Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

996 C4s Coupe engine lid and spoiler problem

Drybeer

Well-known member
Joined
7 Feb 2016
Messages
88
Hi all.

Newly back in the Porsche fold after being away for 10 years, I have a 2003 996 C4s Coupe.

When I bought the car it had an aftermarket TechArt spoiler on the engine lid which is extremely nice, however I want to return the car to standard looks.

The engine lid on the 996 is made of fibreglass as far as I can tell, and the area where the cantilevered hinges on which the OEM motorised spoiler is bolted on usually has a metal re-enforcement on both the left and right to give extra support to the fibreglass.

On my lid the metal has been removed before the (non moving) TechArt item was fixed on.

Naturally I don't want to re-affix the moving spoiler and find any long term damage by doing it wrongly.

My question is this:

Does anybody have any part numbers for these metal re-enforcements or even have any spare parts available?
 
Underside of engine lid shows areas where metal re-enforcement missing
 

Attachments

  • 2016_04_13_133044_129.jpg
    2016_04_13_133044_129.jpg
    153.9 KB · Views: 7,328
Hi guys - thanks for replying.

I've already got those images from the Porsche dealer in Glasgow - no matching parts on there for the metal re-enforcements. Strange. Porsche must have fitted them for a reason. Trying to find a C4s lid from a breaker to get those two parts only seems wasteful but might be the only option?
 
Looking at the pics they're not a perfect fit so make some templates and have someone with a cnc machine cut you out 2
 
Thanks Brains - that's the only way to go I think.
 
OK. So this has now moved on a little. I've managed to buy another engine lid from a crashed LHD German car just to get the two correct pieces of aluminium. I've also managed to establish that the existing spoiler motor on the car was not working, so fitted another spoiler drive from a standard Carrera and this works the spoiler actuators.

I've also got an OEM spoiler and had it painted the correct Polar Silver - but on trying to fit this with the hinges it came with I'm finding the hinges don't
appear to offer the correct extension of movement for the car.

For obvious reasons I'm hesitant to bolt it all up and try it in case it damages my engine lid.

Does anyone know of the spoiler drive and hinges are unique to the C4s? If so what part number is on your C4s hinges please?

Thanks,

Andrew.
 
I looked at an early and a late c4 today .. the early C4 does not have the plates you are missing and the base of the lid at least is different .. the later C4 had the plates fitted .. x2 rivets holding it on then the hinge bolts.

I can only assume the spoilers are different .. i think something like PET to look up spoilers for early and late cars would be the best step as im not sure if they are different but have seen some differences in the lid design that makes me think they are.


EDIT ..
When you first posted this i looked at several 996 and didnt see these brackets so i couldn,t answer your post , after your last post i was lucky enough to have a late 996 C4S in so i looked at it today and it has the brackets ..

My feeling is that the last year of 996 manufacture that they altered the spoiler / lid design .

You need to get someone like an OPC to look up hinges for your car ( chassis number ) and then see if its the same number as what you have .. need to try and find a number on the hinges im afraid.

I also cant say if any other parts have been altered but i suspect it may just be the hinges.

Also on your original picture you are missing x2 bolts .. 1 for each hinge , the outer holes are for the rivets holding the brackets in place.
 
Thanks Demort for trying to assist.

I know all that from research. The perfect condition AND damaged hinges I have are all stamped 996.512.251.00.

Porsche parts don't list the hinges separately to order / buy.

As I mentioned in the message above I now have the two pieces of aluminium (which are actually both bonded and then riveted in place), and I also have the bolts to secure the hinges to the engine lid (there are four, for the record).

I'm stuck therefore as to why it's not all matching up. I might just take the whole lot with the car and myself to Porsche Glasgow this week and ask them to compare what I have with the PET slides.
 
Demort said:
Also on your original picture you are missing x2 bolts .. 1 for each hinge , the outer holes are for the rivets holding the brackets in place.

Sorry I've just read that again and I see what you mean.

In my photo above the TechArt wing is still fitted and the bolts you can see thread into the TechArt wing itself. They are not Porsche equipment so I assume they're part of the TechArt fitting kit.

The proper Porsche Allen bolts (which I've got sitting ready) come through the hinges themselves from the top side and actually thread into the two pieces of aluminium strengthening which are threaded ready for the bolts.
 
Any thoughts anyone?
 
Thanks Demort. You're a great help. Curiously I think it's part 12 on the spoiler schematic that I need to know more about.

As it stands I've now completed the following:

Swapped the working motor, drive and wiring harness from the Carrera mounting plate to the correct on for my C4s. It is now a perfect fit and I took the time to regrease the mechanism while I put it back together.

Reassembled to the car and tested the functionality with no outer spoiler fitted. All seems working well until I tried extending the spoiler Rams a second time, and now I have a dash warning "failure spoiler control".

Thoughts?
 
I dont rember off hand but i expect that like the turbo spoiler there must be some sort of switch that tells the car the spoiler is fully extended .

The spoiler is actually a safety feature for high speeds and as such there has to be a warning to the driver if it fails.

look for the switch as either it has failed or the spoiler is not extending far enough to switch it .. thats what happens on turbo systems.
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,354
Messages
1,439,461
Members
48,713
Latest member
3sp1f8
Back
Top