2003 Porsche Boxster S

2003 Porsche Boxster S

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geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Friday 15th April 2016
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billzeebub said:
An enjoyable read. The 986 Boxster is sensational value currently. It is my firm belief that the good cars will be much sought after in a few years, especially in light of the later cars move to electric steering and turbo charging etc. I love the analogue nature of it and am currently on my third 986.
Well this is the thing. The Boxster S does 0-60 in 5.5 seconds, and a 996 would do it in 5.1. That's 0.4 difference, and it's arguable when it comes to performance and preference between the 996 and Boxster S. Two more seats, but no rear boot. Rear engine and hard top, but no mid-engine balance. Etc, etc.

The fact that you can have this sort of full fat Porsche performance for £7.500 blows my mind, so I had to have one. No doubt my next car will be a 911, but it'll be a close call between a 987 Boxster S.

cb1965 said:
I tried Pagid discs on my SL and they worked well enough but made the brakes squeal after a few hundred miles, eventually forked out for OEM and no more squeal. Glad you are having success with them as they are definitely better priced than the OEM ones.

Car is lovely btw, a great purchase.
If they squeak I'll pick up some OEM plates to fit into the pots so that they take the squeak away, along with some red rubber grease. Should be okay then!

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Tuesday 19th April 2016
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Here's the inside of the fronts by the way:



Horrendous!

Drove to Silverstone on the weekend to see the 6 Hours of LeMans Series. Superb day! 3 hours to get there, 3 hours back, around 330 miles in total and I did around 31mpg. Not bad going at all smile

Anyone else go?

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Thursday 21st April 2016
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Found that my brake lights are coming on a little late. Not by much, but enough that they don't engage when I brake lightly.

The brake light switch under the pedal is apparently the culprit, and cleaning it fixes it. Although if it needs replacing it's only £10.

This weekend I'll be cleaning the throttle body as I've got a very slightly rough idle. Not much, but you can feel it when sitting in the car and you can see minor changes in the needle. It feels like a bad spark plug (but it isn't). It hasn't got an idle control valve as it's got an electric throttle, so the throttle body opens slightly to idle the car instead. Over time when the throttle body has gunk built up on its butterfly valve, the air is slightly restricted at idle. So this should clean it. Plus, it's always good to keep on top of these things.

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Monday 25th April 2016
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I've just realised that the Boxster takes 9L of oil for an oil change. 9!!!

M3333

2,259 posts

213 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
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Enjoyed reading this. I have a late 2004 986 S, previously a very nice 2004 996C2. I have not used mine much in the last 12 months but it is currently in the garage having a service, air con recharged and a full 4 wheel alignment as we are taking it on a 14 day tour of Europe, ferry leaves Friday. Enjoy your Boxster they are awesome cars for the money! I have always preferred my Boxster to my 996. Where did you get your exhaust mod done, sounds incredible in the vids!

Some (Sorry poor) pics of mine.




Edited by M3333 on Tuesday 26th April 07:37

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Tuesday 26th April 2016
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ProSpeed Exhausts in Cardiff, £130 smile

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
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Got some wheel nut covers:

Before:


After:


I also ordered some caliper decals to replace the faded ones on the calipers, but had quite a lot spare.

I decided to place one of the larger ones on the wind deflector (sorry for the average photos):







And now onto the caliper. Here's one of the faded ones:



Removed the remains using Meguiars Ultimate Compound and a soft foam applicator:



Applied the decal:



And finished:



Far better.

And seeing as I had a few more spare, I uhh... decided to go one step further.

The door sill in the passenger side has an umbrella well for a small umbrella, which I've already got in there. Seeing as I refuse to pay £80 for an original Porsche umbrella, and seeing as I had some decals left over... you can see where this is going.









Shh, I like it.

Diesel Meister

2,044 posts

200 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
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Great to see a good car getting the love it deserves thumbup

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
quotequote all
Diesel Meister said:
Great to see a good car getting the love it deserves thumbup
Appreciate it smile I've had a few people ask "Why don't you get an old car as your daily and keep that for weekends?". People might have different point of views on this but I'd hate to do that.

The car is quiet, comfortable, plush and has the performance where needed. It's got incredible build quality too, so why on earth would I want to use anything else? If I don't use it, parts on the car don't get used, which means they don't get lubricated, they dry up and fail.

