Jonttt's 993 C4S Journal

993 Colour Coded Rear Single Piece Grill

One of the few things left on my "to-do" list for this year......... has turned out to be a thing of beauty ....

Colour coded rear spoiler grill


I had been tempted by the 2S split grills which are designed to be painted and are available as an OEM option for all 993.

However I did not feel that the split grill actually complimented the shape of the 993's sweeping rear and it was in fact the colour coding that made them appealing to me.

I decided that the ideal option for me was to retain the wide one piece grill which helps to emphasise the wide rear of the 993 widebody 4S but colour coded and not the contrasting OEM black on a silver bodied car.

This is not without its problems (and maybe part of the reason why you don't see many colour coded one piece grills) due to the fact that these one piece grills where never designed for painting.

I approached a few bodyshops which were reluctant to carry out the work and the general opinion was that normal painting would not work and that the grill would have to be primed using specialist plastic paint. Even then it would require addiitonal layers of paint and laquer to cover the textured finish and which would make it both costly and without their standard paint warranties.

I therefore decided it would be a good DIY project

The first stage was to source a second grill as I wanted to retain the original under my remit of any changes to the car being reversible. Once again eBay was my friend and a second hand piece was purchased.






Luckily for me one of the oldest and biggest car paint suppliers is based 15 minutes from my office and on advice from them I used a plasticoat paint as an initial primer to prepare the surface for more traditional primer to be used....




This was applied in very thin layers until a good but thin surface covering was achieved...... part way through the process.....




Once that stage was completed more traditional primer, paint, laquer process was followed but instead of the normal 3-4 thin layers being applied at least double that was completed for each layer over a number of days to allow plenty of time for curing.....

pre laquer....




I completed the paint earlier this week and spent 1.5 hours today polishing, waxing and sealing the paint.

I am really pleased with the end result which is much better than I could have hoped for......










So the final stage will be to fit it and then time will tell if the paint will hold (it does feel and smell gorgeous though lol)

nicely done, reminds me of

That's the look I'm hoping for :thumb:

I picked my brother up today and had a run over to the classic car show at Tatton Park.

No Porsches :roll: (apart from one lonely 944) and no BMWs then the heavens opened after an hour so spent 3 hours in the pub for an extended lunch :thumb:

By the time I dropped my brother off a lot of water had been put down but ironically I love driving in the rain and so I took the back roads back home which were a lot quieter than normal due to the weather.

Had a massive grin on my face. Still getting to know the car but its performance ticked all the boxes, the car just feels so planted, predictable and you can really get that power down remarkably well through even the wettest of bends. I know driving most turbo engined cars in such conditions just would not have been so much fun. To me these conditions are where a great NA engine really comes into its own in terms of predictability. I could find no signs at all of he infamous 911 rear end snap and where it did get the rear end to step out the 4 wheel drive gave so much confidence that it would pull things back into shape and really gave the confidence to not lift off as I would probably have to in my ///M. Great fun.

Ps the PIAA wiper blades whee faultless and I can see why they have had such great reviews. Absolutely no smearing even at speed in very heavy rain.

Who needs the sun for a great drive, give me a drivers car, a quite B road and some rain any day 8)

993 Remap

Wayne Schofield (Chip Wizards) Remap

Location Ninemeister Dyno - Warrington

What a great day for a petrol head

Wayne had been recommended by a number of people to me including Strasse where I bought the car from so a couple of weeks ago I contacted him. I was warned that he is very busy and it was best to contact him via text.
He is using Ninemeisters dyno at the moment which suits me as its closer than his usualy base around Rochdale. Plus I was hoping to see some 9M projects in the flesh

The day started with me trying to find 9M :?: I thought I knew exatcly where it was having been to the karting track it is next to but after doing a U turn in a cattery I eventually found it around the back

Wayne was waiting for me when I got there and the first job was to convert my car to 2 wheel drive for the Dyno. Not as big a job as it sounds and 15 minutes to get it on a lift and driveshaft split near the gearbox and I had a 2 wheel drive car.

The car was then put on the dyno and setup ready.

Its worth noting that I'm familiar with Dynos and remapping but by no means an expert.

It became obvious pretty quickly that this was a true "live" remap and not just a pre written map dumped on a chip.

Part of the prep was to remove the OEM management system from the car (under passenger seat) and put an emulator in its place.

Normally I'm used to a before dyno being ran first for comparison but Wayne explained he preferred to run the OEM dyno at the end for comparison that way the final remap and OEM map are ran under almost identical conditions (engine/tyre temps etc....) Nice to hear. Thats why you will see the OEM graph as the last run later.

First run and Wayne new something was not right. Peak HP was c265HP and it died off significantly at c6000 revs. He immediately checked the Varioram system and saw that it was not holding pressure. In effect the variable valves where not kicking in at higher revs and so the engine was not producing max power.

