posternutbag2000

I recently completed a life-long quest to join the Porsche family with the purchase of a 2006 Carrera S Cab (silver on black leather) which I'll pick up in AZ next Friday and spend the next few days driving back to its new home in Sonoma, CA. To say I'm excited for Friday to get here would be a massive understatement. Much thanks to this forum and all its members for allowing me to make an informed purchase after many months of research and deliberations.

As a primer, the car has the larger/dual row IMS bearings has been fairly well taken care of. It has ~56k miles and I'm getting the 40-60k service stuff performed (engine belt, spark plus, transmission fluid, etc.) prior to pick up (Thanks Patrick Motorsports!).

So my questions/issues...
A prior owner had the Fabspeed 997 Sport Cat X-Pipe installed and they dont have the PSE exhaust. It doesnt look like it will pass CA smog/inspection according to my online reading. What are my options? Is it typically easy to find someone selling the original exhaust? Seems fairly easy to have a mechanic swap it out, correct? Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Any recommendations for a reputable Indy Porsche mechanic in the greater Sonoma/Napa area?

Since this is my first Porsche and it will be a weekend driver, other than regular 5k oil changes with recommended oil brands, what else would you recommend service-wise and also as far as easy mods to the car?

Thanks in advance for any help...
scott

Ironman88

Perhaps John with Fabspeed will reach out with an experienced-based reply concerning the questions about the ability of that system to pass California emissions requirements...
If he doesn't, you can PM him via this link...

https://rennlist.com/forums/members/...otorsport.html

Concerning the maintenance of your new car - do you know if it is still on its original water pump? If so, you may want to do a pre-emptive replacement of it...

groovzilla

Welcome. Look forward to seeing photos of your new car. Looks like you got yourself the best color combo
Is your car manual transmission? Did you get a Bore Scope Inspection when you had the Pre-Purchase inspection perfoemed?

I wasn't aware the Fabspeed 997 Sport Cat X-Pipe prevented the passing of strict California Emissions. Someone more familiar will answer your question.

As far as maintenance, I would suggest replacing the water pump and thermostat if they haven't already been done. Coils generally start throwing codes about 60-70k miles so good idea to replace them when you do the plugs.
**I would also suggest the optional wind deflector if your car does not have one. They work very well and a must for long highway drives with top down. So much more comfortable and quiet and top can be raised/lowered with the deflector in place. Also very easy to remove and fold and store in front trunk.

.

posternutbag2000

Thanks for info...I'll have a call with the mechanic on Monday about the water pump. They are replacing the coils this week when they do the plugs. Not sure about the thermostat.

I'll reach out to John at Fabspeed to see if what I've read is correct about CA emissions issues but I'm pretty certain they are not C.A.R.B certified and will therefore not pass. May have to start looking for a PSE set to swap in. Any California 997 owners with aftermarket exhaust?

The car is a manual as I was not interested in a tiptronic transmission. I did not get the cylinders scoped based on discussions with the mechanic. Hopefully something I don't regret but he didnt believe I had any worrisome signs and its been primarily a warm weather car for most of its life.

I do have the wind deflector and glad to hear it helps...

Cant wait for my first drive!

I'll post some pics once its in my possession...

PV997

The X-pipe is okay but by regulation the sport cats won't pass the visual inspection part of the smog test in CA. You aren't allowed to change anything that potentially affects emissions unless the aftermarket replacement part has been issued an EO approval number by the CA Air Resources Board. Check with Fabspeed but I'm virtually certain their cats don't have CARB approval. Since the X-pipe doesn't affect emissions it's fine (though it may exceed noise limits but the smog guy doesn't care about that).

So you really only have three options:
.

• Take it for the check and hope the tech doesn't notice the aftermarket cats (possible but the Fabspeed doesn't look like the OE parts so it's pretty obvious)
• Put the factory parts back on for smog (this is what I do and I've gotten really good at it)
• Find a bent smog guy (can't help you here)

Let us know how it goes. I'm in CA and have been dealing with this for years.

Edit: Forgot to mention congrats on the purchase! I had the exact same car (06 C2S silver/black Cab) that I loved until I finally sold it with 92k miles. Got a black 997.2 Turbo Cab now that I love just as much (maybe a little more). Having a Cab in California really is a blast.

Petza914

Congrats on the new car. FYI, your 06 has the larger, single row IMS bearing - the double row bearing was only in the early 996 cars and a smaller diameter. In production order it was small double row, small single row, then large single row. No worries with the bearing that's in your car.

From reading posts here, can has 3 components to the inspection process as it pertains to exhausts. First is a visual inspection which bright stainless pieces aren't going to pass, then there's a noise test with some decibel rating at a certain Ron measured at a set distance behind the car (you may or may not pass this one), and then there's the emissions output test and you should be able to pass this one no issue.

If you were going to try to sneak this through, yiu might need to remove the exhaust and have it powdercoated a flat grey. Otherwise, you're probably better off installing OEM PSE mufflers or getting a set of OEM mufflers and having a gundo hack done on them or contact Darren Fister who sells new mufflers with the gundo hack, but I'm not sure how OEM they look, but think he's in CA so should have direct info about passing inspection with his mufflers.

Good luck and enjoy the drive home. I drove 3 Porsches home long distance after buying them - great way to get to know and bond with the car.

PV997

Minor correction in that California doesn't have a noise test during inspection but does have very strict noise laws. Cops often carry noise meters in the cities here and will ticket you for it. I've never had a problem (and my Speedtech 3" x-pipe is loud) but I try not to obnoxiously gun the engine in noise-sensitive areas.

Completely agree emission readiness should be fine as Fabspeed uses HJS cats (as does Speedtech) which are very high quality. The visual inspection is the killer though.

Petza914

Thanks. Knew about roadside noise tests by the police. Figured they did those during inspection too, but guess not. I'll add that into my mental database. 👍

997Fanatic997

I'm in Phoenix with a stock 06 C2S non PSE exhaust and have been looking to pickup that fabspeed exhaust if you were up for a trade.

Fabspeed Motorsport

Hey OP,

Congrats on the new 997! Unfortunately, no aftermarket cats have been approved by California, so you are correct in assuming they will not pass.

That being said we are in fact working with HJS to navigate the various hoops on the west coast to get things approved, unfortunately, they seem to continuously shift the requirements seemingly to keep us and others at bay. We are hoping that within the next couple of years we will reach our end goal, but until then we are forced to get creative!

posternutbag2000

Thanks everyone for the help and advice. I think I'm going to keep the Fabspeed exhaust for the drive back to CA and then deal with finding the right OEM parts so that it will pass emissions/smog. I guess I'm going to join the CA crew who swap out annually to pass this silly visual part of the test. Thanks @Neilvaughn for the swap offer.

A few questions for the complete exhaust noob.....What parts do I need to buy and swap out? The pic below indicated what I currently have installed.

Fabspeed exhaust

Any recommendations on where to purchase what I need? Is it something that I should be able to do myself with basic knowledge and tools?

Thanks again for any help....

Fabspeed Motorsport

One of my favorite parts about the community, plenty of people here to help you learn!

You will need an OEM Cat set up, fairly easy to come across and install. Should take about 2-4 hours all in.