Knackered old Porsche with loads of miles - 996 content
Discussion
Posting after being bugged to!
So lets cut to the chase:
Original IMS, original engine, original gearbox.
Built for commuting across Europe and the top end of Africa at speed it can carry 96L of fuel, generate it's own 240V mains supply, has three GPS receivers and one GLONASS receiver, a sat phone, telemetry, remote diagnostics, it's own specific lightweight Facom tool kit & spares package, 48hour emergency food and water, holds 10L of engine oil, can wade 0.5M of water, has BS5051 spec seal sealing tyres along with TPMS, a lot of underbody protection and a Tomtom!
It can also give quite a reasonable account of itself around a circuit and is capable of over 420 miles range at a 125mph cruise.
Spiny GoPro Video
Mechanically the car is quite different to a standard narrow body C4 (which it started out as). Brakes are 350mm front with Brembo 6 Piston calipers, rears are 330mm with what were the original front calipers. Master cylinder is larger accordingly and the ABS & PSM have a none standard calibration to suit. Dampers are Ohlins and are essentially a modified version of their 996 Turbo R&T kit with damper valving and spring rates specific to this car along with redesigned lower and upper mounts to suit. Front uprights are modified to carry a slightly different and much strong wheel bearing along with the brake caliper mounts. Top mounts are all sphericals and specific to the car/Ohlins damper package. Lots of other bits are on spherical bearings, track rods are stronger, rack mounts are stronger, PAS solid lines are formed Ti, brake lines are formed Ti etc. etc. drive shafts are standard but with Kluber grease. Clutch is standard from the Porsche dealer, release bearing is packed with Kluber again but otherwise standard....
The motor is "standard" as above, it has been opened to replace a few variocam bits when they wore out but has never had the heads off, never had an IMS (it's a decent 3.4 with the dual row bearing) and has had two RMS seals with each clutch change. It's just coming up to it's next clutch service at 305K miles. It has very low loss exhausts with no cats and a single silencer per bank which also double as rear quarter crumple zones, equal length exhaust manifolds, low loss induction/filtration, 82mm throttle body, ECU calibration is specific to the car, various bits of engine loom are Type 55 in DR25, the coils are none standard (mainly for sealing so it can wade), oil system is quite different with a more efficient breather system, much improved baffling and a larger capacity sump. It is comfortably up on where it was when it left Germany even at these miles. There are also various other bits like semi-solid engine mounts, a gear linkage and cable setup that is specific to the car etc. etc. It compression tests bang on what Porsche say it should. Uses 0.3L of oil per 1000 miles if below 4000RPM or 0.6L if above 5500RPM and what little evidence of bore scoring there is in there is no worse than on a 50K mile Duratec.
Due to the fact the nose is packed with fuel it also has additional bumper bar supports, a strengthened boot floor and both tanks run with bags and foam. The primary tank has redundant pumps with proper lift pumps and a collector whilst the secondary tank has a low pressure transfer pump to feed the main tank once it is below 50% level - this method keeps the weight distribution more correct as fuel is burned. It is also possible to return fuel to the second tank if it is necessary to fuel another vehicle from this car. Unfortunately due to the fact it has a front diff it is not possible to use a single 100L bag tank as per the race cars do, on the bright side this does avoid having the filler in the centre of the boot lid which would rather give the game away.
The above controls the transfer pumps, countermeasures and wet/dry mode. There is also a 3.375 litre AFF fire suppressant system designed to defeat a fuel or engine fire for long enough to safely exit the car.
