Another 996 thread!
Discussion
Hi all,
Bored before NYE really kicks off so thought I might do a thread on my recently purchased (Oct '19) 996! I love an ownership thread so thought I'd give back.
Quick car history: I've had a 205 GTI to which I fitted a 2.0 16V engine, 309 running gear, 306 brakes:
Kept for about 7 years but once this got too noisy and uncomfortable I switched to a BMW E36 M3 Evo, which was a great car. Fitted Bilstein suspension, quick steering rack, rebuilt the whole back end, did loads of service items and kept for about 5 years before I got the itch to change:
Then bought a e46 M3 which I didn't like as much as the e36. Fitted Bilstein suspension, Porsche brakes, short shift. Definitely better than the old model in almost every metric, but just not as raw and fun!
I'd been in the market for a early 3.4 996 manual 2WD coupe for some time (isn't everyone) when this beauty popped up relatively close... While only 59K miles it definitely needs some work to make it 100% - clearly the previous owner was a service it once a year type and so parts that degrade over time haven't been fixed, so the gear shift was sloppy, squeaks from the suspension, mismatched tyres, but the engine sounded and felt strong and the bodywork and underside is in really excellent condition without a spot of rust anywhere! I can happily fix mechanical bits but I hate doing bodywork, no fun in fixing that (for me at least!) - I'm fairly convinced it's been garaged all it's life there's so little rust on it.
How it looked during the viewing:
And returning home after the purchase (yes that is a big grin):
Spec was almost perfect for me: No sunroof, grey leather sports seats, and 10-speaker (ie. not stupid BOSE fibre-optic) stereo and not much else. Only really missing a LSD but I have plans for that...
As a compulsive tinkerer/modifier I got stuck straight in with a shortshift to fix the baggy and very very long standard throw(crucial cup of tea in shot):
Fixing the leaking water pump (went for Meyle having had very good experiences with the brand in my BMW's). Fitted 964RS engine mounts at the same time, which made a big difference:
Also fitted a Sony head unit with bluetooth which I've been really impressed with. Connects to my phone without me touching it and means I can run Spotify very easily without having to even glance at my phone. And I love the dashboard without any massive LCD/LED screens on it. Plus a good bit lighter than the heavy old tape lump in there as standard.
As an xmas treat to myself got some 18" wheels - currently running 997 tyre sizes, will change the rears to the correct 265/36 R18's, but probably keep the front 235's as they're N rated Michelins in good order. I'm normally a fan of smaller wheels (I loved the 18's on my e46 M3) But I really think the 996 needs the bigger wheels to fill the arches:
There is no rubbing on the 997 spec 285/40 r18 tyres but I'm keen to get them changed. Could do with a 5mm or 10mm spacer on the front too.
As another cheeky xmas present got some second hand Dansk boxes with a cracked flexi which I got welded up for very cheap - they all do that, sir. This proved rather louder than anticipated but I've grown to really like them. Quiet on the motorway at 80 and a good few KGs lighter than the standard boxes too! In addition the tips are the standard parts so it all looks standard from outside. I'm slightly worried it might be an issue on track but we shall see...
Also got round to adjusting the throttle cable to take up the huge amounts of slack and allow me to open the throttle above 70%! I diagnosed this through one of those bluetooth OBD-II readers which allows you to view engine sensor readings through your phone, a highly recommended bit of kit and only cost a few quid.
And went for some pointless drives:
I've got to say I really really love driving this thing. The tyres were pretty old and poorly balanced when I bought it which made it super nervous at speed, but the new decent tyres on the 18's have really sorted that out and I love the way you can feel it rotating around your hips when cornering. The ride was much better on the 17s but is still pretty comfy on the 18s. The engine is nothing like as smooth as the inline 6 in the M3 (especially with the semi-solid engine mounts) but makes a great noise with the stainless exhaust and really comes alive above 4k.
Only negative really is the ratios of the gearbox which is just too high - exacerbated by the currently over large rear tyres. Coming from an M3 I'm also missing an LSD, as this leads to some funny handling especially at low speeds in the wet when only one wheel spins up.
Future plans involve improving the abysmal headlights, fitting some new coffin arms and rod ends, and swapping in a rebuilt gearbox with an LSD to fix a whine above 50mph or so - something I missed on the test drive! Still it enables me to fit an LSD and tackle an increasingly well known 996 weak point - the gearbox pinion gear bearing which wears prematurely.
This also gives me a great opportunity to check the dreaded IMS bearing and RMS seal - although as an early cable throttle 996 this is likely to have a double row bearing and hence be much less susceptible to IMS failure.
Also going to remove the rear wiper and CD changer - these will be carefully stored away with the tape deck for the next owner. I really feel like the rear wiper ruins the rear 3/4 view on these and they are fairly useless anyway. Plus add lightness!
I'll also change the springs and dampers eventually but they feel pretty good given they've only got 60K on them. And the whole time just drive it loads and loads!
Bored before NYE really kicks off so thought I might do a thread on my recently purchased (Oct '19) 996! I love an ownership thread so thought I'd give back.
Quick car history: I've had a 205 GTI to which I fitted a 2.0 16V engine, 309 running gear, 306 brakes:
Kept for about 7 years but once this got too noisy and uncomfortable I switched to a BMW E36 M3 Evo, which was a great car. Fitted Bilstein suspension, quick steering rack, rebuilt the whole back end, did loads of service items and kept for about 5 years before I got the itch to change:
Then bought a e46 M3 which I didn't like as much as the e36. Fitted Bilstein suspension, Porsche brakes, short shift. Definitely better than the old model in almost every metric, but just not as raw and fun!
I'd been in the market for a early 3.4 996 manual 2WD coupe for some time (isn't everyone) when this beauty popped up relatively close... While only 59K miles it definitely needs some work to make it 100% - clearly the previous owner was a service it once a year type and so parts that degrade over time haven't been fixed, so the gear shift was sloppy, squeaks from the suspension, mismatched tyres, but the engine sounded and felt strong and the bodywork and underside is in really excellent condition without a spot of rust anywhere! I can happily fix mechanical bits but I hate doing bodywork, no fun in fixing that (for me at least!) - I'm fairly convinced it's been garaged all it's life there's so little rust on it.
How it looked during the viewing:
And returning home after the purchase (yes that is a big grin):
Spec was almost perfect for me: No sunroof, grey leather sports seats, and 10-speaker (ie. not stupid BOSE fibre-optic) stereo and not much else. Only really missing a LSD but I have plans for that...
As a compulsive tinkerer/modifier I got stuck straight in with a shortshift to fix the baggy and very very long standard throw(crucial cup of tea in shot):
Fixing the leaking water pump (went for Meyle having had very good experiences with the brand in my BMW's). Fitted 964RS engine mounts at the same time, which made a big difference:
Also fitted a Sony head unit with bluetooth which I've been really impressed with. Connects to my phone without me touching it and means I can run Spotify very easily without having to even glance at my phone. And I love the dashboard without any massive LCD/LED screens on it. Plus a good bit lighter than the heavy old tape lump in there as standard.
As an xmas treat to myself got some 18" wheels - currently running 997 tyre sizes, will change the rears to the correct 265/36 R18's, but probably keep the front 235's as they're N rated Michelins in good order. I'm normally a fan of smaller wheels (I loved the 18's on my e46 M3) But I really think the 996 needs the bigger wheels to fill the arches:
There is no rubbing on the 997 spec 285/40 r18 tyres but I'm keen to get them changed. Could do with a 5mm or 10mm spacer on the front too.
As another cheeky xmas present got some second hand Dansk boxes with a cracked flexi which I got welded up for very cheap - they all do that, sir. This proved rather louder than anticipated but I've grown to really like them. Quiet on the motorway at 80 and a good few KGs lighter than the standard boxes too! In addition the tips are the standard parts so it all looks standard from outside. I'm slightly worried it might be an issue on track but we shall see...
Also got round to adjusting the throttle cable to take up the huge amounts of slack and allow me to open the throttle above 70%! I diagnosed this through one of those bluetooth OBD-II readers which allows you to view engine sensor readings through your phone, a highly recommended bit of kit and only cost a few quid.
And went for some pointless drives:
I've got to say I really really love driving this thing. The tyres were pretty old and poorly balanced when I bought it which made it super nervous at speed, but the new decent tyres on the 18's have really sorted that out and I love the way you can feel it rotating around your hips when cornering. The ride was much better on the 17s but is still pretty comfy on the 18s. The engine is nothing like as smooth as the inline 6 in the M3 (especially with the semi-solid engine mounts) but makes a great noise with the stainless exhaust and really comes alive above 4k.
Only negative really is the ratios of the gearbox which is just too high - exacerbated by the currently over large rear tyres. Coming from an M3 I'm also missing an LSD, as this leads to some funny handling especially at low speeds in the wet when only one wheel spins up.
Future plans involve improving the abysmal headlights, fitting some new coffin arms and rod ends, and swapping in a rebuilt gearbox with an LSD to fix a whine above 50mph or so - something I missed on the test drive! Still it enables me to fit an LSD and tackle an increasingly well known 996 weak point - the gearbox pinion gear bearing which wears prematurely.
This also gives me a great opportunity to check the dreaded IMS bearing and RMS seal - although as an early cable throttle 996 this is likely to have a double row bearing and hence be much less susceptible to IMS failure.
Also going to remove the rear wiper and CD changer - these will be carefully stored away with the tape deck for the next owner. I really feel like the rear wiper ruins the rear 3/4 view on these and they are fairly useless anyway. Plus add lightness!
I'll also change the springs and dampers eventually but they feel pretty good given they've only got 60K on them. And the whole time just drive it loads and loads!
Edited by shalmaneser on Tuesday 31st December 18:32
Edited by shalmaneser on Wednesday 27th May 20:52
V1nce Fox said:
How much quicker/faster than your e36 m3 does it feel?
It's very hard to say as I've not had the e36 for a good few years. 0-60 I think is pretty comparable with the e46 m3 but I get the feeling with the porsche you have to launch it hard and really thrash the clutch as the gears are taller and there is so much traction off the line. Once up to speed the e46 feels quicker but the 996 is much lighter... I reckon its probably faster than the e36 but not as quick as the e46.To be honest I felt the e46 was too quick to really have fun with on public roads, so that suits be pretty well.
Re. The low temp thermostat I understand that the 3.4s are much less likely to suffer from bore scoring which the LTT helps prevent but it's something I'll definitely look into, as it does seem to take a long time to warm up.
I loved loved loved my evo and it also had the delicious pivot from the hips thing but I think in terms of performance I'm not sure the 996 is that much faster, but it's a more interesting challenge to drive and certainly feels more special. The engine isn't all that after the s50b32 but the package is fantastic. I can't wait to take it on track.
Thanks for the comments all and Happy New Year!
I was genuinely torn about the 18" vs 17" thing, and had I been able to source some nice light 10 spoke 17's I might have gone for them. But the existing 17s were standard on the C4 not the C2 like I have so I wanted them changed, plus they looked rubbish in the dark grey. I ended up with the 18s for very cheap indeed and they already have very decent tyres on them, were in good condition and I reckon they look loads better.
Having said that from a visual perspective there does need to be a bit more front brake disc to fill the front wheels. In most cars the smallest wheel to fit over the caliper would be my choice from a styling POV but obviously that's a bit arse about face here as the brakes are already pretty great!
I may switch back in time, my perfect wheel would probably be some 18" wheels in 17" widths, I do reckon there is a bit too much grip with the 10" rears. Plus 17s will tend to be lighter.
I was toying with putting some cheaper tyres on all round to drop the grip levels slightly but I would like to do some track days and I worry how they would perform....
I was genuinely torn about the 18" vs 17" thing, and had I been able to source some nice light 10 spoke 17's I might have gone for them. But the existing 17s were standard on the C4 not the C2 like I have so I wanted them changed, plus they looked rubbish in the dark grey. I ended up with the 18s for very cheap indeed and they already have very decent tyres on them, were in good condition and I reckon they look loads better.
