The Little Outlaw is cleaning up nicely and I'm starting to breathe life into the engine and electronics.
On the electrical side, I have everything working now but a drivers window that doesn't drop when I open the door and the front and rear trunk lights are inop. The right side dash speaker is intermittent. The door window I'm guessing is a microswitch. I have to pull the driver side door panel to replace a spring that puts tension on the interior door handle lever. I'll fix the window issue and the door spring at the same time. I haven't even given thought to the front and rear trunk lights, but I'm guessing I'll get it figured out.
The immobilizer is an unknown for now. It's off getting a diagnostic check before I get deep into getting the car started. I want to eliminate any potential issues with it before I start to troubleshoot the engine. I did install it and played a bit before I sent it off. The engine cranks well, I have tach movement and with a shot of starting fluid, I can get the car to sputter and run for a few seconds. That's a positive sign to me that I'm not dealing with a dead engine. I'm hoping/guessing it'll be something fuel related, since w/out the starting fluid the engine turns over strong but refuses to catch. More to come as I figure it out.
The UPS and FedEx guys are making almost daily appearances. Pelican, Suncoast and eBay contribute a lot of parts for the car.
I decided to replace almost all of the soft touch interior with new, earlier, 97-99 trim pieces. I don't know who hates soft touch trim pieces more - me or Woody. And again, Jon came through for me with a nice pair of early door pocket lids since those were the one thing I couldn't find. I also used S door pulls - they're painted silver to match the door handle lever and class up the interior a bit.
The upholstery shop is busy with my gray Sport Seats, wrapping them in Metropole Blue leather and Martini plaid inserts. I have a set of carbon fiber replica GT3 seats for a second set of track seats. They'll be done in a Navy Blue Alcantara.
A new center console is on the way to BumperPlugs to be painted and a GT3 console delete kit is ready to be installed. New 3-spoke steering wheel, airbag and aluminum/leather shifter in Metropole Blue are between here and Belgium where I ordered them. New parking brake is tucked away waiting for the interior to come together.
I need to trailer the car up to the glass shop for a new windshield, then It'll go to the body shop for a front and rear bumper cover re-spray and re-spray the hardtop and Speedster humps.
I had a set of Boxster Dyno wheels powder coated Guards Red about 5 years ago just waiting for this moment. When I knew I was buying the car I had a new set of Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires mounted in stock sizes, with 20mm spacers rear and 15mm spacers front to give it the stance I like.
I had clear corner lights sitting in the shop and ordered a set of Special Edition 550 red taillights. I mounted a set of Guards Red mirrors that I bought from Woody years ago waiting for the right car to use them on.
I also ordered a Joe Toth front splitter and duck tail this weekend. I have several factory aerokit cars and I wanted a different aero look for this car. I'm looking forward to seeing them on the car. The splitter will be Guards Red, the duck tail white with the Martini stripe.
So here's the car one month after I drug it home. It looks a bit like Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors for now, and it has a long ways to go still, but I'll enjoy every minute spent putting it together the way I want it.
Usually a build like this will take months and months, if not a year or more. This one I'm wanting done NOW for several reasons - I'm tired of the events of the past 15 months. I've sat, my cars have sat, I miss being around my Porsche buddies. It's time to get back in the game!
Also - for the new guys or the younger guys that look at something like this and think - "Hey, I'm going to buy a cheap non-running Boxster and do that too. That looks like fun!" No, no, no, no, no!
This is a terrible way to get into the Porsche game. A "cheap" non-running Boxster is the most expensive, soul sucking way to ever start off. Get yourself a nice, clean, well maintained car. You'll spend much more up front, but a build like this is a massive money pit. You only do something like this when you're bored, have a specific project and outcome in mind, and have totally gone down the Boxster rabbit hole.
I'll keep updating and hope to have an engine run video before long. Stay tuned!
