What did you do with/to your Boxster today?

[m332is]

Originally Posted by PaulE

Please tell me about that steering wheel - where to buy, it looks great!

I bought it on ebay... search: T96 Porsche

Also if you go on the company's website they also have a swap program which is "slightly" cheaper where they sell you the original round version of the steering wheel but it is thicker. The down side is they charge you a core and you need to send them your old steering wheel after you removed it to get the core deposit refunded.

I wanted the flat bottom as I find I drive bowl legged and wanted a bit more leg room. Hopefully I will install it tomorrow. It's snowing again here tonight so no test drive.

[Dave80GTSi]

Originally Posted by PaulE

Please tell me about that steering wheel - where to buy, it looks great!

And, you can get this wheel with colored stitching, so to match your car's color scheme.

Highly recommended!

[morgal48]

Had a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ installed. Finished installing Joe Toth's rear spoiler.

[PaulE]

Those look great. If I do it I will keep a round steering wheel and look into getting one recovered and made thicker with a red or yellow strip at 12 o'clock. I remember Chuck W sent his to a place called CarsDream in Poland.

Originally Posted by m332is

I bought it on ebay... search: T96 Porsche

Also if you go on the company's website they also have a swap program which is "slightly" cheaper where they sell you the original round version of the steering wheel but it is thicker. The down side is they charge you a core and you need to send them your old steering wheel after you removed it to get the core deposit refunded.

I wanted the flat bottom as I find I drive bowl legged and wanted a bit more leg room. Hopefully I will install it tomorrow. It's snowing again here tonight so no test drive.

Originally Posted by Dave80GTSi

And, you can get this wheel with colored stitching, so to match your car's color scheme.

Highly recommended!

[Bald Eagle]

Got it out of storage today. Had the battery at home on a maintainer so had to install it, took the cover off, got in, put the key in the ignition, took a deep breath and turned the key... we have ignition!!! we have a running engine for the first time since the first Saturday in November. Took it to Discount Tire and returned tire pressure to 32F / 34 R, put the top down on the first sunny, warmish day (about 50 which is warmish for this time of year) with the windows up and the heater on remembering why I love this car.
Larry (the Bald Eagle)

[PaulE]

Well the battery in my car is now 10 years old. It is an Interstate H7 85 month warranty battery. Whenever my car is in the garage it is connected to a CTEK 3300 maintainer. As my car was in the shop for over 8 months due to my engine rebuild saga, and I figured that I was going to need a new battery, but the shop said no, it was still good. Got my car home 2 weeks ago and the CTEK maintainer had the green light on and the yellow light blinking fast, couldn't get just the solid green light. This is with the cigarette lighter attachment for the CTEK. The CTEK manual says when there is a solid green light and blinking orange light, it is either due to a bad connection or the battery can no longer be de-sulfated. The car starts right up, the batttery cranks the starter without any hesitation., but since the battery is now 10 years old I figured it must be the latter, that it now has sulfate crystals too big to de-sulfate. Before going out to buy a new battery, I thought I would try attaching the CTEK wires that bolt directly to the battery terminals to rule out a bad connection. To my surprise I've had a solid green light without a blinking orange light for a couple of days now. So I am putting off a new battery for a little longer, but I have my eye on the Bosch AGM H7 battery at Pep Boys as it looks like the best deal around right now at $150.

[mgfranz]

Originally Posted by morgal48

Had a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ installed. Finished installing Joe Toth's rear spoiler.

Good luck making them last past 15k miles... On the 986 I got only 15k, on the Audi B7 less than 23k. Conti is a better daily driver tire...

[mgfranz]

Changed plugs and the oil pressure spring, don't let them other DIY fool you, I lost about a half quart of oil changing the spring and valve...
But the plugs don't look bad for who knows how many miles. Worn out, but clean.

[rexcramer]

I replaced the original coolant cap ages ago. Still had condensation issues on the bottom of the trunk lid. Finally got around to replacing the two o-rings on the bleeder valve. Condensation issues are gone. Thanks Pelican Parts for the the supplies. 999-707-370-40 (large) $3.00 and 999-707-371-40 (small) $1.50.

[kirkandorules]

Beautiful day today, about 55 degrees and sunny. Washed the car with Optimum No-Rinse - this stuff is pretty rad, you can wash your car in the garage! Then went for my extensive drive of the year on some nice back roads.

So now I have a clean car except for mud splatters, which looks kinda cool.

[MYRX]

Changed the oil, then installed the LN adaptor that allows use of a spin-on oil filter. Next I applied the Leatherique rejuvenator oil and the prestine cleaner to my leather seats. Wow, great stuff. Finally I changed the cabin filter and changed the engine air filter.

So she is just about ready for Spring. It's going to be a beautiful day in the Athens, GA area today. I'll take her for a ride on some back roads

[Steelepuls]

Broke the 100k mile mark, looking forward to the next.

[Jgkram]

Finally dropped the second set of cats. (Thanks for the pipes NewArt.) This was actually one of the easiest modifications I've done. Shot a little PB Blaster on the old bolts and they came off no problem. The fit of the new pipes was almost a drop in replacement. Now I'm just burning off the smell of the exhaust wrap and high temp paint.

[Dave80GTSi]

Originally Posted by Jgkram

Finally dropped the second set of cats. (Thanks for the pipes NewArt.) This was actually one of the easiest modifications I've done. Shot a little PB Blaster on the old bolts and they came off no problem. The fit of the new pipes was almost a drop in replacement. Now I'm just burning off the smell of the exhaust wrap and high temp paint.

Do you know of the brand of your replacement pipes?

Any notable performance changes observed yet?

DM

[alm001]

Did some cleaning! Still need to paint the calipers. I swear I'll do it this year.

[Jgkram]

Dave, that's a great question. As an engineer I was trained to ALWAYS speak with data. Any comment I offer now needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I deleted the cats primarily for weight loss. It's the best approach to achieve performance gains. I'm a cyclist as well and strength to weight ratio is everything. These engines are well tuned from the factory so "modifying" more horsepower into them without a tune or significant engine work, well...just doesn't work well. Ergo, lose some weight.

So to finally answer your question, there are three things that I "noticed". First, the sound is definitely different. Not significant but subtle, as in deeper. Not sure why that would be??? Second, it "seems" to be a little quicker. Take this comment with caution as I could be simple mashing the pedal a little harder or my mind is probably playing tricks. Lastly, there is MUCH more room underneath the car to get the things. It was amazing how much room it opened up. Those are my thoughts for now.

[Ciao]

Originally Posted by Jgkram

Dave, that's a great question. As an engineer I was trained to ALWAYS speak with data. Any comment I offer now needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I deleted the cats primarily for weight loss. It's the best approach to achieve performance gains. I'm a cyclist as well and strength to weight ratio is everything. These engines are well tuned from the factory so "modifying" more horsepower into them without a tune or significant engine work, well...just doesn't work well. Ergo, lose some weight.

So to finally answer your question, there are three things that I "noticed". First, the sound is definitely different. Not significant but subtle, as in deeper. Not sure why that would be??? Second, it "seems" to be a little quicker. Take this comment with caution as I could be simple mashing the pedal a little harder or my mind is probably playing tricks. Lastly, there is MUCH more room underneath the car to get the things. It was amazing how much room it opened up. Those are my thoughts for now.

I agree with that these P cars are engineered almost perfect from the factory and making them fast is cheaper and more effectively done by dropping weight.
Questions: 1. Do you have issues with passing emissions from dropping the Cats? (2) what was the purpose of wrapping the exhaust and what wrapping used?

[alm001]

Jgkram, that wrap job looks great, I'll have to take mine off and re-do it.

[Jgkram]

I think I forgot Dave's original question, sorry Dave. They are Top Speed pipes. I very much liked the quality of them (good welds, nice clamps, and fit almost perfectly). Ciao, I have not tested the emissions but no CEL thrown. I live in NC so emissions is not as big apparently out here as in CA. Not due for an inspection until next January but will do a follow up here then. I wrapped the exhaust because if you look at where the pipes are routed, they are very close to the axle boots. I wanted some protection for them as well as heat transfer to the rest of the engine. It would be nice to be able to attach a heat shield like the original pipes but that is beyond my skill level. The wrapping took a couple of attempts for sure. Part of it is skill from wrapping miles of bike handle bars and the rest is patience. I did cover with a high temp exhaust paint as well to help keep the wrap fibers in check and provide a little "environmental" (i.e. water) resistance. I purchased two, 2" wide 15 ft. long Lava wraps from Summit Racing for a total of $35. I used stainless steel hose type clamps to secure.

[BruceH]

I have the Top Speed pipes as well. There shouldn’t be any problem with passing emissions, I’ve had them for years with no problems. The weight loss plus a bit more free flow makes a little bit of difference.