In reply to ScreaminE:
Do it, you won't regret it.
Well, I ran into my first issue with the car...
That pulley is supposed to be on the shaft of that waterpump... I was 340 miles from home at the Monterey Motorsport Reunion when this happened. I was forced to kludge it together to get home.
Last Sunday morning in Monterey I found myself in the parking lot of a tire shop removing the water pump from the car with a 10mm ratcheting wrench (it was all I had). Then I had to slam the pulley back onto the shaft with a rubber mallet, and slather JB Weld all over it. Needless to say, I was praying to all the gods of internal combustion on the way back home.
I did make it home safely last Sunday night, and the Boxster was not on the bed of a tow truck. My quasi roadside-repair held up until I got home.
I babied the car home by never going above 2500 RPM until I was at highway speeds, and even then I stayed at 2800 and cruised at 68 mph the whole way home. It took me 7 hours instead of my usual 5, but all's well that ends well. I tried to keep gear shifts below 2000 RPM, and I didn't do any sharp acceleration. I tried to keep strain on the pulley to a minimum, and it seemed to work.
Looking back on it now, I hope I never have to do that again. I got home at just after midnight smelling like coolant and sweat, I was covered from head to toe in grime, I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts covered in dirt, both of my thumbs are smashed, every knuckle is busted, and all of my muscles ache. You know what that feels like? It feels like berkeleying VICTORY!
When I was ordering my new water pump, I decided to order a few other things to take care of some deferred maintenance.
One. Water pump and gasket Two. 10 liters of Mobil 1 0W-40, a fresh Mann filter, and a new oil drain plug with a super powerful magnet in it. Three. A set of Hawk HPS pads and two liters of ATE Typ200 fluid.
While it takes almost 6 hours to change a water pump in a tire shop parking lot with only a 10mm wrench, it only took about two hours in the comfort of my garage with a full bevvy of tools and four jackstands.
The oil change took maybe 20 minutes.
Fill 'er up! 9 liters of fresh synthetic coming right up!
I didn't really feel like doing the brakes just yet, so I'll save that for another day.
I did finally fit those GT3 brake ducts I ordered a few months back, though.
Before:
After:
4Msfam wrote: Congrats on the repair! Is there a bolt missing or something that allowed the pulley to come off?
The pulley on the pump is just pressed on. There is no bolt.
I'm assuming that the bearing starting to fail got the shaft pretty freakin' hot. It wasn't exactly smooth.
Opti wrote: I dont think I could ever own one of these due to maintenance cost fears, but I love this thread.
It's not as bad as you'd think. The only thing that's kinda pricey is oil changes, because it requires $44 worth of Mobil synthetic.
Aside from that, the parts costs are pretty cheap. Brake rotors are under $40 per corner for stock replacements.
Ghooble wrote: 10 quarts of oil? Why does it have such a large sump?
*9 liters (9.51 quarts if you want to get technical...)
It's just a Porsche signature thing, I guess. Even the Cayenne's V8 uses 10 liters.
I'd guess it has something to do with oil longevity, as they recommend 15K service intervals (I'm sticking with about 7K).
It's also easier to control oil temperatures when you have large amounts of oil and are driving from Hamburg to Munich with a brick on the loud pedal.
Maintenance costs are much higher when some knob smashes your car in the parking lot.
A Chevy Silverado 2500 HD hit my parked car while I was at work the other day.
His insurance company is paying for the damages. Got a body shop to look at it, and they quoted just a tick under 4000 in damage.
Bummer. On the upside I see at least one new headlight, possibly two so you can get nice clear ones with no fogging lenses.
chandlerGTi wrote: You can let them help subsidize a new gt3 front facia!
Because I have the early headlights, the only GT3 bumper that will work is the MK1 version, which was Euro only. Not only is that a 1500 dollar bumper, but shipping is ridiculous.
I've decided on a used 996 Carrera 2 bumper for about 300 bucks.
We're looking at potentially plasti-dipping the car in "Monster Green" which is pretty close to Porsche's Viper Green.
I'll probably keep it dipped that color for a year or so, then have it vinyl wrapped in Mexico/Riviera Blue.
I drove Project Boxster down to Yosemite for the annual Porsche 912 Rendezvous. My employer was a co-sponsor of the event, so I went down as a representative, it was a lot of fun. We went on a 6-ish hour drive on Friday and a 3 hour drive on Saturday.
On Friday, I had this guy pushing me to go faster from behind...
And this guy was egging me to go faster as he streaked ahead of me.
Saturday's drive was up to Glacier Point in the park, and this was the view. I'm convinced the world is magic.
Sometimes, if you're patient, stuff just falls into your lap at a great price.
I've been poking around trying to find the right bumper for a few weeks now. I was looking for standard 996 bumpers, but they all seemed to run around 450 bucks, if not more, for a bumper that wasn't much straighter than the one currently on my car.
I found this one, though, by searching on the Rennlist forum.
$500 for the bumper, which has supposedly had a clear vinyl cover on it since new. It includes the lip spoiler, which was made by Gemballa, by the way! $80 for shipping, and $20 for a box to put it in.
It'll be here next week. I'm pretty excited.
Now, I just need to find a pair of 996 Turbo fenders, and a pair of facelift 996 headlamps (which basically don't exist on the second hand market). Anyone have a line on a good set for me?
Maybe if I'm patient, a good set will fall into my lap at a great price.
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