Boxster Resurrection: 2001 Boxster S back from the Dead

[P_Carfahrer]

Originally Posted by marcoc

Bought my 986 S a year ago and invested about $8k in it (wife wasn't happy ). needed the major service done at 60k which I did. I did 90% of the repairs but new top with glass window, RMS, LN IMS, clutch, flywheel done by a Porsche shop local to me. Not sure why owners let these cars go to **** and treat them as appliances. Nice job with your car. I always have a project planned, next ones are suspension work, brake caliper refresh, maybe a coolant tank replacement.

I know how it goes with the wife push back. I bought this car so cheap and then added the upgrade and maintenance costs to my budget so my wife knew what it would take in the end to realize my vision for the car. She still doesn't understand why I am doing much of what I plan because as she says 'the car works now’ and constantly asks if I am done buying parts and stuff. I have to remind her that I will spend what I budgeted to finish it.

The last few days I have spent refurbishing the calipers. Cleaning and sanding them was a huge pain. Brake cleaner didn’t work very well so I used an industrial parts washer I have access to for cleaning and sanded them completely. Here are some pictures of the process. I hope to have my caliper rebuild parts here before the weekend, along with all the other parts I have on order to get it rolling again this weekend.


Primed.


Painted.


Cleared.

[P_Carfahrer]

The car is back on its ‘feet’ again. Brake calipers have been rebuilt, rotors turned, stainless braided hoses installed, complete brake fluid flush/bleed, and system bedded. I almost got rear ended during the brake bedding even though I live in a rural area. By the time I finished the last brake cycle a car had caught up to me and so I sped up to give myself more distance and misjudged how much I would need and I was still slowing down when the car caught me. Needless to say the other driver thought I was nuts. I guess I am a little to be doing this resurrection project…

Four of the six plug tubes were cracked and I have to say Pedro’s tip of using a 1” boat transom plug worked perfectly for removal. New plugs were installed and I am sure the plugs removed were original.

The LN spin filter adapter is a very nice piece of machine work and I am happy with it. The water pump and thermostat were changed though the 160 degree thermostat was a bit of a pain as I didn’t buy a new housing and had some trouble getting the thermostat spring compressed while turning the thermostat tabs into my used housing.

I drank the Porsche koolaid and bought Porsche branded coolant for my coolant flush and don’t think I will do it again as it is ridiculous what is costs. However, I don’t expect to be doing another flush for some time.

I will say that using a brake bleeder pump and cooling system vacuum for the fluid changes sure make the job quick/easy.

I am happy that the oil/coolant/brake fluid has been changed and I expect the car feels better too. It is sure running good now.

Also, upon re-installing the wheels I also installed eBay wheel spacers (15mm front/20mm rear) and I really like the way the stance is improved.

Just a couple of pics.


Front Wheel/Caliper/Rotor


Wheel Spacer Quarter View

[marcoc]

Originally Posted by P_Carfahrer

I know how it goes with the wife push back. I bought this car so cheap and then added the upgrade and maintenance costs to my budget so my wife knew what it would take in the end to realize my vision for the car. She still doesn't understand why I am doing much of what I plan because as she says 'the car works now’ and constantly asks if I am done buying parts and stuff. I have to remind her that I will spend what I budgeted to finish it.

The last few days I have spent refurbishing the calipers. Cleaning and sanding them was a huge pain. Brake cleaner didn’t work very well so I used an industrial parts washer I have access to for cleaning and sanded them completely. Here are some pictures of the process. I hope to have my caliper rebuild parts here before the weekend, along with all the other parts I have on order to get it rolling again this weekend.


Primed.




Painted.


Cleared.

Looks really good. My clearcoat is chipping slightly but I stopped it from continuing with some clear coat touch up. Eventually I will refinish them.

[P_Carfahrer]

Hello, all. I have not updated the thread for quite a while as I was a bit depressed to do so for a short time and I have been spending a lot of time on the car since I got my motivation back. Long story short, two weeks after getting the Boxster back on the road, my colleague backed into the front of it in our parking lot with his full size Dodge Ram. The force of the front impact popped the transmission out of gear and the car rolled backward into a concrete light post. Resulting damage: front bumper cover, front lights, hood creased, and rear bumper cover.

The insurance settlement was over twice what I paid for the car at auction and after looking at what panels would need blending after replacing the covers and fixing the hood, I decided to completely renew the body and do a complete paint job.

I have a good friend who owns a paint/body shop and I have worked on the car over the last months for way too many hours for my wife’s liking. (She would ask what I was doing on the car that day and I would say sanding and she would say something like ‘is there anything left of the car as you have been sanding for weeks.)

Using the proceeds from the settlement, as I will be doing the labor, I will install xenons, new bumper covers, and side skirts, film, etc. Suspension work will follow from the proceeds after I get it all back together.

Today is a momentous day as after fixing all the body defects, priming, and sanding forever, we painted the car body. Yeeeeaaaaahhhhhh!

Here are some pictures of the process and the car in the booth both prepped and after paint. Please help me celebrate this day!

[P_Carfahrer]

More.

[MWS]

Huge bonus points for spending the effort to refurb the car after your most unfortunate accident. Most people would have just taken then money and walked away. I'm sure some people might think you are insane, but love is love, and you obviously love your car... It's a shame more people don't.

[BruceH]

Looks great! A silver lining perhaps

[P_Carfahrer]

Originally Posted by MWS

Huge bonus points for spending the effort to refurb the car after your most unfortunate accident. Most people would have just taken then money and walked away. I'm sure some people might think you are insane, but love is love, and you obviously love your car... It's a shame more people don't.

It is beyond rational. I guess I need to change the title of the thread to Boxster Resurrection: 2001 Boxster S back from the Dead .....twice

[P_Carfahrer]

Pics below after wet-sanding and polish. 1500 grit by hand to remove peel and denib followed by 3000 and then 5000 trizact with the DA. Polishing after these steps is cake. Sanding with the DA with such fine pads goes very fast and afterwards requires very little compounding with two passes in each direction.

In researching Seal Grey (L6B4/6B5) before painting, I learned that Porsche actually has five different variants of the color with the differences being in the metallic flake grain size and tinting between blue/grey. The variant I went with called for a whole quart of blue pearl to make two quarts of paint. It also doesn’t cover well so three base coats is minimum. I bought two quarts originally and had to go buy more paint as I wouldn’t have enough to paint bumpers and the other trims pieces.

[P_Carfahrer]

Removed the console to have it body color painted when I paint the bumpers and exterior trim pieces and installed Ben's short shifter. Nice snick-snick feel and the throw travel and weight feel really good. I haven't driven the car in months so I don't really feel a change that will bother me until I get used to it.

[507fan]

Looks great! Congrats on the labor of love. Painting the center console body color is a great idea. I also have a seal grey Boxster w painted center console. My winter project is going to be painting the door pocket covers seal grey too. There are also a few threads on here where guys have painted the front center console (stereo surround) and/or the molding strip on the dashboard. Thought I'd mention in case you hadn't seen it. While you're in the paint booth...