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A few words about me, I am French and living in Michigan for a little more than a year now, I am working at a big Tier 1 supplier of car manufacturers (we are doing interior parts, seats, exhaust and some electronic parts, among other things...). I am also a lifelong BMW enthusiast, and was lucky enough to spend 10 years of my life living and working in Japan before moving to the US. While living there, I discovered the world of track days, bought a Mazda RX-8 for track and family (got a daughter at that time), rolled it over at Honjo Circuit (rollcage are overrated), bought another RX-8, prep'd it, then decided it was too slow and bought an M3 (E36, euro engine ofc), which I also mildly prep'd. On the other hand I also ended up racing in endurance races in the Idlers series (similar to the US ChampCar I reckon), with some friends on a 318is, collecting a few class victories along the way in Motegi and Ebisu Circuit... I also purchased a M5 E34 for week end drives in Hakone...
I never really enjoyed Porsche as much as I enjoyed my ///M's but many of my friends in Japan had a foot in BMW and the other in Porsche world so I had a the opportunity to drive pretty much every generations from classic 911 to 997... And I must admit I started to enjoy it, there is a special, indescribable, feeling in driving those little frogs. Then a couple of years ago, one of my friends gave me his 993 during a week of vacations in France so I could live with it with the family and we really liked it. I took a decision at that time that I really needed to give a try at owning a 911 of my own.
I sold the M3 when I left Japan and shipped the M5 to Michigan with the rest of my stuff to land in the middle of a pandemic lockdown... But I could drive enough to realize that there is no way you can enjoy driving on the roads in Michigan: everything is straight, red lights everywhere and with pot-holes, uneven man-holes, and many other funny stuff designed to tear your car apart... When you oddly find some twisties, they are in residential areas where one cannot reasonably (and shouldn't) put his foot down... In those conditions I did not really enjoy the M5, and it is a bit too big of a car to drive on the track (I did do a few laps in Japan, did not enjoy it so much), so I decided to sell it to make space for a smaller sport car that I could drive on the road on weekends, bring to car events, but also bring on the track sometimes, like my M3 back in Japan...
I was initially looking at E46 M3's, but also at 996 as they answer more or less the same requirements (and similar caveat regarding engine durability...). But I came to realize that, given the trend, it was now or never to seize a car at a reasonable cost since it seems a few good auctions on BAT led everyone to believe they were suddenly owning the 8th wonder of the world... And I have owned various BMW's for the past 15 years so maybe it is time to change, right ?
I saw a silver 996 for sales on auto trader at some sports car dealership in North Carolina, which was exactly what I was looking for : 1999, base C2, in good shape but not too good (some dents and scratches, a bit tired interior...) so I won't hesitate bringing it on track day, with a reasonably low mileage (89k). Also has sport seats, which I like
I could see the car through a zoom call, the shop sent me an inspection report, and I spent a couple of days looking over the internet to see what else was there... And finally proposed a deal a couple of thousand below the asking price, the next day I was wiring the money.
So I bought a car sight unseen, without independent PPI, 600 miles from my home, what could possibly go wrong?
Well no much (yet, at least), I drove the car all the way back from NC to MI yesterday without issues and I love it already! It pulls really strong, and it has a nice Fabspeed exhaust that sounds gorgeous. I drove in some countryside roads in North Carolina and it was a blast : the steering is spot on, the gear shifts are perfect, and the engine properly intoxicating
Of course it is not perfect, but I am used to wrench my cars and I picked up specially that one because it seems mechanically sound and I can perform most of the maintenance I see coming on it (fluids, brakes, suspensions, reworking the audio system...). It also has a K&N Hot Air Intake that I need to get rid of as soon as I can (I hate those things).
I have read around that people recommand to update the AOS and the oil pan for track use, is that really a requirement for a mild track day usage (3 or 4 per year probably, driven at 90%). I don't plan to race the car, for that I have other plans...
