Remember those sub £10k 996s from a few years ago?
Discussion
Well I bought one, in June 2013 actually. Here is my experience so far in case anyone else is curious about the cars or tempted to buy one.
It is an MY99 with a build date of November 1998 so is exactly 20 years old this month, and I have owned it for over a quarter of its life.
This was the tantalising advert:
Spotted it on eBay, no bids, listed as "grey" but i knew from the photos it was was not simply "grey" as listed on the V5. Terrible advert but that is where the deals are to be done. He who dares Rodney etc. So I took a train up to Fife to see it. I love getting trains long distance to see cars, I can work on the train and its a fun day out. Usually sellers will meet you at a nearby train station, but Its very awkward asking for a taxi number when you don't buy their car.....
This was the 4th 996 sub £10k I had seen, all were described as good cars, but none were. This one was rare in that everything worked - air con, clutch, windows, window drop on door open, sunroof the lot, the car had no gremlin electrical faults. However something was knocking like a trooper on rough surfaces and the front end alignment was out of whack- I figured suspension on a 14 year old car would need attention anyway and is fairly easy to do - I could see no damage or anything untoward.
On the whole it was the best sub £10k car I saw and the rare colour was the icing on the cake. The seller had run 19" 997 wheels, swapped to 17" C4 wheels for the sale, thats fine - big wheels ruin the ride as I found on previous test drives.
We shook on it and I drove it home, listening to the seller's CDs (one of the pleasures of buying privately is the random music you acquire).
I was like a kid in a sweet shop, I had a 911! Me? a 911?! What has gone on in the world that means a 911 -the worlds best all round performance car - is affordable by me?!
Well I would soon find out the true cost over the next 5 years.
It is an MY99 with a build date of November 1998 so is exactly 20 years old this month, and I have owned it for over a quarter of its life.
This was the tantalising advert:
Spotted it on eBay, no bids, listed as "grey" but i knew from the photos it was was not simply "grey" as listed on the V5. Terrible advert but that is where the deals are to be done. He who dares Rodney etc. So I took a train up to Fife to see it. I love getting trains long distance to see cars, I can work on the train and its a fun day out. Usually sellers will meet you at a nearby train station, but Its very awkward asking for a taxi number when you don't buy their car.....
This was the 4th 996 sub £10k I had seen, all were described as good cars, but none were. This one was rare in that everything worked - air con, clutch, windows, window drop on door open, sunroof the lot, the car had no gremlin electrical faults. However something was knocking like a trooper on rough surfaces and the front end alignment was out of whack- I figured suspension on a 14 year old car would need attention anyway and is fairly easy to do - I could see no damage or anything untoward.
On the whole it was the best sub £10k car I saw and the rare colour was the icing on the cake. The seller had run 19" 997 wheels, swapped to 17" C4 wheels for the sale, thats fine - big wheels ruin the ride as I found on previous test drives.
We shook on it and I drove it home, listening to the seller's CDs (one of the pleasures of buying privately is the random music you acquire).
I was like a kid in a sweet shop, I had a 911! Me? a 911?! What has gone on in the world that means a 911 -the worlds best all round performance car - is affordable by me?!
Well I would soon find out the true cost over the next 5 years.
Edited by was8v on Wednesday 7th November 09:29
Thanks for the interest!
Well when I got it home I took stock of what I'd bought.
Its actually Vesuvio Grey Metallic 40X, a fairly rare special order colour on the 996. Also being an MY'99 it has a cable throttle and no PASM to get in the way of me wrapping it round a tree.
As I would later find out, these early 3.4 had the strongest IMS bearings meaning very few failures.
They also have a more robust ferrous coating on the pistons which does not disintegrate unlike the 3.6, meaning the bores have a much better chance of getting to old age.
I knew none of this before buying, I just bought at the bottom of the market from a bad advert.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the engine, stonking drive home. There was the aforementioned knock from the front right, and the tracking was off meaning the wheel was not dead ahead. The tyres were ten years old relics and there was a dubious laser jammer fitted (which I think I had "on" on the drive home not knowing what the switch was for.....).
The car not only had a "full service history" but the kind of history Porsche buyers dream of. The car was supplied to the channel islands, and then moved to London and then Scotland. The book was stamped with a "who's who" of OPCs and thousands spent at specialists including Jaz and SP Autobahn. Old receipts were not present, but later supplied by a serendipitous encounter with a previous owner, he told me the car had won a TIPEC concourse a few years earlier looking like this - shortly after having some bodywork repaired after a bit of an accident:
I have this condition inherited from my dad that means I can't bring myself to pay someone else to do something that I could do myself, even if it takes me ten times longer. So I have done all my own spannering.
Dad also taught me the value of compound interest and an early retirement, so I'm also tight and don't like spending money. So I've not done anything really unnecessary, and searched out the best value OE manufacturer replacement parts.
Now I reckon cars are engineered to last 15 years. So buying a 14 year old car I knew I'd be constantly replacing parts - I'd had Golf GTIs etc of similar vintage and didn't expect a Porsche to be any different. But, this age is usually the bottom of the depreciation curve so for someone with skills to maintain a car it makes some kind of sense (tell that to my wife).
Here is how it looks at the moment:
I've kept a spreadsheet of every expense which I will go through year by year in the next posts.
I've had it for 5 years and about 30k miles.
Well when I got it home I took stock of what I'd bought.
Its actually Vesuvio Grey Metallic 40X, a fairly rare special order colour on the 996. Also being an MY'99 it has a cable throttle and no PASM to get in the way of me wrapping it round a tree.
As I would later find out, these early 3.4 had the strongest IMS bearings meaning very few failures.
They also have a more robust ferrous coating on the pistons which does not disintegrate unlike the 3.6, meaning the bores have a much better chance of getting to old age.
I knew none of this before buying, I just bought at the bottom of the market from a bad advert.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the engine, stonking drive home. There was the aforementioned knock from the front right, and the tracking was off meaning the wheel was not dead ahead. The tyres were ten years old relics and there was a dubious laser jammer fitted (which I think I had "on" on the drive home not knowing what the switch was for.....).
The car not only had a "full service history" but the kind of history Porsche buyers dream of. The car was supplied to the channel islands, and then moved to London and then Scotland. The book was stamped with a "who's who" of OPCs and thousands spent at specialists including Jaz and SP Autobahn. Old receipts were not present, but later supplied by a serendipitous encounter with a previous owner, he told me the car had won a TIPEC concourse a few years earlier looking like this - shortly after having some bodywork repaired after a bit of an accident:
I have this condition inherited from my dad that means I can't bring myself to pay someone else to do something that I could do myself, even if it takes me ten times longer. So I have done all my own spannering.
Dad also taught me the value of compound interest and an early retirement, so I'm also tight and don't like spending money. So I've not done anything really unnecessary, and searched out the best value OE manufacturer replacement parts.
Now I reckon cars are engineered to last 15 years. So buying a 14 year old car I knew I'd be constantly replacing parts - I'd had Golf GTIs etc of similar vintage and didn't expect a Porsche to be any different. But, this age is usually the bottom of the depreciation curve so for someone with skills to maintain a car it makes some kind of sense (tell that to my wife).
Here is how it looks at the moment:
I've kept a spreadsheet of every expense which I will go through year by year in the next posts.
I've had it for 5 years and about 30k miles.
Edited by was8v on Tuesday 6th November 10:15
Edited by was8v on Tuesday 6th November 10:17
Year one June 13 to June 14
About 8500 miles. Total Spent £1844.73 excluding fuel and tax.
Not listed for some reason is the wheels. I think I paid ~£650 inc tyres for them newly refurbed. I flogged the old ones for most of that. Oh and I sold the old steering wheel (wish I kept it for originality now).
Remember - I had a car with an amazing history, but a couple of outstanding issues. I also do ALL the spannering myself and spend time sourcing parts at the lowest cost.
First job was to fix that front end knock and get the alignment sorted.
So I had a good poke around the front suspension. It had recent coffin arms so not that. There was some play felt at the wheel - so wheel bearing was replaced. This did not fix the knock. I got in the "frunk" and bounced up and down with my finger on the top mounts. These waggled around a bit and tuned out to be separated. There was play in that sides shock shaft. I had to destroy the ARB link to get the shock out, which was replaced with a low mileage used shock. I figured "what the hell" and replaced the forked arms too so all the front suspension was known good. I initially set the tracking.
Whenever I took a rusty part off I treated and painted it.
Now I bought an FAG wheel bearing as they make good bearings.
TRW suspension arms came with Porsche logo and numbers ground off - they are OE
Top mounts from Design 911 (which both later failed again)
Top mount bearings from OPC
Febi Bilstein ARB link
The passenger window stopped working. A few petrol flap bits fell off. Car was due a major service. Low temp thermostat seemed a good idea. I chnaged the gearbox oil in an attempt to reduce cranky cold shift to second (never been changed) The fill plug was stuck fast (always try to remove the fill plug before the drain plug...). Coil shield was rusted out.
In August the air con stopped working. The leak was traced by a local guy with a UV lamp to the long pipe under the sill - this had been damaged by careless jacking and had pin holes. I swapped the pipe and got him back to charge up. I fitted mesh from ebay over the front end grilles and cleared leaves out from between the rads at the same time.
The stock speakers were toast. In September I chopped them out of their cages and replaced with Pioneer units. At the same time I scored a three spoke wheel on eBay, these are nicer to hold (hands sit lower and they are thicker). Also got the front end alignment properly adjusted with laser guidance.
