Yesterday was the day. After missing the train down to Sandy Eggo, I rented a Kia Rio to get down there from Camarillo. Shweet. That car kicks ***. I was this -><- close to buying a Rio instead of the TT. 4 hrs later, I get down there and see my new toy. Woohoo! Unfortunately, the next 4 hrs were spent on the jam-packed 5, 405, and 101 fwys coming back home. Picture below

 

Damn browser. :-) Here's the pic:

 

If that's the same car that you were having a PPI done on with 56k miles it sure looks great. Congratulations!

It seems that there were quite a few silver '97TTs made!

What options do you have on the car and what are your initial driving impressions?

Bill

 

Congrats! The car look sweet. Did you get it from AJ-USA?

 

Yep, same car. Outside has 3 blemishes. A chip on the hood, a small ding on the driver side door, and a small "wrinkle"/chip on the front bumper. Other than that, perfect. Inside is without flaw. It looks like a 5k car inside.

Options. Hrmf, haven't look at the codes yet, but it's full leather inside, sport seats (which my shoulders are too broad for :-/), litronics, cd changer, but no aluminum pkg.

This is my first Porsche... heck, my first real sports car. The power is addicting. :-) The handling is, um, quick. Very quick. I've had saddle time in sports SEDANS (S4, 3 series, etc), but not in a true sports car. It's a world of difference that's going to take some getting used to. I found it difficult to hold a steady line through sweepers, for example.

As for needed work: front needs alignment, steering pump needs replacing, battery needs replacing, and front tires may need to be replaced due to being out of alignment. That's all stuff the PPI picked up and I was aware of.

Now for the stuff that's (slightly) worrying me. Several times while downshifting into 2nd yesterday it would grind. Very strange. Sign of something bad? Really bad? (please no, please no, please no.) For example, I'm in 4th, start to slow, clutch in, 3rd, clutch out, clutch in, 2nd... grind. Arg! back to neutral, clutch out, in, 2nd. Ahhh. I'm working on isolating it down to the exact circumstances it happens in cuz it's not universal.

And, maybe related, when coming to a stop and easing into 1st, there is a barely noticable, hardly there, tiny thud just before actually entering the 1st gear slot (stick's at the gate, but not actually in yet). It seems to come from the front of the car. Prolly the only reason I noticed it is because a "clunk" was one of the things 911 buying guides said to listen for. It isn't audible, but I (again, barely) can feel it. Bad? New clutch/flywheel in order? Hopefully not yet. I'm taking it into a mechanic next week to get the other stuff done and I'll have him take a look at these 2 things as well. (crossing fingers)

Overall, I'm thrilled. Even if these two issues are Problems, I still got a good deal IMHO, just not quite the smokin' deal I think it is now. And it is a 993 Turbo. (Still pinching myself.) 9-9-3 T-u-r-b-o. Ooooooh yeaaaaaaaah.

RT7, no it was a private party deal. However, most of his service records are from AJ-USA (looks like he switched to them after the first few services).

 

I don't hear any buyers remorse. <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />

I don't know if the first gear sound you hear is symptomatic of a bent first gear or not. Sometimes this happens if the PO dropped the clutch too hard at high rpm (drag strip starts), even with the beefed up first gear in the '97s. As for second gear grind....I usually double clutch when dropping gears at speed so I haven't noticed that. Perhaps others with more knowledge can assist.

You've made a quantum leap. These cars are wonderful and durable when cared for. Keep us posted and enjoy!

Bill

 

Hi Twins,

Welcome to the club! Drop me a line if you want to get together sometime. I'm just up the road in T.O. I just turned 30K on my 1996 Polar TT which I drive to Port Hueneme every day. McVally Oil on Sturgis road is close to you for 103 octane gas. By the way, you have one of the better
P-car mechanics living right in your neighborhood.

Scott

 

Did your second gear crunch happen when the car was warm?

I had the same problem. Got worse when I put mobil 1 tranny fluid. I changed my tranny fluid with swepco, and I haven't heard a peep from the tranny since.

 

hmmm...swepco....never heard of that. I'm geting ready to change the tranny oil in my '96TT (Black) and was going to put Mobil One syn tranny fluid in. Who makes swepco, and where / how do I get some? Thx.

 

I agree w/Bobbie. Switched to Mobile 1 and second gear became notchy and would grind slightly when cold. Never had the problem prior. My car was being sold at the time ('96C2) and the new owner had Swepco put in during the ppi. It helped. I would have went back to what ever Porsche had in from the factory.

Bill

 

<a href="http://www.pelicanparts.com" target="_blank">Pelican Parts</a>, a rennlist sponsor, sells it.

It's Swepco 201

 

Nice looking car congrats. You will probably visit your garage like I have on a regular basis just to make sure it is ok. And to say "I can't believe this is in my garage!"

I am still doing that!

mb
97tts silver/black

 

Hate to say it, but the grinding is the engagement teeth for the second gear set. Changing the tranny fluid will help, but it is only delaying the problem. Swepco wears out sycronisers. These trannys will still shift with these problems. A tranny rebuild on a 993 tranny is around $4,000 with labor. That was with a $965 2nd gear set. They do not offer the syncro rings and engagement teeth seperate. What will happen eventully to the swepco users is that the car will start to pop put of gear. Sweoco is so popular, because what sounds better? $20 to make you tranny "sound" good, or $4000 to fix it. Its your buck man, I am just tryin to help.

p.s. thats a killer color man, enjoy

 

So you're saying I could pay $4000 now, or $4000 later?

Why would I want to pay that money now? Even if it's 5K extra miles, that works out to around 9 months for me.

 

One gear set is all ready bad. They are almost $1000 a piece. They do not sell the syncro rings seperate. Swepco wears out syncros. The longer you drive it, the more the syncros wear out, the more you have to replace. $1000 a piece. Like I said, just trying to help it is your car.