996.1 911 Purchased

i'm not a new porsche owner, but this is my first 911.... i currently own a 2010 cayenne that is the perfect (at least for me) tow car for the trailer to drag various race cars to tracks. i also own a 914 that has been on the 'to do' project list for many years but have recently decided what to do with it (changed directions many times) and its making a comeback to the workshop. i have several other cars (either race or fun) but this is a post about my first 911 ... a base spec, 1998 carrera 2, auto with 164,000 kms ... yes, its a tip ... that suits me for why i bought it tho ... i have a specific use for this car - i'll ship it up to the UK early ish next year and do a long driving holiday across France, down the spine of Italy and end up in Scilly - then back again via some ferries and up through the middle of France. the auto will be perfect for cruising the many kilometers we'll be doing. Being UK born, i still have family there and looked at buying a 996/911 in the UK to use then bring it back here - my dad had a look at a few and all had pretty significant rust issues. those that didnt were significantly more expensive ... so, i figured i'd buy one here with no rust issues, use here and fix whatever needs it before shipping to the UK. i searched and searched and changed my mind many times before settling on a japanese imported, left hand drive. most of the japanese 911's are LHD, somthing to do with samurai walking on the left side of the road that has lead to prestige and respect... it seems 911's in RHD from japan are very rare ... and the LHD suits the intended use perfectly through Europe, then with long term plans to buy a rear ended boxster and convert to RHD ... but who knows if i'll get there with that plan ... on looking at the car i was blown away with how clean it was - i cant find any rust and no leaks from anywhere - it didnt come with any service history other than some japanese auction forms and a few stickers on the car from japanese services, it still has the japanese rego equivalent sticker on thats still valid until april '26 ! and some service items done by the person who imported it (new maf, new key and some basic servicing). the cons: aircon doesnt work - looking at the front condensors with a UV light shows dye all over the rads - they are original units so ordered a couple of new ones. also ordered some 'all aluminium' engine rads. it already has the 3rd centre rad - is this standard ? suspension looks to all be original - it feels a little 'wafty' when driving it so have a complete set of front and rear suspension (all control arms, sway bar links etc) ordered. steering wheel is the 4 spoke and is just too large, some of the plastic on the airbag cover is starting to warp ... ordered a used tri spoke wheel from the US - now i need to find an airbag for it locally - any leads anyone, in black ? also ordered the merc amd paddles to retrofit to it. stereo is oem - with a tape player ! and given its japanese, it operates on different radio frequencies to AUS ... removed it, moved climate control to the lower section and ordered the trim piece required to make it look nice. i've ordered a chinese carplay unit for it ... i have one in the cayenne and it works perfectly ... also will have reversing camera... the good: its clean - and a wonderful zenith blue colour. very little wear on drivers seat and pretty much none on the PX - body is clean but with expected wear and tear for a 28 year old car ... not been smoked in (has the non-smokers pack). has had a headlight update done already - personal preference that i like the clear front end. everything works (expect the a/c), drives very smoothly, pulls strongly and no odd noises other than a bit of suspension creak (see above). being an early 996, 3.4, it has the dual row IMS bearing - not decided yet, but will prob replace it given it has 164k on it and no idea if its been done before ... took about 5 mins to get used to driving in an LHD on the roads here. the best thing about it - i only paid $30k for the car.

lovely colour combo and non smoking car is awesome - nothing worse than a stinky smoker/car

What a buy ... that really is a lovely colour, and sounds like a great car. Hope you keep posting a few update photos of the trip!!

Great looking car and price. I’m already looking forward to your updates and your driving experiences over in Europe that sounds like a great adventure

All Autos got a 3rd / centre radiator. If you can return the condensers (or cancel) have a look at https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/1504436-new-csf-high-performance-a-c-condensers-for-996-a.html I think they're cheaper too

Also on the radiators - did you try PWR radiators?

I wonder if it's plumbed for the transmission cooling/heating. My 968 had the transmission cooling system plumbed in that way

Thanks all - good to know about the 3rd rad being standard on tips, it’s just plumbed in parallel to the main rads- I’ve replaced both condensers and rads with fairly cheap Chinese made ones - not a perfect fit and needed a minor amount of fettling but happy to have replaced all 4 for under $500. bleeding thr rads was surprisingly easy - I’ve had lotus’ (exige s2 and 3 and Elise s1&2) for years and they are a total pain to bleed all the air out …. side point - will be selling thr s1 Elise soon - very heavily modified and quick (Honda k20a converted) let me know if there is any interest … Pulled a vacuum on the a/c system and it’s held vacuum for a day or so, so off to get it charged next …. looks like water pump hasn’t been done in a long time so will get one ordered with a lower thermostat. Also looks to have had a new starter motor recently … also glued in aluminium mesh to the openings in the bumper - I do this to the race cars too as have had stones go through a rad before that lunched the engine in less than 1 lap at QR. anyway - stereo also pulled out and moved climate to the lower dash- just waiting for the trim piece to arrive now - that was all pretty easy but finding the best route for the wiring was tricky… still waiting for CarPlay to arrive to install it. removed all the japenese parts that are for their etag system - uses a smart card for payment and has a gps antenna… anyway- the tip seems a little sluggish on change so will do a flush and filter change. It’s fine for what we’ll use the car for- but a manual swap is definitely on the cards when the car comes back to Aus …

