wardrive

So this is my first take on doing a 'build' thread. Its not going to be that long because I'm not going to do alot to the car but small cosmetic changes. But thought it would be good to share the journey of the car.

I bought this car from my neighbor this past winter (he's ordered a new 911). My 997 story is that I use to own a 2007 997.1 C4S that was mint and had extreme low mileage. It was fully loaded including full leather, adaptive seats, Sport exhaust, PSAM, and the rare Makassar wood trim (it looks good with the dark leather interior). For some reason I sold it, telling myself I didn't drive it enough, and then soon afterwards regretted the sale. It had 15k miles on it when I sold it in 2018. So since that time I was looking for a 997, and focused specifically on a 997.2 GTS. I was close to buying one back then but someone snatched one up at my local Porsche dealer before I could buy it (was on sale for only 1 day). Then I waited and waited. I noticed that it was really hard to find a GTS coupe in manual. Not many came up and when they did they sold very fast.

Then COVID hit. Like most, I didn't know what April 2020 and COVID would bring so I decided to wait buying any Porsches till I saw what panned out. I was so tired of waiting for that 997 GTS that I was looking at other models including a 991. I was thisClosetoBuying a 991.1 base during early COVID but changed my mind. Big mistake since we all knew what happened next - used car prices went bonkers including and especially to all sporty cars. Porsches, Ferraris, Lambo, anything that was fast and had 4 wheels was going up in prices. Those 997s really exploded in price especially the 997.1s. The 997.2 models were already highly desired and more limited in volume, which only increased their prices as well.

So while looking I stumbled on a very fine Cayman GTS 981. It was a 1-owner, low mileage car and fairly priced. I jumped on it immediately and fell in love with the 981 platform. The Cayman is a great platform and the secret in the Porsche lineup - it really is the sports car now with modern Porsches, with the 911 being a bigger grand tourer car - excluding the GT lineup of course. I really really love my Cayman GTS.

Everything was good and then my neighbor knocked on my door and told me he was selling his 997 and asked if I was interested. I knew his car and liked it when I first saw it - Black/Black with everything but the Alcantara option - which was fine with me since I prefer leather - and of course a manual. I went over to see his car and while he did 'customize' it a bit to his taste (will discuss this later) I said without hesitation I would take his car.

This was in the middle of winter so I gave him the money, took the car and stuck it into storage. I currently have too many cars and do not have room at my house to store the car, plus to be honest my wife isn't keen on me having too many cars including two Porsches. What she doesn't see, doesn't exist is how we do it in my household. On clear dry days, I did take the 997 GTS out to drive it and relearn driving a 997. Now that is getting warmer I'm able to drive the car more and more and figure out what I need to address.

With that said, the car still drives amazing minus the 'floatly' feeling up in the front. I did have a 4wd 997 so it was a bit more planted in the front with the added weight. I played with the air pressure, and tried to get it to the right levels which helped it a bit but also ordered new wheels/tires and plan on getting an alignment to make sure its just right. That will be coming up.

So with all this said, let me show some pictures.


Car in storage


Side view

Taking the car out for a ride

Will follow up with more posts.

wardrive

Thought it would be good to show the two GTS backside.

Petza914

Congrats on your new GTS. You'll get used to the difference in RWD handing and feel and will eventually appreciate the more acute steering feel conveyed by the rwd cars. It will also make you a better driver without having the front wheels to assist with pulling the car through the turns. You're going to have a great summer!

Busta Rib

Warren, you will have fun in both cars! They provide different driving experiences, but are equally exciting and fun. Looking forward to seeing what you do with your GTS. It looks pretty good as-is. Perhaps some lowering springs are all you need on the exterior, IMO.

nwGTS

Nice! Not many Black GTS coupe manuals out there. Good to see one participate in the conversation here on Rennlist.

One piece of advice to help counter that floaty feeling. Go with 0 deg toe up front. It will really sharpen up your turn-in on corners and especially at low speed. The compromise is a bit of a dartiness at high speeds going straight (freeways) since you dont have the correcting nature of a slight toe in.

tanger

Is that just applicable to cars or ....

