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PHS and his 996 Carrera 4S - Owners Thread

Paul_S

Well-known member
Joined
3 Mar 2018
Messages
233
Hi all,

Thanks for the warm welcome to the forum, I've been browsing for a while so good to finally be official. I thought I would start my own ownership thread so I could document the journey with my 996 which started on 2nd September 2017.

I'm always looking to tinker and upgrade but I'm an advocate of keeping it original as much as possible. So I was most attracted to the Slate Grey 2004 C4S which appeared at Mr911 in August 17 for both its great colour and the originality it showed (apart from the back boxes, which I'll get to later). I was happy enough with the car and the price, it had 73k miles and a decent (but not perfect) history but was in superb condition and I was willing to compromise on a shortage of some pieces of paperwork for originality and condition. Oh, and it had had 11 previous owners....

Spec includes heated electric seats, litronics, PCM2 with Bose, parking sensors and a few bits I couldn't decipher from the sticker as it was all faded...

From the outset the car had a super stiff clutch pedal, and combined with a high biting point I knew it needed a new clutch but I was happy to wait a bit for that. However, a few weeks into ownership (and only 400 miles) the car had done half of its oil and was very smoky on start up from the left exhaust, so I knew I had an issue. I paid for an inspection at HP Motorsport in Hainault and they confirmed bore scoring to Bank 2 and a few other minor bits, but apart from that it was supposedly a solid car

:grin:

I was always happy to take the car without an inspection as Clive (Mr 911) has a great reputation and I knew where he lived, so I was happy with the warranty he offered. He was superb, having had the car inspected himself he confirmed the diagnosis and after some to-ing and fro-ing we agreed on a full 6cyl rebuild and clutch/flywheel while it was there, and I contributed a little to the deal which I was happy with. Now, the rebuild itself took a lot longer than I wanted, I had no say on where the work was done and the garage (ECU Solutions) had a bit of a reputation on this forum for other work on members cars but it was part of the process. To be honest, apart from the secretive location and lack of regular contact, which was an issue at the time, the final result and subsequent customer service have thus far been very good.

So I ended up with a C4S with a full rebuild and new clutch, warranted for 2 years. This is the picture on the day I got it back (6 weeks later...)

KKI7xRe.jpg



1TLMJYh.jpg



I'm not one for washing and detailing, so I was glad to get it back clean. Sadly, the radio wouldn't turn on and after a bit of fannying about I found the fuse on the back of the PCM unit had blown so a simple but frustrating fix.

Having the car back I was now turning thoughts to how I could make it better, and so the list of jobs includes:

Fit a 997 shifter to shorten the throw a little
Get rid of the awful Dansk Super Sound exhaust as it is just too loud for me
Find out why the exhaust pipes are not level (both horizontal and vertical)
Renew suspension, including new M030 kit

So that's it for now, next instalment coming shortly as I need to bring the thread up to the present day (the first two jobs on that list have been done)
 
That's a great write up. I would have been having kittens if I went through what you did. Great to hear that alps well that ends well and you can now enjoy your car as intended.
I've just came back in from cleaning mine and although I love that side of car ownership(always have done regardless of marque) today pushed the limits.
Look forward to hearing more of your story as you document it :thumb:
 
:thumb:
 
Great car - I love the colour (I am biased, mine is the same colour).

You seem to be very pragmatic about the whole buing experience.....I am trying to be equally laid-back, as mine is supposed to be a toy for a bit of fun.....
 
Great car, great story... good to see Mr 911 coming through for you.

With a rebuild and clutch, it should be major worry free for a long while. Did they check crank bearings etc while they were in there?

Is it already fitted with M030 or is that an upgrade you have planned? I'd imagine that would be pretty unyielding on crummy UK roads... as standard it already has 10mm lowered sports suspension.
 
Mrs S was less than thrilled or laid back with the whole thing, so I had to balance it out. Seriously, I was ok with it, I'd rather have a car I knew the history of than have to go through the search process again.

I did get a list of jobs that were included and yes crank shells/bearings are listed as being replaced. That reminds me I need to chase them again as they supposedly took lots of photos of the tear down and I want them for my file.

Anyway, next thing on the agenda was fitting the 997 shifter. I'd not been a fan of the gearshift, it was very stiff when cold and often I would miss 2nd gear and get the horrible grinding noise, i wasn't used to the longish throw and I was rushing the changes a bit. I figured a shorter shifter would do the job but was talked out of the SSK.

I sourced a 997 shifter from eBay for £45 and followed the online guides to fitting it. Taking the interior apart was ok, and as I had also bought the gearshift locking tool from Design911 I was ok with he cables too:

qEsUy2U.jpg


Cables marked up with a sharpie

DweLt7i.jpg


New shifter in place. Just before this I had checked all of the gears engaged so I knew it was ok. I moved the cables up slightly versus the markings as i figured they'd have stretched over the years. All fitted


JI4jZ7h.jpg


And all back together


BdibBW9.jpg


So, the result? Definitely an improvement. It's no slicker or anything like that, and the notchiness, especially when cold is still there, but the shorter throw is nicer and suits the car more. I've read it's only 10% shorter but that feels plenty and I'm happy with it. Job only took an hour so was happy with that as well.

As the shift was still notchy, and I'd noticed the passenger seat shaking like crazy at idle, I figured I'd get on to the engine mounts next and see if they make a difference.
 
You were lucky! I had the exact same issue.....noticed after driving home from the dealer the lack of oil, smoking on startup, had it serviced and devoured more oil....had a further bore scope to find scoring to 4/5/6.....only my dealer was not so helpful and gave me the run around for months until partially returning my costs and leaving me without a car and out of pocket....goes to show its best to stick to trusted dealers.
 
So, onto the present day. I'd got hold of some Rennline semi-solid engine mounts from Design 911 in February at the not inconsiderable cost of £340. I did price up the 964/993 RS mounts and they came out a similar price so i decided to go for the newer items.

I had a couple of symptoms I was trying to solve. Firstly, the gearshift was a bit notchy and sometimes hard to engage, especially first and third, and even more so when cold. Second, the passenger seat shook quite a lot when it was not in use, so much so that sometimes it would rattle against the seat belt on the b pillar. Third, the exhaust tips weren't level (and the left one stuck out a bit more than the right). It's possible they just need adjusting but also mounts could be at fault as well.

I was actually quite nervous doing this job. I've worked on cars for years but this was my first mechanical job on the Porker and I was jacking up the engine a little. And I did get it wrong a bit, as I didn't jack in the middle of the engine, so when I undid the first mount (which broke by the way) the engine dropped quite a lot on the right side so I couldn't locate the new mount properly. Here's how I had to resolve it using the car's jack:

V8dz0Q7.jpg


It was quite worrying watching the engine getting lower as I undid the nut on the mount. Luckily I worked out what was happening and I had the other hack on standby anyway. Once the mount was out here's how it looked next to the new ones

xwdGiSd.jpg


Note how the bolt busted out of the mount rather than the nut just undoing. At this point I wondered how the guys got my engine out for the rebuild (it was only 4 months ago), they must have undone the nut right? I'll be having a word about that, I'm guessing they threaded the bolt back in which is not good. To be continued.

Anyway, after that drama, I managed to get the new mounts located. The left side mount was easier but that too broke away by the bold rather than the nut.

5tZeK2V.jpg


rJWyxz6.jpg


All of the bolts and nuts torqued correctly and time for a drive.

Firstly, it is really noticeable from a noise perspective. The engine is definitely more connected to the car. It's louder, different in a nice way, but louder nonetheless. And you can feel it from the seat.

Second, the gearshift is a massive, and I mean enormous, improvement. Slotted straight into first and all gears just felt so much better. That's the main reason I changed the mounts and it appears to have been worth it.

Thirdly, the passenger seat is rock solid. It does not move at all.

Finally, both exhaust tips are now at the same height. The left one has moved up and the right one stayed the same. I tried to undo the left tip to move it back, but the bolt snapped so I'll wait until the new exhaustion's on. At least it looks ok from the back now, with two level tips.

However, some slightly bad news...
While I was under the car I had a good root around. I appear to have a number of bolts missing on the exhaust. The left muffler carrier is missing the shorter bolt completely and the longer bolt has sheared so only the top not is in place. One of the bolts on the right side is also missing. More questions for the rebuild guys, as the car is back with them next week for the compulsory oil change (part of the warranty conditions).

I also have a slight oil leak so more work to be done there.

As always, lots to do.

In summary, get the engine mounts done. Very very worthwhile.
 
Thats perfectly normal for the engine mounts to come out that way. The bottom nut just seizes to the threaded section of the stud and undoes the whole stud as opposed to the nut coming off. When I swapped my engine, one came undone from the stud and one brought the whole stud out - doesnt stop you putting them back in again. I subsequently changed my mounts about 6 months later anyway as, like you, the exhausts were at different heights.
 
reply

Hi PHS

Just a quick question what was the cost of the rebuild for the bore scoring & new clutch, Did you have the IMS bearing changed at the same time.

Many Thanks

PDCC4S.
 
I don't know what the charge was as I have never seen the invoice, just a list of jobs/parts. When I had the inspection done, I was given a quote for £8k for just the rebuild.

I doubt you'd get a lot of change out of £9 - 10k, depending on total job and whether you need a flywheel and other clutch parts as well.

Yes my job included IMS replacement.

Paul
 
Having had the complete exhaust changed I thought a few pics and updates would be in order.

Using the group buy, I purchased mild sport boxes and 200cell cats from Top Gear, and supplemented this with the infamous Chinese headers from eBay. All of this to replace the original headers and cats, and the Dansk Super sound boxes currently on the car which I didn't like.

I was going to do the job myself, but a wise man told me I should reconsider at least part of this plan owing to what I can only describe as 12 mushy bolts holding the manifolds in place. I agreed, and asked HP Porsche to do the job for me. I had already bought all new stainless steel fixings (including studs for the manifolds) so we just agreed they would use my parts and the only cost would be labour.

Job took 8 hours, more than expected as the manifold bolts were rodgered, and the O2 sensors wouldn't come off so had to be replaced.

Just a before and after shot of the tailpipes to start with. After fitting the new engine mounts they were very high, and were touching the bumper on the rhs, which made a bit of a racket. After the new exhaust was fitted, they look much better.

Before
eQjnO1v.jpg


After
4qcxcQS.jpg


And some gratuitous stainless steel shots, including the new stud/nut conversion on the manifold

l4MQaha.jpg


FJ9FCY9.jpg


The exhaust sounds lovely, top of the Rev range it's like god shouting but the big difference versus the old boxes is that down low it is quiet and relaxing. The whole sound is a bit more metallic, which I like.

All in all, very happy.
 
If your rear engine mounts were bad, likely the gearbox mount is mushy too.

New bush is £16+vat or some people like the powerflex insert.

Poor job on the rebuilder not drilling out the manifolds whilst it was on the bench.... But I guess they were under time /cost pressure.

Car looks great!
 

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