Another Lightweight 986 Build
 

Seeing all the numerous build threads including Brad's has finally given me the motivation to start documenting my current endeavor. Quick background on me, I was a mechanic for about 5 years, 2 of which were as a tech at a Porsche dealer. Over time my careers goals changed and I'm now pursuing a degree in Engineering. One thing that I’ve always loved over the course of my ever growing automotive passion is the factory produced “weekend warrior” cars. I love the concept of race on Sunday, drive to work on Monday. This was most notably seen on the early 911/924/928/968 Clubsport RS offerings. Unfortunately Porsche never dabbled with this concept on the 986. This is where my build comes into the light; to create a Clubsport-esque Boxster. I plan on sticking with the basic idea of a lightweight weekend warrior that doesn’t look too far off of something that could have rolled out of Stuttgart. I’m currently only living slightly above a college student’s budget, so emphasis will be on used parts and home fabrication. Since I’m kinda lazy I’m starting this thread part way into the build process. I’ll try to be consistent with my updates. Comments and input are always welcome; now onto the build!


I purchased a stock ’01 Boxster S off craigslist in 2011 to replace my flood-totalled 911. It needed some work but the price was right. Since purchasing it’s gone through about 10 open track days and a hand full of autocrosses and has been reliable 95% of the time, except for 2 bad coils and a fouled MAF. I’ve done some preventative maintenance, reliability mods (IMS and deep sump), exhaust, some light suspension and aero work, and a bit of safety.

Overall plans are to delete the factory soft top and retrim the associated interior in a factory-ish looking manner. I can’t stand the half gutted interior look, it needs to be either fully gutted or fully upholstered in my book. Then install a single hoop rollbar, lots of weight reduction, factory aero, and more suspension work. Extracting more power from the 3.2L has a pretty poor HP/$ ratio so weight reduction and improving the seatback to steering wheel module ;) will be the bigger focus. Here are a few pictures of its current state and a bit of its history.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...parts/7411.jpg
2 days after initial purchase, the car was well equipped with 18" Sport Designs, PSM, and a slew of cosmetic options. Most of this however will be deleted.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../RMSrepair.jpg
Doing a full maintenance of all new filters and fluids as well as a new OEM clutch, flywheel, and updated RMS and case bolts. I also installed a Borla catback and Fabspeed mid pipes to reduce some weight off the rear end.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...2712Auto-X.jpg
First autocross, look at that suspension travel!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...93wheels-2.jpg
At the time I bought the Boxster it was my only car. It's no secret that it snows like hell in Detroit. Luckily a local PCA member was selling a Basalt Black factory hardtop. This plus a set of snow tires on some old 993 wheels I had laying around made winter much more comfortable.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ts/Jan2012.jpg
Case in point.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Alignment.jpeg
After the winter I was able to obtain a daily driver which meant the Boxster could go further under the knife. I snagged a set of Bilstein PSS9 coilovers with Swift 400#/500# springs for a killer deal from fellow Pelican member. Thankfully I'm still good friends with a fellow Porsche tech from my dealer days which means cheap alignments. I went for a simple setup of maxed out camber front and rear with zero toe, so far it has been a decent setup but it could definitely use more camber. I also got a hold of a cheap set of 17" Boxster SII wheels which will have the privilege of track duty for the time being.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...arts/47a3.jpeg
Spending an open track day at Waterford Hills with the new setup. Not bad for used suspension at 4 year old Conti tires.

