ACS Porsche 996 'GT' Project

2011 Updates

2011-06-04T18:40:00.000-04:00

I've been neglecting the updates to this blog lately. Will post details soon on what's been changed this year.

Spherical rod end rear toe links
Solid control arm bushings (trailing arm connection) front & rear
New spring / shock setup
Porsche GT3 upper spherical bearing mounts
Porsche GT3 Recaro race seats
New 81mm Pro Race Series ACS "Track-Studs"

315 Race Tires fit?

2010-05-31T15:39:00.001-04:00

996 Track Prep - Race Tires
Originally uploaded by apex944

Yes they fit. I get this question a lot. The car is lowered to stock GT3 ride height. With OE GT3 wheels, no spacer and 315/30-18 Pirelli Corsa race rubber I have had no problems at all with rubbing. They do not stick out beyond the fender at all. This size is probably a little bit overkill for the rears. A 305 or 295 may be a faster tire actually. The front is where you need the wide rubber on these cars. 235 is the minimum. I'm looking for a set of wheels that will allow me to run 245 or 255 up front.

Instructing at Beaverun

2010-05-29T15:36:00.002-04:00

Dei Weiße 911's

Originally uploaded by apex944

Beautiful day, new race rubber, and a full tank of high octane fuel. Summer time @ Beaverun Motorsports Complex.

A great group of students showed up and we had a blast instructing them at the track today. The new Pirelli PZero Corsas really transformed the car. The old ones just had far too many heat cycles in them.

Check out our newest photos on the Flickr pages by clicking the image to the right.

- Sponsored by Track-Studs.com

2010 ... more mods

2010-03-14T15:42:00.001-04:00

And you thought this blog was dead, no?

There are a few more mods planed for the old 996 this season. It's time to get rid of the old seats and put something in that will give me the support and control I need now that the car is cornering and braking better.

Keeping with the OEM theme we will be going with a set of original GT3 seats. The decision to go with leather (nice for street) or the more grippy fabric has not been made. A nice compromise may be a leather GT3 seat with Alcantara inserts for grip.

Factory GT3 seat mounts and sliders have already been obtained (via ebay) and a set of Schroth belts from my old race car will be converted for use with these. Schroth (pronounced "shroate") sells harness ends that will convert the belts from snap in to Porsche type ends for use with the factory mounting points. Just as where delivered on the optional GT3 competition harnesses.

Porsche GT3 Cup Cars come with Schroth belts direct from the factory. They are specific because of the lap belt attachment. They have a sewn-in bracket that fits perfectly on the factory mount. Standard belts require additional fabrication and a spacer to make them work.

A few more mods coming this way in 2010 are; partial roll cage or harness bar, new video/data system, more suspension upgrades, minor interior mods, and possibly new / wheel tire combos. Also the old engine may need a bit of attention as there is a slight lifter noise and a broken exhaust stud to fix which should address the small exhaust leak. So while we're under there, might headers, X51 pan baffles, and firmer engine mounts be in store?

Black boot & bonnet release

2009-08-20T23:51:00.009-04:00

OK this is hardly a performance mod but I was getting tired of looking at the worn out paint on my OE hood and engine decklid release levers. So when I stumbled across yet another cheap find on EBay I snatched it up.

It is a black on black set of release levers and the housing. Not sure what car this came from but it was shipped from Germany and appears to be NOS (new old stock but never installed)

One of my goals with this car is to eliminate ever bit of the original "Graphite Gray" interior trim and replace it with solid black. I just cannot stand the Graphite Gray. It looks cheap. One of my biggest complaints about the 996 series is it's poor interior finish. There is too much cheap plastic that doesnt wear well over time. Compared with early 21st century interiors from Audi, BMW and even VW, Porsche was way behind. So this helps with my conversion to an all black interior. Just a plain no frills black interior is the way to go in my book.

Before:
After:

Gimme a Brake - Whats that light?

2009-07-12T17:10:00.000-04:00

OK this week we spend a little more time on the brakes. Last time we improved the ability to cool them... now we can try to push the braking system a little harder. I hope the ABS cooperates! We'll know soon enough as our next test day is at the end of July.

