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The Boxster Gamble - Should I? I did - Progress thread!

Centre caps can get well stuck if the wheels have ever been refurbed (thicker paint).

Cat D....

Cars used to be categorised based on the financial cost of the total claim. Cat D was some big % of the cars value and Cat C more than the cars value.

So your boxster, add up the bumper, bracket, paint, and the assessor will likely only have made a cursory glance at the car - he would have needed to account for the risk of exhaust damage, even subframe damage or possible engine damage on these cars.

If the driver of the boxster was not at fault and they used a claims management company, the size of the claim could be even larger. Add in the rental of an equivalent vehicle for a month, and the claims management companies charge, you quickly exceed the value of an old boxster.

In this case better for them to reduce their liability risk and pay out.

Because of this financial basis sometimes you could have cat c cars with really minor damage and some well bent cat d cars.

Now they have cat s and cat n which does actually reflect the degree of damage rather than the financials - s for structural and n for non structural, which makes it easier to know what you are buying.
 
Thanks!

Got around to doing a few more bits on the Boxster.

First of all was a trip to Porsche Guildford where they wanted to swap it for this.

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Naturally, I declined.

I had got hold of a new service book which they would stamp as they were the supplying dealer and they had some record of servicing the car up to 2008.

So new book stamped, servicing, brake fluid, body warranty check and air bag recall. All stamped and dated.

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So all I need to do now, is try and hunt the history from 2009 - 2013, an email to each OPC service dept may uncover something, failing that, no big deal.

I picked up a new wiper cap, clips for the battery cover and an oil filter.

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After this, I decided to Renovo the roof to freshen it up, someone had clearly tried this before the and roof was patchy, I managed to get 3 coats on with approx 2 hours between each one. A fairly easy job but it can get messy! Thankfully it wipes off easily enough. Not complete pics as it had got dark when I peeled the masking off but it looked better, not 100% but it will do.

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In between the roof, I set about fixing a rattly heatsheilds around the downpipes with jubilee's, remove the bank 2 sensor 1 lambda (will change the others) and replace the coilpacks and spark plugs.

Some IDIOT had replaced just 1 coilpack and done the bolts which hold it SOOOOO ***** tight that it looked to have crushed the coilpack a bit and the bolt snapped. Tried to get the remaining thread out but no joy.

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The plugs were NGK R's, these looked VERY old. I've never driven a 2.7 boxster before but having driven only this, I figured that they were just dog slow, no buzz to it, flat is probably the best way to describe it, so after seeing this, I suspected these were why it felt so and was looking forward to seeing any improvement later.

New vs old.

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New coilpacks with some stainless bolts I had bought.

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I'm surprised the boxster doesn't feature a protective plate like my 997 to cover the coils. I know they're not in direct aim of water but I think a cover would be wise, so I'm going to get some to help protect them from the elements.

I managed to get the lambda out but the new one just wouldnt thread in, it was an ebay job so I'm just going to get some bosch ones from ECP.

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I wanted to change the 6 bolts which hold the manifold to the downpipes as they're on their last legs but I was knackered, so that will be next weekend. I have new gaskets and stainless nuts/bolts ready to go.

On to the drive, wow, HUGE improvement, the car is no longer flat!! It actually picks up in the higher revs and you can hear it screaming just like my 997 with the porsche howl, it definitely did not do this before. It feels like a 220bhp car, not 160 like it did before.

Happy with that now :)

Exhaust bolts, service (oil change), air con re-gas and MOT next. Oh and I think I'll get a short shift, the standard shift feels crap when compared with my 997 short shift.
 
Great stuff Mark ........ I am glad the car has it's woomph back with the new spark plugs fitted ....... As I have said I am really enjoying this thread so keep on updating ........ :thumb:

8)
 
Good work! Lambda thread looks knackered on that pic above which may be why the new one won't thread properly - might be worth worth tapping the exhaust (M18 x 1.5 iirc). I've a 2.7 986, ratios are pretty long on the 2.7 box, a 2.5 gearbox helped - with m030 and a 987 airbox/exhaust manifolds and a remap it's good fun.
 
Cheers guys, its nice to see the plugs/coils made a noticeable improvement.

Going to get some oil and drop that out soon, may do the gearbox and brake fluid while I'm at it.

I hear the boxes seem to go wrong so if this one ever does, I'll look into swaps.
Thanks for the info on the thread size, will get a tap and try it out, very helpful info.

cheers!

For the sake of a picture, a little snap from being parked at the recent Luft show.

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Found out that an annoying rattle from the rear is infact a brake pad! No anti rattle shims were fitted so looks like I need to get some of those although, google says the 2.7 didn't come with them.

I fitted these calipers to an old e46 m3 once upon a time and I bought rattle shims, so I know they can be fitted, I just can't remember the size!

