XavierLaFlamme

I bought the Speed Yellow one year and two months ago from a guy in Austin, TX. I just rolled 81k miles. I have put 10,000 miles on it. A couple more East Coast and Wisconsin/Nebraska trips and I should be at 84k miles by the beginning of Winter when my car will hibernate for 4 months.


My first drive was memorable. I drove it home through hail, lightning and heavy rain. Fortunately no hail damage.

What a mega haul in one 24 hour period to Chicago by way of Lincoln, Nebraska. I left Austin at 3 PM and got into Lincoln at 4 am, slept a little and then hightailed it another 8 hours to Chi.

It has been a good year! I love this contraption!

Issues:

No Start

One no start morning. I messed around with it. No dice. Couldn't figure it out. I took it to a friend's shop. He couldn't figure it out. Off to another shop. Same.
Then they went out the next morning it started right up. I did find out from the second shop that the coilpacks looked original and were cracking.

I ordered new coilpacks and plugs, put the car up on stands and changed them all. Kind of fun once I took both cans off.

Rubber bushings/engine mounts

All were dry rotted and the engine mounts were leaking. I paid a shop around here(Olson Motorsports) to do it. Holy mother of God was that expensive. I will make a thread for that soon listing what I replaced.

The improvement in the handling of the car is night and day. Gear shifts are smooth especially 1 to 2 and 3 to 2.

Best suspension fix I have done to any car ever. Now new coilovers are not needed. The shop dynoed my old KWs and the readings were within spec.

Broken Door Lock Mechanism and Window Regulator

Not fun figuring this one out but I did eventually. I removed everything from the door. I spent $450 total on parts. Door Lock/Alarm mechanism, window regulator, zip tie mod just for good measure as the regulator was used and the door handle wiring harness. Did it myself.

Non-Operating Radiator Fan

Water temp higher than normal. Well past 180 mark on gauge. Blown fuse. Here is where I discovered the fact that my GT3 has one fan located on the passenger side. Manual confirmed that the center radiator makes the second fan redundant.

I tested the fan after replacing the fuse and it has been working well since the issue happened 3 months ago.
I cleaned the debris from the radiators.

My water temp gauge goes to the center of the Zero in 180 now and no farther even on hot humid days. My next move will be to install a second fan myself on the driver's side for a little extra cooling. All the wiring is there.

Oil Pressure Sender

It was giving screwy readings so I put a new one in. Now the readings are more or less normal and not alarming and terrifying. Very easy to do.

Driver's side turn signal

Bulb burned out. Easy peasy.

Binding rear E brake cable. Shop lubed it up when they did all the bushings, control arms, etc.

Pop Clips

Started replacing all the broken and missing clips. More to go.

Replaced front tub carpet liner and seals.

Improvements:

Deleted the tint. Awful job taking it out but I am glad I did it.

Removed the Porsche Tequipment roll bar. I don't track the car and it made storing and carrying stuff in the back a PITA.

Bought a Turbo collapsible spare tire for peace of mind on road trips.

Maintenance I did at home:

Oil/Filter/Replaced both drain plugs

Coilpacks/Plugs/Heat Shields/Hardware

Gear Oil

This is the 4th Porsche I have owned and by far and away the best. Fantastic car. Wicked fun to drive hard. So rewarding.

changster123

Nice write up. Great you have Olsen near you as they are fantastic from what everyone says. Their knowledge of suspension is top notch as well.

I completely agree on the kinematics and mounts replacement as well. Expensive as fu** but makes such a huge difference.

Malloy

Awesome post! Can you possible share more info on this? My front end is floaty and I'm sure it's bushing/arm time. Thanks!

XavierLaFlamme

I will work on that post today. Stay tuned.

XavierLaFlamme

I found the invoice for control arms and bushings.

What is missing from this list is two new engine mounts. The two which are left and right in the bay.

Here you go:

pirahna

Do you still have the Cayman R or did you end up selling it after buying the GT3?

XavierLaFlamme

I have a 2011 S. It has been relegated to my mother in laws garage for the time being.

I am in the process of upgrading it. JRZ coils, lots of new rubber, respray, etc. It will be fun when I am done.

And yes, the R went to fund all this. Wish I still had it. It pains me seeing them now.

But I have the 996 GT3 so I am not sad!

Malloy

This is awesome, thanks!

spiller

Was that price on the front control arms for the entire assembly (inner and outer)? Genuine Porsche? Seems really cheap!!

XavierLaFlamme

My car is over at my rented space so I can't climb under and check.

Let me check with Olson. I didn't specify and I should have. I forgot to ask in the moment.

XavierLaFlamme

I did not include labor and 10% tax.

They are a combination of Porsche and Mahle parts.