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What's the formula for getting to 3000 lbs? GT2 interior + doors?
The carbon fiber doors save ~44.2 lbs total
My car weighs 3007 lbs now (corner balance worksheet below). Weight savings mods are - GT2 steering wheel (no airbag), 996 Recaro race seats/Brey Krause Side mounts/Factory sliders, dundon race exhaust, manthey carbon doors. My car also has schroths/factory sub bar and the BBi streetcup roll bar (~30 lbs). No fire extinguisher yet.
Still has stock wheels, stock rear rotors, ATE cayanne front rotors, stock pads, air conditioning, full stock interior, stock battery, sport cup 2 tires. The doors had a noticeable improvement in handling; as they effectively increased the car's roll stiffness. Did 2:31.0 professionally driven at COTA last weekend. Stock engine, stock gearing, GKN 993 diff rebuilt with guard washers/clutches and stock 25/40 ramps, stock suspension + tarrett adjustable sway bar end links. (sorry for shameless plug, but I'm super pumped after working on my car for 3 years!)
The carbon fiber doors save ~44.2 lbs total
My car weighs 3007 lbs now (corner balance worksheet below). Weight savings mods are - GT2 steering wheel (no airbag), 996 Recaro race seats/Brey Krause Side mounts/Factory sliders, dundon race exhaust, manthey carbon doors. My car also has schroths/factory sub bar and the BBi streetcup roll bar (~30 lbs). No fire extinguisher yet.
Still has stock wheels, stock rear rotors, ATE cayanne front rotors, stock pads, air conditioning, full stock interior, stock battery, sport cup 2 tires. The doors had a noticeable improvement in handling; as they effectively increased the car's roll stiffness. Did 2:31.0 professionally driven at COTA last weekend. Stock engine, stock gearing, stock suspension + tarrett adjustable sway bar end links. (sorry for shameless plug, but I'm super pumped after working on my car for 3 years!)
I added more pictures to the original post. There was no rhyme or reason to installing my weight reduction parts. My goal was to basically "clubsport out" my car in a tasteful way. Keeping the air conditioning though because Texas. I'm an advocate of doing one mod at once so you:
A) Dont spend too much money at once
B) Dont get bored with the car
C) Fully understand the effect of each mod individually.
Building a car is a journey, not a destination.
I still need to wrap the doors. I couldn't get it all done before the DE (edge addicts).
The seats were my first mod because they look proper. Also, I wanted to preserve the condition of the stock seats. The stock seats are also insufficient for the track.
I did the exhaust in year 2 because I wanted the car to sound like the racecar that it was. Stock exhaust bothered me.
The steering wheel came next because I met a guy with a 993 RS with that steering wheel and fell in love.
The doors came on a whim. I wanted them for awhile and when they came up for sale I figured life is short and I scooped them up.
I would like to do a small battery, but I'm not sure it will work in my application. I like to cruise hill country roads, attend car shows, get coffee, and take girls out in my car. I need to maintain stock reliability.
I would love to do AP racing J hooks and BBS E88s next. Unfortunately, thats another ~$8k, so maybe later after I pay some bills.
I like to look at everything as a learning experience. I'm enjoying the learning experience involved with ownership of this car. I paid a shop to align the car and replace the fuel pump, but otherwise I've done the other work myself.
I feel like you need to do the work yourself to afford the nice parts for the car (and DE entry fees/tires!). I'm lucky enough to have work experience as a test engineer for diesel powered heavy equipment. I learned the basics of wrenching from that, but never worked on sportscars previously.
I have a questions in the lithium ion battery post just created. I think it would be a nice mod and could bring the car to 2XXX lbs. But it needs it to be reliable as stock. I have a cheap interstate lead acid battery and it hasn't let me down. I cant sacrifice reliability for weight.
I'm trying to go slow and learn as much as possible (with help from the service manual, parts book, and people like powdrhound, audion19s, and gofishracing).
I'm probably going to keep the car forever, so may as well enjoy the ride.
Last edited by Anthony Lovero; 03-21-2019 at 01:49 AM.
Great stuff! Finally! I have been on the edge with these ones many times...And your car is on a totally different level that this mod has really been the next important thing to do!
A major question is the weight savings mentioned. Sound too good to be true. You tell stock door is 55 lbs (25 kg), while two other independent sources refer to considerable smaller figures: Techart sells these same 996 carbon doors and they tell the stock doors weight 37lbs (16.8 kg) each, and a friend of mine changed to these doors and weighted his stock doors at 33lbs (15.4kg) each.
Due to these references, changing the stock doors to carbon doors and leaving all door related interior components in place would save just roughly 20kg (44lbs) (assuming the CF doors are 14lbs/6kg a piece) based on those two references, and while impressive savings that's why I have not been sure whether to do it. But now you speak about 80lbs savings (36kg) which is a lot greater amount, it's an amount that according to my understanding and the above reference weights would require cup doors without interior components, and even Manthey themselves refer in their 996 brochure to ~40kg (88 lbs) weight savings only with their competition 996 doors requiring full cage and all interior components out..
As an extra reference, friends have changed their 997 ALU doors to similar 6kg a piece CF doors and have saved in total 10kg of weight (22lbs). So once again compared to heavier 996 STEEL doors you save approx 20kg (44lbs) but surely not 80lbs when keeping other door interior components.
So, please double check your actual weight saving. Thanks and keep up the great work with the greatest 996!
why downgrade from the factory 996 diff with 40/60 ramps? We got the best diff ramps of anyone just need to add guard plates and you're good to go.
I was fleeced when I purchased the car. The car came with paperwork for a Guard GT2 differential. I purchased the car from a dealer in Ohio (Medina Auto Group) who purchased the car from a shop in Florida (Guy Covington - RennHaus in Sarasota). I was told by Art at Medina Auto Group that the car had a Guard differential and that the condition of the car was "confirmed by RennHaus ."
However, after buying the car I noticed the differential to be very loose. When I took the LSD out and sent pictures to Matt Monson at Guard, he notified me that someone took out the Guard diff from my car and installed an LSD from a 3.2 Carerra. And it was insufficient for my car. Matt was out of stock of his "DE" differentials at that time, but he forwarded me to someone (Efrenporsche) who was selling a differential. I bought the differential, and even though Matt no longer rebuilds diffs himself, he offered to set it up for me because he felt bad I got screwed.
I spoke with Matt about putting different ramps in (he said that the COTA setup is actually 50/80 - $1200 for new ramps), but he recommended that I just leave the 25/40 ramps alone. He said that is what he would do if it was his car.
So I have a rebuilt GKN differential because thats what I could get my hands on in time and on budget. Its the same diff that would have come in a 996.1 GT3 if I understand correctly.
Matt Monson from Guard is a great guy. I'm just a lowly "gentleman DE racer," but he would always answer the phone/emails and was very patient with me as I asked him a bunch of questions. He will definitely get future business from me.
Just for kicks - here is the old rennlist link for when my car sold last. I think this "Guy Covington" guy from RennHaus is the previous owner:
12-05-2018, 06:08 PM
