Qualified Pole

I just may order the .90, it must be lighter... just kidding. Thanks again!

Just looked up the MSRP in the handy-dandy reference document...YIKES. I am always surprised that parts cost 3x what I think they should. Probably would be just as bad with the Audi or tow vehicle. Email going out to Sunset...

Thank you, DC and Loren, for your quick replies. I was looking for the part number for 28, which is 997 551 033 00 A10 according to DC's post. I wonder what is the difference between 997 551 033 00 A10 and 997 551 033 90 A10?

Can anyone tell me the part number for the package shelf carpet and foam part for a 2007 GT3 (NOT an RS). It's the carpet and foam part that sits on top of the electronics (behind where the rear seatbacks would be if the GT3 had them) that you must remove/cut up to put in a roll-bar that mounts to the rear shock tower mounts? Thank you very much, Michael

I think by tenders, he means helper springs. My $0.02 is that you don't need them on a race/track setup like the one mentioned. I haven't upgraded my suspension yet, but based upon 997 GT3s I've ridden in/driven on the track, I would go for a slightly higher spring rate than what the OP mentioned maybe 900/1000 or 950/1050 or 1100.

Nice car but you could order a new one today for less than US$162,260 (today's exchange rates) even with a $20k markup (which I don't think you have to pay these days). I could be wrong but since the new RS is about to be available, these very high premiums being asked over a regular 997 GT3 are probably unobtainable from buyers. By the way, how did your motor blow? Oiling problem? The GT3 or GT3RS is much stiffer than a C2S in sport mode and lower to the ground. Will it be uncomfortable?--not to me but I do have to be careful on the lousy roads in Massachusetts. BUT, and this is simply my opinion, buying the 3 or 3RS is a needless waste of money if you are looking for a daily driver rather than a track car. In addition, since there is no weather sealing underneath the car (that's why GT3 variants have a short rust-through warranty in the States, anyway), driving the GT3 in winter will rapidly shorten its life span. Differences between a GT3 and GT3RS can be found with a search but the big items are the slightly wider track in the RS, lightweight flywheel, and rear spoiler. Your best bet is getting a crate motor replacement from Porsche for your C2S cab. Unless you are a track junky AND don't mind driving your winter car more during the shoulder seasons, I suggest you stay away from the GT3 and GT3RS.

From a practical perspective, and in my experience, there is no noticeable impact on braking on the track. There are some suggestions for those of who switch, here: click here.

From personal experience, the RS29's are an excellent pad for a 997 GT3 for the track and they are a different compound from the stock pad (on a 997 GT3, anyway), although they look very similar. They work well, and seem relatively gentle on the rotors. Any pad will eventually eat through rotors and with the cross drilled rotors, you are going to have cracking long before you wear through them, so I wouldn't consider rotor wear as a decision point. You should get 2-3 sets of pads per set of rotors, but rotors are a wear item and a critical part of your braking performance, so you may wish to add that cost into your mental track budget. Regarding streetability, the RS29s are OK on the street, but squeaky and need to warm up before they get good bite. They're easy enough to change (at least the fronts), that you should switch back to your stock pads when leaving the track. That's what I do, anyway.

Not to be Captain Obvious, but how about taking some camber out in the rear? Also don't forget to think about your toe settings--my stock 997 GT3 (non-RS) suspension squats on those soft springs and rubbery control arms, so stuff is wiggling around back there. Try taking 0.5 degree of camber out in the rear and see what that does--it helped for me. Then take tire temps after hard accel/soft brake runs and vice versa at a shorter track and figure out what's going on. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but will get there eventually. Or, maybe someone reading here has already done that...

I do not understand what information you desire. If you are looking for settings, here was the starting point I used for a 997 GT3, given to me by another GT3 owner: front: sway bar 1 from full soft, -2.5 deg. camber, -0.05deg. (toe-out), caster is non-adjustable rear: sway bar in the middle, -2deg. camber , +0.16 deg. toe-in per wheel I also decreased ride height slightly.

Your car's pistons' rings move inside cylinders on a thin layer of oil. Cut the bottom from 2 cans, spray the inside of the cans with an oil of your choice, then leave 1 can lying on its side, and put the other can vertically on a plate. Wait 4 hours and look inside both cans. The one on the side is like your Porsche's cylinder with some engine oil pooled waiting for you to start up your engine and give you a little smoke show. The one standing up vertically on the plate will be practically empty, with the fluid all down on the plate. Most motors' cylinders are angled toward the sky, so the oil drips down into the sump, or at least out of the combustion area, down past the rings through gaps in the rings such as these (see the red arrows on the picture of a piston, although the one I took a picture of is not from a P-car).

+1 I used a plastic putty knife inserted on the top edge of the black plastic where it inserts into the spoiler to help it along. I don't think you can damage the spoiler attached to the car by just pulling on the "lip" because the black lip friction tabs would likely just round/deform on the way out, but I did not want to verify that when removing mine.

It's perfectly normal. Horizontal cylinders don't allow the oil to drain down like a more vertical alignment does. My wet sump 996s blew smoke on startup rarely, but my dry sump 996 GT3 did it randomly and my current 997 GT3 does it with slightly greater frequency. I had 21,000 miles on the 996 GT3 when I sold it and there was no problem. My 997-3 has about 3,800 miles on it and has smoked occasionally since new. I blew a nice 1/2 car-sized cloud yesterday on startup. Don't worry, just enjoy.

