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As said, the seats in the 997 and the 'sports seats' in the 987 look to be identical. Given that the cars are pretty much the same as far back as the B pillar then I'd expect them to be identical and therefore a straight swap. 

I have the sports seats in my 987.1 Cayman and they are good but not excellent (the seats in my 944 are better IMHO). Are the standard 987 seats significantly much worse? 

22 hours ago, Kenbo1000 said:

Cleaned out the radiators today and discovered someone in the past has tried to remove the bumper and managed to break off the passenger side spring clip. The part that was broken was the piece you pull it out with, absolute pain in the butt to get out but got it after 45 minutes, now need a new one.

Those little spring clips are a pain; they had rusted almost to nothingness on my Cayman and I replaced them when I took the bumper off to clean the rads. They are more expensive than you'd expect from an OPC but I can't think of an alternative. 

@Toeside - you flatter me! I'm an expert on little more than drinking beer and being wrong, and I'm not that good at either of those now you come to mention it! 

Didn't mean to decry the link you posted though. Thanks for popping it up here. I'm aware that the front of the 987 and the 997 are identical and if you look closely at the underneath of the 987 front end you can see the architecture to put a front gearbox and drive shafts in. I've never looked at the front of a 4x4 996 or 997 so it's interesting to see on the video how Porsche made it all happen! 

On 3/13/2020 at 7:47 PM, Toeside said:

From memory this set of videos will take you through a similar experience on the 987. Probably a few minor differences

 

That's a 996 turbo - i.e. 4WD. You can see the driveshafts in the video. 

I don't know enough about the cars to be sure but I'd have thought that the RWD 987 models would have a different front hub assembly. 

This may not be the most helpful post of the day but are you sure it's a wheel bearing that's gone? A duff wheel bearing usually drones when moving, and drones more loudly when moving more quickly. 'Creak', 'click' and 'low speed' are not phrases usually associated with dead wheel bearing. 

However, to answer your question; I don't know what changing the front wheel bearing entails but I doubt it's hard. Rears on RWD cars tend to be much trickier than fronts. With luck you won't need to take the hub off as that may be quite a fight and will entail a realignment afterwards. 

Stay tuned - other people who actually know what they are talking about will be along soon, I'm sure .... 🥺

@iborguk - you contemplated a drive through a window? 

Is this you? 

Interesting, thanks @detail1. How did you do the makeshift press? 

What is it about the drop links that refuse to play ball? I've never done the job but will be doing so in the near future so am curious to know. 

Is it that the nut won't come off the end? Or that the drop link won't come out of the ARB? Or is it the suspension member end that causes problems? 

I presume that people are hitting it with the usual stuff; penetrant spray? Heat? Blowtorch-then-freezer-spray thermal shock? Drilling along the length of the bit that won't come out? Big hammer? 

Odd - I quite like the little Fiat Panda and have had several as hire cars while on hols. I almost thought about buying a 100HP version of one once. 

The Fiat 500 is the same car but in a flirtier frock. (And the Ford Ka is the same again but with a little less Italian flair!)

You're going to fit right in 'round here, I can tell! 😊

All you need to do now is buy a 987. Have you purchased that Boxster yet? 

Are you saying I am an opinionated git? 

If so then you are entirely correct, well done! 

Guys, I think you need to find a better reference point for steering wheels than BMW's. Small-diameter thick steering wheels rob the steering of feel and sensitivity, and the steering is one of the really good points of the 987. 

"It feels like it came from a BMW" is not a good thing when it comes to discussing steering wheels. 

8 hours ago, cptspaulding said:

Indeed. I had winter tyres on my MR2 roadster & they really made a difference. 

I'll have a look on other threads for recommendations on winter tyres (only had the car a month). I'm thinking 17's & skinnier than the 265/235 stagger I have at present.

I have winter tyres on my 987 Cayman and I live in London! Having driven in some seriously bad conditions in years gone by I reckon winter tyres are well worth it, and running winter tyres during the summer is no great hardship at all. 

Moving from 18 to 17 inch wheels made a HUGE difference to the car for me. Smaller is definitely better when it comes to wheel size, on almost any car. 

Spend a few hundred quid on some 17inch wheels and winter tyres and you won't regret it. I think there was someone on one of the facebook groups selling some newly refurbished 17 inch 987.1 wheels for £400 a while back. Another couple of hundred quid on some winter tyres and you'll be amazed at the difference. 

2 minutes ago, Glosrich said:

Don't take offence guys, it was meant as a light hearted comment, and only my opinion. We're all entitled to our own opinions aren't we?

Ironically if I ever buy a newer Porsche, it will probably be a Boxster, as I'd like to own one for a while.

I'm on here as its a good forum, and like yourselves I enjoy fixing and maintaining my own car to save a bit of money now and again.

 

 

Hear hear! Fellow Cayman owner here who is up for useful advice on owning the car and some good banter on why one may be better than the other! 

18 minutes ago, Mattman42 said:

so why are you on a Boxster forum then??

Moi? Because they are the same cars - at least 99% the same! 

8 minutes ago, RobScott said:

Caymans are for people that cant afford 911's


All depends what you want from a car.  I like Boxsters, as they are easier to work on, hence why I chose a Boxster rather than a Cayman. 

Interesting, why do you say that Boxsters are easier to work on? I read threads on here about leaks and rooves not retracting properly and am slightly grateful for the fact that I have a Cayman and hence there is less to go wrong. 

