This makes me miss my 911 so damn bad. What a fun project.
This makes me miss my 911 so damn bad. What a fun project.
Got the tune from Kevin last night while I was attending the PCA Social. Once my son went to bed after we got home, I transferred it to my computer, then to the flashloader, then uploaded it into the car.
Kevin told me to do a 10 mile drive cycle with different degrees of throttle, so I went out and did that. Stock boost was 0.8 bar, I was seeing 1.2 bar on the gauge, woohoo! Came home, grabbed the data logger and went out and recorded a few logs, which I then emailed to Kevin.
Have about 25-30 miles on the car since the tune now, I'm sure it'll get stronger as the DME adapts more and figures out where to push some. Clutch is holding up fine so far, thankfully. Curious to see what Kevin thinks of the logs.
Today I'm dropping the GT2 decklid off at the body shop, car will get dropped off with them August 20th for installation.
Tightened each wastegate rod 2 turns on the advice of UMW. Not too hard, initially the passenger side access had me scratching my head but once I loosened the jam nut I realized I could tighten the other nut by hand. Which was good cause there's no way I was getting a wrench on it without pulling the exhaust manifold...
Ordered the 997 GT3 shift knob today. Alcantara! Ebay shift boot arrived yesterday, seems pretty nice.
Getting together with another local 996 Turbo enthusiast today, he's got quite a stockpile of goodies. I hope to pick up some lightly used GT2 front brake ducts from him and see if I can score a deal on a set of Euro 996 GT3 seats.
Those seats are ~£4,000 here, which given that we're in the process of committing economic suicide is a constantly dropping number of dollars, but as of today it would be $5,201.
The Euro GT3 seats seem to sell for around $3500 USD here used. Sometimes a set will pop up for under $3000 but those show some wear...
Well today I was able to grab a rather rare set of seats, Euro GT3 fixed back buckets. Used to be you could buy a set for around $2000 USD, now it takes twice that.
A set popped up locally that was in decent shape, but were missing the parts to attach inner harness lap belts to. Not a big deal as I don't plan on adding a rollbar/harnesses to the car but they were $3500.
Another set showed up on Rennlist, maybe not quite as nice as the local set, but they were substantially cheaper. Not quite as cheap as the olden days but not a whole lot off. So I bought em. The factory sports seats look great but I don't fit in them, the seat backs are too narrow. So I end up sitting on them, not in them. It's strange as I'm not a fat guy and I'm not built like a weight lifter.
So these Euro seats are both more comfortable and will hold me in place much better on the track and auto-x. They still work fine with the factory 3 point seat belts too and the leather matches perfectly. I'll most likely just install the drivers seat for now, I'd like to keep the factory passenger seat in place as it tilts forward, making access to the back seat for my son easy. We'll see if my OCD gets all fired up by having mismatched seats...
I also dropped the car off yesterday for tint and clear bra. Figured it was worth getting done, the car has low miles but I plan on using it and don't want to have to repaint the front end because of rock chips...
Ok, got the car back from tint and clear bra. Why someone buys a car like this and doesn't immediately put clear bra on it is beyond me.
The tint shop used my touch paint to fill in the paint chips so the clear bra would sit flat but you can still see the chips through the clear bra. At least I won't be getting any more...
Tint came out really nice, 35%, which the legal limit in Colorado. I really don't like it any darker, you can't see out the windows at night if it is.
I also managed to score a lightly used set of GT2 front brake ducts, which are substantially larger than stock. Plug n play, gotta love OEM+ upgrades!
And installed! Was told to zip tie them into place as the clips holding them on always break. Top tip!
Then the jewel, these are showing up Tuesday! Somewhat incredibly Porsche sells all the cushions/covers to refresh these seats still and for a very reasonable 500 Euro delivered. I'm going to see what condition the seats are in first but I may just pick the kit up to have it. Gotta believe at some point it'll go NLA or become crazy expensive...
GT2 decklid is going on Monday, then the last thing I want to get is an exhaust.
Cool build! Those Euro buckets should be great. I'd go nuts with the passenger seat different but functionally it makes sense. I wanted to get a 911 for my daily but the utility of the F80 M3 sedan body style won out. We have a one year old and the rear facing seats are tricky in a 911. Maybe when we have kids out of the rear facing seats. I also would do bad things for a GT3 but they have no back seat and that's a lot of $$$ for a summer/track day car. TBD...
What’s your ride height/suspension code?
Are you solo on track? Most clubs require equal equipment on both sides. Just a thought. I understand why you aren't putting the pass seat in. How quick to install for track days?
PMRacing, I am solo on track, so equal restraint shouldn't be an issue.
