My fiancee has recently bought a 996 turbo X50 manual. It is a fantastic car ( I talked her into it....secretly very jealous!!)
It needed a few bits doing to it and based in Derbyshire, we are a fair way from most specialists.
From reading the forums, I had heard many good things about Ken at 9E. I was very keen for them to service the car, health check and sort a few niggly problems. Now, how do I persuade her to drive 180 miles to get it looked at??
We suspected it may have been mapped previously as it was running 1 to 1.1 bar and went like a rocket (as they do) however, she noticed it feeling a bit sluggish after a long spirited run. Also it was definitely noisier than it previously was.
We did our research and decided to let Ken do the stage 1 conversion and give it a once over.
When we got to the garage, I could not believe the cars there, 997 turbos, GT2's etc etc. I could easily have lost half a day!!
Ken went through the options and costings, then added the necessity for a new clutch ( thought this will not be popular with OH) wanted 997 short shift to replace the very unpleasant one on the car plus a few other bits and pieces.
After a few days we got a list of recommendations and necessary works, all extremely clear, costed and explained to us simpletons! The increased boost was an air leak, the exhaust manifold was blowing and the waste gates were kippered.
With the amount of work being done, the final bill would be quite big and I was unsure about the sense of doing the upgrade as this meant uprated clutch and how would it drive with mods would the clutch be heavy, hard to drive, temperamental etc etc...
Collection
Ken did wonders to get the car done on time. He had a nightmare fixing a very annoying rattle with the sunroof. A "can you just" job that I am sure he won't want to hear again!! The level of service and keeping us informed was second to none. He even offered to drive us back to Derbyshire from Gatwick if it was not done on time for us getting back from our holiday and trailer the car home! And this, just for getting the bl@@dy sunroof rattle fixed! All the fun stuff was done!!
I did have reservations about the clutch. I have had uprated clutches before on other cars and they have been a pig. I really thought my OH would hate it and curse my suggestion of the tune which made this necessary! I needn't have worried! The car drives absolutely superbly, so smooth, really quick and the new clutch and quick shift are fantastic. We were stuck on friday afternoon M25 for 2 hours and the car was so easy to drive.
It is running 1.2 to 1.3 bar now and having now had the chance to drive it properly on roads we know, the car is transformed. It doesn't feel tuned, and the usual downsides with that, it is smooth, so user friendly and goes like a scolded cat! She said it was the best money she had ever spent (this bill would have bought her many pairs of Jimmy Choo's) so that is saying something.
To top it all off, it made £7.50 a year difference on the Insurance!!!
It needed a few bits doing to it and based in Derbyshire, we are a fair way from most specialists.
From reading the forums, I had heard many good things about Ken at 9E. I was very keen for them to service the car, health check and sort a few niggly problems. Now, how do I persuade her to drive 180 miles to get it looked at??
We suspected it may have been mapped previously as it was running 1 to 1.1 bar and went like a rocket (as they do) however, she noticed it feeling a bit sluggish after a long spirited run. Also it was definitely noisier than it previously was.
We did our research and decided to let Ken do the stage 1 conversion and give it a once over.
When we got to the garage, I could not believe the cars there, 997 turbos, GT2's etc etc. I could easily have lost half a day!!
Ken went through the options and costings, then added the necessity for a new clutch ( thought this will not be popular with OH) wanted 997 short shift to replace the very unpleasant one on the car plus a few other bits and pieces.
After a few days we got a list of recommendations and necessary works, all extremely clear, costed and explained to us simpletons! The increased boost was an air leak, the exhaust manifold was blowing and the waste gates were kippered.
With the amount of work being done, the final bill would be quite big and I was unsure about the sense of doing the upgrade as this meant uprated clutch and how would it drive with mods would the clutch be heavy, hard to drive, temperamental etc etc...
Collection
Ken did wonders to get the car done on time. He had a nightmare fixing a very annoying rattle with the sunroof. A "can you just" job that I am sure he won't want to hear again!! The level of service and keeping us informed was second to none. He even offered to drive us back to Derbyshire from Gatwick if it was not done on time for us getting back from our holiday and trailer the car home! And this, just for getting the bl@@dy sunroof rattle fixed! All the fun stuff was done!!
I did have reservations about the clutch. I have had uprated clutches before on other cars and they have been a pig. I really thought my OH would hate it and curse my suggestion of the tune which made this necessary! I needn't have worried! The car drives absolutely superbly, so smooth, really quick and the new clutch and quick shift are fantastic. We were stuck on friday afternoon M25 for 2 hours and the car was so easy to drive.
It is running 1.2 to 1.3 bar now and having now had the chance to drive it properly on roads we know, the car is transformed. It doesn't feel tuned, and the usual downsides with that, it is smooth, so user friendly and goes like a scolded cat! She said it was the best money she had ever spent (this bill would have bought her many pairs of Jimmy Choo's) so that is saying something.
To top it all off, it made £7.50 a year difference on the Insurance!!!
...
