what is an 'early' 3.4 996?

[Dammit]

Fast Bug said:

I have the alloy version of that, it's horrible in the summer and horrible in the winter. It's fine when it's cooled down/warmed up, spring and autumn are good months to change gear with it.

Me in the summer

That's why I got the resin knob.

[Dammit]

OpulentBob said:

Love those seats. Assume they're aftermarket?

And I do like the Function First silver/red script knob. And their centre console riser.

Drivers side is a Recaro SPG, passenger side is OEM.

[ATM]

Dammit said:

OpulentBob said:

Love those seats. Assume they're aftermarket?

And I do like the Function First silver/red script knob. And their centre console riser.

Drivers side is a Recaro SPG, passenger side is OEM.

Remind me how tall you are please Dammit. I'm still pestering my friend who is 6 foot 7 to try one of these and obviously he doesn't fit in the standard car.

[Dammit]

ATM said:

Remind me how tall you are please Dammit. I'm still pestering my friend who is 6 foot 7 to try one of these and obviously he doesn't fit in the standard car.

Just under 6'2", or 187cm in new money.

[delays]

New arrival.

Picked this up on Saturday from down Bristol way, where it had shared garage space with several other 911s. It fills a space that a 986 Boxster, then 987.2 Cayman - via a Jaguar XE - left behind.

1999 3.4, manual, no sunroof, rear wiper, 17s. It's been de-ambered at some point in its past, but otherwise is a simple, stock, clean 996. 70k miles.

Currently getting a few bits and pieces attended to at a local specialist - very excited to have it back and get to know it.

[shalmaneser]

Looks to be in very nice condition!

[Chris Stott]

Congrats Delays!

[Baked_bean]

Looks lovely, what work are you having attended to?

[delays]

Baked_bean said:

Looks lovely, what work are you having attended to?

Thanks all. Feels good to be back in the fold.

The car had seen very little use in the past 5-6 years, so I wanted to have it checked over and have all the fluids (engine oil, brake fluid, transmission fluid) replaced before pressing it back into more regular use. It also came with two air con condensers, so they're being fitted and the system re-gassed.

[Fast Bug]

Looks good!

[shalmaneser]

Just done an oil change.

Following the reading the tea-leaves style inspection of the oil filter with appropriate chanting and votive offerings (Metzger Mezger engine sounds and Miller Nanodrive naturally) found quite a few shavings of brown plastic. The Internet tells me this is most likely the Variocam tensioner sliders and apparently these can only really be changed with the engine out and manifolds off.

Question of course is how much brown plastic is too much? And I don't know when the oil or filter was last changed for certain...

Example of wear:



Was about to fit my rebuilt gearbox (with LSD, natch) and was getting myself psyched up for doing that myself (I did the same on my E46 M3, looks easier on the 996 C2) but I think I'm going to have to draw the line at pulling the motor while living in a flat in South London. Does anyone want to rent me a unit with a car lift?!

Have got a quote from The Man (Tower Bridge Porsche - anyone used them?) and he will be able to fit the gearbox and sort the variocam slider at the same time. He tells me the parts are cheap but I'm looking at a few days labour.

I've sent off an oil sample for analysis so I'll wait to see if it suggests my rod bearings are knackered or flags up any other warning signs before I make a call on this.

Edited by shalmaneser on Thursday 6th August 15:43

[shalmaneser]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Good point about the cam deviation, I believe I can check that with my widget.

anonymous said:

[redacted]

This is obviously the source of my woes. I shall commence self-flagellation with IMS bearings as penance.

[olv]

shalmaneser said:

Does anyone want to rent me a unit with a car lift?!

http://pitstartgarage.com/self_service.html

Sadly the other side of London but decent value to get access to a lift.

[Dammit]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Depends on the age of the car, mines too old for the cam deviation figure to be available (apparently).

[skinny]

I believe you can still get camshaft deviation on one bank but not both with the earlier cars, mine is the same.
I recorded a high number and spoke to a couple of well regarded specialists who both said if it hadn't thrown a code then it was not worth worrying about. So maybe the number was meaningless after all...

Edited by skinny on Friday 7th August 09:24

[Speedgelb]

IIRC, a variocam pad breaking up resulted in PPBB having to get his engine rebuilt, as the material buggered up one of the big-end bearings.

Would get that attended to ASAP. How many miles are on the car?

[shalmaneser]

Speedgelb said:

IIRC, a variocam pad breaking up resulted in PPBB having to get his engine rebuilt, as the material buggered up one of the big-end bearings.

Would get that attended to ASAP. How many miles are on the car?

62k! should be barely broken in.... I'll check the camshaft deviation before I get too panicked. Hard to see how it can get in to the oil system with the filter in the way. Have sent oil off for analysis so should be able to find out how much copper is in there and can then qualify panic levels based on that.

I'm also very unsure when the oil and filter were last changed. I've got an invoice from a year ago detailing (amongst other work) oil and filter change as well as new spark plugs. Having checked the spark plugs these were definitely not changed so who is to say how long this filter has been around.

[Dammit]

Speedgelb said:

IIRC, a variocam pad breaking up resulted in PPBB having to get his engine rebuilt, as the material buggered up one of the big-end bearings.

Would get that attended to ASAP. How many miles are on the car?

Age and mileage took care of his bearings, pad breakdown is a separate issue.

His engine usage is very different from the majority of these cars, most of which will have main bearings that start to show wear around 100,000 miles.

[ATM]

17 inch fans

Official pressure is 36 36

I'm currently favouring 34 34

I've tried a bit lower like 32 32 but I think you can feel a bit of mush - which is fine depending on your mood

What pressures are others running here?

[barryrs]

ATM said:

barryrs said:

ATM said:

Quite like the decals and was toying with the idea on my silver 996

But I’m also considering some Matt Bronze alloys so some may question my taste

With a name like Barry we're all assuming your taste will be questionable.

Ok that JPS car I'd say the wheels need to be gold. Maybe even black and gold.

Should be with me next week