993pbug

I have now been a member here for just over a year (a lurker for much longer) and have been purposely dragging my feet on posting this intro until I got to a certain spot with my recent efforts.

My affinity for Porsche began 42 years ago at the ripe age of 6 after having spent some time in the back of a 1977 Talbot Yellow / Black Targa. The next stepping-stone was a 1979 Black / Black 930 which imparted memories on me that I can see clearly today as I did then. I spent additional time in various air-cooleds throughout the 1980s. In early 1996, I found myself in a fortunate position to able to acquire a new ’96 Black / Black C2 coupe, which was followed by a ’96 Black / Tan Cab, a ’97 Arena / Tan C2S, and finally a ’98 Arctic / Classic C2S – all of which were 6spds. I have fortunately found some old photographs of the ’96 coupe and ’98 C2S – talk about memories!! I did move on to the water pumpers with a ‘99 Black / Black C2 coupe and ‘99 Ocean Blue / Savanah Boxster, but my time with Porsche ended with a 2000 Basalt Black / Black Cab as I personally felt those lost the true personality of the cars that formed the better part of a 20 year memory in my life.

Fast forward to 2015 – I got the itch for another 993 and had to do something about it. I ended-up purchasing a ’95 coupe, but before I could get a truck to the dealer to pick it up, they called and offered to buy it back at a decent profit. The greedy part of me quickly agreed, but I had been miserable ever since. In early 2018, I sent the Italian I had packing (and I don’t mean my wife!) and needed to replace it with something. A 991 was quickly on my radar, but after giving it some serious thought, the rational part of me kicked-in: since I only drive 5,000 miles per year – get a 993! I quickly convinced myself that it would have less of a chance to depreciate and began searching immediately.

The criteria I laid out for the perfect candidate was:

Private Owner
6-speed (goes without saying)
Less than 5 total owners
Original as possible (paint especially)
Between 60,000 and 80,000 miles
NB or WB (didn’t care – was only shopping for the right car at a fair value)
Black Interior
Anything but Black Exterior (had enough black ones)
No Aerokit

Finally, in early June I had found 2 potential candidates. I tried to purchase a ’97 GP coupe from a dealer in my state, but after making a very stand-up offer, they felt the car was still worth vastly more than multiple other comparable ones out there. That settled my sights on a privately owned 1998 C2S that checked every point above except being Black with an Aerokit. My rational side kicked in again and allowed me offset those points with the fact that it was a WB. After some discussions that disclosed some of the known issues with the car, we agreed on a price pending PPI. I flew out to California to inspect and drive the car at a local Indy, and after confirming everything was exactly as represented, I committed to the purchase.

The details are:

1998 C2S, Black / Black with 73k miles, 3rd owner since 2009
Paint metered between 3 and 6 everywhere, lower front bumper was sprayed
Full Factory Aerokit (XD1 and XD2)
Motor Sound (159)
CR-210 (329)
Hollow Spokes (408)
Electric Seat, Left (437)
HiFi Sound (490)
6-Disc Changer (692)

The only non-original items were a replacement windshield (prior to 2009), a Sony head-unit (original CR-210 was included), new Lloyd’s mats (with grey lettering rather than red), window tint, and ADV.1 Track-Spec wheels mounted (original hollow spokes were included). Everything else was bone stock and original. It had the tire pump, gloves, unused front license plate bracket, and even the spare tire tarp. It also had both of the original switchblade keys / wallet key / key code card, original radio code card, all manuals, and complete ownership history. The only missing item was the spark plug wrench in the tool kit but even the pliers were there.

During the negotiations, the owner confirmed that it needed an engine out service with full reseal – including the cam tower / case seals. When going that deep, there are the well known “while you’re in there” and “slippery slope” items to address. Fortunately, the expense of this effort was accounted for in the purchase price so I had room to do it.

The goal I had set was to make the car as sound as possible mechanically while keeping the appearance as absolutely close to stock as possible. With that, I had the car shipped directly from California to my Indy in early July to address a “few” items, such as:

Engine out, complete reseal
New A/C
Heads rebuilt (new guides)
RS Cams
RS Clutch and LWFW
Rennsport ECU tune (w immobilizer defeat)
Fister IIs with factory wide ovals
Distributor(s) rebuilt
Paint Calipers Red
Refinish original Twists
Koni FSDs with M033 springs – wanted to get some miles on it before doing a deep dive on the suspension which will be next winter’s project.
There were multiple other items addressed but won't go on ...

