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This will be a thread about my 2002 996 targa. I'm making plans for a long term relationship. I thought I should document it.
I had been hunting for a Porsche for several years. I wanted to find out for myself what all the fuss was about, why they have such a fanatical following, why the values hold up despite there being 10's of thousands built each year. That kind of stuff. I thought long and hard about an air-cooled car but the prices just weren't justifiable to my way of thinking. The 996 was the next obvious place to go if one is just testing the Porsche waters. After all it is still a 911, despite the whole headlight and water-cooled hate directed at it. I really wanted a targa because of the rear hatch, which seemed hugely practical to me -- and it is! Anyway that's how I ended up with this one.
I bought the car more or less by accident on Bring A Trailer in July 2021. I put in my top bid, expecting the car to go up another $4K or $5K; it didn't. I tell people "it followed me home." Here's the BaT listing:
Here it is arriving at my house for the first time; the seller very graciously drove the car up from VA to PA which was a godsend for me at the time.
As I said, the seller's personal delivery of the car was a godsend at the time, because I was dealing with a nonagenarian parent in the hospital. I was there every day for a month. So naturally that is where I took this shot.
I'll just clif note the rest of the introductory portion of this tale and say that I absolutely fell in love with the car. I adore the size, nimbleness, and eagerness of the car. And it is ridiculously practical! In addition I have recently retired, and so I decided to make a project of it.
Mileage is on the high side but I think it has pretty good bones; plenty of documentation, clean CarFax, evidence of regular maintenance throughout its life. Even so it's a bit tired and in need of some refreshing, which I am getting to now during its winter slumber. I intend to use it as my fair weather daily driver, plus I'm outfitting it for longer trips as well. I'm fixing the absolute must-needs first, then doing a full suspension refresh. Longer term plans include an engine rebuild; I'll spend more on that than I paid for the whole car! But I intend to keep it a long time, and drive it a lot, and it will be worth it to me to take bore scoring and IMS stuff completely off the table.
First up is the infamous "foam rubber blowing out of the vents" fix. I did the big flap from the heater core entry. I would say that the biggest PITA for me was not realizing that there was a giant Bose wart in the passenger footwell making it impossible to reach the bottom pivot; I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring that out, and another inordinate amount of time finding the rear screw. The good news is that it will go back in stuffed with polyfill, hopefully fixing the awful boominess that makes the sub all but useless.
The foam backing was still mostly there so the functionality was still pretty good. It's like an archeological dig... I used Armaflex. Mold resistance baby! Recoated Reinstalled
I wasn't impressed with the shifting of the car so I spent some money on fixing it. I didn't want rifle bolt action, just less slop, less plasticky feel, and (hopefully) more precise shifts. Job is still in progress because Numeric forgot to include their handy wrench in my package, so I'll post finished product stuff later.
Numeric Racing cables. Where's my wrench? Function-First bits.
I wasn't impressed with the shifting of the car so I spent some money on fixing it. I didn't want rifle bolt action, just less slop, less plasticky feel, and (hopefully) more precise shifts. Job is still in progress because Numeric forgot to include their handy wrench in my package, so I'll post finished product stuff later.
Numeric Racing cables. Where's my wrench? Function-First bits.
Nice. I installed both the Numeric shifter and cables. In the end, the shifter was enough for me and made the most difference by far. The cables were too noisy for my taste, with not much of a difference in feel so I removed them. Maybe I’m just weird because a lot of people report night and day difference with the cables. Maybe I didn’t install enough insulation, but it was very loud in my car.
The interior teardown all started because I felt like I was sitting in a hole when in the driver's seat. I took that out to see what was up. Turned out to be a torn mesh support strap, that in turn ripped the seat cushion fabric and broke a crossbrace that runs under that part of the seat. The whole bottom of the seat needed to come apart to access the web mesh thingie. This is still in progress too, waiting on parts to arrive.
The mesh understrap that broke and caused the whole mess. Seat cushion ripped on both sides. Crossbrace took a hit when everything fell down on it. JB Weld to the rescue. It's almost like new in terms of strength.
That seat repair is actually pretty common. I had the exact same broken parts on my black car. The plastic frame is not expensive so I elected to get a new one. Putting that mesh on it, boy that was a workout!
Nice. I installed both the Numeric shifter and cables. In the end, the shifter was enough for me and made the most difference by far. The cables were too noisy for my taste, with not much of a difference in feel so I removed them. Maybe I’m just weird because a lot of people report night and day difference with the cables. Maybe I didn’t install enough insulation, but it was very loud in my car.
Oh wow, this is the first I'm hearing anyone mention the Numeric cables bringing noise into the cabin. I hope yours was an unusual situation...
Originally Posted by theprf
That seat repair is actually pretty common. I had the exact same broken parts on my black car. The plastic frame is not expensive so I elected to get a new one. Putting that mesh on it, boy that was a workout!
I can imagine it might be a bit tight. I didn't research it to see if there was past history of seat breakage. It seemed like an unusual thing to have happen so I sort of assumed someone put knees in the seat instead of butt cheeks, or something similar to that. (Don't kneel in your Z4 seat, you'll break the seatbelt warning system!)
More parts are supposed to arrive on Tuesday. Maybe I should spend tomorrow ordering suspension bits...
Thank you! My wife thanks you as well; we worked hard to get a look that fit the property. It's my first ever garage, too small of course.
Driving one in an electrical/lightning storm is a trip.
I'll bet. Which reminds me, the sun shade really doesn't help enough on truly hot days. I see that Suncoast sells an upgrade. Does anyone have experience with it? Looks like it might be a 997 part.
Oh wow, this is the first I'm hearing anyone mention the Numeric cables bringing noise into the cabin. I hope yours was an unusual situation...
...
Its a fairly common complaint. I have the silicon hose they use to dampen the vibs. I didnt feel they increased noise on my car but i was careful to make sure the cables did not touch anything under the car.
Function-First Shift Right Solution + Numeric Racing cables installed
The shifter is much more precise now; however like many others have noted the cables bring a lot of noise into the cabin. I spent some time with sound deadening materials and it got better. Just not better enough. It's not in keeping with my goal for the car, and so I'm looking for alternatives. I see some folks have gone with GT3 cables but I am having trouble finding much detail on whether or not they are a direct replacement or whether I need more bits to make them work. Also, again, I don't want a bunch of extra noise coming through. I very well may end up just going with new stock cables. I also see F-F has a new cable end product but have found much customer use information about those either.
As can be seen in my last post I took the passenger seat out too, because it was hard to adjust. I lubed up the manual front/rear and height adjusting mechanisms, wow! what a difference that made. (I lubed up the driver seat too.) While I had both seats out I gave them the full Leatherique treatment. I love that stuff. I cut a square of leather to send to Leatherique for a dye match in the event I decide to re-dye the worn bolsters on the driver seat. On the one hand I want to do it to make the car look better. But the leather treatment has gone a long way towards rejuvenating the feel and suppleness of the hides, so I don't feel as much inclination to do it to "save" the seat. "Patina", "it's only original once", stuff like that. I'm pondering that one for the time being.
New strap installed on seat base, all ready for the new cushion and leather cover. Leatheriqued driver seat. The bottom cushion is just laying there loose which is why it looks funny. Driver seat bolster shows some dye loss but looks refreshed otherwise. Lubed up, spiffed-up passenger seat.
02-06-2022, 11:48 AM
wdb's forever targa
I didn't research it to see if there was past history of seat breakage. It seemed like an unusual thing to have happen so I sort of assumed someone put knees in the seat instead of butt cheeks, or something similar to that. (Don't kneel in your Z4 seat, you'll break the seatbelt warning system!) 
