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I finally had a chance to refinish the headlights...for the second time. I originally used one of the headlight restoration kits. The results with that were good but long term, it did not pass the test. About a year later, the headlights began to develop a subtle yellow hue despite using the UV protecting spray paint and the surface seemed to have some light scratching from general use and driving. I decided to give a the clear film route a go as it should do a better job protecting the headlight.
It was a choice between Lamin-x and Xpel. I ended up getting the Lamin-x kit. The film came as a part of a kit with everything you'd need to install it. I mean everything. This even included an xacto knife. The film was pre-cut. You need to be sure to choose the right one as they come in a version for headlights with washers and without. The fit was very good! There was a small amount of overlap which you could trim and some extra film tabs that you can hold when installing. I can't speak for the fitment of Xpel or what comes in the kit but I think the biggest difference between the two is the installation process. Xpel uses a water and alcohol solution where you soak both surfaces, slide the film into place and begin to squeegee the solution out. Installing the Lamin-x film requires just some water on both surfaces but the film is a lot more tacky. This made it pretty easy to install for me as I would tack the film in one spot and then gently stretch it into place. You can undo and re-do it as many times as you want till it's perfect. Then just squeegee to remove the water. Some water spots and cloudiness can appear but it goes away after a few days of the car sitting in the sun. Before I got to the film I wet sanded both headlights with following grit sand paper - 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000 and 2500. Seems like a lot and maybe it is but results were worth it. After sanding I used my orbital polisher with a 3in orange pad with some finishing polish to bring out the clarity. Each headlight took about an hour.
Tomorrow will be a 2 year anniversary with the 40AE so a quick photo update and other ramblings....
It's been 2 years and a little of 21k miles driven over that time. Turning the key with the left hand and hearing the cold start still feels like a bit of an occasion.
It's been my only car and has hauled everything from 2 bags of mulch in the frunk to my road bike on its roof and eaten up thousands of miles during road trips without skipping a beat or leaving me stranded. It took a good amount of preventative work to get there but it's been solid otherwise. Over the time, my favorite mechanical mods have been the Ohlins R&T coilovers along with the Momo Mod07 steering wheel and the Raceseng Circuit shift ****. The combination of these 3 took the driving experience to the next level for me. I have very little desire for more power, believe it or not. Between 5-7k RPM the car is a joy to whip around in. I haven't done much visually besides the wheels, which I'm mega stoked with, and the new paint matched front lip. I think the lip really tied it all together, like the carpet in Big Lebowski. A duck tail is still a consideration though.
I've been working with my shop and Lake Speed re. my oil consumption and we have a theory and a game plan in place. I'll provide an update on that once I have more data collected and more miles driven.
Pete - I wouldn’t sweat the oil consumption much. If you drive in the upper rev range often, like you should, you’ll burn some DT40. I had some issues with injectors and AOS’s that caused more issues/consumption. Once those were taken care of, mine used a quart every 7-800 miles on DT40 and a little less (~1,000) on Porsche Classic 5w50. My motor was rebuilt to 3.8 with ring gaps the shop uses for proven endurance. So I fretted like every good, paranoid 996 owner. I only consume a liter every 1400 miles on current Millers 10w50. Your wear trends are very good. You’ve done all you should, so that engine is showing good health by the UOAs. If you were smokey on starts or your fuel contamination was higher or your wear started spiking? Then maybe worry.
And each time I see anthracite Apex wheels with GT Silver…mmmm.
@hatchetf15 - thanks for your feedback! I usually don't sweat this stuff but just like to understand the "why" part. Since I've eliminated all the common causes and replaced things like the AOS and injectors to name a few, I'm at the point where some "outside the box thinking is needed". Just trying to get to a point where I don't have to add 5qts of oil between changes, but in the end, if all other things remain the same, I will. I've been using FR50 5w50 for oil and am happy with the oil pressure and UOA I'm getting so will stick with that. Your feedback is useful and hope to have more updates of my own soon!
This weekend the odometer turned to 100k miles. Saturday was a warm day, around 60 here, so a perfect opportunity for an oil change. Such an easy service to do - takes longer to drain the oil than everything else put together. Magnetic plug was clean. Last oil change I realized I didn't have a filter after I drained the oil and ended grabbing a KN one which fit well onto the adapter - no leaks. Cut the sucker open and found nothing, which I prefer.
Quick wipe down of the UIDS, date and mileage on filter and time to pour 10 quarts of oil. Poked around underneath and everything looks pretty dry - no leaks. One thing I did notice was the coolant hose with the plastic T fitting visible from the bottom has a crack in the plastic portion. No leakage at all but will probably replace come spring.
Went out for a bit of a ripper on Sunday afternoon to see the clock turn to 100k. Some people say that's a lot of miles on a car but to me the fun is just beginning!
I did install the PCCM+ over the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm still dialing in the install and hiding things out of sight. That GPS antenna and microphone being double side taped to the dash and steering column is not going to fly. So far I was able to hide the GPS antenna under the plastic piece that also houses the red alarm light and route the cable through the dash. I think I'll be able to remove the microphone component from it's housing and install it in the OEM location, to the left of the gauges. Also need to get my hands on a new storage shelve above the HVAC unit as the one I had won't fit. It was a lower specific one. Speaking of HVAC, new LCD screen is arriving soon so I'll swap that out as the current one is pretty much gone.
Tires are next I think. Will go with Michelin PSS4S to see what the fuss is all about. 235/295 sizes and I think they will give me a more squared off look in the rear that I want vs rounded as it currently is with General RS MAX's. The Generals have been a great tire, for the price. The fronts still have plenty life on them after about 23k miles so I might try to sell them cheap locally. Rears, however, are close to finished, mainly due to inner wear. Rears have about a -1.5 degrees of camber and the adjustment was maxed out. Fronts were able to be dialed in to -5 degrees which produced pretty even wear.
With that it looks like I should think about adding some aftermarket adjustable arms for the rear to allow for more camber adjustment. I don't think you can do anything from the top. Open to suggestions here. It looks like I could either do the lower "coffin" arms which would allow for some additional camber adjustment OR the upper adjustable arms "dog bones", which should allow camber AND toe adjustment. I do want the adjustability but one of my concerns is added NVH as most of the options include spherical bushings instead of rubber ones. This car sees a lot of miles annually and will only see the track for no other reason than fun. Not looking to chase lap times and modify the car in that direction. As such I'd like to preserve as much of the ride characteristic I currently have as I can. Open to opinions and options here. Are there any lower or upper control arms that allow for adjustability but have rubber or similar bushings. Similarly, if someone has installed them with the spherical bushings, was there a noticeable change in NVH? Yeah, I know that's subjective.
You can get plenty of camber in the rear with the stock stuff - you do need to add adjustable toe arms to correct for the camber - that’s what will chew those insides.
You can get plenty of camber in the rear with the stock stuff - you do need to add adjustable toe arms to correct for the camber - that’s what will chew those insides.
Thanks - that's a good call. I thought about toe being an issue but looking at my alignment settings didn't think it would have been the thing.
You can get plenty of camber in the rear with the stock stuff - you do need to add adjustable toe arms to correct for the camber - that’s what will chew those insides.
What do you have to have for toe in the back to minimize inside shoulder wear?
Roger that. I'm a noob when it comes to alignments and just know some basics so that makes sense. It's better to have some additional camber and get the toe as close to 0 as you can as toe will cause more tire wear and perhaps other issues than some extra camber.
To clarify here, I CAN and have gotten the toe in spec but at the cost of negative camber. Per zbomb, the stock suspension has enough camber adjustment available but once you get it there, it will throw my rear toe adjustment out of spec at the eccentric bolt does not have enough adjustment in it. As such, adjustable rear toe arms will be needed in my case.
Winter sucks but days are slowly getting longer and it's been relatively mild for winter here. Some more hardware has been coming in so time for a quick update.
