Stefan

And I never understand why people feel the need to tweak their suspension setup... maybe they feel they're better than Porsche engineers.

It's because Porsche had to set the balance of harsh ride and sporty handling at about the average for their target customers. People who want more sporty have to do it themselves. It's not a matter of better, but tailoring to specific preferences.

I'm betting the problem is the forward heat shields, which are on either side of the transmission. These things are hard to pinpoint by ear. I doubt the problem is the transmission itself.

It's best to diagnose (and fix as needed) all four corners as control arm replacement necessitates a realignment.

That makes sense. Glad the mystery is over and I hope the dealer doesn't charge you too much.

Maybe the person behind you is getting annoyed with your braking. j/k ;)

It sounds like you might have a faulty ignition switch. The part is about $10 (from autohausaz.com, for example) and you can change it out yourself with a small screwdriver and a little bit of under-dash contortions in 15 minutes.

There is no adjustment for the mixture. That is done automatically based on sensor data. One or more sensor could be reporting the wrong value.

Is it idling high? It could be a vacuum leak.

I suspect the turbocharger is leaking a bit of oil past its seals.

Remember that it's a bad idea to flog a car before the oil is hot and that goes doubly for turbocharged cars. The turbo spins extraordinarily fast.

(BTW, a turbocharger rebuild on that car is not very difficult)

after doing the 3rd radiator on my '99 996 i find that i keep having to fill coolant nearly everyday yet i never see water stain on the floor. i did see stains on the pluming under the motor, but i never see it drip.

You might have air in the system, in which case the pressure relief system is opening and letting some coolant out. You might try removing all of the air from the system before making any radical changes.

The EVO intake has the MAF in the same place as stock. The pipe is metal, not plastic but other than that they are largely the same. The difference as far as I can tell is that the stock intake has a mesh that I have heard is there to make the air flow patterns more regular.

The EVO intake air is probably more turbulent.

Is Scott doing (I guess done at this point) the Softtronic install? I'd be curious as to what he thinks the power/torque difference will be. I'm sure he has dynoed this or similar installations.

You should have a BBQ and invite people over to hear the difference. :P

I'm having X51 headers and AWE 200 cell cats + softtronic installed tuesday and can't wait!

Yes, I converted back to stock and had no further MAF problems for many tens of thousands of miles.

But apparently I didn't learn my lesson because when I did a 3.4L engine swap, I put the EVO intake back in.

Lo and behold, I got the same P0102 error after a few hundred miles.

I purchased yet another MAF and put the stock 986 intake back in. Now more than 15k miles later, absolutely no MAF issues.

I am convinced that the problem was related to the EVO intake. Note that the MAF on the early Boxsters is much less robust than the newer (2000+ MY) ones which might explain why not everyone with EVO intakes has this problem.

Chris,

(My car is a 1999 Boxster 5-speed)

On my first transmission fluid change (60k miles - earlier than scheduled), I did some research and decided to go with RedLine 75W-90NS. Afterward, shifting seemed slightly improved over the worn stock fluid but over time it definitely felt more notchy.

At 115k miles, I changed the fluid again but this time back to stock Porsche fluid. Shifting was noticeably improved. So I don't know what they are using but I like it.

I spoke to RedLine about making a cocktail and they were very sure that this was neither recommended nor necessary. They also said that 75W-90NS was the only of their fluids that was appropriate for the Boxster transmission.

A 3.2 swap should be very similar to a 3.4 swap. I would start with Todd's (tholyoak) 3.4 writeup but not worry about lowering the engine or adapting the fuel rails.

You will have to deal with the non-egas to egas conversion, which is not covered in Todd's writeup but which is discussed in other threads devoted to that specific topic.

Another way to do this is just pull out the wiper relay and replace it with the VW intermittent relay (about $15 IIRC) and call it a day.

One thing to check is the tube that goes from the throttle body to the air oil separator. I usually disconnect that when I am accessing the throttle body but even if you didn't, it could get cracked. That would cause the high idle.

One way to check vacuum leaks is to introduce a flammable gas (like propane) near each of the vacuum connections. If there is a leak, the gas will be sucked in and the idle will surge.

Why not replace it with the clutch from the 295 hp 987?

Chances are your problem is a worn strut bearing.

It could also be the lower control arm bushing.

Either can be sprayed with a lubricant (to diagnose, not fix). If the sound changes or temporarily goes away, you have found the source.

Here's how to do it:

http://www.realtime.net/~rentner/Blog/B600...7809/index.html

After replacing the AOS it may take hundreds of miles for the smoke to stop. It did for me.

You can pull the visor off the post. But the post remains connected to the bracket that screws into the windshield frame.

In the worst case, you can replace the mirrors. The unlighted ones are $20 apiece new.

I was reinstalling the alarm light cover in the center of the dash and I accidentally dropped it into the air vent.

It sounded like it fell down into the system. I removed the plastic dash panel and looked and indeed there is a cavern there.

Does anyone know where the low point is? Perhaps I could open up the sytem from below and get at the piece.

I want the part (not a huge deal - I can replace it) but I also don't want it to get ground up by the fan and cause further problems.

How difficult and time consuming is it to remove the HVAC system. Do I have to remove everything?

Any guidance would be greatly appeciated.

Success!

(Continuing adventures...)

The last I posted, I had removed the nuts on the headers but was unable to separate the stock headers and cats. Since then...

I gave up on trying to separate the headers and cats on the car. So I removed the rear bumper, the cross braces, etc., and removed the entire exhaust system in one piece and brought it out to my back yard. You'd think that it would be easy to separate them from this point, but no.

I pulled, I twisted and they wouldn't budge. I tried hammering a screwdriver between them but as soon as I applied any torque, it broke.

I hammered in a 2' pry bar. I put all of my weight onto the pry bar. The pry bar bent as I pushed it but those two flanges were not separating. I hammered the pry bar in farther. I pried. I prayed. After considerable effort I finally managed to separate them. I was running out of time and even though I wanted to tackle the cat flange bolts, I had to put everything back together.

I got everything back together, started up the car and it definitely sounded better, more of an open (less choked) sound.

But with the car heated up the car was leaking some exhaust on both sides but only when on throttle.

Yesterday I replaced all of the header to cylinder head bolts and torqued them to the proper specs. No change in the exhaust leak.

So this morning I took an extra pair of cats I had lying around (yeah yeah, I know) intending to remove the studs (the original point of this thread). It was actually pretty easy. I removed the O2 sensors, heated the studs up with a torch, and hammered them out with a regular 14" metal hammer.

One interesting note is that I do not think that the studs were welded in. I think they were pressed in. I removed them intact and I see no signs of a weld. This means that theoretically they could be pressed out if you could get a very large set of pliers at the right angle.

Check it out:

I still have to put the cats into the car but the hard part is done.

Thanks everyone for posting your experiences. It helped a ton.

I am looking for the same connectors. I mentioned these parts with some detail in this thread:

Note that the male ends of these plugs also have part numbers:

On amplifier (male plugs)

The Tyco page for the male connector also lists it as "restricted". Searching on the BMW part number for the big connector (the one on the amplifier, which is one of the ones you are looking for), I found this reference on a BMW E60 forum:

The picture (which you have to register to see) looks exactly like the connector on the Porsche amplifier. The poster there says

The Tyco Amp part number is 1-828881-2 and the BMW part no is 61 13 1 383 515 9

Have you tried asking Porsche if they will sell you the connectors? Also, it might be worth talking to one of the big online car stereo places. I vaguely remember a reference to one selling a connector kit that includes one or more of the connectors you are looking for.

It might also be worth calling BMW parts.