Having said that from a visual perspective there does need to be a bit more front brake disc to fill the front wheels. In most cars the smallest wheel to fit over the caliper would be my choice from a styling POV but obviously that's a bit arse about face here as the brakes are already pretty great!
I may switch back in time, my perfect wheel would probably be some 18" wheels in 17" widths, I do reckon there is a bit too much grip with the 10" rears. Plus 17s will tend to be lighter.
I was toying with putting some cheaper tyres on all round to drop the grip levels slightly but I would like to do some track days and I worry how they would perform....
V1nce Fox said:
shalmaneser said:
I loved loved loved my evo and it also had the delicious pivot from the hips thing but I think in terms of performance I'm not sure the 996 is that much faster, but it's a more interesting challenge to drive and certainly feels more special. The engine isn't all that after the s50b32 but the package is fantastic. I can't wait to take it on track.
Thanks for posting this. I've had mine for years and feel like the logical step up is to move to a 996/997 but not sure what ti expect performance wise. I'm guessing the Porsche feels smaller/more nimble?You get a lot more and better feedback from the wheel and controls - the gearshift for example is miles nicer than even the best e36/e46 BMW shifts, the steering way way better. I like the way the front end bobs up and down too, you can really feel the front end digging in under brakes. The brakes generally are excellent too - better than the standard setups in the BMWs for sure (I think the uprated brakes on my e46 are better overall though).
The pedals are really nicely spaced for heel and toeing too. It's also really fun putting the power down through a corner earlier and earlier and leaning on the rear end grip. I'm a bit wary of pushing it too far though!
Small post xmas update.
Having done 1500 miles in the last couple of months I thought the car deserved a small xmas present:
I did say a small present. It turns out one of those is the perfect size to fit to your airbox to blank off the helmholtz resonator:
Who says Porsche ownership is expensive?
It is indeed a perfect fit. This supposedly frees up a bit more of an induction bark which is a nice thing to have and cheap and very easy to reverse mod! I've got a spare if anyone wants it...
I'll eventually get a 45 degree silicone hose to replace the existing OE part. But for now the standard part is back on.
Just has a successful Sunday afternoon fitting new coffin arms and track rod ends. Everything came apart without much of a fight at all for which I am extremely grateful.
Inner bolt came out very easily, not corroded into the bush thankfully which is very common! Taper popped out with the mildest of encouragement too.
Meyle HD vs OE part. I know there was an issue with Meyle coffin arms being too long, but these looked exactly right. Clearly the casting isn't quite as good quality - the fillets are much tighter on the OE part - but the Meyle ones were £90 each including all fixings which I reckon is a pretty great deal. Meyle parts were 150 grams heavier too - 1.5kg vs 1.35kg.
The ball joints were squeaking quite badly but there was no play I could feel, although they were a lot looser than the Meyle parts and the bushes were a lot softer. Could have probably got away with injecting some grease into the ball joints as suggested by our very on PPBB. Still appears to have tightened everything up very nicely.
Drop links and tuning forks also seem to be in great condition.
Toe links had torn boots on both sides which is an MOT fail, replaced by TRW parts which I understand is the OE supplier? Need to get tracking done again now though...
Whole job only took about 3 hours so had some time for a wash and some other random jobs like adjusting the slightly wonky exhaust tips, forgot to take an after pic so here's a before of the car looking filthy!
Post work test drive confirmed I'd managed to remove the squeak from the front - it's now only squeaking from the rear! Very pleased with the work as I was anticipating this being a nightmare. The car really is very clean underneath - I count myself very lucky, no doubt it's low mileage is a factor in this!
Having done 1500 miles in the last couple of months I thought the car deserved a small xmas present:
I did say a small present. It turns out one of those is the perfect size to fit to your airbox to blank off the helmholtz resonator:
Who says Porsche ownership is expensive?
It is indeed a perfect fit. This supposedly frees up a bit more of an induction bark which is a nice thing to have and cheap and very easy to reverse mod! I've got a spare if anyone wants it...
I'll eventually get a 45 degree silicone hose to replace the existing OE part. But for now the standard part is back on.