Sorry for the delay, I just saw this. If you are still looking, I have one set of new-in-bag 4 degree shims I never used before I sold the 6GT3. $25 shipped. PM me if interested. Ordered them just prior to your post. Thanks anyway. No problem, I haven't thought about them until I saw the your thread. I have some other 996 stuff laying around as well that I need to post in the classifieds. Time for some spring cleaning.

Sorry for the delay, I just saw this. If you are still looking, I have one set of new-in-bag 4 degree shims I never used before I sold the 6GT3. $25 shipped. PM me if interested.

By your re-statement, I think you are going to need more expertise/experience than I can offer. I am still trying to figure out why my compression and rebound setting changes frequently do not do what I think they should. That said, I am reasonably sure (wait for a more knowledgeable responder or second opinion) that the percentages mean the amount of torque difference between the wheels on acceleration/deceleration. Obviously, you would want more difference allowed during deceleration. There is a reasonably easy to understand differential tuning blurb here, but be sure to note that the number shown are not %ages, they are ramp angles. The higher the ramp angle, the greater the difference allowed. Excellent technical article that helped me with understanding %ages. Please share what you learn.

A limited slip differential allows the drive wheels to put power down through and out of corners and improves control by ensuring that torque is applied to both rear (in a GT3) wheels. To understand how and why an LSD works, it is useful to first understand how an open diff works and why it is needed, then compare/contrast. Here is some reading: Wikipedia link Car Bibles link (go to differential section, 3/4 of way down)

^ +1 As clord points out, even bouncing off the rev limiter does nothing to the engine. Of course, you should always try to shift before that, but if you hit it, it did its job. You know when you hit the rev limiter because the car stutters. If you hit it, you know it. The second kind of over-rev--it used to be called the type-2 with the 996, but now with the 997 there are a number of types over 2,3,4..., with each one being progressively worse--is the one to stay away from. But, even that being said, these motors are strong and conventional wisdom says that you really need to make a big mistake before you cause major damage. In summary: don't worry. Michael

Congratulations! ...possibly on two fronts since it sounds like this may be your first Porsche, as well as your first GT3. There may be faster in magazine comparisons, but as a complete package, P-cars have yet to be beat in my experience. You made a great choice. I would highly recommend getting the suspension setup checked and then taking it out to some autocross then onto the track. New Jersey Motorsports Park is almost done and Pocono is near and while not a Watkins Glen or Mont Tremblant, a good place to stretch the GT3's legs and practice your driving skills. If you are an accomplished track driver, it pays learn the car's strengths and drive to them. If you are just beginning, be patient and start slow as inverterman points out, the GT3 is an amazing track vehicle but requires respect. The Porsche Club of America (PCA) and their Autocross and Drivers Education programs are an excellent and inexpensive way to get started. But be careful, once the needle is in, you will need more and your checkbook will take a beating. By the way, if you join PCA you can become a member of any region, but your local one in Chester is Riesentoter. One note about your intended use. I highly recommend the car as a daily driver but know that there is no undercoating or sealing anywhere under the car (at least there wasn't on my 2004 GT3), so if you do drive in salt and snow you need to be especially vigilant about cleaning it well very frequently. The stitch-welds are beautiful underneath the car and it would be a pity to see rust take hold. Enjoy and good luck!

It would be worth checking with Sunset since I don't know if anything has changed in the last two months, but previously, dealers had no parts numbers or ability to order them. Please let us know what you find out.

Thanks, Nick_USA, those are the same numbers I last saw. lbp, was that an '08? White987S, thanks, I never looked. The $128k number must be what the MSRP would be without their hedge...or it's just a typo.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. The MSRP was $106,000 last year, has it gone up 20%?

The MY08 fact book that Loren recently posted shows the base 997 GT3 MSRP at $128,300, and the RS at $161,435. Are those numbers typos? Does anyone have any data points?

Norman, Loren's DIY tells you how to bleed using a power bleeder. But, keep your car serviced and don't worry about brake fluid, tires, etc. until you start outdriving (or in my case, overdriving) your equipment. Presuming you're driving a GT3 or RS around the track, congratulations! Your equipment should be fine until you start overbraking or really get going fast enough that you need to put that much heat into the braking system. You will know you need to bleed your brakes by your pedal starting to feel soft when you are braking. Don't worry, this is not something you have to be looking for, you will know when it happens. And, it is simply compensated for by [a] pushing harder and then pumping the brake pedal in an extreme situation. That said, learn the line, be smooth and make sure your brakes have been bled within your region's requirements. Regarding definitions, bleeding as I use it means getting the air and any contaminated fluid out of your calipers and close vicinity. In my vocabulary, flush means replacing as much old fluid for new, as can be done, plus a little extra to make sure you have as much air and water out of your brake and clutch system as possible. BTW, all brake fluid is hygroscopic (it absorbs moisture), and the pedal goes soft because the water boils and becomes vapor and vapor compresses (this is where the soft pedal comes from), whereas liquids do not.

For a couple more data points, here are the Dry/Wet boiling points in degrees Fahrenheit: Castrol SRF: 590 / 518 Motul 600: 594 / 421 ATE SupBlue: 536 / 396