SpawnyWhippet

I am writing this guide to help people to modify their 2005-2011 Porsche 911, Cayman or Boxster from a Tiptronic to a paddle shift steering wheel. They are far better to use on a track, autocross or spirited canyon drive than the standard clunky tiptronic buttons as they prevent accidental shifts and encourage correct wheel handling. I wanted to be able to return the car to completely stock if necessary, so this mod only changes a secondhand used steering wheel bought for this purpose, nothing at all is modified on the car or the original steering wheel. You may choose to modify your own steering wheel directly, which would save you up to $300. I would rate this as a 3/10 on the difficulty scale. I am happy to modify this DIY with feedback or other advice. This work is done at your own risk, I take no responsibility for you skinning your knuckles, damaging your car or anything else by using these instructions! Total time taken to modify and install the wheel was about 4 hours, including some trial and error, taking pics and notes. The replacement wheel was a used one that I bought off ebay for $150. I bought the AMG paddle shifters from an online Mercedes parts supplier and the steering wheel harness from my local dealer, who I persuaded to price match with online suppliers. I based this writeup on the one done by user ‘PFBZ’ on Rennlist and I have used some of his writeup and some of his photos as mine were blurred when I checked them. Tools needed Sockets Triple square for steering wheel bolt T20 torx to remove steering wheel trim panels Ratchet Wrenches 4mm Allen wrench to pop airbag out of old steering wheel. 3 or 4mm Allen for the bolts to secure the paddles to the wheel Other tools Soldering iron and solder Craft knife Drill (and several 3-6mm bits) M4x.7 tap to create a thread in the paddle shifters Multimeter Consumables and parts - Manual transmission Porsche steering wheel ($150 - $250 on ebay) - Mercedes AMG paddle shifters, part number: A171 267 00 46 (approx. $130) - Tiptronic steering wheel wiring harness, part number: 997.612.674.02 ($90 - $120) (f you have a manual transmission steering wheel harness, you can simply add 2 more pins to the connector plug to tie in the paddle shift wiring. Part number for the pins is PNA-721-043-00-054 and it comes with a short section of yellow wire crimped on. This was a very difficult part number to locate!!) - Heat shrink - Electricians tape - Loctite Blue threadlock - 2x 20mm long M4 bolts with 0.7 pitch. Step 1 Remove the 2 plastic trim panels from the new wheel using a T20 torx. (They are already removed in this pic below, for clarity) Spend a fair amount of time deciding precisely where you want the paddle shifters to be located. I am very pleased with the location of mine, which are easily reached by my finger tips without stretching or holding the wheel unnaturally). When you are satisfied, create a paper template of the base of the paddle shifter. Note the paddle has a larger section trim piece which should cover the edges of the hole you cut into the wheel. Step 2 Mark the edge carefully with a marker pen and cut it out with a craft knife, all the way down to the metal. Keep test fitting the paddles as you cut to make sure your hole is not too large that the trim doesn’t cover it. Tap holes of paddle shifters to accept the M4 bolts. Step 3 When you are satisfied with the final fit of the paddles, drill 2 holes, the first one is for the mounting bolt (the other for the paddle shift wiring). You will need to carefully mark the location of the hole for the bolt. There is a fair amount of flexibility where you drill the wiring hole. Make sure you remove (deburr) any rough edges on the wiring hole. I used the wire sheathing here to protect the wires from chafing in the hole. Feed the wiring through the wiring hole and mount the paddle in place. Bolt it using the M4 bolt from the inside of the wheel. Make sure that the paddle shifters operate correctly by connecting a multimeter across the wires and check that operating the paddle creates a short circuit (7 ohms or less). (One of my paddles needed to be slightly repositioned in order to allow the paddle to close completely and operate the switch.) Feed the wiring through the lower, smaller hole in the trim panel and bolt it back in place using the T20 torx bolt. Repeat these 2 steps for the other paddle. Step 4 Clean away any trace of metal swarf, foam debris etc. You are now ready to wire up the tiptronic wiring harness. There are 6 connectors on the harness: Orange multiplug for the steering column connector Green airbag connector Yellow airbag connector Black horn connector White left tipronic connector White right tipronic connector Follow the cable from the multiplug to the tiptronic connectors and cut it just before it forms the T. Strip off the harness sheath and bare the copper for the 5 of the 6 wires (2x black, red, blue, white.) The yellow cable will not be connected, the remaining should be soldered to the paddle shifters wiring as below: If you are modifying the manual transmission steering wheel harness, you need to add pins to socket 10 (white cable) and socket 7 (red cable), then splice the black cables to pin 1. Then connect the yellow 'Up' cable to the white cable in pin 10, and the blue 'Down' cable to the red cable in pin 7. When you have soldered it, test the paddle shift operation again with the multimeter, and check for any inadvertent shorts to other wires. If all is OK, apply heatshrink to the soldered connections then wrap the harness in electrical tape. The paddle shift wheel is now finished. Step 5 Go to the car and ensure the steering wheel is dead straight ahead. Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery and wait a few minutes. Using a 3 or 4mm allen wrench, remove the airbag by poking the release spring through the small hole at the bottom of the steering wheel. You may need to use a reasonable amount of force to pop it, then gently pry the airbag out of the wheel. Disconnect all connectors of the tiptronic wiring harness except the 2 for the tiptronic switches (which are not accessible anyway). Remove the triple square bolt from the center of the steering wheel and then remove the wheel. Step 6 Lay the 2 steering wheels next to each other and route the wiring on the paddle shifter wheel in the same way as the factory tiptronic wheel. Install the paddle shift wheel in same way that you removed the old wheel, but don’t bolt the wheel on yet. Connect all the electrical connections and loosely place the airbag in the wheel (don’t click it into place yet). Connect the battery and start the car. Check operation of the paddle shifters by holding your foot on the brake and putting it into drive. As you click the Upshift and Downshift, the indicator on the instrument cluster should show the gears shifting. If all operates correctly, turn the car off and disconnect the battery. Apply new thread lock to the steering wheel bolt, torque it up tightly, then push the airbag into place. Reconnect the battery and the job is finished. Notes After reconnecting the battery, I got a fault code for ‘PSM inactive’ on the dashboard. If you do too, you may need to reset the steering angle sensor using a Durametric system. I have a Durametric Pro and I went into the PSM activations section, then initiated a recalibration of the wheel sensor by turning it 20 degrees left then 20 degrees right. I cleared the fault code and then it was all good to go. I was informed that this fault will also clear if you simply take the car for a drive.

I am writing this DIY as I couldn’t find anywhere that described how to DIY a left turbo replacement on a 2005 Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and all the mechanics I spoke to said the drivetrain must be dropped out the car to do the job. As the minimum quote was $7,000, I decided to do it myself. I will not lie and say it was easy, you will need a lot of perseverance, creativity and determination to get to some of the harder to access bolts. It may not even be easier than removing the engine, but it is just about doable by a competent and confident home mechanic who is very determined to save money. However, I did not have the facilities or ability to remove the engine by myself and there are 6,000 good reasons to undertake this at home! I would rate this as a 9/10 on the difficulty scale, with 10 being removing the engine and 1 being an oil change, but I have proved it possible. If you need to do both turbos, then it is definitely easier to remove the engine. I am happy to modify this DIY with feedback or other advice. This work is done at your own risk, I take no responsibility for you skinning your knuckles, damaging your car or anything else by using these instructions! Total time taken to remove and reinstall the turbo was about 25-30 hours, including some trial and error, taking lots of pics and notes. The turbo was a used one that I bought off ebay for $350 and had remanufactured. (My turbo had a cracked housing and was not able to be refurbished.) Tools needed Sockets 8mm 10mm 12mm 13mm T30 Torx for undertray T40 torx socket E-Torx sockets Stubby and long handled ratchets Flex head 3/8” ratchet (essential) Torque wrench Lots of socket extensions, some with swivel / wobble joints Universal / swivel joints Wrenches 16mm offset wrench 17mm flare wrench 17mm ratchet wrench 19mm box wrench / ring spanner 5mm Allen wrench 8mm shortened Allen wrench Other tools Flat head screwdriver long nose right angled pliers long nose pliers Borescope (essential to find all the bolts in hard to reach places) Magnet on stick for recovering dropped bolts and tools Hacksaw (if you decide to cut the lowest oil pipe) Torque wrench Prybars of varying lengths to move the turbo in the very tight spaces Jack stands Jack Shop towel / rags to clean up spillages Drain buckets Consumables and parts Left reman turbo part number 948-123-016-56 $750 1x o-ring 999-707-544-40. $2.64 3x seal rings 900-123-131-30 $2.64 each 1x rubber o-ring 999-707-387-40 $1.07 1x rubber o-ring 999-707-392-40 $2.64 5x seal rings 900-123-005-30 $1.07 each 1x exhaust gasket 955-111-113-20 $12.02 1x exhaust gasket 955-111-113-10 $14.29 8x hexagon nut N-908-946-02 $0.81 each 1x exhaust gasket 948-123-203-52 $13.28 1x green o-ring 955-110-720-00 $4.61 Porsche Coolant Mobil 1 0W40 x9 quarts Oil filter Additional Various plastic hoses that may break due to being old and brittle Duolok connector or rubber oil hose & clamps to repair the cut oil line if you are unable to remove the lower oil pipe from the turbo. Step 1 Apply parking brake firmly with the car on level ground. Put the air suspension into 'Service Mode' by pushing the Ride Height control forward for about 5-10 seconds. You should get a message about 'Regulation Switched off'. Remove the plastic engine trim on the front and side of the turbo you are replacing. Jack up the car and place on jackstands. Remove the front wheel and wheel arch liner using T25 torx, 10mm socket and Phillips head screwdriver. Remove the front center undertray from beneath the engine at this time, using a T30 torx. Drain the engine oil and replace the oil filter. Access is very easy as all the panels are already off. Step 2 Remove the air filter cover by turning the two T30 plastic torx screws a half turn until they can be lifted up and out. Disconnect the MAF intake hose from the air filter housing. Remove the cover and the air filter from the engine bay. Disconnect the MAF sensor harness from above and the air intake hose from the bottom of the filter housing (best access is through the wheel arch), then remove the 10mm bolt holding the air filter housing to the car. Remove the air filter housing from the top of the engine bay. It is a tight fit and you will need to move hoses aside and twist it around a bit before you can wiggle it out. When this is done, remove the thin rubber hose from the bottom of the MAF intake pipe and pull the MAF intake pipe out of the car. There should now be a clear view of the turbo through the hole in the wheel arch that was made by removing the air filter housing. Step 3 Remove the hose clamp on the upper air hose going to the turbo and pull the hose from the front of the turbo. Pop the spring retaining clip on the lower pressure hose and remove the pressure pipe from the turbo. Remove smaller tube and the 'quick release' hose from the top of the turbo. These were tricky for me, you need to squeeze the hose and pull it up at the same time. The clips broke on mine, and the pipe is over $200 to replace. The smaller air hose was very tightly on and I needed pliers and a lot of twisting force. When it finally came off, I broke the plastic pipe fitting at the front of the engine, so this also needed to be replaced. There was little clearance or flexibility in the hoses to do this. This is the view of the turbo from above. Remove the two 17mm coolant banjo bolts from the outer side of the turbo. 1-2 liters of coolant will leak out, have a drip tray ready. (I needed to remove the linking clamp between the 2 pipes using a 5mm Allen wrench so I could remove the rear banjo bolt. Discard the 4 aluminum sealing rings and during reassembly replace with new ones (900.123.005.30) on the 2 banjo bolts.) Remove the oil pipe from the top of the turbo using an 8mm shortened Allen wrench. You may lose a little oil here, but not more than a quarter of a liter. Discard the sealing rings and replace with new when reassembling. Step 4 Remove the three E12 torx bolts holding the turbo to the exhaust manifold. Use extensions and universal swivels from above, as they are angled toward the suspension strut tower. Remove the 10mm nut on the bracket to the rear of the manifold that holds the turbo coolant tubes in place in order to gain access to remove the rear E12 turbo bracket bolt. Remove the two E12 torx bolts holding the turbo bracket to the engine block, then remove the single E12 torx holding the bracket to the turbo. (You will need long nose right angled pliers to hold the rear nut to undo this bolt.) Step 5 From beneath the car, remove the five 12mm nuts holding the rear of the turbo to the exhaust. You will need some patience, creativity and a good selection of straight and wobble extensions, swivel joints and flex head ratchets. (I got the outer 2 off through the rear of the wheel arch and the other 3 from below.) The top nut was the toughest one to access, needing around three 12” extension bars and a flex head ratchet. Remove the three 12mm nuts holding the catalytic converter pipe to the middle muffler exhaust pipe. Split the 2 pipes apart so you have maneuverability in the catalytic converter and turbo. Remove the 13mm bolt on the catalytic converter bracket (near the O2 sensor) in order to have some extra clearance and flexibility to access the rear turbo nuts. Remove the lower oil pipe from beneath the 2 coolant banjo bolts. Access is moderately tough, I used a 17mm crowsfoot flare wrench on a few long extensions and wiggled the turbo and coolant pipes around to gain clearance. The final metal oil pipe is beneath the turbo facing forwards. Access is very tough or close to