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.
It would be kinda neat to know a rough budget cost (for those of us who "may" just do something like this, me lol)
Also, no other issues for getting it street licensed? curious, im in CA, which is funny because we dont have inspections (rust the reason?) but are taxed like we do, then some.
Nice build! I love the RSR bumper. Whose body kit did you use?
Blotto649: all of the carbon fiber body kit except for the roof and hood were already on the car when I got it so I'm not sure of its origin, but I think GT Racing based on some boxes I saw that the brake ducts were in. I then got the hood from there and the roof from Getty to complete the whole car in carbon.
So if someone were to pay for a "fun build", how would it cost to duplicate this car?
You detailed everything but the cost.
NYoutftr: I kept a spreadsheet of my build cost that I can share if you guys are interested in the details, but like in the show "Wheeler Dealers" I did not include my team's labor time, only parts costs and outsourced labor. Remember though we started with a project car that was already started so those costs weren't counted either (wheels, tires, most of the carbon fiber body, brake calipers, some suspension bits, and the roll cage were there). I would guess if you did all the labor yourself and started with a ~$15 k donor car you could probably replicate this for $65-75k. Or maybe a little less if you started with someone's track prepped car like we did.
NYoutftr: I kept a spreadsheet of my build cost that I can share if you guys are interested in the details, but like in the show "Wheeler Dealers" I did not include my team's labor time, only parts costs and outsourced labor. Remember though we started with a project car that was already started so those costs weren't counted either (wheels, tires, most of the carbon fiber body, brake calipers, some suspension bits, and the roll cage were there). I would guess if you did all the labor yourself and started with a ~$15 k donor car you could probably replicate this for $65-75k. Or maybe a little less if you started with someone's track prepped car like we did.
That is what I was thinking.
So if a person had to pay a quality shop to assemble this build, it would be pushing 100k.
For what seems like an all out build for a 996.
I also keep a spreadsheet, which is hidden from sight, so I know how much I have invested in my 996, starting with an expensive near perfect car.
The thousands just kept piling up.
Having been building a similar type of car - albeit without the carbon parts - but a big motor, transmission, and suspension and a bunch of other stuff - I can tell you that the costs can get up there. $65k+ is probably a reasonable number with a good mix of labor sources, DIY, and used parts.
It would be kinda neat to know a rough budget cost (for those of us who "may" just do something like this, me lol)
Also, no other issues for getting it street licensed? curious, im in CA, which is funny because we dont have inspections (rust the reason?) but are taxed like we do, then some.
mikes70: I think I answered the build cost question but for sure if you have any follow up to any part of that I'm happy to elaborate.
For the registration question - do you mean we're there any issues getting car with a roll cage, racing seats/harnesses, and no cats registered? Not in Florida!
Last year Project 996 was finally tested on track and running pretty well. Then the goal was to get it on the street – after all this was a street/track build – and that meant a lot of little things, but they added up to a lot of time and a lot of fabrication. We made it though and believe the results speak for themselves. Here are some pictures of the finished car.
The first thing to do on our list to put Project Porsche 996 on the street was to install our custom HID+LED headlights. In the past we’ve shown some pictures of the custom bodywork which converted our 996 RSR widebody fenders to hold oval rather than “fried egg” shaped headlights, and we’ve also discussed our installation of custom Lexan headlight covers for these fenders. Now we actually had to fabricate brackets for and install the HID+LED lights into them. The HID high and low beam projectors and the LED running lights were sourced online and basically mimic the look of the new Porsche 991 lights. However, we had nothing to mount them to so we fabricated aluminum swivel mounts which were then attached with nutserts to the carbon fiber fenders, and wired it up to the stock Porsche switches.
After finishing the lights we turned to the interior. Jose Gonzalez has 30+ years as a carpet installer so he sourced a lightweight black carpet for us and custom cut it to cover the interior of Project Porsche 996 up to the roof pillars. Going around the roll cage was a PIA but the look is very clean, and the black carpet helps cut down the glare nicely. We also had to modify and weld the passenger seat brackets and install “Cup style” flat floors before finishing the carpet installation. Once the carpet was done we installed a pair of Lexan side windows with sliders from GT Racing.
