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997.1 C4S 1 month in and ongoing build

Lordjimimac

Well-known member
Joined
13 Jan 2016
Messages
174
hi folks,

I thought it about time i shared thoughts on my 'new' Atlas Grey 997.1 C4S, mentioned the mods ive already done, and started a bit of a 'build thread' to put updates in over my ownership. Perhaps this is of some interest to fellow fans!

First off, im glad to say that the car has exceeded expectations - i came from a 987s > 996tt > e92 m3 > e90 comp pack m3 to this car and it really does contain many of the best attributes from those cars. I was a little nervous that the lack of power would be step down v3 the m3 and particularly the turbo, but thats not been the case. Here are some thoughts on some aspects of the car and how the compare to previous cars ive been lucky to own:

Sense of occasion and pride of ownership
It probably goes without saying on this forum but a 911 really is 2x times the specialness of many other cars. The beauty of the exterior design, but moreso the low slung seating position, directness of controls, and in this case the mechanical feel of the thing far far exceed the m3s I owned. Atlas grey is a really special colour too - i gave it a correction / polish / wax and it responded very well! Complex, interesting, and seems to look ok when a bit grubby too, hooray!

Engine Noise
I owned a 987s and loved the buzzy thrill of the top end. I then owned a 996tt and, even with a 200 cell X-pipe exhaust, the noise was a bit of a let down (too quiet without, mad loud with!). Then came the v8 m3 - mine had an inconel M Performance exhaust and BMC filter -and the bar for a thrilling soundtrack was set very high. I had the design 911 induction kit (the resonator delete) and the BMC filter put on the c4s before I collected it from GT-One (11/10 service as always) and i have to say that the engine noise at the top end has far exceeded my expectations. Id even go as far to say that its on par with the m3. Whatsmore, my car has a stock exhaust with no mod! Ive got PCW booked into to do a gundo, and im tinkering with the idea of a TopGear 200cat exhaust, but i have to say im really enjoying the stock exhaust sound + induction noise - so i may well stick with it for a bit

Engine response and character through the range
The best thing about the M3 was the engine - and the fact that it had many characters in one. It was as much fun short shifting up to 40/50 as it was ringing its neck to 8.5k rpm on a slip road. This was a down side of the turbo - you had to be going bloody fast to enjoy the engine (at least for me, although if there was room it was of course incredible!). Here again, the 997.1 engine has exceeded my expectation - this may well be helped by the Sprint Booster i added to make the throttle more responsive (had one in my 987s and rate it very highly!)

Gearchange
Ahh, nice to be back in a manual. I moved from a manual m3 to a dct comp pack primarily because the dct has shorter ratios than the manual (and 2nd was way too long in the manual) - but i was also keen to experience a decent dual clutch car following a good Palmer day in one some years back. The DCT felt much, much faster than the manual car, and surprisingly, i didnt crave a manual. However, i knew that the next car would be a 911, and it had to be a manual, so (like the 987s and 996tt), i had the 997 gt3 oem short shift installed before i picked it up and wow - a truly superb shift! for me it completes the trio of great steering feel, brake feel, and gear change.

Handling
The car was well prepped with new brakes, tyres, shocks, some suspension bushes, and even a set of refurbed wheels! its an absolute joy through the corners - im totally in love with the cornering sensation! It has PASM - the first Porsche ive owned with it. It certainly enables totally rigid/flat cornering which im enjoying, but it does seem to be more 'choppy' than the sports setting on EDC on the m3. I do still just about think though, that the 987 was ultimately the best handling car ive owned though - at least the most confidence inspiring for a non track driver like me

Tech and Interior
Mine has the full leather and alcantara and it is a huge improvement on the 996 and 987 i had!
The PCM is, of course, garbage, but i did instal the 'Translt Blu iSimple' bluetooth / FM input smartphone kit into the PCM so my iPhone connects.
I am absolutely staggered at how good this is, and how cheap it was. A superb product, and one that i would have put on the 987 and 996 had i of know about it! Highly recommended!
A pipeline mod is certainly to get the wheel, shift, and brake trimmed in alcantara by Royal steering wheels. They did the wheel on the M3 and it was like for like oem 'performance; quality and 1/4 of the price.