impossible. To remove this 17mm bolt you need to come in through the wheel arch with a 17mm crowsfoot flare wrench on extensions with wobble joints. You will need a lot of patience to get it off. A borescope or mirror is essential here. I ended up cutting the oil line as I could not remove the bolt with the turbo insitu. During reassembly I will reconnect the cut pipe using a short piece of oil hose and hose clamps or Duolok metric pipe fittings. Step 6 Remove the four 16mm engine mounts bolts under the car and jack up the engine as far as you can safely take it. Unsurprisingly, one of them (right side rear is very difficult to access and a cross member interferes with getting a ratchet to the bolt head). I used an offset wrench to access it. Remove the valve unit from the top of the turbo by removing the two 8mm bolts from the backing plate and the circlip that holds the connecting rod to the arm at the rear of the turbo. (It is not easy to get the circlip off, so I ended up hacksawing through the connecting rod to remove it.) Remove this valve unit from the engine bay. The gap is only just big enough. I also removed the plastic hose connection port from the front of the turbo by removing the two T30 torx bolts, just to give a little extra clearance. Pull the old turbo out through the wheel well hole where the air filter housing was removed. Step 7 Have a beer, cup of coffee, bottle of champagne or whatever floats your boat. I also used a bacon burger at this point. Step 8 Clean out the turbo oil supply line as best you can with any kind of cleaning fluid, eg Seafoam. Don't let any debris or sludge enter the new turbo if you can avoid it. On the new turbo, unbolt the valve unit and remove the circlip holding the connecting rod. Fit the new turbo into place by whatever means you can. After wiggling the turbo into place, do not forget to reattach the valve unit removed prior to installation. The circlip is challenging to fit. I used some long nosed pliers and long screwdrivers to pop it into place. The 8mm bolt nearest the engine block is also tough to reach, I used some long socket extensions from the beneath the car, near the catalytic converter. Step 9 Reverse order of the steps above to complete the rest of the installation. Prior to connecting all the top hoses, put 2-3 fluid ounces (50ml) of clean engine oil in the oil supply fitting and rotate the turbo by spinning the turbine wheel to pump it through the turbo. You may need to remove the plastic pipe connector port to spin the blades if you cannot reach. When all the hoses are tightened, double check all the bolts are torqued correctly, refill the engine oil and coolant. Observe all the hoses for a while to check for leaks. Ideally, leave it overnight and look for leaks in the morning. Have a helper spin the engine over while you look for leaks. If all looks good after the car has been running for a few mins, bolt all the undertrays and engine trims back on. After a few days of use, re-check the oil and coolant levels. You may need to get any old fault error codes cleared from your car using a code scanner or Durametric system. I have a Durametric Pro cable, so I can clear my own codes.

I am writing this DIY as I couldn’t find anywhere that described how to DIY a front left axle replacement on a 2005 Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and the minimum quote I got was over $1000. This DIY will be more or less the same for both sides. The reasons I am replacing my axle is that one of the CV boots was split when I bought the car, causing the whole corner to be coated in grease, and during some steering maneuvers I could hear grinding and moaning noises from the front left side. I am happy to modify this DIY with feedback or other advice. This work is done at your own risk, I take no responsibility for you skinning your knuckles, damaging your car or anything else by using these instructions! Total time taken to remove and reinstall the axle was about 3 hours and 2 beers, including taking pics and notes. The axle was a new GKN Loebro one that I got my local Porsche dealer to price match at $211 Tools needed Sockets 8mm (for undertrays) 10mm deep socket 13mm 15mm 17mm 18mm 19mm 32mm 12 point Size 12 triple square socket (drive shaft removal) T30 (?) to lock ball joints when loosening/tightening T50 torx socket (to remove rotor) Short and long handled ratchets Large scale torque wrench Wrenches 19mm box wrench / ring spanner Other tools Ball joint separators Flat head screwdriver Jack stands Jack Lots of shop towel / rags to clean up spillages Drain buckets Consumables and parts GKN Loebro complete new front axle 955-349-038-13 or 138-01187827 $211 (Autozone and Napa were offering remanufactured ones for $59 after core charge, but maybe these are lower quality.) Caliper bolts (these are ‘use once, torque to yield’ type) N-906-854-03 $4.64 each Axle nut (should be replaced if not with new axle already) W0133-1999019 Rotor retaining screw N-910-282-02-M1002 Step 1 Apply parking brake firmly with the car on level ground. Put the air suspension (if fitted to your car) into 'Service Mode' by pushing the Ride Height control forward for about 5-10 seconds. You should get a message about 'Regulation Switched off'. Remove the center cap from the front wheel and using a long breaker bar, loosen the axle nut and front wheel lug nuts. Then jack up the car and put it securely on axle stands. Remove the front wheel. (I also put the wheel under the car in case the jack stands slip or break.) Step 2 For me to access the lower steering knuckle ball joint, I had to remove the brake caliper, rotor and dust shield (I intended to do this anyway, as there was so much grease in my left front brakes). You may not need to do this step if you use the alternate ball joint tool. This is a straightforward job using 21mm socket, 13mm socket and a T50 torx. You may need to tap the rotor off with a mallet. I used a bungee to hang the caliper out of the way from the upper control arm. Make sure you spread open the pads a little in the caliper (without damaging them) to make it easier to reinstall later. If your brake pads are coated in grease like mine were, it’s safest to replace both left and right side pads with new pads. Step 3 Loosen the 3 ball joint nuts on the lower control arm, upper control arm and tie rod end until they overhang the end of the ball joint thread. (This is to reduce chance of pressure from the ball joint splitters damaging the ball joint thread.) Use the ball joint splitter to break the balls joints taper grip on the hub upright. Now remove all 3 nuts - you may find that the ball joints spin when you try to remove the nuts. There is a torx fitting in the bottom of the ball joint bolt so you can prevent the spinning while you undo the nut with a box wrench. (Look up from beneath the ball joint.) You may prefer to use this kind of tool, available cheaply from Harbor Freight. Step 4 Remove the long bolt that holds the middle of lower control arm to the mounting bracket in order to give enough wiggle room and clearance to pull the upright off the lower ball joint. You should now be able to pull the upright off the end of the axle. Caution - As the hub upright has a number of brake hoses, electrical lines etc clipped to it, you need to either remove them or be very careful not to damage them when you hang the removed upright from the upper control arm. Step 5 Undo the 6x size 12 triple square bolts holding the inner end of the axle to the front diff. (I did not need to rotate the axle in order to remove all the bolts.) You can now slide the axle out and down through the rear gap between the lower control arm and mounting bracket. This will require a bit of jiggling the lower control arm around to create a gap but is not too tricky. (See step 7 for a pic.) Step 6 Clean up all of the area from grease and brake dust. Pay special attention to getting all the grease off the brake caliper, rotor and pads using lots of brake cleaner and degreaser. Check the condition of the brakes and pads. Now is a good time to replace them if needed. As a rule of thumb, if you drag your fingernail across the rotor and it catches, or there is a large lip at the edge, you should replace the rotor. You can get them resurfaced if they will be more than 32mm thick after the work. If the pads are less than 3mm or greasy from a split CV boot, you should replace them. Step 7 Install the new axle back through the rear gap, make sure you put it in the right way around! (They are very different at each end, the splined shaft is the outer end.) Feed the spline into the upright, then locate the inner end to position in the differential flange. Rotate the shaft to line up the holes, then put the 6 triple square bolts back in with a drop of Loctite on each. Torque to 80 ft lb ? (I was unable to find the factory specs) Left side faces the hub, right side to the diff. Step 8 Reconnect the hub to the 3 ball joints and tighten the nuts. Torque to 65 ft/lb ? (I was unable to find the factory specs) Replace the long bolt through the lower control arm and apply a little blue Loctite. Torque to 65 ft/lb ? (I was unable to find the factory specs) Refit the dust shield to the hub, then the brake rotor. Do not get any grease on the freshly cleaned rotor. Torque the new rotor retaining bolt to 30 ft/lb ? (I was unable to find the factory specs). Optionally you can put anti-seize compound on the surface of the hub where it bolts to the wheel to prevent wheel from sticking to the rotor when next removed. Bolt the caliper back onto the hub using new caliper bolts (*do not reuse old ones*). Torque the caliper bolts to 200 ft/lbs. Refit the new axle nut until it doesn’t turn freely by hand ratchet. Refit the wheel and lower the car to the ground. Tighten the nut securing axle shaft to wheel hub, M24 X 1.5 and torque to 340 ft/lb. If you don't have a torque wrench that goes this high, use a 24 inch breaker bar and put your whole weight on it. Assuming you are around 170lb, you just applied 340 ft/lb to the bolt ;-) Refit the wheel center cap. Torque the wheel lug nuts to 118 ft/lb.