Originally Posted by jakeru (Post 480119)

Fun project! I'm also in the middle of re-doing my Boxster's soft-touch interior pieces. They are 2001 spec with the scratch-prone finish. I've got all of them that are exposed to any sort of wear out of the car, and am stripping all the old soft-touch finish off them. Some of it (side armrests) strips off a lot easier than on others (door sill trim)! Going to refinish with SEM color coat satin black, which I checked out a sample of in the auto body store and it's a perfect color match with the factory finish - and a whole lot more durable. Debating whether to clear coat for added durability with a semi-matt polyurethane 2K clearcoat over the top for the ultimate durability, or to just leave the SEM color coat (supposed to be quite durable in its own right) and call it good.

Originally Posted by itsnotanova (Post 475874)

The ducktail I'm looking for would be similar to the red wing on this boxster.
http://rennlist.com/forums/attachments/boxster-and-boxster-s-986-forum/601664d1327413515-gt3-rs-wing-on-986-boxster-img_1666.jpg

Originally Posted by tightbox (Post 481223)

Wonder what exhaust they used in that picture?

Originally Posted by martsink (Post 481181)

Love the plywood. I was thinking about doing that myself, but ended up getting a good deal from Rennline.

Originally Posted by itsnotanova (Post 481359)

Originally Posted by itsnotanova (Post 481359)

I haven't experimented on how to remove the old soft touch coating. I can tell you that the dishwasher didn't work for me. I can tell you, DO NOT use lacquer thinner on the 97-99 plastic. I had a small speck of what looked like paint on my center console. I put some lacquer on a rag to wipe it off. Big mistake! It made the plastic look chalky and there was no getting it out.
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...pscuhd9dw5.jpg
Here's all the chemicals I used to get it out without any luck. Perfectly good center console that's only good for painting now.
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...pscvgjq9vr.jpg

Hard to tell from pics, but I'd guess just some straight pipes with deleted cats. That's what a lot of the spec guys do. Nice boxster! I really like the Gambella look.


It only cost like $5 for that luana and I'm completely happy with it. I put some very thin rubber under it to keep it from rattling too much. It's an experiment. If you like that then you'll like this. I'm almost done with my version of the GT3 delete and it didn't cost me anything. I used stuff I had from home construction and some carpet from a 996. The first pic is how I modified the center console frame. I modified some 4 inch pvc with a heat gun to get the shape I wanted and then cut it to fit using a jigsaw. I then drilled a hole through it for the conduit. The conduit is glued in to keep it from sliding out and two conduit clamps hold it down to the tunnel. There's four factory studs that work perfectly. For the back I just cut luana to shape and drilled two holes to secure it to the metal brace. The back piece will sit on top of the bottom piece and secure it from moving around. Ok, it might not look pretty in these pics, but let me get it finished before you rush to judgment. I'm in the process of glueing the carpet to them.
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps0oivmtov.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps8qs3hgti.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...pscngqkk6e.jpg

Originally Posted by steved0x (Post 481406)

PS the pedals look really good too.

Originally Posted by Nine8Six (Post 482497)

Woody, just a quick but sincere thanks from the orient for taking the time to share what you do. Pics are cool, "thread is alive!"

Quiet but reading it all when updates comes in. Work safely mate

Originally Posted by itsnotanova (Post 482494)

I was going to wait until I went and picked it up before telling you guys, but I'm just too excited. I had the winning bid on a 2001 Carrera with only 37k!:cheers:: I really thought it would be months or years until I found a motor. The thought that I might have this thing rolling before summer makes me want to :dance::dance:

Originally Posted by tightbox (Post 481223)

Wonder what exhaust they used in that picture?

I've always wanted to try mounting a 996TT exhaust to complete my RUF 3600S clone.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1453592820.jpg

Originally Posted by itsnotanova (Post 475581)

I welcome everyone's opinions and comments. I'll admit that removing the insulation might be a little extreme, but I figure I can always go back if I need to. The main floor carpet that I stripped the foam off of was cut by the insurance adjuster. The cut is about six inches and will be covered by the floor mat. I didn't feel too bad about modifying that carpet because technically it was already garbage. Now the engine covers were good and I'll have to throw those away if I find that I prefer the insulation. Most of the things I'm doing to my boxster can be reversed if need be. Having 20+ boxsters to pick parts from gives me the luxury to do that and I don't recommend following my footsteps until I can give my feedback on the modifications I've made. I think I'll be able to deal with the sound. I've had some real loud cars and trucks in my life time. Really it's the heat that has me worried more. It gets hot down here for 4 months a year. Like 90-100 everyday! As of right now, I'm still dedicated to the cause of loosing weight. At least to a certain point. Some things I'm willing to accept the weight penalty for. One being the leather dash and leather 996 door panels. I've never had a car with a leather dash and love the smell of it. The seats are on the fence though. Again, I love the leather, but they're heavy and switching out to light weight seats will be an easy way to lose more weight. Second is the stereo system. As of right now I really want the Bose speakers and Kenwood head unit. I'm not a big stereo guy anymore so I can see me chucking that whole system in the future. I really like your ideas Radium King for saving weight and might follow them when I do decide to chuck the stereo. I also like the cayman engine cover idea. I've seen something about that but haven't looked into it yet in detail. I also like the cayman engine cover because it might give me more clearance for the Carrera engine too. Thanks:cheers:

You guys had joked about camping at my shop and working on our boxsters. I really wish there was enough of us around here to do that. I'm also big into Ford 7.3 diesels and there's a group of us that get together every few months just to hangout and work on our trucks. It's a lot of fun and a great way to learn. For most of the guys it's just a reason to get away from the wives and :cheers::cheers:. I've even thrown two events at my shop. I've thought about throwing one for the Porsche crowd too, but there just isn't enough of us. Oh well:(

Back to the build,
I have to paint some body parts and I want to paint some interior parts body color too. My factory roll bar is black, so I figured I would paint it too. The factory roll bar has a weld right in the middle that I feel looks ugly. It doesn't really bother me that much, but it's not that hard to smooth out if you're going to be painting it anyway.
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps3kar21xd.jpg

I feel the back of the boxster needs something. Don't get me wrong. The box looks good but I think it's just lacking something visually. I've been looking everywhere but I have yet been able to find something that I love. There's tons of wings out there. Some I like more than others. I had this wing from another car and I didn't really like it that much. The problem for me is that it sits too high on the trunk. I moved it down the trunk three inches and narrowed it 1.5 inches so it could fit. You can see the dirt marks where it use to sit. I'll paint it and see how it looks before I mount it. I think it might look good with the cayman spoiler.
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...psxfebgayi.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...pszrigqsfh.jpg

I switched the rear bumper cover out for an 03 and opened the license plate area like the spec guys do. While there I removed the rear bumper, bumper shocks and aluminum heat shields. I plan on getting mesh that matches the front and you won't see too much behind it. Opening that up allows lots of heat to get out.
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...psitb3qiba.jpg
If you guys with the 97-02 ever switch to the 03-04 rear bumper. Don't forget to grab the mounting bracket because they're different
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...psuihprgkh.jpg

Originally Posted by jaykay (Post 482908)

What tool and process did you use for the cut?...looks good! I image I would have to do a complete respray after...which is a drag

Originally Posted by Sassmatt72 (Post 484429)

F- Yeah. Looks great. and on wheels whatever, right....


are you getting any heat into them to really cure the paint?
m

Originally Posted by itsnotanova (Post 484374)

Painting day take two. This is what a polished turd looks like. Those wheels should have been thrown in the scrap pile but I decided to throw a coat of paint on them.