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Fitting a third central X51 radiator to a 997

Maxie

Well-known member
Joined
11 Mar 2007
Messages
8,436
Tools needed:
Axle stands/jack (unless you have access to a sloped driveway)
Torx screws T20 & T25
16mm socket
WD40 spray
Porsche coolant
Penlight (for those hard to see in places)
Pliers
Lots of cloths/covers etc

Optional for Grille fitting (highly recommended):
Aluminium mesh
Wirecutters

Having fitted the low temp thermostat a few months back with the huge help of GT4 (Paul, whom I also got the 'Tools needed' idea to be at the header of every DIY), I decided to add additional cooling by means of a third central radiator. A few forum members have already done this but I haven't yet found a detailed guide on here so I have attempted to do just that. I can't take all credit here because I used guides from other people of other forums to do some of the work.

The kit to be ordered from any OPC is this:

997.044.100.05 for Gen1

997.044.100.15 for Gen2

At the time of writing, the Gen1 kit costs £102 incl VAT but expect 10% off this if you are PCGB member. (The OPC can also fit this for you if you prefer at £140 + VAT per hour for a three hour job - this is what I was quoted when ordering my kit).

The Gen2 kit costs £390 incl. VAT.

Inside the Gen1 kit you get the following part nos:

- 997.106.037.02 (Individual selling price: £170 + VAT)
- 997.505.541.01.01C
- 997.575.141.02
- 997.504.487.00
- 997.504.485.00
- 997.106.638.04
- 997.106.639.04
- 999.591.869.01 x 4
- 999.072.048.01
- un-numbered packet of nuts & bolts.

And what you get is this:





Laid out neatly:





You will probably not use all of the pieces but I think this kit covers all Gen 1 cars for different markets so all pieces have been supplied regardless.

Cover your drivers seat so as the minimise dirt. This was my attempt at such:



It helps if the car is jacked up from the front end. I didn't have jacks or axle stands but I was lucky in that my driveway has a gentle incline. This will help when you unplug the coolant system as less will gush out than if the car had been standing level.



Lights removal:
Headlight removal is straight from the car's manual. It will help to have this removed because it allows for a greater working space.





If you haven't seen what a 997 Xenon headlight looks like, then be prepared:







Take out all the lights from the front bumper area including auxiliary and indicator units.





Front bumper removal
The best guide I found was here:

http://www.renntrack.com/forums/showthread.php?116-987-997-Front-Bumper-Removal

I don't think the instructions are crystal but they give a good idea of what is to be done. Some extra notes for 911uk I have added here:

If your car has the washers, then just simply press down on the jets and remove from the bumper prior to taking the bumper off.







The sliding pins that are located behind the headlight aperture can be a little stubborn to take off so spray with plenty of WD40 before sliding them inwards towards the bonnet aperture. These need to be slid off because they contain retaining pins to the top of the front bumper. Contrary to the above guide, I found that a curved hook made for a better way of coaxing these pins out.









Of course, remove all the torx screws as mentioned in the guide.

And voila, the front bumper is now free of the car:





Once the bumper is off, store in a safe place/position so it can't get scratched. At the end of each session, I stored mine like this:





Just using the box that the kit came in was pretty handy in itself.

Cleaning rads:
I did some extra remedial work at this poing, namely cleaning out the left and right rads. To do this, you need to remove both air-scoops by undoing the 3 x torx screws and unclipping the retainer brackets from the side:







You can already see some debris kicked up from the road in there:







Luckily not too much but I also wanted to get the crud out stuck between the rad and the condenser. Just unbolt a single retaining nut:



I didn't take it off completely as after viewing inside there seemed to be minimal debris in there so I used a toothbrush to get at anything that was stuck.



Removing top horn:
Most of the next steps were gleaned from this guide:

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforu...center-radiator-install-diy-06-carrera-s.html

As you look directly at the car from the front - to the left are located the vehicle's twin horns. You will need to loosen the top one to allow for space when you are doing the ducting at a later stage. This is very simple; just undo the top nut of the horn and it will come off.



Now you have a clear space to work with:



Unplugging coolant system:
If you look at the pic above, you will notice the outside of my boot/trunk/frunk, whatever you like to call it, has the markings 'M7X'. Look to the bottom right corner of the pic and you will notice a circular plug:





Loosen this with some pliers - this will be quite stubborn. It is important not to twist as it will damage the splines inside.



As you loosen, be ready with a clean bucket to catch all the coolant that is about to flow. I got a good bit of this over my garage floor as I wasn't quite ready for the onslaught.

The plug you have just taken out will not be used again.



Now do the same for the other side. The other plug is located behind where the top horn used to be until you unscrewed it.



Now attach the hoses that come from the kit:



As you look at the car from the front, the longer pipe attaches on to the right side:



Something I didn't do but wished I had was to rub some sealant of some kind on the outsides of the ends of the hosing to prevent any water leaks (not sure what this sealant would be called so I'll leave that to you to tell me).

There is a dot printed on the ends of each each hosing on the rubber part; the dotted end is the end that goes onto the connecting hoses of the 3rd radiator.

This is the left side (as you look directly onto the car from the front)



So now with the hoses fitted should be looking something like this:



Bumper air intake cover removal:

All manual gearbox 997 Carreras (except X51 editions) come with a cover on the central aperture. This must be removed. Using a flathead screwdriver, just prise out the links and remove. It's a fairly simple process:









Along with those hose plugs, this piece can be discarded also.

Radiator assembly:

The above guide is best for this procedure. Here are my pics as a result:



























Be careful to get the aluminium rod orientation correct:











And the assembled article:



Additional info:

The next step is to take the assembly to the car. Before you attach the assembled radiator to the chassis, take the retaining metal clips off the backs of the hoses:





Fix the assembled radiator onto the car:





Attaching hoses to rear of radiator:



Re-attaching retaining clips:





Tightening assembly to chassis:





I had used this nut to tighten the top of the assembly to the chassis:



However, I decided to change it to version with the larger head that came with the kit:



Car should be looking something like this:





Re-attaching side air scoops:



Re-attaching metal bumper:



Fitting new air intake aperture to bumper:
This piece just simply clips onto the existing bumper - be careful not to break any of the retaining sockets around the mouth of the bumper.













Fitting mesh to the intake aperture: (Optional procedure)
I bought this piece of aluminium mesh from Halfords for £25.





Alternatively you can order from Zunsport a ready made mesh grill for £107

zpr22309.jpg


30f0caea-217d-4440-bf72-1611a4ed5811.jpg


I might have been tempted to do the latter but, for me, I don't like the way the centre grille is 'pushed' out to the front. I personally prefer a recessed grille as in the following steps:

Using wirecutters, cut the mesh in half longitudinally:







Now you have two pices in case you mess up on one half, you can use the other. Be careful not to mess up on the second half if you've screwed up the first.





Using one of the pieces, place behind the air-intake and roughly cut off the excess





This pics shows me using a smaller cross section of mesh than in the pic above.



Now I am just cutting to measure to get a good fit.

Cutting around the corners to give the following rough shape (it doesn't have to be exact).



Attaching the mesh onto the intake can be done in a variety of ways. I didn't have any glue handy at the time but what I did have were these tacks (small pins) which I had left over from a B&Q trip some months back.







I pushed/gently hammered these tacks into the back of the mesh against the border of the intake like so:





Go all the way around until you have completed:



From the front it looks like:











(the side grilles you see are from Zunsport which I had attached a couple of years back - something I regret doing as this mesh method is far more satisfying to do and a lot cheaper to purchase).

All nice and recessed.

