Mike's 997 Carrera S

[Mike IRL]

In the end and even though I tried extremely hard I stuck with what I like best from Stuttgart

2004 Porsche 997 Carrera S

Spectification:
you should know but here you go....
3.8 litre 355bhp 400Nm/4600 powerplant (37k miles)
Top speed of 182 and a dash to 60 in approx. 4.5s
6 speed manual and stopped with 330mm discs and 4-piston callipers

Key extras:
The Carrera S carries a number of extras over the Carrera aside from the 3.8 v 3.6 engine and 30 extra bhp which includes:

Xenons, 19" Carrera S alloys (currently on Pirelli P zeros "" 235x35 fr/295x30rear), silver metallic, PASM (Porsche Adaptive Suspension), PSM (Porsche Stability Management), PCM (Porsche Communications management), differential, Satellite Navigation, full heated leather, alcantera inner roof liner, sun roof, air con, multifunction steering wheel and a bunch of other extras.

Some pics

rear

Side

wheel

Interior:

 

[garyw]

Nice one Mike....

Mind you it's the worst parking I've seen for a long time [] []

garyw

 

[Birt]

Great looking car...I could sit and look at these all day. I also have the same in black although with sport design wheels.

 

[Mike IRL]

Couldn't resist this little item on ebay. Its a Mobil oil pouch complete with glove kit etc. Nice tidy way of keep a litre handy.

More importantly, Durametric diagnostic ordered. Went for enthusiast kit 2 which includes the older style cable.....planning ahead

http://www.durametric.com/content/porsche-911-997.aspx

Also picked up...

Dension 500 collected Dension BTA1500 Bluetooth adapter arrived:

http://www.dension.com/product/iPod-iPhone-car-adapters/iPod-car-kits/bluetooth-car-kits/gateway-500

 

[Mike IRL]

New tyres were needed so where else to get best service other than Keith in Alloy-wheels.ie.

As usual, order was prompt and this week a set of fresh Michelin N rated arrived.

picked up a couple of bits too...

Porsche charger/conditioner

Set of fresh bolts. A few storage marks but will be a nice addition

I'm running coloured logo on current badges but may swap these on for a change

Ah, couldn't resist this. LED torch that charges in car.

 

[Mike IRL]

Latest update:

My battery has been getting a little weak through the winter months so yesterday I picked up a Bosch Silver Car Battery HSB096. Came with a 5 year warranty.

Bosch

I've also booked the car into Porsche for a couple of TSBs - Technical service bulletins to be completed.

Couple of pics from last Sundays C&C in Cherrywood.

 

[Mike IRL]

Started to do a bit of long over due cleaning at the weekend.

Wheels were first on list.

Tools and products used: power washer, All Purpose Cleaner APC (50:50 mix), Tardis, and elbow grease! Allow a couple of hours for this.

Some pics:

Wheel after removal. Clearly see the dirt, staining etc

Spray on the APC liberally on inner barrel and allow to soak a little. As you can see in the pic streaks appear as the APC starts to do it's magic

Power washed the wheel then I applied Tardis and used a brush/cloth to agitate using lots of elbow grease until it started looking something like this...

Cleaned face of wheel too

Back on car with new studs.

While wheels were off I also spraying each of the arches with APC, allowed to soak a little then agitated with a soft brush before power washing the dirt and salt away. Came up really fresh.

Overall I'm happy with the results. I still had some staining on the inner barrel of one of the other wheels so I may come back to it later.

A dirty job but worthwhile doing. Planning on sealing them up with a good quality wheel wax/sealer during this week then on to the next job on the list.

And I think they might just fit the MK1 with a little arch rolling

 

[Mike IRL]

OK, stage 2 of the TLC took place this weekend.

Carpets, leather, engine bay, "boot" and glass was on the hit list.

Carpets were sprayed with a diluted mix of 1001 Carpet cleaner, agitated with a brush and washed with power washer.
Very happy with results. Even under drivers heal where some of the pile was flattened slightly. I was considering a fresh set but this has certainly gave them a good extended life.

Leather was conditioned using Gliptone. I first used a mild dilution of APC to just give them a wipe then worked the conditioner into the leather and left for a few minutes. I then cleaned off the conditioner using a dry folded microfibre cloth. I like the matt finish Gliptone leaves.

Engine bay and boot was first cleaned using APC then left to dry. Once dry I used some werkstat restorer to bring up the black in the plastics. I also gave sill protectors a good cleaning and in and around the foot pedals.

Lastly today, I used Autoglyn glass polish inside and out. I was like a contortionist :57: in the back to get the rear glass cleaned but it was worth it :great:

Some pics:

Some reflections in the glass:

Next stage will be a full paint detail :13:

 

[Mike IRL]

Small update on the detailing side

Before Mosney I decided to do a quick detail on the paintwork. I was torn between the various products out there but in the end decided to give a Glaze/Sealant combination a go to achieve a nice wet look on the silver paintwork.

Car was first clay bar'd using bilt hamber. They say you can use just water to keep it lubricated but I added some quick detail liquid which worked really well.

Then Megs G220 on medium pad and Megs 83 compound.

Washed down then let dry.

First time to use Chemical guys glaze but it went on very very easily with instant impact. I used a small applicator then a folded large micro-fibre to buff off. A little goes a long way with this stuff.

Hand buffed off the glaze then applied the 109. Again used a clean applicator pad in small quantities and again a large microfibre folded up and lightly buffed off.

Finish to touch and see is a very reflective "wet" look and durable so far bar the damn tree sap.
Maintenance since is a wash followed by quick detail spray so extremely happy with results so far.

