So I finally decided to do a build thread for my 997 which I will update each time I add further modifications rather than my various other threads I've made on the forum.
My 997 S is a Seal Grey 54reg car (so very early 2005 model which means smaller IMS bearing), which I purchased in October 2014 with 32k miles. Things did not start well as a week after ownership I discovered early scoring marks in cylinders 5 and 6, (something I had been assured by the selling Porsche specialist dealer where not there). See my original thread here. http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=97226
Anyway the decided outcome was to keep the car with an additional engine warranty. I have since done another 14k miles (inc 3 trackdays) and on last inspection my scoring had hardly changed nor has oil consumption increased, (currently at about 400mls every 2000 miles). So I am hoping any required engine rebuild is still a long way off.
So far my car has the following modifications:-
1.) Design911 cold air induction kit with BMC filter – BRILLIANT Mod, no real power increase but the NOISE!!
2.) LTT and 3rd radiator fitted (hopefully slow down the rate of scoring).
3.) Eibach lowering springs – Had a broken oem spring so replaced all with Eibachs. Love the look and the car actually felt softer afterwards (maybe as the springs are progressive). Another worthwhile mod.
4.) 12mm wheel spacers front and rear. These again improved the looks especially after lowering the car.
5.) H&R antiroll bars – These were an impulse purchase as RPMtechnic had a used set for sale so I thought why not, (especially as I felt the Eibach springs increased initial body roll a touch). Front bar is not adjustable, rear has 4 settings, (currently set softest). They definitely made the car feel stiffer.
6.) Dansk Equal length manifolds –Can't say I noticed that much difference in performance car maybe pulls a bit harder above 5krpm (but could be placebo)
7.) Dansk 200cel cats – Much more noise! Just shows how much sound deadening the standard 600 CEL cats produce. Performance wise again car feels like it pulls a bit harder (but again this could be placebo and noise related). However the car does feel more responsive/alive? It does also give the engine a much more Raspy note which I am not entirely keen on, (sounds great when you blip the throttle stationary but very metallic sounding when driving at WOT, like a BMW E46 M3 :? ).
8.) Royal Steering wheel retrim – Another great modification as the wheel is now so much nicer to hold.
9.) TranzIt Blue HF – Budget Bluetooth device to connect iphone. Works ok but soon to be replaced with complete new stereo (removing PCM) http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=98215
10.) Ebay Short Shift Kit – Great when the car is warm, bit crappy when it's cold (first gear and sometime second hard to engage when cold). Still undecided on this one, may later swap it out for genuine GT3 shift linkage which is not as short and more precise?
11.) Yellow Stuff brake pads – Originally fitted Red Stuff as they have very little dust but they had a wooden feel and overheated on track (melting the wear sensors!) Yellow stuff feel great, no fade (although can get a bit noisy when hot), but are bit too dusty for daily driving for my liking. Will stick with them for now but may just keep them for track days and go back to oem pads for the road.
Modifications I have fitted and since removed:-
1.) Gundo hack exhaust - was just too loud for my liking day to day so back to standard back box. (Although since adding the 200cel cats the exhaust is quite loud again).
2.)Sprintbooster – Changes throttle pedal signal but takes away modulation, so 50% throttle pedal becomes 100% throttle opening. Decided to remove and send back I want 100% throttle at 100% pedal position, just as little lag as possible)
3.) Ninemeister Tandem Pump cover – I was the first to have one fitted (by Ninemeister themselves) However soon after I noticed a ticking noise when the car was warm, (I thought this was my scored bores??) However sometime later 2 different Porsche indy's said the noise was coming from the pump cover. Replaced with a new oem tandem pump and no more ticking noise!!! The 9M cover had score marks inside so is now just an expensive paperweight.
Planned Modifications:-
1.) RSS Semi solid engine mounts – Have already purchased these but not yet fitted. On track I can feel the engine mass shift when going through chicanes and under hard braking before a turn, (I blame it on a couple of spins I've had or when traction control has had to kick in hard to save my lack of talent ) Hopefully these won't feel too harsh for DD
2.) Pioneer SPA-DA120 Apple Car play stereo – Now fitted see further down thread
3.) Topgear switchable exhaust – From the clips I've heard it sounds great and better than my current 'raspy' setup. However it needs to be able to be switched as quiet (or preferably quieter) than the standard porsche back box) otherwise I'll have problems on trackdays.
4.) TPC Racinc DSC module – Replacement PASM module and additional 3d axis sensor to provide better suspension feel on road and track.
5.) 4.0L (or possibly 3.9L) Engine rebuild. Hoping to put this off for as long as possible, but should my scoring get to a point where a rebuild is needed then I want a special build done. My engine builder with be Matt at Porschacare and we will ideally go 4.0 liners from LN Engineering (or possibly go Hartech when they release their larger capacity liners), or Westwood custom Ductle wet liners in 4.0, (Westwood has already developed a wet 3.9 ductile iron liner). I want the crank balanced and lightened, forged pistons and H beam rods etc, gt3 83mm throttle body and competition IPD or x51 plenum and custom map. There are a few 4.0L conversions already on the US so I know this is all possible. If I have this kind of work done then the car will be a keeper, (which I think it is already).
Will update as I add more things to the car.
The car has also been on track at Bedford, Blyton and Cadwell park. The car is awesome on track and I've even now sold my track MX5 as I'd rather use the Porsche! (Plus at the moment I only plan on doing 2 or 3 trackdays a year so the MX5 was just sat there doing nothing most of the time).
My car is also doing it's first proper road trip in October, the North Coast 500, with a few friends also in 911's.
Some pics:-
My 997 S is a Seal Grey 54reg car (so very early 2005 model which means smaller IMS bearing), which I purchased in October 2014 with 32k miles. Things did not start well as a week after ownership I discovered early scoring marks in cylinders 5 and 6, (something I had been assured by the selling Porsche specialist dealer where not there). See my original thread here. http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=97226
Anyway the decided outcome was to keep the car with an additional engine warranty. I have since done another 14k miles (inc 3 trackdays) and on last inspection my scoring had hardly changed nor has oil consumption increased, (currently at about 400mls every 2000 miles). So I am hoping any required engine rebuild is still a long way off.
So far my car has the following modifications:-
1.) Design911 cold air induction kit with BMC filter – BRILLIANT Mod, no real power increase but the NOISE!!
2.) LTT and 3rd radiator fitted (hopefully slow down the rate of scoring).
3.) Eibach lowering springs – Had a broken oem spring so replaced all with Eibachs. Love the look and the car actually felt softer afterwards (maybe as the springs are progressive). Another worthwhile mod.
4.) 12mm wheel spacers front and rear. These again improved the looks especially after lowering the car.
5.) H&R antiroll bars – These were an impulse purchase as RPMtechnic had a used set for sale so I thought why not, (especially as I felt the Eibach springs increased initial body roll a touch). Front bar is not adjustable, rear has 4 settings, (currently set softest). They definitely made the car feel stiffer.
6.) Dansk Equal length manifolds –Can't say I noticed that much difference in performance car maybe pulls a bit harder above 5krpm (but could be placebo)
7.) Dansk 200cel cats – Much more noise! Just shows how much sound deadening the standard 600 CEL cats produce. Performance wise again car feels like it pulls a bit harder (but again this could be placebo and noise related). However the car does feel more responsive/alive? It does also give the engine a much more Raspy note which I am not entirely keen on, (sounds great when you blip the throttle stationary but very metallic sounding when driving at WOT, like a BMW E46 M3 :? ).
8.) Royal Steering wheel retrim – Another great modification as the wheel is now so much nicer to hold.
9.) TranzIt Blue HF – Budget Bluetooth device to connect iphone. Works ok but soon to be replaced with complete new stereo (removing PCM) http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=98215
10.) Ebay Short Shift Kit – Great when the car is warm, bit crappy when it's cold (first gear and sometime second hard to engage when cold). Still undecided on this one, may later swap it out for genuine GT3 shift linkage which is not as short and more precise?
11.) Yellow Stuff brake pads – Originally fitted Red Stuff as they have very little dust but they had a wooden feel and overheated on track (melting the wear sensors!) Yellow stuff feel great, no fade (although can get a bit noisy when hot), but are bit too dusty for daily driving for my liking. Will stick with them for now but may just keep them for track days and go back to oem pads for the road.
Modifications I have fitted and since removed:-
1.) Gundo hack exhaust - was just too loud for my liking day to day so back to standard back box. (Although since adding the 200cel cats the exhaust is quite loud again).
2.)Sprintbooster – Changes throttle pedal signal but takes away modulation, so 50% throttle pedal becomes 100% throttle opening. Decided to remove and send back I want 100% throttle at 100% pedal position, just as little lag as possible)
3.) Ninemeister Tandem Pump cover – I was the first to have one fitted (by Ninemeister themselves) However soon after I noticed a ticking noise when the car was warm, (I thought this was my scored bores??) However sometime later 2 different Porsche indy's said the noise was coming from the pump cover. Replaced with a new oem tandem pump and no more ticking noise!!! The 9M cover had score marks inside so is now just an expensive paperweight.
Planned Modifications:-
1.) RSS Semi solid engine mounts – Have already purchased these but not yet fitted. On track I can feel the engine mass shift when going through chicanes and under hard braking before a turn, (I blame it on a couple of spins I've had or when traction control has had to kick in hard to save my lack of talent
) Hopefully these won't feel too harsh for DD2.) Pioneer SPA-DA120 Apple Car play stereo – Now fitted see further down thread
3.) Topgear switchable exhaust – From the clips I've heard it sounds great and better than my current 'raspy' setup. However it needs to be able to be switched as quiet (or preferably quieter) than the standard porsche back box) otherwise I'll have problems on trackdays.
4.) TPC Racinc DSC module – Replacement PASM module and additional 3d axis sensor to provide better suspension feel on road and track.
5.) 4.0L (or possibly 3.9L) Engine rebuild. Hoping to put this off for as long as possible, but should my scoring get to a point where a rebuild is needed then I want a special build done. My engine builder with be Matt at Porschacare and we will ideally go 4.0 liners from LN Engineering (or possibly go Hartech when they release their larger capacity liners), or Westwood custom Ductle wet liners in 4.0, (Westwood has already developed a wet 3.9 ductile iron liner). I want the crank balanced and lightened, forged pistons and H beam rods etc, gt3 83mm throttle body and competition IPD or x51 plenum and custom map. There are a few 4.0L conversions already on the US so I know this is all possible. If I have this kind of work done then the car will be a keeper, (which I think it is already).
Will update as I add more things to the car.
The car has also been on track at Bedford, Blyton and Cadwell park. The car is awesome on track and I've even now sold my track MX5 as I'd rather use the Porsche! (Plus at the moment I only plan on doing 2 or 3 trackdays a year so the MX5 was just sat there doing nothing most of the time).
My car is also doing it's first proper road trip in October, the North Coast 500, with a few friends also in 911's.
Some pics:-
