Cassiebox

So basically the same rebate... $23 CND = $1.83 US right? Just kidding.

Badcow- I also had a very annoying clicking / ticking / loose change noise when the top was up or down. It sounded like it was coming from about ear level. I finally found there was a piece of clear tape missing on a small cable guide. I covered the guide up with a piece of 3/4 x 1 inch of clear packing tape and the noise went away for good! Here's how to check yours: Open the top almost fully so that there is about 12" between the edge of the top and body of the car. Look into the cavity where the top goes, about 6 inches from the end of the door. You will see a red cap on part of the top mechanism. Now look a few inches further to the rear and you will see a cable that terminates on a connector with a star washer and torex screw. Note that the cable is bare for about an inch and then is covered with a black insulator. Right where the bare cable ends you will see a 1" wide thin metal plate that acts as a guide/clamp for the cable. Check to see if there is a piece of clear plastic tape on this. If not, just cover it with a piece of tape and you're in business. It solved my problem and while you're at it, I'd check the other side too. Another problem could be change stuck in your center console. Ever put any in the ash tray? If so, pop the cover off your shifter and look around in there - especially right on the sides as there are metal plates there. I bought my Boxster used and got $1.83 rebate on it after I fished all the loose change out of the console. You'd be surprised to find out where the sound appears to come from and where it really is coming from. The change sound I could have sworn was coming from the dash on the passenger side... Hope this helps and feel free to pm me if not and I'll take a pics.

how do I get a hold of harvey? via email is best: harveypnp at comcast dot net great guy, great stuff

Thanks. Sure wish someone near me w/ a 986 had one installed so I could try it out. Oh well, think I'm in as I've been contemplating for a while. Appreciate the insight.

Machster, Is it really notchy & metallic in the shift, or is it smooth w/ just a much shorter throw. I've been contemplating one of these for a while, but don't want to make the plunge w/out being sure. Let m eknow. Thanks!

You'll get 0 from the rears if you hooked into your 4x40 amp as there aren't and channels in the amp w/ power to the rear. On the 4x40, 2 Chs are for the dash and the other 2 are for the doors - none for rear. I understand the PNP instructions say to wire to amp instead of head. However, and here's the caveat missing, it depends on MY of Boxster. The '03-04 came w/ a 6x40 amp standard (along w/ the MOST system) regardless of having rear speakers in the pizza box or not. So if you added the rears, all you have to do is power them from the amp using the open pin spots. But, '02 and prior only came w/ a 4x40 amp unless they also came from factory w/ rear speakers. Then they also got the 6x40 amp. In that case, w/ your '98, you only have a 4x40 amp. Although the harness at the amp has the open pin locations for the rear, even if you put your wires in there, there aren't any channels w/in the amp to power them. Hope that makes it clearer for you. Good luck.

Tool Pants is correct, you will need a 6 ch amp in order to power the rears. The stock amp is 4x40. 2 channels for the front, 2 for the doors (which have a filtered signal and only produce lows). You also are correct about the rear pre-amp outputs going to the amp. The door speakers (again only produce lows) are driven off a combination of the front and rear channels from head unit. Thus when you fade all the way to the front, you'll get almost nothing from the doors. Since you don't have rears yet, if you faded all the way to rear, again you'd get almost nothing. So your choices to power rear speakers are: 1 - find a 6x40 from a 996 (check fleabay or classifieds on various boards) 2 - power from head unit (but impact will be minimal unless h/u has 40W output to balance w/ OEM amp) 3 - an aftermarket 2 ch amp (jump feed from existing OEM amp) In order of ease of installation (2, 1, 3), order for effectiveness (1,3, 2), cleanliness of install (1,2,3) Now, the real issue w/ the boxster's sound system is the clarity which is a direct result of the crappy OEM paper cone speakers that were installed. If you've taken a look at any of them, you'll see. Check out this guide to modifying the boxster's sound system: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?a...ost&id=5022 It is a GREAT too but here are my 2 cents: 1 - just go ahead and modify the stock basket on the dash speakers. Don't waste the $50 on the adapter - you'll NEVER go back to the stock speakers once you change them out w/ good coaxials 2 - don't even waste the time trying to find a better 5.25" speaker for door to install in the OEM 'tuned port'. For the amount of bass a 5.25" can produce (I don't care who makes them), the OEMs are as good as any. You won't find any 5.25" speakers to make it better b/c 5.25"s aren't designed for low end - plain and simple. I tried 3 different sets and none was any better - regardless of rated freq range. Spend the time (2-3 extra hours) to make baffles and mount 6.5"s in the door. Find a good 6.5" or 6.75" speaker that: - produces lows of at least 45 Hz - has a RMS range of 2-50W (any higher on the low end of range and you'll have to really crank up volume to hear any bass realtive to all the other speakers) - is 2 Ohm rated (OEMs are 2 as well) - has a sensitivity rating of 91 dB or higher I used Infinity Kappa 6.75" (Infinity Kappa 652.7i) and they are absolutely awesome. So much so, I actually had to turn off the loudness setting on my H/U and adjust my bass setting down to 0 (treble at 5 or 6 and faded to the rear 1-2) to balance everything out (I have rear speakers). Definitely worth the $129 I paid for them from crutchfield (plus the $30 in materials from Lowe's and Pep Boys to make baffles). On another note, someone on ppbb.com is selling a rear 'pizza box' w/ PNP speakers and a 6x40 amp. Might save you a ton of time instead trying to make a custom enclosure and find a good amp, etc. for other speakers. Here is a link: http://www.ppbb.com/boards/ppbbphp/showfla...;o=&fpart=1 Good luck and definitely use the guide that Andy M put together. It is priceless.