In November the MOT was due, the only advisory was play in the rear track arm. This was replaced with a TRW OEM item. Cutting the eccentric bolt out by hand was not fun. I changed the gearbox oil again for a higher spec Motul oil, as the gear change had got worse. This transformed the shift! Its has been crunch free ever since.
April 14 and I had my first fault code "enrichment limit reached". Googling around and checking the crankcase vaccuum determined too much unmetered air was going in the engine. The culprit was the rubber bellows that connect the AOS to the crankcase £8 aftermarket part from design 911. Seen here on the left of the AOS (this was changed with the AOS in situ with long arms and small hands).
I like to change the oil every 6k, 117k came around in April.
In May I got to know the car a little better at Aintree (yes the clio I think lapped me - who cares - I had fun, so did he):
They say trackdays test your car's limits. During the trackday the air con gave up again. On the way home I had a nasty knock on rough surfaces felt through the pedal box. This only occurred when the car was hot. I also got brake fade (probably ancient fluid).
The air con compressor had seized, destroying itself.
The new one is the same part as a Zafira and an Audi V6, I got a Nissens branded item. Easy to change (apart from that rear bolt!) and I got an air con guy to flush and recharge the system. I changed out the expansion valve (same as a mercedes) and the receiver dryer (same as a toyota). No brake fluid listed as I already had it in stock and pumped some new through, noting a snapped nipple which I left for another day.
I was hoping the next year would be cheaper.
About 8500 miles. Total Spent £1844.73 excluding fuel and tax.
Not listed for some reason is the wheels. I think I paid ~£650 inc tyres for them newly refurbed. I flogged the old ones for most of that. Oh and I sold the old steering wheel (wish I kept it for originality now).
Remember - I had a car with an amazing history, but a couple of outstanding issues. I also do ALL the spannering myself and spend time sourcing parts at the lowest cost.
First job was to fix that front end knock and get the alignment sorted.
So I had a good poke around the front suspension. It had recent coffin arms so not that. There was some play felt at the wheel - so wheel bearing was replaced. This did not fix the knock. I got in the "frunk" and bounced up and down with my finger on the top mounts. These waggled around a bit and tuned out to be separated. There was play in that sides shock shaft. I had to destroy the ARB link to get the shock out, which was replaced with a low mileage used shock. I figured "what the hell" and replaced the forked arms too so all the front suspension was known good. I initially set the tracking.
Whenever I took a rusty part off I treated and painted it.
Now I bought an FAG wheel bearing as they make good bearings.
TRW suspension arms came with Porsche logo and numbers ground off - they are OE
Top mounts from Design 911 (which both later failed again)
Top mount bearings from OPC
Febi Bilstein ARB link
The passenger window stopped working. A few petrol flap bits fell off. Car was due a major service. Low temp thermostat seemed a good idea. I chnaged the gearbox oil in an attempt to reduce cranky cold shift to second (never been changed) The fill plug was stuck fast (always try to remove the fill plug before the drain plug...). Coil shield was rusted out.
In August the air con stopped working. The leak was traced by a local guy with a UV lamp to the long pipe under the sill - this had been damaged by careless jacking and had pin holes. I swapped the pipe and got him back to charge up. I fitted mesh from ebay over the front end grilles and cleared leaves out from between the rads at the same time.
The stock speakers were toast. In September I chopped them out of their cages and replaced with Pioneer units. At the same time I scored a three spoke wheel on eBay, these are nicer to hold (hands sit lower and they are thicker). Also got the front end alignment properly adjusted with laser guidance.
In November the MOT was due, the only advisory was play in the rear track arm. This was replaced with a TRW OEM item. Cutting the eccentric bolt out by hand was not fun. I changed the gearbox oil again for a higher spec Motul oil, as the gear change had got worse. This transformed the shift! Its has been crunch free ever since.
April 14 and I had my first fault code "enrichment limit reached". Googling around and checking the crankcase vaccuum determined too much unmetered air was going in the engine. The culprit was the rubber bellows that connect the AOS to the crankcase £8 aftermarket part from design 911. Seen here on the left of the AOS (this was changed with the AOS in situ with long arms and small hands).
I like to change the oil every 6k, 117k came around in April.
In May I got to know the car a little better at Aintree (yes the clio I think lapped me - who cares - I had fun, so did he):
They say trackdays test your car's limits. During the trackday the air con gave up again. On the way home I had a nasty knock on rough surfaces felt through the pedal box. This only occurred when the car was hot. I also got brake fade (probably ancient fluid).
The air con compressor had seized, destroying itself.
The new one is the same part as a Zafira and an Audi V6, I got a Nissens branded item. Easy to change (apart from that rear bolt!) and I got an air con guy to flush and recharge the system. I changed out the expansion valve (same as a mercedes) and the receiver dryer (same as a toyota). No brake fluid listed as I already had it in stock and pumped some new through, noting a snapped nipple which I left for another day.
I was hoping the next year would be cheaper.
Edited by was8v on Tuesday 6th November 16:47
croyde said:
Is such an originally expensive car really so fragile?
I ask out of genuine interest.
I'm not sure it's fragile per se.I ask out of genuine interest.
You have to remember that it was 14 years old and 110k miles. Suspension bushes and rubber parts do age due to exposure and will wear out.
The Aircon pipe is a bs design running close to jacking Point. The Aircon compressor is the same as an Audi part, I was maybe unlucky?
One costly design issue is the ball joints are moulded into alloy arms. You can't just bolt in a ten quid ball joint.
The car was high days and holidays for the PO. I pressed it into daily service.
I remember having a 15 year old golf MK2 GTi. I was constantly replacing things on that in the same manner.
I think it's immaterial how expensive it was new. Nothing built to a cost is hewn from granite.
Edited by was8v on Tuesday 6th November 19:47
Year Two June 14 to June 15
About 6000 miles. Spent £1310.40
The knocking in the footwell when hot turned out to be the inner track rods. When the power steering fluid heats up these get hot and tighten up, causing the weird knocking. So I replaced inner and outer track rods with TRW parts (remember, they make the genuine bits too).
I was having some rough running and weird idle stalling problems (no codes) so I thought I'd try a new MAF as it ran better without the MAF plugged in. Made it much better. MAF sourced from a genuine Bosch suppler (be careful of fakes) in the euro zone (remember when the euro was cheap?). 4 new tyres and quick laser alignment check to make sure I had set it right. The KU39 is a great value tyre - I'd encourage people to try them before casting aspersions.
The left exhaust box started blowing. I scored a brand new item for a C4S on eBay for £200 from Jasmine. The exhaust boxes on all 3.4/3.6 Carreras are interchangeable, just the final pipes and tips are different on a C4S, easy to swap them over and flog the new C4S tip on eBay for ££££
Another oil service and shift to Millers OIls as per hartech recommendation.
The top mounts failed again, I was upset by this so sent them back to Design 911 for a refund. I bought SACHS brand replacement for much less than the d911 ones, and they came with Porsche logos and numbers gorund off (they are the genuine article).
A TRW track arm for the other side (as there was a little play) and new ARB bushes all round.
Another fairly pricey year.
About 6000 miles. Spent £1310.40
The knocking in the footwell when hot turned out to be the inner track rods. When the power steering fluid heats up these get hot and tighten up, causing the weird knocking. So I replaced inner and outer track rods with TRW parts (remember, they make the genuine bits too).
I was having some rough running and weird idle stalling problems (no codes) so I thought I'd try a new MAF as it ran better without the MAF plugged in. Made it much better. MAF sourced from a genuine Bosch suppler (be careful of fakes) in the euro zone (remember when the euro was cheap?). 4 new tyres and quick laser alignment check to make sure I had set it right. The KU39 is a great value tyre - I'd encourage people to try them before casting aspersions.
The left exhaust box started blowing. I scored a brand new item for a C4S on eBay for £200 from Jasmine. The exhaust boxes on all 3.4/3.6 Carreras are interchangeable, just the final pipes and tips are different on a C4S, easy to swap them over and flog the new C4S tip on eBay for ££££
Another oil service and shift to Millers OIls as per hartech recommendation.
The top mounts failed again, I was upset by this so sent them back to Design 911 for a refund. I bought SACHS brand replacement for much less than the d911 ones, and they came with Porsche logos and numbers gorund off (they are the genuine article).
A TRW track arm for the other side (as there was a little play) and new ARB bushes all round.
Another fairly pricey year.
Fast Bug said:
Good thread 
Those 996.1 rear parking sensors really are awful looking things though, it's amazing they passed sign off!
I find them pretty useful though!Those 996.1 rear parking sensors really are awful looking things though, it's amazing they passed sign off!
I once contemplated buying a plain bumper and putting modern sensors in it. But then I came to my senses after spending on maintenance!
Year Three June 15 to June 16
About 4000 miles. Spent £542
The rear dog bone bushes didn't look too clever (one had separated from the arm) so I replaced all 4 arms with very low mileage 997 items. Also painted the gently rusting shocks and ARB.
Sagging engine mounts, really transformed the car! Amazing difference. I chose genuines OE supplier items, of course I sourced them from rockauto in the USA didn't I - note 993 part number.
Battery gave out on me. Yes 996s can be bump started on a hill in reverse in case you were wondering..... Front Coffin arm ball joint started knocking so was swapped (this was the first in the history to be swapped years ago). No more TRW arms were available, so Meyle was the next best thing.
