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Good view of the repainted chain covers that I exposed for a quick re-seal. You can also see the rothsport pulley and chopped AC bracket.
It's not a thread without a repainted fan... Right?
Not a great view, but sadly the only one I have of the drilled front bumper and front oil cooler setup. I'm going to try to take more when I have the bumper off for paint.
This was the first time I had the car down on it's suspension. It was a great feeling!
Lightened Rear Bumper
Switch panel with Carling switches. The panel still needs to be engraved, but it controls the warning light, ABS defeat, oil cooler fan, hazard lights, and stereo system.
First of all thanks for all of the amazing stuff on this site... There's enough technical resources here to practically build a 993 from scratch. So a big thank you to all the heavy hitters!
I have owned this car for 5 years, but it has been undriveable for the last 18 months due to all the work I’ve been doing. My previous job left me with a few weeks at home every few months between business travel. It was great to have full weeks at a time to get major progress done on the car but it also meant big stretches of time between working sessions. This made organization and labeling a huge priority as it’s pretty hard to remember what’s going on when you leave everything totally disassembled for months on end. I’m so excited to have everything back on the road and pounding out the miles! My first track day since all of the changes should be at the end of this month, so I’ll let everyone know how the weight feels.
I wanted to post a few of the lessons I learned during the build.
If I had to do everything over again, I’d start with the CAE shifter. It is truly phenomenal. If you are even slightly thinking of getting rid of the console, get the CAE shifter. Totally worth it.
I would definitely not do everything at once like I did over the past 18 months. I really enjoy seeing what each little change does to the characteristics of the car which is obviously impossible when you make a thousand changes at once. It was also very hard to be without a fun car to drive for that long of a stretch, I would’ve enjoyed keeping the projects to 3-4 days at a time so that I could keep driving.
The longest single part of the project was removing the wiring loom and removing all unnecessary wires then re-wrapping in factory cloth tape. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS! It was a ginormous task and the US wiring looms have a ridiculous foam encapsulated section under the dash that complicates the whole process. It would’ve been much easier to just make a new wiring loom but at least I saved a whopping 18 lbs in wires!
Also, I would never suggest that someone take a car all the way down to the shell in a single car garage! My space is so small that I can’t even open the doors when it is parked. It made everything a million times harder and much more time consuming.
I would list the project as 85% done as I still need to finish the rear decklid, paint and install my new front bumper, cut out the sunroof and replace the headliner, install the rear roll bar, fabricate and install sub strap mount bars, delete the charcoal canister and vapour tank, install fire extinguisher, install a lithium battery, install lightweight carpet kit, get rid of junky fabspeed muffler and tips, two piece front rotors etc… et al… ad nauseam. Maybe I should say I’ll never be finished I am really going to try to make an effort to document everything better from here on out… It sucks that I don’t have more pictures.
If you’re in the mood to be bored to tears, I’ve listed just about everything I did below. Thanks for all the help Rennlist! I’ll be posting more pictures with my real camera this weekend. Let me know if there’s anything in particular you would like to see or have further explained!
Last edited by jstyer; 01-14-2016 at 06:00 PM.
Reason: Moved info.
I guess I'll start with the things that this car still has, since it is not a stripped out race build, it really is a dual use car.
I still have Power Windows, Radio, Cruise Control, ABS, Heater, Sunroof, full weight factory battery, and spare tire. It really is not an uncomfortable car to cruise around!
Now for the current state of everything. I hope to do a better job documenting the build from here on out. I really regret not taking more pictures along the way!
Powertrain:
Stock Engine and Transmission (for now...)
Setrab oil cooler in former AC condenser location
Fabspeed headers with 2-in 2-out muffler
No SAI pump, no catalytic converter, no power steering, no auxiliary heater blower motor.
Lightweight flywheel, CAE Shifter, chopped and smoothed AC compressor bracket, Rothsport aluminum single pulley, Rothsport power steering cam block off plug, wevo semi-solid engine mounts, Rennline motor mount reinforcement plate, turbokraft semi-solid transmission mount.
New hydraulic lifters, new spark wires, rebuilt dual distributor, and some miscellaneous oil leak fixes. I was very thorough checking all of the vacuum lines for even the slightest leaks. In spite of my lightweight flywheel and pulley I have only been able to coax the motor into stalling once!
Suspension/Drivetrain:
I went with what I call the "Bill V Super Special Dual Use Setup". Basically just as he has recommended 100 times on here for a dual use car. Quality dampers, harder sport rubber bushings, and some solid bits in the right spot.
MCS Single adjustable shocks, 500 lb front 700 lbs rear.
RS Anti-Roll Bars (23mm front, 20mm rear) and Drop links.
RS front wheel carriers with pinned RS tie rods.
Solid top mounts, Rennline solid subframe mounts. Poly bushings for the front control arms with new front uniball joints. New stock rear lower control arms with the rear bushing swapped to sport hardness elephant racing bushings. Replaced rear toe arm with Rennline Solid toe link. New kinematic toe arms (due to degraded ball joints) re-bushed with sport bushings. Re-used the camber links and re-bushed with sport bushings. Front strut support rod.
Rebuilt rear axles and refilled with Neo Synthetic HPCC Grease. That stuff is sticky goodness! Replaced all wheel bearings and fitted 72mm studs.
Lightweight wiring loom, no lower dash, no center console, no rear window heat, no AC, no factory front blower assembly, RS washer fluid bottle, de-bracket rear seat area, de-bracketed center console, no CCU, no airbags, no airbag control wiring or modules, no electronic lock components, no alarm module, no spoiler control module, carbon fiber rear decklid with perforated aluminum grill, rust proofed rear frame rails.
Rebuilt all brake calipers, PFC 08 brake pads, lightened front and rear bumper beams, bumperette delete on front and rear, mesh rear bumper center.
Originally Posted by Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems
Very nice, Jay!
It was a pleasure to be able to help you with the suspension aspect of your project.
Thanks Steve. The MCS setup is working like a champ. My weight ended up lighter than I anticipated... So I may be calling you in a few months for 400/600 main springs!
Originally Posted by Texas RS
J.,
Very cool. We need to get the Houston 993 group together in the early spring.
Tim
There will be fights to see who gets to be in line behind your beast... That sound!!!
01-14-2016, 11:43 AM
"I think the scale is busted." AV Green Hotrod