I also suspect a pad could be getting pushed back due to a brake disc which has run out, I get a bad vibration upon high speed braking and I'm wondering if the dodgy disc is pushing the pad back into the caliper, I'll check this out first with a gauge.

MOT passed anyway :) No issues apart from a screw in a tyre which I sorted for now, don't like puncture repairs so a new pair of Michelins it is!

I set about trying to replace these rusty stubs with some stainless nuts and bolts but I was defeated!!

A large hammer and a dremel and I just couldn't get them out from inside the flange!!

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I ended up giving up on them, I was getting harder and harder with the hammer and I didn't want to keep on as I figured something else is going to end up breaking. So at the moment, both ends have been cut off and I'm hoping it just ends up coming apart by itself like it did on my 997.

I soaked them in plus gas, heated with a blow torch, nothing was budging the remaining bolt!

I'll revisit that at some point.

While under there, I notice a heat shield was a bit lose so I jubilee'd that.

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Pulled crap from the rads, I'm going to remove the bumper soon and do that properly

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Quick wash

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Next, a little toy.. Sort of pointless but I like little odd things.

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An indicator to let me know that the spoiler is going up and is up. A little LED flashed when the spoiler is moving and once up, it remains lit. As I said, pointless really like I always wonder when the spoiler is up on my 997 so when I saw this, I thought great, I'll know now. :lol:

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Now I just have 2 blanks to lose!

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So, brake pad rattle/disc run out next, quick shift to fit and oil/brake fluid change coming up.
 
Boring update

New front plate, not as wide and without the random garage name on it.

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Finally got the new 02 sensor in, thanks for the tip on the tap Tim, after a run with the tap I'd bought, the new sensor sailed right in and now I've done 25 miles without a check engine light! :grin:

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Did an oil and filter change, used Mobil 1 5/40, not used to 5w so seems watery compared to the usual 10w I use in everything else.

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Filter was clean, as was the oil to be honest, it's been in there a year and done just under 3k, it came out a golden, I was expecting the usual black, so I guess it shows light use.

I always inspect the filters in and out, I know they flow from outside to inside but I like to look just in case. All clean here.

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I noticed that the facelift boxster s has a centre vent, I quite like it and on the area where the vent is on my bumper, there is a scratch, so cutting it out and fitting the vent seems like a great way to get rid of the scratch!

BoxsterMarketwatch_986_08-L.jpg


I just need to find one!
 
Love the thread! Amazing how the original Boxsters have grown on me so much, hated them when they came out, love them now.

So much bang for your buck.
 
Thanks!

I was in the same boat, always hated the lights and wasn't ever a fan of the Boxster but the lights have really grown on me, I even like 996's in basic form now and want to get one!

This is a great car, I wish my wife wasn't using it so I could. Silly cheap car and lots of fun and so far, cheap to run.
 
Did some tinkering on the Boxster on Sat.

There was water in one of the lights, no idea how it got in there so pulled the light out to see if I could spot a break somewhere but couldn't, I ended up putting a tiny hole in the back of it so the water could drip out, will monitor that.

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One thing lead to another...

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I wanted to remove all the crap that gets in the ducting and up between the a/c condensors and rads.

Discovered that I'm going to need some new condensers so I'll replace the pair and get the system regassed.

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Painted the bumper fixings

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Gave it a good clean.

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What I wanted to be just a quick washed, ended up being a full clay bar, machine polish using the Meguiars Microfibre system (brilliant) and a finish off with Zaino Z5 polish and sealed with Zaino Z8!

Came up pretty well.

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Replaced the boot lights with LED versions

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Minor jobs before the monsoon rain.

New pollen filter

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Same brand but for some reason the filter has a K, either way, new filter.

Used to some fabric tape in the wind deflector mounts to stop a rattle which was driving me insane.

Found a brand new cig lighter, i thnk this was from a VW/Audi of some sort. This was to replace the aged looking one, not that it will get used but nice to keep things mint.

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I think I was cold at this point...

Old vs new

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Fitted some LED bulbs, meant to be white but look grey here..

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Used a heat from a blow torch to return these to black

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Got around to fitting the new 02 sensors, one stripped it's threads but luckily, once I removed the rear arch trim, I could see inside the cat and was able to pick the thread out.

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We're up and running with 4 new 02's now although I'm getting a flat line on one, so I need to poke around with the wiring as I have seen this one working before.

Bottom left shows all 4 02 sensors, orange line is bank 2 sensor 1
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Need to run the car and give the wires a wiggle to see if it comes back to life.

Nearly up to scratch now!
 
The pollen filter and one is a carbon granuals type whilst the other is just paper ... carbon is the best type .

The O2 sensor is a dead sensor with that flat line ( hard to see the image but it looks flat ).