Just has a successful Sunday afternoon fitting new coffin arms and track rod ends. Everything came apart without much of a fight at all for which I am extremely grateful.
Inner bolt came out very easily, not corroded into the bush thankfully which is very common! Taper popped out with the mildest of encouragement too.
Meyle HD vs OE part. I know there was an issue with Meyle coffin arms being too long, but these looked exactly right. Clearly the casting isn't quite as good quality - the fillets are much tighter on the OE part - but the Meyle ones were £90 each including all fixings which I reckon is a pretty great deal. Meyle parts were 150 grams heavier too - 1.5kg vs 1.35kg.
The ball joints were squeaking quite badly but there was no play I could feel, although they were a lot looser than the Meyle parts and the bushes were a lot softer. Could have probably got away with injecting some grease into the ball joints as suggested by our very on PPBB. Still appears to have tightened everything up very nicely.
Drop links and tuning forks also seem to be in great condition.
Toe links had torn boots on both sides which is an MOT fail, replaced by TRW parts which I understand is the OE supplier? Need to get tracking done again now though...
Whole job only took about 3 hours so had some time for a wash and some other random jobs like adjusting the slightly wonky exhaust tips, forgot to take an after pic so here's a before of the car looking filthy!
Post work test drive confirmed I'd managed to remove the squeak from the front - it's now only squeaking from the rear! Very pleased with the work as I was anticipating this being a nightmare. The car really is very clean underneath - I count myself very lucky, no doubt it's low mileage is a factor in this!
Thought I'd pop an update in here.
Been using the car as much as possible given the lockdown conditions, so not that much apart from a few trips to the office and to the shops!
During lockdown have been hard at work trying to spruce things up generally however...
Managed to pick up some xenon headlights which were badly yellowed for a bargain price, a bit of time with some sandpaper and UV resistant top coat got them looks great:
Very pleased that the headlights actually work now, the standard units really are dire (even with new bulbs).
Still working on a 'Modern' bi-xenon HID solution however which I'm nearly ready to test. Should be plug and play so easy to swap out to compare outputs and for MOTs - while these use xenon units from a BMW X3 they're excellent quality and don't dazzle I'm a bit wary about sending them through an MOT.
Finally got around to replacing all the coffin arms, I was very very lucky that none of the adjusters were seized in the arms which makes the job so much worse. I now have zero squeaks from the suspension which is great, replaced both front tuning forks too, just need one more tuning fork replaced on the back left and the suspension will be totally A1!
Replaced the final bearing in the idler pulleys. These were in need of being done so another thing I don't have to worry about for a while. Buying the bearings and pressing them is much cheaper than spending £50 on an idler so I chose to go that route.
Finally had a big job to do and that was fitting the new OE M030 spring and dampers to the car. This involved removing the front spring and damper units, which comes with a particular pain in the ass Porsche issue. Cleverly the bolt for the drop link is also the bolt that clamps the strut in the hub carrier, which is why 986/996 drop links look like this:
However, as the drop link bolt is steel and the hub carrier is aluminium those two corrode together resulting in them becoming stuck fast. This is the same reaction that causes the coffin arm adjusters to get stuck, too. I had hoped given the car looked to have been garaged that this wouldn't happen to me. No such luck. I was lucky that only one drop link was stuck, but plenty of heat and hammer action got the thing loose without any damage.
This allowed me to get rid of this old stuff:
and fit my shiny new bits. You can also see above why simply loosening the drop link isn't enough to slide the damper out - there is a bit of sheet metal that prevents the damper from being detached unless the drop link bolt is totally removed.
The car was then driven (carefully!) to get the geometry set where the guy was very confused at how many different directions the wheels were pointing in!
My final job is to fit the (second hand) M030 anti roll bars that I've had delivered. This will take me up to full M030 specification. I'm going to have these powder coated red because racecar.
It's also nearly time for me to send my second hand gearbox with LSD off the Sports and Classic for a rebuild; my current gearbox is whining under load which is a sure sign of a knackered pinion bearing. Some cunning man mans means that when I fit that I should have my perfect 'useable' 996:
- Xenons (so you can see where you're going)
- 6 speaker upgrade (to listen to tunes)
- LSD (for skids)
- M030 (for me the best ride/handling compromise)
- Sports Seats (so you don't fall out of the seats when going round corners)
Been using the car as much as possible given the lockdown conditions, so not that much apart from a few trips to the office and to the shops!
During lockdown have been hard at work trying to spruce things up generally however...
Managed to pick up some xenon headlights which were badly yellowed for a bargain price, a bit of time with some sandpaper and UV resistant top coat got them looks great:
Very pleased that the headlights actually work now, the standard units really are dire (even with new bulbs).
Still working on a 'Modern' bi-xenon HID solution however which I'm nearly ready to test. Should be plug and play so easy to swap out to compare outputs and for MOTs - while these use xenon units from a BMW X3 they're excellent quality and don't dazzle I'm a bit wary about sending them through an MOT.
Finally got around to replacing all the coffin arms, I was very very lucky that none of the adjusters were seized in the arms which makes the job so much worse. I now have zero squeaks from the suspension which is great, replaced both front tuning forks too, just need one more tuning fork replaced on the back left and the suspension will be totally A1!
Replaced the final bearing in the idler pulleys. These were in need of being done so another thing I don't have to worry about for a while. Buying the bearings and pressing them is much cheaper than spending £50 on an idler so I chose to go that route.
Finally had a big job to do and that was fitting the new OE M030 spring and dampers to the car. This involved removing the front spring and damper units, which comes with a particular pain in the ass Porsche issue. Cleverly the bolt for the drop link is also the bolt that clamps the strut in the hub carrier, which is why 986/996 drop links look like this:
However, as the drop link bolt is steel and the hub carrier is aluminium those two corrode together resulting in them becoming stuck fast. This is the same reaction that causes the coffin arm adjusters to get stuck, too. I had hoped given the car looked to have been garaged that this wouldn't happen to me. No such luck. I was lucky that only one drop link was stuck, but plenty of heat and hammer action got the thing loose without any damage.
This allowed me to get rid of this old stuff:
and fit my shiny new bits. You can also see above why simply loosening the drop link isn't enough to slide the damper out - there is a bit of sheet metal that prevents the damper from being detached unless the drop link bolt is totally removed.
The car was then driven (carefully!) to get the geometry set where the guy was very confused at how many different directions the wheels were pointing in!
My final job is to fit the (second hand) M030 anti roll bars that I've had delivered. This will take me up to full M030 specification. I'm going to have these powder coated red because racecar.
It's also nearly time for me to send my second hand gearbox with LSD off the Sports and Classic for a rebuild; my current gearbox is whining under load which is a sure sign of a knackered pinion bearing. Some cunning man mans means that when I fit that I should have my perfect 'useable' 996:
- Xenons (so you can see where you're going)
- 6 speaker upgrade (to listen to tunes)
- LSD (for skids)
- M030 (for me the best ride/handling compromise)
- Sports Seats (so you don't fall out of the seats when going round corners)
Gallons Per Mile said:
Those drop link/damper bolts are a big pain. I had fun and games on a friend's 996 doing the same sort of suspension job. Luckily we got the bolts spinning using a lot of impact gun, (breaking the drop links off plus grinding the ball joint off to allow us to put socket/impact gun on there) and then hammered the bolt out of the hub without causing any damage. New drop links/dampers and the car was good as new 
I've heard various horror stories about getting these bolts out - as well as getting the eccentric adjusters and bolts out for the coffin arms which appear to rust for fun. I'm so lucky that this was the only real challenge I came across - I could even reuse the drop links albeit with copious amounts of antisieze.
Fishy Dave said:
Nice looking 911, I always got on ok with the standard Halogen lights on my wife's 986S, but my peepers are pretty good.
Next time you hoover the drivers mat it's worth checking the plastic accelerator floor hinge. Like you I heel and toe and eventually it split the plastic (repaired with a stainless hinge and self tappers).
Apologies if I missed it, but what are your plans for having an LSD fitted, which unit are you going for? Any plans to drive it on track?