So, one of the things you will encounter when you begin to track your 996 or GT3 (especially if you run race compound pads and tires) is that you will begin to generate massive amounts of heat in the braking system. The 911 will stop on a dime if set up for the track and the brake pad wear sensors can literally burn up as installed. This will of course cause the brake warning light to stay lit all the time. Porsche, Pagid & others actually recommend that you do not run the pad sensors when you track the car.

There are two things you can do about this:

A) You can remove the sensor wires before each event. If you are the type that spends a lot of time prepping before an event this may work fine for you. This works well especially if you do pad changes for track events. Note that when you simply pull the sensors out of the electrical connector located on the back of the hub, the brake pad wear light will come on. Another alternative is to pull the pad sensors out of the pad before they fail and fold them up and tie wrap them out of the way. This is a good intermediate step before you make the decision to disable them entirely.

B) If you are like me, and you run race pads on the street and DOT race tires which you leave on the car for extended periods, you may prefer a more permanent option. Below I have outlined my particular method for disabling the brake warning light when you don't use pad sensors.

Here is a photo of the complete Porsche brake pad sensor wire. On the left you can see the plug that goes into the electrical connector shown below. On the right you can see two "pins" that are each inserted into holes drilled into the side of the brake pads. When the pad wears, these pins grind down and expose the wires that are looped around them. Eventually the wires break and the circuit is broken. So we are going to modify the wear sensor wiring so that the circuit remains permanently intact.

First, locate the electrical connector on the back of the hub carrier. It's located on the back of the hub carrier just above the outer CV joint. Flip up the metal clip that locks the connectors in place. Trace the wires back to their sources. One goes the the brake pads and the other is your ABS sensor. It's quite obvious which is which. Remove the brake pad sensor plug and pull the entire sensor and wiring off of the car. The pins in the pads just pull out.

Now with the pad sensors completely removed you will cut the rubber wire sleeve and wires about 2" from the white plug end of the sensor. Then strip the wire ends so that you can twist the two wires together. Put a crimp connector on them and then re-attach a small section of the rubber heat protection tubing to keep out the dirt and moisture. Fold over the tubing and seal it off with a tie-wrap or similar. Voila you are done. No more brake pad warning lights. Ever.

The photo above shows the wires stripped. It is for explanation only. In actuality you will not leave the wires anywhere near this long.

Shown on the left here is the brake pad wear sensor wiring in it's final state. Plugged back into the connector with the short 'pig tail' of wire all sealed up inside the rubber sleeve. All in all a simple mod.

Should you ever wish to return the car to its original brake wear functionalty, the sensor wires can be purchased for under $10 per side.

GT3 Brake Ducts - Take 2

2009-07-05T17:32:00.009-04:00

Earlier we installed GT3 brake ducts to improve cooling. (Shown at left above) However since we drive pretty hard on a regular basis (while instructing at BeaveRun) it has become appearent that still more cooling could be used. This really came to light after we started running Pirelli Corsa track tires and began generating much higher brake torque as a result.

So to assist with more cooling we have installed a set of 997 GT3 brake ducts. These are deeper and have additional channels to feed more air to the front brakes. We will be testing soon and will see whether they suffice or whether we need to go full tilt with the 997 GT2 ducts. The GT2 ducts are so large that they can reportedly scrape speed bumps man hole cover etc. So hopefully the regular 997 GT3 ducts will suffice.

Aerokit rear wing finally installed.

2009-06-15T20:26:00.009-04:00

OK so we've had this GT3 like, mk1 Aerokit rear wing sitting around for months and finally have found some time to paint it and get it installed.

This is an OE factory Aerokit wing found, like the other items, on ebay. It's made in a small town in France right on the German border by a company called Turnwald.... but I digress :)

The wing arrived already primed and since we were very happy with the PPG products used earlier to paint the other components knocking this out in a weekend was going to be no problem. The same paint, bonding agent and clear coat was used. Thw wing was disassembled to allow painting all edges. Also we decided to paint the underside semi-gloss black. This was done for a few reasons. One it made setting it down to paint easier, Two, it should reflect less heat back into the engine compartment and finally because we had seen factory Carrera Cup cars in Germany with the inside painted black.
The wing was then re-assembled by reattaching the plates, pins and hinges that allow the wing to be adjusted to different angles of attack. (Another reason to get a true factory wing)

Finally the wiring harness, engine bay fan and weather stripping were swapped over from the original Carerra rear decklid. Note: We were told the C2 harness would work as is. This is not actually correct. The C2 wiring harness can be used but it needs to be cut and this destoys the ability to simply reinstall the C2 decklid if you want to retrofit it easily. We would suggest you source the proper Aerokit decklid harness from a dealer.

