Newbie

[RandallNeighbour]

Gorgeous red color! Am I mistaken or is that a fairly rare color?

You need to check your car for the old top transmission cables. The new ones have a diamond pattern on them, showing reinforcement underneath the plastic. If you have records from the dealer, this should have been done under warranty in 99. If not, you should have them replaced asap to avoid the clamshell twisting up and causing damage that a dollar amount with a comma in it will require.

Don't freak out over this... it's probably been done.

Where are these cables, you ask?

Drop your top half way down where the clamshell is up. Look about two inches below the back of where the clamshell meets the bodywork and look for a cable that comes from a motor in the middle of the car, near the third brake light. This is your top motor and it has two cables that go around the edge toward the transmissions, which are both located above your exterior vents, but inside the top mechanism's area (hope that makes sense, it's the best I can do).

The cables may be dusty or dirty and you can wipe one off a little and look for the diamond pattern.

Gorgeous car. Enjoy it every day you can and by all means, drive it hard. The car actually smiles inside when you push it near the redline and corner hard in it.

PS - 18's are not recommended on 97's, but you can probably do it anyway if you don't plan to track your car or really be brutal with it on the streets. There are lots and lots of 97's out there with 18's on them and they've experienced no body or suspension problems whatsoever.

[gRed04]

I am in agreement. Incredible looking 97.

I am biased or are these cars truely stunning with the top down

[bigislandboxster]

I am biased or are these cars truely stunning with the top down

I'm with ya, most cars look worse with the top down, the Boxster in my opinion looks BETTER

[rdancd816]

Thanks for the advice on the top...I will check. I assume it was probably done as this is a Porsche "certified" used vehicle and they said they did the 100 point ispection. The color is actually Guards Red but I think the light at the time mellowed it a bit. This thing is a blast! I currently am running a new set of Blizzak's for the winter and they are amazing. Traction and control in snow are light years ahead of the Mustang I just parted with. Not that I want to spend much time in the slop with the car. What I really wanted was the GT they had in the showroom but $500,000 was a little steep! Anyway, great site here and look forward to trading stories with you all. Springtime in the Rockies will take on a whole new meaning this year!

[Perfectlap]

Mustang
I always loved those late 60's Mustangs but these new one's...I got paid $100 by Ford in focus group about that car in NYC once. Thanks Ford.
THere are couple of them in my autocross club owned by some really good drivers (way better than me) who can't get within two seconds of my Boxster S times. Except for that one guy in the Roush Mustang.

[Dr. Kill]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

Mustang
I always loved those late 60's Mustangs but these new one's...I got paid $100 by Ford in focus group about that car in NYC once. Thanks Ford.
THere are couple of them in my autocross club owned by some really good drivers (way better than me) who can't get within two seconds of my Boxster S times. Except for that one guy in the Roush Mustang.

yes. They are quarter mile cars. I spent a lot of time and money on suspension with my last GT and actually made quite a bit of progress, but it is no Porsche...

[Adam]

Originally Posted by rdancd816

Thanks for the advice on the top...I will check. I assume it was probably done as this is a Porsche "certified" used vehicle and they said they did the 100 point ispection. The color is actually Guards Red but I think the light at the time mellowed it a bit. This thing is a blast! I currently am running a new set of Blizzak's for the winter and they are amazing. Traction and control in snow are light years ahead of the Mustang I just parted with. Not that I want to spend much time in the slop with the car. What I really wanted was the GT they had in the showroom but $500,000 was a little steep! Anyway, great site here and look forward to trading stories with you all. Springtime in the Rockies will take on a whole new meaning this year!

Autocross times...mmm. They mean ****************. I got my clock cleaned my a base 987 by 2 or so sec. An expert driver is better than the most capable car. Walter Rohle would beat me in a Yugo... but I must say the box s makes me look better than I really am

[Perfectlap]

2 sconds? that's allot. Since the base 987 and the 986S are very close on power not sure about the torque on the 987. That guy in the 987 must a very good driver in indeed.
Evaluating Autocross times of various cars also depends on how competitive the drivers are, in one of my clubs several classes are seperated by less than .4's of a second as far down as 8th place! And these are very open courses not these mickey mouse sea of cones in an ultra small lot. Those suck!!
The Mustang owner I was referring to is one of those very competitive drivers from a racing family (the father yells at the daughter for letting her brother beat her by .2's!) so not a novice driver by any strectch and I'm routinely much quicker in my BoxsterS. So I guess its safe to say that the mustang driver is pushing the car pretty close to its limit. My conclusion is that The new mustang is a bit one dimensional out of the box as far as sportscars go. But then again the BoxsterS is on another level out of the box.

btw, Autocross times have become regular practices in evaluating and comparing High Performance tires. Granted using the same car. Much more cost effective than spending the day at the track and the directional changes are much more severe in Autocross. Some might argue a better gauge of the "real world" grip than at the track since Autocross speeds rarely exceed 80MPH. Road and Track did a tire shoot out in December and even posted wet Autocross times. Very interesting results considering the prices of the various tires.

[00Buck]

Congrats Rdancd816. Beautiful car. Good luck and enjoy the ride.