not mine or anyone else's). I would classify wheel spacers as a "must do" -- the factory has them so far inset from the fenders that it looks ridiculous. I like the 996 headlights, but never loved the body shape versus other models, but only realized recently how much of that "body" dislike was directly due to the ridiculously excessive stock wheel inset on the 996 -- easily corrected and reversible with 15mm or so spacers. I'm not a fan of the standard 996.1 exhaust tips either, the quad tips are a subtle but enjoyable upgrade that is easily reversible. The Carrera script I think came in either Silver or Black for the dark metallic blue colors -- my first 2001 Lapis Blue C4 had silver script, and my 2000 Ocean Blue Metallic had black script -- looking back at my C4 pictures I realized how much I liked the silver, and made that reversible change. I'm not sure there is a "correct" with regard to Carrera script color (I don't see any option for Carrera script color on the factory Certificate of Authenticity option list for my car). PCA concours don't care at all about originality (that is the singular reason I don't do them), as long as all mods look appropriate and not gaudy. I keep my car "concours clean" (white glove in the engine bay) all the time, and original (except for reversible indulgences), even though I won't do PCA concours due to no appreciation whatsoever for originality. The upside of PCA concours rule is that people with modded cars are motivated to make them looks as good as possible, so it's far less exclusionary, but just not for me personally.

[QUOTE=peterp;20013950 The Carrera script I think came in either Silver or Black for the dark metallic blue colors -- my first 2001 Lapis Blue C4 had silver script, and my 2000 Ocean Blue Metallic had black script -- looking back at my C4 pictures I realized how much I liked the silver, and made that reversible change. I'm not sure there is a "correct" with regard to Carrera script color (I don't see any option for Carrera script color on the factory Certificate of Authenticity option list for my car).[/QUOTE] The Carrera script color on the rear was determined by the model as per the attched image. Black was applied for the 2WD cars (M338) and silver for the AWD cars (M339).

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Neighbor' OE 993 TT and mine. On the list to address eventually.

Quick video of the suspension clunk as promised. Going to pull everything out of the trunk and see if that fixes it. You Tube

Pulled everything out of the trunk and went for a quick spin, clunk in the video I posted^ is still there. 😭 Question, the rod that the tire slides on to is very loose without the spare on. Is that how it's supposed to be? At least the spare is filled, forgot to check the PSI but it was so low I could press the rubber in with my hand. TRW Inner + outer rods are on the way along with the rear LCAs finally. TRW boot kit on order as well. The boot kit didn't include the Rack & Pinion seal so purchased two locally from Gaudin for a whole $6 . ECS Tuning only offers one boot kit, while FCP offers two depending on the steering rack in your 99., The only difference between the two seems to be those seals, and after a VIN lookup at Gaudin it seems the seals are needed. Fingers crossed this fixes the issue and I don't require a rack replacement at some point. Steering right now is great and there isn't any unusual vibration or feedback. Bradley

Did you hear the clunking noise before you refreshed your shocks & springs? From your video, it seems to me that the sound is coming from the strut mount area.

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Think I did hear it before I did the struts, but they were already leaking and making their own noises. Was difficult to tell one noise from another, struts bearings were trashed too.

Officially the first day of summer ☀️🕶️ Still waiting on... Rear LCAs, tie rods and ordered new OEM sway bar bushings (why not). Feels like forever, the TRW boot kit is the holdup apparently. The rack and pinion seal that I don't know I for sure needed actually arrived at Gaudin from Germany in less time than it took for the other parts to ship. When the car goes to my indy for install, hopefully then they can solve that front clunking noise once and for all (maybe I'll get lucky and it will have been something to do with the tie rods all along as that's the only original front component at this point. Really i'm thinking at this point my friend and I installed the front struts/mounts incorrectly somehow ). Meanwhile, my PCCM+ arrived from Suncoast and was installed over the weekend. Really happy with the OEM look and attention to detail. Audio improvement is a great bonus! Still sorting out a handful of issues with the installer: setting screen can�t be accessed (consensus points to the external microphone being plugged into the wrong port) Rattle in gauge cluster (cluster actually seems a bit lose and even has a gap on the right side in the photos below) Unit itself is not sitting flush in dash on the bottom end, I expect that to be an easy fix. Does anyone know the part # for the Graphite Grey window switch ash tray trim or open cubby? Mine has a few marks. Bradley

It's been warm here (109�) and the car has been dealing with it like a champ. Early in my ownership I replaced the water pump with the LN package. Glad I did, at least for peace of mind. Thinking a clear UV tint might be in the cards to keep the interior cooler a bit. Recently replaced the windshield cowl and other bits, was a fun afternoon project and gave me the opportunity to really clean under the plastic trims while everything was off. Also replaced the original colored crest center caps with genuine originals. Spendy but well worth it, they look brilliant and don't have to worry about them fading. 😁

Decided it was time to deal with the sticky interior trims. Thanks to the help of my local Classic Parts Center we were able to get everything ordered. We hit some snags though that are worth sharing with others that might want to go into this project. Ordered the following. Porsche Rear Center Console 996-552-125-03-C53 Porsche Shift **** 996-424-075-05 Porsche Ash Tray 996-552-095-02-C53 Porsche Console Trim Insert 996-552-595-01-C53 Porsche E-brake Trim 996-424-155-01-C53 Porsche Console Cover 996-552-283-02-C53 The ash tray, surrounding button trim and e-brake cover did not arrive in acceptable condition. The finish was the same as what I have in my 911- soft, discolored and easily chipped with your nail. Parts managers are very knowledgeable and feel these are old stock, very old, maybe dating back to when my car was delivered new. When I ordered them there was only two available in the US. They sent an email to the factory and will keep me updated with their response, but told me not to give my hopes up. I have a gut feeling they will end up like the non-smoker trim and no longer be available for order. I came back today to return the ash tray bits when they told me the console cover trim had arrived this morning. I was thrilled to see it was the hard, bright grey finish I expected everything else to be (somewhat of a win). The rear console itself (biggest piece) is still en route from 🇩🇪 and I'm eager to see what finish it is. I'm optimistic it will be correct like the e-brake 'console' trim then I can be finished with that at least. Then I will figure out the best way to refinish the trims that can't be replaced so everything is uniform. No doubt most owners would just refinish everything or paint the trims body color, but I much prefer to have everything OE fresh. Plus there's something so elegant about a bright mono-tone interior.

Glad to see parts are still available, project is moving along well!

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Yes, we just need to be aware or what we're buying. Sticky old stock sitting in the basement doesn't help us much!

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Especially since there is a premium associated with new parts. I�m kinda screwed with my OEM carbon, you can�t just replace one part� it�ll all need to replaced or nothing.

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The OE carbon is super cool and really complements the direction you've gone with your car Joel. Im under the impression those pieces can be refinished when the finish cracks?

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Thanks brother and you can. I'm looking at using resin to fill a chip, wet sand and clear coat it.

Fun morning with Porsche friends at Cars Und Kaffee.