Fast forward another year to 2013 and the build continues at a slow pace. I got married in Fall of 2012 and thankfully the wife is tolerant of my addiction. Aerodynamics is a tricky department to start messing with, as with everything, what works on paper doesn't always work in person and there's a fine balance of drag vs. down force. This logic along with the theme of remaining OEM looking, the choice was clear, I needed to track down an OEM Aerokit. I've always been more partial to the Aerokit I look, partially due to the extended rear decklid and more subtle wing. After a few months of hunting on craigslist, forums, and ebay I was able to track down an Aerokit I wing with a matching extended decklid. Low and behold it was black as well making it easier to get away with not painted it. I'm still on the hunt for a matching front bumper or possibly a GT3 bumper so for the time being I had to go with a bit of an old homebrewed method of a sheet metal air dam. A few drinks, a lot of rivets, and an afternoon with a friend who is a sheet metal worker netted the following.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...damtestfit.jpg
Initial test fitting before rivets.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...mAlignment.jpg
Riveted and painted, actually looks pretty decent. Not bad for around $12
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/DSCF3731.jpg
The results.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...rattan13-5.jpg
And of course a test on track last September. The improvement in front end grip was actually quite noticeable.

Shortly after this the car went in storage, I've been slowly tinkering with it since, but moving to a new apartment and an internship has slowed my progress. Expect more pictures soon.

Were you wrenching at the dealer in A2? I used to live there, I worked with U of M medical center on several initiatives. Not only does it snow in Detroit nobody slows down or spaces their cars any differently as a result of snow. Which was disconcerting even in a company car with a guy driving from a place that gets north of 100" annually.

Very nice -- I'm doing something similar --

I haven't messed with weight reduction yet or aero.

First go was longevity, second round was handling.

Mike

Nope, I worked at Suburban in Farmington Hills; and yeah people in Michigan have a...interesting...reaction to snow. That's part of the reason the new daily is AWD and turboed;)

Loving it... I bet its a blast in the snow! I'm quite surprised you haven't taken the soft top out! That air dam is a good idea... Here I am trying to figure how to build a splitter, I'm not sure which would be more friendly to city driving.

It looks like quite a few 986's are headed in this same direction. I am "almost" finished with mine after 3 years of tuning with lots of GT3 suspension parts. Only have two rubber bushings left in the car, and they will be gone this weekend. With mods to fix the camber issue, bump steer, and maxing out the tire width, these can be awsome handling cars.

I am at 2930 lb without removing any creature comforts (top, AC, etc.) How about you?

The soft top has actually been in and out a few times already, haha. Part of the project will entail a lightweight Spyder style emergency top. I tried the plywood splitter method as I'd had some good success on previous track cars but the 9x6 cars have a goofy front end that doesn't make mounting a big splitter all that easy. Honestly if I'd made the air dam out of pretty much anything but sheet metal it would be perfect, I caught it on a pothole when driving to my new garage and it folded about half of it under the front of the car; back to the drawing board on that idea.

Yeah, there's going to be a lot of suspension design and tweaking getting wrapped into this car. I've worked with a few OE and Aftermarket suspension companies over the years doing light R&D work but I still have a lot to learn on overall vehicle dynamics. I'm hoping to somehow wrap my Sr. Design project into the entire car. I plan on keeping AC purely because in my mind the humidity plus 90* summer days just isn't worth losing the 18 or so lbs, plus I still need to keep the wife happy:thumbup: Hoping to get in on a scale in a few weeks.


Quick update on the car: I've been insanely busy with finishing my internship and getting ready for summer classes so progress has been slow. I started ripping into the interior to start shedding some weight. Here's a quick teaser picture.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...24053299_n.jpg
I'm a firm believer that the best way to save a pound is to find 16 places to save an ounce so there will be much more detail on this part of the project soon. I also bit the bullet and ordered a Safety Devices 4-point rollbar to replace the factory unit. Should be here by the end of the week so expect another update soon.

"I'm a firm believer that the best way to save a pound is to find 16 places to save an ounce". I like that notion, in fact I have lost ten pounds since February, I might be the easiest place to trim it.

Yeah, in addition to cutting weight from my car, I've been cutting weight from the driver. So far, we're about neck and neck. I'm down 30 pounds since January.

So what's the latest? Get it weighed at all recently?

Cool thread! It looks like you have the seat I want to eventually get, how do you like it?

Agreed. We need an update!

