insite

i'm using 32 cold front and rear. prior to increasing negative camber, i got WAY too much understeer with anything less than 35 -36 cold up front (the picture shows how well that went). setting the front camber to -1.6 and dropping my front tires to 32psi has corrected the understeer problem and evened out the temperatures across the tread.

if it's coming from the CENTER undre the car, it could be the water pump. remove the hatch in the passenger cabin rear firewall and take a look. if it's coming from near the right rear tire, it's likely the reservroir.

some of it is the fact that i'm using a 996 stagger, so my fat rears and comparatively narrow fronts caused too much understeer at factory tire pressures. my current settings came from a bit of experimentation. i run 275's in back and 225's up front. i had a set of rear tires wear in the center, indicating overpressure, at 36psi cold. i used the chalk trick to figure out a better working tire pressure. i found that at 37psi WORKING (hot at the track, cold at an AutoX) tire pressure, i'm good. this translates to 32psi cold in the summer for me. i've found that this lets me get on the gas quite a bit earlier in the turns. up front, my car always plowed a bit more than i'd like. i kept increasing the pressure until it felt better. well, i wore the heck out of the outside edge of my front tires at my last track outing (see pic below). i have since increased my negative camber up front to 1.6 degrees and decreased my front tire pressures to 32psi. this seems to have really done the trick, as the car feels much more neutral overall. it's easy to get the rear to come around if you want it to; it's also easy to hold the line without fighting the car. i think the factory settings are designed somewhat to protect the driver from himself with a bit of extra understeer. the pic below is after two 20 min track sessions. btw, since adjusting my front camber, lateral grip has gone from 1.09G to 1.21G.

