2002 Boxster S - up spec overhaul for Le Mans duty
Discussion
“The boys” sent me these
I really wasn’t ready for those...
Meanwhile - poor boys rubber cleaner makes old plastic look new:
Six new coil packs, engine oil, filters, gearbox oil, that brake fluid, engine coolant, new thermostat, those five rads, dessicator and a brake rebuild later things were starting to come together:
I really wasn’t ready for those...
Meanwhile - poor boys rubber cleaner makes old plastic look new:
Six new coil packs, engine oil, filters, gearbox oil, that brake fluid, engine coolant, new thermostat, those five rads, dessicator and a brake rebuild later things were starting to come together:
I went for some PFC carbon metallic pads:
By way of a spoiler they stop great but they do squeal. Annoying!
So, like you do - I decided that with less than a week to go it would be a great idea to order a GT3 bumper and aero skirts for the car. Probably a bit daft. Ok. A lot daft. Anyway the bits rocked up
And my body shop pal Chris took stress to new highs and painted them for me, as well as refurbishing the sport design wheels I’d bought.
Night before Le Mans day we were in the garage until about midnight fitting side vents, bleeding the cooling, putting wheels on, back bumper etc!
I had gone for pilot sports, in 18 inch size, but 205 at the front and 225 at the rear. This is a bit thinner than standard and it works really really well. In hindsight I don’t like the black wheels and I managed to kerb one in the channel tunnel train so for 2019 I’ll probably change them to silver or maybe get different wheels.
By way of a spoiler they stop great but they do squeal. Annoying!
So, like you do - I decided that with less than a week to go it would be a great idea to order a GT3 bumper and aero skirts for the car. Probably a bit daft. Ok. A lot daft. Anyway the bits rocked up
And my body shop pal Chris took stress to new highs and painted them for me, as well as refurbishing the sport design wheels I’d bought.
Night before Le Mans day we were in the garage until about midnight fitting side vents, bleeding the cooling, putting wheels on, back bumper etc!
I had gone for pilot sports, in 18 inch size, but 205 at the front and 225 at the rear. This is a bit thinner than standard and it works really really well. In hindsight I don’t like the black wheels and I managed to kerb one in the channel tunnel train so for 2019 I’ll probably change them to silver or maybe get different wheels.
And that was it - off to Le Mans that very morning.
I had been pretty careful to check everything a lot of times during the process of the build so despite the time issue I wasn’t expecting any real problems.
Car was amazing all the way. We did Le Mans first:
- just brilliant to be with your pals on a fun trip like that.
Anyway - then it was time to drive East to Germany for the Porsche to go home!
I had been pretty careful to check everything a lot of times during the process of the build so despite the time issue I wasn’t expecting any real problems.
Car was amazing all the way. We did Le Mans first:
- just brilliant to be with your pals on a fun trip like that.
Anyway - then it was time to drive East to Germany for the Porsche to go home!
Quick stop at Hockenheim.:
There is a little museum there with a few cars and a load of old bikes upstairs. Not spectacular but worth an hour. Also we caught some kind of a hospitality day with Mercedes giving laps in AMG GT’s - sounded terrific but sadly we didn’t get invited to join!
There is a little museum there with a few cars and a load of old bikes upstairs. Not spectacular but worth an hour. Also we caught some kind of a hospitality day with Mercedes giving laps in AMG GT’s - sounded terrific but sadly we didn’t get invited to join!
For our final destination we chose Frankfurt and “Klassikstaad” - kind of an old mill full of different supercars, classic cars and their dealers.
Imagine the Trafford centre but for the worlds top automobiles and you’re getting the right idea! Great morning looking at the cars there:
Imagine the Trafford centre but for the worlds top automobiles and you’re getting the right idea! Great morning looking at the cars there:
And that’s it - my adventure with the Boxster so far. We did about 2000 miles in the week so it’s done about 27k now. I cleaned it up when I got home, removed the stickers and sorned it away in the man cave.
I can’t really think of a better car to do a trip like that in. It’s not so expensive that you’re paranoid about it, not so fast that you’re struggling to stay within limits and yet we saw an easy 156mph on the autobahn with two up and the top off!
I think the next time it comes out will be for Le Mans 2019 - although I would like to do something with the wheels really before then and I’m not leaving it until the week before!
Also the front number plate (and the rear!) genuinely kept falling off so I need to change sticky suppliers because previously I’ve not had a plate fall off in 20 years!