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I found a full photo of that early green 911 you are teasing in your pics!!!! Ok, I'm lying. This photo is from the cover of the March 1968 Road & Track issue, about a one-off 4-door 911. It's a very, very, very early Panamera prototype

Some updates- picture heavy Took advantage of the last days of really warm weather here and did a Leatherique treatment. Seats came out nice & soft after a twenty-four hour soak. Removed lots of built up tar and dirt from the wheel wells. Then finished refreshing the exhaust muffler boxes with 240-3000 grit wet sanding. Most recently fitted 7mm RSS spacers x4. Really happy with the slightly more aggressive look without losing the 'classic tuck' I'm fond of on older NB 911s.

🍁 Fall '25 update Last week had a six month oil change, now moved over to Driven DT40 and treating with Injector Defender for peace of mind. Scored a bunch of Genuine filters, plugs and crush rings on sale at ECS, and I'll be ordering more oil if LN does another sale this Black Friday. Before the oil service I found a slow oil drip collecting on each side of the engine under the plugs. Spoke to my indy and we're planning: � Valve cover reseal L&R � Cam caps � Solenoid seal � 997 Ignition Coils & heat shield spacers � Spark plug tubes Also on the list: � Clock Spring & steering column multi-switch Replaced all of the lower plastic/rubber trims that were either damaged or missing when I purchased the car last fall. Made a little reel for fun of the install you can watch here. Instagram With those trims fitted they made the bumper itself show its age. It's the only part of the car that is not original paint and has dents, scrapes and plenty of chips. The certified Porsche body shop in Las Vegas provided me a quote to respray the front bumper, make it perfect then PPF to match the rest of the front end that is already protected. Might do that by end the year. ​​​​ Just crossed 48,200 miles and enjoying every moment of this driving weather with the Porsche community and friends! And of course, continuing to clean twenty five years of filth from the underside. 😋 Spent many hours getting the front underside clean for the most part and had a friend refinish the front crossbars that had rusted.

Played with the specially made jack stand adapters by @Porsches4all tonight. Awesome quality and Dan sent them out very quickly. Much better than my cheapo Amazon pieces I was using before, haha. With them in place it's much easier to line up a stand now too. Thank you sir, definitely worth $65.

Update What I thought was a loose heat shield ended up a rattle in my driver side muffler. Decided if the muffler was coming out, I might as well clean and inspect everything around them while I had access. So... off came the bumper. Really happy I had the exhaust clamps changed in the spring, it made loosening the muffler quick and straightforward. ✔️ If I was taking one out, why not take off both? The top heat shield is only attached by four flat nuts, and with them being particularly soiled I figured I would remove them for cleaning too. Plus, this gave me great access to clean the painted body behind the shields which would otherwise be completely inaccessible. So many rocks where lodged in the heat shields, I lost count 🗿 After a trip to the muffler shop it turned out both of mufflers have loose internals. So my options were 1. trash these + buyer used take-off mufflers somewhere. 2. order a new aftermarket set 3. order a new OEM set (hah) 4. have my existing set repaired. I had spoke to Darin about doing the Fister mod in the Spring, so I rang him up. In Darin fashion he answered his own shop phone, and told me he could fix my set and modify them with his signature bypass update. While I await a shipping label from FD (holidays and all) I pulled out my diluted degreaser and brushes to clean as much corrosion/loose grime as I could. Then I made use of a borrowed die grinder and removed the 26 years of stubborn nastiness that had built up on each muffler. I started with 120 grit, which may have been a bit aggressive, mind you I've never done before, lol. Then broke out the sandpaper starting with 240 grit to get an even finish on each. Also attacked the tail pipes, where in great shape since I had previously restored the polished finishers with multiple passes of hand polish. The pipes themselves though where as unsightly as the rest of the metal before I ground off the top layer. This was the result. Had a spare few hours after Christmas dinner and wanted to see how good the stainless would come out working from 240-2000 grit on the lower pipes and middle inlet. Two hours later, this was the result (the box itself is still at 240, very dull). It's going to take a lot of work and time to get these perfect, and I won't be continuing on the mufflers anyway until after they are fixed as Darin will need to open them up + weld them. In the meantime I'll correct and finish the tail pipes and remove a bit of corrosion from the exhaust-to-engine mounts. Since I have them out, I'm going to polished out the brackets and reverse the hardware so in the future the mufflers can be fitted with just two bolts instead of five. In the meantime, I have a bunch of fresh hardware from Porsche now sitting by the car ready to replace the old stuff. I'll grab more photos as I go. Can't wait to put her back together and hear the new exhaust... Hope everyone is having a wonderful Holiday season! Bradley

Please just stop....i. sure u r doing all this just to make me look lazy. J/k. Imagine what u could do if u had your own garage...do the other residendents walk by and stare as u hip deap in cleaning supplies?

I have really enjoyed stumbling onto this thread. Your detail and photos (and enthusiasm for the car) is awesome. It’s a stunner, and a keeper for sure. I’m quite partial to blue 911’s too .

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haha, sometimes. I'm cool with them fortunately. If anything I'm probably the strange guy for washing my own cars in the building's car wash bay. I've only seen it used by staff for maintenance or the mobile detailers that wash most of the cars. Appreciate it 👍 Assume you're in Las Vegas by your name? I really enjoy the car, and being a custodian of my favorite things is as much fun for me as driving. Exhausts are ready to ship to CA now. I was planning to clean up the underside more today but didn't have the time. Did take a moment to collect all the new hardware and fittings I have awaiting install I've gathered from Porsche over the past ten days. It's silly how excited I am to see fresh bolts, lol. Bradley

Actually that comes from my original days in Nashville (although now I am on the west coast)!

Made progress on the tips over the holidays. 😁 Went through 240, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000 grit wet sanding the first one with clean water and dish soap. There are still imperfections, but nothing I didn't really expect. Really happy with the final result, patience is key to see the best results. Working on the second one now, you can see the difference between just 240 and the finished piece in the last pictures. Planning to final polish everything once I have the mufflers back from Fister.

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Great work!!! I don't know why the stainless on the factory tips is so ridiculously difficult to polish, but it definitely is. I tried polishing mine with something like 1000 -- thinking that was fairly aggressive -- but clearly 240 is required as a starting point. I ended up using stainless quad tips from ebay (I'm an originality freak, but the tips are easily reversible and I really like the subtle quad tip look). The eBay tips are easy to keep clean, which makes it difficult to understand why the factory ones are so difficult. I was just polishing (unsuccessfully!!! ) my old OEM tips before putting them in storage -- but definitely will use your "start with 240" approach when I go back some day to clean them up.

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Always liked that design tip on the wide body cars when I see them around. Yes my understanding is stainless is more difficult to polish out. I'm certainly not an expert though lol. To be clear, I would use 240 very carefully on the tip itself. Primarily used the aggressive grits to cut back the corrosion and imperfections on the pipe itself. I still have a few sanding marks on the tip that I expect will come out with another go of 2000-2500. Also worth pointing out, the tip itself is not perfectly straight through and through. You'll likely end up with some uneven areas as I did. It's nothing that bothers me, but something to be aware of for anyone attempting this themselves.

Little things ⭐️

You think exactly like I do on replacing fasteners etc.

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Love the detail work Ocean Blue! Not to make you spiral any further.. but here's some inspiration from the Miata world. The attention to detail on this car is nuts. https://www.instagram.com/kazu_tomita/?hl=en

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Thank you 😁 🙏 I've been one of Kazu's 71k followers for some time now, I promise he puts me to shame. LOL Once I have the car 'reset' to the way I want it, I don't think I'll be under it more than once/twice a year doing a little freshening up here & there. Getting it where I want it though is a process- I've never owned something this old before. It's been so much fun thus far. Bradley

Cleaned the corrosion/surface rust from the muffler bracket. Fitted new 13mm locking nuts to the manifolds to replace the rusted originals. Took the opportunity to clean the areas of the body I wouldn�t normally have access to while the heat shields are removed. With the manifold nuts out it was really easy to remove the light corrosion around the inlet as well. 240 grit, 2k + quick polish. 😁

Love the progress. A snap shot of mine OBM Before After

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You have a great pair there 💯 992 GTS is such a brilliant machine. How do you like the SOUL cats on the 4S?

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They were a great add.....just the right amount of extra sound without being too obnoxious; as the RPMs get toward the top it really sings!! The GTS is great but almost too much power for the street.....if that's a thing?

I'm enjoying your thread. Keep up the great work!

Had some time to put everything back together now that I'm pretty satisfied with the cleanliness down there. 😁 Fisters are schedule for delivery Thursday! I've left the brackets a bit loose, thinking this should help with re-fitting the mufflers? Unfortunately I did suffer a casualty. While fitting the fresh nuts on the cat pipes, two studs sheared off on me. I'm really surprised, as the driver side nuts came off with ease. When I got to think about it though, I realized that might have been because only that side was removed when the water pump was changed in 2024. Question for the experts. Can I (carefully) drive with one secured nut to the shop to have the studs dealt with?

There is no careful about it but yea the stud can be driven out. It sometimes requires a decent amount of heat or it has to be drilled/dremmeled to loosen ths remnants from the flange.

When recently installing an x-pipe, it came with studs which I removed and used nice stainless steel bolts and nuts with some anti-seize. Several minutes with a blowtorch and a 3lb (or something like that) hammer and they all came out with no fuss. The only tip I'll give you is to clamp the flange with a vise grip as the flange tends to be a 2 piece and once you get it all hot and give it a few wacks, it can start to separate. Happened to me on the first stud (less than 1mm) and ended up using the vise grip on all others with good results.

Just read through all 7 pages and this thread is just my style. I completely understand the OEM parts philosophy and do my best to stick to it. My first mod was a pair of used Fister Mufflers and replaced all the hardware and clamps with OEM parts. Love the attention to detail you are giving this thing. Definitely gives me the motivation to go the extra step. Since I took ownership of mine, I have been collecting parts for an Aero conversion and the only thing I am missing at the moment are the rear spats. But that will have to wait a little longer. My first priority was to make sure she was taken care of mechanically. And now that I'm happy with her mechanically I have shifted my focus over to the suspension. I'm at 128K and I'm almost 100% sure its still on the original suspension as well as original engine and trans mounts. And as luck would have it, Meyle controls arms and Rein engine mounts are all currently on back order. Did you ever sort out what your front end clunk noise was? I see you went with Hamburg Technic front strut bearings but OEM Porsche rear mounts. Any reason why? I only ask because I can't find any other manufacturer besides these two for rear mounts and have not heard or had great experiences with HT. (I got a HT window regulator from Pelican that lasted less than a year) I hear good things about Lemforder though. Too bad they (or Meyle) don't offer rear mounts as I don't like to mix and match brands and would prefer to stick to just one on the mounts and bearings. Keep up the excellent work

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Would heating the exhaust by running the engine work to help loosen the fasteners? It might make for a difficult work area though since EVERYTHING would be hot.

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No it doesnt get near hot enough. A torch will get the local spot way way hotter.

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Thank you ⭐️⭐️ Thank you for this ⭐️ Very helpful. 💯 👍 You get it 🔥 I'm definitely into the preservation side of things, it's a big part of my enjoyment with this 911. I'll keep an eye out for pictures of your aero-kitted car once it's finished. I ordered all of the suspension parts from Pelican. On the recommendation of a friend who's deep in the classic P-car world I rang Kenny in their sales dept. Kenny was kind enough to point me in the right direction of which manufactures to use, as he is the point of contact when customers experience part failures. He told me he had never seen the Hamburg Technic bearings prematurely fail. I find the Meyle arms to be pretty decent for the price point. That said when I replace the rear toe arms and upper/lower arms in the future I plan on going Genuine Porsche. I actually had the same thought lol. Thanks for answering @De Jeeper Plan on visiting Performance Muffler in Las Vegas once I have the mufflers on. They do a lot of the exhaust work for my trusted indy, and my contacts at Porsche Classic are also familiar with them. I'll drive very carefully so I don't break anything, lol. Also booked in for next Wednesday for: Valve cover reseal L&R New steering column switch New clock spring Found Porsche fitted PPF on the underside of the rear quarter panels to avoid the paint rubbing. Funny enough it was missing on the driver side side. With it lifting on the edges I picked up replacements + new hex bolts (900-074-287-02 for anyone needing these) to replace the broken studs. Also cleaned off 26 years worth of road grime from the back of the rear bumper while it's off. 😁 ​​​​​

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Forgot to answer this, unfortunately no 😭 Plan now is to eventually have the Porsche Classic Center look at: � Front end clunk � PCCM+ thinking it is always in motion after warm start Dan the classic foreman worked on the M96 since new and is a pleasure to deal with. I've already spent several billed hours with my indy + realignment trying to find the noise, so this is the next logical step. If I wasn't already wanting to resolve the PCCM+ glitch I would probably just live with it at this point lol. Just ordered everything for L/R valve cover reseal, goes to my indy Wednesday for that. Also have: � Vapor Purge Valve to hopefully resolve the smell of fuel coming from the engine compartment after a drive � 997 ignition coils � Fresh spark plugs tubes 😁

Fisters are on 😁

Wait....you're telling me you're not going to polish those mufflers first?!? Unlike, unsubscribe, unfollow!

haha I thought the same. I immediately went to the site because I thought they didn't offer a polished option. I still dig it though

Looks amazing! Vile as it might be in an otherwise pristine environment , maybe a bit of anti-seize on the tip clamps? I think I did anti-seize and it was generally recommenced ( if I'm remembering correctly) on my clamp when I did them, but it was along time ago so not sure my memory is correct.

This car is soooo clean omg.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️ That's a good idea on the anti-seize since they're new. Thanks Soooo in Dec I took the die grinder to them to prep for wetsanding, but only after talking to Darin did I find out he vapor blasts all of the mufflers before returning them to customers. I dig the look too, very motorsport (although I still really like the polished manifolds). There is a 'chrome' option if you opt to have them painted. I might try this by Labocosmetica, an imported product that makes quick work of removing exhaust corrosion according to my fellow detailing nerds in my area. Then I can keep everything tidy with much less work. Car is going to sit now until I get it to the indy on Wednesday. Of course it's 72 in Las Vegas today and perfect driving weather. 🙆🏻‍♂️ Bradley

Reseal progress on covers. Great to see the cam shafts are clean. From shop owner: "vario cam pads look amazing"

Ended up with three broken bolts on bank two, none on bank one fortunately. Heli-Coil was needed to sort one, shop was able to weld nuts on the others to get them out.

