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DIY Eibach Springs and Aerokit install (well almost)

Mikee Quickstep

Well-known member
Joined
13 Aug 2014
Messages
116
So having recently had a remap @ 9e (which I'm very happy with :)) I'm on a roll with the next stage, lowering on Eibach springs with 15/7mm spacers and fitting a full factory aerokit. Hadn't really attempted anything much more than changing discs and pads before so this one was going to be a step up in terms of DIY!

Started by removing the Bose sub to expose the rear mounts then getting the car up on axle stands. Thought we'd have a go at the fronts first as they are always the tricky ones but although we managed to get the nut off one end of the bolt that secures the shock to the wheel carrier, we couldn't get the other end to shift for love nor money. A late night Friday call to Demort (#ledge) led us to the conclusion as is often the case on 12 year old 997s that the bolt had seized and we were unlikely to be able to remove it unless it was up on a ramp and we could get some serious leverage, or the tie rods needed cutting to expose the other end to get an impact wrench at it.

Defeated for now on the fronts we cracked on with the rears and had much more success. Got the retaining bolt for the strut and wheel carrier free and after removing the ARB slid both shocks out with 'relative' ease. Switched the springs over and then worked out a nice tehnique to get them back in by aligning the top mount bolts in the hose and then using a trolley jack to raise and compress the shock before sliding it into place over the bushes, job done!

The front bumper switch was also relatively easy following another DIY thread I found on rennlist, also giving me the chance in the middle to fix the lower horn which has never worked (finally I can use the horn without sounding like a poor excuse for a Fiat 500!).

That's where the DIY stopped and I opted for a little help from the pro's (i.e my local indy Tower Porsche). They had the car up on the ramps and were able to get the front bolts lose, replace the shocks, top mounts and clean / grease everything up nicely.

The last piece in the puzzle was the rear wing. Originally I bought this thinking it was the carrera aerokit wing as it came off a 997.1 targa and a quick check with OPC confirmed that the part numbers for the targa and carrera were identical... job done I thought. Turns out though that it later dawned on me I had bought a GT3 wing and the internal fan / airflow configuration was completely different :eek: :? ...... so... new aerokit wings aren't available to buy from OPC and no one seemed to have a 2nd hand one available so only option was to work out a way to fit it. Went through the thought process of ripping out the air box and replacing it with a cone filter but didn't want the expense and don't really rate those solutions anyway, then thought about trying to mount the fan somewhere else in the engine bay or cut another hole in the lid, but eventually Tower came up with a fairly simple solution... leave everything on the lid as is and trip the air duct down. Retains air flow to the air box and doesn't require any other fettling, and to return to stock would only cost me £37 for a new duct. Job done!

The plus side of having managed to fit the GT3 wing is I also get the gurney flap and protruding air intakes which I think look the nuts!

Love the new look, now just need to get it out on the track and give it a proper thrash, can't wait! :D
 

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few more pics...
 

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Looks great Mike , as you say the wins of a GT3 wing is gurney and deeper airintake ducts also the wing I believe is movable which it is not on the aero .
I would like to understand more how you overcame the airfeed to the airbox a bit more as I couldnt tell from the pic what you had done is the fan now feeding air into the airbox and what is the redundant intake duct on the other side doing. and would a gen2 duel feed airbox have also solved it. :thumb:
 
Hi Phil, yes exactly, the the air intake duct has been trimmed so the fan now sits flush against it when you close the lid. This ensures there is still airflow to the air box as it's drawn through the hole that sits behind the fan. The fan doesn't usually kick in that often, mainly when you're stationary on a hot day and there is limited air flow to the engine bay to cool it. When it does start the fan will still cool the engine bay it's just that some of the air will be forced into the air box. The duct on the other side is redundant but again just provides additional airflow to cool the engine.

A gen 2 airbox could potentially have worked with some modification to just use the right hand air intake, likewise I may have been able to mid my current one in some way to blank off the left intake and create a new one on the right but this seemed like the most simple solution overall to get the wing to fit with minimal cost and minimal regret spend, ie would only cost me £37 to return to normal if I chose. So think it's a winning formula unless someone tells me otherwise!
 
Great work Mikee, nothing like the satisfaction of carrying out the work yourself. The Pro's have their place but the more simple stuff we should tackle ourselves.

Your newly Aero'd car is a sight behold so you can be prouder of your achievements.

Did anyone else spot the lovely early 911/912 across the way in one of the photos? Simply Lovely.
 
Nice Job looks nice, im thinking about that rear wing, did you buy it from an OPC?
 
Scholester said:
Great work Mikee, nothing like the satisfaction of carrying out the work yourself. The Pro's have their place but the more simple stuff we should tackle ourselves.

Your newly Aero'd car is a sight behold so you can be prouder of your achievements.

Did anyone else spot the lovely early 911/912 across the way in one of the photos? Simply Lovely.

Cheers scholester, yeah even though I didn't manage the whole job doing half of it still felt like a good effort :) really happy with the result!

They work on some nice cars at Tower, saw a fully restored early 911s there a few months ago, stunning
 

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antonio said:
Nice Job looks nice, im thinking about that rear wing, did you buy it from an OPC?

No got it second hand off the forum. I know opc don't do the carrera aerokit wings new anymore .. gen 1 or gen 2. Don't know if u can still get the GT3 wing though. I did find a gen2 wing for sale at a breakers (Trent) a couple of days ago, they were asking £2k+VAT ...
 
Mikee Quickstep said:
Hi Phil, yes exactly, the the air intake duct has been trimmed so the fan now sits flush against it when you close the lid. This ensures there is still airflow to the air box as it's drawn through the hole that sits behind the fan. The fan doesn't usually kick in that often, mainly when you're stationary on a hot day and there is limited air flow to the engine bay to cool it. When it does start the fan will still cool the engine bay it's just that some of the air will be forced into the air box. The duct on the other side is redundant but again just provides additional airflow to cool the engine.

A gen 2 airbox could potentially have worked with some modification to just use the right hand air intake, likewise I may have been able to mid my current one in some way to blank off the left intake and create a new one on the right but this seemed like the most simple solution overall to get the wing to fit with minimal cost and minimal regret spend, ie would only cost me £37 to return to normal if I chose. So think it's a winning formula unless someone tells me otherwise!

Thanks Mike for explaining it does seem the easiest cheapest solution , I had a similar issue with my RS wing fortunaitly the fan was mounted centrally that allowed me to get my indy to modify the existing single intake and cut another intake feed into the underlid and attach the both feeds straight into the gen2 airbox . But your option looks fine and if you find in the summer your not getting enough cold air in then you do have the option of fitting one like in the pic , which although cone style must be better than the open cone ones that are only seperated from the engine heat by a carbon or metal sheet.
 

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Nice work Mikee, looks great.
How easy is it to remove the rear decklid / engine cover?
I'm looking at putting the ducktail on mine - it looks like it's just a case of unclipping the wiring harness and then two bolts either side and it's off...?
 
squelch said:
Nice work Mikee, looks great.
How easy is it to remove the rear decklid / engine cover?
I'm looking at putting the ducktail on mine - it looks like it's just a case of unclipping the wiring harness and then two bolts either side and it's off...?

Yep exactly that, the only thing of note is that there is movement in the bolts when you do them up to allow you to line up the wing so takes a bit of playing to get it sitting nicely but other than that pretty much plug and play..
 
Mikee Quickstep said:
squelch said:
Nice work Mikee, looks great.
How easy is it to remove the rear decklid / engine cover?
I'm looking at putting the ducktail on mine - it looks like it's just a case of unclipping the wiring harness and then two bolts either side and it's off...?

Yep exactly that, the only thing of note is that there is movement in the bolts when you do them up to allow you to line up the wing so takes a bit of playing to get it sitting nicely but other than that pretty much plug and play..

Excellent. Thanks Mikee!
I'm so undecided about the ducktail but sounds like I can throw it on and see what I think without too much fuss! Cheers!
 
Phil 997 said:
Mikee Quickstep said:
Hi Phil, yes exactly, the the air intake duct has been trimmed so the fan now sits flush against it when you close the lid. This ensures there is still airflow to the air box as it's drawn through the hole that sits behind the fan. The fan doesn't usually kick in that often, mainly when you're stationary on a hot day and there is limited air flow to the engine bay to cool it. When it does start the fan will still cool the engine bay it's just that some of the air will be forced into the air box. The duct on the other side is redundant but again just provides additional airflow to cool the engine.

A gen 2 airbox could potentially have worked with some modification to just use the right hand air intake, likewise I may have been able to mid my current one in some way to blank off the left intake and create a new one on the right but this seemed like the most simple solution overall to get the wing to fit with minimal cost and minimal regret spend, ie would only cost me £37 to return to normal if I chose. So think it's a winning formula unless someone tells me otherwise!

Thanks Mike for explaining it does seem the easiest cheapest solution , I had a similar issue with my RS wing fortunaitly the fan was mounted centrally that allowed me to get my indy to modify the existing single intake and cut another intake feed into the underlid and attach the both feeds straight into the gen2 airbox . But your option looks fine and if you find in the summer your not getting enough cold air in then you do have the option of fitting one like in the pic , which although cone style must be better than the open cone ones that are only seperated from the engine heat by a carbon or metal sheet.

Any pics of the inside of yours? Is it an oem rs wing you've fitted?
 
Mikee Quickstep said:
antonio said:
Nice Job looks nice, im thinking about that rear wing, did you buy it from an OPC?

No got it second hand off the forum. I know opc don't do the carrera aerokit wings new anymore .. gen 1 or gen 2. Don't know if u can still get the GT3 wing though. I did find a gen2 wing for sale at a breakers (Trent) a couple of days ago, they were asking £2k+VAT ...

Thanks for the info :thumb:
 
Absolutely mega upgrade. So much more impact.

Car looks really nice. This is next on my list but must... resist.... for now.
 

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