1998 Boxster Recently Purchased - New Member Intro

[BrandonJames89]

Hello everyone! I purchased this car a few months ago and have been enjoying every second of it. It's a black 1998 tiptronic with boxster red interior. I'm currently starting my senior year in Aerospace Engineering. I was lucky enough to find this car in excellent condition after my last vehicle was totalled when I was rear ended in Feb.

Things I found that are already modified on the car:
-Litronic Headlights
-Aftermarket Rims (No idea what brand)
-Reupholstered Seats (has full leather interior)
-Sony Bluetooth Headunit with ipod cable connection and hands free calling
-Depo clear/red Tail lights
-GAAH Convertible Top with heated glass rear window
-Cayman Style Spoiler
-Red painted Calipers with Porsche decals
-New black/silver floor mats with "Porsche" embroidered
-Porsche logo badge on rear instead of "Boxster" and new badge on front
-Silver mesh grills over intakes
-K&N air filter
-Clear side markers
^all that saved me a lot of money

What I've done:
-Ordered a set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports to replace the worn front Falken tires. (235/40ZR18) has a new set of Pilot Sport A/S + on back (275/35/18)
-Cleaned Throttle Body/MAF sensor/Radiators and dirty engine bay
-Fresh mobile 1 synthetic oil and filter and a bottle of techron fuel system cleaner
-Cleaning almost everyday

Future Plans:
-Exhaust (dreaming about fabspeed race exhaust)
-RoW M030 or Coil over suspension (undecided)
-Fixing a rear right rattle over bumps while slow coasting (seems like a control arm from what I've read and gets progressively worse while car gets hot)
-smoked LED 3rd brake light and white LED interior lights
-need a new set of visor mirror flaps (1 missing, 1 broken)
-dyno tuning at Titan Motorsports
-underdrive pulley (undecided on which to buy)

Here are some pictures:

[JAAY]

Looks great! Congrats on the new set of wheels.

[BruceH]

Welcome! Looks very nice! I love those wheels too and that's a very nice list of improvements. The car looks like its new. How many miles?

[BrandonJames89]

Originally Posted by BruceH

Welcome! Looks very nice! I love those wheels too and that's a very nice list of improvements. The car looks like its new. How many miles?

Thanks guys!

Got it with 101,2xx
now has around 106,6xx

He told me many of the upgrades were done in the last year so I'm guessing that's why it looks so nice. I have the full service records and all paperwork and it looks like any issues the car had were already fixed at dealerships. My last car was a 2007 and the paint on this car is in better shape! It runs amazing.

-rotors/pads replaced (drilled rotors)
-spark plugs were changed around 60k so ill be doing that soon
-serp belt was replaced a while ago but i'll do that with the underdrive pulley
-MAF was replaced because of CEL
-driver seat belt connector was replaced because of an error
-fuel filter replaced
-I had the air bag off and noticed that the steering wheel had a $4XX.XX price tag on the frame so i'm guessing that was replaced too

In the 5,000 miles I had it the only real problem I noticed was the rattling when coasting slowly from the rear right. I want to fix it as it's more of an annoyance than anything but I'm not certain on which part is actually causing it and don't want to be buying random parts.

[97 Boxster]

Brandon,

Congrats on the nice pick up. You will love it. I too have had that rattling noise from the back and if its similar to mine it is the soft top cover area by the trunk (not sure what its called). Mine was loose when the top was up or down and I checked the rubber stops that the cover sits on and mine needed adjustment. Not sure if this makes sense but it was a rattle that was bugging me for months only at slow speeds.

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by BrandonJames89

Thanks guys!

Got it with 101,2xx
now has around 106,6xx

He told me many of the upgrades were done in the last year so I'm guessing that's why it looks so nice. I have the full service records and all paperwork and it looks like any issues the car had were already fixed at dealerships. My last car was a 2007 and the paint on this car is in better shape! It runs amazing.

-rotors/pads replaced (drilled rotors)
-spark plugs were changed around 60k so ill be doing that soon
-serp belt was replaced a while ago but i'll do that with the underdrive pulley
-MAF was replaced because of CEL
-driver seat belt connector was replaced because of an error
-fuel filter replaced
-I had the air bag off and noticed that the steering wheel had a $4XX.XX price tag on the frame so i'm guessing that was replaced too

In the 5,000 miles I had it the only real problem I noticed was the rattling when coasting slowly from the rear right. I want to fix it as it's more of an annoyance than anything but I'm not certain on which part is actually causing it and don't want to be buying random parts.

[58ceramicgreen]

Very nice! Loving those wheels! Look like BBS LM's? Would love some more info on that spoiler? Does it pop up? Looks very nice...subtle yet a little more aggressive!
Nice car!

[nicecar]

lower control arms rattles over cobblestone driveway , cracks etc... when coasting make sure to do the right and left together. I did one and just did the other a year later but it was still rattiling after i did one side, dealer 389 for the part pelican 207. 20 minute install per side. find a good indy or p.m. me and ill you up here in jax. so you too can save a ton

[BrandonJames89]

Originally Posted by 58ceramicgreen

Very nice! Loving those wheels! Look like BBS LM's? Would love some more info on that spoiler? Does it pop up? Looks very nice...subtle yet a little more aggressive!
Nice car!

Thanks, yeah they do look a lot like bbs wheels. Problem is that the previous owner put porsche logo stickers over the center caps which probably have the brand name on them. I didn't want to ruin any of the decals by peeling them back to get a peek. They have some minor curb rash and peeling clear coat mostly on the right side. I may have them refinished and will find out exactly what they are then.

The spoiler appears to be this one or very similar to this one:
Porsche Boxster Turbo Style Rear Wing

It does pop up and I think it looks a lot nicer than the stock spoiler. I'll try to get a few pics with it up tomorrow. If you click view additional photo after the link I gave you they have a picture with it up.

I found this one too on renntech. Looks exactly like mine when up.
http://www.renntech.org/forums/uploads/post-10990-1155137612_thumb.jpg

[BrandonJames89]

Originally Posted by nicecar

lower control arms rattles over cobblestone driveway , cracks etc... when coasting make sure to do the right and left together. I did one and just did the other a year later but it was still rattiling after i did one side, dealer 389 for the part pelican 207. 20 minute install per side. find a good indy or p.m. me and ill you up here in jax. so you too can save a ton

Would you mind sending a link with the exact part you needed?

I'm seeing this number 996-341-053-17-M80 for the lower rear left/right control arm
and a few other parts labeled control arm links with different part numbers on Pelican.

[white out]

The wheels look like BBS LM or knockoffs. Which, IMO are one of the best style wheels ever produced by man.

Nick

[BrandonJames89]

So the rattle source was the long control arm that connects the suspension to the body down the side of the car. I found a guide to repair the ball joint and spent a couple hours last weekend following that process. Tapped the sleeve that the ball sits in and injected some new grease into the joint and the noise is gone from that side completely. I noticed now that the left side actually makes a little bit of noise as well when warm but the right side eliminated 90% of the noises the car made over bumps. SO much nicer to drive without that noise.

The best way to describe the noise to determine if you have the same part going bad is a loose bolt shaken in a cardboard box right behind the passenger seat.

I also got my Michelin Pilot Super Sports installed up front and they make the falken tires I had feel like they were made out of plastic as far as grip and ride quality. An alignment and the new tires with balance completely eliminated my steering wheel shake at 70-75ish.

More pics!




Here is the spoiler up:

[BrandonJames89]

So I made a few small improvements recently:
-Desnorkel. I really loved the difference in sound from the intake and couldn't care less if it affected mpg (which I don't think it has)

-Replaced Broken A/C vent


-Added hella supertone horns because mine were completely dead. (btw there were two perfect spots behind the metal bumper that the horns bolted to symmetrically.

-New Alpine speakers in dash

-Replaced broken visor mirror covers and removed airbag warning stickers




-I have a smoked LED third brake light and White LED bulbs for the trunks, interior, and license plate on the way
-I also got a flex orbital buffer with some polishes and pads from the chemical guys to really make the car shine.

[BruceH]

You were busy! Looks great!