Did a pile of chores on the GT3 this weekend.

1) Changed out engine mounts for Rennline solid. This was an easy swap. Lift the engine slightly, take 3 nuts off. Insert Rennline parts. Dab of Loctite blue. Torque new nuts. Repeat on the other side. Took less than an hour.



2) Replaced OEM transmission mount with a new one. My old one was well past its useful life. The middle was completely disintegrated. Took almost 2 hours because of the precarious location of the middle bolts. Take off the bottom panels. Remove a few bolts from the black carrier. Then, get a jack positioned to lift/lower the tranny. I used my car jack + a bottle jack because you need to raise/lower a little at during the process. I really hated removing the bolts in the middle. Took quite a while for me to ratchet them out. Fiddled with the old mount and got it out. Put in the new mount. Put the middle bolts back in with some Loctite blue. I messed up and forgot to put in the Function First inserts. And after it was installed, I wasn't doing it again! Maybe in a month or two.
3) Oil Change. Well, this part sucked. Mostly because the waterfall of oil spewed all over the floor. When you hear the oil is going to gush out - it really gushes! And, if you are unlucky like me, the oil will catch a groove in the catch bucket and shoot everywhere. I knew it was gonna sploosh - but next time, I'm going to use a better system for catching. Hot oil everywhere. Yum.
Good news is the garage floor is sealed. So, a little kitty litter, a broom, then some soapy water and elbow grease, and all was well.

4) Brake flush. Simple process with Speedbleeders and Motiv. Easy peasy. A buddy stopped by and made it even easier.

5) Transmission fluid change. Took a lot of time, mostly watching fluid go into the tranny. The first chore was getting the fill plug removed. There's not enough room to get a socket + ratchet in there. And not enough leverage for a regular hex wrench. So I took a 10MM hex socket and put box wrench over it. Then put the hex into the plug and used 1/2 a jack handle as leverage to break it free. After it breaks loose, you can pull it by hand. Then remove the drain plug and wait until the drips are slow.

My shining moment was when my crafted transmission fluid pump worked. I took a pressurized pesticide sprayer and some 3/8 tubing, added a ball valve and the thing was pure gold. Put a gallon of Devlac in the bucket, pump it up and watch the fluid go into the tranny. My buddy was recounting his experience using a 1 oz hand pump and it taking forever. This thing only needed a few extra pumps to keep the pressure up. It did take ~1/2 hour for it to fill, mostly because it's a low pressure system. But waiting 30 minutes vs pumping 1 oz at a time for 30 minutes...
Overall, not a bad weekend's work. And it put a big dent in offsetting the price of the lift. Add on the 997 oil change I did last month, and I'd say I'm 1/2 way there already.


-td

 

Great details and photos! Nicely done. I really need a bigger garage so I can get a lift....

 

Nice garage! A lot of people replace that tranny bolt so you can use a box wrench on it. You can also use https://www.otctools.com/products/suction-oil-gun to push ~16 oz at a time. It's messy but it works.

The trans mounts are a tough one.. I wouldn't want to do that one again anytime soon.

 

Nice work, looks like a great set up you have there. thoughts on the rennline engine mounts so far?

 

Looking for an honest opinion on the solid engine mounts. Thinking about these or doing the 6Cup mounts and carrier. I assume you had factory mounts prior to these? The engine is supposed to hand 1/4" lower with the Rennlines. Is that what you observed?

I change gearbox fluid every 8 track days. I use a cheap harbor freight fluid pump which I screw onto a 1 gallon jug. Takes about 3-5 min to pump in a full gallon. I would also suggest using an aluminum or copper crush washer under the fill plug like on the drain plug. This makes breaking the plug very easy compared to one without the plug. For some bizarre reason Porsche does not put one here and even though torque is only about 20 ft.lbs it feels like it requires a 100 to break it free when there's no washer.

 

I have a track weekend coming up. Will report on the solid mounts when driven in anger.

I drove the gt3 to work today and honestly - there was no noticeable difference with the solid mounts. Granted - the car is pretty noisy already. I couldn't notice any drop in the exhaust. Heck, I probably wouldn't be able to discern a 1/4" without measuring it.

On an upside - shifting with the new parts is way better. Probably a combo of them both.

As for the fill plug, good comment on a new crush washer. Mine did have a one and I put a new one on. I bought a pile for the other cars and had a number of extras for this project.

-td

 

Well done! Love your garage. These cars are relatively easy to work on, which adds to the overall experience. So rewarding to get through a project and feel the difference both in the car and your wallet I did all this work a few months back including coils and plugs etc. Big job but well worth it.

Quick question, I didn't do the trans mounts. Did you consider other choices like Cantrell's? Why did you finally land on the FF units? How much track work do you do? TIA and again, Great Job!

 

[QUOTE=himself;13168771]I have a track weekend coming up. Will report on the solid mounts when driven in anger.

I drove the gt3 to work today and honestly - there was no noticeable difference with the solid mounts. Granted - the car is pretty noisy already. I couldn't notice any drop in the exhaust. Heck, I probably wouldn't be able to discern a 1/4" without measuring it.

On an upside - shifting with the new parts is way better. Probably a combo of them both.

As for the fill plug, good comment on a new crush washer. Mine did have a one and I put a new one on. I bought a pile for the other cars and had a number of extras for this project.



Nice write up!!!

Yep, Shifting. That was the major difference that I perceived when I went to semi-solid engine/tranny mounts. It really helped with shifting the car on track under lateral load. It did gain a tiny bit of vibration at high RPM and maybe a bit more sound transferred into the car. But as you mentioned the car is pretty loud inside already. IMO it just added to the symphony.....

 

The solid mount made a difference for me on track.
The real end feels more planted and you feel more in control when it gets into a slide.

 

Great work.

Hope to see you at MSRH this weekend.

 

Great write-up, especially the details about the fluid pump; I've had a cheap pump for a few years, similar to the OTC quoted above, and it now leaks so much that, by the time I'm done, my arms are soaked.

I have just removed a complete 996 cup engine and transmission mount system from my car as it is going back to street duty. It will be for sale, but I haven't had time to look up prices to advertise. (Red blade, triangular mounts, trans mount, all hardware)

 

Wish I had a lift. Great right up - yes- gotta check out the fluid pump. Which one ?- I can't find the match

 

hex head bolts shown here.
They are a 3.2 carrera air box item, might also be from a 928 coolant system

porsche P/N 90012402001