Damn window regulator gave out again! This time replaced with a mint used item. OSF radiator sprung a leak and got replaced.
Not a bad value year all told, but few miles.
About 4000 miles. Spent £542
The rear dog bone bushes didn't look too clever (one had separated from the arm) so I replaced all 4 arms with very low mileage 997 items. Also painted the gently rusting shocks and ARB.
Sagging engine mounts, really transformed the car! Amazing difference. I chose genuines OE supplier items, of course I sourced them from rockauto in the USA didn't I - note 993 part number.
Battery gave out on me. Yes 996s can be bump started on a hill in reverse in case you were wondering..... Front Coffin arm ball joint started knocking so was swapped (this was the first in the history to be swapped years ago). No more TRW arms were available, so Meyle was the next best thing.
Damn window regulator gave out again! This time replaced with a mint used item. OSF radiator sprung a leak and got replaced.
Not a bad value year all told, but few miles.
Edited by was8v on Tuesday 6th November 22:09
Edited by was8v on Tuesday 6th November 22:10
Year Four June 16 to June 17
About 4000 miles. Spent £1254.21
This year I enlisted help from a garage, which spiralled out of control.
I noted when changing the radiator that the fans only came on full speed. They are supposed to be two speed. This points to the fan resistor packs which are helpfully placed in the air flow (and crud) ahead of the rads. You can buy these for ££££ from Porsche or solder in big resistors from RS for £12.
Another oil change and another incredible bargain exhaust box for the other side from ebay - a 20k mile used one. I fitted it up when mine started blowing from the seams. Someone even bought my old ones in need of welding off me for more than I paid for this on ebay.
The final original suspension arms that were left on the whole car- rear coffin and forked arms were replaced due to a knock from the rear. I had a local place fit these as I was short on time and cutting those eccentric bolts out is a miserable job. I figured do the lot rather than wait till next month for the next knock to start.
I then lost power steering driving it. I traced the leak to the corroded out hard lines on the steering rack. Porsche would have you swap the rack out, but the lines are available for about £37 from a guy who makes them up.
Rather than drop the subframe myself, again I was short on time, and didn't fancy grappling with the corroded fittings. I had a local garage do the job.
There was a problem here - the plastic coating on the end of steering column splines crumbled away when the rack was dropped. The early cars like mine had a single piece column - meaning the whole column was needed. Later cars have a 2 piece column you can just drop the end off. Luckliy the 996 shares its steering column with the Boxster and there are loads of cheap ones in scrap yards. But the labour cost to swap the steering column
I also had them replace the very corroded brake line that runs across the car from the NSF wing to the OSF caliper while the subframe was out the way, including flexi all the way to the caliper.
CHECK YOUR BRAKE LINES PEOPLE, especially the ones you and the MOT tester can't see across in front of the steering rack and over the gearbox.
Hmmm, this not spending money tactic is not working. But I cheated this year and paid someone else to do some work.
About 4000 miles. Spent £1254.21
This year I enlisted help from a garage, which spiralled out of control.
I noted when changing the radiator that the fans only came on full speed. They are supposed to be two speed. This points to the fan resistor packs which are helpfully placed in the air flow (and crud) ahead of the rads. You can buy these for ££££ from Porsche or solder in big resistors from RS for £12.
Another oil change and another incredible bargain exhaust box for the other side from ebay - a 20k mile used one. I fitted it up when mine started blowing from the seams. Someone even bought my old ones in need of welding off me for more than I paid for this on ebay.
The final original suspension arms that were left on the whole car- rear coffin and forked arms were replaced due to a knock from the rear. I had a local place fit these as I was short on time and cutting those eccentric bolts out is a miserable job. I figured do the lot rather than wait till next month for the next knock to start.
I then lost power steering driving it. I traced the leak to the corroded out hard lines on the steering rack. Porsche would have you swap the rack out, but the lines are available for about £37 from a guy who makes them up.
Rather than drop the subframe myself, again I was short on time, and didn't fancy grappling with the corroded fittings. I had a local garage do the job.
There was a problem here - the plastic coating on the end of steering column splines crumbled away when the rack was dropped. The early cars like mine had a single piece column - meaning the whole column was needed. Later cars have a 2 piece column you can just drop the end off. Luckliy the 996 shares its steering column with the Boxster and there are loads of cheap ones in scrap yards. But the labour cost to swap the steering column
I also had them replace the very corroded brake line that runs across the car from the NSF wing to the OSF caliper while the subframe was out the way, including flexi all the way to the caliper.
CHECK YOUR BRAKE LINES PEOPLE, especially the ones you and the MOT tester can't see across in front of the steering rack and over the gearbox.
Hmmm, this not spending money tactic is not working. But I cheated this year and paid someone else to do some work.
croyde said:
Thanks for your answer.
I guess it's not a lot to spend on a favourite hobby, especially as it looks like you love getting your hands dirty.
Lol if it wasn't my favourite hobby before, it seemingly became my favorutie hobby.I guess it's not a lot to spend on a favourite hobby, especially as it looks like you love getting your hands dirty.
To be honest, I never really thought about how doing this level of maintenance would impact me as time gets more pressured as I get older. I think I will retire the car to "toy" status in a couple of years.
Lets face it, anyone running and relying on a 20 year car as a year round "daily" (albeit 2 days a week for me t the moment) needs their head examining.
Year Five June 17 to June 18
About 3000 miles. Spent £1711.80
Early this year I was a crossroads - sell the car or keep and make it better? The car was good, but there were a few things I had in the back of my mind that really needed sorted if I was keeping the car long term.
The clutch was getting heavy, a bit creaky on activation and the release bearing was dry and noisy, I noted a few rusty bits poking through here and there, it needed discs and pads in the near future, there was a couple of minor oil leaks, the remaining original brake lines weren't looking too healthy but were passable for MOT with no advisories. Par for the course on an old car really.
I chose to keep it and fix these things.
The usual service and MOT, including the exhaust clamp on the other side rotted already!
Crack on. I borrowed a car and SORNed the 996 for 2 months over winter.
Got it nice and high on axle stands and made tools:
Not that bad (yes its snowing and I took the gearbox out)
Ah theres one leak....RMS and IMS bearing cover. You can also see the AOS bellows are covered in oily mank from minor leak somewhere:
Home made cam lock tool and removed chain tensioners (these got new seals):
IMS bearing in all its glory. Seal removed as per current best practice. Bearing felt lovely and smooth, no play.
New RMS going in with borrowed tool (Elring are OE maker):
Flywheel (LUK OE maker) and SACHS (OE) clutch kit for a stonking price from CP4L:
New front gearbox mount bush went in with a borrowed home made tool:
Worn clutch slave pin had nearly worn through clutch arm hence the creakiness:
New updated 997 arm, pivot and bearing guide tube has been revised to remove squeeks, I also fitted a new SACHS (OE maker) brand slave:
Made up the over gearbox brake line, also replaced the one along the sill from the front. I chopped the old ones out in sections, then laid it out and copied them by bending the new one zip tied alongside with a pipe bending tool. The over gearbox line is quite hard to feed in around all the other stuff thats up there, I have no idea how you would fit a porsche supplied steel line without dropping loads of stuff or straightening the line. I used Cupra-nickel lines as they will take a bit of re-bending (unlike steel or copper) to get them into position. A job cheap in parts (~£20) but high in faff.
Whilst there I stuck a new AOS in as I heard of all the problems and wanted to button up any leaks. Its a PITA even with the gearbox off.
All back together with POR15'd braces and mounting brackets:
Beware of what lurks behind your arch liners and trim.
Inside of sills is not bad, I know MX5 owners that would kill for sills like this. Seems I got them just in time for a liberal dousing in cavity wax:
Snapped brake nipple repaired by local engineers:
I tried to bleed to brakes with my Gunsons bleeder that pushes fluid through from the reservoir. But I could just not get a decent pedal. By this time I had had enough of rolling around on the floor. Once all stiched up I drive it to a local garage to swap the discs and pads and bleed the brakes through with their vacuum bleeder that sucks fluid through from the nipple. I chose discs from Autodoc (discs are discs, right? Cast steel, round and flat - I painted the bells) and OE supplier Textar pads.
I also fitted a 997 shifter mechanism - this is great - halfway between a short shift and OE. Sharpens the throw up nicely. Especially since my old item had much more play in it.
Aux belt idler rollers were making a worn out noise so were replaced.
Hmmm an expensive year, but lots replaced for that money, and I got a handle on any rust issues. I dread to think what the labor would have been it took me so long.
But now I have a 911 that has had ALL new suspension arms and ALL rubber mounts, ALL new brake lines and consumables, and new clutch / flywheel and with the engine in such stonkingly good form (untouched) drives FAN-BLOOMING-TASTICALLY.
Yes I keep telling myself that.
I just wish I had done all that work up front. I.e. just bit the bullet and replaced the suspension and brakes when I bought it. Who knows what the old pads were, but the textar are a great improvement.
It really does drive well. An old saggy worn out 996 is a great drive. One like this is amazing, really it is.
About 3000 miles. Spent £1711.80
Early this year I was a crossroads - sell the car or keep and make it better? The car was good, but there were a few things I had in the back of my mind that really needed sorted if I was keeping the car long term.
The clutch was getting heavy, a bit creaky on activation and the release bearing was dry and noisy, I noted a few rusty bits poking through here and there, it needed discs and pads in the near future, there was a couple of minor oil leaks, the remaining original brake lines weren't looking too healthy but were passable for MOT with no advisories. Par for the course on an old car really.
I chose to keep it and fix these things.
The usual service and MOT, including the exhaust clamp on the other side rotted already!
Crack on. I borrowed a car and SORNed the 996 for 2 months over winter.
Got it nice and high on axle stands and made tools:
Not that bad (yes its snowing and I took the gearbox out)
Ah theres one leak....RMS and IMS bearing cover. You can also see the AOS bellows are covered in oily mank from minor leak somewhere:
Home made cam lock tool and removed chain tensioners (these got new seals):
IMS bearing in all its glory. Seal removed as per current best practice. Bearing felt lovely and smooth, no play.
New RMS going in with borrowed tool (Elring are OE maker):
Flywheel (LUK OE maker) and SACHS (OE) clutch kit for a stonking price from CP4L:
New front gearbox mount bush went in with a borrowed home made tool:
Worn clutch slave pin had nearly worn through clutch arm hence the creakiness:
New updated 997 arm, pivot and bearing guide tube has been revised to remove squeeks, I also fitted a new SACHS (OE maker) brand slave:
Made up the over gearbox brake line, also replaced the one along the sill from the front. I chopped the old ones out in sections, then laid it out and copied them by bending the new one zip tied alongside with a pipe bending tool. The over gearbox line is quite hard to feed in around all the other stuff thats up there, I have no idea how you would fit a porsche supplied steel line without dropping loads of stuff or straightening the line. I used Cupra-nickel lines as they will take a bit of re-bending (unlike steel or copper) to get them into position. A job cheap in parts (~£20) but high in faff.
Whilst there I stuck a new AOS in as I heard of all the problems and wanted to button up any leaks. Its a PITA even with the gearbox off.
All back together with POR15'd braces and mounting brackets:
Beware of what lurks behind your arch liners and trim.
Inside of sills is not bad, I know MX5 owners that would kill for sills like this. Seems I got them just in time for a liberal dousing in cavity wax:
Snapped brake nipple repaired by local engineers:
I tried to bleed to brakes with my Gunsons bleeder that pushes fluid through from the reservoir. But I could just not get a decent pedal. By this time I had had enough of rolling around on the floor. Once all stiched up I drive it to a local garage to swap the discs and pads and bleed the brakes through with their vacuum bleeder that sucks fluid through from the nipple. I chose discs from Autodoc (discs are discs, right? Cast steel, round and flat - I painted the bells) and OE supplier Textar pads.
I also fitted a 997 shifter mechanism - this is great - halfway between a short shift and OE. Sharpens the throw up nicely. Especially since my old item had much more play in it.
Aux belt idler rollers were making a worn out noise so were replaced.
Hmmm an expensive year, but lots replaced for that money, and I got a handle on any rust issues. I dread to think what the labor would have been it took me so long.
But now I have a 911 that has had ALL new suspension arms and ALL rubber mounts, ALL new brake lines and consumables, and new clutch / flywheel and with the engine in such stonkingly good form (untouched) drives FAN-BLOOMING-TASTICALLY.
Yes I keep telling myself that.
I just wish I had done all that work up front. I.e. just bit the bullet and replaced the suspension and brakes when I bought it. Who knows what the old pads were, but the textar are a great improvement.
It really does drive well. An old saggy worn out 996 is a great drive. One like this is amazing, really it is.
Edited by was8v on Thursday 8th November 10:49
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
Amazing efforts and lordnonly knows what the ‘years bill’ would be if you were charged for that labour .....
Plus I got clutch, flywheel, bolts and RMS for £500 using "black friday" codes on CP4L this time last year. (the flywheel bolts and RMS were ordered through CP4L but were actually delivered by my local OPC).I've seen bills from specialists itemising those same parts at double the cost.
And bills from OPCs itemising the same parts costing 4x as much.
Beware of Porsche tax
daniel-5zjw7 said:
Great response.. always surprised how many people assume relatively old cars with a fair few miles under their wheels shouldn't require anything replacing and will complain that it's not good enough from a certain brand etc, when the reality is unless such a car has had a particularly large amount of recent investment you could make a case for replacing literally everything if you so wanted.
I think people expect a £15k 911 to be as reliable as the £10k 3 series they sold to fund it, not accounting for the fact the 996 is 13 years older.daniel-5zjw7 said:
Great work on this car OP, I'm taking it you've covered around 25k in it in your ownership?
We are on 136k miles now, so yeah 27k all conditions miles in 5 years.daniel-5zjw7 said:
I have a similar mindset as you in terms of doing things myself (on top of believing that when it comes to something I have an interest in/own, as long as I have enough time it's unlikely anyone could do the same job with as much care/attention to detail as I can), as well as not accepting poor quality parts or extortionate prices for good ones! This can be a very time consuming way of looking at things but also rewarding, I expect on my current project which I've spent over 3k on, I could easily add another 2k on to that if I didn't work in this way.
Yes. Case in point - my fuel filter (a major service item) was dated 2005
At its OPC service on 14/01/05 the car had 33479 miles. They should be changed every 60k. I hadn't changed it before because I assumed specialist and OPC major services would have changed it in the mean time.
Nope.
I've also pulled cabin filters and air filter out of all kinds of cars (FL2 most recently) with full histories that had obviously not been changed in many years.
This is why I service my own cars.
daniel-5zjw7 said:
So what are you thinking long term for the car now? Any driving goals or specific parts you'd like to replace/upgrade in the future?
I'm busy enough just maintaining it 
The paintwork is, er, 20 years old apart from the OSF wing and door which was painted previously. You couldn't tell when I bought the car, but now the paint has aged differently and you can see some difference. I try not to let it bother me as I use the car a lot and leave it parked wherever I want and rarely wash it, and think if I got it sprayed I would be much more wary of using it. It has the usual 996.1 rust behind the door catches from dissimilar metals which does need sorting really.
One of the previous owner changed the shocks which do still seem OK, but I might go down the route of a set of Konis for it one day. I don't really feel the need to "upgrade" it, Porsche got it pretty right for the usage it gets.
Slippydiff said:
That release bearing and those input shaft splines !! They're drier than a nun's crutch Little wonder the clutch was heavy, squeaky and not very smooth ...
Yes, probably wasn't that far off self destruction after 95,000 miles (old clutch disc was date stamped Oct 2003).
I take that to mean the latter owners had good mechanical sympathy!
Year six so far June 18 to June 19
About 1500 miles so far. Spent £289
996 is 20 years old this month, it passed another MOT with no advisories yesterday.
Had a stuck idle control valve, car was stalling during low speed manoeuvres - luckily I dismantled it and cleaned it up at zero cost.
Now its developed a squeeky dash, and the exhaust heat shields have gone rattly behind the rear bumper
Having a cheap year so far, lets not spoil it. Loving the car, using it 2 days a week now all weathers for 40 mile round trip commute.
£6731.92 in just over 5 years and 27k miles of ownership. I could easily double that if I was paying someone to fix it.
If I were to sell I think it would be a £12k or 13k advert, given a slight increase in value and all the work done - so that does offset some of that (if I blindly ignore inflation, but this is man maths). My car may be a harder sell as I have done the work myself - but as the car gets older that matters less and somebody out there will realise the value that an obsessive, skilled owner adds over somebody that has the minimum done at an indy.
Most of the "stuff" I have done is ageing or worn out parts rather than upgrades. I would fully expect any 996.1 over 100k that hasn't had suspension arms, brake lines, power steering rack pipes, air con rads, water rads, water pump etc etc to need those in the next few years. So budget accordingly - but it depends on your tolerance - my brake lines were MOT OK, and in the end I wanted all refreshed suspension / rubber mounts. I want it to drive like a 911 should.
The only bit really untouched on my car is the engine, according to oil analysis and the cam deviation figures there is nothing untoward going on.
About 1500 miles so far. Spent £289
996 is 20 years old this month, it passed another MOT with no advisories yesterday.
Had a stuck idle control valve, car was stalling during low speed manoeuvres - luckily I dismantled it and cleaned it up at zero cost.
Now its developed a squeeky dash, and the exhaust heat shields have gone rattly behind the rear bumper
Having a cheap year so far, lets not spoil it. Loving the car, using it 2 days a week now all weathers for 40 mile round trip commute.
£6731.92 in just over 5 years and 27k miles of ownership. I could easily double that if I was paying someone to fix it.
If I were to sell I think it would be a £12k or 13k advert, given a slight increase in value and all the work done - so that does offset some of that (if I blindly ignore inflation, but this is man maths). My car may be a harder sell as I have done the work myself - but as the car gets older that matters less and somebody out there will realise the value that an obsessive, skilled owner adds over somebody that has the minimum done at an indy.
Most of the "stuff" I have done is ageing or worn out parts rather than upgrades. I would fully expect any 996.1 over 100k that hasn't had suspension arms, brake lines, power steering rack pipes, air con rads, water rads, water pump etc etc to need those in the next few years. So budget accordingly - but it depends on your tolerance - my brake lines were MOT OK, and in the end I wanted all refreshed suspension / rubber mounts. I want it to drive like a 911 should.
The only bit really untouched on my car is the engine, according to oil analysis and the cam deviation figures there is nothing untoward going on.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff