KarlS

I got mine from Weissach They pedals have little rubber nubs that stick through the holes and give your feet extra traction on the pedals. Karl

Good advice - unless you are changing the rear rotors, in which case, you don't want the parking brake on. ;) Karl

Thanks, I've got them all on except the accelerator but I'll try the C clamp idea because I had a hard time with the drill bit wandering on the metal brake and clutch pedals. The dead pedal was easy because I removed it from the car and drilled it on a bench. Karl

How does the RUF accelerator pedal attach? Do you remove the plastic accelerator pedal and, if so, how? Or do you drill through the plastic pedal? TIA Karl

Don't think so, they are both cast aluminum. Karl

Tried to install the Sesame today in my 2004 GT3. I programmed my garage door opener and tested the transmitter with the battery first. Once that worked, I proceeded with the rest of the installation. It wasn't 5 minutes but it was pretty straight forward. Once I had everything wired, I tested the Sesame and nothing. The light on the transmitter was coming on but the door opener wasn't doing anything. I tried a bunch of things to no avail, so I removed the Sesame from the car, put the battery back in, and began testing it. Basically, the door opener doesn't see any signal unless I have the Skylink transmitter within about a foot of the GDO. If I even hold it at arms length, the GDO doesn't pick up a signal. Am I doing something wrong or is the Skylink bad? I tried a brand new 12v battery to make sure it was a power problem. Any suggestions are welcome. I sent an e-mail to Sharkworks support but thought I would also ask here in case anyone else has already run into this problem. Karl

I don't know the weight but I'd guess the GT3 part is a little heavier because I know it is beefier with larger wheel bearings. Karl

No, I meant I opened a can and resealed it. I used the contents of the can each time I bled the brakes and never had a problem. I bled after every 6 track days and did a complete flush at the beginning of the season and about half way through. This was for about 45 track days last year. Karl

Mine lasted a full season with no problems. Karl

Actually the Mk I GT3 came with this lip unpainted, as was the plastic splitter under the front bumper. It's one detail that you can usually spot to tell a real GT3 from the posers who install an aerokit and put a GT3 logo on the back. Karl

Mike, Schatz Motorsports sells the GT3 bars with only a new front link, so I assume the rear link will work. You might want to give Michael a call to confirm. You may also want to talk to TRG, if you haven't. They can fill you in on the advantages of their adjustable links. As I said, I had the TRG's on my car and they are much more substantial than the factory drop links on the GT3. I will also ask Mike Levitas at TPC about the drop links but he is off tire testing at the Glen, so I won't see him until Saturday. Karl

Mike, When I installed the GT3 bars on my 99 C2, I used the TRG drop links. I didn't do the install myself but was told that the stock links wouldn't work. There may be other source now (this was 3 years ago) but the TRG drop links are very nice quality and fully adjustable with spherical bearings. I've never actually seen any specs on the bars but assume the GT3 bar is stiffer even in the softest setting. I would recommend starting with the front bar full soft and the rear bar full stiff. Then make one position adjustments front or rear (only one at a time) until you have the car the way you want it. On my car I ended up with the front bar one position from full soft and the rear one or two from full stiff depending on the track. It was very neutral but that was with very stiff springs and ProTrac double adjustable shocks. YMMV Karl

Thanks, Loren. Is there a similar sensor on other 996's or is this unique to the GT3? I guess I'll either need to trace down the sensor wire or wait until I get the 2004 updates for my workshop manuals to solve this mystery. Karl

The new GT3 has a small shim connected to the inside of the lower control arm on the driver side. This shim is then connected to a sensor via what looks like a mini-drop link. The sensor wire runs up through the inner fender just under the ABS controller. This sensor was not on the Mk I GT3 and it is not on the Cup car. I'm guessing it is for the ABS system. The older ABS systems are known to go into fault mode on very bumpy surfaces and you have to shut off the ignition to reset them. This can be a real problem on a track with a bumpy surface in the brake zone. I'm thinking this sensor measures the rate and frequency of the front suspension movement and the ABS controller compensates when braking in a bumpy area. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Also, is this standard on all 2003+ 996s or is it unique to the GT3? TIA Karl

Here's the deal with springs. For the track you want as stiff as possible to minimize dipping under hard throttle or braking. Unfortunately, not all tracks are billboard smooth and if you go too stiff, you'll end up with the car bouncing all around over bumps. The solution to this is a progressive spring rate - one that starts out fairly soft but then stiffens under heavier loading. This allows the spring to absorb the small bumps but still be stiff under load. Progressive springs are made made varying the spring coil stiffness by placing the coils either closer together or farther apart. The downside to progressive springs for racing is that you'd need a zillion combinations of spring rates for various tracks. The dual springs you see on Cup cars emulate a progressive spring and make it much easier to tune the springs for specific tracks. The main spring is the one you are using most of the time under load, so you select this one for ideal stiffness. The helper spring is just there to absord initial bumps, so you choose it based on how bumpy the track is. By keeping a few different mains and a few different helpers, you can put them together to form a lot of different combinations. The GT3 street car uses a progressive spring in the rear. The Cup car uses dual springs all around. As for the Cup car parts, you've got mail. Karl

