The 5.3K LHD Boxster S.
Discussion
I had a thread up earlier but the images became very mixed up and jumbled. Thought it best just to delete it and start again with a condensed version of what I have been up to.
I bought my Boxster S at the end of last year. It was a private sale and priced very keenly for a LHD. I was not in the UK and the seller had already agreed a trade in for a new car, so had to act quickly and therefore took a gamble and purchased it unseen. Had never really even looked closely at a Boxster before, nor had I ever sat in a convertible. My only previous Porsche experience was with an excellent 944 which I sold 22 years ago. Now 13 months into Boxster ownership, I am still as delighted with the car as I was when I picked it up on day one and drove it the 9 hours non stop (save for a quick fuel stop near Madrid) through the night from Santander to Malaga.
It is a 2000 model built in Germany and it lived there the first 4 years of its life before being exported to Hampshire where the second owner pampered it for the next 11 years. It has covered 83000 miles with good service history. It is still on the original clutch and IMS - not that that worries me at all.
It left the factory with a decent list of options, as follows. M030 suspension and 18" wheels (albeit in a slightly dubious colour scheme), sat nav/phone, bose sub and amp with front door speakers, extended leather with crested seats, climate control, heated seats, lithtronic lights, wind deflector etc. The tyres were near enough brand new, although perhaps not the best makes with Hankook on the front and err Sunny!? bringing up the rear. Also the roof is in great shape and has been very well cared for. Would love a glass screen though.
I have not had to spend anything on repairs or essential maintenance during the last 13 months, so that was an added benefit. In the coming weeks I will purchase oil and a filter and do the change myself.
A couple of small jobs I did myself, after researching on the internet were, adding a little spur of wire to enable both rear fog lights to work (needed this for the Spanish "MOT") and injecting some liquid grease into two rubber boots in the front suspension to stop a creaking sound which occured on rough surfaces when the car was warmed up. Both fixes worked a treat.
Some pics:
In the hold on the car ferry from Portsmouth to Santander, first on, last off:
Edit, must have been a big wave at the time of the pic, lol
Back home:
First drive out in Spain, Camino del Rey:
The red and black wheels are most definitely not everyone's cup of tea. In fact I think only one person has liked them so far! I have bought paint and may have a go myself at putting them back to silver. I think they must have been painted quite recently as there is not a mark on them.
I made some diy ramps from scrap wood which was lying about - they even match my wheels haha.
Fitted some LED's in the front side and fog lights together with rear number plate.
Decided to remove the front bumper to clean out all the debris collected in front of and between the radiators. Glad I did.
In order to prevent as much debris from collecting in future, in best Blue Peter tradition, I made som diy grilles using a heat gun and some black gutter mesh. At the same time I sprayed the somewhat faded slatted grilles and centre surround in matt black.
I lost one of the small headlight washer surrounds (as per above pic) due to not fitting it properly when I had the headlights out to convert them from RHD to LHD. Was an expensive bit of plastic at 70€.
Fitted some LED style rear lights without the orange parts and some clear side repeaters, along with a rear diffuser:
About a month ago I finally got everything together and had the car registered on Spanish plates. Even managed to obtain a smaller front plate (may help with cooling due to less restriction in central intake?) All in it cost me about 950€. Some hassle due to VIN number being wrong on V5C but managed to sort it out. Still a very cheap car when compared to the overpriced and under serviced examples you find round hear. Best bit is, the number plate does not reflect the age of your vehicle, so I have the latest reg, which to the very uninitiated, makes the car appear to be from 2015:
Last week I replaced some small plastic deflectors and small rubber mud flaps due to the front underside catching on things, there was not much left of the old ones!
2 days ago I removed the rear Boxster S badge. It was the same colour as the body and I thought it always looked like it had been painted over. I replaced it with a P O R S C H E badge from a Panamera (it is chrome coloured, although maybe does not appear so in pics?). Quite a bit of fiddling about to get right spacing and curvature but very happy with final result:
I quite recently discovered the engine, after reading up about how to access it. The appearence is a bit underwhelming. Turned out to be a bit dusty, complete with cobwebs:
Gave it a quick wipe off, not that anyone will notice! Actually was surprised to find that the manifolds were in fact black in colour.
The engine visit was to check on the condition of the air filter which looked fine.
I bought some quality aluminium pedals which really lifted the footwell area.
Before:
After:
Overall, I am delighted with the car. It is more than quick enough for me and it is absolutely not breaking the bank, at least not yet.
I bought my Boxster S at the end of last year. It was a private sale and priced very keenly for a LHD. I was not in the UK and the seller had already agreed a trade in for a new car, so had to act quickly and therefore took a gamble and purchased it unseen. Had never really even looked closely at a Boxster before, nor had I ever sat in a convertible. My only previous Porsche experience was with an excellent 944 which I sold 22 years ago. Now 13 months into Boxster ownership, I am still as delighted with the car as I was when I picked it up on day one and drove it the 9 hours non stop (save for a quick fuel stop near Madrid) through the night from Santander to Malaga.
It is a 2000 model built in Germany and it lived there the first 4 years of its life before being exported to Hampshire where the second owner pampered it for the next 11 years. It has covered 83000 miles with good service history. It is still on the original clutch and IMS - not that that worries me at all.
It left the factory with a decent list of options, as follows. M030 suspension and 18" wheels (albeit in a slightly dubious colour scheme), sat nav/phone, bose sub and amp with front door speakers, extended leather with crested seats, climate control, heated seats, lithtronic lights, wind deflector etc. The tyres were near enough brand new, although perhaps not the best makes with Hankook on the front and err Sunny!? bringing up the rear. Also the roof is in great shape and has been very well cared for. Would love a glass screen though.
I have not had to spend anything on repairs or essential maintenance during the last 13 months, so that was an added benefit. In the coming weeks I will purchase oil and a filter and do the change myself.
A couple of small jobs I did myself, after researching on the internet were, adding a little spur of wire to enable both rear fog lights to work (needed this for the Spanish "MOT") and injecting some liquid grease into two rubber boots in the front suspension to stop a creaking sound which occured on rough surfaces when the car was warmed up. Both fixes worked a treat.
Some pics:
In the hold on the car ferry from Portsmouth to Santander, first on, last off:
Edit, must have been a big wave at the time of the pic, lol
Back home:
First drive out in Spain, Camino del Rey:
The red and black wheels are most definitely not everyone's cup of tea. In fact I think only one person has liked them so far! I have bought paint and may have a go myself at putting them back to silver. I think they must have been painted quite recently as there is not a mark on them.
I made some diy ramps from scrap wood which was lying about - they even match my wheels haha.
Fitted some LED's in the front side and fog lights together with rear number plate.
Decided to remove the front bumper to clean out all the debris collected in front of and between the radiators. Glad I did.
In order to prevent as much debris from collecting in future, in best Blue Peter tradition, I made som diy grilles using a heat gun and some black gutter mesh. At the same time I sprayed the somewhat faded slatted grilles and centre surround in matt black.
I lost one of the small headlight washer surrounds (as per above pic) due to not fitting it properly when I had the headlights out to convert them from RHD to LHD. Was an expensive bit of plastic at 70€.
Fitted some LED style rear lights without the orange parts and some clear side repeaters, along with a rear diffuser:
About a month ago I finally got everything together and had the car registered on Spanish plates. Even managed to obtain a smaller front plate (may help with cooling due to less restriction in central intake?) All in it cost me about 950€. Some hassle due to VIN number being wrong on V5C but managed to sort it out. Still a very cheap car when compared to the overpriced and under serviced examples you find round hear. Best bit is, the number plate does not reflect the age of your vehicle, so I have the latest reg, which to the very uninitiated, makes the car appear to be from 2015:
Last week I replaced some small plastic deflectors and small rubber mud flaps due to the front underside catching on things, there was not much left of the old ones!
2 days ago I removed the rear Boxster S badge. It was the same colour as the body and I thought it always looked like it had been painted over. I replaced it with a P O R S C H E badge from a Panamera (it is chrome coloured, although maybe does not appear so in pics?). Quite a bit of fiddling about to get right spacing and curvature but very happy with final result:
I quite recently discovered the engine, after reading up about how to access it. The appearence is a bit underwhelming. Turned out to be a bit dusty, complete with cobwebs:
Gave it a quick wipe off, not that anyone will notice! Actually was surprised to find that the manifolds were in fact black in colour.
The engine visit was to check on the condition of the air filter which looked fine.
I bought some quality aluminium pedals which really lifted the footwell area.
Before:
After:
Overall, I am delighted with the car. It is more than quick enough for me and it is absolutely not breaking the bank, at least not yet.
Edited by el romeral on Sunday 13th December 12:43
Thanks chaps.
I would highly recommend one of these, it is better than I imagined it would be.
Actually, as soon as I saw the Panamera badge on another Boxster, I just had to have one.
Just de snorkeled it lol.
What a nightmare it is removing that side grille. Am amazed I did not break anything in the process. Sounds great now with a bit more snarl from about 4000rpm. Being as I sit on the left, I get the full benefit of the improved acoustics, plus the roof is never up!
I would highly recommend one of these, it is better than I imagined it would be.
Actually, as soon as I saw the Panamera badge on another Boxster, I just had to have one.
Just de snorkeled it lol.
What a nightmare it is removing that side grille. Am amazed I did not break anything in the process. Sounds great now with a bit more snarl from about 4000rpm. Being as I sit on the left, I get the full benefit of the improved acoustics, plus the roof is never up!