And there you have it. The complete mk1 GT3 look... finally.

Track Alignment

2009-05-12T08:21:00.004-04:00

Now that the GT3 wheels and track tires have been on the car for a while it was time to take a good look at the alignment. So we headed over to our friend's shop who has a hunter machine. After taking a look we discovered the rear toe was off and that the camber settings would have to be adjusted to keep from destroying the R-compound Pirellis on the track.

After reviewing a number of setups and especially looking over the GT3 recommendations from Porsche race engineer Roland Kussmauls, we came up with the following track / street compromise.

Front axle:
Toe total: +4'
Camber: -1.7º

Caster: 8° +/- 30'

Rear axle:
Toe total: 33’ +/- 2'
Camber: -1.8°

These are our starting points. Depending on the performance on both street and track we will adjust from here as time goes on.

If we were going to optimize for track use we would go with Roland's Motorsport recommendations:

Front axle:
Toe total: +5'
Camber: -2.5º

Caster: 8° +/- 30'

Rear axle:
Toe total: 32’ +/- 2'
Camber: -2.4°

Fabspeed Mufflers

2009-01-31T12:23:00.007-05:00

We've been running the stock mufflers / exhaust system on this 996 ever since we tried the muffler bypass pipes. Those pipes were fine for the track but we just too loud for a daily driver.

So when the opportunity came along for us the grab a set of Fabspeed mufflers we took it.

Nice and throaty but definately not too loud when you are not on the gas hard. The manufacturer claims 8-12hp. We're not sure about that, but the reduction in backpressure should help in some areas and they definately remove 12 lbs of weight from right were you want to get rid of it! Oh, and they do sound sweet :)

There are also headers available in the aftermarket for these cars. However the exhaust manifolds on the 996 are superior to those found on the 997 Carreras. They are similar if not dentical to the headers found on the 996 GT3 so changing out the headers (manifolds) is not required.

Here is a video from Fabspeed of their 996 muffler's sound.

Installation of the mufflers on a 996 is extremely simple. They are fastened by 2 bolts per side which fasten the muffler to a mounting bracket. Then there is a clamp on the crossover pipes. That's it. Loosen the clamp, slide it out of the way toward the cat. After you remove the 2 bracket fasteners, the mufflers simply slide back and down out of their position within the rear bumper cover. It's easier without the tires in the way but can be done with the tires in place. A simple mod and definately worth it if you like the music of the Porsche flat 6.

mk1 GT3 wheels

2009-01-20T11:01:00.010-05:00

We found a set of mk1 GT3 wheels from a bloke on Rennlist. (If you dont know about www.Rennlist.com, its the oldest and perhaps best Porsche owners forum on the web)

I say mk1 because these wheels are 8" wide in the front. Later GT3 used the exact same style however the front wheel width was changed to 8.5". The plan is to use the GT3 wheels primarily as track wheels mounted up with some good race rubber.

We're going to run a set on the street with Michelin Pilots and/or Continentals. For the track our second set of wheels will be shod with Pirelli PZero Corsa race rubber.

The track wheel/tire specs we run are as follows:

Front: 18 x 8 ET 55 with 235/40 Pirelli PZero Corsa

Rear: 18 x 11 ET 65 with 315/30 Pirelli PZero Corsa

996 engine videos

2008-12-04T23:53:00.002-05:00

Great series of Boxster/996 engine rebuild videos

Spacer & Stud Kit Install

2008-09-20T13:59:00.006-04:00

While we had already installed slightly wider Carrera 2 wheels on our 996, they still did not 'fill' fenders completly. Maximizing the track of the vehicle is almost always a benefit to handling plus a wide stance just looks better and is in keeping with our project's purpose of making our 996 as much like a GT3 as possible.

Keep in mind that the following recomendations are for the Carrera 2 wheels (or similar) shown below and for the original 996 twist wheels which are slightly narrower. Any other wheels such as GT3 or aftermarket (non-factory offset) wheels may need their own analysis to determine proper spacer & stud selection.