A lot of work went into packaging and weight reduction. The car has no aircon (removed to boost engine cooling as well as reduce weight, it will hold below 88 degrees at 6800RPM in 6th for as long as the fuel lasts), less sound deadening, a lot of Ti fasteners and excess threads removed, various bits of suspension that on the standard car are cast solids are now machined hollow items, exhaust system is much lighter than standard, no rear wiper, aircraft battery etc. etc. so whilst it has a lot of kit onboard and is 4WD it is actually only 13KGs more than a Mk1 GT3 and has fairly respectable corner weights for what it is:
It's not a pretty car by any means but it was never built to be. It was built to be strong and reliable. Whilst it has paint every so often it spends a lot of time looking like this:
Occasionally doing things that Porsche's shouldn't, like moving hay bales:
And at one point earlier this year had a good go at killing every flying insect in France over an 8 hour period:
There is way more on it than mentioned above as it has developed over many years but listing every nut and bolt isn't really practical, not to mentioned I can't remember everything that's not standard! Whilst it does get seriously well looked after and a lot of components on it are lifed rather than replaced when they fail I still think it needs a lot of credit for always making it back home and generally being an incredibly practical and incredibly reliable fast transport. It is after all 17 years and 300K miles old..... and it'll see 400K out before it's 20th!
So lets cut to the chase:
Original IMS, original engine, original gearbox.
Built for commuting across Europe and the top end of Africa at speed it can carry 96L of fuel, generate it's own 240V mains supply, has three GPS receivers and one GLONASS receiver, a sat phone, telemetry, remote diagnostics, it's own specific lightweight Facom tool kit & spares package, 48hour emergency food and water, holds 10L of engine oil, can wade 0.5M of water, has BS5051 spec seal sealing tyres along with TPMS, a lot of underbody protection and a Tomtom!
It can also give quite a reasonable account of itself around a circuit and is capable of over 420 miles range at a 125mph cruise.
Spiny GoPro Video
Mechanically the car is quite different to a standard narrow body C4 (which it started out as). Brakes are 350mm front with Brembo 6 Piston calipers, rears are 330mm with what were the original front calipers. Master cylinder is larger accordingly and the ABS & PSM have a none standard calibration to suit. Dampers are Ohlins and are essentially a modified version of their 996 Turbo R&T kit with damper valving and spring rates specific to this car along with redesigned lower and upper mounts to suit. Front uprights are modified to carry a slightly different and much strong wheel bearing along with the brake caliper mounts. Top mounts are all sphericals and specific to the car/Ohlins damper package. Lots of other bits are on spherical bearings, track rods are stronger, rack mounts are stronger, PAS solid lines are formed Ti, brake lines are formed Ti etc. etc. drive shafts are standard but with Kluber grease. Clutch is standard from the Porsche dealer, release bearing is packed with Kluber again but otherwise standard....
The motor is "standard" as above, it has been opened to replace a few variocam bits when they wore out but has never had the heads off, never had an IMS (it's a decent 3.4 with the dual row bearing) and has had two RMS seals with each clutch change. It's just coming up to it's next clutch service at 305K miles. It has very low loss exhausts with no cats and a single silencer per bank which also double as rear quarter crumple zones, equal length exhaust manifolds, low loss induction/filtration, 82mm throttle body, ECU calibration is specific to the car, various bits of engine loom are Type 55 in DR25, the coils are none standard (mainly for sealing so it can wade), oil system is quite different with a more efficient breather system, much improved baffling and a larger capacity sump. It is comfortably up on where it was when it left Germany even at these miles. There are also various other bits like semi-solid engine mounts, a gear linkage and cable setup that is specific to the car etc. etc. It compression tests bang on what Porsche say it should. Uses 0.3L of oil per 1000 miles if below 4000RPM or 0.6L if above 5500RPM and what little evidence of bore scoring there is in there is no worse than on a 50K mile Duratec.
Due to the fact the nose is packed with fuel it also has additional bumper bar supports, a strengthened boot floor and both tanks run with bags and foam. The primary tank has redundant pumps with proper lift pumps and a collector whilst the secondary tank has a low pressure transfer pump to feed the main tank once it is below 50% level - this method keeps the weight distribution more correct as fuel is burned. It is also possible to return fuel to the second tank if it is necessary to fuel another vehicle from this car. Unfortunately due to the fact it has a front diff it is not possible to use a single 100L bag tank as per the race cars do, on the bright side this does avoid having the filler in the centre of the boot lid which would rather give the game away.
The above controls the transfer pumps, countermeasures and wet/dry mode. There is also a 3.375 litre AFF fire suppressant system designed to defeat a fuel or engine fire for long enough to safely exit the car.
