BRAN's - 986 - Seal Gray Anatomy

[BRAN]

bye bye Seal Gray Boxster Thread
:ah:
we had a great time! Okay, enough with the drama!
We left here:

[itsnotanova]

What's the story on your center console? Did you do that yourself or have it done? It's beautiful. Please share on here so people know what I'm talking about

[BRAN]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

What's the story on your center console? Did you do that yourself or have it done? It's beautiful. Please share on here so people know what I'm talking about

Of course, Woody!
Well, I found a company on eBay (Germany) which offered a complete overhaul for 996/986 consoles with oem quality leather...for a let's say reasonable price....ALL console pieces included...with stitching color of your choice (i picked grey, like on my door handles and the shifter leather boot).


So I took my sticky old rubber console, shipped it to that saddler...and he shipped it back covered (after stripping the rubber of course) with finest OEM quality leather (just like the OEM crested arm rest, which i found brand new on eBay). What a difference...

[KevinH1990]

Originally Posted by BRAN

Of course, Woody!
Well, I found a company on eBay (Germany) which offered a complete overhaul for 996/986 consoles with oem quality leather...for a let's say reasonable price....ALL console pieces included...with stitching color of your choice (i picked grey, like on my door handles and the shifter leather boot).


So I took my sticky old rubber console, shipped it to that saddler...and he shipped it back covered (after stripping the rubber of course) with finest OEM quality leather (just like the OEM crested arm rest, which i found brand new on eBay). What a difference...

Where did you find the e-brake handle shown in this photo? My Porsche wood veneer handle is crumbling and I am considering a replacement.

Thanks

[BRAN]

Originally Posted by KevinH1990

Where did you find the e-brake handle shown in this photo? My Porsche wood veneer handle is crumbling and I am considering a replacement.

Thanks

They were being offered on ebay Germany a few years back, it was kind of a rare find. As far as I can remember, 3 of those were sold as journeyman's pieces - "new" (to become a carpenter?).
Quality is absolutely fine...but I had to work on the inside to make it fit properly.

Now guess what? I found on ebay today: Maybe it was one of those being sold, "used" now.
search on ebay for: Porsche 996 986 Handbremse Handbremshebel Echtholz

[KevinH1990]

Originally Posted by BRAN

They were being offered on ebay Germany a few years back, it was kind of a rare find. As far as I can remember, 3 of those were sold as journeyman's pieces - "new" (to become a carpenter?).
Quality is absolutely fine...but I had to work on the inside to make it fit properly.

Now guess what? I found on ebay today: Maybe it was one of those being sold, "used" now.
search on ebay for: Porsche 996 986 Handbremse Handbremshebel Echtholz

Unfortunately, the seller won't ship internationally. That would have been a nice upgrade.

[KevinH1990]

Originally Posted by BRAN

They were being offered on ebay Germany a few years back, it was kind of a rare find. As far as I can remember, 3 of those were sold as journeyman's pieces - "new" (to become a carpenter?).
Quality is absolutely fine...but I had to work on the inside to make it fit properly.

Now guess what? I found on ebay today: Maybe it was one of those being sold, "used" now.
search on ebay for: Porsche 996 986 Handbremse Handbremshebel Echtholz

BRAN,

The seller of the handbrake graciously agreed to ship to the U.S.






My original plan for installing the handle was to remove the console and swap in the handle assembly. This process requires dying the leather on the handle assembly black and disassembling the center console. I have experience with both dying leather and removing the center console and I expect no issues with either processes.

The challenge I have is that the wood handle is missing the piece of leather trim that finishes the area between the handle and the rest of the assembly. I will need to remove that piece from my existing assembly.



Do you have any suggestions for removing this part without damage? It appears that I could pry it up with a plastic tool, but I want to confirm that.

Based on the photos of your car, it appears that you may have twisted off the old handle and simply slid the new handle on your existing assembly. I'm concerned that if I do this, the existing handle will break because it is already cracked.

I will appreciate any guidance you are able to provide.

Thank you

[BRAN]

Polished Trim rings (credits to Chuck )


almost no glare despite all the seal grey surrounding the gauges...sooooo old school, love it!

[paulofto]

That interior looks amazing . . . nicely done Bran!

[Muskoka Minute]

Originally Posted by BRAN

Polished Trim rings (credits to Chuck )


almost no glare despite all the seal grey surrounding the gauges...sooooo old school, love it!

Looks Great

What cluster did you use? Year/Model
Where did you get the Crome trim rings.

Thanks Bart

[BRAN]

Originally Posted by Muskoka Minute

Looks Great

What cluster did you use? Year/Model
Where did you get the Crome trim rings.

Thanks Bart

Thanks Bart,

Chrome rings: Offered by a company from Poland. A quality product, no doubt. I need to concentrate not to misspell their name, let's see "DIDO TUNING"
Cluster: Long time ago...year 2004 not sure what model, but I followed the 101 projects guide line, what to get and what to avoid.

[Muskoka Minute]

Originally Posted by BRAN

Thanks Bart,

Chrome rings: Offered by a company from Poland. A quality product, no doubt. I need to concentrate not to misspell their name, let's see "DIDO TUNING"
Cluster: Long time ago...year 2004 not sure what model, but I followed the 101 projects guide line, what to get and what to avoid.

Thanks for that info.

Cheers!

[Troy.Boxster]

I love the look of that interior... and exterior. The wood shifter, e-brake, and console are gorgeous as well. I may have to get the contact information for that leather work company.

I also like the headlights, side markers, hardtop, instrument cluster and, I'm confident, a lot more.

-Troy

[BRAN]

Thanks, guys!

...and another project done:
Blindspot detection sensors + interior LEDs integration
The outline of the milky plastic-glas is defined by the interior cover piece setup, which holds it in place.
Nice amber led light, noticeable, but not "in your eye".


And some more "older" pictures (exchanged the side vents with burl wood ones) of my mods:
Passenger side door LED? Why not...

a tiny little mod... brushed alu trim rings...look'n'feel is better than of the plastic silver ones in above pictures imo.
First, sanded down the plastic trim rings, 2-3mm, then cut and shaped a 2mm alu layer, bent it,
"brushed" it with a dremel, and "glued" it on top of the original ones. Perfect fit, perfect feel.

[jakeru]

Wow, Bran... very clever, tasteful, and detail-oriented mods here. WTG!

[BRAN]

Thank you Jakeru and Porsche9, greatly appreciated.

Update on my TMPS project:
The Chinese BLE TMPS arrived. I had a couple of questions and VXDAS customer support offered EXCELLENT, fast and detailed, customer support. That is really noteworthy!
So far, under test lab conditions (a hair dryer blowing warm air on a sensor...lol), I got nicely animated results with in my iOS app (android is available too).
Update frequency seems a little random, but that is probably due to my tast lab conditions, which means not installed on a wheel.
The Valves are made out of aluminum, which is required for high speed tires. Sadly they could not officially confirm Vmax >250km/h. Will see what the tires shop has to say about them...

I have NO CLUE how they communicate with my iPhone, as I cannot see any TMPS device in my Bluetooth settings, at all. Must be Chinese magic

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by BRAN

Thank you Jakeru and Porsche9, greatly appreciated.

Update on my TMPS project:
The Chinese BLE TMPS arrived. I had a couple of questions and VXDAS customer support offered EXCELLENT, fast and detailed, customer support. That is really noteworthy!
So far, under test lab conditions (a hair dryer blowing warm air on a sensor...lol), I got nicely animated results with in my iOS app (android is available too).
Update frequency seems a little random, but that is probably due to my tast lab conditions, which means not installed on a wheel.
The Valves are made out of aluminum, which is required for high speed tires. Sadly they could not officially confirm Vmax >250km/h. Will see what the tires shop has to say about them...

I have NO CLUE how they communicate with my iPhone, as I cannot see any TMPS device in my Bluetooth settings, at all. Must be Chinese magic

… sorry I'm late to the party. LOL

How do you like them? Do you have your phone mounted somewhere?

I went for the cheap cap version, then attached them to the valve stems inside the tires.

It was really cool mounting the tires because it gave pretty real time air pressures while inflating.

I just like that you can change the batteries on the sensors. You can't do that on new model cars; your only option then is to replace the whole sensor and pray the battery hasn't been sitting on the shelf too long.


TBH I didn't even know you were a fellow Z-topper till you posted the neato storage crate. The throwback vents over the rear hatch are a nice touch.

[BRAN]

How do you like them?
--I think they are great. Plan next year with new tires: install high end (V-max >250km/h) Alligator valves in them.

Do you have your phone mounted somewhere?
-- Yes, iPhone plus horizontally mounted. Modded "Wasteland" style mount with wireles recharging


older pictures, but hey

I just like that you can change the batteries on the sensors. You can't do that on new model cars; your only option then is to replace the whole sensor and pray the battery hasn't been sitting on the shelf too long.
--Most important for me is to have excellent valves and if the batteries die a year before I change tires (every ~6 years), that is okay with me.


TBH I didn't even know you were a fellow Z-topper till you posted the neato storage crate. The throwback vents over the rear hatch are a nice touch.
-- modded old school 911 vent...THANKS


will update the old pictures when installed again (dec2020?)...I like the fresh air too much, to have it installed permanently.

[BruceH]

Really nice as usual BRAN! I really like the leather center console. I talked to one shop a few years ago and they didn't want to take it on. I need to try to find someone around here that can do something like that.

[BRAN]

How about a little "Bling"... (photoshop!)
The gear indicator would be easy to install, but that Porsche 918RSR shift light would be a little tricky to install on a 986 steering wheel
There are a few aftermarket solutions from CARTEK, but I don't like their looks as much.

Car 54, where are you? That would be another cool project (a copy of the 918RSR shift light with OBD and Bluetooth support) for our forum engineer Fred