How much should I do to my Boxster?
 

I own one of the first 1997 Boxsters 2.5L sold in America. For sure one of the first sold from Princeton Porsche. I'm the second Owner and I also bought it from Princeton used. I have had the car for 12 years with 90K miles.
Its time for the IMS repair and before I spend any money I wanted to give the car a once over.
Here are some findings so far- most are the usual suspects
Power steering fluid return line leaking at the reservoir.
RMS leaking - but no big deal already knew this was to be replaced.
Air Oil Separator leaking bad not a big deal.
Did a bore-scope and i have oil in the cylinders - looks like valve stem seals, I was having a hard time seeing the cylinder walls with my bore-scope - this is a big deal to drop the engine.

Questions -
Since this is a super early Boxster and does not have a programmable DME( checked the part number), what engine modifications can I do to increase the HP that can be handled by the current ecu? Performance muffler? Exhaust manifolds( have to replace the current ones)?

or should it just remain stock?

Have a few other question but I want to see were this goes!


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I think you have a wonderful early example. Is it worth anything more. Probably not. But so what. It has history and meaning to you. It seems like a keeper.

It's 25 yars old - it's going to need a bunch of maintenance - so what.

Fix what needs fixed. Maintain what needs maintained. Shine and polish what needs shined and polished.

Enjoy your car. It's special. It's yours.

That's why we have them.:)

+1.

Keep it stock and maintain it according to the factory schedule.

Then enjoy it.

Why do you state that it is "time for the IMS repair"?

Just wonderin'............

TO

Don't mess with Mother Nature
Keep it stock

Coolant tank. Add a new Porsche brand coolant tank to your list.

Unless you want to throw a lot of money at it to make it into something that it's not, just do minor mods such as suspension, lights, aero, and exhaust.

If your IMS bearing is shot, the engine is trash. Then the answer may be different.

Regarding oil in the cylinders: You say the AOS is bad. Is it dumping oil into the intake? Intake leads to intake valves. Valves lead to cylinder. ;)

I have a very nice book on an iconic BMW motorcycle, the R90S, built in the 1970s. The section on maintenance and upgrades strongly recommends against building performance into the bikes. If you do so (I am paraphrasing), the author says, you wind up with an unreliable bike that still won't perform half as well as anything modern. Maintain it, upgrade the bits that are clearly better (ignition, etc.) Then let the old lady age gracefully and enjoy what the engineers had built at the time, the author suggested.

I have a stock 1999 Boxster, and I intend to apply that principle to my car. Maintain, polish and (lightly) restore. Suspension bits will be the extent of my performance enhancements, and that's basically going to be limited to better bushings. Pretty much everything else is going to be stock or stock-equivalent replacements.

Your car is awesome and has a clean provenance, enjoy it no matter what you do!

M

I think it all depends on what the car means to you. If you love it for the car that it is, keep her as shiny as possible and stick with preventive maintenance like a hound dog.

If you love the car but want more, that's a hard question to answer. You can kill your knuckles or sink the cash if that's what you want to do. Keep in mind though that unless you go radical you're not going to get a ton more. And there is no question that if you ever sell the car, doing so will kill the resale value.

I personally don't think these are cars that should be preserved or iconicized so to speak. There are plenty of famous porsches, but I just can't see "the underpowered coupe that saved the brand from bankruptcy" being the next one. Sorry, I know that offends plenty, but it's hard to dispute that.

Drive her like she was meant to be driven, get as many miles as you can, and be thankful for what you got out of it when all is said and done. Unless you just want to have fun finding out what the limits are. Like I said, it all depends on what she means to you.

Sent from my POCOPHONE F1 using Tapatalk

I did both of what I highlited in bold & that's why I will have the best car I have ever driven forever. It was all worth it everytime I out run a 996 etc.

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I think the PCCM+ is worth a look if you're wanting to update the radio but keep the OEM look but add Apple Car Play. It's not the cheapest solution though.

Definitely looks amazing.

If anyone is looking for an OEM vibe, but no CarPlay I found this and it might be a go for me if I move forward with a 986. Has Bluetooth(streaming as well), USB, Aux and really matches the car beautifully

VDO Continental TR7412UB-OR European Style 12v Radio Orange Display Bluetooth https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D2R48HZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_P727H32P3V5YTWJ9ZXFY?_ encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Do you know if you can get Sirius on those radios?

FWIW, I just installed this Kenwood Excelon unit on Monday.

Kenwood KMM-X704

Bluetooth, dual USB, streaming (Pandora, Spotify), Sirius connection, handsfree phone, etc. Like the other high-end Kenwood units, it has customizable colors and dimming levels, so I was able to match the other gauges in my 2002 986S perfectly. The dual USB feature was important to me, since I like to keep my iPhone charging from the front USB in one of the cupholders above the radio, while the second USB connection runs under my center console and into the console storage area, to a 128GB flash drive that has ~500 albums saved in lossless FLAC format for better sound quality than the compressed MP3s on my iPhone.

The new Porsche units are nice, but they cost literally 10X as much as a decent aftermarket headunit. :eek:

Meh. A decent Apple CarPlay HU is going to cost at least $250 plus installation equipment. An equivalent HU to the Prosche one is significantly more as you'd need to price out one with built in navigation. Closer to 2-3x the price, which is still significantly more. However, it is OEM, and that counts for something with many people.

My 98 with 90,000 miles is in perfect cosmetic condition and I'm leaving the internals as 100% stock as possible. Oh sure I had to replace the coolant tank due to spider cracks that leaked last summer and obviously I have the typical oil, brake and tire work performed.....but that's about it. The car's worth (at most) $7M and I'll drive it until it craps out but honestly can't rationalize spending money on it. It's my 5 month a year summer driver that averages 5M miles a year.......If she "dies she dies" and I'll buy another one or something else. LOL....at this point in my retired life I might even shop for a new one, they're pretty sweet!

I'm interested in how you're pulling millions of miles a year out of the car.

I'm guessing Rob175 works in some aspect of finance, where "5M," rather than "5k," means 5,000. In that world, "5MM" is the abbreviation for 5,000,000.

Correct..... I'm in the printing business..."we" use M for thousands.....old habits die hard.

IMS repair at 90K
 

Hello, I was wondering about the IMS repair you mentioned @csaharp1. Did you manage that in the driveway , with normal tools. Or did you get the engine out and have a shop do the work? Just wondering because mine has 88K now.
Thanks

Hello, I was wondering about the IMS repair you mentioned @csaharp1. Did you manage that in the driveway , with normal tools. Or did you get the engine out and have a shop do the work? Just wondering because mine has 88K now.
Thanks