Kevin369

My main comment would be to suggest that you take your time looking. You don't have to buy this one and there are plenty to choose from. You might even find that you want the 2.7L instead. I own a '99 and really enjoy it but if I were willing to spend more money at the time I bought mine, I probably would have bought an '01 for the 2.7 and the nicer interior bits. I opted to spend a little less and save some money for mods. BTW, a car that has been tracked is not necessarily bad. These cars are meant to be driven hard, not abused, but driven. Is it worse to track your car occasionally or drive it 91K miles in stop and go traffic? As always, do your due diligence and research. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback. I was lukewarm about the idea when I heard about the offer so rather than bite, I sought advice. I would much rather spend the $500 towards suspension parts. I'll be passing on this exhaust. The funny thing is that my local Porsche dealer is where they are on sale.

I am looking for opinions and any information you can share about the Billy Boat exhaust for 2.5L '97-'99 Boxsters. I'm not in the market for a new exhaust to replace my stock one but I can get a brand new one for $500. Also, is this a good price? Thanks!

I would get some Lloyd mats. They are much better quality, thicker, and nicer looking than the overpriced stock mats. The Lloyd mats have a very secure fastening system that will not slip. It uses a plastic mounting tab/bracket and a fastex style clip to attach the mat.

Thanks for the feedback guys! I appreciate it. I test fitted an 18x10 on the rear of my stock '99 and the wheel will clear. There is not much space between the inside rim on the wheel and the shock body but there is clearance. It's close but clear.

Can someone tell me what the proper offset is for an 18" x 10" wheel? I'm wondering if that will fit on my '99 Boxster and what the offset should be. TIA

Thanks Jeff! I went back to Autozone today and lo and behold, the shelf was full of batteries with vent tubes taped to them. I must have bought mine on an off day. I grabbed a vent tube and one of those orange positive terminal covers. It's all hooked up now. Thanks again. I think the "red top racing version" adds a couple of extra HP. ;)

I just bought a new battery from Autozone, as suggested. I tried Costco and while the prices were excellent, my Costco did not have group 48 and were all sold out of group 47. I got a group 48 from Autozone for $65. It is a "Duralast" brand but does not look the same as the one pictured. Also, mine did not come with a vent tube and there does not appear to be anywhere for a vent tube to go. Dumb question but is that bad? Since there is a vent tube attached to the original battery that leads in to the firewall area, what the heck do I do with it? Just let it hang loose? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Guess who's battery died today? (mine). I got the Autozone Duralast and the guy said it didn't have a vent tube - I asked him to check again or look at another battery - Oh, he says... I guess it does have one. This is what I bought and installed today... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Loren, Funny timing that your battery died. That looks like the battery I got and the model numbers are the same. (48-DL) Mine did not come with the orange cap over the positive terminal nor did it come with a vent tube. It looks like you plugged the vent tube int the center of the battery. Is the vent home on your battery an oval shaped end? If so, I have that too and didn't realize it was a vent hole. Correct?

I just bought a new battery from Autozone, as suggested. I tried Costco and while the prices were excellent, my Costco did not have group 48 and were all sold out of group 47. I got a group 48 from Autozone for $65. It is a "Duralast" brand but does not look the same as the one pictured. Also, mine did not come with a vent tube and there does not appear to be anywhere for a vent tube to go. Dumb question but is that bad? Since there is a vent tube attached to the original battery that leads in to the firewall area, what the heck do I do with it? Just let it hang loose?

I am no tire expert but have heard some various opinions on tires for the Boxster. The S-02 and S-03's are good tires but they are expensive and understandably don't wear so well. The Contis and Pirellis are mediocre. The one tire that I have heard is a surprising bang for the buck tire is the Kumho Ecsta Supra 712's. They are very reasonably priced and aside from having to be kept well inflated for best performance, are a great tire. I think my next set will be these. I certainly don't want to pay $250 for one rear S-03.

Wow, this thread has been informative. I am certainly no expert but I do try to practice heel-toe shifting whenever possible and have found it possible to do it with moderate braking but of course, it is easier if the brake pedal is being pushed deeper. I use the left side of my foot to brake and roll my right to blip the throttle. Sometimes it does feel like the left side is just hanging on to the edge of the brake pedal in order for the right side to reach the go pedal. This might sound stupid but nobody mentioned shoes. I find that certain shoes are better than others for this technique. My usual dress/work shoes are not so good whereas my Pilotis, or several other more comfortable rubber soled shoes, are much better. It's just easier to feel the brake and modulate it while blipping the throttle with proper shoes. Then again, maybe I don't know crap about this subject and I've been doing it all wrong. :unsure:

I agree with LVDell. There is no way that a stick-on layer of plastic will look stock. I would stick with OEM or have your pieces painted professionally if you want a color interior. What are you shooting for? A painted finish or carbon fiber (real or look)?