Edited by el romeral on Sunday 13th December 12:50
I have kind of let this thread go for a bit. Still have the Boxster and it is still going strong. The only running costs in 2016 & 2017 was an oil and filter change performed by myself. Infact this was the only spend on the car in 38 months of ownership - apart form my chosen modifications.
I completed a few other modifications in 2016 & 2017, including diy spraying of the wheels silver, fitting 8 &15mm hub centric wheel spacers and fitting a small wing type rear spoiler with the switch on the dash instead of in the footwell.
No more red & black:
Spacers fitted:
Spoiler - helps to make the back look less like the front lol:
Early this year I had my first real failure with a part. The coolant tank developed a split which lead to sporadic coolant loss and coolant smell in the boot. Not long before this happened, I had fitted a new 04 coolant cap. It can be that the old cap was faulty and allowed pressure to be released. The new cap did not do this and the increased pressure in the tank caused the failure? It took a bit of time to trace it as the split was not visible. I decided to tackle the job myself and it proved to be quite tricky gaining access to some of the hose connctions. Must be one of the worst designs ever. The specially purchased long reach hose clip removers worked well - although I broke them on the last clip. Also 45 degree angled long nose pliers were were good to undo the hoses from the boot side. In fact the job was tackled partly from on top, partly from the boot and partly from underneath. Whilst the coolant was drained, I decided to do some preventative maintenance (not like me at all) and replaced the water pump, thermostat and belt. The water pump is a genuine Porsche part with plastic impeller and the thermostat is of the low temperature variety. These 3 jobs were very straight forward compared to the coolant tank.
Whilst the underside of the car was in bits and it was off the ground, I decided to change the gearbox fluid. It took 2,9 litres which I bought from the dealers.
Also during this maintenance, I flushed and bled the brake fluid. This went very well right up until I decided to tighten a bleed nipple just a little bit more, resulting in it shearing off. I attempted to remove it with an Easy out thing and this sheared off also. This almost wrote off the caliper but the third workshop I tried managed to get it removed. The caliper was in quite a mess by this time, so I decided to paint it and the other 3 and fit new Porsche stickers.
Not good when this happens:
And sorted:
All in all I can't complain, some expense this year after 3 years with no costs. DIY saved a fortune though - may have taken a bit longer to complete in the end but I got there. Actually the best guide for the job was found on this website in the Boxster forum!
Car all back together and am enjoying using it again:
Strange the pictures are smaller than usual? Maybe too many?
I completed a few other modifications in 2016 & 2017, including diy spraying of the wheels silver, fitting 8 &15mm hub centric wheel spacers and fitting a small wing type rear spoiler with the switch on the dash instead of in the footwell.
No more red & black:
Spacers fitted:
Spoiler - helps to make the back look less like the front lol:
Early this year I had my first real failure with a part. The coolant tank developed a split which lead to sporadic coolant loss and coolant smell in the boot. Not long before this happened, I had fitted a new 04 coolant cap. It can be that the old cap was faulty and allowed pressure to be released. The new cap did not do this and the increased pressure in the tank caused the failure? It took a bit of time to trace it as the split was not visible. I decided to tackle the job myself and it proved to be quite tricky gaining access to some of the hose connctions. Must be one of the worst designs ever. The specially purchased long reach hose clip removers worked well - although I broke them on the last clip. Also 45 degree angled long nose pliers were were good to undo the hoses from the boot side. In fact the job was tackled partly from on top, partly from the boot and partly from underneath. Whilst the coolant was drained, I decided to do some preventative maintenance (not like me at all) and replaced the water pump, thermostat and belt. The water pump is a genuine Porsche part with plastic impeller and the thermostat is of the low temperature variety. These 3 jobs were very straight forward compared to the coolant tank.
Whilst the underside of the car was in bits and it was off the ground, I decided to change the gearbox fluid. It took 2,9 litres which I bought from the dealers.
Also during this maintenance, I flushed and bled the brake fluid. This went very well right up until I decided to tighten a bleed nipple just a little bit more, resulting in it shearing off. I attempted to remove it with an Easy out thing and this sheared off also. This almost wrote off the caliper but the third workshop I tried managed to get it removed. The caliper was in quite a mess by this time, so I decided to paint it and the other 3 and fit new Porsche stickers.
Not good when this happens:
And sorted:
All in all I can't complain, some expense this year after 3 years with no costs. DIY saved a fortune though - may have taken a bit longer to complete in the end but I got there. Actually the best guide for the job was found on this website in the Boxster forum!
Car all back together and am enjoying using it again:
Strange the pictures are smaller than usual? Maybe too many?
Edited by el romeral on Saturday 7th April 18:31
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff