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My GT3 restoration and upgrade thread

markturner1960

Well-known member
Joined
26 Nov 2016
Messages
215
Hi, OK, I am a newcomer here, having only recently realized a long time ambition to own another Porsche....I had a 944 back in the day, 1987....

Anyway, now the proud owner of a 2003 GT3 mk2 in speed yellow. I also own an E92 M3 in interlagos blue, that I have completed an extensive upgrade and renovation program on, please look here if interested: http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=146810

The previous owner of my GT3 had lavished some love on her, installing the rollcage, factory nomex seats and only racked up 1000 dry miles in 6 years. She also recently got fully serviced and the air conditioning condensors replaced.

Overall condition is very good, but I am one of those owners who likes their car to be as immaculate underneath as on top.

As soon as I got the car up on my lift, I knew there was some work to be done. The car had been sprayed with a protective layer which has limited corrosion, but left an unsightly appearance. I need to get all this off, get the aluminium polished up and protected and all the underside looking as it should.

So, my first plan is a thorough clean, followed by a trip to centre of gravity for an Ohlins R&T damper upgrade and full geo with all bushes etc upgraded and replaced.

I have brought an IPD plenum and 84mm throttle body, together with the requisite 997 MAF housing and adaptors to beef up the intake. My other plan is to replace the exhaust and get it remapped. However still in the pondering stage of which exhaust to go for ( See other thread..)

So thats the background, I have managed to spend a few evenings and a couple of days at the weekend, removing the wheels, undertrays and arch liners etc, so the car is as exposed as possible for cleaning.

Initial cleaning has revealed its going to be a long and dirty and awkward process. Lots of awkward spaces to get into, although I have brought a compressor,, some air tools and a soda blasting kit to help. Good old air drill and some wire brush attachments are proving pretty good as well. The soda blasting is good, but very dusty. Anyway, here are a few pictures to show initial progress:













Will keep the updates coming, the M3 is in the paintshop currently getting the stone chips from this summers road trip sorted, so I am hoping to get the majority of the cleaning done before it comes back, as it has to live under the GT3 on the lift....
 
Looking good Mark, I'm subscribed :thumbs:
 
Loving the ocd'ness :thumb:

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the ipd and tb upgrade
 
Good thread I'll be following this :thumb:

This reminds me, I had my GT3 wax oyled couple years ago now, I should probably get that redone sometime over the next year or so ...
 
Blimey only seems like a few days ago we were looking at this in the showroom, soon the underside will look as good as the bit that's supposed to be shinny!!

I did get a quote for a Kline switchable for mine. Will be watching this with interest and looking forward to the spring already when we can get the SY & GR 6.2s out and about
 
great to meet you mark and your SY gt3 is lovely mate.

the work you have done already is amazing and it will look epic.

good luck with the mods and keep the thread up to date ;-)
 
Thanks for all the replies, small update, have got the Ohlins on order and a slot booked for mid Jan at centre of Gravity for the full treatment. Will also probably replace and upgrade the bushes at the same time as well as the full geo and corner weighting. I am hoping by then I will have completed the initial deep clean and decorrosion of the underside, although not had so much time the last few days , what with Christmas preparations and all....The wife is keeping me busy at home and any suggestions of escaping to the workshop are being shot down very quickly. Hopefully get a few days in after New Year, as I dont go back to work until Thursday.....

Exhaust wise, the Kline system is looking very good currently, especially as I can order and not pay the VAT being registered here through the business...My manifolds look OK once cleaned up, so am thinking I may save some time money and no doubt aggravation by leaving them on for now.....can always change later if funds etc allow....I would at least like to get my old system off, simply for cleaning access but I am pretty certain I will go for the Kline in stainless. Iconel would be nice but it's big bucks.......

I have also brought a nearly new IPD performance plenum and 84mm throttle body from NLW73, who kindly delivered in person the other day, along with some top tips for some OEM to use along with it, notably the 997 MAF housing.

Tony, hope the holiday went well, will catch up very soon.

Nick, likewise great to meet and lets keep in touch!
 
OK, got some updates, I manged to spend a few days finishing off the underside clean. Best results achieved using a selection of wire brushes in an air drill ( I brought a compressor and a set of air tools, really good and very useful to have in the workshop) and also a blasting gun, using a mix of sand abrasive and bicarbonate of soda. Be warned, this was very messy and when finished resulted in a 6 hour forensic clean of the workshop, the dust goes everywhere......

However, after a few days and a very sore set of thigh muscles ( my lift does not go full height due to mezzanine floor above so I need to bend the knees) I have managed to get it pretty clean. There are some areas I cant reach, but hopefully these will get done when the suspension is being sorted at GofG.

I realize that it does not look a lot different in the latest pictures, but can assure you a lot of work was done in between the two sets!! They are pretty self explanatory, so I wont bother captioning each one. I plan to remove the rear bumper in the next tranche of work to clean the area behind and under that, as well as the exhaust, as it may be 2 months or so before I get the new one.

Anyway, here you go:


















 
Looks great Mark, you must be pleased :)
 
Very nice, where did you buy the wing from if you don't mind me asking? Been thinking of getting one.
 
very nice mark

make sure you get the RS style air collector that sits below the spoiler and by the air intake. will help to force air into the intake so goes well with the bigger plenum and TB.

design 911 do a nice carbon one.
 
Thanks, I got it from someone here on the forum, in the for sale section....was good price compared to new......co incidentally, it was the same guy who owns the business where I brought the car......!!

Some more updates tomorrow....
 
This also arrived in the last few days - 996 Cup steering wheel kit from carnewal:



And these ( Function first transmission mount inserts and Rennline perforated pedals)

 

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