When I first saw the initial Tribute to Carrera RS package for the GT3 RS that was revealed at Monterey Car Week I loved the spec. It was all the details that brought it all together, but was disappointed in some changes when the production version was released. When I was able to order mine I was happy to know that it you could do without the exposed carbon hood. No offense to those who like the carbon hood but not for me, I really don't like the sharp corner of the hood edge on the 992 and in Carbon it really draws your eye to it. But it was missing some details!

The first project I took on was installing the European turn signals and painted sidemarkers. I cant stand orange sidemarkers. Its a North American requirement and I was happy to get rid of them. Wiring the sidemarkers was not difficult, but being OCD it took me while to make it look as OEM as possible. Front wheel and all the wheel liners have to be removed. I wrapped all the wires in the black fabric Tesa tape to match OEM, and routed them with the other wiring bundles going around the strut tower behind the wheel liners.

Another issue is that the behavior of the turn signals is that they stay on all the time. Its fine when it was in the front sidemarker because the light is not that bright, but the euro turns behind the front wheel are much bright since they are only used for turn. Its looks silly having those on all the time. So thanks to @rnlst_log he helped me create PIWIS setup and I used to turn off the turn signals from being on all the time. Below is what you need to turn off to make that happen.





The next project was to paint the green details that were on the concept car as well as the body color wing end plates. First part was to paint the metal parts for opening the oil filler area in the rear. In order to remove the metal parts, you need to take apart the cover. It is stuck together with a lot of 3M double sided tape. When you remove the back cover, the metal portion is held in with 2 Starlock washers. If you are careful taking them off, they can easily be reused. Then had the metal parts sealed, painted, and cleared. I reapplied the double sided tape in the same locations and put back together.










Next was to paint the Wing Actuators which I much say was a pain to figure out! You have to remove the inner side of the wing uprights to get access to the circlips that are holding the actuators in place. You want to make sure that when do this, the car is in high downforce mode so all the fluid is pushed out of the actuators (meaning the piston is pushed all the way in) Once you have remove the circlips and have access to the actuators, there are 4 very small M2.5 set screws that use a flat head screw driver. You have to remove these so you can then pull the hydraulic lines out. Be extremely careful removing these to not let them drop in the mesh grilles beneath the rear glass, ask me how I know! Literally finding a needle in a haystack. Cover that entire area with a towel or something. The lines are labeled so you will know where to put the back when done. Then had to take apart the actuators so they could be painted but also had to mask off all the areas that should not get paint into. Very tedious job! But they came out great in the end. This is not for the faint of heart. Also had the wind end plates painted white and reapplied the OEM Tribute decal and had them covered with PPF along with the rest of the vehicle.










Last and final step was getting the OEM roll cage along with all the associated parts required to install it. Going with the theme of green and to match the reveal vehicle, I wanted an OEM Steel cage so I could paint it Python Green. The other parts I needed to locate was the OEM bracket and hardware. I purchased them from Europe and they were unfinished so I had them painted white as well as the screw heads, feeding my OCD tendencies. Below is a pictures of the difference between the cage and non cage bracket.













Keeping with the concept of staying as OEM as possible, I wanted all the carpet, and the rear quarter trim and cover plates to be from the OEM clubsport package and not just cut into the carpet. The plastic covers around the bottom mounting points of the cage look much more intentional than just cutting into the carpet. Below are photos of the OEM leather wrapped quarter trim that has clearance for the cage as well as the installation of the cage.

















Last and final step was to put the car all back together and installed the an Akrapovic exhaust. Happy with the way the car turned out.

 

Sick! I couldn’t get the tribute so did CXX using viper green. Went with lizard threads as it was more neon along with belts. Cxx wheels, white end plates, belt through, mirrors & steering wheel in leather with threads and yellow marker. Total was like 22k. Full akrapovic system, euro blinkers & went black decals with green accents. Did wanta exactly fake the funk. lol
Matty

tempted to paint the Porsche letters on the back. See bottom two pics. Thoughts ?

