Ger's 2003 Porsche Boxster S

[Robbe986]

[QUOTE=geraintthomas;543562]Had another productive day. The Boxster S badge started to suffer from paint peel, and the 'Compound' side stickers were getting a bit old. Took them both off and machined the paint underneath so that it was debadged and ready for what I planned to do next.

A friendly forum member offered me genuine 'P O R S C H E' lettering badges in exchange for some headlamp seals. I took them, resprayed them matte black, and put them on the rear.

The Porsche lettering on the rear looks really nice :-)

[BruceH]

The lettering looks great, very nice

[geraintthomas]

Thanks guys

[TrumpyAl]

+1 for not treating adjustable suspension as something that you are likely to tweak more than twice.

They can be useful for stiffening up dampers a little when you are on a known smooth surface (ie for a track day), but for the most part the adjustment is there so that you can dial them in to work with your chosen spring rate. My understanding is that even models with adjustable preload offer very limited real-world adjustment to spring rates. One of the great advantages to aftermarket coilovers is that you have a wide selection of spring rates to choose from - usually far, far more options that are available to work with a factory setup. But in practice this advantage is rarely exploited on a road car as you'll almost always end up with a very similar spring rate to what the aftermarket offers as a 'sports' option.

Perhaps consider your options for adjustable swaybars before committing to coilovers.

I've also observed that coilovers seem to be one of the lasts mods performed before someone moves the car on. I'm really not sure why, but I have my suspicions.

My 2c worth

[That986]

Originally Posted by TrumpyAl

+1 for not treating adjustable suspension as something that you are likely to tweak more than twice.

They can be useful for stiffening up dampers a little when you are on a known smooth surface (ie for a track day), but for the most part the adjustment is there so that you can dial them in to work with your chosen spring rate. My understanding is that even models with adjustable preload offer very limited real-world adjustment to spring rates. One of the great advantages to aftermarket coilovers is that you have a wide selection of spring rates to choose from - usually far, far more options that are available to work with a factory setup. But in practice this advantage is rarely exploited on a road car as you'll almost always end up with a very similar spring rate to what the aftermarket offers as a 'sports' option.

Perhaps consider your options for adjustable swaybars before committing to coilovers.

I've also observed that coilovers seem to be one of the lasts mods performed before someone moves the car on. I'm really not sure why, but I have my suspicions.

My 2c worth

Most people put on coilovers never get them set up properly or buy the wrong ones in the first place. They're great for track and race cars but for your average guy a complete waste in all honesty.

[geraintthomas]

Gotcha.

When ordering the coilovers, you can order them with certain spring rates. May have to do a little research into finding the standard spring rates and getting something close to them.

I'm popping into a friends 986S soon with the coilovers I'm looking to buy, so I'll let you know how I get on.

[That986]

Originally Posted by geraintthomas

Gotcha.

When ordering the coilovers, you can order them with certain spring rates. May have to do a little research into finding the standard spring rates and getting something close to them.

I'm popping into a friends 986S soon with the coilovers I'm looking to buy, so I'll let you know how I get on.

Spring rates are everything, even down to how the spring is wound (linear or progressive) will affect the ride.
Also if you go with a harder spring you can lower the car more but then you run the risk of not having enough shock travel to dampen it.

Lots to look at.

[geraintthomas]

Re-did the DRL's but took the front bumper off to do them. They're now fitted far more securely, further into the bumper, one notch higher, and are on angles to make them straight on.

Before:



After:







Looks much more OEM now. Love it!

[That986]

You might want to re-size them.

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by That986

You might want to re-size them.

No, they're literally absolutely fine as they are thank you.

[That986]

Originally Posted by geraintthomas

No, they're literally absolutely fine as they are thank you.

The pics are enormous. I'm on a 25" monitor at high-res and i'm scrolling.

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by That986

The pics are enormous. I'm on a 25" monitor at high-res and i'm scrolling.

Oh! I thought you meant the lights.

I can't edit the posts anymore sadly.

[geraintthomas]

Fixed. Sorry about that.

Annoyingly, the replacement DRL has become faulty too. It lasted all of 10 minutes before 3 of the 5 LED's turned bright blue and burned out. Waiting for yet another replacement now...

[TrumpyAl]

It makes a surprising difference with the new angle! I like.

[geraintthomas]

Thanks

Early morning drive through the pier proved to have some nice views. Google Pixel proving to have a stonkingly good camera.

[geraintthomas]

I've taken the side vents off and gave them a lick of matt black paint. The 987 and onwards have this and it looks lovely with the contrast between the paint and the vent.



I'll also be doing the front fins on the bumper, as per the newer models. So the only bits that will be matt black are the exhausts, rear diffuser, rear badge, side vents and front fins. Basically the modern variants of this car have these parts in ABS plastic, so painting in matt black gives the same effect.

Whilst the side vents were off though, I've de-snorkel'd it.

This is a common thing to do, which removes the 'snorkel' restrictor from the intake which in turn allows more air in. Two resulting things happen, the first is a much louder intake sound which sounds gorgeous, and apparently there's a 5bhp power increase which someone proved with a dyno.

Seen here:****http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/9671-finally-dyno-charts-de-snorked-986s.html

Whether or not that's true, I don't know and I don't really care, I did it for the sound, but the fact that someone had a 5bhp increase from it just gives me peace of mind that I won't loose any power by doing it.

The sound is lovely now! Sounds exactly the same unless you bury the accelerator, and around 4,000rpm you get this snarl which sounds reminiscent of the induction noise on an E30, or a McLaren F1. No I'm not saying it sounds like a McLaren F1, but find an on-board video (EVO on YouTube) and listen to the snarl of the induction - that's the sound you start to get, and it's lovely.

[TrumpyAl]

Somewhat ironically, the newer models offer these parts painted in body colour as an (expensive) option.

Loving yours though!

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by TrumpyAl

Somewhat ironically, the newer models offer these parts painted in body colour as an (expensive) option.

Loving yours though!

Interesting! And thank you

[geraintthomas]

Gave the car its second wax and sealant of the year. I only do this twice a year as my drying technique tops up the wax layers (spray wax onto a wet drying towel to dry the car, adds the protection afterwards).















Remember the issues I was (and still am) having with the handling and alignment? Well something's happening to the car which is usually bad news, but is great news for me as it pin points what it is.

Under acceleration, the car is turning slightly left, and under deceleration, the car returns to steer right. This pretty much confirms that it's the alignment, and not loose ball joints. If it was loose bushes, the car would turn either left or right under acceleration/deceleration. This is consistent, with the car turning more left the harder I accelerate. It's subtle, but it's there.

I'm going to take it back to the alignment centre as I'm hoping that the alignment bolts weren't tightened properly, and I'm going to tell them to really tighten them up.

After that, I'll change the knocking front drop links, and the car's back to perfect mechanical condition.

[geraintthomas]

Found out from a friend that the lip that was cracked on the sub frame that the eccentric bolt pushes against to allow the toe to be adjusted is causing all of the issues. I was told that the torque of the bolt keeps the alignment, whereas in fact the bolt needs this lip to rest against, and as it's not there, the alignment will and has changed drastically.

Going to order a new rear left subframe in the next few days to fix it, as well as some drop links for the front. After I replace the sub frame, drop links, then get it aligned, it should feel and drive like new again and I seriously can't wait.

Second hand subframe is £25 on Ebay, drop links are £45, alignment is £60 for all four wheels. So £130 to get the suspension sorted. Happy days.