New Guy Questions

[ltcjmramos]

I am but a newbie to the rarefied world of Porsche, and I have a host of questions. I come from the world of a car (1993 Mazda RX-7) that took lots of work to unleash all its potential, while my newly purchased '99 C2 may be near perfect out the door. I am not looking to modify for the sake of modification, nor am I particularly interested in more power. As it is, I sold my RX-7 with about 380 hp that could easily stay with GT3s and 993 Turbos. Never had the pleasure of running on the track with a newer Turbo.

Questions:

1. Can one do their own maintenance on the car? If so, what manuals are needed? I see them selling for $700. Is that right??? Source for the manuals? I already printed out Loren's DIY instructions.

2. Should one use only Porsche-sourced parts (filters, plugs)? Sources?

3. Mineral oil or synthetic? Weight? I have plenty of both on the shelf.

4. What basic mods can be done to make the car more durable? On the RX-7, the "reliability" mods were such as freer flowing intake, downpipe and cat-back. I already have a TechArt header (manifold extractor) and muffler system. Should I put a K&N filter in the air box? Or should I not do anything?

5. Is there a database of information, or is it that the quality of the car precludes a need for that?

6. I was looking for a second set of wheels as the rears on the car have some curb rash. I found and bought a set of Kinesis K20s with Yokohama AVS Sports from Speedware Motorsports up in Redmond because the price was SO good. They are 9" fronts, 11" rears, 235/45 fronts, 315/35 rears. They purportedly came off a 996. After (of course) I bought them, I read more on tire sizes, and these seem to be outside the recommended width. Did I make a mistake? (They are within the 4% range for the ABS.)

7. I have Paternie's Red Book, and have ordered Anderson's 911 Performance Handbook and Elford's Porsche High-Performance Driving Handbook. Anything else I should get on my shelf?

8. Maybe a silly question, but two Saturday's ago went to the R&T Sports Car Invitational Races at Laguna Seca. Met some Porsche folks, and when I introduced myself to them noting that I had just (the day before) bought a "Porsh," one guy immediately corrected me that it's "Porsha." Are folks really that sensitive about that? Don't want to get off on the wrong foot.

9. Finally, any advice on what to be careful about as I transition into driving the 996 compared to driving the RX-7? I should think there will be some differences due to the weight distribution.

Thanks. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Loren]

:welcome:

1. Can one do their own maintenance on the car? If so, what manuals are needed? I see them selling for $700. Is that right??? Source for the manuals? I already printed out Loren's DIY instructions.

Yes, see my DIY pages.

Manuals - It depends on how much you plan to do yourself. I bought my set of 16 volumes in 2000 for $487. Those same manuals cost almost 3X that today. If you do invest in the manuals make sure you get all the latest updates (Porsche calls them "supplements"). With a new order they should give you all current supplements (about 85 to date as I recall). When supplements come out they run $9-$12 each.

A good alternative is AllDataDIY.com and they have much of the common information for a subscription price of $24.95 and $14.95 to renew or add cars.

2. Should one use only Porsche-sourced parts (filters, plugs)? Sources?

For my 2 cents, yes. Here is why... Porsche has seen a some RMS (rear mail seal) problems on these cars and in many cases where the car has not shown signs of abuse they have replaced 5 year old engines (read "out of warranty") for free. One sure way to assure that happens (if you need it) is to use Porsche parts. Check out the Porsche Parts at Dealer cost at the top of the page.

3. Mineral oil or synthetic? Weight? I have plenty of both on the shelf.

Porsche (again) has a list of approved oils. They are listed in a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin). Porsche TSB's can be viewed online by Contributing Members - so you might want to consider that. Porsche factory fill at this time is Mobil 1 0W-40 (synthethic).

4. What basic mods can be done to make the car more durable? On the RX-7, the "reliability" mods were such as freer flowing intake, downpipe and cat-back. I already have a TechArt header (manifold extractor) and muffler system. Should I put a K&N filter in the air box? Or should I not do anything?