Now varioram is a new system to me and so Wayne demonstrated how it should work. Basically the engine is adjusted at higher revs by a lever which is driven via an air pressurised system. This system also switches the engine heating input between internal / external sources via a shared solonoid and diaphram.

Wayne identified 2 faults with my car. Firstly the solonoid was not working but to compound the problem the diaphram was leaking. So the end result was the temperature side of the system was open and to cause failure the diaphram leak caused the system to lose pressure and not work.

Apparently the diaphram is not an uncommon failure but the solonoid is. The good news was that these are the easiest components of the system to replace as they are both exposed in the engine bay.

The solution for the dyno run was to simply remove the small inlet hose to the solonoid and bung it. This emulated the solonoid being in the closed position and meant the engine side of the system retained pressure and activated the lever adjusting the engine.

The pic below shows the parts but with a 2nd hand solonoid 9M found for me fitted before I left. Its been left without power so that it does not open until the diaphram on the temperature side of the system is replaced.




Once Wayne had that sorted he could get to work on remapping. He started with a map he had done previously on a 993 C4S but explained no 2 cars are the same and he would tailor the map to my car.

He spent c3 hours working his magic .........








and the end result in graph form with some notes....




So what does the graph mean in the real world. Well I have to try and seperate having a working varioram from not and then the remap. I am working on the basis the varioram not working affected power delivery over c5,000 revs and effectively meant I was down 20HP. So obviously I should feel a surge in power over 6,000 revs even without the remap. Well I do so its hard for me to know how much of the is ultimately the extra c15HP I have ie I definately notice the varioram kicking in more that perhaps I would the extra 15HP the remap has given me. So thats all good in its own right ie by simply running the dyno it identified a problem which is easy to fix with great rewards.

However just as big a revelation is the driveability of the car. This is for 2 reason.....

1) the "dead spot" on the torque curve from low revs which manifests itself in the real world by the engine being slow to pick up if you press on in say second gear ie a hesitation if you floor it whilst its in this dead zone rev range. The graph shows it clearly and that Wayne has completely removed it and actually turned it into a sweet spot. The car definately feels a lot more urgent in second gear.

2) in traffic driving the car is soooo much smoother. Prior to the remap my car used to "hunt" quite a bit at idle and was a little "lumpy" in traffic. I had actually put this down to a dirty Idle Control Valve (ICV) which is on my winter list of things to do. However Wayne explained to me that as the revs drop to idle the ignition (fueling) is switched off. As the revs drop fuel is applied just prior to the ICV stopping the car from stalling. This transition from no fuel to fuel and ICV kicking in causes the engine to feel "lumpy" in traffic. Wayne adjusts the point at which the fueling restarts to higher up the rev range so the transition is smoother. You can really feel the difference in traffic and the engine now does not "hunt" at all at idle.

So how would I sum the remap up.....

- Wayne is a top chap to talk to
- a live remap tailored to your car for £400 (I think its slightly cheaper for a 2 wheel drive as less setting up time) is a bargain
- the drive of the car is transformed. Albeit some down to fault correction but the improved driveability is all down to the remap

Would I recommend anyone with a 993 to let Wayne loose on it for a few hours, damn right I would :thumb:

I am one happy camper but it really does beg the question why Porsche could not do this from the factory :dont know:

ps I wonder how many variorams are out there with the varioram not working :dont know:

For those who want to contact him, text +44 7874 328306. :worship:

oh and here is the original EPROM which would be a 10 min job to plug back in and convert back to OEM mapping at any time (stuck on sone foam backing) :bandit:

So how about my day at NineMeister......

Well anyone who has read their project build threads on here and rennlist would know why I was hoping to see some projects and they did not disappoint.

However those eagle eyed of you may have noticed next to the dyno above was one of 26 (I think) RHD 993 turbo S. My very first one in the flesh




However ......




scratch one 993 Turbo S :sad:

a 50,000 mile minter :sad:

The story........ guesswork from damage, clipped nearside front wheel (chunk out of alloy) resulting in head on with an immovable object. Some force as the gearbox was cracked and sunroof popped.

However the guys reckoned it had been salvageable but the job had been started and botched by someone. Story was the owner had been paid out c£110,000 and wanted to buy it back. Garage started work and realised it was a bigger job than they perhaps first thought and costs esculated probably to the point they pi$$ed off the assessor and he threw his toys out. End result is 9M are stripping it but have to return the chassis for destruction c:

So there was a nice pile of as new full leather sports seats (heated) and trim on the floor destined for America. They had only got the car in a day or so before so interior was still being stripped. Full interior carbon was still in place...




What a sad sight but good to know the driver was OK

I think its fair to say that 3 hours of intensive inspection by me I know my turbo S's inside out now. It was an interesting side by side comparison as it was exactly the same colour spec as mine (arctic silver with midnight blue interior). For example the door speaker grills are slightly different and it had blue knobs / heater unit whereas mine are black. It made me realise that mine really is two tone in comparison.

Oh and the engine is destined for a GT2 replica, the shell was next door :thumb:

Hi

Thank you very much for taking the time to do his write up. A visit to Wayne is on my list for sure. I have a cheap generic chip in my car and it made a significant improvement to the drivability of the car at low speed, but it is not the same sort of thing as a proper remap.

Berni

Pleased to hear you had as good a day as i did there ; seeing all the stuff 9m are doing, talking to Wayne as he's a really top bloke, and then drive away with an even sweeter 993. :thumbs:

Good work Jon :thumb: I need to get to the bottom of mine as 9m are believed to have done a power upgrade on it in 2006 according to previous comment from an owner.

(BTW do you need a new spoiler curtain as the first vide clip looks like it's split so not directing air into the engine bay :dont know: :coat: )

Nice one.

The extra blue bits in the poorly Turbo S are exclusive options. You could have all the switches, vents and door speaker grills covered in thin leather for a little extra ££

Great shame it's ended up the way it has.

With regards non working Vram. Mine was inop too. I discovered I wasn't getting the usual clunk as I turned the ignition on and had to investigate.

When you first switch on the ignition (so long as there is vacuum in the tank) the Vram solenoids are cycled and all actuators suck in and stay there until you start the car. They then relax to be later actuated again when you're over the trigger rpm around 5,000 or over half throttle.

Mine had one duff actuator on top left inlet manifold which was not holding pressure, and a duff solenoid on the resonance flap under the manifold.

I replaced both and the system sprang back in to life and the car feels a lot livelier at high revs as a result.

The actuator and solenoid in your pics is for the changeover flap in the intake. This isn't directly related to the Vram system and is apparently only present to stop fumes entering the cabin when reversing. Many are inop and mine too needed a new solenoid to bring it back to life. The solenoid is activated when the rear blower is on and the car is not in reverse. If either blower goes off or reverse selected it turns off so air is not drawn in to the car from the spoiler area.

I'd say failure of these solenoids is pretty common. Both my cars have had dead ones (this car had 2) and my OPC keeps them in stock. The same one is used in Boxsters, 996 and 997's.

Here's a nice basic outline of the Vram operation which helped me understand it:





A: below 5000 rpm: long pipes; resonance intake disabled.

B: 5000-5800 rpm: long pipes plus short-pipe resonance intake, with one interconnected pipe of the resonance intake closed.

C: above 5800 rpm: long pipes plus short-pipe resonance intake, with both interconnected pipes of the resonance intake opened.

Zingari said:

(BTW do you need a new spoiler curtain as the first vide clip looks like it's split so not directing air into the engine bay :dont know: :coat: )

Click to expand...

Yep I do :thumb:

There is a new one sat in my office waiting to be fitted with the colour coded grill

That is a fantastic result Jonttt and money really well spent. You must be chuffed.

I wonder if there's anyone known for doing this sort of thing further south ?

Dom the way I understand it the solenoid that failed in mine would not usually cause the variorum to be inoperative ie it would just mean the heating airflow being switched permanently. However du to the faulty diaphragm on that side of the solenoid it meant the pressurised system had a leak and hence both sides would not work.

Now a working solenoid is in place but disconnected the variorum side of the pressurised system retains pressure as the leaking diaphragm is excluded from the system.

It was interesting seeing the system checked manually by simply removing pipes and blocking them. On removal you could blow through the faulty solenoid showing it was permanently open as it should be in the closed position when not switched. Luckily these are dead easy to get to / check. The solenoid which went on yours is not as accessible.

So I just need to order a new diaphragm unit and its a DIY swap over.

Ps makes sense now re the turbo S colour coding and why someone from the USA is prepared to pay through the nose for the turbo S exclusive option.

That is unusual as even with a leaky actuator on the change over flap, you would only get a leak when it's active.

I guess that means your Vram suffered whenever your rear blower was on.

The resonance flap solenoid isn't too hard to access once you have the blower assembly out of the way.

That actuator I changed on top of the manifold was a bit of a tricky begger to change. Not difficult, but I high chance of the screws falling in to the abyss.

mohitos said:

That is a fantastic result Jonttt and money really well spent. You must be chuffed.

I wonder if there's anyone known for doing this sort of thing further south ?

Click to expand...

There will be people who can drop a pre written map in or chips you can buy to replace yourself but a live remap customised to your car needs someone who understands how a 993 (especially variorum) works and for sample how the fuelling is switched on / off on a twin spark ignition system. It is a complex interrelationship which needs yeas of working on these cars. A default remap dropped into my car would not have solved the none working varioram on my car.

It's obvious talking to Wayne this is bread and butter to him. He diagnosed both faults within 1 minute of the first dyno run and bypassed the system in 30 seconds.

Worth a day trip to Warrington combined with an overnight stay in Liverpool in my book.

Wayne preps a lot of the 993 race cars in the uk :wink: