Originally Posted by gvcap10

Do you have a standard garage door opener or did you have to have a side motor installed to give extra room overhead?

Originally Posted by PGas32

Hey guys, sorry to revive an old thread but I figured this was the right spot for my question.

I just changed the oil in my 997.1 for the first time yesterday. It's a low mileage car, with only 10.5k on it. The oil had been done 2 years ago at 8.9k by the previous owner. I wasn't able to get the filter housing off (it was really on there and I don't yet have the right wrench), so I didn't change the filter - which I don't think is a big deal.

My question is that when I go to change ONLY the filter after procuring the right adapter, I should be able to do so without more than a normal amount of oil coming out, right? With this motor being a wet sump design, I assume that most of the oil sits right in the crank. Probably a dumb question that I already know the answer to, but I just don't want 9 quarts of Mobil 1 to come flooding out when I spin the filter housing off.

Originally Posted by Petza914

Zeus993, I have the "Oil Change Kit" on both my 2005 997.1 C2S cars and by kit I mean the adapter for the spin-on oil filter and the Fumoto Drain valve without the nipple version. I think I bought mine from Automotion / Performance Products. I never liked the fact that Porsche used a plastic oil filter housing as the esters in plastic breakdown over time and it's more likely to crack as it ages (just look at the coolant pipe / adhesive issue in the Cayenne as an example - I know there's not any adhesive in the oil filter attachment, but plastic just doesn't seem like the right way to go). There are also some aluminum filter housings that can be used with the normal Porsche oil filters, but figured it was just easier to go with a metal spin-on version. The kits usually include one K&N filter, but I use a Mobil 1 M1-107 which is the compatible one for the threaded plate adapter. Also, once you've converted to a metal spin-on oil filter it makes it really easy to just attach a magnet to the bottom of it to make sure you're capturing any ferrous metal particles to prevent them from circulating through the engine. I have an oil filter cutter and cut the metal housing open at each oil change to inspect the filter element for any metal or plastic pieces that were trapped since the last oil change.

Regarding the drain valve, I too was concerned that the nipple version might protrude down too far and for some additional piece-of-mind, I also installed the optional aluminum skid plate that's available from Suncoast. You'll need to drill a larger hole into it at the drain plug location to make it compatible with the Fumoto drain valve so there's room to get your fingers up next to the valve to release the spring-loaded release lever. One additional advantage to the drain valve is that with it's smaller opening, you eliminate the initial "gush" that happens so there isn't any splatter or the chance that your drain pan won't keep up with the flow. The drain valve does need a slight modification...since the factory drain plug is up in a little recessed area, the body of the drain valve is just a little too big to make a really good seal with the bottom of the oil pan. What I did with mine was take it over to my bench grinder and turn the perimeter of it down just a little bit so that it's mating face and the oil pan mating face can make good contact and be torqued to the proper value without the body of the drain valve contacting the oil pan housing. I installed a rubber/stainless bonded sealing washer of the right size and I'll never need to remove the drain plug again - no leaks and it works flawlessly. I've included a photo of the bottom of my car when I was fitting a custom Fabspeed exhaust and RUF RGT Rear Bumper - you can see the skid plate and the Fumoto drain valve protruding down below it just a little bit - additional length for the "nipple" version of the drain valve came down too low IMO.

Regarding motor oil, as many of you may be aware, the government is constantly changing the regulations about the amount of Zinc & Phosphorous that can be present in passenger car motor oils and these elements are what Porsche says help to prevent premature valve-train wear. Porsche recommends at least 1,000 PPM (parts per million) -- 1,200 is better - too much and you run the risk of prematurely damaging your catalytic converter. When I bought my first C2S (a 2005 last year with a RUF R-Kompressor supercharger kit on it), I did some research on motor oils with higher levels of these components, and may have discovered a bit of a regulation loophole that I'm taking advantage of. Porsche recommends 0W-40 be used for most climates - what I've found is a Mobil 1 5W-40 full synthetic that has 1,200 PPM of Phosphorous & 1,300 PPM of Zinc, whereas most others are in the 650 - 900 PPM range. It's in an oil I would've never thought to use if I hadn't looked at the spec sheet (which I've attached as a PDF). It's Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Motor Oil and I'm thinking maybe there is a Gov't exception to the regulation for Trucks or Farm Vehicles which is why this specific Mobil 1 oil can have such high levels of these elements relative to other passenger car oils from many manufacturers. It is also compatible with gasoline powered engines, not just Diesel. The best part is that you can buy it in 4 Quart jugs at Wal-Mart for about $25. I have a stock of these and some single quart bottles that I bought from an auto parts store and the refill after the change is as simple as 2 of the gallon jugs plus 1/2 of the 1 quart bottle and it puts the oil level right at the "full" line without going into the over-full area of the gauge. I first add just the two 4-Quart jugs, start the car, wait until I can do another oil-level reading, and when it reads 1 line below full, I add the other 1/2 quart. I've run this oil in both my C2S vehicles for over 10,000 miles in each without any issues.

If you thought a 997 oil change was easy before, doing it with a drain valve and spin-on oil filter really makes it a piece of cake. I'm also fortunate to have a Backyard Buddy lift in my garage and did my last oil change in my shorts and flip-flops - now that's easy! Threw in a photo of the two 911s stacked-up

Hope some of the information here is useful to others and let me know if I can answer any questions or supply additional photos of anything.

Pete