Should I? $0 budget Boxster.

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Is the 996 stuff an upgrade? I havent heard of this

In reply to spandak :

Yes, the 996 throttle body is 74mm vs the 986's 68mm. Looking at YouTubes you can see claims from +10 hp to +20. It seems that everybody who does ANY bolt-on mod claims at least a +10 hp improvement.

I found a post from 2015 from the previous owner describing the mods he did to increase power (All of it is still on the car):

Finally all in with 150 miles on it! Holy crap what a difference. Feels improved throughout entire range. Traction issues in 1st now, occasionally in 2nd even; 3rd and 4th pull HARD on the freeway compared to how they used to.
No real data on anything, sorry. Best I got for you other than butt dyno is this: there is a strip I always floor it along, doing 50 on the dot by the end of it very consistently before this rework. The 2 times I've done it since, I have been at 60 and 63, and that is feathering the traction issue through 1st, which was not an issue before.

***Thanks so much to everyone in this thread that figured all this out!***

Car is a 2000 2.7 5-speed.

Used a K&N filter (no codes), gold wrapped the airbox (no one will see it, and may keep the incoming air a little cooler, so I went for it), kept MAF where it was but added honeycomb, 996TB, 997 plenum.

Other performance mods are Circuit Werks secondary cat deletes, Baluga Racing exhaust, and TechnoPulley.

AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:

everybody who does ANY bolt-on mod claims at least a +10 hp improvement.

And tuner decals add HP too!

I'm probably going to repeat this way too many times, but budget is everything for this. If I can't bring it at $nothing, it's not worth bringing.

A calculation of the uninstalled extras that came with the car do reach a Fair Market Value of $1,000, but there are two things that I want to do to the car that cost money; I want to replace the Air Oil Separator ($116 FCP Euro), and water pump ($190 FCP Euro).

Doing 'Self trade' for budget recoup is perfectly legal under the Challenge rules. The value of the items traded has to be well documented. I'm going to do a lot of that because there are plenty of items that I want to keep and have an actual use for. Items that are actually sold for recoup are counted at the actual sale price. I may be able to get slightly more than the documented 'FMV' on a few items that are hard for buyers to find. The maximum amount that I can recoup for budget is $1,000 which puts the car at $0 for the Challenge, but leaves me with a ~$306 problem if I buy the right parts for the needed maintenance. My preferred way to deal with that is to trade a few parts for the needed items rather than budget recoup: The buyer sends me a new-in-box Pierburg water pump, I send the buyer (for example) a child seat airbag deactivation bar.

The 'easy button' for budget is to simply sell the headlights, but I am not going to do that and don't even want to self-trade them to another one of my cars. They are the best headlights for this car. I'm still holding it as a last resort option if I somehow end up with a big budget hole. The lights are worth the cost of the car:

The kit was $350 and my install was $250, so $600 plus the cost of the headlights...easily over $1000.

That said, they're priceless now, since they're not being made anymore.

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Saw your parts car listed today. Then a 99 911 with a bad engine for $7k and I'm trying so hard not to go down the rabbit hole. I gotta stay off Marketplace.

Questin: if you were going to re engine the parts car, would you go Porsche no matter what or would you go v6 Camry ...something 1/10th the cost of Dr P's finest

In reply to captainawesome :

The guy I bought it from, Jason, has more stuff listed including an '04 project car. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/655499318542512/ I bought a parts car from him a couple years ago too. Decent seller with a good source of salvage cars.

That '99 in Rogers would be a good deal if someone wants to build the engine back up: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/594708661348502/ Personally if I'm spending $7k I'd buy a decent running 986, but some people like having those little back seats.

I need to stay off Marketplace for a few months now.

In reply to Agent98 :

I would *not* build that parts car back up. It was flood salvage that now has no paperwork, or chance at a title. If I did build it up, I would go full Mad Max with it and drop in an old carbureted V8 with pipes sticking out the sides.

I did put in a used AOS today. It was the easiest AOS replacement I have done yet. Tomorrow, I'll have tags and insurance and take it out for a long test drive and burn the oil out of the cats. I think that the 'Project' aspect of this could be concluding soon. What fun would that be?

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

I just don't know if I'm Porsche material. Once sorted I'm certain they can be great cars, but the fear of future maintenance and consumables keep me away. Oh and I like hardtops.

I finally got to drive it today. The failed AOS had caused oil to be drawn into the intake and accumulate in the exhaust. My main concern with the first drive was burning the oil out of the cats. Starting out new AOS looked good and there was no significant smoke. I got a little worried when the exhaust warmed up and smoke started billowing out. The plan was to get on the bypass around town and drive at 50 - 60 mph for 30 - 45 minutes. I thought of turning around and heading home. Fortunately the smoke lessened before I turned around. Stop lights... while I was driving at speed, I didn't see smoke. When I stopped at a light, it would be visible again, but less and less with each stop. By four lights, it was gone. Gaining confidence, I left the bypass and cruised a nice scenic route. Before going home, I stopped to make a short video of the car.

Mrs AAZCD has named it "Black Pearl".

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Wow.... that paint is incredible

Box4VIR said:

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Wow.... that paint is incredible

Yes... I'm going to have to keep this one in my garage, or get one of the high-end car covers for it. For now, I'm using the indoor cover that came with it (Like new) and covering that with an outdoor cover.

Here's the video I put together when I replaced the AOS. Not as a full DIY, but some helpful highlights.

Edit: Just changed video hosting to Vimeo. Not sure if I'll get embedding to work here. https://vimeo.com/506603666

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

I bought the 911 in Rogers for $5,500 after reading about it here. Now I have to figure out what to do with it. I'll get a build thread started soon.  Thanks, I think 

Southpaw said:

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

I bought the 911 in Rogers for $5,500 after reading about it here. Now I have to figure out what to do with it. I'll get a build thread started soon.  Thanks, I think 

That's awesome, I think. I'm looking forward to the build. Let me know if there's anything I can help with. I'm not an engine builder, but I've taken a few apart and have plenty of Porsche parts that will be compatible with a '99 996.

Yesterday I replaced the AOS again. The used one that I put in quickly failed. Surprised? I wasn't, but I still hoped. Anyway, I bought a brand new Porsche brand AOS and Pierburg water pump from FCP Euro. Great price and service. I'm going to have to do a self-trade for the value to keep my budget $0, but there's plenty of excess value here to work with. My total time to change an AOS is just under an hour now with very little loss of blood and almost no 'swear jar' deposits.

Still can't believe you landed this car for $1,000.  I can't find a local set of Porsche wheels for that price.

Holy crap that deal is unreal! 

Every Boxster I've seen in my area is still 3k+ even with bad engines and/or trashed paint. Looking forward to following yet another build!

We have decided not to do the Challenge this year. A big part of doing the trip was to visit with friends and family in the area that are in their 70s. The thought of doing a long cross country trip through the 'wilds' of the South, then staying in close contact with people that are at high risk with the virus just does not sound smart.

This car would have been fun at the Challenge. $0 budget would have been easy with $1,000 of recoup and some minor self-trades for the AOS and a new water pump. I was going to pull the soft top off completely and drive down with a hard top on the car which would be removed and set aside for the Challenge. The heavy muffler was going to be pulled off and a light weight pipe with cross-tube was going to be put on at the Challenge.  I even had plans to make a trailer out of the back end of the blue parts car and use that for extra equipment and tools. Still, this car was pretty much "bought, not built". I am planning to be there in 2021 with a better, faster, stronger version of my 2019 car which has sat dormant while I've played with other toys.