Here's a link to Mike Focke's Boxster page w/ how to clean your MAF about halfway down. Mike is a poster here and on PPBB.com and always does and excellent job w/ details. http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/checkeng...ssairflowsensor

first, get rid of those stock speakers. seriously. unscrew the speakers and replace them with better ones before you install them in the car. the stock speakers are only 5" and you're not going to get much bass out of them, but even if you stay with the 5" size, i would buy some QUALITY 5" speakers to put in there. those 'tuned port speaker enclosures' (cabinets) can be modified to accept a 6.5" speaker, but it will take some work and a Dremel tool to do it. this would give you more bass, but i'm sure even the 5" speaker will fill out the sound enough, considering that you don't have any low-end at the moment. if your car is pre-wired for door speakers, there will be a connector in the door that matches up with the connector on the outside of the speaker enclosure (in your pic). if not, you can either make your own connector somehow, or just bypass the speaker enclosure connector by running a wire pair (+/-) directly from the speaker itself through the door. since you'll be installing an amp, you want to run this wire pair from the door into the front trunk. you'll also want to disconnect the front speaker connection from the back of the radio and run that into the front trunk. you'll be connecting the dash and door speakers to the amp. you will need a cable to connect the radio to the amp. i don't know what the cable is, but Becker probably sells it - www.beckerautosound.com. tell them which amp and radio model you have, and they should be able to tell you what you need. you'll also need to get power to the amp. i'm not sure how to do this, but hopefully your installer will. i still don't know why you're doing this instead of installing a real sub, but if you're going to go through with it, upgrade those speakers before you install the enclosures. the stock speakers are paper-cone crap! ;) to recap, you need to: -run all speaker wires into the front trunk to the amp -get a cable to connect the radio to the amp -install and power the amp good luck! Agree unequivocally w/ ChrisinNH. First dump the paper cone crap in the dash and put in a good pair of coaxial speakers (even just $70 4.25" Infinity's will do the trick) before you start messing around trying to run wires and putting speakers in the door. It will be a huge improvement.

None specifically, but I'd check out some board sponsors or the usual like suncoast porsche, sunset porsche, auto atlanta, etc. Hope this fixes your problem.

Yes, you can use different tires / brands / treads on front vs rear. It's not 100% preferable but it is ok as long as you are consistent w/in the axle (i.e. same tread pattern on same axle). So, yes you can replace the rears now and then the fronts later w/ Goodyears. Will the handling be as exactly the same as if you had 4 of the exact same tread? No, but the difference would be hardly noticeable unless you do a lot of heavy "spirited" driving, DEs and AXs. The only thing that P-enthusiasts don't like is the Goodyears are not N rated. To me it didn't matter as I was just looking for a good performance tire that was quiet (my original Pilot Sports - MXXXs were pretty noisy). At a tread depth (assuming the shallowest spot) of 3/16 (6/32), your fronts do not yet need replaced (2/32 is pretty much the legal min). As such, they have approx 50% tread life left on them since the original tread depth was 10/32. Hope this helps!

According to my workshop manual, insturment cluster lights are B1 and B10 - both 15A. As mentioned above, you might have a faulty switch (part # 996.613.535.00 - approx $55 US). Good luck!

I put them on my '99 back in June and have 5K or so on them. Whisper quiet and handle great wet or dry. Hardly look to be wearing at all but then again mine is only for pleasure - no track, DE, etc. just spirited road driving.