As an authorized H&R dealer, we have a full selection of wheel spacers from 7 to 45mm available to us. The goal was to widen the track to the width of a GT3 keeping the various tires sizes and wheel width options in mind.

We started with a 14mm H&R spacer which we trial fitted to both the front and the rear. Some have used a narrower 7mm spacer at the front of the 996 so we were hesitent to immediately put 14mm spacers on all 4 corners. However after testing the 14mm at all for corners and checking the clearances we determined this was well within fender. This also maintained the factory's original front to rear track difference and brought the tire out to about the same position it would be had we installed a set of wider and deeper offset GT3 wheels.

In the rear we determined that a slightly wider spacer could be used due to the additional fender clearance. So for our final setup we selected a 14mm spacer for the front and a 15mm spacer for the rear. An 18mm spacer could also have been used at the rear however we made a concession to the width as this car would also be regularly street driven. The concern was that 18mm would cause dirt and water coming off the wheel to splash down the side of the bodywork.

Any spacer for the Porsche 996 is going to require either longer wheel bolts or a conversion to a a stud & nut kit such as our "Track Stud" conversion kits. The first thing you need to do is determine what type of wheel nuts you will need. This will be determined by the type of wheels you have. If you have factory Porsche wheels you will need spherical seat wheel nuts such as those found on earlier Porsches. However if you have aftermarket wheels they often use a conical seat and you will therefore need a wheel nut with a matching 60 degree cone seat.

If you change your wheels often like we do then on of our ACS "Track Stud" wheel stud kits will make your lfe much easier. In addition to the extra strength affored you by these kits, repeatedly mounting a heavy wheel/tire combo become a "peice of cake". No more balancing the wheel on your foot while you struggle to thread that first wheel bolt in.

Sway Bars

2008-09-15T20:30:00.003-04:00

In order to dial out some of the understeer of our 996 an adjustable H&R rear sway bar was installed. We left the original front bar alone as a larger front bar would just bring more understeer back into the equation.

Removal of the original rear bar is simple and straight forward on the 996. Simply unbolt the inner pivot mounts and then disconnect the end links. Installation of the new H&R bar is simply the reverse.

The H&R rear bar will give us the adjustability needed to help dial in the supension the allow more neutral handling. Unfortunately the H&R bar is thicker, solid and therefore heavy. The last thing we want is more weight in the rear of a 911. So eventually we will be locating a set of factory GT3 hollow sway bars. They are adjustable front and rear and very light.

GT3 Brake Duct Spoilers

2008-09-07T17:45:00.001-04:00

A quick, easy & inexpensive upgrade. The front brake ducts off a 996 GT3.

The 996 GT3 brake ducts have been altered to improve ventilation and therefore brake cooling. They are similar in size to the original 996 stock ducts, but these have more aggressive grooves to direct air more effectively to the brakes. There is an even more aggressive duct available from the 997 GT3 which also snaps right onto the 996 control arms. But this is the type (996) we are installing because it's what we have :)

GT3 Aero Kit Installation

2008-09-02T12:56:00.017-04:00

The most obvious change in the transformation from a standard Carrera 2 to a GT3 look-a-like is without doubt the Mk1 Aerokit. The deep spoiler, side skirts and conspicuous rear wing totatally transform the look of the 996.

Below are a series of photos showing the progress. All work was done in house.

The mk1 Aerokit body components are made from polyurethane while the rear wing is made from what appears to be a glass fiber composite. This is preferable for two reasons. One is that curbs and other cars wont destroy the parts on contact. And the other reason is we wanted to make sure the car was only fitted with original equipment Porsche parts. The mk1 Aero kit was an option for the early 996 C2.

First, the slick polyurethane components were scuffed up with scotch brite to make sure the paint would adhear. Then we used a special sticky bonding agent called a "tie coat', that was sprayed on to make sure the paint would really bond to the flexible poly parts.

The side skirts were already primed and the tie coat acted as a primer, so there was no need for a special primer coat. We added a flex agent to the Glacier White paint so that it would not crack or flake should we ever come in contact with anything after installation. The base coat was laid on thin, allowed to "flash dry" for a few hours, then lightly sanded and the the final 2 base coats were added to give a thick flexible coat of Glacier White. These were allowed to dry overnight and the following day a liberal application of clear coat was applied. This provided the final protective barrier and would also allow for a durable high gloss shine.

