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I recently picked up our first 997 and it's a wrecked car from Copart. I asked my first question, recently, and seems there was interest in seeing photos and what's going on with it. Researching proved (at least to me) there's not to much on taking one of these beasts apart. The tub had no damage other than the mounts were the bumper support attaches to. I was able to buy the front piece and weld it in. Then the bumper support just bolted back on. Here's a few phots but out of order. I'll try and get them right next time. The bent piece, gone. The shinny new piece. Getting ready to weld....
Here's a few photos from copart and when it first arrived. Copart photo Another Copart photo showing their amazing camera skills. Looks good from the rear. from the front, not so....
The biggest pain in the dumper was the dash. After owning a few water pumpers, I was thinking the passenger airbag was separate from the dash. But, when the airbag blows, it destroys the dash. I could only find dash removal instructions for the 996. It was a good start but not the same. Finally, the place I got the new dash (not really new) informed me about all the screws and where they are. BTW - when the bag comes out, it comes out with so much force, it shatters the windshield. There's metal there that's hard to bend. They must use dynamite to deploy the airbag. I got it. I'm the winner!!!
The sport Chrono timer is pretty much useless. While it's out, look at replacing it with something else, like a multi-function oled gauge from PLX devices. Should fit perfectly, and you can do the wiring while it's all apart.
All the broken stuff. A few of these will be saved. The stubborn one. Didn't seem to be leaking but I replaced it.
The dash is already back together, so no chrono upgrade. At least for now. I picked this car because, we wanted a 997, cab and auto. I found this car when it came up and the damage looked mainly superficial and an easy fix. I've restore a bunch of early 911's and compared to those, this was a cake walk. Once you "learn" how it comes apart, it comes apart easy. I was intimidated by the dash but once I got started on it, and taking some time to find answers, it wasn't that bad. The only problem I had was removing the stereo unite. I read that you turn 4 cams, one in each corner, and it slides out. Well, if you turn the cam to far, it's locked again. There's a sweat spot that releases the holders.
One thing that's slowing me down is that i wanted a certain new front bumper cover. I always thought the Carreras had a kinda tame look. So, I always wanted a GT3. The companies I worked for in the past didn't want me to afford a GT3, so I thought a GT3 bumper would give it a more aggressive look. We found one a a good price but was off a race car. Well, I could adapt it, just takes time. Blinkers didn't fit the opening, no headlight washers, grills (nope), race cars crash so some repair work on top of that. Race cars have larger tow hooks and the spliter was an inch off on each side (center section). But, it's getting close.
Our new GT3 bumper Damage on top corner, missing areas. holes were air veins were. Glassing in some blinker mounts. Cut a piece from the original bumper to fill in. The shortage mocked in.... More glass work A missing corner harvested from the original bumper. Body work Washers mounts. Almost there....
The biggest pain in the dumper was the dash. After owning a few water pumpers, I was thinking the passenger airbag was separate from the dash. But, when the airbag blows, it destroys the dash. I could only find dash removal instructions for the 996. It was a good start but not the same. Finally, the place I got the new dash (not really new) informed me about all the screws and where they are. BTW - when the bag comes out, it comes out with so much force, it shatters the windshield.
I believe that Air Bag should be removed or re-engineered from cars. They present such a potential danger and are way too powerful. Not only do they cause damages to the car itself but also to the occupants of the vehicles.
Finally, they are the only reason why so many cars are totaled by insurance companies.
03-02-2019, 05:42 PM
997.2 Crunched Copart Build
