map

@Davey P - glad it seems to meet your requirements. I spent an age looking for something that was fit and forget, put the phone in a place that didn’t take my eyes away from the road, was easy to use and charged the phone. I also wanted it to look like a grown up had really thought about it as they developed the design.

It’s good value as it’s just work and looks good enough that I just don’t see it any more.

14 minutes ago, Menoporsche said:

Wow that's really elegant.

Agree it’s a step up from what’s generally available. 

12 minutes ago, iborguk said:

Yes that looks good, might have one for the "dog box"

Have got another couple on order - one for the Puppy Truck and Evoque as they just work.

I realise my 986 is possibly a bit gangster for this thread but I use one of these…..

https://uk.mous.co/products/magsafe-compatible-charging-suction-mount?variant=39435434229817
 

….attached to the windscreen low down on the driver’s side. Doesn’t obscure the view or the vent, puts the phone close to the instrument binnacle and charges it.

Because I use an iPhone with the magnetic charging thingy it just holds the phone in place - even when enjoying some “focused pootling” along some less than pristine Yorkshire roads. 

On 6/10/2022 at 9:52 AM, Boxer boy said:

Nice chappie ,tells me he was a tech for 15 yrs from school but ended up with a skin allergy to the PPE etc .Went to work as coach driver . Lockdown killed that career.New dealership opened same family run multi marque business re employed him as the parts guy .This OPC has a strong customer service culture. Very strong indeed.Front of house is everything, the customer contact etc etc .

Know exactly who you’re talking about. He’s very good.

If you ever see a scruffy, noisy silver 986 when you’re at that OPC say “Hello”.

10 hours ago, map said:

Have shared the photo with someone who might be able to help. If they have any suggestions I’ll post them here. 

The feedback is that they "don't recognise the part from a Boxster engine TBH" - this is from folk who built my 986 3.7 and various 9x7 standard and 3.9 motors so they're pretty familiar with the parts needed to build one.

Given it was a disassembled engine it would be entirely possible it has nothing to do with the engine at all.

Have shared the photo with someone who might be able to help. If they have any suggestions I’ll post them here. 

@300SL-24 The auto in a 986 is - I think - a Mercedes Benz derived unit.

You may be more familiar with how to get the best from it than you realise. 

17 hours ago, SuperPaulie said:

Yawn yawn yawn, only sound you need is the engine blah blah blah.

What about people who daily the car? Hard to enjoy an engine note in city traffic every day.

Double din for me, Spotify changed my daily drive no end.

This ☝️

Had a double din/Apple CarPlay in mine and it transformed the car as a 12k+/year daily driver.

Latest interface, choice of proper navigation with traffic data and camera warnings, super simple phone use and better sound quality.

If I wanted to hear the car then all I had to do was turn off the headunit.

In a rare moment of madness I washed my own 986 and was irritated by the same sort of grime in the same area.

I sprayed some of the stinky purple wheel cleaner (for removing brake carbon build up) on the area, let it do its thing and then washed it off. All that grime went. Took the same approach with the engine vents in the rear wings and they cleaned up a treat too. 

Am over 6’ and until Lockdown used my 986 daily. Have always found it comfortable on road or track and long days have all been absolutely fine.

As an example a few years ago I spent just under 24hrs in the car driving solo from Orvieto in Italy to Fulham in London, just over 1,100 miles. Aside from an “overnight” stop on the Italian side of Mont Blanc I was in the 986 the whole time.

Sure I was tired when I got home but that was due to the nature of the journey rather than any cabin/seating discomfort.

In terms of individual comfort - it depends on what sort of 6’+ someone is - relatively long legged or relatively long bodied and also I think whether or not their arms are especially simian.

The other factor is the condition of the seats - for example if the base webbing is broken or the foam is especially worn then the seat base won’t support you properly - this can mean the hips aren’t held level (left to right) which sets up a “twist” in the spine that leading to various to aches and pains in the back and legs. This needn’t be a massive problem as a few on the forum had fixed this themselves without spending much money 

As an aside it seems that right now someone could by a decent 986 use it for a while then if ultimately they didn’t feel it was for them sell it on and downgrade to a 987 without losing much (if any) money on the 986 purchase. 

That looks pretty good and certainly fewer compromises compared to a bolt on rack of any description. 

Have purchased (and used...!) AA European cover - the only "age" requirement at the time was that the car was in good mechanical condition or words to that effect.

As mentioned I had reason to use them in Italy and the AA guys in the UK were brilliant - local service was good too.

A definite, experience based recommendation for AA European cover from me - but double check their current T&Cs first.

14 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

I believe the original standard 2.5 rims (3.2 snow tyre rims) look like this. I wait to be corrected !

PORSCHE BOXSTER 986 16 ALLOY WHEELS BOXSTER ALLOYS BOXSTER WHEELS J434HMV | eBay

Thank you - a friend has these on his 2.7 - I’ll try them next time we have his car and mine in the same place. 

