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Marky's 996 ownership thread.

Dammit said:
Out of interest what's the implication (money/time) of treating the corrosion under the door striker plate?

It will need to be stripped back to see the extent of the corrosion and where it has originated from. If the steel is deeply pitted with corrosion or it has come through from underneath, the affected area will need to be cut out and a replacement patch welded in prior to finishing. If the corrosion is just on the surface and has not pitted the steel, it can be sanded down then refinished. The cost will depend on which option is required.
 
Thanks. I've observed this on the drivers door of mine, not the passengers side though. I'll get Precision to sort it with the MOT. *****!
 
Hi Lee, totally agree, shoddy effort. :grin:
I've got some way to go to catch your great thread up. 👍

Dammit - as Pops says it all depends on how deep the corrosion goes but I'll be honest I've seen some nasty scabs on 996s in the past that I've thought "Hole under that" and it has ground back to healthy thick metal so I wouldn't worry too much. I'm budgeting about £250/£300 for both of mine done although I haven't had an accurate quote yet.
It's a case of treat the area and paint it but obviously you don't want mask lines anywhere, so as always it's where do you paint to?
I'll be removing my Carrera kick plates and fading the paint out there, then refitting. Or failing that take the paint along to the A post. I'll go with painters advice.
Oh, one more thing, there are a couple of factory stickers near the door catch plate, which you'll lose.
One is a gold identification sticker and the other is a Mobil 1 Porsche sticker.
You'll want to photograph these to prove to any buyers they were there if you ever sell it. Some people could suspect accident damage etc.
You may be able to peel them off with a heat gun and put them in your history file. <nerd alert>

You want to add a pair of these Dammit.

VW door catch gaskets. They'll stop it happening again as it's the fact the B post and door catch plate are made of 2 different metals that makes them react and corrode. This gasket separates them.




Ok, so as soon I got the car home I fitted my dealer number plates. I always do this for any car I own as it just looks so much better than having "Bob's car parts" or something along the bottom of your reg plates.
The plate actually means nothing. It came on a car I bought once, but I just think cars look better with small reg numbers so thought I may as well chuck it on.




Not the 996s best angle.




You'll see a radio code on a post it note the parts guy gave me. That's because I fitted my fly lead for my battery conditioner which caused the radio to require its code, but I didn't have it.




That code didn't work though so I got the serial number etc off the head unit using this guide below -




Then purchased the code from here



I know some people online can dish out codes for free but I was happy to pay a tenner to get it done.

A month or so after buying it my mate Craig had the offer of some brand new Dansk sports rear boxes .
He's used the guy before for a truly bargainous £90 Sachs clutch kit!
We both bought a set of boxes.

My car already had a full stainless system including manifolds which Clarke had fitted and whilst it sounded deeper than standard it was a bit flat and tuneless, so I fitted the Dansks and it sounded much nicer.
In fact mine sounded great but Craig's sounded pretty poor. Very quiet, proving that manifolds make a bigger difference to volume than most people think.
So Craig's quest for the right sound continued (it still does actually :grin: ) but I'm quite happy with mine.




I also renewed all the rivets in the heat shields and added some washers. The heat shields always tear around the original rivets and that's where all your rattles come from.




As a bonus I Ebayed the unknown rear boxes I removed and they sold for £60 more than I paid for the brand new Dansks. #Winning.

 
So I enjoyed the car over last summer, whilst continually gathering parts whenever they popped up.

Sourced my GT3 alloys as mentioned.




The wheels arrived and were mint.
The only issue was that they'd had a lazy refurb. By that I mean the outer rims had been powder coated when they should be diamond cut.
I expected the worst, as usually people coat the rims because

A) They're really kerbed and knackered

or

B) There isn't enough material left on them to machine the corroded surface off. You can only get 3 or 4 refurbs out of these wheels then you're stuck.

I decided to sand through an area of the coating on the rim to see what was lurking underneath.
I needn't have worried.




Obviously I can't do a proper job until I split them but I've gone right around the rim on this wheel and it's perfect. They'll polish up a treat. I hope the other 3 are as good.
The bolts are mint and they even came with centre caps which are aftermarket but really nice.

I also bought a set of those cheap ones from Alex's EBay bargain thread.




I'll decide which to use once I'm ready to fit them.

I also began searching for a genuine Aerokit as I just can't get away with the 996.1 front end without it. Plus aesthetically I think my GT3 was just perfection.

A lightly damaged front bumper came up so I snapped it up.




Of course, Sod's law meant a full kit in my exact colour came up a couple of weeks later, so I had to buy that too. :grin:






Matt, the seller of the kit was a proper petrol head with a great collection including a mint 930 in Minerva blue, a 60s hotrod 911, '73RS rep, Ferrari 355 and some bikes.
His garage was a proper toy shop.

He'd owned a car identical to mine but removed the kit when he sold the car.
I won't get the kit on until next winter though as this year is all about getting the car mechanically perfect.

