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Porsche 996 Carpet Replacement

Keeping mind my past experience with a carpet swap in a BMW E30 some years ago, I finally found a good replacement for the carpet in the 996 and, uttering those infamous words “how hard could it be”, set off to do the carpet swap last weekend.  If you’re curious how much of your interior you have to remove to do this swap, here’s your answer: almost all of it.

Pelican parts has an excellent DIY write-up which I won’t duplicate here, but do have a couple of helpful pointers for those who endeavor to follow.  Here are the key lessons learned from my experience:

  1. Just cut. Follow the Pelican Parts top tip and just cut the new one in half down the middle (under the center console.) I didn’t do that, and it would have made it a whole lot easier to maneuver into position in the passenger footwell.  You might have to use some extra contact cement along the center tunnel since the two halves aren’t held together any more, but it is totally worth it in reduced aggravation. And you won’t have to remove the shifter cables from the shifter or the e-brake handle mechanism from the tunnel.
  2. Give yourself the weekend. The two hour estimate is off by a factor of 5 (maybe 10.) It took me 2 hours just to remove the accelerator pedal (and I’ve done that before.)
  3. Bend don’t remove side panels. To release the rear corner of the carpet on each side, you have to remove the rear-seat side panels from their lower catches.  You don’t need to remove the entire panel, just carefully bend the panel as you pull up and you can free it from the slots in the carpet and have enough room to maneuver the new one into place when the time comes.
  4. Frustration ahead.  The accelerator pedal can be a bear to remove and reinstall. To remove, take out the set screw, pull forward by the top (what looks like an old cell phone antenna housing) to release the top catch, then slide up to release the cleat. Expect buckets of frustration when you try to put it back.  It’s easier to do if you do put it back before you reinstall the seats.
  5. Don’t turn the key. Once you disconnect the electrical connections to the seats, you will get an airbag light if you turn the key to the on position (to roll down a window, for example). If you have a reset tool like the Schwaben Professional Scanner (with the right Porsche software module from Foxwell) you can reset it yourself. Otherwise you’re heading to the Dealer and pleading for them not to charge you for the reset.

The photo above will help you visualize what’s going on with the accelerator pedal module. When you remove it, you pull out to release the round peg, then pull up to release the square-ish cleat. To install, slide the cleat in first, then push down and forward to lock the peg. Secure with the screw. Or better yet, upgrade the whole thing to a fully adjustable throttle assembly (though that probably means cutting your new carpet….)

You also learn interesting things by tearing apart your interior, like how unnecessarily complex the center console design really is or that there is in fact a coin tray in the console box (which you have to remove by carefully prying the top to get to one of the screws).

 

On top of old Smokey

Ever wonder what a bad air-oil separator looks like?  This is it.

We sent an oil sample off to the lab just to be safe and had the car towed to TPCRacing in Jessup. They did a great job sorting it out and getting me back on the road again.  It turns out I had two unrelated problems: leaking water pump and bad AOS.  I had planned to have the AOS changed during the winter and I suspected it was about time for the water pump, so I dodged a bullet.

The water pump (996-106-011-57-M100) was leaking at the housing and through the pulley seal. You can see from the photo below that the play in the bearing had allowed the blades to touch and score the block just a bit.

Many people make the mistake of using a pump with metal blades thinking it would be an upgrade. The problem is that when they contact the block, the debris can be catastrophic. The plastic impeller fails more gracefully.

Early expansion tanks have a tendency to fail on track cars, so we got the updated tank while everything was apart (996-106-147-56-OEM). Shop around.  Genuine Porsche tanks can run as much as $600, but you should be able to find them for around half of that (which is still nuts…) if you shop around a bit.  In this case, the hoses were also brittle and failing (996-106-850-05-M100).

The Air Oil Separator is supposed to separate oil vapor from the crank case and return it to the intake path. This appears to be an original item. They have gone through a couple of revisions since (996-107-023-55-M100). When they start to fail, you get about a tablespoon of oil that pools in your cylinders causing smoke at start up (see video.) When the fail completely, you can hydrolock the engine. Given where it sits on the engine, it’s impossible to inspect visually.  You should think of it as a wear item and replace it whenever you get a clutch (like the IMS bearing.)

We rounded out the repairs with a new idler pulley and belt.  The idler pulley felt OK when it was on the car, but fell to pieces when we took it off.

Broken Accelerator Pedal

If you track your 996, you want to think about replacing the hinge on the accelerator pedal before it breaks (unlike me who drove home from the track without an accelerator pedal).  Although the hinge can be removed from the pedal assembly, it isn’t designed as a distinct part so it can’t be purchased from Porsche without buying the whole pedal assembly.  Fortunately, you have a couple of options.

First lets start with the pedal assembly. Porsche switched to e-gas (electronic throttle) in 2000.  The pedal assembly has a hinge at the base and a metal rod under the pedal that activates a lever.   The lever pulls a cable which used to be connected to the throttle body.  Beginning in 2000, the cable connects to a sensor (#10) that communicates with the throttle body through the data bus.  This is fortunate for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that it means that throttle response is tunable.