Get a porsche genuine water pump and the low themostat will help protect your heads from overheating / cracking (known for 996.1) given the age of the car also consider, for your benefit, replacing the Y-Cable   a test is (1) is it slow to crank when hot? or before that stage (2) is the voltage low when the car is hot?  ie for me I get 14 volts when engine is just started / cold but on a 40 degree day stuck in traffic voltage is around 12.5-12.8 volts. Electron flow hates heat and old Y cables rust causing resistance and increased heat

thanks for the tip - although the car isnt suffering from any of those symptoms and given it has had the starter motor replaced i'm going to assume its been done already - although i'll poke my head in and take a look - it does have a slightly rough idle from cold start, feels like it might be missing a little ... the coil packs look oem though so have ordered a set. also ordered trans filter, water pump and low temp thermostat along with a complete suspension / control arm set ... i think the shocks could also do with replacing, but that'll have to wait until funds allow ... my loving wife has now imposed a limit on the number of cars i have - its one in one out from now ... although 9 cars between the two of us is probs a fair call ... my argument of 'race cars dont count' didnt fly

Rough idle could be a number of things including idle control valve (i think its called), MAF or a vacuum leak. You may also want to check how old the AOS is and replace it if older than 5 years.

thanks - the car had the MAF replaced prior to purchase, and i've not been looking forward to having to do the AOS or Oil cooler - does not look like a fun job with the engine still in ... IAC should be a fairly simple change tho - will try that after the COPs

One way you could possibly check vacuum leak due to AOS is undo the oil fill cap while the engine is running. If the idle stays the same, you very likely have a vacuum leak.

thanks for the tip - removing the oil filler cap definitely made it the idle more rough - will see what its like after a plug & coil change ... coils ordered end of last week from design911 and due to arrive today ! Had a/c re-charged on friday - took about 0.5kg of gas and is now chilly cold and stayed pressurised over the weekend- although getting little bits of foam in the face isnt great ... not looking forward to fixing that ... and there is a squeak behind the dash that needs investigation ... ugh ... hope they are not connected ... installed the carplay unit from aliexpress - ~$350 and was totally plug and play ... looks like a previous owner had bypassed the amp in the frunk and it has a bunch of high and low pass filters wired in - iphone connected easily and sound is excellent ... just have to wire in the reverse camera and will be done ... removed the candles that were advertised as headlights and installed H2 LED's for low and main beam - quite a lot of the wiring insulation was crumbling off in the headlights so had to spend some time depinning and putting heatshrink around the bare copper wires, assume this is just due to heat as the rest of the loom is fine. also installed LEDs for indicators and swapped in an LED compatible relay. will do brake / tail light LED's next ... speaking of brake - the brake pedal was much higher that the accelerator - made transition from accl to brake a little risky as foot would get caught on the edge of the brake pedal ... its adjustable tho at the master cylinder there is a threaded rod with a lock nut - adjusted that until the brake pedal was only just higher that the accelerator - but then the brake light switch was not contacting the arm any more so drilled a small hold in the end of the switch plunger and screwed in a small self tapping screw with a dome head to it contacts the, now further away, arm of the pedal ... and all is good. had a couple of drives over the weekend too - suspension control arm bushes are definitely clunking - have all new one coming and also ordered anti roll car bushes. and its been surprising to me how much poke the car has - for a 28 ish year old car it can really hussle ... daily drive is a gr yaris with a lichfield tune (320hp at all 4 wheels) and that thing can go ... the 996 isnt as urgent but it feels quite effortless to rapidly get upto speed ... once suspension and shocks are done (i think they might be OE items) it'll be a great fun car ...

anyone used DGR coilovers ? they are a sponsor of one of the series i race in and have to use them as control shocks - i've been impressed with them on the car for the price point - under $1500 for a set ... but need to get input from anyone who has used them ... springs are a standard size so can raid my spring box to change the rate - and they are easily available for swapping out ... anyway, a 17kg box arrived this week with all the suspension control arms, including inner and outer tie rods and swaybar droplinks... that'll be a fun job !

Yes Barry I had them on a 2000 Boxster S road / track car. I am sure they were the ST's iirc. They really transformed the handling and adjusted up well in all areas, lowered and stiffened the car immensely and felt pretty good to me but I'm no real racer. Quality looked great and seemed great to me, although I only did 1 good track day with them and about 5,000 road Ks, (mostly hills n mountains). Give them a shot, good budget buy me thinks

good to know - thanks ... replaced all the front suspension control arms over the weekend - pretty straightforward and an immediate improvement in sharpness / feel. all the control arms had 996 part numbers so am guessing they had never been changed - the new ones i have are 997 part numbers ... also ran a cable from the carplay unit to the rear bumper for reversing camera - that was a total pain ! done now though ... used the gromet for the main engine wiring harness. thats all i had time to do as have also commenced repainting the s1 elise - its had a lot of track time in its life and covered in stone chips so am giving it a lot of sanding and new paint ...

