Nevergrowup's 986
 

Greetings from Norway! I haven't posted much here since buying my base tip last fall, so it's time for an introduction.

I'm a 46 yo father of four, oldest son is soon 19 and the youngest son is soon 3, so there's quite the variety.

My first Porsche was a 1986 944NA:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ba...T=w898-h673-no

After a few years, and a divorce, I managed to trade this to a 1981 911 SC, which had always been my dream. This one right here:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ur...=w1016-h572-no

In fact, I never thought I'd part with it, and was so enamoured with it that I made this tribute movie about it.

https://youtu.be/X_UHIqUlC9k

I was overwhelmed by the response, and even had PCA share it on their FB page all the first weekend!

OK, enough of this own horn tooting!

I loved that 911 very much, but found myself growing a bit... bored with it. And the appreciating value made me weary of over using it, and I wanted something I could modify more, without diminishing its value, so I began thinking. My oldest son was getting his licence, and needed a car so we got him a NA Miata, and it was a hoot to drive! So, naturally I began thinking about a Boxster.

So, I sold the 911 which gave me a nice profit, and I bought this black 986 tip with replica Cayman S wheels and a nice hardtop. I was going to use this pretty much all year round, and my wife deseved something fun to drive too, and she often drives in heavy trafffic, so this fit the bill perfectly.

Here it is, a little bland, as it sat the day I picked it up:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4k...=w1016-h572-no

OK, modifications and more pics to come!

Welcome and congratulations on the new Boxster. Looks to be a 1998?

What modifications are you planning to make?

All great cars and pics! The little roadster being the best of them all though

Welcome :cheers:

that video you made was awesome! the random comedy was perfect!
looking forward to seeing your modifications, and welcome to the forum :cheers:

Thanks!

OK, kids are in bed. Well, at least the little one. So, let's get down to business!

The first I did was painting the calipers. And I had seen a car here on the forum that was saved by one of the members (can't remember who) which had the Porsche logo under the intake. I liked that so I blatantly copied it:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xF...=w1016-h572-no

I'm also quite into car audio, so the stock unit had to go. I'm planning on replacing speakers and possibly the amp later on, but for now I settled with installing a double DIN unit, and moving the air con unit to the bottom. And whoa! That was a pain in the ass to get those wires and connectors through the hole in the metal bracket! I almost cried and gave up!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/D-...=w1016-h572-no

Along with the head unit I also installed a backup camera. You can barely see it here, above the licence plate:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Y3...=w1016-h572-no

The tail lights were clear and red, and I liked the smoked and red lights better, but instead of buying new ones I bought some smoked wrap foil and covered half of the light. I think it came out pretty good.

I used the car through the winter, but the stock wheels which had snow tires on were quite tattered and dull, so I gave them a rattlecan makeover:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IH...=w1016-h572-no

The stripe is actually a rubber strip with sticky tape in the inside, but the profile of the stripe didn't quite match the profile of the edge of the rim so I guess it didn't stick properly. Anyway, my wife drove it on the freeway and flap-flap-flap-whoosh! There it went! The stripe, that is. So I tore the other three off, and I'll paint the stripe on instead before next winter.

I had a set of 7x15 teledials after the 911, so I test fitted them and used them while the other set was 'refurbished'. Here they are on when I was getting the christmas tree:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bB...Y=w718-h404-no

(Actually, that's not true. I thought it would make a good picture. I really stuck the tree in there while parked in my driveway.)

The fitment was so close that the balance weights actually touched the corner of the calipers! So, not really recommended.

OK, spring finally came along here in south east of Norway, and I get itchy to 'modify' or 'personalize' som more. I've always thought the headlights to be too big, and giving the car a surprised look. I've seen some aftermarket headlights and trim, but nothing I really fancied. I got hold of some high quality masking tape. The blue, plastic kind which is elastic, and went to town on the headlights. Felt like Chip Foose while i laid out a nice curved stripe aound the perimiter. Then I sanded and painted, and finished up with clear coating:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0z...=w1016-h572-no

As you can see in the pic of the rear above, the licence plate surround was faded and ugly, so while I had the rattle can out I painted those as well. The Porsche center logo was still visible, so I took some Martini vinyl I had gotten off ebay for another car, and placed on the bottom of them both to get some color. And then I thought about the rear spoiler which isn't very visible on a black car, so I did this. Not sure I'll keep it, but I think it's kinda fun:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dP...=w1016-h572-no

If you look closely you can see it's not quite aligned, though. Oh well...

During the winter I had trouble deciding what to do with the summer wheels. I went back and forth. Black? Black with silver lip? Nah...

I decided to do this:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/h9...=w1016-h572-no

Another rattle can refurbish. The barrel is black, the rest is bronze, all covered in clear coat.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xP...=w1016-h572-no

They appear very brown in the shade, but glow up in the sunlight.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vB...=w1016-h572-no

Here I am at Cars & Coffee in Oslo last Sunday:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/S3...=w1016-h572-no

As you see the bumper grilles are faded white, and I'll tackle them during the Easter holiday, and clean the radiators in the process. One last pic from this morning, taking a detour to work:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/m5...=w1016-h572-no

I've had great help and learned so much from this forum and the people on here! It's really awesome! Thanks to all!

perfect timing! I acquired 18" Turbo Twists and am thinking painting them black with a red pin stripe on the edge, but was wondering how that looked; now I know!

Gracias!

Cleaned out the radiators amd painted the grilles and installed black mesh:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vC...=w1016-h572-no

Nice
 

Very nice. I like the unique wheel color choice. The Martini stripe carrying over from the spoiler is pretty cool as well!

Thank you!

Very Nice - Like the black grills and the head lamp trim.

I'm constantly waiting for Geraintthomas to post updates, but I guess I should contribute to the Show and Tell myself.

I've pondered what to change about the Boxster over the winter, and decided to go for gold - literally.

Like many I also considered adding LED DRL's. I even ordered them and have them waiting for installment, but thought that so many have done that, and I want to be a little different.

Then I saw a pic of a black 996 with a roof rack and cool rally lights. A little searching, a little more considering, and then I though f*k it! I've never seen a Boxster with such a setup.

So I spend Easter spraypainting my Cayman S replicas (once again), and last weekend I installed the lights. Here's the result -I'm quite pleased with how it came out.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/r4...=w1472-h751-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/DY...=w1920-h903-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/RT...=w1810-h901-no

Nice! Takk for at du deler.

I think the rally lights look great on your car, it all works together, nice :cheers:

Nice mods! Love the rally lights.

Absolutely my cup of tea!
The Gold wheels, all the subtle little details are in harmony, lovely!

And those Rally/Fog lights are right up my alley. Maybe another pic from the side would be cool, just to see how much they extend the front, optically.

Thanks guys!

Here's a couple of more pics. The lights are very slim. The fisheye effect makes them look a little more droopy than they actually are (even if they should be adjusted a bit more upwards - when I get the time; I have to get behind the bumper again)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/w7...=w1137-h974-no

The bumper is rather beaten, but hey - it's a daily driver. My wife had some Mario Kart action on the motorway a while ago.
A truck (probably driven by Bowser) dropped a heavy metal box behind it, and she could only swerve a bit so it was impossible to miss it completely. Unfortunately she didn't have any turtle shells to throw back at him.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YE...=w1024-h768-no

I have also painted the side vents matte black (as copied from Geraintthomas), and to match the grilles I have added in the front bumper I did the same behind these vents.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ul...=w1024-h768-no

And to show that the wheels now are matching the interior:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Us...=w1024-h768-no

Cat not very impressed by color match. Just interested in climbing on top of it.

And one more, just for the heck of it:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/GH...=w1024-h768-no

Great pics. They look really good and fitting. Do you use them as DRLs?
They might affect the air intake a bit, but hey :D

Looked much better with the black wheels with red lip.
The gold would work if you ditched the Martini stripes and red "Porsche" decal, but as is, too many colors going on.

Awesome look, but the Martini stripes take your eyes away from the wheels. It would be a cleaner look w/out the martini stripes:cheers: