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If you think that’s bad, my business partner bought a building for our shop in a neighborhood that had an apartment above it in2015. I lived in it and told myself “the houses in the neighborhood are $35-50k…I’ll save up and buy cash in 2-3 years…what’s the highest they could get to in 2-3 years, 60k???”
As time went on and the neighborhood got nicer and nicer, business got established and better…I didn’t even think about real estate prices. Go to look at houses in 2017 and the house down the street that was $35k was $155k…for a 900sqft mill home. Fast forward to today, it just sold for $455k…for 900sqft. I literally got priced out of my own neighborhood that I helped gentrify…wtf.
Prices for houses are crazy for the following reasons: 1. Materials are extremely expensive, there is still room for wood to come down. 2. Labor, it is said by 2026, 4 years the housing building industry needs 2 million additional workers, which most people are getting ahead of this problem saying that they need to encourage more young people to get into this craft. The current construction workforce is older and some will be retiring soon. 3. Interest rates, they were extremely cheap so that allowed people to buy a more expensive house. My first 15 year mortgage in 1990 with excellent credit and 25 percent down was 9.9 percent. 4. There’s not enough inventory in the market certain markets don’t even have 6 weeks worth of inventory, normal is closer to 120-160 days. 5. What you just said about gentrifying a neighborhood. The millenials which is the largest generation in years and are also in their prime earning years want instant gratification, most where spoiled by their parents and they are not the type to move a little farther out buy new and let everything else come latter. About a month ago we looked at a new house. Great energy efficient, a little smaller, chef kitchen 3 car garage . We both liked it, but when we drove back we realized that it was 25 minutes at least to get to the places we go and the things we do. As an example our son with a disability works at outback, for him his peeps coworkers are his friends, including his bff a woman who we think he is love with, and an awesome owner who has given him a chance that many would not, taking him to work and picking him up would take at least an hour of our time. our son will never be able to drive, due to his disability. So neither my wife and i were willing to move that far out. 6. Builders are not building a huge amount of specs homes to have them sit on the market and then have to offer a bunch of incentives to move them out, as a bunch of car dealers are doing they want customers to order prior to build.
Installed Function-First Performance Shift Right - 2001 C2
I purchased the shift right a few weeks back and finally worked up the courage and energy to take off the center console and rebuild it with the nice billet machined aluminum SR kit. It went pretty smoothly, the instructions are decent although like anything when you are a newb there were a few things noticeable absent.
For example, the snapon thingy that covers the shifter cable ends at the rear of the shifter cradle. I realize that's not a shift kit procedure, rather center console and shifter removal procedure, but it would have been nice. I had this plastic 'bug' like thing after I had slipped the console over the upgraded shifter.
I wanted to keep the stock 996 shifter. I realize that for a 400$ (or less) I could have installed the 997 cradle and shifter and saved myself the labor. But, I love puzzles. As a newb mechanic at 57, I felt a real sense of achievement when I rowed through the gears the first time. Everything feels better, no more slop, and a real positive 'you have selected reverse' instead of the mushbox experience pre upgrade. The shifter guts were 22 yrs old, so it's to be expected.
A couple of things.
If you are going this route and you do not own these pliers (or similar) get some. It made installing the circlips so easy -
If you are going to do this job, you might as well go ahead and order Shift Cable Ends 996-424-147-00-M100 and 996-424-145-01-M253. Mine, especially the fore/aft one, was utterly destroyed. See pic. While you have the console off, definitely worth it. I got mine at the bird but you can bundle them w the Shift Right. I bought shift right through flat6, no special reason, I think a google search took me there first.
If like me you are taking blood thinners and / or are old and have paper thin skin on your hands, invest in some 5 mm nitrile gloves. Your hands will thank you, there are some sharp bits.
