mjg

Interesting video on braking systems and race ABS, if you have an hour to spare:

Obsessed

Didn't notice that in the ad. I grew up in Katikati, from 6 to 17 years old, and don't remember ever once seeing a Porsche there Seeing a Porsche was something I had a slim chance of doing only when we visited family in Auckland

John McM

Try Dunedin. I have seen one Audi this week. No other European cars let alone a Porsche. Somewhat surprising a 964 windscreen was sitting in a local panel beater shop for 2 years. Now winging its way to Auckland. Herman will be well pleased.

gt38088

http://mag.gpweek.com/#folio=1

free download online mag on GP motorsport

Macca

Matt. Thanks for the link.

I have the 993 RSR tranny mound, Wevo engine mounts, RS LWFC but I dont find it overly loud. I probably have more sound deadening than you (thicker carpets). Or you are going faster :-)

mjg

I haven't been in your car either, so we'll have to compare sometime. Other than the carpet, I don't think I've got sound deadening at all. Have you still got the factory stuff (or redo it with dynamat)? That'd make a big difference, I bet.

Macca

John, you getting a PPI or just winging it for this one as a parts mule?

Maxem

Me too, from 9 to 21. There was one 911 there in about 82. It was an early impact bumper in metallic green with whale tail. It had a towbar. No sh*t. Later on in about 85, a dark blue 944 turned up. We used to come to Auckland a bit to visit the family too but Bugger that, the old man and the boys were off to Clarks, Fava's, Jensens and Monaco motors for the day.

Macca

Factory carpet & mats. Can still listen to the stereo while cruising. No exhaust drone. Stock GT3 should have sound deadening. Its lighter weight but there IIRC. 993 probably has thicker carpet more glue etc as they were over engineered interiors compared to 996 and beyond. John has footage from inside my car at the track. That will give you an idea of what it sounds like windows up under load. Its just right IMO. I wouldnt want it louder or quieter. The exhaust isnt heard much till WOT.

996tnz

Sean - I had that same loose rear you spoke of on the Targa at the last HD sprints, especially entering turn one most times. First thought it was maybe a result of too much rear toe in but since figured out it was probably the lack of any working (pseudo) diff.

991 e-diffs are probably a fair bit flasher (true torque-vectoring) so you'd be best to judge. In the 996T I believe the e-diff works by just braking the faster spinning rear, so in theory it shouldn't wear out until the brakes do. That said, I usually lose mine one or two corners in as it relies on the ABS/PSM functioning and mine hates racing. Makes for a livelier drive with cooler brakes and hotter tyres.

John McM

Parts mule to improve Herman e.g. driver door, bonnet, spoiler, rear left bumper, left sill, alternator fan. The other car would remain a good runner and I'd put it back on the market, sooner rather than later. I don't need a PPI for that purpose.

Macca

Gotcha John. I hope its viable.

Walt. this from another forum may be of interest to yourself and chris

I just wanted to do a quick post on my impression of the recently installed Guard GT Club 40/60 LSD in my car. My decision to install the LSD in my car was the fact that I had trouble putting power down coming out of corners at my local track (HPR). I was running my car with PSM switched OFF (with the dash switch) in AWD form with the stock open diff on Nitto NT01 235/315 Rcompound tires and putting down about 550-600hp. My alignment specs are -2.2 camber front, -2.1 camber rear. Toe is 1mm total front and 1.5mm total rear. Spring rates are 600F/800R. Once I started running the car aggressively in the upper run groups I started having issues with spinning the inside rear tire when powering out of turns. It didn't matter if I was AWD, the car just does NOT have the ability to transfer much meaningful power / torque to the front via the viscous coupler. There are a number of guys here that will claim that an LSD is a waste of money for these cars in AWD due to our "abundance" of traction but my experience shows other wise.

When I initially had the LSD installed I decided to retain the AWD system to gauge what difference the LSD would make. The only other change I made was to have my shop totally disconnect the PSM system on the car thus taking it completely out of the equation. I still have ABS so the set up is basically like a GT2. Right off the bat, I could tell a difference in the car in the way it powered out of the turns. The car now hooks up beautifully and just rockets out of corners. It feels more stable under hard acceleration than before, it tracks "straighter", if you will. One of the things that surprised me was the fact that the "push" of the car mid corner was reduced as the car now was much more eager to have the tail of the car step out, the rate of which could easily be modulated with the throttle. It is now actually very easy to drift the car if you just wanted to play a bit. This was impossible before with the open diff.

The one HUGE difference of the LSD however is one that I did not really anticipate prior to the install. What I am talking about is how the car now behaves under hard braking and how much easier it is to trail brake the car with precision. Prior to the LSD install, whenever I would enter the braking zone and brake HARD, I could feel a bit of nervousness to the car that is hard to describe. Under hard braking the car felt like the rear end would get very light and lightly wag it's tail from side to side, enough that small corrections would need to be made. Also, it was very easy to have the tail of the car step out during trail braking and I would have to be real careful to keep the back end in check. After the LSD install, all this "nervousness" disappeared. The car is now dead solid under hard braking and I brake hard, generally just to the threshold of where the ABS would occasionally start to cycle. The car now just squats down and comes in dead straight. I think this is a result of the Guard LSD being set up with abound a 50 lb. preload which ties the two rear wheels together inducing this "stability". In addition, it is now much easier to trail brake later into the turn without the back of the car feeling like it wants to come around. All in all, it feels easier to to drive the car harder into the turns now.

I must also mention that the notion that the car will push on corner entry with the install of the LSD is a huge myth, at least not with the LSD set up I have. I detected absolutely zero difference in the corner entry compared to my prior open diff. Maybe this is because I can trail brake later and more aggressively but the car does not push any more than before.

Another item of note is how smooth and progressive the Guard CLUB LSD is especially now that I have done 10 track sessions and changed the gear oil. I fully anticipated more of an ON/OFF type feeling but it is just not there. The lock up both under braking and accel is seamless. Initially in turn 12 at HPR where the car accelerates hard and unloads a bit as it crests the hill I could feel the LSD lock and try to induce a bit of push but this is now completely gone after the break in. On the street the LSD is totally transparent with out any noise except when I am backing up and turning where you can hear a bit of a clicking which I assume is the clutch packs. When moving forward the LSD is dead quiet. I ran 3 sessions at HPR with the new LSD and then did some timed runs and took close to 2 seconds off my normal time while still running fairly conservatively trying to relearn the car. Not bad, I am sold.

The other thing I was considering was going to RWD and after speaking with Chris Cervelli who highly recommended it I decided to take the plunge. I removed all the 70+ lbs. of components from the car, added a touch more rake and had it aligned and corner balanced again. As an aside, removing the components shifted the balance spit from 38.5/61.5% to 37.6/62.4%, so less than one percent. I am very impressed and happy with how it turned out. The car is now RWD with LSD and no PSM but with ABS. Basically what I ran before minus the FWD. The difference is now is VERY VERY subtle and by no means huge. It feels a touch more nimbler and really seems to turn in even better. Any push that may have been there is gone as far as I can tell. I think you have to respect the car a little more and be ready to catch the back end from stepping out with a quick stab of counter steer. With my 550+hp traction is not an issue on R compound 315s anymore than it was in AWD. This really just reaffirms my belief that the FWD system does not have the ability to transfer much meaningful power to the front.

I did a few session at the track in RWD but with traffic did not have a chance to do any timed runs to compare it to AWD. I do believe that the car will be marginally quicker than AWD due to the fact that the car is a touch lighter thus allowing slightly faster cornering speeds and some power is freed up from the reduction in drag. I did gain about 2 mph at the end of the straight at HPR. My seat of the pants dyno tell me 20-30 hp. As I said, the car now does feel a bit quicker and more tossable. I like it and look forward to really relearning the car getting the most out of this setup.

In summary, I am very happy with the results of this set up and see this as a "must" for anyone that seriously wants to track their 996tt. In my opinion, for what it's worth, the addition of a properly set up LSD along with the deletion of PSM is a huge benefit to the AWD system that will give you quantifiable benefits when the car is driven hard. In my book, the LSD benefit is almost greater under braking than accelaration. For a RWD turbo an LSD is a virtual necessity in a track environment or if you want to drive the car hard in the twisties. It is beyond me how anyone could be happy with the performance of one of these cars in RWD mode with an open diff unless they only go in a straight line.

I would like to thank Matt Monson of GUARD for taking the time to answer all my questions as well as showing me around his shop, and taking the time to pick out the right product for my needs. I looked at many options when looking for an LSD and Matt was one of the only guys I spoke with that did not bad mouth his competitors in order to make a sale. And in the end, that sold me. I addition my thanks must go to Chris Cervelli for properly setting up the LSD in my gearbox and to 3zero3 for putting all this together.

John McM

If it's a straight body and in generally good condition then it's a relative bargain for someone in my situation. There will never be an easier way to improve the general condition for Herman and have him fully revertible to original e.g. have a functioning rear GPW spoiler. An added bonus would be a low mileage engine but I'm not looking at a long term mule.

Macca

John. Playing devils advocate here. Im not challenging the value. But if all you need is some trim, a door and a rear spoiler 25K, the space time and hassle sounds like a "resource" intensive exercise no? Then you have to dispose of a carcass once you have used some lifting equipment and a stand to remove and mount the tranny and engine etc. I have no doubt that broken apart the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, but I think your idea of a parts swap and then put it back on the market as a whole car cheap is a better one (and you should recover what you paid for it for a quick sale). We wouldn't be your car buddies if we didnt question your sanity from time to time or help stress test your business plan :-)

Matt - did you order that gauge yet?? If not I have another idea I think you will like...

John McM

Macca, it is a parts swap basis. I'm not going to go further than items I can demount in my garage. Herman is fully functioning as is, but has some panels e.g. Driver door skin and bonnet that aren't perfect. A clean swap is easy and effective as this car is the same colour. If you recall, I have a rear lid and Techart spoiler. I'd simply fit those and take the functioning spoiler as a spare. I suspect this car also has the same interior colour as Herman.

Overall, I'd sit the cars next to each other and take the best of all parts for Herman. I may destroy a couple of $000 in value on the donor car but believe me if you try and source these parts it will be expensive on a standalone basis. I ended up with nothing off Chris' car.

Anyway, it may well seek before I get there so it's all talk until I see it and do a deal.