Decided that since it's been 5+ years (only 11k miles tho) I might as well change the cabin air filter. Turns out it was fairly dirty
Replaced it with a Hengst charcoal one, same part # as the 997's.
Decided that since it's been 5+ years (only 11k miles tho) I might as well change the cabin air filter. Turns out it was fairly dirty
Replaced it with a Hengst charcoal one, same part # as the 997's.
Met a friend for lunch, then put the car up for the season. I gotta work next weekend and then it's the middle of November. Made a list of off season tasks for the car, none are really earth shattering. Biggest one is pull the front brake calipers and rebuild them. Several places have the parts for cheap, like $35/caliper but they're out of stock. The places that have the parts in stock are more like $75/caliper. Will wait to see if the cheaper places restock or not...
Emailed Zeckhausen racing and they referred me to a shop that has the rebuild kits in stock for $35 each, so $70 total. Will go that way vs the $500 + shippingboth ways to get them rebuilt/refinished. Don't really see the point in getting the calipers refinished until I retire the car from track use.
It also snowed this morning, so good timing on my part on getting the car up on the lift...
Did an oil change yesterday. Walmart was completely out of M1 0w40, in fact they were out of all kinds of oil. Weird. The rennlist guys recommend M1 5w50, so I found that at my local NAPA and did an oil change on the car yesterday. Noted that the turbo oil tank on the passenger side had a small weep/leak. When I removed the drain plug there didn't look to be a gasket on it. Hmmm. The drivers side also came out without a gasket but I saw that it was still stuck to the tank. I pulled that one off and then discovered I only had 1 more new gasket. I reused the one old one and will order a bunch and replace it later.
I also ordered the brake caliper rebuild kits, so in a week or so I should have all the parts I need.
Got the front caliper rebuild kit. After some thought I decided to buy the Numeric short shifter and cables from the same local guy I bought my MCS coilovers from. It was a fair price, no shipping, no waiting. They have the motorsport ends on them, so no plastic bushings and also no silicone isolation sleeves. He did mention they make a little gear noise, Numeric mentioned the same. I figure I'll just install them and see, if I think they're too noisy I'll call Numeric and order the street rod ends/plastic bushings/isolation sleeves.
So I guess I've got one more thing to install and play with this off season. I'm thinking the length adjustment should be basically bang on though, as they came out of the same car as mine...
If the nvh-reducing bits aren't too much $$$ I think I'd get them so you don't have to go back in. I put a noisy shifter in something and wish I could fix it
In reply to jfryjfry :
They're not but access is really quick and easy...
Pulled all the belly pans off and replaced two partially stripped axle bolts on the left front. I did it while trying to torque them in place after the coilover install. My allen key socket broke, my other one was stripped, etc, etc. Anyways, new bolts in, torqued and marked.
Then I checked out the shifter cables. The cables go into the cabin through a large rubber grommet, that apparently is a real PITA to get seated again. Everyone with an awd 996 complains about access.
Yep, the cardan shaft is in the way, see the green and white cables up against the body? Those are the shifter cables.
What I don't understand is why nobody mentions removing the cardan shaft. It's literally three bolts. Because if you do, this is the access you have to that body plug
You can literally reach up and grab it now. I stopped here as it was late afternoon and I wanted to clean up the garage a little bit. Next step is popping the cable ends off the shift forks on the transmission, then going inside the car to take out the center console and swap over the shifter and cables.
Went after the Numeric shifter and cables today. First I popped the cables off the transmission.
I'd forgotten what a fiddly b!tch the center console is. Ugh. Anyways, remove the center console, then pop the cables off the current shifter.
Then unbolt the e-brake and set it out of the way. The shifter cables route underneath it and this also gives access to the body plug.
4 10mm bolts hold the shifter in place, it's an easy swap for the Numeric one
Lube up the body grommet with some WD40, then using a large flat head screwdriver, shove it through from inside the cabin.
It's hard to push the cables through the hole in the body, you need to feed one end through at a time and really wiggle it.
