RQ_GT3

Thanks for the quality feedback folks,

Can't wait to get the car back with all the mods, including the bypass, next week!

Other than that, am I then going to have a very "creaky" car because of the tequipment 6-pt rollcage? How bad is it really?

leif997

I still have yet to open it just on GP's......

Snowboarder54

Yes on the Sharkwerks exhaust! It's a must have with the LWF!

sharkster

hey 340 elise, so glad you like our exhaust set up and thanks for ze kind words! On the sunroof, I'm doing something like that on my 996TT. You do have to remove the headliner a PIA and something best left to a specialist. Then the glass has to come out (front and rear) and the roof panel comes out quite easily (spot welded in tho). The non sun-roof panel on the 996 is quite cheap (around 300-400 if I remember right) but I don't know the cost on the 997. A good body shop _should_ be able to do this. One thing I would also do is _check_ with your insurance company because you know how that goes, they make little sense but you need to be sure that they understand that what you're doing has no impact on the structural integrity. They get really ancy about things like that For them, Porsche included a sun-roof for structural integrity

NJ-GT

Pete,

I did some research on this.

The 997 GT3 RS or 997 GT3 ClubSport Half Cage (they are the same) fit any 996 or 997 street car as long as they don't have a sunrooof.

A 997 Turbo without sunroof, is a direct fit, as I did to my 996 GT3.

The noises come from two areas: the attachment to the rear upper strut mounts, and the attachments where the pipes are bolted.

Problem Area 1: You can apply 10 lbs of extra torque to the nuts, and the bar won't slide and hit those three bolts (making noises). You can also put a spacer ring, so the holes in the half cage are as thick as the factory strut top bolts.

Problem Area 2: With just two autocrosses and one track day, the bolts came lose on the driver's side, I'm tightening them this afternoon, once I install my Sharky SafeCraft Chrome Fire Extinguisher. Check all the bolts on the bar.

mooty

yes RS bars are noisy.
my is dead silent... oh, i dont have the RS bar. i have my own version :-)

340Elise

Alex,

Are you talking about the inner panel? So you pull out all of the sunroof inards and the inner panel set up to house it, and then replace it with the non-sunroof inner panel, and finally replace the entire headliner since your old one has a hole in it. Is that correct? What is done for the outer sunroof panel? Is it spot welded into place, or replaced with a slightly larger custom made new panel (to eliminate the black ring) and repainted to match?

If you go this far, then I guess after welding in the sunroof panel, you could fill the gap with bondo (that sounds horrible, whatever is a high quality filler) and repaint the entire roof.

I am just thinking about something simple which gets rid of some of the extra sunroof weight (motor, extra brackets, rails, gears, etc...) and simply makes it non-functional and it looks the same as it does now from the inside and outside.

Anything beyond that and you might as well go all the way and eliminate the sunroof and repaint.

We should put together a sunroof delete DIY for Rennlist!

sharkster

hey 340Elise, basically we're removing the headliner (PIA) and then the sunroof mechanism as well as the panel itself. It is spot-welded in there and unfortunately you need to take out the front and rear glass windows to get it out. Once that's done I'll need to install a GT3/GT3 roof panel and re-install the headliner etc... The last time I remember someone doing it the weight savings were about 35 pounds or something.

As for a DIY Removing the sun-roof has been one of those "I want to do" type of projects for a long time but have never had time as yet. It keeps getting put on the back-burner...

RQ_GT3

Just got the car back.

The thing is fantastic now, exactly what I was hoping to achieve.

The ECU remap really wakes up the LWFW, huge difference. I would say that the difference between the stock FW and LWFW is smaller than LWFW + ECU remap. Its that good.

The sharkwerks bypass... you guys were right, it is insanely good, an absolute must. And not having to give up the "quiet button" is huge.

996 GT3 seats are very comfortable but seem to be higher than stock. Hopefully I still have enough helmet clearance.

Top of the rollbar is in an awkward spot visibility wise, has anyone experimented with mirrors to increase the rearview?

StickShift964

PICTURES MAN, PICTURES!

hesperus

have the half cage in my ROW GT3. noisy!!!

does anybody know if the bolts can be tightened and if this reduces the creaking? car is at Porsche right now for some work, and I could ask them to try...

sharkster

hey RQ, Jesse and the gang at Champion are great people (had lunch with him on Friday etc..) and I'm thrilled you like it! It's good to be able to shut it "off" so to speak when you need/want to.... The LWF is well essential- i think we can all agree!

FYI, If you need more height (up to 10mm) on the GT3 seats you can get the BKAuto mounts and they allow you to get an extra 10mm...

RQ_GT3

Thanks Alex, that is good to know, 10mm would do the trick. Do you have a handy link for that part?

I sat in with the harness and helmet yesterday, seems like there is enough clearance (barely). Will know for sure after I take it out in a couple of weeks. At least I know that there is a fix if required.

sharkster

I'm pretty sure this is the one we've used before:

http://www.bkauto.com/porsche/r9079.php

You remove the side brackets you have and install these in their place. An inch would certianly help....

ArcticGT3

Regarding the noisy RS half cage: There is very little clearance at the top on the sides. Mine was touching the garment hook on the ride side (obviously, it was mounted something like 3mm off center). A little felt took care of it. I encourage everyone to check that possibility. It is completely quiet now.