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After saying for years that someday I would look into acquiring a 911, I decided in early December that someday should be now and began actively seeking out a 996. I didn't really know what I was looking for exactly except that it would be a 996 under my budget of 30k (Canadian). I found all the information I needed on this forum and eventually settled on wanting a 996.1 C2 with the dual row bearing.
I found the car I was after at the end of January, a 1999 Arctic Silver C2 Tiptronic. It was listed as a US spec car with 117,000km for 19k. I went to look at it half expecting it to be 117,000 miles but was delighted to see it was infact 117,000 km and was showroom clean inside and out. The Interior looks almost brand new with the exception of the typical seat wear. Exterior there are a couple of minor dings and some front bumper damage but overall looking great for being 18 years old.
I found a shop to perform a PPI and had to trailer it to the shop as the weather was a terrible -25 celsius and snowing and the summer tires were almost bald. It passed the PPI with a few issues identified (RMS leak, Sunroof not fully closing). Called the seller that night and purchased the car.
The next step was getting it home. As I planned on the car being my daily driver I decided to invest in a second set of rims and true winter tires. I found some 17 inch Boxster rims, 7 inch in the front and 8.5 in the rear and put on Michelin X-Ice Xi3 in 205/50 R17 fronts and 245/45 R17 rears.
I've been driving it daily to work and I have to say the 996 is wonderful blend of sport and usability. For an 18 year old car I can't believe how solid and tight everything seems. Connected to the road but not overly harsh, civilized when you just need to get to work, but exhilarating when you are ready to drive.
We had 3 to 4 inchs of light fluffy snow on Saturday morning which made the roads quite slick and I took the car out to really test it in the snow and ice. Getting stuck was not really a concern at all, I found it very driveable, but you really need to be paying attention to what you and the car are doing.
So all in all my daily driver 996 is working out exactly how I hoped it would. I think my former Saab 93s days are numbered with me.
I plan to start tackling the typical maintenance items. I already have new motor mounts, sparkplugs, and an air filter here, just waiting for some nicer weather. Looking at the water pump, belt, new coolant, new brake fluid, etc in the spring.
Finally got some warmer weather here and was able to get the rear up on jack stands. I replaced all 6 spark plugs with some new NGKs. I replaced the passenger side spark plug tubes with new ones, cyl 4 was leaking for sure, and possibly cyl 5. I had tubes to change the driver side but decided to leave them as that entire side was bone dry. Figured it's easy enough to change them out if/when they leak.
The job was fairly straight forward as I was able to remove the mufflers while leaving the rear bumper on. Best advice for anyone thinking of tackling the job is to have extensions, wobble extensions, and a union. With those things you should be able to get to all of the plugs without too much difficulty.
With the bottom side taken care of I tackled the worn motor mounts and replaced them with the Rein units from Amazon for just under 200$ Canadian. Again this job is straight forward, just make sure you have a deep socket. Last thing was to replace the air filter while i had the air box out.
With the warmer weather I noticed that my Radiator fans didn't sound like they were running on low when the AC was on. Sure enough after jumpering the relays the fans work on high so it appears I've got two blown ballast fuses. I have 2 questions.
First, Can i leave the jumper in and drive it with just the high speed, or leave the the jumper out and just rely on the high speed coming on on its own? I DD the car so don't really want to stop driving it to wait for parts.
How are those Rein engine mounts, they're inexpensive for sure. I want to replace mine soon and am unsure if I should go Revo or something more track ready or if the savings is worth these instead (IE Value). Could save a couple hundred with these options...heck they're cheap enough to try and test both then have a spare on hand.
03-06-2017, 12:48 AM
Bucket List: Own 911 - Check