A lot of work went into packaging and weight reduction. The car has no aircon (removed to boost engine cooling as well as reduce weight, it will hold below 88 degrees at 6800RPM in 6th for as long as the fuel lasts), less sound deadening, a lot of Ti fasteners and excess threads removed, various bits of suspension that on the standard car are cast solids are now machined hollow items, exhaust system is much lighter than standard, no rear wiper, aircraft battery etc. etc. so whilst it has a lot of kit onboard and is 4WD it is actually only 13KGs more than a Mk1 GT3 and has fairly respectable corner weights for what it is:
It's not a pretty car by any means but it was never built to be. It was built to be strong and reliable. Whilst it has paint every so often it spends a lot of time looking like this:
Occasionally doing things that Porsche's shouldn't, like moving hay bales:
And at one point earlier this year had a good go at killing every flying insect in France over an 8 hour period:
There is way more on it than mentioned above as it has developed over many years but listing every nut and bolt isn't really practical, not to mentioned I can't remember everything that's not standard! Whilst it does get seriously well looked after and a lot of components on it are lifed rather than replaced when they fail I still think it needs a lot of credit for always making it back home and generally being an incredibly practical and incredibly reliable fast transport. It is after all 17 years and 300K miles old..... and it'll see 400K out before it's 20th!
When someone says they have proper miles this is what I like to see, none of this "ooooh, I've gone beyond the 100k mark, it must be knackered" nonsense.
It's looking like a great project I have to say and sounds like it is driven as Porsche intended. Just how long have you had the car for?
It's looking like a great project I have to say and sounds like it is driven as Porsche intended. Just how long have you had the car for?
MrMoonyMan said:
That is just all kinds of awesome.
Where and generally how fast have you had it running at proper speeds?
I've driven routes in South Africa where you can hold quite a speed for quite a long time!
Let us skip over where. Including fuel stops over 1000 miles it can average 110mph+ without much fuss or driver work load. Here's one from a long time ago where it was no where near the spec it is now:Where and generally how fast have you had it running at proper speeds?
I've driven routes in South Africa where you can hold quite a speed for quite a long time!
125mph averages are possible but the work load is pretty high to do that and as I get older you do need to take into account the reactions and concentration age too.
One thing that is worth a mention is the intelligent shift lights:
(ignore the sweets, ET crossing!) These not only act as gear dependent shift lights but also show throttle mode, fuel transfer status, torque reduction when the PSM is active and can also be configured to show brake pressure should it be required. Eagle eyed among you will also spot this is a later dial setup with DegC rather than DegF and generally a bit of a cleaner design.... doesn't stop them bubbling though
(ignore the sweets, ET crossing!) These not only act as gear dependent shift lights but also show throttle mode, fuel transfer status, torque reduction when the PSM is active and can also be configured to show brake pressure should it be required. Eagle eyed among you will also spot this is a later dial setup with DegC rather than DegF and generally a bit of a cleaner design.... doesn't stop them bubbling though
poppopbangbang said:
MrMoonyMan said:
That is just all kinds of awesome.
Where and generally how fast have you had it running at proper speeds?
I've driven routes in South Africa where you can hold quite a speed for quite a long time!
Let us skip over where. Including fuel stops over 1000 miles it can average 110mph+ without much fuss or driver work load. Here's one from a long time ago where it was no where near the spec it is now:Where and generally how fast have you had it running at proper speeds?
I've driven routes in South Africa where you can hold quite a speed for quite a long time!
125mph averages are possible but the work load is pretty high to do that and as I get older you do need to take into account the reactions and concentration age too.
That's a really impressive average speed there. I've done 1000 miles in one go before but not at that sort of speed!
And as for the wading, has that been put to the test yet?
crofty1984 said:
poppopbangbang said:
Get stuff that couldn't be flown or had missed the flight to the other side of Europe as close to how quickly a plane could do it as was reasonably possible. It does that well.
What? We need more detail on that! Immediately.
Damn strong car! Can i ask why you drive that much across europe?crofty1984 said:
poppopbangbang said:
Get stuff that couldn't be flown or had missed the flight to the other side of Europe as close to how quickly a plane could do it as was reasonably possible. It does that well.
What? We need more detail on that! Immediately.
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