When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Finished installing third radiator just in time - 90+ degree weather begins tomorrow. Followed Mike's excellent instructions for bumper removal and radiator install. Oil temps seemed about 20 degrees cooler so far. Found a great deal on the third radiator kit at PelicanParts.com. With California sales tax and free shipping, the cost was $225.00! Delivered in three workdays. That seemed like cheap insurance with 100+ degree weather coming. Besides, it looks much better with the new ducting and radiator.
As Mike recommended, remove the bumper support, (two 16mm bolts), and the horn attachment on the passenger side. Easy to remove and makes the install much easier. I used less than a gallon and one-half of antifreeze and distilled water. I had the front end raised up so I only got a couple of quarts out of the main radiators when I removed the hoses. My compressor wouldn't work so I couldn't use the vacuum kit. Instead I used the "burp" valve on the coolant tank. It worked very well. Thanks Mike.
I have been receiving PMs on why I wrote Deionized water to mix with the anti freeze/coolant. I actually used RO/DI water. Reversed Osmosis / De Ionized water. I used to have a salt water(Marine) Tank and I have specialized water filtration system where I make my own RO/DI water for it.
Anyway, My thought is to introduce the least amount of minerals in the system as I can that will promote corrosion on the engine block and water pump. Water with ions in it is also quite a lot more electrically conductive than water without ions in it. If you boil water with lots of ions in it until all the water's gone, you'll have a crusty salt residue in your pot.
*If there are Professional Chemists or Metallurgical Engineers in the group, pls pitch in on water minerals, Ions, PH and their effects on metallurgy used in engines considering wide temperature swings.*
I just did this upgrade. Everything seems perfect but I ended up with 6 extra bolts. I assume these bolts are for a 996 install? I have 2 bolts holding the assembly together, 2 bolts holding the assembly to the car on top and 2 nuts holding the assembly on the bottom.
Or is this thing going to fall off when I start driving.
I just saw this thread has been revived so I re-read it from the start. Interesting read. I have some data to share and to explain why I just did a 3rd rad install. Unfortunately I don't have any conclusions yet as the story is still being written.
Car = 2010 C4S w/ PDK in Sport Plus mode
Track = Thunderhill 5 mi
Date = July & Sept 2014
July session - About midday Sat I started seeing oil temps climb toward 250 degF and beyond. By late afternoon, oil temps > 250 degF and nearly 275 degF. Water temp according to gauge was hanging in at 175 degF, perhaps slightly over but not much. Never reached 200 degF.
Sept session - I had hoped the high oil temps were July related as temps then were ~ 90-100 degF. Unfortunately Sept session showed exactly same behavior even though the air temp was 10 - 15 degF cooler. This time was data logging from the ODBCII so I had a bit more info. Unfortunately the oil temp is not reported through ODBCII (need to get into the CAN bus) but water temp was reported. I made a simple Excel plot of lat. lon. and water temp to see what was happening each lap and if there were certain parts of the track that seemed to compound the oil temp issue.
I suspected the new west section since I never had any oil temp concerns on the original east section. Furthermore, the west section is a lot tighter with limited straights where the car is unable to get a strong air flow at higher speed. The linked turns on the west seemed like a potential culprit.
Well my coolant temp data didn't seem to show any meaningful anomalies in the west section. What I was able to observe was the temps reduced in areas where throttle was less -- for example hill crests with turns. But and to the main point of this thread, the ODBCII coolant temps ranged from high 230 degF to high 240 degF while the gauge on the instrument cluster consistently read ~175 degF. It seems the increase in oil and coolant temp is due mainly to the added length of track and that pushing the car at Sport Plus at or very redline for 5 miles just makes things hotter. A final note - I never triggered any error codes or reduced power runs at those high temps but I was nervous a few times as the oil seemed to be pushing its limits. I changed oil after July and Sept and sent it off to Blackstone. Their findings indicated no issues at all and in fact the Sept sample reported the best numbers I've had in the last few years. I guess the 9A1 engine is fairly durable at high temps. Good to know.
So as I said above, I did the 3rd rad but will now have to wait until our 2015 track season to test it on the 5 mi circuit at Thunderhill. I am very optimistic that both coolant temps (ODBCII data) and oil temps (instrument cluster gauge) will be lower, hopefully into a reasonable range.
I've attached my simple excel chart below. This is lap 2 in the afternoon which I ran in full PDK auto mode with Sport Plus enabled. Some of the data points run into each other but it is somewhat readable. Those of you familiar with Thunderhill will recognize the track with essentially the lower half of the plot showing the new west addition.
Perhaps this is obvious but I couldn't get a confirmation from ECS.
When ordering P/N 997.044.100.05 does that expand into the part list summarized on first page?
I am looking to install on Cayman and it seems just one part (air inlet shroud) is different. Surprised Suncoast 987 kit is 2x the price...
99704410005 is the same parts in the first post. Porsche sells this kit as a Tequipment part at a significant discount over the individual pieces, but they do not offer a kit for the 987, so building a kit with individual parts ends up being much more expensive. The additional parts you would need are the air duct (98757532301), retaining frame (9875055550101C), and left and right fender liners (98750412305 & 98750412405). The 987 fender liners for cars with center radiator direct the airflow differently than the two-radiator cars.
Does anyone think it is unreasonable that the mesh protecting the radiator is more expensive than the radiator? WTH is up with the price of the wire mesh grills???
Don't be fooled in buying grills that are so expensive. With some diy you could have the best looking grills on your car for less than $50.
I'm afraid the DIY will come out looking like, well...A DIY. I can wrench on a car just fine, but I could not make a square with four pieces of wood much less create that template and have the grills come out right
I bought the materials to do my own grills but chickened out...no time and I wanted the new radiator covered from day 1 so I went with Rennlines, installed by my dealer and just picked it up yesterday:
Has anyone not cut the holes in their bumper cover and had problems. Seems redundant, there is a lot of slop to the way the bumper cover fits, almost like Porsche planned it that way.
09-17-2014, 07:52 PM
wait .. for .. it ...
