Joining the Porsche family, track rat style.
 

I've seen plenty of incredibly nice, well-preserved, and gorgeous Boxters and other Porschii around, on the interwebs and in the area I just moved to. (San Diego area) I got this car with the sole intention of a fun track toy. It was decent when I got it. I never had an intention of it staying that way.

2001, 2.7, manual, 150-WHATEVER miles. Myself and a friend wanted a project, so we got one. When we picked it up, it was a perfectly fine, bone stock, in good shape road car. It is not now.

IT HAS BECOME
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A MONSTER!
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Actually, what we did was strip it completely. (BTW, for sale is now roughly half a Porsche; plastics, carpets, interior bits, etc.) At the moment, it's at Autopower of San Diego getting a cage and belts, first track day is this weekend at Willow Springs. Not looking to get into any series, we just want to get on the track. (Returning from a several year absence myself, and dragging some poor sod with me.) For now, the powertrain is bone stock. Because of the high mileage, I'm gonna assume the IMS was done, at least for now. If the motor blows this weekend, I'll get a 3.2 to cram in there. If not, it'll get done when we do the kinda sketchy clutch. We're just gonna do this weekend and see what happens, because why not. This isn't a road car, and I don't have any preconceived notions of keeping it on the road, even for weekend drives. I have a few pictures of us on the road a day or two after we bought it, but that was it. I need something to keep me busy on the weekends, so whether it's on the track or wrenching, this one should be fine.

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(all the parts laying around it are now carefully stacked in my kitchen.)
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I hope this thread brings some much-lacking depravity and mechanical perversion to this far too sensible forum.

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Cool! I hope you have a lot of fun with it!

Love to see this sort of rebel activity - just wish the car were a bit older so we could one day hope you made it into a bonafied race car and invite you out racing....
(Spec boxster that is) 2001 is out of spec...

Have fun though with your track toy -
it's the sort of outlaw behavior thats appreciated here.

(Something for everyone to remember for greatest flexibility with your boxster builds - the early cars have value as the race cars - '97-'99 chassis)(...but fenders are fenders, hoods are hoods...etc you get that picture).

Yeah..... so...... right now you're kinda my hero......! Haha

I love this! More! MORE!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

I like the attitude and congratulate anyone who wants to get onto the track. Show us some of the mods like the cage, etc!

Welcome.

Where in SD do you live?

The San Diego chapter of PCA is one of the largest Porsche clubs around and we do a ton of events including track weekends.
Check out Porsche Club of America San Diego Region

Streets is a great place to get back into tracking your car.

If you need a top notch mechanic, PM me and Ill send you his info. There are a lot of great Porsche shops in town, but this guy I like the best.

Unfortunately, got the news today that the event we were going to at Willow Springs is a Honda only event. (Anyone ever dealt with eXtremespeed track events before? Their website isn't very well layed out.) Whatever, rescheduling for the 1st at Buttonwillow.


If you're in SoCal and need a cage, I highly recommend Autopower. They did the cage quickly, for a good price, and made a great quality 6-point harness. The roll bar is custom, but I bet they can duplicate it easily. The welds look great, and it's mounted well. However, it would never fit under a top.


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Yeah, we just cut the stock seats to route the harness through. They're crap anyways.

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Got the car back today, with cage and belts installed. Painted white numbers on the boot lid, and fixed a right brake light that was flickering when going over bumps. (Garbage, cheap aftermarket rear lights.)

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/cage1542856057.jpg

Tomorrow's goals (woot woot racecar thanksgiving!) include putting a clear coat on the roll bar to prevent surface rust, painting the numbers on the side white, and seeing if I can get the spoiler to deploy. It doesn't work, and I want to see if I can get it up and just lock it there. Anyone know anything about doing that?

Porsche Owners Club is running at Willow Springs next weekend. Come check it out.

Do I need to sign up to PCA, or can I just show up? I'm still trying to figure out what these eXtremespeed guys are going to do, whether it's a reschedule or refund, whatever. I'd much rather come run Willow with like-minded folks, but we've already paid the registration fees for the other guys.

For PCA and probably POC you need to join, which you can do online.
Both clubs have very well run and safe track events
POC is a little more hard core than PCA

After next weekend, I'll look into them and see which one i'll feel like joining. Trying to learn how to edit videos right now. I decided to form a Youtubes channel for this build and whatever nonsense I feel like posting.

Tried to put a new post linking the youtubes, but it didn't work, probably because I put the link directly in there. Search WizardSmokey on YouTube and it should be the first result.

Whatever, today we filled in the numbers on the side in white, and I removed the windshield wipers, motor, linkage, and associated large plastic cowling. Then we went to a parking lot to take pictures.

