1999 Porsche 996 C2 3.7
Discussion
Great reading! But I got shivers down my spine when I saw the Momo wheel. Remember that it's not always within your control when something bad happens.
A blind taxi driver pulled out from a side road just as I was about to pass him at 50mph. There was nothing I could do and ploughed into his E-class' front offside wheel. The front of me only owned for 3 months Boxster S was demolished and it's very likely I would have been killed without the airbag there to protect my head. In the event, I just suffered numerous cuts and grazes and several broken ribs. I couldn't open the door to get out of the car, but I remembered that I was in a convertible and could open the roof to get out.
I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you may want to reconsider that steering wheel choice.
A blind taxi driver pulled out from a side road just as I was about to pass him at 50mph. There was nothing I could do and ploughed into his E-class' front offside wheel. The front of me only owned for 3 months Boxster S was demolished and it's very likely I would have been killed without the airbag there to protect my head. In the event, I just suffered numerous cuts and grazes and several broken ribs. I couldn't open the door to get out of the car, but I remembered that I was in a convertible and could open the roof to get out.
I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you may want to reconsider that steering wheel choice.
Great story. When I bought mine I set a project with an absolute budget limit of £10k. So naturally I went out and bought the first one I saw which was almost double that and was anything but a project 
Strange as well how perceptions have changed - when I was looking it was the early cars that seemed to be the ones to steer clear from, now that’s gone full circle and common wisdom seems to be the early 3.4 is the engine to have...
LunarOne I don’t want this to sound sarcastic or in any way gobby, but genuinely can you explain how you think the airbag saved your life? I’m not a doctor or anti airbag and going to get into trying to prove you wrong, I’m just genuinely interested.
Strange as well how perceptions have changed - when I was looking it was the early cars that seemed to be the ones to steer clear from, now that’s gone full circle and common wisdom seems to be the early 3.4 is the engine to have...LunarOne I don’t want this to sound sarcastic or in any way gobby, but genuinely can you explain how you think the airbag saved your life? I’m not a doctor or anti airbag and going to get into trying to prove you wrong, I’m just genuinely interested.
OP, love the car and enjoyed the read! Thanks.
Did you consider fitting the additional oil pickup that came with the X51 factory kit? Only one bank of cylinders has one IIRC.
I would agree about the steering wheel though. I used the smaller RAID airbag steering wheel used by Ruf / Aston / Morgan / exotics. A massive improvement and quite cheap second hand.
Did you consider fitting the additional oil pickup that came with the X51 factory kit? Only one bank of cylinders has one IIRC.
I would agree about the steering wheel though. I used the smaller RAID airbag steering wheel used by Ruf / Aston / Morgan / exotics. A massive improvement and quite cheap second hand.
J.C... said:
LunarOne I don’t want this to sound sarcastic or in any way gobby, but genuinely can you explain how you think the airbag saved your life? I’m not a doctor or anti airbag and going to get into trying to prove you wrong, I’m just genuinely interested.
Because a policeman I spoke to after the accident told me several things.1. That he'd seen people in less severe accidents have severe leg injuries including losing legs. He thought my lack of serious injury was down to not having an engine up front to ingress the passenger compartment, wearing a seatbelt, and having airbags.
2. That had the airbag not prevented my head from moving too far forward, I would likely have suffered severe spinal injury or death had my head hit the wheel.
3. That he didn't need to breathalyse me as he couldn't smell alcohol on me. I insisted in case it might be needed in court or for insurance reasons. I blew 0.
I've obviously replayed the accident 1000 times in my mind, wondering if there's anything I could have done to avoid the accident. Should I have slowed down more as I entered the area with intersecting roads. What if I had gone faster? Would I have avoided him? I did see him pull out slightly before I could react, but I had already slammed into him just as I pushed the brake pedal. I can't remember if I tried to steer away from him or not. There wasn't enough time for my life to flash before my eyes, but I remember thinking "time's up!" The feeling of shock, disbelief and then feeling of my stomach going through my body. Followed immediately by the acrid smell of gunpowder in my nostrils, the ringing in my ears, and the feeling of blood trickling down my legs. I broke several ribs in the accident due to the force of my body pressing against my seatbelt. But I didn't know it at the time. It took a few days for all of the pain to hit me, and it took more than a year until I was pain free.
But yes, I'm absolutely convinced that without the airbag, I wouldn't be here to comment on this. An airbagless wheel might be fine in a racing car where you are strapped in with a 5-point harness and have a helmet with a HANS device. But when you're sharing the road with teenagers doing Instagram, morons, drunks, drug addicts, and people without driving licences or insurance - I don't think it's a risk worth taking. The other party tried to blame me for the accident for speeding. The police investigation and the witnesses discounted that, but now I don't drive without a dashcam either.
Anyway I don't wish to hijack this thread, so I'll try to avoid further comment here.
LunarOne said:
J.C... said:
LunarOne I don’t want this to sound sarcastic or in any way gobby, but genuinely can you explain how you think the airbag saved your life? I’m not a doctor or anti airbag and going to get into trying to prove you wrong, I’m just genuinely interested.
Because a policeman I spoke to after the accident told me several things.1. That he'd seen people in less severe accidents have severe leg injuries including losing legs. He thought my lack of serious injury was down to not having an engine up front to ingress the passenger compartment, wearing a seatbelt, and having airbags.
