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This is how the car sits today but the front end is about to get a small cosmetic update...
I recently did front rotors (Sebro) and pads all around. Dust has been a major PITA. One drive was enough to have a coating of dust and filthy within 100 miles. I decided to give the Akebono pads a try and boy am I glad I did. Significantly less dust. I'm talking 90% less and it's a much lighter color and less visible. They are a great street pad. I did a proper bed in procedure but I feel like there is less initial bite. Perhaps the rotors need to be run in more. Under hard breaking I can still trigger ABS and they do stop well but it feel like more pressure is needed initially. I think for track driving I'll get some dedicated pads and keep these for street. Pretty happy with the choice so far. 996 brakes are stupid easy to work on.
Also took some time to clean out all the drains. They were not horrible but on their way there.
Also pulled the battery tray to clean off some surface rust and repaint black and stumbled upon the fuel pump, which I often wondered where it was located.
As for the front end update, it's out with the old, slightly broken lip and....
In with a new OEM lip paint matched to GT Silver and clear coated! Pretty stoked with how it turned out. I always liked this look on the 997 Sport Classic and wanted to replicate it. Photos of car with it on coming soon!
Since I needed to pull the bumper it was a good opportunity to inspect the radiators. This is what the looked like in November 2020 before I cleaned them and installed the DIY mesh grilles.
Some said that the grilles don't do much and will affect the engine temps. Given that many GT cars use them I thought I'd give it a go and test it on my car. It may or may not make a difference but the 40AE does have the turbo bumper with larger radiators. After 20 months of driving with them on I have not had any temperature issues. This includes hard driving in 100F degree weather in North East and mid-Atlantic with very high humidity. Below are what the radiators looked like after 20 months of daily driving the car:
Way better in my book! Did some small stuff get through? Yup! But nowhere near what I found when I first cleaned them. Some minor stuff mainly on the lower part of the radiator that was easily blown away with compressed air and a brush. In my use case, they passed the test and are staying. I also like the look, but that's personal. Hope this serves as a data point for others considering as I have not seen any hard data and photos posted previously - just statements.
Wow man the car looks great and good to know about the Akebonos, are they noisy at all?
Thanks! Akebonos have not been noisy at all for me. They do come with the dampeners and I was sure to install the backing plates that pop into the pistons, which I'm told help. I also did a proper bed in with the new rotors.
Finally had an opportunity to clean the car and get some updated shots with the new paint matched lip. I'm beyond stoked with how the front end looks now and the car now has a clean and even visual line when looking from the side. Seems like a lot of my recent photos are done at a parking garage...
I also had an extra day off on Tuesday so it was a good opportunity to finally install the new water pump and low-temp thermostat. Both looked to be original and never replaced. This had to be the case as the water pump gasket was still in one piece and needed to be cut away from the part sealing the other coolant galleries. The whole job took me about 4ish hours and was not hard. One bolt on the water pump was slightly harder then others but it all went pretty smooth.
Once you separate the engine support plate there is enough room to work. A small 1/4 ratchet and slim 10mm is the move here. In the process I drained 3 gallons of old coolant, which was replaced later with some new pink stuff.
The old pump seemed pretty solid with no play in the impeller but the composite piece still scored the block a bit. Besides that everything looked fine.
This is the old pump. All impeller blades were intact except for some scratching that touched the block. Never had any funny noises and temps were always good.
Old vs New
New water pump installed and torqued to 10nm. The 4th top bolt to the very right is nestled in there. Once I got it loose I was able to spin it out with my fingers.
T-stat and pump in. From there it was just connecting the hoses and bleeding the system. The gaskets sealed up great with 0 drips of any kind. I didn't use the vacuum fil system since I didn't have it and you need to completely drain the system. I had the car lifted from rear only elevating the expansion tank to the highest point of the system. I used the manual bleed valve with good results. Heat was running hot and temps stayed in check during a 20 some minute drive around town. After coming back and system cooling down I was able to add about another 1/2 gallon to top off the system. Will monitor it but it all looked good.
Late summer update: Car has been running really really well. As of this weekend I'm sitting at just shy of 96k miles. Should be getting into the triple digits by end of the year!
The UIDS is on along with 10qts of Driven FR 5w-50. The last UOA was in October and I'll probably do another one at next oil change at 100k. I've decided to do one at every other change, unless I have a good reason to. Last numbers with FR 5w-50 looked very good and filter was very clean at this change so that's my decision there.
Lot's of talk about UIDS and UAOS out there. I don't have the drain back *yet* as I have one of the earlier models but the unit has been working well. I opened the accumulator to see if there was anything. The light never came on but I was curious. Nothing. Not even a drop. The plug looked dry and last manometer numbers looked great. Something like -3.8in H2O. Not sure what that means but it can't be bad! Remember my old manometer reading? -60.9in H2O
My track time has had to be pushed back, unfortunately, but UIDS has not caused any issues for about 800ish miles so far. Seeing great oil pressure overall. 3 bar at 2.5k rpm; 3.4 bar at 3k rpm; 4.5 bar 4k rpm till red line. Have not noticed any dips on tight back road switchbacks I like to frequent where you're able to push the pace a bit. So far so good!
Hooked up the Durametric during a recent drive and the fuel trim values along with cam deviation numbers are perfect.
Despite car running great and all positive numbers the oil consumption hasn't been letting up much. I wish it was one of the usual suspects (bore scoring, AOS, 0w-40 oil, leaks or excessive fuel dilution) but I've eliminated all of those so the search continues. I ended up meeting the owner of one of the bigger sops in my area, who happened to be in the only other 996 at a recent C&C. He suggested I pull the plugs to see if they're fouled with oil and stop by the shop to check it out and chat.
You got to love pulling spark plugs on these cars. 2 plugs are really hard to reach, especially if your hands are on the larger side. Rather than struggle and curse I've just decided that it's easier to pull the rear bumper and remove the muffler boxes. That way I get easy access and it's a smooth job. All my exhaust hardware has been treated with anti seize so it all comes apart with zero fuss. You got to love the look of terror on my neighbors face as he drove by
Here are all the spark plugs, one by one. I didn't find anything out of place. They all looked mostly the same with some carbon deposits and "white frost" type deposits. I've seen this before. Zero wetness or oil.
Bank 1 - 1 through 3
Bank 2 - 4 through 6
I brushed them off a bit with a gentle nylon and copper brush and put them back in and went for a drive. Again, car ran beautifully. Temps outside were reading as much as 107F with around 78% humidity. AC blew cold and temps held as steady as they can. Arrow planted between 8 and 0 of the 180F marker. The bumper screens did their job as I picked up a lot of bugs and insects. These are the things that get imbedded in the radiators and are not visible to a naked eye. Vacuuming these out does nothing.
06-28-2022, 01:01 PM