Once the windows and window frames & molding were installed and the roof rails arrived from Porsche, we had custom vinyl stripes and logos from KD Vinyl Graphics laid down. The look we came up with was a version of the Porsche 997 GT3RS center and door stripes, but done in a solid red which matched the brake calipers and the roll cage. KD Vinyl also made custom single color Porsche crests for the nose and the wheel center caps, along with custom “911R” tribute logos for the rear engine decklid and the steering wheel. Speaking of steering wheels, we didn’t like how the previous 330mm D-shaped OMP wheel blocked our view of the gauges at the prior Homestead test, so looked for a solution. In the end we ordered a new 350mm wheel from the factory Porsche 997 Cup car which was made for them by MOMO.
Finally, we went through the process of registering and insuring the Porsche and off we went under our own power with fresh tags for another test day at Homestead. It has been a rewarding build but we are glad it is done and could be used as intended: to be driven to the track and around town just for fun. When was the last time you saw a Porsche RSR at the 7-11?
I love this car and all the great decisions you made. Here's a somewhat related effort, although a little more stealthy and less over-the-top. I pass 991 GT3s on the track, and it never gets old :-)
Have been using this 996 outlaw for the last few years as a car I can drive to the track to get some practice laps in / do some instructing (without bringing my whole race team or trailering another race car), for taking to the occasional car event, or doing the kids’ school drop off. Decided last year to make a couple upgrades that I thought I’d share. Recall that this thing was stripped down by a prior owner to be a track only car, and I’ve kept the focus for it on track use but added just enough things to make it usable on the street.
First I added an electric air conditioning system for keeping the driver cool. The system I got from Arctic Racing Air mounts in the frunk - next to the Cup electric power steering pump - and it ducts air through a hose to the passenger compartment. I can hook that hose to my Bell RS7 helmet or just have it blow cool air on me while on the street. KMW Motorsports in Pompano did a nice job with the install. This is not the same or as powerful as a belt driven street AC system, but it is both lighter and not parasitic, yet it takes the edge off on hot days.
While they were doing the AC job the guys at KMW also did some welding and wiring magic to get the 996 wheel speed sensors to work on my 997 spindles. I had upgraded the spindles to use the bigger 997 S brakes but then couldn’t get the ABS to work because those sensors are different. Got sick of not having ABS so I finally got around to coming up with a solution. Problem solved!
I originally designed the center opening in the RSR front end to feed air into a duct & hoses to the front brake calipers, but on the street those hoses limited the wheel from turning to full lock so they kept hitting them and popping off. My team took the front end off and did a little “airflow rethink.” Ultimately we decided to optimize that opening in the front end for air to flow through the center radiator and sealed that around the edges, and then installed larger and more efficient fans on each of the 3 radiators. We weren’t ever overheating on the track or street but this will cool the water even on the hottest of hot summer days.
Turning back to the brakes we tossed the damage susceptible hoses and sourced front and rear 996 GT3 brake ducts and attached those to the lower control arms. The carbon fiber RSR front bumper has “ramps” underneath after the splitter that both create downforce and channel air straight into the front brake ducts. We’ve been running without ducts at all lately and even without overheating problems we configured our setup to handle whatever heat we threw at them. BTW the rest of the braking system is Hawk DTC-60 pads, 997 S calipers on 997 T rotors, and Toyo R888r tires.
With these huge tires and stiff sidewalls I was having a hard time telling if the tires were at the correct pressures so we added a TPMS system. It has a display which tells you real time air pressures and also tire temperatures. Not the same as taking temps across the tire with a pyrometer but cool nonetheless, and it’s more about avoiding a blowout anyway.
Finally we had originally tried to mate a 996 RSR intake to our M96 engine but we could not get the MAF sensor in a place that would let the ECU properly adjust the fuel. We ended up putting the stock 996 intake back on and running it as-is while we thought about plan B. Plan B ended up being sourcing a stick 997.1 intake and then fabricating a larger snorkel for it which would mate up to the air inlets in the RSR engine cover. Feels like it runs smoother with this setup, which is a plus, and again the goal is that it’s reliable for track and street use… all in the same day.
11-06-2018, 06:46 PM
