996 Targa time!

Hey,

Yet another 996 build thread.  I've wanted a 911 for years...specifically an aircooled one.  Now that ship has sailed, I jumped on a 2002 Targa.

I was ambivalent about selling my 330i, which already had everything done, and putting the proceeds toward a 911 that probably needed a lot done.  And in a hurry, because the price was fair and the car was remote.  I called the owner -- he had the car for a little over a year, drove it daily to the tune of 20k miles, did nothing to it, and replaced it with a Panamera Turbo.  Daily driven is good for 911s.

The car came with a couple of clean Blackstone reports, but otherwise no records and no IMS. This the the car with the single-row IMS.  The one with the 8% failure rate.  I struck a deal with the owner, wired the cash, and arranged to pick up the car 1.5 weeks later in Pensacola, FL.

The car fired up after sitting for 2 weeks with the tiniest puff of blue smoke ~ pretty normal for older 911s.  It sounded smooth and strong -- no issues with the running.  No sense test driving..this was my way home. I bought the car based on my discussion with the PO.  No PPI was a gamble.

I drove away in the car and motored 12 miles to Navarre beach.  Top rolled back, windows down, sunny and 64 degrees.

After 30 minutes at the beach, I headed out on the 500+ mile journey back to Knoxville TN.

First pitstop was Montgomery, AL.  I don't pass Montgomery or Birmingham without stopping at Dreamland BBQ:

Drove it the rest of the way home with one more stop for fuel.  Averaged about 27mpg and zero issues.  

Initial driving impressions -- 996s are a lot like a German C5 Corvette.  The car is small by modern dimensions and tonnage standards:  less than 3000lbs with 320hp.  Lots of little rattles and squeaks...this car is much closer to the 1990s than it is to 2018.  Seats and speakers are still great.

Buying at the lower end of the price range, I got several common used car issues:  "Vercelli" tires, brakes and rotors are ~70% gone.  Alignment is out a little.  Would benefit from some bushings and mounts.  That pesky IMS bearing retrofit. A couple dings in the windshield. Generally in good condition for the age and mileage, but not kept to my personal standards.

I started obsessing and planning starting deferred maintenance, but by buddy gave me some sage advice.  This car had been driven every day, without anything more than oil changes, for a year.  Drive it a thousand miles before you do anything.

So, I drove it all week as my only car...including taking the kids to school.

Other than some annoying interior rattles, the car has been flawless and a joy to drive. The M96 sound great...very smooth from startup to shutdown.  It's a gutsy engine mated to a tall gearbox.  It's not as effortless and intuitive to drive as my 330i.  It's a fast car by my standards.  A good amount of power, without enough to be maddening to drive in traffic.  All of the little quirks in this car are very well documented and DIYable via Rennlist.

Given no unexpected issues, watch here for:

Durametric overview -- clearing that airbag light and DME controller interrogation

Annoyances -- Interior rattle remediation, fix power seat tilt on passenger side, fix the belt receptacle is setting off airbag light

Brake overhaul -- rotors, lines, caliper rebuild, pads, parking brake adjustment

IMS retrofit, clutch kit, rear main seal

Suspension -- Struts, bushings, motor mounts, wheel refinishing, tires

911's are great for hauling kids. Looking forward to your experiences DIYing a modern Porsche.

Nice looking car. Love the selfie with the kids!

I never understood the concept of Targa 996. How does the roof roll back? 

Beautiful color though, one of my favs. 

In reply to yupididit :

It’s a power glass roof that slides back under the rear glass.  Think of it as a BIG sunroof.  My 993 targa was the same way and it was a lot of fun.

I had to drop the engine to get the AOS off (it is right on the top of the engine, and therefore somewhat challenging to access), whilst we had the engine out we split the transmission off and replaced the clutch.

This meant we could examine the IMS - it was fine, so we flipped the bearing covers off and left it alone.

With the bearing covers gone it'll be lubricated by engine oil, and should be fine.

If you pull the existing bearing out and push a new one in you are risking the application of a net sideways force on the timing chain assembly, the connecting shaft etc, and many of the replacement bearings specify a 40,000 mile replacement interval.

My understanding is that the problem with these bearings is that they are sealed, and that the grease with which they are filled creeps out, leaving the bearing un-lubricated with fairly predictable results - removing the seals removes that particular problem.

yupididit said:

I never understood the concept of Targa 996. How does the roof roll back? 

 

Beautiful color though, one of my favs. 

As Cotton said, it drops down and slides back under the rear hatch.  The hatch is one of the primary things that make me like Targas.  Unlike the standard Carreras, the Targa has a glass hatch so that you can access the are behind the rear seats and/or fold down the rear seats.  

