Porsche 911 996.2 3.6 C2

[scottos]

poppopbangbang said:

I've never run Nitrons on any of my stuff but many, many people only have good things to say about them and I'd be really keen to hear how you get on with them. I did a lot of playing about with spring rates over the years and whilst there is definitely a too soft limit it's very easy to end up over sprung.

The Alleggeritas on mine are GT3 sizes which on a PS4S are as much traction as you'll ever need on the road. They are a lovely wheel and I have a lot of time for how Oz design, manufacture and ensure quality and durability.

It sounds like you've got a cracking car and I'm looking forward to reading your updates and progress with it

I approached a number of manufacturers to do a kit on my old BMW 2002 and Nitron were great to deal with. Their recommended spring rates raised an eyebrow at first and all the old boys that were into those cars were recommending around half! It all came good in the end and i can only conclude witchcraft was involved! Maybe i shouldve shown the same trust this time as well but i believe going for their slightly softer option is the right thing to do for the cars use! Arguably they are still quite high but im now expecting some of the same witchcraft

Thats great, they are exactly the spec's ill be after as well although they are definitely towards the bottom of my list currently, the Carrera wheels have grown on me and the Alleggeritas are now a 'nice to have', rather than a must. If i spot a set second hand then i do think they will sharply jump to the top, however!

911Spanker said:

Yes, very sorry to thread hijack!

Thanks very much for this detailed explanation, makes sense!

I am after a "Lotus" 996 - great ride and handling with fantastic steering feel which my car doesn't quite have at the moment.

Anything else worth looking into do you think? COG this the arms will do the trick but I want it to steer like a GT3 RS...

Edited by 911Spanker on Friday 8th March 07:31

No need for apologies, it's great to have the info and peoples views all in one place!

It sounds like we are after a similar thing, i was even looking at Lotus' (Loti?!) prior to this purchase but promised myself something with more than 4 cylinders this time round!

Slippydiff said:

Well done, nice car Scott !! X51 a very rare (and expensive) option, ditto full GT3 aero kit !!
Enjoy it, they’re wonderful little cars. Especially once they’ve been tweaked.
Here’s my spec so far (we appear to be on parallel trajectories… )

Momo Cup steering wheel
Centre console delete
Stereo delete
Ashtray delete
Custom trimmed Cobra Nogaros with ultra low side mounts
Ohlins R&T’s with my own custom spring rates.
New caster arms, top mounts, ARB droplinks, rack inner and outer tie rods. All stock to keep NVH to OE levels.
Eibach adjustable front coffin arms chosen because they retain rubber bushings !! …
My own custom front and rear floating discs 340mm fronts, 320mm rears.
Rear seat delete
Rear seat belt delete
Rear wiper delete
New engine mounts (I fitted new OE items, they were a game changer)
Short shift (and new shift cables ready to be fitted)
Michelin PS 4S
GT3 front bumper.

And do think hard before you fit the OZ’s, those Carrera wheels are exceptionally light, and apart from the hollow spoke Turbo wheels, are the lightest 18” OE wheel Porsche fitted to a 996.
They’re easy to clean too

Edit to add. Unless you’re planning on tracking a 996 frequently and using sticky tyres, avoid using Rose joints anywhere in the car’s suspension, they have no place on a road car, and certainly not one used on our horrendously surfaced roads.

Edited by Slippydiff on Friday 8th March 19:35

Thanks SD, good to see you posting in here, your 996 looks great! It seems we have similar tastes/ views on mods, as you suggest! I'd love to go whole hog like yourself but i'd promised myself i'd keep this usable for more than 2 people, my 3 year olds face when i brought this car home confirmed i had to do that, he loves it!

You're right with the wheels, i've touched on this in my reply above, i think they will be staying for a long while! Im also keeping most of the arms OE, other than rear tie arms, i was advised geo would be a middle man between toe/ camber without. Otherwise they are all standard, front camber etc. can be adjusted on the Nitron top mounts so i can get the geo right but keep the standard arms, the car will see little to no trackdays. Everything still seems well and solid on the standard stuff but will replace as and when, if money is available at the time then i may treat myself to fancy front coffin arms!