The biggest gotcha here is that you will likely scratch up your handbrake housing, drivers side, when you remove the console, rear first, towards the passenger side. I threw some tape on the contact points when I saw what I had done and before I made it worse. If you have a newer handbrake housing, in good condition, be warned. Mine is the original and was already fairly grungy, as are a lot of the interior plastic bits. So far I have replaced the light console housing and sunroof switch, but there are plenty of weekend projects in the old girl yet.
In the sate of MA it will get you an insurance surcharge.
That's ridiculous. I had no idea. I lived there for a couple years with no front plate and never had an issue. I guess maybe I got lucky? Although when I lived there cops never really pulled people over in Boston for ANYTHING. The interstates were a different story though...
One of the first things I did to my 996 when I took possession was to replace the transmission mount and the motor mounts. She was saggin'. Mines a manual, but the mount refresh helped with the shifting. With the shift right installation this weekend, I feel like that part of the car is 'done'.
Finally installed the CSF center radiator, upgraded the sides, replaced the 20+ year old rubber, and modified the wheel liners/fan ducts. Fortunately my daughter took long naps this weekend. Need to make a few cuts before everything goes back together.
off course there are a few traits of millennials that I don’t like or comprehend, completely different from my parents born in 1939 and myself 1968. Certain things behavior of millennials have funded my retirement because I been investing in front of them. To the point that I make more retired than when I was
working. They should keep on drinking $8 lattes, Frappuccino’s and keep on buying and subscribing to whatever Apple does or develops. Remember they are now in their Prime earning years, most of them are being told that they haven’t saved enough for retirement so guess where their future savings are going to go, they are buying stocks many many years after me so my net worth portfolio size continue to increase, specially when more and more people questioned the future of social security. Go millennials go.
Replaced a fuel tank vent valve. Stupid piece of plastic was $166 but was able to swap it out in about an hour. Sits behind the wheel liner and is attached to the gas filler neck. Cleared the CEL and hope it doesn't come back. The issue manifested itself as P0442 Porsche fault code 97 - Tank vent system (minor leak). At any speed above 10mph I would also hear a strange whistling noise as if someone was blowing over the top of a coke bottle. With the CEL on you won't achieve full readiness so PITA for inspections. Before someone asks, gas cap was also replaced.
did you have any issues filling the tank? I don’t have any CEL or the whistling issue but tried to fill up and it wouldn’t take any gas so I am assuming it is the fuel tank vent valve.
I purchased the shift right a few weeks back and finally worked up the courage and energy to take off the center console and rebuild it with the nice billet machined aluminum SR kit. It went pretty smoothly, the instructions are decent although like anything when you are a newb there were a few things noticeable absent.
For example, the snapon thingy that covers the shifter cable ends at the rear of the shifter cradle. I realize that's not a shift kit procedure, rather center console and shifter removal procedure, but it would have been nice. I had this plastic 'bug' like thing after I had slipped the console over the upgraded shifter.
I wanted to keep the stock 996 shifter. I realize that for a 400$ (or less) I could have installed the 997 cradle and shifter and saved myself the labor. But, I love puzzles. As a newb mechanic at 57, I felt a real sense of achievement when I rowed through the gears the first time. Everything feels better, no more slop, and a real positive 'you have selected reverse' instead of the mushbox experience pre upgrade. The shifter guts were 22 yrs old, so it's to be expected.
A couple of things.
If you are going to do this job, you might as well go ahead and order Shift Cable Ends 996-424-147-00-M100 and 996-424-145-01-M253. Mine, especially the fore/aft one, was utterly destroyed. See pic. While you have the console off, definitely worth it. I got mine at the bird but you can bundle them w the Shift Right. I bought shift right through flat6, no special reason, I think a google search took me there first.
If like me you are taking blood thinners and / or are old and have paper thin skin on your hands, invest in some 5 mm nitrile gloves. Your hands will thank you, there are some sharp bits.