If thats a new sensor then its faulty or there is no connection to the dme from it .. which will give a fault code .

No emote for hats off here .. so Hats off to you sir !!!
 
deMort said:
The pollen filter and one is a carbon granuals type whilst the other is just paper ... carbon is the best type .

The O2 sensor is a dead sensor with that flat line ( hard to see the image but it looks flat ).

If thats a new sensor then its faulty or there is no connection to the dme from it .. which will give a fault code .

No emote for hats off here .. so Hats off to you sir !!!

Thanks mate,

I've swapped 2 sensors into bank2 sensor 1, all result in the flat line so I'm assuming it's a wire issue now, need to take a closer look and follow the cabling, I wouldn't be surprised if the garage the previous owner used to take the car to tried undoing the sensor with it plugged in, they have left some clues of shoddy work...

Ahhh carbon filter, nice to know :)

Cheers!
 
Got some work done, the engine management light being on has been my biggest annoyance with this car and finally, it's sorted!!

Thanks to Demort, I tracked a broken wire down to one of the O2 sensors! Can't thank Iain enough, fixing this has been the most satisfying thing and the car now feels better for it, I had to keep clearing the fault for it to feel pokey, as it should, as soon as the light came on, the engine would change pitch and just didn't feel 100%.

Anyway, started the job in the boring rain but checking the plug out, making sure it's all good and it was. I put a post up and thankfully Demort helped me and educated me on wiring diagrams.

Pics will explain, broken wire was found!

Couldn't be arsed to shuffle cars so I half hid the side I wasnt going to be under, under the garage door... Blame a hang over.

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DME for anyones reference

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The split wire, I think whoever did the IMS job did this as you could see a cut to the loom tape

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Soldered

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Fabric taped up

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So happy that this is resolved!!

I wanted to get rid of a scratch on the front bumper, I found that the area where the scratch is, is actually a vent on the S models, so I set about getting the bits. I may fit a 3rd rad like I did on my 997 but not sure if it's worth the bother. For now, I'll fit the vent to get rid of the scratch and put some mesh to block it off. I managed to get the exterior intake surround and rear part brand new and I put my painting skills to the test, primed, painted and lacquered. Thankfully, it has come out perfect!!! Painted in a nice environment and it's a nice flat finish so I won't need to flat it.

I've got a pair of new a/c condensers to fit so once I remove the bumper to fit those, I'll cut the bumper out and fit the intake.

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Some colour

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Front completed and rear section

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Short shift fitted and while at it, fitted the replacement centre console. This is an eBay SSK and tbh, I can't fault it, it does the job of decreasing the throw and feels as it did before, can't knock it although the missus seems to think it's stiffer, I may raise the height of the gearknob for her or just tell her that I've made a change and see what she thinks

:grin:

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The problem with the old console, air freshener around the gearknob

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SSK, lowered knob and new centre console

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Condensers, centre vent and drive belt next.
 
Got around to fitting the front bumper air intake along with new a/c condensers.

Bumper job took a bit longer than I thought, I was just being a bit too careful with the hole and then my dremel decided to die so I had to rush out to b&q to pick up a new one. I later fixed my original dremel in 5 mins, grrr.

Bumper off again

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Considering I only cleaned the rads out a few weeks ago, there was a lot of crap in the ducts already.

Old ones. starting to fall apart! I thought they were leaking so I got a shock when I undone the first connection!

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Now on to the scratch removal

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Good bye scratches

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Much more cutting was done but eventually

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Fitted some mesh

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I had been trying to find the rear section air ducting section of the radiator kit but I just couldn't find it for the 986, only the 987. I was getting impatient so decided to press on with this job without it and perhaps make my own for the time being.

Thankfully there were some things where I could fit some speed nuts and I had these left over from when I fitted my central rad to the 997, all genuine Porsche parts here ;)

:grin: :puh:

I had some sheet ally, so I sent out bending and cutting..

Gave it a few coats of hammerite gate paint

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Fitted! A bit rudimentary but will do the job of flowing the air and crap out through the bottom holes in the bumper rather than blustering around in this area.

As I had loads of mesh remaining, I thought I might as well use it and stop the worry of leaves blocking the rads up.

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Hopefully the mesh isn't too restrictive.

And here we have it. Scratches gone and 'S' vent now in place with new condensers and mesh.

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Need to get the a/c gassed, fit the new rear tyres and work out what's knocking in the rear when going over uneven ground, slowly got worse and I think it could be related to the vibration I sometimes experience when braking. Everything feels tight, no obvious play, the knocking sounds like it is coming from behind the passenger seat.. The top mount is solid, all the arms can't be moved by hand and movement with a pry bar doesn't seem abnormal.
Rear ARB mount is tight.

The knocking is heard more when coasting a long a bumpy road if that is any clue..
 

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