Time to fit the bumper & heat shields back on. 48,900mi, now back home after: � Bank 1 + Bank 2 Cam Cover Re-seal � Spark Plug Tubes � 997 Ignition Coils � Purge Valve � Solenoid Seals � Cam Caps � Vent Valve � Steering Column Multi Switch � Clock Spring Driving so well and pleased to have a clean bill of health. 🏁 Great to be back after nearly two months off the road for this and that. Bradley Thank you to my friends at CARS Complete Auto Repair Specialists in Las Vegas. Knowledgeable on the m96 and very communicative. When picking up the car I also met the owner's very cool friend, founder of famed Imola Motorsports in Minnesota. 😄

Looking great! They must have loved working on such a clean car. I think mechanics appreciate that kind of stuff. My mechanic found it necessary to mention that he's never worked on a car with such clean wheel wells and etc. Made it so much easier to inspect and spot any leaks etc.

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When I brought my 996 to the dealer one time they told me it was the cleanest 996 they have had in a long time. It made me feel great until they told me normally the 996's they see are dirty because people with really expensive 911's will daily a 996 to not put wear on there "Nice" 911... The 996 IS my "Nice" 911, different tax brackets lol. @Ocean Blue 911 is insanely clean and what a great color.

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Those owners sound like Ferrari owners LOL.

All back together. 🏁 Good opportunity to tend to the stubborn dirt and calcium build up behind the bumperettes. Then I put 120 miles on this morning. 😁 Bradley

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What they are not telling the dealer is that their 996's are also a lot more fun to drive than their "Nice" 911

😁 Instagram

Made a quick reel during a refuel in this great weather 🌙 Instagram

Car looks great! How did you polish / clean the cats? How did you clean the heatshields? How are you liking the B8s + springs?

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Thank you Wet sanded to remove the corrosion, I documented the process earlier in the thread. Started with 240, ended around 3k then polished by hand. Rinsed to remove loose debris and rocks, agitated with diluted degreaser, repeated this. Cleaning the cosmoline on the ends was the hardest part where they wrap under the body. I like them, this combo did a good job removing the floaty front end feel on the freeway that was there before. The drop the springs provided was exactly what I was looking for. Definitely better than the original leaking struts that were on the car.

About to do my suspension this weekend and realize I have some cleaning to do. @Ocean Blue , any recommendations on products for cleaning the wheel hub and wheel well area? Probably going to sand the rotor hats down and recoat them with some high temp paint as well.

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Wheel hub- do you mean the support the strut & wheel bearing fit in? You can make those look fantastic with some cheap nylon disposable brushes (I like the Harbor Freight $1 small ones and the larger combo packs) and Aviation Safe Simple Green Aviation Safe Simple Green . You can dilute to your needs and use it on everything from suspension components, subframe, to the engine block itself. Rinse the hub thoroughly first, if yours are like mine there will be small rocks and loose dirt lodged in the crevises. FYI I would not let it dry on the metal or any rubber bushings so be sure to rinse thoroughly and make sure to use gloves just in case. Wheel wells- the painted body in this area should come clean really well following the above process, but I would swap Simple Green for regular automotive degreaser, agitate, rinse then car wash soap & water. Plan on being there a while for those hard to reach areas with a smaller brush. For the plastic liners, first inspect them and see if any need to be replaced. They take a beating and are now brittle if original. If they are in good shape degrease then follow the same process. Degreaser is the least expensive thing I use so I tend to be pretty liberal with it. Once everything is clean you should see the cosmoline pretty clearly on the plastic liners and rubber hoses, if you want to go the extra mile you can go at these with tar remover & a brush then rinse. Painting the hats is on my to-do list too, eventually. When I bought the 911 in fall '24 the hats had never been cleaned. I got mine to look pretty correct again after two rounds of cleaning, you might want to try that first if it's easier for you. I use a fallout remover on these with a soft bristle or boars hair brush to agitate then rinse. I really like IRON X by CAR PRO , previously would use Sonax Full Effect for this as well. I'll also use IRON X on the wheel barrels if they are heavily soiled but never on the faces. Can use this on your red calipers too. Lastly, would also wash the body of the car once you're done in case any residual chemicals found their way onto the body. Hope that helps. If you come across another method or product you find that works well please share. 😁 Bradley

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Thanks for the tips. I grabbed some Simple Green Max today from Home Depot, along with some nylon scrubbing brushes from the cleaning aisle. Says it�s for automotive use, worked well. https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Simple...4032/319878758 Still working at it, there�s only so much patience I have for this in one day. Got the drivers side front/rear mostly done today. Swapping out suspension this weekend, so kind of cleaning as I go but progress so far: I also painted the rotor hats. Spent a good portion of the day using a brass wire wheel on my drill to clean the rust of the rotors and prep them for paint. Then cleaned up, two coats of primer, to coats of high temp paint. Measured thickness first to make sure they were still within spec before putting in the work. I�ll clean them up a bit more tomorrow.

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You killed it. Looks very sharp and proper. 😁 Thanks for sharing, I don't have any experience with that Simple Green product. Might want to look it up online first and see if it's safe for aluminum. The original formula is too strong and will eat away at the metal IIRC. Rotors look really good. Which silver high temp paint did you use? Bradley

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I just used this VHT high temp caliper paint and a high temp primer as well. https://www.autozone.com/p/vht-spray...SABEgJEvPD_BwE

@Ocean Blue I missed a crucial step of the directions on the VHT caliper paint - it needs to cure in an oven @ 200f for 1 hour. Learn from my mistake if you do this. Makes sense, just wasn�t using my brain this morning and cleaned a rotor with brake parts cleaner - that quickly destroyed the new paint haha. I�ll redo that one, but using one of my grills to cure the paint incase it smelled at all.

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They look fantastic. 😁

Picking up my order from Gaudin Classic later today to address my sagging driver seat: � Cushion � Bracket � Misc Clips � Underside support mesh For anyone not familiar, there's a material that gives way over time that supports the bottom cushion. As the cushion sags you end up sitting more into the seat, putting stress on the bracket until that also breaks. I suspect there are many 996s out there that have this issue. What made it most noticeable was sitting in the passenger seat and noticing the difference in support on the road. My uncle also complained about the seat comfort when he drove it before I brought it home. There's a fair bit of how-to online for this repair and I'm going to enlist the help of a friend to reinforce these pieces so it should never be an issue again. I'll probably also do something about the chipping graphite gray trims on the seat since I'll already have them out. Also picking up the Cayenne after a failed LG Chem lithium battery. Amazing it only last 33k. While there is a TSB on this battery (the BSM that regulates the battery failed prematurely), it was out of pocket being the Cayenne is out of warranty. 😡 Hopefully PCNA will feel pressured to reimburse customers as these continue failing and customers complain. The service at Gaudin continues to be outstanding though and discounted the job. Porsche life. 🏁 Bradley

That Cayenne is really nice, is it as ridiculously clean as your 996?

