I have been asked by a few people to detail the rebuild my 996 is currently going through up at Autofarm (www.autofarm.co.uk) under the watchful eye of Mikey Wastie, who manages the 'Projects' department.
This also happens to be my 996th post on PH, so it is rather fitting that I start this thread at that milestone.
To give you some background; I bought my black '98 Porsche 996 Carrera 3.4, manual back in March 2008 from the PH classifieds. It was in pretty good condition and didn't have too many miles on it (72k). There were no signs of engine trouble and it had recent bills totalling a fair sum of money. It was in the spec I wanted (black with black leather) and had the LSD, which was important to me as I always knew I would track it at some point.
After collection, a gearbox fault appeared and that was changed under warranty, so I had a nice, new gearbox! I ran it as a daily driver for about 9 months before starting to collect a load of track parts at the start of this year. I now drive my Renaultsport 172 everyday and the Pork has become a strict trackday/ weekend car.
So, a (probably not complete) list of the parts I have bought:
- Intrax titanium adjustable dampers (all round)
- Short shift kit
- Equal length exhaust manifolds
- Carbon and black alcantara (with red stitch) bucket seats
- GT3 black, alcantara (with red stitch) gear lever
- New, clear front lights
- New, all red rear lights
- New M030 ARBs & bushes
- Carbon strut braces front & rear
- Induction kit
- New front & rear bumpers (for cosmetics)
- Toyo R888 tyres on refurbished rims (www.wheelrefurbishing.com) in Honda Civic Type R grey
- Steel braided brake lines
- Assorted other bits and pieces
Other services performed by Mikey at Autofarm
- Full front and rear brake rebuild including new seals etc
- All brake calipers painted yellow
- Fitting of all parts & Geo
- Air con radiator change
- Sorting out some niggles/ rattles
So, the car is due back from Autofarm at some point next week. It has been there a while now as Mikey is very thorough and the car also had to go to and from the paint shop as both ends of the car needed spraying. He has also been very patient with me w.r.t. getting parts sent to him. We are still waiting on the seat mounts/ sliders and the alcantara gear stick, but both should be there today/ tomorrow, so it is just a case of bolting it all together!
To say I am excitied is an understatement!
It has cost a fair amount of money and I could have probably bought a 996 GT3 at Christmas, when the bottom fell out of the market, for what it has cost me over the past 16 months (including buying the car). But, 'playing' with cars doubles up as my hobby and it will be 'unique'. It is not meant to be a GT3 replica (hence no bodykit), but it should be lighter, with more track oriented suspension and the shorter gearing, so hopefully a good match at least at 9/10ths.
I certainly won't be putting a GT3 badge on the back
Mikey has been taking photos of everything as he has been doing the jobs, so I have quite a selection:
Intrax Titanium dampers (picture from web):
Brakes after being blasted and cleaned:
Brakes after returning from paint shop:
Exhaust manifolds fitted:
Front bumper post-paint:
Rear bumper post-paint (note it is a 'later' style bumper):
All red rear lights:
Short shift installed:
I will get some more photos of parts like the seats and gear stick etc up when Mikey sends me some photos or I get the car back. It should look great, lowered, with shiny black paint, slightly grey (but very metallic) wheels, with yellow calipers sitting behind them. Hopefully it will handle like a dream (if a little stiff) and I will still be able to squeeze my frame into the carbon seats!
As a project, it is still not finished. I am getting 200 cell sport cats custom made and fitted and then some custom rear silencers (to get me through noise tests) and a remap to tie it all together. But they will be done once I have it back. In the long term, I would love to get rid of the sunroof and save some weight and rattles with a carbon roof. But that will be next year methinks!
