What size are your bypass pipes?
They sound great!

Yeah that exhaust sounds pretty sweet, car looks great as well :cheers:

1" pipes :)

Thank you!

Nice car and hobby you got there. Please post more (subscribed)

Chinese projector kits
 

dbl-post sry

No worries. About the pre-edited post, the bulbs are from a separate company that were built and designed by a specialist HID company - it's just the lenses that are from ebay, so don't worry :)

Digging the Black Edition. Think its bad ars

Let us know how you've managed to get the tailpipe blacked out, I intent to do the same to cancel the shinny butt of my car. Just don't know where to begin with this (powder coat, hightemp paint, tar coatings, etc...).

That'll be interesting

I'll be doing it with matt black spray and matt lacquer to be honest, I won't be using anything high temp. They're only tips so they wouldn't get that hot. I've used standard paint on calipers before and it has lasted years - unless you're putting it onto a rocker cover or actual exhaust pipes, then I'd just use normal paint :)

Matt black is ridiculously forgiving, you can get a stunning finish to it without even trying. Going to wait until the summer though to do it in one fell swoop.

I painted mine in barbecue paint - it dries to a mat charcoal color and handles the heat.
(they can get hot, especially after a hard drive).
The tips are custom made slip-on fitting. (when I go for smog I can remove them so the exhaust looks standard, so hopefully they don't notice it's bored out and has secondary cats removed!)http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1484773455.jpg

I just sat here and read this whole thread, so much excellent work going in to a very low key package. Absolute class 100% of the way, I love the way it turned (is still turing) out!

Thanks very much Justin, much appreciated :)

Did you clear over the decals?

Those wheels look great!!!

Outstanding Boxster!
 

Those pictures look like they came from a sales brochure. Beautiful car Ger!

New happy Boxster owner says Hello! :)
 

Hi Ger,
I just acquired a 986 from 1997 and after following since several months your amazing posts, DIY tuto, comments, etc., I'm just totally over-excited to start making the old lady look young and great again!
But I just don't know where to start, while thinking that the engine and other mechanical parts should have my attention before starting to work on the looks, right?
Problem is that the car is 20 years old, only 65.000 miles and not having been on the road for more than 2 years, except for a few rides within the compound of the car seller (shop seller, not private), which means not more than 3rd gear and 2k rpm
When I got it last Friday and took it on the highway, it wouldn't go higher than 3k rpm and 60 mph, until I used the tiptronic to pass from 5th gear to 4th and create a small bang from the exhaust, hence dusting out all the exhaust line, brutal but effective ;)
Anyway, engine oil is new, that's about all that has been done to the car by the seller
And problem here is that I can't ask Porsche workshop for a checkup and service as the car is older than 10 years and they don't take responsibility for it blablabla usual BS to make you pay extras
And experienced independent Porsche workshops don't exist here either :(
So, being quite handy, I'm thinking of doing it myself but would greatly appreciate some guidance from you guys! :)
Well, that's about all I have to say for now, sorry for the long post hahaha
Ben (Belgian guy living in Malaysia)


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/98611486377191.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/98621486377205.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/98631486377218.jpg

A gorgeous example, and I'm very jealous of the roof and interior colour! It's lovely.

That's quite alarming that a 20 year old Porsche never got driven the way it should have. But thankfully it sounds like its new owner will start driving it the way it should!

You're absolutely right in stating that the mechanical condition comes first. My honest opinion would be to change the oil again. The seller has changed the oil, but you've no idea the condition of the engine before hand. The oil could have had metal shavings in it for all you know, indicating that there could be big problems. Do a small service yourself on it that includes:

- Transmission Oil
- Transmission Oil Filter
- Engine Oil
- Engine Oil Filter
- Engine Oil Washer & Plug
- Spark Plugs
- Air Filter

By changing the oil and filter, you can check for any shavings, and if there aren't any, you're good to go and at least you know you've checked everything yourself. The transmission oil and filter will breathe new life into the transmission.

Doing all of the above is quite easy and can be done in a couple of hours. While you're at it, check the condition of your brake discs and pads all round, and make sure the tyres aren't cracked. Even if there's decent tread on tyres, they deteriorate if too old or stood too long, so check for cracks.

