mee

There was a box guy named barry....

And out came a chevy....

Cool. AWD too, eh?

Any reason (other than cost :o ) that kept you from going with a 3.8L? From what I've read, you'd have the same VarioCam+ problems with the 3.6L or 3.8L. There is a guy on 6speed for whom FVD is doing a 3.8L swap into an early Boxster (eGas I believe), but they changed the ECU to a 7.8, and it seems like changing everything else to go along with it is complex/taking quite a bit of effort. Either here or on Rennlist, there is a guy who had made a controller to handle the VarioCam+. I can dig for it if you haven't seen it. I also really wish there was an intake manifold that would fit without having to lower the engine. Good luck with this conversion. I'm particularly interested to see how it goes. :notworthy:

Thanks a LOT for the additional pictures. The fabric looks like stock to me. The crease around the window does look a little strange, but it's probably due to the way it has to fold. One thing that looks different than the GAHH and BAS is the molding around the window. The Robbins is flat fabric. The GAHH has plastic molding that sticks out a fair amount and looks like it will collect dirt. The BAS has a thick rubber surround. The defroster lines look good. It seems the window molding is the tell-tale way to determine which of the 3 tops I'm looking at when I see one in real life or try to determine who is selling what.

here you go.....

Thanks very much for the Robbins pix. These are the first I've seen. Do you have a close-up of the seam/edge and defroster lines by any chance?

2000 S, 39K miles, 6-speed manual.

The shift action when cold (below 60 degrees) is horrible, but improves to an acceptable level once the transmission has warmed up. Despite that, it doesn't shift anywhere as good as my '99 Boxster did with 34K miles.

Is there perhaps a better fluid I could add for smoother shifts? I've used Redline MTL or Gear oil in previous cars.

The 6-speed is a completely different tranny than the 5-speed and shifts worse. Since you're out of warranty anyway, bag the conventional gear lube that Porsche puts in. Redline synthetic (forget the exact "gear lube", but it's GL5) is an improvement due to better temperature stability. MT90 is better, and MTL better still. MT90 and MTL are for transaxles which is what we have (with synchro friction enhancers), but are GL4. MTL is slightly thinner and gives you more of that "warmed-up" feeling. When MTL is really warmed up, it shifts like a good Japanese tranny.

There is some debate as to whether Porsche requires GL4 or GL5. GL5 offers better load (shear?) protection, but the additives are supposed to be more corrosive on the synchros (brass/soft metals) than GL4. I am more worried about synchro wear due to the crappy shifting and missed/grinding gears than load because I don't take my car to the drag strip every Sunday, and I believe the "S" tranny is used (a derivative) in the 911s which have a lot more power. Even the 5 speed Audi/VW trannies have held up to 3.4L swaps and supercharging. I have never read of someone blowing up their tranny.

For me, synchro life and shifting (which is pretty much a no-go show-stopper with the car) were more important. This info is from memory since I did my S many years ago. YMMV. All regular disclaimers apply. You get what you pay for, etc., ...

I also think edevlin's post is pretty representative/typical of what to expect. From posts I've read over the years, 285 HP (give or take) sounds like the upper end with bolt-ons. I don't think you'll get 300 HP unless you take the engine apart.

Steve, please post your results. I had a battery outgass and the vent tube is right over the same nut/fitting (stupid place, huh?) that you are replacing. I know if I ever touch that nut, it's going to round off, so I will have to replace the whole line at some point. Maybe, I'll do it the next time I flush the lines.

Yeah! Someone who agrees with me. 'insite' has it right. Intake and exhaust air has mass. You want that air mass moving along at a smooth and swift speed. If you keep changing the pipe diameters in the "system" that mass has to keep slowing down and speeding up. If that mass has a high velocity, it has high intertia to use for filling combustion chambers on the way in as the valves close and for scavenging on the way out.

Of coure, even higher velocity could be achieved using pea shooter-sized exhaust pipes, of course ;) however that is where friction with the walls becomes too high and increases back pressure. Changing pipe diameters, though, causes impedance mismatches in the flow and increases back pressure. The same thing for too many bends/kinks, etc. What many people do with a "bigger is better" strategy is wind up with increased "back pressure" even though the component by itself has less back pressure.

IMNSHO, engines never need back pressure. With that said, however, engines are optimized around a given set of parameters. The HP differences you're talking, though, are minimal and likely to be well within what the ECU can adapt. As Topless mentions, you can only remove bottlenecks in one place so far then a bottleneck somewhere (intake) takes over. I don't think that is the case here. I wouldn't be surprised if the Gemballa muffler just "sucks". There have been plenty of mufflers that sounded great but lost HP.

Not on my Boxster, but on another car, I ran into fuel starvation, but that was only at WOT doing a 1/4 mile run coming out of second. I don't think a clogged fuel filter would affect low-RPM. I like your theory that you sucked up some gunk/water/goo that's been your tank for almost 10 years. Probably a good idea to change the filter, but I would run a few bottles (across a few tanks) of fuel cleaners, etc., and see if that helps.

D2S xenon bulbs are 4100K (D2R bulbs are 4000K). That single number does not in any way represent the total spectrum of light output from a conventional xenon bulb. Halogen will never be able to match it independent of whatever fakey coatings they put on the bulb to give it a blue or purple tint.

I had some PIAA 4500K bulbs in mine, and they looked absolutely stupid. The light output is less than the standard bulb, and it made everything look blue. It was like you were wearing some kind of weird blue sunglasses (at night). I wound up putting in some Philips (import) bulbs which were a little better than stock -- 5 to 10% brighter and a little whiter -- but still nowhere near matching my Litronics. Avoid anything that physically has a blue or purple tint on it.

Normally, the ends of the tubes are split. In pic #3, yours look short. Maybe your installer cut the ends off thinking it would make the install go easier? In any case, they should have just cut some new slots in the pipe so it would be just like it was before or like the OEM muffler. Because the ends, now, are not split, there is nothing crimping the muffler onto the pipes, so something will probably work loose or leak. Where'd you have the work done? I think you got a doofus. No problem with installing my Dansk. It could have been a factory defect, but easy to remedy rather than the convoluted half-solution your installer came up with. This will give you an idea of what the split end looks like: http://www.stuttgart.co.uk/cargraphic/986e...es/986exh_m.jpg

The 986 hood badge is a nice touch!

Great document! Lots of info. Still digesting ;) Thanks!

Andy M,

How'd it go? I am thinking of just doing the door speakers to something better. What depths/specs did you find for the door speakers? I was also considering doing some "exploratory surgery" to find out what space/size I have to work with. Is removing the door panels a PITA? Any advice/suggestions appreciated.

Thanks!

I get between 14 and 24 and 20 typical which is about 75% freeway. I also avoid sitting in traffic like the plague.

Gas cost is insignificant once you factor in other costs such as tire costs*, insurance, depreciation, maintenance, etc. You bought the car to enjoy it, so enjoying it as much as you can actually brings down the cost/smile.

* An interesting but depressing calculation is to figure out how much $ you put into tires every time you fill up. Then, you can do the same for insurance, etc. You'll care a lot less about MPG if you do.

The issue with the 3.6 and the Cayman 3.4 engine is control of the Variocam plus in these engines.

Todd

Hmmm.... so if I'm looking for an engine transplant for my 2000 S, the just about only option available would be the 996 3.4l? That is without replacing the entire electrical system that's needed to support the 996 3.6l or the Cayman 3.4l ones.

Todd's info sounds right. There are a few places that have some "extra" for controlling the VarioCam Plus on the earlier 7.2 Motronic. I think one was FVD and the other was some racing outfit that had made a controller for some tuner (Roock?) that went out of business or stiffed them or something. Take the preceding with a grain of salt, but apparently some people have found a solution. I'm pretty sure I saw those posts over on Rennlist.

Please post your results. I am currently in the process of evaluating Revo myself and am very familiar with their offering. Just for fun, here is PowerChip's dyno. Doesn't look like any Boxster dyno I've ever seen. Can you say Excel?

...but how did they get the Boxster S from 252 HP in 2000 to 280 HP in 2005 wihle still keeping the engine at 3.2 litres? I have a suspicion that the wonderful world of electronics may provide an answer.

Your suspicion is likely wrong ;)

In '03, Porsche changed to an improved version of the VarioCam to take the 3.2L from 250 to 258 HP. The intake airbox is also a restrictive design. In 2004 with the SE, Porsche added 6 HP from the improved intake to take the 3.2L to 264 HP. Another well-known bottleneck is the exhaust which is basically sized for the 2.5L. In 2005, Porsche added another 16 HP primarily due to the exhaust. I doubt Porsche's electronic tuning did anything along the way other than let the engine take advantage of the other improvements.

Based on my emails/conversations with PowerChip, they are a joke.

I recently had some dents taken out of my trunk. I figured I'd put them in there from changing my oil filler tube (which is a PITA), driving too fast with too much junk in the trunk, or something. But, there were no scratches, etc., either, and they weren't outies. The way the dent-fix-it guy explained was that the bracing on the bottom side of the trunk is glued to the sheet metal. If the hood is stressed, then the glued pieces cause the sheet metal to have weird dents/buckles because the 2 pieces cannot move independently. He wound up cutting the adhesive out between the 2 pieces (carefully), and then doing the regular dent repair. I can't tell now, but it cost a couple hundred $. Are the dents right by the cross-bracing?

No, they will not directly fit. The fronts will, but the rears will not due to different parking brake arrangements. If you surf, you will find a couple of people who have done different modifications to get the rears to work--one modifying the S brakes/rotors and the other modifying the stock side.

I have not tried the strut bars, but I am 100% with 986Jim. I think the ones that swear by strut bars are either selling them or believe in snake oil. By FAR, the biggest limitation to the 986 is not the flex at the ends, it's the flex in the middle. Unless, you're building a track car with a cage, stick to swaybars. As others have noted, the front has built-in strut bars and the rear is already darn stiff with the roll bar and the whole mid-section/firewall. The GT3/Cup cars don't need them even with a seam-welded coupe chasis. With a convertible, further stiffening those areas would be pointless.

Does the '97 Boxster have a 1-button remote? I found reference to a 1-button remote somewhere.

Mine is a 2-button remote. I'm trying to find out what flavors of 2-button remotes there are. The part number I listed in the post above is actually the innards of a CGT key head. 2 dealers have tole me they can't program it to my car. I think they just hear CGT and go "Whoa, I dunno. Can't do it." But, it is actually a 996 key with the tag number above.

I know there are at least 2 versions of innards in the Boxster 2-button keys. I'm trying to figure out if the one used in the 996 keyhead is the same as one of the Boxster 2-button innards. If so, I should be able to get it programmed to my car. It is a 315MHz version and the programming codes on the key tag have the same number of digits, etc., as my Boxster key.

I do not have a 3 button remote to play around with yet to see if there is any difference. The key head in my picture is a 996 2 button.

Tool Pants, is this for your 986? I have a 996 2-button remote 996.637.244.42, but the dealers say they can't program it to my '00 986. I think they are just don't know.

Do a search. Somewhere there is a post on MAFs. For 2000, you have to check the VIN # to see if you have the old eGas or newer eGas MAF since it changed mid-year. The post has the VIN #s to check. If you have the old MAF, the post says you have to have the ECU set to reflect the newer version.

Thanks for doing a lookup the other way (for what models the parts are used in). You obviously have more info than me. Fantastic help as always.