My 2002 996 "renovation" thread

[B3DAWG]

haha, sweet 996! congrats

Ah, thanks man... got lots to do to make the sow's ear of a 996 into a silk purse.

[SealGrauWailer]

As long as the drivetrain is healthy, I'd take this car all day long. Now you get to remake the interior however you see fit. A genuine project to look forward to while being able to enjoy the drive throughout the process. I put in a new console, dash trim, shifter, door sill, instrument cover & cluster, gauges, horseshoe, console delete, & floor mats to make mine fit my eye - very happy with the results. It's pricey but if you spread it out over a few years & do one thing at a time it goes by quickly.

What's the backstory on how you picked this car up?

[B3DAWG]

As long as the drivetrain is healthy, I'd take this car all day long. Now you get to remake the interior however you see fit. A genuine project to look forward to while being able to enjoy the drive throughout the process. I put in a new console, dash trim, shifter, door sill, instrument cover & cluster, gauges, horseshoe, console delete, & floor mats to make mine fit my eye - very happy with the results. It's pricey but if you spread it out over a few years & do one thing at a time it goes by quickly.

What's the backstory on how you picked this car up?

Found it on Facebook of all places, but remember the guy had it listed several month ago on Craigslist. He dropped his price big time and I'm jumped on it. When I have time tomorrow, I'll upload more photographs. This has to be the WORST ... I mean the WORST custom sound install I've ever seen. They glued everything! UGH!!! Now, my worst fear.. the cut the OEM wire harness and trashed the plugs. That mean I'm going to have to pull the schematic I found on line and hard wire it in. I sure hope they didn't cut the OEM speaker connection or I'll have hear attack. The lower center console (below the AC and option button) is cut up to the point it's not reusable. I guess I'll have to hunt a used one down on eBay.

[FRUNKenstein]

Let's be honest, B3, if you don't spend $$ on fixing stuff on your new car, you'll find some other mod to do and spend the money anyway. Every one of us does it - witness the 2 frunk liners I've bought for my two 996s.

[B3DAWG]

So, here is my option list. Nothing of a surprise for you folks, but thought I'd post. Of course, the Becker CDR-220 has been removed. (more on that later) The 18" OEM wheels have been replaced with Vossen. I found out yesterday these are considered higher-end forged wheels?

Options:
C02 - USA car
XRL - 18" Sport Design Wheels
226 - Tire production code
288 - Headlamp washer
424 - CD Compartment
425 - Rear Window Wiper
437 - 8-way electrical seats - left
438 - 8-way electrical seats - right
446 - Wheel Caps with colored Porsche crest
490 - Basic Sound (Harmann analog)
537 - Seat Memory - left
601 - Litronic (Xenon) Headlamps
696 - CD- radio Becker CDR-220
936 - Leather Rear Seats
983 - Leather Front Seats
09991 - Porsche Exclusiv program

[B3DAWG]

Well, this weekend I began weeding out all the sloppy custom sound artifacts. I began in the frunk...

As you can see, upon removing the frunk liner, I've discovered the morons just glued down a piece of 3/4" plywood. Pulling this out was no easy task.

Next, began removing all the aftermarket cables. Like this...

Here's where the nightmare began... After trying to open the lower center console, I quickly realized the reason that the side panels didn't quickly pop off is because the morons glued it... and, they glued everything. I'm beginning to think they really like glue! As you can see in the picture, there are two hinges *glued* to the carpet and side panel. What???!!! Why glue everything shut, but provide hinges? Ugh! Yep, the hinges were glued too! In the picture you'll notice a electronic board and knob, (I originally thought was connected to a radar system), but it is actually a volume control for the sub they installed. I ended up removing a mound of cables and other stuff behind the HU and in the lower console. I had to be careful not to cut any OEM cables because the morons tried to tap into every 12V power they could - window switches, cigarette lighter, etc. etc.

Got the center console completely removed to examine and remove the remaining aftermarket cables. This was no easy task either. Yep, they glued them down. (facepalm) Anyway, I'm going to repaint the console the way I like, but nothing too flashy. Probably flat black. Why? Cause I like it and don't like Porsche fixation to paint everything graphite grey.

Lower center console section removed. The morons completely destroy it. This why you should never let ANYONE that loves to take short cuts install a custom sound system in your Porsche. These people love using glue because they're probably sniffing it!

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Unfortunately, the moron cut the OEM wire harness too for the radio, but they didn't trash the cable or plugs. For the meantime, I'll solder the cables from my Blaupunkt to the OEM cables. Maybe in the future, I'll repair the OEM wire harness and install a Becker CDR-220.

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Everything in the frunk is cleaned up and the speaker cables soldered and protected properly.

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Installed the Blaupunkt and soldered the wires into the OEM cables. All patched up, checked out okay, and now to repaint the center console and gear shift. Updates come next week.

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[gnat]

Heh. Reminds me of my last e30. Badly mis cut speaker holes in the rear deck. Rats nest of wires in the dash including not covering splices.

The best, however, was their body repair. Thing had some massive leaking going on that led to me tearing out all the interior except the dash and shifter (made for a blast to drive though with just the driver seat reinstalled). Upon getting the carpet removed I found that it had obviously taken a hit on the right front. Their repair of the hole that was left in the passenger floor board (up in an area that was concealed from an outside inspection) was masking tape. Seriously. Masking tape.

Never buy a NJ car. Never. PA is pretty questionable too...

[B3DAWG]

Never buy a NJ car. Never. PA is pretty questionable too...

Funny you say that, looking at the Carfax the car spend most of it's life in the south; however, it did reside in NY for a short period of time. Wonder if this sloppy sound system was installed at the time?

[SealGrauWailer]

That car is begging for a center console delete

[B3DAWG]

That car is begging for a center console delete

Yea, I like the idea, but I'm going to put another lower console back in it.