Project 2000 Porsche Boxster - SOLD and GONE! 😥

[Kiltox]

I seem to remember panhard65 telling me that mine has non-rated tyres on for some reason, possibly price. Drives fucking superb, though

[Kiltox]

Oh and after you mentioning how flimsy the indicator stalks are, mine stopped working properly today, cheers

[SiC]

Oh and after you mentioning how flimsy the indicator stalks are, mine stopped working properly today, cheers

Tried actuating them on and off a good few times? Might just be dirty contacts.

[Kiltox]

It doesn’t latch properly for signalling right + the auto cancel has gone a bit funny. Aparrently common and it needs the whole stalk assembly replacing.

[Peter C]

How dare you get my, erm, your Boxster dirty!

 

You’re seeing all that lovely beading because there’s about a kilo of high gloss polish on the bodywork and a similar amount of Autoglym treatment on the roof canvas.

[Wack]

Everybody raves about the PS4/S but on my MX5 I had yokohama AD08R and they were fantastic , it had 3mm falkens on the back and something crap on the front that were new , I could tell straight away it had 4 new tyres on.

 

When the time comes on the mustang I'll be putting yokohama on it if these Pirelli don't kill me first

[SiC]

Everybody raves about the PS4/S but on my MX5 I had yokohama AD08R and they were fantastic , it had 3mm falkens on the back and something crap on the front that were new , I could tell straight away it had 4 new tyres on.

 

When the time comes on the mustang I'll be putting yokohama on it if these Pirelli don't kill me first

Yoko in a decent grippy tread pattern like the AD08R aren't available in this size.

 

Front are 205/50/17,

Rears are 255/40/17.

 

Another option could be to blow the budget by ditching the lot and go Eagle F1 all round (it's payday today can't you tell!). Always found them to be a great tyre.

[SiC]

Decided to go for Michelin Pilot Sport 4 based on PistonHeads advice (surprised me that one, I thought it'd be N-rated) and this thread here:

http://www.boxa.net/forum/topic/81007-tyres/

 

£220 for two tyres. Not too bad considering they're Michelin. To be fitted on Friday morning. Quite tempted to put the spare alloy and space saver on, then just take the tyres only to the garage. Don't really want a tyre place attempting to jack the car in the wrong place.

[purplebargeken]

Had to get a Conti for Ben's car, VW Up with big alloys, £110!!!!

[SiC]

First world problems.

 

Dear Simon,

 

Thank you for your order.

 

The tyres you have selected may not be suitable for your car as these are not Porsche approved units.

 

All Porsche approved tyres are designated by an “N” rating. This denotes that Porsche has approved the tyres for use on their vehicles and these tyres are constructed specifically to suit the power, suspension and handling characteristics.

 

We have come across instances where Porsche may not honour the warranty on vehicles fitted with non-approved tyres and as such we always recommend the use of the specific fitment. We have also had instances where customers have identified poorer performance as the results of switching away from “N” rated tyres.

 

At Blackcircles.com we strive to help our customers make an informed decision on the tyres that they purchase. At this stage we are contacting you as a courtesy to make you aware of the potential impact of not choosing “N” rated tyres, if you would like to discuss further options we would be more than happy to assist.

Kind Regards,

 

Terence

Customer Service Advisor

At least they didn't throw the insurance card into that email.

 

My option is the latest PS4 or the older PS2 as n-rated. Given most Porsche's have much bigger tyres, its going be extremely unlikely that Michelin will go to the trouble of getting n-rating on their latest tyre designs for tyre sizes usually only on older cars. This 986 is now classed as a Classic Porsche by Porsche now too.

[Kiltox]

Lol at the warranty comment

[5speedracer]

Aberdeen registration.

 

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

[nacho man]

That boxster is ace.

 

I went in a 2.7 some years back and I remember it being a lovely zingy engine.

 

I have pilot sport 4's on my zim zimmer and they are well regarded tyre.

[SiC]

I did some stuff on it today.

 

Decided to clean the throttle body and MAF. Noticed when taking off it was a bit juddery as such. Also the idle wasn't particularly smooth. It's history has an owner who lived in London and I find that often they get quite a bit clogged up.

 

Firstly getting to the engine. Not too bad, basically a few hand fasteners and a few panels to remove. The back section does get in the way a bit though.

 

Undid the throttle body mounting bolts. However I hamfisted with my impact driver and rounded one of the hex head bolts. I hate hex head bolts, why didn't Porsche use torx?

 

My favourite tool - usually!

 

Ended up just removing the whole intake section and putting it on the bench.

I'll take this all out again later and replace this bolt once I've bought a new one from Porsche.

 

Also noticed this split or cut in the intake pipe on the MAF side.

 

The throttle body isn't as bad as I've seen but it certainly wasn't pristine though.

 

Also noticed oil in the intake tube. Sign of the Air Oil Separator on its way out?

 

Quick clean up with carb cleaner and a toothbrush soon got it shiny again.

 

MAF was down by the air filter. Noticed that the cable wasn't secured on the air filter plastic. Someone been here before?

 

The MAF model code against Pelican Parts suggest it's the latest revision part. Also means that the DME (engine ECU) has been updated to take this part. According to PistonHeads, the software update makes the idle a bit lumpier.

 

Date code in the part backs up that it's been changed since the car was built. Around 2007.

 

Hard to take pictures but the MAF looked very clean. I decided to not try cleaning it at all as these sensors are pretty fragile and can easily be damaged using the wrong cleaning chemicals.

 

While I was in the engine bay I did a quick check of the PAS reservoir.

 

Uh-oh! The reservoir looked completely dry too.

 

I'll have to get some Magic Porsche Pixie PAS Fluid and top it back off. For now I'll monitor but I imagine I'll end up throwing the car at a specialist to find where its leaking from.

 

Restarted the engine. Idle was a tad higher than before. I guess this is expected until the ECU learns a new idle position.

[HMC]

Great pics! Is it a flat 6? Bet it sounds superb.

[Tamworthbay]

I wonder if they train Porsche mechanics by putting an engine on one side of a door, the mechanic on the other and getting them to strip it through the letterbox.

[SiC]

Great pics! Is it a flat 6? Bet it sounds superb.

Sure is! Like a proper Porsche. Unlike the flat-4 that the very latest Boxster & Cayman is. Well I guess that's in keeping with the heritage of very old Beetle engine powered Porkers...

 

Sound is good but not amazing. Comes alive after 4k rpm. Below that it's a bit whiny. Probably to meet noise regs.

 

There are aftermarket exhaust options which really extract the sound. One is a new backbox - these tend to be obnoxiously loud. Another is to send off your exhaust to a place in Belgium and they'll put some bypass pipes from the first baffles to the front.

 

Here is what it sounds like Vs stock:

[Video]

 

Flipping fantastic! Porsche actually had an official sports exhaust option that could be dealer fit that did this. Except they put valves on it so you can switch it on or off.

 

The other option is to buy a second hand exhaust and get welding to DIY it myself:

http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site_3/Make_the_Pedro_Sport_Exhaust.html

 

You can probably guess what I'll probably be doing...

 

Just first I need to get this Power Steering sorted!

[loserone]

Colleague of mine has just made his own bypass pipes and sorted it to work off the button. It's utterly mental, so loud when bypassed.

 

He originally had it bypassing from a cheap Chinese remote fob!

[SiC]

Yes that's what I plan to do. Except get an official switch and put it in a dash blank.

 

This is the dealer fit item they did at the time:

http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/56379-installed-pse-porsche-sport-exhaust-photos.html

You can see the cut off valves in the bypass pipes.

 

There was one on eBay recently. However I don't like the look of the tail pipe. The single oval exhaust that's on the standard Boxster looks so right in my eyes. Hence I'll get another exhaust and mod that instead.