Hope you enjoyed the posts as much as I’ve enjoyed reading other contributors far better efforts than mine over the last couple of years.
I can’t really think of a better car to do a trip like that in. It’s not so expensive that you’re paranoid about it, not so fast that you’re struggling to stay within limits and yet we saw an easy 156mph on the autobahn with two up and the top off!
I think the next time it comes out will be for Le Mans 2019 - although I would like to do something with the wheels really before then and I’m not leaving it until the week before!
Also the front number plate (and the rear!) genuinely kept falling off so I need to change sticky suppliers because previously I’ve not had a plate fall off in 20 years!
Hope you enjoyed the posts as much as I’ve enjoyed reading other contributors far better efforts than mine over the last couple of years.
mikey P 500 said:
Good effort, kind of surprised such a low mile car requires quite this many new parts though. (did you keep or sell the old suspension?)
I gave the old suspension away to be honest. To be clear, you could have done discs and pads, a service and a couple of new radiators, that brake pipe and a few other little bits and enjoyed a great car for a number of years but I just really wanted to make something a bit special. (And I like using new fasteners and retainers on everything, as well as doing lots of preventative maintenance - it’s just the kind of petrolhead I am. I would be rubbish at shedding because I’d end up restoring the damned things just for the fun of it!)
Heheh - yes - centre console delete install! Not thought of how that sounds but it gives you a lot more leg room!
Dave - the Caterham is still with me - in fact I could do a heck of a build thread about that one couldn’t I!
Haha yes £5k wouldn’t quite do it unfortunately - I think I’m going to have to keep it a while to get some value out of it but the other way to look at it is that I’ve got an immaculate fully refreshed low mileage flat six Porsche for the price of a new modest shopping car. Yes I had to work hard to do it but I did enjoy it when all is said and done!
Dave - the Caterham is still with me - in fact I could do a heck of a build thread about that one couldn’t I!
Haha yes £5k wouldn’t quite do it unfortunately - I think I’m going to have to keep it a while to get some value out of it but the other way to look at it is that I’ve got an immaculate fully refreshed low mileage flat six Porsche for the price of a new modest shopping car. Yes I had to work hard to do it but I did enjoy it when all is said and done!
Julian Thompson said:
Haha yes £5k wouldn’t quite do it unfortunately - I think I’m going to have to keep it a while to get some value out of it but the other way to look at it is that I’ve got an immaculate fully refreshed low mileage flat six Porsche for the price of a new modest shopping car. Yes I had to work hard to do it but I did enjoy it when all is said and done!
I'm as sad as I am unsurprised. Which is to say, very. You've done an amazing job, I bet the car is fantastic.
Thanks for that.
To answer that directly - yes it’s absolutely flipping amazing to drive. There is no way you can correlate the price to the quality of the drive with a well sorted 986. I know they have a hairdressers reputation and that the engine issues they had puts people off but if you can look beyond that they really are good - and that’s why they are so popular I guess!
The only time I’ve been disappointed with it was when I went to have a go in an Elise at the local dealer when we got back from Germany - I got back in the Boxster and it felt like a bus for a few miles! Those cars really are tremendous! Obviously the Boxster is a better Sports/Tourer than the Elise but as a Sports/Racer the Elise is just sublime as I’m sure you guys are well aware. That’s an itch I definitely need to scratch at some point!
To answer that directly - yes it’s absolutely flipping amazing to drive. There is no way you can correlate the price to the quality of the drive with a well sorted 986. I know they have a hairdressers reputation and that the engine issues they had puts people off but if you can look beyond that they really are good - and that’s why they are so popular I guess!
The only time I’ve been disappointed with it was when I went to have a go in an Elise at the local dealer when we got back from Germany - I got back in the Boxster and it felt like a bus for a few miles! Those cars really are tremendous! Obviously the Boxster is a better Sports/Tourer than the Elise but as a Sports/Racer the Elise is just sublime as I’m sure you guys are well aware. That’s an itch I definitely need to scratch at some point!
Julian Thompson said:
...but the other way to look at it is that I’ve got an immaculate fully refreshed low mileage flat six Porsche for the price of a new modest shopping car...
That's the only way to look at it. You would certainly lose more money on depreciation on a nearly new saloon/hatch.Looking forward to the inevitable Elise rebuild thread once you get one of those...
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