Fully amber free!
 

finished the complete Amberectomy this weekend. Followed Ebay for a few months until a set of clear tail lights surfaced for $135. Installed in 10 minutes
and here's the before and after.

By the way I also removed the old silver BoxsterS trunk badge and replaced it with the Chrome 550 edition badge.

next will be painting the bumperrettes or removing them altogether

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...415_5_full.jpghttp://memimage.cardomain.net/member...15_37_full.jpg

p.s. I used S100 wax (previously Pinnacle Signature) on the paint this time, nice reflection of the trees. I also worked in some Renovo plastic polish on the rear window, excellent.

It makes a world of difference doesn't it?

When I bought my 02 Boxster S from the Porsche dealership, I negotiated everything, then right at the end, just before I signed, asked them to add the clear tail lights. They were keen for the sale, and accepted!

Then, when I collected the car, I paid an extra £15 or so for the clear side repeaters, and then this weekend just gone, paid the big one for the clear front lights! Got them for £500 (pair) from Jasmine Motorsport in Lancashire.

My car is totally amber free (apart from the very slight orange tint in the front lights from the internal lens - which I'm too scared to remove in case I break something!). With the sliver strips added to my front grilles, the car really does look like the facelift model. I'll get some pictures tonight.

Cheers

Paul

question on rear badge removal?
 

I've read a couple of hack threads on removing the rear badge by running floss under it and then removing/polishing off the adhesive.
I was curious if your removal was fairly easy and if there was any kind of shadowing or residual from the original badge location when done?
I've got a mint "01" meridian silver that I would like to try remove the badge on.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Brad

yup, used dental floss. Came right off, slowly from left to right. There was the rubbery glue residue which I peeled off. There was still a light shadow which I probably should have removed using GOO or whatever they call that sticker removal stuff sold at Pepboys. I used the shadow to align the new badge.

removing badges
 

I heat them slightly with a hair dryer, then do the dental floss...the little reamining residual is easy to peel off from there. I had no shadowing.

^ Wow, just the single S looks real good. Wish mine was an S so I could do the same...

thanks...
 

here's a better pic...before I got the solver bulbs installed in the tail lights (so please excuse the Amber¡¡¡)

I bought the 'S' painted black form bumperplugs.com

looks nice! What kind of exhaust is that? The tips look nice. How is the sound? Any clips?

it's techart...
 

thanks for the compliment...I really like the way it looks too...it's amazing how many people ask me what kind of car it is now that I've removed the 'Boxster'. I went with the black to compliment the black rims I have.

the exhaust is techart, as with the rest of the engine mods on my car (catback exhaust, pre-cat delete, custom headers, expanded throttle body, air filter, and ecu)...I bought it from a guy who'd done that stuff to it.
the sound is incredible...really throaty, not too much drone. It's definitely the kind of sound where even people who know nothing about cars or porsches for that matters, always ask me: 'what did you do to that thing?' when I just fire it up in the parking lot. In my parking garage at work, as I troll through slowly, I always set off this one guys car alarm...makes me laugh every day....especially 'cause the car is an ovely-pimped out accord driven by someone who must think he's sir mix-a-lot or something....

anyhow, the tuning of the techart kit is not as wild as some, but my hat's off to them for putting together a tuning kit that inspires joy and has a very good reliability record to boot.
no sound clips as of yet, but I was thinking of getting one....especially after hearing that remus clip...I thought that one sounded raspy and harsh compared to mine from the outside, but the cockpit clips sounded more like mine.

post more pics of your can bro! I want to see all the things you've done to it. I was wondering how much did you pay for that exhaust? Any sponsors on the forum that can help me attain the exhaust?

painted bumperettes seem to be the final step for you and me Fuhrius.
$250 : (
But it doesn't look finished to me without color matching bumpers, especially when its parked next to a 911.

mods...
 

frank - I didn't do the engine mods myself, but the receipt from the previous owner indicates that $7k was spent for parts and labor for the techart kit (their 'version 3' kit)...don't know that I could have stomached spending that, but I do dig the way it performs. And for pics, see if you can hit this site where I've posted a few and let me know if you can see those...I have to get some of the interior: http://bubbler.net/pages/78162

perfectlap - on the bumperettes...I'm not convinced...I actually like the look of the black ones. I know that makes me a bit unusual on the forum, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? I like the painted ones too...but it's not a big enough issue to spend the dough. The last money I spend on the car was putting a techart-style aluminum pedal kit in and a real techart billet aluminum shift knob in (that I bought used for $150!!!)...and the knob is sweeeet.

FUHRIUS... How do you like they feel of the aluminum pedals compared to stock? Do they look that much better? I'm thinking of getting some off of ebay or something... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7960484121&catego ry=33700&sspagename=WDVW

not a big difference...
 

in feel, but a little better....I did it mostly for the looks, which is very cool.
they are a bit better shape, so I do like using them better.

have you done the rear speaker upgrade yet? I heard it isnt a midrange upgrade, its more like a tweeter or a bass upgrade. I was wondering, if anyone upgraded the rear speakers to sound like midrange speakers

I'm getting ready to do the rear speaker upgrade, but I'll be using a kit I found on eBay that uses coaxial speakers instead of the factory ones. A few that I've talked to that have done this say that the coaxial's sound MUCH better than the stockers.

keep us posted on your upgrade

No punch intended here ;)

Besides the personal preference, any advantages of not having amber lights? :confused:

Later,

^ +10 Horsepower

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porschekid ^ +10 Horsepower

That is what I thought. I just wanted to make sure since I did not miss anything important. :D :D :D

Thanks :)

Later,

It definately isn't a bass upgrade. The speakers are only about 2.5 inches accross so they are more like large tweeters with some mid-range imaging.

I just finished the rear speaker upgrade last week. It helps, but the stereo in my '95 Firebird is still better. And since I never once actually used those cubby holes to store anything, at least I am getting more usage out of that space.



I only did the rears and the side markers. Does that mean I only got 5 hp? However, the iPod kit added at least 5, so Im cool.

I hear you. If the seats weren't blocking the speakers it would probably help. Phrank, if you want more midrange and lowend punch I believe you could put the bose speaker shelf back there as well. I saw one slighty used example for about 500 bucks on ebay. Make sure you are running a decent amp though or it won't sound good. I don't think the base stereo system uses an amp...it relies on the head unit for power. The bose system is actually one large unit that acts as the speaker box for the 2 little 5" woofers and their are the 2 other speakers residing behind your head similar to the regular upgrade kit . They kick susprisingly hard for lil 5" speakers, but if you want lots of bass you may need something bigger.

HI guys,

congrats on all those who have gone amberless, your rides are smoking right now. Ive been thinking of going amberless on my 01 'S' but am a little confused with everything so pls bear with me. I was planning on getting the litronics from the porsche dealer here and do the amber rear lights and side indicators. The porsche dealer here on this Island is well known for their high part prices. I got a quote and the litronics after a discount (before the discount the litronics are about US$2500) were comparable to ebay but the rear lights come out to almost US$250 EXCLUDING labour. I personally thought it was just the rear covers but the tech guy told me it is the whole rear light unit thus the high cost. Anyone can advice on that? Anyone done a full litronic conversion 2gether with amber rear and side lights, how much did u pay? If I could get the parts from the states at a much cheaper rate I'll be inclined to ship in the parts and get one of the independant mechanics to fix it for me. Advice anyone?

installing teh rear lights can be done with one socket wrench. Its just unscrewing four bolts, pushing out the old lights, unclipping the wiring harness and then plugging in the new lights. tighten the four bolts and your done. Five minutes for each side. I thik maybe they meant $250 labor for wiring the Litronics up front?

I got rid of the amber head lights without going to litronics. I bought a used set of Halogen lights from a 2002 996. I paid $500 which was alllot for cosmetics but I know I can resell the lights for close to what I paid. So I guess I'm renting these until upgrade to full Litronics.

google "Sun Coast Porsche". they have everything what you just described. for what you want i think it should run about $1300.00 for litronics, $169.00 for clear tail lights, $60.00 for clear side markers. (all in pairs). i dont know about what the international shipping cost maybe. and find out if your country is going to charge you duty fees. if they do, OUCH!!!, customs will take one look at boxes that says "Porsche" and have a field day.

If you are doing a litronic retrofit(pretty sure that is what you are doing), you can just slide the original amber front headlights out and just insert the litronic ones in. If you don't do the wiring, all you are losing is the ability for the litronic lights to rotate a few degrees up when you turn on your highbeams. That feature wasn't importnat to me, so I just plugged and played without doing any wiring. It is great. The side markers, is a simple screw inside the wheelwell. Done in 15 minutes. The rear like someone previously stated can be done in another 15min. The plug and play can be done in 5 minutes.

Your dealer is ripping you off. Go online or call brandywine porsche yourself and get the litronics for 1200 and just plug it in yourself. I believe the rear clears are like 200 from the brandywine but dont quote me on it. Also the smoked side markers are like another $30. You are more then capable of doing all the installs yourself.

really??? the Litronics are usable at night without any wiring?
Wow, I wish I had known this before I bough the clear halogens for $500.
I thought the lights plus labor would have cost approx $1400-$1500 so I decide to put it off until I did all my other upgrades (wheels,skirting,Hartop).

did you buy the standard Litronic lights or did the retrofit kit you didn't wire up also come with it?

I bought the litronic lights from a 99 carrera off a fellow forum member on 6speedonline. It came with no wires or anything, all I basically did was pop my old headlights out and put the new headlights in. Turned them on, everything worked fine. And yes, it works at night. All the features work.

no wiring involved

how much of an improvement did you notice? I feel like I'm always trying to see 50 yars further down the road than my lights will allow. This is really starting to annoy me, particularly on desolate stretches of road where the lighting is bad and I have to drive slower. (well I guess that an unitended benefit :) )

I saw a pretty noticeable improvement over the halogen ones. However, I did raise the litroncs up a little bit to improve visabilty but not enough to blind the oncoming driver and flash me. I raised the litronics up and had my brother drive my car while I drove in front of the car to see if it was too high and I had him drive towards me to see if it will getin people eyeS. You wil definitely see a improvement in visability. I would even suggest you to our local stealership and drive a 986 or even a 987 with litronics to see the difference and determine whether or not the lights are worth it to you.