I got the car back in late September and was able to enjoy it for about 900 miles before putting it away prior to winter setting in, but not without issue. During my last drive, I threw the alternator belt which forced me to leave it at a friend’s house for about a week until I could get the parts in-hand, install them, and get it back home. In early February, I sent the car up to my detailer, North Pitt Auto Spa (no affiliation), for a full color correction and ceramic coat. During that visit, I noticed a small oil leak just above the passenger exhaust. Shortly after a call to my Indy, I had it on the truck heading their way to dig into it. Ultimately, it turned out to be the plastic oil fill tube that got brittle and developed a small crack in it. While it was there, I had had them also do the following:

Install my Porsche Classic Radio out of convenience (was going to do it myself)
Install SSK and Golden Rod
Replace Fister IIs with IIIs (much, much better!)

Sadly, as I was driving it home, an oil return tube decided to spring a leak. One call to my Indy after arriving home, and they had a truck on the way to bring it back to them, promptly repair it, and delivered back to my home in a matter of days. Hats off to Andy and Kris at Steinel’s Autowerks – just fantastic to work with through all of this!!

As it sits today, the only visual items that deviate from stock are the Red Calipers (although they were available as option code XRD in my defense), the Classic Radio, and the Lloyd’s mats. The only remaining items on my list to complete are as follows:

Install Tore’s Full LED Kit (parts in-hand)
Install Morimoto Projectors, Tore’s HID lights, and CLD High Beams (parts in-hand)
Install “Drive Block” stickers (stickers in-hand and really going for the ‘original’ look)
Full suspension refresh next winter (still planning)

Ok, I’ve bored everyone enough so on to the pictures! These were taken at high-noon so please forgive the lighting ...

tstafford

Looks awesome!

ShdwFx

Nice intro and car looks great! Congrats!

993pbug

Much appreciated!

Chuck W.

Great write up and beautiful 993. Enjoy!

bbs993tt

Cool story and thanks for sharing. Beautiful car!

waizone

Congrats on the purchase. Very nice find. Enjoy in good health.

The Eagle

Congrats and enjoy!

~ The Eagle ~
_________________
'96 Polar Silver/Black C4S, manual, litronics, LED's in the positioning lights, alu/leather shifter & handbrake,
silver face gauges with alu rings, hardback sport seats, leather interior, motor sound airbox, stainless door sills,
valve caps Porsche crested brushed alloy, front protection bar, with split rear grill and layered with Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax
_________________
'92 Carrera 2 (Sold)
'89 Carrera 3.2 (Sold)

993pbug

Thanks for the comments!

993pbug

Funny you should suggest that as I have already purchased the complete spoiler assembly (with all mechanisms) to do that install and now only need the control module, console switch, and main deck lid. I also considered doing a TT spoiler or possibly an RS wing (even though that wouldn’t fit with the ‘stock’ look I’ve wanted to keep). For this season, I am going to leave it and take the time to decide if the TTS wing grows on me enough to keep, and if not, a split grille is the most likely choice!

tstafford

I get it. I have mixed feeling about the aerokit wing too. It's hard enough to find a great car so I wasn't going to let that be a factor in my purchase but I'll admit that if I could wave a wand, I'd probably go with a more basic option - even the standard grille. But it's down my list of things I'd change out - hard back seats for example would come before changing the wing.

993pbug

Basically the same view point I had with the Aerokit - not preferred but wouldn’t let it stand in my way. There are definately a few other things for the car that I’d rather spend money on.

aircooledpurist

The car looks absolutely beautiful! Good luck with it. My car has the standard stock exhaust. It sounds pretty tame. Wondering what the move to Fister II would sound like? Fister III? How much louder are you talking?

993pbug

The IIs added a nice deep tone on idle and stay that way through the rev range. The IIIs are just a step louder on idle but sound absolutely marvelous in the upper the rev range and have the occasional burble on trailing throttle / downshift. I was going to get the 200 cell mod done to the factory cats by Gert and keep the IIs, but decided to let fate handle my decision as I made offers on a set of factory cats and another set of Gillets - whoever made the deal first was the path I followed.

aircooledpurist

The Fister II are online for $595 but then you need to turn in your stock exhaust. If I wanted to KEEP my stock exhaust it would cost double?