Chuck Jones

I called a lady friend of mine who has very small hands....and thank goodness she was able to reach around the 90 degree curve in the plenum and found the plastic straw just before it dropped down into the intake.....had it dropped, I would have been in serious trouble.

I would like to take this opportunity to give you good folks a warning....needless to say, the warning is based upon very recent experience. When cleaning the Throttle Body and MAF....take that dogone narrow red plastic tube off the CRC spray can. I didn't and as I was spraying into the butterfly valve, the dogone red plastic tube blew off and is lodged somewhere around the corner of the plenum. Since it's plastic, I can't snag it with a magnet....which means that a relatively simple 5-10 minute job is now compounded into taking off the TB and possibly the plenum depending upon how far back the tube was blown. So do yourself a favor...take off the plastic tube. Isn't it curious how so many simple tasks turn into major malfunctions because of one little unforseen event?

Wonder what happened.....are you still at the gas station?

I believe that the 99 usually comes with both the 220 and the 222 option codes together as a package for TC. At least mine did, and I seem to recall another thread where this was discussed.

For Mobil 1 in 0-40 weight, I go to WalMart....they always have the best price and are one of the few places that carry it. for the other fluids at slightly better prices, you might try the VW dealership rather than Porsche...unless they're the same dealership. Porsche and VW use a lot of the same fluids. Check your owner's manual for the correct weights and brand.

It looks like there have been 81 views of this offer for a Work on Cars Day....and no one is interested.??? Is it becasue there are no folks geographically situated to take advantage of this offer.....or perhaps the group would prefer another venue? We would really like to get something started that could work into some great meet-ups and the exchange of some oversight, expertise and help. Chuck

After conferring with Loren, we'd like to get something going with an eye towards eventually having more regularly scheduled "Work On Cars Day" events with more complex tasks. This first event will take place at Loren's house in Roseville, which is about 15 miles north of Sacramento in Placer County. Additional details and directions will be posted as we get closer to the date and after we see what sort of interest and participation there'll be. For the first event, Loren will have his PST2 there to read your DME codes and see what sort of mischief has been afoot with your car. He will also have the Durametic software there to demonstrate for you folks who are thinking about buying it, but are not too sure if it is something you can or will use. In order to kick this thing off....I'd like anyone who would be interested in a Work on Cars Day to post to this forum and give us an idea of what you're driving....and what sort of DIY projects you'd be interested in. For the first meeting, we don't plan on tackling any tough projects, however depending upon the level of interest and the feedback we get from you folks, we will be planning on more complex DIY projects at future Work On Cars Days. Another RennTecher....Dave in the Placerville area has kindly and graciously offered the use of his formal garage that comes complete with a four wheel lift and specialty Porsche tools. Once we have had a chance to meet some of you good folks and get a feel for what you might like to do.....we will be coordinating with Dave for the use of his facilities. Please respond to this thread to give us an idea of who would be interested, type of car you're driving, and what sort of thing you might like to see done. Some ideas are: Coolant Tank swapout Brake jobs Short Shifter installs Reading your codes....over revs etc. Replacing bulbs, fuses, and other electircal issues Oil, transmission, and coolant replacement (subject to discussion on disposal and cleanup restrictions) Plenum installs Muffler upgrades I think that gives you the idea behind all this. Remember, whatever project or task you choose to tackle...must be one that can reasonably be accomplished in ONE DAY. Also remember that you don't necessarily have to do a particular project. You may want to show up to see how a brake job or some other scheduled task is done....or just to be able to talk to the experts about how to do a particular task....or listen to someone's mufflers prior to buying a particular brand. Does the PSE muffler really sound like the MKII mod?.....or see how a short shifter feels before deciding. Is a plenum something you want to buy? We're starting small and with easy tasks....but if there's an expressed interest in going forward, we will be willing to coordinate that for you. Please do not email Loren with questions about this proposal. He gets a couple hundred emals a week....post your questions, comments, suggestions etc to the discussion forum and he or I will answer you from here. Best regards, Chuck Jones

Loren: I found a MAF in a box of parts that I received sometime back. I have no idea where it came from and I have no idea if it will work, but thepart number is the correct one for the 99 996. Is there a way test it without installing it? I was wondering that if I installed it to see if it works and it was defective....would it create any unnecessary or troublseome problems with the DME.? Chuck

You're lucky if you can find a seat The cook in the lunchroom ready to eat You must have gone to highschool back when....as I did? chuck

The only product recently that I've seen anything akin to "proof" is some of the info coming back on the Plenum....but even that was the result of only several runs and nothing like the process described by Loren in his blog. There are also a couple of folks who have run the Plenum on their GTek looking at the before and after times. One fellow went from around 5.6 down to 4.7 in the 0-60 run....with a tiptronic no less. Best times I could get were in the 5.6 area....but I didnt do a very aggressive launch on my failing clutch....(no...I'm not sniveling or making excuses)....just don't see a reason to fry a clutch to drop .2 or .3 seconds.....I gave that up after highschool and after my dad quit buying tires for me. Oh yeah....I dropped the clutch out of his car too and it was fixed under warranty....naturally I came home with a bewildered...."dunno what happened" look.