Once i'd seen 'my' car for sale i became hyper focused on the X51 pack, rightly or wrongly! I love the aero kit but wouldn't necessarily pick an aero car over a none aero one, especially not being a fan of faux models of the top dogs ala 'AMG-line' 'S Line' etc. Once id seen this car i couldnt look at any others in all honesty, i may look at duck tails in the distant future but the rest will all stay for sure.

Slippydiff said:

The Ohlins are excellent. Though the springs rates Ohlins spec (both the original and reduced rate items) are waaaay too stiff for our UK roads.
With sensible spring rates, the car is transformed and becomes an absolute weapon to drive on our increasingly poorly surfaced roads. Even with 320hp it would leave a stock 996.1 or 2 GT3 struggling to keep up such is it’s compliance and composure.

The only thing I’d say is, go to town on all the suspension components and renew them, coffin arms, caster arms, ARB droplinks, top mounts, top mount bearings, steering rack inners and outers, the lot.
No need to upgrade anything else apart from front coffin arms, and if you want to adjust caster and retain the rubber bushes in the coffin arms, buy adjustable caster arms too.
And be guided by Chris at CoG on ride heights, as running them too low doesn’t do them any favours.
And to that end I’ve just raised the front end on mine 10mm.
This it prior to the 10mm increase:

And Dakar ride height prior to fitting the Ohlins (it’s probably 15-18mm lower than this now)

Thanks for the extra info/ views! I'm glad you can confidently say the well set up C2 could hassle a gt3 down the road, i daresay i'll end up on drives with some big hitters and it'll be fun keeping up. I could just about with the old 2002 and without going silly, so the 996 should manage well!

911Spanker said:

Great information again, much appreciated. My car is very compliant and too would easily lose a GT3 on road

But it does suffer from some vagueness at higher speeds which could probably be improved by being a bit lower.

As ever with these things it becomes a bit of an expensive leap into the unknown, hence using COG for my work thus far.

However given my needs are to keep its current ride comfort with GT3esque feel is proving a bit tricky to deliver...

I can concur with the expensive leap into the unknown, i couldnt find anyone that's used this suspension kit yet but im happy to be the guinea pig! I'm hoping it will be ready soon!

Koolkat969 said:

Great purchase Scottos! Followed the 2002 thread and will be following this with interest also.

Thought I'll share this recent blog about suspensions from COG as i think some of the posters here might find it useful.......

https://centergravity.co.uk/time-for-some-suspensi...

Thank You, appreciate it and thanks for the link, i'll take a look!

[Slippydiff]

Hi Scot, I’m looking forward to hear your thoughts on the Nitrons with the more road biased spring rates.

I fitted a set of Nitrons to my 1M Coupe at least 10-12 years ago. I’d told them what the car was used for (100% UK roads) but when we came to fit them, the spring rates were ridiculously high, and we couldn’t even get the car down to its standard ride height.

We removed the dampers/springs and sent them back and asked them to revalve and re-spring them, instead they sent us a bill for the carriage of returning the coilovers back to them !!

They didn’t seem bothered about rebuilding the dampers to the specs we suggested, so nothing became of it, and I sold the car 10 months later anyway.

They’ve since got their act together, and seem to have got their foot in the door of the Porsche market, and from what I’ve heard, their product is excellent.

Do please keep us posted with your experiences, both of the install and how well suited they are to our increasingly poorly surfaced roads with the softer spring rates and valving.
.

[scottos]

Slippydiff said:

Hi Scot, I’m looking forward to hear your thoughts on the Nitrons with the more road biased spring rates.

I fitted a set of Nitrons to my 1M Coupe at least 10-12 years ago. I’d told them what the car was used for (100% UK roads) but when we came to fit them, the spring rates were ridiculously high, and we couldn’t even get the car down to its standard ride height.

We removed the dampers/springs and sent them back and asked them to revalve and re-spring them, instead they sent us a bill for the carriage of returning the coilovers back to them !!

They didn’t seem bothered about rebuilding the dampers to the specs we suggested, so nothing became of it, and I sold the car 10 months later anyway.

They’ve since got their act together, and seem to have got their foot in the door of the Porsche market, and from what I’ve heard, their product is excellent.