Later model 911s came with the option to control throttle response with a button.  You can add that feature to a 996 with the use of Sprint Booster.  The Sprint Booster plugs in between the throttle position sensor and the bus, giving you  the option of stock, sport, or sport plus throttle response, controlled with a button you locate somewhere within reach of the shifter.  (It really does work as advertised.) The new version has even more settings than my older one does.

To remove the pedal assembly, remove the one bolt (#14) and slide the whole assembly up to release from the catches.  Unless you plan to remove everything shown in the top half of the diagram, you have to open the assembly and release the cable to remove the assembly from the car.  Fortunately it is just held together by three screws on the side and two at the hinge.

Besides trying to find a quality used part (which is just borrowed time) you basically have three options: Get a Porsche or aftermarket pedal assembly ($300-$400); buy an aftermarket hinge from Rennline ($65); or make one yourself ($2).  Since we’re all about DIY, we decided to make one first then try the Rennline part if needed later.

Using the Rennline option as inspiration, we headed off to the local hardware store. Found a hinge of about the right size, scrounged some pop-rivets, and a few minutes later, had a viable hinge again.  It doesn’t look bad and seems to do the job. I suppose we could find a way to screen “Porsche” on it and sell them for $50 each….

In the end, I bought the Rennline part. I couldn’t stand those pop-rivet eyes staring at me.  You couldn’t see them while driving, but I knew they were there. Watching. Judging….

 

NY Auto Show 2017

The NY Auto Show wraps up this weekend. Traditionally it’s the last of the big annual auto shows for the year that stars in the Fall.  I went to see two Porsches having their North American Premiere: The 2018 GT3 and the Panamera Sport (don’t call it a wagon) Turismo. Along the way there, I got distracted by a couple of Lexus and Alfas. So by the time I got to where I wanted to be, my camera’s battery died, but I did at least get a couple of photos along the way.

The 2018 991.2 GT3 is a well proportioned, beautiful track beast. Click the link and go to the microsite.  Click through until you get to the engine workshop (but turn down your speakers.) Build your own in Guards Red with manual transmission, Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes, Sport Chrono Pack, Full Bucket Seats, and Front Axel Lift system (so you can get out of the end of your driveway) and you’re pushing $170K before taxes.  Which seems like a lot of money, mostly because it is. So then you go spec a Cayman S, and $86K suddenly doesn’t seem that outrageous.

The other car I really wanted to see was the new Panamera. I had always thought the old Panamera was the Camel of the Porsche line-up, meaning similar to a horse designed by committee. The front was from a Cayenne, the front doors and rear end from a 911, and the rear doors were just photo-shopped in by your cousin’s friend who knows photoshop.

This new generation Panamera hangs together much more cohesively.  The parts in better proportion, and in Sport Turismo (wagon) trim, seems to work —  though that’s one long wheelbase car, even if it’s not the longest.  That distinction goes to the new Panamera Executive, which is 6 inches longer. That show car must have an adjustable suspension, because the photos on the website show a higher ride height.

Lexus (which generally I don’t get anyway) was also there with their new GTD race car (or a reasonable facsimile of one.) At first I was drawn in by this strange LED wrap. Then I started to check out the GTD car, but somethings just didn’t seem right.  It didn’t have a transponder or any telemetry antennas; it had dark window tint; there didn’t appear to be any exhaust; and the space between the wing struts seemed to be fabricated by the kind of stuff I would use in my garage. Also the carbon-fauxber panels weren’t very well fitted.  Still it was an interesting car.

The final car of interest was the new Alfa SUV, the Stelvio. On a new platform that will be shared by Maserati, Dodge, and Jeep (which is a wicked mash-up), it very much reminded me of the Red Angry Bird. It’s a very striking design, but I have a few issues, not the least of which is that an Alfa SUV is somehow blasphemous.

At an angle from the rear, you start to sense that things just aren’t quite right. The rotors are too small for these ridiculous low profile wheels, but take a closer look at the rear glass.  There’s a huge panel of black masking on the inside of the glass, meaning that visibility out the back is problematic at best. The back just doesn’t relate to the  rest of the car, sort of like the enormous buttocks on some baboons. Maybe it’s an thing: “Le natiche di un babbuino”. Dunno.

I like going to car shows because you can see the entire range of cars from each manufacture in one place in similar lighting. A few trends are worth noting.  The love affair we have with SUVs shows no ending. Most manufactures now have at least three variants of small, medium, and large SUVs plus tall sedans or wagons.  If the huge profit margins on these cars allows the manufacturers continue to produce interesting sports cars, then I’m all for it.

But the problem is that many of them just aren’t that interesting.  I don’t really like the current design language of BMW or Mercedes. Chevy and VW were opposite one another on the convention center floor and given the two, the Chevys were more visually appealing.  That doesn’t say so much about Chevy as it does about how bland VW has become. “VW — when Buick is too exciting.”

 

NOS Carpet Lining

One of the things I love about working on old Porsches is that you can get almost any part. This is a brand new 10 year old part for a 17 year old car.