So this is my new project thread,some of you may recognise my other car which I've had nearly 13 years and has been through many changes lol

but as the octy isn't very practical I haven't used it much over the last couple of years and don't know if it will ever go back on the road but we'll see

If I'm honest I don't have much need for a car as I'm always out in my van and if we go out as a family we have the wife's car but I still wanted to have a weekend car so this is when I started to think seriously about what I wanted.

I have always had a soft spot for Porsches since been a kid and always thought I'd get a 964 when I saw the prices come down and even hung onto my eta beta split rims for when I eventually got my hands on one as they have been my favourite wheel and think they suit the 964 really well but unfortunately the 964's went from been pretty cheap to buy a few years back and have been on the increase since so I missed the boat there as there now fetching more money than I'm willing to part with :(

Recently a friend got a 996 and although I initially never really gave the 996 a chance the more I saw my friends car the more I warmed to the look and sound of it and then when I eventually drove one I really enjoyed it so that's when I started looking around and gave it serious consideration.

I did some reading and was immediately put off when I read about the ims bearing failure and bore scoring issues but after more reading I was less worried as the percentage of failure is quite low and thought if it ever happens to me I'll just park it up and sort it over time.

Initially I wanted an early car with the aero kit like my friends,this is his and I think you'll agree it looks great with the aero kit fitted

but after looking it seemed most pre facelift where either blue like his or a lighter blue,silver or black and to be honest the colour that appealed to me was seal grey so I researched the porsche forums and it turns out seal grey wasn't easy to find on an early car so finding one with the aero kit as well would be really rare so in order to find one sooner I decided I could live without the aero kit for now and could always add it in the future even though it's a pricey bit of kit.

So I was then looking for a seal grey car but it had to have a manual box and have black leather with the hardback sports seats as a minimum which still took a while to find and I ended up going to look at a face lifted car that fit the bill and bought it.

The car is a 2003 porsche 996 carrera 2 with 89k and fsh and has a massive folder with all receipts for work it's had through it's entire life including all the sales receipts from previous owners etc and it's main appeal to was that around 15k ago it had an engine rebuild after bore scoring was found and had the liners done and new pistons,bearings etc and an upgraded ims bearing and not long after it had the clutch replaced so hopefully it will have a good bit of life in the motor and won't need no major repairs doing soon but knowing my luck it will still die lol

So for now I'm going to drive it when I can and if the weather improves tomorrow my mate will be machine polishing it as it has a few scratches especially on the roof were it looks like the previous owner has been putting stuff on the roof whilst getting into the car then dragging it off and has a couple of small car parking dings on door and rear quarter that I'll get the local dent guy to do at some point soon

The future plans will be fitting coilovers to take away the arch gap and then I'll try on my eta beta wheels with proper sized tires to see how it looks and may colour code the seat backs and then eventually get the factory aero kit when funds allow.

Here's a couple of pics of it how it stands now.

Excellent purchase, These offer a lot of car for the money!

 

Looks like it has had quite a few of the usual 996 troublesome parts replaced, A friend had one for a quite a few Years and always worried about the Rear Main Seal going due to the horror stories.

 

Hope this serves you well!

Very nice. Can you step up the dishes on the eta beta's and turn the rears into 11's?

That arch gap must be driving you mad lol!

Cheers guys,hopefully it will be a good one and not cost a fortune in repairs and Paul I'm sure dishes could be changed for larger ones but not even checked offsets yet and also I may not even like the wheels on the car so when I get round to lowering it I'll have more idea but yes the arch gap really annoys me when I look at it so prefer to be in the car where I can't see it lol

Please can I ask, I know its your car but please don't ruin it by dropping it on the deck and fitting stretched tyres etc. Its a well set up Prestige car and deserves to be kept that way IMO.

Please can I ask, I know its your car but please don't ruin it by dropping it on the deck and fitting stretched tyres etc. Its a well set up Prestige car and deserves to be kept that way IMO.

I'm sure whatever I do it will offend somebody but like I said on my first post,I want to lower it as I hate arch gap,it won't be tucking wheels with stretched tyres,I will fit appropriate sized tyres and just remove the arch gap.

Would like it something like this pic I found on the web

I'm sure whatever I do it will offend somebody but like I said on my first post,I want to lower it as I hate arch gap,it won't be tucking wheels with stretched tyres,I will fit appropriate sized tyres and just remove the arch gap.

Would like it something like this pic I found on the web

 

That is tastefully done, Looks more of a Fast Road set up which is good and will still actually be drivable.

