Knackered old Porsche with loads of natural light - Boxster!

I've been meaning to post this for a while! Some months back I stumbled across a 2.5 Boxster on E-Bay.... it was very cheap and came with no history, as well all know the very best Porsches are listed on e-bay cheap, with the odd broken bit and no history so without any further ado I immediately went and got it:



Obviously trailered it home to keep the mileage off it and not because it didn't run, had no brake pedal or smelled of wet dog or anything like that....

It looks pretty good in this picture which hides the mismatched tyres, heavily kerbed wheels, badly rattle canned front bumper, green roof and heavy misfire really well!





However the good bits were a mostly complete service history, 90K miles, great spec (including Litronics, extended leather, and embossed seats) and underneath all the moss and dirt it was actually pretty straight.... but did need a few bits sorted, like the misfire and poor brake pedal.

As this was before I'd actually finished the garage it was a fix it on axle stands job:



Luckily the problem was pretty simple, a massive vacuum leak from the brake servo feed, which was easily fixed. I also set the throttle cable up properly, cleaned the butterfly, checked the air filter and gave it a wipe over of healing. Once done it drove really well to the point that I felt quite sorry for it that for the sake of a loose hose it had been sat for 6 months odd.

A few other points needed addressing, like the broken centre cubby lid and sloppy gearstick. Porsche to a cubby repair kit and short shift kits are cheap so neither of these was a problem:

Cubby repair kit:


Previous owners badly mixed epoxy fix:


Actual fix:


Well worn gear selector:


And short shift kit fitted:


I was so pleased with how this was going I got the DA out and gave it a proper once over, using Autoglyms rapid renovator kit which is almost impossible to cock up:



And the headlights got a polish too!:



Aside from the front bumper the paint was all original and save for an amount of patina that you can't knock a 22 year old car for was in decent condition once "corrected":





The hood had a massive clean with an Autoglym kit which was clingfilmed on overnight resulting in a much cleaner and less green top!

The front bumper got a strip down and repaint as that was unrecoverable but came out alright in the end



I changed radiators at the same time but forgot to take any pics of that...

Wheels refurbed with a couple of fresh Bridgestones:



TT did a great job on these including getting the centre caps back to presentable.



The utterly used front discs and pads got swapped whilst the wheels were off and I also cleaned the calipers up:



Wheels fitted with some new black bolts:



It was really starting to look pretty tidy now!



In a fit of enthusiasm and because by this point I'd also mostly finished the garage I treated it to a service



Got to love a pop up filler



And fixed the door microswitch so the window drop worked:



Which resulted in a really nice 2.5L Boxster which everything works on and that returns 30mpg bumbling about the place.



It is a beautifully balanced little thing, even on it's probably original dampers, and whilst boasting very little power is nippy enough to enjoy and have fun with - in the wet it also does sideways impressively well! I've used it as my daily up until the salt started to appear on the roads and it's sat in the garage now. Jobs for next year / once I've finished the 996 are pretty sparse as this is staying as a pretty much standard car. I need to fix the hand brake light switch which packed up just before I parked it for winter as this stops the roof working and the hood needs a new rear window, amazingly it's not split down the middle as so many do but is pretty opaque and starting to fret on one corner.

I can't get over what a fun car it is to run around in, and surprisingly practical too if you don't need more than two seats. Definitely a mega e-bay buy and proof that you can never have too many projects....... or too many Porsches

I'm planning a Euro trip in this later this year as well as using it as the daily (because it halves the fuel bill vs the Cayenne!) so I'll keep things updated with how well / badly this goes

If it goes pop I'm putting an LS3 in it on general principle otherwise its staying as the daily - it is my least modified Porsche..... which considering one of the others is a Cayenne is saying something

I can highly recommend a Boxster, they are so well balanced and still feel a lot like a 996. There are a good few about that are perfectly decent for £6K'ish and you can spanner so a 2.5 will be cheap to look after! Get it done

I would happily fill a barn full of 996s to build later should opportunity present itself - after all you can do that for less than the cost of an RS 4.0 at the moment

I think the later ones are on single row IMS but aside from that and for what what they are going for you'd be crazy not to roll the dice!

If it was me I would leave well alone but then I do have somewhat of a high risk/reward approach to these things I can recommend the EPS IMS solution which is what's in my 3.7 in the 996. This only went in there as the original dual row was NLA and seemed by far the best engineered aftermarket solution.

My 986 is standard pressures but 2psi down on the front to dial out a little of the understeer.

It was a nice day today so I've been out in the Boxster to pick some bits up, even got the roof down on the way back!

Still amazed by just how much Porsche you can get for such a little amount of money. If you're considering one then get it done before they're all ten grand +

The Boxster continues to be fantastic fair weather transport and it's had a treat today with a mornings stay at Center Gravity for a road use focused setup:



Really cannot fault those numbers on a load of old road car bits, as always CG did a mega job of sorting out a few small bits on it during the setup and generally taking the care, attention and time required to do an excellent job. I can't recommend them highly enough for any setup needs one may have!

No major dramas to report bar it needs a couple of rear tuning forks at some point in the near future so that's added to next service list.

7MM front and 15mm rear.... basically the "standard" spacers for a Boxster

You don't need hubcentrics on the front but the rear is a must at anything above 7MM.

As the sun has finally come out it seemed rude not to give it a quick and dirty detail:



The old thing scrubs up really well and I am still in awe of what a difference some spacers make to the visuals of the rear of the car.

It's due its MOT in a few weeks so I've given it a once over in advance of that. No significant jobs to do, it wants some rear tuning fork arms so they are on the way but they're a super easy change and don't impact the geo so a lazy afternoons job at worst. I might also put some fresh rear pads in as I've got to sort out a dodgy brake wear sensor that keeps spooking the light on the dash so whilst it's apart....

Aside from that I'm still running this on a mostly send it and see approach but it continues to be a hugely entertaining, balanced and nippy if you're working at it car.