Put two Porsches together from 2003, one with 20,000 miles and one with 80,000 (like this one), and I can guarantee you the 20,000 one will have more problems.

They're meant to get driven, and that means they're meant to be loved smile I try my best.

thatguy11

640 posts

122 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
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Way to stick it to the man with your "Porsche Design" umbrella! Porsche are having a laugh with their branded items prices anyway

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
quotequote all
thatguy11 said:
Way to stick it to the man with your "Porsche Design" umbrella! Porsche are having a laugh with their branded items prices anyway
Haha too right, their prices are ridiculous.

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
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Decided to refresh the interior leather as it was looking quite shiny and oily.

Before:


After:


Before:


After:








Bit better.

TheLordJohn

5,746 posts

145 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
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Got a lot of time for someone who leaves their car in gear smile
Car looks great, interior looks great; top effort.

PorkRind

3,053 posts

204 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
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Contrary to what a few others have said, i quite like the grey interior.. The exhaust mod looks pretty sweet. Insert some joke about cycling..

dxg

8,123 posts

259 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
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What products did you use on that steering wheel? That's a job I've got to face soon...

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Monday 2nd May 2016
quotequote all
TheLordJohn said:
Got a lot of time for someone who leaves their car in gear smile
Car looks great, interior looks great; top effort.
Thanks smile always the safest way! Normally it's in reverse but I was cleaning it.

PorkRind said:
Contrary to what a few others have said, i quite like the grey interior.. The exhaust mod looks pretty sweet. Insert some joke about cycling..
Cheers! Exhaust mod was the best thing on this car, it sounds like a 981 with the active sports exhaust on. It's unbelievable!

Lol, check my twitter account (I'm @geraintthomas, he's @geraintthomas86, and he mentions me in his book lol)

dxg said:
What products did you use on that steering wheel? That's a job I've got to face soon...
AutoGlym Leather Cleaner with a soft brush, dry with a microfibre, then use a Flash Magic Eraser lightly. Works brilliantly.


I managed to give the car a good coating of HD Wax this evening.

















And a better one of the wind deflector decal:



Edited by geraintthomas on Tuesday 3rd May 12:13

Medic-one

3,105 posts

202 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
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Looks great!

Really enjoy your updates on this car.

PorkRind

3,053 posts

204 months

Sunday 8th May 2016
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geraintthomas said:
AutoGlym Leather Cleaner with a soft brush, dry with a microfibre, then use a Flash Magic Eraser lightly. Works brilliantly.




Edited by geraintthomas on Tuesday 3rd May 12:13
Ah, I watched a similar method on ammonyc YouTube channel earlier. Hats of to you for putting the work in. You've got a fantastic motor! Did you get it checked for bore score etc pre purchase?!

geraintthomas

Original Poster:

897 posts

106 months

Sunday 8th May 2016
quotequote all
Medic-one said:
Looks great!

Really enjoy your updates on this car.
Many thanks smile

PorkRind said:
Ah, I watched a similar method on ammonyc YouTube channel earlier. Hats of to you for putting the work in. You've got a fantastic motor! Did you get it checked for bore score etc pre purchase?!
Thanks very much! I'm glad people can see the work I put into it. Sometimes I feel like I work on it loads but, when I write down what I've done, it doesn't amount to a great deal... but then it must do as it stands out in the quality. No pre-checks, aside from a database check to see its history. I looked around the car and engine quite closely before buying it, and decided I'd just take a plunge!

Greased my brakes today as they started to squeal a little - I forgot to grease them when I installed them. Oops!

While the wheels were off, I decided to try to remove the years of brake dust/fluid stains that were on the alloys.

Before (this was AFTER I washed the wheel!):


After:


Before:


After:





They're not perfect inside, but they were a nightmare to get clean. I had to use a mix of AutoGlym Custom Wheel Cleaner, 2500 grit wet and dry sandpaper, and Meguiars Ultimate Compound. They're far better, and seeing a clean alloy wheel barrel through the spokes is far more attractive!


Back wheel:


Front wheel:


Much better, you think? smile




Polarbert

17,923 posts

230 months

Monday 9th May 2016
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Definitely. I used to spend ages getting my Clio 182 wheels off and cleaning the insides of those. I'm tempted to do my Z4Ms wheels but as I live in a flat I don't have easy access to anywhere to do it.


Oh and also theres the fact that I could take the wheels off if I wanted as the car doesn't have an emergency jack and I dont have a regular one to hand.