996 C4S Hartech 3.9 - A diary

Ecobeard · 4 Mar 2025

Roughy £54 with discount, off the top of my head

Other flavours of umbrella are available as well, this one just tickled me

Alex · 4 Mar 2025

The CDs are probably Baz's or Grant's from Hartech

Those wheel bolts could do with a dose o paint.

Gixxer996 · 4 Mar 2025

Just read this, great to see where you are with this car and that it's living up to expectations. I myself was in contact about this car and seriously considered it before finding another. If I still have the emails from grant at Harlech I'll forward them to you if you want them (pm me email). Doubt there is any information you don't have, but he did send me some photos which you might not.

Ecobeard · 4 Mar 2025

Alex said:
The CDs are probably Baz's or Grant's from Hartech

Those wheel bolts could do with a dose o paint.

Quite possibly

Yeah they need looking after for sure!

Ecobeard · 4 Mar 2025

Gixxer996 said:
Just read this, great to see where you are with this car and that it's living up to expectations. I myself was in contact about this car and seriously considered it before finding another. If I still have the emails from grant at Harlech I'll forward them to you if you want them (pm me email). Doubt there is any information you don't have, but he did send me some photos which you might not.

Ah amazing!

Will pm you!

Ecobeard · 4 Mar 2025

just checked my emails and Reading OPC have got back to me about the first owners service history! They definitely used it, which is great!

December 2002 Service 10274 miles.

February 2005 Service 22743 miles.

February 2006 Service 28766 miles.

February 2007 Service 36415 miles.

January 2008 Service 48695 miles.

February 2009 Service 61664 miles.

January 2010 Service 72345 miles.

April 2013 Service 89224 miles.

May 2014 Service 95652 miles.

May 2015 Service 102577 miles.

Now to see if I can GDPR my way around getting the invoices they say they have but can’t send, for obvious reasons.

Skoosh1970 · 4 Mar 2025

I spoke to the supplying main dealer of my 996 and they sent me, without question but client info redacted, all the information on my car including a £7500 bill for new gearbox and clutch at 6 years old. Had the service stamps but that one invoice was missing from my history. Worth asking the question in my book.

Ecobeard · 6 Mar 2025

Skoosh1970 said:
I spoke to the supplying main dealer of my 996 and they sent me, without question but client info redacted, all the information on my car including a £7500 bill for new gearbox and clutch at 6 years old. Had the service stamps but that one invoice was missing from my history. Worth asking the question in my book.

Spoke to them, they said that they cant but that the main customer service helpline can. which I phoned and its closed for training today

Ecobeard · 6 Mar 2025

Gixxer996 said:
Just read this, great to see where you are with this car and that it's living up to expectations. I myself was in contact about this car and seriously considered it before finding another. If I still have the emails from grant at Harlech I'll forward them to you if you want them (pm me email). Doubt there is any information you don't have, but he did send me some photos which you might not.

So Gixxer kindly sent me over the emails that he had from Hartech about the car from 2023, which contained a few nuggets about its history. It also showed me that loads of people asked about the car over a long period of time, so I think Grant must have been relieved to sell it on! (he has been very helpful I must add!)

The biggest nugget being that Grant bought it in March 2021 at 140k with a knackered motor. He also says in his emails that the dampers needed changing, so that must have happened between '23 and '24, which is useful to know.

So I am just missing the history between '15 (102k miles) and '21 (140k miles). For the sheer hell of it, it'll be fun trying to track that down.

Also I having a 'mare with the drivers side mat. What ever fabric glue I use, the velcro pads just pull off the bottom of the mat....has any had this issue before and is there any other way to secure them with clips? Google hasn't been kind in this regard. I'm just a bit reluctant to pony up for 986/996 mats when the same thing may happen again....

Ecobeard · 10 Mar 2025

Everyday is a school day….there are TWO cupholders

Mind blown

corneg1 · 10 Mar 2025

And they are not the same size either… at least mine aren’t.

Ecobeard · 10 Mar 2025

Ofc they aren’t the same size….

blenky36 · 12 Mar 2025

Ecobeard said:
Centre console with HVAC pod is printed up, going in to upholstery next week.View attachment 113503

Like a few others, I was a few weeks off buying this 3.9 from Marshall & Son but my 986 didn't sell in time. I ended up buying the other rebuilt C4S they had in Seal Grey and loving it so far. Funnily enough I also have this exact centre console delete on order from Brian, although I probably should have gone down the same route as you to print over here.

If one of the reasons you're adding the centre console delete is for leg space, I'd highly recommend adding a steering wheel spacer. I'm 6'6 and fitted mine last weekend and it's made the world of difference being able to move freely between the accelerator and brake, as well as being able to turn the wheel without hitting my knees now! I got mine from Spacer Shop but would probably recommend one of the ones from Design911 for speed of delivery, and comms weren't great with Spacer Shop.

Marshall & Son were also great and very fair for me, got the car PPI'd and covered the raised issues as well as sorted a new bonnet actuator for me after it was playing up the day after purchase. Would definitely recommend and they seem to have lots of interesting Porsche stock passing through retail as well as on Collecting Cars.

Will be interested to see how you find Alex's SSK as I likely want to do the same to mine!

Ecobeard · 12 Mar 2025

blenky36 said:
Like a few others, I was a few weeks off buying this 3.9 from Marshall & Son but my 986 didn't sell in time. I ended up buying the other rebuilt C4S they had in Seal Grey and loving it so far. Funnily enough I also have this exact centre console delete on order from Brian, although I probably should have gone down the same route as you to print over here.

If one of the reasons you're adding the centre console delete is for leg space, I'd highly recommend adding a steering wheel spacer. I'm 6'6 and fitted mine last weekend and it's made the world of difference being able to move freely between the accelerator and brake, as well as being able to turn the wheel without hitting my knees now! I got mine from Spacer Shop but would probably recommend one of the ones from Design911 for speed of delivery, and comms weren't great with Spacer Shop.

Marshall & Son were also great and very fair for me, got the car PPI'd and covered the raised issues as well as sorted a new bonnet actuator for me after it was playing up the day after purchase. Would definitely recommend and they seem to have lots of interesting Porsche stock passing through retail as well as on Collecting Cars.

Will be interested to see how you find Alex's SSK as I likely want to do the same to mine!

View attachment 114637

Aaah very nice! Noughties Heckblenders unite!

That’s a great looking car. I like the rear even more without parking sensors, no matter how useful I do find them. Glad you had a good experience with Marshall’s, they just seem like decent folk eh.

On the spacers, my main niggle isn’t height as such as I’m only 6”1, but it’s more, er, width. Shoulders aren’t a problem but knees and hips are. It’s not massive but I know that on longer trips the delete will make a difference. My knee clearance is ok, but I hear what you say and will have a look into the spacers, as I have been toying with the idea of refurbing and using an old steering wheel of my dads (off a Stag I think) that I have held on to, that seems to have the same hub fitment pattern.

SSK goes in on 3rd April and Brian is also printing my delete up same as yours, so I think we will literally be in the same boat there.

Looking forwards to seeing how your C4S adventures unfold!