Looking into a 996 GT3
02-23-2018, 03:07 PM
#16
@S14Pwr: First of all, great handle! I have an '03 E39 M5 that I absolutely LOVE.
If you need a PPI on the 996 GT3, my company manages a network of Porsche techs who would travel out to a car for a full PPI. Let me know if we can help. Thanks!
If you need a PPI on the 996 GT3, my company manages a network of Porsche techs who would travel out to a car for a full PPI. Let me know if we can help. Thanks!
02-23-2018, 05:42 PM
#18
Platinum Dealership
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I am new to Porsches all together but I have owned my fair share of E30 M3's and now I'm looking to make the move into the Porsche world. I am looking at a 2004 Porsche 996 GT3 in Houston Texas (Link attatched). What are the common issues with these vehicles and what should I look for or request from the dealer?
https://www.porschenorthhouston.com/...AC299X4S692903
https://www.porschenorthhouston.com/...AC299X4S692903
John
02-24-2018, 12:45 PM
#19
Rennlist Member
Replace PCCB rotors?
Note, you must replace the rear rotors like for like. The PCCBs are 350 mm, stock GT3 iron rotors are 330mm: They will not work in the Yellow calipers, you'll need 350mm. Don't ask me how I learned this
02-25-2018, 10:54 AM
#21
I went out to the dealer over the weekend to check out a different car with my buddy. I asked about the red GT3 and was told there was a deposit down on it. I walked the car (but couldn’t get into it) and made some notes. It seems to be in decent shape. The front bumper was pretty rough, but it could’ve been the clear bra. The inside was in good shape for the mileage, although it looks like they put back in sport seats. This looked weird to me as there was a (non-factory) roll-bar with shoulder harnesses, but there didn’t appear to be any front harnesses, and no sub-pass through.
Car has cruise control. Good for a daily driver. Also has center console delete. Through the windows, the interior looked good. Center console wasn’t marred up and seats seemed fine. But, this could be a vestige of the dealer “detail” on the car.
There was dried crystal stuff under the car, which looked to me like old dry coolant. So, the car may have had a coolant pipe or fitting come loose. But, like I mentioned, I couldn’t get into the engine compartment to check. There weren’t any shiny parts that I could see (shiny things could be an indication of repairs or upgrades recently). Some of the suspension parts were previously upgraded at some point (like the rear control arms or toe links), but they were well used by this point.
Like many 996 GT3 cars, there was some evidence of oil seepage on the bottom of the engine. Exhaust appeared OEM. Wheels appeared OEM, with Sumitomos on them. Alignment didn’t look aggressive track to me.
Brakes are PCCB and looked to have life left in the pads, but I had no idea how to check the rotors other than to look at them and say, “yep, rotor.”
Car actually had very little evidence of the track time. Front fenders weren’t rolled much. Fender liners were all in great shape and the little plastic plug connectors were all there. No rubbing evidence I could see. Also, no tire rubber slag anywhere. Nothing in the wheel wells, none I could see in the radiators or the front bumper side (garbage collector) pods. This didn’t jive with the harnesses, but who knows.
Overall, the car looked well maintained based on the exterior walk. I took a few pics, if interested let me know.
-td
Car has cruise control. Good for a daily driver. Also has center console delete. Through the windows, the interior looked good. Center console wasn’t marred up and seats seemed fine. But, this could be a vestige of the dealer “detail” on the car.
There was dried crystal stuff under the car, which looked to me like old dry coolant. So, the car may have had a coolant pipe or fitting come loose. But, like I mentioned, I couldn’t get into the engine compartment to check. There weren’t any shiny parts that I could see (shiny things could be an indication of repairs or upgrades recently). Some of the suspension parts were previously upgraded at some point (like the rear control arms or toe links), but they were well used by this point.
Like many 996 GT3 cars, there was some evidence of oil seepage on the bottom of the engine. Exhaust appeared OEM. Wheels appeared OEM, with Sumitomos on them. Alignment didn’t look aggressive track to me.
Brakes are PCCB and looked to have life left in the pads, but I had no idea how to check the rotors other than to look at them and say, “yep, rotor.”
Car actually had very little evidence of the track time. Front fenders weren’t rolled much. Fender liners were all in great shape and the little plastic plug connectors were all there. No rubbing evidence I could see. Also, no tire rubber slag anywhere. Nothing in the wheel wells, none I could see in the radiators or the front bumper side (garbage collector) pods. This didn’t jive with the harnesses, but who knows.
Overall, the car looked well maintained based on the exterior walk. I took a few pics, if interested let me know.
-td
02-25-2018, 01:18 PM
#22
Rennlist Member
Coolant pipes
The cost to do the pipes is about what it costs to do the IMS on the 996 and Boxster. Should Porsche have paid for the repairs? I'd like to think so, but why should they in a strictly business sense. They can sell the cars they make as fast as they can get them through the assembly line. What is their incentive? Porsche did have a engine replacement program for greater named 996 motors a while back, that is long gone.
As a side note, when my welder barely put a torch over the coolant pipes, wanting to get them out of the engine to be replaced by the BBI upgrade, one of them nearly fell out. Its was in imminent failure mode. And noting that this car had not seen the track or super hot weather, and is a low mileage car, about 10,500 at the time, January of this year, 2018.
Considering that a good clean low mileage GT3 with no stories, DME or otherwise, sells for north of $70,000, investing $3,000 to protect your "investment" makes a lot of sense. It will also facilitate the sale, when in the future, it is time to sell the car. Would you buy a 996 lacking an IMS upgrade? Then why buy a 6GT3 with cooling pipes held into the block with 2004 glue, glue not up to today's standards for adhesives. And don't think you can just use super glue to tack in the pipes while the engine is on the car, the engine has too come out to provide access to the pipes.
02-25-2018, 10:10 PM
#23
Glad you fixed them. Safety first. They all will fail. Street or track. Porsche & NHTSA didn't think critical enough. We've all come to live with that. Really sucks - but they are great cars.