CoreyNJ

I have the factory painted bumperetts on my 03 Carrera.

Here's the advantage.... When someone bumps you(as happened to me a week ago) and they have a rubber bumper, all you have to do is clean the rubber off the paint. However if you have unpainted bumperetts, you will scuff the rubber which can't be buffed out.

Disadvantage, when someone bumps you with a painted or metal bumper or their license plate hits your bumperette, you will have damage that can't be buffed out easily and you will need to either repaint or get new ones then repaint. With the unpainted if you need new bumperetts, they are relativly cheap and easy to install.

No tinted windows, but I use the stoner window cleaner, from pep boys....

As for wax, that's a very interesting topic....(I have midnight blue)

I use 2 coats of rejex(bought it online from mfr) as a base, then I use zymol(the real stuff) to take out any light scratches, if that doesn't work then I use 3m stuff(depending on the scratch, I might use scratch and swirl remover or light compound). I tried the blue tinted turtle wax(same as sonax), it worked great, but could got blue everywhere(i.e. clothes, sunroof trim).

On the rejex front, it's a polymer that needs to setup between coats, I even use it on the glass and the rims, and it makes it very difficult for dirt and bird droppings to stick.

On my orient red boxster, I used zymol or meguires gold class, while gold class looked great, it had nothing to remove light scratches and only lasted a few weeks.

To get back on topic.

The 99' 996 models were known for the "floaty" front-end with the standard US suspension. This was corrected in the US models to some extent in 2002 and newer models.

Porsche marketing spec'd the US standard suspension to be lighter and higher than the "ROW" or european suspension due to percieved typical US buyer preferences for a 70k+ sports car.

This is why Porsche offers 2 additional suspension options in the US, the 030(sport suspension,at a very small cost when ordered with the car and at the same height as the standard suspension) and the x74(GT-3 suspension for track use, though some use it on the street).

As to why your EVO actually handles better, I would actually doubt it, even the stock 996 suspension can out corner most sports sedans, though it may not feel the way you expect a sports car to feel. My old boxster(almost no body roll) seemed to handle better than my Carrera, but I can take turns at a much higher speed in my Carrera even though it appears to have more roll.

On the track however, the stiffer suspension(i.e. 030 or X74) provides more predictability and in the case of the ROW 030 and the X74, increased downforce by changing the cars height and angle dynamics.

I would have a porsche dealer or someone familiar with the year of your car drive it to determine if you have excessive floating or is it the norm for that year. If you wish to completly remove the "float" and would like a more sporty suspension, then I would recommend the 030, in european height(ROW) if clearance is not an issue(US buyers apparently do not want to scrape their cars).

If you plan on tracking the car, you should get the x74 suspension installed or the aftermarket PSS9(height and rate adjustable suspension) or anyone with a "sporty" 996 will wipe the floor with you.

Another way of looking at it, is from the 997 perspective...

The 997 is no sloucher 0-60 in less than 5 sec, top speed around 180, but it does not have the sport suspension std, it's setup for cruzin....

The 997S is only 3mph faster on the top and .2-.3 sec faster 0-60, but can run the "ring" in much faster times because it offers either an active "sport" suspension or a no-cost track sport suspension.

Same car, different trim level and made for a different audience.

So I'm starting to think it's not a design fault the RMS problem, but an issue with the mobile 1 fill from the factory(I wonder what the engineers spec'd before marketing got involved).

Synthetic oil has a tendancy to do this kind of stuff, like slipping past threads(used to happen all the time with syntech(spelling?) on my 930 turbo back in the late 80's.

Yep, unlike the PCM1 which was part becker and part siemens, the PCM2 is all Becker

3.0 software is only for late 04' pcm units. A question, do you lock your car. I think it may not fully power off unless the car is locked also. Even though it should not kill the battery after such a short period of time as the screen turns off after 1/2 hour of car not running.

Let me know...

Have them upgrade the software in the PCM2 to the latest version. There was a problem where the unit would not fully shut off which is fixed in the software revisions...

To check what revision you have press the following buttons together...

<main> and <trip>

Then check the current software release versions that Loren has posted for the PCM2.

(Only 60k miles. 1 previous old lady owner and full Porsche Main Dealer History)

or as we say in the states, only driven on the highway by a little old lady from pasadena.

Seriously, I would say your experience is not typical. I would also try another dealer for the repair work. You never know how much the service manager may be making off his latest "sucker" I mean customer.

I wish my wife would let me decorate my pool with stone benches and statues like that. She said no stone stuff ,all she wanted was bushes and shading trees. Can't wait too see my pool heating bill with all this shade.

BTW, the car looks great... Midnight blue is a beautiful colour, just be careful until I used Rejex on my midnight blue if you breathed near it you got a hariline scratch. My orient red was much more forgiving.

I have the streaks also, my boxster didn't. Is this a warranty thing...

I need a part number for the turbo's spoiler switch, but I need to make sure the style matches my 03 996's finish. I think I've decided not to put the GT-3 Wing on the back, and just put a spoiler switch on the dash.

I want to change the black carrera script on the rear to match my chrome exhaust tips, I know I have seen a chrome carrera badge before, anyone have the part number.

Alanmn,

Yep sounds like your PCM2 does not recognize your amp. They are connected via fiberoptic and the most bus. When they program the unit the audio will be back as the PCM2 will recognize the amp now. If you do not have the Hi-Fi or bose option in your car you may have to hook up the "copper" audio lines and have the unit programmed for no-amp.

Cheers,

Corey

Also X51 C2's have the 3rd radiator. Additonally many who track their C2's install the 3rd radiator, it's less than 500 bucks.

So, if it's an auto then the 3rd radiator(X51 is unavailable on tiptronic/auto)

if it's a 6 speed either it's been upgraded for the track or it's an X51.

I was told since they had the whole thing apart to replace the transmission and figured for the cost of the part(less than 20 bucks) it does not pay not to replace it just incase.

I guess it's like when you change a clutch you change the clutch you change the throwout bearing just in case.

"Got my car back after having 2nd RMS in 6 months. Just spoke to Customer Service Supervisor at Porsche and mentioned the above thread ie the Mandrel, crankshart being concentric to engine etc etc. He said never heard of this part, the causes are most probably incorrect fitting or a faulty seal, it is impossible to tell. He went onto say that if anything was misaligned there would be a lot of engine vibration, he also said that he had heard nothing about engines being replaced after 3 RMS failures in the USA. He said that he was only aware of a couple of cars having to have an RMS replaced more than once in a year. He is based at Chiswick Porsche."

My dealer, who just did my RMS on my 2003 C2 said something similar, that the problem has been mostly solved in 2003 mid to late and after. He said since 2003, he hasn't really seen a problem due to a new insertion tool/method at the factory.

He mentioned they have the new insertion tool since late last year also and that many of the "repeat" RMS were due to insertion by just banging it in by hammer(causing an uneven or damaged seal due to insertion) even though the engine was concentric. He said in the rare case the engine was out of spec, they'd just give you a new/reman engine even on the 1st RMS.

Basically, he is saying there was a small amount engines that were bad, but mostly it was the way the service tech were replacing RMS's causing the multi-RMS problem and that the same guys would be replacing their faulty handiwork over and over again the same way.

My RMS was done as a just in case since my transmission and flywheel was out of the car. They said it was Standard operating procedure that anytime they have a tranny out to change it, since everything is apart anyway. If guessing that if many dealers did this before the new insertion tool, they caused perfectly good cars to now have RMS problems when they used a hammer to put them in.

So yesterday the dealer installed my new transmission on my 03 996(The tech and I both felt that after 4000 miles it should feel much easier to shift than it did).

Well the new transmission feels great, easy and smooth shifting, but while they had the transmission out, they put in a new RMS, just in case since they were there anyway.

Should I be worried? I wasn't leaking any oil and there were no spots on the garage floor.

Also a question on factory reman transmissions, what exactly to the reuse, is it only the case or do they reuse everything except the seals and the synchros.

Thanks in advance,

Corey

Mike,

Is your's a C4S Cab, if not how hard was it to install other than the pluggin the wires in? How hard was it to remove the old mirror and run the wires down to the fuse box(I think it would be easier in a cab). I want to do this project on my 2003 996 coupe(as my dealer told me it's a 6 hour book job) I'll do it my self.

Cheers,

Corey

He told me his shop makes them using the same german techniques and materials imported from germany. I may have misunderstood him though. That's why I was looking for some confirmation.

I was thinking about the GT3 style one since I have the flared rockers already. Have you seen MA Shaw's ones? He says they make them locally and they are indistinguishable from factory. I was just hoping to get some confirmation.

http://www.mashaw.com/html/product_info.html

They appear to have a replica one for 1375.00. vs. about 2500-3k for a factory one(from all the sources I have seen).

Has anyone used a replica one before? Does it really matter?

Thanks in advance...

Corey

It is not a problem. The VIN code is stored in your cluster and MOST PCM2's according to my dealer's head tech and contrary to what I was originally told on many boards do not check for the vin, they just look for the MOST bus(they shut down if they can't find a MOST bus) and grab additonal information from the cluster about your car's config. This suprised me as I thought my PCM2 would have shut down after a few minutes, but I drove it many hours before I brought it to the dealer to have the software upgraded and the PCM2 programmed to match my car's config. You may have to have it programmed before using unless it came from a 996 cab, I'm not sure. I know my came from a coupe and I have a coupe.

The PST2 setup is easy for the dealer and should be less than an hour to config.

As for the actual install, I could not find a TSB on it, but collected enough information to peform my install and create my own instructions, See the DIY section for a summary of my install. In europe, I believe you said your from the UK, you may also have the cell phone module to setup, which is not covered in my instructions, but it should not be too difficult.

If you have any other questions, don't hesistate to ask, I researched for about 1-2 months to have all my homework done before I did my install.

Cheers,

Corey

I would be interested in this also, and do they sell the top of the seat only or do I need to buy the full sports seat.

If you had a CDR23 or PCM2. You have a car with a MOST bus, otherwise the tape trick will work. With MOST bus cars, you will have to have the computer set to "no-radio" by a dealer or someone with a PST2/3.

Actually I was more curious if the one piece unit like 2001 or later 996's had from the factory could be retrofit. I want to do the mirror and figure if I can get it in one unit great. Otherwise I'll skip the rain sensor.