Nice work. Where did you get the replacement suspension parts from? OEM or aftermarket?

aftermarket, aliexpress ! was $1500 aud delivered for all control arms front and rear, swaybar droplinks, inner and outer steering tie rods - only thing left to buy was the sway bar bushes (ordered them from local supplier) to refresh everything that connects the hub to the chassis. there is no difference in weight between the 996 parts and so far they are dimensionally accurate with very nicely machined surfaces. it was offered to have laser etched logo on them, i suspect retailers will do this for significant markup. the nuts on replacement bolts even are the higher quality cone locks rather than basic nyloc type ... am impressed with it all so far ... time will tell how well the bushes / ball joints will last oh - i did do one other thing - replaced the main light switch with one from aliexpress too - while the oe worked, it was feeling very loose / sloppy clicking between off/side/main beams ... $28 well spent

Bargain! You'll need to let us know how these hold up.

i changed the tiptronic oil and filter over the weekend, oil was very grey and replaced it with some nice cherry red penrite atf-fs. ran upto temp and it took about 5 litres. i'll run the car for a few kilometers and do another oil flush - repco had 20% sale on penrite so grabbed a few bottles. the fill plug in the oil pan was another matter - i could not remove it ... its a 17mm hex / allen key bolt and it broke several tools with an 80cm breaker bar ... ended up drilling a 16mm hole in the plug and welding in a smaller steel tube with an m10x1.25 thread and a nicely surfaced outside end for the head of a bolt to seal against with a copper washer ... it certainly helps to have a workshop (tig and lathe in this case) with tools for this kind of thing ! also swapped out the coil packs (they looked oem) with some beru 997 coils - all good there and while a little fiddly to do it around the exhaust, it was easy enough, just made some 11mm spacers with a bit of 10mm ali tube to space off the head shields for the larger coil packs - and started replacing the rear control arms ... then ran outa time ... DGR coilovers arrive today so can finish the control arm install along with replacing sway bar bushes... unless any other suggestions, i'll go for the following geo: Front Camber: ideally would like -2° minimum, may need to slightly oval out the strut top holes to accommodate this. Front Toe: 0.5 mm toe-out (per side) Rear Camber: -2.2° Rear Toe: +2mm toe-in (per side) once suspension is done, then can do the thermostat and water pump, along with finishing reversing camera install and installing the steering wheel spacer that arrived - i can then just drive it !

@barrym to do such things, are you putting the car up on something?  do you have a hoist for example?  just wondering how i might dip my toe in car maintenance.  without ending up with a car crushing me.

while i do have a hoist, it is currently occupied by a 914 with a 1/2 built mallock mk33b (similar to a radical sports prototype) underneath it. all the work i'm doing here is just the car on jackstands extended as high as they will go with a piece of soft wood between jackstand and car - plenty of internet resources to suggest the jack stand points.. nothing about what i've been doing is complex - its all just nuts and bolts, some research and pretty basic tools ... although i must admit that the fill plug on the trans pan would have been a major road block if i was unable to fabricate a replacement ...

having said this - dropping the engine will be more painful without a hoist

progress made - strapped on the BG racing string alignment 'kit' ( B-G Racing - String Lines Kit ) to do a full geo ... its a great kit, and very accurate once setup right - just takes a bit of time to get nice square parallel string lines. front tow / camber was pretty straight forward - the front camber was way out - about -0.2 degrees ... but the show towers look to have been oval from the factory (no idea if this is normal) and moving both front shocks to full inboard position i get -2 degrees - a good start. toe was straight forward. rear was another story - normally you'd set camber first then toe - but as i now learn - setting camber also changes toe - so i ended up having to do the rears twice. the rear toe adjustment is VERY sensitive - the slightest movement on the toe bolt delivers quite a large change in toe ... anyway - ended up being able to get upto -2.9 degree camber, but i dialled it back a little from this. unfortunately when installing the rear control arms, i realised i was missing the rear sway bar drop links ... but i had a generic toe link kit on the shelf from another project and just needed to turn up some 50mm sleeves to make it all work - 20 mins on the lathe and tapped (left hand and right hand threads) and job is done. DGR shocks also arrived - got them installed without any drama, but i'm not happy with ride heights - its too low even on the highest safe setting. i'll have to fabricate some 20mm spacers to sit on top of the rear shocks, between the body and shock - this plenty of thread on the bolts in the top of the mount to allow for this. also need to turn up some spacers to sit on top of the front knuckle and shock. the kit provides some 16mm spacers for the fronts to have a 'high or low' mode, but with the street spec springs for comfort, its just too low for my linking... not an issue to fix, just be aware if you're ordering some then expect it quite low. a forum member put me in touch with someone who has a 3 spoke wheel for sale - ordered it and i await arrival ... i also got one of the steering wheel spacers to get the wheel closer to me - i'm 6'2" and like the wheel fairly close to me it works 'ok' now but legs are a little too bent ... went for a quick drive after all the changes and its super nice now - gear changes are SOOO much more improved, much crisper. turn in is excellent even the wife noted it felt very planted- wheel inputs are crisp and didnt notice too much tramlining. rear shock need to go a little stiffer (easily adjusted by pulling the inside carpet back a little to get to the shock top and it needs a little more rake but that is all just fine tuning. reverse camera now setup too, but its facing down a bit too much, just need to get on cad and 3d print up a wedge to angle the cam up a little. its directly above the number plate on the horizontal return part of the bumper. even managed to take some pics this time ... oh, and annoyingly i found the high pressure shrader valve for the a/c leaking very slightly - ugh ... ordered a new high and low side valve from design911, also noticed a very slight chain rattle on startup after its been sat for a while so ordered the ims chain tensioner as well ...

am nearing the end of the work i had planned for the 911 .. I had a local a/c place degas the system, swap over the new high and low pressure valves and re-gas it ... so all is good with a/c now swapped in the IMS chain tensioner - pretty straight forward job - lock the engine to TDC, locate the tensioner - about in the middle of the engine toward the front of the car near the gearbox - have to remove a couple of P clamps to allow a hose to flex out the way to get access with a 32mm socket - had an oil drain tray under it and about 500mm of oil came out - new tensioner had been sat in 500mm of new oil and gets installed - it was a bit fiddly to keep the tensioner pushed in while rotating it to get purchase on the threads but didnt take long. engine now starts from cold with no slight rattle ... the old tensioner had very little 'spring' left in it compared to the new one ... may have to do the others as well - that'll be fun ... i also need to scope into the cam covers to see the state of the chain guides ... that might be on the list ... swapped out the thermostat for the lower temp version and replaced water pump - both looked to never have been replaced... easy enough job - the video on FCP Euro helped a lot with this job. Did some investigation to a squeaky rattle under the dash on the passenger side - was really hoping it wasnt to do with the heater box flaps and i did find a screw missing from the lower part of the dash - replaced it and after a couple of drivers the noise didnt announce itself - soooo ... maybe its fixed ... started turning up some spacers for the shocks to raise the car a little more - ran out of time on that job, just needs a couple of hours on the lathe ...

oh - and the little negative pressure flaps that sit at the radiator exits (they stick down just in front of the front wheels) had been scraped many times - wasnt much left of them, so jumped into fusion360 and 3dprinted up some new ones: feel like there should be some ribs down the back to create a bit more scructure ... easy to print more up though now i have the models for it ...

added some ribs to the back of the flaps and printed them out in PETG with 70% infill ... (am using a flashforge 5m pro) took about an hour each to print and they 'feel' strong - may end up re-printing them in TPU for some fl exibility - will see how long these last ...

few more things fixed up ... 3dprinted the GT3 console delete - nothing special about the print, got it from here 986 GT3 Center Console Delete by XR4Y - Thingiverse took a while to print, epoxy glued it together (i printed it in two parts) and covered it in faux suede roof liner / carpet. I recently refreshed the headlining / carpet in the cayenne (the interior inc headliner is all black). the headlining has a foam backing and is a little stretchy which is needed as some of the compound curves are a little tricky to get a good coverage on. I also printed up a mounting bezel for the climate control to bolt to and extended the 16pin ribbon cable between the face and the rest of the box of electronics for the climate control - fairly straight forward to do although i made it more complicated by removing the crimp style ribbon connectors and soldering on sockets to both board and facia. also replaced the lcd screen as it had started to fail. Even with the controls at the top of the console i can still see it easily enough from the driving position, its just a slight lean forward to adjust them - but its not like they get adjusted much once set at my ideal temp. i'm a tallish bloke and like the steering wheel fairly close to me, so bought the wheel extension 'kit' that ended up shipping from italy i think ... anyway, installed that along with a 987/997 steering wheel i found on gumtree for $100 including airbag. it was from a manual car so installed the merc/amg shift paddles, wired it all up and used the vag/vw adapter spline to make it all fit. the wheel is lightish grey while the rest of the interior is dark grey but its not too far off and i much prefer the 3 spoke look and feel. airbag was easy - the 987/997 wheel is a 2 stage airbag. one of the stages is the same as the single stage airbag with a second stage on its own cable for smaller / lower G impacts. the connectors are the same for the single stage so plugged it all together and ran a scan via piwis - all is good. the steering wheel is a little further from the stalks now but still reachable with my long fingers. the closer wheel coupled with the gt3 console is a huge difference in comfort and dont feel like my knees are about to impeded access to the steering wheel - just have to model up and print a tray to sit in front of the shifter for somewhere to put my phone - may as well also include a wireless charging pad too ... The ignition switch was sometimes not allowing the key to be replaced, so ordered a replacement and fitted that too ... went in through the top by removing the dash cluster - not too hard just a little tricky to get hands into a small space ... i'm also waiting on a parcel from pelican parts - been nervous about the cam chain guides for the variocam assembly as the engine looks to never have been opened - i've also no idea about the IMS replacement although its an m96/01 5 chain engine so has the more sturdy bearing style from factory. I have ordered all the necessary 'stuff' to replace the chain guides including the cam timing tools and a bunch of service parts like RMS, AOS and Oil cooler and will assess the IMS while i'm in there. more fun to come !

