My new baby 3.4 Carrera 2

Hey Guys - thanks for the kind words

I've done a little over a 1000 miles since I got the car in October 2018, hopefully put a few more on this year!

So after the OPC failed the car on the MOT I decided to tackle the front suspension as I already have the parts sitting in a box in my study.

Completed the OSF over a couple of lunch breaks on the last couple of days so if anyone is thinking of doing this job and is mechanically inclined - do it, the 996 is extremely easy to work.

After completing the OSF I realised there was a better order to replace the parts in which allows you easier access with a ratchet and torque wrench - will show that after the images.

So I started by removing the coffin / lower arm which came out surprisingly easy. I spotted straight away why the OPC failed the MOT as the bonding where the diagonal arm attaches was starting to deteriorate.



The bushing on the diagonal arm was intact however but there was a bit of corrosion around the rubber seal. Also I took the opportunity to fit the 997 GT3 front air ducts which only cost a couple of pound each when I bought them from the OPC!



I then noticed another MOT failure which wasn't picked up by the OPC, track rod end rubber bushing split. At this point I fitted the new diagonal arm and lower arm and called it a day as I would need to order a new pair of track rod ends.



Next day I set out again to remove the track rod end and replace the stabilizer drop link. Upon removing the track rod end it became apparent how bad it was - looking inside the rubber boot the casting had corroded badly and was beginning to break apart!





Great server from carparts4less as my new track rod ends arrived just as I was removing the old one! I put the OSF all back together with only the lower arm to cross member bolts left to torque up once the car was back on its wheels (specifically says in the Porsche Workshop Manual not to tighten this bolt until the car is on its wheels).



So for the NSF I will revise the order of replacement as follows as it will allow better access for the wrenches / tools -

1. Remove Track Rod End
2. Remove diagonal arm
3. Remove drop-link
4. Remove / Replace lower arm
5. Replace diagonal arm
6. Replace drop-link
7. Replace Track Rod End

Then I need to fit a new fuel cap and should be good for the MOT...

:thumb:

Only bits I won't have replaced will be the shock absorbers (got replace 10k miles ago), top mounts (these may have been replaced at the same time as the shocks and look good from underneath) and wheel bearings.

Nice job... I replaced a front diagonal arm the other day on the advice of Center Gravity (no apparent play, but Chris identified the noise on a test drive) and I'm amazed by how much tighter the car feels.... yours will feel transformed once you've done both sides.

I've a rear coffin arm to go in, but I'm not brave enough to tackle that having read some how-tos. Will let CG do it!

Good call. Mine needed chopping out

Wh1t3Kn1ght said:

Griffter said:

I assume it was the reference to nephrite green. I couldn't see any!

Click to expand...

Ah - bad photo you can see the dash and trim is two-tone, so some bits are metropole blue and other bits are nephrite green. Will get a better picture when I drive the car on the weekend

Click to expand...

Sounds amazing, need more pics

I'd suggest you do the inner track rods too, they stiffen up over time, new ones were a revelation in steering feel for me.

Remember to threadlock them.

Looks good and great work with the front suspension.

Thanks guys - finished the left side now, couldn't feel any play at all on the inner track rods and the boots were intact with no sign of leaking fluid so left them be.

The control arm ball joint on the N/S (left) was pretty damn hard to pop and I had to use a fork and mallet in the end to get it out. The O/S one came out super easy after only threatening it with the ball joint tool it dropped straight out.

Only issue was trying to torque the control arm to cross member bolt as it is situated in a channel inside the cross member so unless you have the car on a lift it is very hard to get any long tools on it. I managed to tighten it up pretty good with a combination spanner and both hands. If I can't get the alignment shop to tighten it to spec for me will have another go with my crows foot wrenches on the torque wrench and / or the 2 - spanner trick.

Lovely looking car, great colour!!

Thanks

Just realised I haven't uploaded any newer pictures of the car for a long time, I've since replaced the number plates with new ones and a stick on plate for the front to replace the nasty plastic frame that was on there.

Did a oil service in September 2019 on the 911 and also got an oil analysis done by Millers Oils. Unfortunately it was hard to tell what oil had been used by the previous owner as the garage hadn't noted either the brand or grade on any of the invoices. I gave them a call and they informed me that it was Petronas Syntium oil. Quite a few different oils sold under the Petronas Syntium brand so couldn't work out which one it was but Millers narrowed it down to a 5W30.



I've since changed to the Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40 oil (which was incidentally really cheap).

Changed the gearbox oil to Millers CRX 75W90 NT+ which has made the gear changes silky smooth although it was damn fiddly getting the gearbox filled up and I would not recommend those cheap oil pump adaptors that screw on the top of the oil bottle... I still can smell the whiff of gearbox oil from the mess that occurred! next time I'm going to invest in one of those giant syringes with a nice length of pipe

Hi

Great car and enjoyed reading the thread. Tinkering with these cars is great fun. When I say "fun" I don't mean that in the conventional sense.

I spent all day getting the door of my 993 off. It was hell. Almost gave up, but got there in the end. It was all quite zen in some regards, just me, the door pins and a lot of tools.