a couple of months ago, i upgraded my suspension to M030 / RoW. a lot of people are curious as to the associated performace difference to the stock set-up. as such, i have decided to post a comprehensive analysis; what has this done for my car? for starters, i drive a 1999 base model with a 5-speed. i just flipped 100K on the odometer Thursday on the race track (perfect celebration for such a milestone!). i also run updated wheels and tires: Front: 18 x 7.5 w/ P225/40/18 BFG KDW II (35psi cold for the track) Rear: 18 x 10 w/ P275/35/18 BFG KDW II (32psi cold for the track) Cost & Equipment i purchased my set-up from Sunset Imports for around $400. i did not change the dampers, only the sway bars and the springs. this is a bargain considering most aftermarket equipmpent can be had for around twice the price i paid for the M030. also of note: the M030 front sway bar for a base box is the same as the STANDARD front sway on the boxster S. The M030 'S' sway is stiffer, so i chose it. the rear M030 sway for the BASE box is thicker than the M030 rear sway for the 'S', so i went with it: I'm running the M030 S sway up front and the M030 BASE sway in the rear. Installation i performed the installation myself. it took about an hour and fifteen minutes for each of the front springs and about 40min for the front sway. the rears took about 2.5 hrs each side for the springs and about an hour for the sway (i do have a lot of experience as a mechanic, so expect to spend more time than this if you are unfamiliar with the way of the wrench). i used a conventional pickle fork to split the ball joints. i tore one ball joint boot in the process, forcing me to purchase a new front control arm ($150 from a salvage yard). i recommend purchasing the proper Hazet Porsche ball-joint separator; it's cheap and will save you time and money if you do this yourself. Alignment my alignment was performed by Smyrna Tire near Atlanta. these guys do a great job on aligmnents and they only charge $60 for a 4-wheel set-up (that's REALLY cheap). i brought an alignment sheet with me and they set it up DEAD perfect. also, they allow you to participate in / watch the process, which i really like to see. the RoW sport alignment is different than the standard in terms of camber. i had it aligned to -0.9 degrees up front and -1.9 degrees in the rear. after a recent track day, it became apparent quickly that much more negative camber is required up front than the Porsche spec recommendation. i'm going to match the rear setting (-1.9) this week. UPDATE: my new tires arrived and i installed them yesterday. i also used a camber guage to check / set the front. i went to -1.2 and ran some test laps. not enough. i went to -1.6, which is the most i can dial into my car without mods. THIS is the number. the tires heated evenly and 1.2G's were had. Driveability from a comfort perspective, the compromise is minimal. bumps and dips in the road really don't feel any worse than they did prior to the swap (confirmed by my co-pilot / girlfriend). the only downside for me is that the RoW ride height is about 1" lower than stock up front and i run a GT3 nose. this gives me only 4" of clearance up front for the spoiler. i have to be VERY careful pulling into / out of driveways / parking lots to make sure it doesn't scrape. the M030 makes a VERY significant difference in steering responsiveness. it feels much more go-cart like in that respect. turn-in is extremely crisp and precise. body roll is reduced probably 70% or so. the car remains much flatter through steady corners. balance is comparable to stock, but understeer is reduced a fair amount. it's a lot easier to weight the nose and bring the rear around than it used to be. i used to find that the car would 'push' a bit more than i'd like into corners and i found it tricky (with only 201HP on tap) to overcome this and rotate the car. this is no longer an issue. the additional stiffness in the springs makes transient responses a lot sharper as well; the car is so stable at any speed that it just darts wherever you point it. i didn't measure a slalom difference, but i have some lap time differences i'll get to later in the post. the ability for the car to sustain grip is so great that it feels ALMOST impossible to shake it loose, even at VERY high speed. the nearly non-existent sacrifice in comfort vs. the astounding increases to performance and handling make this upgrade a no-brainer in my opinion. Performance prior to this purchase, i got a g-timer. this allowed me to baseline the car prior to modification. the course i ran for both performance test / comparison sessions was Talladega Gran Prix (12 turn road course). i've posted a track map below. baseline, my car did very well even before the upgrade. of course, it's never been a 'power' machine; it's all about sustained momentum and balance. my baseline non-M030 track outing was in March. i regularly attained 0.95G's in the horseshoe turn running counter-clockwise; that seemed to be the best i hit in either direction that day (about 80 degrees outside). my fastest lap of the day running clockwise was 1:19. counter-clockwise, i ran a 1:17. thursday, however, was a whole other ball game. i used to brake before some quick corners followed by tight ones. this time around, i could run flat out through the sweepers, brake hard, and hit the tighter corners at speeds that just blew my mind. driving the car with the M030 feels much like the regular suspension (except for the reduced body roll) in terms of how i drive the car. the difference is that when i glance at the speedo, i realize i'm going about 10 - 15 mph faster everywhere. from a numbers standpoint, the car was regularly pulling over 1G on the track. my max lateral grip was measured at 1.09 time after time in the horseshoe bend. i even saw 1.10G on one lap. this is on STREET tires, mind you. my lap times were reduced to 1:13 clockwise and 1:10 counter-clockwise. we run three cars on the course at a time and we space them about 1/3 mile apart to keep it safe. one of the guys who used to give me some driver's ed runs a C5 'Vette 2003, stock). in six laps, i made up the 1/3 mile, caught him, and passed him. i was shocked. throughout the day, i was able to run down two C5's, an '01 or '02 camaro with coil-overs, sways, race bushings, etc. i ran down two other boxsters, an R32, and a Superformance Cobra. again, utterly shocked. some of this is due to practice; i've become a much better driver over the past several months. much of this, however, i attribute to the M030 set-up. this is the suspension the car should have had to begin with. it's one of the best-handling cars i have ever driven. if anyone has questions regarding set-up, installation, or any other thoughts, please post and i'll give you my opinions. the only thing i'd change right now is my front camber. the factory recommends -0.9 degrees up front. my tire wear shows that this isn't NEARLY enough. my rear tires wore quite evenly at -2.0; i'm going tomatch that setting up front and reduce my front tire pressures a bit for the next go-round in Feb / March (whenever they finish expanding the course). there's a course map and a couple of pics below. hope you all find this helpful. take care. this is a pic coming out of the carousel / skidpad at the track. note the lack of body roll. the second pic is an AutoX some time ago with the stock suspension. note the significant body roll.

Now all we need is 10" of free space to mount them in...tough to come by in a Boxster :P Seriously ....Where did you find these ? Interesting design.... saw a write-up on these subs online. i'm going to build two large, thin enclosures to go behind the seats. they will taper at the top. the idea is to provide enough internal volume for a great sounding sealed enclosure while still letting me put the seat back almost all the way.

i found the answer to our BASS problems. this is a 10" blaupunkt sub with a 2" mounting depth. anyone hear these?

cleaning the old ones will be a huge pain. they fade to grey over time anyway. i'd just buy new grills and install them. i first tried painting mine after they faded. the paint chipped badly over just a few weeks. go for new ones.

man, i get that same thing. i've yet to figure out what does it. i've adjusted the drums in the rear, but i still get the noise. one day i'll replace the hardware back there to see if it helps. anyone know the answer?

i disagree; i think you can get away with using these wheels, but you are REALLY pushing the threshold of the wheel well. offset of 42 will rub a 275 when you hit bumps. you MAY be able to use the 40 offset wheels with a 265, but they will be RIGHT at the outside of the quarter panels. spacers won't help; your problem is the reverse (you need material removed, not added between the hub and wheel). attached pic shows a 275 on a 44 offset wheel. your 40 offset would stick OUT 4mm more than this.

thanks; hopefully these guys will exchange this with minimum pain....

i posted an earlier topic regarding the part number for an AeroKit II front bumper. Part 986.505.980.00.GX2 was confirmed (in multiple places) as the one to get. Well, it showed up today and it's an AeroKit I bumper (which i don't really like). In the PET, i don't see how they tell the two apart. I see part numbers for the base and S models, but nothing that delineates AeroKit I / II bumpers. Anyone know the answer? Thanks.

hard to say without experiencing it. could be an e-throttle issue. could also be something with the dual mass flywheel. it's a stick, i'm assuming?

works like a champ. it's how i discovered my torn oil separator bellows.

that's called a drop link. glad you got everything sorted out.

should be: 986 552 131 09 A03

more good advice. i'm actually having the clutch made; i'll go with OEM / *** / SK bearings. ^ Funny. The manufacturer is actually F. A. G. Site overwrote w/ ***. -----^

sweet. done; thanks.

thanks!

you don't need that thing. i replaced mine using a volkswagen adapter. i hardwired the new head unit to the adapter and it plugged right into the car. got it at circuit city for $3.00.

never seen this fastner before. trying to change the gear oil ('99 box, 5-speed). not sure what this fastner is called and where to get the tool. it looks like a triple or quadrouple square tamper proof plug.

good advice. with all of the RMS issues in particular, i'm sure depth / technique is paramount. thanks.

doing my clutch next month ('99 box). while the transmission is off, i plan on: - replacing the rear main - re-surfacing the flywheel - replacing the pilot bearing (most clutch kits don't seem to include it) - intermediate shaft seal & bolts - replace 4 crankcase bolts w/ new type anything else i should take care of while i'm in there?

well, my valve cover gaskets are leaking a bit and i'm going to replace them myself. as i understand it, all of the cam bearing caps are integrated into the valve cover except one. porsche makes a tool that is installed onto the cam ends prior to removal of the valve covers. my question is: do i need this? are the bearing caps at the gear ends of the cams sufficient to hold them in place when the valve cover is removed? if i do indeed need the tool, does anyone know where it's available (or what the dimensions are so i can make one)? second question: while i have the valve covers removed, is there any other maintenance i should take care of? spark plug tubes are a given. anything else? (99 box, btw)

do you mean within the engine bay? it sounds like you may have a vacuum leak. this can cause the error codes you describe. on a '99 2.5, my money's on the oil filler tube itself or the oil separator bellows. i'd carefully inspect both for leaks & replace if required before replacing anymore sensors.

pretty sure they will fit as is. you MIGHT need a 5mm spacer in the front, but probably not.