Bloku_

Hello everyone,

I am now the proud owner of a guards red 2001 Porsche 996.1 Carrera 2 6-speed manual with 140k miles. My first (running) P-car! What a car. Mom said, "Aw, it looks like a red hot chili pepper! "... I realized, I'll just call her Pepper 🌶️ 😁

Pepper's Previous owner (PO) was quite the guy, and is a fellow engineer. He was the 3rd owner and got the car at 38k miles... The PO drove the car for 11 years and put on 102k miles. All the miles were daily driver miles... 20 miles to work, 20 back. He did all his own work and I have every piece of documentation. He sent me a spreadsheet with 18k dollars of parts alone over the last 10ish year (see Spreadsheet link below). Wow, to think that I got it for a few grand more than that... I'm starting to feel like I stole it ! The bores were scoped a few months ago when the timing pads installed and they look good. I did not want a 100k+ mile car, but then I realized that this car was the exception. I was going to go to California for a week to get a 996, but now I realize that 1 mile in Cali is like 3 in Oklahoma, so I went for it. I also did not want a red 996 but then I saw "Pepper" in person and quickly lost all my prejudices! The color really suits the car's style and brings out it's lines well. The car was lightly optioned with only: M030, PSM, and 18" turbo twist... Just how I like it!

The PO made the tough call to sell the car due to a severe infection by the too-many-cars virus, a condition often exacerbated by several comorbidities: spousal pressure syndrome, acute 997 acquisition disorder, chronic suburban house space insufficiency, and maybe even a sudden onset allergy towards red paint! No worries PO, I believe that I will assist you by taking the car off your hands


A toy next to the playground

PO Mod List:
- Poly bushings on all suspension (feels great! no creaks)
- Billstein stock m030 replacement shocks and springs
- Front and rear adjustable swaybars
- X51 FVD Brombacher Deep sump w/ baffles ("due to increased cornering from swaybars" - PO)
- Spherical Upper Strut Mounts F and R (then front was taken back to OEM... Any ideas why he'd do that?)
- 160* Thermostat (not really a mod, but yea...)

(Major Only) Services Done:
- IMS 90k miles ago - Part # PEL-IMS-1 (overdue!)
- RMS 90k miles ago
- AOS 30k miles ago (2021) with the note of - Coolant lines bypassed on AOS
- Radiators Replaced 30k ago (also 2021)... no 3rd radiator
- A/C refrigerant recharged 20k ago (2022)...feels great in 100* days!
- Alternator 10k ago (2023)
- Timing Chain Tensioner, Left Lower 5k miles ago (2023)

And much more... even some fun things like GT3 brake cooling ducts! For the heck of it, here is the spreadsheet he sent me of most of his records... He has more detailed records in the physical folder he provided me.

Spreadsheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...f=true&sd=true

She is not perfect though. I am developing a list of things to do, and I will continue to document them here as to get feedback and to act as a safety net if I do something stupid and don't know I am doing it.

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TO-DO LIST:
- Refinish Wheels (before mounting new tires)
- New Tires - Conti DWS06 + (225/40/zr18 front and 265/35/zr18 rear)
- Rig switchable exhaust to dash button
- New Starter Motor
- Replace Serpentine Belt
- Timing Chain Tensioner(s)
- D.M. Flywheel
- Clutch & Pressure Plate (and all other parts like T.O. bearing, etc.)
- IMSB & RMS
- Paint car

About the fixes:

Tires - I am thinking that Continental's ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus

Wheels - Refinish the wheels first. I am in need of OG paint codes or alternative paint codes for 18" solid spoke turbo twist. From the following Rennlist LINK I have learned a way to do it. Results: "9A1 which might have been superseded to code 61M" or "Wurth silver" or "Diamantsilber" (61M?). I will be using ChromaBase as my aircraft painter friend has access to this and is one of his top 3 picks...

Paint - Unfortunately, 2x experts (an air-craft painter friend and detailer friend) tried to quickly restore the oxidation, but due to an old respray of clear on dry (original) base coat, the oxidation is beneath the clear, above the base coat). No amount of compound or even wet sanding was able to even change it, only make the clear shiny. I will repaint the car with ChromaBase paint, same brand for primer, base, and clear. Will get a custom guards red mix via "80K is conventional paint and 84A is water based paint" I will be going with the conventional paint. This will not be done until the car has proven itself mechanically though.

Starter Motor - She is cranking slowly at times and many say to "check the Y" and or just to replace. I am just going to replace as it is original after (trying) to inspect and looking at the records. Car has a new battery

Timing Chain Tensioner(s) - PO replaced the worn looking ones on the front (rear of car) side of the engine and was going to do the front (closer to wheel) side of the engine's pads but decided not to. He has the pads in the box of parts he gave me! Just a another item to do.

IMS, RMS, Clutch, Flywheel - They are all old. The clutch is original but passed the 3rd gear stand-still test (no slip) and the PO was big on no burnouts or other delinquent activities . I hear a rattle at low speed when someone is driving down the long gravel driveway and is at walking speed in 1st with the clutch all the way engaged. IMS and RMS was replaced 90k miles ago. The question is what type of IMS to get.

