vrex

anyone? i specd it correctly, buuttt, how do i help Koni understand that my front struts need an endlink attachment point at the lower spring perch?

and that was my approach, yet koni (not my vendor) sent over a pair of allegedly stock 911 turbo fitting struts... so where do the end links go?

Hi all, Ive been working with a suspension vendor to get a set of re-valved Koni Yellows. they sent me struts that appeared to be fine. I intend on using the stock springs and compensation disks with the Konis so that i dont have a ride height issue/imbalance (ive heard about some nasty tolerance issues with H&R springs, but i guess thats just the nature of working with an anal retentive suspension engineer). He calls his contact at Koni up, they work things out and i get a fresh set of yellows. i was changing brake fluid and broke out one of the struts just to see whats what for the install (not installing till spring, might as well beat up whats in place over the winter), and i notice there is no provision for the sway bar end link on the lower spring perch of the front strut. the rears look fine on the yellows, they have that cup where the rear end link bolts in to. but the fronts have no provision on the lower perch. i dig around online for pictures, and i keep seeing replacement struts that have no provision for the end link. im not the first owner of the car, and i have no info on mods. i called my vendor, and he inquires if its possible that i have a gt3/rs/gt2 suspension installed? well i dunno, do i? please see the attached pics. if this is in fact a stock suspension, what do i have to do in order to attach the factory end links to the yellows (ie, when i coordinated with the vendor, i told him its a c4s, same as a 911 turbo for cross reference)? should i ask him to cross reference with the 911 C4 instead of the turbo? do i have to go aftermarket end links (i didnt want anything aftermarket becuase i drive my car 4 seasons in New England, and i dont want spherical ends getting all rusty and noisy)? sorry the photo isnt rotated. if there is a serious issue here, could i have my suspension guy knock off the koni lower perch, and swap in the factory lower perch? I REALLY dont want to go down that road, to many opportunities for errors in alignment, and breakage. my car is a 2002 911 C4S (6spd). Thanks!

before i put this post up, i called my local Porsche dealership, to inquire about what it would cost to have them perform the service. they said it is recommended that all the hoses in the system be replaced, as the connectors get damaged when removing them or something to that effect. any truth to this? i can see how uncoupling these joints (if done properly) could hurt anything...

Please excuse my inexperience, i didnt (i dont even have any). but if thats what it takes, ill pick some up tonight. could you provide some insight into the assembly/disassembly process? loosen part A in the digram, slide the off the male end, slide A and the circlip on the new male piece and tighten? loctite on anything? any recommendations on dealing with the end of the hose that is near the strut? Thanks again!

Hi all, a section of the blue hydraulic line between the master and slave cylinder has developed a leak, and i cant operate my clutch. the clutch itself just goes straight to the floor, and doesnt spring back. there is a small puddle directly under a flat spot in the tubing, it looks like something flattened the tubing and that caused it to weaken and blow out the side. anyhow, i have the replacement tube (part number oem-996-423-10910, number 9 on the diagram below). the car is an '02 C4S. i found a few threads relating to being able to get the thing apart threaded joint disassembled how do i get this thing disassembled (number 12 on the digram)? i cant replace the broken pipe till i get these couplings apart. is there a special tool? i tried turning both nuts in opposite directions, and i ened up round the corners on the nut a bit. i dont see any markings on the new or old joint that indicate an alignment that would allow them to slip off. i see the circlip inside the new tube, i understand how it works, but i cant apply enough force to get the male end to slide out from the circlip. i tried prying them slightly, but ended up just bending the tubing a bit. it sees obvious from that thread that i just need to turn the nuts in two different directions, but i cant imagine it should be as hard as i twisted? do i have to break the circlip? heat it? PB blaster (i dont imagine pb blaster and brake fluid play nicely...), the joint costs $118 at pelican, i dont want to break the thing unnecessarily, especially as the tube costs less than that joint. any and all advice is greatly appreciated, i desperately need to get this resolved. Cheers-

sorry, i should clarify. not a TRUE GT3, just an electronic nannyless car, rear wheel drive, aggressive alignment, stripped down club racer. you know, tequipment roll bar, anti roll bars, coil overs, seats, strip the sound insulation, pads, stainless lines. something that serves as a 80% track, 20% street car, air bags and cats in place, but quite frankly not a car youd want to drive for more than 3-4 hours (something you could commute to the track in and back)

Hi all, after some heavy thinking, ive decided to sell my '02 C4S and start with a mk 1 car to build into a track car. i recall reading that the 996 gt3 was based on c4 architecture due to the stronger body. if i buy a c4, can PSM be removed via software deletion (IIRC, PSM is standard on the c4/s both mk 1 and 2?)? i would just drop the torque tube and front drive half shafts, essentially brining me to having rear wheel drive, but my concern is PSM still kicking in even when clicked off if i accidentally tap the brakes... or should i just shoot to stiffen up a mk 1 996? Cheers, and enjoy the sunshine!