Sorry for the lack of updates, gents! School and my internship have been sucking up all my free time. I still haven't had a chance to get the car weighed. I did do some weight reduction, a few more mods, and some track days. I'm too lazy to type out all the details so I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I forgot that I never posted pictures of the initial airbag delete and seat installation. A few years back I won a brand new OMP TRS seat in a charity auction. It's a tubular frame seat but still maintains an FIA cert. Honestly it's not the most comfortable seat in the world, but I've sat in much worse. It's super narrow, and the bottom seems rather short. This makes it feel as though you're constantly sitting on the edge of it. It will most likely replace it in the future. Anyway I had a buddy who owns a speed shop out in Seattle get me a good deal on a Planted Technologies seat bracket and a Schroth clubman 6pt harness.
FYI the Planted seat bracket doesn't follow the same angle as the floor, it almost mounts perpendicular to it, raising the rear of the seat about an inch.
Here's a quick shot of the seat and harness installed a few years ago:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nessseat_1.jpg
And the steering wheel after the initial airbag removal, still need to wire the horn in.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...0installed.jpg

Continuing on with the build. My Safety Devices rollbar finally arrived. At the moment, this is the only single hoop full "bolt-in" rollbar available for 986s at the moment. I say "bolt-in" because it still requires you to weld in 4 backing plates for the bar to mount. Honestly the quality seems kinda "meh". The welds all look great and it is built to satisfy most clubracing standards but the fit and finish required some finagling. I removed the convertible top and all the associated hardware. I'm still working on recarpeting the now empty space. I'm also working on a sort of lightweight top option should I ever want to drive roofless.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0236.jpg
First step was to remove the top, foam drains, sound deadening, and interior trim.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0241.jpg
I'm still quite surprised at how dense the foam around the engine compartment is.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0244.jpg
"So much room for activities!"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0293.jpg
Initial test fit of the rollbar.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0352.jpg
These are the backing plates that have to be welded in to provide a more sturdy mounting point.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0358.jpg
With a little bit of paint and some trimming of carpet, the rollbar mounts are finished.

Apparently my camera decided it didn't feel like saving half the pictures of this endeavor so I don't have any pictures of the rollbar currently installed.


After the rollbar installation I got to shaving some more weight. I'd previously removed the airbags which saved a decent amount. I removed the radio, dash speakers, and door speakers. I rarely listen to the radio in this car anyway so I figured the weight savings was worth the slight inconvenience.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0211.jpg
Trimmed up the dash speaker housings.

I'm still on the hunt for some MY97 base model door cards but haven't had much luck. These cards had no speaker or airbag cutouts, making them a little bit lighter. More importantly they fit the "factory clubsport" look that I'm going for.

As much as I was to removed all the foam-backed carpet and replace it with some lightweight silverknit, the budget just isn't allowing for it right now. This means that I also have to retain all the goofy plastic bits that lie under the carpet to give it it's shape as well as protect the now useless SRS side-impact sensors. Liberal use of a hole saw helped make this problem a little less bothersome. I may have gotten carried away with this as I quickly moved on to the trunk area as well.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0249.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0356.jpg
Some of the interior carpet supports/guards before and after their swiss cheesing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0250.jpg
I may have gotten a little carried away with the hole-saw. Plus side this saved almost 3oz!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0359.jpg
Lightened up the front trunk area a bit.

Final weight reduction for round 1 involved removing some of the mass from the Boxster's somewhat plump rear end. Sawzall and a plastic welder helped to remove some weight from the bumper support and allow from removal of the bumperettes and relocation of the rear tow hook. Using some aluminum rod I had lying around, I was also able to make some lightweight supports for the rear decklid.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0360.jpg
Slightly lightened rear bumper support.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0314.jpg
The first of 2 bumperette holes filled.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/IMG_0350.jpg
Lightweight rear decklid supports.


As school winds down, and spring unfolds more weight reduction and a few more mods will be done. Expect some more updates pretty soon. I'll leave you with a fun picture of my brother (blue S2000) and I battling it out at Gingerman raceway.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/WMHM14-2.jpg