Back in Black (Gen 2 C2 Coupe)

Hello again 911UK from a returnee, After a good few years in the transaxle wilderness I have bowed to my flat 6 urges and traded in my 968 Sport for a 996 C2. As good a car as the 968 is, and with M030 and a ATB is was a B-road weapon, I had missed that engine from my previous 993 C4, and it was a little impractical. Obviously getting another 993 was out of the question now, as I am not a lottery winner/Tory donor, but the 996 has always been on my radar. Criminally underrated for years in my opinion, and hence a relative bargain against the rest of the range, so I started looking for a well kept low mileage example. I wanted some driving purity so had to be a C2, a coupe, and with a manual box, but also wanted a Gen 2 as I prefer the interior. And who doesn't like a more powerful engine? After a few dead ends my particular car appeared at Northway, in Reading. 2001 with one owner, 61k mls, and been back to OPC Reading every year since for serving and MOT. Exactly what I was looking for, plus with hardback seats, sunroof delete, and black with black interior. My original plan was to just kick the tyres, have a test drive and see how I felt about it, then go home and make a rational decision. Of course that did not happen. I went around the test route three times and came back grinning like the Cheshire Cat and with veins full of adrenaline. It helped happening upon a guy in an also black 996 turbo where we did something silly along the dual carriageway together... Ahem. In the meantime Ray had looked around my car and proposed me a PX figure that was only a small tap to one testicle rather than the expected toe punt to both, and a deposit was paid. Currently the car is still with Northway as Ray is doing their usual sterling pre-sale prep work that includes the routine IMS/RMS replacement, service, new clutch, new Miltek exhausts, fix weeping aircon, and anything else they happen upon. Northway have an outstanding reputation and Ray is a genuine nice guy and Porsche fan so I am confident any problems will be addressed before collection. At the same time I have also asked them to fit PCCM+ because once you have had DAB and Spotify you cannot go back to FM ever again! Of course I plan to do some upgrades over the next few months, mostly because I can't help myself... I had put a lot of expense and effort into my 993's suspension and had great success with M033 springs, Koni FSDs, Poweflex bushes all round, and RS engine mounts and shift kit. I think a similar route with the 996 would work well again, plus the 968 has taught me value of an ATB so will probably go with the Wavetrac unit over my previous Quaife. The car currently has the Carrera 5 spoke wheels which, whilst correct for the model I am not a great fan of, as in my opinion they have too large gaps. I don't want to walk up to my car and notice the rusty disc hubs and cruddy inner rims. I am thinking some black GT3s would be rather nice. I am hoping to collect later this week and am really quite excited. Back in Black!

Sounds great buy, welcome back, best colour combo too

Sounds good although conventional wisdom nowadays is don't replace the IMS bearing unless it is showing signs of wear, just take off the outer oil seal. If they haven't already done the bearing, I would ask them about this and get them to take off the seal whether or not they change it.

Lovely looking car.

Looks great, looking forward to the updates :thumb:

I just bought a set of gt3 wheels for my 996.2 Carrera 2 and had similar thoughts, but no matter how many pictures online I've looked at, the only colour that stood out was silver, in my opinion obviously, that is what I went with, and could not be happier

Thank you all for the welcome. Do you have any pictures? Also a black car? I was playing with the Teile car and wheels configurator. https://teile.com/en/porsche-wheels-configurator?model=3&version=20&color=1&rims=383&bg=2

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Seal grey, I wish it was black. There is a black gt3 on autotrader and with silver wheels it looks stunning. I think with black wheels you completely loose the design, if I was you darkest I'd go would be gunmetal or something. I'm after some coilovers for mine now, it's on stock suspension, so a bit high for my liking

Welcome back! Great spec of car and fantastic plans for it!

That's really nice! Seal Grey is a great 996 colour. You also have the aero sills which adds to the look. I guess maybe you are right and silver is the way forward. M030 springs with their 10mm drop and Koni SAs are now on my radar...

You can paint your disc hubs. Dead easy and makes such a difference... you might also find the existing inner rims come up better with some fallout and tar remover, and a good clean up.

Thank you, I was after a dark color, but hey ho. Suspension wise, I'm leaning towards ohlins, Mat Watson from car wow did a video on his 996.1 and praised them a lot so I try them at some point. It would be nice to throw the whole gt3 style aero on, but I don't know if it's worth it

Be wary of Ohlins, the standard Road and Track springs are far too stiff for UK roads, do a search on this site for more info, several threads. Konis seem the preferred option for road use. Also talk to Center Gravity.

Exe TC coilovers look amazing. I think they were working on a 996 set. They understand that compliance is needed on the road. Probably make Ohlins look cheap though...