"Belle" The Boxster S Project

[neil_b]

Thought I'd post a few videos on what I've done to my 2001 986 Boxster S after a year of ownership and what mods I've got lined up for the future.

Video is here:

https://youtu.be/jKJTHuyQf4o



Porsche Boxster S 3.2 Tiptronic (986)

I wanted an everyday car I could track occasionally.

She’s called Belle

Stats.

• 252 Bhp, 305 Nm torque,
• 0-60 takes 6.5 seconds, ,
• In the owners handbook its states the Boxster S Tiptronic version should weigh between thirteen hundred and thirty five kilos (1335 kg) and fourteen hundred and fifteen kilos 1415 kg , so we’ll take an average of thirteen hundred and seventy five 1375 kg for now
• Gives a power to weight ratio of 183 bhp/ton

Had car for 1 year and driven 6,000 miles

Real world mpg
17 mpg intown.
30 mph on motorway
Using Shell vPower petrol (99 RON)



Maintenance done

• Engine Oil+Filter Twice
• Brake Fluid Twice
• Transmisson Fluid
• Coffin Arms (bush in one place could see daylight though)
• Air And Cabin Filters
• Engine Serpentine Belt
• Brake Pads – EBC Bluestuff
• Fuel Filter
• Aircon Topped Up
• Spark Plugs

My mods

• Bulbs – Phillips X-treme Vision
• Custom Cup holder build
• Tyres – was pirelli p-zero russo now Michelin ps2
• CD player removed and iPhone auxillary fitted with holder
• Spare tyre removed. I carry tyre weld for punctures.
• GT3 brake ducts installed.
• Four wheel laser alignment

 

Things to do

• Refurbish complete braking system – the hoses, master cylinder, servo/booster and caliper rebuilds
• Rear plastic window has a crack
• Alloy wheels have some paint bubbles
• Squeak from rear of car- could be engine mount, transmission mounts or suspension top mounts?
• Coffin arm bushes upgrade to polyurethane (Powerflex)
• Check and replace fluids – coolant, power steering and differential if needed

IMS Bearing repair
1997 to 2004 and it affects all Boxster, Caymans and 911’s from that time period. The purpose of the intermediate shaft is to drive the camshafts indirectly off the crankshaft. If the bearing in shaft fails this can affect the valve timing causing massive engine damage. The fix itself is relatively straight forward you replace the bearing with a 3rd party version that doesn’t fail.

Performance
One thing I wanted to investigate is increasing the power of the engine. What intrigues me is that 2001 Boxster produces 252 bhp but the 2005 model has the same 3.2 litre M96 engine but produces 280 bhp which is 28 more. It would be interesting to find out what changes were made and seeing if I could get the same result.

[986piper]

Looking good Neil!

[Dubaday]

The passion you have towards your 986 is awesome. Beautiful color by the way, there's something about purple(and I'm hoping the color I see on your car is actually purple) on a boxster that I'm starting to be really fond of.

[grc0456]

Nice. Enjoyed it.

I suspect the exterior is Midnight Blue Metallic (same as mine). Can look purple in certain light.


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[itsnotanova]

We need more exterior pics with the sun hitting the car please

[neil_b]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Will try to post some more pics soon. Sadly it's not purple. It's blue. I should really look up the paint code but I suspect grc0456 is correct and it's midnight Metallic Blue.

Any requests for mods I should do?

[jakeru]

Good stuff. I don't know that I agree that your coffin arm bushing has any significant or objectionable wear. Rubber looks good - no cracking or tearing. The place where you refer as seeing daylight through being a problem in itself is not actually a problem in my opinion - this is just rubber casting flash that's been torn from the bushing motion, which is by design. If it bothered you, you could use an x-acto knife and trim off this casting flash on a new bushing before you installed it if you wanted, and tuis very thin amount of rubber is not going to significantly affect the bushing's function.

You are seeing some contact patterns that inside the rubber bushing is moving relative to the outer part under track loads, and replacing the bushing with stronger material or that's more rigid in shape (like without the holes you mentioned you can see daylight through, or with smaller holes) would keep it from moving around as much when using it. There's a good chance this could allow the alignment to not move around as much dynamically, and basically give you more grip and better handling performance at the limit by maintaining better alignment under cornering and braking forces, although hardening the bushings could cause more noise/vibration/harshness for street driving application.

Nice vid, just wanted to share that info / my opinion for what it's worth!

[neil_b]

Thanks for advice and kind words Jakeru. In regards to the shot of the coffin arm that showed two holes in the bush (2:02 mark) do you think I replaced them too early?

[neil_b]

Next, I used bathroom scales in an attempt to weigh her. Check out the results in this vid:

https://youtu.be/071xPmVgE0E

[neil_b]

Next up swapped out the brake master cylinder and booster

Video is here: https://youtu.be/LsVANgHiR84

[neil_b]

New steel braided brake lines go on.

Video of how it did it below:
https://youtu.be/Czvr1_lNZew

[paulofto]

Neil, thanks for all these 'how-to' videos. Great information and really good productions.

[cbadbox]

Originally Posted by paulofto

Neil, thanks for all these 'how-to' videos. Great information and really good productions.

Ill second that

[TrumpyAl]

Originally Posted by neil_b

Thanks for advice and kind words Jakeru. In regards to the shot of the coffin arm that showed two holes in the bush (2:02 mark) do you think I replaced them too early?

Yes, those gaps in the bush at 2:02 are definitely supposed to be there.

Well done on the vids.

[neil_b]

Thanks guys for the kind words.

[neil_b]

I rebuilt the brake calipers. Video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3OfzPEqQJc

[geraintthomas]

How are you finding the braided hoses? I love the feel of the pedal as standard, the progressiveness you get out of it is quite informative to what the brakes are doing. I'd love for the brakes to be better (as would anyone) but I wouldn't want to get rid of the feel.

How are they?

[m3j0n]

what an informative post! will be following this thread for some good reference! Thank you.

[neil_b]

Originally Posted by geraintthomas

How are you finding the braided hoses? I love the feel of the pedal as standard, the progressiveness you get out of it is quite informative to what the brakes are doing. I'd love for the brakes to be better (as would anyone) but I wouldn't want to get rid of the feel.

How are they?

I haven't noticed any difference in pedal feel with the braided hoses with day to day driving. Have a track day in two weeks so will report back after.

[neil_b]

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