portia997

Sat. morning before dawn I was driving on a dark twisty country road when I came upon a brown duck waddling in the middle of the road. The road was too narrow and without shoulders to avoid hitting the foul fowl.

The bird hit the false center air duct on the lower bumper cover, skidded across the hood the up onto the windshield. I was going maybe 35-40mph when i hit the duck.

My 997 is a manual tranny so the center duct is filled with a black plastic trim piece. The only damage the car sustained was the trim piece was punched in. About half of the cutouts on the bumper cover where the trim piece attached have torn out.

There is no cosmetic damage to the exterior of the car. Just the hidden cutouts.

Has anyone ever encountered a similar problem? Any ideas on how to re-attach the plastic trim inside the bumper cover?

I really do NOT want to replace the bumper cover.



Has anyone every enco

Edgy01

The bumper cover will have to be replaced,--those tabs can't really be plastic welded back on. As an alternative perhaps this is a good time to spend the money on the center cooler,--leave that center trim off entirely. With the cost of a front bumper you might find that solution a bit cheaper!

Good luck!

eilig

Dan,

Are you saying that a center cooler can be added to a manual transmission car?

If so, it would be an oil cooler, right? And if so, by what amount would it increase the overall oil capacity of the engine?

Thanks.

jhbrennan

It's a third radiator, not an oil cooler - the tip and x51 cars have this and some folks have added it if not originally equipped that way.

Edgy01

Since you don't post where you live the added cooling power may be a total waste of time,--or maybe not.

rdstemler

What happened to the duck???

eilig

I'm going to speculate that the duck met his early demise...

Regarding the third radiator, my initial impression is that it would look very cool. I've often thought that the center trim looks a little hoaky. Seeing some aluminum radiator fins in that spot would look more purposeful, if nothing else.

We do see a couple months of heat here in the Midwest, but usually not enough to send my temperature gauge upward. That might be different if I spent time on the track, which I don't. That being said, I have to ask myself if this "upgrade" would be worth the (mostly) aesthetic value?

Speaking of the value proposition, does anyone have any idea how much this "upgrade" costs?

Thanks again!

Likemystoppie?

Wasn't the AFLAK duck, was it?

dndodd

Last I saw Suncoast wanted $200.00 for the center Radiator kit.

I bought mine their and installed it myself from directions I got on RennTech.org.

Haven't seen any change in temps but it hasn't gotten hot yet. I felt with the mods I have made it was a good idea to have it.

Coochas

JMAGOLAN

Oh NO!!! The duck turned into a chicken and with all the mods required, the car now looks like a Boxster! Thanks, Dave, for the visual.

Jerry

Coochas

Happy to oblige on the pressed duck thing.

portia997

Hello, I'm back from the body shop but first some answers to questions above.

What happened to the duck? To quote Monty Python: "he's met his demise; he's gone to meet his maker; he's ducking snuffed it!"

That said, I think she (a female brown duck) was still in one piece except for a few feathers, unlike the poor bird that went thru the windshield.

And that answers the other question RE: the AFLAK duck: Aflak is white, my duckie was brown.

I'm amazed how these posts deviate off topic....question on bumper repair.....answer on air coolers, radiators and temp where I live.?!

Okay. The bumper is repairable. The body shop has a tab rebuild kit. They take off the bumper cover first. Then they laminate material under the torn tab. When cured, they use a dremel tool to cut out the hole which will receive the male tab. Then they touch up paint the interior of the bumper cover where the repair was made. About $500. And original factory paint is maintained on the exterior.

At first the estimator said the bumper cover would have to be replaced. But when pushed harder, the estimator brought out one of the supervisors and he knew about the tab repair kit.

The repair is scheduled for first week in May. I'll let you know how it goes.

Portia997

2007 997 S Guards Red
2001 Audi S4
2004 BMW 530i

redduck996

still cheaper for the third radiator or even a chicken wire mesh kit. We use to use chicken wire and epoxy to fill the vents on our superbikes.

Phil G.

He obviously forgot to .... I'm not even going to say it.