Re-fitting bumper to car:
In principal, the job is done now. It is (almost) a reverse process of re-attaching the front bumper back onto the car. A few additional points to take heed:

First, place the small torx screws (T20) back into the side-repeater apertures:





Second, latch the bumper on to the metal bracket (that is attached directly to the chassis) and place back the washer jets in postion by clipping them back into their retaining sockets (this will prevent them from slipping).





Third, pull the bumper wiring (for the lights) through the auxiliary lighting aperture. The use the guide (link posted above) for taking the bumper off in reverse order.

Once done, hopefully looking like this:









Penultimate proedure is to put the car onto level ground and top up with the coolant that you have hopefully collected in the bucket.

I finished today and took my car for a half hour drive today around some twisty country lanes in Herts. When I got back home, the coolant reservoir was reading less then minimum, so immediately topped up again. You will need to keep on eye out on this for the next few days.

I also noticed that the water temp gauge reads the same old 80C as ever. However, oil temp gauge now reading a couple of degrees lower at sppeds up to 4k rpm. I think around 85C. Over 4k, it is reading 89C. On a private road, I took the car upto 112mph and the reading gave me 90C momentarily. Once I slowed down the oil gauge temp dropped noticeably; this has not happened before.

This appears to show the third radiator - in conjunction with the Low temp thermostat - to be doing its job.

Thanks for viewing.

~ Maxie
 
Great write up there, will keep it handy for when I get the rad kit myself! :thumb:
 
Super job Maxie....was thinking of doing the same to my 996

Thanks for sharing your experience on this one.
 
infrasilver said:
Kgboxers said:
Any idea if they do a Complete kit for the 996?

Design911 do a kit for £399. I added a third rad to mine a couple of years ago and would highly recommend it, keeps the engine cool by a couple more degrees and help keep it cooler whilst in traffic and obviously when on the track. Don't forget the low temp thermostat mod too.

http://www.design911.co.uk/fu/prod6265/Radiator-Water-Cooling-kit-Porsche-996/

Thanks for this infrasilver....slight price differential between the 996 and 997 then!! Funnily enough I did the low temp thermostat last weekend so got that one covered!
 
Inspiring stuff Maxie.
 
Great work - I also prefer the recessed grille look. Do you know if one pack is enough to do the side vents aswell?
 
Cheers chaps :)

Poker2009 said:
Great work - I also prefer the recessed grille look. Do you know if one pack is enough to do the side vents aswell?

Yes, one pack will be enough.

~ Maxie
 
Great write up. Are those tacks robust enough for the mesh to stay in place for track work :?: . What glue does anyone recommend if tacks are not used. Or does anyone have any other recommended ways of attaching the mesh :?:

Well done Maxie :thumb: . Lots of photographs is always a bonus and a picture paints a thousand words.

Pip
 
^ agree - excellent write-up!

(I was also wondering about usage of those tacks for fixing the mesh in place, are you sure it's safe...?)
 
Pip1968 said:
Are those tacks robust enough for the mesh to stay in place for track work :?: . What glue does anyone recommend if tacks are not used.

Roro said:
I was also wondering about usage of those tacks for fixing the mesh in place, are you sure it's safe...?

Thanks for the positive comments and your feedback. With regards to the tacks, I pushed these in to the mouth of the surrounding duct and then tapped each one of these gently with a hammer to get a firm fit. Are they safe? TBH, I am not sure. I have just driven the car once since fitting and nothing seems to have worked its way loose just yet. I would have preferred to use glue but as to which type I was unsure. Hopefully someone else can suggest.

If they did come loose, what is the worst that could happen? Again, your thoughts would be welcome.

infrasilver said:
Is it just me but the 996 kit is £400 the 997.2 kit is £400 and the 997.1 kit has £400 worth of parts in it but is only £102.

Does anyone think Porsche are subsidising this 997.1 kit very heavily

I am convinced the 997.1 part has been incorrectly priced. This is one reason why I have bought sooner rather than later before they realise and prices are corrected. Otherwise, there is no substantive reason as to why the 996 & 997.2 prices should be vastly different to the 997.1

~ Maxie
 

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