Do please keep us posted with your experiences, both of the install and how well suited they are to our increasingly poorly surfaced roads with the softer spring rates and valving.
.

Hi SD, thats a shame to hear your experience with Nitron, as you suggest they must've got their act together since! On my 2002, they had to design the front adjustable top mounts and they test fitted them on a 2002 that they knew of near them before production and changed the droop of my rear dampers FOC when i queried and suggested they had a little too much. They genuinely couldn't have done enough.

I cant remember the road spring rates for these 996 R1 coilovers off the top of my head but on paper i still think they will be too high for most. They certainly arent as high as the Ohlins R&T ones, however. I was set on those at first but a friend has them on his .1 gt3 and advised against, unless i wanted to mess around with different sets of springs. I was willing to do this but I decided to be the guinea pig for the Nitrons instead as he has become a dealer of their products, timing seems to be everything with this car!

I'll keep the thread up to date, hopefully all the parts will be here soon enough!

[ATM]

Slippydiff said:

Michelin PS 4S

What sizes?

I think PS4S only available

Front
225 40
235 40

Rear
275 35
295 30

[jammytask]

Lovely car, thanks for the updates.

[Slippydiff]

ATM said:

What sizes?

I think PS4S only available

Front
225 40
235 40

Rear
275 35
295 30

235 & 295. Though I’m assured the release of the 285 section PS4S is imminent.

The car is overtyred with the 235/295 combination, but I prefer the slightly chunkier look of the taller sidewalls, especially when crammed onto a rear wheel that’s technically a bit too narrow.

[Slippydiff]

scottos said:

Hi SD, thats a shame to hear your experience with Nitron, as you suggest they must've got their act together since! On my 2002, they had to design the front adjustable top mounts and they test fitted them on a 2002 that they knew of near them before production and changed the droop of my rear dampers FOC when i queried and suggested they had a little too much. They genuinely couldn't have done enough.

I cant remember the road spring rates for these 996 R1 coilovers off the top of my head but on paper i still think they will be too high for most. They certainly arent as high as the Ohlins R&T ones, however. I was set on those at first but a friend has them on his .1 gt3 and advised against, unless i wanted to mess around with different sets of springs. I was willing to do this but I decided to be the guinea pig for the Nitrons instead as he has become a dealer of their products, timing seems to be everything with this car!

I'll keep the thread up to date, hopefully all the parts will be here soon enough!

The Ohlins rates on the 996 R&T C2 kit are comically high, but on the 996 GT3 R&T kit, they’re ludicrously high.

I’ve experimented with 3 differing sets of front and rear springs on the R&T’s now, and have finally arrived at rates which I think suit our roads well.
My guess is they’d be sub-optimal on track, but that’s not an issue, because the car’s not going to be driven round and round in circles.

Have Nitron given you an any indication as the spring rates they’ll be using on your R1 road kit ?

[scottos]

jammytask said:

Lovely car, thanks for the updates.

Cheers, thanks for the kind words!

Slippydiff said:

235 & 295. Though I’m assured the release of the 285 section PS4S is imminent.

The car is overtyred with the 235/295 combination, but I prefer the slightly chunkier look of the taller sidewalls, especially when crammed onto a rear wheel that’s technically a bit too narrow.

I've been looking at tyre choice and it does seem quite limited. I think i was going to end up with 235-40 fronts and 275-35 rears last time i looked. The 225/285 pilot super sports that are on are fine for now, however!

I've been looking at wheel options again and 2Forge have just brought out their ZF8 wheel, their wheels are very light and relatively cheap, so may give this new wheel a go. I'll just be sticking with the OE wheel widths but with lower offsets. I've been playing with spacers on these OE wheels to see what will work well and i do like the wheels but cant help but feel it might need something a bit more aggressive with the aero kit. Without the kit i dont even think i'd be looking!

Slippydiff said:

The Ohlins rates on the 996 R&T C2 kit are comically high, but on the 996 GT3 R&T kit, they’re ludicrously high.

I’ve experimented with 3 differing sets of front and rear springs on the R&T’s now, and have finally arrived at rates which I think suit our roads well.
My guess is they’d be sub-optimal on track, but that’s not an issue, because the car’s not going to be driven round and round in circles.

