Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 7

We have been playing around with bumper ideas for this build. Most of the Safari-style tube bumpers are more aggressive that we want - and heavy. 

stock bumper is hidden behind the rear fascia

 Our goal is to create smaller bumpers that are effective and can support lights and tow straps. We decided to build some bumpers that would attach to the factory pistons that the internal bumper bolt to. 

The stock internal extruded Al bumpers are pretty cool.  The rear, shown above, has additional extrusions that attach to the rubber bumperettes that are visible on either side of the license plate.  The front is a bit simpler and shown on the left.  Both have threaded bungs for the factory towing loop.  The rear requires license plate removal to access it.

too big!

We tried several ideas and landed on small bumpers that I think should do the trick.  The front bumper attaches to the factory pistons and deletes the internal Al bumper.  The rear attaches to the bumperette mounts and is a bolt on solution that requires no permanent modification to the car.  Our tube is easily as strong and since it is external to the fascias, we should be able to take a bump or two without damage to the body.

We want to mount two driving lights from the bumper and hang a fabric tow strap.

The rear bumper will get a rear fog lamp and also a two strap.  The final design is still in the works but I think we are getting there...

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 6

We installed the Girodisc 2-piece rotors as the car needed new brakes.  I wanted to save some weight if possible - which we have.  But I want to do down to 17" rims.  We bought a wheel measurement tool to better estimate what offset/width and diameter could possibly work.

GiroDisc weights: 

• Front: 17.95 lb each 
• Rear: 15.25 lb each 

Our stock rotors were worn so I searched for better weights.

OEM-equivalent weights (ours): 

• Stock front: ≈ 23.1 lb each (18.7lb)
• Stock rear: ≈ 14.6 lb each (12.55lb)

Weight deltas (per rotor → per axle → total) 

• Front: 23.1 − 17.95 = 5.15 lb saved per rotor → 10.30 lb per axle
• Percent change: 5.15 ÷ 23.1 ≈ 22.3% lighter per rotor 
•  Rear: 15.25 − 14.6 = 0.65 lb heavier per rotor → 1.30 lb per axle (heavier) 
•  Percent change: 0.65 ÷ 14.6 ≈ 4.5% heavier per rotor 
•  Net vehicle change (all four): −9.0 lb unsprung/rotational mass (mostly from the fronts). 

 What that means on the car The fronts deliver the big win: ~10.3 lb unsprung + rotating mass off the nose, plus larger diameter and better cooling. The rears end up roughly stock-like in weight (slightly up), which is normal for upsized rear rings on two-piece kits.  

Girodisc upsized their rotors vs the stock sizes.  Why?  The rear stock rotor houses a drum brake for the handbrake.  To clear this, Giro have to make their rotor larger.  They then enlarge the front as well to maintain the brake bias.  The benefit is larger brakes for more over heat capacity and performance.  So overall, a good tradeoff - lighter unsprung weight and more performance.

The wheel tool that we used suggests that a 17"x8" rim could work for us at the front.  This would be great as we would like to run tires with more sidewall.  Once the Elephant Racing dampers arrive, we can install and do a proper measurement.

Emira Collision Part 3

 We've received a few parts with this collision repair but many parts are still back ordered.  One key part that we have been waiting for was the rear box.  It arrived but the hardware to fully attached is still missing.

Lotus have this car in production so parts should not be so hard to secure.  They did have a massive layoff at the factory so it is possible Lotus Cars USA have been caught up in this financial cash crunch.  We've ordered parts directly from the UK as a result.  

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 5

Clean - Dirty

 Cleaning the underside of the car was high on our list as it was pretty nasty.  The results are pretty impressive.  Dry ice is sprayed onto the parts that needed cleaning.  The operator varies the pressure and other variables to dial in the spray.  Supposedly this system can remove the ink from a business card - so can also work very gently.  

Our car had a fair amount of grime and grease built up.  Cleaning it all makes for an easier car to diagnose (leaks) and for a tidier disassembly and reassembly.  Since the suspension and brakes are all coming out, along with the gearbox and possibly the engine, it made sense to invest in the thorough cleaning.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 4

Wheels, Tires and Brakes are proving to be the biggest challenge in this build.  Since our goal is to create a car that will work 90% on broken pavement and 10% groomed dirt roads, we are sticking with tire sizes that favor the road.  But we are looking to add compliance through larger side walls as well overall larger diameter to gain some ground clearance.  

Most of the Safari builds run the same size wheel and tire on all four corners and the fifth which they keep as the spare.  On dirt, this can work, as grip is usually minimal.  But our car is going to run on the road so tire size will defer to weight bias.  We wrote about tire selection on a previous Blog: HERE  Since these are rear biased cars, larger tires are needed at the rear.  We will follow what is typically used for the road cars with more sidewall.  Plus our tire should be quieter than one that favors dirt.

We started with tires and then are attempting to find rims that will fit.  I used a resource on the web that will compare wheel/tire sizes and visually shows the potential impact.  The rear option is shown below.  I linked the image to the website.

We have contacted several of our favorite wheel suppliers including: Braid, HRE, BBS and TireRack to see what options we can find.  Ultimately determing clearance with the new Elephant Racing suspension will be key.  We have a tool that should help us make that determination on rim width and offset.  We will post up pix of this tool in action when we get to this stage.