Exhaust Switching Button - Just like it sounds, I want to get the exhaust to switch at the press of a button! So cool I will see what others have done. It originally had the vacuum controlled switching where it turned to "loud" when above XZY RPM or something like that. It is currently set to the loud position (I don't mind) but the quiet position would be good so I can hear the engine and be a bit more under the radar (who am I kidding tho).

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CONCERNS:

Temperature Gauge Readings(MY MOST MAJOR CONCERN RIGHT NOW) - On a 100*F + Oklahoma day, the temp gauge surprised me by sitting ABOVE HALF WAY!?!? Yikes... OK, so I quickly reached out to the PO and looked online. The PO said: "Very normal... In the winter, she runs between 160 and 180. In the summer, she runs between 180 and 200." I went on the forums to confirm and the consensus is that “in hot weather, 996's run a tick above 1/2, normally with the needle on top of the 0 in 180, with traffic, AC on and the hottest days pushing the temp gauge up to the edge of the 0 "... I must say, this gauge is not making me feel warm and fuzzy!It never gets past the middle of the 0.

IMSB (RMS, and Clutch Items Too) - The IMS has 90k miles on her. That's a lot. Many people run it even longer, I won't (don't want to). I will drive her for now, but it is still a big issue that I should tackle ASAP! I am thinking there's no need for THE IMS solution. Just get a factory IMS or upgraded and make it a maintenance item. Then, because they are original, the flywheel and the clutch should be replaced. They are fine (passed 3rd gear at stand still stall test) I will look into that. If there is an advantage to a single mass flywheel.

Timing Chain Pads (Noise?) - No signs of bore score in oil analysis or visually or audibly, but PO said the front pads were worn and that he was about to do the rears but then decided to sell. I hear a sound on startup that sounds very chain-y. I should just do the pads and then see if the sound goes away. It does it cold or hot yet sounds smooth and natural though?! I will try to get a youtube short compiled of several start ups to get an opinion from yall.

PSM (Brake) - When I brake normally, I am surprised to feel the pedal requires quite a lot of pressure, like the racing breed car it is... or is it not supposed to be like this? There is this one turn into my hood where it's a flat right downhill after a straight where there is a 6 inch drop from one layer of asphalt to another. During the transition, while trail braking, the brake pedal feedbacks an ABS style sensation yet I am nowhere near the limit!? From a systems standpoint, maybe the system is expecting certain constants and tire diameter or worn tires are throwing the system out of wack? I will have to try that turn again with the PSM turned off and report back

Alarm System / Central Locking - I was very confused by this car's central locking system. 1 beep, 2 beeps, still locked, suddenly unlocked, no response? When I unlock, it unlocks for 1 second and then quickly relocks itself. Only bypass is fully roll the windows down via the key. Also, the light above the mirror always stays on (ambient style light)…

Decklid Fan Never Turns On - The engine bay's exhaust fan does not work, even on the hottest of days. It should kick on 5 mins after parking IF the temp sensor in the engine bay detects above XZY*F temperature (and I bet good money it was well within that activation temp this week). I will do my checks and get back to you all!

Drivers Door Glass Misaligned - When all the way up, the drivers side door glass slightly touches and or snags (end to end to) the quarter window glass. It needs adjustment and is sketching me out as if I close the door too hard I swear it might break the glass! Yikes

Thanks for reading part one of my dissertation my post,
- Bloku

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HOT Temp Gauge?!?! Oh my
First Day Drive:



2nd Day Drive:






Worst spot

See the oxidized paint (pink-ish)? Its more visible in low light...

Datass..... P.S. license plate numbers are photoshopped and there is an "easter egg" near the wheel


You could go with this ^^^^ or you could go with that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



Cheers

SoCal911t

Dude, no offense but I think you might be too high strung for 996 ownership. Your temp is normal.

GC996

Congrats! Add to your list to get a new water pump asap with a low temp thermostat as well.

De Jeeper

Yea pull the bumper, clean the rads and check to make sure the low speed fans r working. Other then that the coolant temp looks fine.

Also all 3.4l have some rattle so the tentioners may be fine.

Go with a 285 in the rear and 84a is the bomb.

beermanpete

The temperature is normal. My car was running hotter than your, above the line past 180 on a hot day without any consequence. I replaced the radiators recently due to a leak and now it runs mid-180 to near the end of the 0 in slow traffic with the air conditioning on.

Bloku_

Dude, yea dude, its got me high strung. Ive read too much about these and just need to chill and enjoy it, but I also gotta get these things done before they bite me tho. For now I am just driving it, getting used to it and put my todo list down

Good to know these things are normal. Who woulda known? all my old cars just stay 1/2 half up on the gauge. In the handbook, I read "under high load situations on hot days, the temp may go to the RED an stay. Once load is lessened, it will return to gray zone"... um excuse me? Interesting

good to know abt the rattle too. I cleaned out the radiators and hosed them out too. seems alright imo. I am thinking a 3rd radiator may be a good investment? resistors are good too (replaced by po)

Thanks

Porschetech3

In the second pic it shows the temp warning light (just past the 250 ) is ON, I don't know if it is "slow blink", "fast blink", or "on steady" but it makes a big difference...As thorough as you are I can't believe you didn't mention something about it ...

BTW :: enjoy the new adventure !!!