Advice on where to find info on retrofit tequipment

Hi! Just bought my first Porsche MY02 996 C4 Arctic Silver 20,000 miles with various factory options: Carrera Side Skirts Sports seats Litronic headlights Bose sound system Rear wiper 18" Carrera wheels A Carrera rear spoiler has been added since it left the factory. I'd like to upgrade the specification and have been searching for various resources to help me to it cost efficiently! I have obtained the pdf guides from Porsche TechInfo on 996 and Tequipment: https://techinfo.porsche.com/techinfo/ But it would be very helpful to have the relevant TSB documents too. Keeping things concise: 1. What is the best route to obtain TSB documents? 2. Does the Aerokit Cup II front apron differ to the standard C4 facelift? How - they look exactly the same as mine! 3. Are there different versions of PCM1? Some have telephone buttons. It's great to be able to discuss things on a dedicated forum without the feeling of being walletraped at an OPC parts desk

Welcome! Looks a great car- nice xmas pressie... You can get the tsb's I think, off a site called renntech once you've paid a sub. What sort of upgrades are you planning?

Hi! I saw a list of the TSBs here: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?autocom=tsbs&code=carrera But no download options. It would seem that by shopping around and knowing the part numbers of the items required, some of these options need not cost the Earth! In no relevant order: Sports exhaust - need to find out about the solenoid/dash switch thingy. PCM - need to find out if there are different versions of PCM1 with phone module and if my car with BOSE system has the MOST-bus and can take PCM2. Sports suspension and uprated anti-roll bars. Aerokit Cup II rear spoiler - need to find out what happens with my 3rd brake light in the current spoiler and whether it goes back into the space uner the rear screen. GT3 front spoiler lip (black) - need to find out if it fits my current front apron. GT3 mk2 wheels 18x8/11. With a lot of these things, the sale of the parts being replaced should reduce the cost of the upgrade. I'm assuming that the resale value will be slightly enhanced by the presence of these items, so long as they are fitted by specialists and use genuine Porsche parts. What's your view on Aerkit Cup II enhanced cars?

Welcome City Knight As long as a Porsche specialist fits the parts correctly, it's a job done, you dont necessarily need an OPC. PCM can be retrofitted or a better single DIN unit can be added, e.g. Becker Traffic Pro range You can get good deals on the fitment of Porsche Sports Exhaust from OPC's

Sounds interesting. Is that just a regular good price or an offer from a certain OPC?

Kind of varies from each at time of the year, but even non-OPC's can install the 'same' PSE for less You have an interesting shopping list PCM1, only one version with a Tape Player, PCM II has a CD

Right, I'm going to spend half a night looking through various older threads - there are plenty on the PSE and it would seem that having it switchable is a good idea. Thanks for answering my newbie questions so politely Chris

AeroKit II Front Bumper is different

I paid £1495 all in for a PSE from Northways, a Berks based specialist. I dare say if you were handy with a socket set you could fit it yourself, but fitting the switch is the complicated/labour-rich bit. Also, I've found that OPCs (Reading in my case) have been surprisingly competitive, and will do good deals/price match. PCGB membership gives 10% off too. Don't bother with PCM1. You can't get the discs anymore- either go single din, e.g. Becker Cascade, or if you want a screen, try a Pioneer AVIC. Your car (assuming its a 2001) will not have MOST, so the world is your oyster with regard stereo upgrade.

Great.. Now have the TSB with parts lists and a choice of places in Europe to buy both new and used genuine Porsche parts from PCM seems tricky - to live with and use there are far better systems than PCM1, but for resale PCM1 is more desirable. Lots of naively optimistic teenagers spend thousands thinking they'll get their money back selling to an equally enthusiastic enthusiast, but is it not slightly different with Porsche Tequipment? What are people's opinions on by how much these options increase the resale value of the car: 1. Full Aerokit Cup II, GT3mk2 wheels, Sports suspension. 2. Switchable sports exhaust. 3. PCM1 satnav. Looks like I have a minimum £10k shortfall to a 997 whenever I sell so don't want to eat into that too much, but there is a lot of satisfaction in the upgrade process

In my opinion, the options don't really affect the price that much. You certainly won't get back what you pay. It makes the car more desirable and easy to sell, but a low owner, low mileage example will make a bigger difference on resale. If there's any difference in price, I would say that you're looking at absolute tops a £1k difference dealer purchase and potentially a £500 difference for a trade-in....but I would suggest that this is pushing it somewhat. I'd also say that PCM1 would potentially reduce the value of the car, because it only has a radio cassette option and no CD (except the 6 disk changer). PCM1 is so bad and out of date, that it's not worth having.