geoff

I'm in Colorado on a business trip this week, and on an east coast business trip next week. I haven't seen a tracking number from Sunset yet, so I'm guessing they're still awaiting the brake ducts from Porsche. Based on experience, estimates to receive parts from Porsche tend to be overly optimistic - I'm not holding my breath. As an example, I ordered my ROW M030 suspension kit late last December and it finally showed up at the end of June! I'll post pictures and info as soon as I get the brake ducts and can figure out how to get the old ones off for a side by side comparison

I think the 2002+ are deeper and more consistent with the American standard size. Up to 2001 was the European size lighter socket. If your cell phone charger or other plugs don't fit well and tend to fall out, you probably have the earlier style. See http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...arette++lighter and http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...arette++lighter for starters. There's a lot more info if you search. The two styles are not interchangeable, so you need to replace both the socket and the lighter

Sounds like the conversation I had with them. :D The part number from the online PET, in my first post and yours that I quoted, are what Sunset came up with and what I ordered. (Not sure if that's the same part advertised by Suncoast, but I would guess so) Pricing probably follows the same logic as to why left and right side parts are sometimes different prices - some internal pricing model more secret, obscure and proprietary than anything Google uses. Or maybe these things are expected to break every month and they want everyone to keep replacing them. Who knows? Actually, the cost is just under $16, since the price they quoted for each side is $7.94. Makes no sense to me either I had considered the RS ducts, but couldn't stomach the price, heard they would probably scrape and break off, and really gave up on the idea when I read somewhere that the bigger ducts were made for larger disks, and would actually channel the air to where the calipers would sit on larger disks. Effectively channeling more air to the wrong location and less air than the stock ducts where it's needed for cooling. These hopefully won't have that problem, but easy to experiement with at this price. I can probably keep one side stock, switch the other side to the new ducts, go for a ride, then measure temps on each side with a laser thermometer to see if there's any difference Since the shipping was about the same as the price of each duct, I added some other small odds and ends like wiper blades and the new (2002 and newer) style cigarette lighter to the order, since the incremental cost is essentially nil. You might want to figure out any other small doodads you need/want to piggyback on the shipping cost. It's always struck me as silly to save money ordering parts online, then spend twice as much on shipping

I just got off the phone with Sunset, the GT3(street) ducts are $109/each. I did a little more research since I'm not very motivated at work today and my curiosity was raised. I emailed Suncoast and here's the reply: Then I called Sunset. They also confirmed the 997 GT3 ducts will fit no problem, should shove a little more air into the brakes, and their price each side is $7.94! Quite a bit cheaper than the stock 997 ducts, and a whole lot cheaper than the RS or Cup car brake ducts. Not sure if Porsche figured out how to make the parts cheaper, if it's a pricing mistake, or just one of those unexplained things. But for $16 (half the price of Suncoast's weekly special price) I can afford to experiment. About one week out from them before they ship to me. Certainly one of the cheapest Porsche "performance" part I've seen. I'll post some pictures when they arrive.

I know this has been discussed in the past, but this question is slightly different. While browsing the Suncoast weekly specials, I saw the 997 GT3 brake ducts advertised - http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/merchant...ategory_Code=WS Unlike the cup/RS brake ducts (brake spoilers?), these look like they're more effective than stock, but still about the same size, so they won't be scraping off on the first parking lot speed bump. Plus they're not ridiculously expensive like the cup/RS ones ($30 vs. $240) The question is, will these fit on a 2001 Boxster? Suncoast lists them as fitting the Cayman, 997 and 987, and from searching past posts, the 997 and 996 brake ducts look like they are interchangeable (997 has a 996 part number even), and the 986 and 996 fronts are essentially the same. So from this, I can assume they should fit an old Boxster. Just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts one way or another. From looking at the online PET, I think the 997 GT3 brake duct part numbers (L/R) are 997-341-483-92 and 997-341-484-92 and the regular 997 ducts are 996-341-483-05 and 996-341-484-05. The original 986 ducts look like they have part numbers 996-341-483-483-01 and 996-341-484-01. Interestingly, the retail part search shows the GT3 ducts at under $9 each side, whereas all the others are over $20 each side

A friend bought a new Boxster S (987) and had it sent to Ruf in Dallas for a Carrera S engine swap with the powerkit, some suspension tweaking, Ruf wheels, etc. I think there was an article about it several months back in Excellence. He didn't have anything negative to say about the experience, and owning one of those things definitely puts you into a special crowd. It wasn't cheap. I drove it and observed it was like driving 80% of a Carrera GT for 20% of the price. A very fast, well behaved daily driver that will blow away just about anything on the road, exotic or not. If you figure Ruf has a lot more experience with Carreras than Boxsters, you can draw your own conclusion about satisfaction.

