Hi, I am new to this forum. Hope anyone can give me some feedback.
I just bought a 02' Carrera 2 Tiptronic, Seal Grey Metallic, Black Full Leather.
Well fully equipped, 18" rims. The original paper shows total price for that time is $82500. I bought is for $57000. It currently has 39000 miles on it but in and out just like a brand new car.
Did i pay too much for it or is it a good deal, I will post pictures on it tomorrow. I think the rims cost like $7000 itself, forgot what name brand but looks very nice. Its not those stock 17' and 18' .

This is also my first time to own a porsche, I have a 2003 E500 sports but this porchse just a totally different ride and feeling. I really enjoy the handling and power. The reason I got Tiptronic is because my wife can drive it too, she doesn't know how to drive manual.
I have seen the new 2005 model, I don't like the round head lights, I like the current one. Whats the different between 996 and 997 ? What does this number represent?

With the one I have now, is it easy to change the spoiler kits to make it look like a turbo, I really like the style of the turbo, the sales person said there are so much I can modify it to make it looks nice.
Do you know any good link that they do car modifications and body kits conversion?

Best Regards
CEDDY

 

First of all, congratulations! I got my first about a month ago. Your price seems about right, I paid just under $48K and mine is a 2000 Carrera 4 Cabriolet...6 speed...sticker on mine in 2000 was $95,070 with the options. It has 21,500 miles on it.

I really am anxious to see yours, I am thinking of upgrading my rims in some way and would love to see what yours has on it. As you can see I currently have the upgraded stock 18" sport rims. I would also like to know what kits are available for a Turbo look change...hope someone responds.

With my limited knowledge, 996 is the body style for 911's from 1998-2004...997 is the new body style for 2005 models.

Good luck. Talk soon.

[IMG]local://upfiles/865/89AAF8BC92184D77BF911F326E2779BE.jpg[/IMG]

 

One thing to remember with aftermarket tails and bumper covers is that they never fit like the factory. I fit an aftermarket front bumper cover on a C4 the other day (and installed a supercharger), and it was a real pain the butt to get all the lines to match up....in the end it wasn't perfect but it was close. For aftermarket stuff, there is companies like gemballa, techart, etc. I would do a search over in the 996 forums on rennlist, and you will find some great information.

What you need next is to supercharge it

 

Hi PorscheDoc,

Thanks for the information. Since I purchased this 911 Carrera from the dealer, my car still under warranty. The salesman saids it has 320 hp. But my question is if I modify the engine, put super charge, program ECU and chips, they will void the warranty, is that true?
Since I am very new to porsche, what do you recommend to increase more horse power? I like it very fast hahahaha.

What do I do to have it increase lots of horse power, i contacted powerchip, that thing cost like $900 and only increase like 15-20 hp. I don't want that.

I see that you mentioned 'SuperCharge'. Is it expensive to add supercharge? Would it shorten the engine's life or damage it?

Here is my car.





Best Regards
Ceddy

 

That car looks exactly like the car i just finished (same wheels and everything....very nice car you have there). First step i would take would be to flash the ECU with GIAC tuning, that will net you the most horsepower for the money. The man to contact is Stephen Kaspar or Ben Wornall at imagine auto (www.imagineauto.com), Stephen is a god when it comes to tuning/turbos/superchargers (Stephen is the PCA technical board "Turbo Guru"), and Ben knows his stuff as well. Our supercharger kit is very spendy, i think installed runs about 12k, so that may be out of the equation at this point. Retuning the ecu will really make a difference though, it will feel like a different car. 320 is about right at the motor, so figure about 240 are getting to the wheels. The supercharger will net about 420 at the motor, with about 315-320 gettting to the wheels. Chips (flashing the ecu i should say) will not void a warranty, but I can not say about the supercharger.....Stephen or ben would know. They do not decrease the life of the motor, we run them at very low boost (4-5psi).....in contrast, my 951 runs 14psi boost, and Stephens Twin turbo runs about 28psi when in race mode. We also just tested a new intake from EVO (www.evoms.com), on the twin turbo 996 it picked up 15 horses (to the rear wheels) on our mustang AWD dyno (the dyno sheets are posted on the imagine auto website...evoms.com might have something up as well)...thats pretty impressive for the cost of the kit which i think runs in the neighborhood of 4-500 (thats off the top of my head as i don't work sales at all). On an carerra, the gains aren't going to be quite that much, but you will definetly pick up power, and only takes a few minutes to install the new intake box).

So i guess in summary,
Flash the ECU first (doesn't matter who you go with, but i would try and pick a reputable company...GIAC etc)
Intake System (very cheap, at takes 15 minutes to install)

Good luck....you will enjoy your car

 

Hi doc,

Thanks buddy! Where is GIAC tuning, I live in Los Angeles area not sure if I can locate one here. When you said flash ECU, does it mean they will re-program it ? By flashing the ECU, will it really increase horse power instantly? I know put a supercharger is quite expensive, I gotta saveup some money first haha. May be I goto imagineauto.com and find out more details. I forgot to tell you my car is Tiptronic, would that be a big problem? Cause my wife can't drive stick. She drives it more than me.

Before I always hear bad story about porsche, cause overheat and engine problem stuff like that, is that true? I am little worry cause they are expensive to repair. The sales person said 911 Carrera is using a racing engine, you must drive the car as a sports car and floor it sometimes, otherwise it will be a waste just driving like a luxury car (regular driving). Is that true?

I was thinking about getting the body kit, I like the turbo front spoiler look and add a side skirt on it but just little afraid after you told me aftermarket won't fit too well. I want to shop around for those 'Carbon Fibre' dash surrounding , looks nice hehehehe.

Do you have your car's picture, I would love to see it. Oh by the way, you said you have the same rims, did you get it from Kinesis ? The K18R. When talk about rims, the 3 pieces are heavier than the 2 pieces, is that right? So 1 piece will be very light?
I think I like this rims too from Kinesis, I notice many people put HRE rims. But they are 3 pieces according to the site. The current one I have is 225/40/18 front, 285/30/18 Rear. But i still see a big gap between the fender and the tire. Should I lower it or get a bigger rims like 19' ? Oh gosh! so much to learn from basic.

Also when I drive little faster like apprix over 110 mph, I feel the steering wheel starting to shake like those NAS car driver (inside camera shows driver). Is that normal. I think it might be the rims and tires. But feels good like driving a NAS CAR on the freeway LOL.

Looking forward hearing from you DOC

Which rims you like the most?

The Kinesis or the HRE rims?

 

Thats a nice looking car....

Have you thought about selling your wheels..?

[IMG]local://upfiles/463/69C9B3967A2648FCBCDC4FA8B2FB693A.jpg[/IMG]

 

I think the kinesis rims would look stellar on your car in my opinion. GIAC tuners are all over the place, their website is www.giacusa.com and if you go to the Sales dropdown list, and dealers, you can put in southern california and get a list of dealers. I see VF engineering is a dealer in anaheim, they would probably be pretty good. Yes, flashing an ECU is bascially instant horsepower. In the older cars, you had "Chips" that you would pull the stock chips off the circuit board in the ECU and insert a new programmed chip than ran higher horsepower, different engine settings, etc. Technology is getting now where you don't need to remove a chip, instead they can plug in a laptop, take off the stock program, and insert a "race (i guess you could call it)" program...very easy, takes about 10 minutes. For instance, today we had a VW GTI in the shop, put on an EVO cold air intake, billet diverter valve, and flashed the ECU, and he picked up about 60 horses. All in the span of under an hour.

As far as overheating, not a problem anymore with watercooled engines that the 996's have now Yea, the old aircooled 911's use to overheat, mostly in stop and go traffic, because they couldnt get enough airflow moving constantly. So in really hot weather, and stuck in rush hour traffic on the interstate for hours at a time, they would run a little hot for sure. And don't be afraid to really drive these cars, that's what they are made for. Enzo Ferrari once said something to the effect "it makes me sad to see low mileage ferrari's, they were made to be driven." Same with the porsche, let it run once in awhile, you can't hurt it by going faster. They love open curvey roads

 

Hi DOC

Ya i will definitely drive like crazy once in a while hahahaha. The funny thing is my wife likes to take off fast at green light, especially when she notices someone trying to race her hahahaha.
I notice that you said putting a EVO cold air intake and billet diverter valve and flash the ECU, What is billet diverter? Do I need that also in order to get extra 60 horses?


Is this the intake?


I can't wait to have them add more horses hahahaha. Thanks buddy! You are da man!

 

Yea, that is the standard carerra intake from EVO, i think gains are around 10hp to the wheels IIRC, so that is pretty good for the money. Another great upgrade is the fabspeed sport exhaust, it sounds great, and is about half the weight (and size of the stock system). I think they run around $1k, so it is an affordable option down the road...definetly flash the ECU and different intake first. I'm not sure on the gains with the exhaust, but you would definetly see horsepower. So there are definetly some good upgrades, that are much more affordable than a supercharger, will make the car run strong and sound great. Nice thing about exhaust, intakes, and flash loads, is the install times are very minimal (With the exhaust of course being the longest), where as someone who runs a twin turbo and wants to go with bigger turbos, looks at about 5 hours labor per turbo to remove and replace.