Well since someone revived this old thread and I posted about some door sills I was thinking about buying and did eventually buy, I should post a follow up. These are the stainless steel ones found on eBay and sold by a fella named Harvey Peck out of Mechanicsville, Virginia. Quality is excellent and the price is very good at $65-$75 a pair. These are the crested ones and the crest is a good quality, albeit small, replica of the hood crest.

Yes, that looks good. Did you say that you already have the newer cap? (The pics show you do.) I guess trying to another one wouldn't hurt. Be careful when putting it on as it is easy to cross-thread them and thus not have a tight seal. (My service advisor warned me of this.) It's easy to do but if you just lightly spin it and let it thread on its own. Keep us posted.

There's no real trick to remove the carpet. The carpet around the coolant resevoir has foil backing so be careful with that. It is a seperate piece. There is another seperate piece that is behind the tail light assembly. The main carpet covers a foam board and that carpet is taped to it. The only kind of tricky part is removing the plastic rivets and screws. I hate breaking plastic fasteners but using a handy Snap-On tool for this purpose prevented that. Everything else pretty much pops right back into place as it is more or less molded to shape.

I agree with the other responses. I got lucky with just the cap but it is amazing what a bad cap will cause. Sounds like the bad cap allowed coolant to escape under pressure and drain out. A small thing I found odd about your experience is that you said that your Boxster normally runs 190-200. That seems high to me because mine never goes over about 185 and that's even in my 100-115 summers days. Just a quick update on my coolant issue I posted about: I haven't driven the car that much since. (100-115 days is not conducive to Boxster driving since I believe that it should be driven top down.) None the less, the coolant level has been holding steady each time I check it. I let the car sit and let the coolant return to the resevoir before checking. All seems well. Phew! Even still, I can tell you a bottle of Porsche coolant fits snugly between the spare tire and the firewall. :)

Update: After my first round of refilling the coolant resevoir and replacing the cap with the newer one, I drove about 10 miles and rechecked the coolant resevoir. It appeared to need a little topping up. (Maybe the coolant had not returned to the resevoir or coolant was filled up in the radiator and/or hoses?) I topped it up and drove another 50 miles in mostly 100 degree heat over the course of a day and half. I checked the coolant level after about 35 miles and it was the same as after the top up. I checked it again after the next 15 miles and it's still topped up. The car has been running consistently at about 185 degrees. I think I got lucky and that the problem was the old cap. I'm going to keep monitoring it and continue to carry a bottle of 50/50 mixed coolant/distilled water around just in case. Thanks for all the advice!

Update: Got the new version of the coolant cap ($19). It's interesting in that it has a sort of sleeve on the underside and there is some play between it and the rest of the cap and it looks like there is a hard plastic gasket up inside the cap as well. The old one is solid. I refilled the coolant 50/50 Porsche coolant ($10/liter) and distilled water. Incidentally, before I did this I removed the plastic piece that has the raised writing on it. I did notice some coolant and condensation below where that plastic piece was. There wasn't much but there was enough to see and wipe up. I also removed enough of the carpet and foam to watch for a resevoir leak. After I filled and capped, I ran the car for about 20 minutes and watched for leaks. Nothing. Nada. Zippo. There was nothing around the resevoir, trunk, no drips from underneath, and nothing seemed to be coming from the underside of the engine. (I slid underneath and watched.) When I shut it off, I waited a couple of minutes and then open the coolant cap. Whoosh! There was a pronounced release of pressure. I then reinstalled the old cap and started it back up. I let it idle for a little while before shutting it off and removing the old cap. Pssst. There was just a little rush of air but it was barely noticeable. I realize that not quite as much pressure may have been built up the second time because I didn't run it quite as long but I am thinking that my problem is tied to the old cap. At least that is my hope as opposed to coolant leaking into the engine. Bad, bad, bad. (There was a Boxster and a 996 at the dealer for new engines for this exact problem.) I think that if the old cap was bad and while the car was running, there was enough opportunity for coolant to escape/evaporate. I am told that once that happens it happens fairly quickly. For now I am going to run the car and just monitor the coolant level. Wish me luck.