Eventually they come off though. Now you need to cut the body plug off the stock cables
Put the grommet onto the Numeric cables and get it back into place. This wasn't too hard but was a little fiddly to do. I got it almost all the way in, then went inside the car to get it totally seated
Now go underneath the car and hook the cables up to the transmission, making sure they're long enough to reach every position the shift fork goes to. I got lucky since these came out of a 996 turbo and the lengths were correct for my car. Next go into the car, attach the cables to the shifter, tighten all the jam nuts up and check to make sure you can hit every gear. Now start putting everything back together again.
Did I mention the center console is a b!tch to play with? It also took me awhile to get the Function First shift knob lined back up again. There's an allen bolt on top of it that you can adjust the height of that lets you properly clock the knob. That took me awhile to dial in. Eventually got it all done tho and everything back together. Then went underneath the car to reinstall the cardan shaft, bracket and all the belly pans.
Checking more tasks off the off season list. I folded over the right front fender lip, somehow it'd gotten pulled out. Totally baffled how that happened but a heat gun and rubber mallet fixed it quickly.
Then next task was dealing with the weather stripping on the EvoMS intake. It uses it to seal against the decklid and it had delaminated. I tried a little silicone to glue it back together but all that succeeded in doing was making a mess. So off to Amazon where I ordered something that looked similar...
Happily the molding I bought works perfectly and really seats firmly onto the intake surround. I'd had to drill some holes and use zip ties to hold the old molding in place around a few contours, now I don't. Works great!
Next up was dealing with the turbo oil tank drain plugs. I'd been fighting an oil leak there for a bit, last time I went in, checked for the old O rings, replaced one and put them back together. Noticed today a drip of oil on the right turbo oil tank drain plug. Sigh. Luckily I'd just gotten a bunch of new gaskets the other day. So pulled out the drain plug on both sides and a gasket came off with the drain plug. Hmm. I wonder.... Took a pick and was able to pull out *another* gasket from both tanks. Doh! So I put in new gaskets and hopefully that does it. Look at how bad these old ones were...
Have a few more things to do, I want to replace the dust boots on the front brake caliper pistons, which I'll do in the Spring when I flush the brake fluid.
I've been debating doing the Martini Livery on the car. The base color for those race cars was silver, like mine. I think it would make the car look different, not another silver 996. Friend who's done graphics for me in the past (M3, KTM's, etc) is down to install it, so I figure why not? I can always remove it if I don't like it and the livery isn't all that expensive....
Time to replace the brake caliper piston boots. Off came the wheels, pulled the pads, looked at the boots. Hmm, they're intact and sealed, just cracked here and there. Decision made to leave them for now. Pads back in, time to bleed the brakes for the season.
This thing makes it so easy
Old fluid didn't look too bad, but wasn't clear anymore, that's for sure. Got a bubble or two out of each front caliper
I'd cracked the eBay turbo front lip, so I took it off to see if I can fix it. Used this plastic welder tool that inserts staples. Worked out fairly well, which made me wonder if I could also fix the eBay aero lip I have. Grabbed it from the basement, used different shaped staples, then gooped on JB Weld for plastic on both of them. Mounted the aero lip, so far the repair is holding.
This is ready for the season and I'll pull it of the lift today
And down off the lift today.
Drove the car with my son to his soccer practice. This thing is so much fun to drive! Numeric shifter feels great, shifter cables do add a little whine inside the cabin. It's not bad at all though, and sort of adds another layer of mechanicalness to the sensation of driving.
I'm glad the car is sorted. My MSM has been sort of blocked in the garage by a temporary (2.5 years) boomerang kid, but no longer. I've been driving it again lately and forgot how good a turbo is at altitude. I'm sure your Porsche is much, much better than that.
Quick question. We are moving to a new house soon, and I was wondering about your floor tiles. Any regrets? Does the lift create any issues with those?
In reply to JoeTR6 :
Well, they're the perforated tiles, not solid ones. So they're great in the winter, never get slippery with water, snow, etc. However they're impossible to clean because of that. If I pressure wash them, it picks up dirt from underneath the tiles and they're just as dirty as when I started.
So I kinda wish I'd gotten the solid tiles, that way I could pressure wash them and then squeegee the water off. No issues with the tiles and the lift, that's fine.
I might swap these tiles out for solid ones, but didn't really want to unless someone wanted these first. Let me know if you'd like to come and check them out...
Decided to take the fun car to work today. Nice drive in, I'll probably take my son to soccer practice in it too...
Also made the decision to hold off on the Martini Livery for now...
Since I'm not going to be tracking the car this season I decided I might as well put the stock drivers seat back in. Pretty easy to do, remove the front trim pieces that cover the bolts, remove 2 E12 bolts front/rear, remove a 17mm bolt that holds the seat belt in, tilt the seat up, disconnect the seat belt receptacle plug and the seat comes right out.
Swap the seat belt receptacle over, reattach the seat belt inside the car, vacuum out the area, plop the seat back in, almost forget to plug the seat belt receptacle back in, do that, then drop in the four E12 bolts. Done.
I'd forgotten how much easier it is to get into and out of the car with the stock sport seat compared to the Euro GT3 seat.
Not tracking the car this season? Did I miss a post?
Need to spend funds elsewhere, sadly. I just about need new track brake pads front/rear, so that's $6-700. Then entry fee is $180, 2 tanks of fuel are $100, etc, etc. So 3 track days this year would cost over $1000. Granted the brake pads last a long time, but I still have to buy them now...
docwyte said:
Are the brushed aluminum (?) door sills stock? I've never seen those before.
In reply to dyintorace :
Just like everything on a Porsche, they're an option. My car has very few options, those SS door sills, the sports seats, silver center console and the silver gauge faces. That's it. I wish the owner had deleted the sunroof since he'd built a "stripper" model, so to speak. If I'd had the money to custom order this car I probably would've deleted the sunroof, added the X50 package, added the "little" carbon package (shift knob and e brake), and done a white exterior with cocoa interior color
docwyte said:Need to spend funds elsewhere, sadly. I just about need new track brake pads front/rear, so that's $6-700. Then entry fee is $180, 2 tanks of fuel are $100, etc, etc. So 3 track days this year would cost over $1000. Granted the brake pads last a long time, but I still have to buy them now...
BTDT: Sorry, I know how bad it sucks to have to give up a hobby or two when the funds aren't there. Hell, I just started playing with cars at 47 because I could never justify it before.
docwyte said:In reply to dyintorace :
Just like everything on a Porsche, they're an option. My car has very few options, those SS door sills, the sports seats, silver center console and the silver gauge faces. That's it. I wish the owner had deleted the sunroof since he'd built a "stripper" model, so to speak. If I'd had the money to custom order this car I probably would've deleted the sunroof, added the X50 package, added the "little" carbon package (shift knob and e brake), and done a white exterior with cocoa interior color
Gotcha. I had not seen them before.
In reply to CAinCA :
Yeah, I'm not super stoked on the situation, I'd like to get some track time but it is what it is.
One thing I'd forgotten about on these stock sport seats is the back bolsters are super narrow. That means I can't really sit back in between them, giving me the feeling that I'm sitting on the seat vs in it. Ironically I fit better in the Euro GT3 seat, even though it's a fixed back bucket.
So I'll leave the stock seat in for a bit and see if I like it, if I don't, I'll swap back to the Euro GT3 seat again
docwyte said:In reply to CAinCA :
One thing I'd forgotten about on these stock sport seats is the back bolsters are super narrow. That means I can't really sit back in between them, giving me the feeling that I'm sitting on the seat vs in it.
That's how I felt about the seats in my Cayman. The C8 GT2 seats feel pretty deep by comparison. It's actually more comfortable for longer trips because my whole backside is supporting my weight.
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