Have Nitron given you an any indication as the spring rates they’ll be using on your R1 road kit ?

Yes, i cant remember what they are off the top of my head though, they were less than Ohlins, especially on the rear, that much i remember. My friend i ordered through still thought they were too high (He's running the Ohlins on his 996.1 gt3 and is having the chew with the springs) but i said id risk it and trust Nitron as i did with my 2002. I'm finding the m030 stuff quite jarring and crashy low speed albeit they are great when pressing on, im hoping to get rid of the former and more of the latter with Nitrons damping. Fingers crossed, see how we get on!

[poppopbangbang]

scottos said:

Yes, i cant remember what they are off the top of my head though, they were less than Ohlins, especially on the rear, that much i remember. My friend i ordered through still thought they were too high (He's running the Ohlins on his 996.1 gt3 and is having the chew with the springs) but i said id risk it and trust Nitron as i did with my 2002. I'm finding the m030 stuff quite jarring and crashy low speed albeit they are great when pressing on, im hoping to get rid of the former and more of the latter with Nitrons damping. Fingers crossed, see how we get on!

If it helps mine is on 44N/MM front and 92N/MM rear both at 200mm free length in 63.5mm diameter. My Ohlins setup is a little different as it uses a proper upper spring perch setup rather than the original Porsche bits/Ohlins parts combo and the spherical in the top mount as the rotating link:





For reference that's a slightly stiffer front spring than usually recommended for use with Ohlins R&T but I have a bit more mass in the nose when both fuel tanks are full!

I've got some spare 40N fronts and 92N rears in stock if needed / you want a play with spring rates

[Slippydiff]

scottos said:

Hi SD, thats a shame to hear your experience with Nitron, as you suggest they must've got their act together since! On my 2002, they had to design the front adjustable top mounts and they test fitted them on a 2002 that they knew of near them before production and changed the droop of my rear dampers FOC when i queried and suggested they had a little too much. They genuinely couldn't have done enough.

I cant remember the road spring rates for these 996 R1 coilovers off the top of my head but on paper i still think they will be too high for most. They certainly arent as high as the Ohlins R&T ones, however. I was set on those at first but a friend has them on his .1 gt3 and advised against, unless i wanted to mess around with different sets of springs. I was willing to do this but I decided to be the guinea pig for the Nitrons instead as he has become a dealer of their products, timing seems to be everything with this car!

I'll keep the thread up to date, hopefully all the parts will be here soon enough!

Ohlins R&T spring rates for 996 GT3/GT2 .... :

Front 70 N/mm
Rear 140 N/mm

And for the masochists who have fitted them, having your chiropractor on speed-dial is a pre-requisite...

Tyre choices are indeed rather limited unfortunately, hence why I went for the 295/235 PS4S combo. I'd planned to fit some OZ's, or Apex wheels. Fronts 8.5" and rears 11", but spending big chunks of money on lighter wheels just to lose 1-2kg per corner didn't make sense ultimately, and I decided I'd rather spend the money on other stuff.

[scottos]

poppopbangbang said:

If it helps mine is on 44N/MM front and 92N/MM rear both at 200mm free length in 63.5mm diameter. My Ohlins setup is a little different as it uses a proper upper spring perch setup rather than the original Porsche bits/Ohlins parts combo and the spherical in the top mount as the rotating link:

For reference that's a slightly stiffer front spring than usually recommended for use with Ohlins R&T but I have a bit more mass in the nose when both fuel tanks are full!

I've got some spare 40N fronts and 92N rears in stock if needed / you want a play with spring rates

I've purposely not looked again to see what i agreed to, fingers crossed its all good apparently they should be ready at the end of this week, i've a small road trip up in Scotland with a few mates, setting off 5th April with very little time in between now and then. For the best chance of getting the car sorted before then, it's booked in at my friends garage for the below:

• Nitron suspension with 'proper' top mounts
• Adjustable rear toe arms
• Hollow Eibach ARB's
• New OE droplinks (looked into it and it seemed standard ones would work with the suspension/ arbs)
• New braided brake flexi's and hardlines into the calipers
• Some form of better brake fluid, probably TYP200
• Carbotech XP8 pads all round
• General appraisal of the car/ target areas moving forwards
• MOT (It runs out the day before i set off, typically!)

