Too many Boxsters?

[986tate]

Makes sense.
I guess if you’re going to all the trouble of removing the wipers then you don’t want to have to do it again.
Thanks,

[78F350]

Happy Veterans Day (USA).

[78F350]

The silver 2000 S is sold now. I didn't list it for sale, but mentioned that I was getting ready to and got an offer. I met the buyers at the Tulsa airport yesterday and they have a nice adventure planned returning home over a few days.



Today I joined with a group of ADV bike riders overlanders for a Christmas Toy Run. When I walked in the cafe where everyone was meeting, they asked what I was driving.
"A Porsche Boxster."
They looked down the street where I parked and said, "You win."

[78F350]

A brief walk around of the '04 SE today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDYkC7GRCh8

I'm planning to get back to work on some Boxster projects soon.

• I'd like to get the engine installed in the Arena Red '99 and mix it into my line-up of daily drivers.
• The Frog needs to be put together and running for Rallycross season probably by early March.
• Next month the Xbox is going to Dallas for one of the 'Gambler 500 Rally' founders to display.
• My wife's car needs the charcoal canister replaced and the clearcoat is getting bad.

Just to move things along, I'm strongly considering putting my spare 2.7L engine in the Frog instead of the Audi V8. For the V8 swap, everything needs to come back out and a new subframe/engine mounting needs to be fabricated. Since most of the wiring in the Frog is still intact, reverting to the 2.7L with the 996 intake and tune is simple. It ran great with the 2.7L (until it didn't). The blue '02 S can become the V8 project car and even be street legal, which the Frog can't.

So much I want to do, it's hard to decide what's next.

[78F350]

Thanks...
I had the Xbox out today to wash some mud off and figured I might as well do a quick video feature of it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJnr2iVaE4w

[78F350]

I dropped off the Xbox in Texas last weekend. The founder of the 'Gambler 500 Rally' is flying in from the west coast for a big function in Dallas and needed a car to stand next to and 'represent'. A common friend gave me a call and asked if I'd loan it to him for the show. Hell yeah.



Meanwhile back at home I started work on putting an M96 engine back in the Frog. The engine cradle that I had a local fabricator make a few years ago will not work to do the V8 swap and that stalled my motivation. Now I need the car ready for rallycross in March and the configuration that Woody had with a 2.7L running on a 996 intake and exhaust is more than enough power to run on dirt.

I've got a 2002 engine that was reported as having under 90k miles. It looks a little rough, so I'm not planning to dump a lot of time and money into it unless it makes it through the season. Four holes drilled and tapped to mount the lower intake runners. SAI blocked off. Fresh water pump and AOS, but I'm not replacing the IMS bearing, flywheel and clutch for now.

[78F350]

Meanwhile in Dallas at the O'Reilly Auto Parts convention:



My car is parked next to Matt's Off Road Recovery while celebrities draw on it. Flying Sparks Garage | The Official Website of Aaron and Emily Reeves https://raeripple.com/projects/
Pretty cool for a fully depreciated scrapped-out car, cobbled together with some of the worst parts I had laying around.

[78F350]

I had to focus on a non-Boxster for the last month to have fun with friends at the Texas Carnado (in Oklahoma). Playing with the Prius has been fun.


This weekend, I'll be retrieving the Xbox from Dallas, then it's time to get back to work on the Frog with my first Rallycross event of the year on March 17th.

[78F350]

Then they made me get another red one, this time Orient Red. Not very nice up close, but the price was right.


Runs good after swapping in an immobilizer set. Needs a radiator replaced and probably plenty more.


The Frog is running well on the 2.7L engine with 996 intake and headers. Some small mufflers should arrive from Amazon on Wednesday. Just open 2" ID tubing on it right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgiQ0o0NuH0

It's nice to have it out of the garage after almost a year. Next it needs some cosmetic work and lots of minor improvements. After a drive around the block, I really want to open it up on a rallycross track.

[78F350]

SW Arkansas Gambler 500 today; Basically met up with friends for a drive. Turned out they all had 4WD. ...I was still ready to pull them out if they got stuck.

[78F350]

Ze new Spähwagen: Der Wüsten Boxster

The terrible 1999 black Boxster is gone now. I kept the engine and some other useful parts and gave the rest to a friend to do whatever he wants. He may part it out or put a Honda drivetrain in it.



That gets me down to eight 986s on hand now: Orient Red '01, Arena Red '99, White '01 Tip, '04 SE, Blue '02S parts car, Black '04 Parts car, The Frog, and the Xbox. Long ago I said that six was too many, so I still have some work to do.

I want to turn my attention to the arena red '99 soon. Parts should arrive from Pelican soon to refresh the engine from the Terrible '99: It's getting a Pierburg water pump, fresh bolts for the flywheel, clutch plate and axles, engine mount, AOS, RMS, Spark plug tubes, ...maybe replace the idler pulleys and cam chain pads. The engine ran well when removed, but was very dirty with oil leaking from the spark plugs and possibly elsewhere. I'll probably just pull the outer seal on the IMS bearing and keep it. I plan to take the aerokit parts from the Blue '02S and have them painted an put on the '99.

[78F350]

For the last rallycross, I was too busy getting my tow vehicle ready (replacing the rear struts and internals of the DEF tank) that I didn't take the time to get everything checked on the Frog.





The rear struts are modified VW Golf front struts: 6 months to live build thread
The bottom bracket on the left strut was not tightened enough. It rotated and the strut slipped down. No serious damage, but I only got one run and had to quit for the day.



I was going to swap the stock rear suspension from the Parts Car, but I'm not going to have enough time before the next race day. The Parts Car still runs great and has functional air conditioning. I'm going to put a spoiler and some good tires on it and run it one more time.

[78F350]

Night Rallycross next Saturday. I bolted some lights of the front of the parts car this afternoon. It is now officially the ugliest car I have owned. Ugly, but it's going to be fun for one last race. I expect to get serious about pulling it apart in August.

[78F350]

I had a good night at rallycross. The car held together well except for the engine cutting out a couple times near the end of the evening. It may have been from too much dust in the air filter or the fact that this car is running a DME from an '03 996.



I placed second in the 'Modified RWD' Class. Because parts have been removed and some non-standard parts added (such as the racing chicken), the car is considered modified. The thing is, with this car none of the modifications improve the performance. It's just a matter of replacing parts that were sold with whatever I had handy to get the car running again.



It's been a fun car to play with, but I think I'm done with driving it now. The gearing is really terrible for rallycross. I don't know if all of the '03 - '04 5-speeds are like this, but the gearing is very tall. I could do much of the course in first gear. I actually found myself throwing it down to first to rotate the car for an off-camber 90 degree turn at the end of a straight and it worked well.



I'll have some spare time in the next couple weeks to work on cars. I plan to pull the rear suspension and axles off this car to put on the Frog. From there I may keep stripping it and scrap it or I may haul it to another lot and store for a while.

[78F350]

The Frog is back on stock rear suspension now. I didn't realize until I was well into the job that the modified rear wheel carriers that had been on it were from an S model. I could have just swapped on a pair that I had on the shelf. Instead, I took the base model rears from the parts car along with control arms and struts and put them on the Frog. To keep the parts car semi-driveable I put the S model parts from my shelf onto it along with some blown rear struts. Double the work that I should have done.

It was when I installed the brake rotors back onto the Frog that I realized there was a problem. The rotors that had been on it no longer fit. They rubbed on the calipers. Once I compared the parts that I had taken off with the parts I installed, I realized the problem. Installing a new pair of base model rotors made it all good.

I had planned to swap the damaged axle with one from the parts car, but there was a big difference. On the '04 parts car the axles were bolted to the transmission with M10 bolts instead of the usual M8 bolts. I don't know this history of this car, but it has a factory replacement engine in it. Maybe they put a 987 5-speed transmission in as well? That may explain the high gearing compared to my other 5-speeds.

[78F350]

Rallycross with North Texas Rallycross today. I finally got to race a whole day with the Frog. She held together well, only losing a muffler somewhere on one of my more exciting laps. The mufflers (resonators) weren't doing much anyway. This thing sounds Glorious from about 4,000 rpm up. A chorus of angels bellowing with raspy voices.

[78F350]

Video from Rallycross, Sept 29th:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKIqImAFiYM
I Love driving this car in the dirt. It's easy to see where I could have picked up a few seconds in the run.

[78F350]

A few minor updates...
The 2004 Special Edition had a whining noise behind the seats with engine revs. It turned out to be a failing bearing in the alternator. I replaced the alternator, belt and water pump. I'm planning to replace the idler pulleys later this month.



I decided that I'm going to give away the Orient Red car at an annual Christmas car swap that I do. It's a fun event among friends and acquaintances where we meet with cheap roadworthy cars and exchange them 'Dirty Santa' style. In the past, I brought a '98 and '07 Honda CR-V and received a Fauxrari (tarted up Mitsubishi 3000 GT) and a terrible Pontiac Grand Prix. I give away the cars I bring home.
Orient Red:


Fauxrari:


'98 CR-V


The '04 PartsCar is going to be gone by the end of October. The transmission went to a guy who is doing a Honda K-swap in a Porsche 914.

[78F350]

I haven't had much time to play with Boxsters, but did make it to the final race day of the season with North Texas Rallycross. The Frog held together well. My best time was 4th out of 28 drivers, but I had a few runs where I didn't keep the car on the best line and finished 7th overall. The Frog felt good and held together well.







In the off season I plan to get a better setup for the muffler and check over the suspension and alignment to see where I can improve it.

[78F350]

In less than two weeks I'll be joining some friends for the 2025 Texas Carnado. Along with a trailer hitch, new off-road lights, and other changes, I decided to add a snorkel. I won't intentionally cross water deeper than about half way up the door, but unintentional happens. The fender was still dented from when the car rolled over in September and running the snorkel from the side duct up through a dented area kept it clear of anything structural and allows easy motion of the top and clamshell. It looks awkward in it's current form, but I'm going to let my mind adjust to it for a few days before making changes.