The biggest gotcha here is that you will likely scratch up your handbrake housing, drivers side, when you remove the console, rear first, towards the passenger side. I threw some tape on the contact points when I saw what I had done and before I made it worse. If you have a newer handbrake housing, in good condition, be warned. Mine is the original and was already fairly grungy, as are a lot of the interior plastic bits. So far I have replaced the light console housing and sunroof switch, but there are plenty of weekend projects in the old girl yet.
Good thing you didn't go the stock 997 shifter route. I think you would have been disappointed. There's not a whole lot of difference between a 996 and 997 stock shifter. Visually, they looked the same to me side by side. In operation, they felt the same to me.
Finally installed the CSF center radiator, upgraded the sides, replaced the 20+ year old rubber, and modified the wheel liners/fan ducts. Fortunately my daughter took long naps this weekend. Need to make a few cuts before everything goes back together.
YIKES!!!!
Why do you have the hoses to your quick jacks disconnected when extended? That is a HUGE nono! You're going to need the strength of a Gorilla to get those hooked back up!
Got the ducktail installed and back from the painters. Love the look....but here's a little bit of a review...
There's no instructions for the wire harness, which, at first seems a bit disappointing, but once you look at the old decklid and this new one, you can just look at it and see where everything goes as all the plugs are different; except for the brake light on the spoiler. It has a plug on the light, but the other end is just bare wires, so I stripped back some of the wire and plugged it into the remaining plug on the harness and it worked. So I had to cut the factory plug off and crimp/splice to the new harness.
Now for the part that sucks. While the body fit of the lid is excellent, there are some shortcomings. The latch is a bit shallow, so it has to be shimmed so that it will latch while still sitting the correct depth. Also, on the factory lid, there is a plate that hides and secures the harness. This decklid doesn't have the provisions to move it over...nor does it have anything to secure the harness to it. Luckily, the harness is stiff enough that when ziptied to itself it stays out of the way...but who knows what happens when it gets warm....so far so good.
Now onto the really bad. It uses a factory Porsche taillight. It's SUPER delicate and designed bad. So badly that Getty Designs tapes a HUGE note on it to not press on the housing and only depress the black retaining spring clips when installing. So, naturally, I was UBER careful and took care installing. Well, It fits like ****. Massive gap underneath the left side and it doesn't sit remotely flush in the hole and sticks out quite a bunch:
Not a big deal...but not ideal considering how much this was and since I paid for the extra prep work.... Considering how bad it fits, it HAS TO BE a known issue that they would atleast address I would think.... So I leave it on and then decide that I'll devote Sunday to hand filing and fitting the light on. I go to put away tools and hear a "pop". I think, "oh cool, the light probably snapped into place and it fits well... Nope. I look on the ground and see this.
The damn light broke under it's own clip spring tension for not fitting well in under 5 minutes. WTF. Now it fits bad AND is broken:
I emailed Getty Designs who was typicallly pretty responsive (answers within a few minutes) and heard nothing back since Thursday. I call and speak with somebody and they kind of just sidestepped the fact that it fits terrible and that it broke under it's own weight just sitting there...I got sidestepped again when I asked about a replacement light. It's otherwise a very nice piece, but that taillight shouldn't fit THAT bad where it breaks when doing exactly what the instructions say AND just sitting there.... I'm going to hand file it down tomorrow, getting it fitting as good as I can and then I guess just reorder a light. I thought about just deleting it and getting it repainted, but it might look a bit odd cause the taillight kinda breaks it up back there...
thanks for the post and pics Nate. I have been mulling over this same mod for a while
now and that brake light fit would drive me crazy! I don’t mind the wire harness hanging so much, but for the money spent on the ducktail, this would infuriate me. Hope you get it resolved with Getty eventually and post more pics.
YIKES!!!!
Why do you have the hoses to your quick jacks disconnected when extended? That is a HUGE nono! You're going to need the strength of a Gorilla to get those hooked back up!
Not when you've taken them down to the stops, and there's no hydraulic pressure in the lines.
04-11-2022, 08:31 AM
The problems.