The switch if for the power door locks on your car. Someone may have used it to do a garage door opener hack, but from the factory it locks/unlocks your doors.

For the money, I'd give the Silverstar H7 a shot - about $20 at local parts store. I've upgraded all my cars to them and they really are whiter/brighter. I do not have any vehicles w/ HID to compare to, but the light is much brighter than standard halogen bulbs.

Wouldn't worry about it. Just the system building up pressure to open close valves.

According to the Becker site - http://www.beckerautosound.com the CDR23 does not have an AUX-in. Sounds like FM Modulator is your best bet. You might want to search their message board for other ideas or solutions as well: http://beckerautosound.com/beckerboard/

The PNP kit has the wiring harness you need to wire from the speakers up to the head unit and then an add on harness to get you from head unit to AMP in trunk. So you'll be fine to run them off the head unit for now and then also have the harness when you upgrade to a 6x40 AMP. Good luck!

On the amp itself. You'll have to unbolt it from the firewall (or use a small mirror) but it will tell you the part # (like 986.xxx.xxx.xx) and say either 4x40 or 6x40 in big letters) Custom made mid range range speaker (almost 4.25") and bracket combo w/ a .75" tweeter next to it) If you buy the kit from PNP (Harvey Peck - harveypnp at comcast dot net) and tell him what you have, he'll give you the extra harness to plug right into the amp and not the head unit Good luck and enjoy!

I think it will work as long as you use the preamp outputs and hook them into the boxsters stereo harness to the amp but cannot say for certain. I'm not sure what your ultimate goal is or if your funds are unlimited, but you might want to take a look at this link: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?a...ost&id=5022 Any did a great job documenting the process and I wish this was available before I did mine. The weakest link in the Boxster's sound system is speakers. The head unit isn't the greatest, but it is adequate to say the least. The speakers on the other hand are really THAT bad (paper cones, no range, weak magnets, etc.). Here's a list of what I did and approx costs: upgrade dash speakers to infinity ref 4.25 - $80 upgrade door speakers to infinity ref 5.25 - $90 (still only gets low end) added Harvey PNP rear speaker kit (polks) - $225 swapped out amp to 6x40 (for rear power) - $50 (from auction site) added Becker NA Aux In kit (for XM & Ipod) - $35 Grand total (plus a few evenings of time - $480 and the system is now very good - enjoyable. Not the loudest, but loud enough and clarity and function were my goals. I'd hate to see you spend what looks like $400 on a new head unit and misc adapters to hook into the existing system only to find out it's still bad. I'd recommend starting w/ redoing the speakers, adding the rear speaker kit (if you don't have it already) and the Becker AUX In kit before buying a new head unit. Good luck!

According to my parts listing, I think you're looking for the radio shelf unit - 996.552.253.01.01C. Verify w/ Suncoast or your local dealer. I assume you are also replacing you're AMP? I understand that the M680 AMP will not work w/out the control panel you have. Good luck and let us know what you are replacing it with. Others here may have done the same and can give you some add'l help.

JPCOLIN- Unless you're absolutely bent on having OE scuff plates, I'd hit the auction site and look for the SS ones from "sales4pnparts". I paid $77.50 + shipping (but combined w/ his rear speaker kit too). I bought the SS w/ cloisonné from him earlier this year. They look and fit great. I'm in no way affiliated w/ Harvey of PNP, just a satisfied customer. Good luck

I have a CDR220 in my '99 and also 'tried' to use a R/S GLI. Needless to say, it did not work at all. So I too returned it and bought one at Best Buy. Seems to work fine. I guess if you didn't need it in the first place, I would run w/out it. Otherwise, try Best Buys as it also has an external ground you can use. Good luck!

I recently switched from the OE Michelin Pilot SX's to Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3. I only have about 500 miles on them (mostly dry but some wet) and all I can say is they are great. Very quiet, very sticky, very smooth and about $300 less expensive than the Pilot Sports I was considering. $ wasn't the objective (but certainly a consideration) and I really wanted something quieter and not as harsh of a ride. Love 'em so far and can't wait to see how well they hold up. If the C&D test is right, I should be good to go as they have a 280 treadwear rating

Jon- I installed my XM antenna there as well (under dash alarm cover). Since there was something like 25' of antenna cable, I just tucked it in the crevice between the windshield and dash/defroster trim across the passenger side of vehicle. Continued to follow crevice to the passenger door jam and down to under side of dash. There was still plenty left over so I just zip tied the excess behind the foam panel in passenger footwell. The antenna works pretty well there and all the wires are hidden. Good luck!