My "New" 996

[RandalJ]

In addition to being a convenient excuse for not exerting myself on Christmas Eve, I thought introductions were overdue. I haven't posted a lot, but expect to more often now that I have this:

It's a '99 in zenith blue with grey interior. Seat backs and center console are body color, and among the options are the U.S. 030 running gear, limited slip (option # 224), 222 traction control, 220 locking differential, 18 in turbo twists, which the previous owner (a past participant here and on Rennlist) had painted Porsche seal grey. Also has 490 10 speaker sound system, and 375/376 sport seats.

There are a number of other options listed under the trunk lid which I cannot identify from any lists that I have seen - XSR, X47, X58, 888, X77, 014, 923, and 234.

Was pleasantly surprised to find a good clear bra up front, and a B&M shift kit installed. Puzzled to find a CD holder, but CD-220 cassette player.

I bought the car from Stoddard Porsche in Ohio, after a PPI at Steinel's, and had it shipped here in late October. Looks like it was originally sold in the Philadelphia area, did some time in Delaware. It had about 33k miles.

It drives like a dream. Has a really cool turbine sound (aux air pump?) when cold, and sounds great even with the stock exhaust. Haven't really wound it out yet, but looking forward to a few DEs next year. Or that next vacant stretch of highway, heh, heh, heh...

I have the PSE cans, which I'll be installing during the holidays. Haven't decided on whether I'll do the plumbing and electricals for the switch yet, but I'm leaning that way.

The only things I've had to address are a worn driver's window regulator (motor turned but window did not drop a crack when opening the door, as it is supposed to), and a cracked accordian under the rear wing, both fairly easy to replace. Also have an airbag light on, which I understand may require new seatbelt recepticles and/or a new harness under the driver or passenger seat. Will address whenever I need to make my first warranty claim.

Changed the oil two weeks ago, but couldn't get the filter case off with Autozone or Checker caps, so bit the bullet and bought the Porsche tool from Suncoast, and will change the oil again.

The car is exactly what I wanted. The only other mods I might do are the aero front and rocker panels. I can't quite stomach the taco wing and rear skirts, so I would have to find some other wing or just make do with the stock automatic spoiler. Holding me back is the possibility that these components would have to have their paint blended in to the main body. Not sure of the Porsche paint is consistent enough to get away with painting just the add-ons.

A better amp, an iPod connector, and spacers to bring the wheels out a bit more might be in the offing too.

I'll keep the amber lights. I've seen the same car/color with the clear lights, and it seemed a a bit bland. In fact, I think the amber has a decidedly more 80s-90s Euro look, the clear, more American/Asian.

Happy holidays...

[oracledba]

I bought the car from Stoddard Porsche in Ohio, after a PPI at Steinel's, and had it shipped here in late October. Looks like it was originally sold in the Philadelphia area, did some time in Delaware. It had about 33k miles.

d to a few DEs next year. Or that next vacant stretch of highway, heh, heh, heh...

Congrats on your purchase. I too bought a 996. I took the leap, bought a 2002 996 C4 Cab from an out of state dealer. Did the Porsche used 100+ inspection and it came back clean except for some regular wear/tear. I had to drop for new brakes and new tires. Other than that I am also extremely pleased and will post pictures in the near future. I had a Pioneer AVIC Z1 installed and i'm waiting for the trim piece to come in, since the climate control was moved to the low position. I also had the cd holder with the Becker 220. My pioneer has the ipod adapter, BT and XM traffic, and a rear camera. **** the car is fun as hell - as an ex AMG owner, this car surprises me every day I take it out.

Happy Holidays

dba

[CosmosC4S]

WELCOME! Nice color there, and I love the wheels!

Can you post a close up shot of the wheels?

I'd like to see how they painted that grey on being that it's a one-piece wheel.

Did they mask the outer rim, and if so, are they perfectly painted?

[RandalJ]

WELCOME! Nice color there, and I love the wheels!

Can you post a close up shot of the wheels?

I'd like to see how they painted that grey on being that it's a one-piece wheel.

Did they mask the outer rim, and if so, are they perfectly painted?

I'll try to post a photo in the next day or so. Yes, they apparently cleaned the wheels, masked off the lips, and painted the centers (and the concave center caps w/o disturbing the colored crests). Looks as though they were clearcoated as well. On closer examination I do see some very tiny pitting that should have been buffed from the lips before the clearcoating process, probably due to past use in the snow and salt of the East Coast. But all in all they look very good.

The guy doing the PPI thought these were Boxster S wheels, that came off a limited edition (I forget which specific model - 550?). When I looked it up, I could see how he would have thought that. But the Boxster S had the identical paint scheme on different style wheels. The p.o. may have been inspired by this.

[CosmosC4S]

Thank you, I've been thinking of repainting (actually powder-coating) my wheels in a smoke or grey color,

but wasn't sure how they would turn out. I also wanted the edge of rims to be the base color but being that it's a one-piece wheel, I thought it would be impossible to do powder-coating with 2 colors, as they bake the wheels in high heat, not spray painted where you can mask out areas.

Now I see your wheels...they look very good, well, at least from a distance and in the pics.

That's why I ask for some closeup shots. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some imperfections in the masking, especially circular masking.

Edited December 26, 2006 by CosmosC4S

[CosmosC4S]

I just took a closer look at your wheels and realized that we have different wheel designs!

Mine are the solid spoke Turbo Twist 2's, they don't have a distinct lip around the rims.

D*mn....

Edited December 26, 2006 by CosmosC4S

[RandalJ]

Here are some wheel photos.

One of the fronts:

One of the rears (you can see the pitting on the lip):

And the same rear wheel:

It appears that the masking was expertly done. Really the only flaw in the process was in not cleaning the rear wheel lips completely of corrosion. I'm not complaining though. All in all they look great, and really add to the car, I think.

