Color Dye
 

Jinster, thanks for the compliment. The color dye is actually made specifically for vinyl and leather. I researched it on the various Porsche forums including this one and came across ColorPlus.com. (I also came across Leatherique but went with ColorPlus because they sent me a leather care pamphlet).

So far so good...It took too many applications of paint to cover the grey interior dash and door parts that I never got around to doing the seats. I did test a small amount of it though on the seats and it does look like it penetrates the leather. On vinyl, since it doesn't really absorb it is more like a flex type paint than a dye in my opinion. But it works pretty good when you get the hang of it.

Do you get alot of glare off that white dashboard?

Glare
 

Actually I don't notice much glare at all. In person, it is more creamy in color...not the pure white like the Carrera white which would probably hurt your eyes with the top down. The other thing is it has somewhat a flat finish which doesn't reflect as much if it was glossy. I am contemplating whether to use Armor All on it though...to see how it would look still undecided.

how did you apply that stuff? do you rub it on with a rag or do you paint it on with a brush? so you basically painted the vinyl dash/door parts with leather dye?

it looks cool! wish I could see it in person!

Yes
 

I did paint my vinyl pieces with the leather dye. I bought a soft hair brush from the company as well, for minor touch ups...but winded up using the brush for the entire project. I had a lot of raised eyebrows around my garage at first. People thought I was mad applying on the paint with a brush. But the finish product, I myself was pretty surprised how well it turned out.

I took it to Porsche in the Parks, a Suncoast Porsche event in Sarasota, and got a lot of nice compliments for those who got a chance to take a closer look...I even made a grand entry when I pulled in and my car dumped a good gallon of coolant all over the sidewalk.

The great thing was I learned some very useful information from the coolant dumping saga. I got great help from a Suncoast technician who took care of replacing the fluids for my car so I could make it home. He also gave some very practical recommendations as to replacing the reservoirs and flushing the coolants using their vacuuming system. I also met the very nice and knowledgeable Pedro there who taught me a couple tricks on how to air out the coolant system. Thanks to them, I was able to drive my car home without any issues.

one word sums up the work done on this Boxster...

STUNNING!

Sexy, very Porsche-gini. ;)

This great pictures, thank you for sharing them. I will return to post the picture on this forum and you'll find them great.

Awsome work! I am in process of installing a momo hub for a new steering wheel. Do you have any instructions or pointers on the install? Do I need the spacer that momo is talking about and what did you do to disable the airbag warning. If you used the spacer what does it look like and where can I get one. Thanks in advance! Aloha

Steering Wheel
 

Hi-Boxster168,

Yes, there is a steering wheel hub adapter you will need that is from MOMO...The replacement is fairly simple, you shouldn't have problems with it. Link to the part: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MOMO-Porsche-Boxster-Steering-Wheel-Hub-Adapter-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem45f48cd19eQQitemZ30045 5612830QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccesso ries

wow pristine.

& I always wanted a two tone leather seat interior. This color-plus just might be the affordable DIY solution :dance:

Im my sig is a pic of my car with tinted tails and 3rd brake light. Basically sanded them down with a foam sand paper rated at 1000 grit. Mixed up some clear as usual then added some black paint to it. Did the same to my heads and markers which I think looks really good on the black car. The fronts are not nearly as dark and need redone because of the bugs/rocks. Just sprayed the tails an extra time or 2 to get the effect I was going for

Best thread hijack ever :D

Nice looking Boxster Jake

Clutch & Flywheel Upgrade
 

My clutch started to slip recently, it's currently at 156,000 miles now...I figure since the 2.7 engine has relatively little you can do to upgrade the DME for increased performance, I would upgrade my clutch and flywheel since I have to replace the clutch regardless.

So the Aasco LWF and SPEC Stage 2 clutch kit has been ordered and I should have it installed by next week. I will keep you guys posted on how it performs, hoping it feels like driving a new Boxster again but perhaps with a bit more ooomph! Excited to have my car back to drivability...

That's look really awesome and the main thing I like in it is the dash board. I think you have made it a great looking with such a nice stuff there. GPS is also attached in the system panel. That's cool looking while.

1000 miles into my new clutch & lwf
 

Got new seats too! I know it's not everybody's thing but I was trying to continue with my decor...so I had to swap seats once I saw these. Fortunately for me, they are the least of the expensive ones from Sparco...but how often do you find something that suites your taste and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

Impression on the seats. Very firm and supportive, makes the original factory seats seem mushy. I really like the side bolsters on the seats too, they keep you from sliding during the corners.

Impression on the upgraded clutch and lwf...LOVE IT! The first 500 miles I took it real easy but now it's a real hoot to drive. I have a hard time not giving it a bit of gas...between 3 and 5k rmp, the acceleration feels very effortless.

Next on the mod is the cold air intake...well after I get new tires. Any one have experience with Nitto Invo tires? I have Kuhmo Ecsta right now and the tire compound doesn't seem to give me as much grip as I like...had a couple scary moments so looking for a different set of tires to replace them soon.

Sparco Seat
 

Here is another view

Sparco Seat
 

Last pic from the side

Those seats
 

are the nuts. Well done sir.

Looks AMAZING! love the handbrake touch. Did those seats mount on the stock sliders?

Racing Stripes
 

Hey guys,

Devoted Saturday to applying my racing stripes on the hood and trunk of my car. I personally like it, but let me know what you think. Thinking about the fender stripes but I wanted to have the hood and trunk stripes be kind of the center piece so I have currently decided against it. Anyhow check it out!

Here's my teaser
 

Too bad they don't all populate so you can see them all at once.

Spyder Emblem
 

Check out the spyder emblem...it comes from the factory in a dull black. So I went ahead applied red to the top surface.

Last few pics from the rear
 

Here are a few more pics from the rear angle

This thread is a great example of why the show & tell forum is my favorite on here. I wish there were more like it!

Incredible work on that 986! It really looks amazing! I really like the way it looks like one fully cohesive concept, instead of a few tacked-on catalog parts. I see a lot of that junk going down the road. (think hondas & jeeps...)

Mostly, I wanted to post up to compliment you on having the guts to do that stripe. I don't think I could do it, and when I was reading your post about a stripe before I actually saw the pics, I was thinking..."stripes? Really? On a Boxster? Uh...not so sure..." But your pics have seriously proven me wrong! They look fantastic!

And by the way, not only am I a stripe skeptic, but i'm also a a stripe hypocrate. My non-striped 986 S shares grarage space with my fully striped Mini Cooper S. :D

Oh - and one last BTW: If I haven't said already that I think the car looks great, it does. But I'm personally not a fan of the Spyder emblem, only because it isn't one. I've thought to myself about putting a Porsche emblem on the back in place of the Boxster emblem, but haven't done it yet. Nothing against the Box emblem, just wanting something different, so I can understand why you have Spyder on yours.

I like it too! Great job!

Car looks, sweet. :)

Nice one Trieu!

Your car just gets better and better, loving the stripes but I think you may be due an amberectomy pretty soon :rolleyes: the finishing touch?

Thx
 

Hey Christian,

Thanks for the nice compliment, it's an old car but it has been a joy to work with. Surely, a newer car would be great to own but there is a satisfaction to take what you already have and make the most of it. If I had to redo things, I probably would have went the route of wrapping my dash and doors in alcantara instead...but some things are only meant to be done once, at least when it comes to my patience.

Regarding the amberectomy, does anyone have extreme close up shots...Christian do you have pics? I like the clear look but I'm not a fan of jagged plastics or rough edges if that is the best that can be done to remove the amber. I often wanted to heat the covers of the headlight to separate it from the main portion to get at the amber. Has anyone ever done it that way? If I did that, I would probably matte black out a certain portion of the headlight as well to give it a more aggressive look. But that may be far fetch...I should have tested my idea on the old set of lights I had.

Next for me is to matte black my rims. I've kinda rendered out what I would like to do with it. I am kinda wondering if I should powder coat it or use the matte black vinyl to wrap the rims. The wrap is definitely less permanent if I decide I want to bring back the original polished rims...in my rendering I deambered the lights for you Christian. :D

holy fuk. awesome.

Hey Trieu

You have obviously put a lot of time effort and money into your car and you derserve to be proud of it, it certainly has more character then a lot of newer cars today!

I woke my Box from it's winter slumber and took a few close up pics for you to study

http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/i...0Stuff/001.jpg

http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/i...0Stuff/002.jpg

http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/i...0Stuff/003.jpg

I used the soldering iron technique you can remove the complete amber lens through the indicator bulb mounting hole this does not leave any plastic jagged or otherwise behind!
Completing the first light did make me sweat a bit but it was well worth it.

As far as spliting the full lens cover off I know some VW guys use hot air guns or warm the lights in an oven/stove to separate the lens from the main body of the light but I think it could all end in tears on the Boxster light.

In my first picture it still looks like it has a slight amber glow but I think it must have been the flash reflecting on the silver indicator bulb.

With regards to your wheels either wrapped or painted they will look sweet :cheers:

That works for me
 

Hey Christian, thank you so much for doing that for me. That works for me, out with the amber and in with the clear! By the way, your paint looks really great up close...beautiful polish, awesome color too.

Cheers fella!

Any problems with the amber removal, send me a pm :cheers:

wow your car is so different from earlier pics back in the day both exterior and interior. Great work!

And yeah I had the same idea of blacking out bits of the headlight. I'd love to see what photoshop prototypes you come up with :cheers:

Very Nice.

Some New Pics Taken Late Afternoon
 

Here are some of my latest pics...one special new edition is the Klisstle roll bar overlays, one of the forum sponsors. I received the roll bar overlays a little while back and haven't had time to get it painted. It was pretty easy since the overlays come primered, so over the weekend I finally got it done and installed. Anyhow, check it out and let me know what you think.

A few other pics
 

I wouldn't of included these extra photos since you guys are probably sick of seeing my car from every angle possible but the sun in the late afternoon really makes lights and shadows more dramatic...so here are a few more pics!

I think it looks great! I will admit I'm biased. Not only is it white, but it has Klisstle Overlays.

BTW, I think the wheels powder coated in black will look fantastic!

Keep the pictures coming. I never get tired of looking.

Love this photo
 

I agree Derek, the roll bar overlays really freshen up the rear. My brother says the car looks newer with the overlays on.

I did another rendering w/ the black wheels...this time a bit more intricately to show the red calipers...I don't think I have much choice now. I love how it looks. For some reason, that angle really gives the car a very low slung look...got me thinking about lowering the car a wee bit now too. Too many mods not enough time. :)

looks great.

You should loose the amber in the headlights: http://hverheyen.vssi-eda.com/box_pics/lights/index.html