6ta1

Hi,

I can't seem to sleep tonight so I finally decided to post about my car.

Part of the reason I do it is for me to remember what I have done, and part is that maybe some of the info can be helpful for other.

My car is a 2004 996 40th Anniversary, #251

It is the one triode used to own:
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...g-hi-long.html

I am the 4th owner:
- 1st owner got most of the expensive mods done and kept the car about a year
- triode bought it as a CPO in July 2005
- I am assuming triode traded it in when he got his GT3, then previous owner (a doctor) bought it and brought it from Florida to Dallas, TX
- I bought the car last year in July 2012 after falling in love with it.

Since I have owned the car, I have been doing subtle (at least trying to keep it subtle) modifications to the car, most of them targeting weight reduction.

I also want to keep the car looking like it could have come like this from the factory, kind of a "special edition" where Porsche would have told a group of engineers to build the best street 911 they could. "Street" is important because I am trying to avoid the car becoming a pale copy of a GT3. So no big wing in the plans, and I am keeping a full interior with almost all comfort features.

I am also very demanding in terms of handling: weight distribution, brake bias, grip balance and so on.

Here is a list of the modifications done to the car. Note that for weight reduction I weighted everything myself and it matches what has been posted by others before. I am rounding to the nearest 1/2 pound for simplification

FRONT WEIGHT REDUCTION
CD changer ---------------------- 5 lb.
spare wheel and tools --------- 31 lb.
Owner manual ------------------- 3 lb.
center console delete ----------- 3 lb.
custom lower center console --- 1 lb. (from 6.7 to 5.8, inc. custom ashtray delete)
lightweight AGM battery ------- 33 lb. (from 54.4 to 21.5)
battery tray delete --------------- 2 lb.
front plastic covers -------------- 4 lb. (inc. cabin filter delete)
bose amp delete ---------------- TBC
Total front weight reduction = 82 lb.

REAR WEIGHT REDUCTION
rear wiper delete ---------------- 4 lb.
rear seat delete -------------- 22.5 lb.
rear bumper bar delete -------- 19 lb.
rear bumperette delete -------- TBC
subwoofer delete -------------- 14 lb.
rear seat belt delete ---------- 5.5 lb.
rear fender insulation delete - 4.5 lb.
rear speaker delete ------------- 3 lb.
exhaust tip delete ------------- 4.5 lb.
custom engine hatch ---------- 5.5 lb. (from 25.9 to 20.3, inc. purge fan delete)
Cat heat shield delete -------- TBC
Total rear weight reduction = 82.5 lb.

TOTAL WEIGHT REDUCTION = 164.5 lb.

As you can see the balance of the car has not been altered so far, even though I would have preferred to remove more weight from the back.

OTHER PERFORMANCE MODIFICATIONS
19x? front + 19x11 rear Champion RG5 (235/35 and 295/30)
Front Brembo brake upgrade: 8 pistons/380mm
Rear 996 Turbo brake upgrade: 330mm
RBF600 brake fluid
H&R lowering springs
Torque Solutions semi-solid engine mounts
Torque Solutions stainless steel clutch line
"home depot" clutch spring mod
997 shifter (15% reduction vs. 996)
Custom helmholtz intake resonator delete
Tarett engineering underdrive pulley

ON GOING MODIFICATIONS
Lightweight head unit (~1.5 lb. savings)
Dashboard speaker delete
Replace door speaker boxes
Side Airbags delete
Passenger Airbag delete
SAI delete + ROW DME maps

PLANNED MODIFICATIONS
Front brakes "downgrade" to 6 pistons and 350mm
Rear tires "downgrade" to 275/30/19
Lightweight exhaust
Manual seat brackets
HomeLink mod
Alcantara sunvisors
Sunroof delete (maybe... one day)
Electro-hydraulic power steering pump conversion

Hardback

Have you corner balanced the car yet? curious to see the overall weight you've achieved. I've removed about half of the items you did. But, as my daily I want to keep stereo, airbags and definitely the rear bumper bar. If you swap stock seats to the GT3 buckets you can lose another 50+ lbs alone. Any plans to track the car?

Ubermensch

What battery did you go with and has it been effective for daily use?

-shawn

mas05

Subscribed! More pics would be nice!

Capt. Obvious

That is a damn fine looking narrow body.

PelicanParts.com

That is a very thorough list! Curious how the car drives/handles now when compared to delivery July '12?

6ta1

can't really corner balance the car since I do not have a coil-over suspension but I plan on getting the car weighed next time I get an alignment.

I know... but a) $$$ and b) the GT3 seats are borderline for the "spirit" I am trying to achieve

yes, definitely plan to find time to track the car and get some lessons to learn to drive it better.
I will probably need to change the brakes before that. Not sure what the original owner was thinking but with 8 pistons/380mm fronts and 4 pistons/330mm rears the bias is way off. Car stops very well in straight line but anything involving trail braking gets frustrating

I have a Deka ETX30L which is the pretty much the same as the Braille 3121 (?), just without the pricing premium and added weight of the carbon fiber cover the braille has (stupid, no?)
I have had it in the car for >6mos now with no issue, and the car has stayed 2wks without running and still started without any problems.
I have some "supporting mods" with LED lighting (all interior + side markers + running lights), simplified stereo and purge fan delete that help a little bit making sure that I limit the draw as much as possible.
It also makes sense to have a smaller battery coordinated with the underdrive pulley so that I do not burn the alternator

more pics coming, I will try to give some insights on some of the custom mods done

I would say the first 100 lb. have been done in a matter of a few days about 2 months after I got the car.
Definitely felt a slight difference, car being more lively. After it's more been removing 5 lb. at a time so hard to tell. But if you think about it, I am now at the weight of a small passenger. Anyone who's driven hard with and without a passenger knows that there is a noticeable difference.

The airbox resonator delete gave the car a very sexy sound at full throttle but probably no perf improvement. Then the underdrive pulley was actually fairly noticeable with the engine "freer" in the mid-range. Calculations would tend to say that this is something like ~5hp. You take 20-25hp to run accessories, on which you have now reduced the drag by 20%. Obviously it's not that straight forward as the hp loss is probably not linear with the accessories belt speed, but somewhere in that range

6ta1

For the engine hatch, the starting point was to remove the engine purge fan.
To allow the engine heat to exit the engine bay freely, I cut some additional holes in the engine cover.

I also removed the decorative plate under the engine cover and removed the "accordion" under the wing

here is a pic as I was priming and color matching the bottom of the hatch. none of this is visible from the outside

6ta1

Now... this is the stupidest thing ever as it was probably 4hrs of work and gave me only 1 lb., but I have a custom lower center console (on top of GT3 center console delete)

It's made by cutting plastic away, here again none of this is visible after all is put back together



also the armrest is double sided... well not mine any more. This pic was before finishing it, you wouldn't be able to tell it's been modified now (plus you're really not able to see it!)

6ta1

And here is a view of the custom ashtray delete (window switches are moved to the dashboard instead of the blanks)

white out

great numbers!

I ran a Deka small battery in my Viper for a while (was too small to try and turn the 8.0 if any accessories were on); but it's definitely a better value than any other lightweight battery and is the same as Braille.

When I deleted the bumperettes, I filled the holes with some sheets of carbon fiber. If you're not going to fill the holes at a body shop, it might be worth the effort for you. Pictures are before a wash:



Do you have any pictures of the accordion delete?

alpine003

Seems like it all adds up to a good amount.

I'm sure your Champion RG5 helps quite a bit as well. I have the same and IIRC, tire and wheel combo came in around 37lbs.

BTW, what's with wanting alcantara sun visors? I don't really understand that one.

I like your idea of relocating the window switches. Eversince I got rid of my comfort seats for non-heated sports seats, I still have the seat heater switches in the batwing. I might just swap those out and relocate the window switches there.

knfeparty

The gt3 seats are absolutely street able unless you're a bigger person. I understand the cost though. Definitely at least 20-30lbs per seat. Also, muffler bypass? That is another 60-70 pounds. I love the sound on the track and deal with it on the street based solely upon the weight loss, which unlike most of what you've done, is legal for my auto cross class.

I weighed mine at an event once, it was 3159 or something like that. That was with muffler bypass but stock seats and about half a tank of gas.

MiamiC70

The other 1962's resale value just went up.

J/k really cool jove to see the finished product.
My car can lose some weight to most of it coming from me

6ta1

yeah, probably not helping my resale value... oh well, at least I enjoy her more like this.

Some additional pictures of the wing and hatch:

Notice the 50cts wiper plug


this is the angle I like best - it looks very clean like the newer models


slightly more awkward angle, I have to admit


from the inside