Installation of the side skirts is extremely simple. The old plastic stone guards are removed from the bottom of the rear rockers. The new side skirts are then fastened with Porsche body clips to the underside of the rocker panels and by plastic "rivets" to inside edges of the front and rear fender openings. Afterwards the backing tape is peeled off the inside of the side skirt which allows them to be bonded to the car all along the skirt's upper length.

Fastening the front bumper to the car is a bit more involved than the side skirts but is still definately within reach of a 'garage mechanic' should you be thinking of attempting this yourself. First the side lights and head lights are removed. Then a number of self taping screws are removed all around the periphery of the original bumper. A few small bolts along the top where the hood lays and the old bumper should literally fall off the car.

Assembly of the new GT3 bumper cover is the reverse of removable with one exception. No two parts are ever the same. Especially when working with a 10 year old car. So while the new bumper cover should theoretically just slide into place, quite a bit of adjusting and and a tiny bit of trimming were required to get it to lay in place where we wanted it. All in all however , not a very difficult job.

The final result... a 996 Carrera C2 tat looks lower, more aggressive and newer. The downside is that the car now looks unbalanced. Aero treatments to the front and sides now are really asking for that Aerokit rear wing!

An Mk1 GT3 to aspire to...

2008-08-24T19:53:00.002-04:00

Here are a few pics of an early mk1 GT3 that I found on a German website. This car looks very much like what we had in mind when this project started.

Brake Bleeding & Parking Brake Adjustment

2008-08-15T17:56:00.010-04:00

As part of our gearbox and slave cylinder replacement a full fluid purge and refill with ATE Super Blue Racing fluid was in order. Therefore no time better than the present to take the opportunity to adjust the parking brake as well.

Adjusting the parking brake on the 911 is similar to other drum brake adjutment procedures. Instead of another "how to" here I would highly recommend any Porsche owner to head over to http://www.renntech.org and set up an account. RennTech is a great resource for DIY tutorials and is THE place to go for technical Q&A about all things Porsche. Check it out.

I often work on my Porsche alone and my wife is no longer thrilled about pumping the brake pedal during fluid changes. The Motive Bleeder to the rescue! This little unit really makes life easier. It is a simple one person power bleeder for your car. The Motive Products Power Bleeder (which we sell) requires no external power source and allows you to completely flush your hydraulic system without refilling. An accurate pressure gauge ensures safe operation. Pressure bleeding is the preferred method used by professionals and the Motive Power Bleeder will help you achieve those same professional results in minutes.

The entire brake system was flushed and refilled by myself in less time than it normally would take two people using the old "one guy on the brake pedal, one guy shuffling between bleeders and reservoir" method. It's a must have.

All the tools and fluids show here are available from Apex Competition Systems. http://www.apexcompetition.com/

New Clutch & Gearbox

2008-08-10T17:52:00.001-04:00

Text will be added later

- New Slave Cyl

- Rebuilt Gearbox fixed pinion whine

- New SACHS clutch. The 6 puck SPEC was grabbing & chattering

GT3 Aero Kit !!

2008-08-09T15:16:00.003-04:00

Found a GT3 Aero Kit!

The Carrera 2 and the GT3 share the same basic chassis & suspension. It's the gearbox and engine that really make the GT3 shine. The early 996 GT3 (which was never sold in the USA) had a 'body kit' installed from the factory which was also available on the 996 as an option. This option is commonly referred to as the "Aero Kit". This 'GT3' Aero Kit is comprised of a deeper, wider front spoiler, deep side skirts and a large rear wing. This whole package was developed in the Porsche windtunnel to help the GT3 with aerodynamics at racing speeds. It is not simply all show...but it does look cool :)

Recently we were lucky enough to locate a set of early side skirts and a GT3 nose on EBay. These bits are all factory OEM Polyurethane components and not the cheaper fiberglass you sometimes see advertised. Since this is still a street car there is no substitute for original polyurethane. It can bump a curb or two, whereas fiberglass will be destoyed with even the slightest contact.

We also got a small carbon fiber chin spoiler which can bee seen in the photo above. This really adds a nice agressive look and will more importantly keep even more air from getting under the nose. Reducing lift at 100+ MPH is what it's all about !

What we have not obtained yet is the GT3 rear wing. The verdict is still out on whether a "period" Aerokit wing (affectionately known as the "Taco Wing") such as was found on the street going GT3, or a far more functional GT3 Cup wing as found on the factory Carrera Cup race cars is a better choice. The race wing will produce more downforce but since this is still primarily a street car we may need to make a concession here depending on price availability, practicality, etc.

We'll be adding another post to this blog when we paint & install these parts...stay tuned!

Updating the Headlights

2008-07-08T10:56:00.000-04:00

The amber turn signals were delivered on the earliest Bosters & 996 cars. Personally I dont like them at all. I like the new 997 headlights as they look more "classic 911" however this is a 996 so we're stuck with what we have. What we can do however is swap out these old faded yellowing headlights for a nice new set of clear lights with smoked turn signals and get rid of the amber. The smoked lights will look much better on our project car's White/Black color scheme.

How to install 996 Headlights.

It is really simple but I have heard all sorts of stories from people who did no research prior to attempting this and wound up breaking their lights. There are no screws or nuts to remove. You need to use Porsche's special tool that is included in the tool kit in each car.

First locate the plastic interior nut holding the carpet in place. After you remove the plastic finishing screw you will be able to pull down the carpet. Remove the rubber plug just to the right of the grounding wire to expose the headlight removal socket. In your Porsche Tool kit you will find a hollow 'hex' wrench with a handle. Insert the hex head into the socket as show with the handle hanging down.

Turn the handle counter-clockwise until you hear a "click" and see the headlight move out forward. You can then pull the headlight straight forward out of the car. It is located by plastic guide pins in a plastic channel. Assembly is simply the reverse procedure.

More Sparkle :)

2008-07-02T11:37:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to find that "The Racer's Group" had just posted a set of the later model tail lights on their website. Something they had taken off a 996 shell for conversion into one of their full on race cars no doubt. It gives the rear of the car a nice updated look. The main difference is the replacement of the amber lense across the top with the newer clear/smoked lense.

Track Day #2 (w/ video)

2008-06-24T19:09:00.005-04:00

Monday, Project 996 was back on track as ACS owner Bill Sulouff was instructing at the BeaverRun Motorsport complex. The corner weighting, pressure adjustments and the ride height adjustments which were carried out last week all made a positive improvement on the 996's handling. The cars seems to be handling about right now for a basically stock 996.

After a few sessions it became clear that in order to enhance the track handling of this car any further that some additional "balance" adjustments would be required. The car was being pushed hard enough now that we could tell it still had too much understeer coming out of the corners. Even when "tossed" a bit and accelerating hard there was some "push". Therefore it looks like some GT3 swaybars (or similar) are in the car's near future.

The Hawk HP Plus pads that we intalled were a definite improvement. The fade is mostly gone. However we still seem to getting some fade at the end of the longer straight as we brake hard for the hairpin. It's possible that this is related to something else so we'll be going through the front brake system before the next event.

Here is a video of a couple laps. Fabspeed muffler bypass "Track Pipes" were installed just for this one day. Unfortunately they are far too loud for everyday use :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-qjbPflQ7o

Track Prep 101

2008-06-22T12:36:00.007-04:00

Monday is another track day at BeaveRun where Bill will be instructing so we spent a little time on the 996 this weekend attending to some things that were still not optimal. First off the brake pads that had been on the car for the first track day proved to be insufficient, fading after only about 4 hard laps. So we will be testing various compounds to see what works as advertised! First up is a set of Hawk HP Plus pads which are Hawk's Autocross and "Track Day" pads. Designed to be driven to and from the track and still perform well in normal street driving, these pads sound like they will be what we're looking for if they perform.

Next on the agenda was getting the ride height and corner weights squared away. Given that this is the '996 to GT3 Project' we started out by setting the ride heights to roughly what is delivered on a Porsche GT3. 25.5" from the highest point of the wheel arches to the ground (tire contact patch).

After this was done we pulled the 996 onto our setup scales to check the corner weights. Way off! After a few hours of tweaking the H&R coil overs we stopped at what is a much better, but still a compromised setup. This is afterall a street car and not a race car. So getting 'perfect' corner weights may not be possible.