There is also the elephant in the room : the IMSB... Back in France people would advise me not to touch it at this point since it is double row and given the mileage the car has, if it had to break it would be done already... The clutch feels really good so it won't be a "while you're at it" operation and I am also not sure to have the courage to do it myself so I need to decide what to do here (of course I have no maintenance records )
So here I am, I will be documenting my adventures here, hope you enjoy it and I can get some nice advices along the way.
Here are some pics of the beast:
Neubauten, Welcome to the group. Thanks for the great intro to you. This board is a really broad group of enthusiast/hobbyist/professionals. And it's been going on a really long time. Any question you have on the car can be answered here, likely it was answered 10 years ago, but the search function is kind of clunky. Google searches find things in these pages better than the internal searches do. But don't spend too much time, just ask.
Too bad about the Michigan roads. If it's like Chicago, it's a mess. Gotta get out and away to find the country roads. Good luck! And try not to smile while driving it. You can't!
Welcome fellow Michigander! Get out and enjoy it. Lots of scenic drives in Michigan. If you haven't already, connect with the PCA as most of the groups in Michigan are active.
As for mild track days, I’m not sure 3-4 track events per year at 90% is mild enough if you have any cooling or oil pressure issues, worn tensioner/pads, any bore scoring, etc.
I would take the first 25 mins of a 30-minute track session to determine your oil and water temps and look for oil pressure drops. You can glance, or better yet, video your gauges or log the data for review.
For AOS, I’d consider buying and installing the UAOS. The AOS might be fine, but if it fails on the track, it could draw so much oil into the engine that you cause damage. The motor sports AOS is better, but I think the UAOS is the best solution for street cars and the occasional track day.
I would spend the last 5 mins cooling down the car with the AC button depressed. The fans will help cool the engine and oil. Go from there. If you have good temps and zero pressure drops, you are probably good to go.
Thanks for the tips, I need to address a few things anyway before thinking of any track days (tires and brakes for sure....)
Changing the AOS seems real a PITA but I guess that's not really an option then
By the way I noticed there is no oil temp gauge in the car, can you guess it from water temp or do you see big discrepancies between both? I am a bit surprised not see that info in a 911 tbh...
17597158[/url]]Thanks for the tips, I need to address a few things anyway before thinking of any track days (tires and brakes for sure....)
Changing the AOS seems real a PITA but I guess that's not really an option then
By the way I noticed there is no oil temp gauge in the car, can you guess it from water temp or do you see big discrepancies between both? I am a bit surprised not see that info in a 911 tbh...
The UAOS install isn’t so bad, and future AOS failures are a snap (easy) once you convert to UAOS. Pain once and that’s it.
17597158]Thanks for the tips, I need to address a few things anyway before thinking of any track days (tires and brakes for sure....)
Changing the AOS seems real a PITA but I guess that's not really an option then
By the way I noticed there is no oil temp gauge in the car, can you guess it from water temp or do you see big discrepancies between both? I am a bit surprised not see that info in a 911 tbh...
Right, oil temps are captured in the DME, but not displayed. You can to pull that data. The oil temp location is also not perfect. It’s in the sump, and there are other locations where sampling would probably show a higher reading. Oil temps generally lag water temps for 15 mins; then they switch once the oil warmer starts to become an oil cooler.
Congrats - as a relative newbie '99 owner I'll strongly suggest that you'll get some OBD 2 scanner with Porsche specific features. In my opinion there's a lot happening "behind the scenes" that you are not aware of without a proper scanner.
Fuel trims etc.
Welcome to Michigan, yes the roads are crap but you can still have fun once you get a little north or west of the suburbs. Congrats on the car, you got the best year and color. (or colour if you prefer)
08-09-2021 | 01:09 PM
A Porsche newbie in a 1999 C2
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Thanks for the great intro to you. This board is a really broad group of enthusiast/hobbyist/professionals. And it's been going on a really long time. Any question you have on the car can be answered here, likely it was answered 10 years ago, but the search function is kind of clunky. Google searches find things in these pages better than the internal searches do. But don't spend too much time, just ask. 
