I know they are not cheap, but in the end, they look great with the projectors installed. I meant the clear 2003-2004 lights, no amber.

Yeah, that's kind of why I bought the amber lights to dremel them off as they're only £120 for the pair, as opposed to £500+.

If I get it wrong on an amber light, it's £60 wasted. If I get it wrong on a facelift, it's £250. It's too much of a risk.

I could practice on the amber one I've got now and get it open, then do it to my facelift ones, but it still may not work. I'll give it some thought and I may open the amber one just to see what's involved, but don't forget I'm in the UK - we don't have ovens that are large enough so I'll need to use a heat gun. It can be done with one and it has been done before - I remember reading up on someone doing it just fine with a heat gun, but it's yet more risk doing it with one of those.

Who the f**k knows.

Ger's 2003 Porsche Boxster S
 

Might be worth trying to clear coat the sanded section? Re-sand the polish off first obviously. Nothing to lose right?

Actually, if you have smoke quadrants then you could even try a matching (slightly) tinted clear.

I'd block sand and try a clear coat like Trumpyal suggested.

Good idea. I'll try but I'm not sure if I can get those divets I've made out. The clear coat is a good shout though.

Interestingly, the headlights may be okay.

I didn't think I could do much to them as I thought the plastic would be way too thin after already dremeling it, but look at the thickness that's left:
http://i.imgur.com/PSn1Jlqh.jpg

Loads. So knowing this, I took a file to it and spent just two minutes on one area. Here's the result:

Before
http://i.imgur.com/blV9tW2h.jpg

After
http://i.imgur.com/FFNGPtoh.jpg

Far smoother. I'll sit there for a good half hour and it should be nice and smooth. After this I'll wet sand it again, and then use a machine to polish it back up. May be able to use these lights after all!

Aside from this, I replaced the rear O/S inner driveshaft boot. It must have passed the MOT but I have absolutely no idea how, it was in half! Unless it's split after it.

Interestingly though, I didn't go for a normal boot. I went for a bailcast split one. Like this:

http://triscan.dk/sites/default/files/cvs18.png

Yes I know, they're rubbish and they'll split, etc. But look online and you'll find people who have spent time doing them, they've turned out to be fine. And for £10, it's worth a punt. If it splits, I'll just buy a proper one and spend the time doing it properly. The reason I went for the universal one is because I've never taken a driveshaft off a car before, so I was a little skeptical. I'd be able to do it but, for £10, I'll try this one first.

Installation was great. Cut it to size and it fit fine. You get special adhesive with it and the boot has a tongue on one edge and a groove on another, which slot together to make a perfect seam. I made sure it was perfectly clean, wore gloves, then glued it. I can't tell you how strong that glue is. Put it this way, I trimmed a little more off the boot while it was on the driveshaft and after it was glued, and I thought "I'll just pull it at the glued seam to take it off the driveshaft". Using both of my hands, I couldn't pull it apart. I had to cut it with a scalpel.

So yeah, this boot isn't going anywhere. Quite happy with the result, you can see the glued seam at the bottom:

http://i.imgur.com/zuCqrGuh.jpg

I'll just see how it goes but so far so good - have driven quite a bit with it and it's still perfect.

Here you go guys, decided to demonstrate how strong this is on a cut off piece from the CV boot.

Here's a piece from the actual boot
http://i.imgur.com/9DGQVkLh.jpg

The groove
http://i.imgur.com/cGZnk7kh.jpg

And the tongue
http://i.imgur.com/lXRzlI2h.jpg

The glue. No idea what this is, but some sort of crazy glue.
http://i.imgur.com/9dSgFG9h.jpg

Plenty of glue in the groove
http://i.imgur.com/zPGUG21h.jpg

20 minutes after gluing
http://i.imgur.com/riuRncKh.jpg

And to show how strong it is, check this video out. I couldn't pull it apart:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pr3hFfvfVo

So there we are. There's is absolutely no way this CV boot is going to split.

Another little thing I'm going to do is to re-trim some interior pieces in black alcantara - to that of a Cayman GT4, etc. Well, either alcantara or faux suede.

I've highlighted the pieces I'll be trimming:

http://i.imgur.com/AW0ohkbh.jpg

And it'll look roughly like this:

http://i.imgur.com/ZD3W7jgh.jpg

So it's not a colour change. They were black plastic before, and now they'll be black alcantara. I'll do it myself, shouldn't be too tricky and is relatively cheap to do. Benefits, aside from the fact that it looks awesome, is that it won't scratch like plastic - especially the 'soft touch' plastic that's in there at the moment.

