2003 Porsche Boxster S

[paddy27]

Awesome thread. Tha ks for keeping it updated.
Just read the whole thread with a bottle of wine.
Am impressed with everything you've done.

[geraintthomas]

paddy27 said:

Awesome thread. Tha ks for keeping it updated.
Just read the whole thread with a bottle of wine.
Am impressed with everything you've done.

Thank you so much, means a lot. Certainly been a labour of love. Well, a love hate relationship with it! Lots more to come though, will update with a list tomorrow.

[Podie]

Car looks fantastic - glad you’ve stuck with it

[Roboticarm]

Wow, blast from the past Ger, just read the whole thread. I know you from Celica club (i'm ScottChester on there) great to see you still enjoying cars. I see you are also still amazing at detailing too !

Glad you decided to keep the car, boxster is on my list of cars to own one day. Infact I narrowly missed out on a cat n from copart a few months back... Outbid by £50

[geraintthomas]

Podie said:

Car looks fantastic - glad you’ve stuck with it

Many thanks bud, appreciate it. Glad I've stuck with it as well.

Roboticarm said:

Wow, blast from the past Ger, just read the whole thread. I know you from Celica club (i'm ScottChester on there) great to see you still enjoying cars. I see you are also still amazing at detailing too !

Glad you decided to keep the car, boxster is on my list of cars to own one day. Infact I narrowly missed out on a cat n from copart a few months back... Outbid by £50

Ah Scott! How's things? Long time no speak. Thanks for the kind words, really appreciate it.

Oh damn that sucks! All I'd say is if you're handy with mechanics, go for it. If not, avoid. They will go wrong and if you can't fix them yourself they're too expensive! But if you can, they're fantastic. Don't get a low milage example (for IMS reasons) and enjoy it.

Updates on the car:

Managed to bend the plate overnight



And it helped, until it started to come off a little. I think I need some stronger tape as it's not the best!

Started the car in the night and realised my headlights were WAY too high, after fitting the lenses. This is either because the projectors are tilted up slightly in the housing, or the housing adjustments have shifted on them both. I could adjust these, but the left lens cut-off is curved, and that needs an adjustment to the cut-off plate inside the projector, which means I have to split the headlight again. Damn! Ah well, that'll teach me to not align them before fitting the lenses.

Anyway. Went out this morning to catch some nice beading:









Right! The next plan on the cards is to re-build the footwell lights. At the moment, there are untidy wires coming from the fusebox in the footwell and going to some SMD's cable tied and double sided taped to under the footwells. It's a mess, and it looks horrible if you were to look at them. The lighting looks lovely, but I need to re-do them.

So I've ordered two of these standard Porsche boot light holders:



Two of these T5 bulb holders:



Some braided wire wrap:



As well as two festoon bulbs for the boot lights, two T5 bulbs for the T5 holders and some spade connectors for the boot bulb lamps.

The plan is to cut a hole in the passenger side foam, and the drivers side heater pipe, perfect size enough for the boot light can clip into it. I'll make a template from the front boot hole to give a perfect template. I'll run wires above the foam (passenger side) and within the heater pipe (drivers side) that all run to the fuse box. The wires will have the braided wrap so they look nice and neat, and because they're connected to the boot lights which are clipped into tailored sized holes, it should look totally factory. Those light are for the courtesy lights when you open the door, however I want a subtle footwell glow for when you're driving at night. That's where the T5 bulbs come in. They're tiny and give off a small amount of light. The plan is to glue the T5 holders inside of the original boot holders so that both the subtle illumination and courtesy light are coming from one lamp, whilst giving me (and any future owners) the opportunity to swap the bulbs over if they wish.

I have two questions though:

- Can I fit in an inline fuse on the positive cable in case any future owner fits a halogen bulbs in the footwell, to save it damaging any wiring or other components? It happened on my last car when I put a normal 501 bulb in the footwell as opposed to an LED, and it blew the courtesy light module. If so, same amp as the fuse for the lights I'm jumping from?

- Will the heat from the heater pipe in the footwell be a problem for the wiring/bulbs? I can't imagine they'd get that hot. I've put an LED light in my oven before and that's been fine (though probably not recommended).

Cheers!