2 months since last update, I'm sitting at about 101,400 miles. I tried OilVue for UOA and have mixed reviews. The report is pretty easy to read and everything came back "green" but it did take a bit longer to get it back and the report did not include fuel dilution reading. Not sure why. I emailed and followed up with them but never got a response. A bit of a bummer there. Per Lake's recommendation, I've been using an injector cleaner that's very high in PEA and to my surprise have seen oil consumption go down from 1qt in 650 miles to 1qt in a little over 1000 miles. What gives? No clue but a positive improvement.
FINALLY, got rid of the airbag light! I've read all the threads with bunch of conflicting info and all kinds of resistor suggestions. The answer is 2.2Ohm +/- 5% resistor to be installed in the airbag wiring (orange plug). Let me know if you need one since I got 39 more as I had to purchase a whole box from Amazon for few $. Sitting on 1000 various resistors now so holler if you need any
I also got the PCCM+ all buttoned up. Yeah it was pricy but I saved a few bucks getting it on black Friday and tax free in DE. The install was plug and play for me and as mentioned previously, the mic is now wired into the OEM spot, in the gauge cluster on the left side. The supplied mic can be easily removed from the provided housing. If I was paying few hundred bucks to have this installed by the dealer and they plopped it on my steering column with a double sided tape I'd be pissed. Royally pissed (cue black republicans skit from Key and Peele ) The black box is hidden behind the center console and I have a cable running from there to connect the phone and using the other USB port as a power source for my dash cam. It works really well as it turns on and off with the radio so I don't have to think about it.
Picked up the 4pc Rennline pedal set for a steal in the classifieds. Pretty surprised by how much they brighten up the footwell and match the overall aesthetic of the silver bits in the car. Because it's my do-it-all car I've decided I don't want the track mats and will come up with a solution to integrate some sort of aluminum heel pad into the OEM mat. I've got some ideas brewing.
Also, picked up some new mufflers! I like the current set up but because it wasn't executed too well and I get some strange resonance between 3.5-4k rpm. Because I may not always want to be making all the noise and I haven't seen them being used often I ended up getting a set of valved mufflers from DesignTek, which is the inhouse brand for Design911 from UK. I came across a video with them installed, surprisingly on a 40AE, and really liked what I heard so I decided to give them a go. The price was very good too so no reason not to. Each came in at exactly 17lbs, which is about 5lbs lighter than OEM boxes. I think they are about 22ish lbs. After a bunch of reading they look remarkably similar to that of TopGear stuff and few other brands I've seen. All the welds are super clean like their other stuff and the electronics look exactly the same as those used by TopGear, SOUL, FabSpeed and most other manufacturers - down to the remotes. By default, the mufflers have the valves open. I'll need to figure out how to get all that wired in neatly to the stock vacuum system and come up with a solution to integrate the remote into an OEM sport exhaust button. I've seen something similar on the 997 forums from UK that might potentially work.
Because the Porsche Gods noticed I picked up these new fancy mufflers they thought it would be a good time for my car to start throwing the Catalytic Converter efficiency codes. :| I've seen bank 1 pop up 2-3 times in last 6 months but now I'm seeing the code for both banks. Fantastic. Looks like I'll be adding new cats and I suppose 4 new O2 sensors while I'm at it. I'll be likely getting the TopGear 200 cel cats that cross over - not the X pipe. I want to keep the low end torque as much as I can for the type of driving that I do. I have also been looking into the cats from Dansk. They offer a sport version which is about $600 more. If I recall correctly, Dansk actually manufactures Porsche sport exhausts and have a reputation for good quality as well. I might call around and see if I can sell my old cats to a scrap yard. I've heard of folks getting anywhere between $200 to $400ish per cat. I'd be happy with that!
Braking system will be getting a small upgrade with the braided lines from Goodridge. After the install, I'll probably put in some track appropriate fluid as I'll be doing HPDE in not too long. Does anyone know the total amount of fluid needed for a flush?
Last but not least, I finally came across a tool box that will work well for me, keep all my stuff organized and easily fit in the frunk. I picked up some plexiglass and made appropriate dividers to keep things organized.
09-08-2022, 01:27 PM
) The black box is hidden behind the center console and I have a cable running from there to connect the phone and using the other USB port as a power source for my dash cam. It works really well as it turns on and off with the radio so I don't have to think about it.
