rsfeller

I'll have to check that out for sure as I do have a new slight vibration at a couple of rpm ranges, that would explain a bit.

Did you have to take it apart for the paint job or did they do a great job with it in one piece?

Good info. You bring up a good point on giving it time to "settle" to a new car. Even adjusting the side allen bolts a couple times over time may help the fit conform with temp changes and adjusting to the new ride. The top is a different color (silver) and our car is black. If we decide to buy it we were going to drive it for the first winter and then let our oppinion of the mismatch sink in. There is a guy in Columbus with yellow boxster with a black hard top and it works for that car and color combo. Of course us getting this and painting it is based on the price we haggle! So you live in NH how much do you drive your car in the winter? Got snow tires? This is our 3rd car but my wife's Saab is going on 12 years (220K miles) and starting to give us headaches so we want to make sure the Porsche could suit us for a couple days in the winter if needed.

there is a used hard top in my area for sale locally. was from a non-wrecked 2002 boxster and I have a 1997. What issues will there be related to fitting the first model year? Adjusting windows for "good fit"? If so will I have to re adjust from winter to summer each season or is the quality/fit very good? Any other comments of those who bought hard tops NOT with their orginal car purchase would be appricated. EDIT: OK I did find more posts when I searched "smarter". So I did find this great post on install: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...&hl=hardtop But I am curious if anyone out there is disappointed in their hard top after tweaking it. Shawn

I got the same problem you do and the fact my fabric is 100% just frustrates me to replace the entire top. Mine cracked in 65F weather and it didn't even crack where the plastic was white from other creases...it just ripped in an odd place. I would be really pissed too if you pick the wrong discount installer and get a crap install job. paying $1000 for a new top install is somewhat cheap but rather expensive for a cut rear window and a car with a good top! I haven't had it done yet but I did speak with my boat canvas guy last week. He didn't even cough at the request since I explained you can unhook the rear of the window assembly (engine maintance mode). He said if he hand sews it in he can do the over/under sticking with that type of access. He claims some convertible designers are far harder. He also is quoting me about $200 for marine grade isenglass. Why so cheap? Becuase I live in the midwest in rural Ohio! Before those of you who have far more money then me or are Porsche mega-purists thumb your noses at me, you ought to see the fix job he did on my boat camper top two years ago. amazing work at any price, a true artist! Lastly I have the auto up/down top module. Although this module rocks for getting caught in poor weather but I don't recommend blindly just hitting "open" and driving away w/o see what crease may be developing in the wrong place. my damage was done before I had time to notice. Shawn

left turns i've had this light thunk sound. almost as if a softball was rolling around in the trunk and hit the left side. now i noticed the sounds imply putting the car in reverse and backing out of the garage in the morning. what is going on with the suspension here? are the boxsters really know for cheap struts or such? just and issue with mcpherson struts (is that the design?). only 65K miles and the fronts rattle like crazy and now this. i have a fleet of other cars with 200K+ miles all running the original suspension. Shawn

This is the Bobby that old John is slamming every chance he gets. I thought I should say something in my defense. This kit was purchased as a ROW and sold as one. Why didn't old John do all of this investigating and emailing before he made the purchase. This auction went on for a week. I've sold over 200+ Porsche parts ranging from $5 to $10,000 and not one problem. Again I tell you John, if you want a refund return the parts and I will be happy to refund you but I am not paying for the shipping or the cost associated with the eBay add. If you think paypal will do better your in the wrong. Cheers, Bobby It is frustrating to get called out in public but I don't see a slam here yet. His concerns are valid as I looked at this auction and though the items were as stated ROW 030. We all buy and sell on ebay and if you sell many items to the public accidents are bound to happen. I think so far is angle for research and discussion is how most of us would react.

I think I recall seeing this on ebay, it was a great buy now price...assuming it was honest. If in fact he was incorrect about the parts you should share his username...especially if a regular porsche parts seller so we all know to stay away from his auctions...

Yes I did quite a bit of racing in my youth...when I thought I was invinceable. The rollover was in my truck on the way to work. A woman on her cel phone totally blew a red light and T-boned me at the drivers side rear wheel and over I went. Just a few scratches and bruises. No serious injuries to either driver. We were very blessed. It was a pretty wild ride though and it could happen to anyone. It can happen to anyone, i was thinking you have done it quite a few times on the road! I have an uncle that has totaled 3 corvettes in 20 years on the road (not track) and he is a very dangerous man to allow on the streets! Searched for Recaro and the cheapest leather is going to run about $1300 each (x2 for looks) and it will take some serious research to determine if the back is considerably higher! Does anyone know of a chain in the midwest that "stocks" Recaro in a showroom?

We'll when money is no object you got a good point. If you have been in that many roll-over you are a danger to society! or do you track race quite a bit? My seats are mint condition so it would be a bummer to have to spend that kind of money just to get a seat thats 2" higher but I could defer the cost with my good seats...and even then who know sure w/o mounting them if they will do the trick. Like I said I'm blown away this car went out the factory door with nobody concerned about the factory seat being such a liability!

Can I borrow three grand?

heat close to the back not the roof or front...leaning back gangsta style is in fact when the head meets the bar!

wow there is more room in the 987! Looks like your wife really enjoys youre shoeless driving skills!

No question that I would agree we are all different but again I'm standard size in my circle of friends and family but I really believe if you push your head back being 2" inches taller then me that you head must touch the roll bar slightly. Now apply 30,000lbs of force from being rearended and see how they connect...say ouch!

Standard car adjustments were no surprise to me.... nor do I see how adjusting the steering wheel could help my head vs. roll bar concern!

You need to buy a Boxster 987. You will fit much better! :) I am 6'2" and am worried that the rear crown of my head would bash open if I was ever to get hit. I have thought about swapping out my seats for something sportier and taller! Since the FEDs get so fired up about far minsignificantcant recalls for safety I'm very surprised they don't consider this a major concern! They must have used dummies that were 5'5" to test the cars!

simular issue for me but I was hoping there was a fix that didn't require window adjustment or rubber replacment. Bentley shows the procedure for the movement of the window in all directions. I think pressure back toward the driver (angle) is an important as moving it foward toward the seal. I have to replace a window regulator next week and will get baptized in window adjustment. I'll let you know if I solve my leading edge window noise.

If they fixed it for the Cayman then I have to say Boo to Porsche for not getting it right the first time for the American and Scandinavian markets (the tall freaks of the world now!) in the boxster. An extra inch in any direction makes a huge difference to rider comfort. I personally think the bottom bolsters pinch to much which raises me a good inch more then needed. Even the wife at 5'4" (120lbs) agrees the butt is tight. Since the width from door to drive tunnel is so narrow the rider would be held in nicely for spirted driving w/o the bolster having to be so tight! If I could get the seat to drop one more inch I would be heaven and feel safe too! I personally don't have issues with the visor or headliner with the top up, to my surprise. I was disappointed with the scrary feeling of skull to roll bar though. All they would have to do is raise the seat back slightly to accommodate that concern. At 6' I am only two inches above normal for the US but I'm sure I"m still in an acceptable range of norm that Porsche had to of considered!

Before I bought my Boxster I read a review of some Road&Track or Autoweek review where the driver claimed to be 6"3" and amazed that he was comfortable in the Boxster. I'm 6'0" and although the ride fit is not to bad I have to have the seat 100% back and tonight I noticed that my head would be smashed into the rear roll bar if in a frontal or rear incident. The seats are not tall enough to protect the whiplash affect, basically the seat fits into the rollbar and thus no protection. Anyone else have these concerns or know of any bad accidents to support this theory. Shawn

It does but the high/normal gauge temps are odd to me.

Don't laugh when your dad is right. Hopefully he is correct! That would be the cheap and easy route for sure! Again he agrees that a temp gauge showing full temp is not normal (usually a they are noticably low) for a failed thermostat and many people on this board and others have suggested the often failed mix flap! We'll see...

Hi Loren. We'll tonight was the first night ever that it "almost" felt hot (acceptable), but that would have been from idling in the open garage for 15+ minutes! I do have a thermal sensor gun that I will check in detail tomorrow to compare to the actuals as you state. Since I don't think quick "on the fly" with celcius I really didn't digest all the temperature values while outside. Since I'm now inside and converted them to fahrenheit I do see a couple of odd (to me), things: 1. Inside Temp 31C (87.8F) with windows rolled down in 50F outside temp while ACC was at 82-84F 2. Outlet Temp 49C (120.2F) also seems high, but I don' t know where the outlet sensor is to consider its reading. A thermal will NOT get a similar reading at the vent. When the ACC is set by me to 84F the mix flap is at 99% as expected yet the INSIDE TEMP claims 87.8F which should move the mix flap somewhere between 1-75% to start lowering the temp. I do note if I set the ACC to 74F then yes the mix does go to 20-30%. A couple of questions: What is the OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE (A/C REGULATOR) all about? I'm guessing this is a engine area temp sensor maybe on the compessor? And how this varible figure into the system? What do you think of my thermostat theory? Are the 2.5L in fact this cold blooded? I note my Saab V6 (3.0L) is warm in 4-5 minutes and putting out considerable heat in 5-7minutes after leaving home. It's also up to drive temp in that time period. I understand the Boxster has longer runs to the radiator but even my Vanagon (nothing has longer runs then a Vw Vanagon!) was warm in 5-7 minutes! The thermostat should be cheap so I should order it and take that posiblity out of my head. I've got a pit at work and it looks easy to do on the Boxster. EDIT UPDATE: OK, I couldn't stand the wait so I went back out and got the car warmed up. I waited for the fan to kick in and then took some "real readings" and compared them to Durametrics ACTUAL VALUES. At this time it appears I have heat. Either: 1. The software reset something and now the mix flap works (doubt that's it) 2. The thermostat is stuck open and I an only get heat while at idle. Motion causes the stuck open thermostat to keep the coolant temp to low while in motion as the radiator does its job to the open system. Tomorrow I'm going to take the laptop on the road and drive to work. I'll pull over quickly 1/2 way and check the ECTS temp to see how cool I really am (or not) at 60mph speeds. Why do I think it may be the thermostat even knowing the dash gauge temp seems ok? at 195.8F ECTS (coolant temp) I show the following computer values: 95F inside temp 125.6F outlet temp while my thermal gun shows temps up to 138.5F inside the center vent, 128F at the drivers side vent and a old school chef's thermometer stuck in the vent shows 110F. I would guess those temps are acceptable enough to see the heat is working (at the moment). To get comparison I went and fired up the Saab and ran to the video store. After that run and 5 minutes of idle in the drive I took the following readings at the center vent: Highest temp inside vent with thermal-gun was 124F Highest temp at dash around event was 98F Outside temp 34F Chef's thermometer in vent 110F therefor these temps after a sustained warm up period are not even as high as some of the porsche valus! Lastly, my Dad is laughing at me. I told him on the phone tonight my project with this. He thinks its funny with all my electronic gimzos on the car and my software I'm over looking what was obviously a bad thermostat to him! He drives a 1986 Chevy truck with a 305 V8!

As Loren had pointed out Durametric upgraded their software recently which gave me the ability to see real time values for the automatic AC system. (their software rocks and is well worth the money http://www.durametric.com/) I have had lack of heat (warm at best) from the system and that is ONLY when I turn the auto/AC (snowflake) off. Additionally I run at 180-190F so I ruled out thermostat, plus the coolant level is correct. So as was proposed it could be the air mix flap, a failure trend. The Duremtric software shows the full range of motion I would expect for the Mix Flap. 99% for on HI and 1% on LOW an a constant mix in the middle when that temp is selected. Additionally the footwell/defrost flap and central air flap all appear to be working correcty. As far as I can tell the entire automated system is working correctly. No error codes So today in Ohio it as 32-38F and w/o the wonderful seat heater it would have been a bit cold. I noted on the way home that after a 5-7 minute 25-45mph ride the engine was still on 100-120F and it would be about 10 minutes on the freeway before it got to 180F, so a total of 15-20 minutes before 180F coolant temp was reached. After 30 minutes (I'm home!) I was at 185-190F. After idling in the garage for 15 minutes while I run the software it did finally start to get warmer in the car (which the values show a ECTS of 91C (195F), but again with the AC/Auto off. I did hear the coolant fan cycle, so I know that ECTS temp should be accurate. So is that rather slow warm up temps on the road in this weather with the 2.5L? Could I be battling a bad thermostat? That is the usual issue in the average world of cars but again 180F usually means enough coolant temp for internal heat! Any other ideas? Lastly what is ECTS (what does it stand for) listed in the AC Actual Values list, it showed a temp of 91C , best I can tell that is the coolant temp of the system which would be 195.8F Examples of Durametric output attached:

I seem to recall seeing a post on a fix for this but now I cannot find it. Mirror was fine the first month I've had the car but now above 55mph there is wind noise which comes from the mirror area. Before everyone says "adjust the glass" with the adjustments on the bottom is there a simple fix for this? The seal appears good on around the mirror area.

Brain, I am a couple hours away for sure but if you find yourself up my way I'd be happy to reset it my my durametric software. Most likly (this happened to me) you have the common concern with the seat belt lock having a problem with poor contacts. There was a TSB on this and lots of info on renntech.org if you do the search. I figured I was due for the fix or the cleaning at the least as the codes I pulled from the SRS light being on where related to this. I reset the codes (SRS) and have not had it return in over a month now...and I didn't even do the contract cleaning. I live in Mt. Gilead and work in Mansfield Ohio. Don't know if you travel up 71 at all from Columbus to Cleveland, as we are 45 to 60 minutes north of Columbus. We are in Columbus regularly too. Shawn