Cruisability / usability / family fun
The 996tt was our family car with one, then two little ones. Im lucky that the mrs loves owning and driving nice cars! We worked around the space fine, but the road (and exhaust...!) noise was too much in the turbo. The 997 is far more refined. Still louder than the m3, but (at least with stock exhaust) its all good. I have a pair of recaro young sports in the back for my 3 and 5 year olds and they absolutely love it. We use Amazon packing 'Cubes' (v useful!) to make extremely effective use of parcel shelf , footwells, and frunk and its all good!

Finally, i thought to mention my ultimate choice of 997.1 vs 997.2
im aware of all the potential issues having owned the gen 1 987s, and also generally being a big forum reader.
I had originally thought to get the gen 2 - to minimise risk - even to get good mpg! and better pcm etc.
in my budget, i could only afford a base and basic 997.2 example. I drove some of these, and nice as they were, for me they lacked a little of the 'buzz' and feel of the earlier cars. it was marginal, but as i dove a couple more, i then had a go it a gen 1 s, and i just preffered the slightly more raw feel and sound of it. I then looked at the spec, condition and cost of my car and compared it to the equivalent gen 2 car. The difference (i concluded, for my own case, please be gentle guys!!!) was that i could get a top spec gen 1 4s that was 2 years older, but £10k cheaper than the equivalent gen 2. So i thought to myself that if the worst does happen (a 1 in 10/20/30/50/100 risk depending on attitude) I could accept the loss based on the lower purchase price. Goes without saying that GT One did a full bore check and stand by the car, and i trust those guys. Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that I did fear that despite my man-maths i may have a niggle or regret after i bought the car. But no, fellow fans, I do not. The car is so special, so good to drive, and such a keeper that there are no worries whatsoever.

Things i plan to do!

- get an aero bumper
- maybe the dectone rear lights
- maybe maybe the Top Speed 200 cell switchable exhaust
- royal alcantara trimmed wheel
- let me know of any suggestions!

if youve made it this far, well done : )

:thumbs:
 
Nice read mate , and having had a gen1 and gen2 I dont disagree there are many good points to the gen1 as you mentioned and I found the gen2 a bit more refined than the gen1 which is why I have to be more selective about mods as some really just dont suit the more refined gen2 . the 997.1 is somewhere between the rawness of the 996 and the refindness of the 997.2 which makes them a very nice car.

Liking the mods list inc sprint booster I loved mine it really woke the tip box up .my only thought looking at it is not to fit an aero bumper without balancing it with an aero rear wing . I drove mine with just the front bumper and no wing while the wing was getting painted and trust me Porsche are not wrong in saying its messing with the downforce it felf very strange at the front end. other than that a nice set of mods :thumb: :thumb: I did all those to my gen1 except went carbon gen2 wheel not alcantara . I will let you get on with those mods before throwing IPD throttle body ,plenum. 4" underdrive pulley , remap, semi solid engine mounts etc at you but I was surprised to see you hadnt mentioned lowering the car as that normally quite high on most modders list :thumb: :thumb:
 
Nice write up lordjm and a great choice of car you have there. You do have a nice set of mods on the list there but adding to that I would go for a BMC filter as a quick cheap win, then onto a 82mm tb and plenum to free up some restriction and the dsc pasm controller to sort your suspension. From there I would then go onto the other mods Phil has suggested depending on how far you want to take it as it's your family car as well. :thumb:
 
Excellent post.
 
Thanks Phil - ive read a lot of your posts on here and they've been a great resource and source of inspiration!

Really interesting comment about the bumper with no wing - the car drives and feel perfect and i dont want to compromise that! such a shame the rear wings are crazy expensive!

Great point about lowering a bit - perhaps that could improve the front end looks (i agree the side profile looks awesome a bit lower!), and be a plan B vs aero bumper. Do people usually go 10, 20mm? dont suppose you know how much the springs and fitting are do you?

i could be tempted by some spacers too - any thoughts on that idea?

big thanks!


Phil 997 said:
Nice read mate , and having had a gen1 and gen2 I dont disagree there are many good points to the gen1 as you mentioned and I found the gen2 a bit more refined than the gen1 which is why I have to be more selective about mods as some really just dont suit the more refined gen2 . the 997.1 is somewhere between the rawness of the 996 and the refindness of the 997.2 which makes them a very nice car.

Liking the mods list inc sprint booster I loved mine it really woke the tip box up .my only thought looking at it is not to fit an aero bumper without balancing it with an aero rear wing . I drove mine with just the front bumper and no wing while the wing was getting painted and trust me Porsche are not wrong in saying its messing with the downforce it felf very strange at the front end. other than that a nice set of mods :thumb: :thumb: I did all those to my gen1 except went carbon gen2 wheel not alcantara . I will let you get on with those mods before throwing IPD throttle body ,plenum. 4" underdrive pulley , remap, semi solid engine mounts etc at you but I was surprised to see you hadnt mentioned lowering the car as that normally quite high on most modders list :thumb: :thumb:
 
Yep, a really good read and nice model choice ( :thumb: ). I'm about to take delivery of the Top Gear switchable system which I've been wanting to fit for a while now. That coupled with the CAI kit should make for an awesome sound I reckon. :thumbs:
 
Lordjimimac said:
Thanks Phil - ive read a lot of your posts on here and they've been a great resource and source of inspiration!

Really interesting comment about the bumper with no wing - the car drives and feel perfect and i dont want to compromise that! such a shame the rear wings are crazy expensive!

Great point about lowering a bit - perhaps that could improve the front end looks (i agree the side profile looks awesome a bit lower!), and be a plan B vs aero bumper. Do people usually go 10, 20mm? dont suppose you know how much the springs and fitting are do you?

i could be tempted by some spacers too - any thoughts on that idea?

big thanks!

Jim, thanks mate :thumb:
lowering springs are a bit of a personal thing as they all lower slightly different hight, a bit like exhaust note. the three I would consider are Eilbach. H&R , Techart . techert are the most expensive but lower the least 15mm on PASM the other two are 20/25mm I had techart on the gen1 but H&R on the gen2 both give virtually stock ride the springs are approx £350 but thats approx as they all differ in price , fitting est 2/3 hrs labour .clearly better if you can do it yourself or are ever in sunny Bournemouth then the option is drink coffee with me while our local porsche tech fits them as he's far cheaper than most. :thumb:
spacers the accepted norm if you dont want to spend ages trying different things is 7mm front 15mm rear ensure they are hubcentric Porscheshop and a few others do a 7mm with a hub spigot which IMO is better than just a 7mm shim as your close to the limit at 7mm .

the rear wing can be aftermarket and there are some very good quality aero wings around. maybe ask on here whos fitted what as I know recently a member has fitted an aftermarket aero wing and was very happy with the quaility the aero wing is fixed so its easier to make aftermarket than the gt3 wing that looks the same but has a 3 position tilt to the top blade .also on the GT3 wing the fan and air intake are located differently to the aero wing. the other thing to consider to change the side profile as you have a widebody would be to change the side skirts/sill to the gt3rs ones, about £800 from the opc . you can do this on a wide body as the lower sill is a seperate piece which its not on the narrow body cars, if you consider that option for comparison the top pic has GT3RS side skirts the lower pic is without them. these are only suggestions for you to consider mate. :thumb: :thumb:
 

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Did you already received the Sprint booster I have sent? edit just read you have installed so I guess yes.
I'm more focused on drivability and improvements then aerokits etc. so mods I would recommend (and have done).