2. That had the airbag not prevented my head from moving too far forward, I would likely have suffered severe spinal injury or death had my head hit the wheel.
3. That he didn't need to breathalyse me as he couldn't smell alcohol on me. I insisted in case it might be needed in court or for insurance reasons. I blew 0.
I've obviously replayed the accident 1000 times in my mind, wondering if there's anything I could have done to avoid the accident. Should I have slowed down more as I entered the area with intersecting roads. What if I had gone faster? Would I have avoided him? I did see him pull out slightly before I could react, but I had already slammed into him just as I pushed the brake pedal. I can't remember if I tried to steer away from him or not. There wasn't enough time for my life to flash before my eyes, but I remember thinking "time's up!" The feeling of shock, disbelief and then feeling of my stomach going through my body. Followed immediately by the acrid smell of gunpowder in my nostrils, the ringing in my ears, and the feeling of blood trickling down my legs. I broke several ribs in the accident due to the force of my body pressing against my seatbelt. But I didn't know it at the time. It took a few days for all of the pain to hit me, and it took more than a year until I was pain free.
But yes, I'm absolutely convinced that without the airbag, I wouldn't be here to comment on this. An airbagless wheel might be fine in a racing car where you are strapped in with a 5-point harness and have a helmet with a HANS device. But when you're sharing the road with teenagers doing Instagram, morons, drunks, drug addicts, and people without driving licences or insurance - I don't think it's a risk worth taking. The other party tried to blame me for the accident for speeding. The police investigation and the witnesses discounted that, but now I don't drive without a dashcam either.
Anyway I don't wish to hijack this thread, so I'll try to avoid further comment here.
These are fair comments and gave me a bit of food for thought over the weekend. As I said in my update, I'd considered the airbag implications, but seeing your pictures was a bit sobering. I'm going to give it a bit more thought and might see if I can sell the MOMO on without taking a bath and go back to the standard wheel. Didn't expect such a strong response from others, which makes me think I might have undercooked my own justifications for running it. Thanks for your input.
CousinDupree said:
OP, love the car and enjoyed the read! Thanks.
Did you consider fitting the additional oil pickup that came with the X51 factory kit? Only one bank of cylinders has one IIRC.
I would agree about the steering wheel though. I used the smaller RAID airbag steering wheel used by Ruf / Aston / Morgan / exotics. A massive improvement and quite cheap second hand.
Would have loved to have done a bit more of the X51 upgrade but the sump is the only cheap bit! Googling suggests that I'd need £2k or so for the oil pump kit, plus fitting, and for the one or two track days a year I might do in this car it doesn't make sense.Did you consider fitting the additional oil pickup that came with the X51 factory kit? Only one bank of cylinders has one IIRC.
I would agree about the steering wheel though. I used the smaller RAID airbag steering wheel used by Ruf / Aston / Morgan / exotics. A massive improvement and quite cheap second hand.
What a great and well written thread!
And a lovely car!!
Regarding the steering wheel, I'm uncertain what to think off....
I have been ridiculed on an other thread on PH from others, when I raised the same concerns.
Yes, the Momo wheel looks absolutely spot on !!
And the passenger airbag can be removed too, to have a glove box (see CLR's 1'000kg 996)
Driving around 2k miles p.a. in a classic car from the '60s, one is aware of driving a car without any safety features, bar the seatbelt (and being a Volvo P1800 it certainly is one of the safest car of the time with standard 3-point seatbelt).
Many of my hero cars don't have airbags and I'd gladly drive along in them.
But I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable removing an existing airbag....
And you have the 3-spoke wheel, which arguably is the best 996 wheel!
This is without taking into consideration of how well a 20 year old airbag system works in an emergency....
In the end each has to decide for themselves ...
Oh, and a lovely bike you have built yourself!!!
And a lovely car!!
Regarding the steering wheel, I'm uncertain what to think off....
I have been ridiculed on an other thread on PH from others, when I raised the same concerns.
Yes, the Momo wheel looks absolutely spot on !!
And the passenger airbag can be removed too, to have a glove box (see CLR's 1'000kg 996)
Driving around 2k miles p.a. in a classic car from the '60s, one is aware of driving a car without any safety features, bar the seatbelt (and being a Volvo P1800 it certainly is one of the safest car of the time with standard 3-point seatbelt).
Many of my hero cars don't have airbags and I'd gladly drive along in them.
But I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable removing an existing airbag....
And you have the 3-spoke wheel, which arguably is the best 996 wheel!
This is without taking into consideration of how well a 20 year old airbag system works in an emergency....
In the end each has to decide for themselves ...
Oh, and a lovely bike you have built yourself!!!
Well, It’s been six months or so since the last update on the C2, so figured I’d go through the iPhone photo album, dig out some pictures of the posh VW Beetle and get this topic back up to speed.
I put a lot more miles on the car than anticipated in 2020, she’s just ticked over 127,000, and I do worry slightly that if I ever came to sell it most people would value it at about 50p, especially given the myriad horror stories about 996 (and 986) reliability.
Saying all that, for some people it became worthless the moment it ticked over 100k anyway, and I get the benefit of daily driving a 911 without worrying too much about losing the shirt off of my back if it decides to grenade itself. Swings and roundabouts I guess.
MOMO Wheel (removal…)
Last time I posted I got a bit of (justified) airbag flak for the change to a MOMO steering wheel. Despite how good it looked and felt, some of the stories I saw about people getting into fairly grim situations without an airbag whilst in a shunt made me think twice. I’d happily drive an old car without one, but something didn’t feel quite right about doing it on this car. I think on balance I’d slightly undercooked my own justifications for running without an airbag on a road car, and when my girlfriend said she didn’t think she would drive it without the original wheel and airbag I decided to switch back. Made 99% of my spend back when selling it, so no great loss, and a bit of an interesting learning curve navigated around how wheels/airbags/clock springs etc work. It’s also not like the original wheel is terrible, I was mostly just being a tart for Italian leather!
I really should replace the floor mats given the hole in the drivers side one but every time I think about pulling the trigger on £100+ for 2 bits of cheap carpet from Porsche I feel queasy…
Coffin and Control Arms
For a while I’d been getting a few knocks and rattles from the front end so wanted to investigate what sort of state the lower arms were in on the car. On all my previous 996/986’s I’ve ended up doing the suspension arms at some point. I put the car into AMS and, after Angus had had a good poke round the car, he showed me the wear on the various arms. It was recommended I do all four coffin arms, and the tuning forks on the front. In the end I went one step further and got the control arms replaced on the rear too, followed by a full alignment.
As usual, when trying to remove things that have been on the car for 20 years, AMS ran into some issues, having to cut some of the bolts out and generally fight with stubborn old suspension, but once back together it made a HUGE difference to the overall quality of the ride. I don’t think I’d realised how tired the original arms were and so many clunks and knocks had suddenly disappeared. Angus had also gone for a slightly more aggressive geometry setup (though nothing too crazy for the road) and this also made a big difference when pushing on. A lot more positivity from the front end. Unfortunately all that new kit started to show up some other parts of the suspension. We’ll get to that later……
I actually took this when getting the tyres done (see below…) so the arms are looking a bit grubby after some miles on them. GT3 brake ducts probably the cheapest brake upgrade Porsche have ever sold!
NC500 2020 Summer Trip
With COVID putting paid to any dreams of a proper holiday out of the UK in 2020 I decided that maybe we should tick off something I’d had on my bucket list for a while and head up to Scotland for a week to do the NC500. I’d imagine most on here know what this is but, for those that don’t, think of it as Scotlands answer to Route 66. A 500 mile snaking route around the top of Scotland taking in some of the best scenery it has to offer. It was, quite simply, incredible.
I’d planned the trip over two weeks, the first week we were staying with some family in the Lake District, near Keswick, and then the second week we headed up to Inverness to start the NC500 properly.
The whole route including the lakes. The north of England and Scotland is a very BIG place
A closer look at the NC500 bit. We actually ended up skipping out the bit back across to Inverness when we finished it. The west coast from Durness to Applecross is simply unreal. The best driving roads I’ve ever been on.
Having spent most of the start of 2020 stuck in London, even getting up to the lakes was a complete breathe of fresh air and the car was in it’s element. We had to take a LOT of stuff up for the first leg of the trip and there was some worry if the 996 would manage to squeeze it all in. Shouldn’t have worried. Who says Porsche’s aren’t practical!?
Click the picture for a little video of the Tetris like packing we managed to achieve. Loads of space.
I won’t do a full detailed run down of the various bits of the route, there’s plenty of other people who will have done a better job than me of that, but will say that it was an epic road trip and one I wouldn’t hesitate to do again. Some of the single track roads were hard work, purely in terms of work rate at the wheel and level of concentration needed, but you were rewarded with absolutely unbelievable views at every turn. We did the east coast first, which was nice enough in isolation, but it’s as you start heading west from John O’Groats that things really start getting special. I could easily run out of adjectives trying to describe the beauty of the West Coast. Unreal.
This might be my absolute favourite picture of the car. It looks absolutely perfect. I think the 996 with the aerokit can look a little off from certain angles. This is not one of them.
Parked up near Derwentwater for a quick work call. A bit nicer than being stuck in the flat back in London on Zoom…
Looking grubby on a very wet day near John O’Groats
We’d stopped here for a bit of breakfast but found they weren’t open. Scotland was still very much struggling with getting going again after Lockdown and a lot of places weren’t open or were severely restricted.
Gorgeous MK2 Golf GTi spotted in the Balkaneil Craft Village, near Durness.
Don’t think you’d get tired of views like this
Looking out towards the Isle of Skye
Views for days.
Despite pushing the car hard for over two weeks and 2000+ miles, she didn’t miss a beat. Not a drop of oil or coolant used and the car was comfortable, fast and practical. I really don’t know what other car would have done all of those quite so well.
Aside from the driving we found everyone to be incredibly hospitable and welcoming, despite COVID making things difficult at every step, and some of the long walks and sights we saw were breathtaking. I could probably have posted 200+ photos of the NC500 trip. If you haven’t been yet then I suggest you go immediately.
New Tyres & Wheel Repair
If there’s one thing that the NC500 did do to the car it was finish off the set of Toyo’s I had on the car. They managed about 18k miles in all, including a track day, so pretty happy with the wear. It was also a good chance to try something new. I wanted to go Michelin this time around as everyone has been banging on about the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 (4S isn’t available in an 18 inch size unfortunately).
A quick trip over to my tyre place, and the new boots were fitted. I’ve since done about 800 miles on the Michelins and they are very, very good. Particularly in the wet. The Toyo’s always felt a bit light and nervous on the front end in the wet and it’s night and day with the Michelin. Very, very good tyres. Will hopefully get the chance to try them on track later in the year.
Looking a bit like a spacecraft when it’s up in the air like this. Would recommend The Tyre Shop. Good prices, good service, nice guys.
Unfortunately my tyre guys also found that one of the rear wheels had taken a knock and was slightly buckled. Think I know when I did this in Scotland. Be cautious of potholes!
Everyone raves about Chris at Exel Wheels and a quick phone call later he was round to collect the offending wheel and leave me a spare. Thoroughly nice bloke, turned the job around super fast and, at £100 for the wheel to be collected, repaired, a spare lent to me, and delivered back, represents good value. Highly recommended.
Thankfully I didn’t need to drive the car while it was getting fixed. Think the mismatched turbo twist wouldn’t win the car any beauty contests!
This looks so….wrong
As luck would have it though, I managed to put a nail through the brand new tyre just two days later. Arse.
Why is it always a brand new tyre!?
Headlight Restoration
When I first bought the car the headlights had a little yellowing on them so thought I’d give them a go over with one of the 3M restoration kits. Unfortunately, I think due to the headlight having been lacquered at some point in the past, it didn’t help at all and the headlight remained stubbornly hazy. I’d got my paint guy to give them a going over last year when the from bumper got painted but already the lacquer was peeling off again and I wasn’t very happy. Decided to do a proper job myself.
Pretty nerve wracking when you first get started. Easy to convince yourself they are completely knackered
After the first compound on the DA, getting there.
Lights finished and lacquer applied in the home made spray booth. Top shelf drinks to one side to help with a steady hand
Both headlights were wet sanded from 800 grit to 3000 grit before being machine polished and then lacquered. The wet sanding took FOREVER by hand, and it was clear the headlights had been lacquered more than once before. Quite a few layers to get through before the plastic itself was exposed.
They’ve come up MUCH nicer than before, though the pictures don’t quite show the difference that well. It’s also exposed that there is some fogging/dirt on the inside of the lens that’s stopping them from being truly crystal clear. Looks like a previous owner had run too hot a bulb in the headlight housing and its lightly scorched some of the surrounding plastic. Apparently this burning/smoking of the plastic causes grot to build up on the inside of the lenses. Didn’t really fancy splitting them to get to the inside of the lenses (though would give me a chance to upgrade to proper projectors….maybe one day) but did find an ingenious technique that Mercedes have used before to clean the inside of some headlights. Magnets to the rescue.
Picture links to YouTube to see it in action. Clever idea.
I’ve ordered the bits to make a similar magnet cleaning kit myself and will give it a try in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed it can help clean all the crap out and the lights should be looking brand new.
127,000 Mile Service + Suspension Decisions….
The car went into AMS again last week for an engine oil change (Millers 10W50) and a gearbox oil change. Gearbox was rebuilt not long before I bought the car so know it’s fairly sound, but was still having to baby 2nd gear a little when the car was cold so figured it couldn’t hurt to change it.
Old oil was sent off to Millers for analysis and given a clean bill of health (though with a slight warning about fuel dilution. Must try not to use the car for too many short trips!). New gearbox oil has made a big difference to the shift so that was worthwhile doing.
Got Angus to investigate some other creaks and groans from the front end after the new arms and looks like, finally, I’m going to have to bite the bullet on some new springs/dampers/top mounts. The current (possibly original) top mounts are starting to go, I’ve lost a bump stop somewhere in Scotland and, truth be told, at 127k the original dampers will be long past it. Knew this was coming at some point!
In an ideal world I’d love to go for coilovers, would be great to be able to perfectly dial in the ride height and damping for road or the odd track day, but given this is a daily that’s used year round (would they stand up to a salty British winter etc?), and the cost of anything decent from Bilstein, KW or Ohlins representing a good chunk of the cars overall value, I’m not sure I can justify it.
I had thought of taking a bit of a punt on a cheaper set of coilovers from someone like PB, Designtek, BC etc, probably with custom spring rates. Some people think they are awful, others incredible, but no real consensus either way. Even a ‘cheap’ set at £800-1k is expensive if they are terrible overall.
I’m currently leaning towards Koni Special Active dampers with Eibach springs as a ‘fit and forget’ option that should give me something that will cover all bases. Trying to speak to Centre Gravity at the minute for their view but they seem very, very busy! No rush to make any decisions but want to try and get something sorted in the next few months. Should make an even more positive difference to how the car drives.
Odd jobs + other car stuff
I’ve managed a few other bits and pieces of maintenance over the year. Whilst doing the aux belt I noticed most of the idler pulley bearings were grumbling a bit. Picked up a set of suitable SKF bearings from eBay for £20, £10 to borrow the hydraulic press at the local garage and boom. All three done for far less than the cost of a single new one from Porsche.
Will also be swapping the current fixed alternator pulley for a newer clutched one at some point, just haven’t got around to it.
Also spotted a few dramatic fluctuations in the oil pressure readout after the trip round Scotland. Figured the oil pressure sender was probably on its last legs after 20 years. New one that was ordered from Design911 turned up looking like this:
These things are not supposed to be separate….
So sent that back and picked up a proper one from Porsche. Bit awkward to change, even with the right crows foot spanners, but problem solved.
A few more pictures below of random car bits:
Spotted an awesome little Porsche service Playmobil man on an Instagram post by Type7. Couldn’t resist getting something similar myself.
This years tree was quite a bit bigger than the one from last year, so elected to make the most of the aerokit wing for the trip home. Got a few strange looks!
Rather unexpectedly I’ve been given an old Morgan by my dad as a project. It’s a 1971 Plus 8, with the Rover 3.5 V8 and Moss gearbox. Hasn’t turned a wheel under it’s own power for at least 20 years, so is definitely going to be a bit of a project. Thankfully it’s been dry stored, so no rot. Be nice to get this going before the end of summer this year. We’ll see….
Looking absolutely filthy. Something about sports cars covered in muck in winter looks so ‘right’ for me.
Making the most of the grotty roads in Essex. In my view, these cars are meant to be driven, not tucked away. Nothing better than an early morning, cross country, winter bombing run.
Finally, some pics of her looking clean just after I got back from Scotland to demonstrate I do actually clean the thing sometimes!
Another ‘spot on’ view of the 996. Sometimes I think about swapping the rear wing for a standard one and do the 996 GT3 Touring look, but that taco rear wing is still something special.
That just about gets the thread back up to today. Phew. I always seem to write LOADS more than expected so, as always, thanks for sticking with it
I put a lot more miles on the car than anticipated in 2020, she’s just ticked over 127,000, and I do worry slightly that if I ever came to sell it most people would value it at about 50p, especially given the myriad horror stories about 996 (and 986) reliability.
Saying all that, for some people it became worthless the moment it ticked over 100k anyway, and I get the benefit of daily driving a 911 without worrying too much about losing the shirt off of my back if it decides to grenade itself. Swings and roundabouts I guess.
MOMO Wheel (removal…)
Last time I posted I got a bit of (justified) airbag flak for the change to a MOMO steering wheel. Despite how good it looked and felt, some of the stories I saw about people getting into fairly grim situations without an airbag whilst in a shunt made me think twice. I’d happily drive an old car without one, but something didn’t feel quite right about doing it on this car. I think on balance I’d slightly undercooked my own justifications for running without an airbag on a road car, and when my girlfriend said she didn’t think she would drive it without the original wheel and airbag I decided to switch back. Made 99% of my spend back when selling it, so no great loss, and a bit of an interesting learning curve navigated around how wheels/airbags/clock springs etc work. It’s also not like the original wheel is terrible, I was mostly just being a tart for Italian leather!
I really should replace the floor mats given the hole in the drivers side one but every time I think about pulling the trigger on £100+ for 2 bits of cheap carpet from Porsche I feel queasy…
Coffin and Control Arms
For a while I’d been getting a few knocks and rattles from the front end so wanted to investigate what sort of state the lower arms were in on the car. On all my previous 996/986’s I’ve ended up doing the suspension arms at some point. I put the car into AMS and, after Angus had had a good poke round the car, he showed me the wear on the various arms. It was recommended I do all four coffin arms, and the tuning forks on the front. In the end I went one step further and got the control arms replaced on the rear too, followed by a full alignment.
As usual, when trying to remove things that have been on the car for 20 years, AMS ran into some issues, having to cut some of the bolts out and generally fight with stubborn old suspension, but once back together it made a HUGE difference to the overall quality of the ride. I don’t think I’d realised how tired the original arms were and so many clunks and knocks had suddenly disappeared. Angus had also gone for a slightly more aggressive geometry setup (though nothing too crazy for the road) and this also made a big difference when pushing on. A lot more positivity from the front end. Unfortunately all that new kit started to show up some other parts of the suspension. We’ll get to that later……
I actually took this when getting the tyres done (see below…) so the arms are looking a bit grubby after some miles on them. GT3 brake ducts probably the cheapest brake upgrade Porsche have ever sold!
NC500 2020 Summer Trip
With COVID putting paid to any dreams of a proper holiday out of the UK in 2020 I decided that maybe we should tick off something I’d had on my bucket list for a while and head up to Scotland for a week to do the NC500. I’d imagine most on here know what this is but, for those that don’t, think of it as Scotlands answer to Route 66. A 500 mile snaking route around the top of Scotland taking in some of the best scenery it has to offer. It was, quite simply, incredible.
I’d planned the trip over two weeks, the first week we were staying with some family in the Lake District, near Keswick, and then the second week we headed up to Inverness to start the NC500 properly.
The whole route including the lakes. The north of England and Scotland is a very BIG place
A closer look at the NC500 bit. We actually ended up skipping out the bit back across to Inverness when we finished it. The west coast from Durness to Applecross is simply unreal. The best driving roads I’ve ever been on.
Having spent most of the start of 2020 stuck in London, even getting up to the lakes was a complete breathe of fresh air and the car was in it’s element. We had to take a LOT of stuff up for the first leg of the trip and there was some worry if the 996 would manage to squeeze it all in. Shouldn’t have worried. Who says Porsche’s aren’t practical!?
Click the picture for a little video of the Tetris like packing we managed to achieve. Loads of space.
I won’t do a full detailed run down of the various bits of the route, there’s plenty of other people who will have done a better job than me of that, but will say that it was an epic road trip and one I wouldn’t hesitate to do again. Some of the single track roads were hard work, purely in terms of work rate at the wheel and level of concentration needed, but you were rewarded with absolutely unbelievable views at every turn. We did the east coast first, which was nice enough in isolation, but it’s as you start heading west from John O’Groats that things really start getting special. I could easily run out of adjectives trying to describe the beauty of the West Coast. Unreal.
This might be my absolute favourite picture of the car. It looks absolutely perfect. I think the 996 with the aerokit can look a little off from certain angles. This is not one of them.
Parked up near Derwentwater for a quick work call. A bit nicer than being stuck in the flat back in London on Zoom…
Looking grubby on a very wet day near John O’Groats
We’d stopped here for a bit of breakfast but found they weren’t open. Scotland was still very much struggling with getting going again after Lockdown and a lot of places weren’t open or were severely restricted.
Gorgeous MK2 Golf GTi spotted in the Balkaneil Craft Village, near Durness.
Don’t think you’d get tired of views like this
Looking out towards the Isle of Skye
Views for days.
Despite pushing the car hard for over two weeks and 2000+ miles, she didn’t miss a beat. Not a drop of oil or coolant used and the car was comfortable, fast and practical. I really don’t know what other car would have done all of those quite so well.
Aside from the driving we found everyone to be incredibly hospitable and welcoming, despite COVID making things difficult at every step, and some of the long walks and sights we saw were breathtaking. I could probably have posted 200+ photos of the NC500 trip. If you haven’t been yet then I suggest you go immediately.
New Tyres & Wheel Repair
If there’s one thing that the NC500 did do to the car it was finish off the set of Toyo’s I had on the car. They managed about 18k miles in all, including a track day, so pretty happy with the wear. It was also a good chance to try something new. I wanted to go Michelin this time around as everyone has been banging on about the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 (4S isn’t available in an 18 inch size unfortunately).
A quick trip over to my tyre place, and the new boots were fitted. I’ve since done about 800 miles on the Michelins and they are very, very good. Particularly in the wet. The Toyo’s always felt a bit light and nervous on the front end in the wet and it’s night and day with the Michelin. Very, very good tyres. Will hopefully get the chance to try them on track later in the year.
Looking a bit like a spacecraft when it’s up in the air like this. Would recommend The Tyre Shop. Good prices, good service, nice guys.
Unfortunately my tyre guys also found that one of the rear wheels had taken a knock and was slightly buckled. Think I know when I did this in Scotland. Be cautious of potholes!
Everyone raves about Chris at Exel Wheels and a quick phone call later he was round to collect the offending wheel and leave me a spare. Thoroughly nice bloke, turned the job around super fast and, at £100 for the wheel to be collected, repaired, a spare lent to me, and delivered back, represents good value. Highly recommended.
Thankfully I didn’t need to drive the car while it was getting fixed. Think the mismatched turbo twist wouldn’t win the car any beauty contests!
This looks so….wrong
As luck would have it though, I managed to put a nail through the brand new tyre just two days later. Arse.
Why is it always a brand new tyre!?
Headlight Restoration
When I first bought the car the headlights had a little yellowing on them so thought I’d give them a go over with one of the 3M restoration kits. Unfortunately, I think due to the headlight having been lacquered at some point in the past, it didn’t help at all and the headlight remained stubbornly hazy. I’d got my paint guy to give them a going over last year when the from bumper got painted but already the lacquer was peeling off again and I wasn’t very happy. Decided to do a proper job myself.
Pretty nerve wracking when you first get started. Easy to convince yourself they are completely knackered
After the first compound on the DA, getting there.
Lights finished and lacquer applied in the home made spray booth. Top shelf drinks to one side to help with a steady hand
Both headlights were wet sanded from 800 grit to 3000 grit before being machine polished and then lacquered. The wet sanding took FOREVER by hand, and it was clear the headlights had been lacquered more than once before. Quite a few layers to get through before the plastic itself was exposed.
They’ve come up MUCH nicer than before, though the pictures don’t quite show the difference that well. It’s also exposed that there is some fogging/dirt on the inside of the lens that’s stopping them from being truly crystal clear. Looks like a previous owner had run too hot a bulb in the headlight housing and its lightly scorched some of the surrounding plastic. Apparently this burning/smoking of the plastic causes grot to build up on the inside of the lenses. Didn’t really fancy splitting them to get to the inside of the lenses (though would give me a chance to upgrade to proper projectors….maybe one day) but did find an ingenious technique that Mercedes have used before to clean the inside of some headlights. Magnets to the rescue.
Picture links to YouTube to see it in action. Clever idea.
I’ve ordered the bits to make a similar magnet cleaning kit myself and will give it a try in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed it can help clean all the crap out and the lights should be looking brand new.
127,000 Mile Service + Suspension Decisions….
The car went into AMS again last week for an engine oil change (Millers 10W50) and a gearbox oil change. Gearbox was rebuilt not long before I bought the car so know it’s fairly sound, but was still having to baby 2nd gear a little when the car was cold so figured it couldn’t hurt to change it.
Old oil was sent off to Millers for analysis and given a clean bill of health (though with a slight warning about fuel dilution. Must try not to use the car for too many short trips!). New gearbox oil has made a big difference to the shift so that was worthwhile doing.
Got Angus to investigate some other creaks and groans from the front end after the new arms and looks like, finally, I’m going to have to bite the bullet on some new springs/dampers/top mounts. The current (possibly original) top mounts are starting to go, I’ve lost a bump stop somewhere in Scotland and, truth be told, at 127k the original dampers will be long past it. Knew this was coming at some point!
In an ideal world I’d love to go for coilovers, would be great to be able to perfectly dial in the ride height and damping for road or the odd track day, but given this is a daily that’s used year round (would they stand up to a salty British winter etc?), and the cost of anything decent from Bilstein, KW or Ohlins representing a good chunk of the cars overall value, I’m not sure I can justify it.
I had thought of taking a bit of a punt on a cheaper set of coilovers from someone like PB, Designtek, BC etc, probably with custom spring rates. Some people think they are awful, others incredible, but no real consensus either way. Even a ‘cheap’ set at £800-1k is expensive if they are terrible overall.
I’m currently leaning towards Koni Special Active dampers with Eibach springs as a ‘fit and forget’ option that should give me something that will cover all bases. Trying to speak to Centre Gravity at the minute for their view but they seem very, very busy! No rush to make any decisions but want to try and get something sorted in the next few months. Should make an even more positive difference to how the car drives.
Odd jobs + other car stuff
I’ve managed a few other bits and pieces of maintenance over the year. Whilst doing the aux belt I noticed most of the idler pulley bearings were grumbling a bit. Picked up a set of suitable SKF bearings from eBay for £20, £10 to borrow the hydraulic press at the local garage and boom. All three done for far less than the cost of a single new one from Porsche.
Will also be swapping the current fixed alternator pulley for a newer clutched one at some point, just haven’t got around to it.
Also spotted a few dramatic fluctuations in the oil pressure readout after the trip round Scotland. Figured the oil pressure sender was probably on its last legs after 20 years. New one that was ordered from Design911 turned up looking like this:
These things are not supposed to be separate….
So sent that back and picked up a proper one from Porsche. Bit awkward to change, even with the right crows foot spanners, but problem solved.
A few more pictures below of random car bits:
Spotted an awesome little Porsche service Playmobil man on an Instagram post by Type7. Couldn’t resist getting something similar myself.
This years tree was quite a bit bigger than the one from last year, so elected to make the most of the aerokit wing for the trip home. Got a few strange looks!
Rather unexpectedly I’ve been given an old Morgan by my dad as a project. It’s a 1971 Plus 8, with the Rover 3.5 V8 and Moss gearbox. Hasn’t turned a wheel under it’s own power for at least 20 years, so is definitely going to be a bit of a project. Thankfully it’s been dry stored, so no rot. Be nice to get this going before the end of summer this year. We’ll see….
Looking absolutely filthy. Something about sports cars covered in muck in winter looks so ‘right’ for me.
Making the most of the grotty roads in Essex. In my view, these cars are meant to be driven, not tucked away. Nothing better than an early morning, cross country, winter bombing run.
Finally, some pics of her looking clean just after I got back from Scotland to demonstrate I do actually clean the thing sometimes!
Another ‘spot on’ view of the 996. Sometimes I think about swapping the rear wing for a standard one and do the 996 GT3 Touring look, but that taco rear wing is still something special.
That just about gets the thread back up to today. Phew. I always seem to write LOADS more than expected so, as always, thanks for sticking with it
Edited by Mallone on Wednesday 27th January 17:28
Still fantastic reading - thank you!! I really hope you didn't take my comments (and pictures of my destroyed Boxster) as flak, as I truly believe in self-determination and the right of everyone to live their lives as they see fit. However I wanted to make sure you were aware what can happen, and I must admit that I'm glad you changed your mind on the wheel. Yes, the Momo wheel looked great, but no more so than the original wheel in my mind. Plus you get the benefit of staying alive if you are ever unfortunate enough to meet a similar fate as me. As it stands, I lost out financially and health-wise due to the accident, but I can always earn more money and try to regain my fitness. Not so if my face has been turned inside out!
Look forward to more - your NC500 trip sounds amazing and if you have a link to your custom map, that would be very useful as I've been hoping to make the same trip in The Flying Carrot - the car that replaced the written-off car.
Look forward to more - your NC500 trip sounds amazing and if you have a link to your custom map, that would be very useful as I've been hoping to make the same trip in The Flying Carrot - the car that replaced the written-off car.
LunarOne said:
Still fantastic reading - thank you!! I really hope you didn't take my comments (and pictures of my destroyed Boxster) as flak, as I truly believe in self-determination and the right of everyone to live their lives as they see fit. However I wanted to make sure you were aware what can happen, and I must admit that I'm glad you changed your mind on the wheel. Yes, the Momo wheel looked great, but no more so than the original wheel in my mind. Plus you get the benefit of staying alive if you are ever unfortunate enough to meet a similar fate as me. As it stands, I lost out financially and health-wise due to the accident, but I can always earn more money and try to regain my fitness. Not so if my face has been turned inside out!
Look forward to more - your NC500 trip sounds amazing and if you have a link to your custom map, that would be very useful as I've been hoping to make the same trip in The Flying Carrot - the car that replaced the written-off car.
Glad you like the write up. Something really satisfying about going back and actually writing down all the things that I've done with and to the car.Look forward to more - your NC500 trip sounds amazing and if you have a link to your custom map, that would be very useful as I've been hoping to make the same trip in The Flying Carrot - the car that replaced the written-off car.
re: NC500 map - Of course, be my guest. This map includes the section from the lakes, but if you're heading up to Scotland from the south then you many want to stop there on the way anyway. An equally lovely part off the world. Link: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1zvz-3l0GCU...
And no issue with your comments about the wheel at all. As I said at the time, all just food for thought. No regrets fitting the MOMO, no regrets taking it off
Mallone said:
re: NC500 map - Of course, be my guest. This map includes the section from the lakes, but if you're heading up to Scotland from the south then you many want to stop there on the way anyway. An equally lovely part off the world. Link: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1zvz-3l0GCU...
Yes, I live in Surrey and I've never been any further north than Beverley, which is only just a little further north than Hull. Unless you count a trip to Dixons distribution centre in Cumbernauld, which meant a flight up to Glasgow, a taxi ride there in the dark, another taxi ride back to Glasgow also in the dark, and a flight back to Heathrow. So yes Scotland is high up on my list to do, and the NC500 right at the top. I am sole carer for my 85-year-old cancer and COPD-ridden mother who is also starting to show signs of dementia or Alzheimers, so it will have to wait until I no longer have to care for her. I hope coronavirus will be a thing of the past by then!
Car looks lovely!
Just out of interest, what clearcoat did you use on the headlights? I used U-pol on mine in the past and it looks like it reacted a little. I initially thought I had put it on too thick but I did another set of 996 headlights and was super careful and the same thing happened. Looks like you had a good result so would be keen to redo mine at some point.
Just out of interest, what clearcoat did you use on the headlights? I used U-pol on mine in the past and it looks like it reacted a little. I initially thought I had put it on too thick but I did another set of 996 headlights and was super careful and the same thing happened. Looks like you had a good result so would be keen to redo mine at some point.
Great thread! Interesting read..
Is it bad I prefer how it looks on the loaner wheel..
I think people are too hung up on miles these days, or potentially not using cars to keep miles off.. The analogy about not having sex with your girlfriend to save her for the next guy always springs to mind!
I do half fancy one of these at some point.
Is it bad I prefer how it looks on the loaner wheel..
I think people are too hung up on miles these days, or potentially not using cars to keep miles off.. The analogy about not having sex with your girlfriend to save her for the next guy always springs to mind!
I do half fancy one of these at some point.
Threads like these do nothing to help my restraint in staying away from the classifieds. They also show me how liveable/daily-friendly an old 996 seems to be, which then sends me straight back to the classifieds and wondering how I could jiggle things around to make room for one.
The OPs car looks great, I've fully come round to 996.1 since they started to appear more regularly in the RC section of PH. I was also never a fan before but I now think that the aerokit really suits a 996.1 and in regards to this thread, the OE options list on this car seems pretty rare too. There can't have been many which were optioned with the LSD for example?
A well calculated gamble buying from the Facebook classifieds.
The OPs car looks great, I've fully come round to 996.1 since they started to appear more regularly in the RC section of PH. I was also never a fan before but I now think that the aerokit really suits a 996.1 and in regards to this thread, the OE options list on this car seems pretty rare too. There can't have been many which were optioned with the LSD for example?
A well calculated gamble buying from the Facebook classifieds.
RS Grant said:
Threads like these do nothing to help my restraint in staying away from the classifieds. They also show me how liveable/daily-friendly an old 996 seems to be, which then sends me straight back to the classifieds and wondering how I could jiggle things around to make room for one.
The OPs car looks great, I've fully come round to 996.1 since they started to appear more regularly in the RC section of PH. I was also never a fan before but I now think that the aerokit really suits a 996.1 and in regards to this thread, the OE options list on this car seems pretty rare too. There can't have been many which were optioned with the LSD for example?
A well calculated gamble buying from the Facebook classifieds.
I had an LSD fitted to my 996 when it was due a gearbox rebuild, highly recommended and using my finest Man Maths I convinced myself it will have increased the desirability of the car too. An early non sunroof coupe 996 with LSD, M030 is a tempting proposition.The OPs car looks great, I've fully come round to 996.1 since they started to appear more regularly in the RC section of PH. I was also never a fan before but I now think that the aerokit really suits a 996.1 and in regards to this thread, the OE options list on this car seems pretty rare too. There can't have been many which were optioned with the LSD for example?
A well calculated gamble buying from the Facebook classifieds.
Superb thread.
I was in regular communication with the seller of your car and I was going to buy it, pending the sale of the non-aero 996.2 I had at the time.
It's always interesting to see then, what could have been my own ownership experience! I have to say, although I love the look of your car, and it's factory options are perfect - I hate cars that have had their interiors messed around with!! Wiring modifications and poor fitting trim pieces etc really annoys me. Very glad to hear you sorted it.
I have put a thread on here recently under "Red 3.4 Carrera" where you can see the journey I subsequently took...
Looking forward to your next update. I would like the Koni shocks as I have already fitted the eibach springs and the way it sits is perfect. I am sure with the mileage you do, you will be fitting them first!
I was in regular communication with the seller of your car and I was going to buy it, pending the sale of the non-aero 996.2 I had at the time.
It's always interesting to see then, what could have been my own ownership experience! I have to say, although I love the look of your car, and it's factory options are perfect - I hate cars that have had their interiors messed around with!! Wiring modifications and poor fitting trim pieces etc really annoys me. Very glad to hear you sorted it.
I have put a thread on here recently under "Red 3.4 Carrera" where you can see the journey I subsequently took...
Looking forward to your next update. I would like the Koni shocks as I have already fitted the eibach springs and the way it sits is perfect. I am sure with the mileage you do, you will be fitting them first!
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