WalterMitty

Your 2016 Blue CS was stunning. I'm shopping for a Boxster now, but I think the Cayman is one of THE best looking cars on the road right now....at any price. If I wasn't so addicted to the open air experience, I would get a Cayman in a heart beat.

Vegas987

What a great story so far. One that is far from over, too. Big Mouth Strikes Again says it all! Great tune for a road trip.

kiznarsh

Now that the introduction is over, let's get to it.

I was told the bumper holes were "already there" but the line item on the invoice indicating 4 screws makes me wanna throw the flag.



Even though there are some rock chips on the bumper cover, it's nowhere near bad enough to make me want to fill in the holes and respray it, especially since this is my daily so I ordered plugs.



Drilled out the holes to 9/32nd...



...and there ya go.



Next item was the clutch and how stiff it is. A friend told me how his buddy's 986 clutch spring broke and it became really tight, so I got in everyone's favorite awkward position to look up and nope, no issues with the spring (wrapped around a white piece). Doing more research revealed this is just how it is, unless the clutch is near the end (unlikely at only 7k miles old). Of course as I type all this, I'm totally used to it now.



Then I decided to change out the air filters and replace the serpentine belt since it wasn't documented anywhere.

Carpet removed.



Engine cover gone. 'tis dusty but I'm gonna hold off on cleaning the bay for now.



OK fine I did clean the air filter cover.





Getting the new filter to seat on the flange was tricky, until it wasn't.



Now to the frunk and the cabin air filter.





While there, I used a coax cable to clear out the drain holes.



Now shifting gears to the belt. Aluminum handle bar removed (2 T45 screws).



Then one T20 screw for the plastic cover, which then snaps off.



Carpet removed revealing the other engine cover.



Of course they're 10mm bolts.



Access is...tight.



However, either the belt is super resilient or it's already been replaced once, and fairly recently too. Just look at it.





So it looks like I'll be returning the belt I got but while I was in there, I pulled on the tensioner to see how it feels. Felt good, man.



Inspected the power steering fluid. Hard to see but it looked tired and didn't smell very sweet. I'll have to look into it but guessing sucking out the old fluid is my best option. I did see a little seepage at the PS pump connection but I don't know yet how easily addressing that is going to be.



Applied a little silicone to the rubber gasket on the engine cover to keep it fresh.



Not sure how this cap got lost, but it's back now.



Last week I got the "refill washer fluid" message and without paying attention to its capacity, I added a mixture comprised of distilled water and the concentrated Porsche washer fluid that I kept. I stopped when it started to overflow from the filler neck and some poured through the fender liner down to the ground. Whoops. But then I noticed puddles for the next 2 days underneath where the reservoir sits and remembered that I accidentally bottomed out on a dip when going a bit too fast on an unfamiliar street. So I thought maybe I had cracked the reservoir or jarred something loose.

Took off the wheel and fender liner for an inspection.



Bump stop's tired of bumpin'.



Here's the reservoir. Everything looked fine, there's still fluid in there and I didn't see any leaks from the pump gasket.



Then I noticed this overflow hose at the top, which is below the level of the filler neck, so driving around must've caused all the excess to overflow. I guess I'll find out. Capacity is only 0.66 gal/2.5 liters as you're probably aware.



Also realized the filler hose comes out which makes positioning the reservoir a lot easier. Nice.



Next up is the water pump & probably the Numeric Racing shifter cables. Mine shifter is pretty loose and I'd rather not get stranded anywhere.

Marine Blue

Vegas987

Nice work on checking all those wearable items on the car. It's disturbing that a dealer sold you the car without at least changing the engine and cabin air filters. Such inexpensive items they should have addressed predelivery of the car. You should add changing the engine oil to your checklist asap. Even if they told you they changed it, you'd sleep better knowing you've filled the engine with a proper grade oil. On the lighter side of things, when i took delivery of my 987.1 I found the same cover missing off one of my wiper arms. Funny factoid: I used a spare wiper arm nut cover from one of my GTI's that was an exact match/fit.

kiznarsh

Plenty to go around!

The oil was changed...it was also listed on the invoice with an AMG part number which I deciphered to be Mobil 1 0W-40 so we're good there. However it wasn't topped off properly so I took care of that as well. I like how you get a countdown when checking your oil...such anticipation!

As for the filters...ehhh, if it was a Porsche dealer, I'm sure they would've replaced them but I wasn't really expecting it. Wait, why did you have a spare wiper arm nut cover?! How often are people losing these?

Apex1

kiznarsh, your photo skills are excellant. I am ready for your next project like the shifter and cables. Then maybe lowering springs, bump stops and spring bearings. Lets leave it at that, these episodes gives us energy to complete our lists so keep it going. Much to do around the new home too.

kiznarsh

Got the car tinted a couple weeks ago with my standard choice: 3M Color Stable @ 20%.





I kept my US Mill Works license plate bracket from my 981, assuming I could re-use it at some point in the future. Turns out the 981 uses a different thread so I had to get a new threaded bolt. Why the change? And why isn't this an international standard for a given class of vehicle?



Then did some recon underneath the car prior to order cooling system parts. The supply & return coolant hoses looked and felt good, but I still ordered new O-rings since they'll be accessible anyway.



Not sure what this white residue is...almost looks like dried up soap from an engine bay wash at some point?



Shifter cables are still in tact! Upgraded ones arrive tomorrow and will likely get installed this weekend.



Also ordered a bunch of LEDs to modernize the lighting, although I forgot to get ones for the footwells. Natural white for the interior, cool white for the frunk/trunk/license plate.



Measured the license plate ones just in case prior to ordering. Sometimes the dimensions are off.



Speaking of which, they were a little too long for the frunk/trunk. They still fit but not neatly.







For those wondering about the dome/map lights, the tabs are in the front of the housing (towards the frunk) and the plastic cover just pops off to replace the bulbs.



Glove box light was more complicated with this aluminum cover.



The ones for the license plate are the most satisfying and really modernize the look.





Then gave it a quick wash for the first time since I got it. Cleans up nicely.



I'm starting to warm up to the wheels. I know it'll look a lot better with a drop and eventually I may just get them refinished to go along with new bolts. Or maybe I'll get something else. I don't know, bigger priorities for now.

PhillyNate

kiznarsh

Thanks for the tip! This is what you used, right? If you painted while on the car, I'm guessing you didn't even need to do any prep? No sanding or anything? I'll probably do it when I remove the wheels to thoroughly clean them since I wanna put a coat of wax to cut down on cleaning time.

ToasterThief

kiznarsh

Are you looking at base or S cars?

I think $20k-$25k is a fair price for a base one that's been driven a healthy amount, but above that is still reasonable if the miles are pretty low. I'm really enjoying the more analog nature of the 987.2 compared to a 981 so depending on your primary purpose for wanting the car, a 981 isn't necessarily better.

PhillyNate

Tom R.

My buddy traded his 07 S in on a Thursday and he didn't tell us until Saturday at breakfast. After breakfast we went to the Porsche dealer. While his salesman was getting me a list of the work they just did on the car a guy who never owned a Porsche opened the frunk and hatch hoping to see the motor. While he took it on a test drive I crunched the numbers. When he got back from the test drive with the saleswoman he told her he needed to show it to his wife. Too late I bought it.
Planet 9 had a log thread about a guy who got a shimmy at speed. Many parts later it turned out to be the license plate frame in the tow hook.

vracer

Love it!!