I also found a brand new bonnet badge and Carrera badge.






My mate Craig turned up one day with a set of "big oval" tail pipes, or EP4110's to give them their proper name. He spotted them for a bargain price as usual so bought them for me. Cheers mate, much appreciated!
I'll take them into work eventually and polish them up like new.






That's about it for the cosmetic bits. I have loads of small items lying around such as a wiper delete bung, fixings etc but that will all be for next winter as I've said.

Anyway, thanks for reading. It's just a bit like a big shopping list at the moment but I will get stuck in this year. :thumb:
 
:popcorn: :popcorn:

Marky - come on m8; pull your finger out and get them all fitted m8... :D

Great thread - looking forward to watching your progress. :thumb:

Osh
 
Loving you thread Mark.

I feel your pain about selling a car you loved. I sold my 964 Turbo 3.6 after my son came along and my wife had to stop work. Loved that car but sometimes other things are more important.

I was porscheless for 8 years and even though I had various BMW's including 2 x E46 M3's they just never replaced the 911 experience.
So like you I managed to get my hands on a 996 last year and look forward to getting on with a few bits once I get my current M3 sold and can get the 911 out of storage and back home.

I look forward to some more updates as and when.

:thumb:
 
Good info on the bits there, Mark.

Going to look at door striker plates right away.....
 
Great read so far! Looking forward to where this is going. Really impressive collection of Porkers, hope this one satisfies your itch!
 
Osh said:
:popcorn: :popcorn:

Marky - come on m8; pull your finger out and get them all fitted m8... :D

Great thread - looking forward to watching your progress. :thumb:

Osh

Ha, thanks Osh. If I could I'd spend all day every day tinkering with cars but unfortunately, both money wise and time wise, cars are for when everything else in life is going hunky dory. Which as we all know isn't all that often. :grin:

I hope that this time next year the car will be a lot more like what I'm aiming for. :thumb:


stewhp said:
Loving you thread Mark.

I feel your pain about selling a car you loved. I sold my 964 Turbo 3.6 after my son came along and my wife had to stop work. Loved that car but sometimes other things are more important.

I was porscheless for 8 years and even though I had various BMW's including 2 x E46 M3's they just never replaced the 911 experience.
So like you I managed to get my hands on a 996 last year and look forward to getting on with a few bits once I get my current M3 sold and can get the 911 out of storage and back home.

I look forward to some more updates as and when.

:thumb:

Hi Stew, yes welcome to the "loved and lost" club. :sad:
964 3.6T. Those arches, those Speedlines!
I used to love the view in my wing mirror of the rear arch and rear spoiler on mine.

Like you say though, other things are more important. Family, friends and home are more important than cars, even though I am addicted to cars and always will be. :wink:

You're right too, nothing can replicate the 911 experience. We are blessed when we own them, but cursed when we have to do without them, as there is no cheaper way to get that experience.
If a BMW owner has to sell their M3 then a tweaked 328 Sport can offer a decent chunk of the experience for less cost. (E46 and earlier obviously, before the M3 went V8).
911 owners don't have that option.

Anyway thanks for the comments. Stunning 4S you have there and there must only be a few white ones out there surely. Mega rare.
Be sure to start a thread to share your progress. :thumb:

EGTE said:
Good info on the bits there, Mark.

Going to look at door striker plates right away.....

Cheers EG,
Don't panic, there'll be some original cars out there with no corrosion but they'll be vastly in the minority. It takes years to spread though so can be nipped in the bud relatively easily.

HSC911 said:
Marky911 said:


Granada Scorpio :?:

Great write up

:thumb:





The 996 isn't quite as bad but I see where you're coming from. Oh, you mean the car next to it? :D

That would be £700 worth of Swedish right angles.




172k miles and still going strong. It even has iPod connectivity via the cassette player. It's positively futuristic. :D




And you don't get to shave your 911 interior with a beard trimmer do you?
You lads don't know what you're missing out on, honestly. :grin:



Jay. said:
Great read so far! Looking forward to where this is going. Really impressive collection of Porkers, hope this one satisfies your itch!

Thanks Jay and yes I'm hoping it will satisfy my itch too.
It will never fill the GT3s shoes as there was just something a bit special about owning a piece of proper Porsche Motorsport heritage but that aside, even when I owned it and drove friends sorted C2s, I often thought "My GT3 isn't 4 times better", that being the relation of GT3 to C2 values.

I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. The 996 experience is every bit 911 and with a few choice mods they can be made a lot more raw and focussed if that's what an owner wants. I just love the variety and different direction owners are taking, even on this forum alone.
Good times.

Cheers. :thumb:
 
Marky911 said:



The 996 isn't quite as bad but I see where you're coming from. Oh, you mean the car next to it? :D


:sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:

:floor:
 
Right then, so I enjoyed being back in a 911 for last summer, even though I only had a few decent drives out in it for Sunday lunches etc.
It didn't and still doesn't excite me that much visually, but I know it will once I'm done, so that's ok for now.

Driving wise it's every bit a 911 and to be honest for the price the driving experience is just fantastic.
Again it will be even better eventually.

Ok, so obviously with any used car once you start using them you get a feel or an ear for any little niggles.
I had the car booked in with my mate/Indy Jamie Nelson, Nelson Porsche in October, to carry out annual maintenance and whatever else, so I made a note of everything I wanted doing. Jamie was going to go right through the car too to no doubt find even more, so we could plan everything I wanted for the following spring (which is now fast approaching).
All the following issues were found/treated/reported last October, but I'll maybe put them into little bite size posts as and when I have time.

The worst thing on my car was that by the end of summer there was an almighty creaking from the drivers side front corner.
It was fine whenever I set off but would come on over 15 or 20 miles.

It was a seized bush in the coffin arm that heated up with use, then expanded, which in turn made it heat up and expand even more, until the creaking was really loud. :oops:
Rather embarrassing when driving past people.

The remedy was of course 2 new lower coffin arms which were given to me free by Craig.
I've covered these before on various coffin arm threads so feel free to skim through it if you're familiar with them but I'll repeat it for anyone thinking of doing it.

Power flex adjustable camber bushes.
Long story short Craig's car had nearly new front arms and he went for an alignment. For some reason he could barely get any negative camber on one side so decided to re-bush the arms with the black series outer bushes and adjustable inner bushes.
On returning for another alignment expecting to adjust the bushes with the C spanner as required, he quickly realised you cannot budge them once fitted.
3 spanners later and lots of swearing Craig bit the bullet and purchased a pair of Elephant Racing rose jointed adjustable arms. Job jobbed.

So when my creaking started Craig gave me the arms and between me, Craig and Jamie we decided the best way to fit them would be with the bushes in the maximum camber position. Then when I went for alignment we could dial some back out using the top mounts.

So these were fitted. Notice the 3 spanners. Powerflex were very helpful to be fair and kept sending out new ones as they bent and even revised the spanner design, but just be aware that the bushes cannot be adjusted on the car as claimed.




So as I pass my local alignment place on the way back from Jamie's (which is 50 miles away) I popped in for an alignment.
I just had them set the front to -2 degrees and the rear to -1.5 and went with that.
I want to renew everything next winter so setup isn't critical for this year. Although it's perfectly fine anyway and drives great now.




Jamie had reported my rear bushes were staring to show signs of perishing and also my anti roll bar and bushes were looking a bit weathered. All to be sorted in due course.

Another issue, that I'd found when poking around the offside front suspension, was that some bozo in the past had been whacking the front hub with a mallet in an effort to split the ball joint from it.

This had caused a sharp feathered edge that they didn't bother dressing off, so it was now digging into the rubber ball joint cover on the new track rod end.




This had in turn oval'd the steel cup up inside the hub. Jamie had a used one in his spares cave, so fitted that.




He dressed the feathered edge off and built it back up.

While working under the front of the car he inspected the steering rack and found the PAS hose crimp to be corroded and on its last legs. This was replaced with a new jubilee clip. Well worth checking as a few lads in here have had failures.

More to follow. Cheers.
 
Another issue I had with the car was an intermittent brake problem. Some days the brakes would bind on, yet other days they wouldn't.
I suspected the slider pins but when Jamie got the car up in the air all 4 wheels were locked.

We decided it must be servo or something so I sourced a good used one for a mere £29 and had it delivered to Jamie's.
Thankfully it sorted it.




Once J removed the old one he tipped it up and rusty water ran out. This lead him to my bulkhead drain holes and sure enough they were blocked.
Water must have been accessing the back of the servo via the rod in the back.

Jamie also refitted my emergency fuel flap pull, that my dent removal guy found hanging out of the rear of its hole.

My drivers window didn't drop right into the door and this was just the usual case of the wedge for Boxster use being left in. So that was removed.

I'd also asked Jamie to fit a low temp thermostat but on inspection he found the water pump to look original and also the rads so suggested I think about doing the lot at once. Which I planned to anyway.

Along with a gearbox oil change and diagnostics check with the laptop, that was about it, but the inspection by Jamie did produce quite a to-do list, most of which were on there anyway but still.

As I said when I bought it, it's a lovely straight car but it hasn't been OCD pampered as we car nuts would do, so I know I'll be renewing a fair few parts this year.
 
Marky911 said:
VW door catch gaskets. They'll stop it happening again as it's the fact the B post and door catch plate are made of 2 different metals that makes them react and corrode. This gasket repeated them.


Hi Marky,
Can you post the part numbers for these, please? Or at least say which VW (and which year) they're from?

Thanks.
 
Hi EG,
It's the 3C0 number on the packet and it's called a "Door striker backing", 2 per car obviously. :thumb:
 

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