What to do when your 996 is worthless? Upgrade!
01-02-2009, 08:54 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
What to do when your 996 is worthless? Upgrade!
So, I made a brief attempt at selling my '01 996. No response on this board, a $16k offer from Carmax, bidding on eBay went to just over $7k, and nothing from Autotrader priced at $25,500.
For me, this means the car is fair game to mod away. Can't ruin it right?
My first stop was Tony at Precision Porsche for a Techart front bumper upgrade.
Because I am in LA, I went to his shop to see what I was getting and how he works. I arrived to find his guys prepping the bumper and spent some time with Tony talking cars. He apparently does quite a few of these and is the "OEM" supplier for a couple of other bumper companies. The fiberglass is hand laid in molds he has made and test fit on one of the 7-8 Porsches in his shop.
For those of you who are considering a DIY bumper upgrade and have want more info, I will post pics of my progress. You can also compare this to another thread in which the Misha Techart bumper was installed. In addition to the information already on Rennlist, I will be painting the bumper myself with an HVLP turbine 3 stage in a simple spray room.
First things first, remove the old bumper. There's a lot of other information out there about this so I will not go into detail. Pop the hood, remove the four plastic screws and cover exposing to phillips screws. Remove the side markers and two screws behind them. (The screw behind the fender liner is a bitch.)
Remove the torx screws underneath. Remove the temp sensor next to the passenger side radiator, and pull the cover off and lay it on your waiting clean soft moving blanket underneath.
First impressions:
The bumper is fiberglass and not bad. Some details have been considered, some details are not quite right for a perfectionist. And at least one thing is pretty bad.
First, unlike Misha, Tony considered the side markers and there are little slots in the bumper that the marker fits into
and the marker fits nicely.
The front air ducts are a bit squirrelly but a bit of sanding and care should take care of it.
Like any Techart style bumper, the front bumper support needs to be cut... a lot.
If you have headlight washers, you may need to trim a bit to get around them
The initial fit reveals the real problems
the top grill is pretty bad. The lines are off, and it doesn't follow the hood line well. Further, the grill is tight against the bumper in the corners, and gapped in the middle:
However, without much effort, the bumper goes on and the marks made from the mold where holes are to be drilled line up correctly, so there's not much guessing about hole placement. The fender lines look OK so I am removing the bumper for prep and paint which will start tomorrow. I will also play with the top grill to try and improve the lines.
For me, this means the car is fair game to mod away. Can't ruin it right?
My first stop was Tony at Precision Porsche for a Techart front bumper upgrade.
Because I am in LA, I went to his shop to see what I was getting and how he works. I arrived to find his guys prepping the bumper and spent some time with Tony talking cars. He apparently does quite a few of these and is the "OEM" supplier for a couple of other bumper companies. The fiberglass is hand laid in molds he has made and test fit on one of the 7-8 Porsches in his shop.
For those of you who are considering a DIY bumper upgrade and have want more info, I will post pics of my progress. You can also compare this to another thread in which the Misha Techart bumper was installed. In addition to the information already on Rennlist, I will be painting the bumper myself with an HVLP turbine 3 stage in a simple spray room.
First things first, remove the old bumper. There's a lot of other information out there about this so I will not go into detail. Pop the hood, remove the four plastic screws and cover exposing to phillips screws. Remove the side markers and two screws behind them. (The screw behind the fender liner is a bitch.)
Remove the torx screws underneath. Remove the temp sensor next to the passenger side radiator, and pull the cover off and lay it on your waiting clean soft moving blanket underneath.
First impressions:
The bumper is fiberglass and not bad. Some details have been considered, some details are not quite right for a perfectionist. And at least one thing is pretty bad.
First, unlike Misha, Tony considered the side markers and there are little slots in the bumper that the marker fits into
and the marker fits nicely.
The front air ducts are a bit squirrelly but a bit of sanding and care should take care of it.
Like any Techart style bumper, the front bumper support needs to be cut... a lot.
If you have headlight washers, you may need to trim a bit to get around them
The initial fit reveals the real problems
the top grill is pretty bad. The lines are off, and it doesn't follow the hood line well. Further, the grill is tight against the bumper in the corners, and gapped in the middle:
However, without much effort, the bumper goes on and the marks made from the mold where holes are to be drilled line up correctly, so there's not much guessing about hole placement. The fender lines look OK so I am removing the bumper for prep and paint which will start tomorrow. I will also play with the top grill to try and improve the lines.
01-03-2009, 01:26 AM
#3
Rennlist Member
Just curious, how many miles are on your car?