If its not ready then ill use the route as a recce and do it again in a shorter span once it is.

I'll keep those springs in mind, Thank You!

Slippydiff said:

Ohlins R&T spring rates for 996 GT3/GT2 .... :

Front 70 N/mm
Rear 140 N/mm

And for the masochists who have fitted them, having your chiropractor on speed-dial is a pre-requisite...

Tyre choices are indeed rather limited unfortunately, hence why I went for the 295/235 PS4S combo. I'd planned to fit some OZ's, or Apex wheels. Fronts 8.5" and rears 11", but spending big chunks of money on lighter wheels just to lose 1-2kg per corner didn't make sense ultimately, and I decided I'd rather spend the money on other stuff.

I think when i've been looking at wheels and tyres, i think i will end up sticking with a 10" rear, a 285 (or maybe a 275 depending on choice available) seems ample for the 345hp. Obviously a tiny bit lighter too sticking with 10". I'm happy with the Carrera wheels for now but do think once its lowered a tad that it might want some different wheels to finish it off with having the aero kit.

[-Ad-]

Loving the thread, especially all the suspension chat.

If you want a nice classy mod that you'll be constantly looking at (literally), then pickup a set of the Dido tuning gauge covers from Poland. The brushed Alu finish is cracking and really helps lift the dull black cluster area.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222333416026?mkcid=16&a...

[scottos]

-Ad- said:

Loving the thread, especially all the suspension chat.

If you want a nice classy mod that you'll be constantly looking at (literally), then pickup a set of the Dido tuning gauge covers from Poland. The brushed Alu finish is cracking and really helps lift the dull black cluster area.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222333416026?mkcid=16&a...

Cheers, thanks! Thats a cool link too, i'll take a look at those, they do look quite nice!

Speaking of suspension chat, its arrived!

20240325_204100 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

The eagle eyed will notice the front set-up is as the GT3, with separate droplink mount. This wasnt intentional but easily removed. In its place will go a locking ring, which Nitron have sent out to me (only sorted this yesterday)

The kit really is a work of art, i love their products. I would quite happily have them on display in the house if i had the money to spend on such ornaments!

Drop link mount removed:

20240325_214117 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Rear top mount:

20240325_214024 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Front top mount:

20240325_214040 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Together:

20240325_204720 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

And with some of the other parts that are in the pile to be fitted:

20240326_104631 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

You may notice the steering wheel. This was the previous Porsche wheel i had with the red 12 o'clock and red stitching. I had it up for sale but had no takers and double booked a wheel trimming slot on another steering wheel and didnt want to let either party down so off it went!

It went from leather with red 12 o'clock and red stitching to alcantara, grey 12 o'clock and grey stitching. It's awesome and im very happy with the job!

Before:

20240210_200817 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

After:

20240326_104132 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

In the car:

20240326_111459 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

This does mean the black on black leather one i was using will be up for grabs if anyone is interested! I've used it for about 300 miles. Equally i may keep it looking at the picture, they really are awesome wheels.

20240222_220651 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

I've dropped the car off at my friends for fitting of everything. I'm due to set off on a little road trip a week tomorrow so fingers crossed its all done and sorted, that was definitely the best option for trying to achieve that!

Prior to this i've just been out enjoying the car really. I did fit some spacers to the standard wheels, 15mm rear and 7mm front but the fronts would get a slight wobble on at (Ahem) 70mph (officer). I ordered another pair of fronts that i found had the 3 hubcentric prongs on and took the opportunity to go to 10mm.

20240322_174135 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240322_173820 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240322_173735 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240322_181346 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

These seem better! Typically i've not really had chance to get up to 70mph since swapping out, however. I've had two drives since fitting, one when my other half and I found ourselves with an increasingly rare afternoon off together, where neither of us had anything planned. We went out for lunch in the 996 and the other was driving it to my friends garage.

Whilst out for lunch:

20240316_124531 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

I realise now that in the above picture i was parked over the remnants of a dead sheep!