One of my friends, who is Ride & Handling engineer at Toyota, and races 911s, has suggested the Conti Extreme Contact Sport 2 tires.  These seem like a great solution that come in the sizes that I am after: 225/50R17 front and 285/40R17.  

The Girodisc brakes that we have ordered are slightly larger in diameter than stock.  This is due to the fact that  the 996 has a rear (in hat) drum brake for the handbrake.  Giro needed to make the rotor larger to clear the drum and up sized the front to match the rear  - to keep brake bias the same as stock.

We ordered their caliper rebuild kit as well since these have over 100k miles on them.  We will vapor blast the calipers and replace the seals and rubber boots.  New Stainless Steel brake lines are ordered as well as 25 yr old rubber lines don't instill confidence!

We are hosting a Tech Seminar on Nov 8th to show off the build.  We plan to have the tire/wheels selected and have the brakes installed by then.

IMS and engine upgrades related to reliability are also on deck once the car returns from dry-ice cleaning of the under-carriage and suspension area.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 3

We've decided to have some fun with the car while in the build phase.  My other company, BrandXTR, is a local marketing company that is also a 3M Preffered Installer - so vehicle graphics are in our wheel house.  We have plenty of scrap film that we can slap onto the car to give it a unique look while we work on the important bits.  We plan to remove these graphics once the car is finished mechanically and is ready for cosmetics.  We will be designing a new livery for the car that will be more sedate...

I was inspired by a Brumos Porsche graphic and decided to take some creative liberties.  We chose a medium blue metallic film and a white CF-look film.  Dave got to work and installed the film.  Some of the tools that are available now are pretty cool.  The knife-less tape that he used to cut the edge was really handy.  Dave was certified by 3M after attending their workshop years ago so is very qualified to do these installs.  He was able to apply the stripes across the rear wing/vents and results are pretty amazing - even for a temporary stripe!

We created a new logo for the 996RR so decided to apply it to the sides.

We figured this would be a fun graphic on the side that is sure to elicit questions!

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 2

The car is in rough cosmetic condition.  It needs quite a bit of things inside and out.  The old window tint was bad and the windshield was cracked.  We got those sorted as we waited for additional parts that we ordered from Elephant and Girodisc.

We pulled the front and rear fascias off the car.  This gave us a peek at what we would secure tube bumpers to.  Our fabricator, Danny, came by to assess the possibilities.  We plan to create a fair discrete bumper that will allow us to hang driving lights while also providing some protection from parallel parking.

Overall the car appears to be in decent mechanical condition. There appears to be an oil leak coming from the engine that we will need to investigate. We have the car scheduled for a dry ice cleaning of the underbody.

While under the car, we noticed some opportunities for improvements.  Expect some new ideas from us soon.

The front facia was pretty bad and I managed to find a good used one along with a front DS fender.  The front headlights have washer nozzels - one of which is broken.  We are deleting these along with the pumps and associated hoses.  That'll save a bit a weight.

Wheel and tire considerations are proving to be a bigger challenge.  The suspension will sit 1" higher and ideally we would like to go with taller sidewalls.  We are working closing with Paul at Braid USA on solutions.  Two wheels I like include the Rallycross and the Dakar.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 1

 We kicked off a partial restoration and build of a 2000 Porsche 911.  We have secured this car for a client who is keen to have us build a car that will work on the rough CA canyons and ocassional dirt road use.  Read more about our thinking: HERE  

I am really excited about this build as I fell in love with Ariel Nomads after putting a few thousand miles on them.  This 996RR will be a worthy alternative.  I blogged about the Nomads: HERE  

These 996.1 cars are a bit of a 'red-headed stepchild' in the Porsche community.  The stigma of being the first water-cooled car coupled with the 'fried egg' headlights make it a real point of contention for many Porschiles.  But in reality, the car drives really well and is a true 911.

We placed the car on the lift and began inspecting it.  Overall the mechanical condition was good.  We've found a few things that will need to be addressed but for a car with 120k miles, she was in good shape.  

Cosmetically, she is a mess!  The paint is bad and so is the interior.  We will need to replace at least one panel (driver front fender) and repaint at least one panel.  Ultimately we will install a cool livery on the car with the help of our colleagues at BrandXTR.

We decided to work with Elephant Racing to sort out the suspension.  These guys are well loved in the Porsche world with their Safari kits (and more).  We talked at length with them about this build and making adjustments to suit our specific needs.  This car is a C2 (rear wheel drive) so is lighter and more in line with what we want for tarmac use.  

Of course we had to put her onto scales = 3219lbs

I drove the car and it drives very well.  I am amazed at how tight she remains even after 120k miles.  Porsche's are built to be endurance race cars so longevity is engineered in.  The steering was good and the shift action not bad - though we discovered one of the shift cables was ready to let loose!  Brakes are solid feeling and the handling good - though I did not really push it beyond 6/10s.

The magic of AI renders...

We are getting the car cleaned up, first by Lee with an exterior/interior detail.  Then it will go to Rolando for an underbody dry ice cleaning process.  Then we will start the disassembly and build process.  I am hoping we can deliver a car that is as light, if not lighter, than the stock car - 3219lbs.

Ultimately, we will leverage the relationships we have built with so many of our excellent suppliers including: Girodisc, Scarbo Performance, G-loc, Expert Upholstery, Xclusive Tuning, Champion Motorsport, ReVerie, Nitron and more.  Plus we are developing new partnerships with Porsche specialist companies like Elephant and Slakker.