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How do you like dealing with Gaudin? I�m in Vegas often (live up in SLC UT area) and my dealer here kind of treats me like a 2nd class citizen with my 996 haha. Maybe it�s because all my other cars are BMW. I have been considering trading my Wife�s X5 for a Cayenne though but I really like my BMWs too. I would much rather deal with a dealer that makes the experience awesome.

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SLC is great, my company's primary office is in Sugar House. I always enjoy the crisp air there. 🏔️ I'm blessed & spoiled having Gaudin and Porsche Henderson here. My friends and I have had nothing but wonderful experiences with both stores. We have a very strong Pcar community in NV and the sales dept is very active, hosting enthusiast events and ask-a-pro workshops. I'll DM you a contact that might help if you decide to go the Cayenne route. 😋 Bradley

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I did pull the wheels off to do a proper once over last year 😄 otherwise just routine washes.

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You're too humble its super clean, that is straight fire!

Cars Und Kaffee this morning downtown, first one of the year for me 😄 Great turn out of A/C and W/C Porsches of all vintage + others. The Carrara WT 997.2 next to me belongs to friend @ftc3 Bradley

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I would say that's "resting **** face" for Porsche dealer service departments these days, but I don't want to be negative, so I won't say it.

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That's terrible, and PCNA should really be made aware of any service center treating an owner base as 'less than.' Rapid increase in part + labor costs and poor customer treatment 👎🏻. Maybe your area would benefit from a classic program and dedicated staff. Southern NV stores have always been great, never once leaving me feeling 'less than' by anyone in sales or service. Amazing knowledge base and the Forman (one that was doing PDIs on 996 when delivered new) have spent more than a bit of time chatting with me about the car and provided real value from enthusiast to enthusiast. Grabbed my order for the seat cushion refresh. Still need to research and order Graphite Grey interior trim paint, but likely going to go with ColorBond after seeing these results. I remember some here having great luck with Citristrip to remove the rubberized finish on the seat button trim. If anyone has experience with this, please share any tips/tricks you have. 🏁 Bradley

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Porsche dealer service was great when I had my first 996 back when 996's were new, but for my Macan they just repeatedly raked me over the coals. My first service with only 8k miles on the car was a nightmare for reasons too complicated to get into. That was also the case for all subsequent services, even trying multiple local dealers (except one warranty service, which was done very well). I bought the car from a dealer in a neighboring state to get a specific color/options and that dealer was great -- they actually later towed my car 2 hours from a local dealer to their shop fix a problem the local dealer wouldn't fix -- then delivered it back to my house 2 hours away. Some dealers are still good apparently, but I just dreaded every interaction. I was convinced by others to use a local independent Porsche specialist, which made me stop hating owning my Macan (always loved the car, hated the ownership experience). It's the first time in 30+ years where my daily driver isn't maintained by a dealer, but it was the only choice. I'd much rather say positive than negative things, but I just cannot in this case. Don't mean to distract from the thread, but at least want to explain myself. I admire the amazing work you are doing on your 996!

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I stopped in for coolant before doing my waterpump. Took them about 40 minutes to go find the 3 gallons and bring them to me. In the mean time, there was a super pretty Cayenne in the showroom. My son (7 years old) and I were looking at it and I had my Wife�s X5 there with me - there might have been a deal to be made. No one in sales even said hello. Stood there for probably 20 minutes. Maybe it�s because I had just come from the gym and I was being stereotyped. Guess I don�t look the part.

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Appreciate the kind words. Not a distraction at all, it's unacceptable to be made to feel this way as an enthusiast and an owner. Especially at a time where Porsche is making concise efforts to elevate the brand from luxury to ultra luxury. What would have cost $160k now fetches $200k new. As I said before, it's up to the owners and potential clients to share these poor experiences with PCNA. I would love to think they have someone reading this very thread, but I doubt it. They rely on metrics and bean counters, reactive not proactive. Chick Fil A rewards me with a spicy sandwich every time I take two minutes to share my last experience with them. I have never waited in a long line for my order. I wish they ran the American Government. Completely ridiculous no one even came to greet you and your son. It's offensive to me as someone with a background in this industry. My entire 'career' I have been in ultra luxury sales. I began at Lamborghini NA when I was 19, and was one of two people staffing Lamborghini Las Vegas as my city recovered from the recession. I had the privilege to learn from one of the finest sales directors in America. To give perspective, our boutique store fit just four big body V12s, or five small body V10s comfortably. Someone might think 'that small place must not sell many cars'. Our store, located in a city with a local population of under 2,000,000 residents, had the highest allocation of new car sales in the country. My director had the right of first refusal for any bespoke offering (these would always be sold before production, usually in volume of a dozen or less final units). To have that level of success and trust in an extremely small circle of clients is something Porsche lusts after no doubt. (Ferrari went another direction, engineering what I jokingly call a 'circular economy' for entry level, mid and top level cars, much like today's Rolex sales model). Witnessing this success first hand was a masterclass for me at a young age. The director responsible for creating this over decades treated his clients with respect, but also as friends. He always taught me 'It's not about us. Leave your ego and what you think you know at there door. You are an ambassador, but it's yours to lose just as easily.' I attribute his success to a lack of pretense or posturing. He was consistent, thoughtful, but very clear in setting expectations. Maybe his clients knew they could find a similar car to what we had (our could procure) at another Lamborghini store. But the guarantee of the purchase experience being what you received with us was not there. Not to mention the opportunity to buy with someone with very strong relations with the factory in St. Agata. When you needed something, he answered the phone. If the battery in your Countach was dead from siting at your Lake Las Vegas home for years unmoved, he would go tend to it himself (he likely sold that car new). If you disrespected him, you where done, and you could go find some tier two store to do business with. I still apply these lessons and principles today in my work. I would say a lot of the uninitiated luxury sales staff at these stores (Porsche, BMW, MBZ, Lexus) are undisciplined in their craft. And it is a craft. Coming in for a quick service in gym attire with your son is a green flag, not a red one. The seasoned staff knows this. The new guy in the Gucci loafers and fit-too-tightly suite wouldn't. Those that aren't willing to learn how to treat their clients and obsess over them often don't last in that segment of the business and move to higher volume sales (think Korean and American brands). Bradley

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Good lessons learned. Way back in the day, I worked at Circuit City (High School for me) in a small town in Idaho. I was sales who worked on commission. Some guy walked in first thing in the morning on a Saturday and didn�t look like the type who had a dollar to spare. I didn�t care, I just helped him find what he wanted. After about an hour helping him select a TV, he selected a pretty expensive TV and bought like 50 of them. Turns out he was opening a boutique hotel in Jackson Hole, WY. I still remember taking that paycheck to my credit union to deposit into my account haha!

Color Bond Paint is here 🎨 Never ordered such expensive aerosol cans before but everyone says it's the best. Earlier in my interior refresh journey I had ordered new graphite grey trims from Porsche, but that ended up not working out (New center console/ebrake trim I ordered was perfect, however the ashtray was old stock from who knows when, which already had peeling finish). What I ordered is just for the two seat trims on the driver side, now just need to pick up the paint stripper . I'm expecting the center console tunnel alone will require two cans of the LVP. Aiming to pull the driver seat out this week now that I have the cushion, bracket, clips and trim refinishing materials. Then this began. No it's not a jackhammer, I think the Chick Fil A drive-thru amplified the sound. 😄🦺 There might be debris stuck in the blade but I've been hearing the driver radiator fan faintly whine upon engine shut off for the past few thousand miles. Now this horrible noise and strong vibration is always there when the AC triggers on max cooling power. After watching a few tutorials on fan resistor replacement through the fender liner it looks doable enough, so planning on that. Any tips on getting the fan out would be much appreciated! Already have liner clips to replace any that break from my first radiator clean out (which I will also do). You Tube

Had time this Saturday night to get started on � Radiator fan noise diagnosis � Radiator cleaning Bumper came off really quickly being my second time pulling it off. First time was with the help of a friend shortly after purchase. It's been 18 months and 8,000 miles since. Replacing all of the fittings prior was so worth it. For me, having everything fresh makes these kinds of task rewarding and fun. That didn't stop me from breaking most of these fender liner clips, again 😁 Really need to get better at that, fortunately have extras for this very reason. Debris/dirt build up wasn't terrible between the rads and condensers which was nice to see. Upon closer inspection I see I had a lot more cleaning to do in the fins themselves, particularly the lower back corners. APC, soft bristle brush and elbow grease tidied these areas up a lot. AFTER deep cleaning BEFORE deep cleaning All done and refit. 😁 ✨ After hitting the rads with compressed air, antique dirt particles and rinse water was all over every other surface (it never ends &#128517 . Grabbed my rinseless wash by The Last Detail and squared it away. One casualty, one of these brittle radiator fan trims snapped on me. Are they replaceable? With everything clean I moved on to the driver radiator fan diagnosis. Condition of the front resistors. To isolate the fan noise I turned on the engine + accessories to get the high speed fans going. I expected to hear that terrible flapping noise and feel the vibration throughout the car. Instead only the passenger fan came on. And then I checked the time and decided to be a proper adult and call it quits for the day. 🤪 Any ideas? Priced out a new fan and resistor @ Gaudin. I would think a replacement fan would come with the resistor since they look like they're sold as one online . This week will make time to pull the wheel and liner for a good look. Bradley

Dont get so hung up on factory parts. A replacent resistor is $14 in amazon and takes 10 minutes to install. There r a few threads on it.

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Thank you, yes. Unfortunately a failing resistor wouldn't be the cause of that horrible noise or wiring sound (maybe a failing bearing) when the engine turned off. Bradley

Nice job on the rads! I did the same job this weekend and used essentially the same process + power washer which helped a lot blowing the debris from between the fins. Also cleaned and conditioned the plastic/rubber covers. Easy and satisfying job. The grills I installed years ago have kept out most of the stuff so the cleanup was quick.

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True....in that case ebay has a bunch of used ones 4 sale. They fan motor isnt a high failure rate item so used is a good way to go on this item.

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Yeah, I bought 4 of these resistors really cheap on Amazon, under $12, but maybe $14, whoopie, no P-tax. And listen to Aaron, he thinks and advises in real world terms and beliefs, not the bloated "Official Porsche Spend Money like Water" message. JMO. And Bradley --- You do an amazing amount of things in a parking garage (I think?). Blowing stuff out with air, water spray, whatever. Do you have to "truck" an air-compressor or power washer , plus jack and jack stands to this garage for every maint job? Are there electric out lets there? Then there are the tools, and the 1 odd (P-idiot) size choice that you don't have at hand? P used to use 10,13,15.17, 19 mm nut sizes, then switched to 12, 16,18, 22 which on first discovery, was a PITA. Gotta admit, a lot of effort for even simple tasks. Congrats on effort and results. YMMV

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Thank you for the replies, if I can save a buck on this I'm more than happy to, haha. Probably not a bad idea to be replacing both resistors at this point. Performing tasks down here is actually really easy considering. The building I live in here has a dedicated wash/detail area. Lighting, hose and drainage, commercial vacuum, electrical outlets everywhere, and compressed air line w/ attachments. I have a vintage shop cart I use to move tools and wash supplies from a walk-in storage locker to whoever i'm working on the car (parking spot or in the wash bay). Locker is not far from my parking spot or the bay. Only thing I would need to grab separately is my floor jack. My neighbors think I'm crazy, but it's rare I see anyone down here. 😃 Bradley

I love the pic heavy posts, nice work!

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Thank you my man 😃 Had a few hours tonight to see what's going on in the driver rads. The culprit. The resistor looks... like a 26 year old resistor. 😄 The motor makes a loud noise when the blade spins, and I found this rusty residue on the backside of the fan cover. Then I remembered I had seen this rusty residue before, on the air channel rubber bits underneath the front bumper. EDIT: Speaking with my friend and parts manager @ Porsche Classic that used to race air-cooled 911s, I learned from him this dust is not rust, but brush material from the fan motor running. Took a bit of time to clean everything with the fender liner removed. Much more pleasant to turn wrenches on a clean car. Managed to break one of the large plastic coolant hose clamps. Normal for there to be three prongs in this connector? Vid of the radiator noise 🫡 You Tube Bradley

Quotes source post: 20515002

Pretty cool watching you get your project so clean. I'm in the Pacific Northwest and it rains, (a lot), so probably won't ever get there with my cars; I'm going to embrace the rugged look. One trick and suggestion I have learned over the years that might help at times is pants. I wear pants a lot. They're Great. I'm a huge fan in so many ways such as keeping my butt from sticking to my graphite gray seats, eeuw, but as mentioned our weather is different than yours in Las Vegas. I have not been there in a long time but think a lot of things are different in Las Vegas. I used to work nightclubs on the Sunset Strip and a lot of things are different there too so I get it . Good on you any which way. I'll think of you and hope you will approve when I'm cleaning stuff. I probably might not have any photos as good as yours but I'll do what I can.

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hahah 😂😂 Grabbed the Condenser Radiator Cover Strips (996-573-711-00) from Porsche today and fitted them. Thanks again @Billy_Baroo for chiming in with the part # 😁 Originals snapped as I unclipped them from the condensers 🔧 Bradley

Grabbed the new fan, misc clips and installed it this morning. Took a couple of goes to figure out how best to run the electoral wire (the plug is supposed to be clipped on the shroud and can go either direction). The new fan is slightly different in how the cables are wrapped together, and I was a bit paranoid I would break something lol. When I tried the fan (motor on, AC) the new fan didn't work at all, just like the original it replaced. I checked the fuse and sure enough it had failed. I'm guessing the brushes in the old motor lost connection and triggered that. Now to put the bumper back on and I can move on to the seat cushion refresh. Bradley

Back to our regularly scheduled programming 😁 Cooling fans seem smoother and definitely are quieter now. Bradley

Dove in this morning into the driver seat. Everything was pretty straightforward, mostly because I watched the same tutorial five times. 😃 Was surprised to find a fair amount of disintegrating foam was sitting under the seat. Lately the seat has just become more and more uncomfotable, maybe it's just in my head knowing I have a new cushion waiting to go in lol. Here's some photos, forgive the horrible iPad photos. Bradley

Looks like you figured out how to undo the big white clips to release it from the frame. You don�t have to undo the frame bolts on the floor to remove it. Careful with the seat controls, those micro switches are brittle and the little springs will come flying out�ask me how I know. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Wow. That seat sure is going to be comfy! Good work.

