Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 10

The boys installed the new IMS bearing.  The generally accepted IMS service interval is to replace the IMS whenever you replace the clutch. This seems like a good plan though I would budget for this service immediately if I bought a used 996.  Gearbox removal is not as difficult as the 'box in a Lotus Elise so the cost is not really astronomical - unlike an engine replacement that may be required when the IMS bearing fails!

This IMS kit comes recommended by our friends at Slakker. I visited their shop a couple of weeks ago to learn more about their engine-building capabilities. They partner with Hartech in England for engine components, and they’ve invested in an in-house dyno to ensure every build is thoroughly vetted before installation. With Slakker as a trusted source for engines, we’re even more confident in servicing these cars.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 9

 

We bought an inexpensive short shift kit from eBay to test out on this car as the shifter was really sloppy.  The kit arrived and appeared to be nice but after installation, we noticed the lever was oddly positioned.  We had a 996.2 in the shop and compared the two saw that ours way off.  Further scrutiny revealed the the shifter came to us incorrectly assembled.  We took it apart and reinstalled it.  The forward gears all worked, though a bit shorter than I like.  The Reverse is hard to engage.  We are contacting the Supplier to see if we missed anything on the install.

We are attempting to find wheels that will be an inch smaller diameter - from 18" down to 17".  My plan is to increase the tire aspect ratio so we could gain some additional sidewall height for more compliance.  Originally I was planning on increasing the overall diameter of the tire but have now decided to stick closer to the original tire diameter.  Regardless we will gain some more compliance if I can fit a 17" rim.

The larger diameter Girodisc is making the 17" wheel a challenge.  We bought a wheel measurement tool that allows us to simulate the wheel diameter, width and offsets.  Now that we have the Elephant dampers installed, we broke out the tool to confirm clearance.

It appears that a 17" wheel can work at an offset of ET45 vs ET55 (stock).  We plan to go with a wider rim from 7.5" to 8"  as the tire will be 225.

We bought some new tires to install on the stock rims so we can test while we wait for the wheels to be sourced/secured.  Though they will lack some of the compliance I was hoping for, they should work well enough for us to see if the suspension needs to be retuned.  The Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ is an all season ultra high performance tire that should deliver good road manners in the dry or wet.  The treadwear rating is fairly soft (440AA A) so we should have decent life with acceptable grip.  As a comparison, the Lotus run on tires with approx 200 tread wear rating!