BRAN's - 986 - Seal Gray Anatomy

[BRAN]

omg....an artsy 986 pattern

photoshoped to get an impression of a possible layout, has a damascene vibe sort of.

BRAN signature is for real

[BruceH]

I love the BRAN signature

[BRAN]

Finally time to say good bye?

front suspension, oil drips on engine (IMS/RMS/valve covers) ... TÜV said NEIN! You shall not pass!

[BRAN]

After being in a loooooong waiting line for a service/repair at a PZ (Porsche center), I brought the Boxster back home supposedly fixed.
Major rattling noises the next day made me take this precaution...bringing it back. An unbelievable story, too long to be told.

But it has TÜV approval now.

[BruceH]

UGH! That is a bummer

[78F350]

Glad you got TUV approval, hopefully Porsche will fix it all the way this time. Some day when you do let it go, it should go to the Porsche Museum.

[BRAN]

Haha...your collection deserves to be shown there. nice photoshop job

Next project was on hold for months now, since my Boxster found a new home in the PZ dungeons. I wasn't too happy with the phone functionability of my Pioneer unit.
So it was time to rip it all out to make space for a final solution: PCCM+


And oh boy that thing is a competitor for the so called car audio brands. Designed in Germany and manufactured partly in China, it shows my Blaupunkt, Pioneer and Boss car audio systems the backlights. IN EVERY ASPECT. I could not believe it! I thought that was all marketing BS when it was introduced. I was absolutely wrong.
Overpriced? For sure.
Cheap china knock off quality? For sure not

1st impressions after a brief test (before I noticed that it needs to go back to the hospital): 9/10 points

1. Works out of the box. No additional adaptors (like all the other brands) necessary. Wow! Thank you for less cable chaos and head scratching, Porsche. OEM brown ISO plug, click...OEM black ISO plug, click. Done.
2. Radio-antenna. I have spend my fair share of blood, sweat and money, to get my radios in an accaptable working state. Especially the DAB+ was troublesome. After 3-4 different antenna solutions, I had it working --> non-splitter/DAB+ only.
Porsche solution: FM/DAB+ splitter. 1 cable needs to be attached to the windsreen antenna cable, that is it. I was like....say what? That solution was considered from all the antenna specialists as non-working or sub-par.
Forums were full of comments, "you cannot..., it won't work.." AND THEY WERE RIGHT. It doesn't not work properly with any non-Porsche radio. BUT IT DOES WORK FOR THE PORSCHE OEM PCCM+.
Best FM/DAB+ radio reception ever! With my old windscreen antenna and just 1 cable...I was almost crying in disbelief. I completely deleted the old oem FM antenna amplifier. No wonky looking 3rd party solution. THANK YOU PORSCHE.
3. GPS antenna and directional mic. Installation of the GPS antenna in the OEM GPS compartment and routing the cable was easy peasy. I remember non-oem solutions, where I needed to mod/dremel the GPS cases, so they would fit somehow. OEM PCCM+ = snug fit and superior quality. THANK YOU PORSCHE.
4. Sound (very brief test without any major specific adjustments in the equlaizer settings). I thought, I had a very good setup with my Blaupunkt and Pioneer car audios. Troublesome was the difference in speaker OHM (dash 3ohm, door 4ohm).
PCCM+ takes it like a champ and blows a compact sound, that I thought was impossible. Even a subwoofer would not be necessary, but I have my tailored Kenwood solution now, so I will integrate it somehow.
BEST sound ever out of the box. Thank you Porsche.
5. Menu options. Not overburden, thank god for keeping it as direct and simple as possible. Thank you Porsche for keeping my attention on the road.
6. Display 800x480. I had my doubts, really. But the fonts, the menu and the icon designs are perfectly crisp. I was rubbing my eyes in disbelief, that this is not a fullHD setting. Cristal clear and super fast response. Just wow, what they did with that display.
7. Looks. Undisputed OEM look, especially in the horseshoe setup.

What do I miss to give it a 10/10:
1. Direct cinch subwoofer support (can be easily cured)
2. Direct backup camera support for the 996/986 pccm+ (technically possible though)
3. Direct radar front/rear support (impossible to integrate)
4. Wireless carplay support (can be easily cured)

sneak peak:

[Smallblock454]

1. Nice hood design! Love it.

2. PCCM+ i had some customers that had problems with popping noises and a kind of white noise while the PCCM+ is on and also off. Seems to depend on what amp config you have. If you use the internal amps the problems seems to be not present. But to me that's no wonder because the PCCM+ needs to work with +2 to +6 Volt inputs, hight-out inputs – so completely different impedances and also with the MOST bus amps. So there is a lot to test and to consider.

[BRAN]

Danke!

I tried to convince the Porsche center (PZ), that this is what my car looks like, but they would not hand it over.

So I had to take the other rallye Porsche home. They said, that they never had such a piece of art in their holy halls, well except of the 911 Dakar
Someone was even asking, if I am a rallye driver (I said of course I am a pro, that is why I chose the lower performance car for equal opportunities)
Finally that NEW TÜV cert, a major inspection service, NEW front suspension parts, NEW spark plug tubes, NEW cam covers. and a NEW RMS, including other things they had to replace set me back a few grand
PZ labour costs are a killer
I probably could have bought 2 sets of PORSCHE Fuchs wheels for that, including
Michelin tires.

Such investments let me rethink my design, and so I decided to GO FOR GOLD.


Now with race numbers on the trunk and a few less decals...less is more (I convinced myself)

[BRAN]

While still having my old "full night breaker" headlights installed, I use the time being to install the H7 LED from Porsche in my Litronics.
You can officially use them in ANY H7 socket.
As my fog lights are covered, it will just be the highbeam sockets then. The output is around 2000Lumen, slightly less than the litronics. Any aftermarket LED above 2000Lumen is not street legal.
Same goes for LEDs in turn signals or LED parking lights. YUP, there is no talking back to TÜV

But I will keep my blinker meshes no matter what
My Boxster will have a new name from now on: The "Golden Seal"

[BRAN]

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

1. Nice hood design! Love it.

2. PCCM+ i had some customers that had problems with popping noises and a kind of white noise while the PCCM+ is on and also off. Seems to depend on what amp config you have. If you use the internal amps the problems seems to be not present. But to me that's no wonder because the PCCM+ needs to work with +2 to +6 Volt inputs, hight-out inputs – so completely different impedances and also with the MOST bus amps. So there is a lot to test and to consider.

In a silent environment (garage and engine off) I noticed that white noise now, too.
It is very subtle, but noticable once detected. Of course only when the volume is turned down to almost 0. Not sure, if a filter might help. Could it be the dab+/FM splitter maybe, as it sounds like radio white noise?
As I have my Kennwood mini sub wired to the PCCM+ now, I am not sure, if it is the culprit.
And I noticed, that the internal amp is getting pretty hot.
No popping sounds. White noise only when radio is on.
Despite of that, I am literally blown away by the power output and sound quality. The PCCM+ is pretty base-heavy, and actually needs no mini sub like all my other head units did before.
But oh boy, with my mini sub already on minimum output level, it has an overwhelming output now.

And the wireless carplay adapter works like a charm.
Now I only need a modified 6pin camera adapter for a backup camera, and I am more than happy.


Routing all my cables and devices in the little area...is a total nightmare
FYI, both knobs are not illuminated, weird

[BruceH]

Looks great Bran, very nice Definitely a tight spot for all of the wires.

[BRAN]

Thx Bruce!
This is a small selection, of what I cramped in that tiny center console space. Tight fit and working so far.

Blindspot sensors
Ambient light LED (leg room)
Ambient light below console trims
TPMS Bluetooth sensor/cable monitor
Magsafe dual recharger puck
Parking sensors front/rear incl. monitor
2nd cigarette lighter slot
Rear spoiler control light
Sprint booster switch
Creating your own harnesses with lots of cable binders is the only way to do it

Oh, and moving to the FL horse shoe trim was a challenge of its own
The air duct needs to be cut back a lot and a connection piece needs to be created...did all of that.
I still need to cut a few more milimeters away from the duct, as it pushes against the cup holder preventing a snug fit with the radio frame. I will fix that, I am confident.

[BRAN]

Everything is installed and working. The only thing missing is the wooden horse shoe trim.

But before I install it, I have to face my biggest fear leather work, uphostering my leg room area.
And that involves an ambience light strip within the wooden trim, but there is a perfect groove to fit it in.

[BRAN]

So, I am trying to upholster smaller pieces before I tackle my dash leg room. Leather is really nice to work with, IMO better than wrapping foils. But you got to have the proper glue, which I sourced intensively.
I used cocoa brown leather (intensively sourced as well) on my center console side pieces.
Pretty happy with the outcome and I learned a lot already

[BRAN]

Old WIP pic, actually almost done with the upholstering. Just a surgical cut, followed by a leather repair touch-up missing and it will look flawless for my layman eyes

The hole is covered by a speaker mesh, That is the spot, where my mini Kenwood subwoofer is sitting.

[BRAN]

Wood trim is back in place, including ambient light strip. The trim removal/install process is my absolute favourite, so fast and easy.

BTW the PCCM+ display is sun proof, I had full sun on it, and could read every single detail on it. 10/10

[BRAN]

The 4 seasons, Speedster-Spyder-Boxster-Cayman. The red door stripes were brilliant, but too dominant. They had to go. Head light blinkers are TÜV conform, now. I like their look actually.



OEM Porsche-Fuchs wheels center caps attached.

[BRAN]

Air duct modification done. I inverted 1/3 of the bulky passenger air duct case to hold the mini sub secure in place - what a struggle. So now I am able to finalize the lower dash.


Super snug fit. Absolutely shock proof.
I also installed footwell lights and a new dark burl oem shifter knob (had to install a metal casing/fastener from an old knob first, fun )

[BRAN]

Type 7...and there is still space on the gas cap cover for a nice autograph