Thanks Loren! I can't think of any other board anywhere that has service and attention like this! :D

Loren, I started thinking about changing out my dash speakers, and have searched and read lots of posts here and on other boards. Then I had the idea to search the registry here with the search term "speaker" to see what others had used and how happy there were. (I looked in the "reviews" section, but nothing under Audio.) I'm not sure if that's a feature or not. Is there any way to search the registry for specific keywords, like "speaker"? I realize the registry (garage) software is a commercial product, but if there's any way to search for specific items, that would be increasingly useful as the number of registry entries grows Thanks again for this terrific resource!

Been there and done that. I replaced my cap and still had moisture. Then I ordered replacement rubber rings, but tried tightening the bolts before replacing the rubber and the condensation went away. I didn't have a torque wrench, but tightening with a 1/4" drive socket didn't require much effort to end the condensation. Don't over tighten! Try tightening just a little and see if that stops the condensation, and if not, tighten a little more. If that still doesn't work, try replacing the two O-rings

Type of tires and how many miles you have on them make a huge difference for noise. Rear Michelin PS2 tires replaced after 28K miles on our 997 made the car much much quieter inside

Thanks for the quick reply, Loren. Looking at the parts list, I'm curious. Why only one rear shock absorber? Shouldn't there be one for each side like at the front? There are 2 listed for the front. Or is this just a misprint? What does the red/yellow "Identification" mean? Coil spring colors?

Loren or any other parts guru - I've had the ROW M030 suspension upgrade on backorder since late last year for my 2001 2.7 Boxster 5-speed. The part number Sunset quoted and ordered is 000-044-500-06. Is this the right part number? I can't tell from the parts list. Posts on this and other forums have indicated people are getting the kits, but for some reason this particular part number isn't shipping. I presume the upgrade is year and model specific - is that correct? Did the springs, sway bars and shocks change from year to year or something like that, and that's why some versions are available and others aren't? Sunset is checking with Porsche in Germany. Is there some substitute part number that works or doesn't work exactly the some? Or is there a trick like ordering all the parts by individual part number? If yes, is there a breakdown of the specific parts in 000-044-500-06?

Did you try Fry's? I hate those stores, but they seems to have lots of hard to find stuff Sears automotive tool departments have all kinds of odd items as well, but I never looked for a pin removal tool there

Is there that huge of a market for Porsche short shifters to support all these different brands as well as the OEM short shifter? Or do they all come out of the same factory in China and get a different color paint job depending on who the manufacturer is?

:lightbulb: Now to put this to practical use... Does the lemon battery put out enough "juice" to pop the front trunk if your regular battery is dead? If so, maybe we need to start carrying pennies and nails as emergency spare parts

Also see http://www.brackenrig.net/OBC_Hack.htm for an overview of the OBC

Eric - have any group buys on painted bumper blocks coming up this spring? :thumbup: I have to admit, the painted ones on my wife's 997 look nicer than the black textured ones on my 986

And pass up a good reason for a drive up the coast, then through the canyons?! :drive:

Talk to Steve Ellis in Porsche service at Rusnak Westlake in T.O. I asked him about this for a friend with a 997 Turbo last time I was in there, and Steve said one of their techs figured out how to hook up the Cayenne sat radio into a 997. 100% Porsche parts. I think it involves moving some of the electronics for the sat radio into unused space in the front trunk. Make sure you understand the reception issues before you go for it! Disclaimer: I've always had excellent service out there with both our Porsches, but that dealership (like so many others) has their share of detractors as well.

My Optima battery didn't come with the mounting brackets :angry: They look like they make the installation pretty simple, and they don't raise the top of the battery as much as if you used a 3/8" mounting plate underneath, which makes connecting the battery cables easier. And swapping out the battery for a new one looks pretty straightforward

Loren - Thanks again. As always, you are a wealth of information :renntech:

Last part of the question I forgot to ask: are the Boxster (986) and Carrera (996) ducts the same size, or like so many other things, the Carrera got bigger / better ones?

Just out of curiosity, are the GT3 and the GT3 RS and the GT3 Cup brake ducts all the same size, or are the GT3s bigger than the 996/997 ones but smaller than the RS / Cup car ones? A friend is looking at a new GT3 as his daily driver and I was wondering if he's going to have major problems scraping the bottom of his car just driving to work. I've seen the larger ducts advertised as each of GT3, RS, or Cup, but never looked close enough to tell if they all had the same part numbers or not

I saw a comment on the Boxster racing board about the Fabcar control arm for the GT3 that will supposedly also work on a Boxster. I followed the link from the Fabcar products page to their reseller, Smart racing products. I don't know much about Boxster suspension parts, but it looks like they might have a replacement cartridge for the control arm. Look at 443100: 996 Control Arm Pin Installation. There are some other references to 911 control arm cartridges on the page, but I'm assuming the refer to air cooled 911s, and not 986/996 parts. Will the Fabcar / Smart Racing cartridge fit into the Boxster control arm? Here's what it looks like from their installation page:

Will it also work to pop the front trunk if your car battery dies?