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my co-driver, the occasionally immortal Bongwater, in the background:

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I guess I keep forgetting to update here. Anyways, on the 1st we went to Buttonwillow and had a great damn time. Didn't put up great times because we were learning the car and the course, etc, but learned a ton. This past weekend we went to the SCCA weekend event, practice on Saturday and a points meet on Sunday. (We're not members so it doesn't count for anything, we just wanted more seat time and a chance to compete because now it's a REAL racecar.) To our great surprise, we got 2nd and 3rd out of 4 cars in our class, and 3rd and 4th out of 6 for our class group. Not only is this car amazing to drive and great fun, it's also somewhat competitive, even with a stock powertrain and NOT GOOD tires. (Cheap sumitomo's that came on it that get really greasy and slippery once warm.)

Basically, this project is coming along beautifully and progressively. At the auto-x, we completely shredded the clutch chasing the podium, so right now we have the car on jackstands and are chipping away at it after work each day. We're planning on utilizing all day Saturday to get it done. Then it's off the the dyno for a baseline run before we do any power modifications, just so we know if we actually manage to improve anything.

Next on our to-do list is a proper seat and a detachable steering wheel. Somewhere in there, we're also going to do an intake we designed last night, and an a/c+power steering delete. We've done a few things since the last pictures, but I don't have the photos available right now to post. Will update again soon(ish)

Very cool. I have a similar build going on. Sometimes you can find good used racing tires at bigger events. Heck the race I was just at was broadcasting over the intercom that there were free tires for whoever wanted them. Finding 17 inch tires is easier to find than 18's though. I suggest switching to 17x8.5's if you can. Those wheels you have on now can sell for $1000-1500 a set.

Really now? Why is that? What are they from?

Several changes since the last update here, forgot to get good pictures of some. First, the clutch is replaced, and it's AMAZING. Dash is completely gutted, with only the aluminum supports and gauges still there. (gauge pod is zip-tied to the cross bar.) That puts the car down to 2,460lbs, with the a/c and power steering still on, coming off as soon as we can dyno and get a baseline to see how much we free up with the delete. Maxed out the stock camber adjustments. About -0.7 on the front and looks about like -2.5 or so on the rear. Handling is noticeably gooder, and took all of an hour to do. Got some artwork done on the interior and painted the rims.

Went and found a dirt road.

Clean(ish):
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Less clean:
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Turns out the 986 isn't a terrible rally car.

Looks like you are having fun. Good for you.

Those wheels look like they are off of a 996.2. I believe they are made by BBS.

Be careful with your off-roading as the radiators are not designed to take very much abuse. The inner mounting stub is known to break easily when guys go off track. The inner stub is also known to break just from constant use. I moved my radiator to inside the frunk for that reason. My boxster is dedicated more to rally cross though. Here's my build thread so you can see what I did. http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/73877-6-months-live-build-thread.html

The seat and harness set up will not pass a PCA tech inspection. I would encourage you to talk with the organizations you plan on running with regarding their minimum standards/rules. This is a way to ensure your build is in compliance and you do not have any issues once you get to the track.

Porsche9: Thanks, been wondering.

itsnotanova: Thanks for the warning. We didn't have any problems, but we were also mostly just drifting on a smooth dirt road. Also probably not going to come a habit, we just had the idea then acted on it. I'll look into reinforcing it.

driver8: Yeah, we know that it won't pass a 'serious' tech inspection, but it's more than adequate for the local autocross and track days until we get a real seat. (Budget restrictions and all.)

Dyno'd the car today. Bone stock engine with 153k-ish miles......


https://i.imgur.com/NH8N5al.jpg

Now the fun stuff can begin. Doing an intake and a/c + power steering delete tomorrow. (or at least starting.)
Also installed our short shifter today. DAMN it feels good. I've made my own shift knob for it, and if i have free time tomorrow i'll try and get it mounted.

That’s a great result for that car on a Dyno Dynamics (a.k.a. Heartbreaker) dyno.

Yeah, we were both surprised and thrilled. We were expecting between 170-180 at the wheels. Best news is, we can finally get to the fun stuff! Got our intake engineered and manufactured, gonna do a few more things before we dyno it again and see if our shenanigans actually helped.

Instead of destroying the seat, you could have gotten a cheap racing seat and sold the original one. At least here in Sweden, an original second hand Porsche seat in worn condition sells for about the same as a second hand racing seat.

Edit: Alright, now I noticed the actual condition of your seats. Never mind, then... :D

Hahaha, yeah. We kept most anything in condition worth selling, but both of the seats were WAAAYYY past that point.

Couple of things were accomplished recently. First, we got our NRG quick-release wheel in and on. You can't see it, but the release mechanism is pink, because why not. I happened to have a spare badge laying around, and we discovered that it fit perfectly where the horn button used to be!


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we made the intake:
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3" all the way to the filter. Yes, that's flexible air ducting form Home Depot. For the MAF, we cut the section of the stock airbox off that it plugged into and grafted it directly in. Runs like a champ, and the sound it makes is MAGNIFICENT. Can't wait to dyno again and see if it actually helped, though I'm pretty sure it does. (I'm an engineer, trust me.)

EDIT: Oh yeah almost forgot! You can see in that image with the intake, we blocked off the small port the AOS feeds into the intake and sealed it, and ran a hose from the AOS into the trunk. Eventually, we'll put a catch can back there, but for now, it'll do. Kinda interested to see how it does, and once we know more, i'll do a bit more of an in-depth write up. I've had the damnest time getting real, solid info on the stupid thing and deleting/bypassing it. (And yes, the MAF and AOS are both sealed with FLEX SEAL. Holy ****************, that stuff is worth every penny.)

Here's a short clip of a 2nd gear pull. Most of what you can hear is the intake, with just a touch of the muffler-less exhaust for spice. Without a helmet on, the intake noise is deafening, but oh my JEEZ it sounds amazing. The mic managed to capture the essence of it.

https://youtu.be/PmymbmIWhBc


With that, we're closing in on what I'm thinking of as v2 for this build. Once we get a proper seat in, i'm hoping to get back to Buttonwillow so we can compare times. Hoping for a 2:00, but realistically i'd be thrilled with a 2:10 (best of a 2:16 the first time we went, with learning the car and the track and etc.)

You will love the seat upgrade, huge difference on the track. Do you mind posting what wheel and quick release you went with and what the cost was?

Got the hardware from drivenrg.com. Shipped fast, went right on, fit well, feels good, and looks good.
NRG Short Hub for 85-04 Porsche Boxster - $129.99
NRG Quick Release Gen 2.0 (Pink Body w/ Titanium Chrome Ring) SRK-200PK - $129.99
NRG RST-012S-RS: 320mm Race Style Suede Steering Wheel with Red Stitch - $129.99

Though you can get any wheel and quick release you like, it's the short hub that goes from the steering shaft to the rest of it that is vehicle-specific.

And yeah, we're amped about the seat. Even with the 6 point snugged down, we both still slide a bit.

Been a while since the last update, but fear not! I have been busy. I'll just quickly list some of the new things:
-New Federal 595 tires, 255/45-18 rear, 225/40-18 fronts.
-New NRG 6-point harness compatible seat.
-New windscreen (OEM replacement)
-Painted rollbar
-More stickers
-A dozen other tiny tweaks and messing around, probably a few other things I've forgotten about.

Heading to the SCCA San Diego Match event in the morning. I fully intend on placing well.

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Way cool project! Keep us posted!

https://youtu.be/R61-loEb9k8

While neither of us are particularly good at making videos, we do. It show's in slightly more detail what we've been up to.

Note: the first half or so of the video is older stuff that i've already shown pictures of here months ago.

Too Cool looks like fun

Working on the video of our 3 days of racing at the SCCA Match Tour event. With the better tires on, we've identified new limiting factors. Only problem is that it's getting to the point where the things that need done, there are no cheap good option or backyard workaround, like what we've done so far on this project. Progress might be getting a bit slower.

Make sure you do not oil the air filter and/or buy one pre-oiled. It f*ups the MAF very quickly. Keep it as a dry filter and you'll be fine.

Mike

Thanks for the advice, Mike! I'll be sure to keep it in mind.

made a spoiler
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Well, been a few updates on the car to make it more track-worth, but I guess the biggest one right now is that someone stole the keys out of the garage, and there's a race tomorrow.

Anyone know how to hotwire this damn thing?

Oh well, guess I'm looking at custom ECU time.

Alright, it's story time.

Wednesday night, some stole the keys to the racecar. Not the whole car, just the keys. So we promptly stayed up all damn night, calling 29 different locksmiths in the area. Out of all those, one said he could make a new key, but it would take a week.

The last one we called said he'll be right over.

His name is Sean, and he made a new key for my 986 in about 16 hours. He showed up at midnight, picked the driver's door lock to get the pins, then took the immobilizer back to his shop to code the new key's chip. He delivered it the next afternoon, we plugged the unit back in and etc, and boom, running racecar.

We had been planning on going to all 3 sessions of a Time Attack at Adam's Motorsports Park, east od L.A., but because of the key thing, we were barely able to throw everything in the car, jump in and brave SoCal rush hour traffic to drive 100 miles to catch only the last session, but we at least made it and was able to check the place out. Got 9 laps, and set some very respectable lap times considering we had never seen the track before. It's a kart track they they'll open for cars every other weekend. It's tight and technical, and for the most part feels like an autocross but with one decent little straight up the back. We were able to come 3rd overall, and if both of us hadn't been in the car and we had more laps, we're confident that we could have gotten much higher.

The less than stellar news is, now there's an engine noise. To me, it sounds like some piston slap. Most likely the results of tracking the car remorselessly without doing anything about the oil starvation issues the M96 is known for.

Not that this is totally unexpected, or even really disappointing. I've been just waiting for the 2.7 to go, so now I can start looking into a 3.2, or 3.4 maybe.

Minor update: Instead of troubleshooting and fixing the 2.7, I bought a different engine and am beginning the surgery to swap an insane, ludicrous, and utterly stupid engine into this 986. Feel free to guess what it is.