It's easy to distinguish a Targa from the profile because the rear side windows taper to a point, instead of being rounded off.

The downside to the Targas are lots of addtional places for creaks and rattles.  911s fail very consistently, and everything I've researched has at least 3-4 threads on Rennlist with DIY remedies.

I won't be daily driving it, but I'll drive it at least a couple times a week.

A friend has a Targa, forget the year, but close to that.  Has driven it for years without issue.  I drove it once and it was a real thrill ride, love that car.  

Dammit said:

I had to drop the engine to get the AOS off (it is right on the top of the engine, and therefore somewhat challenging to access), whilst we had the engine out we split the transmission off and replaced the clutch.

This meant we could examine the IMS - it was fine, so we flipped the bearing covers off and left it alone.

With the bearing covers gone it'll be lubricated by engine oil, and should be fine.

If you pull the existing bearing out and push a new one in you are risking the application of a net sideways force on the timing chain assembly, the connecting shaft etc, and many of the replacement bearings specify a 40,000 mile replacement interval.

My understanding is that the problem with these bearings is that they are sealed, and that the grease with which they are filled creeps out, leaving the bearing un-lubricated with fairly predictable results - removing the seals removes that particular problem.

That's a common approach with the more robust dual-row bearing in the 3.4L M96s.  I've got the single row bearing, which is more failure prone.  The IMS bore is supposed to be a dry environment, which is why they went with a sealed bearing in the first place.

LN Engineering Single-row Pro replaces the single row bearing with an uprated dual-row ceramic bearing without oil seals.  Their tool sets are pretty clever -- there is a large plate to set up the bearing extractor that spreads the load across the bellhousing flange and is thick enough to not deform.  The extractor will pull on the center stud of the bearing, while keeping the intermediate shaft stationary.  This should prevent deflection of the IMS if the tools are set up correctly during extraction. For installation, the other side of the intermediate shaft is carried on a stout journal bearing, and installation of the new bearing (frozen overnight) is less forceful than pulling the old one from it's happy home.  

If the chains do slip though...well that would be a royal PITA.

Link to the process for the curious.

Excerpt showing the tool setup.  

Totally not jealous at all. Nope.

When I eventually get back into a 996, the Targa is at the very top of the list. 

Love the family selfie; everything seems better when sharing it, new cars included.

Good luck on the ownership, will be watching for updates. 911's are so boss.

damen

My friend has a 997 Targa 4S, I'm currently waiting for him to sell it...

First project time....Driver door realignment.  Not only was this satisfying and easy, but it was free!

The driver's door trailing edge is chipped.  Looking at the striker, it's easy to see that it has shifted around on the anti-marring backing sticker:

Shot with the door closed, to show where the door latched with the trailing edge a few mm out from the B-pillar.

Before:

Clearly the striker had been moving or moved:

The striker ended up being barely more than finger tight.  Set it up right on the center hash marks.  The door closed a little too far inward.  Moved it slightly out from the center notch for a perfect fit.

After:

Time spent:  10 minutes.  Money spent:  $16,500.  Results:  Door is now perfectly aligned and the window fits better in the seal...closes with a solid thunk.  

Next up -- look into some Seal Gray touch up paint.

I'd strongly recommend fitting some of these:

You really don’t need to go the LN route (is it really a proven solution?)- on my ‘00 911 I DIY’d (my thread is on corner-carvers.com) the IMS bearing and RMS using the latest Porsche bearing. It’s not too hard to work on these cars and if you just replace the bearing every 30,000 mile or so you will be fine. 

smokindav said:

You really don’t need to go the LN route (is it really a proven solution?)- on my ‘00 911 I DIY’d (my thread is on corner-carvers.com) the IMS bearing and RMS using the latest Porsche bearing. It’s not too hard to work on these cars and if you just replace the bearing every 30,000 mile or so you will be fine. 

I reviewed your thread on Corner Carvers.  Thanks for taking the time to post that!  And Photobucket can go straight to hell.   

PM'd you about your IMS toolkit and RMS installation tools.  Hope you still have them and would be willing to rent them?  

I've got the IMS tool kit and the guy that bought the car has the RMS tool - you can definitely borrow the stuff from me, and I'm sure the other guy will let you borrow the RMS. I'll check my PM's and also send you a link to the photobucket folder - you should be able to view all the photos directly.

Also, how to I find the PM section on here? Some things about this forum are great, like how easy it is to read and navigate on an iPhone. Other things, not so good.....