[CosmosC4S]

Thank you much, RandalJ

It looks like it's actually a 2-piece wheel!

If they mask that wheel to paint, that is excellent work,

either that or the wheel itself has a very distinctive "ridge" or "separation" between the rim and the dish/spokes.

The other possibility is, they painted the whole wheel, then grinded/sanded the rims on a spinning machine.

Looks good though, I don't think it can be done on mine, they're slightly different wheels.

[ScottArizona]

RandalJ,

That is a great looking car! I too have a 99 Zenith Blue coupe...and I live in Gilbert! Small world, I've yet to see another zb 996 in the flesh (I've seen a few boxsters). I'll post a picture of mine later today. A zenith blue-only fun drive would be a hoot (although my dad, who is the proud owner of a polar silver 02 c2, and my mom, with her titanium cayenne turbo might want in on the fun too). I'm always messing with my car, that is really a large part of the fun for me, and it really surpises my wife as I was not really too interested in "wrenching" before I started buying Porsches (I have previously owned a 98 boxster and 01 Boxster S--both awesome cars, but the 911 is great because I can put my two little ones in the back and they love it!). On mine I have done the following: oil and oil filter changes, replaced serpentine belt, replaced cracked coolant tank, replaced fuel filter, installed painted center console, installed painted dash strips (not nearly as tough as everyone says) and ignition surround, installed guage trim rings (from bumperplugs.com), swapped out the black carrerra emblem for silver (stunning change in my opinion). I also had the K & N air intake "expiriment for a while before my mass air flow sensor crapped out. I've also cleaned out my radiators (with bumper removal to be thorough). My most recent mod, and one that is a must in my opinion, is the later-style dual in-dash cup holders that install in the spot of the HVAC controls (you move that to the bottom bin, just like the 01's.

My future mod's will likely include some H&R springs and some aluminium pedals, maybe I'll try the EVO intake kit as they seem to be a little easier on the mass air flow sensors. I've also been contemplating an exhuast as I installed a GHL unit on my dad's car it it really sounds mean. Feel free to p.m me if you have any questions. I just love these cars, and by the way, Renntech has literally saved me thousands of dollars and many, many trips to a dealer, it is an awesome resource. For example, the dealer wanted something like $600+ to swap in a new coolant take and I got the instructions here, and the part for cheap from sunset motorsports (board sponsor) and did it myself in a few hours.

[RandalJ]

Scott, thanks for posting.

Send me a PM if you ever need assitance - I'll do likewise. Will tackle the PSE mufflers this weekend if I can find the time (I think I can handle these on my own). Plumbling and electronics will have to wait, if I do them at all. Will plumb and zip tie the hoses and live with the PSEs open full time for a while and decide.

I agree that Renntech has been invaluable. Especially since there isn't much in the way of repair books like the Bentley manual that exists for the 3.2 Carrera.

[bjarne996]

RandalJ,

That is a great looking car! I too have a 99 Zenith Blue coupe...and I live in Gilbert! Small world, I've yet to see another zb 996 in the flesh (I've seen a few boxsters). I'll post a picture of mine later today. A zenith blue-only fun drive would be a hoot (although my dad, who is the proud owner of a polar silver 02 c2, and my mom, with her titanium cayenne turbo might want in on the fun too). I'm always messing with my car, that is really a large part of the fun for me, and it really surpises my wife as I was not really too interested in "wrenching" before I started buying Porsches (I have previously owned a 98 boxster and 01 Boxster S--both awesome cars, but the 911 is great because I can put my two little ones in the back and they love it!). On mine I have done the following: oil and oil filter changes, replaced serpentine belt, replaced cracked coolant tank, replaced fuel filter, installed painted center console, installed painted dash strips (not nearly as tough as everyone says) and ignition surround, installed guage trim rings (from bumperplugs.com), swapped out the black carrerra emblem for silver (stunning change in my opinion). I also had the K & N air intake "expiriment for a while before my mass air flow sensor crapped out. I've also cleaned out my radiators (with bumper removal to be thorough). My most recent mod, and one that is a must in my opinion, is the later-style dual in-dash cup holders that install in the spot of the HVAC controls (you move that to the bottom bin, just like the 01's.

My future mod's will likely include some H&R springs and some aluminium pedals, maybe I'll try the EVO intake kit as they seem to be a little easier on the mass air flow sensors. I've also been contemplating an exhuast as I installed a GHL unit on my dad's car it it really sounds mean. Feel free to p.m me if you have any questions. I just love these cars, and by the way, Renntech has literally saved me thousands of dollars and many, many trips to a dealer, it is an awesome resource. For example, the dealer wanted something like $600+ to swap in a new coolant take and I got the instructions here, and the part for cheap from sunset motorsports (board sponsor) and did it myself in a few hours.

Hi!

I have a 98 cobalt blue 996 C2 and would love to have the new in-dash cup holders installed in my car, which has a dashboard layout similar to this:

Is it possible to:

-remove the cd holder

-move the heating controls down in place of the cd holder

-install the dual cup holders in place of the heating controls

??

Or is it possible to simply replace the cd holder with the dual cup holders????

Finally, how complex/time consuming is the installation?

Thanks,

Bjarne

[cdsvenom]

Sweet car. I just got an 02 Targa and am real happy with it. It's got a lot of options I guess with the best being the surprisingly good Bose system.

I paid 39,500 without doing much research. Is this comparable to what you guys paid? My buddy is convinced I overpaid.

Thanks and congrats on the nice car.

[RandalJ]

Just a correction to what I wrote earlier.

I re-read a posting from the P.O., and the wheel lips were not masked and painted, but rather the entire wheels were painted, then the lips were machined. Then clearcoated overall, it appears.