- RSS semi solid engine mounts. Initial thought ok .. but now I love them! Massive change in cornering!
- OEM SSK modified with Function First shift right bearings (same and cheaper are here available)
- Complete Rennline pedal set with extension for heel/ toe
- Topgear 200 cell XO cat and valved back boxes (replaced my perfect OEM PSE so up for sale soon)
- X97 gear change knob in Alcantara done by Royal (best knob ever to hold :D )
- Low temp thermostat and waterpump + additional 80 degree thermostat sensor in one of the front radiators wired to front fans so that these will go on sooner at full speed
- 997 speedster black stone guards. Looks nice as my old ones became yellow-ish
- Not a real mod but recommended by Hartech and many others Millers 10W50 oil and magnetic drain plug
- Got rid of the aging PCM and got the Zenec Z E7015S for closest OEM look.
- Alcantara + thicker steering wheel with leather 12' clock ring done by Royal
- Alcantara center console lid and handbreak lever and cover done by Royal

Up next is the DCS PASM sport controller and figure out my next mod...

Rob
 
I enjoyed reading the original post (and comments as well), thanks for sharing your experience and views.
 
thanks buddy!
i actually had a BMC fitted with the intake - i was amazed at how much difference it made on the m3 so tried on the c4s and the sound and response gains are awesome!
:thumb:

Thefinn said:
Nice write up lordjm and a great choice of car you have there. You do have a nice set of mods on the list there but adding to that I would go for a BMC filter as a quick cheap win, then onto a 82mm tb and plenum to free up some restriction and the dsc pasm controller to sort your suspension. From there I would then go onto the other mods Phil has suggested depending on how far you want to take it as it's your family car as well. :thumb:
 
Hi Rob, yep it arrived fast and was mercifully easy to instal ( a great tip from a bloke on a cayman forum for how to get the clip off!) It makes the throttle response perfect IMO - brill!

Some nice new mods below - ill definitely consider the oil, plug, and rad i reckon

Cheers!

rob001 said:
Did you already received the Sprint booster I have sent? edit just read you have installed so I guess yes.
I'm more focused on drivability and improvements then aerokits etc. so mods I would recommend (and have done).

- RSS semi solid engine mounts. Initial thought ok .. but now I love them! Massive change in cornering!
- OEM SSK modified with Function First shift right bearings (same and cheaper are here available)
- Complete Rennline pedal set with extension for heel/ toe
- Topgear 200 cell XO cat and valved back boxes (replaced my perfect OEM PSE so up for sale soon)
- X97 gear change knob in Alcantara done by Royal (best knob ever to hold :D )
- Low temp thermostat and waterpump + additional 80 degree thermostat sensor in one of the front radiators wired to front fans so that these will go on sooner at full speed
- 997 speedster black stone guards. Looks nice as my old ones became yellow-ish
- Not a real mod but recommended by Hartech and many others Millers 10W50 oil and magnetic drain plug
- Got rid of the aging PCM and got the Zenec Z E7015S for closest OEM look.
- Alcantara + thicker steering wheel with leather 12' clock ring done by Royal
- Alcantara center console lid and handbreak lever and cover done by Royal

Up next is the DCS PASM sport controller and figure out my next mod...

Rob
 
rob001 said:
Did you already received the Sprint booster I have sent? edit just read you have installed so I guess yes.
I'm more focused on drivability and improvements then aerokits etc. so mods I would recommend (and have done).

- RSS semi solid engine mounts. Initial thought ok .. but now I love them! Massive change in cornering!
- OEM SSK modified with Function First shift right bearings (same and cheaper are here available)
- Complete Rennline pedal set with extension for heel/ toe
- Topgear 200 cell XO cat and valved back boxes (replaced my perfect OEM PSE so up for sale soon)
- X97 gear change knob in Alcantara done by Royal (best knob ever to hold :D )
- Low temp thermostat and waterpump + additional 80 degree thermostat sensor in one of the front radiators wired to front fans so that these will go on sooner at full speed
- 997 speedster black stone guards. Looks nice as my old ones became yellow-ish
- Not a real mod but recommended by Hartech and many others Millers 10W50 oil and magnetic drain plug
- Got rid of the aging PCM and got the Zenec Z E7015S for closest OEM look.
- Alcantara + thicker steering wheel with leather 12' clock ring done by Royal
- Alcantara center console lid and handbreak lever and cover done by Royal

Up next is the DCS PASM sport controller and figure out my next mod...

