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Greetings:

I was viewing a Youtube video tonight showing a 997S going at a good clip...FAST! The speedo showed a red-line of 8000RPM. I think that the USA cars red-lining at 7400 rpm have been been governed respective of USA laws... any comments? I have had one experience of red-lining my 2006 997S and have had the limiter kick in... the dealer thought nothing of it...We in the US have been robbed of the true potential of our cars I thinkuth!!

Chromedome: North Couty San Diego

2006 997 S Carrara White Coupe. full leather sand interior etc......

That is one side of the argument. The other side is that Porsche set rev limit at 7400 on production cars to protect the wallet of the car owner. The cost of that sick sounding $20k Kaboom far outweighs the performance benefit of a couple hundred more revs. I am not sure how much useable performance they left on the table in the interest of reliability. It is always a tradeoff. After tossing a half dozen or so motors with no rev limit that grenaded due to overrev in the heat of battle I welcome a realistic rev limiter. It just reminds me to shift.

Now if you tear down the motor, fine balance the crank and cams, lighten pistons and rods, high rev valve springs, port polish balance and blueprint, increase top end lubrication, improve engine cooling, you will create some safety room for higher revs.

Just one mans opinion.

Greetings:

I have heard this argument before... that being that you gain very little from having the rpm range extended at the top end. I don't have a problem with a rev limiter.. I look it as a great thing...with the laws as they are in California you get thrown in jail for going even 1 mph over 100mph, and there are those infractions which cover " unsafe " or " exhibition of speed " driving. The vast majority of us will never experience the true potential of the 997. My point would be that if you extend the rpm range at the top you also extend it in the middle , would it not be logical that the performance ( generally ) would also be increased, in the middle. I've always wondered why BMW governs my 2004 5 series at 155mph.... I don't think the Germans would react with glee if it was done to German cars. As far as the " motor tear down ", I really hope Porsche did at least a few of those things before they assembled my engine... for $99,949.85 out- the - door.. I would expect it.

Chromedome

2006 997 C2S, Carrara White, full leather ec.....

Most of those refinements can be found on the X51 motor with a corresponding increase in rev limit and price tag.

Yes. The CEL is very sensitive on these cars. Go to Autozone and read your codes for free or get your own pocket code reader for about $35. Once you have the error codes you can come back here and do a search. Tons of info. available to point you to the exact problem. Good luck.

Greetings:

I was viewing a Youtube video tonight showing a 997S going at a good clip...FAST! The speedo showed a red-line of 8000RPM. I think that the USA cars red-lining at 7400 rpm have been been governed respective of USA laws... any comments? I have had one experience of red-lining my 2006 997S and have had the limiter kick in... the dealer thought nothing of it...We in the US have been robbed of the true potential of our cars I thinkuth!!

Chromedome: North Couty San Diego

2006 997 S Carrara White Coupe. full leather sand interior etc......

That is one side of the argument. The other side is that Porsche set rev limit at 7400 on production cars to protect the wallet of the car owner. The cost of that sick sounding $20k Kaboom far outweighs the performance benefit of a couple hundred more revs. I am not sure how much useable performance they left on the table in the interest of reliability. It is always a tradeoff. After tossing a half dozen or so motors with no rev limit that grenaded due to overrev in the heat of battle I welcome a realistic rev limiter. It just reminds me to shift.

Now if you tear down the motor, fine balance the crank and cams, lighten pistons and rods, high rev valve springs, port polish balance and blueprint, increase top end lubrication, improve engine cooling, you will create some safety room for higher revs.

Just one mans opinion.

All tires are designed to perform best in a certain temp range. Max performance summer tires have extraordinary grip down to around 40F. Below that temp. most traction goes out the window. Max summer tires on snow and ice = no traction at all. Look around for a good used set of wheels and put some narrow all season tires on for winter. This will give you better grip in all weather and get you to Tahoe in one piece when the roads are clear. A sharp eye could probably find a winter set for $600-$800.

PK2,

I have never been inside a Porsche gearbox but I have had some experience with Toyota/Nissan. I own a service business and for 30 yrs our guys ran around in a fleet of mini trucks with 5spds. As you can imagine with 50 stops a day they were brutal on clutches and 2nd gear synchros. If a trans started to go south we would drain and inspect the gear oil. If the oil still had good color and very little metal flakes (rare) it was worth rebuilding with a good life ahead. If it looked bad and was full of flakes, chunks, bits o synchro etc. It was replaced with a junkyard trans that had good clean gear oil. We probably changed out 15 or so over the years and we have never had a bad experience with a junkyard trans with good clean oil.

Insite is a forum member here and has the original Ernie bar from Mantis. He has some really good hard data on this from G-timer and GPS on board instrumentation, and driving impressions street and track. From what I understand it just eliminates rear end flex in a turn and maintains negative rear camber for best tire contact patch during hard cornering. I don't think there is a downside in terms of ride quality. I have not yet added this as it will bump me out of street stock class in my region. Maybe next year an Ernie bar and Comp tires. :)

Set of OE 16" takeoffs now listed in classifieds with pics here: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=16486

Graeme,

Looks like you laid down a pretty fair time at the Porsche Parade Auto-X at Qualcom. Top Boxter and in top 5 overall for the day. Nice run my friend. :cheers:

Were you running Potenza RE050A's that day?

You and I have a 98 Box which still has a cable throttle. It does have a heavier feel than a modern Egas (fly by wire) throttle. Since the car is 9yrs old it may be time for a new cable if frayed or just some good old fashioned lubrication on all the moving parts. My lube of choice is Triflow teflon lube. Hit all the swivel points and shoot some into the cable. A throttle body cleaning may also be in order. Good luck! Hope this helps.

Very nice car! I too chose a simple roadster with few options that was very well cared for after looking at a lot of newer, heavily optioned, damaged, beat on cars.

Enjoy!

CJ,

Look here for your options:

http://www.986faq.com/4-0/options.asp

Rear camber is very aggressive for street driving. If you do much highway driving your tires will tend to have excessive wear on the inside rears. Nice setup for the track though.

Could be related to your 2nd gear synchro issues. When a synchro goes it often whines. Time for a good used trans? Oh and Happy birthday CJ!

A little history.

Last year I had the same codes on the same yr car with the same mileage. I took it to a certified Porsche mechanic who has been working on P cars since 1980. he ran the codes, tested the car and was certain that I needed all new O2 sensors at $1200 installed. No problem with your MAF sensor he says. I paid the $120 "choke" for the diagnosis but didn't bite on the O2 sensors. Instead I used the search function on this forum and learned a thing or two about these codes. I cleaned my MAF sensor and my car ran great, no codes for 6 mos. When my CEL returned with the same codes after about 3000 mi. I figured the MAF was finally kaput so I changed it myself along with a new air filter element and cabin filter. Car runs great, no CEL, going on 6000 miles now.

I am now my new favorite Boxter mechanic. The other guy still gets good reviews from the old school air cooled set. Maybe he just doesn't understand the Boxter so well. The answers are in this forum if you take the time to look.

I have a set of 16" OE takeoffs that I do no intend to use. I would let them go cheap. Being over here on the left coast shipping may get expensive to NJ. You may find a better deal locally. Let me know if interested.

Thanks for the response.

How much could you sell them for? Do you have any idea of how much the shipping would be?

I have been having a hard time finding any 16'' wheels in the NE...(that time of the year!)

Thanks,

Gustavo

PM sent.

Off the top of my head I can see the following issues with the turbo motor.

1) the turbo block is based upon the aircooled 964/993 engine and as such has a different bolt pattern for the flywheel. You would therefore need a custom flywheel fabricated to mate to the crank of the engine and the trans.

2) Again similar to trying to fit a GT3 engine, the 964/993 heritage of the the engine (dry sump engine) requires an external oil tank that won't fit as configured in the boxster and would need to be relocated.

3) Intercooler mounting, obviously won't fit where it does in the stock car. There was a guy in europe who had a turbo and the intercooler replaced the rear trunk. Anyway the intake and exhaust plumbiing would require some major fabrication.

I'm sure it could be done, but it would be considerably more work than the other engine swap options. I'm not selling the motor, I was interested to see if there was any interest in having me do a swap on someone's car with it. If not I will pick up a car to stick it into.

Todd

I think Todd is right. I saw a photo write up a while back of a guy who put a 996TT motor in a Boxter. He gave up his trunk space for all the TT plumbing and intercooler. I never heard how it all turned out though.

Keep it up Todd. The world needs more mavericks!