 

Amazing work - first I’ve seen of the factory mounts and carpet for the roll bar. Really well done - congratulations!

 

looks amazing, love the attention to detail. A few questions:

1/ when you disconnected the hydraulic lines to the wing actuators did they drip or had to be bled for air?
2/ did you ever attempt to get the painted parts in python green from dealer itself (ie the actuators or oil/water covers?)
3/ the plastic trims around the cage are OEM but the carpet looks like it was cut out manually and not OEM, is that right?
4/ did those cage brackets fit onto chassis without any modifications (ie were all those holes there to bolt the bracket to?) and what are the part numbers for those brackets?

appreciate you making this thread and sharing the details, super helpful. I had seen those euro blinkers staying on all the time on other conversions and it didnt look good/functionalat all.

 

Well done sir!

 

Great write up. I love when people make cars their own!!

 

Wow

i would never have the confidence to do this! Well done

 

Are you and @f4bones related? 😬

 

Personally think its better leaving the letters black. When they are black they blend into the tail lights completing the tail cross car graphic from a distance. The green would break it up and look busier.

 

haha, no but similarly adventurous I guess!

 

Thank you! too much longer than I was expecting.

Thanks

All about keeping it OEM

It wasnt without its challenges and frustrating moments that I left out in this post!

1/ when you disconnected the hydraulic lines to the wing actuators did they drip or had to be bled for air?

They will drip if you dont leave the lines elevated in the air. I taped them off in case. The system is a very simple double acting hydraulic pump, one line pushes the fluid in, the other pulls it out. So you need to make sure sure the piston is pushed all the way in the actuator/cylinder otherwise you will get fluid everywhere and when you put it back together you will pump air into the system.

2/ did you ever attempt to get the painted parts in python green from dealer itself (ie the actuators or oil/water covers?)

They are not available from Porsche. The one that was done for Pebble Beach was a one off. So they had to paint it just like I did. Maybe you could spec if from Sonderwunch but once again they would be paint them no differently. Its far too costly and time consuming to master and validate a new color for parts that come from suppliers for such low volume. Porsche doesn't paint these kind of parts in the factory. They come in as an assembly and are installed on the line.

3/ the plastic trims around the cage are OEM but the carpet looks like it was cut out manually and not OEM, is that right?

No I got the OEM cut carpet, but one could use the carpet that comes with the car. I wanted to take the guessing out so I didnt make a mistake.

4/ did those cage brackets fit onto chassis without any modifications (ie were all those holes there to bolt the bracket to?) and what are the part numbers for those brackets?

Zero modifications needed, they bolt right in. You do need to change the routing for the wiring harness though. I wrapped them in cloth Tesa tape to keep the wires together and keep them safe. All of it is completely reversable.

 

Well done! Amazing attention to detail. I'm halfway there but don't plan on the cage. For the actuators, looked like the show car was anodized? I may be thinking of the production cars in other colors.

The other thing for me is the wheels. If anybody has a good wheel painter (painter, not powder coated) let me know. So you plan to do that?

I also have the white hood and roof with satellite wart delete and glad I did it. Such a stunner in person!

 

No on the show car it was also painted, You're right, you're thinking of the red and blue. You wouldn't be able to match the same color in an anodized finish, hence why the pyro red and indigo wheels match the anodized actuators. I don't plan on changing the wheels since I want to be able to revert to stock if needed. Thought about purchasing another set of the forged aluminum wheels to make them match. I also didn't like the painted air intakes on the rear quarter on the showcar (prefer it black) and not a fan of the white inserts on the bucket seats. I forgot to delete the wart!

 

Wheels are next for me, agree with your comment about making everything reversible. I don’t have the guts (or skill) to attempt to replace the inner templates but they are ready to go at my next service. I still like the white intakes but both ways look good.

 

I tried to add white around the lip of the wheels but not possible on the WPack wheels with CXX. I passed on the white side intakes.