[Peter C]

I can’t believe that a Porsche specialist failed to check the absence of PAS fluid in the reservoir or report evidence of a leak in the system. That’s just poor. That said, the steering worked just fine.

 

I don’t trust garages to work on my cars, I always get the impression that I’m getting ripped off and paying for a stamp in the service book.

 

Sorry old chap.

[loserone]

Yeah, his is on an official switch now. Note that it required the function enabling to make the switch work, which meant a trip to the Porsche specialist; hence development with a central locking fob.

 

I could probably take some pictures on Fri if you wanted.

[SiC]

I can’t believe that a Porsche specialist failed to check the absence of PAS fluid in the reservoir or report evidence of a leak in the system. That’s just poor. That said, the steering worked just fine.

 

I don’t trust garages to work on my cars, I always get the impression that I’m getting ripped off and paying for a stamp in the service book.

 

Sorry old chap.

Don't worry about it, you gave me plenty of chances to look under the engine cover but I didn't take it. Even if I did and I found that the fluid level was low, I'd still have bought the car anyway! Which is why I didn't bother looking.

 

Googling around it does appear they can leak and have their racks go. The rack boots fill up with oil. Only leaks out when steering is turned while driving. Might have even been a failure that's only happened just recently.

 

The rack and pump aren't making any funny noises thankfully, so hopefully it's only just a bit low. Well apart from full lock but that's possibly expected anyway. I'll get some magic juice to top it up and just keep a close eye on it for now.

 

I don't trust most garages either to be honest. There is only one garage around here that fully trust with my cars. Unfortunately I suspect they won't want to "get involved" with the Porsche. There are a few Porsche specialists around Bristol but I have no idea if they're any good. One is down in Devon that my mum uses on hers and she has full trust in them. So I might give them a go.

[Zelandeth]

Nice to see you enjoying a car again, have felt bad for the amount of stress the MG seems to have caused you.

 

It going to wind up looking for a new home then?

 

I've driven a couple of very early Boxsters and remember thinking that they felt really nicely balanced and agile in a way that I've not really felt in anything aside from my Cappuccino. Nice noise too.

 

They were still well in five figure territory back then... really surprising to see them down to quite realistic money now!

[Peter C]

And I was so confident that everything is ok under the bonnet that I didn’t even think about doing any checks or pre-sale preparations. Bearing in mind that the car was kept in a carpeted garage, if there was a leak I would have expected to see stains on the floor but there’s nothing.

[SiC]

Nice to see you enjoying a car again, have felt bad for the amount of stress the MG seems to have caused you.

 

It going to wind up looking for a new home then?

Possibly. Currently I'm paying 50 quid a month to lock it away out of sight and out of mind. I'm pretty god damn determined to give it another good go at using it though. I am getting the urge to give it a run out and getting my mojo back for it again.

 

One of the big limiting factors in using it is the lack of space to do any repairs if it breaks itself again (don't want to annoy the neighbours until I move house) and where I'm living at the moment isn't terribly car friendly which gives a lot of stress if I break down. Both of which are fixed once we move house. Except that is taking an irritatingly long time.

 

I've driven a couple of very early Boxsters and remember thinking that they felt really nicely balanced and agile in a way that I've not really felt in anything aside from my Cappuccino. Nice noise too.

 

They were still well in five figure territory back then... really surprising to see them down to quite realistic money now!

I believe the Boxster has 47/53 weight distribution - in contrast to the 911 39/61*. It is incredibly well balanced and you can definitely feel that. 

 

They're cheap because they're getting old and have a reputation for being expensive to run. Its not just that they can break and blow up in many interesting ways, there is what many term the P-Tax - Porsche Tax. Parts are expensive, specialists are expensive and dealers eye-wateringly expensive. However they're pretty easy machines to work on and as they were very popular in the States, there is loads of guides and videos on how to do stuff. As they're a bit older now, most of the problems are well known. Majority of the problems are very much DIY'able. Those that aren't generally require the engine out and either way will cost more than the car is worth to fix.

 

I can't imagine it will be like this forever. They are going to be a classic for sure.

 

* Interestingly having a rearward bias isn't necessarily a bad thing. You want some of the weight on the back wheels to get traction - especially in something powerful like a 911. Also the 911 is setup more for track use where the rear weight distribution allows you to boom and zoom in a corner. Brake hard, hit the apex (keeping straight line as possible) and then accelerate hard to the next corner.

Where as the Boxster/Cayman allows a smoother cornering experience - which is arguably much better for road use.

 

And I was so confident that everything is ok under the bonnet that I didn’t even think about doing any checks or pre-sale preparations. Bearing in mind that the car was kept in a carpeted garage, if there was a leak I would have expected to see stains on the floor but there’s nothing.

My suspicion is that its not leaking at any rate. Otherwise the PAS pump would be moaning about the lack of fluid as the system has quite a small capacity. I'll be having the wheels off later so I can take them up for new tyres. I plan to give the PAS rack boots a prod as apparently the seals on the rack can leak and the boots are prone to filling up with fluid. This then only leaks when the rack is moved - especially when driving.

 

As there doesn't seem to be any deposits left and its not pee'ing it out, I'm not that worried.

 

Either way its a 19 year old Porsche. There will be bound to be problems along the way.

[Zelandeth]

Very much the same boat as a classic Roller really. They're pretty well put together, but you have to go in eyes open with regards to the price of bits if something does go awry.

 

Glad to hear you're not just throwing in the towel with the MG, though should you decide to shift it even though I really shouldn't, I'm definitely on the list of folks who would be interested.

 

...As it is, it's a moot point for me as I've already got one car too many. I've been trying to find somewhere to store the Lada for a while, but so far the only place who have said they have room want a three figure per month rental cost...That's not happening!

 

Very much with you on knowing how much difference where you are can make to how stressful or not driving an unproven car is. MK where I live is similarly an aggressively unfriendly place to break down unless you're lucky enough to be in an entirely residential area - every road outside the housing estates pretty much is 60/70mph road with nowhere to pull off. This has been significantly slowing down the testing of the Invacar.

 

The Cappuccino had a pretty much perfect 50/50 weight distribution (with driver on board alone), and you sat pretty much on top of the rear axle, the engine was set quite a long way back which kept as much of the mass as close to the centre of the car as possible...I never really appreciated how well balanced it was until the first time I drove it in the snow in the middle of nowhere and had a bit of fun with it, as you do. I've played around with a fair few RWD cars, but never had one you could make slide around like that without any fear of it deciding to bite you. It also turned out unexpectedly to be really good in the snow...much to the surprise of several SUV drivers in Aberdeen when they were stuck and then saw this tiny little 2-seater sports car trundle past them as though it was any other day.

 

One thing I don't really remember about the Boxster (partly because my back wasn't stuffed back then) was what's the ride like? I know a lot of German cars especially recently are downright uncomfortable as the ride is so harsh (2016 Golf R Estate has the record so far), but I don't picture this as being too bad.

[Kiltox]

My Boxster S rides firm, I would imagine this is slightly softer sprung

[purplebargeken]

Would that slightly split plastic pipe not just superglue back together? Looks like it would to me.

[Peter C]

My Boxster S rides firm, I would imagine this is slightly softer sprung

 

This is precisely why I bought a 2.7 rather than an S Boxster. The one inch smaller diameter wheels, slightly higher profile tyres and not quite so low suspension give a slightly more compliant ride, although one of the reasons that I sold the car is because I am getting old and comfortable ride comfort has become a lot more important to me than speed.

[HMC]

Can we have an engine sound vid? Love the sound of them going past, with a Subaru flat 4 a close second.