Tire pressures were also adjusted from the factory settings of 36F/44R to 32F/40R. The common wisdom is that this is a better setup reducing some understeer, improving grip and at the same time giving a better ride around town.

We'll see how it does and report back on Monday. To the track!

996 Project Dyno Session #1

2008-06-19T23:26:00.003-04:00

B&M Short Shifter Installed

2008-06-18T22:23:00.002-04:00

You think the shifting of your 996 is already as good as sports cars get? Think again! We just installed a B&M shifter into ACS Project 996 and wow, what a difference. The shifting has gone from excellent to 'PERFECT'.

The shifter is supplied with everything needed to install plus the included B&M instruction manual which is excellent. Plenty of detailed photos and it covers every step of the process very well. The shifter takes about 1 hour to install with basic hand tools.

Once on and adjusted, the driving feel is much improved. 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 shifts are now made with a very quick and decisive "snik, snik" that you'd expect from a racing shifter. The gate width between 2-3, 4-5 shifts is reduced but the "feel" for these gears is actually improved. The shifting effort is not noticibly increased and it remains easy to throw into the gears. The B&M shifter reduces much of the 'play' giving it a nice firm feel.

One word of advice. While it is outlined in the instructions, it is very important that you mark the location of the cable shafts prior to disassembly. Failure to do so can make adjustment once assembled much more time consuming. We found that even a 1 or 2mm change in adjustment at the cable attachment points created a difference you could really feel in where and how far the shifter engaged.

BMC Panel Filter

2008-06-16T13:50:00.006-04:00

We had a BMC panel filter laying around unused so we popped it in this weekend. This filter has a very nice soft silicone type seal all around the edge. This filter appears to be very similar to the excellent "Green" Brand filters we recommend. Great fit, quality materials, recommended.

Later we will be installing the EVOMS cold air intake. The EVOMS intake is a true ducted cold air intake with a low restriction cone filter feeding a radiused intake trumpet attached to the throttle body hose. The Grand-Am Cup teams use the EVOMS intake. We'll be dyno'ing it later.

New Wheels

2008-06-10T19:16:00.009-04:00

Never been a big fan of the "Twist" wheels found on the early 996 cars like ours. They are relatively heavy and also narrower than some of the other wheel options.

We'd love to put a set of BBS LM wheels on the car but at $1000 each that's not going to happen soon. We do sell a BBS LM "replica" wheel for 1/4 the price. However what we've decided to go with are the 'Carerra 2' wheels that were delivered on the '02 and up 996 cars. We sell a refurbished "new" version of this wheel that is lighter and wider than the "Twist" and since the price is right they were selected.

The "Twists" may be powder coated black to use as track wheels even though they are narrow and heavier. No sense in buying a perfectly good set of wheels for track abuse when we're not really racing. Those last 10ths of a second are not the objective.

First track day

2008-06-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

Somewhere I read "All Porsches are Race Cars" Well I dont know about the new Cayenne but for sure the Porsche 911 has won more circuit races than any other model of car I can think of. How would our's fair on it's maiden voyage to BeaverRun?

Since I was instructing I did not bring my cameras for documentation purposes but we'll be at the track again soon and will be taking stills and video for this blog.
Engine:
Initial impressions were that for an old 3.4L normally aspirated engine this car still has a lot of grunt. At around 4000 RPM the variable cam timing kicks in and it really starts to pull. The motor goes strong to redline with no indication that it was running out of breath. So the engine passes the "new car test" ... no leaks, rattles or tapping from the 8 year old flat 6.
Brakes:
"Houston we have a problem." Not so much the brake system but the pads. Fade started around the 5 lap mark and then got progressively worse until I realized exactly what was happening. The pads on the car had not been changed and evidently they were not a "sport" compound at all. In subsequent sessions I began to "breathe" the brakes by lifting once going into the heavier braking zones. This helped quite a bit and the pads held up for the rest of the day. A good set of Hawks or Carbotechs are definately on the "To Do" list. On a positive note, I have driven many German cars with Bosch ABS. I have never liked any of them, until now. Usually the ABS activates and does not continue to slow the car and does not return braking control to the driver for far too long. This Porsche on the other hand has ABS I can live with. Once activated it would immediately shut off if I released any brake pressure at all, and when I simply stomped on the peddle it did a great job of threshold braking itself, with tires chirping for mercy as the system instantaneously computed the limits of adhesion. Well done Porsche!
Suspension:
In a word, impressive. This was afterall not H&R's true track suspension and certainly no racing suspension, however the H&R suspension was more than capable of handling most of what I threw at it. Getting to know this new car meant I was no where near the limit and was basically just trying to understand the dynamics and get a good feel for the car's balance. All in all the supension was quite capable of contolling the car in both the slower chicane, the tight hairpin and showed no signs of wandering or float at speeds over 100mph. There was a bit more understeer than I like but that is to be expected for the stock sway bars and the narrow front tires we had on. (225)

H&R Suspension

2008-06-04T21:03:00.001-04:00

Since the ACS 'Club Sport' 996 was scheduled to hit the track just days after taking delivery we pretty much had to "run what you brung". Fortunately we were able to "bring" the H&R Adjustable Coil Over suspension that the previous owner had so kindly installed for us! But we wouldn't track a car without giving it a good going over so up on the lift it went.

What we discovered was an H&R suspension with springs rates somewhere between mild and wild. A quick run over the setup scales in our shop showed reasonable corner weights and nothing that would prevent us from getting used to the new car's manners on track.

As a dealer for H&R we (ACS) had no problem justifying the use of this H&R suspension for the first track outing. In fact we decided it would be a good idea to evaluate this "street/track" suspension and compare it to the stock 996s we've driven and then again with the more agressive Club Sport or competition suspensions we've got planned for the car down the road.

The previous owner had lowered the car a bit more than we'd like to see on a dual purpose car. But again, for this first outing we were in expiremental mode... So the setup stayed as it was.

First Mod - A Little Sparkle

2008-06-02T18:42:00.001-04:00

Before the ACS 996 even got to our shops it was being modified. As soon as we found the car and made a deposit, the fingers were flying on the keyboard searching for bits to add to the car so that we could begin getting it ready four it's first track day. Bill was planning to instruct at BeaveRun just 3 days after the car was schuleded to arrive.... what could we do on such short notice without having the car here to physically inspect? Not much. However one of the changes we knew was going to be made was the cenversion from the early '99 style headlights and yellow signals & corner lights to the later style clear or "white" lights. This change would really update the perceived "age" of the car and also compliment the white on black "theme".

So we ordered up a set of the very affordable Bosch corner lights and started searching for '00-'01 style headlights. Much to our dismay there were not any used headlights available out there this week and new units just were not in the current budget. So it was decided the headlights will have to wait for a later date.

Criteria for purchase

2008-06-01T13:00:00.001-04:00

We searched for a few months lookng for a used 996 C2 Porsche that would fit a couple of simple criteria.

Affordable - Car needed to be under $25,000

Since this car was going to primarily be a show case for ACS products and was also going to be our street/track car there was no sense in buying a garage queen that never saw brake dust or worn out tires!

White C2 Coupe with Black Interior

Black interiors in these early Carerras are surprisingly hard to find. The German trend at the time was to color code the dash, trim carpets and seats... no thanks, just basic black for us!

While Black is most stunning on these cars, the fact that this was going to be an older car with heavy use in the plans meant that a high maintenance finish like black was out... that left 'German Racing Silver' or a 'Factory Race White'. Since so many early 996 are silver and since we're a sucker for the factory race look, Glacier White was chosen.

Southern or South Western Car

Since this car would be worked on extensively and would be a showcase of our products we wanted the running gear and underside to be as clean as possible. Rusty bolts, oxidized suspension & exhaust parts just wouldn't cut it.

After watching EBay, Autotrader and a few Porsche forums our car appeared... in Arizona. Mileage under 70K, White on Black, and a web savvy car dealer with a reputation for selling cars exactly as described. A few weeks later just outside of Pittsbugh we met a car transporter on his was to Philly with our 996 sitting on the back of his truck. Soon our new project was heading home... Project C2-GT3 was born!

Apex Competition's 996 Shop Car Project

2008-06-01T11:00:00.000-04:00

So what's this all about? It's about the impressive Porsche GT3 Cup cars that we can't afford to drive everyday.... so why not take an affordable 996 C2 and modify it (within reason) to arrive at a comfortable yet formidable weekend club sport type toy... One that can still be driven to and from the circuit and even to work on nice days.