Coilovers ordered from pb brakes and on route to uk. Don't know a great deal about them but I thought I'd take a punt as they seem to get good reviews,I know I'll probably get slated for running inferior coilovers but I'm not a race driver and I'll never drive the car hard enough to worry about handling issues To be honest and although these are considered cheap they will still end up costing around £750-£800 after import duty which is cheap for budget porsche coilovers apparently lol

I'm intrigued to see how this goes. Good work pal

Mates building a kit for his one as we speak.

https://www.instagram.com/dommilesdesigns/

Cheers Si,

It's only getting a bit of lowering nothing too crazy,then try my old wheels on and then use it to be honest

And your mates looks like a mental project

Edited 13 April, 201610 yr by dsmithmobile

So the pb coilovers arrived,they look pretty good

Just have to wait for the import tax bill to arrive now :(

Just need to find time to fit them and see what they ride like

So I got the coilovers pretty much fitted the weekend before last but couldn't complete it at the time as I needed rear top mount nuts as they don't come supplied with any and were 1.25 pitch thread unlike the 1.5 pitch nuts off existing struts and also had to order new front drop links as the existing ones were completely seized in and needed destroying to get them out,so got the nuts and drop links ordered and they were fitted last Wednesday night.

Initial setting was way out and the rear looked like the suspension had collapsed but surprisingly it didn't even rub at that height lol

I then made some adjustments and this is as it currently sits

needs more tweaking,front is about were I want it but the rear definitely needs to come up more but I got bored of the chore of jacking up,removing wheels,adjusting,putting wheels on,dropping down,driving up road for some level ground and looking and measuring etc so it will do until it settles a bit and I'll get some spacers to pop on whilst the wheels are off,just glad I've lost the arch gap also need to get it in for a geometry check as it will be way out of alignment and don't really want to use it until it's sorted.

I've split my other rims and have sent the centres to my mate to paint them seal grey and I've got the tedious job of polishing the lips up again but it will be worth it once there rebuilt

And also had a guy down today doing some dent removal,I've used him before and he's good there was three in o/s/r quarter,one in each door and a few in the bonnet from were a previous owner had closed it down onto something and dented it outwards and he sorted it all for £50 which was a bargain

Edited 25 April, 201610 yr by dsmithmobile

Were your splits still red? As they would've looked good.

Either way it's looking good

Nice. Will watch this one with interest

Were your splits still red? As they would've looked good.

Either way it's looking good

They were black when I split them as I put them on the wife's ibiza for a bit and they inherited a bit of kerb rash whilst they were on it lol

I need to sort out the kerbing marks and then polish them up but they won't be perfect as I can't be bothered to get them repaired and polished professionally seen as though I'll only neglect them again,hopefully I'll like them on the car

And cheers wardy

Edited 27 April, 201610 yr by dsmithmobile

Thats more like it!

Bet it was doing your head in cruising over speed bumps lol!

Cheers Paul

Yes I'm glad the arch gap is gone now,still needs a bit of tweaking but I've lifted the rear a bit. Had the alignment done and it feels better but you can't get them bang on spec once you lower them but it's no biggie as it will never see a track whilst I own it

Gave it a wash today so thought I'd get a few pics,so let the pic whoring commence

Hopefully get the machine polish done next week as I have the week off,as does my mate so fingers crossed we can get it sorted.

Looks bang on now.

Did you put spacers on?

Cheers Paul

It's got some small temporary spacers which I had lying around,there 5mm front and 7mm rears but there not hub centric but it looks a bit better for now.

Thought it looked a tad wider...

Just catching up with this thread.... very nice indeed Dan.

 

Following with interest...

your mates 996 is a thing of beauty, I hope you go the aero route with yours mate. Look forward to updates

your mates 996 is a thing of beauty, I hope you go the aero route with yours mate. Look forward to updates

Cheers guys and your right Mike,my friend Giles car looks spot on and the aero kit really makes a pretty bland looking car look much more aggressive

I will definitely get the parts at some point in the future but won't be for a good while yet as the bumpers,skirts and especially the spoiler are pretty pricey parts and even used parts are big money so for now I'll have to live without the kit.

Cheers guys and your right Mike,my friend Giles car looks spot on.

I will definitely get the parts at some point in the future but won't be for a good while yet as the bumpers,skirts and especially the spoiler are pretty pricey parts and even used parts are big money so for now I'll have to live without the kit.

Get him drunk and make him lose them to you in a Poker game

Car looks nice though. Sits nice on those coilies

Edited 3 May, 201610 yr by Mikek3111