If all that's good, then you can go nuts on cosmetics, but you don't want to just mask up problems :)

Also, get that 'S' badge off the boot. You don't want to be one of those people who tries to make the car into a fake by being something it's not.

So I'm in the middle of doing a radio upgrade...

I've decided to go down a different route to everyone else. I've got a CDR-23 so it's not an easy swap, but thankfully I've not got an amplifier so that does simplify things if only a little. I've gone down the route of an Android head unit by a Chinese company called Xtrons, as I wanted to make use of things like Google Maps, Spotify, and customise it completely to create a Porsche branded radio. Granted, these are made on the cheap but there's been great reviews, and I can tell you that so far it's incredible. Build quality is outstanding, and it's speed is fantastic. It just has to stand the test of time, but to be honest, what electrical component isn't made in China anyway? This wasn't an Ebay jobbie either, and was from the company themselves. They do a lot of custom radios, and are quite common.

It's not finished yet - I've ordered a custom surround as the Porsche double din one doesn't fit these which is a shame, so it won't be a perfect flush fit, but it'll look good nonetheless. I also need a radio antenna adaptor.

Here's the radio I've got:
http://iskamgps.com/files/147029562629904.jpg

It's got some incredible features. Being Android it's completely customisable. It's very fast, there's no horrible chrome buttons, the hardware buttons on the left and right are illuminated by RGB LED's and can be changed using any colour you can think of. It's lovely.

I powered it up using a laptop charger that I hacked into, so that I could customise it before fitting it.

Here's the home screen, with a custom Porsche background that neatly places a logo at the top left:
http://i.imgur.com/rDXx1dJh.jpg

Customised the Android start screen to show my own designed Porsche startup logo:
http://i.imgur.com/nE68lHdh.jpg

Trying to make it feel OEM.

Got round to adding some apps (Google Maps, Spotify, etc)

Spotify:
http://i.imgur.com/HxliQErh.jpg

Google Maps:
http://i.imgur.com/5tZwdYBh.jpg

Notice the 'Porsche' app?
http://i.imgur.com/R8t87M0h.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/94nBeYth.jpg

That's the Torque app, but I've customised the shortcut to show that. Torque now opens up custom designed layouts that match the car's interior, and gives me useful information.

http://i.imgur.com/O9Vxt5Ch.jpg

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

Got round to fitting it:
http://i.imgur.com/DzWmRNkh.jpg

The bezel should be here tomorrow, so it'll look a little nicer.

The awesome thing about it being android is that it's 100% customisable. I can install Netflix if I wished (obviously not going to). I can download Gmail, SoundCloud, even Facebook if I wanted to. It's perfect. The car radio can now diagnose its own problems through the OBD2 port and show real time information as shown above.

And the price? £190.

Now before anyone things "Awesome I'll order mine!", this was far from a plug and play job. I've had to run custom wires from the fuse box, cut the radio harness wires and wire them into the cars adapters myself while soldering spade connectors onto them, I've had to remove the plastic surround and dremel it to fit the new radio, etc. It's not pretty behind it all, but it's finally working.

The bezel is custom fit to the radio and not to the car, so as said before there won't be a flush fit, but it should look a lot better. I may even make a custom made one to fill the gaps, but I'll have to see. I'm also going to remove the alcantara on the horse shoe surround. It's alright but it's not perfect, and I don't want to sound like a snob but I'm not aiming for 'alright' with this car. It needs to be spot on.

As soon as the bezel's fitted I'll take some better photos!

MAJESTICALLY AWESOME X1,000,000

Sooooo want the same

I'm more than happy to help you if you want to buy the same :)

Well, at that price + look & feel I'd be a fool not to do the same. I'll be in touch for sure - too kind bud

Seriously. It is by far the BEST dash unit I've seen so far for the 986. Speechless...those typeface & colors. ouch. Thanks for sharing this post

The typeface on the Torque app is totally custom, just include your own font file :)

But yeah it's great, it's essentially an android tablet with a CD player and a car interface app permanently running on it. Stunning!

