PorscheDoc

From our IA blog, but thought some of you guys might want to see it.....

This morning was spent installing Porsche cupholders in a beautiful 2000 996 Carerra. This modification removes the climate control unit which sits on top of the radio, and puts the cupholders in it's place. The climate control unit then replaces the small cubby that sits in front of the shifter and below the CD holder. I forgot to take a picture of how everything looks stock, but you can imagine......

1st step was to remove some dash trim and pull out the climate control unit which is held in by 2 screws. It is then pulled out of the dash and the harness is disconnected from the backside (4 plugs). In the picture below, i have already rerouted the harness and installed the climate control in it's new place. The 2nd picture shows the harness plugged into the back of the climate control unit.





Then you must remove the retaining clips for the Climate control, held on by 2 screws



Then install the new retaining clips which are shorter. They have some clips that hold them in place while you install the cupholder. I found out the one side held like it should, but the other side didn't work quite as planned, and was a bit of a bugger to get to stay in place



Sliding the cupholders into place......



Installing the unit in the dash. Again, due to the clips not staying in place, it was a little time consuming to get it right....



The finished product: The cupholders are spring loaded, you just push them, and they slide out, and push them back in to hide them in the dash. Note, the bottom trim was not yet on the climate control unit when the picture was taken.

Shark

I bought one of those "Ultimate" cupholders instead. Took 15 seconds to install and works great

PorscheDoc

Lol, yea lord knows this took all of my 4 years of graduate eduction to install

nycebo

Wow, that is one heck of an effort. Like Shark, I went the Ultimate Cupholder route too. It really is very well made, and the nice thing about it is that it sits on the floor so any overflow or spills don't get on the dash. Nevertheless, you should definitely be commended for your efforts.

Hey, one quick question, I am going to be replacing the plastic facing on the 4CD case holder in the center console. How hard was it to pull off the trim to the left and right of the center console? I'm wondering if I should do it myself or let a service tech at Porsche take care of it.

PorscheDoc

Oh the trim is easy, get your fingers around the back side towards the front end of the car and pull, they are held on by 2 tabs. The cupholders were very easy to install, taking my time it took about an hour. I would say about a 2 on scale of 10.

Riad

I did the exact opposite mod to my 2001 C4. It came from the boat with the cupholders in the configuration show on the last pic. I pulled them out and moved the A/C up and installed a tray. It's really an easy mod, took all of about 15 min.

Shark

You took cupholders OUT? This is madness

nycebo

"Cats and dogs playing together. Total mass hysteria."

evo_333

nice write-up... I need cupholders

msrc2

Good Lord.....all that for cupholders?!...... Ultimate cupholder----$25.00 and never spilled a drop.

Orient Express

Nice install.

Did you consider the 2002+ thin cup holders?

krisd

I also thought about the factory type cupholders, but wanted ones that would hold a little larger size cup and that would only effect my carpet if there was a Valdez type spill.

Here is a link to the cupholders I put in my 99 cab.

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ight=cupholder

Kris

PorscheDoc

This was for a customer, so not my pick, i just thought y'all might want to see it. I'm not real big on putting a $25 aftermarket cupholder in a $80-100k car....thats just me though. I am sure the ultimate cupholder does it's job. It seems they will hold a can of pop and thats about it.

nycebo

Karl, you're "not real big on putting a $25 aftermarket cupholder in a $80-100k car", eh? Does that mean that you're not too big on buying your beverages at the 7-11 for use in your expensive chariot? I guess you're not too big on wearing anything less than a $3,000 custom tailored Brioni suit while driving than either?

I mean, we're talking about a cupholder here, not a three-spoke carbon fiber steering wheel. The beauty of the ultimate cupholder is that it is EASILY removeable when one doesn't want to you use it and WELL out of the way (read, the floor) in case of spills.

To be quite candid, I think the stock cupholders in Porsche look as impractical as I have ever seen and completely cheesy. I mean, integrated right into the dashboard with huge white logos denoting 'cup can be held here'? Besides the fact that it only hold's cans and SMALL cups, it's pretty awful looking and likely to spill everywhere the minute any modest bump is encountered.

Essentially, they're an afterthought by Porsche engineers to compensate for U.S. consumers' demands for a place to store their sugar water.

PorscheDoc

lol, that makes absolutely no sense, a can of soda isn't a modification to a car, lol.

Edit: And if you are going to bash me, at least pay the 18 bucks and become a rennlist member before doing so....errr wait you spent that on the cupholder....Rennlist members bash away at will, i can take it