I have a set of 16" OE takeoffs that I do no intend to use. I would let them go cheap. Being over here on the left coast shipping may get expensive to NJ. You may find a better deal locally. Let me know if interested.

Check the sensor wires. Sounds like loose wires, chewed by rodent, heat damaged insulation etc.

The only reason to buy a beater is if it is really, really, really, cheap and you plan to continue the beating (race car). A totally pampered 99 is a keeper.

I got mine from Carmax. It was a very clean 1 owner car with a perfect dealer service history. I looked at 6 other pp cars and 2 other dealer cars and this one was the nicest by far. The sale was quick and painless and I paid cash (retail price). I am not one for extended warranties but I took advantage of the "5 day return no questions asked policy" and had the car PPI'd by a local Porsche specialist. He agreed it was a keeper. I could have bought a lot of cheaper P.P. cars... sometimes you get what you pay for. I have not been disappointed.

Carmax is a good choice for a fast, low risk, retail car purchase. I would use them again. Make other arrangements though for service and warranty. They know zero about Porsche, around here at least.

You may want to consider a 996 3.4L instead. It is a nearly direct replacement for your 2.5 so it may be cheaper in labor costs and mods. It will also add about 100hp to your car. If you need a new motor, why not a badazzz one?

Should I be getting 235/40 or 225/45? Thanks again guys

225/45/17 is the standard front tire in the Boxter spec racing series. That is the size I am currently running. I have not heard of anyone roasting a P/S pump using this tire size with street tires.

Yes, they will fit. Many others have done this. Do a careful inspection on all of your steering and suspension up front. The increased steering forces can cause other problems. Several guys on this board have overheated and fried the power steering pump by tracking their cars with supersize front rubber. A steering fluid cooler may be in order.

Mine usually runs between the "8" and the "0" in 180F on our terribly vague analog gauge. I have seen it above the "0" once on a long spirited hillclimb with air temp about 95F.

Question for anyone who has a 986, tracks it now and then, and has changed the front bumper from stock type to a GT2 or turbo type.

From what I can see, the stock configuration on my '03 (or an '04) states a drag coefficient of 0.31 - very sleek. The GT2 or 911 Turbo, while I recognise that it is a different body style, states a drag coefficient of 0.34 with the wing up and 0.31 or 0.30 with it retracted. This data seems consistant throughout the model line, so the frontal area configuration being base stock, GT2, Turbo, or GT3, does not seem to affect the drag coefficient at all. SO, it looks like it is a reasonable assumption that changing the 986 front bumper to a GT2 or Turbo style bumper will not change the drag coefficient, and therefore will not affect realized top speed.

Since none of us are Aerodynamicists, I'll put the question to those of you who have actually have ran a 986 in both configurations at high speeds (on a track I hope), do your experiences support this ?

Just no way to accurately measure drag without wind tunnel testing. Too many variables out on a track in different cars to even make a guess. No track in the US has a straight long enough to reach top speed in a 986 except Bonneville salt flats. From my experience with experimental aircraft, the nose with the finest, cleanest entry is usually the lowest drag. From a purely visual guess... the stock nose on a 986 is the cleanest. Will you ever notice the difference? Unlikely.

OK, how about this one........

From a post over on the Boxster Racing Board:

"Savowood, your 2.7 has a five speed with a 3.56:1 final drive...the five speed in the 2.5 Boxster has a 3.89:1 final drive...I'd bet (but I don't know for certain) that the ring and pinion from the 2.5 five speed would fit..."

Another racer confirmed that the R&P from the 2.5 would fit. A jump to a 3.89:1 FDR would definitely impact the acceleration positively. I would think it better for AX, and most of the tracks that DE's are run on as well, while still maintaining good "street-ability." I took a look and dCautomotive shows 2 part numbers for the 2.5L 35:9 rack and pinion: 012409143CA @ $668.89 and 012409143CQ @ 805.86. Not sure what the difference might be.

Opinions?

Try it! Just save your stock parts so if you don't like it you can always restore the original ratios.

My only beef with the 5 spd is that 1st gear is pretty tall so not much use for a big launch off the line. Most Auto-X courses around here are all 2nd and 3rd gear so 1st gear doesn't matter much to me. I would have no use for lower ratios or 6 spds. The guys going really fast do so because of their driving, not their gearing.