Mike, As with most things concerning a dual street/track car, you'll be dealing with trade-offs here. The basic problem is that the better you get the suspension for the track/auto-x, the less comfortable and practical it will be for the street. You are the only one who can make the decision of how far down that continuum you are willing to go. Of course, the other variable is cost. That being said, here's what I think. The first improvement you can make is roll bars. The 996 likes a lot of front roll stiffness, so upgrading to a thicker, adjustable bar should help no matter what else you do. The GT2/GT3 bars are a good and they are adjustable, although there are some aftermarket bars out there that are similar and may cost less. Having adjustable bars also allows you to do some tuning at the track without an alignment system. Next you can work on the shock/spring combination. Any replacement/upgrades need to be done in matched sets. By matched, I mean where someone has done some testing to ensure a particular shock works well with a particular spring rate. This is a complicated area with lots of variables, so this is one place where working with an accomplished suspension tuner can pay big dividends. In this area there are three strata above where you are with the M030: Adjustable street systems like the PSS-9 or H&R (approx. $2500 installed) Double adjustable, remote reservoir systems from ProTrac, JRZ, Moton, and others (approx. $5000 installed and up) Triple adjustable, remote reservoir systems from the same vendors (approx. $7000 installed and up) The street systems are obviously the cheapest and may be the most compliant for street use. They do offer some adjustability for rebound/compression but generally not to as fine a degree as the next two levels. I don't auto-x but some of the people I know who track their cars in DE are not completely happy with the PSS-9 set-up for the track, feeling it is too soft. The double adjustable set-up may be the ultimate street-track set-up but it is significantly more expensive. You also have to find some place to mount the remote reservoirs, which may mean some cutting or drilling, although nothing major. They are harder to install and maintain, requiring a nitrogen canister to recharge them and a special tool to check them. Not a big deal but some extra expense involved. For street comfort, you can probably go as stiff as 400# front and 650# 7" rear springs, which is still very soft for the track but will feel very stiff on the street. I ran 650# front and 800# springs rear and most people (including my wife) considered the car to be too uncomfortable to ride in. Of course, it didn't bother me at all :lol: Just as a comparison, a Cup car runs 1200# front and 1300+# in the rear and a GT# RS runs several hundred pounds more than that. The one nice thing about this set-up is that you can go full soft on the struts for street duty and with a couple minor adjustment procedures and a shot of nitrogen, stiffen them up for the track. I know someone with an 03 996 that is running the JRZs and he swears his car rides better now than it did with the stock suspension. I haven't ridden in the car so I don't know if I believe him, but the point is you don't necessarily have to sacrifice ride all of the ride quality to get good handling. The triple adjustables are for pro racers who know what they are doing when it comes to fine suspension tuning and I think the price performance just isn't there for an amatuer-driven street/track car. BTW, don't get sucked into strut braces, they are a waste of money IMHO. However, a bolt-in cage that uses the strut tower mounts will offer a significant increase in stiffness and a welded cage will provide substantially more. There are also some things you can do to eliminate rubber from your suspension that will help with turn-in and set, but that's a topic for another post. My final piece of advise is not to try to do this as a DIY. Find a good shop that has experience with suspension tuning for the track on 996s and work with them. You want to get educated and know what you are asking for but a competent shop can save you a lot of expensive mistakes. Karl

Interesting, the Boxster is really suffering. Sales down 60% month over month and 40% for the year. The low price model is being significantly outsold by the much pricer 911. And both of them are being outsold by the Cayenne, so I guess PAG's SUV strategy has paid off. Other interesting points: GT2 sales were down almost 80% month over month and almost 25% for the year. Targa sales are off 45% for the year. The C4S Coupe is the only 911 model that is even for the year, although sales were off 40% last month. Only 59 GT's were sold last week. My dealer said the number was going to be much higher than that ~300, he said. Either his number was wrong or there are a lot of GT3's sitting waiting to be delivered. I suspect these numbers will look even worse over the summer months as the dealers try to whitttle down their 2003 inventories prior to the 2004 models starting to arrive in Sept/Oct. Karl

To me, hard braking is threshold braking. Where you are getting everything you can out of the brakes without getting into the ABS or locking. At Summit, for me this is the braking zones for turn 1 and 5. Turn 10 is a brief jab on the brakes to scrub some speed, settle the nose, and help the car turn in. Definitely not approaching lock-up here. Karl

Raffi, You're correct, the leather visors still use a plastic mirror cover. There are actually two stickers on a new car. The one on the exposed side of the visor is stuck directly to the leather. I found the best way to remove this is to heat it with a gun or hairdryer. Once it's warm, it peels right off the leather. The remaining small amount of residue will clean right off by rubbing gently with your finger or some leather cleaner. Treat the leather with Neatsfoot when you're done and it will be perfect. Don't try and peel the sticker off without heating it. The sticker will come off but you'll have a lot of sticky residue left and it's h*ll to get off without damaging the leather. The sticker on the hidden side of the visor is pasted right on the plastic mirror cover. I think on this one the denatured alchol will work fine. Just avoid getting it on the leather or mirror hinges as everyone else has said. Karl

Mike, Your info was correct. That truss bar won't work in a 996. The model you have that bolts to the rear shock towers and the lower seat belt mounting bolt is the only one that works. Karl

testdrv321, I ran 1:24s in my 996 at Summit. The two places you mentioned (end of front straight and end of the chute) are the only hard braking areas. They are spaced fairly far apart on the track, so the brakes have a fair amount of time to cool down in between. The rest of corners either have no (2,4,7-9) or moderate (3,6,and 10) braking. A set of pads always lasts a lot longer here than at tight tracks like CMP. Karl

RJ, I agree with Mike's comments. In addition, my PCA region requires the brake fluid to be less than 6 months old as part of the pretech inspection process. Our chief tech inspector also has a kit he uses upon request to test brake fluid to ensure it still has the boiling point properties it needs. Karl

I ran a 996 for three years in DE and never had a soft brake pedal. I ran Summit many times, VIR, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, and Road Atlanta. My set-up was as follows: GT3 calipers and rotors (not necessary and they will bump you into B Stock in Club Racing) Pagid Orange pads SRF brake fluid Cargraphic front cooling kit I ran with the stock brake lines and never had a problem. My Cup car has the stock rubber lines as well, so I doubt that brake lines are the problem. Especially since you say the fluid level is up, which indicates that you have air in the system somewhere. Since this is certainly a heat related issue. There are several potential causes/remedies you can think about. Upgraded race pads, such as Pagid or Hawk, typically handle the heat better and dissipate the heat faster than OEM. However, once the pads are past half their original thickness, they become less effective at handling the heat. So always make sure your pads are fresh, don't let them get down too far before swapping them out. Pads are pretty cheap in the overall scheme of things, so no reason to scrimp. Different fluids have different hot boiling points as well as water absorbtion characteristics. SRF is good stuff, high hot boiling point and low propensity to absorb water. However, other brands, such as AP 600 are almost as good and much cheaper. With fluid the issue is to 1) keep it fairly fresh. Anything more than 6 months old should be totally flushed, more frequently if you are doing a lot of track work. 2) proper bleeding after each event. This is not as necessary with SRF but it's a good practice. Make sure you bleed correctly to get the air out of the system. There are several good DIYs available that explain the process if you aren't certain. Brake cooling can definitely help keep the system running better by keeping the rotors and calipers cooled down. The Cargraphic kit was effective on my car but pro racers I have talked to say the size of the hoses on the Cargraphic kit are too small to really be effective. Most of them recommend the GT3 Cup/RS brake cooling ducts which are available through Porsche Motorsports. They mount to the inner fender liner and front A arms and you need to cut a hole in the front fender liner to allow air in from the front radiators. Lastly is braking style. This can have a big effect on heat generation. If you brake early and stay on the brakes longer prior to your turn in, this will generate more heat than braking later and harder but being on the brakes for a shorter period of time. So at Summit, you should be able to carry full throttle until at least the 4-5 marker before braking hard, rather than beginning braking at the 6 marker and staying on them until you enter turn 1. Summit is not known as a track that is hard on brakes, since there are really only 2 places where you brake hard and plenty of time in between to cool things down. So there is definitely a problem in your brake system. Definitely flush the system and replace the fluid, there is surely air in it now. Check your pads and if they are more than half gone, replace them before your next track event. Use a race compound from Pagid or Hawk. Consider adding a brake cooling kit, especially since we are getting in to the hot part of the year now. The brakes are one of the strongest features on the 996 and with proper materials, maintenance, and technique, you should never have any brake problems on the track or on the street. Karl

Yes, the GT3 gets the one with internal amplification. This could make it an easy swap for a TrafficPro if I can get around the alarm system. I feel a DIY in the making :clapping: Karl

Loren, Your post got me thinking. I've been trying to figure out a way to install a TrafficPro in a 2004 GT3 and have been stymied by the alarm system/CDR-23 communication issue, since the TP doesn't support the MOST bus or this kind of direct communication with the DME. But you are correct, the whole thing is programmable via the PST2. And since there is an option at least in ROW to delete the stereo completely from the GT3, this must be a programmable function on the PST2. So, if I can get someone with a PST2 (there's an independent shop here with one) to reprogram my DME to think there is no stereo installed, then maybe I can hook up the TP and not have any problems with the alarm system. Any thoughts? Karl