16 hours ago, ½cwt said:

The 16" ET 50 is actually a snow tyre size rim for the 3.2S as well as standard on the 2.5, so must clear as they wouldn't expect you to change the brakes as well.  That said I almost posted that 16" rims would be an issues until I checked.

This is golden info. Thank you.

Cheeky question - do you have an image of the wheel design you can share please?

Fanks 👍

57 minutes ago, MickH said:

 

@map It had 4 cats, 2 were removed when the backbox was fitted, it was loud but I do love a loud exhaust.  However the other 2 have now gone with the race manifolds and its overly loud and very raspy.  I'm hoping that evens up when they carbon up.

 

If I’ve understood this correctly the exhaust system hasn’t got any cats in it at all. Once a year that could be tricky 🤔

This might also explain why it’s so much louder - there’s almost no sound attenuation in the system now.

Expect that with some mileage the carbon buildup will help moderate the noise - mine certainly calmed down after a few thousand miles. 

3 hours ago, MickH said:

I've fitted the baffle back on and its slightly quieter now.  The intake is definitely making the issue worse.  However I'm still leaning to the manifolds being the issue, as my mate was behind me in his beemer and he couldn't hear his own engine over the noise of mine

Did the 3.2 987 have the cats on the manifolds?  987s are a bit modern for me.

If it did and the motorsport manifolds have deleted the cats then they're almost certainly the cause of the excess noise as you suggest.

In terms of the air intake - based on this link: https://www.mrnracetechnologies.com/product-page/987-cold-air-induction-kit can you remove the cone filter and the 90^o bend it's attached to then refit the cone filter to the metal pipe.  This will put the cone filter back into the void previously occupied by the air box.  This is probably less work than swapping the manifolds.  And it will clarify just how much of the noise is from the intake.  I know that 99x cars have to run additional silencing on their intakes to hit noise regs so a high flow intake creates a lot of (subjectively) intrusive noise.

30 minutes ago, MickH said:

@map Ive fitted the mrn cold air system. Is that similar to yours?

Just had a look at that and it seems the filter sits in the bodywork void between the wing and the engine compartment.

Mine is currently all in the OE locations.

I now wonder if the source of your excess noise is the MRN intake. That’s positioned right by the passenger shoulder and is dragging a lot of air into the engine. That intake airflow will be pretty loud.

Can you swap the intake back to stock and then compare?

Haven't used the DT gear but my own Tweaked 986 is now loud.

So loud that I am going to have the silencer replaced with a much higher capacity silencer pack.  Hopefully I won't lose the over run burble...

There's plenty of induction noise too (I have a bespoke cold air intake housing a 400bhp capacity cone filter) but that only really makes itself felt under hard acceleration so it isn't a constant companion.  When that's upgraded along with the rest of the inlet system I am expecting that to get louder too.

Do the race manifolds that have just been fitted to your car have cats as well?  Is it actually louder or has the noise changed tone?

50 minutes ago, map said:

Er the mismatched wheels front to rear are ringing alarm bells - for me at least.

14 minutes ago, Mattman42 said:

are they 18's on the front and 17's on the back, or is that my eye sight?

They are different designs…

Er the mismatched wheels front to rear are ringing alarm bells - for me at least.

Eyes wide open on this one or just move along and look for another. 

11 minutes ago, danb said:

Windows have always dropped ok when opening the doors and it's starting ok after the new battery. Will see how long it holds charge.

Sorry didn’t explain myself very well was referring to this behaviour by the windows:

On 5/9/2022 at 9:06 PM, danb said:

When cranking the windows went up and down a little and after

Has this up and down when cranking been sorted?

@danb did the new battery fix the windows dropping and is it holding charge for starting the engine?

8 minutes ago, danb said:

Yeah, just looking at batteries.  Any benefit in "fancy" AGM type batteries rather than regular SLA?

Nope. AGM is generally found in “Auto Stop Start” nonsense.

Just look for a 096 or 110 spec battery - double check for your car - then check CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) and Warranty - get the highest you can on both. 

Had the symptoms you describe.

New battery shoo’d then all away. I went for the larger 110 spec and the car starts like a surprised cat. 

43 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

@map - One touch indicators:

 

Thank you.

I have this book marked and it will be done as part of adding cruise-control which is part of the necessary work to replace the indicator stalk which has got “all emotional” about cancelling correctly.

See. Never finished. 

15 years ago on this date I purchased my 986.

There have been plenty of ups and downs with it and for those that follow my thread on that journey you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Haven't stopped tweaking it and cannot imagine what “finished” would ever look like. Especially when this forum throws up changes such as programmable intermittent wiper relays, one touch indicator upgrades and the like.

Thank you to the forum owners and posters past, present and future.