Edited by geraintthomas on Monday 6th April 10:13

[geraintthomas]

Just went to check my passenger side headlight, the one that has a massively curved cut-off pattern. I thought I'd need to go and open the unit again to re-bend the cut-off shield, but turns out I just installed the bulb a little on an angle. Re-sat the bulb and it's perfectly straight. Still need to aim the headlights but jesus christ the light output is phenominal. A beautiful blue hue on the cut-off line, incredible light output beneath it, whilst pitch black above the cut-off. Literally like a lazer. Really reminds me of a modern Mercedes Xenon unit, properly floods the road whilst leaving no glare.

I live right next to a Harvester that's currently being renovated. No literally, my garden fence wall is their outer kitchen wall. There's no one there, so I'll pop in the car park tomorrow to show you a beam photo.

At least I'm still self isolating!

Wish we could go for drives. They say no essential travel, but all I want to do is to step into the car, drive for an hour, and return home without meeting or seeing anyone else. Just a shame we can't. Newly refurbished car and can't drive it anywhere.

Still, it's giving me the time to sort all of the odds and ends, such as:

- Fixed the drop on the drivers window, as it never dropped much when opening the door (used to catch on close)
- Went to replace the cabin blower fan, but looks a challenge to get to. Instead I've WD-40'd it whilst I had it partly visible, and seems to have stopped the squeeling
- Fixed a bad wire for my radio's ACC power. Now and again, going over a bump would put the radio into shut down, as if you've taken out the key. All sorted

All that's left to do on my maintenance list is:

- Re-locate the 12v auxillery plug. I've replaced the current one with a permanent USB port for Apple CarPlay
- Fix roof handle rattle. There's a metal rattle now and again which stops if I push the 'PUSH' part and close it agian. No idea...
- Repair rear demister lines as 3 don't work. Already got the repair kit
- Fix cup holder. The slide mechanism is broken; probably a bad spring
- Replace radio microphone. I broke mine by accident
- Fit my newly purchased short shifter kit with new linkage end socket things
- Replace O/S droplink
- Replace front bonnet struts

But next up is the footwell light build. I'll let you know how I get on as I have a good feeling about this.

[geraintthomas]

While I wait for the courtesy lighting kit to arrive, I thought I'd change over my shifter to the short shifter.

Removal of the center console was a doddle. The whole job took under an hour.



Here's a side by side.



Machined black metal always looks lovely.

I had to take out the stalk, spin it 180 degrees, and put it back in the correct way as it was angling the wrong side. I've seen posts that this is how they get away with copying the more expensive kits.

And installed:



I also installed new shifter cable ends, just in case, although the ones I took out seemed absolutely fine in all honesty.

The difference is astonishing. Firsty, as you'd expect the throw is a lot shorter, and feels a lot more precise. The main thing however is the feel of the shift. It feels snickety and almost like a bolt-action rifle, with no marshmallow feel to the gear change. Feels very much like a Japanese performance car's shift. The throw is noteably shorter, too. Because of the precision and the lack of slop, changing gears is an absolute pleasure. Left and back into second, 'click-click', seemingly barely moving my fist on the gearstick. Slipping it out of second gear and punching it forward into third year feels like a small one-inch punch forward clicking it into gear. It's beautifully mechanical. I drove a Formula Ford not too long ago, and had a lovely resemblance to it.

If you want the same one (black, unlike the other blue Ebay ones), here's the link.

For £50, it's a no brainer. If you want to spend a little something to improve the feel of the car, then do this. How I haven't done this before now is beyond me.

I'll let you know how the footwell lights get on.

[CornedBeef]

That shifters straight into my watch list, to buy at a weaker time (after a beer). I didn't like the bright blue on the other ones, I hadn't found this one in black!

[shalmaneser]

I fitted one of those shifters immediately after I bought my 996 - a blue one though.

Makes a huge difference to the gearshift! Make sure that the circlips are properly seated though, mine were a bit of a fight at first.

I love a cheeky bit if blue anodising, but it can't be seen when fitted so what difference does it make?!

[ATM]

I'm not sure I'm sold on the shorter throw. I did buy a 9x7 shifter for my 996 which has been fettled with roller bearings and generally tightened up. The 9x7 shifter is a little bit shorter in throw. I have not fitted it yet.

I've since found this video which I think is good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJv0wI72aRg

[GR_TVR]

I've read this thread from start to finish over the last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I purchased a 996 at the start of the year which has been keeping me busy - love what you've been doing with your 986!

Mine has an aftermarket double din Kenwood in, which is OK, but getting on a bit now.
Really liking the look of that xtrons unit...especially with your custom templates etc...!

Edited by GR_TVR on Thursday 9th April 14:54

[ATM]

GR_TVR said:

I've read this thread from start to finish over the last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I purchased a 996 at the start of the year which has been keeping me busy - love what you've been doing with your 986!

Mine has an aftermarket double din Kenwood in, which is OK, but getting on a bit now.
Really liking the look of that xtrons unit...especially with your custom templates etc...!

Edited by GR_TVR on Thursday 9th April 14:54

Is that Zenith with alleggeritas?

[GR_TVR]

ATM said:

GR_TVR said:

I've read this thread from start to finish over the last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I purchased a 996 at the start of the year which has been keeping me busy - love what you've been doing with your 986!

Mine has an aftermarket double din Kenwood in, which is OK, but getting on a bit now.
Really liking the look of that xtrons unit...especially with your custom templates etc...!

Edited by GR_TVR on Thursday 9th April 14:54

Is that Zenith with alleggeritas?

Certainly is!

[ATM]

GR_TVR said:

ATM said:

GR_TVR said:

I've read this thread from start to finish over the last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I purchased a 996 at the start of the year which has been keeping me busy - love what you've been doing with your 986!

Mine has an aftermarket double din Kenwood in, which is OK, but getting on a bit now.
Really liking the look of that xtrons unit...especially with your custom templates etc...!

Edited by GR_TVR on Thursday 9th April 14:54

Is that Zenith with alleggeritas?

Certainly is!

Well done. You've not had it long then. How you finding it?

[Mark-t]

It's great to see you've regained the love for this car and the updates are superb! That paint finish is amazing too, top work and attention to detail.

It was me that popped down in my Honda with the impact gun btw

[GR_TVR]

ATM said:

Well done. You've not had it long then. How you finding it?

It's great - really enjoying working on it, just a shame I can't drive it at the moment!

Rather than derailing the OP's thread here's mine

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Smitters]

I've found heavy duty velcro works well with number plates. Hairdryer the glue sides and hold in place for a few mins. Held my Caterham plate on while on track just fine.

[geraintthomas]

CornedBeef said:

That shifters straight into my watch list, to buy at a weaker time (after a beer). I didn't like the bright blue on the other ones, I hadn't found this one in black!

You won't regret it. I've got an itch to just go and drive it now purely because of that shift.

shalmaneser said:

I fitted one of those shifters immediately after I bought my 996 - a blue one though.

Makes a huge difference to the gearshift! Make sure that the circlips are properly seated though, mine were a bit of a fight at first.

I love a cheeky bit if blue anodising, but it can't be seen when fitted so what difference does it make?!

I did consider it, but then when I saw the black I just need it it in my life... hah!

ATM said:

I'm not sure I'm sold on the shorter throw. I did buy a 9x7 shifter for my 996 which has been fettled with roller bearings and generally tightened up. The 9x7 shifter is a little bit shorter in throw. I have not fitted it yet.

I've since found this video which I think is good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJv0wI72aRg

Ah really? That's a shame. Have you tried one? I did consider the 9x7 shifters but for the price I gave this a go first.

GR_TVR said:

I've read this thread from start to finish over the last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I purchased a 996 at the start of the year which has been keeping me busy - love what you've been doing with your 986!

Mine has an aftermarket double din Kenwood in, which is OK, but getting on a bit now.
Really liking the look of that xtrons unit...especially with your custom templates etc...!