Thanks for the kind words guys. picking up a battery this afternoon and pulling the old one. thanks for listening, i imagine a good number of people have been in my situation and just needed to vent/ get a second opinion. after a mediocre nights sleep from being up late researching, I've stopped worrying because frankly its not worth thinking about. either a battery will fix this or i am deep in the sh*t. thanks again! ill let you know what happens.

please advise, im pretty irritated with myself, and kicking my own a** pretty thoroughly. i apologize in advance for the long winded, though mundane story. i put my car up on stands friday night. i intended to do the following; polish the headlights and replace a washer nozzle (chrome cap flew off), disconnect PSE electricals and check actuators (so it would make be louder), cap off intake muffler, replace left front side marker bulb, check for coolant expandsion tank leaks, replace any failing wire spring clams with worm (t-bolt) clamps. nothing unreasonable or beyond my ability. heck most of that didnt even need the car to be up on stands, but i thought it would make getting at the actuators for the PSE cans easier (it didnt, oh well, car looks cool on stands and lets me just give everything a nice once over). i removed the intake air box, disconnected the MAF, removed the air pump completely. started in on the radiator expansion tank, didnt find any leaks (they are coming from a yet to be identified hose). moved to the headlights. popped them out, as well as the side marker. that wraps up saturday's work. Overnight im guessing that an interior, engine bay, or trunk light was on (idiot!) I didnt disconnect the battery during any disconnections of sensors or lights. is that a problem? i never thought it would be, i mean, if a bulb goes out, whats the difference? im beating myself up over this and second guessing myself, im curious, is the DME that hypersensitive? reinstalled the headlights so i could have someone help me remove the washer nozzle. I turn the headlight switch over with the keys out of the ignition and get no headlights. ok... put the keys in, turn to position 2 (just before start), turn headlight switch... nothing. i figured i installed the headlights incorrectly, no biggy, pull them out, reinstall, it all seems to be correct. i quickly move to drop the car off the stands and figure out why i have no headlights, as that would seem to me to be an indicator of bigger issues. reinstall air pump, disconnect the gray and orange PSE electrical connectors (wrap them with rubber gloves to prevent damage), install air box, connect MAF, drop the car, go to start - DEAD. no biggy ill jump it from the engine. heres where things plummet; i think i reversed polarities on the other car, i honestly dont know. the other car didnt die, but my car blanked. round 1, pos to pos, ground on my car, neg on the other car. round two; pos on my car, ground on my car, in my haste, i may have switched terminals on donor battery. my car shows fewer signs of life after round two than round 1. i freak out. i consult renntech for disaster scenarious. ive already checked the fuse panel, everything is in order. AAA came by, and he tried to give me a jump. he got enough juice in it for electronics to light up, and there is a clicking noise, maybe speakers popping? i dont know. but not enough juice to get the starter to even click. oddly, my spoiler has deployed. it has enough juice to deploy the spoiler, but not pop the trunk, or start the car. WTF... of course i cant get my hood open now, to pull the battery, and my car is parked across both bays in such a way that i cant get another car in the garage to jump the hood from the fuse panel (idiot). my next move is call AAA, get the hood open (which i should have done when he was here the first time), pull the battery and have it tested. i pray i killed the battery. im sorry for the venting, but to boil all my rambling down; what are the chances i fried the computer? i had an ECU go on my previous car, and i just can afford a new DME (im assuming they are unreasonably expensive) and all the hassles of getting it fixed up right now... im kicking my own a*s into depression over the thought of having fried the ECU. i was meticulous in everything i did over the weekend, except the simple 30 second job of disconnecting the battery. really annoyed with myself right now. any advise or opinion would be greatly appreciated. :thankyou:

Happy New Years! I'm in the preliminary planning stage for some work id like to do this winter. i would like to have my front bumpers, front lip, the lower rockers, and rear bumperettes painted, and some clear bra applied. as far as paint goes, ive been given a few names or found a few places, but of course the people that recommended the places are partial to those places, so thats not really fair for an eval. places im considering: Musante Motorsports - south windsor, CT (based purely on web search) Plaza auto body- wallingford, CT (valenti porsche of wallingford's recommendation, my mom has had autobody work done there, good relationship with owner) Ron's auto madness- bristol, ct (fellow porsche enthusiast has had several cars resprayed there, very happy with the results) Any other recommendations? any thoughts on those places? I'm also looking to have some suspensions and DME tuning work done. I'm planning on going with a coil over system. without getting into a suspension discussion, i intend to have a shop do some proper setup, including running the out of the box coilovers on a shock dyno and revalving to balance them, as well as specing an appropriate spring rate, and then corner balancing and aligning. anyone can sell and install suspension, i want a shop with some suspension engineering prowess and the tools to get it right. I've heard great things about Daniel Jacobs in Oxford, CT. they are apparently a full service shop, providing race engineering, as well as auto body (from what i gather). they run a race team, and they are an authorized softronic's reseller. has anyone dealt with them? Thanks for the help, and have a safe and happy new year! Cheers-

piping in some engine bay acoustics? total day dream, but i would love to hear the motor at WOT beyond what i do hear. someone standing curbside while i pass at WOT is def. getting a better note than i am. as far as the dump pipes go, ive examined pics of the PSE system, and read as much as i could on them. the actuator doesnt seem to divert sound around the muffler altogether, it diverts exhaust around the sound baffles in the muffler through a pipe that goes essentially in and out, but still through the muffler. dumping just after the cat will reduce length of travel (no velocity drop). that would essentially offer the purest sound, best velocity, and still maintain some environmentally friendliness by being post cat. i imagine it will be something like the muffler bypass pipes ive seen from various vendors. thats ideal because it is still post cat, and offers weight savings, but seriously, i live in a neighborhood and i get home late. a neighbor's son has a straight piped STi, and it is LOUD even when going slow. i dont want to do that to my neighbors. so, this seems like a reasonable solution, if it can be done.

im not out to optimize the handling of the car as though im going racing. i just happen to remember that moving the wheels on my kart in 1/2" on both sides yielded some drastic handling changes. so moving my wheels in and out an inch on my car would seemingly have some ability to change things. but the difference with a kart is; no suspension, no differential. a car is much more forgiving and the fudge factor due to the bushings and suspension and whatnot may make track width a moot point. but based on what i learned in trial and error with the summer setup, there must be something to it. realistically though, winter driving is much more conservative, so looking for a handling advantage is going to lead me to be probably a bit overly confident and end up in a ditch. i just want the most traction possible, and as with anything else, thats probably more about psi than track width (like you said) Cheers!

Thanks Jake, id like to take some time to chat with you on the phone, and determine where im going with this project. by the end of Q1 2010, im hoping to finish suspension/wheels and tires, and a few minor aesthetic details. prepackaged items are great for their consistency and reliability, but im a huge fan of playing at the bleeding edge of reasonable, so im not afraid of talking about adding in longer rods/shorter piston combos, maybe an ITB setup, etc. its a shame the 996 isnt a showcase car anymore, but thats not to say it cant achieve some great things anyways. please PM me, we'll set up some time to chat. Thanks!

have considered the turbo, dont need a 4 seater, and theres something magical about 8500 rpm naturally aspirated that gets me every time. a gt3rs engine + c4s certainly doesnt make anything special, but iirc, all the GT cars are built on c4/s platforms due to their stiffer off the line structures. id seam weld the hell out of the thing, and of course suspension work would need to be in order to make anything that can carry a GT title. very reasonable to say that unless this became a pure project car and did everything myself, this would be a nightmare to complete. importantly, as youve pointed out, the first thing to figure out is whether an LM1 engine will fit up with a c4s trans. in the end, this hypo will push me to do the following; break down the engine, contact a rod/piston manufacturer, and have them optimize rod ration so i can have a nice long rod, short piston with the wrist pin located way down so i can have a super short stroke and achieve some astronomical rev range, while keeping inertia and side stress on the wrist pin/rod journals in check so i dont break something. port match the intake and exhaust ports, bigger cams, bore the throttle body, etc. classic engine build stuff. Jake will invariably be my go to, though fahrnbacher and Daniel Jacob's Hairy Dog Garage are relatively close and both run terrific machine shops. anyways, its fun to day dream...

i was reading the R&T article about the Lexus LFA, in it they describe how toyota actually pipes engine sounds into the car. why cant i do this? so i need to figure out where i would be able to put some penetrations in the chassis. this of course initially made me cringe, weakening the chassis will never be a good move. but i think, if i penetrated to the engine bay in a straight shot, just some small diameter pipe, then welded it into place, say down by the rear seat footwells, and added a high quality seal, i could control when i hear the sound. again, day dream, just chime in with thoughts. seriously though, i feel like everyone else gets a much better ear full than i do, i want to hear my baby sing! this one is more serious; ive been contemplating an exhaust system. instead of going to the PSE system or the hacked PSE, id like to maintain the quieter dba of the fully stock system, then incorporate some solenoids that open a dump pipe, see the link dump pipes this would go after the cat, and of course there would be 2 of them. im a little concerned about heat being dumped right there under the bumper, but on second thought, there is alot of heat generated down there and the bumper hasnt melted so i guess it cant be that bad so long as the exhaust is pointing fairly straight down. this raises my only other concern which is ground clearance, but i think that is a matter of orienting the pipe correctly. as well, a piece of pipe can be used to extend the exhaust away a little bit if need be, without hampering flow. please consider this carefully, i have a friend who tig welds offering to help me out, but i want to do some proper preliminary planning here. i plan on doing headers (hopefully those suncoast headers!) so the need to keep her quiet around town becomes a little more of a priority, hence the desire to use a solution such as i presented. Thanks for your thoughts!

Yea, but living in CT, and driving the car year round would preclude me from going gt3. the obvious route here is buy a gt3rs, and a truck, but i really really dislike driving trucks/suv's. but yea, money will buy whatever you want, but technically speaking, is it a direct swap?

would the aisin (iirc) c4s transmission mate up to a gt3rs motor? possibly with the use of a custom bell housing piece? then one could theoretically have a 4 wheel drive gt3rs, and with some money spent on suspension, a daily driven all wheel drive N/A super car... or would it just be cheaper to tear the 3.6 motor apart, do new rods, pistons, maybe bore it out, etc... just a little day dreaming ...

well i wont be running tire chains, so where does that leave me for optimizing traction? space wide for understeer? space it to stock geometry with just a 25mm? spaced slightly under stock? also, how about front track width? and last and most important, what are you all running for tire pressure?

Hi all, im curious how much track width effects traction in a car. from my experience in karting, front and rear track width has a HUGE impact on handling, traction, and tire wear. I recently picked up a winter setup (sport techno's 8x18 and 10x18 with, i assume, correct offsets; Blizzak LM25's 215/265's). The seller included 25mm spacers and requisite bolts. my summer setup has 15mm rear spacers and 7mm fronts on stock 8x18/11x18 wheels, and i swapped spacers front and back, no spacers front & 15 mm rear, etc just to see how it feels. spacers made a noticeable diff when added to the rear, and none up front, but for aesthetic reasons i kept the 7mm fronts in there. for the winter, should i run spacers at all? i learned by trial and error, but i dont want to sit out in the cold changing spacers around. also, what cold pressures are you running your tires at? im inclined, while there isnt snow on the ground but its cold out, to run them rather high, and bleed them as conditions dictate. bad idea? ive never owned blizzak's im not familiar with their character. Thanks!

that is incredibly noble and inspiring of you. i wish your son a safe return, congrats to your self on your growing family, and a happy holiday season. you certainly show that being a truely passionate motorhead need not come at the sacrifice of money or family, its an appreciation, if only from a distance, for the things we love. all the best!

the rain sensing wipers on my '02 c4s are outstanding. without a doubt worthwhile. they are fully capable of being fast enough to clear away the worst downpour, and effective at keeping a light drizzle clear. very nice feature. good luck!

i wasnt going to go with a 26" tire on a 19" wheel, i meant going to a 295/35 which in most of the instances im seeing, has an overall diameter of 26". is this a problem? i have no intentions of going to 19's.

im a novice to racing a car, but i have been karting for the past 2 seasons. i have a decent understanding of what im feeling, but the car adds a whole lot more variables in there, what with squishy bushings and electronic nannies (cant beat that tube frame metal on metal connection of a kart)... <_< youre right, im trying to keep it as predictable as possible, but considering im accustomed to street driving the car with this setup (7/15 mm spacers, 245 fr/295 rr) i think id like to stay with it. i immediately noticed the spacers. in fact, i played around with it for two days, all different combos of spacers, 15 fronts, 7 rears, 7 rears, no fronts, 15 rears no fronts. logged it all. 15mm rear, no fronts was my favorite, but for aesthetiques, i put the 7mm fronts in for the street. on a track, id probably take the fronts out. just my opinion thus far. i think a different set of bars and an alignment would offer me alot, but im not ready to start tweaking at that level. i can do it on my kart, but i know my kart inside out and upside down. i didnt know different treadware ratings differed among mfg, honestly, could they make it more difficult?! its surprises me what i do and dont know about these things... any thoughts on how sticky i can go before oil starvation becomes a problem? effects on gearing and acceleration aside, will a 26" tire be to tall for the stock system?

absolutely true. but much like wine, cost has nothing to do with quality. there are def. better tires out there than the ps2, and for cheaper (if that was what you were referring t0). def. not into the pilot AS, im not entertaining all season tires right now. the sumi's crossed my mind, i could beat the snot out of a set every year and pay less than i do for a pair of fronts of michelin ps2's. but in consideration of the tires companies like toyo, nitto, hancook, kumho, etc. have been putting out, im not convinced there isnt a tire out there that will do what im looking for. again my primary concern isnt the tire, its about sizing. its the technical piece im looking for answers on. will going to a 26" tire be a problem for the awd/abs/ various other sensors that are in play? will a 315 wide fit on an 11" wheel with 15mm spacer? the hard part about that question is that every manufacturer seems to have a different measurement regardless of the number (i.e. 295 wide for michelin is not the same as 295 for kumho...) is a tire with a treadware rating below 200 to sticky for the stock oiling system?