JRBucks

Congratulations! Beautiful car. I looked for a GTS manual cab for about a year but couldn't find one that I liked or I thought was worth the money. You'll grow to like the steering feel on the rwd car. Having gone from a .1 Base rwd to a .2 Turbo S I know what you mean about when you say "planted", but I think the rwd has better feedback.
Btw from the trees in your photograph it looks like you're in NW Jersey, I'm in Bucks Co. Enjoy the new ride.

wardrive

Thank you guys for the comments. I've been following the 997 forum for a while and there are some great members with a wealth of knowledge that has been shared throughout the years. I've been reading and absorbing info.

Busta Rib your threads has always been inspiring and glad you have a 997 GTS so we can keep on learning from your build threads.

Actually in the NorthEast section of NJ. But easy access to Harriman and Bear Mt, and further west like Ringwood. I'm thinking of going to the Porsche Swap meet in PA btw, if anyone is going to be there this Sat. (4/30). Ill bring the 997 GTS I think.

smadill

I have found the DSC upgrade eliminates most of the front end float in my 997.1 C2S.

wardrive

That front lip.

So one of the 'personalizations' the previous owner did was adding on the Speedster (same as Sport Classic) front lip but instead of painting it, he used this really horrible faux CarbonFiber vinyl wrap. Up close it looked really bad.



I do like the lip and my first thought was to buy a new one at SunCoastParts but the price went up from the $500 range to now $715.00. I guess they call it inflation. Here is the link to the lip on SunCoast - https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/50598306G2L.html

So I tried to see how hard it was to take off the vinyl wrap and after an hour of sweat and a handy blow dryer I was able to take off most of the vinyl wrap. Its interesting how the front lip spoiler comes out, very easy and simple.


This wasn't the final job but almost to the end. I made sure it was fully bare to the original pre-paint finish.

Next step was to get some quotes from auto body/paint shops on the cost to paint this lip to my body color. I called 3 places in my area (northeast NJ) and the quotes were all the same - about $150.00. I went to the nearest shop and the owner was very nice. He said if I wasn't in a hurry, he would combine this project with another car project that was using the same basic black paint like my car. My car is basic black or color A1. So by waiting 1 week I was able to get the lip painted for $100.00 flat. The interesting choice was to match it to my body color or just go with a matte black look. The owner of the body shop sold me on matching the body color because he said it would look more seamless in the front, the lip would look cohesive with the front bumper.

After getting the lip, I put it on and I'm definitely more happy with the look. Agreed with the body shop to match the body color as well. Here are the results.

wardrive

Good to hear. That DSC controller is definitely on my list of upgrades. Other stuff first.

wardrive

Thank you for the tip! You have a amazing thread as well and lots of stuff to learn and absorb from.

sandwedge

Coming from two AWD 997 C4S's I know exactly what you're referring to. I think this"floatly" feeling you refer to compared to the AWD will grow on you though and you'll come to appreciate the more precise steering wheel feedback. I'm close to 5 years now on my GTS and as I said, I've gone from what you're feeling now to what I would describe as a more "lively" steering wheel compared to the AWD steering wheel feel which to me felt planted and secure but a bit on the dull side.

wardrive

Those wheels.

The car came with OEM center lock wheels. They were silver instead of the gloss black. The previous owner decided to power coat the wheels but instead of going black he went with this grayish color. I wasn't loving it. See it up close.



Also I'm a fan of filled out wheel wells, but with center lock wheels you can't add spacers so I decided to get new wheels that were a) gloss black and b) would be wider so they fill out the wheel wells. I remember the following post from one of the numerous threads on wheel and tire size and wanted to go try it. Here was the post from member Liste-Renn:

So checking out tire rack real quick I found out that those Oz Ultraleggera were on sale, in black, so I bought them immediately. The stars were aligning. I also ordered the same tires at those specs (245/35 and 325/30 19's) from my local tire guy. I also ordered new black center lock caps from SunCoast but they were back ordered till may, so I went ahead and just used my previous center locks with the new wheels. I got to say I love the new look. What you guys think?








After I got the new wheels on SunCoast sent me an email that they shipped the black center locks - DOH!!!!!! I guess I'll see if I'll switch them up. The original center locks actually look good with the new OZ wheels but may go for the total black look.

RDS928S

Go for the black centerlocks!

My OZ's with black centerlock nuts