Planning on trying the Chemical guys Blitz spray sealant next.

 

[Mike IRL]

Booked in for NCT so decided to get a couple of little jobs done.

The first is a problem with the headlamp washer which has been dripping since I got the car. It feeds off the windscreen water so pain as I have to keep topping it up.

The second is a small buzz in the passenger door speaker.

So over to Ken Bolger this evening to check and verify what was wrong.

Its a bumper off job but easy enough to do once you find all the hidden clips and detach cables etc running to the indicators and goes something like this...

No pipes were found but what we discovered is that the jet of washer can jam open/not fully close so here is the unit /culprit.
So once confirmed just need to order up the part and repeat the exercise again. I've the speaker on order too so will do that next week when it all comes in.

While bumper was off we also cleaned out at dirt, leaves etc that gather in the air ducts in front of the rads. If left for too long they can cause rust to start then you are into leaky rads like what happened on my previous.

While I was there Ken offered to look at the corner weighting of the car.

Basically the kit consists of 4 weight pads which sit under each wheel. These feed back to a console. So basically a big weighing scales.
The rear ARB was loosened off to essentially let car sit free.

A few pics of the set up. The car had approx 1/2 tank of fuel on board.

First pic shows the weight at each point. The difference across each axle is pretty damn good. Good so that no adjustment is needed. Obviously, when I sat into the car there would be a delta but figures again were quite good. If doing a track car ie only ever 1 person in the car then weight distribution could be changed to get perfect balance. As this is my daily then all good as is.

 

[Mike IRL]

Terenure tomorrow means lots of work today x_x

Time to try out Iron Cleanse as part of prep routine. Overall, very impressed with the product.
Big thanks to Dave & Chris at Detailing Shed who got it to me so that I could get prepared for the show tomorrow!

Some before pics:

I then got the Iron Cleanse out and a small brush to agitate it. Once on I left it there for approx 5-10 minutes then power washed off.

Starting to do its work...

second pass...

After 2 passes on the wheels this is what was left in the bottle. Not bad I thought.

 

[Mike IRL]

Continuing to use Chemical Guys Glazes and Sealants.

Gave the car a good wash and then topped it up with CG 109 Sealant when the sun went down this evening.
No DA Polisher was used - wash, dry, apply sealant, leave it for 20-30 mins then buff off with big microfibre.

Thirsty work but very happy with results

Few of these needed to cool off :ymhug:

 

[Mike IRL]

Bit of good news.

At the Porsche stand I picked up a club award for best 911 (997 Category - 2004 +) motor. To get this from the panel of judges means an awful lot to me so I was absolutely and genuinely over the moon

A few pics:

 

[Mike IRL]

Continuing on with my revamp on cleaning/detailing products, here is the latest installment.

For some reason, not sure why, I've never bought a Foam Lance until now. I remember using one back when Andy/Detailer ran his classes in Detailing and was impressed way back then.
So when the group buy came about I decided to treat myself to one and the snow foam from the same company (Irish) that makes the Iron Cleanse above, Orchard. I first heard of this product with the guys up north who rave about the product range and it seems very well received on a number of detailing specialist sites. So nothing to loose I guess.

My drying towel was also a few years old and getting a little jaded so I decided to refresh that and my wash mitts also. I picked up a new wash mitt in a Meguiars kit in Halfords and also got a new style mitt and drying towel by Microfibre Madness from Detailing shed. The Microfibre Madness mitt is lined with an inner sponge which makes it very easy to use and no temptation to lean too heavy compared to other mitts I've used before.

So armed with the above bits and pieces at the weekend I gave the A4 and 911 a go.

First up, I added approx 1-1.5 inches of the snow foam into the lance and filled the rest with water.

I messed around with the different settings a bit (must admit you can look a bit odder than usual in your driveway with 2 snow covered cars but sure the neighbours know me well enough at this stage )

It went on well, plenty of foam, suds and I left it on both cars for around 10 mins or so. Pics below are about half way through. Both cars were reasonably dusty/dirty but they were also covered in tree sap drops which is the main driver to give them a good wash.

The 911 is using CG Sealants and the A4 is using Autoglym HD Wax but the foam still managed to grip quite well.

Two cars later each with a couple of coats and I only had used less than half the contents which seem pretty good.

Next up I used two bucket and the new wash mitt. I put a small amount of Chemical Guys shampoo in one bucket. Job was very easy. The Orchard stuff does really work and the tree sap which I dreaded seemed to disappear so no heavy washing was needed

Then I towel dried both cars. For comparison, my old trusty yellow towel is much smaller in size than the new big thick white nappy type from microfibre madness. Again I heard people raving about their gear so time to try them out. What's more notable is that when you start folding the yellow v the white there is a huge difference. Typically I'd use a towel each on both cars but the one towel on this occasion did virtually both!

Final outcome below and I was overall very impressed.

 

[Mike IRL]

I finally got some time last week to prepare car for a show on Sunday in Cork.

Anyway, this year the car was prepared and finished using Autoglym HD wax over last year which was finished using a sealant and glaze.

I must admit I think the glaze/sealant option gives the car a slightly smoother finish and greater "wet" look but the HD wax I believe to be more durable especially now with Autumn and Winter in the months to come. I plan to put a second light coat of HD on this weekend.

Anyway at the event I came second in the Porsche category so happy with that

 

[Frenchy]

Looking good, same as mine ! i have family in Cork, get those inner wheels cleaned again and get rid of the backing from old balance weights, it would really set the wheels off []

 

[Giff]

Taking the wheels off and then leaving the old adhesives would drive me nuts!