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01-03-2009, 10:27 AM
#8
Addict
Rennlist Member
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Chris,
Looks like a great addition. I am stuck with my cab at 66,000 mi also.
Ignore those who have (suggestions) when you are half way thru your project and did not ask for comments.
Keep posting pics !
Looks like a great addition. I am stuck with my cab at 66,000 mi also.
Ignore those who have (suggestions) when you are half way thru your project and did not ask for comments.
Keep posting pics !
01-03-2009, 10:46 AM
#9
01-03-2009, 11:22 AM
#10
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Chris,
That will look good when it is finished. I agree with you that a little time spent on fitting the upper vent will pay big dividends in the final apperance of the bumper cover.
That will look good when it is finished. I agree with you that a little time spent on fitting the upper vent will pay big dividends in the final apperance of the bumper cover.
01-03-2009, 01:39 PM
#12
Racer
Chris, If you post on this forum you are going to get opinions positive and negitive. That is the point. I see you are well into your project and i also can see how negative feedback is not reinforcing your decision. If you value the opinions of the people on this board you may want to post what you are planning on doing before you do it and see what kind of feedback you get. Otherwise just do what you like and don't worry about what others say. This board would be really boring and useless if everyone just had positive feedback.
Fissionx statement was not rude or inappropriate. He was just stating his opinion.
IMO the bumper looks a little over the top for a standard 996 unless you plan to follow it up with some additional aerodynamic mods such as side skirts and a wing.
Fissionx statement was not rude or inappropriate. He was just stating his opinion.
IMO the bumper looks a little over the top for a standard 996 unless you plan to follow it up with some additional aerodynamic mods such as side skirts and a wing.
01-03-2009, 02:13 PM
#13
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I like the bumper, but the grey colour doesn't really match the rest of the car.
J/K - Keep up the good work. Good decision to keep the P-car! I don't care what the market value is. It's still "worth" more than 16k!
J/K - Keep up the good work. Good decision to keep the P-car! I don't care what the market value is. It's still "worth" more than 16k!
01-03-2009, 09:39 PM
#14
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I think what you are describing is tourette's. Otherwise, we live in a society with manners, and spouting an unsolicited negative opinion is considered rude whether on a board or in person. If he has tourette's, all is forgiven.
01-03-2009, 10:34 PM
#15
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Thread Starter
Prep Day
In case you have ever wondered why a body shop runs the other way when you mention fiberglass, or why those fiberglass car club tuner bodies always look so bad, read on:
A fiberglass part is a lot of work to get looking right compared to a urethane part that comes out of the mold ready for primer. There are always high and low spots, pinholes, and waviness. In addition to hard work, some proper technique is necessary to get a good looking end project. If you're interested in doing even the prep yourself, perhaps this can serve as a primer on the subject. More than saving money, doing your own prep on fiberglass will insure that the job is done right and no shortcuts are taken. I spent about eight hours today doing prep, so it's no wonder most shops don't want to take on this sort of project.
First, the supplies:
A quart of body filler for fiberglass, polyester primer, 741 base coat, House of Kolor urethane clear, some filters, some sandpaper, a flex agent, a reducer and catalysts. Yes, a quart of base coat is $46.50. Total paint supply bill a bit over $200 and that's not including solvents and lots more sandpaper.
It's a bit of a bummer that Precision Porsche sprayed rattle can primer on the bumper. Under it is the gel coat which had a release agent. It's easy to remove a release agent with acetone, but with the primer, the only way to get it off is to sand which gums up the paper pretty quickly as the primer mixes with the release agent.
I am sanding dry with 220 grit by hand and a block.
The idea of a block (you will hear body shops talk about "blocking a car") is to get as large a flat surface as possible on the part to eliminate high and low spots and waves. On a bumper with a lot of compound curves, I am stuck with a 4" block. The technique is to set the block as flat as possible on the part and then sand trying to keep the block flat. This may mean the block is held vertical and the motion is horizontal, or vice versa. Lots of sanding on contoured parts is diagonal as well. I like to sand in at least two directions on each area of the part. By playing with it a little, it will become more obvious which orientation and direction will work on each area. The best way to tell is by touch.
A bit of filler is applied where there are low spots or pinholes, then the process is repeated followed by a light machine sand with 400 grit on an orbital connected to a HEPA vac.
During the work, some quality issues arise.
The splitters are attached with exterior drywall screws, although they are countersunk and the shop did a good job with alignment. These are removed for sanding.
Also removed for sanding are the lower lip and top grill which are attached with zinc coated self tapping screws. I will replace these with stainless sheet metal screws because the zinc will rust quickly.
Two hours later:
The surface is then blown off with compressed air and cleaned with acetone.
I am spraying with a 3 stage turbine and an Apollo HVLP 1quart cup gun. This turns out to be a mistake with polyester primer. The turbine does not have enough power to atomize the polyester. I forgot that last time I sprayed polyester I thinned with xylene. The end result is a lot of orange peel and a lot more work blocking the primer.
The polyester primer has great adhesion and build so any unseen low spots will be easy to block out after the primer cures.
And of course, that means more sanding. The weather is not my friend in So Cal today so the primer remains a bit tacky making sanding even tougher. I won't have time tomorrow, so I plug on and block the primer with wet 400 on a 4" block and then finish with 800 on an orbital.
Lot's of hours of prep and f#$% Techart for all the compound curves. The only way to sand them out is with fingers or some creative blocks. I chose the handle of a paintbrush with 220 wrapped around it, and fingers. This is a tough bumper to prep, but it's doable. The prep is an experienced DIY and if you take your time, the results will be better than most body shops.
The paint? Well, unless you are adventurous or have some experience, stop at the prep and hand it off to a body shop.
A fiberglass part is a lot of work to get looking right compared to a urethane part that comes out of the mold ready for primer. There are always high and low spots, pinholes, and waviness. In addition to hard work, some proper technique is necessary to get a good looking end project. If you're interested in doing even the prep yourself, perhaps this can serve as a primer on the subject. More than saving money, doing your own prep on fiberglass will insure that the job is done right and no shortcuts are taken. I spent about eight hours today doing prep, so it's no wonder most shops don't want to take on this sort of project.
First, the supplies:
A quart of body filler for fiberglass, polyester primer, 741 base coat, House of Kolor urethane clear, some filters, some sandpaper, a flex agent, a reducer and catalysts. Yes, a quart of base coat is $46.50. Total paint supply bill a bit over $200 and that's not including solvents and lots more sandpaper.
It's a bit of a bummer that Precision Porsche sprayed rattle can primer on the bumper. Under it is the gel coat which had a release agent. It's easy to remove a release agent with acetone, but with the primer, the only way to get it off is to sand which gums up the paper pretty quickly as the primer mixes with the release agent.
I am sanding dry with 220 grit by hand and a block.
The idea of a block (you will hear body shops talk about "blocking a car") is to get as large a flat surface as possible on the part to eliminate high and low spots and waves. On a bumper with a lot of compound curves, I am stuck with a 4" block. The technique is to set the block as flat as possible on the part and then sand trying to keep the block flat. This may mean the block is held vertical and the motion is horizontal, or vice versa. Lots of sanding on contoured parts is diagonal as well. I like to sand in at least two directions on each area of the part. By playing with it a little, it will become more obvious which orientation and direction will work on each area. The best way to tell is by touch.
A bit of filler is applied where there are low spots or pinholes, then the process is repeated followed by a light machine sand with 400 grit on an orbital connected to a HEPA vac.
During the work, some quality issues arise.
The splitters are attached with exterior drywall screws, although they are countersunk and the shop did a good job with alignment. These are removed for sanding.
Also removed for sanding are the lower lip and top grill which are attached with zinc coated self tapping screws. I will replace these with stainless sheet metal screws because the zinc will rust quickly.
Two hours later:
The surface is then blown off with compressed air and cleaned with acetone.
I am spraying with a 3 stage turbine and an Apollo HVLP 1quart cup gun. This turns out to be a mistake with polyester primer. The turbine does not have enough power to atomize the polyester. I forgot that last time I sprayed polyester I thinned with xylene. The end result is a lot of orange peel and a lot more work blocking the primer.
The polyester primer has great adhesion and build so any unseen low spots will be easy to block out after the primer cures.
And of course, that means more sanding. The weather is not my friend in So Cal today so the primer remains a bit tacky making sanding even tougher. I won't have time tomorrow, so I plug on and block the primer with wet 400 on a 4" block and then finish with 800 on an orbital.
Lot's of hours of prep and f#$% Techart for all the compound curves. The only way to sand them out is with fingers or some creative blocks. I chose the handle of a paintbrush with 220 wrapped around it, and fingers. This is a tough bumper to prep, but it's doable. The prep is an experienced DIY and if you take your time, the results will be better than most body shops.
The paint? Well, unless you are adventurous or have some experience, stop at the prep and hand it off to a body shop.