New foam is in, took quite a bit of finessing. Never done this before and I would never want to work as an upholsterer. lol The new foam seems to have restored the definition that was there when new. The edges and design lines in the bolsters are very crisp now. 😁 Surprisingly not a single clip broke, and the original plastic base was in tact so I re-used everything. I'm going to take it to my upholsterer and have him tighten everything and staple where needed. Then to strip + paint the plastic seat trims. Bradley Mandatory dogge inspection + approval 🐾

Trim pieces are off and ready to refinish. I'll share a few notes for anyone looking to do a similar job. It's common for these trims to show their age and it's a great improvement to have them looking perfect. 😁 You can ignore the hex bolt I am attempting to remove in this photo. The trim is held in by the plastic clip next to it. It's similar to the ones that hold in the plastic wheel well liners, but I couldn't pull out the pin from outside the frame. After realizing that bolt does nothing but (maybe?) hold that plastic strip in place, I stuck my flathead behind the clip and it popped right out. Then the painted trim will be free. This second one is a lot more tedious. 😄 The seat adjustment buttons pop off with enough gentle force from a flathead. Because I'm refinishing the panels I wasn't worried about marring the grey rubber paint. My concern was pulling off the ***** without damaging them or losing the very small springs behind them. Separating the trim panel from the control switch box was done by slowly and patiently pulling the trim off while not bending any of the brittle retaining clips. Once I had enough of the panel unclipped it popped off. I did break two small clips, but I don't see it being an issue. Behind the seat bottom **** there's a plastic 'slider' that is sandwiched between trim panel and the switch box. Like the springs it's easy to lose. I taped it in place for the time being. Bradley

If it helps�An old gunsmithing trick is to disassemble parts with tiny springs inside a clear plastic bag. You can still see your work and the springs can�t really go anywhere. If the assembly is small enough, or you have a big enough bag, this may help : )

Yeee

Strawberry yogurt? Yumm!

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Apologies if you've already posted this information, but, what is that stuff? I need some! My method is nowhere near that effective.

Looks like the Orange/Citrus paint remover stuff (can�t remember the name offhand but I�ve used it and actually have a couple bottles at home)� Good to know it doesn�t eat the plastic beneath the paint� or does it?

Citristrip looks like that. HD. Go Bradley!

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Yes Citristrip 😁 Very effective. Ahhh I hope it doesn't eat the plastic. I did two applications, the first remove 90% of the rubbery paint. Hoping to have time to clean it up tonight with mineral spirits (never use this before). See above 😁👍 Bradley

Seat is back in one piece, plastic refinishing went well and the cushion looks & feels great. Really glad I took the time to give it to my upholsterer to get the fit perfect. He also steamed several corners and added additional foam to the edges to make it as crisp as 27 year old leather can be. Feels amazing. Was a lot of work for someone with zero experience in this kind of thing but the result is worth it. Now Bad news ~ I had to adjust the bottom seat control and upon taking out the adjustment ****, one of the two springs went FLYING. 🤬 So annoying as I was very careful taking it apart. I know how hard small springs are to come by... I could really use some help from the community on this one. If anyone has a spring or an extra broken switch please let me know- Porsche doesn't sell this silly spring by itself. Bradley

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When I had my seats recovered a few years ago my passenger side controller came apart, and that�s how I found out about the little springs in those micro switches�I�ll poke through my stuff Saturday as I may have saved the old one.

Update- After reading that a 996/Redditor lost his springs and has been using his switches just fine, I popped the **** on to find it working fine too! @PBradz if you do find an extra spring let me know, i'm neurotic and still would much prefer to have it if possible. 😁 Because I think this is a refresh item many are aiming to do or will be in the near future, I'll share a bit more on the job. As a reminder I've never done anything like this before but thought I was capable after watched a few YT tutorials. Seat Refresh � The job is 100% worth it. At exactly 50k miles my seat feels brand new, not 996 new, but 992 new thanks to the subtle additional improvement my upholster made for me (more on that below) � This job is a tedious process. As I said in a previous post, working with leather materials is not for everyone (it's not for me, I like driving and cleaning, not upholstering) � As my friend @SoCalDan at 17 Mile Garage suggested to me, be patient and do this slowly. I estimate it took me about eight hours moving at this pace. I was surprised I did not break a single plastic clip, and had ordered plenty of replacements to have on hand. � Have plenty of light on hand. I have two ICON lights from HF that proved to be critically important disconnecting hard-to-reach pints and electrical clips. � The four bolts holding in each seat are very tight and awkward to break lose. � After fiddling with the fitment, the foam sat pretty well in the original leather/vinyl cover. Picking it up from my upholsterer I was very surprised how polished and fresh it all looked. � There it received steaming, additional foam in the corners where the side bolster flares end to fill them out, and an additional thin layer of foam under the Genuine foam from Porsche. After all of this, the leather cover looks full again and to my surprise the intentional sculpted foam design in the bolsters that was lost to time/age is back and very straight. The draping in the leather is still present, but the rest is tight, soft and taught (I'm very fond of this classic 80s/90s period look, but I know I'm in the minority lol). At the bottom are some photos I found in old Porsche docs online of how these looked when new, maybe some are even from RL. Plastic Refinishing � The Color Bond system was pretty decent to use for an inexperienced person like me. The prep was made really easy with Citristrip. A word of caution, do not let it dwell too long. The plastic used for the seat control panel is different from the panel that covers the hinge. I would definitely use Citristrip again to expedite the refinishing process, just carefully. To me the first good test of the finish was re-fitting the seat control panel to the seat. It took a lot of back and forth to get it to line up with the screw holes on the bottom. Was happy to see the finish was still perfect. � There were some scratches on the hinge-cover trim that I did sand down a bit with some leftover 500 grit sandpaper from my exhaust polishing last year. This worked well and I could have kept going to get all the scratches out, but my need to wrap up this project took priority. I still think it looks great, I don't think anyone is going to be shining 4k lumens in that corner just right to see the remaining flaws. 😙 Ok on to the final pictures. 😁 Thank you to everyone for all your help as always RL. Bradley This 996 Turbo interior was entirely refinished, but you can see they didn't carry over the sculpting in the upper/lower seat bolsters like it would have come from the factory which I feel is a miss and wanted to avoid (this is just me). The bottom two graphite interiors are obvi old photos that show a bit more of that aggressive line in the bottom factory foam.

Nice job on the refinish. All these little improvements really make the overall condition of the car look so much better.

@Ocean Blue You could use a magnet on a stick or rod (or something) to try to "sweep" and find your spring. Same thing inside the car or in the area of garage as well. If in "garage wash area" spring is probably flushed and gone. Just a thought. YMMV

Good job finding those springs. Seeing your pictures reminded me of my experience doing this job and having the same thing happen.