Can I suggest you look at Quadlock for your phone? https://www.quadlockcase.com.au/collections/shop-car/products/adhesive-dash-console-car-mount I mounted mine on top of the dash just to the left of the instrument binnacle as I much prefer to glance across to my phone rather than down.  I didn't run wireless charging, but the wire for that could be neatly wired to come out under the binnacle.  I ran these in 996.1 GT3 and 996.1 C2. Being a LHD car of course you'll have to put it to the right if the binnacle. I started out with one of these ( https://www.quadlockcase.com.au/collections/shop-everyday/products/home-office-desk-mount ) mounted to the little cover plate a GT3 has down in from of the gear lever, but it was too distracting having to look down when using maps etc, and I was much happier with the dash mount.

One of the better phone holders I’ve come across for the 996 was this one

thanks - dont need to see the phone as the carplay head unit does that well - its just somewhere to put the phone to charge it

Quotes source post: 411017

Do you have more details on this part? Where did you hide the rest of the electronics?

rest of the electronics are mounted under the px airbag - this is a 996.1 so i dont have a glovebox. there are a few places it could mount and just needs appropriate ribbon cable length to make it work ... i'll get a pic of the climate control mount - i just cut a couple of slots in the gt3 console to make it fit ...

Quotes source post: 411024

Now I understand the need for the longer ribbon cable! Had thought it may somehow fit behind the vertical braces against the firewall...

Yep- there is almost no space behind the console to mount the box of electronics and is why the bezel is not flush with the console as you can see in the pic. The second pic in the desk is a rough cut version to make sure it worked before fitting … just needs 3 longer screws to go through the console, then bezel and into the stock location/holes in the control facia …

all the parts (including special tools) arrived for replacing the variocam pads - somthing i've been concerned about but had no evidence of cam deviation .. took the opportunity to do a bunch of other maintenance while the engine was out like AOS, Oil cooler, RMS etc the part that got me was the special tool for compressing the variocam actuator i thought was just a long m5 bolt ... its not, well, it is, but its left hand threaded ... so jumped on the lathe and made one ... pic below are the pads from a 156,000 km engine - the one with little to no wear is from the top of the actuator, the bottom pad is significantly worse ... there were very small chunks of it in the sump - not many and not large, but enough ... the oil filter had a couple of small chunks, again not many ... and no silver / brassy bits ... also got my endoscope camera up into the bores - no scoring ... not surprising though given its an early cable throttle car with iron liners the main timing chain guides are great - no wear at all ! but will replace the tensioners anyway ... dropping the engine was not hard - took about 4 hours but with the first time it always takes longer - i think it'd take about 2-3 hours. the insides are surprisingly clean !

oh - and in picking up some single use bolts from porsche dealer in newstead the below car was just chilling in the service area ... not seen one outside Zuffenhausen !

Bank 2 variocam pad swap went much smoother / faster after having figured it all out on bank 1 ... there is a trick to holding the cams at a particular angle / height where having 4 - 5 hands would be quite useful ... but not essential. a dab of engine assembly grease / lube on the exhaust lifter buckets help keep them in place while you arrange the cams back into their slots. using the timing special tools made timing up both sides seem almost too easy and had me questioning if i'd done it right ... gearbox went back on easily enough with new flywheel / flex plate bolts and engine slotted back in its hole. everything connected back up and dropped about 8L of oil into it. started up first few rotations and seemed ok ... shut it off and filled with coolant and tried again - all seems ok, nothing leaking ... so more oil went (upto around 9.5L now) in and continued with warming up and topping up with coolant ... but bank 2 had a bit of a concerning sewing machine tappety noise ... wasnt terrible, but much louder than bank1 ... it was at temp and end of day so shut it down and went inside for a well earned glass (or several) of red wine and steak ... had family stuff to do on sunday but was thinking through how to swap out lifters without dropping the engine again ... got home and had to load up trailer for a race next weekend then got back onto the 911 ... startup was fine ... no tappet noises, bank 2 sounded the same as bank 1 ... let it get upto temp - still fine ... gave it some revs ... still all good ... so - question is - were the lifters just not full of oil yet - was the assembly lube blocking up a lifter fill hole and it needed heat cycling to 'melt out' the assembly lube ... ?? other theories ? new brake discs went on and ran outa time ... next will be driving it, following by stainless brake lines and fitting the the Endless MX72 brake pads i'm waiting to arrive from japan - they are made to order so about a 2 month wait ... thats fine as the pads in the car are 'ok' but just texstar brand. the endless pads from japan are only about $450 landed for a full set... i use Endless mx52 pads in the race car and they are prob the best pad ive tried on track ... grabby from cold and very little fade with appropriate cooling ... and no squealing when cold ! the mx72 is just slightly lower temp range so should be just as good, if not better, from cold. oh, and cam pads we just a little worse on bank2 - the one with oil holes had a little more gouging in the middle of the pad as well as the tram lines on the outside ... all up - very glad i did them and definitely somthing you should look at doing if yours have not been done on a 100,000+ km 996. its not a hard job and its all just nuts and bolts. defs an easier car to work on than some of the others i have and made much easier by how easy it is to drop the engine. now i've done it once, i think it'd be able to be done in a long weekend ...

