Terry T.

This winter, I decided to replace the Cayman’s brake rotors, as they were looking sort of sad at the end of the tracking season. So I bought a nice set of Girodisc slotted two piece rotors, at a cool $1100 for the fronts. But, alors! In the process of installing them, I discovered that the right front wheel bearing was toast. Unlike in the days of yore, changing out wheel bearings on a modern Porsche is no simple task, requiring dismantling the entire front suspension, pressing the old bearing out of the hub carrier and pressing in the new. And, of course, I could not simply do the right side—nossir, BOTH had to be done, a task with which a friend was kind enough to help after my 6-ton Harbor Freight press deconstructed itself as I attempted to press them out.

Unfortunately (for my wallet) the car sat woefully in its unassembled state long enough that the very tiny wheels inside my mind started turning . . . hmm, now would be a good time to upgrade the control arms with GT3 units, which allow for camber adjustments. But wait! The RSS billet control arms are oh, so luscious, with spherical bearings and other glittery stuff, and only a bit more pricey than the GT3 pieces. Boom! They were ordered. But, to take full advantage, an RSS bump steer kit was also necessary. Alas, with these super-duper pieces in place, the offset strut mounts the PO had installed no longer worked, so out they came, and in went new pieces. My wallet started to smoke.

My eyes turned to the rear of the car, and the tiny wheels started turning again. With those fancy pieces up front, I could no longer put up with the crappy factory toe links in the rear, which are prone to slipping with the factory eccentric adjusters. Was there a good aftermarket solution? As it happens, there was, and so a set of Elephant Racing toe links, complete with—yes—spherical bearings and cool screw-type adjusters, appeared on my doorstep.

It all went together (with only a few bodily injuries) over the past few days, and yesterday morning I drove the horribly-out-of-alignment beast to Tru-Line Alignment in Bellevue WA (a shop in my own personal Hall of Fame) for a corner balance and alignment. Although I had done my best to eyeball things as I was assembling them, it was a truly white knuckled ride, aided by fresh snow.

Got the car back this morning, all aligned and balanced, and it drives wonderfully. And it will be ready for installation of the Cantrell roll bar, together with racing seats and harnesses, that are waiting in my garage. At that point, all that will be left in its development will be a set of tubular headers—at $3K.

Oh—and a 3.8 conversion.

mjdavis

Sounds like you have a pretty entertaining track car planned. What year is it?

Terry T.

My car is an 09 CS. Lots of mods:

PSS9s
Tarett sways
SSR front LCAs and bump steer tie rods
Girodisc front rotors
Numeric shifter cables
Solid shifter bushings
ipd plenum and GT3 throttle body
Softronic tune
Yaw sensor disable switch

coming:
OMP seats and Schroth harnesses
Cantrell roll bar

I run Nitto NT0s at the track on 18 inch OZ Allegerita wheels with PF 08 brake pads.

Terry

mjdavis

Yeah, seems like a BGB 3.8 conversion is the only logical next step! John is waiting for your call!

Terry T.

If only I had been born rich instead of handsome!