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Ragpickers Leggy 986 S.. first real problem: page 9

Your certainly getting thro the jobs , those headers look so good shame they are hidden :thumbs:
 
Subscribed :thumb:
 
Over the past few days I've had a long hard weekend of being head down, ar$e up inside the engine bay trying to make this new air intake fit.

In retrospect there are many, many easier ways of doing this but I was determined to give it a go come what may, and the results confirmed by the butt dyno are very impressive.

So to start, I assembled the parts I thought I needed:
Cayman 987.2 TB (75mm)
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987.2 Plenum:
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note the separate intake tracts
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note the dual AOS breathers
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Plus a 987 airbox which had been modified already to remove the baffle:
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987 dual hose AOS:
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Assorted silicone couplers, reducers and 3inch MAF housings
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These reducers on the left are to connect the new (much) larger plenum to the inlet manifolds
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I also needed this bit. This is a rubber coupler from the TB to the MAF housing
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Right, as you can see, the plenum has a vacuum flap in it which is designed to open and shut at different RPM's on the 987 cars. I thought long and hard about running a slave vacuum hose from the resonance flap actuator to this but as the res flap opens at different RPMs I thought I could end up losing power rather than gaining it. I actually wanted to use the 987 plenum for the dual intake paths as I liked the idea, rather than going with the usual 996 plenum which is a much easier (and less destructive) way of doing it. So, the flap had to go!

Actuator removed:
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Flap gone!
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First step in doing this mod is to open the engine bay and remove the original TB and plenum. The original TB is 68mm mated to an equally narrow plenum. On the other side there is a 75mm intake path which goes to a postage stamp air filter. This is one of the areas porsche used to choke the boxster to prevent it competing with the 996.

The TB, plenum and main intake pipe is easily removed with a few jubilee clips and some allen bolts.
27679700770_42ba29dabc_o.jpg

And this is what is removed (note yet another resonance chamber to keep the noise down!):
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This is where things start to be a little more tricky. The 986 airbox is held in place by 3 bolts, 2 on the top and one underneath the car. To remove it you also need to undo the inlet manifold on the left side and move it out of the way.

This is the bolt you need to remove (car in the air on the lift):
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Eventually after lots of cursing and grazed arms you end up with this:
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Next comes trying to fit the much larger airbox:
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As you can see you can't fit the new airbox in without removing the inlet manifold because even with it loose and moved over as in this pic, it simply will not fit. In order to remove the inlet you need to get to a few hoses and clips which are difficult to reach. Best way is to approach the engine through the firewall in the cabin:
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After another few hours of carefully removing the inlet, squeezing the airbox in (bending the tabs on the engine bay up and out of the way) and replacing the manifold, it ends up looking like this:
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There is a big problem mating the MAF to this due to the shape of the bulk head on the 986 compared to the 987. This gets in the way (image borrowed off t'internet)
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At this point I got distracted and ended up going on a 180 mile blat with my friend around the countryside, up to Hartside Cafe in the pennies and back!
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Adrenaline pumping after a very high speed drive out, I decided to continue with the project. I test fitted the new plenum and TB only to find that the cable to the new TB wasn't long enough! Some emergency surgery was needed to *ahem* extend it:
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So, after much more wrangling, modifying the engine bay lip to accommodate the new TB, and generally getting very angry, I managed to connect the MAF pipe to the TB rubber boot and the new airbox:
27346628584_2658f20ca7_o.jpg


With everything bolted down and the intake in place I was so relieved. I think I was about 9 hours in now (not including the drive out), so was so pleased to get it all done! I was on a deadline because the car was due at Revolution in Brighouse for an exhaust bypass mod the morning after.

So... I fire her up.... Huge loud pops, bangs, coughing noises up the inlet manifold, flashing CEL and a smell of fuel! :x

Turns out that when I had put the fuel rail back in place, the injector for cylinder 6 had missed the hole in the manifold and was spraying fuel all over the top of the engine rather than into the cylinder!

Ok, deep breaths, just unbolt the fuel rail again and re-seat the injector. No biggie.... Until one of the bolts holding the fuel rail in place decided to just spin rather than coming out :pc:

The offending bolt, in a typically very easily accessible place:
27958963905_f08d8f1412_o.jpg


By this time I wasn't thinking straight and gave my friend a call (who is also my indy). He sent me this pic of the manifold and injector rail. He said the captive nut was obviously spinning and I needed to chip away the plastic around it to get a spanner onto it:
27857284762_ba8e02cbcb_o.jpg


So, I removed the passenger seat, knelt down, and poking through the firewall with a small chisel I broke the little bits of plastic off to reveal the nut!
27958965685_c185ed7340_o.jpg


After putting a spanner on it, removing the rail, checking everything and re-fitting properly the installation was finally complete! She fired up first time and settled to a steady idle of 710 rpm. I doused all the connections with brake cleaner without a hint of change in the idle and knew I was good to put the lid on.

27345548083_3477f8d8b3_o.jpg


Unfortunately, the engine lid no longer fits because the long plenum and then TB are fouling the margin where the lid sits. Its almost like they modified the engine bay on the 987 - who'd have thought!?

Anyway, in for a penny, in for a pound:
Peekaboo!
27346627944_2f2254d5c4_o.jpg


Whilst I was in there putting the passenger seat back in I thought I'd swap the naff speakers which were in the junk compartment with some much better JBL ones:
27942127856_5ced00a519_o.jpg


So, was it worth it?

Absolutely yes. The car revs much more freely. You can hear the new intake shifting much more air. The flat spot at 5500 rpm has gone and where the surge of torque seemed to die off from here it now keep pulling harder. The intake howl is now almost primal in nature and gives you goosebumps!

I did something similar with my previous 986 but removed the airbox and replaced it with a cone filter. I used a 996 TB and plenum which was so simple to fit it was untrue in comparison (plus needed no alterations to the engine bay or lid). The power difference with that one was noticeable too, but not as much as this. The 987 airbox is a true cold air intake, shielded from the engine, sucking air in through the passenger side vent next to the back wheel and with a filter which must be 10 times the surface area of the 986 one.

The power increase is tangible too. On the exit of a roundabout where I normally road test my mods, before the install I could plant the throttle in 2nd and the rear would squat down and push you forwards. I tried this post-install and the rear end broke free and I needed to add in some counter-steering to prevent me spinning! Now that was unexpected!

So in a nutshell - is it worth it? Yes but its very hard going. If you want 70-80% of the benefit for 40-50% of the effort, use a 996 plenum and TB, and use a cone filter instead.

:thumb:
 
Yet another update! Got the wheels back from the refurbisher. Went for anthracite in the end:

27947210176_9a9f7729b1_o.jpg


So immediately put on a couple of coats of this stuff to try to keep them in tip top condition

27701711170_5af585282d_o.jpg


And then I opened a parcel that had been sitting in my garage for a few days. I thought it was some more silicone tubing.... I forgot I'd ordered this...

27368551694_4ac2fc98d5_o.jpg


:D
 
Now that is a hell of a lot of work .. very impressive .

The wheels .. i love the colour .

The mod to the engine panel .. interesting , no choice but to cut from what i can see .
perhaps some foil backed sound deadening / heat mat over the top but stuck to the engine panel .. im just thinking of the heat transfer onto the foam carpet , might get a little hot.

air box in and out .. hmm .. not something i would look forward to and you can always guarentee if a nut is going to be a problem then it will be the hardest one possible lol.

Now .. young man .. the wireing extension .. crimp connectors ?

Solder , heat shrink and tape up the loom , It has to look nice :)
( im an Auto electrician so im bound to nag you on that point ! )


Over all .. i have to get paid to do anything like that and your doing it for fun !!

Excellent job , good result and a fine post .. made me smile looking at the pictures and knowing what sort of job you were doing .. keep it up :D

Edit ..

Silly question but i take it the TB cant be rotated 90 degrees to fit under the back part of the car .. does it hit the bodywork there as well ?
 
Another great post Rags. I am really enjoying this thread! So tempted to go out and buy a boxster S.... I am convinced, just need to convince the missus that I need one :thewife:

I do agree with Demort Re the use of connector block. They are not great in a car especially on the engine as they can become loose from all the vibrations. Best solution IMO is to crimp and heat shrink. Or as Demort suggests solder. I would heat shrink either way.

Also good choice on the wheel colour. Have you had the exhaust work done now as well?
 
Cheers guys! I should have known I'd get pulled about the wiring! I only had a few crimps and a bit of chocolate block, so I had to make do. I didn't trust my soldering on something as vital as the throttle, I thought I might lay too much solder down and ***** it up!

Believe me, I tried the TB at every position several times over and this is the way it ended up. Every other orientation led to it sticking up even more.

Tom, you really have to get yourself one and have a tinker. They respond really well to everything you change. I've just been down to Batley and back in it (120 miles) and it just eats the miles. This was its first run out since the new intake and I'm pleased to say it managed the maiden voyage with aplomb!

Am chuffed with the wheels, they're a nice contrast. I was worried they were going to be too dark but the seem to suit the car nicely.

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I couldn't go to get the exhaust work done on Monday but I've just spoken to Gareth at Revolution and they are going to squeeze me in in the morning! Can't wait!
 
Currently sitting at Revolution having the exhaust work done

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They also spotted the CV boot held on with a zip tie and have fixed it. I remember when looking back through the documents that the cv boots were actually done here. They must have run out of clips on that day and had to use a zip tie. Sorted FOC today. Excellent service again from Revolution! :D
 
Well ladies and gelignite, boredom is definitely a dangerous thing....

I've been planning for ages on learning to spray paint so I can just please myself whenever I need some painting doing rather than having to wait for a bodyshop and then fork out for the job. Inspired by homebuiltbyjeff I bought some spray guns, an extractor fan and a few bits and bobs. Since then nothing has really happened. I thought I'd practice on bits and bobs but actually the gun just stayed in the box and has never moved once.

When I bought the boxster there was a patch of flaking lacquer on the bonnet and a few small patches of rust on the passenger wing which really annoyed me, so I tried to touch it up and failed miserably. Since then I've been driving around with an archery target on the bonnet
27383798382_798388092e_o.jpg

From anything other than straight on it actually isn't very noticeable, but from square on its an aberration.

Anyway, this weekend I found myself at a loose end so headed into the garage in search of something to do...

First of all I set up an air intake
28465659241_11df1ff23e_o.jpg


Then on the opposite side of the bay I set up the extractor. On the front of this is a huge (4sqft) extraction filter)
27928027133_99056af0db_o.jpg


Then I started taking bits off and sanding..
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28543501615_c36c9514dd_o.jpg

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Then I picked my gun up for the first time and figured out what each bit did. It is a Devilbiss Startingline - a gun for beginner painters. I had previously bought the non-iso paint and lacquer from Jawal in Birmingham. They mixed it according to the paint code.

First coat was terrible. I had the fluid way too open and it was dumping paint and leaving big blobs all over
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So I rang my friend (who is a painter) and he told me how to set the gun up - 'dial this in, dial that out and have another go'.

Well, I was flying! Apparently silver is the hardest colour to paint, see what you think..
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Then it was time for the lacquer. This is where the limitation of the gun came to light. The fluid tip and spray fan just didn't put enough lacquer out to make it wet, so I had to go very slowly and deliberately to get it wet

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Then I left it overnight and started to wet sand it all down (800, then 1500 grit) this morning to remove the orange peel - which I'm told is inevitable when your gun doesn't put much lacquer out.

Following this it was out with the cutting compound and then finishing compound (menzerna) before putting everything back together
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I think the colour match is pretty good. The finish isn't perfect, but as its the first time I've ever even held a spray gun I'm really pleased. I'm going to live with it for a bit and then decide if I need to do the rest of the car..... or even go for a different colour completely! :grin:

In other news a small split has appeared in the rear plastic window so I've bought a metropol blue hood with glass screen. No doubt thats next weeks instalment.

:thumb:
 
Is there no end to ragpickers tallents :thumbs:

Is that a shadow on the passenger side front wing, or just a glitch in the photo :?:

I used to love painting (with rattle cans) when I was younger, it is amazing how good a result you can achieve if you take your time and get the prep right.
Keep up the good work, she looks lovely :thumb:
 

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