I ordered MX72 pads from Japan too (Black Hawk Japan?). Made to order.  Just a heads up.  They initially said 2 months, then after 2 months I asked and I was told another 2 months.   After 1 month (so 3 in total) I asked for progress and was told another 2 months (so talking 6 in total) and they were very sorry. They were then delivered 3 days after that last message. So 3.5ish months all tolled for me. Worth it as it was $300 or so cheaper than vsport here.

Quotes source post: 411164

yep - from black hawk ... i've not had delay issues like that before tho... i think i've ordered 4 or 5 sets of the mx52's and all have been in the 2 month window ... will see how these pan out tho ... and yes, huge cost saving over local suppliers ... if it was only a few $ then i'd get local for the ease of access - but $300 ... nope ...

had the opportunity to put a few kms on the car since buttoning it all back together, along with some new brake discs (bosche fronts and rda rears). i was particularly looking at comfort of both suspension and ergonomics  ... firstly, the DGR suspension 'standard' spring rates are definitely too high - i put the front springs (6kg rate) on the rear and bough some new 5kg springs for the front - setting dampers to full soft and its now good - well, it received the tick of approval from my wife so i count that as good. its firm, about the same as my GR Yaris, but isnt harsh on high frequency bumps. adding in the 12mm spacers makes it now look the part too. i set ride height to 675mm to the rear arch and 665 to the front arch (10mm rake) and it feels sharp with a nice crisp turn in and no understeer ... need to get on a private road / track to see where oversteer limit is. the GT3 lower console makes a HUGE difference to ergonomics - i dont feel like my right shin is constantly applying pressure to get to the accelerator - much better. i assume a similar feeling in an RHD car would be experienced with clutch pedal ? the steering wheel is great, along with the spacer to bring it closer to me means my knees are no longer an issue to the bottom of the wheel, although the indicator / wiper stalks are just a little too far away now ... might need to do some 3d printing to fix that ... AMG paddles work perfectly and feel positive. The engine - given the amount of wear on the variocam pads, i'm gonna make an assumption the cam deviation was quite poor- it didnt feel like a slouch before, but its SOO much quicker to accelerate past 3500/4000ish rpm now - its smooth (i replaced a bunch of O rings and rubber vacuum hoses) and sounds great ... but - seats ... neither wife or I like the toombstone seats ... i feel like i'm sitting on top of them with little to no bolster support around my ribs or thighs. i saw someone put a set of toyota 86 seats in a boxster and liked the idea, but finding a pair in good condition was seeming to be difficult, so after a chunk of research as to what will fit, I ordered a set of these: nzkw.com.au/products/grand-tourer-recliner-bucket-seat-pair-left-right in black alcantara- i was looking at the recaro sr3 or sr4 that i know will fit, but just dont like the recaro lettering on the headrest, these are slightly narrower (5mm) than the recaro, so should be fine, along with ADR approved rails. will see how it goes fitting them ! I'd also like it to have a better exhaust note, so have ordered some exhaust tube along with vacuum actuated butterfly valves and will do the fister? mod to partially bypass the muffler(s) being switchable from inside the car. i dont have positive experience with electric butterfly valves, particularly in the high heat area the exhausts are in with little airflow, so chose the vacuum version .. this next stage might take a little while to get done as have to make some race car suspension changes - vid below shows how i have better brakes and corner exit speed, but i'm suffering a little mid corner understeer and am picking up the inside wheel a little too much (not allowed an LSD in this series).

If you are after normal seats, see if you can get your hands on a pair of 981 Sport Plus seats (elephant ears) (manual up down/ forward rear/ electric recline). These are extremely comfortable, and look like they were meant for the car. They are so much better than the standard comfort seats, but definitely not as good as buckets for tracking...