Thanks!Next time you hoover the drivers mat it's worth checking the plastic accelerator floor hinge. Like you I heel and toe and eventually it split the plastic (repaired with a stainless hinge and self tappers).
Apologies if I missed it, but what are your plans for having an LSD fitted, which unit are you going for? Any plans to drive it on track?
I'd have probably been happy enough with the lights except for a couple of things - first being my M3 had exceptionally good bi-xenons (the first car I drove with these!) so the contrast from the BMW to the Porsche was particularly noticeable. Second of all I work in the lighting industry (although we only really work with LEDs nowadays) so my sensitivity to these sort of things is pretty high.
Will check around the throttle hinge - thanks for the tip - although the car is low mileage at 62k so should hopefully be OK.
With regard to the LSD - I've picked up a spare gearbox with an OE LSD fitted (or so I'm told) and plan to get that rebuilt along with the gearbox hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
Just wrapped up some fairly major work!
So I've had a whining noise coming from the gearbox basically since I bought the car. Turns out it's a rare but not uncommon issue with these cars in which the pinion bearing inside the transaxle wears causing noise when cruising.
I finally relented and found a local gearbox place that was happy to do the work.
So jack the car up:
Whip the box out (so easy to type....):
transport to gearbox place:
take off the flywheel and reveal the IMS which was slightly weeping - bear in mind this is 60k's worth of clutch dust:
clean the area:
After locking the flywheel and removing chain tensioners you can remove the IMS cover:
at which point the IMS was inspected and found to be in excellent condition. It's a double row version which has a failure rate of something like 0.4% which is extremely good news. Current best practice is if you have a dual row in good condition then leave well alone apart from removing the outer seal to allow oil to circulate.
seals replaced:
additional sealant used to reduce any chance of leakage down the line. RMS left as it was in great condition:
clutch refitted with new hardware. Gearbox refitted too which was a fair old struggle but not too bad in the end:
Whole episode took just over two weeks from start to finish. I also had a Quaife LSD fitted to the box while it was out of the car.
I'm happy to say that the car is now much quieter (or as quiet as a 20 year old 911 with a noisy backbox can be...) and is free from gearbox whine which is a great relief. The local rebuilders did a great job - if anyone wants their contact details hit me up as I'd be happy to recommend.
Feels great to be back on the road and I've not attended to most of the common issues that 911's of this era can be subject to.
At the next oil change I'll take a look at the variocam sliders which are known to wear and replace them. This requires the exhaust manifold to be removed though which is it's own challenge!
So I've had a whining noise coming from the gearbox basically since I bought the car. Turns out it's a rare but not uncommon issue with these cars in which the pinion bearing inside the transaxle wears causing noise when cruising.
I finally relented and found a local gearbox place that was happy to do the work.
So jack the car up:
Whip the box out (so easy to type....):
transport to gearbox place:
take off the flywheel and reveal the IMS which was slightly weeping - bear in mind this is 60k's worth of clutch dust:
clean the area:
After locking the flywheel and removing chain tensioners you can remove the IMS cover:
at which point the IMS was inspected and found to be in excellent condition. It's a double row version which has a failure rate of something like 0.4% which is extremely good news. Current best practice is if you have a dual row in good condition then leave well alone apart from removing the outer seal to allow oil to circulate.
seals replaced:
additional sealant used to reduce any chance of leakage down the line. RMS left as it was in great condition:
clutch refitted with new hardware. Gearbox refitted too which was a fair old struggle but not too bad in the end:
Whole episode took just over two weeks from start to finish. I also had a Quaife LSD fitted to the box while it was out of the car.
I'm happy to say that the car is now much quieter (or as quiet as a 20 year old 911 with a noisy backbox can be...) and is free from gearbox whine which is a great relief. The local rebuilders did a great job - if anyone wants their contact details hit me up as I'd be happy to recommend.
Feels great to be back on the road and I've not attended to most of the common issues that 911's of this era can be subject to.
At the next oil change I'll take a look at the variocam sliders which are known to wear and replace them. This requires the exhaust manifold to be removed though which is it's own challenge!
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