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Part of #covidlife is that you find yourself with a lot of time on your hands, so I am starting a thread to introduce my relatively new-to-me GT3. I bought it from Luxe Automotive Sales in Salt Lake City in Nov 2019 and drove it back to Seattle via Las Vegas and So CA to visit family. It was previously owned by Rennlister SLC-C4S. Max (owner of Luxe) picked me up from the airport in the GT3 and we drove back to his showroom to complete the deal. Awesome experience and I highly recommend Luxe. For context, I was mostly an aircooled 911 guy having owned a 1977, 1980, 1994, and 1995 911s (see below) prior to GT3 life.
My first dip into the watercooled world was a 2005 Carrera S in Speed Yellow that I had until last year.
I loved that car but after considering some major mods for that car, I decided it didn't make sense to go that route when for slightly (it's all relative) more money, I could get a GT3. Or at least I told myself as much. The hunt was on and I ended up with a 2011 Meteor Grey with 25K miles and a ****-ton of maintenance, mods, and factory options. I was seeking specific factory options including the bucket seats, PCCBs, and front lift. The full list of factory options is below. It came with everything I would have chosen if I spec'd it new.
Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB)
Carbon Fiber Bucket Seats
Front Axle Lift Sport Exhaust
Sport Chrono
Dynamic Engine Mounts
In addition, it was meticulously maintained and serviced and had the following mods:
GMG RSR roll bar
Numeric racing billet shifter and shifter cables
GT3 RS 4.0 clutch and flywheel
Guard LSD clutch pack
Porsche GT3 Cup 4.0.1 Ring & Pinion
Dundon Motorsports Harmonic Balancer and belt
rear adjustable upper link kit (dog bones)
rear adjustable toe steer kit
Effectively, it drives like an RS (with exception of the HP gains, wide body, street cred, and resale you would get with an RS) for GT3 dollars. I wasn't excited about Meteor Grey at first but it has grown on my. In the sun, it does look spectacular. Since ownership, I've put on 5,000 miles (it just turned 30K) and changed the oil and installed a Soul Performance center muffler bypass. Love the way it sounds now, not that it was a slouch before. I've got some additional changes in store that I will reveal when they are done over the next few weeks.
Until then, I'm happy to be a part of the GT family and understand why these cars are so special. I considered getting a 991 Carrera T or GTS (drove both) but, although technically superior, they don't have the soul and feel of a 997, especially a GT3. The visceral driving experience (feel, sounds, performance) is incredible! And the sound these engines make at 8,000+ RPM is insane! I can't help but smile every time I drive this car. I hope everyone is safe and healthy. At least the roads are clear for driving!
Excellent introduction, and great purchase. Your GT3 looks really clean! Enjoy the drive, it really is a special car.
In your pics above, is the white 911 (not the 993) a G-body or a 964? The side skirts look 964 but the headlights look G-body (SC/Carrera)...regardless, it's beautiful. Nice work on all of your previous cars.
The car directly above the 993 is a 1994 C4. At the time I bought it, I didn't know how rare it was. Ended up selling it to someone in Norway. Add it to the list of "the one that got away." The first white 911 pictured is a 1977 911S with metal turbo flares. I did a 3.6 conversion from a 1990 964 into that car. It was a beast! Regret selling that one too! Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Originally Posted by Protocav
Excellent introduction, and great purchase. Your GT3 looks really clean! Enjoy the drive, it really is a special car.
In your pics above, is the white 911 (not the 993) a G-body or a 964? The side skirts look 964 but the headlights look G-body (SC/Carrera)...regardless, it's beautiful. Nice work on all of your previous cars.
I'm a fan of GT3s, but I'm not a big wing guy. I'm also not a track junkie and only will do 1-2 track days a year. I mostly like road trips and carving back-country roads. So I set out to make my version of a 997 GT3 Touring. I bought a used Carrera deck lid, air ducts, an aFe intake for a Carrera, and gave the parts to a friend who works at a body shop and is also mechanically inclined and does stuff on the side. All the mods are reversible and I'm keeping all the stock parts and can easily go back to stock any time.
Based on the amount of mods necessary to fab a custom Y-pipe and modify the aFe airbox, I can understand why nobody else (as far as I know) has bothered doing this mod. It's a bitch and requires a lot of fiddling to get everything that is made for a Carrera engine bay to fit into a GT3 bay. For example, the top of a GT3 engine sits about 4" higher than a Carrera engine, which presented a problem in fitting the cooling fan underneath the decklid and some minor clearance issues with the top of the Y-pipe. We are going to swap in a SPAL 4" Low-Profile Fan and hopefully it will all fit properly.
Overall, Randy tackled the problem with aplomb and did some amazing work. He crafted a 4" diameter pipe from the box to the intake manifold. It's frigging huge! The fit and finish of the pipe and box are impressive and actually better than the original aFe unit. After additional nipping and tucking, he successfully fitted the Carrera spoiler.
I think it looks awesome and there is definitely more noticeable intake wail on throttle now. Butt dyno doesn't notice any change in thrust or power. The next challenge is getting the retractable wing to deploy. I read somewhere in another thread that all that was necessary was to use a Durametric to enable the spoiler functionality. A friend used his Durametric tonight to do this but it didn't seem to work. The option to enable the spoiler showed up on the computer screen and he checked the box to activate the spoiler at speed. But when he clicked on a button on his computer to deploy it manually, it didn't work. Nor did it deploy at speed on the freeway on my way home from his place. I drove over 80 MPH but no luck. We tested the spoiler on Randy's car (Carrera S) before installing on mine and it worked as expected.
I tried to buy a new control strip for the center stack with an added button for the spoiler but apparently, these modules are integrated and made for the specific options on your car. Porsche never made a combination that included both Front Lift and the retractable spoiler, so I am SOL trying to get a new one. Anybody have any suggestions on what the fix could be? Ideally, I would like to get it to deploy automatically at speed, but if necessary, I will figure out a way to install a switch to manually deploy. Thanks in advance for any tips/advice.
Busta Rib that looks really good with no wing. Especially in that meteor grey with the yellow calipers👌🏻 In order to really make the *** perfect, you gotta get rid of those dang bumper pads. I need to get rid of mine, it’s like looking at 2 big pimples in my opinion. Great to see you already racked up 5k. Have you gotten used to the feeling? I still have the stupid smile/smirk on my face. But she don’t scare me as much. I’m around Seattle too. Perhaps we make a drive with a few cars?
There's a sense of occasion every time I drive this car. It's pretty sweet. I have plans to remove the rear bumperettes. PM me and we can arrange a time to meet for a drive. There is a small local group I usually drive with.
Originally Posted by XrussianX
Busta Rib that looks really good with no wing. Especially in that meteor grey with the yellow calipers👌🏻 In order to really make the *** perfect, you gotta get rid of those dang bumper pads. I need to get rid of mine, it’s like looking at 2 big pimples in my opinion. Great to see you already racked up 5k. Have you gotten used to the feeling? I still have the stupid smile/smirk on my face. But she don’t scare me as much. I’m around Seattle too. Perhaps we make a drive with a few cars?
There's a sense of occasion every time I drive this car. It's pretty sweet. I have plans to remove the rear bumperettes. PM me and we can arrange a time to meet for a drive. There is a small local group I usually drive with.
Here's mine without the bumperettes. Not a terribly difficult project, as I cut and shaped a fiberglass panel to cover the holes.
04-28-2020, 04:09 PM
Intro to Busta Rib's .2 GT3