Dammit, I still have stock suspension. There wasn't an M030 option available on the 996 Turbos. In Europe you could get an X74 suspension package, which was slightly lower, stiffer springs and matching dampers. We can still order it from Carnewal but its so expensive ($2800?) it just doesn't make sense to do vs buying a set of Bilstein PSS10's instead.
turtl631, yeah my youngest is 5 years old, so not only is he out of the backwards facing seat, he hardly even needs a booster for the back of the 911. The back seat is small for sure, totally a sports car vs an M3 sedan. It remains to be seen whether my OCD gets the better of me and I install the matching passenger seat...
Took the car to a PCA auto-x today, first auto-x I've done in something like 12 years. I basically gave them up when I moved to Colorado as the courses were really short and the days really long. Much more seat time doing track days instead, so I switched.
Well, the PCA course was quite long, a bit over a minute. Unfortunately the design favored small, light, nimble cars over my German Muscle Car. I could never go WOT on it at all. Still I was happy with my top third finish and if it hadn't rained in the afternoon I think I could've moved up into the top ten. I still left the traction control on, again would've turned it off if it hadn't started raining. I needed to be able to flick the rear end around on the course and it wouldn't let me.
Getting more comfortable with the car, I'm definitely going to run more auto-x's with the PCA, extremely well run, would've gotten 8+ runs without the weather, BBQ lunch, drinks provided, long course. Fun!!!
Looks great!
In reply to docwyte :
You are having way too much fun! Car looks unbelievable . Speaking of suspension upgrades, maybe I need to get a newer car that components are more affordable for. My obsolete primitive Carrera just set me back almost 4 grand 4 struts and shocks, offset ball joints, front strut spindle modifications and a bump steer kit. Damn it's a slippery slope. LOL
In reply to Dammit :
If (When?) I redo the suspension the Ohlins R/T are on my list to check out. I'd prefer to pick up an X74 kit but its just not going to happen at the current amount they cost...
Euro GT3 seats showed up yesterday. They're pretty much in the condition I expected, unfortunately the seller didn't tell me that one of the retaining velcro strips for the drivers seat butt cushion has split it's stiching and is halfway off.
He also threw all the mounting plates/hardware for the seat belt receptacles and race harnesses in a too small zip lock bag, which he then just threw into the box. So the bag split open during shipping and spilled everything into the box.
Looks like I'm missing two bolts and one bushing. Porsche still makes this stuff but they don't sell it seperately, only as a "kit", which costs $250. I should be able to source the bolts locally at my hardware store, not sure about the bushing as it's machined on one spot to fit into the seat.
If I can find a bushing I may be able to find someone with a lathe in their home shop that can turn it down for me. What a PITA! All because this guy doesn't know how to pack!
Luckily I don't really need that stuff right now as I plan on just running the factory 3 point belts, so it's not an immediate concern.
Car is at the bodyshop right now getting the GT2 decklid installed. AAA took it over there Monday, although they raised their eyebrows since the car wasn't "disabled"...
Those seats are sweet but I agree that having mismatched seats in a car of that level would drive me nuts! I too have small children so back seat access is a necessity, but that's a hard one to swallow. Ha! Gotta do what you gotta do.
My car pre-dates the GT3, so much to keep things correct I was looking for a single Recaro Profi—G with the five ribbed shell, I was going to have a single one of those with a hard backed sport seat for the passenger as I have no shame.
In the end I parked that as I achieved the correct seating position with the hard back seat, but do look for the period Recaro every now and again
In reply to Dammit :
I'd have no problem keeping the factory sport seat in the car if I fit in it! Don't know what Porsche was thinking making a seat that only a 125lb stick thin guy would fit in...
My problem was height - I needed to get low enough in the car to be able to see the clocks through the steering wheel.
We scalloped out the seat base foam, and I used an eccentric spacer for the wheel and now it's perfect.
But I do like the full race buckets, becuase (of course) Racecar.
Got a solid favor from a friend this morning, he took me over to the body shop to pick up my car and we put my stock decklid in his SUV to bring back to my house.
Car looks amazing with the GT2 decklid! Really gives it some aggressiveness and separates it from a regular 996 C2.
I also installed my drivers side Euro GT3 seat. Once I figured out how to undo the factory seat harness, everything was straightforward.
Ok, I did some searching and didn't really find a true DIY for a seat swap on our cars with pictures etc. If there is one, well, now there'll be two!
I installed a Euro GT3 seat into my car, went fairly well once I figured a few things out. This should help all you guys doing this in the future...
Tool list:
Small bladed flat head screwdriver
E12 socket
17mm socket
10mm wrench
Towels
Dikes or wire cutters
Zip ties
Ok, first off, disconnect the negative battery lead on your battery with the 10mm wrench. You technically don't have to do this but better safe then sorry. Don't do this if you have full power seats! You'll need to be able to run the seats forwards/backwards to remove the retaining bolts. So do that first, then disconnect the battery if you have full power seats.
Lay the towels over the door sill of the car to protect it from getting scuffed up.
Run your seat all the way back. Now using the small flathead screwdriver, lift up on the little panel on each of the front trim panels that cover the front seat rails. Pull the plastic trim pieces towards the nose of the car and set them aside someplace safe.
Now using your E12 torx socket, remove the front seat bolts.
Run the seat all the way forward and remove both the rear E12 bolts.
Now you have to lift and kinda tilt the seat up so you can get at the harness. Slide the harness out of its retaining clip on the bottom of the seat. Here's where I got stumped for a little bit, I couldn't figure out how to undo the harness. First cut the zip ties. Then using your small flathead again spread the small clips that old the swing lock in place. Swing the lock up. Now pull the back off the tab out. This is what it'll look like once you do that.
Take note of how the seat belt harness is routed in the plug. My drivers side one was blue, here are the pics showing its in the outermost slot with the tab facing out.
Additionally there's a little black plastic piece that holds the seat belt harness in place. Just push it up towards the back of the harness plug and it'll slide right out, letting you slide the seat belt harness out.
Nows a great time to see what's gotten trapped underneath the seat. I just bought this car, so I was curious as to what I'd find. A dead AA battery and a nickel, score! Take the time to vacuum out underneath the seat while it's out.
Ok, now you get to muscle the stock seat out of the car, being very fair not to bang or nick anything on the way out. Next take a 17mm socket and unbolt the stock seat belt receptacle from the seat. Put the bolt back into its spot on the stock seat, you won't be using it on the GT3 seat and if you put it back where you found it, you won't lose it or forget where it goes.
Next pull the harness out of its retaining clips, then bolt it onto the GT3 seat. The large rectangular spacer has a bevel on it, that goes on the bottom, towards the seat side plates.
The GT3 seat handily have wire routing clips for the seat belt harness...
Ok, time to get the GT3 seat mostly in the car and plug it into the harness. Remember, outermost plug with the tab facing to the outside of the car. ZIP TIE IT INTO PLACE! Now zip tie the harness to the underside of the seat.
Line the seat up, handily Porsche put alignment dowels on the back rails so its pretty much impossible to get them in cock eyed. Put the back two E12 bolts in loosely. Using your flat head screwdriver, remove the trim cover on the lower should belt mount. Using your 17mm socket, undo the bolt. Thread the seatbelt through both the upper and lower holes in the Euro GT3 seat. Put the bolt through the seat belt, then put the spacer on, then bolt it into place. Put the trim cover back on.
Run the seat all the way backwards, line up the rails so the front E12 bolts drop into place. Make sure you're putting everything in with your hands for the first several rotations, you really don't want to cross thread these!
Now torque everything to 47 ft lbs.
Place the covers back into their spots, making sure you hear the little click of the retaining clips.
Marvel at your work!
Of note, I do feel that these seats sit higher than my stock sports seats. It remains to be seen whether that's an issue when I have my helmet on or not. I didn't install the passenger seat as I want to keep it easy to get my son in and out of the back seat. We'll see if my OCD can handle having mismatched seats in the car.
Shift knob came in early, so of course I had to rush out to the garage and install it. I'd already ordered a black leather shift boot with silver stiching from eBay for a whopping $24 delivered. Very nice quality actually!
So, carefully pop up the plastic surround on the stock shift boot and pull the entire thing towards the back of the car. Now pull up hard on the shift knob. Mine popped off quite easily.
Seperate the black plastic surround from the stock knob/boot and install it on the eBay boot. Now follow the Function First instructions from there.
I ordered the stock height shaft and black delrin knob with shift pattern. Looking good!
Very interesting that the bucket sits you higher, I was considering swapping to these in order to get lower!
Any chance you could measure the sports seat at lowest position vs the bucket, next time you have the time, inclination and tape measure all handy at the same moment?
Don't really have a good way to get a solid measurement for you. However, in reading Rennlist it appears this is a fairly common complaint. To the point that Brey-Krause makes side plates for these seats and both drop and recline them, for more head and leg room.
There are some threads on Rennlist showing the seats side by side on the factory brackets and on the Brey Krause brackets. Looks like it drops the seat at least an inch, maybe an inch and a half. So that should get the seat at least as low as it was before, maybe a bit lower.
I'm going to order a set but of course that's more money and I'll have to completely remove the seat, take it apart to swap the side brackets, then reinstall it. So a bunch more time. Sigh...
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