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).

[BruceH]

Very nice shot and thanks to all veterans for their service and sacrifice!

[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."

[BruceH]

Very nice!

[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.

[BruceH]

The car looks fantastic, nice job!

[BRAN]

The 986 550 SE is the pinnacle of your Boxster fleet, and your off-road XBoxster, of course!!

[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.

[BruceH]

Very Cool!

[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]

Orient Red 2001... I'm not planning to do a full restoration on it, but I want it to be a decent driver. After I put some miles on it, I'll have a better idea of where I want to go with it.
The top was not original and was in terrible shape with no back window, side pulling away at the window edge and the liner hanging down. I swapped on a glass window top from an '04. One of the top transmission seems to have a bad gear and a push-rod end is broken. I removed the linkages and have the top set for 'manual mode'.
The left radiator was cracked and the support frame bent. That has been replaced and the system checked for leaks. There's some undercarriage damage to the body of the car there, but it is cosmetic damage in a place that it not easily visible.
The electronic hood latch mechanism is missing, so the hood needs to be unlatched with the manual cable. I put an Aero Kit ii bumper cover on the car for now and routed the cable to the right grill.


I found that it was running a little rough with a misfire on #1 cylinder. When i pulled off the right rear wheel and looked it was obvious what the problem was. The coil was hanging from the wire - kind of hard to get a good spark from there.


I have plenty of good used coils from engines that I've scrapped, so I didn't even try reinstalling that one. I also installed a Bosch MAF sensor to replace the odd looking no-name sensor it had.

It appears to have a decent aftermarket muffler (maybe Top Speed), but I haven't looked at it in detail yet. The aftermarket headers are terrible. Poorly aligned welds and a design that makes me think it was a quick copy by a manufacturer that didn't quite understand the engineering.


If I can get the bolts out smoothly, I'm going to put a pair of stock headers on. The engine is running well now except for a fault code for an O2 sensor - that will be corrected when I put good headers on.

Edit: Tires... I have to mention the tires. All four tires are different. Michelins from 2010 and 2016, one off-brand front that I don't remember, and a two year old Kenda KR20A. I may get some more Kendas to go with the one good tire.

[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.

[Smallblock454]

Love it.

[BRAN]

Ze new Spähwagen: Der Wüsten Boxster

Roof MG3 is optional

[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]

The black '04 parts car has been stored at my daughters house, they live well out of town. I went there today to take the rear wheels and tires to swap onto the Orient Red '01. When I arrived, my grandson saw me and decided that I was there to play with him. Nobody cares much if a car has tags and title out there. Jumping the battery on the parts car, it started right up and we went for a little drive.


His shoes were wet before I could stop him.