I absolutely agree with you that the centre console delete option on the 996 like in the GT3 is fantastic.  I am well over 6 foot and this change was the single greatest improvement to driver comfort in the car. I also agree that the 996 seats are not perfect.  I bought a set of the sports seats with improved bolsters and restored them however they were not any better than the standard seats for comfort or for bolstering despite their much larger side bolsters, so I quickly sold them and don't advocate them as option to consider. I daily a car with SR4 Recaros and while I love them and they are super comfortable, they are are more aggressive style seat, the padding is by no means supple or soft and getting in and out of them is for many people a hassle that they quickly tire off.  Recaro make versions with lower bolsters on the base which for many are a better option, for example these SR-C BK 100: Or these more understated Sportster seats If you haven't committed financially to other options I would consider having a look at 997/987 and 991/981 seats. I have a set of 997 adaptive sports seats fitted to my 996 and they are a massive improvement.  They provide excellent comfort and support. I have driven 997 and 987s and even the standard seats in them I found to be an improvement over the 996 seats. I would advocate trying some 997 seats for comfort and seeing if they are an alternative for you.  Whatever you do though avoid the fully electric seats with memory option.  These are a serious hassle to install in a 996 and unless you are a skilled auto electrician will cost a lot to get installed.  However, the partially electric seats which have a manual slider mechanism and are powered just for rake and height adjustment, without the memory function, should be simple to install and should just require a swap of plugs.  The memory function on fully electric seats is what causes the hassle as the memory function wants to access to the cars main computer and will refuse to function until it reads a 997 computer.  In order to make them work you have to hack into the electrics before the memory module in the seat and wire the functions manually.  PRT in Sydney did mine and they were frustrated by how difficult it is to wire up and anecdotally I have heard they refuse to do this job again. So definitely only look at partially electric 997 and 991 seats.  ( There is a thread on doing this on this forum ) Seating is highly personal choice so make sure you sit in and ideally drive a car with whatever option you go with. An easy way to improve the sound of a 996 is to fit an aftermarket air filter or CAI kit.  It will do nothing for performance but the induction noise a kit can provide is a nice rorty sound.  I already had a full sports exhaust system and the additional noise of fitting a CAI was still a noticeable improvement that made the sound more throaty.

thanks for the above! and, well - turns out i'm still waiting for a couple of parts to arrive for the race car, so had some time to get a seat installed. the seats arrived from nzkw very quickly (2 or 3 days) - the mechanisms on either side of the seat were protected in foam otherwise they we just in plastic wrap and in the box. nothing damaged and got measuring - i got some universal sliders from Crank motorsport that also arrived quickly and are well priced. both seat and rails are ADR approved. with the rails mounted to the seat the width between holes (side to side) is 404mm and 325 front to back. this works very well for the porsche mounting holes (i think are 410mm apart) and meant the 25mm wide 5mm thick flat bar i had works perfectly to only need the 2 flat bars. approx 30degree down kink at the front, some holes drilled, captive nuts welded onto the flat bar, some satin black enamel paint and seat is mounted. only had time to get the drivers seat done and its tight. it fits and i can slide the seat further back than i need and forward far enough for the wife to drive, but the plastic covers over the reclining mechanisms are touching the tunnel and sill. not with a lot of pressure, but touching. The seats need a bit of wearing in and are quite firm, will see how that goes over time. otherwise, pretty happy with the results

both seats now fitted and have done a few kms in the car ... and i'm not sure about them ... they do a great job of holding you in place with the base and side bolsters, helped by the Alcantara, but ...  they are quite firm and as low as i can get them i'm still sitting a little too high ... perhaps should have done this in the first place, but have contacted a few wreckers to get pricing on a pair of 981 or 987 seats ...

I found the 981 Sport Plus seats are the best compromise for comfort, while still being foldable so you can get into the back of the car...

Quotes source post: 411381

Turn them into an office chair for the home office!!

I sat in Andrew's car and you really do get Shawty Lo in the 981 seats compared to the 996 stools.

Quotes source post: 411396

I can second this.  I am six foot four and when I put the 997 seats in my 996 and put them in the lowest setting I had a noticeable improvement in head room.

have sourced some 987 seats - now to figure out how to get them to qld ... from vic 😕 anyway - did some work on exhausts - i've been wanting to make it a little louder, but not a perm fister? mod that connects muffler in/out together ... but this seems like a good way to make a bit of noise, not spend a fortune and i was sure there was enough room to fit a butterfly valve in there ... and the answer is yes ... there is ... but it wasnt easy ... i sourced 2" valves but while there is room (just) for the valve there really isnt enough room for the 2" piping, so i stepped it down to 1.5" and tig welded in over the weekend ... everything fits as it should and just waiting for some silicon vacuum tube to show up so i can connect it to a switchable valve, run a couple of wires upto the cabin and have them on a switch to make noise at my leisure ... adding in a straight 1.5" pipe would have been SOOOO much easier ... and if i were to do it again, i'd find some 1.5" valves ...

A thought regarding shipment. When I had to get an engine from Geelong to Canberra I spoke to the salesman of a removal company. Because I wasn't in a rush to get the engine they found a truck that had spare space from Geelong to Sydney and put in the back and then it sat in their Sydney depot for a couple of weeks until a truck to Canberra had space and they delivered it to my mechanic.  Ended up being a really cheap option as they were just using spare space so didn't charge me the full whack. Otherwise I have used this freight company as have friends of mine and we have been satisfied with their service and price. https://www.e-go.com.au/ But make sure the seats are wrapped up in blankets as the leather is really easy to damage.

I sent a pair of seats from Adelaide to Sydney with Pack and Send. They were really good and boxed up the seats for me. Couldn't tell you how much it was, but I don't think it was too bad

thanks - have used e-go before with success ... tnt also seem like a well priced option ...

e-Go much better and half the price. Pack and send are highway robbers

Quotes source post: 411450

You can get a proper PSE 996 switch from Porsche if you want to put it in the horseshoe.  I had that on my Greg Bailey sourced switchable cans.  One thing is that it's a gloss black finish rather than the satin finish on the others.

right - Nick at Das Nine has arranged shipping for a couple of 987 seats for me ... they need recovering, which is fine as it'd be great to have 'new seat' leather without buying new seats. LSeat in the US sells new leather for them and while it looks a bit fiddly to do, its certainly not rocket science and gives an option to choose seat colour ... i've always been a sucker for peanut butter coloured seats ... i really like the mk1 Audi TT i had with the baseball edition peanut butter leather ... more decisions to make, but first to get them in the car and make sure i like the feel.

997 /987 seats installed and are much better for my height - I’m 6’2” with a long body so need all the headroom I can get - the 997 seats get me about 25mm lower (ish) which is a big help- the seats are much better condition than I was expecting but left hand seat does need some new leather on the base - now to desire on reskinning both in new leather or just fix the base - the right hand seat is great … just power wires to swap over to the seat to enable the recline function !

If you're in Sydney - Try Autolux at Auburn.  They seem like they do a fair bit of work around leather interior repairs

decided that the skinned knuckles is prob worth the pain and ordered new leather covers for both front seats in a dark tan with black stitching from Lseat

3 and a bit weeks later and the new seat leather has arrived ! very happy with the colour (dark tan with black stitching) and quality looks good. had a crash at racing a couple of weeks ago so have been focussed on rebuilding that car ready for an endurance race this weekend - then i can pull the seats out the 911 and start the recovering process.

interested to see how the LSEAT product looks.

this is the dark tan leather ... i have a few days off this / next week so will try and get one (or both) of them recovered ... have hog rings, snips, gloves etc and have watched this a couple of times - some good hints in here i think  ... will see how it goes !

both seats now re-covered ... i'm really happy with the results, the pics dont really do them enough justice ... i've not taken any heat to the leather yet - the wrinkles you see should all stretch out with a hair dryer - the colour in the pics (from an iphone) look a bit orange - in reality its more a brown/tan colour. was it hard ? nope ... not even that many tools needed for it, mostly its working out how the seats come apart without breaking anything to get the old covers off, then repeating the steps backwards to get the new covers in place, there is a bit of stretching the leather out and squashing the foam in to get some of the clips in place, and a 3rd hand would be useful - but i did them both solo and took my time doing it over a few nights watching tv .. you'll need a set of hog ring pilers and new hog rings, otherwise the smell of new leather is great and they are super comfortable - the leather is soft and supple as opposed to the old 997 leather than had gone quite shiny ... all up from my experience I would recommend Leather Seat Covers | Custom Leather Interior | Replacement Seat Covers | Lseat.com in other news - i've found a manual gearbox in the UK for the right price, so ordered it along with all the rest of the parts needed to manual swap it ... gbox from a 997 with slightly shorter ratios, gear mechanism is on the other side of the box compared to the 996 (no issues, just run the cables to the other side). have found all the rest of the parts, mostly in the USA for good prices - all up will be between 6 and 7k for all the parts needed + my time to do the swap ... i'll just drop the engine again rather than trying to deal with trying to shimmy the box in and out ... now just wait 4-6 weeks for parts to arrive !

Will you recover the back seats to match? Those seats look magnificent. We spend almost all our time with a car sitting in the drivers seat so those new to you seats will improve your visceral pleasure alot. Would love to see some follow up pictures after you have hit them with some heat from the hair dryer.

not sure about the back seats yet - the cost was the same for the rear leather as the front and didnt seem particularly good value so decided to just do fronts and see if it annoyed me enough with the rears in the oem covers ... quite possibly yes ...

Quotes source post: 411874

Perhaps you can set up a search on EBay as the rear seats for the 996 and 997 turn up fairly regularly and you might pick up a close match second hand?

parts are starting to arrive for manual swap - clutch, flywheel bolts, driveshaft and a few other small parts. the seller pulled out of sending the 997 gearbox from the UK (i think it was too much hassle for him to bother with) and refunded me so i found a 996 gearbox from a seller in Latvia - concerning ... yep ... transacted through ebay and paypal though so have a good layer of protection there, and within a few hours a notification from fedex that it had been picked up and was in transit ... seems like its air freighting as reports to be arriving by early november ... $6500 for box and shipping.  will have to pay import on top of that - but still much cheaper than anything found locally ... have ordered the 2nd gear detent fix/band-aid for it ... will see what its like when it arrives, may also do LSD on it as they seem quite cheap for a basic torsion version ... assuming it not got one already ... i think i have all the rest of the parts needed on the way - not 100% settled on how to deal with the flashy lights that will be left on the dash ... will prob replace the dash face and just 'disable' the leds on the circuit ...

Love your 'can-do' attitude. Keep up the great work 👍