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Its rather simple to prevent scrapes on most of Porsche's chin spoilers. Simply put a row of wide flange pop rivets along the bottom edge. I space mine 2" apart. You can't see them unless you stoop down and the 1/8" of extension lifts the spoiler enough to prevent virtually all scrapes from reaching it.

If you don't have a lift, a hole punch will easily go through the plastic.

Finally had the X74 installed on our '04 40th Anniversary. My wife and I did our normal 400 mile loop and here's some comments after 550 miles on the suspension. The drive consists of back roads through the center of Florida, highway and urban areas.

The best summary I can make is the car feels like it shed 300 pounds. For us, with the exception of ride height (which is more a function of the 996's front-end overhang than the ride height), this should be the stock 996 sport suspension.

Handling: Given that the limits of the car have increased to the point public roads can no longer surface any weaknesses, here's all I can say. Compared to the stock US sport suspension and alignment, the handling is vastly improved. Some noticeable changes: 1), the front end now feels like its part of the car. Fore and aft balance is much better. All floating is gone and at speeds up to 120 the car feels lighter but effortlessly glued to the road. 2), tracks and points much better. In curves there's no longer any waiting for the front-end to respond. 3), much more responsive to throttle, braking and throttle steering. 4), vastly improved composure in any curve we can find in Florida. 4), a much simpler car to drive. My wife said "less nervous and just feels like it knows exactly what you want it to do and does it". All nonessential body dynamics are gone. When you get on it or brake, the car responds, no lift, no hunkering down, it simply goes where you want it to go. On the highway its lovely: no float, tram-lining is way down, the car is no longer affected by side winds and there's no more constant attention to steering corrections. Champion did the install in their Motorsports group and bumped the tire pressures up to 35f/40r from our 32f/36r psi. At this point I'm in no mood to experiment.

Ride Quality: My wife says firmer but much better controlled. I say 95% of the time its less harsh (yes, less) that the stock suspension. There are absolutely no abrupt transitions or any feeling of the car being high strung. The control is smooth and any firmness is so well integrated its simply a joy to experience. The improved control and substantially reduced body dynamics make it a pleasure around town or on the highway. The bump stops do come sooner. I've intentionally bottomed it once on an abrupt bridge I know of. Its a harsh stop but so was stock. The car is at all times smooth and a pleasure to drive. We have no reservations about the X74's suitability for the street or any desire for improved ride characteristics. I have heard a comment about the X74 oscillating on certain road surfaces. This did happen once for maybe a half mile. Its subtle and a non-issue for me.

Ride height: After 550 miles, the car now sits at 25" front and 25.5" rear. That's a 1.1" drop at both ends. There was a GT3 sitting next to the car when I picked it up. Using a pack of cigarettes as a reference, the chin spoiler sits a tad lower than the GT3's spoiler. I expected problems. When bottoming the car nose down, no contact other than I could hear the rubber that sits behind the front tires rub a bit. Taken straight on, steep driveways are a problem. Using a little bit of common sense took care of this issue. Getting in and out of the car is the same. Looks was not one of my criteria. It was with Monica. Neither one of us can see any difference but the car now looks right. Having said that, the car feels and appears smaller. Combined with the lighter feel, this was an unexpected bonus.

Cost: Installed with an engine plate, $2,800. Given the results, the cost is irrelevant.

Source: Carnewal for parts, Champion Motorsports for the install. Both get nothing but high marks.

Dell,

Deja Vu. Been there but I needed the light on when the circuit is closed. PSM lights when PSM is off so here's something off the top of my head to get you started.

As you know, the 3 middle terminals are switching. The terminal under the light is the negative (ground) for the LED. The terminal at the other end is backlighting and also negative. I used this switch for a modulator (off a latching relay) and wired it into the minus between my relay and the modulator. The relay is closing ground and the LED lights.

My guess is P's PSM relay is always open and PSM is on by default until you hit the switch. That probably triggers the relay, completes the ground side of the loop and lights the LED. Take a multimeter or test light and see what happens when you switch off PSM. My guess is the PSM relay is closing the ground your LED needs to connect to.

One big caveat. I've seen two installs for garage door openers run off the targa switch with neither one of them wired the way I could get the targa top switch I bought to function. Checked the internal wiring of the switch and I have it right. Either the posting were done before the installs worked or get out your multimeter before working with any of the Porsche switches. I tested window, targa top and footwell light switches. They are all internally different in one way or another and apparently, given the other postings, can differ from year to year.

I'm on my way out of town but if you want to explore this further send me an email and I'll go back and look at my wiring diagram. This LED was also a challenge to me.

Tool Pants,

Found one, now all I have to do is figure out which 3 of the 9 lugs I need to use.

Having now done my homework, this post has been edited. There's more than enough information between Renntech and 6speedonline to get a good idea of the X74 package.

When we picked up the car my wife proclaimed "it looks like a frog with long legs". Today she reminded me that the cars we liked the most and drove the hardest were the more competent ones. The others resulted in iterations of suspension mods, wasted $'s and trade-ins.

Looks like we're heading to X74 and an occasional chin spoiler replacement.

I would like to make donation. I've gone in twice to do it but came up both times with PayPal being the only means of doing so.

There is no way I will let PayPal get hold of my credit card information. I, as well as many others, have had problems with PayPal's "secure" system and avoid them like a plague.

Any alternative??

Thanks all,

I got the answer I expected though not necessarily wanted.

Looks like I have to educate myself on the relay side and see if there's one that remains closed, irrespective of power, until it gets another prompt from the switch.

Hank,

Thanks for the input. Its street only. The harshness is upfront. The rear feels fine and the less porposing is a welcome change from the '87. If I DE it, its just to get it in a controlled environment and learn its limits. Right now the lack of feel is unsettling. I know the car is nowhere near its limits but some feedback would not hurt.

I would only put factory parts on. No knock against tuners but there are variables on the street that P tests for and tuners don't.

The X74 puts the car down further than I want to go. Therefore the ROW MO30 approach.

Finally ordered a "real" air compressor that came in Saturday. Have to unpack it and can then start to play with air pressure. However, I doubt if its much of an answer at this point -- don't know.

At the risk of starting an emotion filled topic, let's just say I believe we're getting close to the day when hanging an engine in back of the the rear wheels is reaching its limit. This car rides ROUGH. That's OK if the handling was commensurate with the ride but its not. Compared to my '87 Carrera w/sport suspension and the little chin spoiler up front (unspoiled in rear) the ride is substantially harsher, the car is less stable at speed and though far more neutral, is also far less communicative. Yes I know DE would help and will begin soon.

Let's start with I have no plans to replace a brand new set of 18's and rosso's with 17's. I'll live with the harshness.

The ROW MO30 appears to be a decent starting place. I don't want to go lower as the underside of my '87 looked like it had completed the Baja when I finally sold it.

My problem is I'm not sure what's in the 40th as its a "varient" (of the US I presume) MO30. If I don't need to replace all shocks and springs its an obvious financial as well as installation advantage.

A simple way to start is knowing what part numbers are in the ROW 40th. And, what part numbers are in the US version of the 40th. The non-40th ROW MO30 is well documented but its dated and I don't know if there have been any changes. Any leads here? However, having asked about the non-40th ROW MO30 I'm not sure a list of part numbers is all that relevant as it ignores any changes Porsche felt were desireable on the ROW version of the 40th.

Front spring replacement is a given. Not sure about the rears. Sways appear to be the same. Shocks may be different but I assume its just the valving. Anyone know if Bilstein's revalving program applies to OEM units. They obviously know the valving they supply Porsche but I don't know if they will revalve OEM units.

Last, anyone with a ROW MO30 played with the sways. I would not do anything until after "stage 1" above. But, I'm inclined to beef up the front a bit or ease up on the rear to make the car more communicative. An alternative is to play with tire pressures. Certainly cheaper. Any experience on an ROW MO30 C2 Coupe here?

I need to wire in a modulator (yes I know but its MOST on an '04 40th). To fill up some of the switch blanks in the car I'd like to use the Porsche footwell light switch. My take is every switch in the car is momentary and operates a relay. No problem wiring in a relay but its not a good solution.

With a relay, when the ignition is shut off the modulator will hand the signal back to the radio tuner. Due to the mismatch in output voltage (iPod) when I restrart the car, the radio will be blasting. So, I prefer a regular on/off switch.

Are there any Porsche on/off switches available that fit in the blanks? Which ones are they?

If there's any interest, I'll post a parts list when I'm done. There are enough parts on order for two installs as my wife and I want some time in the car before we decide if we want a permanent mount or a long cable with the ability to have the iPod in hand at times. Plan 1: is the iPod mounted on a RAM iPod holder with connections going thru a Sik Imp and the iPod mounted flush on the bin with a little bracket I need to make that will attach (unseen) to the top side of the bin. Plan 2: install a firewire socket in the console bin. Power thru the guts of the Sik 12v charger (spike protection and filtering) will be wired to the socket as well as the audio leads to the modulator. To connect I will use the standard iPod firewire cable (6 pin male at the end). iPod sits in the bin with this approach. Either way I get clean(er) line level output without going thru what is essentially a cheap (has to be due to packaging) "de"amplifier at the headphone jack along with a cleaner install. While it might appear Belkin's Auto kit would be a simpler install, I'm afraid their little preamp will overload a modulator.

Also, anyone know if I need a ground loop isolator? I have one ordered but would like to avoid installing it.