I got you Fam� Passenger comfort seat controls

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My guy! 😃 PM me what you need for the springs? Appreciate you digging these out. Bradley

265 miles since finishing the seat refresh Time soon for oil service 😁

Happy Memorial Day Porsche Fam 🇺🇸

Had a bit of fun heading home from dinner last night. 🌙 Instagram

First I want to give a big thank you to @PBradz You reached out to me saying you might have an extra spring for my seat adjustment switch I managed to lose. Next thing I know I have an envelope in my mailbox with that very spring inside. You won't even give me a Zelle # to at least cover shipping- selfless acts like this make this community great. 🙏 The Rennlist sticker you threw in is going in the record binder. 6 month re-up on deck for the old girl, and before anyone asks no oil changes are being done in my buildings garage. 😄 Was a good opportunity to organize the shelfs in my storage locker I keep everything in, IE hand tools, spares, service fluids and wash supplies. Today I noticed the remote lock on my fobs has gone from pressing-really-hard to activate, to no longer working. LED light is still flashing, everything else is working normally and the fob battery was changed last year. Grok gave me a trouble shooting list, hopefully I'll have time to dive in this weekend. If anyone has experience with this based on these symptoms please share. 🔑 Bradley

Share what you can, give when you can. 😊 Happy to hear it arrived safely! Drive on�😎

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Nice work! Definitely a good group on this forum (with some weirdos - you know who you are!) I�m in your neck of the woods for a quick trip, cheers!

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Slaters 50/50? 😄🍻

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Yep! Flew in and looked for a place to grab a burger and a beer and watch the VGK game.

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GO CANES!

Thank you FCP Euro and @AeroF16 for helping me figure out what I needed 😎 Looking forward to fitting these. I've watched about every tie rod tutorial there is, if any of the savvy 996 crowd have any tips for me before I go rent a removal tool + ball joint separator please share. Bradley

First summer wash. Been enjoying the summer in this wonderful car. Hoping to fit the new parts very soon 😎

Cars looking good. Are you updating the front with a control arm & tie rod kit? Edit to add: mind sharing the link you used for the drivers seat tutorials? Ive got a similar project planned.

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Thank you The TRW tie rod kit will refresh the remaining original bushings in the front, everything else was renewed last year. Bradley

Does your HOA give you *hit for working on your car in the garage?

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They just think I'm strange.

Parking this thing out front whenever there is an open house would be a public service.

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😎 🏡

On my list of refresh tasks was the original gray steering wheel. Even after careful cleaning it still had a soiled discoloration. I decided to try a new steering wheel by 2Samper on eBay. He send me a reconditioned wheel in grain leather that I think matches the interior vinyl very well. I had a brief conversation with the owner beforehand so he understood I was wanting as close to an OEM grain and finish as possible. Happy to say this leather matches the vinyl of the airbag cover pretty well. I specifically didn't want a smooth glove leather which is very popular for those looking for a more modern look. Wheel arrived in 7ish days and I put it on this evening. I'm super happy with the result. For me a steering wheel is a really important detail. What I'm not so happy about is the horn now going off if I so much as look at the airbag cover. I'm thinking the rubber bushings in the inner frame have failed. Has anyone had good luck with the URO frame or the eBay bushing kit? Would really rather not spend $300 on a piece of Porsche aluminum. 😭 Bradley The 911s temporary neighbors Original (see how much brighter the stitching is than the material covering)

I cant decide if i want to do 997 seats or steering wheel refresh next. That wheel looks so good and i think the grain leather is the choice. the smooth leather is not great for driving. Youll have to give us an update.

The steering wheel will smooth out over time from the friction as well as the oils/sweat from your hands. A quick refresh with dyes from any one of several companies (leatherworld tech, etc.) will bring it back without doing a recover job.

Had time last night/early this morning to begin fitting the new rear arms. First though I set up my Genuine Classic Charger I picked up from @scootergt3 Good quality and I get a bang out of the grid light charge status illumination. 🚥 Anyway�The FCP Euro videos are very helpful for the rear arms and they made this straightforward. I haven�t turned wrenches on suspension since I was in high school, but so far it�s been trouble free. I�m happy I went ahead and purchased replacement hardware too from Gaudin. Once I had the upper arms out-of-the-way, it was a good opportunity to do some cleaning in hard to reach areas. Also used my new Milwaukee impact for the first time to loosen the rear toe arm I plan to tackle tomorrow. This thing is amazing! lol

Why do u need gloves when workong on this car?

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😆

It's to keep from getting dirty fingerprints on the car.

PREKOM bushings arrived. Pulled the airbag back out and began trying to pull out the frame bushings (no luck). Anyone have any experience replacing these bushings? Had a chance to remove the tar that had accumulated in the wheels, sticky leftovers from previous wheel balancing and do a quick clean up on the inside of the tires. Swung by Harbor Freight to grab some extensions while they were on sale too. Going to go rent a pickle fork and tool for the tie rods tomorrow. Still not sure what to do about an oetiker clamp tool. Is there one anyone can recommend? Bradley

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U dont want a pickle fork tool. U want a ball joint removal tool. https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...saAk-bEALw_wcB Also if u want to reuse the end(link) leave the nut on the threads about 9/10th down so they dont get damaged.

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+1 on tool vs fork, Bradley frequents Harbor Freight so here�s one from there: https://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-qu...tor-99849.html

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Thank you guys. Yes that is the one, I misspoke lol. Going to use this tie rod tool and this kind of ball join separator .

Get the ball joit tool we suggest. The one u posted is too bulky and it may fit for a tie rod end it wont work for the lca ball joints.

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For years I used Channellock end cutters (blue) for Oetiker clamps. I'm getting ready to replace some headlamp washer hoses on the M5 and sprang for the official tool official tool (red) since it was only $20. I honestly think for how rarely you use this type of clamp, either way will work.

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Thank you sir, will do. Ordered. Just what I was looking for. 🧰 TY appreciate it. Bradley

The rear is complete 🧰 Interestingly this rear toe arm nearly fell out of the socket once the bolt was loose. I think this side took me half the time, even with a bit of cleaning in the hard to reach areas. Bradley

Refitted the sway bar this morning and went for a quick drive. New rear arms are feeling great and noticeably more compliant. Turn in seems improved and I'm noticing I can go into gear easier than before (a surprise because this had already improved so much with the trans/engine mounts last year). The original rubber didn’t look perished at all outside of a few small cracks. It wasn't until I had undone one end of the upper arms I could see how much play there was in the original bushings compare to the replacements. If your arms are original, replacing them really is a great ROI regardless of mileage. Thanks to @De Jeeper @PBradz on the ball joint separator tool suggestion. A local friend was kind enough to loan me his and with my favorite new tool (Milwaukee M12 1/2 Stubby) it made quick work of the trailing arm bolts. Great for lug bolt in/outs in slow speed setting one. Grabbed a (very long) tie rod tool from auto zone and plan to instal them before the weekend. Pics in the Autozone parking lot. 😄 Bradley

Finished the driver side first tie rods ✅ My first time ever doing this. Passenger side next. These Knipex Oetiker Clamp pliers were very helpful. Thank you for the rec @SoCal911t and the tips/support @GC996 @TheChunkNorris @AeroF16 @De Jeeper @PBradz 😎 I felt this job today, it called for jacuzzi time 😄