JFP in PA

That would work as well.............although the DE instructor might frown on being asked to sit on the floor :eek:

One of the cheapest, least time consuming, as well as most fun ways for the average driver to lower their lap times in one of these cars is some DE lessons.

Joy! Well I am grateful for yours & Iogray's responses, have opened my eyes to a few issues and things I really should have looked into in more depth! Lets say I go down the route of selling the FS system and instead purchasing some DesignTek mid-pipes with 200 cell cats along with a DesignTek Muffler, would that be a better option to go for? No idea, I've never even seen a DesignTek system. What I am having a hard time understanding is your seemingly total focus on the exhaust system, while the OEM parts have proven very hard to better without spending a lot of time and money. If you intend to track the car, what have you done about its well documented problem of overheating the power steering system? What steps have you taken to improve the car's engine and oil cooling system capabilities? What modifications have you made to address the IMS issue? All of these issues are vastly more important for a car that is regularly tracked than an overly noisy, and often power robbing exhaust system...............

I have read a lot about headers & bolts - It will be my local garage carrying out the work who I'm on good friendly terms with which helps out with hourly labour charges etc. If I go under the car whilst its on stands will a visual inspection tell me much about the condition of these bolts? Quite a few in the exhaust system are corroded and will need replacing but some are in fairly good condition. Most journeys in the car are 10-30 miles maximum so they're fairly minimum, for the longer ones I have earplugs handy. I'm young and should be able to deal with a bit of drone and having read & listed to videos etc. I do plan to have the ECU remapped at some stage as I am looking to also track my car on the occasion. Not really, when you do the headers on these cars, the studs can be a total crap shoot. Sometimes the nuts come right off, other times you break most, if not all of them off.

Difficult to impossible to do with any degree of reliability. It is also fairly common for the extractor line to get caught on one of the many sharp edged things down in the sump, mandating sump cover plate removal to extract the extractor. All around bad idea.....

Thanks for your response,I knew what I was purchasing from the start, I was just under the impression my car would have pre-cats.With regards to adding pre-cats - Is there anyway to find out before purchase if it would pass emissions? The ones I linked on eBay are possibly what I'd go for but with regards to O2 sensors, would they reach as well?I may look at Mid-pipes with Cats, I assume an exhaust specialist would be able to mate the two pipes together?ThanksEdit: These state they're MOT compatible... So this is the route I'd rather take because then it all fit together! Question is, will O2 sensors reach - If not can they be extended, or do I have any other options? It is impossible to say if the O2 sensors would reach, but the harness could be lengthened if required, as long as it is done correctly. It is equally impossible to say if they have enough capacity to keep the car in MOT spec, but they do say they are 200 cell, so they may be enough. One thing you are not addressing is that if your car has the OEM headers on it, there is also a high probability of broken header studs in your future; quite often the header studs on older cars are far too corroded to be undone, and need to be drilled out and replaced. One option you have not seemed to consider is leaving the car alone. Most after market exhaust systems add only marginal performance at best unless the DME is reflashed, plus they are "drone prone" leading to headache inducing harmonics at normal driving speeds. You would be surprised at how many after market systems get removed because they are just too annoying to enjoy the car.

Sorry, but calcium-calcium batteries do contain lead; the difference is in a standard battery the metal grid is a lead antimony alloy, in a calcium battery it is lead calcium. This changes the battery's characteristics. Lead antimony batteries are far superior in their ability to deep cycle. And while lead calcium units tend to have lower self discharge rates, the grid plates tend to grow over time, causing internal shorts. Calcium batteries also tend to suffer from severe internal electrolyte stratification (when the specific gravity at the top of the cell is totally different than that at the bottom), which requires reconditioning (a special type of charge cycle that causes the electrolyte to remix) which is only found on higher end battery maintainers like the Ctek 7002.

Couple of points: Fab Speeds website clearly shows and states that this is "race only" configuration because of the lack of any catalytic converters. What you have is exactly what is described. Secondly, your car is the then standard ROW or rest of world configuration, meaning only main three way cats, no pre-cats. Third, adding back pre-cats will probably not answer your MOT requirement's, they were never designed to handle the full exhaust flow, but only to heat up quickly and aid on cold starts. And lastly, adding any cats is going to quiet down the system. Probably your best bet is to jump for a set of the 200 cell sport cats, which will add back the emissions capability to get by MOT, which will not be cheap and will quiet down the system:

Couple of possibilities: Some of these cars were equipped with a decoupling front alternator pulley (called an overrunning alternator pulley, acts like a clutch and allows the unit to free wheel under certain RPM circumstances), which may be the source of what you are seeing. Secondly, you could have either a diode bridge or voltage regulator on the way out. Easy enough for an equipped shop to load test the unit and verify what needs to be done.

I think it would be an interesting experiment as the wheel bearings are under different load characteristics than an IMS or pilot bearing would be.

Because of the rather severe curvature of the projector lens, they have a slight foggy look to them due to light distortion and material thickness, which is how the lens works.

The factory replacement would carry all of the factory updates as of the time of its assembly. As a late 2005 engine, it probably carries the non serviceable IMS bearing found in some 2005 cars and all 2006 and later.

Logray is correct, pulling the sump drains more oil than the drain plug, so a normal fill will come up slightly short. No biggie, just top it up.

Try 9101

These fuel pumps are cooled by the fuel around them, running the car low can lead to overheating and premature pump failures. It also sounds like you have a tank calibration issue.

That is it.

Are you referring to this plug?

When the oil runs out #1, it is full, this is on the open side.

You may want to check, but I think there was a fuel pump update/revision on some of these cars, which may be why they are suggesting doing them both at the same time as going back to do the second one later is just going to eventually add to the cost and down time.

There are several things that can cause weird boost profiles, including those you already mentioned. I may also be related to your re flash software as well. I'm afraid there probably is not a quick answer for this one, it is going to take some diagnostics time to check out all the components one at a time to see where the problems lies.

Again, all I can speak for from personal experience are the motorcycle batteries from Walmart. And those require manually filling the battery acid and, at least a while back, used to be made from recycled cores. I have no problem if the core is recycled so long as the lead-acid cells are replaced. I mostly fear that when a battery manufacturer engages in a business contract with a corporation like Walmart, they do so while working towards agreeing to a certain price point. Likewise, retail outlets like Walmart have an increased potential for people to try out a battery and then return it if a battery replacement fails to alleviate the problem. This leads to reduced lifetimes of batteries that were ran hard during automobile diagnosis, as well as a higher potential for returned batteries to make their way back onto consumer shelves. As far as personal experience goes, I run Bosch batteries in my 996, and did in my 986 and Miata, While I didn't keep my 986 or Miata outside the extended warranty period, I also never had any problems with the replacement Bosch batteries. They were also price comparable to other budget battery brands. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if other battery vendors offer better value with respect to both the longevity and performance of their products. Just be glad you do not own a modern Mercedes. Their ECUs keep track of the lifetime of the battery, so if you replace it yourself without using proprietary Mercedes software to update the ECU of the replacement, it will affect how the battery is recharged, thus inadvertently reducing the battery's lifetime. Having spent years in the battery business, I can assure you that every lead acid battery you buy (regardless of brand or manufacture technology) is made from recycled materials, the EPA had mandated that for years. With the average lead acid battery consisting of about 78% lead, all battery manufacturers are required by law to provide the EPA with "cradle to grave" recycling record keeping to assure that the lead is recovered and not allowed to enter the environment. So the battery in your Porsche today, may have been a back up system battery in an airport or the power supply in a fork lift in another life. And batteries made from recycled materials are just as capable and long lived as ones made from virgin materials. If you would like more information on how this works, both the EPA and the BCI (Battery Council International, the association of battery manufacturers) have excellent websites.

Like just about any new gear box, or engine for that matter, there will always be some build/break in debris in the first lube change, which is why many make the first change early just to clean it out. I would not be at all concerned unless the quantity or debris pieces themselves are plentiful or particularly gritty.

These power steering systems use a specific fluid, not ATF, and in this case Pentosin 202 (which is dark green and replaced the CHF 11s). Depending upon your situation, you can remove all the fluid from the tank by using a suction device and then refill with the correct fluid. The optimum way to change it is to disconnect the low pressure return line under the car and then run it at idle until the fluid is out; just be careful to shut it off promptly. Then button everything up and refill the system.

For reference purposes, after a major shake out in the lead acid battery business, and a major clamp down by the EPA on manufacturing sites, there are now only a very small number of companies in the US market that make them. Johnson Controls is the biggest, followed by East Penn (Deka), and then Interstate. They all "private lable" for store and OEM brands, but those products are made to the buyer's specs (read keep the costs low). So two batteries with different brand names of the same model size, but from one manufacturer can be totally different in performance and life expectancy. In short, this makes the selection process confusing at best.

I think one thing you overlook is that I am not in the business of trying to find cheaper substitute's for everything the shop needs, and components like wheel bearings are not budget breakers by any stretch of the imagination. Typically, we have half a dozen or so suppliers for stuff like that, all of whom are coming up with incentives (stocking programs, etc.) to get our business. As such, we get a worthwhile discount off the roughly $80-90 retail price for the unit, and we know the bearing we get will do the job because it is the OEM piece. Could we make more by trying to direct source the bearings? Probably, but then we would have to assume any risks, and probably have to invest more of our cash flow to keep an inventory quantity on the shelf. With a good stocking program, we do not put anything out of pocket, get ready inventory on the shelf, and are only billed when the rep does his weekly inventory count for restocking. And probably more important, the customer gets his car fixed with quality parts that we know will go the distance. Sometimes price is just not everything...............