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50th Shade of Silver, the ubiquitous Arctic silver 996 C4

Y2K said:
Great thread and wonderful car history.

Love that E46 M3 on 18', just looks so right. Would love one but prices have gone crazy now (like everything else mildly interesting). Great colour on the Boxster also.

:thumbs:
These are just the silver cars I have photos of, a couple were onwed in the pre-digital photography era.

I agree, an E46 M3 on 18" looks very purposeful to my eye, it was another car that took me a while to find back in 2006, so many cars had 19" optioned.
 
Drew-Nitram said:
AllatSea said:
Drew, I really like the black spoiler, can I ask where you got the badges from?

It's not a sticker/badge as it would not adhere to the satin finish for very long.

I got some Carrera 4 vinyl decals made, they were applied to the unpainted spoiler, it was painted and the decals removed once it was dry.

The silver Carrera script you see is actually the original Arctic silver paint.


 
I fitted one of Alex's SSK's soon after buying the car, I have been hugely impressed by it's quality as well as the precision of the gearchange with it fitted.

When Alex announced he'd further developed the kit I bought one of the new side arm bushes, I was already really happy with what I had but if it can be improved upon then that can only be a good thing, right.





It is not the night and day difference I saw when changing from the worn OE parts to the SSK, but it certainly removes a little play from the cross gate action and further tighten up the shift, well worth the small cost and a little time.

What I have noticed is when reinstalling the shift cables the first time I could not of locate the Black cable correctly as I always found the 2nd to 3rd gear change to be just a little recalcitrant if rushed, a quick drive yesterday shows this has been vastly improved.
 
Drew-Nitram said:
Drew-Nitram said:
AllatSea said:
Drew, I really like the black spoiler, can I ask where you got the badges from?

It's not a sticker/badge as it would not adhere to the satin finish for very long.

I got some Carrera 4 vinyl decals made, they were applied to the unpainted spoiler, it was painted and the decals removed once it was dry.

The silver Carrera script you see is actually the original Arctic silver paint.



Brilliant, thank you.
 
Shockwavevivo said:
Impreza is a really awesome car, but I wouldn't say I like that it doesn't have sunshades. Imagine how hot and uncomfortable it is in a closed Impreza.

No ac?
Welcome to 911uk.
 
Love you posts and mods, I bought a 1999 C4 last year and love it, I have done similar upgrades and maintenance and also consider it a keeper.

Keep the posts coming
 
Good work, I like what you have done. Split rims look great. Completely agree with your view on the 996,(and silver) in early EVO days I had a deep want for one, which never went away.

Interesting what you say re C4 v C2, I love the way my 4S drives and did not fall for a 996.2C2 either.
I'm really going to have to try a early .1C2 though.
 

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Goodness, over a year has passed since I last posted on this thread.

Thankfully not much has needed my attention in the inverting year, we'll all bar an MOT failure late ast year owing to a split front control arm gaiter.

This was rectified using new front arms from Spyder performance and new all hardware from my local OPC including front caliper bolts.






Also during the MOT the condition of the rear brake pipes was mentioned, as we all know the age the 996 are now reaching its inevitable corroded brake pipes will effect most cars, as it's only ever going to deteriorate further I had AMS Porsche replace the rear hard pipes, the rubber flex hoses on each caliper were changed for braided versions along with the hard pipe which loops around the back of the damper on each corner.

For now the front pipes are in good condition but will, at some point get the same treatment as the rear has.

As much as I adore the way the car drives I've always been critical of the steering wheel diameter, it just feels too big and makes it feel like your helming a ship not driving a sports car.

I found a very recently recovered Momo, model 8 wheel on eBay which caught my eye, it's slightly different from the more commonly used model 7 wheel the perforated leather matches the seat perforation very well and as the advert was not the greatest in detail nor photos I won it for a great price.

Fitting kit, boss and a second slip ring from which I harvested the air bag and horn plugs was bought and all fitted.





I am quite shocked how much of a different the 20mm reduction in diameter has made to the steering feel, to me it has made a huge improvement, I highly recommended as long as your happy to loose the air bag functionality.

During the last year another purchase found it way on to the car, like most I've read threads and watched videos about the pros and cons of various induction kits, I've always had a healthy scepticism about their value but when one came up for sale at a low asking price I thought I'd give it ago so I could form my own opinion.

Both experts and laymen alike claim these kill power personally I could not tell the difference in performance, I did find throttle response was not quite as immediate as the stock 996 airbox but only fractionally, possibly a result of loosing low end torque that most say these kits suffer from.

The noise was comically raucous above 4k RPM at WOT, it sounded loud in the cabin I can only imagine how it sounded from outside.

As much as it made me grin, it was a little too much for my old ears so it's days were numbered, The general consensus seems the 997 S air box is the best of the OE filter boxes so I set out to find one without paying the extortionate prices most seem to think they warrant, after a few months one came along.





Obviously it's way quieter than the K&N, it's has a little more induction sound over the 996 box and while it may flow better from the drivers seat it's impossible to tell, it certainly looks much better, and the immediate throttle response is back.

Well, this brings me up to date with where the car is, in both maintenance and enhancements.
 
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Great thread. Impressive mechanical know-how to do these things yourself. I'm envious!
 
Great thread. Impressive mechanical know-how to do these things yourself. I'm envious!
Thanks.

It helps that I'm an engineer by trade, albeit in the communications industry not automotive, but I'm happy to give most things a go, within reason.

Most jobs are not that difficult with a little planning and time, after all they are only nuts and bolts.
 
Shortly before Christmas I acquired a set of lightly used DesignTek 200 cell sports cats, I didn't need them and wasn't even looking to replace my cats, after all there was/is nothing wrong with them and the car has never had an issue passing the MOT emission test.

But an early morning Facebook market place for sale post caught my eye, mainly due to the low asking price for a set of cats that were a little over a year old and covered just a couple of thousand miles.

The modification monster took over and before I knew it I has sent a message the the seller offering a little less than the advertised price, A couple of messages later I was heading down to Kent from my home in Essex to collect. these then sat in the garage for a few weeks until a break in the weather meant it was warm and dry enough to get them fitted.

Unfortunately, I had to abandon the first attempt as I could not get the Lambda sensors out of the old cats, why I thought it would be possible to remove them I don't know but after a long fight I admitted defeat, I hurriedly reassembled the back of the car to a fashion and pushed back in the garage until new lambda's could be bought.


Once the new sensors had been sourced / delivered, the motivation had been found and a Saturday with suitable weather presented itself I got back out and had another crack at getting the cats fitted.




I've not done many miles since but I'm glad to report no fault codes.... yet, the exhaust note has increased but no more then I had anticipated. One marked change is the way car drives, it noticeably smoother but that must be a result of the new lambdas than anything the cats have done.

Overall I'm very happy with the results of my latest tinkering,
 
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It's great that you haven't had any 'catalyst efficiency ' codes yet.

Hopefully you'll get away without any. Worst case scenario is you'll have to get a tuner to code them out.
 
Almost 10 months since I last added to this memoir, mainly because I've not done much in the way of tinkering in that time, well, other than boring routine maintenance.

The car has been nothing but a joy to own and drive in that time.

When I say I've not done much tinkering that's not entirely true, I did spend a little time back in May stripping down the hardback seats and removing the centre console to have them painted Arctic silver to add a little colour to the otherwise black interior.









While it was certainly a visual improvement over the gloomy, oppressive blackness I could not escape the hardbacks just weren't that supportive nor comfortable.

I had been looking for a solution for some time and just before Christmas a set of seats that fitted the bill popped up on eBay, and also in the classifieds here.
I bounced a couple of messages with the seller via eBay, we agreed on a price and arranged a collection date.

They are a set of virtually new Recaro pole position NG seats finished in black fabric, I would have preferred the vinyl/leatherette versions but I think I may be able to buy the covers should I feel the need to at a later date, no biggie if I cannot

The appeal of this particular set is they came fitted with 996/986 specific mounts from planted technology making them a plug and play option.





Fitting could not be easier and took no more than an hour, finding what to do with the hardback was not so easy taking me an additional 4 hours to modify my wheel storage rack, they are now safely out of the way.






I'm looking forward to what 2025 brings in regards to my 996 owning adventure.

Happy new year all.
 
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