Knackered old Porsche with loads of miles - 996 content
Discussion
In fairness, the car is good enough in itself - PHers are merely using this (geek-tastically inspiring) thread as the excuse to embark on The Seasoned 996 Pathway to Fulfillment (TM).
If you think about ti the car makes perfect sense for people that like cars and driving - tactile, sporty, usable / attainable and ripe for some light optimisation.
It won't last for long so get them whilst they're available
Fast Bug said:
It wasn't all that long ago a semi decent 964 was around £15k. My friend paid £18k for a tidy 964 C4 3 or 4 years ago, I was thinking about selling my Beetle and getting one at the same time. Wish I had now!
Where are they at now? Out of interest. I've not bought by C4 to make money on, but I'll have it for 4 or 5 years until an F Type comes down to my level and see where we're at
He's spent a bit of money on it, 993 door handles, cup mirrors, 17" Fuchs and refreshed the suspension and tugged it down a little (sits really nicely!). Even so he turned down early £30's for it late last year.
G Body cars were the same, they went down really low in price before picking up again. I think the 993 is the only one that escaped, maybe because it was the last of air cooled?
I didn't buy mine as an investment, it was bought to use (and use hard
). As long as I don't lose too much money on it I'm happy. I've spent £1500 on it since I bought it, and I think if I sold it today I'd probably be about even on it. After losing £20k on the Beetle, I'm over the moon with that 
Really fancy going for a razz in it now...
G Body cars were the same, they went down really low in price before picking up again. I think the 993 is the only one that escaped, maybe because it was the last of air cooled?
I didn't buy mine as an investment, it was bought to use (and use hard
). As long as I don't lose too much money on it I'm happy. I've spent £1500 on it since I bought it, and I think if I sold it today I'd probably be about even on it. After losing £20k on the Beetle, I'm over the moon with that Really fancy going for a razz in it now...
Things like this thread - brilliant thread OP - the way people like (love 'em or hate 'em) Magnus Walker, Singer, RWB Rauh-Welt breathe new life into older cars, the way new cars are just increasingly remote and less involving, these are the sorts of influences that made me take the plunge into the 996-shaped Porsche experience. Still just about affordable and possibly undervalued, definitely usable.
There's too much talk about Porsche 911s as investments. If you love a car an intend to keep it, what does the mileage matter? Especially if it's like Trigger's broom and is maintained to a level that preserves integrity. What do personalisations and modifications matter if they enhance the utility of the car for you? Not a jot if you aren't looking to sell anytime soon.
All great cars are more than just machinery, more than mere transport, they are devices that help us to unlock experiences. In the end, it's the fun and the memories that are worth most.
There's too much talk about Porsche 911s as investments. If you love a car an intend to keep it, what does the mileage matter? Especially if it's like Trigger's broom and is maintained to a level that preserves integrity. What do personalisations and modifications matter if they enhance the utility of the car for you? Not a jot if you aren't looking to sell anytime soon.
All great cars are more than just machinery, more than mere transport, they are devices that help us to unlock experiences. In the end, it's the fun and the memories that are worth most.
Fast Bug said:
Digga said:
There's too much talk about Porsche 911s as investments. If you love a car an intend to keep it, what does the mileage matter?
Just pulled mine out of the garage ready to have a play later this evening Cool photo btw!
Enjoy your drive! Hoping to roll out with mine to catch Magnus Walker at OPC Wolverhampton on Sunday.
TheLordJohn said:
Fast Bug said:
It wasn't all that long ago a semi decent 964 was around £15k. My friend paid £18k for a tidy 964 C4 3 or 4 years ago, I was thinking about selling my Beetle and getting one at the same time. Wish I had now!
Where are they at now? Out of interest. I've not bought by C4 to make money on, but I'll have it for 4 or 5 years until an F Type comes down to my level and see where we're at
Have said since the F type came out I want one for my 30th birthday when hopefully they're in the low 20's. So in the meantime I've bought a 996 C4S which hopefully won't depreciate too much (high mileage) and i'll make the switch to F type in 3 years... unless I'm completely in love with the 996, which I already am lol!
Just want to give a massive thumbs up to those who have taken the plunge on a 996 because of this thread. They are wonderful cars and I hope you have many years of fun with them
I've spent some time with/under the old knacker today as it was due a once over. Nothing particularily exciting I'm afraid just some basic service stuff. It's had fresh engine oil, gearbox oil and diff oil. The coffin arm ball joints have been greased (if anyone has squeaking ones on full lock then injecting some fresh grease in with a syringe extends the life by many years!) and sphericals cleaned up and WD40'd, bushes inspected. Few bits of floor patched up where it's been sliding on them. It will need some new manifolds at some point, or at the least a repair, in the not too distant future as they do get scraped along the floor occasionally:
It also had some fresh pads all round, after 60K miles the discs are barely worn so clearly the plan of using soft pads on decent discs for life works pretty well.
I've also updated the TomTom with the latest maps and speed camera locations, I don't know why Sony discontinued the XNV stuff as it is fantastic to have a proper TomTom setup running via the head unit but as long as the map support continues I have no plans to change it!
I'm also planning to add TPMS over the coming weeks, I just need to work out a way to do it without cluttering up the dash anymore. The Beru system is very good and has a CAN output I can link to the spare CAN on the Evo5 logger that's in the nose so that might be the way to do it as then I could configure a page on the dash to show TP's and Temps.
I'm doing Pure Rally to Monaco again this year in it as a bit of a busmans holiday so am in two minds if I should wrap it in some sort of homage livery to classic Porsche or not..... any suggestions?
I've spent some time with/under the old knacker today as it was due a once over. Nothing particularily exciting I'm afraid just some basic service stuff. It's had fresh engine oil, gearbox oil and diff oil. The coffin arm ball joints have been greased (if anyone has squeaking ones on full lock then injecting some fresh grease in with a syringe extends the life by many years!) and sphericals cleaned up and WD40'd, bushes inspected. Few bits of floor patched up where it's been sliding on them. It will need some new manifolds at some point, or at the least a repair, in the not too distant future as they do get scraped along the floor occasionally:
It also had some fresh pads all round, after 60K miles the discs are barely worn so clearly the plan of using soft pads on decent discs for life works pretty well.
I've also updated the TomTom with the latest maps and speed camera locations, I don't know why Sony discontinued the XNV stuff as it is fantastic to have a proper TomTom setup running via the head unit but as long as the map support continues I have no plans to change it!
I'm also planning to add TPMS over the coming weeks, I just need to work out a way to do it without cluttering up the dash anymore. The Beru system is very good and has a CAN output I can link to the spare CAN on the Evo5 logger that's in the nose so that might be the way to do it as then I could configure a page on the dash to show TP's and Temps.
I'm doing Pure Rally to Monaco again this year in it as a bit of a busmans holiday so am in two minds if I should wrap it in some sort of homage livery to classic Porsche or not..... any suggestions?
Oh just one more thing, I put it on the scales again today and with the lighter battery it is now only 8KG away from a Mk1 GT3, I'm going to add another 1.5KG with TPMS but I don't think that's bad all things considered...... lighter seats are still tempting me which would see it below GT3 weight!
ooid said:
Uber-Fantastic pic 
Would you be able to explain your cooling upgrade/hack in the car please, if possible? would love to learn about it more. I remember you mentioned a few pages before briefly but would be great to see in more details.
No problem, it's not really a hack a such but the parts list changed on the car from standard is: Would you be able to explain your cooling upgrade/hack in the car please, if possible? would love to learn about it more. I remember you mentioned a few pages before briefly but would be great to see in more details.
- Lower temperature thermostat with a 78 degree opening temp.
- Metal impellor water pump.
- CFS aluminium radiators
- Air-Con delete which removes the condensors from in front of the radiators.
- Rad fan control moved to the AIM Evo 5 logger.
The CFS rads provide a little larger/more efficent core than standard as well as being quite a bit stronger. The lower temp stat is well covered elsewhere but essentially it reduces the thermal difference between cylinders across the engine at the expense of emissions compliance and low load efficency (as the engine is cooler, so the wall surfaces are cooler), the metal impeller pump is much stronger than the plastic impeller which I had fail BUT it must be changed yearly as a bearing failure will damage the crank case/block casting. The air con delete boost cooling system efficency massively as it removes the condensors from in front of the water radiators, this provides unrestricted airflow to the rads and also means the air passing through them is ambient temperature rather than already having been heated by the air-con rads. The rad fan control via the logger allows me to turn the fans on at a lower temperature, the fan control on mine is permanently on low speed below 15mph, it then switches to high speed if the coolant temp is greater than 88 degrees and the vehicle speed is less than 20mph.
I rarely use my car in situations where you can't just crack a window and a lot of my mileage is done at night when it is quite and cool so I don't really miss it, obviously this isn't really an option for those who wish to pop out for lunch in Nice in July
Hope that helps!
Yup, i bought my 97-98 996 C2 3.4 because of this thread and POPPOPBANGBANGS info on the car. good to know that my dual row IMS will last a long long long long time lol
Howd you go with the x51 baffle Pop? is it a straight swap? is it worth all owners doing or is it for a 3.6 motor ?
Howd you go with the x51 baffle Pop? is it a straight swap? is it worth all owners doing or is it for a 3.6 motor ?
pokiou said:
Yup, i bought my 97-98 996 C2 3.4 because of this thread and POPPOPBANGBANGS info on the car. good to know that my dual row IMS will last a long long long long time lol
Howd you go with the x51 baffle Pop? is it a straight swap? is it worth all owners doing or is it for a 3.6 motor ?
I used the FVD Sump kit Howd you go with the x51 baffle Pop? is it a straight swap? is it worth all owners doing or is it for a 3.6 motor ?
Which copies the X51 baffles but in a deeper sump closing plate which adds around 0.6L of oil capacity over standard.
It's a very easy fit and also has a finned bottom which helps with cooling a little. I've had no issues with oil pressure on circuit with it and it doesn't seem to be taking a beating under the car even though it reduces ground clearance a little.
Big thumbs up from me.
Congratulations on your purchase
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