Can you hook me up with the exact same typeface, gauges and colors? If so then I'm jumping into your fanclub man ;)

This.:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1486680834.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1486680842.jpg

I'll just send you my config so you'd have the same layout and everything :)

Let me fit the bezel first and I'll let you know the good and bad points, THEN you can decide :)

Unless you want the Torque files anyway to use on your phone?

As odd as this may sound, I want the exact same everything that you have in that unit. Really like it just the way you did it and I don't think I'll do better anyway.

So.. yes, please. Let me get in gear and I'll take your offer. Please post when you are done and I'll shoot right after.

Thanks man, appreciate that

Awesome :)

The only thing I'm having trouble with is securing the double din in the hole. Weirdly it slides in perfectly and stays in a nice position, but if I was so inclined I could just pull it out. I wouldn't mind it being a bit more permanent than that, so I need to investigate.

As promised, more photos.

I've decided to remove all of the alcantara in the car. It faded blue and the edges started to curl, so I've removed it all. The only parts I need to re-buy are the a-pillars, so I'll pick some up off ebay soon.

Looks better though:

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

And so does the radio with the new fascia!

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

It's a gorgeous fit, and looks a lot nicer without the alcantara too. There's a gap at the bottom but it's not obvious at all.

http://i.imgur.com/T3eXd7Fh.jpg

The cage had to be screwed inside, and the radio was quite hard to get inside. It's such a bodgey job behind the radio with the wiring and the fitment, but it's sturdy and works a charm. I'll have no need to remove it anytime soon.

All in all it's cost me £270. £190 for the radio, £30 for the climate control relocation fascia, £30 for the double din cage fitting kit, £10 for the Xtrons bezel and £10 for the radio adapter. Like I've said, none of it was a simple plug and play.****

A little bit about what was done:

Installation:

- Purchased the Xtrons radio and above fitting kits
- Removed radio surround
- Dremeled the surround inner area to allow the double din radio to fit
- Screwed the double din cage into the sides of the radio surround
- Connected the 12v wire from the new radio loom to the 12v wire in the black connector on the original radio loom using thin spade connectors
- Connected a ground wire from the new radio loom to the ground wire in the black connector on the original radio loom using thin spade connectors
- Fed a 12v accessories switched feed from fuse E1 to the radio's switched 12v feed as the original loom doesn't have one (the CDR23 never needed one)
- Connected the front left positive & negative, and the front right positive & negative speaker wires from the new radio****loom to the correct wires in the brown connector on the original radio loom using spade connectors.
- Fed a wire from the grey/blue wire in the instrument cluster to the new radio loom's illumination wire, so the radio recognises the lights
- Screwed in the attachment plates to the side of the radio
- Connected the external GPS at the****back
- Slid the radio into place
- Attached the bezel
- TO DO: Buy an adapter for the radio wire

Setup:

- Designed and applied custom boot logo
- Designed and applied custom wallpaper to show Porsche logo in the upper left
- Installed Google Maps
- Installed Spotify
- Installed SoundCloud
- Installed Gmail
- Installed Torque
- Downloaded 'Icon Changer Free' to replace and rename the Torque app with a Porsche icon
- Enabled Torque to start straight into the dashboards when the app is launched, bypassing the Torque home page
- Customised the dashboards to show relevant information, and customised the look and feel to a more Porsche branded look (including a logo)
- Auto connects to phone's mobile WiFi hotspot

Tadaaaah! It's taken a while, but by god it looks good.

I think going back to the original interior looks much better and is more in keeping with your "style". However, how in the heck did you get the parts that clean again or are they all repurchased? Damn, I do love looking at your paint!

Hair dryer to soften the solvent and a solution called 'sticky stuff remover'. That's genuinely what it's called. Came up like new :) apart from the a-pillars as I've used stronger glue, so replacements are on the way.

Okay, so the forum blocked my other account for having posted a link to a great tutorial about how to maintain your 986 yourself, sad...
So, I'm (was) BenWillok and I have to say Thanks a LOT for your feedback! I'll get my hands dirty right after work today and start changing and checking on those oils and filters ;)
Yeah I found the added "S" sign looking idiotic too and I can't wait to remove it but then I'll need to think of the paint first, since the entire existing paint is a mess, they painted cheap black on top of original silver...
So I'm still hesitating between putting a nice brown colour like this (I know it's not the 986):

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1486969563.jpg

Or grey (I know it's not the 986 either but still looks amazing!):

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/Grey1486969878.jpg

Or blue:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/Blue1486969898.jpg

Your opinion guys? :-)

You're going to paint it?!