20240317_161653 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

For the way home i lightly pressured my other half into having a drive. Shes been insured on all of my cars but doesnt enjoy going fast, especially round bends, and doesnt enjoy cars shes not familiar with so she hardly ever drives them. She hated my GR Yaris at first but she uses it quite a lot now and loves it, however! I was hoping for the same with the 911!

Probably the highest and furthest forward the seat has ever been

20240316_142324 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

What started off being a quick 5 minute drive turned into a 35 minute drive! By the end of it i had her taking it up to the rev limiter, which i found hilarious considering she hates going quick in cars!

I'm a big advocate for sharing, i got much joy out of the above!

Hopefully the next update will be a good one with all the parts fitted and hopefully me up in Scotland with it!

Cheers,

Scott

[ManicMunky]

Fantastic work there, that wheel looks properly at home!

[Slippydiff]

Cup wheel is one of THE best mods. The standard wheel isn’t bad, but Cup wheel unlocks a new level of steering feel, and quickens the response too. Win, win.

Those Nitrons look good. As I said I’m looking forward to hearing how compliant they are for road use.

I deliberately went with the R&T’s because they utilise the standard top mounts, and having had a decade and a half driving Porsche GT cars with top mounts that utilise spherical bearings, and knowing the NVH they can transmit into the cabin, I wanted to keep things as civilised as possible (AKA, I’m getting old !!)

That has to be one of the most uncomfortable looking driving positions I’ve ever seen But … if it works for your lady and means she’s happy to drive the 996, that’s about as big a win as you can have I’d say

Keep us posted on the fitment of all the suspension kit, and I’ll look forward to your review after your trip.

[scottos]

ManicMunky said:

Fantastic work there, that wheel looks properly at home!

Thanks, i agree about the wheel!

Slippydiff said:

Cup wheel is one of THE best mods. The standard wheel isn’t bad, but Cup wheel unlocks a new level of steering feel, and quickens the response too. Win, win.

Those Nitrons look good. As I said I’m looking forward to hearing how compliant they are for road use.

I deliberately went with the R&T’s because they utilise the standard top mounts, and having had a decade and a half driving Porsche GT cars with top mounts that utilise spherical bearings, and knowing the NVH they can transmit into the cabin, I wanted to keep things as civilised as possible (AKA, I’m getting old !!)

That has to be one of the most uncomfortable looking driving positions I’ve ever seen But … if it works for your lady and means she’s happy to drive the 996, that’s about as big a win as you can have I’d say

Keep us posted on the fitment of all the suspension kit, and I’ll look forward to your review after your trip.

I agree, i always love swapping steering wheels around, they seem to add so much for so little! I could just hang them on my wall and i'd certainly have loads of them doing just that if i had the money spare

I think i have a high tolerance of a 'stiff' and unforgiving car. I always remember people said the Lexus ISF was unbearable, i had one and found it lovely. I really thought the 2002 was great but funnily enough lots of people that rode passenger in that car said the same, maybe it was the sense of occasion or something for them.

Nitron do the kit so that you can use standard OE top mounts, im just a sadist and wanted the solid ones by the time i bought new OE stuff it probably wouldnt have been far off the cost of these (there's that man maths again!) plus i can get the extra camber now, without the bottom arms changing out.

My friend has been onto me today "How aggressive are we going on the geometry?!", turns out hes been working quick sharp and has all the pads in, brake lines done, including the little hard lines from the flexi's into the calipers. He's bled with ATE TYP200 and confirmed all works well and pedal is great. He's got the Eibach hollow ARB's on and the new drop links on the front as well as all of the suspension fitted!

Another overhang from being sent the GT3 kit (the problem with the front arb brackets being supplied instead of the locking collars to sit against the hub), is that the OE rear drop links dont fit the ARB brackets on the rear shock. If i bought GT3 ones then they would've! The OE ones have the ball joints facing the opposite way, the GT3 ones have them facing the same way, whilst also being longer.

Nitron supply their own fancy adjustable ones with a Carrera kit but with mine being sent out as a GT3 kit, they werent included. So Nitron have posted these out today! It's a little bittersweet really, had the links come in my kit then i'd have had the car back for the long weekend but i was never supposed to have it back until next week, so it really doesnt matter. First world problems and all of that!

I'm really looking forward to seeing it next week, with less arch gap and the proper geo set-up, ill pop out one evening to bed the pads in and have a bit of a sense check on the quick jack before the trip next Friday. Apparently the weather doesnt look too clever so im wanting to cover everything in ACF50 too

[pitchinginaporsche]

Having just bought a very similar 996 to yours, I have enjoyed reading this thread so far. Definitely some food for thought with the work you have carried out thus far. Hope the trip to Scotland goes well- I am also planning a route around the NC500 in mine for September

[scottos]

pitchinginaporsche said:

Having just bought a very similar 996 to yours, I have enjoyed reading this thread so far. Definitely some food for thought with the work you have carried out thus far. Hope the trip to Scotland goes well- I am also planning a route around the NC500 in mine for September

Thanks, have you got a thread up for yours? I enjoy seeing what people are doing with these cars! Scotland trip was great cheers, Friday didnt end up being too great but the rest of the weekend was brilliant! Im going back up in the van at the end of the month to do the NC500, looking forward to it!

[scottos]

I got the car back last Thursday, due to set off first thing Friday morning (ended up being mid-late morning!). Being how i am, i wanted to look at the parts that had been installed so got the car up in the air when i got it back home:

20240404_211818 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Wheels off, i had a poke around:

20240404_202930 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240404_202917 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240404_195553 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240404_195222 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240404_195201 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240404_195629 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

The brand new shiny kit makes the rest of it all look a little sorry for itself... must not get carried away! I bedded the new Carbotech XP8 pads in on the way home too and couldnt believe the difference in pedal feel, initial bite and overall braking power! The fluid that was in mustve been very old and flexi's, well, very flexy! The small hardline link pipes between the flexi's and the calipers didnt look great so i'd ordered up new ones too, it all seems to have helped!

They set the dampers a tiny bit softer than Nitrons recommendation, rear bar in the middle and front on soft. Geo, went -2 camber up front, parallel toe, caster as factory, -2.5 rear with some toe in (the value escapes me right now). It's a tiny bit lower than GT3 heights, with the rake towards the front.

I'd had a new gearknob made in wood to match the Martini steering wheel that i'll eventually end up getting re-trimmed and probably using. I wasnt expecting it for a little while yet but it turned up on the Thursday so i fitted that quickly whilst i was on. I couldnt help myself!

With the Martini wheel:

20240404_120056 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Fitted in the car:

20240404_170125 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240404_170115 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

I had a good perve over all of the suspension parts and sprayed some protective coating on all of the new bits and some of the existing. The forecast for the Friday and onto the weekend didnt look too good, especially the Friday! I was eager to see what the car was like now, excited either way!

The first meet spot was only 20 minutes away (first and only clean picture i took!):

20240405_112042 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

First stop was up in the Scottish borders, we frequent this road fairly often as its only 90 minutes away or so:

IMG-20240411-WA0007 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Lots of the big car magazines use this spot quite a lot, my phone camera not doing it justice of course! One of the lads is a professional photographer and got some pictures during the trip, hopefully i can post an update at some point with some 'proper' pictures.

The car felt great so far, i was very happy with it. It's stiffer than it was on the M030 sports stuff but it's nowhere near as crashy, it remains really composed. I found the M030 stuff pretty decent when pushing on but at lower speeds it didnt really seem to know exactly what it wanted to be, if that makes sense? The kit i've got on now knows exactly what it is and is unapologetic for it! Some would definitely find it too stiff, i will admit but i think my threshold is higher than some!

On up through Kielder forest, into the borders and onto another good stretch of road that runs from Selkirk to Moffat, we pulled off around 2/3rd's of the way over to get some cool pics at a reservoir. By this time the weather had come in and the imposing hills all around could hardly be seen, sadly and we didnt really bother taking any (other than on my phone) By this time our friend in the GT12 had peeled off, he was feeling quite ill and wanted to try and sleep it off and would shoot back up for the next evening at our second nights stop.

20240405_154837 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240405_155116 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Instead of doubling back onto the main road down to Moffat, we decided to crack on along this single track to cut a big corner off and just get to our first nights stay for food and beers. It really was hammering it down by now and we'd already had 3ish hours on decent roads.

I think we ended up spending about the same amount of time doing the 'short cut' but at much lower speeds and wading through water once we'd got over the tops and were coming back down, the road had turned into a river in some parts and we were glad to make it back onto the main road and up to our first nights stay in Stirling. I was lucky to get a decent parking spot but did have to climb over the passenger side to get out!

20240406_102214 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

We went out for beers, an indian and some more beers, excellent stuff! I was excited for the next day as this took in the old military roads in the Cairngorns, i'd done them once before in my Yaris. We did a recce route for this trip which involved 16 hours of driving in one day and i was eager to get back to them in the 996, with friends.

I'd been watching the snow gate and Glenshee ski centre cameras in the week leading up to the trip, there had been a few snow showers and lots of water but this all seemed to have cleared up for us! The forecast seemed to suggest it would be cloudy with sunny spells and the odd rain shower, we were happy to take it!

We got to the ski centre before we knew it!

20240406_132625 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240406_132605 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

We popped back down to a view point to get some proper pictures and do a little bit of filming. I hope the flyby footage comes out properly and i'm looking forward to seeing the proper pictures (i'll post in here when available)

20240406_133551 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240406_134919 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

We cracked on and before we knew it we were at the top of the old military road, at the AA sentry box:

20240406_154451 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240406_155216 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

The sun was out in full swing by this point and along with the adrenaline from such a good few hours of driving, we were at a definite high! Along with this, Tom had also been in touch to say he was well on his way up and would meet us in Aviemore, where we were staying for the night, brilliant!

We made our way back down and across to Aviemore and had a similar night of beers, food and beers but as a full crew!

The next day we were due to head down to Laggan and across to Glencoe, taking in the Kinlochleven 'loop' round the estuary:

20240407_133117 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

20240407_133126 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

You'll notice the GT12 was swapped out for an M5cs, Chris Harris' old one, no less!

From here we picked up the Skyfall picture location at Glen Etive, typical tourists!

20240407_153856 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

We carried on South and down by Loch Lommond and stayed at the head of Loch Long. I stayed here with the missus last year and really liked it, great location sourdough woodfired pizzas and a decent local shop. We stocked up on beers and food and had a great time for the last night in the air b'n'b.

For the next day we got up and headed back North to loop round and pick up Dukes pass before making a B line for home. It took longer than i thought to loop around and over to Dukes pass and as good as it looks on google street view (and on Mike F's Drivetribe video), we weren't too impressed, it was slow going and people seemed to want to make it difficult to pass safely. I think to enjoy that road you'd want to be in something small without much power or have the road closed off and hit it as a one way road

20240408_213746 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Just shy of 800 miles covered and 23.9MPG by the time i got home. I didnt think that was too bad in all honesty! The car was fantastic, i was impressed by it all weekend and really gelled with it. The only downside to the parts i've fitted is the brake dust from the Carbotech pads, absolutely awful, you'll maybe have noticed from the pictures! I've also rubbed all the skin off my right elbow, which i guess is a by product of trying to hold myself in with the additional cornering forces i didnt really notice during the trip but i mustve been subconsciously holding myself in!

I've not had two minutes since i got back but im eager to get it up in the air again and check over everything. I assume it'll all need a wipe over and a bit of a clean at the very least. The rear drop links are fitting to the 'wrong' side of the bar/ bracket on the rear shock so i'll probably refit those too. The wheels are certainly going to be 'fun' to clean Other than that, there's a bit of paint to touch in on the front edge of the plastic side skirts and i've ordered some PPF for the arch edges. I'll make a little piece for the front of the skirt section too, once touched up!

Just waiting on wheels at this point and then i hope i can just carry on enjoying the car!

Thanks for reading,

Scott

[pitchinginaporsche]

scottos said:

Thanks, have you got a thread up for yours? I enjoy seeing what people are doing with these cars! Scotland trip was great cheers, Friday didnt end up being too great but the rest of the weekend was brilliant! Im going back up in the van at the end of the month to do the NC500, looking forward to it!

Aside from the drive back to Sussex from Scotland its been parked up at home as I have been away with work. I will get a thread going on here once I am back in the UK at end of the month. Have a few things I want to do with the car and some road trips planned UK & Europe. Be good to see your NC500 trip also.