All the best

Berni

Hey berni29,

Yes I get what you mean by the zen and "enjoyment" working on the cars, it is nice to be able to get on with something constructive with just a goal to complete xyz and no one to answer to apart from yourself 8)

I haven't been neglecting her

Honest :roll:

So chronologically the next job I tackled was the leaky aircon pipe, yes you've guessed it the one that runs along the RH sill and has a dodgy aluminium joint just in front of the rear wheel. I'd had a strange whining noise since purchasing the car that went away if the aircon was turned off and also the wet patch around the aircon pipe joint had been pointed out on the PPI I had done at Northway.

I took the car to a local air conditioning specialist to have the system drained down (please don't go releasing CFCs into the atmosphere boys and girls, its not good).



I then began on what I thought would be a simple quick job to replace the o rings within the join in front of the rear wheel. The return (low pressure) line came apart fine and I was able to replace the o-ring. However the aluminium joint on the pressure line would not come undone, the bolt had completely fused with the aluminium casting. With limited tools (and patience) I drilled through the bolt, in the process damaging the joint casting which meant I couldn't reuse the section of pressure pipe which runs under the sill. What a complete ball ache it is to remove the front joint of the pressure line from within the front wheel well. Not only do you have to remove the wheel arch liner but then there is a very awkward metal shield covering the aircon pipe joint which requires you to remove the emissions control canister.



I ordered a replacement pressure line from Porsche Exeter and well it arrived like this.

Needless to say I wasn't too happy and to be fair to Exeter I've been a customer for over a decade and this is the first time something has gone wrong. They immediately apologised, ordered me a new pressure line and arranged for the damaged item to be collected. :thumb: :thumbs:

I heard mutterings of the young apprentice being tasked with sending out orders and unfortunately he had thought that a layer of bubble wrap (no box or outer wrapping) was enough to protect a length of metal pipe delivered by courier...

Once the replacement pipe arrived I was able to complete the job and seal it all back up. Getting the emissions control canister back into place was a pain in the arse, it simply wouldn't locate into the rubber bungs. In the end some silicon spray eased it back into place.

Took the car back to the aircon specialist for the system to be flushed and filled and he found another leak, luckily this time he was able to fix it within a few minutes. Turned out the joint on the evap canister under the bonnet was slightly loose and just needed tightening (could this have been the cause of my mysterious whining noise).

Now the air conditioning works a treat and no more whining noise!





Whilst waiting for the replacement air conditioning pipe from Porsche I used the time to clean up the front wheel arches and also give the wheels a full detail. I cleaned the wheel arches with a 10% solution of Surfex HD and used some Autoglym Aqua Wax to protect the painted surfaces and Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber Care for the plastics.







The wheels had a full treatment with Bilthamber Auto Foam snow pre-wash. Autoglym Custom Wheel Cleaner and Bilthamber Auto Wash followed by a treatment of Bilt Hamber Korrosol fallout remover, Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover (to remove old sticky pads and also tar spots) and then claybar. I waxed the inside and outside of the wheels with Finishkare 1000p.

I then treated the fresh wheels to a new set of Pirelli P Zero N4s.







Finally after the same treatment on the 944 I did a two-stage polish and wax of the body using Koch Chemie H9.01 Heavy Cut and F6.01 Medium Cut. There had been a huge scratch all down one side from an overgrown bush at the side of the road, took some heavy polishing but it has completely disappeared :thumb:

Great stuff and what a cracking colour! How do you rate the Koch chemie polishes? I'm intending to correct my 996 over the winter and have had success with scholl polishes on our bmw but not sure what the best option is for Porsche paint?

I was doing lots of research over on detailingworld and whereas Scholl used to get a lot of recommendations there seemed to have been a recent shift in recommendations to Koch Chemie.

I purchased all three of the standard polishes, the Heavy Cut H9.01, Medium Cut F6.01 and Micro Cut M3.02. I found that to make any difference to noticeable marks and blemishes the H9.01 worked best, initially I was worried about going through the clear coat but I'm using a DAS 6 Pro Dual Action and not applying tons of pressure just resting my hand on the top and letting the DA do the work. The worst areas I had to go over a couple of times. I used the F6.01 as the finishing polish as I felt the M3.02 was just not aggressive enough even for a finishing polish on the Porsche clear coat.

I finished it all off with some Dodo Juice Purple Haze wax which smelt so nice I wanted to eat it :floor: :hand:

Looks like I haven't updated the old ownership thread for some time!

Back in October 2020 I picked up a genuine Aerokit "Carrera" spoiler which is a little smaller than the Cup spoiler.



I also purchased a genuine 996.1 GT3 front bumper and some 996.2 side skirts (996.1 skirts are no longer available).



I had intended on get them paint matched but the body shop showed me that the paint on my car had faded badly and was different shades all over due to sun and UV damage. We painted the body kit first and it was clear that it did not match the original paint when it was fitted.





So the decision was taken to do a full respray with me doing the majority of the dismantling in preparation for sanding and spraying.