Edited by GR_TVR on Thursday 9th April 14:54

That's beautiful! How are you finding it? I love the GT3 parts, eventually want to get them for mine. The Xtrons radio is nice but by god does it need work to set up right. The wiring is a pain, the harness is almost impossible to fit unless you have the patience of a saint, you need to cut a bit of wood to fill the gap beneath the radio (I wrapped wood in gloss black), then when all that's done you need to wipe the radio, do not sign into google as the account sync will slow it down, and just side-load all APK packages onto it. That's just to get it working normally, without my tweaks! I had to tweak the firmware to patch the start up screens, then design custom icons. But, it's done and it's worth it if you have got the time!

Mark-t said:

It's great to see you've regained the love for this car and the updates are superb! That paint finish is amazing too, top work and attention to detail.

It was me that popped down in my Honda with the impact gun btw

Ahhhhh! Ladies and gentlemen, the saviour. Thanks again for that - when all this COVID-19 business is done, give me a shout - we'll go for a drive and I'll buy you a beer.

Smitters said:

I've found heavy duty velcro works well with number plates. Hairdryer the glue sides and hold in place for a few mins. Held my Caterham plate on while on track just fine.

Ordered - thanks for the tip!

Right.

Yesterday saw the installation of the footwell lights.

My previous lights were simply SMD boards stickied to the underside, with tape and cable ties holding them on. Real bodge job, but the effect was nice. Nevertheless I wanted a more OEM approach that allowed the change of bulbs should I (or any future owner) want to.

The previous courtesy light "loom" (if you could call it that) was this:



As well as this for the ambient lights:



Eww.

But I wanted to make a much tidier, bulb-swappable one.

Started by staring at my 'bits' for a good half hour



So this is what I've come up with:



The wires are held together by wire braid. There's 4 connectors for each bulb; two for the courtesy light + and -, and two for the ambient light + and -.

The courtesy lights are the original lamp connectors, connected by original Porsche connecting blocks. The ambient lights are just spade connectors which I had lying around.





Connected, it looks like this:



Wires aren't amazingly accurate when it comes to length, but it works. This allows the user to pull the lamp out of the footwell, disconnect it if they like, and change the bulb, like a normal courtesy lamp in the boot.

Next up was to tackle my old wiring



What a mess. I originally extended the wires in the fuse box used for the courtesy light, and also the side lights, so I could tap into them easier. I did this horrendously before, but have re-done it properly this time:



Made a paper template for the lamps:



Then cut holes in both the passenger side foam, and the drivers side heater pipe.

The result:









Courtesy lights:



Night driving ambient lights:



The installation is lovely. It's easy to change bulbs should I want a change of colour (before was permanent SMD boards, non-changable), and it looks lovely and neat under there. They're also the exact same bulbs used in the boot courtesy lamps, as well as the same bulbs used for the original interior ambient lighting (T5 bulbs), just so that it's consistent.

My only concern is the heat going through that pipe for the drivers lamp. As I've mentioned before, I can't imagine the air would get that hot to cause an issue with these bulbs.

The lights are all white LED bulbs, but the one I've fitted into the roof doesn't match too well. It's a little blue, and it's a pain in the ass to get right as I need a 501 W5W that's 5000k. not 6000k, except ebay just throw numbers around so it's impossible to get it right. I've ordered a few bulbs to see if one of them will match.

[geraintthomas]

Managed to get a better 5000k courtesy light - now all of the interior is white, rather than cool white or warm white. It's lovely and modern.

Anyway, decided that in the future I'd like to take the centre console to the body shop and have it sprayed gloss black to match the car's exterior (as it was an optional extra). In the meantime, I thought I'd wrap it with what wrap I had left, to see what it would be like.

Stripped it to wrap the black plastic parts



Here we go



Forgot to take a half-way shot, so here it is finished





Doesn't look half bad like that to be honest. The wrap cost less than a tenner and I already had some left over, so was free for me to do.

There's the odd bubble here and there, but I didn't bother getting it perfect as I wasn't sure I was keeping it (was sold on spraying it), but as it looks half decent I may buy more wrap and do it perfectly. The finish isn't as smooth as paint and has more orange peel than a painted surface, but it's temporary.

[KillerHERTZ]

Nice project!

Looks loads better with the Porsche logo back on the bootlid.


Not feeling the centre console wrap myself, makes it look cheap IMO.

I would have tried Plastic bumper paint (available from Halfords) - I have done my faded numberplate plinth and wiper cover. its hardwearing and looks original.