Wow. If you're willing to spend that much money on it, be absolutely sure the car is mechanically perfect. You don't want to go spending thousands of dollars on something that could potentially break! But if you do, go for the grey :)

The colour it is now looks fine, give it a machine polish and it'll be gorgeous. You could then spend the money on something like the Aerokit for it, really make it look gorgeous.

Anyhoo. Slight problem for the MOT that's in two months, but it could be okay.

After installing my projectors, you'll notice that my sidelight bulbs have been completely obscured by the lens:

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

That's why I've installed the DRL's, so they act as sidelights. Unfortunately, I've found out that DRL's cannot be used as sidelights, so this setup would fail an MOT.

Luckily, due to the bizarre setup of the 996 and 986 headlight, the foglights are part of the main headlamp cluster as you know. The plan is to put much dimmer H7 bulbs (warm white LED for example) to match the brightness of a 501 W5W sidelight bulb, then wire those up to the sidelight loom.

The DRL's won't fail the MOT as they're not a testable item, but having no sidelights will. Front foglights also won't fail as they're not testable either, so this will completely solve the problem. I've just called the garage to confirm and they said as long as it's the same on both sides then they'll pass for a sidelight. Awesome.

I don't think I'd want those two lights to light up as sidelights all the time, but for the MOT it'll be fine. When I come to sell the car in the future, I'll just wire the DRL's as the front foglights and the original foglights as sidelights with smaller bulbs, like previously mentioned. Then all lighting will be covered and the new owner will be able to ignore everything and carry on as normal.

So yeah, didn't see that one coming! Should be fine though.

Ger

That's a shame about the sidelights as I've done just the same however I took my DRL feed from the fuse box and the sidelights still work, albeit very dim. I see on ebay that you can get 15 watt and even massive 50 watt T10 fitment bulbs so maybe that will solve the problem?

Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk

It's alright, my suggestion will be fine :) essentially plugging the sidelight plug onto the fog light bulbs instead, job done.

Some more photos, just for the hell of it!

Off:
http://i.imgur.com/hKwYInSh.jpg

Boot:
http://i.imgur.com/UObWZKph.jpg

On:
http://i.imgur.com/HmvhEgvh.jpg

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

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

I think that looks bloody fantastic. Like I've said before I've tried to customise it so it doesn't look aftermarket, and due to the fact that there's not a single brand logo in sight, and as the hardware lights are the same colour, it feels completely standard :)

Ger, you've created the dream 986. Tip of the hat to you!


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Still a long way to go yet ;)

The following are going to be added this year:

- Original cruise control & on board computer
- GT3 front bumper & skirts
- Lowered and spacers on alloys
- Upgrading dash speakers, and adding door & rear headrest speakers
- Dash spoiler button
- Front parking sensors with dash button
- 997 Shifter
- Heated seats
- Maroon mohair roof

Then it'll be the dream 986 :)

Haha, so keep on dreaming. I'm doing the OBC fourth stalk enable this weekend.


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Wicked! I want the DOT Matrix dials see as they're plug and play, so need to save up a little more :(

The dials, mileage correction, cruise control enabling and the 4 stalks will cost about £400 and that's all with second hand parts. Would love to have it!

Yeah, I'm just going with the pre-2003 display. Don't feel like getting a new cluster and mileage reset. Yours will look better, certainly.


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The Xtron looks bloody fantastic, congratulations, there might be a few if us wanting to copy that and get your custom display set up.

Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the last few pics Ger, that look absolutely amazing

I went ahead and bought 50 watt LED T10 bulbs to brighten up the obscured original sidelight but unfortunately they are too long and hit the projector shroud. They would have been great as they had a lens on them and would be super bright. Will have to find another use for them or try to return them.

Trying to find out the physical length of some 15 watt ones now.

I guess it would be useful to know how bright they need to be to pass an MOT?

Would much prefer to find a solution that kept the wiring original rather than go down the route of having to use the foglights.

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