Rob

Rob also some very nice mods suggested mate , Now I remember what the red X97 looked like when you brought it, but have never seen a pic of it since you alcantaraed it so would like a pic when you can as your the only other guy I know thats done it :thumb: good advise on the millers nano + 10w50 , I have just brought RSS engine mounts to go on as I had rennline semi solids on the gen1. heres a pic on my X97 after I retrimmed it in alcantara and a pic of the SRPracing pedals I had made I had them made with the heel n toe extentions deleted as my feet are too wide :floor: . now we need pics of your mods , you know how it works, no pics it didnt happen :floor: :floor:
 

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Hi Phil,

Would these ones do it for my C4S? This combo seems a fair bit more cost effective vs other options?

Also do i need bigger nuts (tee heeeee! )

FRONT - https://www.porscheshop.co.uk/porsc...spacers-fits-all-cars-1965-onwards-5x130.html

REAR - https://www.porscheshop.co.uk/wheel-spacer-kit-18mm.html

If anyone is selling any springs or spacers, let me know!

Big big thanks!!
James


Phil 997 said:
Lordjimimac said:
Thanks Phil - ive read a lot of your posts on here and they've been a great resource and source of inspiration!

Really interesting comment about the bumper with no wing - the car drives and feel perfect and i dont want to compromise that! such a shame the rear wings are crazy expensive!

Great point about lowering a bit - perhaps that could improve the front end looks (i agree the side profile looks awesome a bit lower!), and be a plan B vs aero bumper. Do people usually go 10, 20mm? dont suppose you know how much the springs and fitting are do you?

i could be tempted by some spacers too - any thoughts on that idea?

big thanks!

Jim, thanks mate :thumb:
lowering springs are a bit of a personal thing as they all lower slightly different hight, a bit like exhaust note. the three I would consider are Eilbach. H&R , Techart . techert are the most expensive but lower the least 15mm on PASM the other two are 20/25mm I had techart on the gen1 but H&R on the gen2 both give virtually stock ride the springs are approx £350 but thats approx as they all differ in price , fitting est 2/3 hrs labour .clearly better if you can do it yourself or are ever in sunny Bournemouth then the option is drink coffee with me while our local porsche tech fits them as he's far cheaper than most. :thumb:
spacers the accepted norm if you dont want to spend ages trying different things is 7mm front 15mm rear ensure they are hubcentric Porscheshop and a few others do a 7mm with a hub spigot which IMO is better than just a 7mm shim as your close to the limit at 7mm .

the rear wing can be aftermarket and there are some very good quality aero wings around. maybe ask on here whos fitted what as I know recently a member has fitted an aftermarket aero wing and was very happy with the quaility the aero wing is fixed so its easier to make aftermarket than the gt3 wing that looks the same but has a 3 position tilt to the top blade .also on the GT3 wing the fan and air intake are located differently to the aero wing. the other thing to consider to change the side profile as you have a widebody would be to change the side skirts/sill to the gt3rs ones, about £800 from the opc . you can do this on a wide body as the lower sill is a seperate piece which its not on the narrow body cars, if you consider that option for comparison the top pic has GT3RS side skirts the lower pic is without them. these are only suggestions for you to consider mate. :thumb: :thumb:
 
I'm always happy to see a well thought through post and project thread.

Mods are very personal but I tend to focus on the performance and feel rather than the cosmetics. ExAn aero kit, aero bumper and big wing are swish but expensive for a Carrera (isn't it ironic that a GT3 Touring costs more than a bewinged GT3?), and at the speeds I drive, I don't need downforce. As to feel however, as long as you have decent seats and a decent wheel, you'll always be happy. This can only be enhanced by mods like a SSK and engine mounts. But what I would suggest, even if you can't see it, is the TPC Racing DSC module which really extracts the best from PASM.
 

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