Read throught some of the posts here and in the DIY section. You will not get much HP gain with a BMC or K&N or sport exhaust. But if you add headers and re-chip/tune the engine - some folks can see 30 plus hp increases. Watch your smog laws before doing this or get a chip that can be switched.

5. Is there a database of information, or is it that the quality of the car precludes a need for that?

You can view a listing of Porsche TSBs here for each model. Some are VIN specfic and some are general and some are accessory installation instructions. Contributing Members can view the actual TSB content online.

6. I was looking for a second set of wheels as the rears on the car have some curb rash. I found and bought a set of Kinesis K20s with Yokohama AVS Sports from Speedware Motorsports up in Redmond because the price was SO good. They are 9" fronts, 11" rears, 235/45 fronts, 315/35 rears. They purportedly came off a 996. After (of course) I bought them, I read more on tire sizes, and these seem to be outside the recommended width. Did I make a mistake? (They are within the 4% range for the ABS.)

K-20 is a 17 inch wheel most 996 wheel upgrades are 18 inch. Unless those wheels have very unusal offsets the rears will not fit on a narrrow body car (996). Sounds liike they came off a wide-body car (TT, C4S, or GT2). In genereal folks that autocross tend to liket the 17's and folks that do DE's tend to like the 18's. Bottom line for theose wheels is the fronts may fit but hte rears definitely won't.

7. I have Paternie's Red Book, and have ordered Anderson's 911 Performance Handbook and Elford's Porsche High-Performance Driving Handbook. Anything else I should get on my shelf?

Those are good books to have although I'm not sure Bruce has updated his book with much info on the M96 engine. Check in with your local PCA (Porsche Club of America) as we have several great folks around the area for tech sessions. Besides Bruce Anderson, there are the guys at The Racers Group, RennWorks, and many more.

8. Maybe a silly question, but two Saturday's ago went to the R&T Sports Car Invitational Races at Laguna Seca. Met some Porsche folks, and when I introduced myself to them noting that I had just (the day before) bought a "Porsh," one guy immediately corrected me that it's "Porsha." Are folks really that sensitive about that? Don't want to get off on the wrong foot.

Well... I cringe when someone says Porsch instead of Porsche but there are certainly a bunch of folks that say it wrong. You will endear yourself to other Porsche owners (and likely be taken more seriously) by saying POR-S-CHA correctly (just IMHO).

9. Finally, any advice on what to be careful about as I transition into driving the 996 compared to driving the RX-7? I should think there will be some differences due to the weight distribution.

The current model of 911 (996) drives much differently than earlier ones I grew up with. Today's 911 has lots of understeer to keep you out trouble. Certain wheel/tire/air pressure/alignment combinations can neutralize a great deal of this and make the car quite neutral handling. I would suggest attending auocrosses and driving events and talking to folks about there cars setup and then apply it to your needs and drving style.

Once again... :welcome:

[cpee]

I doubt anyone can add to the advise given by Loren except perhaps some no doubt opinionated thoughts on the Porsh/ Porsha thing. In my humble opinion (fwiw) the way to pronounce any proper name is the way it would be pronounced by the "owner". It seems like a common courtesy if nothing else. That would suggest that "Porsha" is the way to go. I should also add that I find myself using the "Porsh" variant from time to time. To bad that (what I understand to be) the correct pronunciation seems to have been associated with snobbishness in some circles.

Colin

[ltcjmramos]

Thanks for the very good concise information. VERY much appreciated.

[Poursha]

Regarding pronunciation, you could get one of these shirts:

Available here:

http://porsche.parkplacestores.com/789.html

I remember when I bought my first Porsche years ago, my dad said "nice looking Porsh" and so I got him a coffee mug that the dealer sold that said "POR-SHA is a 2 syllable word."

[jimmy1117]

Do they still sell this coffee mug?

I should put one on my desk.....

Edited May 16, 2004 by jimmy1117

[Poursha]

Do they still sell this coffee mug?

I should put one on my desk.....

I got it at Forest Lane Porsche in Dallas in 1989. At the time they were something like the 2nd or 3rd largest dealer in the US. They just finished building a beautiful showroom--black granite floors, etc. Then they went bankrupt and were bought out by Park Place Porsche.