If I really like it, I'll do the whole centre column where the gearstick is on. All of that black plastic. But we'll wait and see :)

In the future though, I'll most likely get a black 986 wheel and re-trim the outside of it in black alcantara, with a yellow centre-line at the top. I'll also grab a black 997 gearstick to match.

Nice touch. I'm keen to hear how you go with that's. And thanks for sharing the driveshaft boot repair, it's very good to know the option is there.

Thanks :) checked the boot and it's still going strong.

And this is how it would look with the alcantara trim, and a new black re-trimmed wheel:

http://i.imgur.com/VVTfB84h.jpg

Or, by simply re-trimming mine (and leaving my airbag)

http://i.imgur.com/QNMnG0jh.jpg

Made a start on the alcantara trimming. Bought a sample piece to make sure it was the correct texture and colour, and it was. Luckily the piece was enough to cover the ignition surround!

http://i.imgur.com/BKkpEppl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Kz06W9Pl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/e311Pj4l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IyUKW87l.jpg

Just realised that I took the photos in square mode. Oops...

Anyway. The shop that I bought the material from does 150cm x 100cm pieces of this for £8.50 delivered. That's about $12 for you guys. Not bad at all, considering that'll do everything I need :)

Not much has happened on the car due to a lot of things happening at home. Neighbours sending death threats (they're completely mental), police involved, and we have to move house. Lovely. Just as well as we were looking for a new place anyway, so it was just the push we needed, but unfortunately my girlfriend got made redundant just after we signed the contract for the new house, so all schmit hit the fan. Thankfully though, the crazy neighbours have moved out already (think they were kicked out) and my girlfriend's got another job that's better than the last. So now that things are back on track, I can start toying with the car again!

So it's been a while with the alcantara wrapped ignition surround, I think it looks great. It may be a little too dark - popped into the official Porsche centre that's close to me where they had a Boxster GTS, Cayman GT4, 911 GT3 RS, and a 918 - all of them had alcantara and it seemed a very dark grey instead of a black. I'll order another sample of grey and as soon as I make a decision, I'll go ahead and wrap the interior parts.

Very dark grey sounds good!

Will get a tester and see what the colour is like :)

The boot is probably neoprene, and the glue IS more-than-likely regular "super glue" which is cyanoacrylate... Super glue + neoprene makes an incredibly strong bond.

Last thing I did on the car was remove the rear 'Boxster S' badge. Not because I wanted to de-badge it, but because it needed a respray as the silver badge was showing signs of wear. But now that it's off, I can't help but to think it looks rather good after machine polishing the rear boot...

http://i.imgur.com/TQCTNyLh.jpg

I did think about keeping the boot plain for a while, but then I thought about putting the 981 badge on, like a few people have done. Only thing is that I'm not willing to pay almost £100 for 'P O R S C H E' and a new 'Boxster S' badge.

I've gone about 3D printing them. Someone on here had it done and it looked great, so I thought why not! The printer has finished them already and I'm going to pick them up after work later. He sent these photos:

http://i.imgur.com/NMkFzixh.png

http://i.imgur.com/Dwm84I6h.png

And it cost me a grand total of £5. THAT'S IT. The finish will be a little rough, but I plan on sanding them back, spraying with chrome spray, fixing 3M tape to the backs of them and then installing them. The price of it will be a fraction of the cost of a new one.

As soon as I go and see these later, I'll post a photo up for you guys. If they're good, I'll whip up the new Boxster S badge from the 981 in 3D myself (already got an illustration of it in the correct measurements), and will get it printed too.

Should have looked amazing, but then this happened…

http://i.imgur.com/p2Gg6nEh.jpg

That was from using a heat gun to dry the paint. Oops! Neve rmind, it was only a fiver. Going to ask the printers to throw me another and I'll try again soon.

In the meantime, I was contemplating putting the original back on.

Original:

http://i.imgur.com/0ANz9k9h.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/kWaP7wTh.jpg

New:

http://i.imgur.com/PxTwuzOh.jpg

The 3M pads arrived but they were paper thin, so no good. I'll buy thicker stuff and will cut to size.

Also my leather dye arrived. It's fantastic! Did the handbrake, along with the gear knob and a little of the seat bolster.

http://i.imgur.com/71QZGGvh.jpg

Much better :)

Onto my next mod - alcantara interior trim!

I've taken the interior panels out, minus the side vents and a-pillars (I'll do those later).

http://i.imgur.com/ZdurGbrh.jpg

Started to trim them and, I must say, they look bloody brilliant:

http://i.imgur.com/nwR7lrGh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qAkkq9Oh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KFPdt3ch.jpg

They look and feel totally OEM. Can't wait to get it all finished. Material was £10 for 1m x 1.5m, and I just used spray glue. Seriously cheap mod, massive improvements as I can no longer scratch the soft-touch plastics :)

Yep, great idea this one. Well done!

Thanks :)

Finished!

I'm going to have to take proper DSLR photos of the interior as these seriously don't do its justice. It's stunning, and looks entirely OEM.

http://i.imgur.com/aUGbTBDh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vhCR1dFh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0lJ9D4vh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VtoT9Irh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8RiYPHyh.jpg

Some of them look red - it's not, that's just the iPhone camera. For some reason it has a slightly warm spot in the centre.

Here's the pieces I've trimmed in total:

- Speedo surround
- 'Horse shoe' dash button surround
- Centre console lower side panels
- Ash tray & lid
- A-pillars
- Wing mirror triangle covers
- Door handle covers
- Door bin lids
- Key surround

I'm very happy with the way it's turned out. I had spray glue already, and the alcantara cost £10. It's totally changed the interior, and for that money it makes it a bargain!

That alcantara looks awesome! I'm thinking of doing the same but inverted. I have the diamond patterned dash and I'm not entirely convinced that I like it. The leather (or fake leather) trim looks fine.

Diamond patterned dash? I'd like to see that!

Also, bought a giant 6m x 3m gazebo. It was £130 delivered, and it can be put up in around 5 minutes as it's a 'pop up' one. I hadn't fastened any of the velcro straps or anything as it was a quick test, that's why it's a bit baggy. It also comes with sides, which I didn't take out of the bag. I've also got water weights that clamp onto the legs.

http://i.imgur.com/gP2aq3Ch.jpg

It's bloody fantastic! I can run the detailing business any day of the week now, and it can act as a portable garage whenever/where I want.

Awesome stuff

Nice work, Ger. While I am not an alcantara man myself, I am a fan of quality (and value) DIY work. Looks very well carried out.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you :)

Better shots of some of the alcantara. Haven't got anymore yet, had issues with the camera.

http://i.imgur.com/hIaPcERh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ObMiWQbh.jpg

As you can see, using a DSLR the alcantara is totally grey like it should be, and not dark red like the iPhone shots. Think it's something to do with the iPhone lens. Also the marks on the center console horse shoe shape isn't the fabric sagging, it's just the way the fibers have been brushed when I've been using the buttons :)

Nice work :cheers:

Thanking you :)

Very nice!

I've been looking to add USB charging ports... Were did you get the cigarette lighter USB adapter? Looks like it fits nicely.

Griffin double USB charger from Ebay :)

You weren't kidding about the previous photos. In not doing it justice. Looks great in these later ones!

Thank you!

http://i.imgur.com/pMQp7zEh.jpg

Just a quick pic :)

Hi Geraintthomas , did you ever find out the color code number for your wheels ? Great pic too .Did you get the alcantara from an auto upholstery work shop ?

Not sure on the colour code sorry, but this was what I bought:

Anthracite Grey E-Tech Car Alloy Wheel Spray Paint 400Ml Can Chip Resistant | eBay

I bought the alcantara from ebay :) 1m x 1.5m for £10, very cheap. It's faux stuff, but feels stunning, as you're still able to brush the fibers.

Rainy day today.

http://i.imgur.com/wweF3Uih.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/SqjPALVh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/CNVs996h.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/rrOk2SGh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1P4PHYch.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/zPk0Qsph.jpg

By the way, the DSLR is kept in the car now so it's easier for me to whip the decent camera out to take snaps, so the rest of the photos should be a lot better rather than iPhone ones :)

You need Galaxy S7

Oh and thanks for the info

No worries! And nah.

Sure, here it is:
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...f5526d142c.jpg
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...8969b8a90b.jpg

It's also on the doors:
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...25fe50fce4.jpg
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...c6f70588e6.jpg

That's mental, never seen that. Is it quite plush?

Not at all, it's vinyl on plastic, so it's hard to the touch.

Got to work detailing the exterior today.

Cue black and white progress photos

http://i.imgur.com/HK3Z1i4h.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OZaOgaJh.jpg

And some final results. Lighting was awful by the time I'd finished, so apologies for that!

http://i.imgur.com/cJNmBWyh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/83PCuckh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KJv9h6th.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZKRfgj6h.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/EgZgQKfh.jpg

Ger, you no doubt have one fine looking 986. It really probably didn't even NEED that polish, but - like me - that didn't stop you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk