kiwi 911

No worries - I have a new house build underway keeping car aspirations in check

Macca

John. Here is some inspiration (though looks to have turbo front and rear flairs). Gold 3 piece wheels look good tho...

John McM

That's a RS or Turbo rear bumper as well.

Right now I'm thinking cheap [Not a word in your vocabularly Macca] until I have some driving prowess so it will be lightening and a few cosmetic details.

First up will be an interior strip with rear seat delete, lightweight carpets. Then change the seats to give me more headroom with a helmet. Are Recaro Pole Posiitions the best choice? I usually lean my seat back so may struggle with a normal upright position.

Exterior changes will be a ducktail spoiler and red Carrera side decals. I may powder coat the centres of those D90s red to give an 'illusion' of class. Will rip out other non useful items too such as air-con [doesn't work]. Any unecessary emission gear. I already have a primary muffler delete on it.

It should look ok after that. Thereafter it will be about improving driving and fettling suspension etc

Macca

I think its turbo as it appears to have dual exhaust outlets?

The rear ducktail in gp is a great idea and I think will look good. MAShaw or similar out of the USA can supply those for around 600 usd landed (will need some small fettling, primer, fitting and painting).

Loosing weight first is a good idea and its low/no cost. It will take a fair bit of time and solvent to strip out the factory carpet and sound deadening + glue. Its not a job for the feint hearted I hear but something you can do yourself over a couple of weekend. There are a couple of good aftermarket suppliers for RS carpet sets and this should be quite reasonable (under 800 usd landed). The factory chairs will be you quickest weight win. They are around 35kg each! Replace with Recaro Pole Positions (these can be imported from new USA for $1800 usd a set plus freight and GST). They will make a big difference (12kh each with recaro side mounts). You will gain around 2-3 inch head room but as its up right seating and you have a sunroof bank on 1" lower than current factory set up (seat angle). It will still be a tight fit for you with a helmet on but doable. The other thing I would highly recommend doing whist in there are some RS door cards. All up these three things will reduce the weight by 80-85Kg. Stripping out the air con and associated hoses (done properly requires removal of fuel tank to get out condensor) will give you another 25-30kg. So there's 105-115 kg there and that's where the easy weight reduction ends. 115kg is 9% reduction probably the equivalent of 25 bhp gain!

IMHO you'll find those three piece wheels unsuitable for hard use. they probably need truing and at this age the bolts and flanges are in need of service. They can also come out of true easily and are very heavy. There are alot of low cost options here for light strong 18" wheels. The volk TE37 are a good choice (probably the lightest wheel commercially available for the Porsche). They arent crazy money either. Pic below.

As for graphics each to his own. Personally I think the Carrera thing on anything but a real RS is a bit hackneyed these days. Ive been discussing some ideas with a friend for his 991 as Id like to do something different on my next p-car. This is what has been decided (below) I think looks great.

After a diet and some light cosmetics the suspension and brakes will give you the most time on fast road/track. I assume the compression/leak down figures for the engine are ok (PPI will determine) - if so from experience Id say dont open it up. If not then given age, mileage etc factor any bhp improvements as part of a future top end rebuild. Options here are varied but expensive form hot cam to 3.8 slip ins etc.

peterC2S

Wow - that looks amazing!

John - sounds like we need to do a group buy on the PPs. Just back in from twilight playday and yet another frustrating time having to hunch down in the seat and still bumping the helmet on the sunroof. Plus sliding around on the non sports leather seats.

Macca

Put me down for a pair too if your organizing a bulk buying deal. They are great seats. I have some CF versions (not Recaro but some lower spec brand) in the 993 and they have transformed the driving experience more than most other improvements to the car I made! Good motivational also to start dieting again!

kiwi 911

Start by removing 4WD to save something like 50kgs - surely the biggest bang for buck.

Sun roof delete (insert carbon panel) is an easy 15KG's

Sound proofing in roof, rear wheel arches, rear seats - an easy 20kgs in an older 911, so probably miles more in a 964.

Just hand the car to Steve - he has enough 964 race car prep exp to point you in the right direction.

It's a slippery slope......................have fun

kiwi 911

John, just out of interest is the ex-Ray Barker X88 3.6T still in NZ, or did it go off shore. Does anyone know how to contact the owner if in NZ.

Also another question for those in the know, I heard somewhere that you could no longer import 964's / 993's into the country? Why is this? Is there a loop hole with rear / unusual cars like say 993 RS? I have heard lots of half stories that rare cars can be imported - anyone investigated in any detail?

RS ZWEI

You can get rare cars such as a 993 RS under the special interest program.

Macca

Hi Paul. I think you will find removing all the AWD gear from a 964 is quite a complicated task (disconnecting the system to run RWD less so).
If you know where one can buy a composite/CF sunroof panel for these cars Im interested as Ive been looking a long time. Theres only a few KG there - most of the weight is in the motor, guides and drive assembly. Most like Sean have it removed and a replacement panel stitch welded, ground, filled, prepped and painted. Some cut the tops of the A pillars and have a whole non sunroof roof section welded in place!
No idea on the ex Ray Barker car but RZ ZWEI is good at hunting such things down.
I believe the 993 fall fail of the new emissions compliance rules. Less so the 964 as it can be brought in under the 20 year rule and anything low volume should be easy to demonstrate under the "special interest" category such as a 993RS. Its all online.
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicle/importing/index.html

mjg

Macca, what are your thoughts on the 996 GT3, since you've got a mk1 listed in your profile? It's (probably a mk2) a serious contender on my list of possible next cars.

Macca

Hi Matt. I can speak only of the MK1 996 GT3 but I can tell you that is a really great car. At the time I had just sold the 993RS and the 996 GT3 seemed very clinical, scaple sharp and lacking some of the drama of the air cooled variant. But in hindsight that powerplant was a peach and could rev (although now-days 7400 rpm is nothing as they redline 8400 and the new 991 GT3 has just been leaked that it has the brand new ground up motor sport engine block used in the 2014 RSR engines with 9000 rpm limiter!!!).
A good Mark 1 is getting harder to find and aesthetically is the nicer looking car IMHO. They are such a bargain deal these days with a price around 80k or so. Such alot of car for the money. Rear LSDs need regular re building and water overflow tanks crack (as they do on 996s). But the engine and gearbox re motorsport grade and bullit proof. Mine was Speed Yellow and I loved that colour in the GT3.
As much as the 964 & 993s are great cars, even after spending 100k on modding one it will not outperform a 996GT3 or give the same thrills on the track whilst still having the practicality on the road. The ride is firm and the car is low - but Ill say it again (because I have the T shirt) that IMHO it makes no fiscal sense at all in trying to get a 964/993 to be competitive on fast road and track when for 80k nzd you can bag a good 996 GT3 which will in all likelihood only go up in value globally in the next 10 years (they only made around 1856 Mark 1 from memory - a little more than 993RS which was 1014 I think).
You wont be dissapointed. They sound good too and need nothing much doing to them (perhaps for track use a set of harder pads would be good). Id buy one again in a heartbeat but I have no place to store it...

Macca

Heres the old girl. I imported her from Singapore. A doctor in Hamilton purchaser her and 7 years later still owned and loved that car (was a serial Japanese new car super car buyer till he experienced the GT3). Its probably kicking around somewhere but would have well over 120k km now...

Macca

The MK1 was a very clean design with lovely sport design wheels (heavy though) and an interesting and well integrated rear spoiler design. As time goes on I learn to like the first generation 996 shape more - its very pure and "clean sheet", not cluttered with too many details to take the eye away from the shape....This one was comfort spec (folding hardback colour codes front seats and rear seats retro fitted for the previous owners kids).

John McM

I'm keen, but where are we shopping for these? I've found air freight costs for bulky items make cost savings less over sea freight so ordering offshore may not make sense.