An aside: I'd like to have a Boxster. Very much like to have one - a convertible is a delicious thing. I have a Cayman as there is more storage space inside and it lives on the street in London and if I had a Boxster then I'd worry about leaks and vandalism. 

@Glosrich - not quite. 

It's less than 30 funds (I think it's 27, but let's go with 30). The benefits of diversification are touted by risk-averse financial advisers who never explain the down sides of it. Imagine one of those 30 companies disappears entirely and the stock is entirely worthless; your fund will lose a mere 3% of the value. Imagine you have diversified into 300 companies and one of them doubles in value; your fund will gain a mere 0.3% of the value. A reduction to zero value of one company is very unlikely but a substantial increase in value is quite likely. If you have confidence in the stock you buy then why put money elsewhere? As the strapline goes, "Buy good companies .... do nothing". 

It's nowhere near all US-based either - it currently lists 65.5% US-based. Currency fluctuations are far more of a concern than the whole of the US economy evaporating overnight. (An aside, but if the whole of the US economy was to disappear overnight then we'll all have much bigger problems than the loss of value in our investments!) 

I have put a LOT of my eggs in Terry's basket over the last 8 years. I've gone in with my eyes open, taken care to understand the risks and don't regret it; I'm up well over 350% in that time. It's not all roses; FEET has not been a success but I haven't written that one off yet. Smithson is yet to prove itself. 

Now, back to the superiority of the Cayman over the Boxster. Smutty comments aside, I notice that no-one has yet to disagree! 

Mat1, 

We're getting WAY off topic here but I think Terry Smith's approach is predominantly defensive so I suspect he will do well in a bear market. However opinions on this will differ and the debate will rage for a long time to come! 

Now, back to 987's. Are we all agreed that the Cayman is better than the Boxster? Good, I thought so.... :) 

18 minutes ago, jim o'hara said:

what's opportunity costs?

 

The money you miss out on by doing something. If you put down £10k on a car using money that would otherwise be earning interest then the opportunity cost is the interest it would otherwise earn - in this case a grand a year or so. 

8 minutes ago, Glosrich said:

Some good points there.

Where are you getting 10% interest, let me know please. I can only manage about 7-8%.

https://www.fundsmith.co.uk/ Admittedly not the savings account I mentioned in my post but has produced an annualised return of over 19% since inception. 

(If you re-do  my earlier figures with 19% instead of 10% then that new car looks like worse and worse value. Viva la banger, eh?)

2 minutes ago, rhys57 said:

Depends if you want a immaculate car I suppose mate 

And this is pretty much it. If you buy something that is not immaculate and make it immaculate then you are restoring it. This is not essential and hence the costs are not 'running costs', they are 'restoration costs'. 

There is nothing wrong with wanting your car to be nice but it's disingenuous to put a restoration cost down as a running cost. I'm with Jim and his comment about 'scaremongering'. 

It's a perennial debate but £10k deposit (if you have that much) is a cost of about £1000/yr (or more) in interest compared to having it in a half-decent savings account. And £399/month is £4788/year. 

That flat 4 boxster is therefore nearly £6k/year, plus whatever you'd have to pay when you hand it back (may be zero - I've never understood how such finance deals work.) And I doubt there are many people on here who have paid £6k in even one year on maintenance, let alone £6k each year on an ongoing basis. 

It's not for me, but buying new is clearly a good idea for some people as there are thousands who do exactly that. And I'm glad there are - if no-one bought a new car then there wouldn't be any second hand cars for us lot to buy. Once upon a time someone bought my car new, and they may have paid for it on finance.

19 hours ago, rhys57 said:

How much have you spent on maintenance on your boxster, in my ownership I have spent 8k on the following

Boxster spend

6/7/17 - mats,badge, wheels nuts 
15/7/17- steering wheel refurb 
20/7/17 - cd control knobs 
7/9/17 - decals 
8/9/17- coils packs x6 
20/9/17 - spark plugs 
26/9/17- alloys refurb/calipers 
3/11/17- service 
17/11/17- mot/coffin arms 
23/01/18- exhaust tips 
25/5/18- front bumper respray 
2/9/18 - pcw exhaust/exhaust clamps
14/9/18 - bumpers & vents painted 
06/10/18- new bosch s4 battery 
13/11/18- service/mot/gearbox oil 
28/02/18- new blitsen b4 dampers 
14/2/19- center gravity geo, pro springs 
14/5/19-new gear gaitor/gearknob, handbrake leathers 
14/11/19- Mot and service 
5/1/20 - Spacers 15mm +8mm  
20/1/2 - New air oil separator
New clutch and dual mass flywheel
New brake pipes plus Hel braided hoses
New brake pads
Wheel spacers fitted
New Coolant crossover pipes
Cam tensioner seal replacement
New ims and rms seals 
 

In the life of the car the total maintenance spend is 17k its amazing really mine is a 2.7 2006. I love mine its immaculate but costly to keep it thy way 😊

 

A lot of money, but of that lot how much was essential expenditure and how much was 'improvements' or 'renovation'? 

I wonder how much it would be if you had not done the things highlighted on the list above, or chosen a cheaper brand of shock absorber than Bilstein perhaps? 

There is nothing wrong with a desire to improve your P&J but I'm not sure you can claim that it is all essential expenditure. 

Took it for an MOT. (OK, I lie - that was yesterday not today). 

It passed. Satisfyingly low emissions, suggesting that the engine is in good fettle despite 100,000 miles on the clock. 

And an advisory for play in the steering tie rods. Having said that, the tester wasn't entirely clear whether the play was in the tie rods or the steering rack. Which is most likely?