This has been a hotly debated subject from the standpoint of a single modification like a chip, or plenum, or CAI, or whether it takes a number of these modifications acting in concert to give you noticeable performance enhancements. I have installed just about all of them....and in truth, had I to do it over agin, I'd have saved the money and put it towards a twin turbo rather than trying to pick up 10-20 horses here and there trying to make it faster than it is. The manufacturers throw out all sorts of horsepower numbers....but there are very few of us on these forums who have gone thru the trouble or expense of actually putting our cars on dynos before and/or after. Most (not all) of the feedback you'll get on this hightly subjctive at best....descriptions like "it feels faster"....or "I noticed an increase". Some folks will swear that it makes a difference....others will wonder if the thousand or more dollars you'll spend chasing these elusive horses is really worth it. Do a search on mod words like Plenum, Cool Air Intake, Flash performance, headers etc...and you'll get all the reading material you can imagine.

If I had it to do over again, I'd get away from the 3.4 and buy something with a 3.6L engine in it.

Cos: Actually...yours might be loud, but mine are barely audible to me...and my wife said that they were very subtle to her, but she could hear them ok. bottom line is that it's a done deal....thanx again.

The prize goes to Cos and Edwuard: I had also posted to the Rennlist board and got one of the same suggestions there. As it turns out, my onboard computer showed my miles per gallon at 19....and the speed control was also set to 19 mph...so when I'd go thru the onboard computer features looking for a culprit, I saw the 19 and figured the speed control was the mpg readout and blow by it. After getting your suggestions....I looked more closely and saw a greater than arrow after a 19 on one of the onboard computer readouts....and pulled the stalk forward and held it and it cancelled the 19....and no more dings. I also read in the owner's manual under the index heading of "Gong" that this feature can be set for speeds "greater than 6 mph". Why anyone would want a gong at these low speeds escapes me. Bottom line....mystery solved. My thanks to all you who provided input and potential solutions. Another one chalked up to the list of dummy scenarios.

You should do a search for K and N on this forum and on Rennlist. Without bad-mouthing any particular product...you'll find a lot said about the K and N....including some references to Porsche voiding warranty in some cases. Do some research before you buy one....and I'm serious....do some research. FWIW, I installed an EVOM cool air intake.

This is a Loren thing.....Loren...post a PET picture of the radiator....that should give itzbob a better idea of how that's put together and where the fittings are.

Romulus? Remus? Those are made in Rome arent' they?

I change at 10K....and frequently check the dipstick to look at the color....also to keep tabs on any indication of that naggng intermix scenario that has plagued a number of the unfortunate guys.

I washed the car this evening and took it for a drive afterwards. I listened carefully and I'll be dogone if I didn't hear the ding-ding myself. I pulled over and stopped and started out again. The ding-ding occurs at 18mph only if you start from a dead stop. I stopped again, and heard it again at 18mph. I got my wife to drive and we both hooked up seat belts to make sure it wasnt a belt alarm....nope.....every time she hit 18 mph, the ding-ding occurred....she said she also heard it when the car's speed dropped back down to 18-20 mph. It's a very soft sounding bell and has me totally perplexed. I haven't tried the radio face suggestion you made....I'll try that tomorrow.

Tool Pants....you might have something.....when I first got the car I was dinking around with the various features reading the owners manual....and I DID mess around with the speed control warning. That was over a year ago, and my hearing has degenerated badly since then. thanks so much for what sounds like a great suggestion. I'll dig out the owner's manual and re-read about the speed control..... Definitely not seat belt....that is much louder and I can hear that one.

while you have it out, you might want to consider doing the throttle body too. Loren just posted a response to a thread on cleaning the throttle body...it get sooty deposits in the little holes and can cause rough idling. Just a thought...

I posted this to the Rennlist board. Driving tonite with my brother and every time I started out in first (99 996 C2 w/32K miles) he said he heard a low pitched "ding-ding" bell that was coming from the area of the dash between the center console and the steering wheel. I pulled over and went thru starting out in first several times and each time he said he heard the ding-ding. Loren ran the DME on his computer a couple weeks ago and the only thing that showed up was a fault in the micro switch in the front trunk....it shows the trunk open when it's not....so when I lock it I get that little beep that says something is open...but it's not. I have a hearing loss, so I couldn't hear anything, but there were no dash lights illuminated, no gauges flashed, all dash lights illuminate at startup for the failsafe check. The car has the 220 and 222 PSM options. I turned off the radio to make sure we weren't getting bleedover from some song. I have no idea what is causing this....or what the car mihgt be trying to tell me. Any suggestions? Chuck

Did anyone take out a life insurance policy on you lately?

After I bought mine, I found it in the little covered compartment on the hump between the seats where a cigarette lighter would go. It fits in there exactly if you have the lighter delete feature. I looked all over for it and found it there just by accident.

I have a friend who runs his supercharged 99 996 on the track...he bought it with about 65K miles on it and now has 95,000 miles on it....most of which has been hard track miles. He drives it like its stolen and is quite competitive. Granted, he's got a lightweight flywheel and the best suspension you can buy and runs track tires....but he also drives it on the street. My only point to all this is that it's a standard original 3.4litre engine that was supercharged around 36K miles and has been performing flawlessly since then. That's the sort of positive feedback I like to hear about these engines. I jokingly asked him if he thought there was any merit to the discussions that these engines like to be driven hard and survived better being maxed out....sort of like giving animated qualities to an inanimate object. I told him that it might be that the engines were mechanical masochists that thrived better on being driven hard as opposed to babied.