Owners guide to the Porsche 996 Carrera 4

Met another 996 owner with a blown engine.

I was visiting IBM customers in Seattle last week and one of the guys I met had a 2001 996 which was cool but the engine had just blown so not so cool. We exchanged sob stories and he's waiting to see if the extended warranty will pay for the engine. These blown engines are a major pain for 996 owners. I've no idea how prevalent they are but I personally know 3 owners of 996s whose engines died and given the cars aren't exactly common in Minnesota then that is pretty bad. If I buy one again then its a GT3 or Turbo for me as these seem to be the only models with motorsport derived engines and hence they are sorted out properly. The new 09 997 engines looks like it's getting a fair bit of testing and appears to have a real dry sump finally so thats cool. Maybe the engines in the 09 997s will be better. Who knows anyway, without statistics, I just may know the only 3 dead 996s around...

Service cost for featherlite 3110 trailer

I just dropped my 17 foot featherlite 3110 car trailer at the local featherlite dealer last week for a replacement jack, repack/grease wheel bearings and attach a registration plate. Total cost is 315 dollars which is lower than we expected. I've owned it since 2006 and this is the first service I've done on it. A friends trailers wheel bearings catching fire prompted me to get it done.
The bearing cost 180 bucks to regrease and this also included checking the brakes.
The replacement jack was 30 bucks.
A replacement tail light cover was 15 bucks.
A wheel to go under the jack was 17 bucks.

SCCA regional license arrives

I just checked the SCCA website and the Bondurant based regional license application went through so thats cool. Applying for a PCA license also now.

Bondurant Grand Prix 4 day race school review

I just attended this school in Phoenix Arizona and had a blast. Learned a lot. Check out my full review here.

Porsche 944 sp1 owners blog started

I just started my blog on owning the 944. I'll cover everything to do with owning the car including running costs etc. You can find it at http://www.trackpedia.com/blogs/billy/

It's sold

I traded the 996 yesterday for a Mercedes S430. I got 26k for the 996 with 47.5k on the clock. It needed new rear tires, the driver door glove box door replaced, the steering wheel leather needed some cosmetic work and the wood on the center console replaced.

The S430 was 27.2k with 51k miles on it. I got a 12 month warranty because the car is certified and I bought two more years for 3.7k. Warranties are getting more expensive.

I'll be starting posting on the 944 and S class blogs from now on.

Time to say good bye

I'm going to be trading the 996 in over the next couple of weeks. I'll trade it in on a merc s-class or audi a8/a6 depending. Shame to see it go, I love the car but I have a new 944 race car coming and I only have a 3 car garage.

Porsche 944 spec car on the way

I decided to switch to a 944 for DEs next year. I'll try to say why I'm doing this instead of my 996.

Safety

Yep, it's slower. Slower means safer. It will have 150bhp and 2600lbs weight with my in it. It has a full roll cage, 3 nozzle fire system, battery cut outs, window nets. All of this makes the car just safer if I get a bang. I'm putting my Recaro Pole Position seats in with the Simpson 6pt polyester harnesses I had.

I envied a buddy in a 944 last year at BIR. He stayed flat through T1 at 110mph. I thought cool. Staying flat in the 996 means dieing. I had to brake from 145mph to between 120-130mph and it's dicey. I'm looking forward to that.

Cheaper

The whole car is 12k. An engine for the 996 is 14k, a tranny is 10k. Tires will be 550, tires for the 996 was 1300.

Cheaper means less complaints from my better half and I think I'll drive faster just because it's only 12k if I wreck it. An engine is 1600, a tranny 500. The whole suspension, Koni Yellows is 700.

So, thats it, it'll be slower but I reckon I can match the times in my 996 by the end of the year. We'll see.

Porsche 911 in the snow

In a word, awesome.
Just got back from driving the C4 around in about 3-4 inches of snow with Blizzak LM22s on and it's incredible. You can drift the car nicely around turns without PSM being activated, everything works. Only bad thing is you want to keep going faster but thats a fools errand for those who follow it.

Anyway, tons, TONS of fun. Only problem is ground clearance and getting beached.

Michelin Pilot Sports/2s wear rate

3200 miles on my new engine now and everything looks good. The transmission linkage seems to be resolved now.

The Bridgestone blizzak LM22s are back on and give a 'better' ride than the Michelin PS/2s that I had. Better means less noise and more comfortable. As far as cornering goes, it's no contest unless of course the temperature is < 35F or it's slippy.

The rear PS/2s are pretty worn with I reckon only another 1/32nd to go before they are done. The fronts look great, at least half thread on them so I'll buy another set of PS/2s for the back and mount them in spring. The wear rate seems to be 2:1 for the car.