GranburyChuck

Glad to see someone tackle this. I think I may have a bearing going out. Where did you get a torque wrench that would put 340 ft-lbs of torque. So you spent $285 for a special tool plus the cost of one big torque wrench. Did you get a quote for having it done? Wonder what the difference would be.

Okay guys, fairly new 911 owner here, 3 months. I have a 2000 C2 coupe, tiptronic with aerokit, and 18" sport design wheels. The PO put lowering springs on the car and although the car looks great it is way too low. Most shops cant drive it onto ramps to work on it. Plus, the roads I drive are being torn up by big rigs so I am very worried about tearing out the bottom end (no protection plate). At the front you can just see the top of the tire and at the rear it is about 1" below the top of the tire. I read the spring/shock report from Panorama and decided to measure my fender well arch height. These are my specs LF 25.25", LR 24.75", RF 25.75", and RR 24.875". Those values are similar to a standard GT2 in the front and about 10 mm lower than a GT2 in the rear according to the article. That is way too low for a daily driver on less than pristine roads. I got a chance to look at the suspension when I was having tires changed. Interestingly, I had to find a shop that had a drive on lift in the ground. Anyway the springs are yellow and say Eibach for Champion Motorsport. I know the car is from Champion Porsche. Okay, so I am going to change the springs and was looking at just going right back to stock. Whether it is standard (car did not come with M030) or M030 is up in the air. I have a friend with a '95 993 and he has stock suspension. When I looked at his car I thought it was sitting too high for my tastes. My understanding according to the Panorama article is that the M030 and standard suspension have the same height just that M030 is stiffer. So, I might actually consider some other aftermarket springs but want to make sure that the car will sit a little higher than it is now. I would like the wheel arch to just expose the top of the tire. So can others out there with various suspension combinations let me know where their wheel arch ended up (measured through wheel centerline with full gas tank)? I am just wondering if these Eibach springs I got were a special option and regular Eibach's would not be this low. The stiffness of the springs is "okay?" but I don't want to bottom out. All impressions are welcome. BTW, these springs will be up for sale when I take them off. Also, I am cheap and have already put money into the car so I won't be buying PSS9's or whatever >$1500 suspension kit. Thanks

Don't know if this really will help here but I can respond as follows: I have had two cars using K&N filter kits. The first was an Acura CL using a Comptech box with KN filter. I heard much more intake noise and fuel economy improved 2 mpg in my long distance drive. No CEL issues with the Acura. I put a cold air intake kit on a BMW 328 coupe (E46). Again heard more intake noise. Doubt there was any performance improvement. I again saw 2 mpg increase in fuel mileage. Started to get some CEL lights. Couldn't ever trace them down. I cleaned the MAF with MAF cleaner. Still occasionally had issues with CEL. Never any driveability concerns. Incidentally, I replace the stock Continental Conti Sport tires with Goodyear F1's and saw an immediate 2 mpg loss. Still, I might like more intake noise from my Porsche but I don't want to increase chances for failure. I am leaving mine stock.

Well, the symptom got worse, and the engine did stall for the first time the other day. I started it again, and it did start, and did the regular weak idling routine, then got back on track after a few seconds. Also, I didn't mention that during the weak idling, the "Battery/Generator" warning light would come on, but would go away immediately as soon as the idling catches on to normal and the voltmeter shows about 14v. I figured that the alternator didn't get a chance to power up any juice with the low rpm when the idling was struggling, and as soon as the idling was normal, the alternator was able to get to work and the Battery/Generator light went away. Anyway, after reading up on the many common issues with the throttle body being dirty and thus affecting idling, I decided I had to look into that area. It was a pretty easy job, removing the air-intake box and getting to the throttle body took about 10 mins. I was about to remove the throttle body, as suggested by some here, to clean both the front and back of it as well. Then I saw that the throttle body itself is not that deep, and the plenum was right there behind it. I didn't see any need to remove the whole throttle body, as there wasn't really anything to clean behind it, it was kinda flushed with the plenum. Unless I'm missing something here? Can someone please elaborate or explain why or if the throttle body should be removed for cleaning? Anyway, there was some carbon buildup around the butterfly, but not as bad as I had expected, judging from the symptoms it was causing. The inside looked a little dirty as well, but nothing shocking. I was relieved not to find any oil in or around there, as I've had pretty frequent brief "white-smoke" startups lately with the poor idling. That would eliminate a possible Air/Oil Separator issue. So, after the cleaning around the butterfly area with a Throttle Body cleaner, and the inside with a clean rag (using a wooden dowel) I put everything back, and performed the ritual for the throttle body adaptation. Started the car and.....one crank...the engine jumped to life at full-speed idle! (after a split-sec hesitation) Something I have not seen in about a month of two! It is simply amazing how such little carbon buildup on the throttle body could make such a big difference in the startup idling. However...I'm not jumping to conclusions just yet. After the initial cold start, the car usually starts and idle fine after that. As such, I couldn't re-test the car to confirm the fix. I'd have to wait till tomorrow morning to do the startup test again. Thanks to everyone and Loren for the tips! Here are some before and after pics of the throttle body: BEFORE: AFTER: I noticed my TB looking like that on the last air fulter change. I was thinking of cleaning but was concerned about which solvent to use that wouldn't mess up the electronics downstream. I have gumout carb cleaner. I started to open the butterfly by hand and noticed the tension so I didn't push it any further. Di dyou just push yours open by hand?

I was looking at my rear suspension yesterday while getting tires changed and noticed that the CV boot on my left side half shaft was torn and basically off. I have a Tiptronic transmission on a 2000 C2. I was wondering if anyone has tried to replace the CV boot itself. I have seen the boot on Pelican Parts for $5. The grease to fill the boot was $100. However, that beats the price for a new half shaft of $650. I am looking for help in what it would take to repair the boot or replace the half shaft. Thanks

I recommend similar solutions described above: 1) Replace the speakers first. They are junk. If you do this yourself, be careful with what you buy, the mounting depth is too shallow for most replacement speakers. I purchased a set of MB Quart's and they worked out great, and sound awesome. It still took a lot of fabrication work to retrofit them to the existing grills. I also chopped the wiring off of the old speaker so that I could attach it to the new speakers and plug/unplug with the factory harness instead of messing with the original factory harness. 2) Next, install an aftermarket AMP. In conjunction with this, you should get the auxiliary output harness for the stock Becker CDR 220. You do not want to use the amplified/high-pass signal because it is pre-balanced for the factory speakers. I think there is actually a defeat for this that allows you to set the output signal to ALL LINEAR (see page nine of the CDR 220 guide), but still, a low-pass/auxiliary output is best. Note: The auxiliary output is only 2-channel. If you have a four-channel amp and you want to be able to adjust the fade from front to back, you will need to use the high-pass amplified outputs. If you don't care about being able to fade front-to-back, you can use the auxiliary outputs. Also, while you're at it, might as well get the auxiliary input cables so that you can add an iPod or other mp3 player as direct auxiliary input (you can get these adapters at http://www.beckerautosound.com/). 3) Consider a trunk-mounted subwoofer connected to the auxiliary output. A lot of cons here, as it takes up valuable space, but wiring was not a challenge with the relative location of the battery and good, solid available ground connections. I used an Infinity Basslink that I can easily remove when I need the space. I did not have the benefit of existing door-mounted speakers, but if I did, I probably would have focused my low-frequency efforts there instead. With the ability to provide a flat/linear output (exclusive of virtually all other OEM head units), auxiliary output, auxiliary input (or CD Changer), speed-dependent volume control (great for cabriolets), and a perfectly matching front plate with matching amber lighting, the case for an aftermarket stereo can be somewhat hard to make. I have heard some complaints about problems with these, but they are probably not widespread or warranted considering where they're used. My first CDR 220 lasted eight years with a lot of rough driving. Considering the environment, that's probably not too bad, and also consider that the factory still supports these and rebuilds them. I have not seen a single aftermarket stereo that looked good in a 986 or 996, they all look ridiculous. I am wondering how well your subwoofer in the trunk sounds. I have an Alpine CDA-9820XM radio in the car and only dash and rear side speakers. Changed out all of the speaker with Pioneer 4" 2 way speakers and the sound is still horrible. Absolutely no bass and very "tin"y. I was considering building a subwoofer box and putting in an 8" sub as well as better component 6.5" speakers.