It just amazes me what people will do to a perfectly good car. It's all a matter of personal taste but this car screams FUGLY. I also find it strange that with all the money and thought that went into it, they left the ugly dumbbell shift knob and plain parking brake in place. Whatever, to each his own. I wonder why nobody has wanted to buy it??? Check out this new body kit for Boxsters. If your Boxster wishes it were a Carrera GT this is for you.

Another decent tire that gives great "bang for the buck" is the Kumho Ecsta 712. Better tire but a little more expensive is the Kumho Ecsta MX. Thanks Highlander. I had also looked into the Kumhos as well but didn't know/find out much about them. Most people would just go with a SO-3 or a Michelin Pilot Sport, which are great tires but hella expensive. I occasionally track my car and autocross it. Do you think the 712's will suffice? My problem right now is debating whether I want to get 18" wheels to go with the new tires. I mean now is the time if I'm going to buy new tires, right? ;) I'd love a set of the Carrera Lightweights but they are pricey.

Tool Pants: What Sumitomos did you get and from where? I'll be in the market for new kicks for my Boxster soon. (Notwithstanding my coolant issue.) I've been looking at alternatives to the big names, like Sumitomo and Falken.

Thanks openwater. I'll be heading over to the dealer to pick up a new cap and some coolant. They have seven of the newer caps in stock. Does that mean they need stock for common replacements??? I'm going to do as you suggested and refill the coolant and watch it. I did pull up the carpet and the black foam in that corner of the trunk and it looked coolant free so at this point I don't think it's a leaky resevoir. I shall see though and post my findings. Thanks again.

LOL! Fiat = Fix It Again Tony. What is up with these coolant leaks??? I just got my introduction to it last night in my not-often-driven '99 Boxster. Just some background on my car. I drive it maybe once a week and sometimes only once every couple of weeks but this week I drove it 3 times. It has 51K miles on it and I live in a very hot climate. Temps have been just a bit over 100 for a few weeks straight and no temp warning light has come on during this time. I do have the older cap with the PN that ends in "0". I took a nighttime mountain drive last night. It was about 85 degrees out. I drove up to about 2000 feet and all seemed fine, no temp warning light. I parked for about 15 minutes with the engine off. Started it back up to continue and noticed the red temp warning light blinking. Oh crap. I was up in the mountains, pitch dark, nothing around, including water. I had no choice but to limp home which luckily wasn't that far. I took it easy getting back down the hill and home. That was about 15 miles. (I know, I know but there was nothing between where I was and my home.) The temp gauge read just over the 180 mark by about 4 mm. The radiators were clear and I checked my coolant and it is way low; well below the minimum mark. I removed some of the carpet in the area of the resevoir and noted no pooled coolant. In fact there wasn't even a film. The carpet did have a darker gray stain that feels slightly sticky but that could be oil or whatever. There is some coolant near the cap. Coolant is visible in between the raised lettering on the top of the resevoir. (Note: I don't remember exactly when the last time I check that area but I'm pretty sure that when I did there was no coolant present.) I do not have any coolant pooled on my garage floor and have not noticed any drops. As I said, the car sits for long periods of time so it would have time for coolant to pool over time. A look underneath right now does not reveal any drips or obvious signs of leakage. First, what is happening to my coolant? It is disappearing somewhere and probably kind of quickly. I say that because I don't drive the car often and have never had the temp light go on. It was only last night it came on. Presumably if it had been leaking out slowly it would have gone past the minimum level sensor before last night and the light would have gone on earlier. The coolant level is about an inch or so below minimum. Second, what to do? My dealer is about 5 miles away. The manual advises that plain water can be used in an emergency so that is what I think I will do and get it to the dealer. What can I expect the dealer to do to troubleshoot this? Third, what is the worst case scenario? (Dare I ask.) If it turns out to be the worst case scenario what should I do about the car? Thanks for your feedback and patience with this long post. Kevin

Here is another set. Personally, I like these ones best because they are brushed stainless steel and have a very nice Porsche crest on them. They're rather understated but nice. This same "store" also sells a version with "Boxster" in the proper script on them. Boxster door sills

Go faster, stop faster. I get it. Maybe in the meantime while you plot your big engine conversion you could just try some new track pads, stainless steel lines, and race brake fluid. I know it's not the whole package you want but it might help you feed the need to tinker while giving you improved braking. A rode shotgun with a friend of mine at Buttionwillow who did that with his M5 and darn did that thing stop hard; so hard his stock tires couldn't keep up. I'll be interested to see what you wind up doing caliper/rotor wise. Those Big Reds do look impressive.