Try this direct link to my photo bucket 911 folder:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/smokindav/library

smokindav said:

I've got the IMS tool kit and the guy that bought the car has the RMS tool - you can definitely borrow the stuff from me, and I'm sure the other guy will let you borrow the RMS. I'll check my PM's and also send you a link to the photobucket folder - you should be able to view all the photos directly.

 

Also, how to I find the PM section on here? Some things about this forum are great, like how easy it is to read and navigate on an iPhone. Other things, not so good.....

Awesome!  In case the PM doesn't come through, you can email me at tyler_hamilton@comcast.net or call me at (VOL)755-9592.  

that picture with you and your girls is pretty epic.  parenting done right!

Durametric is awesome.

I ordered the Durametric Enthusiast cable to troubleshoot the airbag failure warning that popped up last week. While waiting for the cable to arrive, I bought a surplus Thinkpad T500 off ebay for under $100 shipped.  It's like new, but nearly 10 years old.  It's a tank of a laptop and perfect for the workshop.

Surprise!  No CEL, however there are error codes stored for the MAF.  I'll have to look into that.

#49 for the passenger belt buckle seems to be a common problem, and the source of the airbag fault.  I cleared it for now.  There is an updated wiring harness available for ~$50 to address this intermittent issue.

The # of ignitions in Range 1 and Range 2 are something you're supposed to look at during a PPI...I didn't, so I'm pretty happy with this result.  It's like a score for how much fun the previous owners had.

Range 1 is ignitions at the rev limiter, up to 7900 rpm, and the engine operating hours when the last event occurred.  Clearly I was the perpetrator, since it was .4 hours ago.  I hit the rev limiter in first.  Surprisingly, it was a hair short of the indicated ~7k redline on the tach.  Who knows if the tach is calibrated, or fast enough to keep up in first gear? Generally Range 1 ignitions are considered within the acceptable operating range of the engine and not cause for worry.

Range 2 is bad.  Range 2 is the number of ignitions over 7900 rpm.  You don't get into range 2 without doing something dumb...like a money shift, although some people are gifted and can probably figure out other ways to get there.  Conventional wisdom says you don't buy a car that's had a range 2 event within the last 50 operating hours.  Glad to see this one at zero.

• Ignitions/3 = revolutions
• # revolutions / 7200rpm rev limit = time (min) spent at the limiter
• 6616/3 =   2205revs / 7200rpm limiter = .306min x 60 = 18.375 seconds banging the rev limiter over the last 4224 engine hours.  I'd say that's reasonable!

Now, here is a short video of me geeking out at being able to activate various systems with Durametric:

Is it normal / rational to order $XXXX in parts before you've ever had a car on jackstands?  RIP: my Visa.

Things keep showing up on my doorstep.  My latest dilemma is when to begin -- the 996 has been a welcome distraction from a larger project:  house hunting.  We sold our house, 8 acres including my 40x60 workshop and are currently inhabiting a subdivision rental house.  The hunt has been laborious, as the real estate market is hot right now. 

My requirements are steep, I want everything.  Best schools, convenient location, at least a few acres, modern house, and a rad garage.  Oh, and not too expensive.  So, we had to be ready to pounce.

We were convinced that were going to have to build, but even finding property that hit all those marks was rough.

Then a house popped up that hit all those requirements this week.  Listed Monday at lunch, we looked at 3pm and made a full price offer with no contingencies.  Offers stacked up behind ours, some of them higher, but by Wednesday we had a contract.  The house is move in ready by my standards, but was underpriced and well short of our budget.  It needs a few updates (built in 2002,) so we may do that before moving in.  Mrs. H wants wood floors rather than carpet in a few rooms.

So the important decision is whether to start all this work in a tiny rental house garage, or postpone it until after the move? Then do it in a detached garage with three bays, a loft workshop, high ceilings, and lots of space and light?

I'm registered for the One Porsche Drive event and the Mitty, and I really wanted to have some of this work done in time for that.

I know, first world problems.  

I'd say you're in a better position than i was when i bought my 996. I had just moved OUT of a house/garage and afterwards started buiding a small shop. Finished that AFTER starting a side business repairing other people's cars and it's usually got paying work in it. Never did any of the major work i planned.. lol

Tyler H said: ...So the important decision is whether to start all this work in a tiny rental house garage, or postpone it until after the move? Then do it in a detached garage with three bays, a loft workshop, high ceilings, and lots of space and light?

I'm registered for the One Porsche Drive event and the Mitty, and I really wanted to have some of this work done in time for that.

I know, first world problems.  

Brakes are easy on these cars. Get that done with a good flush in a couple hours. Clean up the ground for the seat belts, replace or clean the MAF, and any other little nags. I'd hold off on the IMS and engine pulling stuff 'till your in the new garage. -Congrats on finding the new home you want!