Orient Express

Speed Lingerie has them in your body color available with 5 days lead time. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Their fit and workmanship is the best. They have mirror mitts as well. Speed Lingerie is more expensive than the bra that Porsche sources here in the US, but it is well worth it. I have had my car up to almost as fast as it will go with the Bra on with no problems. No flapping, marring, etc.

Speed Lingerie has them in your body color available with 5 days lead time.

Check your power steering fluid. A howling or screeching at startup with the ambient temp at 50F or below is a symptom of low PS fluid in the tank.

I "wash" my top twice a year. Using the Porsche convertible top soap, and a bug scrubber sponge, rubbing lightly. After I have rinsed off the soapy water, I then use a wet dry vacuum to get off the excess water. Once a year I use the Porsche top water repellant spray. The green can Scotchguard will also work fine. Routine dusting is done with a lint roller. There are several cleaner/polishes for clear vinyl windows, and most cleaner/waxs will work as well. The best way to clean the inside of the rear window is to flip up the back part of the top. To do that: 1. Open the top part way to expose the bottom of the back of the top 2. Next find the 2 wire rope assemblies on the left and right sides of the bottom back corner of the top. 3. Next pop off the ends of the wire ropes: 4. Lift up the top to get at the inside of the rear window. My car is an 2002 with a glass rear window, but the plastic windows work the same.

For small touchups I use the Red Testors model paint, and have not had any problems at all.

Welcome to the board :welcome: Here in the US the maintenance interval is 15,000 miles, and if you check out the DIY section of this board, everything you need to know how to do these maintenances is there. While the DIY info is targeted at the 996 owner, 997 service is identical. Servicing a 996 or 997 is easier than a Toyota.

I had one RMS seal at 7K miles, and an IMS (InterMediate Shaft) seal at 33K miles. The IMS seal is right below the RMS seal and will show up as an oil leak exactly like an RMS seal. Unfortunately my IMS repair was improperly completed, and the car had to go in 2K miles later for another IMS seal. Many times when either the IMS or RMS is found to be leaking, both seals are replaced. BTW, this is a relatively easy repair, with most experienced technicians being able to complete the task in under 3 hours.

Yes they are Craftsman jack stands. The weight of the car keeps the bar from coming out.

I don't think you will need to give the jack stands any boost. The limiting factor in how high you can get the car up is the lift height of the hydraulic jack.

I have been mixing 1:4 of 100 octane for my car since it was new. It does run smoother, gets better gas milage, and the engine is quieter then when I take a straight tank of 91. I recommend the blend, but not a straight tankful.

On page 141 through 147 of the 2002 owners manual are detailed instructions for moving the top manually. If you have a different year, look under the section "closing roofs" I assume that you have the emergency brake pulled when you do this, and the spoiler down & engine cover closed?

The mineral oil that is used for the PS pump can evaporate over time as well as leak. My C2 cab would make groaning noises from the steering when it was cold. turned out I was about 20cc low on PS fluid. also make sure that you only use the specified PS fluid. It is the same stuff that is used for VW, and audi.

I use a levitator lifting jack. You just plug it in the cigarette lighter, sit in on the passenger seat, and turn it on and it will lift up to 3 tons 3 feet off of the ground.

I have used a pressure washer and mineral spirits to clean off the cosmoline on the bottom of the car. This method has been very effective for me. It takes several sessions to get all of the cosmoline softened up and off, but it will come off. Another route for you since you live here in Cupertino/San Jose is to have the bottom of your car steam pressure washed off. There is a place next to HP Pavilion at the corner of Santa Clara St/the Alameda and Stockton Ave. that will clean the underside of your car while you wait. I would recommend this as your first step, and then you can do the detailing. Your goal is to make the underside of your car look like this: Good luck with it. AND DON'T USE GASOLINE OF ANY SORT!

Here is another post on the topic

the jack points are a stamped steel piece welded to the body. The piece is electro-coated with primer like the rest of the body, but can be scratched exposing bare metal. If you are in an area where corrosion from salt spray, etc. is an issue, then it is a good idea to either coat the ends of your jackstands with a coating like Plasti-Dip, or just stick a piece of rag between your Jackstand and the bottom of your car. Either method will reduce the possibility of scratching off the primer coat.

On this picture of the back lift point, the car is still being held up with the jack. I took the picture this way to illustrate how the jack stand and the lift point look. With the car on 4 jack stands, it is even more stable than being on tires. If you notice, the front jack stands are oriented left and right, and the rears are front to back. With the weight of the car on the stands in this fashion, the car's weight pushes down and the out of phase orientations of the front and rear stands lock the car in place. As long as the surface that you are lifting on is flat and level, and the stands are centered on their respective lift points and all 4 stands are raised to the same level, the car is solidly planted on the ground. One can lean on the car, get in and out of it without any stability issues. I have been putting cars like this up on stands like this for many years, and have not had one fall off yet.

Look under your engine, and find the oil sump cover. That is the big square plate that is held in with several bolts around its edges. It has a hex head bolt in the center of it which is the oil drain. Now, looking toward the back of the car just behind the oil sump cover in the center of the engine case centerline there is an area where the case is very sturdy looking. That is where you place the jack. Notice that it is centered on the sturdy area, and not touching the sump cover. If you are still unsure, just look at the centerline seam of the engine case behind the sump cover, find the thickest portion of the case just behind the sump cover, and put your jack there. For the Saddle type floor stands, I place the front ones on the square part of the car's lift point, with the saddle pointing left and right. By placing the saddle left/right on the lifting point, the car will pivot on the saddle as the car is lifted from behind. The rear floor stand is positioned up/down on the round part of the rear lift point of the car. With the jack stands oriented this way, they lock the car in place, and make it very hard to inadvertently push the car off of the stands if someone leans on the car, or it gets bumped.

One of the questions that comes up frequently is what is the best and safest way to put your 996/986/997/987 up on jack stands. The chassis and jack points are the same for all models, and lifting the car up off of all 4 wheels is easy. Here is a little DIY instruction on how I do it. The 4 lift points as described in your owners manual are where you support the car with Jackstands. Here is the jack stand that I use. Any Jack stand with at least a two to three ton rating will do. First, you put the front jackstands on by lifting the car from the rear lift point. Using a standard hydraulic jack, lift the car up on one side so that both wheels are off the ground, and the front is high enough to clear the jack stand. Here is the front lift point. After you have one jack stand placed, lower the jack, and do the other side. The car is so stiff, that the other sides front wheel will come up off of the ground. Other side is just like the first. Note the orientation of the lift points and how the jackstands are arranged. Next you have to lift the rear. There are 2 places that mechanics use as a lift point for the rear. One is the rear sub-frame cross member that is below the engine and the transmission, and the other is on the rear engine case just behind the oil sump cover. I prefer lifting from the engine case because my jack does not clear the engine oil sump to reach the crossmember. There is a large metal stub that is cast into the engine case. That is where you lift, making sure that your jack does not contact the oil sump cover casting. Center the jack on the engine or on the subframe and lift the car high enough to put the remaining stands on the 2 rear lift points. And with that you are done. Just take your time and make sure that each jackstand is centered and aligned properly on the lift points and you will have no problems. One last thing, it is to your advantage to break the torque on all of the lug nuts before your lift the car up off of the ground. Also when you are lifting the car, make sure it is on a level surface, and the car is in neutral and the parking brake is off so the car can pivot on its wheels as it is lifted. Lowering the car is the opposite of the above. Once you get the hang of this, you can have your car up in the air in under 5 minutes.

If you get a new clean one, then put a layer of ScotchCal film on it. This is the clear film that is used on rocker panels to prevent rock chips. To apply it, clean the silver handle with adhesive remover, and then lay on an oversized piece of film. Use a heat gun to fit it to the handle. You should be able to pick up a scrap at any installer of Stone Guard. You can also buy an 8x10 sheet of it from your Audi Parts counter It is described as "Foil" and the P/N is AKL-448-300-04. It is a little expensive by this route, at $18 a sheet. I use this stuff to protect lots of high scuff areas on the car. Properly installed, it is invisible.

I have used plain old cleaner wax or swirl remover to clean up a plastic rear window. Metal polish will also work pretty good. Also, I'm not sure if I have shared this before, but there is an easy way to get at the back inside of a Cabriolet window without being a contortionist. First raise the top part way like this: Next find the 2 wire ropes, one on each side of the back of the top that holds the top in place: Next, pop off the ends of the wire ropes from the bottom Finally, lift up the back of the top for easy access to the inside of the rear window. My car is an 02 with a glass window, but it is exactly the same for the earlier plastic window cars. After you are done, follow the above steps in reverse.

I have been using a Speed Lingerie Bra for about 3 years now, with excellent results. Each bra is custom tailored for the car, and the workmanship is outstanding. I think that they are worth the price.

Don't worry, they all do it every once and a while. Boxer engines can sometimes get a little oil pooled in a cylinder that causes the smoke on startup. My 02 996 does it every once and a while, but only from the right bank. I figure that the ring gaps on a piston must get lined up to let the oil past. It is not coolant, it is oil.

Alberto's car is from South of the Border! He lives in Monterey Nuevo Leon Mexico. In Mexico you can get all of the cool european cars that you can't get in the US. And the cool thing is that he just drove it up over the border! Anyone for a Mexican GT3 RS?